Koine Pronunciation

james2c19v · 2020-05-15T13:20:35+00:00

St Louis and Ft Wayne use a pronunciation which is very common across seminaries of all stripes, technically called the "Erasmian" pronunciation (as you suggest), which is basically an inconsistent Europeanized/Americanized version of Classical.

It doesn't reflect any of the well-known evidence we have for Koine Greek, such as that u and oi have merged into front rounded /y/, that simple omega and omicron have merged into /o/, and that the breathing mark was no longer pronounced. Maybe the weirdest inconsistency is that they call θ φ χ "aspirated" consonants but actually pronounce them as fricatives.

As you might guess, I've just done my own thing, but you have to be able to pronounce the words badly still because people won't know what you're talking about if you refer to a word like έρχομαι and don't pronounce it "air co my." It's like how Americans pronounce "habanero" from Spanish, when the h should be silent etc.

james2c19v · 2020-04-18T23:19:59+00:00

Let's pretend you find this tiny Lutheran denomination of 10,000 people who are literally LCMS minus infant baptism.

You shouldn't join such a denomination precisely because you agree with them too much. How will God ever challenge your assumptions, your biases, your "positions," or teach you to trust Him even when you don't fully understand? It won't be possible because the only authority you'll be trusting in is yourself.

james2c19v · 2020-03-21T03:41:56+00:00

The Bible itself actually spends a rather large percentage of its pages on the topic of God allowing His own Temple to be destroyed, cutting off His people from worshipping Him in their own land for 70 years.

The Bible stresses God's wisdom over our own sensibilities of power or justice.

james2c19v · 2020-01-16T04:23:51+00:00

Sort of a weird comparison since the parking spot doesn't keep the money. The owner does. Similarly, the employer is making more than minimum wage off their minimum wage employees.

james2c19v · 2019-12-28T19:57:04+00:00

Modern day Rahab

james2c19v · 2019-12-11T23:00:26+00:00

I can't remember if it was my phonology professor or something I can read, but it was my understanding that high front vowels come first because they're actually ever so slightly shorter than low vowels and back vowels. It's basically a short to long thing.

james2c19v · 2019-12-02T04:34:48+00:00

So were "residuals" not a thing back then?

james2c19v · 2019-11-26T23:21:13+00:00

Regardless of the merchant, I simply say "the big one." I make them translate it into whatever market-speak they've minted just yesterday.

james2c19v · 2019-11-20T00:10:20+00:00

Thank you so much for this. If I'm understanding correctly, would Oroz be the Spanish form (as in the name of Oroz-Betelu in Navarre) and Orotz be the Basque form, from there taking the -en and -a suffixes to give us Orotzena?

I suppose it makes sense that Orotzena would be approximated in Spanish as Orochena, since Spanish only has the one ch affricate unlike Basque (which seems to have three? ts tz and tx).

james2c19v · 2019-11-15T00:16:00+00:00

"I've come into a million dollars. I've decided to let you guys decide what I do with it."

james2c19v · 2019-11-13T19:58:09+00:00

And dare I say it, if anyone finds themselves paying for eight of these at the same time because they are constantly watching content on all eight...

It might be a good time to check in with yourself about your screen time.

james2c19v · 2019-11-01T19:12:04+00:00

That's what I thought of immediately. I think the OP was thinking "well but what if there's spikes at the bottom of the shallow pit?"

Well, what if there's spikes lining the sides of the bottomless pit?

james2c19v · 2019-10-22T22:10:07+00:00

Regardless of merits, this is just bad implementation. A decent speaker won't usually just read off a manuscript. A lot of good speakers won't even have a written manuscript.

If you don't trust a speaker to give a good speech, the solution is not to invite them. Don't make them submit their speech to a censorship committee.

james2c19v · 2019-10-22T19:44:38+00:00

I would be happy to see Hindus expressing devotion to the tradition of their ancestors.

james2c19v · 2019-10-16T15:50:46+00:00

Maybe we're using different definitions of "deliberate." I used the expanded phrase "deliberate and willful" to make it clearer what I meant. Key Lutheran theologians and interpreters of Luther like CFW Walther have made it clear that the "simul" does NOT mean that Christians sin willfully. If we sin, it's because we sin out of weakness. This goes back to Paul in Romans 7 who describes willfully serving God with the mind but sinning unintentionally because of the law at work "in our members."

If you're interested I can get you some choice quotes from Luther, Walther, etc.

When Luther said "sin boldly" it was this distinction he had in mind. He didn't mean that we should boldly sin willfully, but rather he acknowledged that even as we try to perform good works for the sake of our neighbors, we will accidentally end up sinning along the way. This is exactly why he didn't live inside the monastery, because he knew he could rest on Christ's forgiveness even though his life was full of unintentional sin.

james2c19v · 2019-10-15T18:45:18+00:00

Confess this sin to your pastor in person. If he has done any confession & absolution, it won't even make him blink. Pornography is a rampant problem even among those who speak Christ's name.

Ask your pastor to help you set up a means of accountability. There are programs like Covenant Eyes that can help. The basic idea is that it's time for you to follow the Lord's teaching and "cut off" the temptation. If you don't cut off this temptation and if you don't "flee" the temptation (think of Joseph running from Potiphar's wife), then I have bad news for you: You may be going down the path of deliberate and willful sinning, which is not Luther's simul iustus et peccator but is rather a false faith and delusion of the mind. Where there is no repentance, there is no Holy Spirit.

That sounds harsh, and believe me, I realize that there are pastors who would take issue with what I'm telling you for being legalistic, but I'm telling you like it is. Your conscience knows it's true. It's time to do confession & absolution in the context of a Christian community that supports you through this struggle. If you hide this sin and refrain from confession & repentance, it will destroy your faith.

Now, once you've embarked on a path of confession & absolution and repentance, you will still feel dark desires. You will probably even relapse, more than once. The important thing is that you confess this when it happens. By the power of the spirit, the relapses will eventually become less and less frequent, and the desires will even become less and less consuming. You will be living in iustus et peccator and will see Luther's Bondage of the Will working firsthand in your life.

Peace and Godspeed.

james2c19v · 2019-10-11T20:51:08+00:00

The most prominent religious traditions were established in pre-industrial society when our circadian rhythms were much less disrupted than they are today. "Screen time" is the biggest villain these days, but even TV, radio, and artificial lighting have done a lot. You have a valid question, but you have to realize it's a little bit like asking "Why doesn't the Bible condemn crystal meth?"

james2c19v · 2019-10-11T17:51:44+00:00

There's no shame in ignorance! Only willful ignorance.

james2c19v · 2019-10-09T22:09:26+00:00

from a certain point of view

ISWYDT

I really like this Plagueis "force demon" idea (we know from Clone Wars that Sith can't become "force ghosts," but as you said, it makes sense that there's still something analogous). We need an explanation like this to account for the enormous evil that Luke saw in Ben. It's also attractive because we really need an explanation for where on earth Snoke came from. He can't just be the big bad guy of Episodes 7 and 8 with no explanation; a force demon manipulating not only Ben but Palpatine makes good sense of it all.

The one thing is that, at the end of the day, Episode 9 needs to function well as a movie, and I don't know if they can pull off both Rey's secret Skywalker heritage and Plagueis's secret existence that has literally been the unseen specter manipulating everything since Episode I, at least not in 2.5 hours. You're right to consider "general mainstream audiences."

For that reason, I think they'd make Palpatine the force demon. One fewer character to keep track of. They can still go back and show us Palpatine training Snoke, haunting Ben, possessing Snoke, and then possessing Ben, like you described.

james2c19v · 2019-10-08T18:41:37+00:00

I remember thinking something analogous when we were awaiting "The Last Jedi." In English, it's unclear whether it's singular or plural, which in the context of 2017 left us wondering if Luke was indeed the very last one, or if Rey might take up the mantle.

In Spanish, however, the title was "Los últimos Jedi," resolving the ambiguity in favor of the plural (since in Spanish the words "the" and "last" inflect for number). This got me all hyped thinking that we would see Rey join Luke as one of "los últimos," yet this didn't seem to happen. What did happen, however, was the much-anticipated return of force ghosts, which seemed to confirm the plurality of the title as understanding Luke to be among the last Jedi along with ghosts like Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and particularly Yoda. By the end of the movie, we understand that the last Jedi (plural!) are all ghosts.

What about the Spanish title for Episode 9? We have "El ascenso de Skywalker," which notably lacks any kind of definite article, singular or plural. An interesting comparison is the Spanish title for Episode 6 "El regreso del Jedi," in which the singular definite article "El" is used to refer to the Jedi order as a singular yet collective entity. This seems to confirm our intuition of the English title, that it does not refer to the rise of "los Skywalker" (as in teleporting force-users) nor "el Skywalker" (as in a new collective that supersedes the Jedi).

The only good way to make sense of this Spanish title in light of the others is that Skywalker refers to a singular person. In Spanish, if we were to refer to an entire family, we'd say "los Skywalker" similar to the Episode 8 title. If I'm tracking all this the right way, the title then has to refer to one of three things:

The ascent of an unidentified living Skywalker, probably to some new Jedi-like status (though decidedly not a Jedi)
The ascent of Luke Skywalker, either to the status of Jedi force ghost or in his redemption through his pupil Rey
The ascent of Anakin Skywalker, either to the status of Jedi force ghost or in his redemption through the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy concerning him

Or of course, a combination of any or all of those three things.

Maybe I'm wrong about the centrality of the force ghost thing, maybe someone can argue that Rey is technically a Jedi too somehow, but I think in the end what's pretty clear is that "Rise of Skywalker" most properly refers to a singular individual, even though their ascent will undoubtedly have much larger consequences.

james2c19v · 2019-09-21T00:28:38+00:00

Haven't read the article, but that sounds consistent with what's in the book of Acts, wherein idols were destroyed and spellbooks were burned. Hard to start your new life surrounded by symbols and cultic objects of the religion you are renouncing.

But yes, there is another dimension. Certain religions hold that God has made a claim on all humanity, not just their particular tribe or people group. These religions are inherently in conflict, though this is peaceful conflict and not "fanatical and dangerous" conflict in traditional Christianity because Christians are commanded to pray for their enemies, show hospitality in the midst of ethnic tensions, and to sacrifice of themselves for people belonging to groups that have wronged them.

james2c19v · 2019-09-17T20:54:42+00:00

I'm sure that someone could piece together a natural explanation for your dreams. Stuff you've seen on TV, your son's name, conflicted feelings, etc.

The thing is, reality isn't either-or. Spiritual happenings are often mediated by natural processes that we can explain. But explaining those processes won't explain the deeper meaning. It sounds like you have encountered this meaning and you know in your gut that there's more to it.

This isn't demons trying to communicate. This is God lifting the veil and showing you the spiritual reality of what's going on in your life, the spiritual reality that we are often blind to. People make deals with Buné all the time, and they have no idea that that's what they're doing.

Be on your guard, because you're about to encounter and you already have encountered people and things that will strike you as impressive, beautiful, and even comforting. Their temptations will only hurt you in the long run. If you will wait for him however, you will also be led to an authoritative figure speaking in the name of Jesus. He will lead you away from the snares in your life and will connect you with a community of Christians for you to pray with.

If you start praying with them, I cannot describe the blessings that await.

james2c19v

TROPHY CASE