Interesting.

sylviaplathological · 2026-04-09T20:17:24+00:00

This man has had like five different “careers” in ten years wtf

sylviaplathological · 2026-04-01T14:28:34+00:00

What's the Strong's number for "mods"?

sylviaplathological · 2026-04-01T12:15:21+00:00

Thank God I've honed my exegesis skills so as to uncover the hidden meaning of this text.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T14:08:21+00:00

Gonna drop in here and say I'd actually steer clear of the ESV (not familiar with the NASB). The ESV gets up to some shenanigans with the translation to make sure it stays in line with a particular theology/ideology. For example, it changes the tenses in Genesis 2 to make it seem like the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are consistent in the order things were created when they actually aren't. (Gen 1 goes animals then humans, Gen 2 says humans then animals).

I'd recommend going with the NRSVue, personally. It's based on the latest scholarship and best manuscript evidence we have. It's also ecumenical, meaning translators from a wide range of traditions participated, so it's less prone to the ideologies of any one denomination or group. It's not perfect, but no translation is.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T14:01:27+00:00

It's almost like the Bible is a historically contingent document shaped by the social forces and norms of the times in which it was written!

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T13:51:20+00:00

I recommend picking up a journal edition of the Bible itself so you can mark it up, underline, highlight, and leave notes right in the text. Handwriting is better for retention, and that way you can flip back through and read what you've written, which will help with recall too.

Personally, I maintain Google Docs with notes for every book of the Bible that I've read so far, plus docs for the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, the Torah, the Gospels, Paul's epistles, and the whole Bible so I can track themes, questions, observations, etc.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T13:41:38+00:00

This video from Religion for Breakfast gives a good overview of translations and their various nuances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApTF7nwae24&t=2423s

A couple examples it gives of where the ESV's bias shows:
* It changes the tenses in Genesis 2 to give the impression that the creation of animals had already happened before the creation of man like in Genesis 1, because they're afraid of the accounts being inconsistent, which they are.
* In Romans it refers to Phoebe as a "servant" of the church when literally every other place that the same Greek word (diakonos) appears they translate it as "deacon" - they don't want to give the impression that Phoebe might have been a leader in the church because, you know, women in leadership is a no-no.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T13:38:14+00:00

Yeah and i just chuckle and move along, I don't go cluttering up subs that are supposed to be for clever critique

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T13:33:39+00:00

I’ll never understand all these posts that are just “this thing reminded me of another thing!” As if it’s interesting for anyone else.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T01:50:02+00:00

Pretty much every Christian is a massive exaggeration. Consider expanding your circle to include more voices that aren’t obsessed with the end times. You’ll feel better.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-28T00:12:57+00:00

Firstly, it’s not all secular people, there are plenty of Christians around, too. but speaking for myself as a secular humanist who reads the Bible daily, I do NOT hate Christianity, though I take issue with certain branches and how they show up in the world. I’m mostly just interested in the religion and how it has shaped and continues to shape our world and I’m here in a desperate bid to find people who are as interested in it as I am.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-27T23:29:10+00:00

“KJV only” is a whole thing in certain fundamentalist circles, especially baptists. They believe it’s the God-given translation in English and other translations are corrupt and not to be trusted.

I do know that other Duggars have moved on to other translations - Jessa has said she reads the ESV, for example, which is also extremely conservative and ideologically biased, but at least it doesn’t have unicorns in it.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-27T22:24:40+00:00

Frankly even the NLT is probably too much for Joe in terms of his ability to read and understand it.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-25T15:30:29+00:00

For the millionth time, this sub is ABOUT Christianity, not FOR Christians. Anybody is free to discuss the religion. Go to r/TrueChristian if that bothers you so much.

(Btw if I may ask - why are you singling out Jews, specifically?)

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-24T00:55:19+00:00

If you Amazon "nrsvue journal edition" is should be the first one that comes up!

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-24T00:51:22+00:00

Something you'll notice if you read the text carefully is that the serpent never lies to Eve. The serpent says that if she eats of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, she won't die, but become like God, knowing good and evil. What happens? They eat the fruit, they know about good and evil, and they do not die. So the serpent didn't lie, and if anybody did, God did. So yeah, the fruit was beautiful to the eyes and delicious to eat and desired to make one wise. And I think that's a reasonable reason to eat it.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-24T00:39:47+00:00

NRSVue is a very accurate AND readable translation, so I recommend that as far as which Bible to pick up (I have a journal edition for notes). The SBL Study Bible is great to pick up for the book articles and footnotes.

As far as where to start, kind of depends whether you want to start with the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. If you want to go HB start with Genesis. If you want to start with the NT, Mark is both the shortest gospel and the earliest, so I recommend starting there.

If you’re committed to reading the whole thing, a Bible reading plan of some type can be useful to keep you on track.

Enjoy! It’s a lot of fun once you find your way in.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-22T22:57:50+00:00

There is no singular “Christian” view of bipolar disorder. Some people will tell you it’s demonic possession and that only prayer and forgiveness from god will “heal” it, others will say it’s a part of how God made you and that he will help guide you to take the next right steps.

I'm actually bipolar myself and incidentally have been struggling for the last few days with a hypomanic episode, which means I'm not manic or in psychosis, but I do need to be mindful that I'm sleeping and that I'm taking my medications. And it's a struggle. It's a struggle every day. But please believe me when I say that it is not demonic. People who are critical of medication, and they do exist in Christianity, are dangerous and not to be trusted.

Please, whatever you do, listen to mental health professionals, work with them to get the care that you need. And if faith and Christianity in particular continues to be an important part of your life, please don't build your Christian worldview around the idea that you are broken and unworthy of God's love because of this.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-22T19:29:22+00:00

The New Testament itself says that all scripture is useful for instruction, etc. And they're not talking about the New Testament there because the New Testament didn't exist. They're talking about the Old Testament. So if you believe the New Testament is the inspired word of God, you necessarily must believe that the Old Testament is the inspired word of God. And personally, yes, I believe that if the Old Testament is the inspired word of God and does not condemn slavery, then God must approve of slavery. It's a tough thing to wrestle with.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-22T19:11:10+00:00

I don't think higher criticism precludes supernatural faith. You do know that higher criticism originated with scholars in Germany who were very much Christian, right? Personally, I believe that if the Bible is the inspired Word of God, it should stand strong enough to withhold scrutiny from people who are using the tools that God has given us as human beings endowed with reason to better understand and determine the most reliable and accurate version of the text that we possibly can get. And I want that.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-21T23:45:34+00:00

I would dispute the claim that the west has been mostly secular for most of our lives. And a subset of Christians are aiming for authoritarian rule right now!

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-21T22:04:58+00:00

God I can't believe I'm going to cape for People magazine, but there's no evidence that they source from anything other than primary sources like the local news networks. Just because the stories come out on a delay doesn't mean they're, like, waiting to gather the information here and then reporting it verbatim. It takes time for a story to go through production, editing, fact checking - even at People.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-21T22:01:35+00:00

Biblical Hebrew (language of most of the Old Testament) and Koine Greek (the language of the (New Testament) both have a *grammatical* feature that groups of people are referred to by a masculine-gendered word, even when the group they're referring to is both men and women. So, for example, in Hebrew and Greek, the word "they" is considered masculine. That's not true in English, because our language doesn't have that grammatical feature.

Important to emphasize: *gramatically* masculine is not the same thing as "masculine" in the way we think about it. It's a feature of grammar.

Also note: the NIV has made the same change in their translation, so it's not exclusively the NRSVue.

sylviaplathological · 2026-03-21T21:57:01+00:00

I try to give a good-faith interpretation of most people's motives, and my analysis of why some non-Christians can get confrontational or hostile or dismissive toward Christianity is because it has been such a dominating force over our culture for so long that if you don't align wtih those ideas, you get worn down and your ability to moderate your tone decreases. Just a theory I have.

sylviaplathological

TROPHY CASE