Comments

2004-11-7 04:53:00

Comments on your comments and questions.

John C made an excellent post on being born again that deserves to be in the archives. Let me quote (my comments follow):

I have been reading through the four Gospel the past week or so, and I came across many things I had not seen before.

There is a well-known scripture which has been hijacked by both the fundamentalists and the new agers who believe in reincarnation.

"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

Fundamentalists calls themselves "born again" to distinguish themselves from others. New agers claim that Jesus was teaching multiple lifetimes.

But, here is another meaning of the term "born again". The Greek word for "again" is "anothen", and it actually means:

from above, from a higher place
of things which come from heaven or God

from the first, from the beginning, from the very first

anew, over again

This same word is used in describing the temple veil which was rent from the top (anothen) to the bottom.

This same word is in James where he says every good gift and every perfect comes from above (anothen), from the Father of Lights.

A fuller translation might be "except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."

"Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top (anothen) throughout." John 19:23

Here is another thought. John was the first Aquarian Apostle. The rest were required to sacrifice their lives as martyrs (witnesses), but of John it was required to spend his lifetimes in service, as another kind of witness.

I think what John has brought out here is not so much a conflict in interpretations past, but an additional insight instead.

Remember that the words of the Spirit, or Eternal Words, often have a number of correct interpretations and correct applications.

Most Bibles do translate the phrase as "born again" but others use "born anew" or "born from above."

It is understandable why the phrase "born again" is the most common translation for when Nicodemus heard Jesus utter it he asked: "How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb?"

This tells us that when he heard these words he understood then to mean some type of rebirth. But the interesting thing about languages is that often there is not an exact translation from one to another. As is the case with many words this seems to have several meanings.

The phrase can definitely imply a new birth from above, or a spiritual rebirth, but it could also imply a physical rebirth as was understood by Nicodemus. In fact, all of us need physical rebirths to arrive at a final spiritual rebirth, so both interpretations go hand in hand.

Paul was speaking of the spiritual rebirth when he said: "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph 4:23-24

CG writes:

So does this mean that this Ancient Land is where Zion will be built? Or the first to be totally *free* in the World?

Zion will eventually be established in all parts of the earth. It is unlikely the Middle East will be first, but it will eventually have its turn as setting a spiritual example for the planet.

If we are successful in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is quite possible that they will soon have more freedom than we have in the United States and Europe.

CG:

Was this poem written a long time ago JJ? Or did you write it yesterday?

I wrote it a couple days ago.

Rain writes:

We have made a slight addition to the welcome letter. Item 5 now asks that every person limit themselves to only one OT post per day.

Several have commented that we would miss some interesting material if this rule is followed.

I think the basic thing is to follow the spirit of the rule which is basically to not post excessive amounts of off topic material. This especially applies to antagonistic posters who are seeking to create diversion. Sometimes we'll let an off beat post through, but we must reject them if they seem to be created an unwanted diversion.

John C sometimes posts several OTs per day, but even his off topic posts are usually supportive of the general direction of the class and in some cases the OT could be left off.

I hereby declare (an advantage of being the teacher) that Brian's quote of the day is approved and on topic. Any comments on the quote also do not need an OT.

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)