Bible Code... Fact or Fiction?

[jarhead]

Ahhh, Salmon on the grill. First use of the grill for me as well this season on Friday. But, I had a full tank of gas put on.

I wrapped the salmon filet with a sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with Pam vegitable oil. Had the grille pre-heated to 375 degrees, and put the foil wrapped fish on the grille and shut the lid. After 12 minutes, I turned it over, and gave it another 12 minutes.

Un-wrapped the beast, and poured an Orange-Mango sauce over it, and served it up just like that. No other spice except some lemon wedges.

It was done Perfect (cut it with just a fork) and it was maaaaaavelous!

 

[Dash8]

orange mango huh?

i'm a big fan of dill sauce for salmon personally

 

[jarhead]

Actually what it is, is Curried Mango Grille Sauce. The "orange" is just its color. Made by an outfit called Stonewall Kitchen.

Go to their web bage, www.stonewallkitchen.com and you can find a retailer near your own zip code. It's fantastic on salmon, and pork ribs. I like the Dill sauce also

 

[HAZ-MAT]

http://www.91x.com/timages/page/media/rick_james_3.mp3

This is as religious as i get here......

 

[Super 80]

Super80 how would you respond to the tenet of 'transubstantiation' where the Catholics believe that through the Eucharist, the act of Communion, that the bread and wine do in fact become the body and blood and Christ.

I thought I answered that before. To be emphatically clear, I am not a practicing Roman Catholic and never have partaken of Mass at a Roman Catholic Church.

Not just figuratively but literally.

I suppose it's just a matter of faith isn't it?

See, this is really a problem for me. How can you pick and choose what concepts in the Bible are literal (Christ rising from the dead) and what concepts are figurative (the bread isn't *really* His flesh).

The way I see it (saw it) you either accept the Bible at it's word or you don't.

I think when you look to how a word is used in the Bible, or how to interpret a verse, you have to look at several different elements that go into that word, verse or even passage.

General Rules of Interpretation / questions to ask to discern meaning:

• Who is speaking? The author (none of the Old Testament books have a definite author and some of the New Testament as well) is not always the speaker. At times, God’s own Voice; His Voice when speaking through the prophets; and the Word of God as delivered by an Angel / Man in Linen is the speaker.

• Who is the intended audience? What is said by a Levite Priest has different applicability when directed at the pagan nations surrounding Israel than it would to the nation of Israel. See the Zondervan study notes to Psalm 46:1-10)

• What is the context of the passage? How does the verse fit in with it? If symbolic, as with trees, how does the verse fit within the context of Scripture where trees denote nations/lineages?

• What are the customs and culture of the time the passage was written? Does the cultural mores of a time dictate the confines under which a verse can be said to be true? Does knowing that sheep herders and women were not considered reliable witnesses in a Jewish Court in the first century reflect on God’s wisdom to reveal His Son’s birth and resurrection and His characterization of Man’s wisdom as folly? (How would a Hebrew sheep herder before Christ describe a battle tank?)

• What is the original language? Is there more than one possible translation from the Hebrew to the English as is often the case? Shades of meaning do not necessarily contradict an interpretation, but may be thought of as adding layers of meaning to enrich a word. What is the voice and mood in the Greek for a verb, or the case for a noun? Considering these will narrow the meaning or enlarge the possible meanings with multiple shades.

1. Now here the Speaker is Jesus.

2. His audience is the Disciples, which will soon constitute the core of His Church.

3. The context is the Passover Meal, on the eve of Christ's crucifixion. Jesus has been preparing His Disciples for this final week of His ministry during the last year of His ministry, and they have just completed a tour of Israel which literally was their finishing course.

The meal itself is full of symbolism. Each element symbolizes some aspect of slavery versus freedom. Even the bread Jesus breaks to start the meal, and the hidden half used in remembrance of Him has significance in a symbolic sense. Besides the name for it as the Bread of Salvation, it is unleavened. This harkens back symbolically to the haste in which the Hebrews leaving Egypt had to consume their bread. In fact, a great deal is made of removing all yeast from the Jewish home in this time period in preparation for the high Holy week of the Passover as it is symbolic of sin.

Does this mean that by removing yeast and yeast products, such as beer, wine, and normally baked bread that we could remove sin from our lives? No, of course not. But symbolically, this Bread used in the Passover Meal does not have any sin attached to it by the absence of the use of yeast, just as our Savior did not sin.

Now when speaking about bread, we must remember that Jesus has already used Bread in a figurative sense to denote 'teachings.' When He said to beware the bread of the Pharisees it was not because they were also bakers. In John, Jesus calls Himself the bread that has come down from Heaven and the 'living bread.' Clearly, Jesus did not turn Himself into a loaf of Sunbeam's finest. So we have to allow that bread can be used in a figurative sense.

4. One of the customs of this period is language in storybook fashion. In fact, in the last week as Jesus' teaching becomes more intense, one of the Disciples says; "Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech." We as Western, post-Renaissance, scientific men and women tend to deal in absolutes and exact definitions. Our lives are much to fast-paced to enjoy the luxury of a good yarn. But these people are operating in a much simpler time, a time when all work and movement is done by muscle power and if you want to have light, you need a flame. While we think of how rough life would be without indoor plumbing, they could not understand the constant pressure and how much we insulate and isolate ourselves from our neighbors.

5. The original language was probably Aramaic. There is at first glance nothing significant about the Greek. But as with Hebrew, Aramaic along with the other Semitic languages uses picture words to convey their meaning. While Hebrew is a totally un-technical language in which to convey all of creation, It also makes a great and rich language for storytelling. Picture words like calling James and John "Sons of Thunder" lets us know how bold they were, how quick to put up a reply and how loud. It does not mean they were born during a storm.

So all in all, there is ample evidence for equating bread in a figurative manner. In fact, if Jesus committed no sin, then He could not have eaten the Bread which He said was His flesh, since that would break the dietary law.

 

[mar]

Timebuilder and Super80

Thank you for your replies.

I'd like to respond later after I've had some rest. (Long day)

In short: Super80 I'm well aware you're not a Catholic.

I am a former Catholic and as such, when I practiced, I was put off by people's personal interpretation of the Bible.

The direction I'm coming from is that it's just a little too convenient to say, well here, this is literal, but over here, this figurative.

It's either the word of God or not.

I'll plant that seed (figuratively speaking), get some rest and hopefully fill out the rest of my position later.

Til then.