Read James C wrote:
I think it is possible to find books which support just
about every thought in the world conceivable. But it is clear
from the ancient writings what their opinions were on these
things, whether a person accepts them as authentic or not.
Putting magic overtones on the declaration which was clearly
directed to the El $aDai of the hebrew bible is ludicrous at
best and can only be entertained by lovers of controversy.
That is certainly true. Even the position which suggests that the red
letter bible contains the very words, in king james english, that jesus
spoke. Further, that Acts has to say that christians (!) took their
magical books and burned them means at least two things- 1) there were
christians who HAD magic books and used them, and 2) they were led to a
better understanding of prayer then they previously held (which means
that previously they held that prayer and magic were interrelated).
Acts itself proves my contention.
From hholmyard AT ont.com Fri Jul 22 15:52:32 2005Return-Path: <hholmyard AT ont.com>
Well, there are several apparently Aramaic words recorded in
transliteration in Mark's gospel, e.g. TALIQA in 5:41 and SABACQANI in
15:34 (Q = theta, C = chi), and an apparently Hebrew one, ELWI = Elohi
in 15:34 (W = omega). Translations into Greek are given for all of them,
just as for "Abba". One interpretation is that Jesus was always speaking
Aramaic. Another is that Jesus was normally speaking Hebrew which was
translated into Greek, and the few Aramaic words preserved are preserved
to show their distinctively Aramaic nature.
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