Re: Engineering Environment

From: John Woodgate (jmw_at_jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk)
Date: 09/16/04 

Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 20:02:00 +0100

I read in sci.electronics.design that Clarence <No@No.Com> wrote (in
<ezk2d.16273$QJ3.13616@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>) about 'Engineering
Environment', on Thu, 16 Sep 2004:

>There was no reference to the level of the local or personal economy,
>only the marriage status of the daughter.

Oh, come on! The original texts have been handed down orally, shredded,
composted, altered by knaves to make a trap for fools, translated badly
into several languages in series. You practically have to take each
sentence as if it were in isolation, and even then you find translation
errors. It wasn't a 'camel' that had an abortive encounter with a needle
but a 'rope'.
>
>I see you dodged the facts again. If you disapprove you explain it is
>too complex for anyone but a Priest or minister to understand.

I have NEVER held, let alone expressed, that opinion. I form my own
views on what any text means, including, but not exclusively, those in
the Bible.

> So it
>doesn't mean what it says? (I do agree.)

Some things don't mean what they say in *English* because the text has
been corrupted over several thousand years. Other are very possibly
ambiguous in the original language. Some may even be puns. Remember how
telling Jewish humour can be? Well, that wasn't invented in Yiddish;
it's been around for about 5000 years, in Hebrew and an assortment of
other languages. As a dilettante translator, I can tell you that it can
be impossible to render a joke into another language, and puns are
usually impossible to translate; in fact it's a remarkable event if
someone finds a translatable one! Here is one that happened to me:

A young friend looked out on the November evening and commented 'Il fait
du grenouille.' This was a brave attempt at 'Il fait du brouillard' -
'It is foggy'. What he actually said is (roughly) 'It is froggy.'
>
>Actually slavery was legal when the bible was adopted. They didn't
>object to being enslaved.

When WHO 'adopted' the Bible? (And I don't mean the World Health
Organization, or any old Time Lord.)
>
> But it is hardly humane to sell your children!

It may be, if the alternative is that both you and they starve. Consider
the story of King Cophetua. It's not just a soppy story; that sort of
thing happened in former times. It can still happen today.

> BTW: A local Priest said that the Bible is the "Perfect Unerring word
>of God"

There are some sects that claim that. Even among the majority of
Christian and Jews, they are considered to be mistaken.

>you seem to disagree by suggesting that it contains errors which
>are show most
>clearly by quoting it?

I'm quite prepared to quote the good bits as well as the rubbish and the
bits that contain textual errors, especially if I can find evidence to
support a substantive correction of the error. Remember, please, that I
*defended* the advice to 'sell your ugly daughter' as being fully
justified in some circumstances.

> Is this wise?

I hope so. There is no proof.

> Do you know more than the Priest?

Probably. Depends on which one you have in mind.

> Does God speak to you personally?

Which god? Does a god need to use speech? How do I know if a god is
communicating with me through the pain in my neck that tells me I've
been at the computer too long? 

-- 
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. 
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

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