gaijin178 said:
I emailed my buddy again about this topic. I am going to post what he responded. Kasey, you can call it hearsay if you like. I am not a Christian, so I am doing the best that I can to get you Christian information to prove that you are wrong and completely misguided. If I gave you Buddhist information, you wouldn't listen to that because you don't believe in that. So, I am going to post my friends response, who is a Christian and who had Graduate degrees in Religion and Christianity. Here you go.
Of course
Enjoy:
"...first of all he uses widely well known mainstream lexicons and sources, nothing super scholarly about them, ask him to parse out the section from the original hebrew if he's such an expert, and to parse each noun, furthermore have him site several commentaries from Word Biblical, ect.
Thats right, widely known, which means that they have been verified and authenticated time and time again by people who were experts and seperate times that didnt even know each other.
I dont site "commentaries", or people's opinion, I cite fact. Strong's Concordance and Gesenius' Hebrew-chaldee lexicon are dictionaries, not commentaries. This is not the Babylonian Talmud of Judaism, but the Hebrew text.
Also his arguement really isn't saying much about the text either. To begin with, lets look at the context. The text is dealing with levitical Priests who had much higher regulations than even the common man, tell him to look at the leviticus and read through the high standards of even hair cuts. If you look at why they should not marry outside their race its because they "defile the priesthood" (verse 29). Furthermore, in dealing with Solomon, he also was a leader but the texdt said that the reason the foreign women were bad was because they made him sin "(verse 26) But in any case, the truth is this text does not call out the nature of other races as inferior. Because the author is stating that foreign women has lead spiritual leaders astray. It never states that intrinsically the other races of the world are evil, clearly he couldn't use the mongrol argument, otherwise what does he do with Paul's mission to the gentiles in the New Testament, or Jesus not only breaking down racial lines but also freedom levels between men and women. It makes no sense for Paul to say My mission is to the gentiles, Christ died for them, but oh yeah..don't marry them, that my friend is what is retarded.
First of all, I never said the other races were evil, I said AND showed that you are not to marry outside your race. Secondly, this individual has given no credible evidence concerning The Strong's COncordance and Gesenius' hebrew-chaldee which specifically state on the back that these were intended for those without expert Hebrew knowledge to be able to discern what the original text stated.
In addition, he has NO basis whatsoever to say that those statutes explicetly concern the Levitical Priesthood System. That system was associated with ceremonial washings and oblations and animal sacrifices, not ethical and moral laws. The context of the book of Hebrews as well as Exodus 24:3 proves this.
In addition, the passage in Nehemiah is not talking about those laws concerning interracial marriage are explicetly for the priethood system itself as Nehemiah 13:29 is talking about those people in verse 28! Those priests were the ones that defiled the priesthood system, its not talking about the Laws themselves as being part of the prieshood. This guy is totally off his rocker. He says that I should look at the context when the context is plainly wrong? Can this guy read or what?
Furthermore, if this guy is an expert, he would have addressed the Hebrew word "ereb" in Nehemiah 13:3 and tried to show on how it doesnt mean a "mongrel" race as these two sources explicetly say it does. He would have addressed "strange" in Nehemiah 13:27, which is "nokriy" and it means an alien, foreign, out-landish, NON-RELATIVE individual. He would have addressed the context of Adam and Eve no being the first people on earth and he would have addressed Leviticus 19:19, all of which, including Nehemiah and Ezra, show that I am right.
He didnt address any of this, just like you and the majority of other people who have responded. Therefore, what he is saying cannot be taken seriously until he would actually step up to the plate and address the passages that I have mentioned specifically as well as the Hebrew text.
Third, we are not dealing with what the New Testament states at this time, we are dealing with the Laws of God and the Hebrew text, so, he stick to the subject matter and if he would like, I would discuss the New Testament as a later time.
Furthermore, if he reads anything about covenental nomism (tell him to Read James Dunn, N.T. Wright, and E.P. Sanders on this subject) it will inform him about how God was trying to keep the Jewish nation pure to keep their ideology from extention and pave the way for the coming Messiah. If Israel could have been kept pure from Foreign women he would have ok'd it, because interracial marriages would be more than fully supported by God. This is fundamental Christianity, evangelical, not presenting a Nazi Christ.
I dont read people's "opinion". I read Lexicons and Study Aids from the Experts on the original text. I read Strong's Concordance, Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblew words and guess what - Two Hebrew-Greek-English Interliniaries.
Aside from this, he is talking about Judeo-Christianity, not the BIble, there is a big difference.
Hope this helps, I can get mad info on a more scholoarly level if this is what you want, but all this guy is quoting is Strongs Concordence, u can pick that up at starbucks, tell him to parse the straight Hebrew if he's such a scholar, and tell him not to copy it from the interlinear. lol
Peace and Blessings..."
How about all the other sources I mentioned? Did he go to college to read about what people say about the Bible, or the BIble itself? In addition, how does he get around the fact that Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon supports this as well in ADDITION to Hebrew-Greek-English interliniaries?
How about "you" tlel this individual to address Nehemiah 13:3 and Nehemiah 13:27 concerning the Hebrew words "ereb" and "nokriy" and on how they BOTH prove my case to be correct? In addition, have him address the fact that Adam and Eve were not hte first people on earth?