105. Translating the Bible – Is the Greek Right? with Duncan Palmer

About this Episode

Have you ever considered how the subtle nuances of ancient Greek can reshape our understanding of biblical scriptures? Well get ready, because in this episode Craig welcomes back Duncan Kerry Palmer to dissect his thought-provoking article, "Political Power and the Connotation Conspiracy." The conversation delves into the complex relationship between Christianity and state authority, with a particular emphasis on the impact of ancient Greek language on biblical scripture interpretation.

The podcast reveals how the translation of words such as 'exousia' and 'hupotaso' from Greek to English can drastically change meanings from 'authority' to 'power' and 'obey' to 'align with.' These linguistic transformations shed new light on well-known scriptures like Romans 13 and Acts 5:29, prompting a reevaluation of Christian perspectives on government, law enforcement, and societal roles.

Palmer provides anecdotes from his biweekly theological debates, adding depth to the discussion on how these subtle linguistic changes can impact Christian views on governance and societal roles. The dialogue is as rich as the cigars enjoyed during those fraternal exchanges, emphasizing the importance of humility and the acknowledgment that our understanding of absolute truth may be more fragile than we'd like to admit.

Listeners are challenged to critically examine scripture and question long-held beliefs, embracing the journey towards a deeper understanding of God's word. The episode concludes with an exploration of the controversial issue of translation conspiracies and their impact on Christian doctrines, particularly in relation to the alleged divine sanctioning of governmental authority. As they grapple with convenient passages like "render unto Caesar," the hosts encourage believers to reconsider what they've been taught. This episode is not only informative but also encourages transformative engagement with faith and politics. Tune in and be prepared to have your perspectives challenged and potentially reshaped.

Connect with Duncan Cary Palmer:

• Social Community: Peakd.com 

• Blog: Hive Blog

• Duncan’s email: creator@sidefire.com

Episode Timestamps:

Timestamps:

01:02 Christian-State Relationships

• Duncan Kerry Palmer's article "Political Power and the Connotation Conspiracy"

• Impact of translation on scripture interpretation, conspiracy possibility in translations.

• Updates on biweekly theological discussions.

• Engaging in debates, acknowledging limited understanding.

02:04 Scripture Through Translation

• Understanding scripture beyond face value translations.

• Potential for translation errors to influence interpretations.

05:02 Modern-Day Pharisees and Wisdom

• Concept of modern-day Pharisees, wisdom with age.

• Humility continued learning in understanding scripture.

07:07 Connotation in Translation

• Challenges faced by translators, subtle meaning shifts.

• Translation leads to misconceptions about divinely sanctioned powers.

• Importance of critical analysis of biblical language.

15:30 Greek Words in Scripture

• Biblical Greek nuances, influence on scriptural concepts of authority and submission.

• Significance of consistent word usage for understanding.

• Mistranslations of "exousia" and "hupotaso", importance of context.

28:43 Biblical Terminology

• Directive to "make disciples of all nations", misinterpretation related to converting governments.

• Personal anecdote about a speeding ticket, reaction to authoritative language.

• Difference between persuasion and command in leadership.

42:56 God's Government Through His Assembly

• Concept of governance, spiritual authority from a Christian perspective.

• Biases in translation and interpretation, the word "Ecclesia."

• Scripture implications for Jesus' role as a ruler, governance through the church.

54:16 Translation Conspiracies in Christianity

• Misuse of scripture to justify statism, complacency in accepting interpretations.

• Acceptance of out-of-context verses need for deeper scripture study.

• Potential influence of translation committees on skewing original text meanings.

10:02 Lost in Translation

• "Connotation stack up" effect on scriptural interpretation.

• Stacking translations misleading readers about biblical instructions.

21:24 Romans 13 and Governing Authorities

• Interpretation issues surrounding Romans 13, historical context.

• Critical difference between "submit" and "obey" in scripture.

24:14 Christianity and Politics

• Relationship between Christianity and politics, scriptural translation.

• Role of political authority in relation to faith.

36:43 Untranslated Greek Words in the Bible

• Presence of untranslated Greek words in the Bible, implications for understanding.

• Translating certain Greek terms for clarity in Christian doctrine.

42:56 Government, Church, and Satan's Kingdom

• Secular nation-states as "fiefdoms of Satan."

• Governance, spiritual authority through the church vs secular entities.

47:06 Power and Authority of Christ

• True power, authority of Christ vs earthly rulers.

• Recognition of Jesus as the one true King, rejection of secular authority figures.

53:03 Frustration With Christian Statism

• Frustration with Christians accepting statist interpretations of scripture.

• Active effort in studying scripture for discerning true message.

01:00:59 Explore Duncan’s Work

• Reading articles on Peakd.com or his Hive Blog

• Duncan’s email: creator@sidefire.com

• Engagement with content, resources for deeper understanding.

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46. Who is your God? with ian minielly

Former Green Beret Ian Minielly joins us in this episode to talk about Christians and the military. Ian joined the army after college because he didn’t have a better direction for his life. After many years, he became a Christian and chose not to reenlist. Ian now serves as a Southern Baptist Pastor and has written several books about different issues, and encourages young Southern Baptist church kids not to join the military.

As Christians, we are called to love, not kill. Ian has seen firsthand how the work our military does is not accomplishing any good; it is harming innocent people -- both the foreign nationals and the US soldiers. He is a Southern Baptist pastor now and works to change people’s perspective on the state and how it relates to Jesus and the church.

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Timestamps:

2:50 How Ian got here

•   Didn’t like the life timeline presented to him

  • Career, 2 marriages, retirement, pain, death

  • So, he joined the army

    • Infantry → Green Beret

    • Found Jesus

      • Told Him, “If my unit doesn’t kill a soul this deployment, I will not re-enlist.”

        • They didn’t kill a soul.

      • Went to seminary (for free)

      • Now in full-time ministry

8:50 War

• “What we're doing has nothing to do with what Jesus asked us to do… He didn't ask us, he commanded us to love our neighbor. That includes not killing them, I would suppose, right?” -Craig

• What the military does overseas has nothing to do with Jesus

  • In fact, they command you to not share Him with anyone while you’re deployed

    • So, Ian left a box of sermon tapes with a local contact at the end of one deployment

15:42 Guns

• Passivism

• Craig bought a gun to shoot intruders, but now, only shoots recreationally

  • “That’s not an invitation for anybody to come and give me any trouble. I’ll give you a hug. I’m not gonna shoot you, but I’ll give you a hug.” - Craig

• Ian is a militant pacifist

  • “I'm not going to kick in your door and shoot you, but I might shoot you if you kick mine in.” - Ian

    • Unless you’re just stealing

• Argument: I’m being violent toward my family members if I let someone else attack them

  • “If somebody comes to try and mess with my cats, we're going to have a problem. I'm not gonna shoot you, but we're gonna wrestle.” - Craig

  • You can harm someone without killing them

    • Martial arts

    • Break their arm

    • Stop them from harming others, but do not kill

21:03 The Violence of Government

• Love your neighbor

  • It’s not loving to put somebody bad in charge of them

    • US government is repeatedly guilty of mass murderer

    • Everyone thinks their side is the lesser of two evils

      • They’re both evil.

22:27 Jesus is the Epitome of Everything a Bad Roman Wants to Be

• “When the Messiah shows up and he is nothing like what they are looking for, they totally miss him because they’re looking for majesty and a big white horse and a crown and a sword. And he shows up wearing flip flops and a robe and saying, ‘Love your neighbor.’” -Ian

• 5 Controversies

  • 22:45 1. Jesus forgives and heals a lame man (Mark 2:1-12)

    • Only God has the authority to forgive sins

      • He proved He had the authority by healing

        • If Jesus is God, that means He’s the Messiah

          • If He’s the Messiah, that means He wasn’t there to conquer and give the Jews power

          • He was giving the Kingdom to the lowly

          • His goal was not to glorify the religious leaders

          • American Christians would gladly crucify Him today, just as the Jews did then

  • 26:43 Sidetrack: Do we love our neighbors?

    • We hear that preached all the time, but has it actually clicked?

    • Do even love Jesus?

    •  We love Jesus as if he in the state are equal partners

      • We've lost our first love

    • Church attendance and baptism numbers are low

    • Most pastors are thrilled to have our troops deployed

      •  Ian is a unicorn

  • 28:13 2. Jesus associates with sinners (Mark 2:13-17)

    • Pharisees wonder if a righteous man can do that because he’d get soiled

      • Christians today act the same way

        • Churches rejecting gay people

      • Jesus hung out with

        • Gay people

        • Prostitutes

        • Druggies

    • Where can we hear the Word of God preached without hate?

    • What people do is none of my business. I've been instructed to love 

    • Much of the church outside the Jewish community started out practicing homosexuality as part of their religious life

      • If the church had always blocked out gay people from entering, there would not be a church today

    • Southern Baptist churches would not perform a gay wedding, but they welcome anyone of any lifestyle in the door

      • If they're not allowed in the church to hear the Word, how are they going to find Jesus?

      • The Pharisees kept those people away

        • Their power depended on division

          • They had to make the distinction that they were better than others

          • Very little faith involved

        • Jesus ate with them

          • They heard His message because He saw them

    • Another example: Woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11)

      • Pharisees test Jesus

        • The Law says to stone her to death

        • Jesus asks whoever has never sinned to throw the first stone

          • They all walk away

        • He tells the lady she’s forgiven and to stop sinning

          • Clean slate

          • Even when we do it again, we get another clean slate and encouragement to try again

          • He forgives every single type of sin

          • Other people’s sins are none of our business

  • 37:30 3. Jesus’ disciples aren’t fasting (Mark 2:18-22)

    • Pharisees point it out so people will see Him as a bad Jew

    • Fasting was a very visible practice

      • Makes one look righteous

    • Jesus says they’re not fasting because He is with them

      • They’ll fast when He leaves

      • We’re in a fast from Jesus, waiting for His return

  • 40:00 4. Keeping the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)

    • Pharisees tried to make Jesus look unworthy because He and His followers weren't keeping the Sabbath rules

    • Jesus showed them at the Sabbath is a gift to man, not about rule-following

    • They had taken God's rules and elevated them above God

      • The Sabbath is meant to help us grow closer to God

  • 41:25 5. Doing good on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6)

    • Jesus healed the man with the crippled hand

      • Violated the regulations

    • It's always the right time to do good

      • You don't take a Sabbath from doing good

      • It's never time to do wrong

  • Making the world a better place is simple: just love each other

43:27 Churches are empty because we’ve made the state the highest god

• God gets relegated to Sundays and maybe Wednesdays

• Nobody wants to believe in Somebody that we don’t actually believe in

• Faithfulness to God almost always means we won't be faithful to the government

• We essentially have a national church because we back up everything the United States government does

  • People can't see (or won't admit) that everything it does is evil

  • They support the troops

• The five controversies basically boil down to this: Where do you put the state/your governing authority and where do you put God?

45:53 Connection between church and military

• Southern Baptist churches are the number one biggest supporter of the military

  • They believe it honorable to send their kids to fight overseas

  •  Why are they the strongest supporters? 

    • What are they hearing in Sunday School? 

    • What is going wrong with the way we pray and preach?

    • Why do they want to send their kids over to fight people who don't even want to fight us?

• If only Air Force planes dropped Bibles instead of bombs

• Helping kids decide not to join the military

  • Only one Ian talked to still signed up

  • Telling them the statistics of divorces, alcoholism, and infidelity among military spouses

  • Proving that our governments never been right about anything, and killing the people they tell you to won't accomplish anything

    •  Where did we get the right to go into another country and kill people?

51:01 Who are we fighting?

• Afghani villagers came across American troops and thought they must be Russian. They didn't know anything about 9-11 or even where New York was

  • Do the Christians supporting these wars understand that the people in these countries have nothing to do with what we’re supposedly fighting about?

    • We're destroying their land, and they've never even heard of us

  • Our troops traveled around and millions of dollars of equipment with guns pointing in all directions from their tanks

    • The only people around were unarmed villagers wearing flip-flops and simple robes who just wanted to sit around and enjoy life

  • Many suicide bombers were coerced into doing it

    •  Oftentimes, their families were tied up at gunpoint

    • OR They are angry because the Americans killed their family, so they are getting revenge

• God is everywhere in Afghanistan

  •  but will those people ever accept Jesus since He's associated with our country?

  •  Will they ever listen to an evangelist?

57:35 DHS is a terrible part of the government

• Carlos Morales used to work for CPS; now speaks against them

  • Legally Kidnapped book

• Ian’s book about his foster daughter

59:15 Ian’s other books

• Revoked Consent

  • Story about fighting the government and winning

• The Genetic God

  • Story about people finding evidence for God in their DNA

• Train, Deploy, and Report

  • Book on evangelism