Under the subject heading "WHAT HAPPENED TO WOODY BRISON
ON HIS MISSION?", heartforisr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Nancy) wrote:
> About the Gospel having been "lost" and being again "restored" through
> Joseph Smith, I'm reminded of what Jesus said in
> Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall
> not prevail against it."
That's not a very good translation. The oldest manuscripts
we have of that are in Greek, and they read:
kago de soi lego hoti su ei Petros, kai epi taute
te petra oikodomeso mou ten ekklesian, kai pulai
hadou ou katisxusousin autes.
Now, this isn't what Jesus said, he didn't speak in
Greek to his Jewish disciples from Galilee, but this is
the closest we can get at present. It was probably
translated into Greek from Aramaic.
Going thru it word by word, with the meanings as given
in Strongs Greek Dictionary - not meanings concocted by
me, but meanings accepted by scholars - we get this:
kai - and, also
epi - at, on
taute - towards this, of this
te - the
petra - a (mass of) rock
oikodomeso - I will build, construct, confirm
mou - of me
ten - the (feminine)
ekklesian - calling out, popular meeting, religious
congregation, Jewish synagogue, Christian community
kai - and, also
pulai - gates
hadou - unseen, ie. Hades, the place of departed souls
ou - not
katisxusousin - will overpower, force down
autes - hers; personal possessive pronoun, singular
feminine, genitive (means part of something)
So, the King James translation isn't all that accurate.
First off, the word "it" at the end isn't right at all. It
should be translated as 'hers', or 'those that are hers'.
It means those who belong to this Church that Jesus is
going to gather together.
Second, the word "prevail" isn't quite right either,
because the Greek word there involves the idea of 'down'.
It should be translated as 'keep down' or 'keep in prison',
something like that.
Third, the word "hell" there isn't right. It should be
Hades, the world of the departed souls. Hell is a place
of punishment, or where the evil spirits dwell. We picture
the gates opening up and out comes this onslaught of evil,
truly a nightmare, but that's not what Jesus was talking
about here. He was talking about the world of the dead,
the place where all go after they die.
The NIV does get the word Hades right. So does the
American Standard Version and the NASB, as well as Young's
Literal Translation and Darby's and Holman's; the New King
James Version fixes this word, altho the 21st Century King
James Version, a decade later, does not.
Today's New International Version is even better than the
NIV for this passage; it has "the gates of death". The
Contem****ary English Version has "On this rock I will build
my church, and death itself will not have any power over it."
The New Century Version: "On this rock I will build my
church, and the power of death will not be able to defeat
it." Worldwide English New Testament is similar.
The old Reina-Valera Spanish translation follows St.
Jerome's Latin translation; "las puertas del infierno".
It was actually the transition from Latin that caused the
problem. For the Greek word Hades or 'adou', Jerome put
"inferi", which means the underworld, cognate with
inferior, meaning below. The ancients believed that the
spirit world was underneath the earth. That was the old
tradition; we are told that Christ descended below all
things, meaning that after he came down to this world,
and died, he descended on down to the spirit world. But
later translators got this word confused with "inferno",
burning hell.
The gates of Hades mean that people who have died, who
are in that place, cannot get out. They go in those gates
but no one ever comes back out, you see. Well, what
Jesus is saying there is that the gates of Hades WILL NOT
imprison those that belong to his Church.
The reason, of course, is obvious; he's going to liberate
them. He's going to call his Church forth from their
graves, their bodies from the graves and their spirits
from the world of the dead, put their spirits back in
their bodies, and they will live again, just as he did
himself.
It has nothing to do with whether the Church was going
to endure on the earth over the ages - it wasn't. The
following passages show this:
Acts 20:25-31 And now, behold, I know that ye all,
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God,
shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to
record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all
men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all
the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space
of three years I ceased not to warn every one night
and day with tears.
Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the
inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed
the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant.
Isaiah 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people...
Amos 8:11-12 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord
God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander
from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east,
they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the
LORD, and shall not find it.
1 Corinthians 1:10-13 Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all
speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions
among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together
in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it
hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by
them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are
contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one
of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I
of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?
1 Corinthians 11:18 For first of all, when ye come
together in the church, I hear that there be divisions
among you; and I partly believe it.
If Paul had trouble accepting the divisions that were
happening then, what would he have thought about the
bishops of Rome and Constantinople excommunicating
each other over the date of a feast? What would he
have said about the number of Christian churches
today? The fact that they are not united shows that
the Church fell apart.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit,
nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the
day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by
any means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first...
John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of
this world...
There are many other passages, but these are the most
clear and easy to understand. The fact of the Great
Apostacy is so huge and obvious that many people will
not be able to see it at first. The Church fell apart
because the Apostles were killed and it was left
headless. The bishops tried to direct it, but no
bishop had authority to govern any other bishop, and
so they squabbled and separated. Without the Apostles,
there was no one to come and regulate things, correct
the errors the bishops might make; and none of the
bishops had the right or responsibility to receive
revelation for the whole Church. Some claim that Peter
gave this authority to the bishop of Rome, but he
didn't; (no one even knows who that bishop was) and the
Apostle John was still alive, on the Isle of Patmos,
after Peter was dead.
Some claim that Peter gave this authority to the
bishop of Rome, but he didn't; no one even knows who
that bishop was, and the Apostle John was still alive,
on the Isle of Patmos, after Peter was dead. Some
claim that this authority isn't necessary, but the
Bible contradicts that in a dozen places. Some claim
this authority is shared by all believers... which,
if true, would mean that I, being a believer, cannot
be simply dismissed. Jesus has been seen again in
modern times on the earth, and he has restored his
Church, and all Christians are supposed to gather to
it.
Wood
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