Re: Virgin Birth questioned: the implications
Harold, as usual you are all washed up on your biblical facts.
Firstly, I'll just ignore your "Hezekiah 4:2" reference because it's not, and never has been, part of the accepted canon by the Jewish or Christian scholars.
Secondly, the translation of Virgin is NOT a mistranslation. The ORIGINAL Hebrew word עַלְמָה `almah, can mean BOTH (NOT necessarily either) young woman and virgin. The context of Isaiah 7 CLEARLY INDICATES THAT OF A YOUNG, UNMARRIED VIRGIN GIRL. In fact the use of this word almah is almost exclusively referring to a young, unmarried virgin girl. CONTEXT IS KING! When in doubt...CONTEXT, CONTEXT CONTEXT!
The Septuagint, the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures, took the Hebrew word almah, which can mean both young woman and virgin, and rendered it parthenos, which more explicitly and exclusively denotes virginity. It’s impossible to know exactly what the original hearers of Isaiah’s prophecy thought it meant, but it’s clear that the later translators thought the prophet meant virgin, not merely young woman.
If the prophesy of Isaiah 7:4 is simply referring to a young woman who engages in sex and conceives well then it is not a prophesy at all, now is it? What kind of miraculous deed of God is this?
Sorry, I've already made it clear, we are NOT going down the Catholic doctrine path here on this forum. IT IS IRRELEVANT TO OUR DISCUSSIONS. The Local Church of Witness Lee did not teach any of these Catholic doctrines. So unless we have any ex Local Churcher's who have converted to Roman Catholicism let's leave all the Catholic stuff off the table.
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αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ἀμήν - 1 Peter 5:11
Last edited by awareness; 05-28-2015 at 10:37 AM.
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