Text: Subject: [acim-l] Aramaic bible {was Biblical [un]reliability} Date: 16 Jun 1998 11:11:50 -0000 From: "Mike Bysouth" Reply-To: A Course in Miracles List To: A Course in Miracles List A friend of mine recently pointed me in the direction of a website concerning the Aramaic Bible. This is a bible translated directly from Aramaic (the language which Jesus spoke) by an Assyrian man named Dr. George Lamsa. Note this was not an Greek > Aramaic > English translation, but is from an Aramaic "original", stated as being "the oldest dated biblical manuscript in existence". This translation is at considerable variance with those versions commonly quoted by the majority of "scholars" and although I regard it as just another indication of the unreliability of the bible, it is interesting to note that it appears far closer to explanations found in ACIM than other Bibles. More detailed examples can be found at: http://www.aramaic.org/newtestament.html "Matt 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (King James Version) And do not let us enter into temptation, but deliver us from error. Because thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Lamsa - Aramaic Version ) Matt 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (KJV) And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said, Eli, Eli, lmana shabachthani! which means My God, My God, for this I was kept! (Lamsa) " The following site says about the Aramaic Language: From: http://members.aol.com/assyrianme/aramaic/history.html "Aramaic was the language of Semitic peoples throughout the ancient Near East. It was the language of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Hebrews and Syrians. Aram and Israel had a common ancestry and the Hebrew patriarchs who were of Aramaic origin maintained ties of marriage with the tribes of Aram. The Hebrew patriarchs preserved their Aramaic names and spoke in Aramaic. The language of the people of Palestine shifted from Hebrew to Aramaic sometime between 721-500 B.C. Therefore, we know that Jesus, his disciples and contemporaries spoke and wrote in Aramaic. The message of Christianity spread throughout Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia in this Semitic tongue." The following quotes indicate the origin of this Bible. More detailed information can be found at the sites as indicated: From: http://www.aramaic.org/abshistory.html "Secluded in the mountainous stronghold of Kurdistan and Mesopotamia, near the region known as the Garden of Eden, and remaining as a little island in a vast Moslem ocean, these ancient Christians escaped, by a miracle being trampled under foot by the conquering Moslem armies and all the changes that have revolutionized the world. Their language is almost exactly in the form spoken by Jesus and his disciples two thousand years ago. They have jealously treasured their Christian documents, the unaltered life, thought, customs and traditions of people, who in the time of Christ and in the period before Him, laid the foundation for the Aramaic (Syriac) culture and the Jewish and Christian faiths. George M. Lamsa was born of an Assyrian mother who spoke only the Aramaic language. He grew up with the idioms and truths found only in that language which is little changed since the first century. Dr. Lamsa was the first to explain and demonstrate that Aramaic Bibles are superior sources of Biblical truth than Latin or Greek based texts. Even today these ancient Christians, Lamsa's people, understand what Jesus meant when he said, "If your hand offends you, cut it off; if your eye offends you, pluck it out; if your foot offends you, cut it off". Jesus meant: "If you have a habit of stealing, stop it". "If you have a habit of envying, stop it". "If you have a habit of trespassing on other's property, stop it". These sayings are understood because these idioms have been in general use throughout the centuries. The idioms arise out of the fact the Aramaic collapses into one word, both mental and physical action, with either or both meanings acceptable. Lamsa is the first man from the East to start Aramaic research and to point out that the Scriptures were originally written in Aramaic and not in Greek, and that the "Peshitta" is an original. Lamsa's translations are based on the nine surviving, ancient, original Aramaic texts, which have never been revised or tampered with. He spent more than thirty years on the translation of the New and Old Testaments. Lamsa spoke eight other languages and served as translator on numerous occasions for governments and important institutions." From: http://www.aramaic.org/bible_manuscripts.html "When the King James version of the Holy Bible was published in 1611 A.D., the ancient Aramaic Bible manuscripts of the Peshitta texts of the Churches of the East written in the Old Estrangela characters were unknown in Europe. The 16th and 17th century scholars had to rely chiefly on the Latin version, the Vulgate. The knowledge of Greek had declined in Europe and complete manuscripts were rare. Aramaic texts of the Holy Scriptures were introduced into Europe in the 18th Century A.D. by a Lebanese scholar named Assemani, a Maronite (a sect in union with the Roman Catholic Church). At that time the only available copies of the Aramaic Peshitta texts in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine were the new copies of the Monophysite sect and the translations from Greek into Aramaic for the Jacobites, who had joined the Monophysite Church. These comparatively new copies were written on paper in the modern Jacobite characters with vowels and not in the ancient original Estrangela characters. The real, ancient, original and authoritative manuscripts of the Peshitta text of the Holy Bible were discovered later in the Euphrates Valley and Iran among the ancient Christians. A manuscript dated A.D. 464 containing five books of Moses was procured by the British Museum. This manuscript is the oldest dated biblical manuscript in existence. A complete copy of the whole Bible written in the early 5th century was purchased by Cardinal Ambrosius. These manuscripts of the ancient Peshitta text of the Church of the East are written on sheepskin in ancient Estrangela characters without vowels. This is the oldest known alphabet in Semitic languages, containing twenty-two characters wherein anything can be expressed without doubt and misunderstanding." (For photos of the Khaboris Manuscript see: http://www.hargistechnologies.com/Khabor1.htm ) "Today one can find manuscripts of the Holy Bible translated from Greek into Aramaic, and there is also a translation from the King James version into Aramaic vernacular spoken in Iran, which was made more than a century ago by the Congregational and Presbyterian missionaries in Iran for their proselytes. It is these latter translations written on paper which have confused Western scholars relative to the origin of the ancient and authoritative Peshitta text of the Holy Bible written on sheepskin. The Peshitta was quoted by the early church fathers. Any Bible scholar who can read Estrangela characters can easily see that there is a vast difference between the original Peshitta and translations from Greek and other languages into Aramaic. He also would know that the ancient Peshitta is the original. Peshitta upholds its name, which means clear, straight, sincere and true. The Holy Bible was written by inspired men who were admonished by God to write plainly. And the writings of the Apostles were called Peshetta or Peshitta, which means clear and simple. Fortunately, today many sincere Bible students and scholars, who are tired of constant revision of the Scriptures from Greek, are turning to the Aramaic. Now many of them are admitting that there was an original written in Aramaic, the language which Jesus and his disciples spoke, from which the Greek was translated, but that it was lost. It is probably true all ancient texts of the Holy Scriptures perished in the lands west of the Euphrates, Syria and Palestine during the Roman and Byzantine persecutions, but original Bible manuscripts survived in the Euphrates Valley in an inaccessible region as Hakari; and in Iran (Persian Empire) among the ancient Assyrian Christians, and the remnant of the Ten Tribes. Dr. A. Grant, first American (Congregational) missionary who discovered the Assyrian Christians and the remnant of the Ten Tribes, states "The Nestorians (Assyrians) have preserved their Scriptures with great care and purity.: These regions in Kurdistan were inaccessible and rarely traversed by Western Christians prior to World War I. There are thousands of differences between the ancient Peshitta text and the Western versions of the Holy Bible. Thousands of passages, which were obscure and meaningless through mistranslations, become clear and meaningful when translated from the ancient Peshitta manuscripts." With Love and Peace, Mike Down Under +------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | A Course in Miracles List : 208 members (public) | http://www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/acim-l.html Archive-password: jesus | List-Operator: Doug Thompson

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