Thread: [Continuation] Signs of the End Times - Part Two
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Old 4th November 2016, 07:12 AM   #275
Border Reiver
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Originally Posted by Paul Bethke View Post
As I said delusion makes one see things that are not there. So I have no beam and can see clearly.
Are you a man bereft of prejudices, biases and life experiences that shape how you perceive the world around you, your actions and the actions of others? Or are you the sort of person that is unable to consider that you may be wrong, or that other people looking at the same thing as you may perceive it differently?

Quote:
I cannot change what is written--it is final, so the truth can always be maintained.
You haven't heard of editing?

As you are aware there are a substantial number of translations of what we call the Bible. These all differ in ways that range from substantial (some contain more books than others), to subtle (the same word from the original language is translated differently into a modern language). Those differences make it rather challenging to parse out "the truth."

It becomes even harder to do so when an event or person can only be found in one source, or if the physical evidence of such an event or person is absent.
Much of the Bible falls into this - as outside of the Bible there is no mention of the many of the events or people described.

Having only one source leads to a lack of perspective or context for what is found within that source. As an example, Vlad Dracula can be seen as either a tough, but fair ruler or as a bloodthirsty monster depending on whether you are reading the pamphlets or chronicles prepared by either the Turks, or if you consult Wallachian sources. If you only consulted the Wallachian sources, you'd come away with the idea that Vlad II was a fierce defender of his principality from all foreigners bent on exploiting it and a man of uncompromising ideals, but if you could only find the pamphlets put out by the Saxon merchants of Tirgoviste, or the court histories of the Ottomans you'd come away thinking that Vlad was a madman, ruling by fear and force. The existence of additional sources allows us to get a better, more balanced picture of the events or persons depicted.
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