Recently Stack Exchange rolled out a massive change to the way questions are closed. With those changes, we now have the opportunity to define more closely why a question is off topic. The Community Manager Team thoughtfully provided us with these reasons:
Questions without a specific Bible p...
I've made a fairly substantial edit to your question to try to focus it on the Genesis texts that seem to be the core of your question. (I also added another example from the next generation.) I didn't intend to fundamental change your question, but if I've misunderstood you or you just think the changes are too big, please feel free to roll back, which you can do from the edit history (which you get to by clicking on the "edited" link above my name under your question). Thanks for bringing your question here, and please let me know if my edits are ok. — Monica Cellio29 secs ago
I voted to close this question, because I think that this site should establish (through Meta discussion) what constitutes a "Bible" according to our site standards. Beyond this, the answer totally depends on who you ask and has nothing to do with hermeneutics or exegesis.
(I'm not entirely sure whether this question is in scope of this SE, but this appears to be the SE closest to the issue)
In Poland, there is a region called Silesia, which is inhabited by people speaking a distinct dialect, which can be quite different from the Polish language at times. One of t...
We run into the same sort of question all the time on Christianity.SE. "Who decides who counts as a Christian?" Well, for the purposes of the site, the site designers do. Beyond that, it doesn't matter for the questions on the SE site, and since it's totally subjective, it's unconstructive for what we're trying to do.
@MonicaCellio I actually found a little rabbinic's support for part of this question. I was doing some research on the concept of Satan in Jewish thought (wish I hadn't lost the file), and I found a bit of it tonight. Zohar Vol. I:35b (yes, yes, it's Zohar, but it has it)
"They consulted R. Simeon, and he said to them: Both are correct. It was Samael, and he appeared on a serpent, for the ideal form of the serpent is the Satan".
That was new. This was a piece from my earlier research: "From Rabbi Eleazer, we note: Sammael [Satan] was the great prince in heaven . . . he . . . saw all the creatures which the Holy One, Blessed be He, had created . . . and he found among them none so skilled to do evil as the serpent ...
he mounted and rode upon it. . . . All the deeds which it [the serpent] did, and all the words which it spake, it did not speak except by the intention of Sammael."—Pirke de Rabbi Eleazer, Ch. XIII, The Serpent in Paradise, pp. 92, 93.
...In other words, the only way you could answer the question is by saying "from X perspective, Group Y decides what constitutes a Bible" and this site doesn't do doctrinal perspectives, so the only "X" that matters is the BH.SE site, which would classify the question as a Meta question.
Obviously, it doesn't show the serpent as an enemy to be preemptively struck down, but it shows the idea of not merely an animal existed in the rabbinics.
@MonicaCellio Actually, after answering the Meta question just now, I'm starting to notice a lot of questions on this site that are off-topic. I don't want to go overboard in "pruning" the pool though or I might discourage people from contributing, which is the last thing we need on this site! (It only took one down-vote to drive Swaschek away!)
But in this case, I think it's something we need to define as a site, and then we'll be able to refer people to that definition in the future.
@MonicaCellio Is there a way to transfer it to Meta?
@FrankLuke interesting, thanks! (He still needs to support that Adam had a charter to crush the serpent from the beginning, but I assume you're just using his answer as a jumping-off point.) Zohar is odd stuff, but Pirke de Rabbi Eleazar is, as I understand it, a little less mystical. It sounds like a source I need to spend some time with.
@FrankLuke (I should have read that before writing my last comment. :-) ) Yes, good point. I wonder whether how much of the interpretation is retcon vs not -- that is, the serpent ended up being the instigator, so given that, what can we learn about the serpent and ha-satan?
@Jas3.1 I think bringing up questions for discussion here is a good approach. We've been doing that with answers that don't measure up yet. Maybe we can also summarize/pin close candidates? With answers we've been trying to leave a comment for the author and then pick a date a few days out to check back; I think comments to alert the author are required, and the pinning is so we can keep track.
question
What is the primary grammatical-sytactical and/or exegetical-theological relationship manifested between thlipsis, hupomene and elpida [pardon my non-standard transliterations]? Is it particular to Paul or do we see this throughout the NT?
observation
It appears consistent in Romans t...
@Jas3.1 I don't understand that question. :-( The poster strikes me as one who has a clue, but I'm having trouble with this one.
@Jas3.1 Oh, I'm not saying don't vote to close if you think it's close-worthy. I thought you were talking about the ones where it's not clear to you. Also, we're pretty small so it doesn't hurt to bring things up in here anyway to get more eyes on them. I don't know how many of us make a habit of checking the review queues each day, for instance, and close votes expire after a few days.
@MonicaCellio It would be similar to asking "What is the relationship between blessing, riches, and victory in the Old Testament? Here are 5 verses where Moses lists them in the order blessing -> victory -> riches... it seems to imply victory comes from blessing and riches are a result of the victory... is that the case everywhere in the Old Testament?"
...in other words, it seems to be a question about the teachings of the entire New Testament regarding these three concepts, as opposed to the exegesis of a particular passage.
@MonicaCellio Yeah, I down-voted one of Swasheck's answers and he got mad and left the site.
...being more familiar myself with C.SE I am used to down-voting and getting down-voted. It's hard to post an answer that isn't down-voted at some point on that site. I get the impression down-votes are rarer here.
@Jas3.1 I can't compare to C.SE, but I've gotten downvotes here for sure. Sometimes I can figure out why; sometimes they're a mystery.
I suspect that there may have been other things going on with Swasheck. I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I have the impression that the two of you are an unfortunate combination -- not that there's anything wrong on either side, but incompatible in a hard-to-nail-down way. Just a feeling I got, a vibe. I wish I could be more concrete.
@MonicaCellio I got the impression he was more lexicon- and grammar-focused while I tend to be more context- and big-picture-focused. I actually really appreciated his input and perspective, I just thought this particular answer was not useful. In fact, I don't think I even said anything until he started asking who down-voted him. It was all down-hill from there. Plus he and Matthew Miller got into it at the same time, so I think it was all just too much for him.
@Jas3.1 and I think there was some stuff going on external to BH, if I'm correctly remembering vague things that were said at the time. It's unfortunate, and I really hope he comes back because he contributed a lot of good content (as well as participating in chat).
And I'd like to understand what I think is my most puzzling downvote, but if the person isn't comfortable saying, I'm just going to have to live with the uncertainty. Comments are appreciated but never owed. (But going back to your close vote, if it's closed your name is going to be there anyway.)
@MonicaCellio I was afraid you'd link one that I down-voted... haha... but I'm not sure on that one. I love the contradiction questions (they're probably my favorite.)
@MonicaCellio I wish there were more contradiction questions. Maybe some day we can convince one of the Muslims to come over and post each of their "99 contradictions" they used to proclaim.
@Jas3.1 oh, I don't know that tradition. Internal contradictions, I trust? (Contradictions between the bible and their teachings are not interesting in this context.)
@MonicaCellio Yeah, they thought they had found 99 contradictions between pairs of passages in the Bible. Some were silly, but others were more reasonable, and a number have already been asked on our site.
^^^ Cleanup in aisle 3. I actually couldn't even read to the end of that because of the formatting, but I don't know if better formatting will help. Should we try?
I withheld my downvote last night. I gave it this morning. Part of my decision is his repeated refusal to edit into the body instead of leaving clarifying comments when challenged. He knows how to edit. He has done it at least once. He simply refuses.
@MonicaCellio Formatting and spelling will help, but I don't know if it will help enough. I can do some of that so we can at least read it through and make a decision based more on content.
BTW, I had never heard the term "retcon" applied to a rabbinic interpretation until last night. Thank you, Monica, it made me laugh!
@FrankLuke yeah, I'm going to add mine. I have trouble seeing him as anything other than willfully uncooperative at this point. He wants to preach his doctrine; he doesn't want to engage with the site on its terms. And he didn't answer my questions; he just did more of the same.
@FrankLuke glad to help. :-)
@FrankLuke thanks. Given my lack of current understanding I don't know if I'd be able to do enough. I mean, maybe it will all become clear when there are some paragraphs and stuff, but I suspect the problems are deeper.
@MonicaCellio The first several paragraphs are about the need for the Christian to obey and live righteously. He shows where this is repeated throughout the New Testament. At the very end, he gives an answer to the question. He directly likens Paul's command to work out your own salvation to Jesus' command to take up your cross daily and follow Him.
@FrankLuke thanks for the edit. How do you feel about killing the first line? Greetings/signatures in general aren't welcome on SE, and this particular one is kind of misplaced. (The argument for keeping it is that it makes it abundantly clear what we're about to get...)
It is known that at this time blind men (particularly men) tended to have two blind eyes, and Jesus, having seen that after healing one of the eyes the now ex-blind man was still blind in one side leaving him depth-perception-impaired and thus proceeded to cure his other eye (commonly misinterpre...
I think it sort of works and is argued from the text, so I don't feel like it ought to be deleted or anything. But I do think the answer would be much stronger if it were backed up somehow.
(Thanks for being our early warning system, by the way. ;-)
@JonEricson it's often empty when I look too. Do we not all get to see all the "first posts" and "late answers"? I get that close, reopen, and edit have dispositions and lose relevance; do the others get pulled out if other people get there first, too?
@MonicaCellio I think once someone reviews those, they are removed from the queue. (The rules are a bit hazy in my mind. I probably need to go over the meta posts (after I find them) again.)
@JonEricson yeah, I have that problem too. I don't mean with people whose first language isn't English; they get a lot of slack. They also tend to put the effort in. it's "lazzy" and "cutesy" and "txt-speech" that I can't abide.
question
What is the primary grammatical-sytactical and/or exegetical-theological relationship manifested between thlipsis, hupomene and elpida [pardon my non-standard transliterations]? Is it particular to Paul or do we see this throughout the NT?
observation
It appears consistent in Romans t...
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