... and then I really must say Sayonara, for the same reasons as before.

First, a distorted presentation certainly will result from intentional or unintentional omission of substantial pertinent facts.  There are, for example, the "witnesses" of the ante-Nicene Fathers, which (1) make clear that most of the beliefs expressed in the GT were present in their time; (2) given the various offices they held, indicate that the movement was well-organized in their time, and (3) are, by virtue of their various quotations from the constituent texts of the GT, which prove in the main to be no different from the versions of the same passages as we have them today, provide many of the primary sources for our knowledge of the GT texts.

I don't like being in a position to have to say that.

Second, "proof-texting" in practice normally entails quoting out of context to the end of substantiating some sectarian claim.  That's what "proof-texts" are, after all — texts alleged to "prove" this or that claim.  There is no Christian claim that I am aware of, that God will save or rescue "all the gentiles" as I first supposed Isaiah 51 to say.  My questions about the text pertain to no Christian claim at all.  Thus "proof-texting" was not what I was about.

P.

“What I admire is honesty and truth, no matter who, or what, the sources are.”
— Uri Yosef
Last Edited By: Proteus Wed, 24-Aug-11 11:46:03. Edited 1 times.