What readest thou?

The Greek Septuagint (Old Testament). That's the one the Apostles quoted from in writing the books of the New Testament.

EveningStar you read Coinic Greek? Wow!

@EveningStar: Ooooh, that's really awesome! I've never read the Old Testament in Greek, though I'm sure my dad has it in his office...

You don't actually have to read it if you can get an English translation direct from the Greek. That may strike you as odd--why not directly from the Hebrew since the OT was written in that language, no? Because after the translation was made in 200 BC a very strange thing happened--Jesus of Nazareth. And some of the Jews who did not accept him thought the Torah needed to be "clarified" so people wouldn't mistake this Jesus for the Messiah. Sad to say, the text was changed a bit to make it clear that Jesus was not the Son of Man, the King of Kings...not that I am angry at them, but it was a great disservice to change the original which, by the way, is preserved in the Greek. For those of us--me included--who feel the birth of Christ was the turning point of history, the Septuagint is precious.

EveningStar, that's good that you're able to read Greek. I didn't realize the Hebrew torah had been changed. Are there any copies of the original Hebrew?

I bought a Greek NT and grammar, but the list of verb tenses is numerous. I don't think I will be able to learn them without a class, so I'm taking Spanish instead (there are fewer verb tenses than Greek, but I am becoming more used to learning tenses). I have a copy of Narnia in Spanish so I am reading that right now.

The verb tenses is the reason I had to take a break from studying Greek. 😛 I had just memorized all the noun tenses and then my dad handed me a little laminated sheet with like half a hundred verb endings on it and said, "That should be enough to start with" and I realized I'd have to wait to go one until I had more time just to devote to studying (since this happened as we were getting ready to move, so our schedule was kind of crazy and we were on the road a lot).

Hermit, why do you think they call them "tenses" except that they make you so tense! 😉

There is an old joke that Nostalgia is defined, "Someone who finds the present tense and the past perfect."

Star, that's a good joke, thanks for sharing!

Hobbit, wow, maybe one day you'll remember them easily.

I read The Champion by Christian rock singer Carman. (I grew up with one of his tapes, so when my college library had a book by him in their $1 sale, I was curious enough to get it, though not curious enough to read it till last week.) But um, yikes. He wrote that book the way I used to write: describing everything, using too many similes, and head-hopping (sometimes for no great reason). The romance moved waaaay too fast (and I saw it coming from a mile away) and he ruined a character twist by introducing it wrong. But those are peanuts compared to the justifications for the climax. He tries to say that it’s God’s will and even pulls John 15:13 into it, but... no. I don’t think so, buddy.

So... not the worst piece of Christian fiction I’ve read, but certainly not among the moderately good. It’s going to sit on my shelf next to my weird rapture one with messed-up theological implications (however unintended perhaps) until I find a way to turn them into crafts.

Ariel, I haven't read that book, but I'm sure your craft will be wonderful. Last year I turned a bunch of old reports into paper snowflakes, and someone I know said she liked turning books that no one wanted to read into miniature Christmas trees.

Has anyone read anything by Dorothy Sayers? I recently bought a collection of her essays, Letters to a Diminished Church. I've only read the first essay so far, but I enjoyed it. It was about how some people say that the life of Jesus and the Church's doctrine are boring. Her letter explains how they actually are part of 'The Greatest Drama Ever Staged" (as chapter one was titled), and the few pages I read so far are worded vibrantly.

Perhaps the drama is played out now, and Jesus is safely dead and buried. Perhaps. It is ironical and entertaining to consider that at least once in the world's history those words might have been spoken with complete conviction, and that was upon the eve of the Resurrection.

Heh, thanks, just gotta get to crafting....

I want to say the name is familiar, but I don’t know why. Definitely haven’t read anything by her though.
Partway through Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur.

I started Rifqa Bary's Hiding in the Light memoir today and couldn't put it down till I was 100 pages in. Her dilemma is portrayed with aching poignancy as she struggles with her desire to follow Christ with her fear of reprisal from her family for turning from their Muslim faith.

is that the one where she has only one eye that works? If it is I read it too. Less good in my opinion then Seeking Allah Finding Jesus. But a good read.

I haven’t heard of your book, Benisse. (Loved Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus too, knight!)

Still working my way through Ashamed of the Gospel by John MacArthur, and have decided to re-read Jane Austen’s Emma because I need inspiration for something. I imagine I’ll re-read Robert Elmer’s Promise of Zion series soon now that I’ve finally found used copies at a price I like (the series is out of print, so used is the only option).

I just read "Maus" for the first time today; it's a graphic novel written by the son of a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz....but all the characters are portrayed as animals. Can't 100% recommend it for all TLCers due to a few frames that aren't particularly family friendly (violence, immodesty, etc.), but otherwise it was really fascinating and I couldn't put it down for more than 15 minutes.

Earlier this month I listened to an audiobook of "Miracles" by C.S. Lewis, which I'd never had a chance to read before, and I thought that that was really, really good too. I'm thinking of going through more of his theology stuff that way since it's pretty easy to find the audiobooks on YouTube and I'm tired of waiting to find the actual books at book sales and stuff. 😛