The Reality Coalition

2010-03-18T18:04:09Z

Americana83: minor revisions, plus an additional thought on the unconstitutionality of what these groups seek.

'''The Reality Coalition''' is a group of [[liberal]] environmental groups that are leading a false campaign in the name of global warming. They air deceptive commercials, trying to be funny, claiming that in reality - [[America]] does not have clean coal technology. As quoted on their website ''"Let's be clear: there are no US homes, factories, shopping centers or churches powered by coal plants that capture and store their global warming pollution."'' This is typical deceit for they know that a clean coal plant exists at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant [[North Dakota]], where some 13,000 tonnes per day of carbon dioxide gas is captured. <ref>[http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf83.html "Clean Coal" Technologies] World-Nuclear.org, February 2008</ref> In addition, the groups that fund the Reality Coalition fight to prevent construction of clean coal plants. <ref>[http://www.indystar.com/article/20081128/BUSINESS/811280384 'Clean coal' plant rises amid ill winds] AP, November 28, 2008</ref> They quote the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ([[IPCC]]), which has already been discredited for not taking the [[sun]] into account and for fear-mongering the issue of [[climate change]]. The only solution acceptable to The Reality Coalition is the elimination of coal as energy, which is not only unacceptable, but impossible. Also, like typical progressives, they ignore that the Federal government does not have the constitutional authority to ban coal or carbon dioxide (despite their best efforts to pervert the Commerce Clause to grant almost unlimited government power). If they get their way, Americans will be bankrupt from high energy costs and [[China]] will dominate energy with their two coal-fired plants being built every two weeks.

==Deceptive Sponsors==
These radical environmental groups, aligned with [[Al Gore]] and are most likely funded by him, are chiefly responsible for false advertising.

Alliance for Climate Protection, [[Sierra Club]], National Wildlife Federation, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earth Day Network, Energy Action Coalition, Environment America, 1Sky and the [[League of Conservation Voters]].

The Reality Coalition is advertising on Foxnews.com

==External Links==
*[http://www.thisisreality.org Reality Coalition Website]

==See Also==
*[[Global Warming]]

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:deceit]]
[[Category:Global Warming]]
[[Category:Liberals]]

Talk:Bible Translation Issues

2009-12-07T05:30:43Z

Americana83: /* Kyrios vs. Theos/Lord vs. God */

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18-19

== Taking command ==

Attention everyone:

Under the authority of Mr. [[User:Aschlafly]] and the administration, I, [[User:TerryH]], am taking command of this Project.

My qualifications are these: I can read ancient Greek almost as fast as I can read modern English, I've begun a study of Biblical Hebrew, and I own certain "off-line" (actually, hardcover) resources that allow me to function as a translator.

I am forming my Committee on Translation right now, as I sound people out as to their qualifications. In the meantime, I have certain positions on the translation issues mentioned on this page:

I believe that we should capitalize any and all references to God and Jesus, on account of Who They Are, not on account of what any given speaker might think They are.

I believe that we should refer to the [[Pharisees]], the [[Sadducees]], and the scribes by those specific names. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were two opposing factions among the Jewish intellectual elite, and were united only in their opposition to Jesus, though for diametrically opposite reasons. But the two articles describing those factions are of stub quality and badly in need of expansion. I'll put it simply: the Pharisees' problem was one of adding to the Bible as they understood it; the Sadducees had a problem with taking away from it.

Concerning [[Herod Antipas]]' stepdaughter, call her "girl" when she is so described according to the ancient manuscripts, but make clear in our commentaries that she was indeed playing the part of a temptress. (In fact, she was playing the part of every over-passionate stepdaughter playing up to her step-dad in order to trade, shall we say, favor for favor. And Herodias knew it and used her. That dysfunctional family dynamic deserves an entire article by itself, but one that we should tread carefully while writing, in order to keep things family-friendly.)

Concerning '''πνευμα αγιος''' (literally, "Holy Breath"): I've seen the discussion about Divine Guides and Forces. In fact, the Holy Spirit played both roles. "Force" is too impersonal for my taste, and also reminds me just a bit too much of a certain [[motion picture]] franchise that I now know was a thinly-disguised anti-American screed in six parts. I do know this: let's get away from "Holy Ghost." A ''ghost'' is an apparition; hence my translation of the cry of the men in the storm-tossed boat as "It's a ghost!"

I believe that "Son of man" is accurate. We don't want to capitalize "man."

The Greek word '''μαθετης''' or ''mathetes'' means, literally, a student. That's what I prefer to call the disciples: students. The Twelve Apostles were His best students. "Apostle" is a literal Greek word, and it means "one sent out."

Concerning "first shall be last, and last shall be first": for now, I prefer to translate that literally. But a lot of Greek idioms deserve translation into English idiom. I believe in using idiomatic English wherever possible. Thus, "What is that to us? See thou to it" becomes "So what? That's your problem, not ours." Or: "The last error will be worse than the first" becomes "If that happens, we'll have a worse problem."

The eighth issue I covered earlier: "Pharisees" are "Pharisees." In point of fact, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were both incumbents. They were like the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress today. Worse yet, I have seen Pharisaical and Sadducee-like tendencies in many fellow churchmen whom I have known in my fifty-one years. (Pharisees like to add their own traditions and regulations to the Bible, while Sadducees like to take scissors and snip out parts of the Bible that they do not like. God warns against both attitudes; cf. {{Bible ref|book=Revelations|chap=22|verses=18-19}}.

Comments, anyone? Reply here or on my Talk page for now.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]]<sup>[[User talk:TerryH|Talk]]</sup> 22:07, 13 October 2009 (EDT)

:Terry, your comments and leadership are superb, but we are a meritocracy. One is "king of the hill" only as long as he is the best. Let's expect and welcome talented contributions by many others, and perhaps even a run at your position at the top of the hill! This will get even more interesting.

:Qualifications? I've studied ancient Greek, modern English, political bias and, perhaps most importantly, the effective communication of ideas to students. All four are important components of this project. But I concede and welcome your expertise in the ancient languages, which is invaluable.

:I agree completely with your view towards capitalization, and add an additional reason for it: often there are multiple pronoun references (to Jesus and someone else) and use of capitalization is an efficient way to avoid repetition of the names for clarity.

:I think your other points are open to more discussion and debate. Taking one, I feel the term "Pharisees" means nothing to people today, and their biblical views seem irrelevant. I'm intrigued by calling them "incumbents" because that gets at the real issue and conflict, doesn't it?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:57, 13 October 2009 (EDT)

:: Further thoughts: it appears that the original meaning of an "incumbent" was an ecclesiastical position!

:: The more important translation is the "first shall be last, and the last shall be first." People don't understand that English phrase, and think greater clarity in the English would be helpful. I made a suggestion in one of its appearances after some thought, along the lines of the "highest position among men shall be last, and the last the shall be first." But suggestions are welcome, as the essence of this project is to bring out the best from many to obtain an optimal translation as of 2009.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 08:51, 14 October 2009 (EDT)

== Proposed man -> businessman ==

In Mark's parable of the vineyard (12:1...), I've translated man as businessman, highlighting clarity which was absent in the greek. Does this seem reasonable? [[User:DouglasA|DouglasA]] 20:01, 14 October 2009 (EDT)

:Looks brilliant to me. Thanks for the insight.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 20:32, 14 October 2009 (EDT)

== Kyrios vs. Theos/Lord vs. God ==

I have seen several places on the CBP where "Lord" is used as a synonym for "God." (See Luke 9, for one example.) I think it would be good to be more precise with those terms. Whereas we all probably use "Lord" and "God" more or less interchangeably in our personal prayer lives, theologically the two terms are quite distinct. I think it would be a good idea to be a bit more consistent, and always check the original Greek. I'm pretty sure, when the King James uses "Lord," it accurately translates the Greek κυριος (lord), and when it uses "God," it's translating θεος (God). --[[User:Caspianrex|Cory Howell]] 16:29, 21 October 2009 (EDT)

: Your point is well-taken, except note that this is not a strict word-for-word translation. Rather, this seeks the original intent. It seems possible that one could use θεος intending the concept of "Lord". Perhaps more discussion and analysis of this would be helpful.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 17:03, 21 October 2009 (EDT)

::I can see your point as well, Mr. Sclafly. However, I think it would be good to approach each case with a good amount of sensitivity. It can be exceptionally difficult to discern "original intent," when it comes to the inspired Scripture. I am open to the idea that "God" could somehow convey the deeper sense of "Lord" in the right context, but at the same time, when you come to a statement like Thomas's "My Lord and my God!" it would be completely misleading to simply translate it either "My Lord!" or "My God!" "Kyrios" has more of the sense of a supreme Master, to whom allegiance is owed, whereas "Theos" is a very specific noun for God, the creator of the universe. I'm not familiar off the top of my head with any place in the New Testament where "Lord" would actually convey the full sense of Godhood. But there may be such a usage somewhere!--[[User:Caspianrex|Cory Howell]] 12:24, 22 October 2009 (EDT)

:::It is important for the Word of God to be understandable today, however if the Bible is God's word, and has been faithfully preserved, to alter or abolish words, even if done for the best intentions, is to set a horrible precedent for future readers and translators, which indeed, the "Message" bible has done so and wrecked great abuse on the Bible. its word of choice was "master" in place of "Lord" .[[User:americana83|Michael Wolfe]] 23:27, 7 December 2009 (EDT)

== Gospel or Good News? Translation of ευαγγελιον ==
There has been a bit of confusion on the Talk page for Luke 1-9 about how to translate the Greek word ευαγγελιον. There were several verses where it had been rendered as Truth, which doesn't seem to be very accurate to me. TerryH indicated that "good news" would be better, and that seems to be how it stands right now in Mark. But I saw several places in Matthew where it is still "gospel." Have we come to any consensus on this? My own feeling is that "good news" is a more descriptive phrase to translate the Greek, but "gospel" is certainly a term with some rich heritage. Has any official decision been made on this one?--[[User:Caspianrex|Cory Howell]] 12:06, 22 October 2009 (EDT)

== Preservation of "grape juice" ==

One commentator has questioned whether grape juice could be preserved by the ancients as wine could be.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 12:07, 28 October 2009 (EDT)

Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

The Reality Coalition

Talk:Bible Translation Issues