Talk:John 15-21 (Translated)

Reversion explained

First, we don't censor ideas here. Second, the edit comment did not justify the censorship.

Discuss rather than censor.--Andy Schlafly 14:31, 27 February 2010 (EST)

Well, it makes perfect sense for Christians to believe that Jesus, the Son of God, would have known about the modern-day political meaning of "right" and "left" 18 centuries before; so from a Christian point of view this objection is not valid. --Maquissar 14:41, 27 February 2010 (EST)

I'll add the non-political translation: follow my instructions is correct (right) or Jesus leads him to the righteous way, to success. --Jpatt 15:13, 27 February 2010 (EST)

Well, this is a wordplay that's only valid for English, however, and not for aramaic or greek :P --Maquissar 15:14, 27 February 2010 (EST)

I disagree that the designation of "right" to connote "conservative" and "left" to connote "liberal" is purely arbitrary. John's use of the Greek word for "right" may be a political statement here.--Andy Schlafly 15:50, 27 February 2010 (EST)

Well, THAT modern political meaning did not exist at the time yet. Of course you can claim that Jesus, being the Son of God, could know the modern meaning, but barring that, the word did not have that meaning at the time. Modern usage derives from French Revolution assemblies, in which those who favoured the Ancien Régime (monarchists, aristocrats, clergymen) would sit at the right, and those who were in favour of the republic, secularization, and the need for revolutionary changes, were at the left.

Of course, in many cultures the "right" hand meant skill, strength, virtue and therefore "good", whereas the "left" hand meant lack of skill, clumsiness, and therefore came to mean "bad". That's because most people are naturally right-handed; the word "dexterity" comes from the latin word for "right" (as in "right hand"), and the word "sinister" comes from the latin word for "left". Many left-handed people were forced to become right-handed, because being left-handed was seen as something to be corrected rather than accepted... in Italy, it still happened as late as the early second half of the 20th century. --Maquissar 16:02, 27 February 2010 (EST)

"Conservative" is a modern word, but its underlying political meaning is as old as politics itself, and long predates the Gospel of John. John used the word δεξιός , which did have politically conservative connotations.--Andy Schlafly 18:12, 27 February 2010 (EST)