By Lisa Grace
I’m not to gung-ho on any Bible study that does it from English and ignores the original Greek and Hebrew translations of the Scriptures. I’m also not happy with scholars that haven’t bothered to study Jewish, Roman, or Greek social norms and mores of the times in which the scriptures were written. Way too much of the meaning is lost in translations that ignore the root of the society and time the words were coming from.
I’m not to gung-ho on any Bible study that does it from English and ignores the original Greek and Hebrew translations of the Scriptures. I’m also not happy with scholars that haven’t bothered to study Jewish, Roman, or Greek social norms and mores of the times in which the scriptures were written. Way too much of the meaning is lost in translations that ignore the root of the society and time the words were coming from.
For example if I said, “It’s raining cats and dogs outside.” You would know I meant it’s raining very hard. You would not immediately assume I meant that cats and dogs were literally falling from the sky. But when you attempt to understand the Bible without understanding what Jesus and the disciples really meant, because you don’t know the language, idioms, geography, social norms, and mores you will misinterpret so much.
The scriptures were written without punctuation or verse markers. Adding it makes assumptions and twists the meaning. A commonly misunderstood passage is when Jesus was dying on the cross, he said, in Luke 24:43 And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be with me in paradise
When the punctuation is removed or a comma put after the word today, the phrase jives with the rest of the scriptures that say the dead "sleep". Deuteronomy 31:16 Shakab to lie down (in death) However, our first aware moment will be with Jesus in Paradise.
When we go with the meaning that the dead “sleep” and understand that the apostles understood this to be true, we can look at the words from the Greek and Hebrew that mean ghost or spirit.
Ghosts exist in Greek mythology as does communicating with the dead. The belief in ghosts was a part of their culture and did influence the cultural climate of the day.
When the apostles saw Jesus walking to them on the water, they could think of no other explanation.
However, when we look at the word studies for ghost or spirit we get:
Matthew 14:25-27 phantasma (Greek) spirit translated from (Hebrew) Av=Breath.
Genesis 25:8 Abraham gave up the ghost was the word Gava (Hebrew), which means to breathe out one’s life.
(These are just two of many examples)
In both we see it clearly does not refer to a “spirit“, but the act of dying, taking the last breath. Again, the early disciples knew death would be their estate until the judgment/rapture/second coming.
If an apparition is not that of a once living person, what is it? According to scripture, one third of the angels and supernatural creatures fell from heaven in the war (Revelations 12:7). Ghosts are simply different types of demonic/angelic/supernatural manifestations. I talk more about these types of creatures in my article: http://eyeontheparanormal.blogspot.com/2012/03/different-types-of-angels-and-demons.html
There are several types of apparitions from repetitive to poltergeist depending on what type of supernatural creature/demon/angel is manifesting. While most seem innocent, they are not. Their purpose is to lead you astray. Learn what the scriptures have to teach on dealing with the supernatural.
To learn how angels work in our life today you can read my fictional series which is soon to be a movie by http://www.Motionpicturepro.com
Coming Soon! Angel in the Ice, Book 3.
