No. You don’t follow everything in the Bible.

So, theologically speaking, the Old Testament is the Old Covenant. It’s what used to save you—so to speak. And it’s what’s going to be used to damn you.

So, when Jesus came, the Law changed with His resurrection. It says that in Hebrews that with a change of Priesthood comes a change of law. So, everyone is under the jurisdiction of the Judaic Law. Everyone. Every nation, tribe and people. So, like a Don from Oxford said, if you are enticed to follow a foreign God, you have to kill the person who enticed you. Or, if you work on Sunday, you have to be put to death. Or, you’re a homosexual, you have to be put to death. Jesus even makes it stricter, if you look after a woman, and lust after her, or call your brother “Worthless” you deserve to die, as well.

So, 100% of Paul’s letters, are trying to convince Christians not to follow the Old Testament law. Why? Well, do you remember those guys who just leaned on the Ark and they died? For seemingly no reason? That’s the severity of the Law in the Old Testament. It warrants a death sentence for even touching it, let alone trying to follow it. Because, humanity errs, and is never going to be perfect. So, they fall into the trap of the Law—which condemns every sin.

So, how are we to have life? Well, we have life by forfeiting our sin, including our judgment, and allowing Christ to fill us with His Spirit. We sever ourselves from the Old Covenant, which commands every Nation under the sun, including Israel, to be destroyed. And we are made to follow the New Covenant, prophesied in Jeremiah. That the Law will be written on our hearts.

And the Law is written on our hearts. There’s a natural pattern that people follow, and everyone knows right from wrong at infancy. And they fall away from that, and that’s what ultimately leads to their damnation. Is they’re caught in their sins. So, that sin is what leads to damnation, and that sin is judged by the Old Testament law.

Which, the only one who ever followed the Old Testament law perfectly, that was Jesus. He followed it perfectly, never erring, and the curse of the Law, found in Deuteronomy, was punctured into His hands and feet. He became our curse. So we wouldn’t be cursed by the Law, and could be set free, to follow after Jesus’ yoke. Which is light. Which is a one time sin offering, for all of our sin. And the only thing we have to do, is believe He is Who He says He is, and repent. We don’t even have to follow the Torah anymore.

So what is the Old Testament used for? It’s God’s commandments, which He will use to judge the world. All those sins that require a death sentence, all those verses about horrible things armies do to cities, that’s the judgment that comes down from God. You can read the Prophecies in the Old Testament, that they testify to those things, and speak of the prophetic discipline which God will impose on the disobedient. Which, a lot of those prophecies are scary. So, you don't want to be found erring. Air on the side of caution, and fear God, and follow His Law that Jesus spoke. As, we’re to follow the New Covenant, and the Law given by Christ and His apostles and saints.

So, the Old Testament is a Casebook for God’s judgment, and punishment for the wicked. It’s what guilty sinners need, and written in the book itself, is redemption fro God’s people. That through belief in the LORD, you’ll be redeemed through the Law even, by faith alone. And that’s actually a huge part of the Prophecies in scripture, is the redemption of God’s people through Faith alone.

I’d like to see a modern opinion. What someone said in 1987 is not the same as what they think right this moment. But in the article I read, John was wrong. Dogma states the hypostatic union of Divine Logos in Human Flesh. The Blood and Body of Jesus is indeed the LORD’s Blood and Body. The Human part of Christ suffered, but His body and blood are indeed God’s, as that’s the transubstantiated substance we receive during communion, is the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God.

It’s a little more fundamental than that. You can correlate population reduction with LGBT, but the fact is the loose sexual mores are what’s causing the population decline. People can’t trust who they’re in a relationship with.
I disagree that Polyamory is at all an option. I think rather, Polyamory is a bad thing, because love is important in a marriage. It helps make the children happy.
The fact is, the issue all falls into sexual perversion. Which in turn creates population frustration. You’re never going to remove jealousy from sex. Though, I don’t think population reduction, that’s what’s destroying the civilization. It’s more fundamental. The foundational trust people have in one another is dissolved by the LGBT community. Not even thirty years ago—with capitalism—people had a great amount of trust in each other. It’s not because of capitalism the society is falling apart. It’s simply because of homosexuality, and its dissolution of the fidelity of marriage and the social contracts people tend to have in stable, monogamous and healthily attached cultures. Precisely because homosexuality leads to Polyamory, that’s why the civilization is falling apart, and people are unhappy.
Romantic love is a deep desire in every human being, to form into trusting pair bonds with someone else, so Chivalry and Courtly Love were always bad concepts, and probably why they, and homosexuality too, were so prevalent in the dark ages. The ideal is monogamy, and facilitating deep, trust bonds between spouses. Not more adultery.
Divorce is a huge factor in America’s decline, and the West’s, too. Probably even bigger than Homosexuality even. Because children never grow attached. They begin to attach to people, but within a couple of decades, they’re ripped from those attachments, and have to form new ones. Which is near impossible after a certain point. Which this leads to more homosexuality and adultery, because the children don’t know how to attach healthily to another person.
Which, I would say the issue isn’t population reduction, but rather the frustration that’s caused by people not being able to satisfy their lbido, or have the ability to trust their neighbor. When people feel unsafe, they form new social contracts. And Homosexuality frustrates a vast majority of people because it creates scarcity of sexual partners, which causes frustration and that’s what the population decline insinuates, is that the population is frustrated. And as Eric Hoffer noted, frustration is a huge motivation for revolutions and mass movements, which often turn to a society’s fall.

Strongs 
Is never wrong.

Wicked, Wicked, Wicked,
Cursed of that El Yahweh;---
Cursèd deaths await you.
Cursed you will surely die
You, cursed of Jehovah,
Wicked, Wicked, Wicked!

I've been thinking about this over dinner. I just don't think the TPT translation cuts it. Scripture should put the Fear of God in me. It shouldn't be warm and cozy. It should be frightful. Like, I should be trembling, but instead I feel... well... it's hard to say. I definitely feel God's peace in the diction, but scripture is the Law. It's God's wrath being told to someone, in order to cause them to repent.

When I read scripture, if Jesus' words, or Paul's, or John's, or Jeremiah's, or Moses', I always should have a question mark. I shouldn't be affirmed, as that's not what God wants. He wants us to fear Him, and His name, and choose righteousness. I should never feel vindicated by scripture. I should always feel a question mark, about my own righteousness.

So... Generally, I disapprove of this Bible Translation. While, I know the Author had peace writing it. I would never question that. And there's a lot of peace---I think scripture's whole purpose is different than communicating God's peace. I think it should rather, stir up Fear, and Loathing for our own sin. It shouldn't be like a Warm Blanket, but it should rather be like a wooden rod.

Moreover, the Word of God should be active. And the language in the Passion Translation is too passive. A good translation, affirms that Jesus Christ is Come in the Flesh. This translation's interpretation of John 4:2 is not only more passive than other translations, it's triply passive. The point being, is that Jesus is the Flesh Embodiment of the Word of God. And an accurate translation, will in these verses, make that explicitly clear. Not obscure  it, or put it into the past tense. That's always my way of knowing a good Bible Translation, is how they deal with that verse. Shh... don't tell anyone. But, it does prove the diction and how the reader views the relation to scripture. "is" is in present tense. "has" is in past tense. Our savior is in the present. Not the past. And the Passion translation says, "as the Christ who has come in the flesh", which, as a poet, highlights the fault with this entire translation, is just how passive it is. You have three instances of Passive language. "Who" "Has" and "As" all work together to sort of bring about a passivity of thought, which is inevitable, because the entire translation is riddled with these passivities. Scripture is so good---because even in King James English---it's always active. It's lucid. Scripture, when translated properly, should be among the most lucid writing there is. Because Biblical Poetry translates into active and lucid thoughts.

You can compare The Passion Translation to something like the Avesta or cult writings, where there begins to be a muddling of lucidity. There begins to be added words, circumlocutions, and muddy thoughts. 

Compare, for instance, King James English with Shakespeare's, also. Notice how the KJV, being contemporary, is still far more lucid than even Shakespeare. That's because it faithfully translated the Bible. Bibles should be lucid, crisp, and without circumlocution. Which, I can only say from a Poet's standpoint, The Passion Translation has a warm and fuzzy feel, but it's not the Word of God. It's added too many extraneous thoughts into the text, that don't belong there.

"The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love's breath? The purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complexion dwells
In my love's veins thou hast too grossly dy'd.
The lily I condemned for thy hand,
And buds of marjoram had stol'n thy hair;
The roses fearfully on thorns did stand,
One blushing shame, another white despair;
A third, nor red nor white, had stol'n of both,
And to his robbery had annexed thy breath;
But, for his theft, in pride of all his growth
A vengeful canker eat him up to death.
   More flowers I noted, yet I none could see,
   But sweet, or colour it had stol'n from thee." Shakespeare Sonnet 99


"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Psalm 2, King James Bible

Though, I must confess it is Brian's freedom to make it. However, for those who are truly devoted to Scripture, and studying it, I'd recommend a KJV or GNT if for Modern English.

Also, he sounds like he's rewriting some of Jesus' parables and sayings. Jesus used crisp and almost superhuman language. He didn't talk like us. He talked in declarative, and accusative sentences. He never spoke passively. Compare Luke 15 in the TPT, the GNT and the KJV.

TPT: -5“There once was a shepherd with a hundred lambs, but one of his lambs wandered away and was lost. So the shepherd left the ninety-nine lambs out in the open field and searched in the wilderness for that one lost lamb. He didn’t stop until he finally found it. With exuberant joy, he raised it up, placed it on his shoulders, 6Returning home, he called all his friends and neighbors together and said, ‘Let’s have a party! Come and celebrate with me the return of my lost lamb. It wandered away, but I found it and brought it home.’ ”7Jesus continued, “In the same way, there will be a glorious celebration in heaven over the rescue of one lost sinner who repents, comes back home, and returns to the fold—more so than for all the righteous people who never strayed away.”

GNT:  4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. t. 5 When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders 6 and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbors together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent."

KJV: 4 "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

I mean, obviously, the GNT is exactly how I remember Christ speaking, from how I was taught in Sunday School. Christ didn't speak like us. He spoke with supernatural clarity, all the time. And I think the GNT surpasses the TPT. As, if a person wants a modern English translation, it will be much wiser to buy a GNT, as it echoes the actual cadence of Christ in modern English.

Also, putting them all together, do you see how the TPT has about two extra lines of text?

There's many criticisms to have of this translation, but these are just a few.

Make no mistake, the TPT is written well, but it's not written right. The Bible shouldn't cadence like my writing, or anyone else's. An author's voice should never intrude into the text with Cantor. It should---as is true with all good translators---imbibe the original author's cadence and feel, only in the translator's tongue. An author should never intrude into their translations. Which, as an auxiliary note, is why I prefer Brian Stone's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight over Tolkien's, is also for that reason.



Sincerely,
B. K. Neifert

Saul fell upon his 
Sword, committing Suicide;
Being David's foe,
The Amalekite lied, who
Said that Saul leaned on his Spear.

For, does not the one
Who slays the King's enemy
Get a reward, no?

Let me first put the Ten Commandments up, and explain a little about why each of them exists.

20 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Explanation: The reason why, is that the LORD taught a perfect ethic, and deviating from it leads to suffering. If the LORD's Law were honored, it would create peace, love, and joy, and it would lift the hearts of many.
 
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.


Explanation: Idolatry, such as Cell Phones, or the idols where people prayed to their past relations, is twofold. On one hand, idolatry distracts us from relationship with our fellow man and creature, while on the other hand idols cannot answer prayer. They cannot bestow upon us the joy nor peace nor love, but rather, if anything, bestow on one a somber melancholy, and distress, and at the worst, it leads to murder, and abortion, and perversion of a sexual nature. Idolatry, at its fruition, will always teach a bad ethic, as one is placing an idol above God, and therefore, looks to that idol for their answers. Which, the idol can give none, except despair and disorder. It can only answer its worshipper with silence, or it will answer them with emptiness and grave countenance. 

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Explanation: The LORD will not hold the man guiltless, who takes His name in vain? Why? One should be a friend of the LORD, and in communion with Him in everything. One should answer, and talk with the LORD as a friend. And one does not take their friend's name as a word of profanity. Also, the LORD is like a spouse. He is like a husband, engaged to us through the Holy Spirit, and taking His name in our mouth, is like taking the one we are married to, and using their name as a curse. The LORD is also like a Father, and profaning Him is like taking one's own beloved father in their mouth---even if one does not have a beloved father, the LORD can fill a heart.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
 
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Explanation: The Sabbath Day is about economics and rest. The core being, that when there is rest, there can be enjoyment and community with the things God has gifted us. The Sabbath is about enjoying the rest of the LORD, communing with fellow believers, and if we do our own pleasure on the Sabbath Day---that is go and exact others of their labor, and find our pleasure at their expense---we cause them to have no rest. And when there is rest, there is equity, and the Law abounds and people can go about their lives, and have more prosperity. As work builds up when there is rest, and it leaves more opportunity for work to be done, and therefore gain and prosperity.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Explanation: Even having the most abusive and degenerate parents, we ought to honor them in everything. For they gave us life, and even if our life is hard, and our days long, we ought to honor our father and mother. For by bestowing this honor upon them, we teach ourselves mercy if our parents were hard, but also gratitude if our parents were merciful. And by this, we sow into the world kindness, and not bitterness, and can be right toward all peoples.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

Explanation: Murder is the easiest sin to understand... but there is a time to kill. Which in war, there is a time for evil. But unless the commandment to kill comes from Authority, it cannot exist. And at the end, Death will be at the bidding of the LORD, and the LORD will have authority to punish sin, and throw into hell.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Explanation: Adultery is cruel. There is no more precious love in this world, than a man and woman. And to dissuade or be distant in that relationship, it causes the lovers to feel angst, and confusion, and weakens the bands of love. Not only this, but we can extend the knowledge of adultery to our every day, by not being aloof or avoidant, but by allowing ourselves to be charitable toward all, and allow ourselves the opportunity to bond with new people. But, also, to create boundaries, as the marriage bed is to remain undefiled, for there is no greater scorn, or injury, than to have one's beloved be unfaithful. There is no other injury worse, and no pain as deep.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

Explanation: Theft is easy to understand, except there are many who wish the state to enforce theft, for the masses. What a man works for, by that he ought to live. And only be begrudged to give his sustenance by means of tax, or by means of his own charity. When we wish to excise taxes so that the whole of one's income is pooled by those who have not worked for it, that is sin. For the sin of the world, is to  want to reap a harvest, where they have not sown.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Explanation: You ought to never bear false witness against your neighbor. For the simple fact, that someone ought not be accused of something they hadn't done. We've all made uncouth accusations. Yet, I'd think this is one of the worst crimes imaginable, is accusing one of something they hadn't ever done. As such a crime leaves a man vulnerable, and gives them a stain which will never wash away in this life. Not a stain of sin, but a stain of distrust.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Explanation: For the simple nature, that covetousness leads to all other sin. Wanting what is not ours, or wishing to obtain that which doesn't belong to us, is the whole motivation of sin. If adultery, we wish to obtain that which is not legally ours. If murder, it is to obtain vengeance or appease our wrath, and therefore obtain what belongs to the LORD, which is judgment. If theft or blasphemy, it is to obtain that which is not ours by right, and to obtain by some other means. For all gifts come from God, and all that comes from God comes from hard effort.



The Satanic Tenets and Why they are Flawed

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

Criticism: Yet the same empathy gets used to elicit hatred. For, empathy is only empathy with sin? Is it not? One does not, as a school of Satan, empathize with disciplining a child, or preventing the loss of the unborn? Or preventing the frustration same sex relationships create. It is simply to empathize, and thus encourage what is unlawful, and therefore, it is not empathy, but rather a means to creating suffering in this world.

The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

Criticism: If there is no Eternal Justice, there can be no justice. For, every evil committed will go unpaid, and the very injustice the Satanic Temple wishes to fight, is indeed a sort of justice which would create eternal suffering. For, if men did what the Satanic Temple thought was just, there could be no justice, for justice would punish the rightful and reward the wrongdoer.

One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.

Criticism: Yet, does not this very notion exclude the autonomy of the child's life in the womb? Also it extends to the mother's right, outside of the womb, to subject her children to her negligence. Or the father's right, to abandon the mother and child, and therefore leave them in poverty. Simply put, our own autonomy, and our own negligence, creates more suffering than any other crime imaginable. To have autonomy and inviolability to our bodies, is to neglect our duties to our fellow man.

The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.

Criticism: Yet, at what point does the offense become an offense? To defend the right of the murderer---as an attorney does---this is free speech, but to coerce the converts into murder, this is solicitation of a crime. Sure, freedom is important, but there are limitations to our freedoms, to where we cannot be defamatory, nor libelous, nor cause damages to others. And while freedom is important---such as my freedom to say this, or yours to espouse your tenets---there are indeed times when those freedoms are encroached.

Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.

Criticism: Yet all the scientific knowledge supports the Bible. It doesn't refute it. Genesis 1 follows the pattern of Evolution. The Archeological Record supports the Bible. The ethics and Laws of Scripture create happy states of civilization, makes them prosperous, and induces welfare. It even encourages the strong to uplift the weak. Where was that in your tenets? I've seen you scorn the unborn, I've seen you advocate for relationships which would create suffering, I've seen you worship a Murderer, Thief and Liar as your Idol, do you not then, at the end, become just like him? Therefore, by very science of morality, your cult is lacking. For, it does not promote wellbeing in your members, and it promotes hatred of what's good. It is insufficient, as it cannot even empathize. For it advocates by its empathy, what would create universal suffering.

People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

Criticism: People are fallible. But by whose standards do you know this? By Empathy? You do not wish the child to be corrected, so he grows to harm others. You do not wish the child to be born; you wish to give and separate the bonds of charity between man and his brethren, by giving them autonomy, therefore, rejecting the common strings which hold us together. Does your philosophy hold true? It says "Empathize" But also "Do what you will." If I empathize with you, while being exceedingly cruel, is it empathy? Your aloofness is cruelty, your unwillingness to accept the fact that we are not autonomous, but harmoniously connected together through strings incorporeal, which bounce and reverberate off of all creation. And yet, you wish to become isolated from it, and cut yourself off, by rejecting the Savior, and worshipping the devil. Therefore, you put out into the world despair, and darkness, and not light, for you reject the light. And that is the science I follow.

Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

Criticism: Nobility? You call the ethics of God "Arbitrary". There is nothing noble about your belief, other than the root of societal norms, which strives for a very basic answer of the truth, but cannot find it. For, there is nothing noble in your nobility, for the very word must come from somewhere, and where have you stated it? Yet, I can rightly say my God has, and does, in every book of the Bible. And very wisely, too, which conforms my thought to His, and my knowledge to His, knowing my God and being in relationship with Him, which is why He being my teacher, is necessary to first have any conception of what nobility is. Not that nobility cannot be found apart from God, but only that a few true geniuses have ever found it. And they, too, prove the Laws of my God.