04-16-2005, 09:05 PM
Shlama Akhi Paul,
I just read your post on your feelings about the translation, and it does not wholly surprise me given our recent private discussions. I think that I, as an Aramaic translator myself who is constantly defending this holy text and combating ignorance regarding it, can definitely relate to where you are coming from. I have taken the Peshitta to the Nazarene-Messianic community with some level of success and have also felt both the need to translate and the weight of the responsibility for doing so. But, if not for you for your excellent labor, I would not be doing this at all, and for that I am eternally in your debt.
What many on this forum though may not know is that Paul and I both came from a board called the Aramaic Bible Society in the mid to late 1990's which, in many ways, also was trying to pervert Peshitta to support its own political and errant theological agenda. This forum was born as an alternative to that one, meant to support and uplift Peshitta studies without the invasion of theology. In fact, this is the whole point of the Peshitta text itself as I understand it--that it would NOT be perverted to the political agendas of the Christian West and that of Rome in particular. And so, every time we strayed from our goals here at peshitta.org, the inevitable result even from the most loving and well-intentioned souls (and frequently they were neither also) was always heartbreak and despair.
Furthermore, often when I saw the same thing happen with unscrupulous people from my brethren, including James Trimm, I also felt like retiring from this field as well. One of my brothers in the faith though told me though not even a month back that retiring was an option I only THOUGHT I had, and that the Holy Spirit would wait for me to catch up to that truth. At this hour though, my continuation in public Peshitta studies beyond the final editions of Ruach Qadim and Path to Life is also in doubt. I too have family responsibilities and many distractions that I feel could easily afflict me for the forseeable future.
So Paul, this is my way of saying, I understand how you feel, and to a large extent share your feelings in this regard. The only I thing I would ask of you is what I ask of myself, and that is to keep an open mind and heart for the possibility that the Holy Spirit might reinvigorate you at any time. I also think that both of us have been under heavy negative spirtual attack by the enemy, who does not want the light and truth of the Aramaic text to bring the world the true Gospel. That fact alone at least makes me want to go on in spite of myself.
Also, don't lose sight of what you have accomplished. Without your work on the Gospels almost none of us here could do what we do with the Peshitta in our daily lives. It must remain up here somehow--free and accessbile as it has always been. You know the reasons as well as I for this. My people wrote the Peshitta and your people took us in and preserved this holy and perfect text. Is the Peshitta though just for your tribe and mine? Hardly! It is the precious gift of Meshikha to the starving world, Jew, Aramean, Greek, Roman--even Samaritan. All nations. All races. We have been charged and entrusted by Master Yah with a holy office and a high honor to deliver the true words of His Son in the original tongue and in the original way he said them 2000 years ago.
But, in all this, please don't think that I am saying you should not do what you feel is right. I only say these things to let you know that a wider range of possibilities in the future may exist which is not apparent now. Remember Akhi, you are still a young man and your talents and strength remain with you.
As I said, I will always love you like a brother and be grateful to you. I also look forward to talking with you and haaring ideas with you regardless as my official status or yours. Be well, take care of your beautiful family, and know that you are treasured here in the City of Brotherly Love.
I just read your post on your feelings about the translation, and it does not wholly surprise me given our recent private discussions. I think that I, as an Aramaic translator myself who is constantly defending this holy text and combating ignorance regarding it, can definitely relate to where you are coming from. I have taken the Peshitta to the Nazarene-Messianic community with some level of success and have also felt both the need to translate and the weight of the responsibility for doing so. But, if not for you for your excellent labor, I would not be doing this at all, and for that I am eternally in your debt.
What many on this forum though may not know is that Paul and I both came from a board called the Aramaic Bible Society in the mid to late 1990's which, in many ways, also was trying to pervert Peshitta to support its own political and errant theological agenda. This forum was born as an alternative to that one, meant to support and uplift Peshitta studies without the invasion of theology. In fact, this is the whole point of the Peshitta text itself as I understand it--that it would NOT be perverted to the political agendas of the Christian West and that of Rome in particular. And so, every time we strayed from our goals here at peshitta.org, the inevitable result even from the most loving and well-intentioned souls (and frequently they were neither also) was always heartbreak and despair.
Furthermore, often when I saw the same thing happen with unscrupulous people from my brethren, including James Trimm, I also felt like retiring from this field as well. One of my brothers in the faith though told me though not even a month back that retiring was an option I only THOUGHT I had, and that the Holy Spirit would wait for me to catch up to that truth. At this hour though, my continuation in public Peshitta studies beyond the final editions of Ruach Qadim and Path to Life is also in doubt. I too have family responsibilities and many distractions that I feel could easily afflict me for the forseeable future.
So Paul, this is my way of saying, I understand how you feel, and to a large extent share your feelings in this regard. The only I thing I would ask of you is what I ask of myself, and that is to keep an open mind and heart for the possibility that the Holy Spirit might reinvigorate you at any time. I also think that both of us have been under heavy negative spirtual attack by the enemy, who does not want the light and truth of the Aramaic text to bring the world the true Gospel. That fact alone at least makes me want to go on in spite of myself.
Also, don't lose sight of what you have accomplished. Without your work on the Gospels almost none of us here could do what we do with the Peshitta in our daily lives. It must remain up here somehow--free and accessbile as it has always been. You know the reasons as well as I for this. My people wrote the Peshitta and your people took us in and preserved this holy and perfect text. Is the Peshitta though just for your tribe and mine? Hardly! It is the precious gift of Meshikha to the starving world, Jew, Aramean, Greek, Roman--even Samaritan. All nations. All races. We have been charged and entrusted by Master Yah with a holy office and a high honor to deliver the true words of His Son in the original tongue and in the original way he said them 2000 years ago.
But, in all this, please don't think that I am saying you should not do what you feel is right. I only say these things to let you know that a wider range of possibilities in the future may exist which is not apparent now. Remember Akhi, you are still a young man and your talents and strength remain with you.
As I said, I will always love you like a brother and be grateful to you. I also look forward to talking with you and haaring ideas with you regardless as my official status or yours. Be well, take care of your beautiful family, and know that you are treasured here in the City of Brotherly Love.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth