crowe@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Daniel Crowe) (07/19/89)
In article <Jul.8.00.54.54.1989.2105@athos.rutgers.edu> ciriello@lafcol.uucp (Patrick Ciriello II) writes: >[quotation from my comments, saying that it is possible for a Christian >to believe that the soul is a process, which ceases when the body dies, >and is restarted only by the resurrection of the body. --clh] >If the soul is not separate from the body, then how could the thief on >the cross be in paradise while his body was in the ground? I agree with OFM's position as stated above. The best resolution to Patrick's dilemma that I have seen is the following: The earliest extant copies of the NT books (as well as the originals, presumably) contained no punctuation. The statement concerning the thief being in heaven is usually translated similarly to the following: "I tell you, today you will be with me in heaven." However, the original Greek allows the following translation: "I tell you today, you will be with me in heaven." which removes the difficulty which perplexed Patrick (and many others, of course). An additional argument in favor of this translation is the fact that Jesus was not in heaven on the Day of Crucifixion: He did not ascend until six weeks later. -- Daniel (God is my judge) **************************** physics graduate student * "If any of you lacks * City College of New York * wisdom..." (James 1:5) * crowe@ccnysci.BITNET [You are right that there was no punctuation in the earliest documents. However the syntax of the Greek can often make it clear what was intended anyway. I am not a sufficient expert to judge this case, but the UBS Greek does not indicate that this is a passage where there is any doubt on the intended punctuation. --clh]