October 27, 2006

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Discuss.

Please note that the word "spirit" here is lower-cased; the Lord* wasn't discussing the Holy Spirit.

Is there irony in the word "spirits" for booze?

* Oh, how I hate it when my relatives throw that phrase around. But it's different when I do it.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:22 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Obviously, the part of man that responds to God is willing to do much for God, but the part that does not respond to God is not willing to do much. As for the capitalization: The original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Greek and a tidbit of Aramaic and Chaldean) did not have our present-day system of capital vs. lower-case letters, although Greek did gain them since that time. The oldest manuscripts have everything in all caps (which did not indicate shouting to them). In fact, Greek, at that time, was often written without spaces between the words. Consequently, the word "spirit" is capitalized in modern English bibles depending on the translators' choices in the matter. Some translators render all instances with a lower-case "s," and let the reader figure out whether the spirit is human or divine. Other translators try to infer it from the context and apply a capital "S" in those cases where they believe the spirit in question is the Holy Spirit. In this particular passage, it simply makes no discernable sense if the spirit here is divine.

Posted by: John at October 27, 2006 03:40 PM (GjZK7)

2 Right. But what is meant when we talk about the human spirit? What do we mean? What did Christ mean? In a scriptural context, how is the spirit distinct from the soul?

Posted by: Attila Girl at October 27, 2006 07:30 PM (LEEsJ)

3 Wouldn't you and St. Thomas Aquinas like to know? In Suma Theologica, et.al., there is little practical difference between the human spirit and soul. The spirit is the soul as given, merged with our sapience-- our consciousness, apperception and experience, etc. I wrote out my own personal theory of God and what it all means, but your system ate it. I took that as a sign! Maybe some other time.

Posted by: Darrell at October 28, 2006 01:19 AM (/ztjB)

4 I'm crushed. As soon as I have my life back, I'll try to get that fixed.

Posted by: Attila Girl at October 28, 2006 08:10 AM (LEEsJ)

5 The spirit would be the part that participates in the afterlife. The term that is translated 'soul' is the Greek word psyche, from which we get words like psychology, etc, although the Greeks had a different word for 'mind'. Whether the soul and the spirit are the same thing or different things really doesn't matter in the long run. If they are the same, pleasing God requires me to give up drunkeness, surfing porn, etc. If they are different, pleasing God requires me to give up drunkeness, surfing porn, etc. So I don't worrty about it.

Posted by: John at October 28, 2006 12:21 PM (VOKJa)

6 I always copy my text, knowing what can happen. Last night that didn't work either. Only two words copied, but the whole text was highlighted properly. Time to call it a night, then. Don't forget to set your clock back tonight(10-2 ....Although you would be early for Mass this time....

Posted by: Darrell at October 28, 2006 08:13 PM (YR+ky)

7 Translation: stop procrastinating and DO IT.

Posted by: eclectic infidel at October 29, 2006 11:45 AM (pPEXX)

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