Bridge of Reason

If you want to know what this series is about see my  first post here . We looked last time at Brian Simmons’ version of the story of Photini, the woman at the well. He drew some pretty peculiar teaching from the text in John 4 and you might be forgiven for wondering where it came from. It came from ‘Sod.’ No more than 17 seconds into his talk he says, ‘someone’s going to get into Sod,’ later exclaiming, ‘Come on Sodites,’ as he goes on with his story. ‘Jesus is speaking out of the Sod realm,’ he tells us. We need to see this dialogue, ‘in the Sod lens,’ he insists.. He is drawing on a Hebrew model of Exegesis with the acronym PaRDeS, which postulates four levels of understanding in Hebrew thought. According to Wikipedia , the levels in this 3,000-year-old tradition are: Peshat – the surface, straight, or literal meaning. Remez – ‘hints’ or the deep (allegorical: hidden or symbolic) meaning beyond the literal sense. Derash – from the Hebrew darash: ‘inquire’ (‘se...

If you want to know what this series is about go to my  first post here . The more I look at Brian Simmons the greater my concern. Follow him and down the rabbit hole you go to a world so unfamiliar to the keenest Bible student you simply must take his word for it, and that is troubling. In a  7 minute video  he tells the story of the woman at the well. The familiar story is related, along with some Brian Simmons flourishes, then he says, ‘The Lord, when I was translating John 4, said, ‘Well, she has a name. Would you like to know her name? Her name is Photini.’ There is already a  question mark  over his claim to be a Bible ‘translator,’ his work sounding more like an act of channelling than translating, as he ‘shares the heart of God.’ Having related this revelation from God about the woman’s name, he goes on to relate what happened next to Photini. You might be forgiven for thinking he is continuing to relate what God told him. After all, he be...

If you want to know what this series is about go to my first post here . Brian Simmons claims 'the anointing' on him was strong such that people in a local supermarket fell around him as he walked the aisles with his shopping trolley. People simply couldn’t keep their feet while he was around. He insists his ‘staff’ were often witnesses of these events, especially the raising of a child from the dead. In an interview with Sid Roth , Brian Simmons reveals this and tells how Jesus appeared to him, telling him he should write a new translation of the Bible. He paints a picture of his having such anointing his ’staff’ asked, on his simply entering a room, ‘What happened to you?’ The dramatisation on the Sid Roth show leaves no doubt many witnessed the most spectacular events marking this man’s life. From his time as a young man in the army to raising the dead in India, nothing about him seems ordinary. What is interesting is that he doesn’t bring any witnesses of these r...

If you want to know what this series is about go to my first post here . I have been reflecting further on the claims made for The Passion Translation (TPT). “The Passion Translation is an excellent translation you can use as your primary text to seriously study God’s Word ... the text has been interpreted from the original language, carrying its original meaning and giving you an accurate, reliable expression of God’s original message” You can find this claim here  in the FAQs section under the question, 'Is the TPT considered a good translation for serious study?' You can find links to helpful and authoritative reviews in my first post in this series. Stop and consider this for a moment. In an interview with Sid Roth , Brian Simmons tells how Jesus appeared to him, telling him he should write a new translation of the Bible. This is from about the 15:17 mark point in the interview. Not only that, Jesus would reveal to him secrets of the Hebrew language and...

Bible translations abound in our day and age, along with thematic Bibles for men, for women, for teenagers, children, parents, for armchair archaeologists and coffee shop philosophers, for people 'who really want to go on with God,' to those special Christians among us who seem to have God sitting on their shoulder and chatting away all the live-long day. The list seems endless and as long as there is a niche market and money to be made they'll keep coming I imagine. Then there are the paraphrase Bibles, useful in their way, but surely not for the pulpit (but oh, we've seen it done). It is hard to get people to understand that they are supposed to come to the Bible, not the other way around. They are meant to sit under the teaching of the Bible, the Bible is not meant to bend itself out of shape to suit their preferences or play to their ignorance. Any good Bible translation will speak to your heart and there is no need for your Bible to talk down to you. The P...