BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

Our BetterMost Community => The Holiday Forum => Topic started by: Jeff Wrangler on June 24, 2017, 12:16:43 pm

Title: Today is St. John the Baptist Day
Post by: Jeff Wrangler on June 24, 2017, 12:16:43 pm
I believe that this day was chosen to celebrate the birth of John the Baptist because it was thought the Summer Solstice was this day, so the feast of a major saint would oppose pagan festivals celebrating the solstice.

This day is also more or less six months before Christmas, and it was believed that John was older than Jesus of Nazareth--probably some sort of cousin, I would guess, because their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth were related (The NRSV Bible uses "relative," the RSV uses "kinswoman," William Tyndale's 1534 translation calls Elizabeth Mary's "cousin," the KJV calls Elizabeth Mary's "cousin," the ESV uses "relative," and the NASB also uses "relative.")

(Yes, I have this many versions of the Bible in my library because issues of translation fascinate me. There are days when I wish I could read New Testament Greek so I could make my own translation and decide for myself what different passages really mean. There is much disagreement over the meaning of some passages, such as what St. Paul has to say about homosexuality. I really wish I could decide for myself, instead of being forced to rely on what other people think, but for that I would need to be able to read New Testament Greek.)
Title: Re: Today is St. John the Baptist Day
Post by: Front-Ranger on June 24, 2017, 02:46:08 pm
Very interesting, Jeff! I really like reading about different ways to translate Bible passages too. It's very enlightening.