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Maxwell House coffee has a slogan that it is "good to the last drop". The song is from 1979. A folk legend has President Theodore Roosevelt visiting the Maxwell House in 1907 and saying the coffee was "good to the last drop".
My High School German teacher had a wry sense of humor and would sometimes tell jokes in German. Speaking about Maxwell House coffee, in reference to their slogan, "good to the last drop", he said something like this, with a wry smile on his face, "und was is Los mit dem letzten Tropf" ("and what is wrong with the last drop").
The ancient Greek word "αἷμα" ≈ "blood" and is the source of the English word "anemic". The "one drop of blood" fallacy goes as follows.
You may have heard: One drop of Jesus's blood was sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity for all of time. Let it cover us.
This idea appears to have come from a prayer written by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1284) called Adoro te devote and written as an adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. One should not repeat statements as Biblically true when evidence for that truth is not clear.
If "one drop of blood" was sufficient, then why did Jesus have to die on the cross and be resurrected? This fallacy or deception appears to be used by some pastors to avoid talking about sin, death, resurrection, etc. It appears to be a way to make people feel comfortable, fill the pews, fill the belly (using Paul's analogy of false teachers), etc. Let us investigate. Do we need to drink the blood? See John 6.
English: We call propositions those only that have truth or falsity in them. A prayer is, for instance, a sentence but neither has truth nor has falsity. Let us pass over on such as their study more properly belongs to the province of rhetoric or poetry. (Loeb#325, p. 121)
Have you ever heard someone "pray" in a church setting and, in their "prayer", state "propositions" that are "true" or "false"? This happens when someone states a "proposition" in a prayer and implicitly assumes and/or implies that what is said is "true" or "false" (depending on context).
Discuss: Should a religious "prayer" state only "requests" or "wishes" (and the reality background of them) and avoid "propositions" that are "true" or "false"? Explain your reasoning.
Discuss: Should a pastor inject personal opinions on politics or social issues as claims or statements in a prayer? This is often done to convince those in the pews that God has approved of these views.
5. Matthew 6:9-13 Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. [kjv]
6:10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. [kjv]
6:11Give us this day our daily bread. [kjv]
6:12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. [kjv]
6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. [kjv]
The only part of the Lord's Prayer that is not a "wish" or "request" (except the address part at the beginning) is the part that is not in some Greek manuscripts. The TR (Textus Receptus) appears to have added this part.
Here is a fragment of the poem Adoro te devote by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1284).
Latin:
Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo Sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.
English:
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,
clean me, the unclean, with Your Blood,
one drop of which can heal the entire world of all its sins.
Aquinas worked, in part, on adapting some Christian beliefs to the writings of Aristotle. The poem uses Aristotle's idea of "potentiality" of what could possible and not "actuality" of what has happened.
7. Potentiality and actuality
Potentiality: It could happen this way (possibility).
Actuality: It did happen this way (established fact).
Some pastors (and others) take this "potentiality" and make it an "actuality" for which there appears to be no scriptural support. This could be for many reasons.
☐ not understanding the original statement nor the fallacy of the changed statement
☐ deliberate deception, often to support larger pattern of deception
☐ not understanding valid (and invalid) logical arguments
☐ other reasons
Prayers, by definition, are requests and not statements of what one assumes or wants to be true.
The statement appear to start as a counter-factual idea (which might be true counter-factually) and changes that idea to a statement of fact (with no Biblical basis).
Using bad or invalid logic in a prayer does not make that logic true.
The first part of the prayer fragment is a request. The second part is a statement.
Discuss: Should the specific opinion of a theologian or otherwise respected Biblical authority be accepted when that specific opinion is not supported by some authoritative Biblical references?
Chaos theory: sensitive dependency on initial conditions of modeling of dynamical systems.
Analogy: It is as if a butterfly flapping it's wings resulted in a tornado (1972). His original analogy used a seagull and a storm.
Some pastors will confuse "potentiality" or "as if" or "analogy" with an "actuality" or "fact" and preach how a butterfly can create this effect and then preach that you should be like that butterfly, etc. The "liken" or "as if" word of analogy is used 16 times in Matthew (more times in other Gospels and by Paul, etc.).
Other chaos meanings: (KAOS is from the 1960's comedy Get Smart)
English: informal meaning of disorder as in an informal entropy.
Greek myth: Universe started as chaos.
An exact mathematical model is only an approximation of reality.
Question: What is the sum of ten one-tenths? That is, ten times one-tenth.
Some pastors will preach Greek mythology chaos as if it were the statements made in Genesis.
Aristotle often used the Greek word "in working" with an idea of "actuality" together with the word "δύναμις" ≈ "power, might, strength, potentiality". Aristotle used this ordinary Greek work with a meaning of "potency" or "potential" in two specific ways.
Weak sense: something might happen or not happen.
Strong sense: how something could be done well.
This Greek word appears many times in the GNT and LXX (Septuagint). Might that word when used by Paul when writing to Greek audiences have a meaning (or double meaning) of "potency" or "potential"?
11. The actual potency and inner workings of energy
Galatians 3:5He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and workethmiracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? [kjv]
ο ουν επιχορηγων υμιν το πνευμα καιενεργωνδυναμειςεν υμιν εξεργωννομουη εξακοηςπιστεως [gnt]
Energy is a word and concept that has ancient roots but had a different meaning in ancient times. Aristotle first used the ancient Greek word "ενέργεια" ≈ "actuality" for "actuality", literally, "in working".
a city/many on a mountain/definitioncannot be hid.
in is not potentially possible that a city/many on a mountain/definition be hid.
The Greek word "hid" appears to be used only in a negative sense. The Greek word for "mountain" is the some word for "definition". Both are related to the Greek word for "horizon".
How hard is it to get someone down off a mountain?
How hard is it to get someone down off a definition?
Which is the more difficult task? Apparently some "sheep" separatethemselves from the love of Christ? Otherwise, why would it be such a big deal to get that "sheep" off of the "mountains" or "definitions".
13. Matthew 5:14 Hill climbing potential
Matthew 5:14Ye are the light of the world. A city that is seton an hillcannot be hid. [kjv]
In Greek philosophy (e.g., Aristotle), the word in the GNT often translated as "energy" or "work" is that of "actuality". In the same manner, the word often translated as "power" is that of "potentiality". In modern OOP (Object Oriented Programming) programming terms:
"potentially" relates to the idea of a class (abstract idea) [Plato's original sense]
"actuality" relates to the idea of an object (concrete reality) [Aristotle's added sense]
This is especially true for the writings of Paul since he was writing to a Greek audience who would have understood those parts of Greek philosophy.
Notice the progression in the poem fragment by Aquinas.
Aquinas: ... Your Blood, one drop of which can heal the entire world of all its sins.
Aquinas states a "potentiality" and does not take it to an "actuality". That is, it "could" do so is all that is stated.
You may have heard: One drop of Jesus's blood was sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity for all of time. Let it cover us.
Was one drop of blood sufficient?
Was the cross necessary?
Some pastors (and others) take the "potentiality" (by Aquinas) and change it to an "actuality" to be a given fact that has already happened.
The same logical errors are made when Jesus provides an analogy as that something is "like" something else. Soon, sermons are given as if the analogy has actually happened in reality.
Discuss: Is making such logical leaps without any apparent logical validity deceptive?
15. Usage - blood
*G129 *97 αἷμα (hah'-ee-mah) : of uncertain derivation; blood, literally (of men or animals), figuratively (the juice of grapes) or specially (the atoning blood of Christ); by implication, bloodshed, also kindred:--blood.
Luke 22:44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it weregreatdrops of blood falling down to the ground. [kjv]
καιγενομενοςεναγωνιαεκτενεστερονπροσηυχετοκαι εγενετο οιδρωςαυτουωσειθρομβοιαιματοςκαταβαινοντες επι την [gnt]
The ancient Greek word "αγονία" ≈ "contest, competition" and is the source of the English word "agony". An active striving, as in a sports competition, is a very strenuous and tiring experience. The KJV word of "agony" is somewhat misleading in this respect.
The KJV translates as "as it were" (as a given fact) what in the Greek is "as if" as an analogy or comparison. That is, a "potentiality" (in Greek) and not an "actuality" (in English).
The ancient Greek word "θρόμβος" ≈ "piece, lump, clot" and is the source of the English word "thrombosis" as a "blood clot". The "great" is added in the KJV as an assumption. The "drops" could be small, medium, large, etc.
KJV: ... his sweat was as it weregreatdrops of blood falling down to the ground.
Greek: ... the sweat of his was as if (like) drops of blood were falling down on the ground.
20. Luke 22:44 Sweating like drops of blood
Luke 22:44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it weregreatdrops of blood falling down to the ground. [kjv]
καιγενομενοςεναγωνιαεκτενεστερονπροσηυχετοκαι εγενετο οιδρωςαυτουωσειθρομβοιαιματοςκαταβαινοντες επι την [gnt]
Actual
(observed)
Potential
(analogy)
This analogy or comparison in Greek of "as if" or "like" was expressed in English as a given fact.
Today, one can find medicalprofessionaltestimony that if one is in (English) "agony" or (Greek) "competition" one may be stressed so much that one "sweats""blood""drops". Is that relevant to what the verse says?
Have you ever seen athletes in an intense"competition""sweating""drops" of "sweat"?
Have you ever seen athletes in an intense"competition""sweating""drops" of "blood"?
Have you ever heard a pastor preach at length about the "drops" of "blood" coming from Jesus as he prayed? How about extensive medicaltestimony about it?
21. Aristotle: Meteorologica
English: So embroiderers say they often make mistakes in their colours when they work by lamplight, picking out one colour in mistake for another. (Loeb#397, p. 265)
Without proper light, distinguishing colors can be difficult. Here, the word for fabric and color become intermixed which is one source of the many-colored coat of Joseph.
At the Passover during the crucifixion week, the new moon would have made seeing an exact color or shade at night difficult.
*G1617 *1 ἐκτενέστερον (ek-ten-es'-ter-on) : neuter of the comparative of G1618; more intently:--more earnestly.
Usage
All
εκτενεστερον
Luke 22:44 ... in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat ...
26. Usage - earnestly
*G1617 *1 ἐκτενέστερον (ek-ten-es'-ter-on) : neuter of the comparative of G1618; more intently:--more earnestly.
Words: εκτενεστερον=1
This word appears to come from the ancient Greek word "εκτείνω" ≈ "tighten up, brace for action" and has military meanings having to do with preparing for imminent action.
The word is related to the English words "tendon" and "tenuous" in the sense of "stretching" or "tightening up"
27. Luke 22:44 Prayer in Luke
Luke 22:44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it weregreatdrops of blood falling down to the ground. [kjv]
καιγενομενοςεναγωνιαεκτενεστερονπροσηυχετοκαι εγενετο οιδρωςαυτουωσειθρομβοιαιματοςκαταβαινοντες επι την [gnt]
Paraphrase: And coming into being in a competition, he prayedtenuously, and his sweat was as if it were clots of blood falling down on the ground.
Almost all modern translations use "like" or "as". This does not keep pastors (and others) from turning the "potentiality" into an "actuality". Some modern translations keep to the KJV phrasing as "as it were".
This fallacy of going from "potentiality" to "actuality" is common among those (e.g., many pastors, etc.) who do not have a firm grounding in logic and, sometimes, even in practical linguistics (sometimes English but often Greek).
28. 1 John 5 Water and blood and truth
1 John 5:6This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. [kjv]
ουτος εστιν ο ελθων διυδατοςκαιαιματοςιησους χριστος ουκ εν τω υδατι μονον αλλ εν τω υδατι και εν τω αιματι και το πνευμα εστιν τομαρτυρουνοτι το πνευμα εστιν ηαληθεια [gnt]
Jesus came not by just water, but by waterandblood.
Is the "blood" sufficient?
Did Jesus have to die on the "cross" and be "resurrected"?
29. Paul
1 Corinthians 15:13But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: [kjv]
Claim: One drop of Jesus's blood was sufficient to cover the sins of all humanity for all of time. Let it cover us.
Logic (invalid): Suppose one had a debt of $1000. If there is a limited supply of dollars, then any one dollar not supplied would case the debt not to be paid. Thus, one dollar pays the entire debt. That is, if that one dollar had not been paid, the debt would not have been paid.
In general, this is the converse fallacy with some of the equivocation fallacy and selective evidence fallacy (framing fallacy, cherry picking).
So, if Jesus had been put on the cross, and one drop of blood shed, and he had been then taken down, would that one drop of blood be sufficient.
31. John 6:53-61 Misinterpretation and the disappearing blood
Hebrews 9:22And almost all things are by the lawpurged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. [kjv]
και σχεδον εναιματιπαντακαθαριζεταικατα τοννομονκαι χωριςαιματεκχυσιαςου γινεταιαφεσις [gnt]
It has been noticed that, in recent years, the "blood" has been disappearing from Christian churches, sermons, hymnals, etc.
What might be the reason the "blood" was there in the first place, and what might be some reasons why it is now disappearing?
Later in the same chapter, Jesus explains what he is all about.
6:53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. [kjv]
ειπεν ουν αυτοις ο ιησους αμην αμην λεγω υμιν εαν μηφαγητετηνσαρκατου υιου του ανθρωπου καιπιητεαυτου τοαιμαουκ εχετεζωηνεν εαυτοις [gnt]
Today, many churches do not like the idea or metaphor of eating the flesh and drinking his blood. Might what Jesus says be a code word approach?
Many have noted that the modern music in many churches has been used to get Jesus and the blood out of the church service and, in some cases, the church itself.
Revelation 1:5And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, [kjv]
και απο ιησου χριστου ο μαρτυς ο πιστος ο πρωτοτοκος των νεκρων και ο αρχων των βασιλεων της γης τω αγαπωντι ημας και λυσαντιημας εκ τωναμαρτιωνημων εν τωαιματιαυτου [gnt]
In Ohio in 1878, Elsha Hoffman, a Presbyterian minister from Union Seminary Pennsylvania, wrote "Are you washed in the blood of the lamb". The song became a marching song for the Salvation Army.
The Greek for "remission" is the same word as for "forgiveness" or "letting go".
Note that one must "redeem" the "offer" of the "Redeemer" before it is valid or takes effect. This point is often (deceptively) omitted by some pastors.
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. [kjv]
Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [kjv]
υμεις εστε το φως του κοσμου ου δυναται πολις κρυβηναι επανω ορους κειμενη [gnt]
Without proper light, distinguishing colors can be difficult. Here, the word for fabric and color become intermixed which is one source of the many-colored coat of Joseph.
It has been noticed that, in recent years, the "blood" has been disappearing from Christian churches, sermons, hymnals, etc.
