Graber - Section I

<Section I> H. Graber states: “GENEAOLOGY [sic.]: The apostle Paul tells us in I Tim. I:4, ‘Neither give heed to fables and endless geneaologies [sic], which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.’ Again we read in Titus 3:9, ‘But avoid foolish questions, and geneaologies [sic], and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.’ IF this be true, why did Almighty God give us the examples in the Old Testement [sic], and why was the geneaology [sic] of Jesus Christ documented in Matthew chapter I, reckoning Jesus Christ back to Adam? Did Jesus ever tell us that geneaologies [sic] were vain? The Old Testement [sic] gives us (12) times that the children of God were reckoned by geneaology [sic], and purged of any and all adulterated seed. Read Ezra 2:62, ‘These sought their register among those that were reckoned by geneaology [sic], but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.’ People that do not understand IDENTITY, cannot comprehend this truth.”

In reply to section <I>: On to this next paragraph (which was originally on page 3 in Graber’s polluted document), and Paul’s exhortations to Titus and Timothy concerning “fables and endless genealogies” (1 Tim. 1:4) and “foolish questions and genealogies” (Titus 3:9), these were NOT, as Graber the deceiver insinuates, admonitions by Paul to forgo or ignore concerns over one’s racial purity. To the contrary, Paul calls Titus “a purely bred child according to the common belief” (Titus 1:4, my translation) which is all Titus had to go by, his being Greek (a “lost” Israelite) and no true genealogical records being in his possession! Paul also addressed Timothy as a “purely bred child in faith” (1 Tim. 1:2, my translation) and Timothy being half-Greek and half-Judaean (Acts 16:1) the average Greek or Judaean, being ignorant of Greek roots, may have considered him a bastard.

To comprehend Paul’s admonitions concerning genealogies, we must understand that Paul is writing to Greeks, men schooled in Greek thought and literature, and is writing on Greek terms (which is what he is explaining at 1 Cor. 9:20-21 and which Graber understands not, that Paul being educated in both Judaism and Greek literature, had the ability to speak to each on their own terms!) If anyone has read Homer, Hesiod, and the many other Greek poets and playwrights, and otherwise respectable Historians such as Strabo, Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus who often repeat such fables, only then can one comprehend and appreciate the Greek idea of genealogy, and Paul’s admonitions here. Paul is certainly not condemning the likes of Esdras, and the Levitical record keepers of ancient Israel, but rather he is condemning Hesiod and the likes of his Theogony, and the many similar works which account for the races of men in various genealogies where those races are said to have descended from various pagan gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Apollo, Athena, Heracles, etc. Such accounts were quite intricate, repeated by poet and historian alike, and absolutely vain.

Who, then, can comprehend the Bible without understanding these things? Nobody! To properly understand the Bible, one must study language, history and archaeology, and the other literature of the periods of the Bible. Not to do so is to be susceptible to the lies of men such as H. Graber and Scott Nelson!

As for “contentions and strivings about the law” Paul warns Titus not to get caught up in the same such deceit which we find in the Talmud, a reflection of thought in Judaism of the period, and a perverted web of deceit and evil indeed! It is obvious that Graber, by his criticism of the statement, cannot or is not willing to distinguish between “strivings about the law” and the law itself! Graber is as deceitful as those who wrote the Talmud!

This closes the sixteenth page of (my original handwritten) comments which by now I hope you agree have entirely discredited Mr. Graber. Yet I’m just coming to the bottom of page 3 of his document, I have 5 pages to address yet, and address them I will, even if I must write twice sixteen pages again. I only hope the reader will be able to share this with others, who may be weak in the faith, and caught up in Graber’s deceit, and that they benefit somewhat by it. I also hope the reader will see through these empty and vain attacks upon the Truth which are engineered by Graber and his ilk. Anyone with only a surface knowledge of the Scripture is easily taken away by purveyors of deceit. A great difference there is, between hard study and casual reading, and then the source materials one uses make a world of difference also.