Re: CHAT: Congregationalism & Religious Terms In Dublex (wasTurtledove (was: RE: Nov 11th))

Bryan Maloney <bjm10@...> comunu:

 > Does that mean that the Seventh-day Adventists are not Christian in this
> language?  They reject the Cross.
Seventh-Day Adventists consider themselves Christian and are considered by
most to be Christian;  therefore, the term 'carsdevsist' [cross-god-system]
"Christianity" would include them.  Keep reading though!

> The Greek word "stavros" (sigma-tau-alpha-upsilon-rho-omicron-sigma) can
> mean "stake" or "upright" as well as "cross".  Verging on 2,000 years of
> general consensus is that "stavros" meant "cross" in the context in
> question.  The Adventists discovered the alternate meanings and decided
> that "stavros" could NOT mean "cross".  Thus, the reject the traditional
> interpretation in favor of "upright" or "stake".  They also refuse to
> depict or display any crosses in their iconography.  They further refuse
> to depict the "stake", since they claim that this would be an insult to
> God, or so I gather.
I can't find any record of this.  The Encyclopedia Britannica states:

"In addition to the emphasis upon the Second Advent of Christ, two other
matters set them apart from other Christians. First, they observe the
seventh day of the week, rather than the first day, as the sabbath. This
day, according to the Bible, was instituted by God since the Creation, and
the commandment concerning sabbath rest is a part of God's eternal law.
Second, they also avoid eating meat and taking narcotics and stimulants,
which they consider to be harmful. Though they appeal to the Bible for the
justification of these dietary practices, they maintain that these are based
upon the broad theological consideration that the body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit and should be protected."

You would think if they rejected the cross that would be covered here -- its
pretty important.  Could you be thinking of a different branch of
Christianity that calls itself an Advent church?  (The Advent Christian
Church is a separate denomination from the Seventh-Day Adventists.)

Even if the 7-day adventists do reject the cross, the compound still covers
them.  They might be offended by the compound, though.  In which case they
would be welcome to come up with another compound to describe themselves
('semdindevper', [seven-day-god-people], perhaps) and Christianity.
Remember, Dublex has 400 basic roots only -- everything else is up for
grabs.  You want to use 'carsdevsist' to refer to something else, go ahead
and do so.

Please keep in mind that in any language, natural or artificial, compounds
are mnemonic devices not literal descriptions.  You don't think of your
cupboard as being only a board on a wall that holds cups but you picture it
as something with doors on the front of it as well.  You don't think of a
strawberry as being a berry growing among the straw.  The compound
"fire-mountain" for "volcano" is common in languages from Icelandic to
Mandarin, yet an extinct volcano that never erupted fire in the age of man
would still be a volcano ('focmont' in Dublex).  Even a "logical language"
like Lojban uses compounds as mnemonics.

Best regards,

Jeffrey Henning
http://www.LangMaker.com/ - Invent Your Own Language
subscribe-dublexgame@onelist.com - Win $100 in the DublexGame contest!

"If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed....  Oh, wait, he
does!"