Questions and answers concerning the writing of the articles

Summary:

I wrote articles (in multiple blogs), which can be found under the following link:

Click here

Questions have been asked concerning the writing of the articles. For example:

1) Why does your translation of the Bible look like that?

2) Why are some words in capital letters?

3) Why do you sometimes repeat yourself from one chapter to another?

4) Do you use AI to write articles?

5) Are the articles proof-read by people before publishing them?

6) Are the articles reviewed by unbiased parties?

7) Why do you use words such as "can" or "may" or "would" or "could"?

8) Why do you write plainly the entire verse or passage instead of just giving the reference of the verse? 

9) Why did you write your articles in English originally when you are French?

You can find answers to those below:

1) Why does your translation of the Bible look like that?:

My translation of the Bible may have () or -:

Matthew 24:12: "the love (of) the majority will-grow-cold" 

I added those because I want the translation used to be as close as possible to ancient Manuscripts of the Bible (which can be found in koine Greek for example). 

➔ If some words are not present in Greek manuscripts, I place them under brackets (). 

➔ If some words correspond to only one Greek word in Greek manuscripts, I attach them using dashes. 

For example:

Matthew 24:12: "the love of the majority will grow cold" 

Becomes: 

Matthew 24:12: "the love (of) the majority will-grow-cold" 

➔ "(of)" is not present in Greek

➔ "will-grow-cold" is only one word in Greek. 

You can check this for yourself using an interlinear Bible. For a free access to that:

Click here

Why did I choose to do that for the articles? 

For some passages, my goal is to bring clarity to various details that the text is revealing. Some arguments are precise and can require this level of precision, because they can be based on the tense of a particular word, or the presence or absence of certain words. 

For an example of an argument based on the tense of a particular word:

Holiness can be described in the past and present tense:
Click here

2) Why are some words in capital letters?:

I put words in capital letters in my articles simply for emphasis. It is not meant to represent shouting though. 

I could use only bold instead for emphasis, but I decided that for some words I will put them in capital letters for another reason: it is useful when copy pasting a text from the article to another platform to keep the emphasis (because in most cases the bold will not carry over if copy pasting on most platforms, while the capital letters will remain). 

3) Why do you sometimes repeat yourself from one chapter to another?:

Sometimes I will develop something in one chapter, and then in the next chapter I will quickly mention it again and develop something else. If someone is reading the entire article is may look like I am repeating myself. 

However I do it for several reasons:

1) People can skip chapters to go directly to one they are interested in. Adding context to each chapter can help them to not feel lost when reading a development where they would be missing important preconditions to even be able to understand it. 

2) If someone on a public platform asks about what I think about a particular topic, which fits a particular chapter, instead of sending them the entire article to read, a single chapter can simply be sent to them without them missing context in the development of the thought.

4) Do you use AI to write articles?:

I write the articles by hand, word after word. 

It is not impossible that I add a sentence that I have seen and that may come from an AI source, but it is very rare. 

Usually I do not like the way AIs phrase things, it usually does not match the way I would phrase them. And this is an issue for me because I like to have my internal structure of thought matching exactly my external output. 

Because I have hundreds of articles, it did take me years to write them myself. 

5) Are the articles proof-read by people before publishing them?:

I have family (spiritual and natural) proof-reading my articles so as to check orthographic content and let me know if they understand the phrasing I put forth to explain some things. 

I take their feedback into account (I am the one who literally asked them to check the content).

I also check each source I am quoting by hand, manually researching each source to make sure they are valid before publishing anything. 

6) Are the articles reviewed by unbiased parties?:

I share the content of the articles on internet on various platforms. Anyone in the world can read them, from any background, and check if what I shared holds up to scrutiny. 

I also share the content not only on particular forums where the perspectives may be restrained, but also on forums where people may be directly opposed to the perspective shared and may even be predisposed to want to push back as strongly as they can against it. I welcome any feedback and genuinely take them into account. My heart is to follow the evidence where it leads. 

As a Christian I do believe God is holding me accountable for every single word I share and I speak to people. I do not take lightly doing this and as a result I am more on the side of caution than on the side of being wreckless with what I share. As Proverbs 10:19 states, "When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent". 

7) Why do you use words such as "can" or "may" or "would" or "could"?:

In my articles I choose my words very carefully so as not to overstate the case I am bringing forth. 

For example, it is possible that I use the word "can", and this needs to be taken literally: it means something that is possible. And that's it. I am not making a universal claim saying that therefore all things are necessarily like that, but only that they can be like that. 

When I use "may", it means that something may be such only if some conditions are in place, or that it may or may not be such depending on other variables. 

When I use "would", I am expressing what follows an argument only if previous arguments are accepted. 

When I use "could", I am expressing only something that plausibly can be the case, but not as definitive in the argument presented as what definitely can be. 

It is even possible that I write that something "can be possible". This is different for me than if I wrote that it is possible, because in the case that it "can" be possible it reflects that the possibility relies also on some conditions where sometimes it is not possible, which is why I have to write that it only "can" be possible. 

8) Why do you write plainly the entire verse or passage instead of just giving the reference of the verse?:

In my articles I write the entire verse or passage instead of just giving the reference of the verse. 

For example, I will write:

Lydia was described as a woman worshipping God, as it is written about "(a) certain woman worshiping God, Lydia" (Acts 16:14). 

Instead of:

Lydia was described as a woman worshipping God (Acts 16:14). 

I do that for several reasons:

1) I want to save time for people who want to check the reference. Instead of having to search it themselves to read it and then come back to the article each time, they can have it available inside the article immediately. 

2) Many people do not read the Bible. It can be profitable to be able to read it directly to be more familiar with it. 

3) I want what I write to match what the Bible describes. By plainly quoting the passage cited, a claim I write about a passage can be directly verified against its source. 

4) Some people may know what a reference reads without having to look at it, but many people do not know every reference by heart, so it can be helpful to provide the quotation for them. 

5) People can have diverse translations of certain passages, and in some cases it is possible that a translation they may use may not help them see a certain nuance in the text. By providing a text showing a specific nuance they can become aware that such nuance exist. 

9) Why did you write your articles in English originally when you are French?:

I am French. However I originally wrote all my articles in English. Why? 

Here are some reasons for that:

1) The main reason was that when I came to Christ, I was instructed by the Lord to reach the whole world with what I had to share. I knew within me that this would happen online, and in English as it is an international language.

For more information on that:

Click here: What led me to write: my background in serving and equipping others

2) A secondary reason was that when I came to Christ I was living in Germany. I was part of an international company where people were speaking English, and people that I spent time with outside of the company were all speaking English with me. By default I spoke English in my day to day life. It made more sense to me to remain in that and not switch arbitrarily to French without being led to do so. Several years after writing articles in English I started at some point to also translate articles into French, but only because I started to be led to do so.

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