"I don't pretend to understand women's little quirks.
Just one thing I know for sure, Chicks Dig Jerks. Ow!" - Bill Hicks
"In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you."
--John 14:2 KJV
Perhaps you're familiar with this verse from the
King James Version . . . . It's among the most
precious verses in the Bible about heaven; but
modern translations have replaced the word
"mansions" with "rooms" or "dwelling places."
I'm not happy that my heavenly accommodations
have been downgraded from a mansion to a room.
What gives?"
Well, our English word "mansion" comes from a Latin
word meaning "to live or dwell." Originally the
word simply meant "a place to live or a place to
dwell." When William Tyndale first translated the
Bible into English, he used the word "manse" or
"mansion"; it simply meant "dwelling place."
From there it came into our early English versions.
That was also the meaning of the Greek word used by
John, and it fits the analogy Jesus is using about
His Father's house.
But that doesn't mean we're all going to be confined
to one-room efficiencies in some sort of heavenly
tenement house throughout eternity. I actually
think the word "mansion" is a pretty good one.
After all, the smallest house in heaven is going to
be a million times better than the grandest palace
on earth, so I don't think the idea of "mansion"
is inappropriate.
I'm going to stick to my old King James terminology
here. In my Father's house are many mansions. -Robert J. Morgan (1952- )_100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know_ [2010], "#22: John 14:2"
My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there! - Charles Spurgeon
"In the Word, we hear God's voice. In the Sacrament, we have his kiss." (Thomas Watson)
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