There have been several comments here in the last couple of days detailing what a poorly thought-out plan it is of Bob Thiel to translate HIS book into 1,000+ languages. No matter how many languages he supposedly translates HIS book into it will never be ultimately understandable in the native languages and nuances of that language as he imagines. All of those translations are nothing more than paraphrases of his original booklet. Things he deems important are lost.
Years ago, we used to discuss translating as it related to the Bible itself. Pages were filled with details regarding some of the questionable activities of some of the specific members of King James's committees, particularly Erasmus. That topic provided additional proofs that the type of fundamentalism and inerrancy taught by HWA/WCG/AC is simply not possible. Overall, the major concept became that the very act of translating from one language to another is in reality paraphrase. Things of importance are lost. I probably have a better idea of the potential impact of this because I'm involved with Japanese and Chinese industrial equipment, and our manuals for these are translated from the manufacturer's languages into a "sort of" English. This requires experience and intuition to understand. Although our materials predate AI, I've read some of the AI translations which are currently emerging. I can tell that this process exacerbates the problems we will have when they get around to applying this to our manuals.
The reason this used to be the province of university professors, and why the Catholics and other publishers of the Bible work with fewer languages than Bob does on his books is that only those who have cultural insights into those who speak the various languages have a deep enough understanding of the various nuances to be accurate. Bob will probably say something like "Oh, but I'm a prophet, doing the work of God! My translators are inspired!" Unfortunately, it is not reasonable to expect this when using known fakes and imposters to do the translating. We know this from other aspects of Armstrongism such as healing. The frequency with which it occurs does not make it reliable, or even practical.
The glaring reality with Bob and his book is that he believes his book is more important than the Bible. A reader here noted how extensively the Bible has been translated, a book far more important than 60 pages of self-importance grandiosity. Far more people have read the Bible than will EVER read Bob's booklet. His booklet will NEVER touch the lives of people like the Bible has done for centuries.
"The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As of September 2023 all of the Bible has been translated into 736 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,658 languages, and smaller portions of the Bible have been translated into 1,264 other languages according to Wycliffe Global Alliance".
Another reader made this astute comment on how this translation program is all about himself.
...have made available the good news of the kingdom of God in more languages than has ever been done since the start of the Christian church in Acts 2.
...and there you have it! Bob just elevated himself above Christ's apostles, and above Herbert Armstrong. Bob admits that he can be deceived yet still be one of God's leading servants (but remember how he attacked Rod Meredith for smaller deceptions than have afflicted Bob), but despite that deception he can still be God's Number One Servant Ever.
Oh, and Bob, if you are reading this, let's talk about what it means to have "made available" a translation. Some of your translations are into languages with just a couple thousand speakers somewhere in Asia, speakers who don't have access to modern tools like the Internet in their homes and sometimes not even in their villages. If you really are serious about wanting to "make available" a translation, simply getting the translation done and put on the Internet isn't going to cut it.
Yes, Bob, those Apostles you insult, the ones who didn't translate Christ's message as widely as you have had done, actually WENT to the people they wanted to serve. They weren't playing a numbers game. They traveled to remote and dangerous locations, where they trained and ordained elders and deacons.
Bob, you haven't done that. You're a pretender. A fraud. A laughingstock everywhere other than your deceived, mentally ill mind.
The Great Bwana Bob's so-called ministry has always been a numbers game and never really about touching people's lives with the word of God. It is always about himself in every article, sermon video, and booklet. Just look at his websites and blog and see how much he promotes himself while ignoring Jesus. The earth has never had a greater man walking its green hills than the feet of the Holy Bob.
Another read here wrote about the blatant hypocrisy of Holy Bob and his recently revealed translation debacle.
Bob knows that he is supporting a translation service that falsely uses the names of real translators as fronts for the AI-produced translations.
As such, he is correct to tell us that HE isn't being scammed. Rather, Bob is willfully participating in a scam that defrauds real translators by using their CVs to give Linda Jane's AI service a credibility it does not deserve. Bob is willing to pay this service a fraction of what the real translators (whose names are falsely being used, who don't actually do the translations) would charge.
If Bob wants to buy AI translations, he could do so from any number of services. But the fact that Bob is willing to pay a service that knowingly and blatantly misrepresents itself, and that does so by stealing real translators' identities, tells us what Bob really thinks of the Ten Commandments.
In this age of the internet and its instantaneous source of information, this ongoing shitstorm of the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel has been endlessly entertaining and yet painful to watch. It is fascinating watching his so-called ministry unravel in front of our eyes and yet painful to see the hundreds and hundreds of lives being spiritually damaged by his lies.
The Great Bwana Bob was not called and sent forth by God to preach the gospel. Bob called and sent himself after three different Church of God churches REFUSED to ordain him. He preaches, not the true gospel, but a false one. Paul saw such ministers in his day:
For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, this you tolerate verywell! NASB 2 Cor. 11:4
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. NLT Gal. 1:6-9
These sly deceitful men came in through the backdoor claiming lofty positions, uninvited, in order to keep people slaves to the law. Bwana Bob was NEVER invited or encouraged to start a new splinter group, he had no position of authority but gave himself titles of importance. He trampled all over the backs of those who came before him, discrediting them as ineffectual and that he had the only true way of doing things.
Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery Gal. 2:4
You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. (2 Cor. 2:17).
While the Great Bwana claims that he is not in this for personal wealth, he is in it for the personal gratification and notoriety/accolades he so desperately seeks. Accolades that he never got from his father, Raymond McNair, Dibar Aprtian, and Rod Meredith. He is like a poisonous snake slithering through the tall grass catching you unaware, deceptively dangerous.
18 comments:
Well it's doubtful that Neil Young ever met Bob Thiel, but i find some of the words to "Mr. Soul" to be very prophetic about Bob: "Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster!"
Not that Thiel is reliable, but you should get off your fetish NO2.
He is like a poisonous snake slithering through the tall grass catching you unaware, deceptively dangerous.
Those are some very powerful words. The truth, however, is that Bob is much more like a stoned midget in a clown car, swerving through the parking lot trying not to hit any parked vehicles. Yes, Bob tries hard to be deceptive and to put a face of respectability on his shenanigans, but while he can indeed be deadly - even a clown car can cause grave bodily injury - he's mostly just ridiculous.
Bob is a simpleton.
If his goal was to reach the world effectively, he would be taking a different strategy with his translations.
Outside the United States, it is common, almost routine, for people to be bilingual or even trilingual.
Yet Bob has thrown money at translations into some languages with tiny numbers of speakers. Bob seems to be unaware that, unless they are living in isolated tribes far away from technology (in which case even Bob's Internet translations can't reach them anyway), most of these people who speak a rare language ALSO speak one or two more common languages.
That means that if Bob's goal was to make sure everyone in the world could read his stupid book, he would be able to reach well over 99% of the world just by translating into the top 100 languages, maybe even fewer than that.
But that's not what Bob cares about. He wants to throw a big number at you, so you don't ask whether those people even have a complete Bible available yet in their language, or whether any minister is available to counsel them or baptize them.
Imagine Bob receiving a letter mailed from someone in remote Asia, asking for baptism. Would Bob go there to do the job? Or would he have to write back to the inquirer, "SORRY! FOOLED YOU! SINCE YOU CAN'T GET BAPTIZED, YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT LIKE BILLIONS OF OTHER PEOPLE!"
But, ultimately, no attempts at rational discussion really matter when talking about Bob. Bob is mentally ill and emotionally crippled, and there is no reason to expect him to repent, change, or even become aware of his narcissistic idiocy.
Agreed, 2:54. One thing is for certain. If Bob Skype-baptized someone in Europe, he surely could not ask Gaylen Bonjour to drop by and administer the laying on of hands, because obviously Gaylen totally at his efforts at a double portion for Bob. I don't know that Bob even got a chef's taste test, let alone two meals!
It seems that cult life has produced a large number of abusive personalities who come here to vent.
2.03 pm, To me, Bob is a type of all those in leadership positions in the ACOGs. So it's not just about Bob.
5.53 pm, all those who have been in cultish groups, which includes toxic family systems, are permanently harmed. Labelling the victims "abusive personalities" is unjust and tells me that you are one of the abusers.
“ Not that Thiel is reliable, but you should get off your fetish NO2.”
Aw, someone is upset again. It’s not out fault Bob has turned in to a false prophet.
The label "abusive personalities" implies randomness in one's abuse. It denotes abusive behavior directed towards everybody, in all relationships. That is entirely different from those who seek that justice be meted out against their abusers, and that those abusers be held accountable. Of course we can't expect the binary thinkers of Armstrongism to make that distinction. Not to diminish the holocausts, but the Jewish people and Armenian people who remember and speak out about their holocausts are not being abusive, they remember and speak out in an effort to prevent future holocausts. We survivors of Armstrongism need to do the same!
Bob attacks the world with the fanatacism of a mentally ill social justice warrior.
Very strange and weird way of thinking. I will pray for you.
Again, why do they need his book? Here is what is available:
"The Bible has been translated into many languages from the Biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As of September 2023 all of the Bible has been translated into 736 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,658 languages, and smaller portions of the Bible have been translated into 1,264 other languages according to Wycliffe Global Alliance".
Real thinkers graduate from religion to philosophy. Bob is still a child. When you become a man you put away childish things.
Translation guide for Thiel...
T--- stands for THIEL
H--- stands for HAS
I--- stands for IDIOTIC
E---stands for EGOTISTICAL
L---stands for LIES
Where can one read his translations to see how accurate they are? On his website, only the Spanish version is available,
Bob has almost zero followers. Hardly a scary person.
Bob has almost zero followers. Hardly a scary person.
Bob is the epitome of "playing Church." Bob is no more of a prophet or overseer than a little girl playing with Lawyer Barbie is a lawyer.
Bwana is the most dangerous man in the galaxy.
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