Restoring Truth: Changing a Paradigm
A group or set of theories and methods
which guide any area of scholarship is a “paradigm”. A paradigm is a
typical example or pattern of something; a model.
We think of science as moving gradually as it accumulates more knowledge in an onward and upward journey toward truth, but in actual practice science jumps in quantum leaps from one paradigm to the next. Once a paradigm is accepted, most scientific endeavor is spent working out the details of the paradigm. In the course of these endeavors anomalies appear, that is to say experiments produce information which does not fit the paradigm. This data is generally set aside in the belief that further research will resolve the problems raised by the anomalies. Eventually a fresh mind, usually one not to steeped in the current paradigm to think outside the box presents one or more ideas that shatter the current paradigm and creates a new, more accurate paradigm. Each scholar must then choose to remain in the old paradigm, or move on to the new one. Thomas Khun points this choice is not always rooted in logic:
“The competition between paradigms is not the sort of battle that can be resolved by proofs. In fact the transfer of allegiance from one paradigm to another is a conversion experience that cannot be forced.”
(Science; July 8, 1977; p. 144)
There is not so much a gradual transition from one paradigm to another, but a “conversion experience”, a quantum leap from one paradigm to another.
There cannot be a gradual transition between paradigms because they each represent foundationally different views. It is very difficult for proponents of one paradigm to communicate with proponents of another, because they represent drastically and foundationally different views. The concepts they are using are simply not comparable.
For example physics once held to the paradigm of Newtonian Physics. Under the paradigm of Newtonian physics mass is always conserved and gravity is an effect of every particle of mass upon every other particle of mass. However Albert Einstein destroyed this paradigm with his theories of relativity which proposed a new paradigm in which mass could be converted to an equal amount of energy, and gravity is not an effect of mass upon mass, but an effect of mass upon time-space. We would not have atomic energy today if physicists were still operating on the Newtonian Paradigm.
Paradigm replacement is a painful process. The establishment always reacts in favor of the status quo against new paradigms.
Those of us who believe that the “New Testament” was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic have a natural interest in Textual Criticism. We want to improve our understanding of textual criticism and improve our ability to communicate intelligently with others. To do this we read books and articles written by Greek Primacists (those who believe in a Greek origin for the New Testament) and this presents a problem. How can we evaluate what they have written? Scholars do not write in a vacuum. Their interpretations of the evidence are influenced or biased by prevailing textual theories and opinion. They are working within a paradigm that assumes a Greek origin for the texts they are working with. The idea that the “New Testament” was actually written in Hebrew and Aramaic is a new paradigm and the establishment has and will resist it.
The idea that Yeshua did not come to create a new religion, but to be the Jewish Messiah of Judaism is a new pardigm. This idea shatters not only the paradigm accepted by Christendom, but that accepted by Rabbinic Judaism as well. The religious establishment (both Jewish and Christian) will resist this new paradigm. It will take a “conversion experience” for them to accept the completely new paradigm presented by the restoration of the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism.
I am humbled by the fact that this ministry is on the cutting edge of this great last days restoration. We are presenting a whole new paradigm!
This is no time to bask serenely in an attitude of apathy, but we need to stir up the fires of enthusiasm for teaching the truth to the world. I am convinced that Elohim will bless us abundantly if we do. Elohim will soon be opening the doors of opportunity as never before, I hope that each of us (and all of us together) will advance through those doors with all of the energy and confidence YHWH can give His people. This is the time to act.
We think of science as moving gradually as it accumulates more knowledge in an onward and upward journey toward truth, but in actual practice science jumps in quantum leaps from one paradigm to the next. Once a paradigm is accepted, most scientific endeavor is spent working out the details of the paradigm. In the course of these endeavors anomalies appear, that is to say experiments produce information which does not fit the paradigm. This data is generally set aside in the belief that further research will resolve the problems raised by the anomalies. Eventually a fresh mind, usually one not to steeped in the current paradigm to think outside the box presents one or more ideas that shatter the current paradigm and creates a new, more accurate paradigm. Each scholar must then choose to remain in the old paradigm, or move on to the new one. Thomas Khun points this choice is not always rooted in logic:
“The competition between paradigms is not the sort of battle that can be resolved by proofs. In fact the transfer of allegiance from one paradigm to another is a conversion experience that cannot be forced.”
(Science; July 8, 1977; p. 144)
There is not so much a gradual transition from one paradigm to another, but a “conversion experience”, a quantum leap from one paradigm to another.
There cannot be a gradual transition between paradigms because they each represent foundationally different views. It is very difficult for proponents of one paradigm to communicate with proponents of another, because they represent drastically and foundationally different views. The concepts they are using are simply not comparable.
For example physics once held to the paradigm of Newtonian Physics. Under the paradigm of Newtonian physics mass is always conserved and gravity is an effect of every particle of mass upon every other particle of mass. However Albert Einstein destroyed this paradigm with his theories of relativity which proposed a new paradigm in which mass could be converted to an equal amount of energy, and gravity is not an effect of mass upon mass, but an effect of mass upon time-space. We would not have atomic energy today if physicists were still operating on the Newtonian Paradigm.
Paradigm replacement is a painful process. The establishment always reacts in favor of the status quo against new paradigms.
Those of us who believe that the “New Testament” was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic have a natural interest in Textual Criticism. We want to improve our understanding of textual criticism and improve our ability to communicate intelligently with others. To do this we read books and articles written by Greek Primacists (those who believe in a Greek origin for the New Testament) and this presents a problem. How can we evaluate what they have written? Scholars do not write in a vacuum. Their interpretations of the evidence are influenced or biased by prevailing textual theories and opinion. They are working within a paradigm that assumes a Greek origin for the texts they are working with. The idea that the “New Testament” was actually written in Hebrew and Aramaic is a new paradigm and the establishment has and will resist it.
The idea that Yeshua did not come to create a new religion, but to be the Jewish Messiah of Judaism is a new pardigm. This idea shatters not only the paradigm accepted by Christendom, but that accepted by Rabbinic Judaism as well. The religious establishment (both Jewish and Christian) will resist this new paradigm. It will take a “conversion experience” for them to accept the completely new paradigm presented by the restoration of the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism.
I am humbled by the fact that this ministry is on the cutting edge of this great last days restoration. We are presenting a whole new paradigm!
This is no time to bask serenely in an attitude of apathy, but we need to stir up the fires of enthusiasm for teaching the truth to the world. I am convinced that Elohim will bless us abundantly if we do. Elohim will soon be opening the doors of opportunity as never before, I hope that each of us (and all of us together) will advance through those doors with all of the energy and confidence YHWH can give His people. This is the time to act.
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