2

Before I ask, I just want to confirm if these are on topic here:

  1. Questions asking for references
  2. Questions on a biblical character's idea on something
  3. Questions on translations/original text in Greek

EDIT:Already answered, but adding points from comments:

Example:

  1. Questions like "Where all have Jesus mentioned directly/indirectly about Heaven?"
  2. "Has Jesus further explained Mat 19:12 in any other context, as to who is to choose not to marry and who is to marry"
  3. "Which is better for a child - KJV or MSG" aka which is the less complicated/easy to understand translation in a specific language, but do not include/promote ideas not generally accepted, so that its easy for someone new to language to follow."
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  • Your three categories are not clear enough. Please explain the first two more.
    – curiousdannii Mod
    May 22, 2015 at 11:06
  • @curiousdannii, Susan has already answered my question!
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 22, 2015 at 11:14
  • @JessePFracnis And her answer (ignoring the comments which could be deleted at any time) says that she doesn't understand your question! And other people may want to answer, if only they could understand it.
    – curiousdannii Mod
    May 22, 2015 at 11:15
  • @curiousdannii, hope its fixed!
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 22, 2015 at 13:00
  • Thanks, that's much better
    – curiousdannii Mod
    May 22, 2015 at 13:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

Thank you for asking here before posting.

  1. Asking for a biblical reference to support an idea is off topic. Questions about biblical topics should start from a specific Bible passage.

  2. If the question arises from a specific passage that describes the character’s viewpoint and you’re asking us to help with interpretation of the text, that works. Questions searching for a text are off topic, although we do at times invoke other texts written by the same author in the process of explaining a particular text. But the question should start from the text rather than, e.g., concerns about marriage.

  3. Question about the bible in languages other than the originals, important ancient(ish) translations, and English are generally off topic. For English translations, this post on meta and this one on main and this one on Christianity.SE together I think should provide most of the available info that isn’t 'primarily opinion based.'

From the help pages:

If your question is about...

  • interpretation of a specific Bible passage
  • hermeneutical approaches
  • translation of Biblical texts
  • historical context (with regards to a particular text)
  • source criticism

... then this is the right place to ask.

Questions that do not arise from a Biblical text are off-topic unless they are about hermeneutical approaches.

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  • On (2): See this question I just asked as an example. On (3), questions like, which Greek translation is the simplest for someone learning Greek etc.
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 20, 2015 at 6:12
  • (3): Greek translation? (2): That question looks fine to me. By “biblical character’s idea,” then, you just mean the author (or the author quoting Jesus)? That's probably going to be safe territory.
    – Susan
    May 20, 2015 at 6:18
  • (3, cont.): We’d love to chat about this sort of thing, but questions about learning the languages are usually off topic on the main site.
    – Susan
    May 20, 2015 at 6:19
  • (2) Initially (until I started writing that question, when I was asking here), the question was more like: "Does Jesus/Paul recommend celibacy in that verse" and another q I had in mind was like "Has Jesus further explained Mat 19:12 in any other context, as to who is to choose not to marry and who is to marry". Second question, I had a slight doubt if its off topic!
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 20, 2015 at 6:45
  • (3), Not learning language, it will be something like asking "Which is better for a child - KJV or MSG" aka which is the less complicated/easy to understand translation in a specific language, but do not include/promote ideas not generally accepted, so that its easy for someone new to language to follow. (I just used Greek as an example)
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 20, 2015 at 6:50
  • (2) Questions searching for a text are indeed off topic, although we do at times invoke other texts written by the same author in the process of explaining a particular text. But the question should start from the text rather than, e.g., concerns about marriage.
    – Susan
    May 20, 2015 at 6:56
  • (3) Mmm, probably not. Question about the bible in languages other than the originals, important ancient(ish) translations, and English are generally off topic. For English translations, this post on meta and this one on main and this one on Christianity.SE together I think should provide most of the available info that isn’t ‘primarily opinion based.'
    – Susan
    May 20, 2015 at 6:59
  • 2
    Thank you for explaining all these patiently! I feel kind of questions I have better fits here than Christianity.SE. Thank you again!
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 20, 2015 at 7:08
  • as pointed out by curiousdannii, I have added points from our discussion above to the question. I hope you can remove the component of uncertainty from your answer!
    – Jesse P Francis
    May 22, 2015 at 13:04
  • 1
    @JessePFrancis Done. We’re usually not all that strict about such things on meta, but hopefully this will make it easier for future visitors with similar questions to see your questions and my responses without having to wade through comments.
    – Susan
    May 22, 2015 at 13:10
  • @All This answer is Boiler-Plate! Thank you, Susan!
    – Tau
    May 30, 2015 at 4:06

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