Eli Soriano of Ang Dating Daan is very popular as one of the staunch detractors of the Catholic Church.
Almost all adherents of Soriano believe fully in him and nobody else can beat him in debates.
Is it true that Soriano is sensible? Or, his followers may just be dreaming. There is no doubt that Soriano is very proficient in memorizing verses from the Bible. Is that enough so you can claim that you are a wise preacher?
For the information of everyone, the New Testament was translated from Greek. It is very important that the bible we use should be based on the original version since many translations are not based on the original Greek copy.
1. His Comments Against the Holy Rosary
He said, “HINDI NAMAN KAILANGANG MAHABANG MAHABA EH!”
What he said in the video is, IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VERY LONG.
When Soriano said that there is no need for long prayers, he is contradicting the things that Christ made.
How does Christ pray?
“One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.”(Luke 6:12)
This is written in Greek:
Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις , ἐξελθεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ ὄρος προσεύξασθαι , καὶ ἦν διανυκτερεύων ἐν τῇ (Luke 6:12)
What is written and based on the original Greek translation is διανυκτερεύων or dianuktereuo.
What is the meaning of this?
What did Soriano say?
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VERY LONG!
2. His allegations that Catholics violated what Christ said in Matthew 6:7
Eli Soriano often uses Matthew 6:7 to hurl invectives the Rosary because of the repetitive prayers.
Let us see if the Greek version which he does not understand is understood by Catholics.
This is written in Greek , “Προσευχόμενοι δὲ μὴ βατταλογήσητε ὥσπερ οἱ ἐθνικοί ;δοκοῦσιν γὰρ ὅτι ἐν τῇ πολυλογίᾳ αὐτῶν εἰσακουσθήσονται (Matthew 6:7)
It was mentioned βατταλογήσητε or battologesete.
The meaning of the Greek word is stammer, “To speak with involuntary pauses or repetitions.”
Let us look at the meaning of stutter. In other words, it is having defective speech. Do all Catholics pray with defective speech?
Do all Catholics pray that way?
Many Catholics are conscious of praying the Rosary since they offer each mystery to their personal requests. If this is done without conscious control, why are they conscious in what they ask for?
See, Soriano has a wrong understanding of everything. He does not know what is written in Greek and its meaning. It is enough that he can read in tagalog and he likes to read letter after letter.
Second, it is written in Matthew 6:7 the Greek word ἐθνικοί or ethnikoi or gentiles and if we study this in Ephesians 2:11, we will read the Greek word ἔθνη or gentiles and we will see here the type of people that they are. It is said here ἄθεοι or atheoi and the meaning is…
1) without God, knowing and worshipping no God
2) denying the gods, esp. the recognised gods of the state
3) godless, ungodly
4) abandoned by the gods
http://www.lexiconcordance.com/greek/0112.html
Are Catholics like that?
Many Catholics believe in God. Then Soriano will just insist that Catholics are referred to in Matthew 6:7.
He just uses verses because of the letter for letter “repetition” and he will use that against the Holy Rosary.
3. The wrong meaning that Soriano answered to those who asked him what is being referred to in 1 Peter 3:19.
One brother asked him what is being referred to in 1 Peter 3:19, we will see that he brought this to 2 Peter 2:4 to claim that it is hell being mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19. You will find out that he cannot explain 1 Peter 3:19 and instead pointed to the other verse.
According to him, the spirits mentioned in 1 Peter 3:19 are not people but angels…
It is written in 1 Peter 3:19 the Greek word, “πνεῦμα”.
Let us look one of the meanings mentioned in Greek if these are angels and not persons because of the reference to spirits.
We will see that one of the definitions is “a spirit, i.e. (human)” or in tagalog, “espiritu ng tao o nilalang”. You can see that he was wrong in saying that these are merely angels.
Another thing is that you will see is how he fooled people asking about 1 Peter 3:19. The verse referred to in 2 Peter 2:4 is one and the same.
What is said in 1 Peter 3:19 is φυλακή or phulake.
What is in 2 Peter 2:4 ταρταρόω or tartaroō.
Let us see if these are the same. Let us see how Soriano misleads those who ask him questions?
4. The translation being used by Soriano which is the “Ang Dating Biblia” is not based on the original Greek version so it is not surprising that this will be used by someone who pretends to know but does not really understand things that he is saying.
If you notice, Soriano is fond of using the translation of the Ang Dating Biblia.
One of the followers of Soriano who likes to debate with Catholics made the challenge that he read of a person who can read the minds of other people. This is the reason for them to say why people kneel in front of an image. The truth is nobody really knows the minds of other persons except for God.
This is the verse that he uses.
In his mind, his brothers understood that God saved them through his hand. Nevertheless they did not understand
This is what is written in the English Bible translated from Greek…
“And he thought his brothers would understand that GOD would give them deliverance by his hand. But they did not understand.”(Acts 7:25, The Interlinear Bible, Greek-English)
If you will see only one verse, the “Ang Dating Biblia” is very different from the original.
Here in the popular translation used by Soriano, it is written that, In his mind his brothers understood that it was given by God.
However, in the original Greek, it is written, He thought that his brothers will understand that they will be saved by God.
Is it not too different?