If Far East Is Archaic, Is INC Doctrine On Isaiah 43:5-6 Still Valid?

The word archaic means “old and no longer used” according to Meriam-Webster dictionary.

The very foundation of INC doctrines is that the church emerged in the Philippines on July 27, 1914, coincided with the outbreak of the First World War. There are several bible verses used to justify this claim. One of the verse is read mostly using Moffat translation but here is NKJV and Moffat:

Isa. 43:5-6, NKJV – ⁵Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; ⁶I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth–

Isa. 43:5-6, Moffat – ⁵From the far east will I bring your offspring, and from the far west I will gather you,⁶I will bid the north lands give them up, and bid the south let go, bringing my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth.”

Who Says Far East Is Archaic?

According to the Wikipedia, Far East is often deprecated as archaic, offensive and sometimes even racist. Since the 1960s, it is commonly referred to as East Asia.

The Origin Of The Far East

The word Far East may have been meaningful only to Europeans in the 12th Century when they traveled to far east to reach Hongkong, Japan and the Indies. They naturally gave those distant regions the general name ‘Far East’. When the Americans traveled to China, Japan and Southeast Asia which include the Philippines, using the same logic Europeans used, have called the region “Far West” because it is further west from their location.

The Biblical Center Of The Nations

Until the end of the 20th century, it could be argued that Europe was the “center of gravity” of the global economy, although even that is no longer true.

The very center of all nations in biblical terms is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 5:5, NKJV – ⁵Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her.

The Cornelius Theory of Equivocation

The word “far east” in Isaiah 43:5-6 is in lower case meaning it is not a noun. A pronoun must be written in capital letters.

What is the difference between noun and proper noun? Nouns name a people, places, and things. A proper noun will name a specific one of a kind item. Therefore a ‘far east” is different to a “Far East”. What are the differences? A ‘far east” is an a place depending where you are located. If you are in California you can say Florida is in far east, but if you are in New York you will say Florida is in far south and if you are in Florida, you do not call your place far east because you are in it.

There are several argument in claiming Isaiah 43:5-6 referring to the Philippines because Philippines was once called a “Far East” but is no longer the case today.