Nimrod - the original freethinker?

by Seeker4 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sargon

  I haven't been able to get this whole thing about Nimrod out of my mind. I did a re-read this morning on the part of the bible dealing with the tower of Babel. Reading it without any blinders, I couldn't belive what i was reading. Her's Genesis 11:6-7 courtesy of the Gideons:

  And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
  7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

  Stunning, what a jealous, spiteful god. This is not the act of a rational loving being...but rather the act of a little child.
  In this passage, I assume he is talking to Micheal or Gabriel, who else is 'Us'? Most wars in the course of human history are caused by language and religion differences. Here we have God wreaking vengence, in his own words, 'because nothing which they purpose will be impossible for them.'
  Because nothing they purpose will be impossible for them!!!

  Exoterically, Bible and Babel are much alike... total confusion!

  
  Imagination is more important than Knowledge. Albert Einstein
• 

  Seeker4

  Your comment about what a jealous little god Jehovah is in the Bible is something I began to see even when I was still a Witness. I started to realize that far from being a god I wanted to worship, Jehovah had most of the bad qualities that turned me away from people who had them here on earth. Petty, jealous, no sense of humor or fun, demanding, rigid.

  Far from being a father one felt like loving, he was more like the abusive father that should be locked away!
  S4
• 

  Eric

  Sargon,

  In the context of the JW teaching of "Jehovah's universal sovereignty" and allowing man's rule to continue so as to prove man's efforts to be lacking and unworthy, the Genesis 11 account of God's reaction at Babel is as infuriating as the ruling of a corrupt judge and as disappointing as watching a child who wants to change the rules of a game when he starts to lose.

  Here Nimrod had the first Biblically recorded attempt to implement the concept of centralization, and God simply could not let it succeed. Jehovah stepped in, diddled the languages, ensured that this human effort would fail, sat back to watch the chaos he had introduced and then proceded with his own agenda.

  The "Can man rule himself?" experiment can be demonstated to never have occurred given Jehovah's self-serving meddling with our very means of discussing how we should rule ourselves and who should be ruling.

  Great thread, Seeker 4!

  Eric
• 

  NameWithheld

  Eric, my thoughts exactly. This one account blows the whole JW 'issue' of soverenty that they so proudly cling to. I mean, here Satan says "Man can do it just fine w/out you" and God says "Prove it" - the first time it looks like man might succeed, god comes down and f*cks everyone. Nice game god! Glad to know the deck's not stacked against us
• 

  ARoarer

  Seeker, I think, in my opinion, that the ancient Israelites, like the governing potty today, believed they were the only ones who were worthy of an intimate relationship with their perception of God. Like those of today, they put thier own interpretaions, superstitions, racial hatreds into their worship and biblical accounts. Now I look at all holy writings that have good concepts but have human imperfection in thier accounts. Humankind who have taken part in writing these accounts, in thier human, superstitous, relgious prejudicial ways, have literally fashioned god to be images of themselves, with all the qualities that originate suffering, and war. Like then, so too today. Organized religion, especially organized spiritutally abusive religions have caused much death and suffering in the name of thier gods. I think, now the simple humanitarian teachings of Jesus were being perverted as early as the apostle Paul, who brought in his own issues and interpretations to the congregations. I now feel that my path in life is go live and use to the best of my ability the gifts and talents I was created with and to use these in a way that will be good to my fellow human beings. Isn't that what being in harmony with God and the Universe really is?
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  Englishman

  Seeker 4,

  Our submarine hunter-killers are called Nimrods.

  Ugly buggers, aren't they? Based on the old De Havilland Comet.

  Englishman.