Yes, the NT is much different to the OT, but the Hebrew Scriptures must have been a lot different before the Exile too, as much of it was written or rewritten at that time or just after. It's as if every time Jerusalem was destroyed the shock caused a huge change in religious thinking. Probably the ancient inhabitants of Judah had a more enjoyable life worshipping their fertility gods than the later repressed Christians did! Many beliefs changed over the time that the Bible was written- about sex, the status of women, and the afterlife etc. You can't imagine Paul writing the Song of Solomon! Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 is an example of no belief in an afterlife from a much earlier time.
Bible's mention of physical beauty- why?
by Magnum 52 Replies latest watchtower bible
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sparrowdown
Yes, I always wondered what someones outer beauty had to do with it,
if so called "inner beauty"and "the secret person of the heart" was considered more important.
Seemed like an unnecessary detail.
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Magnum
sparrowdown - yeah, that's exactly the point; it seems like an unnecessary detail. I just don't see why it would even be mentioned if it's all about, as you mentioned, "the secret person of the heart".
DJS - interesting about the waist-to-hip ratio. It seems to me that the more I learn, the more we seem like advanced machines that act on instructions recorded in our DNA by many years of trial and error.
Xanthippe & transhuman68 - thanks. You both made interesting points that I'm recording for further analysis in my extensive notes. Even I though I did a lot of thinking outside the JW box while I was active, I never really considered much information such as that you two presented in your posts above. I'm really trying to figure it all out now. Thanks again for your input.
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Band on the Run
Standards of beauty change over time. I am art history buff. It is interesting to read accounts of the most beautiful women in the world. Time passes and I see portraits in museums. None of the beauties of the Middle Ages would be considered attractive today. Sometimes I have laughed so hard. Jesus' image changes with time. I believe there are certain mathematical formulas that do help us perceive someone as beautiful.
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prologos
beauty can be a curse like one african lady mentioned that was abducted by a rebel group, and got constant, painfull and unwanted attention and think of
Uriah the Hittite. if his wife would have neen less remarkable, he could have lived to have his own children, instead of ceding place to the genealogy of the messiah.
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villagegirl
Beauty seems to be in all races and types.
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apostatethunder
It is a sign of the importance jews place on outer appearances. Nothing wrong with that as long as it is not the only focus.
In contrast the New Testament puts more emphasis on inner beauty and qualities, for example mentioning that Nathanael was an israelite in whom there was not deceit, like if that was something remarkable...
It also mentions that Paul's presence was weak, which I think it is a very important peace of information in order to understand many of the things he wrote.
In contrast nothing is said about Jesus appearance, but he was a carpenter with a very controversial message that offended people that hid behind their position, so he must have had a very strong presence.
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Crazyguy
The bible also mentions fine gold in the book of genesis while talking about the garden of eden, what up with that?? Why does god care about gold???
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prologos
when a tele-evangelizers was asked about the gold faucets in their pet's facilities he answered: " God does not like cheap-" there is your answer,
you are not the only crazyguy.
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Magnum
Crazyguy - good question about the gold. Yeah, similar to the issue of the mention of human physical beauty in the Bible - why does care about that? Why is it important enough to mention in the Scriptures? It seems to me that, as in the case of physical beauty, it just shows that the Bible is simply written by men with no divine guidance. The things that are on human minds naturally carried over to their writings - things like fine women and fine gold.