In Numbers 31 is an account of one part of the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Verse 17 and 18 is a specific directive in which God is reported to have instructed the Israelite armies to kill all captives, including women and children, except for young virgin girls. Guess why the young virgin girls were not killed.
gaiagirl
JoinedPosts by gaiagirl
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Can you help me?
by PanteraFan inok, i am not too good with looking around in the bible.
so if you know of any scriptures where god kills people can you please post them here?
even scriptures in the nwt would help.
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The Holographic Universe - Question for Skeptics
by Sirona inon the recommendation of "particlesandwaves" in another thread i'm reading the book "the holographic universe" by michael talbot.
the general theory is described here http://www.earthportals.com/hologram.html.
its fascinating.
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gaiagirl
As I read it, the book doesn't say the Universe IS a hologram, merely that it is LIKE a hologram in a number of ways. The properties which govern the behavior of matter vary depending on the scale at which you make an observation. For example, you can calculate the motion of a planet or comet using Newtonian physics. However, if you attempt to observe something such as an electron or photon, Newtonian physics breaks down utterly. Sometimes, particles such as these actually combine with other particles to become something different altogether, a type of behavior not possible with a planet.
Saying that the Univese is LIKE a hologram is a way of saying that there is more to the Universe than that which meets our senses. Our eyes see visible light within a certain range of wavelengths, usually between 4000 and 7000 nanometers. Objects which emit or reflect light outside this range are entirely invisible to us, yet they exist nonetheless. Many other beings on this planet see considerably further into the infra-red range, or into the ultra-violet range, than we are capable of. What would the night sky look like to, say, a bee, with its extended ultraviolet vision?
There used to be an expression, saying that "(This or that) has nothing to do with the price of tea in London", implying that one thing had nothing to do with another thing. However, as more information becomes available, it does seem apparant that all things are connected in an interdependent web of existence. On the scale of the very tiny, experiments shooting individual photons of light through slots in metal indicate that somehow, photons can 'detect' what another photon is doing, even at a distance. This implies that they are connected in some way that we don't fully understand? On the scale of the very large, the mere presence or absence of a massive body at the right location in space can visibly affect the motion even of stars. This was one of the ways that planets were first detected around some of our neighboring stars. As planets orbited those stars, their own gravity would induce a 'wobble' in the star around which they moved, demonstrating their existence even though they could not be seen in the glare of the star itself. Objects such as black holes are invisible under visible light, however they can be 'seen' by their strong gravitational disturbance on other bodies. 'Dark Matter' is also invisible, yet its mass can be detected, and its presence has profound significance on whether or not the Universe will continue to expand forever, or eventually collapse back into a singularity.
The influence of small actions on the large scheme of things was beautifully illustrated in a famous short story by Ray Bradbury titled 'A Sound Of Thunder', in which the death of a single butterfly has dramatic consequences which reach over many millions of years. The basic idea of this story is the foundation for the current movie 'The Butterfly Effect'.
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Fundamentalist parody site
by gaiagirl in.
found this while online, their position on many issues seems to be eerily close to the wtbts...... www.animaldefense.org/landover.html
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gaiagirl
Found this while online, their position on many issues seems to be eerily close to the WTBTS.....
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Ever Seen The Movie 'Blast From The Past'?
by cypher50 inyou know, the one where brandon fraser grows up in a bomb shelter and finally comes out after so many years to a world totally new to him (like some modern day rip van winkle)?
that is how i feel right now except i simply got out of a religion.... i am not totally clueless; i fortunately was allowed to do most of the normal things that kids do while growing up (play videogames, watch all the tv shows i wanted [including smurfs] & listen to the music i liked) so i am not a total square.
however, i am 24 next month and yet i am out of 'friends' & relatives to hang out with (they ditched when i da'ed) and i have only made two true friends outside of meetings/school/work in my whole life.
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gaiagirl
One way to make new friends is to decide what you DO believe, and find a group which also believes those things. There is an online test that you can take which is supposed to tell you where you would fit in best. (someone help me out here please, what is the name of that test?)
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Whats your favorite TV show?
by dustyb in.
i personally liked ren and stimpy.
they were funny.. (edited)
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gaiagirl
I enjoy 'Ed', its fun watching the interaction between the quirky characters.
Also Scrubs, Frazier, SNL (especially Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon on Weekend Update).
Simpsons and Futurama are great.
I was a fan of 'That 80s Show' during its brief run, and have most of the episodes on tape. I also liked 'Its Like, You Know.'
I thought 'Coupling' was hysterical, and am astonished that NBC filmed 10 episodes, and only aired 4 of them. Interestingly, both 'Cheers' and 'Seinfeld' had very low ratings during their first seasons, however they were allowed sufficient time to find their audience. I would bet any amount of money that 'Coupling' would also have found an audience had it been given a fair chance.
Currently, I have some hope for 'Happy Family'. Certainly, there is no lack of talent there.
I also enjoy many of the NOVA presentations.
I believe I am going to be reading a lot of books and buying/renting a lot of DVDs in the coming year.
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Fundamentalist Scientist
by Satanus infundamentalist:1. a usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
or slightly generalised: .
a __________ movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to _________.
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gaiagirl
As I understand the meanings of 'fundamentalist' and 'scientist', the terms are almost mutually exclusive.
A fundamentalist believes what they have been taught, and their mind isn't open to any discussion of new ideas, even if new evidence comes to light.
A scientist believes what the available evidence indicates. If new evidence is provided, then a scientist examines that evidence to determine how it applies. This may include modification of, or even rejection of, ideas which were previously held to be true. Or it may result in even firmer support for those ideas.
If a fundamentalist is presented with new evidence which contradicts their preconceived ideas, they will reject the evidence, rather than adjust their thinking. For example, fundamentalists do not accept radiometric dating, because it completely disproves their teachings regarding the appearance of various life forms, including humans. Fundamentalists do not accept evolution, despite geologic, biologic and genetic proof of relationships between various species, on the grounds that evolutionary teaching does not agree with their own accounts of the origin of life forms.
Fundamentalists don't really think and draw conclusions for themselves, rather they are told what to think and what conclusions they should be drawing. If they do attempt to draw a different conclusion, those in positions of authority over them will take steps to 'adjust' their thinking.
One bumper sticker I saw presents an accurate case when it states:
"Fundamentalism Stops A Thinking Mind".
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Atlantis and Crystals
by VM44 in"atlantis, the lost empire" was an animated film released by disney.
in it quartz crystals were featured as the power source for atlantis.
back in the early 1970s, the popular dr who series had an episode ("the time monster") about atlantis, and again, crystals were used, and the crystals had something to do with the destruction of the continent.
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gaiagirl
Floods have been part of human history as long as there have been humans. Think how the Mississippi River floods of around 10 years ago would grow through retelling over successive generations if there were no written records from the actual time of the event (and perhaps despite the fact that those records do exist).
The flood mentioned in the Bible was drawn from Sumerian sources, and there were parallel accounts in Greece, in which Deucalion built a boat on which humanity survived. But these written accounts were all composed thousands of years after the events they attempt to describe.
The basis for these similar stories was most likely a flood which occurred around 5500 B.C.E., and which produced the modern-day Black Sea. It was a huge flood (although nowhere near enough to cover the entire planet), and it probably did force people to abandon their homelands and resettle elsewhere.
Here is a link to a National Geographic site which discusses the findings:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/12/122800blacksea.html
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Atlantis and Crystals
by VM44 in"atlantis, the lost empire" was an animated film released by disney.
in it quartz crystals were featured as the power source for atlantis.
back in the early 1970s, the popular dr who series had an episode ("the time monster") about atlantis, and again, crystals were used, and the crystals had something to do with the destruction of the continent.
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gaiagirl
The legend of Atlantis is actually based on the notes of a Greek named Solon, who travelled to Egypt several generations before Plato's time. While in Egypt, Solon visited a priest at the temple of the goddess Neith. According to Solon's notes, he was told that the Greek civilization was too young to know much about history (only a few hundred years at the time), while Egypt had seen many other cultures come and go. The priest claimed that each time a culture passed away, some new culture would rise up and think itself to be the first. He then showed Solon astronomical records of every solar and lunar eclipse which took place over the previous 10,000 years (if this is true, this would dramatically affect our own view of the history of civilization). Finally, the priest made a specific example of a culture which had been very advanced, but had vanished beneath the waves in a tremendous cataclysm less than 1000 years before.
Fast forward several generation to Plato, who reads Solon's account of his travels, and pens the Atlantis story, not as history, but as a moral lesson against impiety. In HIS version, he claimed that Atlantis was destroyed, not as a result of a natural disaster, but because the gods were offended at their behavior, in much the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah were said to be destroyed because they offended a different god.
The problem is that readers in later generations didn't understand that Plato was writing a moral lesson, not a historical account. They just swallowed it whole, exactly as written, without allowing that Plato might not have all the facts straight, or if he did, that he might not introduce his own spin on the story.
Among geologists and archeologists, the most favored probable basis for the story is the destruction of the Minoan culture, whose capital city was destroyed by the eruption of Thera (also called Santini), around 1350 B.C.E. The Minoans were quite advanced culturally and technologically, as far as we can tell, they didn't have nuclear power or antigravity, but they were considerably ahead of even the Egyptians, with hot and cold running water and indoor toilets, which wouldn't be duplicated even during Platos lifetime, nor for several hundred years more.
The hypothesis of the crust rapidly slipping around the mantle is not widely accepted among geologists, because the shear strength of the rocks binding the crust to the mantle is viewed as being too high to allow it to move separately. The slow movement of the crust as a result of plate tectonics is widely accepted, however, although it wouldn't contribute to the Atlantis story.
A very interesting account of archeological findings on Thera and how they relate to the Atlantis story can be found in "Unearthing Atlantis" by Charles Pelligrino.
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When Did Things "Click" With You About The "Truth"?
by minimus inmy wife asked me that question yesterday and i really didn't know how to answer that.
for quite a while i knew this religion was getting more bogus by the minute but i'm not sure what defined "it" for me.
do you remember what got you to know that this was simply not the "truth"?
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gaiagirl
A friend at the hall was removed as a ministerial servant for having less than 10 hours/month field service time. The circuit overseer claimed that this was being done all over the country.
I remember thinking how everyone has different gifts, and how the scriptural qualifications for ministerial servants say nothing whatsoever about how many hours are spent using any particular gift. I also thought about how the 'widows coin of small value' was counted as sufficient.
I realized that what was being taught were simply teaching of men, and not even reasonable men at that.
So I faded from the scene, and have been so much happier for having done so.
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Could a Meteorite have affected the Chistian church?
by gumby inin 312 a.d., a meteorite slammed into central italy.
that was the year constantine converted to christianity and gave the church it's backing and boost to what it has become today.
church records claimed that just before noon as he was praying and about to go to battle for dominion over rome....a flash of light in a cross gave the message......"conquer in this".
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gaiagirl
Meteorites (and probably comets) have been connected with various religions for a long time. In Ephesians 19:35, the city recorder is quoted as saying "Men of Ephesus, who in the entire world doesn't know that Ephesus is the home of Artemis temple, and of her image which fell from the heavens?"
What would this "image" be, other than a meteorite? (possibly reshaped by human hands). A very thorough development of the connection between comets, meteorites, and human affairs can be found in the book "COMET", by Carl Sagan. This was a sequel to his better known book "COSMOS", but is very interesting and stands on its own merits.