Narkissos

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Posts by Narkissos

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  46

  What is more important to understand...

  by Siddhashunyata in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  moral principles, doctrine , prophecy , ourselves ?

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  Narkissos

  Hello LittleToe,

  Yes you can experience (real) what you can neither say (symbolic) nor figure out (imaginary). But then you don't understand it, and then you (as the subject of knowledge and understanding) don't really experience it. Understanding is the effort to put your real experience into words and "ideas", your "grasp of reality" into words and actions, the logic of your words into "vision" and "action", never giving up one aspect although there will never be exact correspondence between the three.

  Kind of trinitarian structure, don't you think?
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  46

  What is more important to understand...

  by Siddhashunyata in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  moral principles, doctrine , prophecy , ourselves ?

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  Narkissos

  The limitation of understanding is that it is tied in with language. Human language is our impassable horizon, beyond which there is nothing to understand.

  One of the best patterns I have seen thus far is Lacan's distinction between real, symbolic and imaginary. Three autonomous though connected instances, or circles. I experience the real, name it with words and represent it in mental images which make up "reality". Understanding is letting those three circles connect and interact freely with each other.
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  15

  Acts of the Historical Apostle Paul

  by ThiChi in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the historical apostle paul

  sergius paulus inscriptions

  the bible records in acts chapter 13 verses 6 to 12 how when paul, barnabas and john mark visited paphos, on cyprus, at the start of paul's first missionary journey, they had a dramatic encounter with the roman governor (or proconsul) sergius paulus, which led to him becoming a follower of christ.

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  Narkissos

  Peacefulpete: perhaps you missed my last post, but if you do read the article by Hermann Detering from the link I gave there (click on "Articles you can read now", and you'll find it) I'd be very interested to know your opinion, since you have been into this subject for some time.

  Thanks,

  Narkissos
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  20

  How many here were long time "pioneers" until you woke up?

  by seeitallclearlynow in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Narkissos

  Over a period of 10 years I was a regular pioneer, special pioneer, Bethel member and special pioneer again until I was disfellowshipped for apostasy.

  Btw, I agree with James Thomas: some people can be pretty happy with such a life, and as long as they enjoy it, I wouldn't try to make them change.
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  29

  666 or 616??

  by metatron in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last night, on the discovery channel, they interviewed a researcher who analyzed a scrap of papyrus that recorded revelation.. he contended that the critical passage of the "number of the beast" actually read 616 in greek, not 666. he tried to apply.

  this to caligula thru numerology.. i had never heard of this variant reading before.. .

  metatron

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  Narkissos

  Zen Nudist: Apparently I wrote too quickly. I cannot check the matter further now, but if I understand correctly the critical apparatus of Nestle-Aland 4th ed. all the uncials (such as Codices Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus) seem to have it in full spelling, with spelling variants (as well as the 616 variant in Codex Ephraemi rescriptus). However, papyrus P47 which is older (3rd century) seems to have it in numeral letters (kh-x-s), like in the much later byzantine tradition...

  If I find something more I'll let you know (unless someone else comes up with better information). Btw, could you give me the link to your on-line texts?
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  45

  The Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles

  by ThiChi in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the pastoral epistles is the name given to 1 and 2 timothy and titus.

  each of these letters explicitly claims to be the work of the apostle paul, but the higher critical school has concluded that these letters were written by a disciple of paul's, sometime in the early second century, and that his name was affixed to them to lend them authority.

  this is so ingrained in liberal scholarship that it is taken for granted the letters are not from paul.

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  Narkissos

  Thi Chi:

  In view of the link I gave on your other thread, I agree that no pauline writing is absolutely uncontested. But sticking to the Pauline legomena of the mainstream consensus (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians, Romans, Philippians and Philemon) which offer a relative linguistical and doctrinal unity would make a better basis for comparison as far as authorship is concerned. On your too extensive basis you could even bring 1 Peter into the picture and notice how similar it is to Ephesians: unfortunately, 1 Peter is not supposed to be pauline. So a very wide comparison reference ends up proving nothing as to authorship.

  The similarities between the Pastorals and Acts (which even you date in the 80's, long after than Paul's death on the traditional schedule) are not a good argument, even in the amanuensis hypothesis: if Paul "dictates" the Pastorals to Luke as you say, why the differences with Paul's known style and interests? If Luke writes the Pastorals first and Acts later, why doesn't he allow any time in his "historical" frame for the writing of the Pastorals (since in Acts 20 the parting discourse to the elders in Ephesus is supposed to be their last meeting)?

  Btw, you didn't answer my remark about Marcion.
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  36

  Am I in the right place?

  by Meg in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  hello everyone!.

  i just found this website today and hope i am in the right place.

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  Narkissos

  Welcome Meg,

  I read your bio and I'm pretty sure you are. Stick around.
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  52

  When you were a dub.....did you ever fall asleep when you prayed in bed?

  by gumby in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well i did .....all the time.

  it always bothered me that i couldn't even stay awake to thank my god.

  i found out later many did the same.

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  Narkissos

  Why, praying oneself asleep may be the best way (1) to get some sleep and (2) to conclude a prayer (unless one thinks of the formula "in Jesus' name, Amen" as a kind of zip code or enter key). It might remind of the ancient practice of "incubation", when believers actually slept in the sanctuary, as part of the ritual, in order to receive an answer from the deity in their dreams, to be interpreted by a priest or oracle in the morning (this common practice may be the background for a number of Psalms implying praying at night and receiving the god's answer in the morning, e.g. Ps 17:3.15).
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  15

  Acts of the Historical Apostle Paul

  by ThiChi in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the historical apostle paul

  sergius paulus inscriptions

  the bible records in acts chapter 13 verses 6 to 12 how when paul, barnabas and john mark visited paphos, on cyprus, at the start of paul's first missionary journey, they had a dramatic encounter with the roman governor (or proconsul) sergius paulus, which led to him becoming a follower of christ.

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  2. 
  3. 
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  Narkissos

  PP: Is it somehow related to the Van Manen school? I just read Hermann Detering's article on http://www.depts.drew.edu/jhc/ -- very challenging.
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  45

  The Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles

  by ThiChi in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the pastoral epistles is the name given to 1 and 2 timothy and titus.

  each of these letters explicitly claims to be the work of the apostle paul, but the higher critical school has concluded that these letters were written by a disciple of paul's, sometime in the early second century, and that his name was affixed to them to lend them authority.

  this is so ingrained in liberal scholarship that it is taken for granted the letters are not from paul.

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  Narkissos

  I didn't imagine you could miss my point: your are reasoning by (linguistic, doctrinal) comparison. You should methodologically limit this comparison to uncontested Pauline material. You don't. So when you quote Ephesians, Colossians, or a fortiori Acts, to point the similarities with the Pastorals, you might just be comparing the Pastorals to other non-pauline material. That's all.

  I'm not a manuscript expert, but I don't know of copies before A.D. 200. However, A.D. 140 reminds me of Marcion, who remarkably does not include the Pastorals in his canon.

  About your remark on Ephesians: canonicity is not to be confounded with Pauline authenticity.

  (Just a detail for the sake of clarity: when you refer to "last century" in your first post, you mean 19th century of course...)