Posts by euripides

9

The Hebrew OT

by onacruse in

.

i was watching a history channel show tonight, and one of the assertions made by a rabbi was that 25% of the words in the ot are of disputed meaning.. in my own meager understanding of hebrew, and critical text analysis, this seemed a bit overboard, but possibly within linguistic parameters.. if so, then what the heck was god doing when it provided these sacred texts...sayings and directions and dictums that are supposed to be for our ultimate benefit, and to give us the ability to make life-and-death decisions?.

please speak my language, plain and simple.. god can do that, right?.

euripides

I think its important to recognize that 20% of the total lexicon/vocabulary is uncertain in meaning, not 20% of the text. This is probably at least the case in English also, where the average person's vocabulary uses only approximately 10% of the English lexicon. A great number of those words which are uncertain form specialized vocabulary such as found in poetry--I recall that much of the poetry of Job is fairly specialized and difficult to ascertain. Yet the frequency of these words are reduced to single occurrences, thus they form only a very small part of the overall text. Euripides

4

What the HELL

by homme perdu in

responses to christ line

re: "proud to be a hindu, "letters, religion, jan.29.

the notion that you had to believe in jesus or you were going to hell never appeared in the bible until between a.d. 780 to 800. it appeared when the papacy was being passed around amoung the last of the roman nobles and the western branch of christianity was close to extinction.

euripides

The concept of future punishments or rewards (as in the afterlife) is traceable in Judaism to even before the first century, probably to the post-exilic period from the 4th century BCE when Jews returning from Babylon had incorporated teachings influenced by the dualism of Zoroastrianism and these concepts of punishments and rewards, conveniently brought into service during the Maccabean crisis of 167-164 CE. The idea was that only deferment to some kind of eschatological come-uppance could justify (or explain) the destruction of the faithful at the hands of the wicked. Perhaps it is an outgrowth of the age old theodicy question, as in, Why does God allow the wicked to go unpunished? Hell is meant to provide the answer that God doesn't, because an eternity of punishment is waiting. This concept was foreign to earlier forms of Judaism, however, yet by the first century the concept seems to have been firmly in place, especially in the Pharisaic and Messianic branches of Judaism.

C.T. Russell was himself scared to death of the idea, (among several of his pet peeves) and as a former Congregationalist, made sure that he subverted (i.e. completely reinterpreted) those scriptures which alluded to such a teaching. But, as Leolaia points out, there's no getting around the concept as it existed in the first century, and scholars agree that this was part of the teaching of some sects of Judaism at the time.

87

Does Jehovah accept human sacrafice or not?

by gumby in

here's good bedtime story for the little ones!.

remember jeptha and his beautiful daughter that was his only child?.

just to set the theme: the ammonites took over israels land while they were in bondage in egypt.

euripides

Critical objection to reading this story as it plainly states, namely the 'olah whole burnt offering sacrifice, can be traced to Rabbi Kimchi c. 1200 CE. He felt that it was simply morally indefensible for a reader to understand the text for what it says, "he did to her as he said he would" etc. though, as Leolaia points out, efforts to hint at a substitution through temple duties may have happened early on. In any case, the Israelites are completely familiar with this practice, cf. 2 Kings 3:26 and 27, where the King of Moab, Mesha, sacrifices his son on the wall with strategic results for his campaign. Compare also Jer. 32:35, where the prophet clarifies that Yahweh never commanded children to be "passed through the fire," implying that there were some who felt that he had.

Besides this, what do you think Abraham was thinking when God commanded him to sacrifice his son as a whole burnt offering? That it was such a mad suggestion as to be unheard of? Apparently this went on a lot more than many scholars are willing to concede to.

Euripides

56

DO YOU KNOW THE KINGDOM SONG WORDS?????????????

by vitty in

jw
friends

after being in the org for 20 years, being regular at every meeting.

i must have sung the songs hundreds of times, but i cant sing the first line of any song off by heart..

i asked my husband, kids if they could, they also cant.. can you?.

euripides

Kiss the son lest god be angry and you perish in the way. Ours is the god of true prophecy....
Oh wait, I don't think those two go together...
Loyal Love, God is love. These truth cheers us from above (???) Loyally let's send his son. For whom us the ransom won. bla blabla bla bla bla bla bla, bla bla bla bla bla bla bla, Hey there all you thirsty ones. Come and drink life's water free, yes come drink you thirsty ones, ours is the god of true prophecy.
D'oh!!

Nosferatu yer killin' me! [Screaming with laughter]

Does every song end in "ours is the god of true prophecy"? Gawd I can barely type I'm still ROFLMAO....

Euripides

29

GENEOLOGY OF JESUS

by Mary in

i was doing some research for one of my courses and i discovered that the geneology of jesus, outlined in matthew chapter 1 and luke chapter 3, are different.

does anyone know why?

euripides

Every genealogy is a political statement. What I mean by that is that no name appears by chance. That said, look at some of the interesting differences between these two genealogies:

Matthew's lists four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah (a/k/a Bathsheba). Each of those stories proves to be an interesting subtext to the so-called Messianic line as it fits into Matthean portrayal of Jesus. Matthew's also begins with Abraham and has a distinctly numerological flavor, commenting on the importance of thrice fourteen successive generations.

Luke's lists no women, and as you noted does not agree with Matthew's. Additionally, Luke's genealogy goes to back to Adam "son of God" universalizing the Lukan Messiah.

I am sure more could be shown between these two, which apparently were using two sets of traditions that occasionally overlapped but often did not agree.

Euripides

22

Enoch - Transferred so as not to see death

by nowino in

wanted to know what anyone here thinks or has studied on enoch and him being "transferred so as not to see death" and whether or not anyone believes john the baptist might have been him reincarnated or sent back in.

also if he was the only one in the bible not to see death.

euripides

Enoch wasn't the only one according to OT legend not to undergo the usual death.

2Ki 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

This puts Enoch and Elijah into a very special club, and how bad would it have been for Enoch to have come back only to lose his head?!

Euripides

PS Welcome to the board.

39

How long since you been out in service?

by freedom96 in

it must be about 13 years since i went out in service.

about 15 years since i went out a couple times a month, and about 18 years since i went at least once a week.. i just can't imagine going from door to door anymore.

but to think that we all did it for quite awhile.

euripides

As I walked up to the first door, I had what I could only describe as a mild panic attack. All those years of field service came flooding back into my memory as I tried to knock on the door.

O Man that happened to me also, I forget why on earth I was back supposed to be knocking on doors, Halloween maybe as someone else said. It was like a creepy body memory, everything telling me it felt so wrong, and I had that bolt response as if I simply could not handle it!

Been almost 17 years since I did that, about as long as I actually was doing it. The last 17 years of NOT doing it have been a lot easier than the first 17 of doing it. stillajwexelder, how on earth do you survive out in door-to-door thinking about all of us here? You must be going through a living hell...

Euripides

61

Pink Floyd Thread

by stillajwexelder in

1) who likes the pink floyd?

2) what is your favorite album?

3) which were their best years?.

euripides

you fucked up old hag, hah ha charade you are --- - what song and what album?

Dogs, from Animals. Or was it Pigs, or Sheep?

Euripides

14

NOTE! 1 Cor 4:6 Don't go beyod things written

by peacefulpete in

1 cor 4:6 is a favorite verse for the wt.

they of course have extended the application to include not just the bible but also the rulebooks and written interpretations that they have produced.

i myself have been suspiciously viewed when referring to older publications that the local elders were unfamiliar with, being reminded not to "go beyond what is written".

euripides

How ironically funny would it be, if it is a multiple gloss where the "verse writes itself," that it's a gloss directing not to gloss!

i.e. the message not to add anything was in fact added to the text, thus violating its own directive.

Somehow this just struck me as incredibly funny (sound of crickets chirping)

Euripides

15

KeM Skizzel

by IP_SEC in

there be a new kem skizzle coming up this year.

of course no recording dev is allowed.

can anyone recommend a cheap/inconspicuous digital device that i could use to record the proceedings with?

euripides

Check this one out--a "phone" in disguise!

http://www.startechoutlet.com/product_257_detailed.htm

Euripides