when i was sleeping in a foreign field (well glastonbury, so it might have been the mushroom garlic bread).. i dreamed me and mum were at the meeting doing the witchtower, and uncle malcolm was taking it (yes the very same who was widowed by a sausage and married a rich old lady).
well he asked a question and mum answered up and what she said was totally the opposite of what the witchtower was saying, but she used such long words and convoluted reasoning that no-one noticed.
in fact some other people answered up and said they agreed with her and continued to spout the witchtower line.
Brilliant dream. From my Christian perspective I'd say that its an encouragement from God for you to carry on speaking the truth. Sometimes people don't appear to respond to what we're saying or doing and that can make us wonder whether its worth all the effort. But we don't know whats going on in their heart or mind.
So don't give up speaking up.
no longer being a christian, it has become a mind opening experience to look back and see certian things i once ignored or just brushed off.
yet now i can not help but see these things and wonder why other christians do not.. if you have ever studied greek, roman or any other cultures religions in history.
then you have no doubt read their legends, about gods and how things came to be, and no doubt you have enjoyed these and at the same time you must have wondered how people actually bought this enough to make it a religion.
Considering myself suitably chastised and soundly kicked up the backside.
I's learnin'
since a pretty good number of you have been to university and since the arts academic advisors are always booked, i'll pose this question:.
what do you think of my course schedule for next year (keep in mind, my only real goal is learning; i'm not working towards a job):.
- latin (6 credits).
Thanks for your good wishes.
It's 'just' general Christian theology. I decided not to specialise into any particular strand (there was a choice of Biblical, church history or applied) so I'm getting a good mix of modules ranging from studying individual books of the Bible to the heavy doctrinal/systematic theology - which does have a Reformed slant to it.
this is a fun little site where you spend 15 or 20 minutes answering 20 questions and it will give you the rankings of the 27 most popular religions in america by % basis on how much you agree with them.
go to: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html my results listed below: .
1. unitarian universalism (100%) .
We have the first 3 in common, just a different order ! I'll have to find out just how liberal these Quakers are for this liberal Rabbitism.
Darn it - why'd I have to go and be an orthodox Quaker
Still, I guess someones got to stay home and make the oatmeal while you liberals are out liberalising...
no longer being a christian, it has become a mind opening experience to look back and see certian things i once ignored or just brushed off.
yet now i can not help but see these things and wonder why other christians do not.. if you have ever studied greek, roman or any other cultures religions in history.
then you have no doubt read their legends, about gods and how things came to be, and no doubt you have enjoyed these and at the same time you must have wondered how people actually bought this enough to make it a religion.
jgnat- sorry if I caused any offence. Maybe my categories were a bit simplistic! If I dared to put you into one, from what you've said, it would be the first (I'm not good at compliments - so please take this as one!)
I don't see how swallowing a debunker's novel is any more intelligent than believing in the human race's capacity to get most things right. Take for instance even modern biographers, who happen to have an agenda, who manage to "get it wrong" when describing a modern hero.
I have re-examined my core beliefs many times over.
We don't know what is true or false for us until we look at it from all the angles - which is clearly what you have done. There's so many more people, myself included who have yet to discover and sort out the truth from the fiction. Hopefully JWD will help me too
since a pretty good number of you have been to university and since the arts academic advisors are always booked, i'll pose this question:.
what do you think of my course schedule for next year (keep in mind, my only real goal is learning; i'm not working towards a job):.
- latin (6 credits).
I reckon these would be most helpful because a lot of the Classical Greek and the myth and religion is based around rhetorical principles (even the apostle Paul used it)
-Logic and Critical Thinking (3)
-Knowledge and Reality I (3)
then with the linguistics if you want a totally classical line
or the church history if you want to develop along the religious line
Good luck - rather you than me, I'm currently on a theology degree!
no longer being a christian, it has become a mind opening experience to look back and see certian things i once ignored or just brushed off.
yet now i can not help but see these things and wonder why other christians do not.. if you have ever studied greek, roman or any other cultures religions in history.
then you have no doubt read their legends, about gods and how things came to be, and no doubt you have enjoyed these and at the same time you must have wondered how people actually bought this enough to make it a religion.
Was this a quote from one of the articles?
were it not for the fact that there are so many who take it seriously and are extremely vocal in their seriousness
I know that Christians do not want to accept the Christ-myth.
I think there are three sorts of Christians:
Some are in the same boat that I've just found myself in reading this thread - they simply haven't researched or discovered the alternative views but once they do they will explore all the avenues.
Some of them don't want to know out of fear - its always scary when something pulls the rug from under your feet - so they stay where they feel safe. They might have a sneaking feeling that it doesn't make sense but daren't look into it.
Some of them just don't want to know out of what I suppose you'd call blind faith - the most dangerous type IMO because those who don't question their beliefs are the ones who tend to think they're right and everyone else is wrong - and we know where that leads
we all are identified by our names here on jwd.
some use their real names, and others pick a moniker that is their nickname or perhaps a few words from a song they like.. why did you pick your name?.
for instance,.
I'm sad emo - emo means electromosher which is related to the kind of music I'm particularly into. My niece calls me the more regular term 'dirty emo' but I didn't want you all getting the wrong impression about me! (I already wrote this elsewhere so its for the benefit of those who haven't read that!). So I called myself 'sad' cos thats the state of mind I'm in at the moment.
se... of the 'still working hard to be a happy emo class'
what is death?
is it the ceasing of bodily functions due to illness or malfunction of a vital organ reversing the order of what occured at birth?
is the body nothing more than a shell and subject to ordinary laws affecting matter once deprived of its operating force?
I think I'm going slightly along the same line as poppers and dh here. Perhaps death is just a continuation into a different state of awareness/consciousness.
If you see the whole process of a life this way, then birth was also simply a transition from a previous state of consciousness - which perhaps we may remember a little of, perhaps not.
If so, then when does life begin? you could say it doesn't, it is merely passed on from one generation to the next, and if it has no beginning it can have no end. (I'm thinking somethings got to start before you can stop it).
no longer being a christian, it has become a mind opening experience to look back and see certian things i once ignored or just brushed off.
yet now i can not help but see these things and wonder why other christians do not.. if you have ever studied greek, roman or any other cultures religions in history.
then you have no doubt read their legends, about gods and how things came to be, and no doubt you have enjoyed these and at the same time you must have wondered how people actually bought this enough to make it a religion.
Sirona, that article, The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ has really freaked me out - why is it so hard to find out about these things? Is there some big cover up going on? How would a JW feel about this article because I would have thought that it would be something they'd love to throw at us 'regular' Christians?
I still believe the man Jesus existed - but reading the article, it looks like he may have had myths superimposed onto him to make him something he wasn't. That said, there are still the moral and ethical truths contained in the gospels and that's what really counts.
I'm quite happy to accept the OT stories, especially in Genesis as myths as those stories are present in other primitive religions - the difference being that the OT teaches about a God who is directly involved in creation etc as opposed to what goes on in the world being a result of various gods fighting, having sexual relations etc. Underlying them all again is the ethical/moral message.
