Good and Bad
By: Jeff A. Benner
Very few sermons in our Western synagogues and churches would include the passage "I [God] form the light and create darkness, I make peace and I create evil, I am the LORD who does all of these" (Isaiah 45:7) as our Western mind sees these two forces as opposing opposites while the Eastern mind sees them both as equals and necessary for perfect balance. In the Western mind, God is only good and therefore unable to create evil. The Eastern mind sees God as a perfect balance of all things including good (tov in Hebrew) and evil (ra in Hebrew).
It should be noted that the English word "evil" has no Ancient Hebrew equivelant, while most English translations will use the word "evil" it is usually the Hebrew word "ra" which simply means "bad". In the Ancient Hebrew mind there is no such thing as an "evil" person or thing. To understand the words "good" and "bad" from a more Hebraic understanding these words should be understood as "functional" and "dysfunctional". God is both functional (such as seen in the Creation story of Genesis one) as well as dysfunctional (such as the destruction of the flood).
Our western mind classifies all things in two categories, either it is "good" or it is "bad". One is to be sought, cherished and protected, the other is to be rejected, spurned and discarded. Let us take light and darkness as an example. We see light as good and darkness as bad. The idea of light brings to mind such things as God, truth and love. Darkness on the other hand invokes Satan, lies and hate. To the Orientals, including the Hebrews, both are equally necessary as one cannot exist without the other. In the Bible God is seen as a God of light as well as darkness “And the people stood at a distance and Moses approached the heavy darkness where God was.” (Exodus 20:21). If you stare at the sun, which is pure light, what happens? You become blind. If you are standing in a sealed room with no light, what happens? You are again blind. Therefore, both light and darkness are bad and yet, both are good. In order to see we must block out some of the light as well as some of the darkness.
The two poles of a magnet are north and south. These two poles create balance, they are not morally good or bad, but necessary ingredients of physics that compliment each other. Good and bad are more like the north and south poles of a magnet than our Western conception of good and bad.
Can good exist without the bad? Absolutely not, how could you judge something to be good if you cannot compare it to something bad? The same is true for all other concepts. Cold cannot exist without heat, or short without tall, far without near, or large without small. Our western mind usually ignores these extremes and seeks to always find the "good" or the “bad”. The Eastern mind is continually seeking both the "good" and the "bad" in order to find the balance between the two. Even Solomon recognized this when he said “Do not be overly righteous” (Ecclesiastes 7:16).
Throughout the scriptures this search for balance is found, yet ignored by Westerners who do not understand the significance of balance.
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/12_goodbad.html
Morocco
JoinedPosts by Morocco
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Dualism in the Bible -- How The Hebrews Saw Good and Evil
by Morocco ingood and bad .
by: jeff a. benner .
very few sermons in our western synagogues and churches would include the passage "i [god] form the light and create darkness, i make peace and i create evil, i am the lord who does all of these" (isaiah 45:7) as our western mind sees these two forces as opposing opposites while the eastern mind sees them both as equals and necessary for perfect balance.
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Morocco
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The Earth is not rotating...nor is it going around the sun
by Pleasuredome inthe earth is not rotating...nor is it going around the sun.
marshall hall is a retired high school teacher and president of the fair education foundation, inc. marshall is married to his beloved wife, bonnie.
his organization is committed to discovering truth and exposing deception.
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Morocco
i think i threw up a little in my mouth -- people like him need to be locked up in a crazy ward
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My advice for JW youth
by Junction-Guy inif you are reading this board and are having doubts, then please do not rush into baptism.
wait until you are grown, and only then do it if you honestly feel you need to.
once you are baptized, they own you, and you will most likely be shunned if you are ever baptized.
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Morocco
I wish you had said that to me before I got baptized! You could have saved me a lot of trouble.
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Petition To Make Refusal of Blood on Religious Grounds Illegal
by Kenneson inin montreal, canada in late dec. jean-claude lavoie refused a blood transfusion and died.
his decision has split his family apart--the father respecting his son's decision.
his brother, jonathan, a former jehovah's witness has since launched an internet campaign calling on the government to make it illegal for a person to refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds.
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Morocco
Abbagail said:
"I'm with GILL on this one. Waaaaay too much government interference these days, yet people keep clamoring for more... to MAKE this person do that, or to keep THAT person from doing this and that, etc. Definitely not a good thing to be asking for MORE government rules/regs/laws/interference.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force!
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
-- George Washington
"Giving money and power to government is like
giving Whiskey and Car keys to teenage boys"
-- P.J O'Rourke Parliament of Whores"
Sure the government isn't perfect. They basically steal from us by taxing everything, but at least they tell you. And how else are we going to pay for everything we use? The government can be abused like anything else, but at least the governmental ideas of morality are far above a lot of religious views. There are penalties for murder, there are consequences for "immorality" like having sex with minors. And the morality they impose is pretty basic.
I know what is at the heart of this. This is an issue if the government should impose "morality" on us. Who are they to tell us what we can and can not do with our bodies? With our minds? With our beliefs? Right? I don't think they should take it too far, but face it, religion can kill. I'm not saying the governments should tell us how to eat and sleep, but let's get rid of those disastrous things. It doesn't take the bible or god to tell you that murderous teachings are immoral. So yes, governments; impose that morality. Impose the idea that you can not persuade people to passively give up their lives, impose you can not teach people to hate one another, impose you can not teach people to commit suicide. Impose it because God isn't.
People are calling for more rules and regulations? How about we get rid of some of those rules? How about we do away with the Geneva Convention? Why don't we strike out a few lines in that Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Why hasn't anyone applauded the fact that governmental powers are trying to create a system that marginalizes the inhumanities in warfare? Why hasn't anyone commented on the fact that rules can be good and we need them to help us? -
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Petition To Make Refusal of Blood on Religious Grounds Illegal
by Kenneson inin montreal, canada in late dec. jean-claude lavoie refused a blood transfusion and died.
his decision has split his family apart--the father respecting his son's decision.
his brother, jonathan, a former jehovah's witness has since launched an internet campaign calling on the government to make it illegal for a person to refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds.
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Morocco
This is actually an interesting conversation because I use this same argument with religious people. If God doesn't allow evil then no one is truly free, hence in a paradisaic world where evil is restricted no one has freewill anymore. Because freewill and free-choice includes evil.
I agree that if the blood issue were to be banned that the Witnesses would just use it for their advantage, seeing as how they have before so many times. But you, jinjam, are basically saying (if I'm understanding correctly)that if one can't have total religious freedom then it isn't religious freedom. I believe, that what people should base their belief system on, is evidence. It is evident that some groups of people can not have complete religious freedom without doing each other great harm. So, the best thing for everyone, is to get rid of the parts of religous freedom that hurt. No, that isn't "freedom of religon" since it is bound by laws.
It's interesting to me that it does in fact become so polarized. If you remove one thing, you remove them all. If you take away the ability to believe in one thing, it isn't freedom of religion anymore. On the other hand, in order to marginalize peoples' abuse of religon, you must set certain laws, as the government has. So in order to remove harmful effects you have to remove freedom.
What is the solution? I believe religon should be completely done away with. It's old, unscientific, and we should find new, up-to-date, humane ways of satisfying our desire to be "spiritual" creatures. Is that a real solution? Probably not. But I think it's better than all the deaths peoples' abuse of religion has caused.
The government has to force people not to abuse things. They force us not to speed or we get tickets, they force us not to physically fight or we go to jail, they force us to take care of our kids and if we don't they take them away. They can take away some mother's child because of neglect -- but don't say anything about religon?!
I think the government should force religion to be a certain way, in order to reduce the damage done. Or should the government stay out of your right to drink and drive? Should they stay out of my right to pee on your lawn? Just because something is religious doesn't mean it is above the law. -
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Petition To Make Refusal of Blood on Religious Grounds Illegal
by Kenneson inin montreal, canada in late dec. jean-claude lavoie refused a blood transfusion and died.
his decision has split his family apart--the father respecting his son's decision.
his brother, jonathan, a former jehovah's witness has since launched an internet campaign calling on the government to make it illegal for a person to refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds.
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Morocco
jinjam said:
"and why not? are you going to make me believe that what you telling me here is the voice of reason.
You are entitled to your opinion, no problem you cannot make them do something that they don't want to, neither can I tell you what to think nor do!
Keep that in mind!"
I know that I can't force people to believe in anything, unless you treat people like the ancient hebrews did. Purge with fire and swords those groups of people that disobey. You can force, most people to believe, with military power. But I don't believe in that. I believe in reason. The voice of reason does not say that it is safe to allow peoples' belief to run rampant. You can believe that you are a prophet, you can believe that people need to drink poison and die for a better world, you can even believe that your children need to be killed or sacrificed for god, but when you start taking actions on those misguided beliefs then that idea that "anyone can believe anything" has allowed atrocities to happen. There has to be an enforcable guideline, one which upholds freedom of religion to an extent. To the degree it does not damage other humans. -
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Petition To Make Refusal of Blood on Religious Grounds Illegal
by Kenneson inin montreal, canada in late dec. jean-claude lavoie refused a blood transfusion and died.
his decision has split his family apart--the father respecting his son's decision.
his brother, jonathan, a former jehovah's witness has since launched an internet campaign calling on the government to make it illegal for a person to refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds.
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Morocco
I have to agree with Junction-Guy on this one. If people have the right to believe ANYTHING, then I have the religious right to teach my kids that they need to drink this kool-aid filled with poison and they can go to heaven on a comet -- once they die of course. That, most would agree, is taking it too far. But people, in their "religious right" to believe anything, can breed hatred, violence, and teach people to kill themslves and others. So if people deny SOME things, like polygamy, there is a reason for it. I think religions should be taxed, they should be held responsible financialy for damages, and I think they should be by law restricted from teaching anything that fosters behavior that would lead to phyiscal or emotional damage of any kind. I say sign the petition, stop this backwards religion from teaching suicidal behavior, and if you have to step on the toes of believers to do it, then step away. Why aren't we trying to help these people live? Because it's what they believe? Bullcrap. Why should anyone have the right to believe whatever they want, when what they believe causes people to loose their families and sometimes their lives. Think about all the religious warfare that is happeneing today and throughout time. Countless lives have been taken in the name of belief. People should not be allowed to belive whatever the heck they want. It must adhere to some sort of moral guideline. To say people have the right to believe ANYTHING is turning a blind eye to the piles of corpses that belief has created, it is plugging your ears to the screaming of the little children whos homes are being ripped apart by swords and bombs over religion. Belief isn't entirely bad -- but belief in anything you want is.
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WHAT do they say about that ?
by RAF ini've asked my sisters, my mother but none could give me an answer (guess why ?).
matthew 27:51-54. new world translation : 51and, look!
the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rock-masses were split.52and the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were raised up,53(and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people.54but the army officer and those with him watching over jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things happening, grew very much afraid, saying: certainly this was gods son.. .
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Morocco
Doesn't this imply that the bible writer of matthew believed that the resurrection already happened? Was this to lend credit to the idea that the end was coming in their lifetime? Jesus did say that before they could finish the circuits of the cities that the end would come.
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MAT 24:14 HAS BEEN FULLFILLED MP3 FROM BETHEL HEAVY
by What-A-Coincidence inwarning: the wtbts is becoming more cultish as evidenced in this mp3.
listener take heed.
turn on all your cult warning alarms on.. .
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Morocco
Marvin Shilmer: rofl its so simple
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Should I Do Something To Help My Friends And Family?
by Morocco ini am no longer a jehovah's witness.
i stopped believing about a year and a half ago.
i have been quietly fading into the background and i don't think i will get disfellowshipped any time soon because of various different reasons.
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Morocco
lfcviking: Yeah that's a good point. The sheltered life doesn't help at all. But I think I am mainly speaking about the whole "satan is everywhere" thing. Witnesses aren't even safe from their own thoughts! If you entertain doubts in your mind then you are in real danger of "eternal cutting off". My god how much more paranoia can you possibly inflict? Everyone is controled by the devil, he has total power over everything. Wow. And I know "hate" is a strong word, but I'm sorry -- I hate that behavior. And if everyone in the world hated it as much as I do then we wouldn't even be having this discussion because there would be no one to maliciously control people to their demise. Urgh! I just feel like one day I'm going to have to speak up, and I really don't want to.