Posts by glenster

24

What is the essential difference between ridicule and reasoned debate?

by Terry in

intellectual honesty requires that ideas get a fair hearing in discussion, debate and conversation.. can we agree on that?.

holding persons or ideas up to ridicule has a different effect, however.

it silences the fair hearing.

glenster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrNl6-j9x5w

78

Watchtower Corporation enters new business to help sheeples see that the end is very, very near!

by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

my dad heard from the co who heard from a do that heard from his brother-in-law that heard from the friend of a governing body's wife, that the gb is getting very concerned that "the friends" are losing sight of the nearness of the panda-petting paradise.

many of these friends are also looking too critically at the "spiritual food" provided by the "faithful slave class.".

don't tell anyone else, but i hear that the gb has begun testing something new on some of the sheeple.

glenster

47

It's Time to Dump the Hebrew Scriptures.

by smmcroberts in

why do christian religions continue to pretend that the hebrew scriptures (aka the old testament) is god-inspired and that it describes a loving god?

don't they see that the ot is largely an embarrassment to its believers?

please read my blog to see why i think christianity should dispense with the ot all together:.

glenster

glenster: In other words, the people were more HUMANe than the god their
priests had created.

The stickler there is over what was created. It's debatable whether or not the
Talmud reflects the BC interpretation of the stubborn son, so none can say it's a
later change. But if what's asked is what to make of a worst case interpreta-
tion, I don't assume that, either. I'm not worried about literal kids killed in
an allegorical flood, for example, like a Jack Albertson of the OT. I love
GTA's. Another post questions whether or not we need to use a worst case inter-
pretation of the bears as well. Amalekites, etc.:

"Herem or cherem...as used in the Hebrew Bible, means ‘devote’ or ‘destroy’.
It is also referred to as the ban. The term has been explained in different ways
by scholars. It has been defined as 'a mode of secluding, and rendering harm-
less, anything imperilling the religious life of the nation,' or 'the total
destruction of the enemy and his goods at the conclusion of a campaign,' or "un-
compromising consecration of property and dedication of the property to God with-
out possibility of recall or redemption. J. A. Thompson suggests that herem
meant that in the hour of victory all that would normally be regarded as booty,
including the inhabitants of the land, was to be devoted to God. Thus would every
harmful thing be burned out and the land purified."

"Most scholars conclude that the biblical accounts of extermination are exag-
gerated, fictional, or metaphorical. In the archaeological community, the Bat-
tle of Jericho is very thoroughly studied, and the consensus of modern scholars
is that the story of battle and the associated extermination are a pious fiction
and did not happen as described in the Book of Joshua. For example, the Book of
Joshua describes the extermination of the Canaanite tribes, yet at a later time,
Judges 1:1-2:5 suggests that the extermination was not complete."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkhemet_Mitzvah

Since I understand faith in a possible God, therefore not wanting harm over
it as for a God proven to all, I regard the move from OT to NT, from hope for a
land with religion as law of the land to not asking for that, as an improvement
in how the faith evolved--not a move from faith. But I regard belief or non-be-
lief made law of the land as institutionalized 'centric intolerance that's caused
the most harm. The culprit to me isn't God with a need to find something humane
otherwise but to see it as a choice whether or not to have faith understood as
such, and the culprit is being 'centric or intolerant either way.

47

It's Time to Dump the Hebrew Scriptures.

by smmcroberts in

why do christian religions continue to pretend that the hebrew scriptures (aka the old testament) is god-inspired and that it describes a loving god?

don't they see that the ot is largely an embarrassment to its believers?

please read my blog to see why i think christianity should dispense with the ot all together:.

glenster

glenster: In other words, the people were more HUMANe than the god their
priests had created.

The stickler there is over what was created. It's debatable whether or not the
Talmud reflects the BC interpretation of the stubborn son, so none can say it's a
later change. But if what's asked is what to make of a worst case interpreta-
tion, I don't assume that, either. I'm not worried about literal kids killed in
an allegorical flood, for example, like a Jack Thompson of the OT. I love
GTA's. Another post questions whether or not we need to use a worst case inter-
pretation of the bears as well. Amalekites, etc.:

"Herem or cherem...as used in the Hebrew Bible, means ‘devote’ or ‘destroy’.
It is also referred to as the ban. The term has been explained in different ways
by scholars. It has been defined as 'a mode of secluding, and rendering harm-
less, anything imperilling the religious life of the nation,' or 'the total
destruction of the enemy and his goods at the conclusion of a campaign,' or "un-
compromising consecration of property and dedication of the property to God with-
out possibility of recall or redemption. J. A. Thompson suggests that herem
meant that in the hour of victory all that would normally be regarded as booty,
including the inhabitants of the land, was to be devoted to God. Thus would every
harmful thing be burned out and the land purified."

"Most scholars conclude that the biblical accounts of extermination are exag-
gerated, fictional, or metaphorical. In the archaeological community, the Bat-
tle of Jericho is very thoroughly studied, and the consensus of modern scholars
is that the story of battle and the associated extermination are a pious fiction
and did not happen as described in the Book of Joshua. For example, the Book of
Joshua describes the extermination of the Canaanite tribes, yet at a later time,
Judges 1:1-2:5 suggests that the extermination was not complete."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkhemet_Mitzvah

Since I understand faith in a possible God, therefore not wanting harm over
it as for a God proven to all, I regard the move from OT to NT, from hope for a
land with religion as law of the land to not asking for that, as an improvement
in how the faith evolved--not a move from faith. But I regard belief or non-be-
lief made law of the land as institutionalized 'centric intolerance that's caused
the most harm. The culprit to me isn't God with a need to find something humane
otherwise but to see it as a choice whether or not to have faith understood as
such, and the culprit is being 'centric or intolerant either way.

47

It's Time to Dump the Hebrew Scriptures.

by smmcroberts in

why do christian religions continue to pretend that the hebrew scriptures (aka the old testament) is god-inspired and that it describes a loving god?

don't they see that the ot is largely an embarrassment to its believers?

please read my blog to see why i think christianity should dispense with the ot all together:.

glenster

One way a NT believer may regard the OT is of followers only taken so far
from their cultural habits and various things dropped already--ANE cosmology,
monotheism only taking popular hold in the days of Isaiah, religion as law of the
land for a 'centric group with punishment and war dropped, etc.

Search Google for explanations of the OT verses given in the blog. One example
regarding stubborn son: the Jewish laws made the conditions of this such that no
son was executed for it and it served to limit punishment of a son and discour-
age rebelliousness. See the article at the next link.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0017_0_16525.html

5

Lenticular

by Hortensia in

i've spent the afternoon at the computer, working and watching the lenticular clouds on the mountain outside my window.

there have been several, they form and then drift southward.

the one that's out there now is a bright pink-orange because of the sunset.

glenster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnyqLc8m41A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qQwozKfpvg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

3

beliefs, doctrine, teaching that you never could handle

by pontoon in

1) jehovah telling abraham to murder his son.

my reply; kill me now, i won't do it.

2) the bear killing i think 21 wise ass children.

glenster

I like Him. The concept has Him provide and preside over life, and I like life
for the good despite the bad. The OT has enough extemes without padding the
case. Some of the biggies, like religion as law of the land with penalties and
armies, are dropped in the NT indicating customs God only took them so far from,
etc. It's a faith concern you may go for or not, but coldsteel has a point about
checking various interpretations.

The examples given sound flavored by the kind of rendition that describes
Psalm 137:9 as God wanting people to bash children against rocks. That's not
even the orthodox/conservative idea. (It's by a Jewish person in exile following
the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. His people were cruelly taken
into captivity by Babylonians--he's wishing the same for them eye for eye style.
God isn't given as granting his wish, and Jesus later teaches you've heard it
said eye for eye but I say turn the other cheek, etc.)

"Jehovah...murder" Prerogative makes all the difference. People don't typi-
cally condemn someone as a murderer for eating a hamburger. The concept has it
He's a higher qualiy bring that provides therefore owns it all, so it wouldn't be
murder. There are various afterlife interpretations--exclusive and inclusive.

The "42" gang basically cursing an old man and yelling at him to die--they
aren't necessarily killed but no great loss. I've lived in some neighborhoods
with gangs about money no matter what where I could have used God and a couple
bears.... I wouldn't have cursed the bear trainer, either.

18

CLOUD ATLAS: a movie or a life experience?

by Terry in

my 19 year old daughter lily and i attended the opening day of cloud atlas.. .

i would suggest you watch this little "overview" before continuing.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubk647t944a&feature=bfa&list=plvfin74qx3twq2dnqx5f4wlrrr5b-pez7.

movies can be a lot of things ranging from mindless entertainment, spectacle, diversion, exploitation and such to straight storytelling.. what movies almost never are is what cloud atlas is.. what is it?.