Posts by fulltimestudent

3

Never try to talk to a tiger

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in india's delhi zoo, a schoolboy climbed into the tiger enclosure:.

.

we are unlikely to know what motivated his foolish action.. in the above image, (taken on a mobile phone) he was supposedly begging the tiger not to kill him.. .

Never try to talk to a tiger

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in india's delhi zoo, a schoolboy climbed into the tiger enclosure:.

.

we are unlikely to know what motivated his foolish action.. in the above image, (taken on a mobile phone) he was supposedly begging the tiger not to kill him.. .

fulltimestudent

In India's Delhi Zoo, a schoolboy climbed into the tiger enclosure:

001

We are unlikely to know what motivated his foolish action.

In the above image, (taken on a mobile phone) he was supposedly begging the tiger not to kill him.

elsewhere i've described the practise of shunning in the early christian communities, and we are all personally aware of the potentially harmful affects of this barbaric practise (though i must admit that for me, it became the means by which i achieved intellectual liberty, after decades of mental imprisonment in a jesus cult):.

now it seems ostracism (another word for shunning) may also be a practise wthin tibetan buddhism.. the followers of the dorje shugden sect, within tibetan buddhism, have been labelled as apostate and evil by the dalai lama and they charge mainstream tibetan buddhists with shunning them.. now i've found a film called dao ma zei ( titled in english (it seems) as the horse thief).

it's a chinese film by tian zhuangzhuang, who has had a particular interest in chinese minorities.

fulltimestudent

Elsewhere I've described the practise of shunning in the early Christian communities, and we are all personally aware of the potentially harmful affects of this barbaric practise (though I must admit that for me, it became the means by which I achieved intellectual liberty, after decades of mental imprisonment in a Jesus cult):

Now it seems ostracism (another word for shunning) may also be a practise wthin Tibetan Buddhism.

The followers of the Dorje Shugden sect, within Tibetan Buddhism, have been labelled as apostate and evil by the Dalai Lama and they charge mainstream Tibetan Buddhists with shunning them.

Now I've found a film called Dao Ma Zei ( titled in English (it seems) as The Horse Thief). It's a Chinese film by Tian Zhuangzhuang, who has had a particular interest in Chinese minorities. The notation attached to the film describes it:

Dao ma zei

1986. Devout Buddhists, Norbu and Dolma live with their young son Tashi in a clan in Tibet . Norbu is a highwayman. Charged with stealing from the temple, inexplicable because he gives the temple most of his loot, he and his family are banished. Impoverished and marginalized, they can do little when their beloved son becomes ill. Tashi dies of a fever. After a second son is born, Norbu focuses his every action on keeping this child alive, seeking re-admission to the clan for his wife and child, then risking all to save them from isolation and starvation in winter.

Images of harsh landscapes, vultures, and prayer wheels carry a virtually wordless narrative.

And here's a link to a portion of the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_dEk4iE_AA

Which raises a question as to how frequently is the evil practise of religious shunning used within the Tibetan Buddhist framework?

I'll attempt to find out:

17

Russia and China to Build a Huge New Port south of Vladivostock

by fulltimestudent in

from: business insider, australia.

beijing (afp) china and russia will build one of the largest ports in northeast asia on russias sea of japan coast, reports said, in a further sign of the powerhouses growing alliance.. the seaport is expected to be able to handle some 60 million tonnes of cargo a year, chinas state-run peoples daily online reported late wednesday comparable to britains busiest port immingham or le havre in france, according to european commission statistics.. the new facility will be located in far eastern russia, just 18 kilometres (11 miles) away from the chinese border.

the region is also close to north korea.. chinese and russian leaders inked a deal on the port at mays conference on interaction and confidence building measures in asia (cica) in shanghai, the report said.. the move represents the latest step by beijing and moscow to boost their energy and infrastructure ties.. resource-hungry china is seeking to diversify its sources of energy amid booming domestic consumption, while russia at odds with the west over its annexation of ukraines crimea peninsula is seeking to refocus its gas and oil exports towards asia.. the same report spoke of the commencement of construction of the gas pipeline from yakutsk to china.

fulltimestudent

A Chinese built fast train running on a new rail link built by a Chinese construction company

Source: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0924/c98649-8787090.html

China Railway connecting new Silk Road in Turkey

China Railway Construction has finished the second stage of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed rail project in Turkey, which is also the first high-speed railway line in the country.It entered service on July 25, 2014.

This success marked the start of China Railway Construction going global, presentingChina’s advanced equipment, high technology, sound designs and construction abilities.

Recently, a People's Daily reporter took a trip on this railway. After buying a ticket for 30 Turkish liras (equivalent to $13.7), he had the opportunity to take a closer look at theproject. The livery is a similar white to China’s Harmony Express, and the design is streamlined at the front. There were in total, 6 carriages with 10 rows of seats in each. Adjustable seats were available in each row. The carriages were full when the train left the station.

A young Turkish man spoke to our reporter:

"I was so excited to try this new train. I usedto take planes to work before. It was a real waste of time and money . This new railway is so convenient, comfortable and cost-effective. Many of my friends like it too."

As a result of this project, more and more Turks will have deeper understanding of andmore positive feelings towards China.

Ersin, the general director of Turkey's ministry of foreign affairs in the Middle East and Asia Pacific affairs department, told our reporter: "We Turks support cooperation among the countries along the Silk Road, and we lookforward to the development of transportation, logistics, investment and commerce. Turkeyis making a positive effort to achieve cooperation and substantial progress in multiplefields. "

People’s Daily, author: Liu Rui

17

Russia and China to Build a Huge New Port south of Vladivostock

by fulltimestudent in

from: business insider, australia.

beijing (afp) china and russia will build one of the largest ports in northeast asia on russias sea of japan coast, reports said, in a further sign of the powerhouses growing alliance.. the seaport is expected to be able to handle some 60 million tonnes of cargo a year, chinas state-run peoples daily online reported late wednesday comparable to britains busiest port immingham or le havre in france, according to european commission statistics.. the new facility will be located in far eastern russia, just 18 kilometres (11 miles) away from the chinese border.

the region is also close to north korea.. chinese and russian leaders inked a deal on the port at mays conference on interaction and confidence building measures in asia (cica) in shanghai, the report said.. the move represents the latest step by beijing and moscow to boost their energy and infrastructure ties.. resource-hungry china is seeking to diversify its sources of energy amid booming domestic consumption, while russia at odds with the west over its annexation of ukraines crimea peninsula is seeking to refocus its gas and oil exports towards asia.. the same report spoke of the commencement of construction of the gas pipeline from yakutsk to china.

fulltimestudent

I thought I'd post this news item about a Chinese built railway in Turkey, as it provides an interesting contrast to what's happening in Syria, right next door to Turkey.

South of Turkey, we see the west interfering in the internal affairs of other nations and peoples, assisting in blasting things to bits.

On the other hand, within Turkey, we can see a maligned China constructively assisting a country to progress. Which, do you think, is the better way?

The United States, according to former US State Department employee, Peter Van Buren,* in a commentary on the current mess in Iraq, published in Asia Times ( read it at: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-240914.html ) noted the cost of the Iraq war

The staggering costs of all this -

US$25 billion to train the Iraqi Army,

$60 billion for the reconstruction-that-wasn't,

$2 trillion for the overall war,

See that- the American tax-payers provided $60 billion to "re-construct" Iraq. Does anyone see a 'reconstructed' Iraq?

So where did the money go? No-one seems to know that. Strange, isn't it?

Van Buren does comment on what was done to 're-construct' Iraq. It seems he played a small role. Here's what he said, in the above cited commentary:

After 22 years as a diplomat with the Department of State, I spent 12 long months in Iraq in 2009-2010 as part of the American occupation. My role was to lead two teams in "reconstructing" the nation. In practice, that meant paying for schools that would never be completed, setting up pastry shops on streets without water or electricity, and conducting endless propaganda events on Washington-generated themes of the week ("small business," "women's empowerment," "democracy building.")

The re-construction of Iraq patently failed - instead this is what the American tax-payers got:

... almost 4,500 Americans dead and more than 32,000 wounded, and an Iraqi death toll of more than 190,000 (though some estimates go as high as a million) - can now be measured against the results. The nine-year attempt to create an American client state in Iraq failed, tragically and completely. The proof of that is on today's front pages.

The new war on terror finds its roots in the failure of the west to understand the Islamic condition, and the stupidity of Bush and Blair.

According to the crudest possible calculation, we spent blood and got no oil. Instead, America's war of terror resulted in the dissolution of a Middle Eastern post-Cold War stasis that, curiously enough, had been held together by Iraq's previous autocratic ruler Saddam Hussein. We released a hornet's nest of Islamic fervor, sectarianism, fundamentalism, and pan-nationalism. Islamic terror groups grew stronger and more diffuse by the year. That horrible lightning over the Middle East that's left American foreign policy in such an ugly glare will last into our grandchildren's days. There should have been so many futures. Now, there will be so few as the dead accumulate in the ruins of our hubris. That is all that we won.

$60 billion and no results. If you owned a business and the management did that to you, what would you do? Yet, new faces, out of the same old mould trot out the same old slogans.

But if you want change? And I feel confident that American tax-payers do want change, that they may not begrudge that sort of money, if they got results. If you do want change, if you do want results, just cross the border and see another way. (in the next post)

* Peter Van Buren blew the whistle on State Department waste and mismanagement during the Iraqi reconstruction in his first book, We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.

4

recapitulation - 7 Cycles in Revelation

by Pterist in

the chart provides a summary of the whole book, supporting the theory of recapitulation.

this view suggests that the events in revelation do not all form a continuous series but the series of sevens (seven seals in rev 6:1-8:5, seven trumpets in rev 8:6-11:19, and seven bowls in rev 15:1-16:21) repeatedly bring us to the end of the world, when christ comes in judgment to either reward or punish.

as noted earlier, even the interlude of revelation 12-14 begins with the first coming of christ (rev 12:1ff.

fulltimestudent

raymond frantz:

Problem is that there is no proof that John or other apostles or any Jew of the first century knew or relied or used gem atria to prove anything and for that reason I personally dismiss the Nero=666 of explanation

Fair enough, RF!

But then it is notoriously difficult to connect anything to anything in NT studies. Scholars make their reputations on their success in making such connections.

The compaaratively few documents that we have, permit glimpses onlyk of what was happening at that time.

But, let's stick to Revelation. As an example, how do we attribute authorship? Before seeking an answer that 'might' connect the disciple John to the book, let's look at a few other examples of apocalyptic writing and see if we can detect a pattern.

Consider first, The Apocalypse of Peter. It seems to be a second century document, which may make authorship by THE disciple Peter, very unlikely. The subject material- describing a journey through heaven and hell - suggests a later influence, rather than early Christianity thought.

So what's the author intention in calling the document, The Apocalypse of Peter? The answer is that he's doing something that can be demonstrated by other apocalyptic writings - presenting himself as an ancient (older), worthy, authorative person, whose name gives 'respect' to the writing. More it permitted the contemporary writer to write about contemporary events as if they had been predicted prophetically.

Another early Christian writing like that, is the Ascension of Isaiah, which in part describes the prophet's ascent to heaven where he sees ' the beloved,' (Jesus) descend from heaven to earth and his return to heaven. (foretelling the resurrection).

A pattern emerges - we call it pseudonymity. So was the author of Revelation hiding behind a false name? A lot of scholarship argues yes. A lot argues no! I suggest that other factors aside, the answer likely depends on the date of writing.

If the author is THE disciple known as John, and IF he is the same John who wrote the gospel, then contemporary scholars see an author who has, as well as a native understanding of Judaism, a sophisticated understanding of Graeco-Roman thought. That may not describe John as the supposedly young Jewish man, "whom Jesus used to love." But that young man may have devoted himself to study of many things in the intervening years and be able to write with a knowledge of graeco-roman thinking.

Achtemeier, Green and Thompson's, extensive collation of NT studies in their, Introducing the New Testament, Its Literature and Theology, offers a collection of ancient examples of gematria. Six examples are given on p.571, covering the wider graeco-roman world, Rabbinic tradition and the set of writings known as The Sibylline Oracles (probably written/edited between the second and sixth centuries CE) and regarded as a part Jewish, part Christian set of writings.

The fifth book of Sibylline Oracles has a long list of Roman Emperors, all alluded to be their number, as in this example of Nero:

And one whose mark is fifty 10 shall be lord,
40 A dreadful serpent breathing grievous war,
Who sometime stretching forth his hands shall make
An end of his own race and stir all things,
Acting the athlete, driving chariots,
Putting to death and daring countless things;

the footnote 10 adds:

10 39. Fifty.--The letter N, here denoting Nero, and Nerva
in line 58

Those extracts are from p.42 of Milton Terry's translation which can be accessed at:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/sib.pdf

Everyone is free to believe or disbelieve anything at all, but I suggest (influenced, for certain, by my current sceptical approach to the faith that I once possessed) that the possibility exists that the author of Revelation could have had a knowledge of gematria.

Of course, if someone wants to hang on to the idea that the Bible foretells the future, then I guess, they would not want to believe that Revelation is a great example of theodicy - that is, when we experience suffering or hostility, recalling the action of God in this event becomes a means of comfort.

Serious fun - A western journalist talks about his life in China

by fulltimestudent in

from the august pages of the peoples daily comes this real-life experience (grin):.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0924/c98389-8787180.html.

( the video should start when the page opens, if not click on the start arrow).

fulltimestudent

From the august pages of the Peoples Daily comes this real-life experience (grin):

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/n/2014/0924/c98389-8787180.html

( the video should start when the page opens, if not click on the start arrow)

15

Did Jesus Christ Have A Messianic Superiority Complex?

by frankiespeakin in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/messiah_complex.

a messiah complex (also known as the christ complex or savior complex ) is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are, or are destined to become, a savior .

the term "messiah complex" is not addressed in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm) , but symptoms of the disorder closely resemble those found in individuals suffering from grandiose delusions (gd) or delusions of grandeur.

fulltimestudent

DATA-DOG:

So I am still affected by JWism, although I am recovering. It's been about 3 years. I am getting better. Will I ever be "normal", probably not.

DD

What's "normal?"

Here's another perspective. We all live our lives in a personally constructed story that explains (to ourselves) why the world we live in, is the way it is. The writing of our own story is dependent on the verbal and written views of the world told to us, or accessed by us, as we grow up. The JW story is a clear example, whether we had it inculcated by parents and congregation as we grew up, or whether we accessed it ourselves as adults.

The story of the dead young man, who I mentioned in my previous post in this thread, is similar He hung out at a radical mosque in Melbourne, and started to live his life in harmony with the radical stories he learned at the mosque.

As Jws we were no different to the young man. We also believed a story, and started to live within the story. We may have (if faced with the need) have chosen to continue to live in the story, and to refuse a life-saving blood transfusion. Not so different to the young Muslim man who chose death by a violent confrontation with the police.

This past week. I've been reading some of the extant writings of Ignatius of Antioch. (Bishop of Antioch circa 110 CE). Arrested in 110 CE, he was sent to Rome to face trial and execution. Suffering from a religious delusion that he was on the way to meet God in heaven, he clearly started writing new chapters in his personal story - chapters that other early Christians started to include in their own life stories.

Ignatius, the young Muslim, and our personal Jw stories are so similar.

15

Did Jesus Christ Have A Messianic Superiority Complex?

by frankiespeakin in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/messiah_complex.

a messiah complex (also known as the christ complex or savior complex ) is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are, or are destined to become, a savior .

the term "messiah complex" is not addressed in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm) , but symptoms of the disorder closely resemble those found in individuals suffering from grandiose delusions (gd) or delusions of grandeur.

fulltimestudent

frankiespeakin:

A messiah complex (also known as the Christ complex or savior complex ) is a state of mind in which an individual holds a belief that they are, or are destined to become, a savior . The term "messiah complex" is not addressed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) , but symptoms of the disorder closely resemble those found in individuals suffering from grandiose delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur.

That's what I keep thinking as I cover the material I'm studying this year in two of my selected study units (The NT and other early Christian documents). Jesus had to be deluded. I'm thinking that the description, "religious delusions," is the most appropriate term to cover his mental illness.

There is no difference between Jesus and a young muslim man shot dead by police in Melbourne yesterday. It's clear that the young man suffered from religious delusions which caused him to come into conflict with the state. Which is essentially what Jesus did.

Sadly, we were also caught up in that form of delusion. Some here still suffer from similar delusions.

4

recapitulation - 7 Cycles in Revelation

by Pterist in

the chart provides a summary of the whole book, supporting the theory of recapitulation.

this view suggests that the events in revelation do not all form a continuous series but the series of sevens (seven seals in rev 6:1-8:5, seven trumpets in rev 8:6-11:19, and seven bowls in rev 15:1-16:21) repeatedly bring us to the end of the world, when christ comes in judgment to either reward or punish.

as noted earlier, even the interlude of revelation 12-14 begins with the first coming of christ (rev 12:1ff.

fulltimestudent

Pterist,

That's precisely the pattern that the Lecturer, in one of my current study units, teaches.

He maintains that it was written in a time of persecution, with the message that God was in control, and would, in his own time (always like that) bring relief and the promised reward of E.L. Hence, he does not see it as a book of detailed prophecy. It is only prophetic in a general sense, i.e. that, some day in the future, Jesus will attack the persecuting nations, and the Kingdom of God will descend to bring relief to sufferering humankind.

Famously, Nero was the first general persecutor (as compared to unique local instances of tyranny).

Was the Apocalypse written in response to his bout of persecution?

Using gematria*, the technique of assigning a numerical value to each letter of the alphabet, 13:8 says that "the number of the beast is ... 666" so take the greek word for "beast," which is therion, assign numbers, calculate theri sum, and you come up with 666. 'But,' (to quote Achtemeier et al's, work, Introducing the New Testament, p. 570),

'666 is also "the number of its name" and "the number of a person" (13:17-18; 15:2). When Nero Caesar is written in Hebrew characters, their sum is 666, so that he is that person.'

Introducing the New Testament, (pp. 569-573) discusses many aspects of the general view of Nero, from the perspective of the literate Roman elite and it can be seen that if Nero is the 'beast', that the language of the author of Revelation, reflects their perspective also.

* See Introducing the New Testament, p. 571 for some ancient example of gematria used in connection with Nero and other Emperors.)

So all the trite experiences of the Jws since 1914 turn out to be meaningless rubbish in the greater sweep of history.