But the Egyptian "contamination" is only the beginning - there is more, much more.
fulltimestudent
JoinedPosts by fulltimestudent
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Greek Mythology influence on New Testament
by Magnum ina few days ago, i was in a book store, and i picked up a book providing a brief overview of classical mythology.
as i examined the opening pages, i read about tartaurus (place of punishment) and hades (god of the underworld).. it seems so odd that tartarus and hades would be mentioned in the new testament, and yet they were part of greek mythology which predated the new testament.
why would bible writers have used such terms?
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Greek Mythology influence on New Testament
by Magnum ina few days ago, i was in a book store, and i picked up a book providing a brief overview of classical mythology.
as i examined the opening pages, i read about tartaurus (place of punishment) and hades (god of the underworld).. it seems so odd that tartarus and hades would be mentioned in the new testament, and yet they were part of greek mythology which predated the new testament.
why would bible writers have used such terms?
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fulltimestudent
It can be shown that the 'Holy writings' of both Jews and Christians is influenced by the beliefs of the pagans who lived around and with them. There never was a 'pure stream' of truth.
In Judaism's traditions, the collation of the 'holy writings' is assigned to Moses. Regarding Moses, it is acknowledged in the NT, that:
"Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." (Acts 7:22, NWT)
The usual narrative of Jewish contact with Egypt places the Jews (Israelites) as captives in Egypt, and Moses becomes a deliverer. Whatever incidents that tradition may have for a foundation, we are on surer ground when we learn that Egyptian Empires often controlled the area we call Palestine, so that there is grounds to think of continual contact between Egypt and Judah. And when you set Egyptian creation mythology alongside Biblical creation mythology, the connection is clear.
I'm asserting that, but if anyone thinks that this assertion is not true, go check it out for yourself.
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Greek Mythology influence on New Testament
by Magnum ina few days ago, i was in a book store, and i picked up a book providing a brief overview of classical mythology.
as i examined the opening pages, i read about tartaurus (place of punishment) and hades (god of the underworld).. it seems so odd that tartarus and hades would be mentioned in the new testament, and yet they were part of greek mythology which predated the new testament.
why would bible writers have used such terms?
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fulltimestudent
Magnum: It seems so odd that Tartarus and Hades would be mentioned in the New Testament , and yet they were part of Greek Mythology which predated the New Testament. Why would Bible writers have used such terms? To what extent and how might they have been influenced by Greek Mythology? Did the terms have an origin that predated Greek mythology, allowing for the argument that Bible writers didn’t get the terms from it, but from a source predating it?
Yes, Magnum, it does seem odd, and like you I once wondered why the NT writers would use these words?
But we wonder, because there exists within Christian ideology a misunderstanding. The misunderstanding is that we have within Judaism and Christianity a pure stream of information that outlines Yahweh's dealings with mankind and that this 'pure stream' is uncomtaminated by pagan mythology.
But stop and think, is it really like that?
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Look out Boeing and Airbus - you're domination of Aviation may soon be over
by fulltimestudent inapologies, clumsy fingers again.
but be patient, at some a point a real post may appear..
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fulltimestudent
Its interesting how some can make sweeping statements, that in reality demonstrates their own limited understanding of the world and their own blind acceptance of their own propaganda.
A report in FlightGlobal (a web based aviation journal) overviews the advanced work of aeronautical engineers in Russia.
For example, take this aircraft:
When the huge 171t (377,000lb) Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop (above) flew in 1957, it was by far the world's biggest production airliner of the time. It could seat up to 220 passengers and was the heaviest and largest airliner in service until the widebodies arrived in the 1960s.
So why didn't it ever become a commercial success? The simple answer is that: 1. commercial aviation was not important in the former Soviet Union, and 2. Capital (finance) was always scarce.
If Russian design can be in the forefront, as it was evident in the above example, and we add to the formula Chinese skills in money management and production, then a future that deprives Boeing and Airbus of the lucrative Asian market is feasible, and making sneering remarks will not make it go away.
The overview by FlightGlobal continued:
A few years ago, Antonov studied the development of a passenger-carrying version of the An-225, which would have seated 500-600 people on two decks. The Myasishchev design bureau has proposed a giant 500-seater featuring a wide "lifting body" fuselage based on its high-altitude M-60 surveillance aircraft.
The most exciting recent Russian giant design proposal appeared at the Sukhoi pavilion at the 1999Paris air show, where a huge model of its proposed KR-860 twin-deck airliner was displayed. The four-engined 860-seater would have 12-abreast triple-aisle seating on the main deck, and a nine-abreast, twin aisle upper deck. Entry would be either through conventional fuselage doors or forward and aft ventral escalators.
The wing design incorporates winglets and a fold outboard of the outer engines. The design has a maximum take-off weight of 650t, 50t more than that of the An-225, while an all-cargo model would offer a 300t payload. Maximum high density seating could exceed 1,000.
Sukhoi, which usually specialises in military designs, hopes to set up an international programme to develop the giant project, but with little interest from the West, the design seems destined to remain a pipe-dream.
I suggest that in view of the Russian-Chinese agreement, Sukhoi's dream can become a Boeing/Airbus nightmare.
Link: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/giant-dreams-59888/
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Elders and priests what 's the difference?
by sparrowdown inis being a "good" elder the same as being a "good" catholic priest?.
is there any difference between representing the rcc and representing that other bastion of child abuse the wt?.
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fulltimestudent
This week, the issue surfaced again:
Vow of celibacy may have contributed to child sex abuse says landmark report from Catholic Church in Australia
DECEMBER 12, 2014 7:58AM
THE vow of celibacy may have contributed to decades of child sex abuse committed by Catholic priests and clergy, according to a landmark report from the church’s leaders.
According to The Australian, the church establishment within Australia has for the first time said that “obligatory celibacy” may have resulted in the abuse of thousands of children. The stunning admission in a report to be released today, sets an international precedent and is in stark contrast to a recent US study that said celibacy could not be blamed for the epidemic of abuse.
“Obligatory celibacy may also have contributed to abuse in some circumstances,” the report says, and “ongoing training and development, including psychosexual development, is necessary for priests and religious (figures in the church)” as a result.
The church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council has issued the report and its chief executive Francis Sullivan told The Australian that the Catholic Church must now examine how individuals can remain healthy while being celibate, “and not begin acting out of a dysfunctional sense of self”.
The council’s supervisory group includes the archbishops of Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide.
Its report also identifies a culture of “obedience and closed environments”, and the selection process for candidates for the clergy as playing a potential role “in the prevalence of abuse within some orders and dioceses”.
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Elders and priests what 's the difference?
by sparrowdown inis being a "good" elder the same as being a "good" catholic priest?.
is there any difference between representing the rcc and representing that other bastion of child abuse the wt?.
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fulltimestudent
As far as child abuse and Catholic priests are concerned, an interesting discussion has been going on in the last few years - and that is the possible role of the church doctrine of celibacy:
Child sex abuse link to celibacy
- Date: January 24, 2013
Barney Zwartz
Many Catholic priests take a flexible approach to celibacy, tolerated by church leaders, and some believe sex with children or men does not count, a former Melbourne priest said on Wednesday.
''An enormous number of priests struggle with celibacy,'' Philip O'Donnell told the state inquiry into how the churches handle child sex abuse.
''There's a tolerance for imperfection in celibacy, and that may have led to a lessening of outrage at sex with children.''
He said he had no training about celibacy in the seminary and that many priests were ill-equipped. ''Chosen celibacy is a gift, but mandatory celibacy is for many priests a millstone,'' he said.
Mr O'Donnell declined to speculate on what percentage of Catholic priests, who must vow to be celibate, were sexually active, but another Melbourne priest has separately suggested it is about half.
Asked by committee member Andrea Coote whether priests believed only sex with women counted as real sex (breaking celibacy vows), and that homosexual and child sex did not, Mr O'Donnell said: ''Sometimes.''
He said another priest told him the celibacy requirement would never change because so many priests were gay and it was ''great cover. No one asks me why I am 50 and single - they assume I am celibate,'' the priest told Mr O'Donnell.
Mr O'Donnell - a priest in Melbourne from 1975 to 1999 who resigned and later married - said sexually active priests coped with the internal contradiction by compartmentalising their professional and private lives.
In other evidence to the inquiry, Catholics for Renewal president Peter Johnstone said the church's handling of sexual abuse was directly related to its dysfunctional government. Although Australian church leaders claimed that responding to abuse was a local matter, in fact the Vatican kept strict control.
The worldwide church was governed by a 17th-century system whereby ultimate power was vested in men who were celibate, often socially isolated, usually old, unable to communicate with the faithful, and under the supreme control of a papal monarch who demanded blind obedience.
Mr Johnstone said Catholics for Renewal was an organisation of committed, progressive Catholics who represented views shared by several Australian bishops and scores of priests who were bound by rigid vows of obedience not to publicly say so.
Asked by the committee to name these bishops, Mr Johnstone said it would be inappropriate. ''If you want to see what happens to bishops who disagree, just look at Bill Morris'' (the bishop of Toowoomba sacked by the Pope last May after suggesting the church might consider revisiting the question of women priests).
However, retired bishops Pat Power of Canberra and Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney are two who have trenchantly criticised Vatican structures.
A former principal and a teacher at Holy Family School, Doveton, told the inquiry of how their careers and lives were ruined after they separately sought to protect children from the predatory parish priest, Peter Searson (now dead).
Both Graham Sleeman, a popular principal in the 1980s, and Carmel Rafferty, a senior teacher in the early 1990s, believe the Catholic Education Office and archdiocese betrayed them. Both found it impossible to get work in the Catholic education system after their whistleblowing, and both suffered years of trauma and stress.
The Doveton parish suffered six abusers in a row as parish priest or assistant priest.
Link: http://www.smh.com.au/national/child-sex-abuse-link-to-celibacy-20130123-2d7ch.html
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Look out Boeing and Airbus - you're domination of Aviation may soon be over
by fulltimestudent inapologies, clumsy fingers again.
but be patient, at some a point a real post may appear..
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fulltimestudent
Zordino: FTS, I assume you're of Chinese decent? I would also never buy a Chinese made car, toy..... anything. I would buy Japanese, Korean any day. They are not as much with the mentality " make it as cheap as possible and cut corners" They take pride in their products. It's part of their culture to produce quality products.
Zordino, my friend, you have completely misunderstood how it all works. The people who make the decision about the quality of goods in your local shops are your own countrymen.
They place the orders with Chinese factories, usually with a specification that sets out the quality of the goods they think they can sell. If they do not use some form of specification, then they are complete amateurs. All the major importers from China will have teams of technical experts working to ensure that they receive the quality that they have specified.
This policy (of supplying what the customer requests) has allowed China to do something that has never occurred before in history. That is, to move some 700-800 million out of poverty within roughly one generation, and hopefully within another generation to move many of the remaining poor up to some sort of better life.
That is what attracted my attention and I decided to study this phenomen.
The Chinese government is controlled by highly trained and experienced men. To get near the top, potential national leaders have to demonstrated that they can succeed in advancing the economies of at least two provinces. Whenever important decisions are to be made there are major consultations with a variety of opinions canvassed.
The previous export focussed model enabled the advancment of China to where it is now, so whether you buy or not buy is hardly important, but the government is quite conscious of the limitations of that model and some years ago started a slow shift to an improved model, but the fact remains that that model has allowed the Chinese government to accumulate trillions of dollars in reserves, in contrast to another government that has accumulated trillions of dollars of debt in much the same time frame.
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1 Corinthians 11:3
by XBEHERE inrnwt "but i want you to know that the head of every man is the christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn, the head of the christ is god.".
sexism aside, how does the wt/gb explain their absolute power over the sheeples based on this scripture?
where are they located in the model listed in that scrtipture?
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fulltimestudent
I did not have time, this morning, to continue some thoughts on the development of authority in the first Christian community. Jesus had left no clear instructions as to how his disciples were to be organised, likely, it is thought, because he expected that his death would be the catalyst that would cause Yahweh to restore the Davidic kingdom, a thought that seems expressed in the words of Jesus during the passover meal. (Matthew 26:29).
So when the disciples started meeting together within the Jerusalem Temple the direction of the group was in the hands of the twelve, but for unclear reasons, most of the twelve disappear from view, and we never really see the apostles acting together as a group in later periods.
Within ten years, power seems to be concentrated in the hands of Jesus brother, James, and he dominates the community of believers in Jesus until his death in 62CE. James is spoken of by the author of Acts as having gathered a body of elders around him (Acts 11:30, 15:2,4,6,220, so we can imagine a more rigid community structure, and therefore less room for the charismatic authority of the earlier section of Acts that depended on the Spirit and on visions. Where did the idea of a body of elders, acting under the guidance of a senior person, come from? Many scholars feel James adopted the pattern of synagogue government that the Jews were also developing, which makes some sense in view of the close links that must have existed while the early 'Christian' believers met in the Temple for worship.
It is reasonably clear that James died in 62 CE, and the synagogue pattern continued developing within the Christian communities. Within 50 years we find an influential Christian like Ignatius of Antioch writing letters of encouragement to some Christian communities in Asia (around 110 CE). There were problems in the churches of heresy and division, and the solution that Ignatius suggested was absolute obedience to the authority of the local overseer (bishop), and a body of elders and a group of assisting deacons. Nothing is to be done in the church without the bishop's permission. To what extent that was already occurring in 110 CE is a matter of argument among scholars, but certainly this became the standard pattern of governance within the church during the second and third centuries.
The letters that Ignatius wrote stress obedience to the Bishop a number of times, in has various letters. One example is his letter to the Magnesians, chap. 6, verse 1:
"Let the bishop preside in God's place, and the presbyters (elders) take the place of the apostolic council, and let the deacons (my special favourites) be entrusted with the ministry of Jesus,"
All that the witnesses have done is to remove the role of the bishop from within the local congregation and centralise it with a GB.
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1 Corinthians 11:3
by XBEHERE inrnwt "but i want you to know that the head of every man is the christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn, the head of the christ is god.".
sexism aside, how does the wt/gb explain their absolute power over the sheeples based on this scripture?
where are they located in the model listed in that scrtipture?
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fulltimestudent
Am I missing something?
Yup! the rest of the Bible.
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Pope Francis: All dogs go to heaven
by NewYork44M ini always wonders, and now i know.
thank you pope francis.. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/world/europe/dogs-in-heaven-pope-leaves-pearly-gate-open-.html?action=click&contentcollection=sunday%20book%20review&module=mostemailed&version=fullion=marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article.
does this include the dogs that end up on the dinner table in some cultures?
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fulltimestudent
Grin, the Pope doesn't read the Bible:
Revelation 22:14,15 - New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Yahweh and Jesus may have created dogs, but they don't like them (just look up the references) and they won't have them in the New Jerusalem
