If (for some reason) the video is inaccessible in your area, imagine a whole city looking like this image from the BBC:
Can't help wondering whether the city will be re-built.
fulltimestudent
JoinedPosts by fulltimestudent
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Why Syrian Refugees are Fleeing Syria, The UK Independent looks at the city of Homs
by fulltimestudent inhoms was once syria's third largest city with a population of around one million-now its mostly deserted and this is what it looks like.
(a video taken by an enterprising russian photographer and posted on the uk independent's web page click to start).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/drone-footage-reveals-devastation-of-homs-in-syria-as-europes-stance-towards-refugees-hardens-a6849311.html.
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Why Syrian Refugees are Fleeing Syria, The UK Independent looks at the city of Homs
by fulltimestudent inhoms was once syria's third largest city with a population of around one million-now its mostly deserted and this is what it looks like.
(a video taken by an enterprising russian photographer and posted on the uk independent's web page click to start).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/drone-footage-reveals-devastation-of-homs-in-syria-as-europes-stance-towards-refugees-hardens-a6849311.html.
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fulltimestudent
Homs was once Syria's third largest city with a population of around one million-now its mostly deserted and this is what it looks like
(A video taken by an enterprising Russian photographer and posted on the UK Independent's web page click to start)
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Finding the value of God; Isn't it better to believe in a deity?
by Caupon inthe question as to what believing in this entity called god entails is a fairly important question that needs to be answered first.
to me, the key difference between a universe in which god exists versus one where god doesn't lies in the idea of teleology.
in my view, a universe with god entails some sort of process towards an end, an end which can be characterized with words such as bliss and unity and others.
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fulltimestudent
caupon: I can't deny the sense of calm I've felt after praying, for example. The sense of calm in the idea of having someone guiding you towards a state of blissfulness.
Guided or not, many quite distinctly different 'spiritual ways' achieve that kind of feeling, including Buddhists who do not see "God" in any way similar to the way you may see "God."
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Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls-Do the Scrolls Help us Understand Early Christianity?
by fulltimestudent ini think most scholarship would agree with a positive answer to that question.
but let's take a look for oursselves.
geza vermes, in his excellent translation ( the complete dead sea scrolls in english-penguin.
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fulltimestudent
Mephis: Just a minor point really, but one thing which really stood out for me the first time I sat down to go through the work done on them was just how difficult the idea of 'a bible' is to pin down.
Mephis, I suggest that you point there is actually important. The concept of a sacred Bible has now been around for hundreds of years, and its hard not to view the past as not having a "Bible." But as you read about the Qumran community and the documents that gave their members their "rules' to live by, we don't really see a focus on a set of scriptures making up the Bible (OT) as we know it, we see as you posted:
" we see in the Dead Sea Scrolls is a group of texts which are passed down with few changes, often none."
And as you continued:
"But then everything else seems up for debate. It's not fixed. It's altered and amended and revised. They add new texts and new stories and new prophetic visions."
Its not an eternal truth, but its more like the WTS's "new light' - a continual revision as someone had a better idea than the last one.
Vermes' describes the scribes as having "creative freedom."
Quote: "redactor-copyists felt free to improve the composition which they were reproducing."
and
Quote: " The Dead Sea Scrolls have afforded for the first time direct insight into the creative literary-religious process at work within that variegated Judaism that flourished during the last two centuries of quasi-national independence before the catastrophe of 70CE."
What does it mean for us?
Simply that the above makes it very difficult to accept the NT writings as "inspired scripture." The DDS show us how Jewish worshippers tossed spiritual ideas around.
And we find similar thought processes at work in early Christianity as in the DDS. The age of the hoped for Jewish kingdom that Jesus thought he would lead is characterised by expectations based on texts such as Psalm 147, and Isaiah 61, with their predictions of divine intervention to first re-gather the dispersed Jews to their national homeland, to heal the broken hearted, relieving the meek (from the iron yoke of foreigners), to liberate the captives, heal the blinded and the wounded and to raise the dead.
The ancient prayer of Nabonidus, telling of Nabonidus' cure by a Jewish exorcist parallels the Capernaum healing of a paralysed man by Jesus, who did so by forgiving his sins.
Another DDS scroll, no, 4Q521, that some call "A Messianic Apocalypse," (and others have called, "the Resurrection fragment," lists healings and miracles as part of the messianic kingdom conditions. The script style dates this scroll to the beginning of the first century BCE and therefore it predates Matthew 11:4-5, (where Jesus tells John's disciples to tell John of his miracles). Here's a few extracts from this DDS document:
" ... the heavens and the earth will listen to his messiah and none will stray from the commandments of the holy ones..."
"... Over the poor His spirit will hover and renew the faithful with His power."
"... He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the bent."
"... And the Lord will accomplish glorious things.... For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news to the poor."
"... the life-giver will raise the dead of His people."The Jewish hopes of a national revival was the common foundation for the hopes of the Qumran community, the Essenes, Jesus and the early Christians.
Jesus, of course did not return (as promised in Luke 21 verses 27, 32) The Jewish hopes for a national revival and freedom from gentile domination failed when in 70 CE the temple, the traditional focus for Jewish worship was destroyed by the Romans, never to be re-built.
In contemporary times, the hopes of the American revivalists or the nineteen century, including both William Miller and Charlie Russell likewise failed.
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Is this the Oldest (extant) Represention of the Virgin Mary? - Asks the NY Times.
by fulltimestudent inmichael peppard is an associate professor of theology at fordham university and the author, most recently, of “the world’s oldest church: bible, art, and ritual at dura-europos, syria.” in this ny times article he reviews what we understand about this image in a church in the roman outpost of dura-europos, .
peppard compares the image with others and concludes that the artist intended to portray mary.
the image was preserved by being buried in sand in the third century ce, in an attempt to strengthen the walls of the outpost against attack by the sasanians.. .
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fulltimestudent
The detective work performed during Peppard's investigation gives an idea of the complexity in early Christian scholarship.
If YHWH or יֵשׁוּעַ intended to provide a guide to salvation, it has to be said that they were unable to inspire a clear guide. What we are left with is some documents that only tell part of the story and leave huge gaps as to what happened back there, and what precisely the 'truth' is that sets us free. The place that Mary occupies in the lives of so many Christians and the implacable oppostion to the idea by millions of other Christians demonstrates the confusion that YHWH left us with.
Likely more than 50% of modern day Christians venerate Mary in some way or the other and the historical and archaeological evidence indicates that the veneration was part of Christian began early in the church's history, so that by 431 at the Council of Ephesus the belief that Mary was the Mother of God was declared to be dogma.
The oldest known statement about Mary's honored position appears in a hymn dated to the third or fourth centuries (the 200s and 300s).
Beneath Thy Protection (Greek: Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν; Latin: Sub tuum præsidium) is the oldest preserved extant hymn to the Blessed Virgin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_tuum_praesidiumleading to the well-known belief of Catholic and Orthodox Christians that Mary can protect you. As in this portrayal
So while there does not seem to be any evidence that the Christian community at Dura-Europos venerated Mary in that way, the evidence points to a belief,by some (at least) at that time that Mary occupied a special place in their concept of salvation.
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Is this the Oldest (extant) Represention of the Virgin Mary? - Asks the NY Times.
by fulltimestudent inmichael peppard is an associate professor of theology at fordham university and the author, most recently, of “the world’s oldest church: bible, art, and ritual at dura-europos, syria.” in this ny times article he reviews what we understand about this image in a church in the roman outpost of dura-europos, .
peppard compares the image with others and concludes that the artist intended to portray mary.
the image was preserved by being buried in sand in the third century ce, in an attempt to strengthen the walls of the outpost against attack by the sasanians.. .
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fulltimestudent
Michael Peppard is an associate professor of theology at Fordham University and the author, most recently, of “The World’s Oldest Church: Bible, Art, and Ritual at Dura-Europos, Syria.” In this NY times article he reviews what we understand about this image in a Church in the Roman outpost of Dura-Europos,
Peppard compares the image with others and concludes that the artist intended to portray Mary. The image was preserved by being buried in sand in the third century CE, in an attempt to strengthen the walls of the outpost against attack by the Sasanians.
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Has a 'Christian' ever murdered somebody?
by goddidit ina jw made the claim "no christian [jw] has ever murdered anyone".. when i showed examples of such, the goalposts moved a bit with "was he a baptized, dedicated witness?".
can anyone provide examples of murders committed by "baptized, dedicated" jws?.
thanks.
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fulltimestudent
The 'thought' behind the question is likely founded on the idea that once a 'Christian' commits a crime, he/she is no longer a Christian. (A JW branded Christian or any other brand of Christian), but the question becomes more complicated when we consider that a "Christian" theoretically is a transformed personality.
So if the person with the transformed personality commits a murder (an illegal, premeditated killing), what's happened to the transformed personality
Another thought on the question. Is there a difference between 'murder' and 'killing'?
I think everyone gets that difference. So since (in theological concepts) YHWH is the giver of life, he therefore has the right to take life. Many of us would not buy that idea, but its implicit in the stoning scenario of Deuteronomy 17 (and. I've heard elders explaining that a disfellowshipping is like that ), and also in the genocidal invasion of other people's homelands committed in the mythical Jewish invasion of the promised land. But since, YHWH has the right to take life, the stone throwers and the Jewish soldiers with swords killing babies are not murderers or killers, but executioners.
Semantics of course, but part of the reason I was disfellowshipped.
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"Always submit to the Church Administration", everybody sing it now!!
by WingCommander inhere's a wonderfully sickening video from another cult, the "church of christ".
have a listen and tell me if it doesn't remind you of a certain familiar jw tune, namely, "listen, obey, and be blessed!
this is crazy, just crazy!
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fulltimestudent
A lot of similarities to our former loving brothers and sister.
They also grew out of the insanity of the nineteenth century American Restoration movement. They were a break away group of Presbyterians who disagreed with the mainstream church.
They have not done as well as Charlie's boys and girls, with a bit more two million adherents, a bit more than half in the USA.
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Proof of Jehovah's fast moving chariot!
by Sour Grapes inat the meeting sunday, the brother giving the "public talk" (no one from the public is ever there) was talking about how the organization is moving so fast.
as proof of this he held up the new field service time slip.
yep, that was plenty of proof for me, a smaller time slip to guilt the congregation to use their tablets in service to show video's.
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fulltimestudent
Be a bit wary of these 'divine chariots,' they are not safe to drive - they crash and burn!.
Remember that when Ezekiel introduced the concept of divine chariots doing wheelies in the sky, just before the Babylonian captivity, he was really (supposedly) foretelling the divine oversight of the second temple construction.
In 70 CE the Romans destroyed that second temple, and therefore metaphorically the chariot that screeched around overhead doing wheelies, crashed and burned.
The people of the Dead Sea Scrolls (most likely the Essenes) also thought of YHWH's spirit driving the heavenly chariots. The DDS document, now known as document 4Q405, and in the section identified as 20 ii, 21-2, the author describes his imagined concept of YHWH's chariot, clearly inspired by Ezekiel's vision.
Here's a few extracts from that section:
" ... His glorious chariots. When ... they go ... they do not turn aside but advance straight."
"The cherubim bless the image of the throne-chariot above the firmament ... When the wheels advance, angels of holiness come and go..."
"The spirits of the living 'gods' move perpetually with the glory of the marvellous chariot(s)."Problem was for those people, one day one of those angels envisioned as moving effortlessly 'between' the wheels, misjudged things, got mangled up in a wheel and the whole bloody thing crashed and burned. With YHWH's mighty chariot out of action, the approaching Roman armies easily defeated the Jews (again) and destroyed the temple and slaughtered so many Jews, that Palestine was on the way to becoming the home of non-Jewish people.
The DDS people in particular disappeared from history, just as it appears that the divine chariot swinging wildly around over the heads of the modern day JWs, is not so much speeding, but skidding around out of control. Soon, it seems this version of the divine chariot will also crash and burn.
Better than Star Wars, isn't it? Someone ought to produce a video game, "YHWH's divine chariot crashes and burns."
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Sorry for letting my imagination loose! (I'm better than Freddy, arn't I?)
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Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls-Do the Scrolls Help us Understand Early Christianity?
by fulltimestudent ini think most scholarship would agree with a positive answer to that question.
but let's take a look for oursselves.
geza vermes, in his excellent translation ( the complete dead sea scrolls in english-penguin.
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fulltimestudent
Crazyguy : I believe that the experts believe that the scrolls we're burried before the 1 century so in effect they never effected christianity.
Thnx for raising the point of the DDS chronology, Crazyguy?
One thing first though, the DDS were not buried, but stored in caves, at least for most of them.
And in regard to whether the scrolls (or, at least the people who wrote them) affected early Christianity, I think that if these scrolls reflect Jewish thinking in the first century (and before) we would have to agree that they may have done so.
We cannot be absolutely sure of how these documents came to be in the cave. Vermes (and many other scholars) think the Qumran site buildings were most likely used by a monastic branch of the Essenes. Some of the documents describe the rules for such a group and also for those of the sect that lived in towns. If that's true, then the buildings and caves were simply abandoned in the chaos preceding the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Of course, there are other possibilities, including one which suggests that the documents came from libraries in Jerusalem, and they were hurriedly moved out of the city as the Roman armies approached. One item of evidence that suggests that is a list of treasures, but I think we'd have to agree that if the site was occupied by sectarians, who held all things in common, for some 200 years, that a deal of wealth would have been accumulated.
The reasonably agreed dating as being in the first century CE, allows for the probability of contact between the Qumran sectarians (if they did indeed live there) and early Christians. They were all part of the religious ferment that bubbled away in first century CE Judaism.
Why not get a copy of Geza Vermes', The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, for yourself. Amazon list it for sale at about US$13. Vermes explains a lot about the scrolls as well as offering his translation.
The Israel Museum has also digitised some of the scrolls, but only the Isaiah scroll has been translated in their version. http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/page_1348
Some of these suggestions are outlined in this Smithsonian overview:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-wrote-the-dead-sea-scrolls-11781900/?all
Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Resolving the dispute over authorship of the ancient manuscripts could have far-reaching implications for Christianity and Judaism
By Andrew Lawler - Smithsonian Magazine - January 2010
