fulltimestudent

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Posts by fulltimestudent

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  3

  The Christian Ghost city of Ani, once called, "The City of 1001 Churches."

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the christian ghost city, once called the city of 1001 churches.. the following photographs show the ruins of the christian city of ani, a city that once was home (some claim) to as many as 200,000 people, but has stood empty and in ruins for centuries.

  the ruins stand on the turkish side of the border with armenia.. the first surviving historical records are from armenian historians writing in the 5th century ce.

  aside from turkish-armenian friction, it’s in the news now because the world heritage committee (part of unesco) has declared it to be a valuable cultural site that should be preserved.. the city was often attacked by competing political forces, at times by their christian ‘brothers.’ in the mid 11th century byzantine armies besieged ani many times and the city finally surrendered to them in 1046 ce.

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  fulltimestudent

  And finally, the remains of the Manuchihr Mosque in Ani

  

  showing that the tide of history cares nothing for ideologies
  
• 
  3

  The Christian Ghost city of Ani, once called, "The City of 1001 Churches."

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the christian ghost city, once called the city of 1001 churches.. the following photographs show the ruins of the christian city of ani, a city that once was home (some claim) to as many as 200,000 people, but has stood empty and in ruins for centuries.

  the ruins stand on the turkish side of the border with armenia.. the first surviving historical records are from armenian historians writing in the 5th century ce.

  aside from turkish-armenian friction, it’s in the news now because the world heritage committee (part of unesco) has declared it to be a valuable cultural site that should be preserved.. the city was often attacked by competing political forces, at times by their christian ‘brothers.’ in the mid 11th century byzantine armies besieged ani many times and the city finally surrendered to them in 1046 ce.

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  fulltimestudent

  

  Remains of the Ani Cathedral showing minor conservation attempts

  
  

  Interior view - Ani Cathedral
• 
  3

  The Christian Ghost city of Ani, once called, "The City of 1001 Churches."

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the christian ghost city, once called the city of 1001 churches.. the following photographs show the ruins of the christian city of ani, a city that once was home (some claim) to as many as 200,000 people, but has stood empty and in ruins for centuries.

  the ruins stand on the turkish side of the border with armenia.. the first surviving historical records are from armenian historians writing in the 5th century ce.

  aside from turkish-armenian friction, it’s in the news now because the world heritage committee (part of unesco) has declared it to be a valuable cultural site that should be preserved.. the city was often attacked by competing political forces, at times by their christian ‘brothers.’ in the mid 11th century byzantine armies besieged ani many times and the city finally surrendered to them in 1046 ce.

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  fulltimestudent

  

  Remains of the Monastery of the Hripsimian Virgins. Probably built between 1000 and 1200 CE. The adjacent river (Akhurion R.) is the modern border between Armenia and Turkey.

  
  

  Ruins of the Church of Saint Gregory of Tigran Honents

  
  

  Interior of the Church of St Gregory of Tigran Honents showing damaged frescoes
• 
  3

  The Christian Ghost city of Ani, once called, "The City of 1001 Churches."

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the christian ghost city, once called the city of 1001 churches.. the following photographs show the ruins of the christian city of ani, a city that once was home (some claim) to as many as 200,000 people, but has stood empty and in ruins for centuries.

  the ruins stand on the turkish side of the border with armenia.. the first surviving historical records are from armenian historians writing in the 5th century ce.

  aside from turkish-armenian friction, it’s in the news now because the world heritage committee (part of unesco) has declared it to be a valuable cultural site that should be preserved.. the city was often attacked by competing political forces, at times by their christian ‘brothers.’ in the mid 11th century byzantine armies besieged ani many times and the city finally surrendered to them in 1046 ce.

  1. 
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  fulltimestudent

  The Christian Ghost city, once called the City of 1001 Churches.

  The following photographs show the ruins of the Christian city of Ani, a city that once was home (some claim) to as many as 200,000 people, but has stood empty and in ruins for centuries. The ruins stand on the Turkish side of the border with Armenia.

  The first surviving historical records are from Armenian historians writing in the 5th century CE.

  Aside from Turkish-Armenian friction, it’s in the news now because The World Heritage Committee (part of UNESCO) has declared it to be a valuable cultural site that should be preserved.

  The city was often attacked by competing political forces, at times by their Christian ‘brothers.’ In the mid 11th century Byzantine armies besieged Ani many times and the city finally surrendered to them in 1046 CE. Then in 1046 CE a Seljuk army laid siege to Ani, captured it and … let Arab historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi tell the story (he claims to have heard an eye-witness account:

  “The army entered the city, massacred its inhabitants, pillaged and burned it, leaving it in ruins and taking prisoner all those who remained alive...The dead bodies were so many that they blocked the streets; one could not go anywhere without stepping over them. And the number of prisoners was not less than 50,000 souls. I was determined to enter city and see the destruction with my own eyes. I tried to find a street in which I would not have to walk over the corpses; but that was impossible.” (Quoted in Norwich, John Julius (1991). Byzantium: The Apogee. New York: Viking. pp. 342–343. ISBN 978-0-394-53779-5.)

  A Wikipedia entry has a description of the ruins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ani

  And, a web-site called virtual Ani has a map and a helpful list of the ruins.

  http://www.virtualani.org/

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  UNESCO file image of the ruins of Ani
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  Watch out YHWH - Guan Yu is going to kick your butt

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the shanghaiist (linked to the new york based gothamist) has these images of just completed statue, 48 metre high statue of the traditional chinese warrior god.

  more piks at this site: http://shanghaiist.com/2016/07/12/giant_guan_yu.php.

  aside from wondering as to why anyone would spend the sort of money on a statue like that (i guess you could compare the cost to the enormous sums it cost to build the latest franchised disneyland in shanghai), does it tell us anything else?

• 

  fulltimestudent

  The Shanghaiist (linked to the New York based Gothamist) has these images of just completed statue, 48 metre high statue of the traditional Chinese Warrior God

  
  

  More piks at this site: http://shanghaiist.com/2016/07/12/giant_guan_yu.php

  Aside from wondering as to why anyone would spend the sort of money on a statue like that (I guess you could compare the cost to the enormous sums it cost to build the latest franchised Disneyland in Shanghai), does it tell us anything else? I guess we could see it as a reflection of the resurgent interest in traditional Chinese culture. Curiously in the nineteenth century, there was a Christian rebellion that nearly overthrew the then ruling Qing dynasty. It was eventually defeated by forces led by a Confucian scholar, Zeng Guofan, who became an accidental General and put together the forces that annihilated the Christian Taiping. But it was a near thing.
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  41

  Are there any instances of "GOD" order and/or condoning the rape of women in the bible?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this came up recently with my dyed-in-the-wool jw pioneer mother, who swears up and down that there are no scriptural instances of this happening.

  i seem to remember a couple passages, but can't remember where they were..

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  fulltimestudent

  Rebel, any contemporary parent will almost certainly agree with you. But is that a consistent cultural belief throughout history?

  Not so long back (in historical terms, a girl may well have been married off around ages 13-15. Why? well life was precarious, early death came to women in many forms, not least complications in child birth.* If the average age of death was say 50, and you wanted to see grand children, then you needed to have surviving children by the time you were 20.

  Reference: https://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/09/age-of-consent-in-european-american-history/

  The full picture is complicated, but generally it may be thought that parents would have been thinking of finding a suitable marriage partner for a daughter, once her breasts started to develop.

  * And we have to say that sometimes pregnancy in a body not fully mature, would have been a cause of death.
• 
  41

  Are there any instances of "GOD" order and/or condoning the rape of women in the bible?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this came up recently with my dyed-in-the-wool jw pioneer mother, who swears up and down that there are no scriptural instances of this happening.

  i seem to remember a couple passages, but can't remember where they were..

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  fulltimestudent

  Vidiot : The Bible definately doesn't seem to view sexual assault as a particularly big deal except in certain cases.

  I agree!

  And, we need to ask why? I'm currently thinking that its because our contemporary concept of rape as being a violation of a persons right to say No, was not the way that the ancients really thought about the problem.

  I see that different way of thinking as being based on their attitude that 'women' were 'property.'

  When young, and girls were unmarried, they were the property of their father/family. When married, they were the property of their husband, hence the use of the word 'baal,' with the meaning of 'husbandly owner' as the NWT translates Isaiah 54:5:

  "For your Grand Maker is your husbandly owner, ..."

  A choice in harmony with the meaning of 'baal' in this Blue Letter Bible site: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1166&t=KJV

  It seems to me that this attitude is behind the way that 2 Samuel 12:11,12 says David was to be punished. David violated another man's 'property.' so he would be punished the same way. His property (i.e. his wives) would be violated by another man.

  YHWH didn't give a f*ck about the feelings of the women involved - they were just a piece of meat belonging to David.

  There are other biblical passages that may indicate other perspectives, but the 'ownership' perspective is rather fundamental.
  Anyone got a different viewpoint?

  
  
• 
  41

  Are there any instances of "GOD" order and/or condoning the rape of women in the bible?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this came up recently with my dyed-in-the-wool jw pioneer mother, who swears up and down that there are no scriptural instances of this happening.

  i seem to remember a couple passages, but can't remember where they were..

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  fulltimestudent

  And for more "Israelite family life" you may examine the story of a 'certain Levite' in Judges 19, travelling with his concubine, who, according to the story doesn't mind being screwed by some other bloke (see verse 2).

  They find lodging for a night in Gibeah with an old man and they apparently have a good time eating and drinking. The author of this story had surely read the Sodom story, and thought it a rather good yarn, for he follows almost the same plot. While the Levite and their host (and maybe the Levite's wife) are having this good time, there's a banging on the door, its a mob of the local 'lads' looking for some sex -

  "they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.” (vs 22)

  The old man refuses, saying,

  "No, my friends, don’t be so vile." (vs 23)

  The old man then makes a 'two for one' offer the mob can't refuse.

  "Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his (the Levite's) concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish." (vs 24)

  The old man's daughter apparently refuses (sensible girl) because she doesn't get pushed out the door to the mob, but the text does seem to indicate (its a little confusing as to who grabs and pushes her outside) that the Levite himself grabs and gives her (his wife) to the sex-crazed mob.

  "So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go." (vs 25)

  But now the author of this biblical story let's his imagination go wild.

  The Levite is angry and cuts the abused body of his 'wife' into 12 pieces and sends a piece to each of the 12 tribes (of Israel) and there's a general assembly over the rape and murder, and a decision is made to punish the whole tribe of Benjamin, because some Benjamite males carried out this sex crime. (the story continues in Judges ch 20).

  YHWH now gets involved*, He commands that Judah take the lead in the battle with the Benjamites, but apparently the Israelite's do not have enough 'blood lust' because YHWH doesn't give them victory, and thousands of Israelite warriors are slain by the smaller Benjamite army, and again and again, before old YHWH gives them the victory and allows an act of genocide against the Benjamites.

  So some smartarse now figures out that nearly all the Benjamite males are dead, and all the other Israelites have sworn not to allow their daughters to marry surviving Benjamites (ch 21:1), so there will soon be only 11 tribes, and they are supposed to have 12.

  And then someone notices that the men of Jabesh-gilead had not taken part in the war against the Benjamites, so they decided to commit genocide and wipe them out as a punishment.

  But fortuitously, 400 virgin girls are left, so they give them to the surviving Benjamite males, but 400 virgin girls are not enough. (the girls are not given a choice)

  SO (and if you want an example of biblically approved rape, here it comes) - Every year there was a "festival of Jehovah," in Shiloh. The still womanless survivors of the Benjamite massacre are given permission to go to the festival, hide in the orchards around the city, and when the daughters of the Israelites that lived in Shiloh, came out to the orchards to sing and dance they could -

  "“... watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. (22) When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’” (ch 21)

  So if you've stayed the course, and read through this pointless stupid biblical story that demonstrates that the Israelites were total jerks, and YHWH the chief jerk, you should easily be able to realise that the Bible is merely a man-made book, and there's absolutely no point in waiting for YHWH to bring you everlasting life.

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  * Think about this! As the Israelite's follow the instructions of the all-wise, all-powerful, merciful YHWH, tens of thousands of ordinary Israelites (fathers, sons etc) die in battle, kids are left orphanned, families left without a breadwinner, the tribe of Benjamin is nearly wiped out and unnumbered more men left wounded, perhaps incapacitated for life.

  All this, because the all-powerful, all-knowing YHWH didn't zap a few miscreants when they committed their crime.
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  41

  Are there any instances of "GOD" order and/or condoning the rape of women in the bible?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this came up recently with my dyed-in-the-wool jw pioneer mother, who swears up and down that there are no scriptural instances of this happening.

  i seem to remember a couple passages, but can't remember where they were..

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  2. 
  3. 
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  fulltimestudent

  And also, 2 Samuel 12:11,12 - YHWH punishes David for committing adultery with Bathsheba,* with this threat:

  "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12'Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.'"…

  
  

  David the pervert.

  
  

  So these women, without personal sin, were going to be publically raped so that YHWH could humiliate David. It was famously "fulfilled" in the biblical story, by one of David's sons, a story that tells us much about Israelite attitudes to women and family life under YHWH's rule.

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  *'another man's property',see the meanings of baal on this Biblehub page: http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1166.htm )
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  2

  Muslims Worshipping in China. (Not intended to provoke, but to inform)

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  the shanghaiist ( media outlet in shanghai owned by the new york based gothamist) published some of the 3000 images taken by a beijing born photographer, lee jian, lee grew up in a muslim family and in 2013 set out to photograph muslim communities across china, covering mosques in henan, hebei, ningxia, jilin, liaoning, shanxi and hebei.. members of a family sit together in the niujie mosque in beijing on the first day of ramadan.. .

  a little girl reads the koran in chaoyang mosque, beijing.. .

  a gathering at east xiguan mosque.. .

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  fulltimestudent

  No Smiddy, there have been some ferocious terrorist attacks in China. In a knife attack at Kunming Rail Station (near the border with Myanmar, on June 1, 2014, 8 knife wielding (4 males, 4 women) terrorists killed 29 people and left another 140 wounded. The Chinese govt said the group belonged to a Uygher separatist group, but if you think about it, Kunming in Yunnan Province (which has a centuries old native Muslim population) is just north of Myanmar, which is right next to Muslim Bangladash. In Myanmar the Buddhist majority is really persecuting the Rohingya Muslim minority, and further down the coast in Thailand, much the same thing is occurring, and further south, you have a Muslim majority in Malaysia which connnects to mainly Muslim Indonesia.

  The pattern we seem to see in Islamic terrorism is that some individuals are more susceptible to terrorist propaganda than others. There's about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, if they were all terrorists how would the world deal with that.

  Everywhere you go in China, you can see people who (by their dress) identify as Muslim. In Shanghai there used to be a whole street of Uyghur Muslim Restaurants, with breakfast food stalls in the morning. I used to like buying a small loaf of of their bread for breakfast. The whole neighbourhood has been re-developed so they've now gone, but its not hard to find ethnic Uyghur food stalls in various places.

  There have been Muslims in China for a 1000 + years ), so the government(s) have some experience in dealing with any problems. I think piks that the Shanghaiist published today illustrate that it is possible to separate the 'wheat from the chaff,' and it gives me some confidence that the Australian government's policies are more positive than the confrontational approach advocated by a certain newly elected senator.