Posts by Mat

4

Are all other religions scummy dross in comparison?

by Marie B. Paraison in

is it true that the god of israel was not satisfied with the worship of the nation of israel alone, he sought to have the worship of the people in the great city nineveh by sending the hebrew prophet jonah to help this great city to repent, to have faith and to obey?.

crime and violence was their religion!.

i have also repented of the watchtower religion that bashes and does violence to all other religions.

Mat

Worship of "El" was common to the Cannaanites- he was the chief God and father of Baal (among otehr gods, and teh husband of Ashera). Yahweh/Jehovah worship is reconed by proponants of the Kenite hypothesis to have been introduced in to Israel by imagrants from Midian. As the Israel culture developed, and kings started to demand unified loyalty, El, and Yahweh/Jehovah were converged in to the same personage, while Baal worship was condemned as heretical. Before then Israel was polytheistic. We only have the bible's say so that they were one God's chosen people since year (?) and the bible only came about in the 7th century BCE. All it's history before then is reconed to be a fabrication (loosly including family stories) designed to promote the imperial adgenda.

108

The secret of how Christianity spread across the world

by Terry in

what i am going to say may sound nasty and mean-spirited.

i assure you it is not intended in that tone.. men are power seekers and control freaks.

without using women as drones to do the grunt work of religion.

Mat

What you are saying is that Christianity is a "meme". Others have said the same thing:

http://www.christianitymeme.org/

http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367/ce5.shtml

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

There are books that say as much, though I've not got round to reading them.

49

Jesus between age 12 and 30. . .

by Mad Sweeney in

i'm thinking he traveled east and learned the wisdom of the orient.

no way the watchtower line about him being a carpenter's assistant all that time is possibly true.

he was way too learned about the ways of people to not have been educated and his ideas seem very eastern to me.. anyone got any good books, articles, blogs, websites on the topic?.

Mat

Thanks Prodical Son. On the subject of Jesus visiting England and the Jerusalem song, there is this very interesting article:

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/3271/jesus_in_britain.html

It recons that there was a tradition that Joseph of Aramathea was Jesus' uncle, and a travelilng merchant, and sometimes visited Britania with his wares and sometimes took his holy nephew with him on his travels, so, Jesus visited England as a small child. William Blake made reference to the legend in the song he wrote which we know as the Jerusalem song.

Another article about Jesus in the east:

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/154/jesus_of_the_east.html

But then the Mormans recon he visited America after his resurection!

15

Did the Israelites lay eggs like reptiles?

by doubtful in

i'm a newbie bible skeptic, but whenever i read the exodus account, i always had trouble swallowing the idea that a family of 70 people could possibly mushroom into a population of anywhere between 2-3 million in a matter of 215 years - (per the watchtower's timeline).

as i said before, math is not my strong suit, but here i will show my calculations regarding the possibility of this account, using the society's timeline.

i will ignore the fact that the bible says the nation of israel was in bondage in egypt for 400 years, and will instead use the 215 year timeframe, also because this harmonizes with the four generations from levi to moses.

Mat

Interesting. This has caused a diversion for me since reading it. Apparently it is plausable for a population to reach 2, 293,760 from 70 in 480 years at a rate of 2.20% per annum, which is the fastest growth rate on record. Basically that means it takes 32 years for the population to double. But that was when population growth was at it's best in the modern world. Based on what it says here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth#cite_note-2

49

Jesus between age 12 and 30. . .

by Mad Sweeney in

i'm thinking he traveled east and learned the wisdom of the orient.

no way the watchtower line about him being a carpenter's assistant all that time is possibly true.

he was way too learned about the ways of people to not have been educated and his ideas seem very eastern to me.. anyone got any good books, articles, blogs, websites on the topic?.

Mat

Google "Holger Kersten". He reconed Jesus visited India. Article here:

http://www.spinninglobe.net/jesusinindia.htm

I just think the eastern similarities in the gospel teachings are a gnostic influence of aquiering wisdom from all over the world. The world of the time did have a spice/silk route, and even Alexanda the Great reached India.

31

Hidden implications of Genesis

by losthobbit in

today when i read it, i see a completely different story.. the bible is completely true, or at least that's what many people believe.

when asking them which translation is true, the person might pick their favourite translation.

when asking about things that contradict, be logically incorrect, or refer to unscientific things like the four corners of the earth, one might get a response that some of it is symbolic, and not meant to be taken literally, but everything else is entirely true.. the same principle can be applied to any piece of writing.

Mat

It's hard to read it today without reflecting on modern knowledge about the earth and the universe, but of course the writers of this passage had no such knowledge of these things. This is how I think they meant it to be read:

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.

The ancient people of the time would have seen their universe as heaven (everything above them- stars, clouds, etc.) and everything below them (soil, caves, sea, etc.). For all they knew the earth stretched out forever, and could have been solid earth and water downward forever. Our modern concept of a spherical earth being a mere speck amidst a solar system, within a galaxy, within a universe would have been totally unknown. So, heaven/earth. Why else would they think it any other way?

Just one example of trying to see the scripture the way it was meant to be seen. I shan't go on. I think the point is made. The people had no knowledge of quarks and photons, so when it comes to God creating light their only point of reference is trying to start a fire or light an oil lamp, and so on.

I like the 3D Max comparison. You would create a scene much like as described in Gen 1. You wouldn't create an entire universe of stars and galaxies then just focus on one planet. Of course such a concept would probably be unthinkable to people of the time. You would also light the scene with a default light before pinpointing it to luminaries. Do you think it was written by a time travelling animator from Pixar?

19

Bible Misconceptions

by Mat in

hi all, found this video in youtube and thought it was brilliant!

the entire seris of videos in which this is a part is also very good, but i chose this one to post.

please share your thoughts about it.

Mat

Hi, about me? Erm, I'm still a bit suspicious that I might be recognised by members of my (former) congregation so I'd like to keep my identity vague, but I was a JW over 5 years ago. I'm in the UK, and even though I don't believe in it, I still find the Bible a fascinating book that is worth exposing as the non-guidence for mankind that it is (as comes over in the video). Thanks for the welcomes and responses, I'll maybe say more in private messages, but as for my beliefs, I'm a supporter of books like The Bible Unearthed, Who Wrote The Bible, The Jesus Mysteries, and The Jesus Puzzle.

I did try X-JW groups that were Christian at first, but found them a bit cultish. Also worth reading Combating Cult Mind Control, and Crisis Of Conscience (but I was not a fan of In Search Of Christian Freedom as it seemed to have a fundamentalist Christian agenda).

Also trying to read books by Mark S Smith but finding their style a bit difficult.

19

Bible Misconceptions

by Mat in

hi all, found this video in youtube and thought it was brilliant!

the entire seris of videos in which this is a part is also very good, but i chose this one to post.

please share your thoughts about it.

Mat

What do you mean by sales call?

55

Really annoying christian habbit

by bohm in

i know this is minor, but it bug me and i wonder if any fellow atheists have noticed it to.

im talking about the random capatalization.

like i can understand why you would write god with a big 'g', but whats up with writing he or him or the holy one or lord or whatever?.

Mat

I recon teh bible should be written with "God" written with a small G in every instence since it would be more consistent with the original language. Hebrew did not make any such distinktion

19

Bible Misconceptions

by Mat in

hi all, found this video in youtube and thought it was brilliant!

the entire seris of videos in which this is a part is also very good, but i chose this one to post.

please share your thoughts about it.

Mat

Hi all, found this video in Youtube and thought it was brilliant! The entire seris of videos in which this is a part is also very good, but I chose this one to post. Please share your thoughts about it. Thanks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzYSkjaoxM4