Posts by mP

132

The Bible and Genetics

by sabastious in

i recently read in discover magazine that scientists have found a way to turn on and off memory cells in our brain.

they say that this is good news for people with post traumatic stress disorder, which i was diagnosed with a few years ago.

this, to me, brings up the ethical question of what did the traumatic events in my life, and the lives of others, add to society as a whole?

mP

mP: S&G were not destroyed for sexual immorality. The text and other commentaries in the NT clearly state they were destroyed for neglecting the poor etc, none say anything about sexuality. If im wrong show scriptures.

SAB

They were not destroyed soley for sexual immorality, but the concept of sexual immorality is epitomized by the two cities and what happened there. As idol worship, slavery and self interest are epitomized by ancient Egypt.

MP

You make a lot of statements and im challenging you to give scriptures. Gen 19 contains many troublesome things which for us in OUR time are wrong. The story doesnt give the reason why Jehovah was triggered to action.

I have listed most commentaries from the Bible below, Ezekiel and Jesus never state sexual crimes were the reasoning for destroying S&G, while Jude has a different opinion. So who is right , was Jesus wrong and Jude right ??

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hombibg193.htm

Ezekeiel 16:49-50:"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." God states clearly that he destroyed Sodom's sins because of their pride, their excess of food while the poor and needy suffered; sexual activity is not even mentioned.

Matthew 10:14-15: Jesus implied that the sin of the people of Sodom was to be inhospitable to strangers.

Luke 10:7-16: This is parallel passage to the verses from Matthew

2 Peter 6-8: Peter mentions that God destroyed the adults and children of Sodom because the former were ungodly, unprincipled and lawless.

Jude, Verse 7 : Jude disagreed with Jesus and Ezekeiel; he wrote that Sodom's sins were sexual in nature. Various biblical translations of this passage in Jude describe the sin as: fornication, going after strange flesh, sexual immorality, perverted sensuality, homosexuality, lust of every kind, immoral acts and unnatural lust. It looks as if the translators were unclear of the meaning of the verse in its original Greek, and simply selected their favorite sin to attack. The original Greek is transliterated as: "sarkos heteras." This can be translated as "other flesh" . Ironically, our English word " heterosexual " comes from " heteras ."

A likely interpretation is that the author of Jude 4 criticized the men of Sodom for wanting to engage in sexual activities with angels. Angels are described in the Bible as a species of created beings who were different from humans. The sin of the people of Sodom would be that of bestiality. Another possibility is that the " other flesh " refers to cannibalism, which was a practice associated with early Canaanite culture. However, there is no mention in Genesis 19 about actually eating the angels.

22

Did Church fathers and Jesus see the Bible as metaphor?

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

does anyone here believe that jesus viewed genesis as being a metaphor?

if they believed it to be a historical account about real people, what are the implications?

as a jw, i wasn't allowed to publicly entertain such questions.

mP

band:

Theres a famous quote by Seutonius about religion that the poor blieved, the rich doubted, while the rules found it useful. In that one sentence we find out why religion was invented.

@slimboy

Paul used the Genesis account to justify men having authority over women, after all "the woman was made for the sake of the man, not the man for the woman". So either he believed the Genesis account or he was knowingly basing the subjection of women to men upon a false premise.

MP

Not quite, Paul never says he believed the story to be true. His usage works just as effectively with Geneis being a story or truth.

39

Is it too much to ask the "CREATOR" in this technological, scientific age to give us a modern update for his intentions?

by smiddy in

is this a fair question to put to jehovah / yahweh or whoever ?

in all sincerity i do not mean any disrespect to any beleivers in the god of the bible, but this is a truly remarkable age with communication advances incomparable with 2000 years ago , if the creator or jesus christ were truly interested in giving everybody the chance of everlasting life , wouldn`t they be giving people the opportunity to hear a more current up to date warning now ?

and not relying on messages in languages that are not in use today and are subject to so many different interpretations ?.

mP

Before i comment on a creator not wanting to save everyone, let me say that this is not possible. The story of life on this planet is one of being born, growing up, and dying. It is completely unnatural and broken to think this cycle can be somehow altered. Nothing lives forever, everything dies. Most creatures are the lunch of another and so on. For a lion to eat, countless other creatures down the chain also die to some larger predator. We as humans are just animals, perhaps smarter ones, but we still live by the same rules. We get sick and die like all other creatures.

778

IS GOD REAL? HOW DO YOU KNOW?

by still thinking in

jw
friends

this is an honest question on my part.

someone on this board asked me 'how do you know' a while ago and i really struggled with it.

in fact, it was a turning point for me.

mP

stillthinking:

This is where I come unstuck tec...how does he speak to you? Is it a feeling? Do you hear him? Do you attribute things that happen to him?

Thank you for contributing by the way.

mP

God doesnt speak to anyone. Xianity while the largest religion on earth is still a minority compared to all others. All religious peoples believe some god speaks to some of them. Do you believe they are honestly communicating with a higher plane or are they self dellusional ?

22

Did Church fathers and Jesus see the Bible as metaphor?

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

does anyone here believe that jesus viewed genesis as being a metaphor?

if they believed it to be a historical account about real people, what are the implications?

as a jw, i wasn't allowed to publicly entertain such questions.

mP

i think its safe to say people two thousand years ago had very different beliefs. take xianity in egypt, it was obviously influenced by local gods. isis became mary, horus became jesus. the great thing in this arrangement is in an instant an entire religion was adopted into christianity with minimal cost. all the old statues simple got new names. old temples with all that art and idols didnt get destroued. its hard to know if worshippers even knew when the assimilation began. we also see this in the adoption of xmas. how is it possible that the empire of believers took a holiday they would have known was solar worship? why did they adopt the celebration if it was new and belonged to a sun god? perhaps the answer is, they already knew jesus had a human history but ultimayely he was the sun. we see this in the cross, art where a crown of thorns ot halo or sun disc with rays are always used. ,

21

Why fear Satan, if Jehovah is the one who will send Armageddon to annihilate you?

by dgp in

isn't it funny / curious that people are always afraid of what satan will or will not do, when, in the end, it's jehovah of the armies that will annihilate you at armageddon?.

mP

dgp

before one snake ran into eve and got punished they had wings. you might also know their original form as seraphim. given their role as messengers of god means they knew how to speak, which also explains why eve was not shocked and actually listened. the bible only says they were punished and forced to go on their bellies, it doesnt say anything about their speaking ability. funnily enuff, levi is supposed to come fom a root thast means wriggly one, as in snake. perhaps the levites were originally snakes before they settled in to their human frm.

18

Could the Governing Body be the "Evil Slave" of Matt. 24:48-51?

by matt2414 in

48 but if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, my master is delaying, 49 and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, 51 and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites.

there is where [his] weeping and the gnashing of [his] teeth will be.

" mt 24:48-51 nwt.

mP

The parable in Mt that you is just that a story, there is no hidden meaning or symbology that needs to be discovered. Jesus was just conning the poor masses to stay happy with their lot in life, pay taxes, obey their masters, and ---the cruelest promise of all wait.

There is no FDS or Evil slave.

45

The bible, seriously?

by Inisc in

jw
friends

so i've been reading the bible, (for the fist time ever and i was a born in) i stopped going iilike 3 years ago and i wanted to have a good understanding of the bible and not just the wt.

but holy crap that's some 18rated stuff!

i mean i'm still in genesis and it's all vengeance this, condemn that and genocide everything else!

mP

@transhuman68

We still have the legacy of EL today in our modern world.

The mascular form of "the" in spanish and other romantic languages is "El". The femanine definite articule is "La" as in Luna the female companion of the man god el. Its funny how xians throught out history always remembered El and honour him in their language and customs. Its only in our modern times we have forgotten this knowledge. We also of course continue to remember EL in words such as EL der.

13

Strategically, the GB should accept 587

by I Want to Believe in

right now, the 587/607 is a major weak link; doctrines can be argued in circles for days, but the overwhelming evidence for 587 is damning to their entire theology, and it can be found with very little effort.

however, if they just bite the bullet and "new light" a 587 date for jerusalem's destruction it solves a lot of their problems:.

-removes their main weak secular point of argument.

mP

They cant and wont. Its not about honesty if they give up on 587 they will lose more than they gain. If the admit 587 is wrong they will at best lose thousands without gaining any respect or new blievers from the outside world.

132

The Bible and Genetics

by sabastious in

i recently read in discover magazine that scientists have found a way to turn on and off memory cells in our brain.

they say that this is good news for people with post traumatic stress disorder, which i was diagnosed with a few years ago.

this, to me, brings up the ethical question of what did the traumatic events in my life, and the lives of others, add to society as a whole?

mP

SAB

Worship of the Serpent Through Idols

Unfortunately the Serpent only lay still until the human populace grew in numbers again. Quickly he gathered the newly born sons and daughters of Light together to worship a shrine called the Tower of Babel. The Serpent's weapon: The Adamic Strain was used again to seduce the people through Logic and Independence. The idea was that if you all worked together, which meant breaking up into classes (slave, slave master), that you were doing the right thing. Humans have always fell prey to the idea that if you can see it it's true. This was the Serpent's next play and it forced YHWH to again make another move in the Game. YHWH chooses to confuse the languages of his own children. This would make it harder for the Serpent to make them worship him by worshipping an idea he concocted. It was the lesser of two evils which is a theme througout the whole Bible.

MP
Why are you picking on snakes ? THe snake in gen 3 is not satan. Satan is not even mentioned in that chapter and i wonder if he is mentioned anywhere in Genesis itself.

Snakes are just poor creatures with no legs, they havent corrupted anyone, anymore than a caterpillar has corrupted mankind. Those dumb ancients also said that snakes used to fly before the Eve incident, dont belive everything you read.