Posts by Ireneus

16

Jehovah had a wife the ancient Israelites also worshiped Asherah

by Finkelstein in

recent archeological discoveries have found that the ancient israelites were not exactly monotheistic to yahweh, apparently the israelites also worshiped a god which was seen as yahweh's wife asherah.

small carved sculptures have been found in places of worship and homesteads to support these findings.asherah's connection to yahweh, according to francesca stavrakopoulou, is spelled out in the bible and an 8th-century b.c.

inscription on pottery found in the sinai desert at a site called kuntillet ajrud.

Ireneus

Thank for posting such an informative and interesting piece, Finkelstein.

This is no surprise to those who know the mythologies of other nations where God is depicted as having wife and sitting on top of mountain etc. For example, in Hinduism God’s wife is named Parvati, and the word for mountain is Parvat from which the words such as power originate.

The symbolism behind such depiction is simple: God being seated on the top of the mountain is that His standards are elevated and controls all manifestation of energy. His relationship with the nature (which is materialization of energy) is like that of husband with his wife. Myth, mystery, mysticism …all have the root meaning of ‘measuring out’ from the vast reservoir of knowledge known and unknown, ‘listening and seeing with ears and eyes shut down’ which means listening what is unsaid and seeing what is unseen.

In other words Myths are suggestive of the hidden. It is like saying ‘every action has equal and opposite reaction’ which we all know literally because we experience it in our life. Yet it has a suggestive meaning too. When we see good action producing good results and bad action bad results, many would choose to do good repeatedly and discontinue performing bad action; thus they evolve upwardly. Thus cause and effect mechanism is all about upward evolution. But in practice, many evolve downward repeating the same mistakes over and over again. This is because people go by their taste rather than proof. Those who want to know the truth would understand it even without external help, and even when it is in coded language or presented in mysticism. Those who do not want to know the truth would not understand it even with external help, and even when it is presented it in too simple language. Hence the seers/sages used mythologies.

25

Who wrote the Bible?

by Ireneus in

the wordings suggest much of the bible is written by false friends of god.

to mention a few:.

1) god planted a special tree to pay the way for suffering and death into the lives of his children.. 2) god protected cain who murdered his innocent brother out of sheer jealousy.

Ireneus

Anders Andersen

All those accounts falling into the category of 10 listed are written by false friends of God because Bible itself admits much of it is written by false friends of God (Jeremiah 8:8). If you are tuned to music, it is easy for you to identify mismatches while someone is playing music. Similarly, we all have an in-built sense of justice because of which in all countries certain acts such as lying, cheating, sedition ..etc are treated as crime, and those found practising them are removed from the society on to the jail or from the life itself. The same in-built sense of justice in me tells me all those 10 listed above and similar ones are written by false friends of God because it doesn’t help the readers in any fruitful way.

But Mathew 25:31-46 is written by a true friend of God because it helps the reader to be humane which has the potential to make the world a better place with peace and progress thriving.

9

I love this Quote

by stuckinarut2 in

.

Ireneus

Those who want to know the truth would understand it even without external help, and even when it is in coded language or presented in mysticism.

Those who do not want to know the truth would not understand it even with external help, and even when it is presented it in too simple language.

Hence God doesn't use any written scriptures to guide us. When 'every action produces equal and opposite reaction,' He has no need to provide any guidance. Those who want good results would perform good action and vice versa.

25

Who wrote the Bible?

by Ireneus in

the wordings suggest much of the bible is written by false friends of god.

to mention a few:.

1) god planted a special tree to pay the way for suffering and death into the lives of his children.. 2) god protected cain who murdered his innocent brother out of sheer jealousy.

Ireneus

The wordings suggest much of the Bible is written by false friends of God. To mention a few:

1) God planted a special tree to pay the way for suffering and death into the lives of His children.

2) God protected Cain who murdered his innocent brother out of sheer jealousy

3) God confused languages out of His own jealousy towards mankind’s prestigious building project.

4) God tested Abraham asking him to murder his only son.

5) God repeatedly hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

6) God instigated Satan to go after His own faithful devotee Job.

7) God called David ‘a man after His own heart’ (Acts 13:22) who had no idea about God’s impartiality (Deut 10:17), hence offered to his would be father-in-law a gift of 200 foreskins of Philistines after killing them all to receive Michal as his wife (1 Sam 18:27).

8) God led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan.

9) God creates the born blind “so that the works of God might be displayed.” (John 9:3)

10) God asks His people not even to greet those who disagree with them.

True friends of God would not depict God in such a demeaning way! True friends would have been careful to use wordings that would present God as having very appealing personality as seen in Mathew 25:31-46 where we find a God who judges people on the basis of how humane they were rather than on the basis of their religious beliefs..

12

Holy Spirit

by Sergey Antonov in

jehovah's witnesses say that the holy spirit is inanimate.

but how then can you sin against the holy spirit, if he is not alive ?!

🤔 then it is more correct to say that it is not against the holy spirit, but against god..

Ireneus

Holy spirit is like the expression His Holiness, His Highness, synonym of God

7

Comparing God with Abraham dishonors God

by Ireneus in

abraham was tested by god (genesis 22:1) to know whether he would abandon his attachment towards his son.. attachment is a sign of ego, the fountain head of all vices.

when you ignore all the factors and forces (known and unknown) that are at work behind every happening, you tend to say “i did this and that”thus taking credit for which your part is too negligible.

it is like a farmer taking credit for the agricultural products.

Ireneus

Hi Half banana,

There is guidance, but to know other unreasonable comparisons such as this: Jesus is called “son of David”, “Greater David” …etc.

David was ignorant about the greatest quality of God (impartiality, God never discriminates between His children), according to Moses (Deut 10:17) and Jesus (Mathew 5:44-48; 25:31-46); yet David did (1 Sam 18:27)

When he already had many wives and concubines, he still murdered his faithful friend and robbed his wife (greed, robbery, adultery …) which are all against what Jesus stood for.

Seeing resemblance in Jesus and David, Bible writers highlight how distorted their own vision is, thus proving Jesus own statement: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Mathew 15:14)

7

Comparing God with Abraham dishonors God

by Ireneus in

abraham was tested by god (genesis 22:1) to know whether he would abandon his attachment towards his son.. attachment is a sign of ego, the fountain head of all vices.

when you ignore all the factors and forces (known and unknown) that are at work behind every happening, you tend to say “i did this and that”thus taking credit for which your part is too negligible.

it is like a farmer taking credit for the agricultural products.

Ireneus

Bible writers simply projected their own view of God. Here is an example of human thinking on how to impress a would be father-in-law: "David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage." (1Samuel 18:27)

Imagine when such writers paint a picture of God, how distorted it would be!

7

Comparing God with Abraham dishonors God

by Ireneus in

abraham was tested by god (genesis 22:1) to know whether he would abandon his attachment towards his son.. attachment is a sign of ego, the fountain head of all vices.

when you ignore all the factors and forces (known and unknown) that are at work behind every happening, you tend to say “i did this and that”thus taking credit for which your part is too negligible.

it is like a farmer taking credit for the agricultural products.

Ireneus

Abraham was tested by God (Genesis 22:1) to know whether he would abandon his attachment towards his son.

Attachment is a sign of ego, the fountain head of all vices. When you ignore all the factors and forces (known and unknown) that are at work behind every happening, you tend to say “I did this and that”thus taking credit for which your part is too negligible. It is like a farmer taking credit for the agricultural products. That means ego arises in ignorance. In ego, you place “the I”in the middle of your garden, your life. Ego tends to think in terms of “good”and “bad”and you want to accumulate what you think as good and hate what you think to be bad. Thus in ego, you have many desires. If desire is not fulfilled, anger (vice) arises. If desire is fulfilled, you develop attachment (vice) toward what is gained and crave for more of it, greed (vice) both of which further reinforce your ego. This causes a vicious circle.

Thus attachment is clearly a product of ego. Abraham’s attachment to his son was put to test. He was asked to sacrifice what is closest to his heart and dearest to him. Abraham showed his love of God is more important than his love toward his son. Thus behind the details, story has a good message—Love the Gift-giver more than the gifts.

However, this story makes sense only in connection with those who have ego problem. In all cultures sacrifice of ego (the brute within) was symbolized by sacrifice of some animal. Many call God as ‘greater Abraham’and say Abraham’s test foreshadowed what God would do in the future sending his son to die for the sins of the world. When the Bible writers say ‘God so loved the world that He was even willing to forego His attachment with His only begotten son and sent him to die for us’they indirectly mean God has attachment, which is one of the manifestation of having ego, the source of all evils.

23

How To Become Who You Are

by Brokeback Watchtower in

being a jehovah's witness for many years has a very damaging effect on becoming who he really are, many of the drives we were born with get subverted to corporation's directives, and we stuff lots of ourselves into our shadow(jungian), as we take on the "new personality" we become an easy to manipulate corporate drone.

in other words we really loose contact with authentic self, and to some extent a little hollow.. a search for our true self will require some alone time and can be scary and filled with some perils.

i did it for some time and it can make you a little odd, and you could wind up doing some crazy shit but over all i will say it was necessary and eventually rewarding, and i gotten quite used to it and now a days i have people around but value my time alone when every i can get it.. anyway this video interest me and i thought i would share.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfyczlbcavk.

Ireneus

Happiness is your decision. Mind is such a wonderful instrument that if you think you have never been a JW, then you are not. If you think, you have been a victim, then you are a victim. What is gone is gone and what is to come will come. Life is the moment between those two. There is no difficulty to take control of that moment and to get involved in what we are doing now.

14

The people who decided the Scriptures

by Doug Mason in

many people over many centuries have been involved in deciding which documents were scripture.

there has never been unanimous agreement, including today.

only the church of rome took a vote on the canon.

Ireneus

Those who decided canon obviously looked for convenient teachings. In most of the apocryphal books, we can see teaching of immortality of soul which poses problem for the teaching of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. Hence they had to weed out all books which speak of immortality of soul directly or indirectly. Thus they replaced truth with some human philosophy. Immortality of soul was a scientific truth for Wernher von Braun (the father of rocket technology and space science in the United States) who is famous for this quote: “I believe in an immortal soul. Science has proved that nothing disintegrates into nothingness. Life and soul, therefore, cannot disintegrate into nothingness, and so are immortal. Everything science has taught me and continues to teach me-strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.” This is true in the case of nobel Laureate Max Planck [Father of Quantum Theory which revolutionized physicsand opened the way for Albert Einstein's theory of relativity] who wrote: “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”(The Observer, 25 January 1931)

This understanding is the basis for ‘loving one’s neighbor as himself’ which can make this earth a heaven, as Carl Gustav Jung, beautifully put it: “Know all the theories, master all the techniques, but as you touch a human soul be just another human soul.”

Thus those who determined canon brought a list in disservice to what Jesus said in John 8:31: Truth will set you free.” What really happened was: "The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear." (Herbert Agar)

In his book The Text of the New Testament, Dr. Vincent Taylor writes that "The manuscripts of the New Testament preserve traces of two kinds of dogmatic alterations: those which involve the elimination or alteration of what was regarded as doctrinally unacceptable or inconvenient, and those which introduce into the Scriptures proof for a favorite theological tenet or practice". (http://BibleCorruption.com ).