great article with charts showing how the world is getting better, despite the attempts of the news and certain religious groups to say it ain't so (or try and make it not).. https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts/.
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What you say is true.
However, when we have leaders [like Trump] saying “Let it be an arms race,“ [MSNBC said on Friday, Dec 23, 2016] “We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all,“ and have leaders like Kim Jong-un, Iran becoming a nuclear power, and terrorists trying to lay their hands on nuclear arms, things can go on reverse gear within no time.
if scriptures are written by people who have no sense of justice, it is natural that god would be misrepresented—something that happened to the biblical god.
to mention a few:.
1) david, murderer of the innocent and faithful, wrote portions of the bible.. 2) paul who set in opposition to genuine apostles who were directly trained by jesus himself sarcastically describing them as “superfine apostles” openly declared in some places that it was not spirit, but he was writing.
Xanthiappe, you may be thinking now how I can take guidance from the Bible about which I said in the OP that much of the Bible is written by people with no moral sense. Yet it does’nt mean that it does not contain some pearls of wisdom.
It is like a forest that contains wild trees and cruel animals, yet it also contains some sweet and pure streams and beautiful and fragrant flowers. Revelation chapter 4 is one such pure stream. Deuteronomy 10:17 which says ‘God does not distinguish between pagans and His people’ is another beautiful flower. That means whatever it says about what is universally acceptable—can be taken.
if scriptures are written by people who have no sense of justice, it is natural that god would be misrepresented—something that happened to the biblical god.
to mention a few:.
1) david, murderer of the innocent and faithful, wrote portions of the bible.. 2) paul who set in opposition to genuine apostles who were directly trained by jesus himself sarcastically describing them as “superfine apostles” openly declared in some places that it was not spirit, but he was writing.
xanthippe, You said: “I wonder what you think his way of guidance is?”
He has provided guidance, and many are following it. To mention a few:
1) The incomprehensibly vast size of the universe teaches how insignificant our earth and all its inhabitants are (which means there is no basis for anyone to feel self-important)
2) The way planets and stars act too teaches us humility! They move around keeping to their orbits just like vehicles follow lane-discipline on a busy express highway (as though submitting themselves to some unseen authority).
3) Plants produce fragrant and beautiful flowers and trees produce fruits for others to enjoy (not for themselves). They too are living lessons of humility.
4) All the stories and histories written show that those who pursued self-importance reaped misery in the end. [shows that all the writers are somehow led by some imperceptible force to come to the same conclusion that ultimately truth wins and ego fails]
Thus humans are soaked in the information that ego means trouble (conversely, going egoless means peace and prosperity) There are some who enter into silence (not just external, but internal also) where they come in alignment with God’s will for him for the moment. Anyone can try this as it cost nothing.
Personally I feel that God exists, but He is not interested in receiving any worship or praise from us. I formulated this concept from the Bible: In the Bible, God describes Himself as the Supreme Ruler of the universe being seated on a throne from which “flashes of lightning” are coming. Further it is shown that and “in front of the throne, seven lamps” are blazing. (Revelation 4:3, 5) “Seven lamps” or seven highlights may remind us the seven qualities of God (knowledge, joy, love, power …). Around the throne, there are “four living creatures—one having the face like a man, and others looking like bull, lion and eagle. (Revelation 4:7) Since the whole revelation was given in signs or symbols (Revelation 1:1) these four living creatures should highlight four aspects of God’s propensity of Benefiting us, Elevating us, Sustaining us and Teaching us [we can form an acronym BEST]. Man’s face stands for benevolence [we call inhuman those who act injuriously]; bull (that is known for its strength) stands for His elevating us; lion (that is a symbol of authority) stands for His sustaining us; eagle (that is the symbol of far-sightedness or wisdom) stands for His teaching us. These four acts of Him are shown as bringing honor to Him. (Revelation 4:8) Hence I take this as guidance given to me from God that whatever I do should be BEST: Benefitting others, Elevating others, Sustaining others and Teaching others.
if scriptures are written by people who have no sense of justice, it is natural that god would be misrepresented—something that happened to the biblical god.
to mention a few:.
1) david, murderer of the innocent and faithful, wrote portions of the bible.. 2) paul who set in opposition to genuine apostles who were directly trained by jesus himself sarcastically describing them as “superfine apostles” openly declared in some places that it was not spirit, but he was writing.
If scriptures are written by people who have no sense of justice, it is natural that God would be misrepresented—something that happened to the biblical God. To mention a few:
1) David, murderer of the innocent and faithful, wrote portions of the Bible.
2) Paul who set in opposition to genuine apostles who were directly trained by Jesus himself sarcastically describing them as “superfine apostles” openly declared in some places that it was not spirit, but he was writing. (1 Corinthians 7:25) He even openly acknowledges that he uses the tactic of telling “lie” in writing scriptures (Romans 3:7) His sense of justice goes extremely distorted when he says ‘a slave should not change his status’ which is not only an endorsement of slavery, but also glorification of it—1 Corinthians 7:21.
3) Peter who forgot his own use of exaggeration (“Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” and yet he fell away repeatedly!—Mathew 26:33) paints a cruel God who brings instant death sentence on people for slightly exaggerating their generosity. (Acts 5:1-11)
Yet other parts of the Bible show God would not kill even a donkey (Number 22:32, 33) let alone human child—something He says ‘has not come into His mind.’ (Jeremiah 7:31) This means genocide attributed to God is actually writers’ invention. Originals were destroyed repeatedly when the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 607 BCE, 70 CE, and also in the destruction of ancient Royal Library of Alexandria. This gave later writers opportunity to rewrite everything in the way they liked which compels readers to conclude that God of the Bible as warmonger, blood-thirsty, unreasonable …. etc. Such reaction is like that of children watching/experiencing the consequences of bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They do not know that Japan attacked America (as part of their ongoing aggressive/imperialistic policy) and America was only responding as victim against its victimizer or aggressor.
Interestingly, God’s silence gives a louder and clear message that giving a book is not His way of guidance, hence He has no obligation to protect it.
1) ananias “sold a piece of property… and kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (acts 5:1, 2) peter interpreted the whole incident as unbecoming of believers as they created the impression that they are giving full amount received from the sale of their property, and told the wife of ananias: “the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” (acts 5:9).
death sentence for slightly exaggerating one’s generosity?.
2) in this incident, peter seems to be over-righteous!
i consider myself an agnostic, i feel no sense of certainty that there is a single all-powerful creator who made the entire universe, and yet i must acknowledge that the universe is a large place that is filled with much beauty so the possibility of an intelligent mind being behind it is certainly there.
lately, however, i do have more and more doubts about the god of the bible being a candidate for that all-powerful creator should such a being even exist at all.. these doubts are founded upon a number of questions for which i have never found any satisfying biblical or logical answer.
instead, i was simply chided with the remark that "god's actions aren't always meant to be understood by humans," which i found to be a very unsatisfying answer.
I believe even atheists are the part of God’s design. When religionists go into one extreme (doing inhuman things such as violation of human rights and religious atrocities of the Dark Ages…) this become the cause for the other extreme to appear—materialists. Thus existence of atheists offsets against the extremities of the religionists—thus atheists do a great favor to the humanity. In God’s eyes, atheists are better than religionists because religionists use God as a means to get material blessings from God (means their actual love is towards things of God, not God) which means God is used (like a carpet), not loved.
1) ananias “sold a piece of property… and kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (acts 5:1, 2) peter interpreted the whole incident as unbecoming of believers as they created the impression that they are giving full amount received from the sale of their property, and told the wife of ananias: “the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” (acts 5:9).
death sentence for slightly exaggerating one’s generosity?.
2) in this incident, peter seems to be over-righteous!
smiddy, that is a great thought: Ananias & Sapphira`s account happened after Jesus resurrection so by all accounts any other infringement should be punished
1) ananias “sold a piece of property… and kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (acts 5:1, 2) peter interpreted the whole incident as unbecoming of believers as they created the impression that they are giving full amount received from the sale of their property, and told the wife of ananias: “the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” (acts 5:9).
death sentence for slightly exaggerating one’s generosity?.
2) in this incident, peter seems to be over-righteous!
Please note the typographical error in point no 3
3) Ananias & Sapphira did not commit a serious crime as to invoke death-sentence on them—Even David who murdered his faithful soldier and stole his wife at a time when he had many wives and concubines was not given death-sentence but he is even presented in good light in the Bible. (Revelation 22:16)
1) ananias “sold a piece of property… and kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (acts 5:1, 2) peter interpreted the whole incident as unbecoming of believers as they created the impression that they are giving full amount received from the sale of their property, and told the wife of ananias: “the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” (acts 5:9).
death sentence for slightly exaggerating one’s generosity?.
2) in this incident, peter seems to be over-righteous!
1) Ananias “sold a piece of property… and kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (Acts 5:1, 2) Peter interpreted the whole incident as unbecoming of believers as they created the impression that they are giving full amount received from the sale of their property, and told the wife of Ananias: “The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” (Acts 5:9). Death sentence for slightly exaggerating one’s generosity?
2) In this incident, Peter seems to be over-righteous! Peter forgot his own use of exaggeration—“Peter said: “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will” and yet he fell away repeatedly! (Mathew 26:33)
3) Ananias & Sapphira did not commit a serious crime as to invoke death-sentence on them—Even David who murdered his faithful soldier and stole his wife at a time when he had many wives and concubines was not only given death-sentence but also is presented in good light in the Bible. (Revelation 22:16)
4) When one sells his property and gives the bulk of it for religious cause, the whole spirit behind such an action is commendably good. Keeping a portion with the donor himself for his need is part of being practical—a course of action Jesus himself advocated through his famous parable of Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-9) and through direct commandment to his apostles (Luke 22:35, 36)
In view of the above, do you think the account of Ananias and Sapphira is genuine? Or could it be a cooked up story to steal the money from the gullible?
i got up today to listen to the shocking news that russia’s ambassador to turkey was assassinated at an ankara art exhibit, and assassin was acting in the name of god.. it seems things have evolved to the other extreme that atheists are doing the work of religionists and vice versa.
while religionists take delight in killing fellow humans in the name of god, there were many atheists who followed very elevated morality.
the french existentialists and writers jean-paul sartre and albert camus were some of them.
The Rebel,
I agree with you. The point is:
when atheist behaves better than religionist, it becomes a news
and when a religionist behaves goes inconsiderate, it too becomes a news
