Noah's flood has always been a fairy tale for me. Noah and his family loaded 8.7 millions of species (some as pairs and others as group of seven) in seven days. Wouldn't that be in a lightning speed?
anointed1
JoinedPosts by anointed1
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Noah a Preacher of Righteousness?
by Spoletta induring the watchtower study today, i browsed genesis and looked for evidence of noah ever preaching to anyone.
from what i could glean from the scriptures, it was a foregone conclusion that noah's family would be it on the ark.
(unless they towed some rafts behind) my wife says that building the ark could be considered a witness of his faith to the wicked world, but that seems kind of lame to me.. so, should i just assume that god decided not to give anyone else a chance for redemption?
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Much of the Old Testament accounts do not seem to be historical, shows internal evidence
by anointed1 inezekiel 16 gives a brief history of israel.
surprisingly, it has no resemblance with what we already know about israel—their origin and progress as given in the prophecy genesis 22:15-18 and also in the description that follows.
ezekiel repeatedly says (16:2, 45) “your ancestry and birth were in the land of the canaanites; your father was an amorite [descended from one of the sons of canaan (genesis 14:7), occupied large parts of southern mesopotamia, and their god was amurru] and your mother a hittite [ancient anatolian people who established an empire centered on hattusa].
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anointed1
Ezekiel 16 gives a brief history of Israel. Surprisingly, it has no resemblance with what we already know about Israel—their origin and progress as given in the prophecy Genesis 22:15-18 and also in the description that follows.
Ezekiel repeatedly says (16:2, 45) “Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite [descended from one of the sons of Canaan (Genesis 14:7), occupied large parts of southern Mesopotamia, and their God was Amurru] and your mother a Hittite [Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centered on Hattusa]. Things not only did not unfold as foretold in Genesis 22:15-18, but went in opposite direction!
1) “On the day you were born you were despised and were thrown out into the open field, …. I made you grow like a plant of the field. (Eze 16:5-7)
2) The splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect (Eze 16:14)
3) But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute (Eze 16:15)
4) You made Egypt your slaves (Eze 16:26)
5) “In your prostitution you are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you” (Eze 16:34) and became a proverb (mother) for others (16:44)
6) “You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord” (Eze 16:58)
It is interesting to note that very famous prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah … have different accounts to say about very important subjects, but they all have virtually been clouded by other irrelevant details.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
GoneAwol
Says: “So who decides which bits of the bible are relevant? You?”
Even you can decide, anybody can decide.
When people find someone breaking a long queue and try to get things done ahead of others, everyone says it is wrong and unacceptable. We are all endowed with capability of knowing what is beneficial and what is not—especially when someone else does.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
scratchme1010 you say: Yet, you need to come here to brag about it. Some humility. Classic passive/aggressive religious crap.
Speaking about humility is not bragging nor it is the monopoly of religions. Whoever practices it benefit, and others around the practicer of humility feels comfortable. On the other hand, the egotistic makes life a hell for himself and others.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
GoneAwol
You say ‘I am contradicting what I originally said in the OP.’
I repeat much of the Bible is written by people with no moral sense. Yet it does’nt mean that it has no pearls of wisdom. You remember the presidential debate--when asked do you respect each other--both of them stopped seeing the 100% negatives they were seeing, but both Trump and Hilary saw some positive points in each other. so is with the Bible.
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.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
Xanthippe
You say:
1. The universe is vast for us to imagine it's there to teach us humility is a heck of a wate of intellect.
[all right, you are free to take its opposite—try being egotistic and see whether it benefits you and those around you or not]2. We could be destroyed by a meteorite at any time, it probably killed the dinosaurs.
[some meteors could have killed some dinosaurs or some species—so what? We humans are still alive on earth along with many other species—who is responsible for this big fact?. We are talking about the norm, not exception]3. Do I have to list countless poisonous berries, plants and fungi that we have only learnt to avoid through heartbreaking trial and error? A few labels from God would have been helpful.
[poisonous beings exist—why worry about them as we always can find its proper use. Petrol is inflammatory—so what? We know how to use its inflammability to our own benefit]4. You attribute the collected wisdom of human literature and philosophy to God? Purely on the basis that a lot of it makes sense? You give us so little credit. Get off your knees and engage your brain.
[I am not attributing human wisdom to God. I only meant this: If we want to see God’s guidance silently being conveyed through beings—inanimate and animate, we can. If we don’t want to see, we do not see] -
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A history of global living conditions in 5 charts
by Simon ingreat 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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anointed1
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.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
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.
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Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif 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.
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anointed1
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.