Posts by venus

18

Scholarly interview on the existence of Jesus

by careful in

perhaps this has been linked here before.

if that's the case, i'm sorry.

however, new people join, others miss things, some forget, so i thought it was worth posting, especially since this issue comes up from time to time and some here have never worked it out or are in the process of trying to do so.

venus

I agree with his fourth point that discrepancies in the gospels do not argue Jesus never existed. Such discrepancies could be said about “most decent historical sources … such as contemporary biographies of modern figures” which would not prove they never existed. Husband and wife often disagree about their memories about things that happened years ago, months ago, weeks ago, days ago, or hours ago. Sometimes they both must be wrong; yet this misremembering is related to something that happened. It's faulty memory, not no memory.

An easy approach would be to look at the essence. Behind the details of all the branches of Science we see the essence: Science is the study of laws of nature (with a view to make use of them for our benefit) which means everything in the nature follows certain laws which would further imply that humans also must definitely follow certain laws that contribute to welfare of their own and of others if they want to enjoy their lives.

Similarly, behind the details all the branches of religion we see the essence: All great religious figures such as Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed …were sent by God to restore the remembrance of God which would help people to be good citizens of their respective countries. Hence what they spoke was truth beneficial for the people in their respective contexts. Later, commercial minded followers added things to the original teachings which make a mess of everything giving a reason for modern readers to doubt the historicity of religious leaders. (Mathew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29, 30) Thus what is of absolute clarity such as stated in Mathew 7:12, 21-23; 25:31-46 …are really from Jesus where as verses such as God-dishonoring (eg. John 9:1-3 …) are fabricated later.

39

Sincere question to those who no longer believe in God

by nowwhat? in

i get it, not a fan of yahweh the desert god.

but what about jesus?

anything wrong with his teachings like the sermon on the mount and the example he set.

venus

Hi Onager

Such verses are not from a religious leader but from the Roman Empire who wanted people to be blindly subjective to it. Hence they saw to it that Bible contains things like 'show the other cheek; if someone in authority asks you to walk one mile, walk two miles' ... etc.... and verses glorifying slavery such as Mathew 24:45 ....

39

Sincere question to those who no longer believe in God

by nowwhat? in

i get it, not a fan of yahweh the desert god.

but what about jesus?

anything wrong with his teachings like the sermon on the mount and the example he set.

venus

Hi smiddy3

Almighty God can remain Almighty allowing people to choose His guidance or to ‘reap what they sow.’ (Luke 6:38) Almighty doesn’t mean He has to use His overwhelming force whenever people want to misuse their free-will. A Super Power on earth can see that no one violate traffic rules by putting some mechanism of overwhelming force on the road; yet Governments do with traffic signals which allows road-users freedom to use them to their benefit or to misuse them for their hurt. Remembrance of results of breaking traffic rules is very much available in the minds of all drivers; hence such a remembrance is almost like omnipresent. Yet when some people in the territory of a Super Power violate traffic rules it would not mean Government of that Super Power country would ‘sound like some crazy mixed up dude who can`t make his mind up on how to help or direct people on the road.’

In real life, things are even worse. People know greed would not benefit in the long run which they have observed from the lives of others. In addition, every country has some stories (like "How Much Land Does A Man Need?" of Tolstoy) to guide people. Yet “Richest 1% own half the world's wealth.” (https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/14/worlds-richest-wealth-credit-suisse) Why are not people satisfied with enough accumulation for one generation?

26

How soon is soon?

by Sour Grapes in

i guess if the jdubs have no clue how long a generation is they also wouldn't know how long a time period the word "soon" refers too.. 60 years ago my mother would hammer into my brain how soon the great tribulation was.

soon jehovah would destroy the wicked.

then a few years later there was no need to go to college because the end was so soon.

venus

Bernard Shaw perfectly understood the problem when he said:

"“No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means.”"

39

Sincere question to those who no longer believe in God

by nowwhat? in

i get it, not a fan of yahweh the desert god.

but what about jesus?

anything wrong with his teachings like the sermon on the mount and the example he set.

venus

Behind the details of all the branches of Science we see the essence: Science is the study of laws of nature (with a view to make use of them for our benefit) which means everything in the nature follows certain laws which would further imply that humans also must definitely follow certain laws that contribute to welfare of their own and of others if they want to enjoy their lives.

Similarly, behind the details all the branches of religion we see the essence: All great religious figures such as Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed …were sent by God to restore the remembrance of God which would help people to be good citizens of their respective countries. Hence what they spoke was truth beneficial for the people in their respective contexts. Later, commercial minded followers added things to the original teachings which make a mess of everything giving a reason for modern readers to doubt the historicity of religious leaders. (Mathew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29, 30)

11

Are you doing your part???

by James Mixon in

are you sinning?

do we want jesus death to be in vain.

we must not forget, if you never sin jesus died for nothin.

venus

David rightly felt water brought risking the lives of the soldiers is equal to drinking the real blood of those soldiers or eating them alive.

Behind the details, the essence is that you should not help yourself putting the innocent ones at risk.

Similarly, God cannot even think that he would use the blood of an innocent one for any purpose--however loft that purpose may be because His hands are not too short to devise an effective tool to accomplish any purpose.

8

God is in no necessity to communicate with mankind

by Ireneus in

here is an interesting incident reported in the bible.. judah (the fourth son of jacob), the founder of the israelite tribe of judah, slept with her daughter-in-law tamar when she showed herself up as a prostitute in disguise.

(genesis 38:16, 17) “about three months later judah was told: "your daughter-in-law tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.

" judah said, "bring her out and have her burned to death!

venus

I agree with smiddy3

An unbiased reading would show that writer of Genesis is struggling to create details, and in his desperation repeating the details already written in small scale into large scale later:

1) From the promise given to Abraham earlier (“I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted”—Gen 13:16) it is obvious that children would be born through Abraham. Yet we find all unnecessary scenes of Sarah asking Abraham to have child through their maid-servant: Hagar, and then dismissing her and her child later following family problems.

Later (Geneses 29-31) we find the same drama in larger scale: God is poorly depicted as fueling the competition of Lean and Rachel in giving birth children, and in the process giving the maidservants to their combined husband: Jacob

2) Abraham is brought out of Chaldeans to “take possession of land” (Genesis 15:7)—a small scale incident.

Israel is brought out of Egypt to “take possession of land”—a large scale event.

8

God is in no necessity to communicate with mankind

by Ireneus in

here is an interesting incident reported in the bible.. judah (the fourth son of jacob), the founder of the israelite tribe of judah, slept with her daughter-in-law tamar when she showed herself up as a prostitute in disguise.

(genesis 38:16, 17) “about three months later judah was told: "your daughter-in-law tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.

" judah said, "bring her out and have her burned to death!

venus

Judah's brothers (Simeon and Levi) had already destroyed a city "killing every male" because "Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area" defiled their sister Dinah with the intention of marriage. Even "Hamor and his son Shechem" were also killed. (Genesis 34:25, 26)

This shows Jacob's sons were known for giving even disproportionate punishment to those who engage in "prostitution" (Gen 34:31). Still Judah engaging in the act of prostitution is inexcusable!

7

The Psychology Of Self Transformation (after leaving the Watchtower Corporation)

by Brokeback Watchtower in

being in a mind control cult and having been indoctrinated for many years severely suppresses what we really are or realizing our full potential, it causes one to lose track of him/herself.

being told what to hate, who to shun, to please the corporation sock puppet jehovah can really cause one to put many of ones natural desires and talents in ones shadow, this can lead to depression because we are living the our life with the uniform cult personality.

maturing in this type of cult indoctrination will usually lead to all types of psychic suffering because we are not living true to our dna but a much more inferior cult made personality.

venus

Here is something that many have found to be of great help!

“Think about every single person who has ever harmed you, cheated you, defrauded you, or said unkind things about you. Your experience of them is nothing more than a thought that you carry around with you. These thoughts of resentment, anger, and hatred represent slow, debilitating energies that will disempower you. If you could release them, you would know more peace.”—Wayne W. Dyer

We are endowed with a mind that endowed with unimaginable powers. It is greater than all of the great things of the universe because it can create any thoughts in any direction.

6

Suggestions for bookreading

by CitizenofEarth in

i just read the "atheists book of bible stories" by fred titanich, and i rather enjoyed it.

alot indeed.

do you have any suggestions for books that touches the same subject?

venus

You will find this problem with every scriptures because they are not meant for literal reading just like currencies are not meant to be viewed as just a piece of paper. Talking snake, talking donkey ... are the clues that they are not literal. What is being conveyed matters not the means through which it is conveyed. Here is a sample how I benefit from scriptures:

In the OT, Joseph was sold by his own brothers out of jealousy which backfired on them later—the very thing they wanted to not happen (fulfillment of Joseph’s dream) happened. This teaches you would reap what you sowed / thought. Good story—whether true or false.

In the NT, Jesus reaped what he did not sow. In spite of the good things he did for them, they returned evil to him. This too is good story whether true or false because it teaches us a practical lesson: You do your duty without having expectation of others because people act according to their liking.

Both the principles are needed for our lives:

One teaches where we should have expectation (expect results for everything I do), and the

other teaches where we should not have expectation (don’t have expectation about others)