Evolution? How?

El-Diablo wrote:

Quote:
To most of us a burnt offering concerns burning
something with fire. But in Eastern custom a burnt
offering does not indicate the presence of fire. When
speaking of people as being a burnt offering, it did
not mean sacrifice by fire. A burnt offering was a
total, unreserved commitment of self to God. Let us
note carefully this truth so plainly taught in the
record in Judges 11 of Jephthah who gave his
daughter as a burnt offering.

Well if that's the case and I'm still sceptical, they could have at least made that more apparent in translation lol.

But why the mention of the custom of lamenting her. Is going into a convent really that sad?

In the margin the King James supplies the words "talk to" to be substituted for lament. I would think that King James would supply cry or wept as an alternative but why "talk to"? Why not just lament if they were uncertain? That they "visit" her and or "talk to" her suggests also that she was still alive.

In the west a burnt offering involves fire but a burnt offering in the east is perceived more often than not as an "internal" representation of total commitment to God and can be termed "a burnt offering" but not involve fire.

The Bible places "human sacrifice" in the category of evil comparing it to heathen practices...

Even when fire is involved "in the east" the burnt offering is perceived as an "inside" event...

Many offerings are given in secret (so as not to be a source of boasting) to God and the presence of fire was always a give away...

Sorry for the interruption...

Continue with your evolution talks... Smile

0 Replies

rosborne979 wrote:

neologist wrote:
In Deuteronomy 18:9-12, God strictly commanded Israel: ...

Actually, to be more accurate, some person, claiming to write on behalf of God commanded those things.

God's spirit teaches our spirits which teach our minds...

0 Replies

neologist wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:
neologist wrote:
In Deuteronomy 18:9-12, God strictly commanded Israel: ...

Actually, to be more accurate, some person, claiming to write on behalf of God commanded those things.
RIIGHT! but Jephthah knew that.

I was making a general point; that God didn't do any of the commanding in the Bible. It was people "claiming" to speak for God who did all the commanding. And it continues to this day through successive interpretations, rendered by those who never even saw the original.

0 Replies

shiyacic aleksandar wrote:

Our God is a devoring Fire! :wink:

Interesting Smile

God seems to dance in the midst of the elementals...

0 Replies

rosborne979 wrote:

neologist wrote:
rosborne979 wrote:
neologist wrote:
In Deuteronomy 18:9-12, God strictly commanded Israel: ...

Actually, to be more accurate, some person, claiming to write on behalf of God commanded those things.
RIIGHT! but Jephthah knew that.

I was making a general point; that God didn't do any of the commanding in the Bible. It was people "claiming" to speak for God who did all the commanding. And it continues to this day through successive interpretations, rendered by those who never even saw the original.

Maybe the point is that these people tried to see God by the only means they had available and this Bible was the result of the best that "holy" men/women could see God. Has the spirit evolved over time?

This stands as a testimony to all who try to peer through a darkly coloured glass to see the true image of God... is your spirit able? Is the human spirit able? Are we conscious or are we still in the dark?

Will we ever know if we turn our backs on a personal God?

0 Replies

RexRed wrote:

shiyacic aleksandar wrote:
Our God is a devoring Fire! :wink:

Interesting

God seems to dance in the midst of the elementals...

More than that!!!
God is said to be everywhere at the same moment....
His vehicle is the space itself in which all elements (air,fire,water,substance-earth) are immersed,present.
He the supreme element Fire (which symbolizes His omnipotent Mind) uses Space as His vehicle!!! Very Happy

:wink:

0 Replies

Why don't we just say God resides in a dimension outside our own; one whose laws we don't understand.

This is what NDE tells us.

This is why we have had so many different kinds of religions. We don't knows God's world so we use our imagination to create one. If we don't understand God's concept or being we create one based on something we do know; ourselves. That's why pagan gods and the Christian God are human in character. In order to make them godlike the creators of the gods give them super powers, like Superman. Superman is a demigod, like Hercules and Jesus; out to right all the wrongs and punish those we don't like.

When I read Biblical mythology I'm reminded of Jean Piaget. He was a Swiss scholar who deduced that children had their own particular logic and order of thinking. It was not anything that made sense to us but it did to them. Their thinking was based on little or no knowledge so they used their imagination to explain how things worked in a manner that made sense to them.

Perhaps the best known example is the conversation between Piaget and a child named Julia.

Piaget: What makes the wind?
Julia (age 5): The trees.
Piaget: How do you know?
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.
Piaget: How does that make the wind?
Julia: Like this (waving her hand in front of Piaget's face). Only they are bigger. And there are lots of trees.
Piaget: What makes the wind on the ocean?
Julia: It blows there from the land. No, it's the waves.

This may seem silly to us but look at the knowledge base this five year old had. Conversely, the Creation story in the Bible is just as silly but it was the best the authors could do with the knowledge they had. If the authors of Genesis had our knowledge they would never have written about Creation in the manner they did.

The story they created was a human endeavor; not one written by God. They did not understand the laws of our dimension any more then we understand God's. Imagination filled in for ignorance.

0 Replies

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/050808_poison_frogs.html

0 Replies

RexRed wrote:

This stands as a testimony to all who try to peer through a darkly coloured glass to see the true image of God.

These people aren't trying to see through the darkly colored glass, only the methodology of science remains true to that path. These people are focused on the reflection they see in the glass, and not on the truth of what nature shows us.

RexRed wrote:

... is your spirit able? Is the human spirit able? Are we conscious or are we still in the dark?

Most of humanity is still locked in the delusion of religion, refusing to see what the evidence shows them, and unable to recognize the grandure and elegance of The Naked Universe.

RexRed wrote:

Will we ever know if we turn our backs on a personal God?

We cannot explore the world, and know reality until we turn away from this reflection of vanity (a Personal God) which fixates us so.

Free your mind. Look away.

0 Replies

rosborne, They are afraid to look away, because they'll turn into salt.

0 Replies

rosborne979 wrote:

RexRed wrote:
This stands as a testimony to all who try to peer through a darkly coloured glass to see the true image of God.

These people aren't trying to see through the darkly colored glass, only the methodology of science remains true to that path. These people are focused on the reflection they see in the glass, and not on the truth of what nature shows us.

RexRed wrote:
... is your spirit able? Is the human spirit able? Are we conscious or are we still in the dark?

Most of humanity is still locked in the delusion of religion, refusing to see what the evidence shows them, and unable to recognize the grandure and elegance of The Naked Universe.

RexRed wrote:
Will we ever know if we turn our backs on a personal God?

We cannot explore the world, and know reality until we turn away from this reflection of vanity (a Personal God) which fixates us so.

Free your mind. Look away.

To suppose that the God described in the Bible is a reflection of man's vanity is an absurd notion.

The God of the Bible is described as One who punishes Man's sin.

Sin, as described in the Bible, includes many things that Man is by nature not willing to forego, but clings to with great determination.

How anyone can suppose that Man would devise a God that is so greatly contrary to Man's own nature and desire to do his own thing, is a contradictory notion.

If the God of the Bible was reflective of Man's vanity, then God would be imagined to be very lax concerning Man's sin, indeed maybe not defining much (if anything) as sin. This is exactly the opposite of the God we find in the Bible, Who punishes sin.

0 Replies

The tight-assed Mrs. Grundys of the world give the lie to your self-serving exegesis. What a loon.

0 Replies

Quote:

How anyone can suppose that Man would devise a God that is so greatly contrary to Man's own nature and desire to do his own thing, is a contradictory notion.

Aincha ever heard of masochism?

0 Replies

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?

0 Replies

So now you're a Mencken expert, eh? Your rationalizations just get more and more rickety.

0 Replies

real life wrote:

Setanta wrote:
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?

Really, real; you jest! Jehovah gave humans the ability to have every possible enjoyment, including the fantastic experience of marriage and sexual love. There area no prohibitions against enjoying any of these gifts, unless you count the exhortation not to put them before your responsibility towards God.

That was real wine Jesus made at the wedding. His first miracle; imagine that.

Yikes, no wonder unbelievers think believers are dweebs!

0 Replies

neologist wrote:

real life wrote:
Setanta wrote:
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone somewhere is happy.

-- H L Mencken

Thank you, Setanta. The Mencken quote makes my case beautifully.

Mencken supposed Puritanism (and hence the morality demanded of Man by the God of the Bible) to be directly contrary to Man's desire for self gratification. And in this Mencken was correct.

How then can anyone say with a straight face that the God of the Bible is a creation of Man's mind, or reflective of Man's vanity when He is so obviously contrary to it?
Really, real; you jest! Jehovah gave humans the ability to have every possible enjoyment, including the fantastic experience of marriage and sexual love. There area no prohibitions against enjoying any of these gifts, unless you count the exhortation not to put them before your responsibility towards God.

That was real wine Jesus made at the wedding. His first miracle; imagine that.

Yikes, no wonder unbelievers think believers are dweebs!

Marriage is a perfect example of what I am talking about, Neo. Marriage is not an exercise in self gratification, but a dedication to spend one's life serving another voluntarily, putting them above one's self.

This is in direct opposition to Man's desire to have only enjoyment with no strings attached.

0 Replies

Dang it, Velma, I think your handmaiden is UG-LEE! Don't you realize this is the last thing I want to do?

0 Replies

real life wrote:

rosborne979 wrote:
RexRed wrote:
This stands as a testimony to all who try to peer through a darkly coloured glass to see the true image of God.

These people aren't trying to see through the darkly colored glass, only the methodology of science remains true to that path. These people are focused on the reflection they see in the glass, and not on the truth of what nature shows us.

RexRed wrote:
... is your spirit able? Is the human spirit able? Are we conscious or are we still in the dark?

Most of humanity is still locked in the delusion of religion, refusing to see what the evidence shows them, and unable to recognize the grandure and elegance of The Naked Universe.

RexRed wrote:
Will we ever know if we turn our backs on a personal God?

We cannot explore the world, and know reality until we turn away from this reflection of vanity (a Personal God) which fixates us so.

Free your mind. Look away.

To suppose that the God described in the Bible is a reflection of man's vanity is an absurd notion.

The God of the Bible is described as One who punishes Man's sin.

Sin, as described in the Bible, includes many things that Man is by nature not willing to forego, but clings to with great determination.

How anyone can suppose that Man would devise a God that is so greatly contrary to Man's own nature and desire to do his own thing, is a contradictory notion.

If the God of the Bible was reflective of Man's vanity, then God would be imagined to be very lax concerning Man's sin, indeed maybe not defining much (if anything) as sin. This is exactly the opposite of the God we find in the Bible, Who punishes sin.

Real good point Smile

0 Replies

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know