>> To the whingers about geographical & cosmology evidences, I point out that
> the Bible was not written to be a sciece textbook following modern rules of
> scxientific method.
> I like to think of it as things being explained as the people of the time
> could understand.
> Its like with children.
Yup, I;ve heard that said. You reply to a question in an age-appropriate way
(or vulture-appropriate, or whatever it takes for the other to understand all
they need to know; God knew what we needed & passed it on, for the parts He
dictated)
> When explaining something, such as "why does it rain?" its phrased was
> they understand: water evaporates, goes into the sky, forms clouds which when
> full of water, rain falls out.
> Not some long lecture on air pressure, atmospheric conditions, and
> methods of meteorology they can't understand. This comes later as they know
> more.
I still don't know that detailed model, but I get that it exists & I'm not lost
if it comes up.
>> That was the key problem with imperialistic religions: they broke away from
> the original "invitation" model & switched to "Obey or suffer & die at our
> hands" model.
> It has always been that way.
> The ancient Medes and Persians when they conquered a country did away
> with those peoples gods and replaced them with the ones of the Medes and
> Persians.
Yup, so it was in the Phoenician times, when Abraham came to understand that
house vs house leaves only beroken men & homes. There must be one God above
all the pagan ones(gods based on nature)
The exact story t old is Abraham was lying on his back observing the sky, & saw
the sun as big, bright, & warm, & decided, "this is my God" but hen clulds
obscured it, & he said "Those are my God" but then t he sun st & the clouds
moved on & the moon rose, then ioty was obscured by colulds & finally
heconcluded there had to be One above the sun, clouds, & moon, then he returned
home & broke his dad's collection of idol(wares he made & sold to support
himself)
His dad asked wjat happened, & young Abie pointed out that the big one holding
the axe(that Abe had placed strategically in his hand) destroyed the rest.
His dad replied, in a huff, "Don't be silly -- they're not alive."
"Then why do you pray to them & worship them as if they are?"
He yold his dad of his epiphany of a huge powerful God above all.
His dad went to the city(Ur) elders & had his son evicted from citizenship, as
his ideas could cost the idol makers(as Ur was famed for) much profits.
Abie went one to found monotheism. As this was the only way for people to stop
all the warring between houses & cities. ("my god is more powerful than your
god" ("oh yeah?" Thenm let your god save your life as I slay you!")
Winner takes all & can add the others' god(s) to their own personal family
pantheon(totem)
It was a brutal time & not leaving much chance for humans to begin to evolve a
workable society with laws & courts.
> The only empire that didn't do that, on a regular basis by force, were
> the Romans. They sometimes accepted the conquered peoples gods along with
>their own. Rome: your god for X is so-and-so, our god for X is something else,
> same god different name lets get
Yup, they didn't understand the Jews & Chrustians, who refused to join Roman's
wortship of Rome's pantheon.
Rome was flabergasted (What's the fleeping problem, go ahead & worship your god
& we will pray to Him, too, but you must bow rto our gods, especially to
Jupiter & to Caesar, who is a gods in his own right)
Those nutty Jews & Christians accepted death rather than practice polytheism!
My opinion is the ancient cults of Rome still exist, in secret, & disguised.
I call any religion that has a secret level &/or an esoteric meams of limited
entry a "cult."
An omnipotent universal & sovereign(might by right of making/owning everthing)
God is God of all, or of no relevance to any.
Or, the kid's version for "sovereign" I came up with: "God is large & in
charge."
> At times the church was a bit over ambitious, believe or die.
> The Muslims also made converts at the edge of the sword and still do.
I'm well aware -00 been seeing tyhe news on it & friends keep me apprised of
the insideous movements throughout the world on their quest to be rulers of an
all-Islam world.
Their definition of "peace" is all non-Muslims dead.
>> A simple misunderstanding of the early mistranslation "make disciples of
>nations" that clearly should've been rendered, "Accept seeking students withou
> concern for their nationality."
> Make, nor force. :)
> Its one thing to show one is better than the other, another to say do it
> my way or else.
Exactly. I tend to rebel against assumed authority -- you need to show me the
chain of command from Sovereign Creation to whomever is claiming authority over
me.
God, for me, is axiomatic.
He gave authority to my parents when I was born. My parents shared some of
their God-given authority to the schools, police, & government, & even the
occasional babysitter.
I, too, share my authority, as I believe we each have a certain amount vested
in us by nature of being alive in a society(herd), with t hose who re
democratically elected, & the texts that I've received that teach me of God.
If I want a cohesive society(& I do), a basic level of policing is necessary.
I only consider a polcde officer to have authority while s/he;s acting
according to his/her proper job duties. When they gho over & above to wghere
they are being criminal, they should be treated as any other non-cop, for that
is wehat they are when they are pistol whipping a cobnfession out of a suspect.
In general, they're good, with a vey tough & thankless job.
But Io don't have a fixed bias for or against any group.
Anyone can go from good to bad, or vice-versa.
I used tobe quite the antisociual little twerp when young & stupid, but
thankfully I outgrew it & here I am, a paragon(maybe) of my local community!
hehhh
--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
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