by cofty 210 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Sam Harris points out the difference between...
A nihilist quoting another nihilist about differences.
Sam Harris as an eliminativist says consciousness does not exist. It's not only about God not existing but we are just an illusion too. There's no God, no Self, no free will, no absolutes, just nothing.
There are no differences in nothingness.
How funny is that?
@ David_Jay...
From what you've been saying, it's looking more and more like historical Christianity "hijacked" Judaism (or at least its concepts and writings).
I once read a book suggesting that very thing (can't remember the title or author, sorry), and further posited that Christianity's anti-Semitic history was - in part - fueled by a collective unspoken desire to suppress that fact.
John. I am not a nihilist and Sam Harris is not one either. You need to try to honestly represent the position of others if we are to have a useful conversation.
Cofty did you saw the video?
"What I'm saying, however, is that the Self is an illusion". - Sam Harris at 3:05 of the video.
This is eliminativism and/or nihilism cofty, like you or not. And you said to me before you just accept "shit happens".
If you is just an illusion why bother with anything? Why "waste" time debating with nothing by nothing?
It's not only God being an illusion but you're an illusion too. You can't deny this logical conclusion. You can't have both ways and you know it.
Do you at least accepts that you're just an illusion like Harris (Dennett explicitly says that too) said?
Christianity has definitely adopted different beliefs and adapted them to make them their own. There are many Christians who blame the Jews for the death of Jesus, the JWs being one such group.
David_Jay, have the Jews decided to alter the Torah or no longer believe parts of it?
Deuteronomy 32:6: Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?
@Vidiot,
While I have heard theories like that, I cannot support their validity entirely nor deny that there may be some truth to them.
For the most part, I understand where people like Heaven are coming from. We often end up hating religion itself upon leaving the Watchtower (I know I did), and most of us when in that place have little capacity to stomach a lesson in religious fact-checking.
Therefore the most common anti-Jewish rhetoric and polemics become fuel when someone who is feeling valid pain from a religious experience engages a Jew and begins countering something they may have said. While the polemic is often composed of repetitious hoary ignorance that could have been simply corrected by a little research, we are not all in the same place in our recovery. The reason for our displeasure with religion can be more than valid, and when we don't have accurate understanding or even logic to shoot at our target when one becomes available, then we will throw whatever we have in hand.
All these points aside, we are all capable of objective morality, true justice, and good choices without subscribing to a religion, without the use of Scripture, without a belief in a deity. Anne Frank herself wrote: "In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart." She wrote that because it is what we Jews really believe, what we really know is true.
Heaven,
Deuteronomy 32:6 is part of the Song of Moses wherein God is described using several methaphors, among them being an eagle, a rock, and a father. Just as God is not an eagle or rock, God is also not a male parent. Of interest, the eagle God is likened to in this same Scriptural poem is a mother eagle.--Deuteronomy 32:11-12.
Jewish Scripture commonly employs anthropomorphic terms in reference to God, but unlike what Christians like the Mormons might try to advance, none of these are meant to be literal, especially not in this piece of poetry you are quoting from.
As mentioned before, masculine pronouns are used in the Tanakh merely due to the absence of a neuter pronoun in Biblical Hebrew. God in Jewish Scripture is often spoken of as a mother or female as well.--Hosea 11:3-4; Isaiah 42:14; 49:15; 66:13; Psalm 131:2.
When Christians translated the Bible into other languages they used a formal equivalence formula and ascribed literal meanings to pronouns in reference to God. The female images got lost and dismissed in the process. People began to blame the resulting misogyny on the Jews since we composed the Bible, but this all came about due to mistranslation.
One of the central teachings of Judaism is that God has no gender and is not likened to humanity or the mundane realm in any way.
David_Jay - "...Anne Frank herself wrote: 'In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart.'..."
Statistics would support that, too, despite everything Fox News would have us believe.
Catholics doesn't view God as a human male too. It's only a simple way to describe him.
Even JW's share this view.
But God is Spirit so He can't be male or female or both. Even though now God took a (glorified) human male body into Trinity, Jesus Christ. But the Godhead still is Spirit in nature.
I think only Mormons view God literally as a human male.
We only know by revelation the Three Persons of God. But God itself is a complete mystery.
Just like we know by experience what is past, present and future. Past is time, present is time and future is time but time itself beyond the tripartition is not easy (or possible) to understand.
