Posts by opusdei1972

50

Question for the nonbelievers and atheists

by nykid in

what specifically made you stop believing in god and the bible?

was it a steady road of doubts or it was reading one book or one major event that made you realize the bible was not what it's claimed to be?.

.

opusdei1972

I still believe that there must exist a superior being (or more than one) in the universe. However, I no longer believe in the Bible, because archaelogy, anthropology, history and textual criticism have proven that the Bible is not reliable. A superior (a Divine one) being could not inspire a book with many contradictions.

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

opusdei1972

Moses Joe - Your the kind of person who I would not care if you died

Are you christian??

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

opusdei1972

I found that the oldest fragments of Daniel 4Q114 and 4Q116 were dated for the late second century BCE. It does not prove that it was written in the sixth centurty BCE. We have still the possibility of being written around 160 BCE.

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

opusdei1972

I don't know about a Daniel Manuscript which dates 200 BCE. Is there any radiocarbon measurement?. I know that that of the Dead Sea seems to belong to the second century.

14

Numbers 5:11-31. How does the society make application of this ridiculous scripture?

by stuckinarut2 in

if you haven't read it yet, please do so.

numbers 5:11-31. this is a scripture that is as stupid as the "medieval witch trials"!.

it is also so degrading to women, and shows how the bible views them as mere property that can be treated as just possessions.. i would love to see how the wt tries to use this passage and make a modern day twist (as they try to do with so many other passages!).

opusdei1972

What absurd practice. The Law of Moses was a mess !!!!!

11

"The Cyrus Cylinder"

by Doug Mason in

i suspect that i am the last one here who has read the book: the cyrus cylinder: the king of persias proclamation from ancient babylon, edited by irving finkel; published by i. b. tauris, 2013; 144 pages.. so i simply wish to record my deep admiration for the book.

it explains and analyses the cylinders text as well as providing a sympathetic account of the people involved with its ancient and modern history.

(chapter 1: the babylonian perspective; chapter 2: discovery; chapter 5: a persian perspective.

opusdei1972

I think the readers of this forum need to read how different was what the Cyrus Cylinder said compared to what the Bible said:

Ezra 1:

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia:

All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.

Cyrus Cylinder:

By his own plan, he [Nabonidus] did away with the worship of Marduk, the king of the gods......I am Cyrus, king of the world, great king.......When I entered Babylon in a peaceful manner, I took up my lordly abode in the royal palace amidst rejoicing and happiness. Marduk, the great lord, established as his fate for me a magnanimous heart of one who loves Babylon, and I daily attended to his worship.

26

Jesus as a Ransom for Humans or not

by fulltimestudent in

i have not got an answer (theoretical or not) to the above question.. but the main text book (introducing the new testament- its literature and theology - achtemeier, green and thompson) for my study unit (early christian literature and thought) in the assigned reading for today's lecture on the gospel of john, has a section on the ransom.

it says (p. 237): one of the few passages that explicitly speaks of jesus dying for others is mark 10:45:.

"for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.. .

opusdei1972

It seems that Jesus did not foresee that he would be condemned in the way it happened. He believed he was the Messiah primarily for the Jews, and he thought that the earthly kingdom would come during his days and he would be enthroned by God and Jerrusalem would be free from the romans. But it seems that he did something politicaly wrong in the temple, so he was condemned and crucified. After that, his disciples tried to justify this unexpected death by finding verses of the Old Testament. Then, after 70 AD, some gentile disciples propagated the idea that he was born from a virgin, so he preexisted. Whatever, Jesus wanted to propagate his ideas to the Jews, but not to the gentiles. The Gospel of John contains a higher Christology (Jesus as God the Logos), who was invented many decades after Jesus's death.

10

Interesting query and reply about THE CROSS on Bart Ehrman's blog

by Terry in

kleenmaint july 5, 2014. dear bart:.

i couldnt find a topic on josephus so i hope you see my question.

in your book did jesus exist on page 59 you quote (antiquities 18.3.3).. both this quotation and the more conservative version that seemed more plausible as his original writing have one very fundamental flaw that you didnt mention.

opusdei1972

STAUROS had the primary meaning of a simple pole in Homer's times (eight centuries before Christ). But in Jesus days it could be t-shaped, T-shaped, I-shaped and X-shaped. Any honest research would conclude that. Also, Romans generaly placed the patibulum ( a pole) as a crossbar at the vertical stake of the CRUX. Of course, when there were many convicted ones to be tortured, romans had to use one pole on account of the limited numbers of woods.

11

"The Cyrus Cylinder"

by Doug Mason in

i suspect that i am the last one here who has read the book: the cyrus cylinder: the king of persias proclamation from ancient babylon, edited by irving finkel; published by i. b. tauris, 2013; 144 pages.. so i simply wish to record my deep admiration for the book.

it explains and analyses the cylinders text as well as providing a sympathetic account of the people involved with its ancient and modern history.

(chapter 1: the babylonian perspective; chapter 2: discovery; chapter 5: a persian perspective.

opusdei1972

thank you Bart Belteshassur and AnnOMaly for the links, I will read them.

AnnOMaly, I think I know you from another ex-witness forum. You used the same nickname, but I was not OPUS there.

20

The More I Think, The More I Lose Faith In BIBLE!!

by NoMoreHustle in

sitting through this weeks wt study.

paragraph came up about how "a fire came out from jah & consumed (korah and) the 250 men offering the incense".

i said to myself this supposedly happened couple of thousand years ago.

opusdei1972

The Christian Bible has anything to do with what is happening now, because their last books were written for people of the end of the first century or the first half of the second century. According to the Synoptics Gospels, Jesus would come back before the end of his generation. But it did not happen, so, if Jesus said it, he was a false prophet.

On the other hand, the Hebrew Bible contains many accounts now proven to be false by archaeologists and scholars of textual criticism.

Therefore, the Bible can't be useful to guide our daily life in this modern age.