Posts by peacefulpete

5

How to reason with friends

by peacefulpete in

we have long time friends who are seriously involved with the urantia book.

they have regular meetings with others and seem to have become convinced of its alien inspiration.

it seems mostly harmless but weirds out anyone who talks to them.. do any of you have experience with this or have suggestions about how to debunk the book?.

Ok, I was hoping this thread might stir a thought process, maybe for a few it has. Just how do you reason with someone invested in a book/movement that makes such extraordinary claims? Gardner's book takes the straightforward approach of distilling the errors and anachronisms from the text. How effective is that? It seems not very. My friends I opened with were in fact very attracted by this new cult/movement, a couple of them fell out with the group's "strange" members they were meeting with. and simply became disillusioned. They now look back at it as a humorous episode in their life. Another one continued for a couple years longer until his own take on the passages also alienated him from the group. I'm not sure just how he feels about the writings themselves and how much he continues to believe.

The Urantia Foundation today boasts the book's translation into 25 languages. Food for thought.

And I apologize for the misdirection at the opening.

37

Serena Williams allegedly baptized this weekend

by neat blue dog in

.

not sure if this is fake news or not..

peacefulpete

Isn't her husband Alexis Ohanian the founder and chairman of Reddit? Rumor is he is also adopting the religion. That will make for some interesting changes on Reddit.

38

Seems to be a census on vaccine status

by Indoubtbigtime in

the upcoming km school for all elders and servants is going to be in person only with no provision for video conferencing.. only fully vaccinated may attend.

meaning if you missed your last booster you are no longer fully vaccinated.. every coordinator of body of elders has to ask every single ms and elder if they have kept up with all their boosters and are fully vaccinated or they can’t attend.. this seems to be a census the gb want to know how many are keeping up with booster shots.

peacefulpete

I now believe them to be false prophets

There is no such thing as a 'true prophet'. There are only genuinely delusional prophets and conman prophets.

5

Beyah the God of the Jews?

by peacefulpete in

having stumbled upon this little tidbit, i thought i'd share.

i've a few times mentioned the midianite or kennite hypothesis which assumes the numerous ot texts that describe yahweh as having migrated north to judah represent credible mnemonic history.

while reading an article by prof. israel knohl i learned something rather surprising.

peacefulpete

Goowy..yes the b is being understood as a preposition meaning In yah. As in from the land of yah or even just god of yah. The god and the region were linked. And again this is not my hypothesis but prof Knohl's.

5

Beyah the God of the Jews?

by peacefulpete in

having stumbled upon this little tidbit, i thought i'd share.

i've a few times mentioned the midianite or kennite hypothesis which assumes the numerous ot texts that describe yahweh as having migrated north to judah represent credible mnemonic history.

while reading an article by prof. israel knohl i learned something rather surprising.

peacefulpete

Hey Phizzy, I also miss some of the outstanding posters like leolaia. I hope she is well. Lost touch quite a few years ago. Anyway, unfortunately, as regards ancient attestation beyond possibly the Egyptian, no. Not that I'm aware of. It may always have been rare. The Rabbis simply regard it as a variant spelling, without any explanation as to how or why. Prof, Knohl's hypothesis seems to be the first attempt to connect the Egyptian references and the rare 2 OT usages. It may have lingered in some liturgical context for centuries with Isaiah assuming like the Rabbis today that it was simply a variant.

5

Beyah the God of the Jews?

by peacefulpete in

having stumbled upon this little tidbit, i thought i'd share.

i've a few times mentioned the midianite or kennite hypothesis which assumes the numerous ot texts that describe yahweh as having migrated north to judah represent credible mnemonic history.

while reading an article by prof. israel knohl i learned something rather surprising.

peacefulpete

Well, I guess this stuff is interesting to only me. As a further support to this hypothesis the Mishna (mYoma6) retains the name as Ba(shem) shem here a stand in for Yah. So here BaYah seems another example of the variant.

Prof Israel Knolh is the Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor of Bible at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in Bible from Hebrew University. Knohl’s numerous publications include: The Sanctuary of Silence, which won the Z. Shkopp Prize for Biblical Studies and The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

5

Beyah the God of the Jews?

by peacefulpete in

having stumbled upon this little tidbit, i thought i'd share.

i've a few times mentioned the midianite or kennite hypothesis which assumes the numerous ot texts that describe yahweh as having migrated north to judah represent credible mnemonic history.

while reading an article by prof. israel knohl i learned something rather surprising.

peacefulpete

Having stumbled upon this little tidbit, I thought I'd share. I've a few times mentioned the Midianite or Kennite hypothesis which assumes the numerous OT texts that describe Yahweh as having migrated north to Judah represent credible mnemonic history. While reading an article by Prof. Israel Knohl I learned something rather surprising.

Ps 68:4-6 uses typical Baal imagery in a very ancient song describing Yahweh. But note that the name in Hebrew is "Beyah" not the conventional Yah or Yahweh.

Sing to God, chant hymns to His name; extol Him who rides the clouds; Beyah is His name. Exult in His presence.

Most translations just ignore the variant. Scholars have attempted to dismiss it as a partial editorial glass. However, 7 centuries later Isaiah 26:4 similarly uses the Beyah variant.

Trust in YHWH for ever and ever, for Beyah YHWH is an everlasting Rock.

This second usage seems a redundant duplication that translators have mechanically repeated. The odds however that we have an identical partial editor glass strains credulity. It seems much more likely the Beyah variant was yet another theophoric title.

The connection of this to the Midianite hypothesis is made clear when we learn Beyah literally means " in Yah(wa)" a possible geographical identity of the god with a place. This coincides well with the Egyptian (in Amunhotep III’s Soleb Nubian temple) geographical mention of a "land of Yahwa" in the region of Seir, home of Yahweh according to the OT.

In short, this geographical link may explain the variant name Beyah in the Psalm and Isaiah. It's a vestige of referring to the god as the 'god manifested in the land of Yahwa.' The name of the land itself being theophoric, that is the name of the land was the name of a patron god as was commonly done. Assyria being the land of Assur for example.

We learn more about this deity all the time through archaeology and textual crumbs.

5

How to reason with friends

by peacefulpete in

we have long time friends who are seriously involved with the urantia book.

they have regular meetings with others and seem to have become convinced of its alien inspiration.

it seems mostly harmless but weirds out anyone who talks to them.. do any of you have experience with this or have suggestions about how to debunk the book?.

peacefulpete

Book that alleges to have come through some galactic spirit medium. 2000 pages long, covers everything.

5

How to reason with friends

by peacefulpete in

we have long time friends who are seriously involved with the urantia book.

they have regular meetings with others and seem to have become convinced of its alien inspiration.

it seems mostly harmless but weirds out anyone who talks to them.. do any of you have experience with this or have suggestions about how to debunk the book?.

peacefulpete

We have long time friends who are seriously involved with the Urantia book. They have regular meetings with others and seem to have become convinced of its alien inspiration. It seems mostly harmless but weirds out anyone who talks to them.

Do any of you have experience with this or have suggestions about how to debunk the book?

76

Front row seats watching the collapse of watchtower

by Indoubtbigtime in

i’m a pimo ministerial servant and i won’t fade because i want to keep my front row seats watching what happens next few years.. my predictions are that this current governing body will slowly die off and the current younger helpers will be the next gb.

they will eventually have new light that they were wrong about 1914 and the overlapping generations.. the new light will be something on the lines of the last days are now because of king of north king of south pushing each other etc etc.

they will do their very best to burry old literature and try to change the past trying to make it sound like they were right all along just as they have done for 150 years now.

peacefulpete

I suspect newly 'awakened' folks are imagining their own emotional break from the church somehow predicts the same for many others. The church has survived and grown through a century of contradictions, scandals, power struggles, and financial challenges. In my estimation, they have gotten much better at the game and the next decade of electronic media will likely be a golden age for them.