Posts by peacefulpete

27

Irán attacks....

by mikeflood in

just a moment ago irán started to attack israel, guess they're gonna end in ruins because israel has a way better army than other country in the region and the support of the us....hope the gas prices don't increase too much.... wonder how the borg gonna spin it..

peacefulpete

anonyMous...the economic sanctions were not lifted.

“None of Iran’s money held in restricted accounts overseas has gone to Iran, and we have not freed up any cash to Iran. Any notion to the contrary is false and misleading.” the State Department told The Post in a statement Sunday. “That money is held in restricted accounts overseas with strict oversight and in close coordination between the Departments of Treasury and State.”

The Iranian response was actually measured by design. And immediately after they made clear the matter was settled in their estimation. It's now up to Israel, hopefully an escalation can be averted.

40

Was it Designed?

by Jeffro in

the jw website is currently featuring a piece: the shell of the diabolical ironclad beetle—was it designed?

it is part of their regular tedious 'was it designed?

' series that purports that very very specific animal species must have been specifically designed because of some seemingly amazing feature.. but they seem completely unaware that this directly contradicts their notion that only very broad 'kinds' were required on the mythical 'ark'.

peacefulpete

Ask how something so obvious could have been overlooked by the writers. Or better,ask how the writers assumed no one among their readers would notice the obvious.

6

Open letter to all JWs

by EdLogan in

jw
friends

it is useless for you to contact me, i already know that according to the new update of the governing body, you can contact me.. but the problem is... you can only invite me to meetings, and at most say "hello" once i'm there.. i already know.. so, if you really want to know how i'm doing, even if it's irrelevant for the purposes of this contact, i'll tell you.. i am not well.

i'm depressed and full of psychotropic drugs.

of course, being isolated from everyone i knew and loved didn't help.. here's how i am.. and for a thousand reasons, there is no question of becoming an "associate" in the congregation again.. ergo, it's useless.. there's no point in contacting me, because that's the only goal.. it's not out of a rush of love.

peacefulpete

Your words reflect the feelings of many who have visited here. According to a traditional reckoning this is the 4th stage of grief, the 5th is acceptance. May the 5th come speedily for you.

7

Happy Easter Everyone !

by Sea Breeze in

and as a reminder to all my atheist friends, here's a list of 12 facts on the resurrection most scholars (skeptic, jewish and otherwise) agree to.

2000 years ago a man announced that he would be killed and while he was dead, he would resurrect himself from the dead.

just wow!.

peacefulpete

Happy Easter. May everyone enjoy time with family and friends or celebrate the new beginnings and potential of spring. And chocolate bunnies aren't bad either.

42

Will I be disfellowshippwd

by Sydney in

y'all i am an unmedicated bipolar.

i had a mania streak and slept with my bf who is of the world.

i am pregnant from this.

peacefulpete

Seriously ask what is really important to you. Your new love and the one way, or a church that you already recognize as judgmental and cold.

76

Rekindled Light — The Narrative Structure of the Hexaemeron (Genesis 1:1–31)

by Mebaqqer2 in

i used to comment here many years ago when i had an interest in biblical research in relation to jehovah’s witnesses.

these days my biblical research is little concerned with jehovah’s witnesses.

i feel my time is better spent researching the diachronistic development of the biblical text and ascertaining what the biblical writers and editors intended in the times in which they lived.. i have recently placed a summary diagram for a paper that i have written with original research entitled the narrative structure of the hexaemeron on academia.edu.

peacefulpete

Ok , I see you actually did respond to it.

76

Rekindled Light — The Narrative Structure of the Hexaemeron (Genesis 1:1–31)

by Mebaqqer2 in

i used to comment here many years ago when i had an interest in biblical research in relation to jehovah’s witnesses.

these days my biblical research is little concerned with jehovah’s witnesses.

i feel my time is better spent researching the diachronistic development of the biblical text and ascertaining what the biblical writers and editors intended in the times in which they lived.. i have recently placed a summary diagram for a paper that i have written with original research entitled the narrative structure of the hexaemeron on academia.edu.

peacefulpete

Pioneer...I was hoping you'd see this thread. I find your comment insightful as always. Mebaqqer2 is focusing on the literary mechanics not the theology so much. Have you looked at the proposed structure?

6

Funny Money

by peacefulpete in

i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.

we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".

the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.

peacefulpete

Regarding the coin in the fish story, it begs explanation. Why not simply have Peter miraculously produce one from his pocket for example? Stories like these have symbolism in many cases. Was the very Jewish Matthean author of the story making some statement about the temple and Jesus now lost on us? Or was he drawing upon a larger body of folklore involving animals and treasure, as there are many ancient examples. Some have suggested the ancient famous Polycrates's ring story might be behind it. Polycrates (a real person) is told to cast away what one most loves to have happiness. He goes out to sea throws his gold ring in the water. Sometime later a fisherman brings him a prize fish which has the gold ring inside. The moral of that tale was doom. Was the doom of the Temple implied? Probably not. But maybe the idea of a fish delivering a valuable was rolling around in his head as a result.

6

Funny Money

by peacefulpete in

i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.

we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".

the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.

peacefulpete

Of course, the silver denarius in any other part of the empire had Caesars image, it was just not in Judea. The Herodian coinage included only small coppers. The Romans gave locals the ability to mint small coins for local trade with wide latitude as to the appearance unless it made claims of independence I'd have to believe. What is surprising is that the author of Mark assumes the denarius coins all had the image of Caesar when it would have been unusual at that time and place. This was changed after 70. As I said it is interesting considering the tradition that Mark was written in Rome and of course the chapter 13 references to the fall of 70CE. You are free to understand the story any way you wish.

6

Funny Money

by peacefulpete in

i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.

we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".

the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.

peacefulpete

Many have observed the Matt 17 story about the temple tax is unique. There Jesus tells Peter to cast a hook into the sea and the first fish would have a stater (Greek) coin.

(Despite many Christian sites identifying the coin, it is uncertain what the author intended as "stater" simple meant 'weight' and may have been a slang? expression for the later approximate equivalent Roman tetradrachm. I was surprised at the size of the Tyrian shekel, it is nearly exactly the silver weight of an old British half-crown or US half dollar, so the fish in the story was a pretty nice catch.)

There is no description of the success/fulfillment. For this reason and the self-serving and clearly fanciful nature of the miracle, many have understood the story as intended parable in some early form but got rewritten as a narrative. (like the cursed tree story) Since we have no other version to compare, (not in other versions of the Gospel) we will never know.