Ray....your argument that if a mythology crosses cultures they must be historical means not only giants but elves fairies etc must be. Surely you are not suggesting that. Wouldn't it rather make sense to understand commonality in folklore as the result of common human psychology and cross cultural influences? We can often trace that exchange through linguistics for example. If you haven't, please carefully read the thread I linked to and pick up the discussion if you wish.
peacefulpete
JoinedPosts by peacefulpete
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46
Nephilim...Only desired females
by RULES & REGULATIONS inbible questions answered.
who were the nephilim?.
the bible account says that “the sons of the true god began to notice that the daughters of men were beautiful.” (genesis 6:2) those ‘sons of god’ were actually spirit creatures who rebelled against god when they “forsook their own proper dwelling place” in heaven, materialized human bodies, and “began taking as wives all whom they chose.”—jude 6; genesis 6:2.. the hybrids born from this unnatural union were no ordinary children.
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Something that bothers me personally
by Blotty in(i apologise if this is the wrong section for this - its the one i think suits best)this may sound really cliché (it does in my opinion) and a first world thing, but it bothers me someone can be like this and spout these "illogical" arguments (among others, which i will list as questions in the near future)i recently (as of 21/11/22) finished up a conversation with someone on a few things - i find one of their "implications" slightly concerning.. they wouldn't accept "evidence" from scholars who seemingly didn't agree with their standpoint which is interesting.
i.e on the divine name, i listed scholars such as george howard - i got the answer "try a real scholar"or another example i cited beduhn as (in my opinion) he is easy to understand but then got told "he doesn't teach greek at a university so his opinion is not valid" - scholars may not cite beduhn, but from looking at other factors he really gets nothing wrong (linguistically)once again i apologise if this is wasting anyone's time.
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peacefulpete
Blotty, no doubt you've been around people who hold what's often called "fringe" ideas. Sometimes those ideas have merit but, as yet, not gotten the attention of the experts in the field. More often however the ideas have been reviewed and discredited or at least dismissed due to lack of supporting evidence. Humans in general have a hard time with changing, especially if the idea has emotional importance to the person. In the internet age fringe ideas run wild and are spread rapidly. The good thing is the responses to these ideas are also available. It generally takes 10 minutes of googling to get a perspective.
Those who wish to retain discredited ideas give lip service to the value of fact checking but seldom really pursue it. In fact often the believer in a discredited idea insists everyone else is guilty of ignoring evidence, the evidence they see as persuasive.
Learning how to detect bias, think critically, and openness to disproof are more important now than ever.
When it comes to deep religious history, the evidence may be inconclusive or not even heavily favoring one position. That is hard to accept, but disciplined minds have to.
Sometimes not having sufficient evidence for something can in it's own way be evidence.
eg. Since you seem to be focusing on the Jewish name for God, consider what the lack of evidence suggests. Maybe the name isn't all that relevant.. It apparently wasn't important to the writers and editors and manifestly not important to the God, assuming you see God involved in the writings.
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Nephilim...Only desired females
by RULES & REGULATIONS inbible questions answered.
who were the nephilim?.
the bible account says that “the sons of the true god began to notice that the daughters of men were beautiful.” (genesis 6:2) those ‘sons of god’ were actually spirit creatures who rebelled against god when they “forsook their own proper dwelling place” in heaven, materialized human bodies, and “began taking as wives all whom they chose.”—jude 6; genesis 6:2.. the hybrids born from this unnatural union were no ordinary children.
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peacefulpete
The enigmatic mystery of the Nephilim, the Rephaim, and the Titans.
Great thread above regarding the giant stories and how the traditions varied. As a side, I thought the WT teaching was that the angels were allowed back up and were there until 1914. They were "apparently" restrained from making babies anymore. Which of course means those angels were pretty randy for thousands of years. "Apparently" all they could do was play with their ectoplasm.
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Noah's Ark - Kentucky
by BoogerMan inregardless of belief/non-belief in the bible account, why is the ark nearly always depicted by both believers & non-believers as a huge boat, with a rounded hull & stern, and a tapered bow?
https://arkencounter.com/ .
the ark was crate shaped according to the measurements.
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peacefulpete
Perhaps the Bible's description of the vessel being called an 'ark' (meaning chest or coffer) instead of a 'boat,' offers a clue as to its functional shape
The last poster is absolutely correct, the point is mute. However since this was the argument the WT used to say it was a box shape, it is worth analyzing. The word 'tevah' (an Egyptian loan word, ark) is only used two times in the Tanakh (OT). The second time it refers to a pitch coated floating (basket?) Moses was placed in when put in the Nile. Clearly the author was linking the two stories, stories of divine passage through water. (another time). I never saw the WT depict Moses in a box. That's all I'm saying.
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Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans
by Disillusioned JW ina news article has the headline of " ‘case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans"; see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/19/case-closed-999-of-scientists-agree-climate-emergency-caused-by-humans .
the article says in part the following.. 'the scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the cop26 summit in glasgow.. the degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies.
this means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.. a previous survey in 2013 showed 97% of studies published between 1991 and 2012 supported the idea that human activities are altering earth’s climate.. this has been updated and expanded by the study by cornell university that shows the tiny minority of sceptical voices has diminished to almost nothing as evidence mounts of the link between fossil-fuel burning and climate disruption.. the latest survey of peer-reviewed literature published from 2012 to november 2020 was conducted in two stages.
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peacefulpete
I heard it from the head of a UN study group
But isn't the UN run by pedo lizard people? Or at least by communists?
But seriously, yes, rates of sea rise vary greatly because of gravity and temperature variability. There are many articles on the topic. And sea rise around especially western Australia has been less than in other places. Their temperatures have similarly not risen along with the average. We live on a globe however and the average global trends must be used given the multiple factors that effect local phenomenon.
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Watchtower online religion
by Hellothere inif watchtower becomes a online religion, how you think transition gonna be like?
i thought this maeby would happen in a span of 20 years.
when all old timers are gone and just the new tech savvy generation left.
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peacefulpete
joe134cd....It's already not the religion I knew from my youth. Changes are coming. Let's hope you are right and in the end it'll be a less controlling organization.
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Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans
by Disillusioned JW ina news article has the headline of " ‘case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans"; see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/19/case-closed-999-of-scientists-agree-climate-emergency-caused-by-humans .
the article says in part the following.. 'the scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the cop26 summit in glasgow.. the degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies.
this means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.. a previous survey in 2013 showed 97% of studies published between 1991 and 2012 supported the idea that human activities are altering earth’s climate.. this has been updated and expanded by the study by cornell university that shows the tiny minority of sceptical voices has diminished to almost nothing as evidence mounts of the link between fossil-fuel burning and climate disruption.. the latest survey of peer-reviewed literature published from 2012 to november 2020 was conducted in two stages.
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peacefulpete
SigfridM...The website you found that chart at has much to say on the topic. If you trust the chart why not read the analysis
. Antarctic ice cores show us that the concentration of CO2 was stable over the last millennium until the early 19th century. It then started to rise, and its concentration is now nearly 50% higher than it was before the industrial revolution (Fig. 2). Other measurements that can fingerprint the source of this CO2 (e.g. isotopic data) confirm that the increase must be due to emissions from fossil fuel usage and human-induced changes vegetation and soils. Measurements from older ice cores (discussed below) confirm that both the magnitude and rate of the recent increase are almost certainly unprecedented over the last 800,000 years (Fig. 2). The fastest natural increase measured in older ice cores is around 15ppm (parts per million) over about 200 years. For comparison, atmospheric CO2 is now rising 15ppm every 6 years. Methane (CH4), another important greenhouse gas, also shows an unprecedented increase in concentration over the last two centuries. Its concentration is now much more than double its pre-industrial level. This is mainly due to emissions from agricultural sources and fossil fuel production, that comes on top of natural emissions from wetlands and other sources.
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Souls on Ice
by peacefulpete inyou may have seen the story of the couple who just gave birth to twins who developed from embryos frozen for 30 years.
i'm delighted for the parents and hope the twins grow to be healthy.
it does pose some questions for those who insist embryos are in fact humans with souls.
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peacefulpete
You may have seen the story of the couple who just gave birth to twins who developed from embryos frozen for 30 years. I'm delighted for the parents and hope the twins grow to be healthy. It does pose some questions for those who insist embryos are in fact humans with souls.
I know we do not agree about this topic and often the discussion gets heated. Lets try to act respectfully and ask, "Does this story modify your thoughts about when an embryo can be called a person or not?"
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Who wrote the book of Hebrews?
by Fisherman inthere are good reasons to belief that paul wrote hebrews.
i am convinced he wrote it.
is there any any convincing evidence or argument that can validate the belief?.
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peacefulpete
TonusOH...who is Paul?
An enjoyable but impenetrable mystery. It has been suggested that Simon Magnus and Paul (Saul) are divergent traditions about a single man. The names are actually cognates and there are many parallels. Half of early Christians hailed the miracle working Simon as origin of their Christianity, these are also connected to the group that preserved the Pauline epistles. Marcion learned from a Simonian named Cerdo that the epistles by then in circulation had been Judaized, heavily redacted and interpolated. Marcion himself may not have even known of Hebrews as he neither includes or rejects it in his canon. It's all very provocative but too much is lost to be sure of anything.
Language in Hebrews is found verbatim in 1 Clement suggesting the same author reusing his arguments. Problem is we don't know which came first. And the language they share is being utilized differently, in fact opposingly. 1 Clement is impossible to date as internal evidence is contradictory. The work had many recognized additions and interpolations. We don't even know who Clement was and traditions about him are contradictory and come through a procession of hearsay. A Clement is mentioned in the Shepard of Hermas as someone of importance but the work is very different from 1 Clement.
In the end my best guess is that , no one knows.
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Who wrote the book of Hebrews?
by Fisherman inthere are good reasons to belief that paul wrote hebrews.
i am convinced he wrote it.
is there any any convincing evidence or argument that can validate the belief?.
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peacefulpete
Heb 2:3
So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us (hypo) those who heard him speak?
Here the author argues that his take on soteriology was passed to his contemporary Christians 'by' (hypó (a preposition) – properly, under, often meaning "under authority") those who heard (the Lord) speak. This may be simply rhetorical, saying the tradition had been passed to them from first generation of Christians. Clearly this is not Paul. He adamantly denied getting his take on Christianity from others but rather directly from Christ. It makes much more sense to identify the author with a later period.