[quote who="Brainsucker" reply="720" id="3043684"]About the story of Noah Ark, Was it Noah himself who write the story?[/quote] No. I think he lived before the alphabet was invented. However, lots of flood stories from the region do exist, written in Sumerian and Akkadian in cuniform (syllable script). [quote] Or was it a folk Lore that been told from mouth to mouth for generations before it was written?[/quote] It was folk lore that was
[quote who="GW Swicord" reply="718" id="3043284"]Radicals won't make peace with Israel? Israel is a radical project in its own right, and the right-wing nutbars there (yes, I mean Bebe's crowd) are just as much to blame for the endless cycle of violence as the Hezbollah or PLO militants are. The failure of the efforts to achieve peace belong squarely at the feet of everyone who is in denial of the need for a two-state solution. [/quote] How is Bibi responsible for any of
Here you can see how ridiculously flat the region is: http://gallery.me.com/ajbrehm#100028 The only high place is the hill on which the old city is built, but even that is not particularly high. (Although believe me you don't want to climb it during the day even in September.) The big river flows to the west of there, comes in from the north-west. If it floods, an ark would either be moved towards the mount
[quote who="BoobzTwo" reply="675" id="3042017"]Lula, didn’t your God murder everyone not on the ark … and didn’t He supposedly do this because of the actions of His creations, just wondering is all?[/quote] Technically, G-d cannot "murder". He can give and take life as He pleases. You can do the same in a video game you design. But then the ark story is one of the most misunderstood in the Bible, possibly due to three major issues. One is the
[quote who="lulapilgrim" reply="652" id="3041717"]Actually, science has proven a human fetus is human life[/quote] You are right, I misspoke. I should have said "human being", not "human life". A fetus is human life, but not a complete human being yet. As such in Judaism aborting a fetus (potential human being) is allowed to save the life of the mother (a complete human being).
[quote who="lulapilgrim" reply="651" id="3041712"]Secondly, modern science has proven life begins at the moment of conception.[/quote] You misunderstand the article. Human _development_ begins at conception. Neither life nor human life begin at conception. The uniting cells are already alive and they are already human (as are skin cells, incidentally.)
[quote who="Starcandy" reply="648" id="3041686"]It's the only time I've seen such mood swings.[/quote] G-d behaves differently towards His own people, towards the enemies of His own people and towards the rest of humanity (Christians, in this sense). We didn't force the world to worship our god. So please don't insult our religion because of the problems you think you perceive because of the fact that so many people have decided to worship our god in so many di
[quote who="k10w3" reply="641" id="3041598"]1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."[/quote] You believe Lot should have followed a Christian principle written 2000 years after his death? [quote] And people wonder how I've come to believe that the god of the Bible is schizophrenic.[/quote] Who wonders that? I find it quite obvious why you have com
[quote who="gmc2" reply="637" id="3041539"]I didn't misquote you, possibly you could choose your choice of words a bit more carefully.[/quote] I didn't say you misquoted me, I said you rephrased what I said. But I am sick and tired of arguing semantics with you. You obviously don't want to discuss the actual subject but rather whether or not you have the right to rephrase my words and claim that they are still my thoughts. You don't have that right. But if you
[quote who="gmc2" reply="633" id="3041516"]your words, your thoughts.[/quote] So anyway, I would just ask you that if you want to establish something like "your words, your thoughts", make sure you are actually using my words, and not your own, to describe what I think.
[quote] I took that from this. your words, your thoughts. [/quote] Then take from that but don't rephrase it. "a fetus is _potential_ human life and as such more important than the whims of the parents" Yes, my words. "choosing an abortion was a whim, sort of like deciding to wear the blue tie instead of the red one" No, not the same statement. I didn't say choosing an abortion
[quote] Yet he offers his two virgin daughters to the inhabitants rather than have them 'know' the two guests/angels who are with him. That doesn't seem very righteous to me. [/quote] It doesn't? It's not fair towards his daughters, but he is trying to protect the guests. While he can grudgingly accept that his family takes a hit, he cannot accept that two complete strangers are treated that way. Today, perhaps, people tend to
[quote] I've always wondered why, if God is all-knowing, did he agree to spare the people of Sodom and Gomorrah if ten righteous people can be found within it. He knows full well that ten people won't be found, so what is the point? Is it just a test? Is he having a laugh at Lot/Abraham's expense? [/quote] You are talking about the god of Abraham. Sodom and Gomorrah, in the Bible, have their own gods. Gods fought each other just like their cities did. The S
[quote who="gmc2" reply="604" id="3040996"]can't speak for Karen but if I recollect correctly you stated that choosing an abortion was a whim, sort of like deciding to wear the blue tie instead of the red one. She was pointing out (at least to me) that choosing to have an abortion was a serious decision to make.[/quote] No. This is what I said: "Women are told that abortion is a small matter, something that can be done too lightly. That's not a good development
[quote who="k10w3" reply="582" id="3040653"]FLMAO! Spoken like either a man who will never be faced with the choice, or someone who has never personally faced an unwanted pregnancy! There is a vast cavern between being "told" something is a small matter, and shelling out a few hundred dollars, then having your feet up in stirrups while you're junk gets scraped out or spending 2 days with cramps from hell if you choose the chemical route. This choice a woman has to m
[quote who="Jafo" reply="576" id="3040581"]Yes, what he said..[/quote] I am curious. Have you guys actually ever heard of a case where someone was stoned by a Jewish or Christian court (outside the Life of Brian, I mean)? I think the Bible itself mentions maybe three or four cases. But beyond that, what makes the event so ever-present that you would claim it is a part of the religions?
[quote who="RiddleKing" reply="577" id="3040623"]It is our duty to explore and discover all there is to know about the universe. [/quote] Apparently religious texts are excluded in that principle.
[quote] right, those scriptures written by man. where woman are chattel, and the adulteress is stoned but the adulterer is not. [/quote] That is nonsense. The Torah prescribes stoning as a punishment equally to both parties (and for several crimes that have nothing to do with gender). You are basing your opinions on some sort of popular knowledge about religion that became prominent among the non-religious. The Torah (Jewish law) does not treat women as chattel
[quote who="k10w3" reply="572" id="3039724"]Christians who are anti-abortion for Biblical reasons are just proving they haven't thoroughly studied the Bible. The fetus, Biblically, is not a living soul, because it has not taken the breath of life for the soul to enter into its body. (Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.") Both the Greek and the Hebrew word for
[quote] Divine Faith (aka true Religion), truth and true science. How are they connected? [/quote] They are not. Science tries to find explanations that work for observed facts and can be used to predict new facts. The explanations don't have to be true or even very correct to be useful. Religion tries to find the absolute truth and its explanation is so complete and ready for anything that it cannot predict anything at all. The two solve ve
Religion is a smart man’s admission that he cannot know everything. Religious fundamentalism is a stupid man’s admission that he thinks he knows enough. -- Moshe Wilkinson [quote] If your god is love, goodness and tolerance then those that feel they have a moral right to interfere with a woman's right to an abortion or birth control, are against gays or that their religion is the only religion then guess who's work you're
[quote] Both the Catholic Douay Rheims and the Protestant King James Version has St.Matt. 13:55-56 as having the word "brethren", not "brothers". [/quote] That's the same word. The word "brother" has two plurals. This is due to how Germanic languages work. There are two different declension systems and some words fit both and in some of those cases both plurals survived, even though one will seem archaic. English has -s and (a few) -n plurals
The FDA is an excellent government program. As Americans you are probably not aware of the tragedies that happened in other countries where such an oversight over drugs was traditionally missing well into the late 20th century. The US military also seems very efficient. Generally, the US government is very efficient indeed and needs little improvement. You should look at other countries to see what's possible and what you are already doing better. Comparing the US
[quote] This is the gist of it for most, not all, Protestants today. At all costs, to them, Jesus must have siblings. Goes against Scripture, goes against common sense and goes against understanding the Hebrew expression of "Brethren". [/quote] Lula's interpretation of the word "brethren" here seems to be correct. The oldest definition I can find is on the Hebrew Union College's <a href="http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/searching/fulldictionary_search.
I am not fond of attempts to convert Jews. And in Israel attempts to convert people are not taken lightly. Those black people in Tel Aviv, however, were likely refugees from Sudan. They are Muslims, Christians of various tupes, and pagans and bringing Christianity to them can in fact help. Anyway, here is something for both of you, a scene from The Little World of Don Camillo, a story written by an Italian satirist in the 1950s about the fight between a local priest (Don Camil
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