Search results

Gospel of Luke: literary-critical analysis versus forensic analysis. Hi Thomas. It doesn't take much to get you all in a tizzy, does it? You know how, when you are sitting around with friends, you say something just a little off-the-wall in order to wake up a dying conversation? That was...

Hi again, Namaste Jesus. Jesus did forgive one of the thieves being executed beside him, but technically he did not forgive his executioners. He asked God, to forgive them, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" . . . You are quoting Luke 23:34. What is interesting about...

Two Thieves: Namaste Jesus, hi. Tadashi, hi. This story in Luke 23 of the two thieves is a really appealing story, isn't it? Something about it cries out for discussion. The kind of back-and-forth discussion you two have been having, here. I cannot help but wonder if this might be the reason...

Summer 1987. I am 22 years old. This is between my second and third year in law school. And I have a crisis of conscience. My roommate Ann is planning to intern at her parents' Spokane law firm for the summer. (Spokane is an eight hour drive from the Willamette Valley university where we...

Hi Tad. I understand many of Jesus' teachings are, naturally, the universal truths which many other sages from all over the world understood. But was there anyone who said "Love your enemies" before Jesus did? --Tadashi.Yeah, this does seem pretty radical for the year 30 CE, doesn't it...

Thanks, Thomas. Makes sense, and pretty much aligns with what I've picked up over the years. Particularly like the ongoing duel you describe between Greek Christianity and Latin Christianity, during the First Millennium. I'd like to toss the two other major languages of Christianity into the...

To clarify wil's remarks . . . These are the "two commandments" which Jesus quotes from Hebrew scripture: And you shall love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. --Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge...

I tend to think the belief of strict Biblical inerrancy, worshiping the Bible as if it's the immediate word of God itself, falls into the category of the violation of the second commandment, by making the Bible an idol. --Tadashi. That's a very interesting point of view. I'd not considered...

Thomas I rather admire the avatar you are currently using: {For those of you who don't "see" it, it is an invisible rectangle without a hard-edge border containing it.} I find this avatar both shrewd and modest, a quiet but sophisticated statement about your personal spirituality...

God . . . He? or She? The priests of the Jerusalem Temple, during the century of Hezekiah, introduce into the world a remarkably unique and pure form of spirituality. A sense of holiness unique in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean. God is the only god. God is invisible. And God has no...

Matriarchy . . . I find your assumptions and assertions somewhat sexist. --Thomas. Not my assumptions. I'm just synopsizing the literature. But I do believe (from my personal experience) that, in social situations, women generally make better group-leaders and problem-solvers. Yet I also...

God . . . He? or She? 3. Was the God of monotheism ever non-gendered? It is fairly self-evident from the language of the Bible that Yahweh was conceived of . . . always as "the Lord," never as "the Lady." Even when Jesus talks about his "Father in Heaven," Jesus is using an informal Aramaic...

God . . . He? or She? 2. But when has religion ever been logical? I am watching the British TV program The Fall, curled up with a male colleague. I have to laugh. Gillian Anderson plays Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson who is sent to Belfast to assess the handling of a high...

God . . . He? or She? 1. Both linguistically and biologically, if you posit a "he" you also have to posit a "she." It stretches logic beyond its limit to claim that only "one gender of something" exists. The existence of one gender inherently implies the existence of the other gender: they are...

This issue has been debated here before, with many pointing out that December 25 was a pagan holiday. But Andrew McGowan's article in Biblical Archaeology "How December 25 Became Christmas" comes to a different conclusion, one based within Jewish Monotheism. Here is the setup: The Bible...

I've always thought that God is more of a "quality" than a "quantity." If you can quantify it, it's not God. Once upon a time, I knew what "modal logic" was. But I'm not about to spend the rest of the morning relearning. Seems to forgetful-me that there is, nonetheless, some deep problem here...

"Gaia" was a fun theory, while it lasted. Think about it . . . Particularly, in terms of the old metaphysics: Earth (all geologic and biologic processes, collectively) as "body." Then add-on the "mind" layer: --First, DNA passing on species-memory to each new generation. --Next, higher forms...

Hi, Susma Rio Sep. I'm Jane. . . . rehashing . . . Yeah. It's the way of the world. There's even an academic name for it. It's called "postmodernism." It says there is nothing original out there, to say. Everything is a rehash of a rehash. All there is . . . is the song or video or...

Hi, Nick the Pilot. Hi, A Cup of Tea. Taoism . . . very esoteric. Taoism . . . very much in common with stoicism. Remove the word "Taoism" from either of the above phrases and replace it with "Buddhism" or "Islam" or "Hinduism" or "Christianity" and you could twist yourself mentally...

Hi, Nick the Pilot. I'm Jane. What's the difference between a religion and a philosophy? A philosophy is for individuals. It is based upon cogent ideas. And tends to be elitist, at first. A religion is for a community. It is based upon emotional commitment. And tends to be grassroots, at...