Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs'

MoMo Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:21 pm

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rodin Wed Sep 07, 2011 5:02 pm

Are Jews G-d's chosen people?

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:28 pm

rodin wrote: Are Jews G-d's chosen people?

yes they are, but not in the jealous, infantile manner you perceive. thumbs up

I explained this to you before at ICKEtardia, but your ignorance persists.........let's try again. wave

Where did the values and principles of the modern world come from?
http://www.aish.com/ci/s/48899267.html

An excerpt from Rabbi Ken Spiro's recently published book, "World Perfect."

While developing an idea for a lecture program, I conducted a series of surveys over a period of two years, asking people to list the fundamental values and principles which they felt we needed to uphold in order to make our world as perfect as is humanly possible. In total, some 1,500 individuals were questioned. Overwhelmingly, my respondents -- predominantly Westerners, from the United States, Canada, South America, England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, etc -- came up with remarkably similar answers, which could be grouped into these six categories:

1.Respect for Human Life. In a perfect world, all people would be guaranteed certain basic human rights, paramount among which must be the right to life. They should be able to live that life without constant fear of its loss and with certain basic dignity.
2.Peace and Harmony. On all levels -- whether communal or global -- people and nations should co-exist in peace and harmony with respect for each other.
3.Justice and Equality. All people, regardless of race, sex, or social status should be treated equally and fairly in the eyes of the law.
4.Education. Everyone should receive a basic education that would guarantee functional literacy within society.
5.Family. A strong, stable family structure needs to exist to serve as the moral foundation for society and as the most important institution for socializing/educating children.
6.Social Responsibility. On an individual, community, national and global level, people must take responsibility for the world. This should include an organized social network to address basic concerns such as disease, poverty, famine, crime, drug-related problems, as well as environmental and animal protection issues.
The respondents to my survey came from all walks of life, yet regardless of their backgrounds, they were in agreement. Indeed, they, and I venture to say most human beings the world over, deeply believe that a perfect world must include these universal values.

The question is: Why?

Are these six basic ideas intrinsic to human nature? Have people always felt this way? And if not, where did we get these values? What is the source of this utopian world vision?

My search for answers to these questions has produced this book. Where did the values and principles of the modern world come from? The answer I found will surprise, perhaps even shock, the reader.

As the respondents to my survey were predominantly residents of democratic countries, they naturally assumed that the values they hold dear have originated -- as did democracy -- with the Greeks and, to a lesser extent, with disseminators of Hellenistic, i.e. Greek ideas, the Romans.

Indeed, this issue is subject to much debate in academic circles these days. Traditionalists continue to insist that the values of ancient Greece and Rome underlie all our learning, philosophy, art, and ethics, while their opponents accuse them that their idealization of Greco-Roman standards of virtue, wisdom, and beauty is sentimental if not downright unreal.

Reporting on this bitter controversy, the New York Times (March 7, 1998) asked in a headline:

"THE ANCIENTS WERE: A) BELLICOSE ELITISTS OR B) THE SOURCE OF WESTERN VALUES?"

It would be pointless to negate that Greece and Rome, besides being the most advanced civilizations of antiquity, have also been the most influential of civilizations on Western Europe and by extension, the Americas. Without a doubt, much of our ideas about art, beauty, philosophy, government, and modern empirical science do come from classical Greek thought. Western law, government, administration, and engineering were also powerfully shaped by Rome. Indeed, we do overwhelmingly get the lion's share of our culture from these civilizations.

But can the same be said about our values, ethics, and principles?

Let me hasten to say that this is not a trick question; I am not hinting here at some far-fetched notion that we really got our values from the Far East. Although, with the recent interest in Eastern philosophies a few voices have been raised advocating this view, the undisputed historical fact is that only within the last few hundred years did the West have any significant interaction with the East.

So the question remains: How did we come to order our moral values in this particular way?

To answer this question we shall begin our examination by taking a look just how those civilizations -- which, without a doubt, shaped our political and social systems -- related to the values we hold dear today.

A SOCIETY WITHOUT MERCY

As we begin to trace the history of the values of our world, we shall, first of all, take a look at how the ancients -- who bequeathed to us so many of our ideas -- regarded the values we cherish today. Did they consider them essential to the making of an ideal world? Or was their worldview considerably different than ours?

Of all the principles we might list, the basic right to life seems certainly the most fundamental. We all want to live without fear of being arbitrarily deprived of life. We all want to live with a certain minimal amount of human dignity. We all want certain protection in the law against oppression by tyrants who might consider certain segments of society expendable simply because they are too weak or too poor to protect themselves.

As obvious and important as this concept seems to us today, it was not so obvious or important in the world of antiquity.

To begin with, Greeks and Romans -- as well as virtually every ancient culture we know of -- practiced infanticide.

By infanticide, I mean the killing of newborn children as a way of population control, sex selection (generally, boys were desirable, girls undesirable), and as a way of ridding society of potentially burdensome or deformed members.

A baby that appeared weak or sickly at birth, or had even a minor birth defect such a cleft pallet, hair lip, or cleft foot, or was in some other way imperfect was killed. This was not done by some Nazi-like baby removal squad. This was done by an immediate member of the family, usually the mother or father, and usually within three days after birth.

The method of "disposal" varied, but generally we know that, in antiquity, babies were taken out to the forest and left to die of exposure, dropped down wells to drown, or thrown into sewers or onto manure piles.

The horror of a parent being capable of killing his or her child is shocking enough. But that this parent should have so little regard for the child, as to unmercifully dump it where it might die slowly and painfully, or be picked up by someone to be reared into slavery or prostitution (as sometimes happened), suggests a level of cruelty beyond our modern imagination. Lloyd DeMause in his essay "The Evolution of Childhood" (pp. 25-26) reports:

"Infanticide during antiquity has usually been played down despite literally hundreds of clear references by ancient writers that it was an accepted, everyday occurrence. Children were thrown into rivers, flung into dung-heaps and cess trenches, 'potted' in jars to starve to death, and exposed in every hill and roadside, 'a prey for birds, food for wild beasts to rend.' (Euripides, Ion, 504)"
Gruesome evidence of this practice has been found in various archeological excavations. Most notably, in the Athenian Agora, a well was uncovered containing the remains of 175 babies thrown there to drown.

Lest we assume that was the practice of the poor and ignorant, one of the most influential thinkers in Western intellectual history -- none other than Aristotle -- argued in his Politics that killing children was essential to the functioning of society. He wrote:

"There must be a law that no imperfect or maimed child shall be brought up. And to avoid an excess in population, some children must be exposed. For a limit must be fixed to the population of the state." (Politics VII.16)

Note the tone of his statement. Aristotle isn't saying "I like killing babies," but he is making a cold, rational calculation: over-population is dangerous, and this is the most expedient way to keep it in check.

Four hundred years after Aristotle, the practice of killing babies was a firmly entrenched practice in the Roman Empire. This is an excerpt from a famous and much-quoted letter from a Roman citizen named Hilarion to his pregnant wife, Alis, dated June 17th, circa 1 CE:

"Know that I am still in Alexandria. And do not worry if they all come back and I remain in Alexandria. I ask and beg of you to take good care of our baby son, and as soon as I receive payment I will send it up to you. If you deliver a child [before I get home], if it is a boy, keep it, if a girl discard it..."

Hilarion, as we see, is very much concerned about his baby son, his heir. Indeed a typical Roman family might be made up of two or three sons -- to insure succession should one son die -- but seldom more than one daughter, who was considered a burdensome responsibility and was all too expendable.

Of course, it could be argued that on other fronts the Greeks and the Romans were capable of refined thinking and an elevated approach to behavior. Seneca, the famed Roman philosopher and writer, developed a lengthy treatise on the control and consequences of anger. In it, he draws the distinction between anger and wisdom, using the following example: "Children also, if weak and deformed, we drown, not through anger, but through the wisdom of preferring the sound to the useless." (Concerning Anger, I.XV)

EXPLOITATION OF THE INNOCENTS

The whole attitude toward the weak and helpless was totally skewed in ancient societies. Apart from thinking nothing of killing infants when they saw fit, the Romans engaged in the practice of mutilating unwanted children to make them at least "useful" for begging. (Incidentally, this horrifying practice is still seen today in India.)

Our morally-minded friend Seneca, who was so concerned with the issue of useful vs. useless, also came up with a tortured justification for this abomination:

"Look on the blind wandering about the streets leaning on their sticks, and those with crushed feet, and still again look on those with broken limbs. This one is without arms, that one has had his shoulder pulled down out of shape in order that his grotesqueries may excite laughter ... Let us go to the origin of those ills -- a laboratory for the manufacture of human wrecks -- a cavern filled with the limbs torn from living children ... What wrong has been done to the Republic? On the contrary, have not these children been done a service inasmuch as their parents had cast them out?"

Today, we would view the killing of newborn babies because they were unwanted or mutilating of tiny infants for profit as probably the most heinous acts a person could commit. What is the weakest, most defenseless, most innocent member of society? A little child. Therefore, we believe that a child, a baby, deserves the protection of society even more than an adult. But in Greek and Roman thinking, rather than being accorded the most protection, children were given the least; this happened simply because, as totally powerless, they were the easiest people to trample on or get rid of.

Points out Harvard Professor and former President of the American Historical Association, William L. Langer (in his foreword to The History of Childhood):

"Children, being physically unable to resist aggression, were the victims of forces over which they had no control, and they were abused in many imaginable and some almost unimaginable ways..."

So we see how very different the attitude of antiquity was to ours. The most basic right -- to life (never mind, to life with dignity) -- was by no means guaranteed.

HORROR SHOW

Surely, there can't be a better example of a total disregard for the value of human life than killing people for entertainment. And here the Romans take first prize. No civilization before or since was so bloodthirsty in this regard. Throughout the empire, more than 200 stadiums were specifically erected for the exhibition of this particular "sport," which required that people and animals be housed and displayed in such a way that they couldn't escape before being murdered in front of a cheering and jeering audience.

The practice was extremely popular, and Emperor Augustus in his Acts brags that during his reign (29 BC to 14 CE) he staged games where 10,000 men fought and 3,500 wild beasts were slain. While savage fights to the death between gladiators -- who were usually slaves trained for the purpose -- were the highlight, to keep up the novelty of death, Nero and Domitian sent in even women, children, blind people and dwarfs to fight each other. Anything went just so the crowds were happy.

This form of entertainment reached its pinnacle with the inauguration, in the year 80 CE of the Coliseum, the ruins of which are today a big tourist attraction in Rome.

The Romans were justly proud of the engineering feat that the construction of the Coliseum represented. The giant 600-by-500-foot arena, built by Vespasian and completed by Titus, seated 50,000 people. It had a removable roof and a floor that could be raised or lowered, depending on what the day's atmosphere demanded. Sometimes the Coliseum was transformed into a desert or into a jungle, and it could also be filled with water and turned into a lake so boats could sail in it.

Why was this incredible place built? To feature death as an elaborate form of amusement for the masses.

On a typical day when the Coliseum was playing to a full house, the place was crowded with men, women and children -- yes, the Romans thought nothing wrong with exposing children to this kind of grotesquerie. Admission was free, and a pillow for your seat, meat and wine were provided, also for free. The opening act to start off the morning was an exhibition of wild animals. The Romans went all over the empire to find wild, exotic beasts to astonish the crowds. Next, the arena was lowered to feature combat between them -- Romans cheered as lions tore apart tigers, tigers went up against bears, leopards against wolves. It goes without saying that the Romans had never heard of animal rights.

Then came the bullfights, except that the toreadors, being slaves or convicts, had been given no chance to practice, so the bull usually gored them to death. The crowd roared. This is what they came to see.

You'd think that would be enough carnage for anyone. That was only the warm-up act. Next came feeding people to the animals. Keep in mind that Rome was a very law-and-order-minded society and everything had to be done legally -- you couldn't just throw anyone to the lions, only people convicted of a capitol offense. But if they didn't have enough victims for a good day's fun, the Romans would conveniently condemn even minor criminals to death and replenish the supply. (Christianity, being a capital offense in Rome ever since the great fire of 64 CE, for which its adherents were blamed, provided a steady supply of victims.)

During intermissions, giant fountains sprayed perfume in the air to reduce the stench of death. Entertainment did not stop, however. In between the spectacular killings were held run-of-the-mill executions by burning, beheading, and flaying (that is, skinning people alive).

The main event was saved for the afternoon, and this was what the crowd was really waiting for -- gladiatorial combat. The gladiators fought to the death, although the lives of particularly brave fighters could be spared by the emperor or the vote of the crowd.

In the year 107 CE, during a four-month celebration of his conquest of Dacia, Trajan -- who was perhaps trying to match Augustus' record -- held a major tournament in which 10,000 gladiators and 3,000 animals fought. This meant that whoever sat through that spectacle watched at least 5,000 people die. Trajan was so fond of this kind of massacre -- and he had a large supply of Dacian prisoners of war for the purpose -- that he apparently sent 23,000 people to their slaughter between 106 and 118 CE.

It was all horrible and perverse, and if you thought it couldn't get worse, consider that Commodus (emperor from 180 to 192 CE) organized fights between crippled people and finished them off himself.

Of the Roman philosophers and great thinkers, only Seneca saw anything wrong with death as entertainment ... Other Roman greats were not as soft as Seneca. Cicero, for example, thought that gladiatorial contests promoted courage and endurance, although he was of the opinion that they were not all that entertaining. Juvenal, who criticized everything, loved the games. And Pliny found that watching people be massacred toughened the audience and therefore had educational value.

That about sums up the ancient world attitude toward the value of life. The key thing to keep in mind, however, is that the Greeks or Romans did think that law and order were essential to the efficient functioning of society, and laws under both empires were many and strictly enforced. But the idea that along with your status as a human being came the right to life (forget about life with dignity) was not a given by any means.

AGAINST THE GRAIN: THE JEWISH VIEW

"I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation ... fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations." (John Adams, 2nd president of the United States)

"Certainly, the world without the Jews would have been a radically different place. Humanity might have eventually stumbled upon all the Jewish insights. But we cannot be sure. All the great conceptual discoveries of the human intellect seem obvious and inescapable once they had been revealed, but it requires a special genius to formulate them for the first time. The Jews had this gift. To them we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so a personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place." (Paul Johnson, Christian historian, author of A History of the Jews and A History of Christianity)

Could that be true?

Is it really possible that our moral values do not originate in one of the great civilizations but have been bequeathed to us by a small, otherwise insignificant nation inhabiting a tiny piece of real estate in the Middle East?

I venture to say that the ancient Hebrews (who later came to be known as the Israelites and still later as the Jews) would have disagreed with the statements of Adams and of Johnson above. They would have insisted that they had nothing personally to do with inventing the values which ran against the grain of the world around them, and indeed were totally unknown to other peoples. They would have insisted that these values came from God, and they were merely the people chosen to disseminate them worldwide.

This was the story they told from the time they appeared on the world scene around 1300 BCE, hundreds of years before the ascent of the Greek civilization. Back then, they were still a newly emerging nation that functioned more like a large extended family, all family members tracing their ancestry to a man named Abraham who had lived somewhere around 1,800 BCE. They were a strange people with an even stranger religion:

•They believed in only one God -- all-powerful, infinite, and invisible -- who had created everything known to man, a notion totally foreign to every ancient people that preceded them.
•They claimed that all of them -- some 600,000 men and untold number of women and children -- had miraculously escaped from slavery in Egypt, then the mightiest empire on earth, through the miraculous intervention of their God.
•They claimed that after their great escape, they reached a mountain in the wilderness, Mt. Sinai, where they all had an encounter with God; during that encounter, and through the person of their leader Moses, they supposedly received a code of behavior -- compiled in a holy book known as the "Torah" -- which they scrupulously followed.
A STRANGE PEOPLE

It was a story bound to raise more than a few eyebrows in the ancient world. Of course, the ancient people believed all sorts of wild things about divine relationships with human beings, so the Jews' story was not in itself all that outlandish. Nor was a society governed by laws so strange, after all, previous law codes, the Code of Hammurabi being the most famous, set forth rules governing property rights and the like. What the ancient world couldn't fathom was this particular code. Indeed, it was a code that to the ancient mind seemed irrational.

"The Jews are distinguished from the rest of mankind in practically every detail of life," wrote Roman philosopher Deo Cassius, expressing his disapproval. "In particular ... they do not honor any of the usual gods, but show extreme reverence to only one God."

Part of that "extreme" reverence translated into following that God's law, a law which could not be altered as was convenient. It was an absolute, God-given standard, and by that fact alone it stood apart from any law of any other society.

But there was more about the Jews that was strange, besides their God and their law. The Torah -- or the Biblos as the Greeks would call it -- was like no holy book of any people before or since, in yet another way. It made the Jews look bad. In it, they are shown as shirkers and complainers, often sinning against their own God and His law. And yet they insisted that they needed to carry around with them the history of their failures as well as their successes in order never to lose sight of their mission to elevate humanity.

We shall now take a look at how the ancient Jews related to the basic human right to life and see how close they came to our standard...

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:32 pm

The Christian and Other Religions: the Biblical Evidence
Christopher J. H. Wright

http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/religions_wright.pdf

3. Israel and the gods of the nations

a. ‘No other gods’. There is certainly a change of atmosphere from the ‘ecumenical bonhomie’
(Wenham) of the patriarchal religion in Genesis to the clarity and unambiguous exclusiveness of
the first commandment: ‘I am Yahweh ... You shall have no other gods beside me.’ From this
point on, the faith of Israel was dogmatically mono-Yahwistic, whether or not the monotheistic
implications of that faith were as yet consciously understood. Israel was forbidden either to
worship other gods or to attempt to worship Yahweh in the way those gods were worshipped (Dt.
12:30f.). The facts of this matter are quite unmistakable and need not be tediously listed in detail.
In the law (e.g. Dt. 7, 13, etc.), in the prophets (e.g. Je. 2), in the narratives (e.g. 2 Ki. 17), in the
psalms (e.g. Ps. 106), even in the Wisdom tradition (e.g. Jb. 31:26ff.) the overwhelming message
is of the exclusiveness of Israel’s faith―Yahweh alone. This is not just a peripheral trait or the
by-product of national pride.

It is of the essence of that covenant relationship to which alone Israel owed their nationhood and from which they derived their reason for existence.
However, it is precisely as we feel the full force of this particularism and exclusivism of the historical faith of Israel that we need to recall the universal purpose that lies behind it—theologically and chronologically. The preservation of a pure worship of the living God in Israel and of the revelation entrusted to them was not to spite the rest of humanity but was ultimately for their sake. It was not a matter of Israel flaunting their privilege in an attitude of ‘Our religion is better than yours’—as if Israel’s faith was one among many brands of a commodity, ‘human religion’. Rather what was at stake, what was so threatened by Israel compromising with the gods and worship of other nations, was the continuity of the redemptive work of the Creator God of all
mankind within the unique historical and social context which he himself had chosen. And that choice of Israel was for reasons finally known only to himself, reasons which certainly did not include any national or religious superiority on Israel’s part, as they were bluntly informed (cf.
Dt. 7:7; 9:5f.).
This is a point which is missed by some who try to soften the sharp edges of Israel’s religious
exclusivism by a misreading or false comparison of Old Testament texts.

rodin, had you actually bothered to read the Data already provided in this Thread your query would have been unneccessary. It proves you are dishonest and hateful.

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:40 pm

until you learn to be honest, you will suffer terribly. thumbs up

http://www.vbm-torah.org/

http://www.vbm-torah.org/jewphi.htm

Lecture #12a: Particularism and Universalism

PART I: The Chosen People

The chaver's opening statements lead the Kuzari king to a disturbing conclusion. He becomes convinced that in the Jewish view, the Torah's underlying principle - namely, the encounter with God via history - is irrelevant to him as a Gentile. As a consequence, he rebels against the chaver's seemingly racist stance [A]. This conflict re-awakens a central query which has concerned us throughout our perusal of the book: Does not this emphasis on nationalism and particularism imply that the Torah was meant solely for the Jewish people, and thus has no universal significance? To resolve this problem, we must discover the true meaning of the concept "the chosen people."

The idea of chosenness is both one of the most central and one of the most difficult in Judaism, and it is therefore not surprising that the Kuzari king puzzles over its meaning. To elucidate this issue, let us use as our starting point the book of Bereishit (Genesis), in which the initial paradox emerges. In it we meet Avraham, whose call to monotheism rang out to all the nations of the world. Avraham's basic message is universal in character. On the other hand, it is he who witnesses and in fact precipitates the development of the two concepts which appear completely opposed to universalism: the distinctness of the Jewish People and of the Land of Israel. And indeed, at the dawn of religious history, we find ourselves faced with the strange and surprising phenomenon of a universal Torah which nevertheless designates one people and one land as unique. This is indeed a paradox, and we must therefore begin our search at its root.

We will focus initially on the first-mentioned aspect: the uniqueness of the Jewish people. How must we understand the concept of a chosen people? We will cover a number of approaches to this question which have appeared throughout the history of Jewish thought. The opinions do not necessarily contradict one another; nonetheless, we must distinguish between them, as a very basic difference of opinion has surrounded this issue for generations.

Chosenness: Acceptance of the Torah

One possible way to understand the connection between universalism and uniqueness lies in the intuitive and fundamental comprehension of our national destiny which finds succinct expression in our liturgy: "[God] chose us from among the nations and gave us His Torah." It is our acceptance of the Torah which bestows upon us our unique status. Our distinction, then, is to be found in the fact that we must brave the persistent ridicule and opposition of the rest of the world in order to hold fast to what we know to be the eternal truth. That, and only that, makes us chosen.

We can understand this definition of chosenness with the aid of a simple parable. Let us imagine a fish who must swim upstream in order to reach the place to lay its eggs. Our fish sees all the other fish swimming in the opposite direction. They swim effortlessly, carried by the current. However, our fish is propelled forward by the imperative of its special mission. Allow me to emphasize that we are speaking not of elitism, but of chosenness. A sense of chosenness is necessary to maintain the momentum of any organism which dares to swim against the current. Any other explanation of the concept of chosenness is, according to this approach, irrelevant, for we are no different from any other nation save in the mission which we have pledged to fulfill - the preservation of the Torah.

In some liberal or secular versions of this approach, the underlying concept was applied not to Torah in its entirety but rather to certain sections of it, particularly its moral code. These opinions emphasize the existence of a unique Jewish morality and claim that our chosenness finds expression in the Jewish people's special sensitivity to moral problems. This approach was championed by Achad Ha'am and other thinkers in Eastern and Western Europe.

The Chosen Nation Rebels

Before I begin to present an alternate approach, I would like to note briefly the transformation which has taken place in relation to the concept of chosenness in certain circles of modern Jewish thought. Some thinkers disapproved of the very employment of the term "chosen people." The concept was considered morally repugnant, since it sets us apart and causes us to view ourselves as different and perhaps better than others. As an example I will mention Mordechai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism, a non-Orthodox Jewish group, who made one of his chief concerns the battle against the concept of chosenness. We also find many in the Zionist camp who defined Zionism's mission through the ideal of becoming similar to all other nations. The goal, as they saw it, was to achieve national "normalization" and thus destroy the concept of a chosen people. One recent expression of this tendency can be found in the works of A. B. Yehoshua, who claims that our historical pretensions to a mysterious mission have caused us to fashion our state as a framework for Jewish religious existence - but such a state cannot be normal.

This approach, which turns its back upon the "myth of chosenness," is seemingly healthy, well-adjusted and feasible. It was a dream shared by Zionists and assimilationists alike. However, tragic modern history has shown us that Jewish chosenness was a reality even for those who attempted to escape it. The most painful expression of this fact is found in the assimilated Jews who were forced by Nazism to reassume their Jewish identity. The poet Natan Alterman wrote a piece about this phenomenon entitled "Ata Bechartanu" (You Have Chosen Us). It contains an ironic attack upon the belief in chosenness, but concludes with a new perspective gained by those who finally understood history's lesson.

rodin, myself, as a Nordic Gentile; have absolutely no problem with these concepts. The creator of all there is has 'chosen' a semitic people to carry His info to all of humanity. Which is why some ignorant douchebags want to exterminate them and lie constantly about what the Jews are and what they are doing.

You, rodin, are in opposition to all that is good. You're lies prove it. thumbs up

continued:

Lecture #12b: Particularism and Universalism

PART II: Chosenness and "Segula"

History teaches us that if we wish to comprehend the uniqueness of the Jewish people, we must realize that an additional concept exists: the concept of "segula" (specialness), which preceded the idea of chosenness and which accompanies the Jew even when he has, for all intents and purposes, deserted the Torah and its commandments. This distinction originated with Rihal and was further developed by the Maharal and later by Rav Kook. To understand the paradox inherent in this dual status, we can consider briefly the concept of chosenness from a different angle, one which was stressed by various thinkers and critics, among them the late Israeli historian Ya'akov Talmon. These thinkers note the prominence of Jewish revolutionaries in various fields. A sociological interpretation can be given for this phenomenon, explaining their struggle on the basis of the historical situation of the ghetto Jew who was devoid of rights. However, as the Maharal says, this may be a reason, but it is not the first cause. Searching for this original cause will lead us to an understanding of the concept of segula.

The Maharal's Approach

The idea of segula is basic to the Maharal's concept of "alienation." According to his perception, exile is neither a historical nor a sociological state. For example, he vehemently opposed the claim that it was because Jews lived in social deprivation that they were forced to develop in an original and creative fashion, instead of using their talents in public service or in academia. Exile, in the Maharal's view, is something much deeper. The Jews were alienated from the world because in the depths of their souls they harbored "something different." We call this "something:" segula.

Allow me to explain this concept with the aid of a somewhat daring example. A children's film which broke all the box office records is the movie "E.T." This film describes the adventures of a creature from outer space who arrives on earth and meets children who help and protect him, while the adults persecute him at every turn. Our protagonist suffers because he comes from a much more advanced world than our own. In a way, we can sum up the Maharal's central thesis by saying that the Jewish people are a type of E.T. The Jew belongs to another world, to the world of the future. The world of the future is symbolized by our patriarch Jacob, while this world is symbolized by Esav. Despite the fact that the Jewish people's roots are not in this world, they have been sent here by God on a metaphysical mission. The Jewish nation's role is to implement change in this world, despite the fact that we must suffer by our very presence here.

This brings us to an interesting twist. Earlier, we mentioned the historian Toynbee who saw the Jews as a fossil from an ancient period, and claimed that we belong to the past. The Maharal, in contrast, emphasizes the fact that Jewish suffering stems from just the opposite: we belong to the future. It is as though a time capsule had transferred us here from the period of redemption. This is why we are currently in exile. The Maharal expressed this idea linguistically by noting that the Hebrew words "ga'al" (redemption) and "gala" (exile) come from the same root. The suffering and alienation of exile result from the fact that we belong to another world.

The Maharal's position is one of the two central ways to view the concept of chosenness. Although we described it in a whimsical fashion, it displays Jewish history in a new light and addresses questions which we still face today. Secular Zionism wished to return us to the land of Israel in order to transform us into "a nation like all other nations." This political goal is not far from the ideal of assimilation espoused by many Jews of the modern era. While the latter fought for this goal as individuals, the former preferred assimilation as a group. And yet, we now find ourselves alienated once again, this time as a nation and a state. Even after achieving independence and carving out a niche in the world community, we continue to experience the alienation of Jewish existence. Do not be fooled: this is not a complex! The Maharal attempts to teach us what E.T. illustrates so poignantly, that our sense of alienation should not discourage us or create feelings of inferiority; it must rather assist us in searching out our spiritual roots.

Whether or not we accept this extreme interpretation, we have learned that segula is different than chosenness. Chosenness comes as a result of man's actions, whereas segula is an intrinsic state of otherness. Rihal's basic thesis is that, whether we like it or not, we exist in a state of alienation. Segula precedes chosenness. Segula is what confers upon us the option of chosenness. On the one hand, we must call out "We shall hear and we shall obey" - this is the chosenness; yet on the other hand, we were forcibly given the Torah - and that is the segula.

Our starting point is that we are different. We need not and cannot escape that fact. We must accept our identity, come to terms with our alienation, and ask ourselves why it is so. Rihal, who grasped this idea intuitively, attempted to express it using the limited terminology at his disposal. His only conceptual tools to explain the segula of our nation and land, were physical, biological and racial. It appears that Rihal seeks to locate the difference between us and others in our genetic inheritance and the uniqueness of our land in certain climatic-spiritual effects. Though he struggles to find the appropriate categories, this truth is greater than its scientific or pseudo-scientific expression. We are faced with a completely mysterious phenomenon. Mystery is the central component of the concept of segula.

Although the Maharal took Rihal's approach in one direction, next week we will examine a very different development of Rihal's ideology - the thought of Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch.

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:25 pm

The whole point of the Bible is to unite ALL Humans. The Creator, YHWH, Ein Sof, delivered a message in Hebrew.

The point of the Commandments is to convert humans from their natural animalistic/egoistic nature to Altruistic.

Recognition that the Creator is ONE, no Duality............the Shema: "Hear O Yisrael, YHWH is our Elohim, YHWH is one!" The First Commandment begins with: "I AM"

So What Exactly is an Elohim?

http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/What%20is%20an%20Elohim.pdf

..........I know how difficult it was for me to understand that some cherished notions about the
word G-O-D were actually misconceptions. One was an idea dealt with in the last
chapter, that the false gods of the Bible were only idols. Another notion that didn’t
conform to the reality of the text was that the word G-O-D is only a name, not just an
“ordinary” noun. Because I thought G-O-D was exclusively the name of a personal
being, and a unique being at that, I tended to assign the attributes of that being, Yahweh
of Israel, to the three letters G-O-D. When I came to realize that there were other G-OD-
S in a heavenly council, it seemed (and that’s an important word) as though Yahweh
was just one among equals. That bothered me.
In the last chapter I explained why this concern was imaginary. Yahweh is inherently
distinct and superior to all other gods. Yahweh is an elohim (a god), but no other
elohim (gods) are Yahweh.......I’m betting that many of you are like I was
after first discovering what the inspired text really says—what the ancient worldview of
Israel really assumed. You still may be stuck on the idea that there can only be one
elohim since Yahweh is called elohim in so many places in the Bible. And if that’s not
true, you might be asking, then what is an elohim? Even further, you might doubt that
Yahweh can be part of the class of elohim and still be “species unique” as I described in
the last chapter. That’s what we’re going to address here.
The second doubt is easily handled. On one level, it is no problem for Yahweh to share
attributes with inferior creatures he has created. After all, he does that with respect to
us. We mirror the creator in what theologians have often called “communicable”
attributes. Examples would be love, mercy, intelligence, and so forth. Those attributes
Yahweh alone possesses are often termed “incommunicable” attributes. Examples
would be omnipotence, self-existence, and omniscience. By definition only one being
can be all powerful (omnipotent). If that being’s power is matched by another, then he
wouldn’t truly be supreme in power. As the High God shares attributes with us as his
creatures, so lesser elohim may share some of his qualities.
The former concern is probably the one that most readers find more tricky: How can
Yahweh can be part of the class of elohim and still be “species unique”? Answering
this question is actually not difficult, but it requires two adjustments in your thinking:
(1) that elohim as a term does not speak of a range of attributes with which we would
only associate Yahweh; and (2) that the term refers only to a being’s proper plane of
existence. The second consideration is crucial, in that it is the key to sorting out how
various beings can be described as elohim and yet only one Yahweh exists.
I don’t have to tell you that sorting out this issue is important so as to coherently
distinguish Yahweh from the other elohim...........

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:28 pm

................The Hebrew Bible, Old and New Testaments inform us that: Life is precious and History is meaningful, unlike David Ickes assertion that life is an Illusion, the Biblical view is more scientifically astute: The World is not AS we perceive it but it is very real. The Bible entrains our 6th Sense so that we may perceive realities beyond the 5 sense world.

The 5 Senses do not detect infrared, ultraviolet, radio waves, x-rays etc..yet they exist. The unaided human eye cannot perceive Atoms, protons, quarks etc.yet they exist......We see the Unity of existence, the ground that sustains being, the interconnexion of ALL Life.

The Creator is 'unseen' yet we learn to see through the surface of reality. We are never alone.

The Torah overcomes the Reptilian/Mammalian Brain Centers. Teaches us to become impeccably honest, to be non-exploitive, loving, altruistic. to be a Shepherd not a Predator.

Rodin, you lie when you teah that Jesus hates.

In Hebraic Thought the whole Function of the Torah is to turn the Soul away from the things of the Flesh. FROM egoistic TO Altruistic. During our life our Soul either attaches itself to the things of Flesh, the Path of Darkness; or it attaches itself to the things of the Spirit-The Path of Light, becoming a Child of the Light.

When the False prophets and teachers tell us that Jesus 'did away with the Torah/Instruction/Laws of YHWH'...........they lie, they deceive........they mislead innocents onto the Path of Darkness........rodin; suzi woo woo: you must learn, before you die, to Play the Game Clean. You must learn why deceiving, cheating, exploiting are losing propositions and they harm you more then the people you harm by doing those sordid things.

Great harm is done to our societies as these once recognized undesirable charateristics are now exalted and presented as paradigms for behaviour.....................................The Good Newz is that there IS a Paradigm Shift-We are in a Transit between two Ages......The Age of Production and Accumulation TO the Age of Integrity and Restoration.

"Ahavta yirecha Kamocha"= Love your neighbor as yourself.

In humans the personalities that could have been are always there, always uncomfortable in their imprisonment. And periodically they scream from the dungeons of their minds demanding their Freedom.

The Biblical Commandments were given not for the sake of imposing rules and limitations and restrictions on people limiting their Freedom, but rather as a Divine communication that can be seen as generous-teaching/instructing humanbeings how life works and what to do and not to do to make the best of it.

Within the mitzvot/commandments are all the neccessary instructions for human conduct, in order to help people avoid negative consequences and repercussions, and also to reap benefit from living in alignment with the Laws of the Universe.

Who is wise? They who can foresee the consequences of their actions.
thumbs up

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:54 pm

* The People of Israel joyfully acknowledge that YHWHs first Covenant, the Noahide Covenant, never superseded, is made with ALL Humanity, not exclusively with Jews and/or Christians alone.

* It is made with ALL Sentient Beings.

* ALL Beings are called to recognize and participate in Natures Patterns.

* To accept Limits.

* To Direct their choices and actions in favour of Life.

* To join in working for Order against Chaos.

* We are ALL CHOSEN to become part of the movement from Non-Life to Life.

* We are commanded to increase Life and make it grow ever more like its Maker.

* The purpose of the Religious way of life is to create the nurturing ambience of memory and experience, of relationships and actions that sustain Human growth and turns it towards Yahweh.

* Being in the 'Image of God/YHWH brings with it more God like capacities. It bestows intrinsic Dignity, a climatic extension of that respect to which all of life is entitled.

* The People of Israel hold these Truths to be self-evident: That ALL Humans are created in 'The Image of YHWH/God; and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, among which are:

* Infinite Value

* Equality

* Uniqueness.

These are Birthrights of every Son & Daughter of Yahweh

The Sinai Event was the ultimate Social Engineering event.

The Torah is the first, and oldest Religious Book written in an Alephbet/ Alphabet........this alters the hegemony of the Brain to being left hemispherical centric=Abstract, linear and sequential. the ground for Theoretical Science....

Rabbi Greenberg

THE UNIVERSAL DESIRE FOR CLOSENESS TO God...AND THE SECRET OF THE SABBATH by Rabbi Chaim Richman

The following teaching from the riches of the Oral Tradition is about a level of understanding the Sabbath which is relevant to Jews and non-Jews alike. It is based on a teaching by Rabbi Chaim ben Atar (1746-1793), known as "the holy Light of Life," based on the title of his most famous work.

I. The World Intuitively Pines for G-d
Man - The Centerpiece of Creation
The created world can be divided into four basic categories: the inanimate, plant, animal, and 'speaking' life - man. Man, the highest level of creation, is the only creature endowed with the capability of speech, and this is what singles him out as a completely separate category - he has the greatest potential to develop a relationship with his Creator. He is the center of creation and its purpose and crowning achievement. For this reason, he was created last, and introduced into the Garden... to enable him to enter into a complete world, ready for him, furnished and equipped in advance to house its illustrious occupant.

Every Level of Creation Possesses a Soul
Man is followed by the members of the animal kingdom. Next in line comes the plant kingdom, and finally, inanimate creation - the lowest level of creation, as exemplified by stone. Even stone, the Torah teaches, possesses some degree of life-force, however weak. For it is impossible for something which the Holy One has created to be incapable of recognizing Him. Therefore, commensurate to that degree of life-force, awareness of the Divine could be said to exist within it...

Desire for Closeness to G-d... The Prime Mover
And so the soul, the essence, of every creature, each according to its level of understanding, has some inkling of the greatness of the Creator, and actually carries on a relationship with Him. This soul is constantly driven with endless passion to come closer to the source of all life, the Great and Perfect Light of the L-rd... how much more so should this be true among the higher, more spiritual elements of creation who understand to some extent what it means to 'cling' to the light of the living G-d.

All of Creation is United in the Desire for Closeness to G-d
Herein lies one of the greatest secrets of creation...

All life on earth... and even the actual physical elements that comprise the planet itself - the entire world as one, including every level of creation, from the lowest level of the inanimate - stones and earth, to the highest and most intelligent life-form, man himself; an endless pageant which spans every creature, plant and animal - all are constantly and inexorably united by an all-consuming, burning desire for G-d. This is the vital force which drives the world; this desire is the power which fuels the universe... it reverberates within the entire life-force, and the whole globe, like a man beating with one heart, knows on the deepest level with absolute clarity that there is nothing as sweet, desirable, and sustaining as 'Dveykut' - the ability to 'cling' close to the light of the Creator. This is the purpose of life itself, and on the deepest collective intuitive level, all are aware that nothing else is worth living for. This longing is itself the vital life-force of everything, and the entire world draws from it at once. In other words, this longing for G-d is what fuels the world to go on.

Because G-d is the Creator of all existence, He maintains an intimate link with each and every creature, regardless of its spiritual capacity. Obviously not all of creation is equal in spiritual sensitivity. Regardless of this, that link of intimate knowledge still exists, according to its degree of conciousness and development.

Three Revolutionary Innovations in Human History took place at Mount Sinai.

1: Abstract Ethical Monotheism

2: Universal Codified Law

3: An Alephbet 1,800 BCE

Abstract Ethical Monotheism rather than Polytheism, Rule of Law for All rather than the Divine Rights of Kings or Queens and an Aleph/Bet, less than thirty characters that replaced Iconographs/Ideograms and Hieroglyphs, enhancing Literacy amongst the masses.

The abstraction of all three innovations were mutually reinforcing.

YHWH/God proclaimed that there exists a Codex of morality that stands above Human intercourse.

The 10 Commandments applied universally to everyone. no King, Pharoah, or Potentate was above the Law.

Refutes the rubric that 'Might makes Right'.

YHWH/God expected all His Chosen People TO READ what He inspired to be written.

The Pentateuch is the oldest Religious Book written in an Alephbet-Alphabet. Prior books were written in Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs etc......

YHWH forbade anyone from visualizing Him. No Images. No Idolatry.

He sanctioned only the written word.

This promulgates equality and openness.

An overarching Theme of the Pentateuch, and ensuing Books of the Bible is: Justice for all.

A distinguishing feature of the Pentateuch from other belief systems of the Time is its dominating Theme of: Righteousness,

Living a pious life and obeying written law was/is more important than winning Battles, honouring the King, or sacrificing to a local god.

Justice for all was a unique community standard in an era when the dominant principle was a raised and clenched fist.

Unlike other ANE Sagas, the Exodus begins with the people shackled slaves.

Unlike other ANE Sagas, Yahweh 'Chose' the people rather than the people choosing their god.
This rediscovery allows each to uncover and affirm each others’ role in the Divine Plan. The Kingdom of Yahweh is advanced and comes closer.

'You are my witnesses says YHWH/God' Isaiah 43:10
The People of Israel are YHWHs Servants, 'Chosen' to witness to the loving Creator and the Divine Plan for Humanity and the Cosmos.

The People of Israel = not just the Israelis, or Jews, but to all who affirm that Yahweh has made a valid Covenant with Abraham and his descendants and all who take up the task of World Redemption so that the covenant can be fulfilled.

For that is the purpose of making the covenant.

Xns and Muslims are recognized as Abrahams children when they purge themselves of Supersessionist claims and hatred of Jews.

To be True to its Witness, the People of Israel tell 3 Stories to the World, the rest of Humanity, in the presence of Yahweh and in the presence of their fellow Humans.

1: They tell the Story of Creation, the Divine Vision of an intended perfect World. Jew & Xn stake their existence that this World will come to be.

2: The Story of the Covenant, the process operating between a Divine-Human partnership whereby our imperfect World will be brought back to that state of Perfection.

3: The Story of Redemption-sometimes called: 'The End of Days'-'The Messiah Story'-which is the culmination and realization of the process.

At the end, Holistic perfection will be achieved.
Peace between Humans.

Between Humans and all the rest of Life, between all Life and Nature itself, and between all of the above and Yahweh.

Three Stories add up to one comprehensive Story: The Triumph of Life

Before Monotheism there had never been Religious Warfare.

The Polytheistic Cultures were live and let live about other culture Deities and often borrowed and share aspects.

The Polytheistic Deities were usually Local Deities, not Universe/Worldwide.

Polytheist had National gods, Local gods, family gods and personal gods, even their pet animals had gods.

Abstract Ethical Monotheism was a Major Advance along the road to Enlightenment, but came at a high cost.

Abstract Ethical Monotheism encouraged people to think in new ways. An Abstract Ethical Monotheistic Creator Being not tied to a concrete Image/Picture is a very Abstract Concept..

Abstraction is a crucial component of Logical Reasoning and its use can liberate people from superstition.

Devotion to an Abstract Deity has a Heavy price.

If everyone agrees there is only one, true, Living Creator Being, and different groups conceive of it in different ways, then whose perception of that Deity is the correct one?

Examine each groups’ values and praxis.

Different perceptions have inspired some groups to wage war and engage in forced conversions.

This never occurred in Polytheistic Cultures.

They had many wars but for the usual mundane reasons, Land, Treasure, Women, Power over others for the sake of Power alone, but they never waged Religious War.

One effect of an Alphabetic based Abstract Ethical Monotheism is the brain is using a new abstract, linear, sequential, and reductionist means of communication which moves people who learn it and use it into a Left Brain, Masculine Mode, rather than the usual Pictographic, Feminine Right Brain Mode.

The Aleph/Alphabet subliminally coaxes users to be intolerant of other Iconic Systems of Beliefs.

This is illuminated in the Ten Commandments.

As stated before, Judaism is the first religion to be based upon universal literacy, the written word.

When Moses came down from his meet and greet with YHWH on the mountain, the multitude had fashioned an Idol/Golden Calf, this so upset Moses he dropped the two stone Tablets upon which YHWH/God had written the ten commandments.

Allegorically: In the first confrontation between Image and Written Word, both were destroyed.

As the story goes, Moses returned to the Mountain Top and Yahweh provided him with another set.

The 10 Commandments; The first four Commandments are for the Recognition and service/Worship of YHWH/God, the remaining six focus on our fellow humans, loving and serving them.

The Commandment to Honour Both Father and Mother elevates and recognizes the importance and status of Women in the Family Group.

Love your neighbour is not one of the Ten but appears in the Torah/Instruction, Leviticus 19:18.

The last six commandments are not unusual, and found in other Codices of Laws, The First four Commandments are Unique.

Each one of the first four commandments encourages Alphabetic Literacy by rejecting the Right Brains way of 'knowing'.

One effect of a new, abstract, linear, sequential and reductionist means of communication moves people who learn it into a Left Brain, Masculine Mode.

Social Engineering.

The 10 Commandments: The First four concern Recognition/Respect and Service/Worship of Yahweh.

The remaining six are love and respect of fellow humans.

The Ethics they embody are more sophisticated than other contemporary ANE Cultures.

The commandment to honour BOTH Father and Mother signifies the womens important role and in the Family Unit.

Loving your Neighbours is in the General Torah/Instruction: Leviticus 19:18

The last six commandments are not unusual, the first four commandments are unique. Each of the first four encourage Alphabetic literacy by rejecting the right brains way of knowing.

The First Commandment:

20:2 I am Yahweh thy Elohim, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

20:3 Thou shall have no other elohim before me.

In one fell swoop demoted all other elohim/gods & goddesses to nothings.

Nothing personal, it was business.

The Meta-Message of the First Commandment is that Yahweh is the Master of the Universe, He is self-existent, and all other elohim/gods & goddesses are created beings, subservient to Him.

Psalm 82

82:1 Yahweh stands in the congregation of El; he judges among the elohim.

82:2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

82:4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

82:5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

82:6 I have said, You are elohim; and all of you are children of the most High.

82:7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

82:8 Arise, O Yahweh, judge the earth: for thou shall inherit all nations.

All of Yahwehs’ Titles are masculine.

The First Commandment is a radical break with the Hebrews past environment. Moses and the Hebrews had left Egypt which was Polytheistic, alot of gods and goddesses worship.

Yahweh declares there is no worship of other gods or goddesses.

Perhaps the most radical sentence ever written.

The Second Commandment:

20:4 Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I; Yahweh thy Elohim am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

No Graven Images, Icons or Idols, Statues.

Learning to think without Images is indispensable to Alphabetic Literacy. The Power formerly rendered to Images/Pictures is now transferred to the written word.

Make no Graven Images is a ban/restraint on Right Brain Pattern Recognition.

The Third Commandment:

20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy Elohim in vain; for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Do not use Yahwehs Name vainly, with Malintent. Again; Left Brain.

Yahwehs first instruction to adam isto Name all the critters. Through Naming, Adam attains dominion over all the Earth. Naming confers meaning and order, moving Life from Chaos to Order.

To Name is to know, to know is to control. Order out of Chaos.

The Fourth Commandment:

20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

20:10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of thy Elohim: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

20:11 For in six days made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Seven Days are not a Natural Break Point in any of Earths Major Natural Rhythmic Cycles-Lunar-Solar, except the Quarter Moon.

This facilitates the learning of Arithmetic.

Leviticus 25:3-10 is about the Jubilee Years, the 50th,

No other Ancient Near East culture at that time had instructed the general population to compute complex time periods, this had formerly been the domain of the Priestly Castes.

The Time Commandment lays the foundation for the concept of Justice, a well developed sense of Linear Time is necessary to conceive of Punishment delayed and Rewards postponed.

Non-Literate Cultures are not as pre-occupied with the notion/concept of Justice as the Literate, because they do not conceive of time only as linear.

Non-Literate Societies tend to think of death as a passage to another World, not as a Day in Court.

Alphabets stretch out the sense of Time and make possible the awareness of the possibility of a retribution Time in the distant future.

A Judgement Day only occurs in Literate Cultures.

Alphabet Literate Cultures became aware of writing History in a Linear, Chronological sequencing of Events.

The fourth Commandments Mechanical/Sociological ramifications is instructing people to be aware of Passing Time.

This was the advent of the seven day week, and a day off every week.

A day off for ALL Humans, Free and Bond, and ALL Beasts of Burden one day a week and the Farmland to lay fallow every seven years to rejuvinate the enzymes in the ground.

This led to Sundials, waterclocks, Pendulums, Escape Mechanisms, Cogs, Gears, Calenders.

Time is a key function of the Left Brain.

Each of the First Four Commandments trains people in the ability to: Think Abstractly, linearly and sequentially.

Collectively, they produce a Mindset that enhances the use and facility of Alphabetic Literacy.

This Technology welded the small group into a cohesive and coherent Nation/Culture.

What occurred at/in Sinai was unique, the Authority of the Written Word superseded the authority of the Image.

Reiterating the Revolutionary Innovations that occurred at Mount Sinai:

1: Abstract Ethical Monotheism emerged,

2:Universal Codified Laws establishing Moral Ethics

3: The Alephbet-Proto Alphabet emerged. The Hebrews reduced thosands of Images/Hieroglyphs/Petroglyphs/Ideograms/Pictograms into two dozen Characters, enabling Universal Literacy

For the first time ever, Religion demanded the follower be Literate. It is Commanded the Fathers obtain Scrolls of the Torah and teach them to their children.

Moses Commanded; Thou shall read the Law before all Israel Deut-31:10,11

The Reading of the Torah remains the most sacred obligation of every Jew.

Yahweh was concerned, unlike other gods, about the actions of everyone of His people.

Yahweh actually cares.

If someone was cheating/exploiting widows and orphans, mistreating strangers and slaves.etc.......YHWH knew and became wrathful.

The polytheistic gods did not.

Yahweh in His written Laws provided preventive Medicine, unknown to Egypt and Mesopotamis.

He explicitly spelled out in excruciating detail and minutia exactly what He expected from each and every Israelite.

Each Israelite established a personal relationship with Yahweh.

All of Yahwehs Laws were written down and everybody knew them.

It was an absolute Judaic condition that every male was literate.

Ignorance of the Law was no defence.

The Hebrews were the first culture to universally embrace Alphabetic writing, the Torah is the first/oldest Religious Book written in an Alphabet.

The 10 Commandments were transmitted in a written Alephbetic form; Paleo-Hebrew.

Abstract letters/grammatical sequence/uniconsonantal phenomes.

The Alephbet/Alphabet introduced and enabled the possibility of Universal Literacy

So once upon a time in the Sinai Desert a radical new communication technology emerged that would forever change cultural perceptions and that the first people to utilize it would introduce fundamental principles and features underpinning Western Civilisation.

Historical Data: Proto-Sinaitic Alephbet=precursor of the Alphabet.

Discovered by Sir William Flinders Petrie, very early 20th century. Dated to: 1,800 BCE

Egyptian Coptic 2,000 years later/after

Tell el Armana Cache Phoenician 1,450 BCE letters from Canaanite Leaders to Akhenaton were scribed in Cuneiform

Akkadian Cuneiform after Sumerian Conquest.

An amazing vortex of Science and History occurred in the Sinai that the worlds’ oldest alphabet was found where the Hebrew Nation had their seminal experience.

Yet another Unique Concept brought forth at Mount Sinai is the Concept of Free Will.

Throughout the Ancient Near East, Babylon, Egypt.etc......humans 'believed their fate, destiny was in the hands of the gods.

The Sinaitic Covenant convinced the Israelites that every decision was theirs to make: Choose Life or Choose Death.

The choice between Right and Wrong was upon the individual. This beget the concept of Guilt, 'Guilty Conscious'; an internal Quality Control.

Moral Realtivist may consider this an ambiguous area, but is it really?

Bottom Line of what occurred at Sinai, those many years ago, the Power that once had been given to pictures was transferred to written words.

The Power of the Right Brain was Transferred to the Left Brain.

The Alephbet/Alphabet is the Book of Yahwehs/Bibles Eminence Grise-The unsuspected power.

Superorganisms/memes compete, as one Entelechy rises, others fall.

Of all the ANE Superorganisms/Memes, only the Jews have survivied.

Alphabetic Literacy profoundly reconfigured the relationship between the Hebrews and their Deity and between the Hebrews and their neighbours. The other ANE cultures.

The Jews have an unshakable faith.

The Religious beliefs of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Hyskos, Hurrians, Cretans, Mittani, Assyrians, Persians, Canaanites, Ugarites, Akkadians, Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Philistines, and Roman Belief Systems have diminished greatly and most have disappeared.
The Hebrew Faith has withstood the Viscitudes of times, surviving catastrophes that should have extinguished them.

From the Alphabet Effect and the Oxford Companion to the Brain/Mind

Left /Western Culture....Right /Eastern Culture

Left Brain Oriented ..................Right Brain Oriented

Alphabet .......................................Ideograms

Linear .............................................Non-Linear

Visual................................................Acoustical

Logical ..............................................Analogical

Deductive ........................................Inductive.

Abstract ................................................Concrete

Causal....................................................Mystical

Rational ................................................Intuitive.

Specialist...............................................Generalist.

Centralized............................................Decentralized

Universal ................................................Local

Fragmented ............................................Integrative

Time Oriented........................................Space Oriented

Progressive .............................................Traditional

Continuous Time.................................. Cyclic Time

Geometric ................................................Algebraic

Abstract Science ....................................Concrete Science

Natural Law ..............................................Order & Pattern

Technology.............................................. Craft.

Exploitation............................................. Invention

System .......................................................Technique

Codified Law ..........................................Customs-Mores (confucious)

Monotheism ............................................Harmony of Nature (Tao)

Absolutism...............................................Relativity

The Human Brain has three evolutionary layers.

1: The Reptilian Brain=Instinctual

2: The Paleo-Mammalian= generates Emotions

3: The Cerebral NeoCortex=Imagination, Intelligence-Right and Left Hemispheres, Corpus Callosum-capable of Art & Physics

The three brains in one operate like three interconnected biological computers, each with its own subjectivity, its own special intelligence, and its own sense of Time & Space.

The Atavistic Human Reptilian Brain-The R-Complex, contains Programmes that are rigid, compulsive, ritualistic and paranoid.

The Paleo-Mammalian Brain-The Limbic System is the seat of archaic emotions that drive feeding, fleeing, fighting, and sex-they ensure survival.
All emotions are either pleasant or unpleasant-Pleasure & Pain are the two criteria of Judgement of the Limbic System, judges all experience.

Of the two cortical Hemispheres the Right Brain is in more direct communication with the archaic reptilian instincts and primative mammalian emotions.

An instinct permits no variation in an organisms response to a specific stimulus-Instincts are 'Hard Wired' forcing the organism to respond reflexively & repititously to any particular stimulus.

In mammals emotions may be considered the truncated remnants of reptilian instincts.

A specific stimulus detected by mammalian sensory apparatus always activates the same release of complex chains of neuro-transmitters and hormones.

Emotions impels mammals and hyper-conscious primates to commit repetitive instinctual behavioural patterns.

Fear impels flight or fight responses, hate, anger, jealousy impels them to kill, envy and greed impel them to steal, lust will impel them to cast aside caution and behave in a manner that could compromise their safety and/or survival.

Be that as it may-mammals have more complex brains then reptiles and can make decisions, and are therefore capable of making choosing between different responses.

Humans, due to the development/gift of the Cerebral Cortex; have Freewill, which enables us to override our emotions and modulate our response to environmental provocations.

* Humans have many choices

* Mammals have few

* Reptiles have none at all

Characteristics of the Right Brain

BEING-IMAGES-METAPHORS-MUSIC

"All At Once" 'Holistic' 'Gestalt'

Characteristics of the Left Brain

DOING-WORDS-ABSTRACT THINKING-NUMBER SENSE

"One at a time" Abstract, Linear, Sequential

RIGHT BRAIN

1: 'BEING': appreciates 'Feeling State'--complex expressions of emotions-Laughter-Faith-Patriotism-Ectasy-Grief-Love--Etc..Aesthetic Appreciation and Harmony.

There is no precise nomenclature for 'Feeling State', they are subjective, they cannot be precisely enumerated in scientific language, they remain ambiguous. They are: NONDISCURSIVE.

'Feeling States' are Non-Logical; they confute the rules of conventional reasoning.

As Blaise Pascal so succinctly put it: "Le Couer a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas" The heart has reasons that reason will never know...........

'Feeling States' are authentic, the experience of Love, Hate, Joy, Grief, are known with an internal authority that is beyond the Realm of Debate.

The essence of a 'Joke', Faith in a God, Patriotism, Love are non-discursive, non-logical and authentic.

Intuition/Hunches, or why an object/subject is beautiful to one person but not to another.

Each 'Feeling state' lies beyond the tight circle of logic. When compelled to explain affective States, people usually rely upon that old tautological response: 'It is because it is'.

'Feeling States' do not progress in a linear process, Getting a Joke, Intuitive Insights come out of nowhere, Love at first sight, religious conversions ala Damascus Road are -"All at Once".

2: Images-Comprehension of Images--The Right Hemisphere takes in the 'Big Picture' in a holistic manner, it appreciates the relationship of the parts to the whole. The Right Brain assimilates Images as Gestalts-seeing 'All at Once'.

3: Metaphor: A mental innovation arising out of a unique combination of 'Feeling States' and Images.

Greek Root-Meta=Over and Above-Meta-normal

Phor-Pherein=to bear across

A Metaphor allows/causes the 'Leap' across the chasm of one thought to another thought. Metaphors have several different levels of meaning simutaneously (All at Once) perceived and supplies plasticity to otherwise rigid language.

Communicating any affective, emotional 'Feeling State' requires the usage of Metaphor because the so called objective world can be described, measured and catalogued with scientific precision, the internal, subjective world of emotions eludes precise Scientific Analysis.

The verbal art of metaphor is poetry.

Metaphors linguistic cousins are: Similies, analogies, allegories, proverbs and parables. Each allow simultaneous levels of interpreting one single set of words.

Dream Interpretation, Myths, Religions, Dreaming is Right Brain-it is said Dreams are to the individual; what myths and legends are to the society.

The most potent combination of Metaphor & Image is Art.

Visual Art is non-discursive, non-logical and authentic.

the Artistes device is to use visual metaphor to transport a viewer from a neutral affective state to complex 'Feeling States'.

Awe, Shock, Pleasure, ............

When the Artiste is successful the viewer is Transported Metaphorically 'Bearing' us 'across and above'. There is no Transitory State, it is an 'All at Once', Quantuum Leap. That is Great Art, it is Successful.

4: Music-Ability to appreciate and create music is Right Brain. The appreciation of music is an emotion we share with more primative animals.

Music demonstrates the Right Brains ability to process information as an 'All at Once' holistic gestalt by utilizing multiple; incoming; converging determinants and integrating them synthetically.

Simultaneity is the opposite of linear, sequential time, is unique to the Right Brain whose home ground is the realm of visio-spatial context, correlating parts to a whole whilst intuiting diverse relationships amongst them.

Multiple determinants, multiple emotions, multiple meanings, multiple images and multiple sounds converging into one State can be expressed through the metaphor of Space. The Right Brain excels at the appreciation of spatial dimensions and judging distances.

Driving, Skiing, and Dancing are in the dominion of the Right Brain.

The Right Brains principal attributes: BEING-IMAGES-METAPHORS & MUSIC echo evolutionary techniques used by mammals to comprehend Reality, All at Once, and are perceived holistically.

Left Brain

The Left Brains modus operendi is: 'DOING' rather than 'BEING'

An accepted rubric of Brain Laterization is the Respective Hemispheres control the opposite side muscular appendages--Left Brain=Right Hand--Right Brain=Left Hand.

The Act of 'willing' is Left Brain, the Right Hand Throws, Gathers, Fabricates.etc......

Rather than Simutaneity/All at once; what makes us 'Homo Faber' the Toolmaker is our sense of an Abstract, Linear, Sequential series of 'Steps', 'Moves', 'Processes' that exist in Linear sequential Time which is necessary for Craftwork, Hunting etc.

Words-Vocalisations are Left Brain-Language is action Oriented, we abstract, discriminate, analyze and dissect the World into pieces-objects-catagories-that we can then grasp metaphorically and literally. A vocabulary is a Tool Set by which we act upon the environment.

From the Left Brain issues the generation and comprehension of speech with its intricacies of grammar, syntax and semantics.

Speech enables us to not only communicate with others but allows us to talk within ourselves and to ourselves.

Lower Creatures can SIGNAL
Advanced animals can INFORM
Only humans can Question, Dispute and Reason.

Abstract Thinking: This is the ability to process information/Data without the use of Images/Pictures and is the opposite of Metaphorical Thinking.

Words are Image substitutes the mind uses in building Concepts and to solve problems. When Humans evolved beyond thinking in Pictures they made a transformative evolutionary leap.

Previously meaningless phonemes/vocalisations became the words of speech and the tools of abstract thought.

Later when they combined the meaningless letters of an arbitrary alphabet to form visual words to represent the World, they created the Worlds very first Abstract art Form-The Alephbet.

Written Alphabetic Language. The Human Race had combined meaningless sounds with meaningless symbols and and created Civilization!

Abstract Thinking is usually performed within the Context of Causality which evolved from earlier Hominids perceiving, catagorizing the World into Spatial Events occuring in Time. Sunrise/Sunset--High Tide/Low Tide--Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter.

The Human ability to recognize the intersection of Space & Time may be the precurser condition to recognize Causality and thus Formulate Logic.

The primary benefit of our Species derived from the use of Abstract Thinking was the strengthening of Foresight.

Logic is dependent on the proposition of: If-Then

A hypothetical 'IF' Scenario or idea is formulated in the mind and then placed left of 'NOW' (the past), next a hypothetical 'Then' scenario or idea is placed to the Right of 'NOW' (the future)

One may now apply Forced Logic, and Inductive and Deductive Reasoning to mentally deduce the probability of the 'IF' proposition leading to the 'THEN' proposition and initiate, modify or withold ACTION.

Logic is NOT Holistic, nor is it conceived of as a GESTALT, it depends upon an Abstract Linear Sequence.

IF-THEN Syllogisms are a reliable method of Foretelling/Predicting the Future Events thus replacing Omens, Portents; Oracles, Tarot, Astrology etc....

The Rules of Logic form the foundation of Science, Business and militatary Strategy.

Logical Thinking stands apart from other mental activities like: imagining, intuiting, reflecting, reminiscing, ruminating and daydreaming in that Logical Thinking relies upon a belief in a rigid coordinate system of Absolute Space and Invariant Time-

Number Sense: Ability to count originates in the Visio-Spatial Right Brain, and all higher animals can perceive and separate the concept of 'Oneness'; 'Twoness' and 'Manyness'. The Human ability to manipulate larger numbers is Suis Generis/Unique.

Calculation requires a level of Abstraction beyond the Realm of the Right Brain.

The Left Brain Rules Language and Numbers, the Language of Numbers is Mathematics, which arranges meaningless symbols which represent numbers into simple arithmetic, or into intricate, infinitesimal calculus.

When small children learn the alphabet they also learn mathematics.

The Left Brains innovative features: Doing, Words, Abstract Thinking and Number sense are processed in Abstract Linear Sequential Time.

To develop Craftwork Strategy, Language Logic and Mathematics the mind must range back and forth along the line of: Past-Present-Future.
The ability to fashion a Tool arises out of the Left Brain and relies upon the ability to memorize a series of steps in linear sequence.

The dominant hand is a specialized limb that is an extension of sequential Left Hemisphere.

Logic, Algebra, Physics equations all proceed in Time-Line by Line Proofs are the essence of higher math.

A series of numbers is a sequence.

Right Brain: Phylogenetic Learning, vision based and dependent on Space.

Left Brain: Learns Data/Information by rote in sequence-Time.

Right Brain: Holistic, Synthetic integration of Being, Images, Metaphors, Music-Functions: 'ALL AT ONCE'-All can be mapped using the vectors of Space.
Left Brain: Doing, Words, Abstract Thinking, and Number sense. Functions: 'ONE AT A TIME' All can be mapped by linear sequential Time.

Being, Metaphor, Image and Music are the Essence of Art.
Doing, reason, Abstract Thinking and Number sense are the essence of Physics

"From the point of view of evolutionary epistemology, the principle lesson of both special and general relativity theories is this: Human /beings are organisms capable of manipulating internal representations of the World by means of concrete operations and can transcend the bounds of their biologically given perceptione. They can liberate themselves and construct a view of reality that conflicts with intuition, yet gives a truer, more encompassing view."

Max Delbruck

"Time & Space are real Beings, a Male & a Female, Time is a Man, Space is a Woman"

William Blake

Bibliography:

For the Sake of Heaven and Earth Dr. Rabbi Irving Greenberg

"Long Night's Journey into Day Ekhardt

The Lucifer Principle

Global Brain, the Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century

Howard Bloom

http://howardbloom.net/

http://howardbloom.net/lucifer/links.html

Art & Physics

The Alphabet vs. the Goddess

Dr. Leonard Shlain

http://www.alphabetvsgoddess.com/

The Genesis Enigma: Why the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate by Dr Andrew Parker

The Alphabet Effect: Dr. Robert K. Logan

the Oxford Companion to the Mind

http://www.oup.com/uk/booksites/content/0198662246/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1262027/

The Divine Council Dr. Michael S Heiser

http://www.michaelsheiser.com/

So What Exactly is an Elohim?

http://www.thedivinecouncil.com/What%20is%20an%20Elohim.pdf cheers

MoMo Thu Sep 08, 2011 3:11 pm

......................For those who falsely claim that Yahshua Messiah/Jesus 'Did away with' the Torah/Laws of YHWH, I challenge you to explain these verses of Scripture.

http://www.eliyah.com/thescriptures/

Matthew 4
1 Then Yahshua was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the devil.

2 And after having fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

3 And the trier came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of Elohim, command that these stones become bread.”

4 But He answering, said, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of YHWH.’ ”

5 Then the devil took Him up into the set- apart city, set Him on the edge of the Set- apart Place,

6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of Elohim, throw Yourself down. For it has been written, ‘He shall command His messengers concerning you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, so that you do not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

7 Yahshua said to him, “It has also been written, ‘You shall not try YHWH your Elohim.’ ”

8 Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain, and showed Him all the reigns of the world, and their esteem,

9 and said to Him, “All these I shall give You if You fall down and worship me.”

10 Then Yahshua said to him, “Go, Satan! For it has been written, ‘You shall worship YHWH your Elohim, and Him alone you shall serve.’

Yahshua cites Torah 3 Times with Authority....beaware of the False Teachers.

Is the New Testament Yahweh's Word?

Don't Accept The New Testament As Yahweh's Word On The Basis Of Human Tradition
http://www.serveyahweh.org/Religion/newtestament.htm

In the context of the New Testament canon Yahweh's people should not accept that the New Testament is Yahweh's word simply on the basis of human tradition. For Yah'shuah has shown that human tradition is NOT the basis for determining true worship. The New Testament, or any portion of it, should only be accepted as Yahweh's word only where it is fully in harmony with Yahweh's commandment. But if it, or any portion of it, is not fully in harmony with Yahweh's commandment it cannot and should not be accepted as Yahweh's word or commandment!

Live By Every Word That Proceeds Out Of Yahweh's Mouth

Matthew 4:4 reads,

4:4But he answered, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’"

In these comments Yah'shuah quoted from Moses' words to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:3,

8:3He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live.

Truth Is Yahweh's Word

John 17:17 reads,

17:17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

It is therefore clear from Yah'shuah's words that human beings are to live by every word proceeding out of the mouth of Yahweh. He also defines truth as Yahweh's word. Therefore living by the truth is living by Yahweh's word, living by Yahweh's commandment. This is what human beings are to live by, and not by human tradition, especially human tradition contrary to Yahweh's word.

To Believe Yah'shuah You Must Believe Moses' Writings

John 5:46-47 reads,

5:46For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. 5:47But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

Yah'shuah's words show that it is necessary for one to believe Moses' writings in order to believe him. In other words, those who believe Moses' writings are the ones who believe Yah'shuah, and those who do not believe Moses' writings are the one who do not believe Yah'shuah. Yah'shuah therefore implicitly affirmed that Moses' writings are indeed Yahweh's word.

Yah'shuah Didn't Destroy The Law Or The Prophets

Matthew 5:17-18 reads,

5:17"Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 5:18For most assuredly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

Yah'shuah therefore affirmed that the law and the prophets, the writings he affirmed as Yahweh's word, would continue in applicability even up to the time of the passing away of heaven and earth. Seeing that heaven and earth are still with us it is indeed the conclusion that nothing has passed away from the law, and it remains in full application.

Yah'shuah Commanded His Disciples To Abide By Moses' Authority

Matthew 23:1-4 reads,

23:1Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, 23:2saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat. 23:3All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. 23:4For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

Yah'shuah commanded human beings, including his disciples, to abide by the authority vested in Moses. In other words, he simply affirmed his word in Matthew 5:17-18, on the continuing applicability of the law or Yahweh's word as delivered by Moses to the children of Israel.

Believe What The Prophets Have Spoken

Luke 24:25-27 reads,

24:25He said to them, "Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 24:26Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?" 24:27Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Yah'shuah's usage of the writings of Moses and those of the prophets shows that he acknowledged these as Yahweh's word. For in Matthew 4 and 15 he clearly taught that human beings are to live only by Yahweh's word, and here he was indeed teaching his disciples by the writings of Moses and the prophets. Yah'shuah therefore acknowledged that the writings of Moses and the prophets are indeed Yahweh's word.

Live By The Writings In The Law Of Moses, The Prophets And The Psalms

Luke 24:42-49 reads,

24:42They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. 24:43He took it, and ate in front of them. 24:44He said to them, "This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled."

24:45Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 24:46He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 24:47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 24:48You are witnesses of these things. 24:49Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high."

According to Yah'shuah the collection of writings that made up Yahweh's word, what all human beings are to live by, is that called the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms - what is today called the Old Testament. This is synonymous with the Scriptures, according to the author of the above words - Luke.

Yah'shuah's Disciples Of All Nations Are To Observe The Things He Personally Commanded His Disciples

Matthew 28:18-20 reads,

28:18Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 28:19Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 28:20teaching them to observe all things which I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Yah'shuah clearly commanded his disciples to teach new disciples of all nations to observe all things that he had commanded his disciples. He commanded them to live by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh's mouth. He also showed them that Yahweh's word is contained in the writings called the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms (writings), now commonly known as the Old Testament. Therefore, the things that Yah'shuah's disciples are to observe are those that are contained in the writings commonly called the Old Testament. For observing the things in these writings is indeed living by words proceeding out of the mouth of Yahweh, seeing that words that proceeded out of Yahweh's mouth are contained in these writings.

Yahweh's Word To His Disciples Concerning Verification Of Words

Isaiah 8:16-20 reads,

8:16Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 8:17I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 8:18Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion. 8:19When they shall tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn’t a people consult with their God? On behalf of the living should they consult with the dead? 8:20To the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.

8:16 clearly shows that the testimony (prophets and writings) and the law (of Moses) should be bound and sealed among Yahweh's disciples. And in matters of light Yahweh's disciples are not to consult with forces of darkness. They are to consult only the law and the testimony. In other words, the very writings that Yah'shuah later used in affirming that he was indeed the Messiah, the law of Moses, the prophets and the writings, are the very same ones that Yahweh commands his disciples to consult. For light is contained in his word, which is recorded in these writings. And anyone speaking contrary to his word in these writings is devoid of light. In other words, any writing that is contrary to the law of Moses, the prophets and the writings is not Yahweh's word, but a word and work of darkness!

Another Test Yahweh Gives His People Concerning Verification Of Words

Deuteronomy 18:9-22 reads,

18:9When you are come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 18:10There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, 18:11or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 18:12For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh: and because of these abominations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you. 18:13You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God. 18:14For these nations, that you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice sorcery, and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do. 18:15Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from the midst of you, of your brothers, like me; to him you shall listen; 18:16according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. 18:17Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. 18:18I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 18:19It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 18:20But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 18:21If you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken? 18:22When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken: the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you shall not be afraid of him.

Don't Listen To Those Who Practice Abominations

Yahweh clearly warned the children of Israel not to listen to those who practice abominations - the practices of darkness as seen in Isaiah 8:16-20. It is on account of both practising these abominations and listening to the practitioners of these abominations that Yahweh cast out of the land of Canaan those who inhabited it prior to the children of Israel.

Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs' False_teachers

rodin Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:33 pm

See that guy YHWH? Apparently he and his chosen genocided entire populations, man woman and child.

So he can get to fuck as far as I am concerned

MoMo Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:17 pm

rodin wrote: See that guy YHWH? Apparently he and his chosen genocided entire populations, man woman and child.

So he can get to fuck as far as I am concerned

Yet you claim to be a 'Christian'; a 'follower of Jesus'; yet do to your ignorance you never knew who 'Jesus' truly is.........then again, you don't know who, or what YHWH is.......Here is YHWHs Plans and Instruction, are you able to comprehend this Data? ...was this Historical Data/Facts beyond your comprehension? Where did the values and principles of the modern world come from? http://www.aish.com/ci/s/48899267.html . thumbs up

1.Respect for Human Life. In a perfect world, all people would be guaranteed certain basic human rights, paramount among which must be the right to life. They should be able to live that life without constant fear of its loss and with certain basic dignity.
2.Peace and Harmony. On all levels -- whether communal or global -- people and nations should co-exist in peace and harmony with respect for each other.
3.Justice and Equality. All people, regardless of race, sex, or social status should be treated equally and fairly in the eyes of the law.
4.Education. Everyone should receive a basic education that would guarantee functional literacy within society.
5.Family. A strong, stable family structure needs to exist to serve as the moral foundation for society and as the most important institution for socializing/educating children.
6.Social Responsibility. On an individual, community, national and global level, people must take responsibility for the world. This should include an organized social network to address basic concerns such as disease, poverty, famine, crime, drug-related problems, as well as environmental and animal protection issues.

Genesis-Bereshith: In the Beginning

26And Elohim said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the earth.”

27And Elohim created the man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him – male and female He created them.

28And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Bear fruit and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creatures moving on the earth.”

29And Elohim said, “See, I have given you every plant that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it is for food.

30“And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping creature on the earth, in which there is life, every green plant is for food.” And it came to be so. 31And Elohim saw all that He had made, and see, it was very good

Tzelem Elokim=Humankind as Image of YHWH/God

1: Has Intelligence

2: Has Freewill

3: Has component of Spiritual Being-A Soul

4: HaShem/YHWH Rules the Universe and Spirit World, Humans have dominion over the Lower World.

5: Has the faculty of Judgement

6: Has an inherent Holiness and Dignity

As created in the image of God, humans are endowed with "three intrinsic dignities": infinite value, equality, and uniqueness.

The first means that human life cannot be weighed, measured, or compared in terms of, that is, subordinated to, any other value. In the Kantian Parlance humans are always a goal or end in themselves and never a means to something else.

The second term implies that no person or group is privileged over another. In fact, Idolatry results when a person or group absolutizes itself or its message.

The third idea reinforces the dignity of every human by insisting that each person is irreplaceable and has a special role to play in the redemption of the world.

The Jewish religion is founded on the divine assurance and human belief that the world will be perfected." Judaism engages with and seeks to overcome these realities of history through its notion of covenant. The covenant is that dynamic which God inaugurated in history, that partnership between God and the Jewish people, to achieve the dignities for which all humans were created. Jews are those teachers, models, and co-workers-having both a divine and human partners - whom God designated to help all persons and even nature achieve redemption. For Greenberg, the messianic dream of perfection will not be realized by divine fiat, but by "improving this world, one step at a time."

These understandings of God, humans, and the world are expressed through the Torah and lived-out by the Jewish people through the Holy days and the Halakhah. In this view, Torah is that divine teaching which stands as "the constitution of the ongoing relationship of God and the Jewish people."

Rabbi Greenberg

This expanded view/articulation of higher values help us to search for YHWHs presence in the secular Realms of Life, some peeps call this: 'Holy Secularism'.

The Covenant is essentially a Divine, Loving, Pedagogic process. As Humans become more competent, YHWH invites them to take up a more active role in the Task of Tikkun Olam/World to Come, as Co-Creators.

The lay people of YHWH/God play a more influential role in discerning Yahwehs purpose and in carrying out His Divine Mandates.

Later, ensuing Historical events reshape understandings of earlier Teachings.

Summarized

We=ALL Living things-creatures-sustained and Nurtured by Yahweh-will fill the World with Life.

* We will reshape the Historical Reality, the Flesh & Blood world we inhabit, to sustain that Life at the highest possible level.

* Life will multiply and triumph Quantitatively over all its enemies; including Entropy, Death, and Disorder.

* Life will equally triumph Qualitatively.

* All of Lifes’ capacities/potentials will be developed fully and realized.

* When Life blossoms to its fullest capacity that treats all Life, especially Human Life-the most developed form-and sustains it with the highest and fullest respect that it deserves, then Life will be in harmony with existence and deeply related to Yahweh, its Source and Sustainer(Natural Laws)

* This is the Jews Story, and by default; the Christians/Xns.

* Telling the Story of Creation is the Jews 'Witness'. The present evidentiary Facts contradict the Narrative fairly substantialy.

* Yet, This Story of Creation is shared by Jews and Christians

* This Story leads Humans to see existence as best they can, from a Cosmic Perspective-Sub Specie Aeternitatis.

* From that Vantage Point there are Three Grand Movements in the unfolding Pattern of the Cosmos

1: The World is moving from Chaos to Order. From the Big Bang, with no Laws of Nature to the regularity of the Life sustaining Laws of Nature.

2: The World is moving from Non-Life to Life. From a State in which no life existed to the emergence of Life. From one cell, untold replications, life has grown Quantitatively, and developed Qualitatively. It has luxuriated and spread into a vast range of forms over and through a variety of sustaining conditions/environments.

* The declaration that Life is growing, moving from non-life to life is counter-intuitive.
Death & Entropy refute that contention.

The 'Key' is YHWH/God-The Hidden, Infinite Source of Life with limitless Goodness, Love and Power that sustains Life and Nurtures every possible Form of Life into Being.

* YHWH, the Divine Source evokes the Third Grand Movement of the Cosmos

3: Life is growing ever more to resemble its Ground: YHWH

Life moves from being less to becoming more and more like Yahweh. The highest form of Life, the Human Being, represents the High Point reached thus far.

In Human Form, life so resembles its Maker that it is called; Biblically; 'The Image of God'

* This emergence of "The Image of God" is the Turning Point in Cosmic History according to Jews & Christians.

Up to that point Life has been sworn to 'Be Fruitful & Multiply' (maximizing reproductive success) through a built-in control Programme-A 'Selfish Gene'- that drives the process.

* The 'Image of God' Consciousness is so much like YHWHs that Humans are able to 'grasp' this overall pattern of which we, ourselves are part, and to join voluntarily in its realization.

* Similarly, the Human 'Image of YHWH/God has a capacity to Love ALL their fellow creatures and every aspect of the Universe, as well as the Maker of it all and the Beauty of the Plan.

* Once Humans understand and embrace this understanding, they will lovingly identify with and willingly participate in the process of Perfection.

* YHWH has invited us, as Humans, The 'Image of God', to enter into a Covenantal Partnership, committed to Love, to join fully in perfecting the Universe.

Tikkun Olam

* The People of Israel joyfully acknowledge that YHWHs first Covenant, the Noahide Covenant, never superseded, is made with ALL Humanity, not exclusively with Jews and/or Christians alone.

* It is made with ALL Sentient Beings.

* ALL Beings are called to recognize and participate in Natures Patterns.

* To accept Limits.

* To Direct their choices and actions in favour of Life.

* To join in working for Order against Chaos.

* We are ALL CHOSEN to become part of the movement from Non-Life to Life.

* We are commanded to increase Life and make it grow ever more like its Maker.

* The purpose of the Religious way of life is to create the nurturing ambience of memory and experience, of relationships and actions that sustain Human growth and turns it towards Yahweh.

* Being in the 'Image of God/YHWH brings with it more God like capacities. It bestows intrinsic Dignity, a climatic extension of that respect to which all of life is entitled.

* The People of Israel hold these Truths to be self-evident: That ALL Humans are created in 'The Image of YHWH/God; and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, among which are:

* Infinite Value

* Equality

* Uniqueness.

These are Birthrights of every Son & Daughter of Yahweh

The Sinai Event was the ultimate Social Engineering event.

The Torah is the first, and oldest Religious Book written in an Alephbet/ Alphabet........this alters the hegemony of the Brain to being left hemispherical centric=Abstract, linear and sequential. the ground for Theoretical Science....

Rabbi Greenberg

Rodin, you have the same mental/spiritual disease as 'tru lilly' Suzy Woo Woo.......you, yourself 'Believe' propaganda..........and in turn you have become a lying hatemonger, using false and unreliable resources to support your lies........I'm hep to you........but tell me, what do you think of the Historical Fact that Jesus was/is definitely Jewish and a Torah Conscious and Obedient Servant of YHWH and Taught YHWHs Laws and Plan? You have been brainwashed to believe otherwise, but the facts are facts.............. thumbs up

MoMo Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:19 pm

Rodin, what did 'Jesus' actually teach? First; 'Jesus' Name is actually Yahshua=Yah Helps/Saves............ thumbs up

One of the first things we should learn in our search for the true Savior is His Name. The importance of knowing this Man's Name cannot be overstated. Names were and are very important to the Hebrew people, and their meanings are of great significance, not only to individuals, but also to entire families.

The name Jesus is an invention of man which in no way carries the meaning of the true Name of this Man mentioned in the New Testament. The simple fact (which is easily proven from authoritative sources) is that this man was born a Hebrew and He had a Hebrew name. There is no such name as Jesus in the Hebrew language.

Reading from The Encyclopedia Judaica, Volume 10, page 10, we find that the supposed name Jesus is actually the common Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua.

JESUS (d. 30 c.e.), whom Christianity sees as its founder and object of faith, was a Jew who lived toward the end of the Second Commonwealth period......The Encyclopedia Judaica, Volume 12, page 805, gives us additional information, concerning the Hebrew spelling of Joshua, which is yod-heh-waw-shin-ayin.

This source also points out to us that this Name, correctly pronounced Yahshua, is a compound name constructed with the Tetragrammaton,which is the Name: YAHWEH, . The Name Yahshua follows the common practice among the true worshippers of Yahweh, in forming and using compound names which brought glory to Yahweh's Name....................The Name Yahshua is just such a compound Name. It is a combination of Yahweh's Name in a personal name (YAH: yod-heh) and SHUA (shin-ayin), which means salvation. The Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament, by Brown, Driver, and Briggs, page 221, tells us that the Name Yahshua means Yahweh is salvation. ............The Law of Yahweh, which Yahshua and the apostles preached, plainly tells us that Yahweh is one.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5—
4 Hear, O Israyl, Yahweh is our Father. Yahweh is one.
5 And you must love Yahweh your Father with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ....................................The prophets further testified that Yahweh is the only source of power and there is no pagan God with Him at all.

Isayah 43:10-12—
10 You are My witnesses, says Yahweh, and My servants whom I have chosen; so you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He! before me there was no God (el) formed, nor will there be after Me.
11 I, even I, am Yahweh; and beside Me there is no savior.
12 I have declared, and I have saved, and I have showed; and no strange god (el) is among you! Therefore, you are My witnesses, says Yahweh: that I AM YAHWEH!

Isayah 44:8—
Do not fear, nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time, and have declared; You are My witnesses! Is there a source of power except Me? Truly, there is no other rock; I know not one.

Isayah 45:6,18—
6 So that they may know from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting that There is none besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no other!
18 For this is what Yahweh, Who created the heavens, Who is the Father, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited, says: I am Yahweh, and there is no other source of power!

It should now be obvious to anyone that the apostles, as well as the prophets, did not believe in or teach a pre-existent God-savior. The apostles clearly taught against pagan Godworship, the same worship all Christianity teaches today.

Romans 1:20-25—
20 For since the creation of the world, the invisible things of Him are clearly seen—His eternal power and holiness—being understood by the things that are written; so that they are without excuse.
21 Because that, when they knew Yahweh, they did not glorify Him as Father, nor were thankful, but became idolatrous; Godworshipers (worshipers of elohim), in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools; simpletons,
23 And exchanged the glory of the uncorruptible Father for images, made to resemble corruptible man, and birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
24 Therefore, Yahweh also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own minds, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who exchanged the truth of Yahweh for the Lie; Lords (Baalim), Gods, and Goddesses (Elohim), and worshiped and served the creation, rather than the creator, Who is blessed forever. Praise Yahweh! HalleluYahweh!

I Corinthians 10:20-22—
20 But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to Yahweh; and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of Yahweh and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of Yahweh's table and of the table of demons.
22 Do we provoke Yahweh to jealousy? are we stronger than He ?

II Corinthians 6:14-18—
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unright-eousness? and what fellowship does light have with darkness?
15 And what harmony can there be between Messiah and Belial; Worthlessness: Satan? Or what share does a believer have with an infidel; untrustworthy, not faithful, not true nor loyal?
16 And what agreement does The House of Yahweh have with Gods (elohim)? for we are The House of the living Father. As Yahweh has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their Father, and they will be my people.
17 Therefore: come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh. Do not touch the unclean thing, and I will receive you.
18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says Yahweh Almighty.

II Corinthians 4:4—
For the god (el) of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, so that the light of the message of the glory of the Messiah, Who is the image of Yahweh, should not shine unto them.

Romans 6:15-16—
15 What? May we sin as though we are not under the Law, yet under Yahweh's undeserved pardon? by no means!
16 Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, his servants you are whom you obey—whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

I Yahchanan 3:7-9—
7 Little children, let no man deceive you; he who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
8 He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Yahweh was manifested; that He might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever is begotten of Yahweh does not commit sin; for His seed remains in Him; and it is possible for him not to sin, because he has been begotten of Yahweh.

I Yahchanan 5:18-21—
18 We know that whoever is born of Yahweh does not sin; but he who has been begotten of Yahweh keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.
19 We know that we belong to Yahweh, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of Yahweh has come, and has given us an understanding, in order that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true, for we are in His Son, Yahshua. Yahweh is the true Father, and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from the defilement of Gods (elohim).

Revelation 18:2-5—
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 Gor all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, My people, so that you do not partake in her sins, and so that you do not receive of her plagues,
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and Yahweh has remembered her iniquities!

However, the apostles knew Yahweh's Plan which called for a man to be born who would be sacrificed for the past sins of many. They also knew that this man would be raised again by Yahweh.........................Yahweh has always revealed Himself as our Father. Yahshua Messiah taught His twelve apostles to pray to Yahweh, and to begin their prayers to Him as "Our Father."

As you read for yourself, you will find that Yahshua taught His disciples, those who obeyed Yahweh, to pray in the following manner.

Luke 11:2—
So He said to them: When you pray, using this example, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be; to show reverence and respect to, Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done; as it is in heaven, so may it be in earth.

In their ministry, the disciples spoke of Yahweh as the Father of Yahshua, saying this specifically in the following Scriptures:

Ephesians 1:17—
Asking that the Father of our King, Yahshua Messiah, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation; unveiling and uncovering truths, for the full knowledge of Him.

I Kepha 1:3—
Blessed be Yahweh, the Father of our King Yahshua Messiah, Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Yahshua Messiah from the dead;

I Corinthians 8:5-6—
5 For even though there are many called gods (elohim), whether in heaven or on earth (As there are many gods; elohim, and many lords; baalim.),
6 Yet to us there is only One Authority, the Father, from Whom all things came and for Whom we live. And there is but one King, Yahshua Messiah, on Whose account are all things, and on whose account we live .

However, to the disobedient, Yahshua said:

Yahchanan 8:44—
You are of your teacher who is Satan the Devil, and whatever she who is your teacher desires, you will do. She was a murderer from the beginning, and remained not in the truth, because there is no truth in her. Therefore, when you speak your falsehoods, you speak her words, because she is a liar, and the teacher of all lies!

The Holy Scriptures show that we accept one of two beings as our head. We can either accept Yahweh as our Father (head) or we can accept Satan as our head.

Through this world's lust to break the Laws of Yahweh, they have rejected Yahweh as their Father, while accepting Satan the adversary as their head. By doing this, they have become the people of the devil, as the Apostle Shaul describes in the following Scriptures, because they did not like to retain Yahweh in their knowledge..............................................Yahshua Messiah said the following.

Yahchanan 6:44—
No man can come to Me, unless the Father, Who has sent Me, draws him; and I will establish him as a priest at the last day.

When we are called out of this world by Yahweh's Holy Spirit and begin to understand the importance of Yahweh's Holy Scriptures in our lives, we, even then, are only half of the creation Yahweh requires us to be, in order for us to enter His Kingdom. To understand this, we must understand the Plan of Yahweh.

When Yahshua was resurrected from the dead, He became the firstborn of many brothers.

Romans 8:29—
For whom He did foreknow, He also did foreordain to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

When we are conformed to Yahshua we will also be conformed to the Father Yahweh, because Yahshua conformed to be exactly like the Father.

Hebrews 1:3—
Who, being the reflection of the perfection of Yahweh, and the representation of Yahweh's plan, by upholding all things concerning that which was spoken by Yahweh through the Law and the prophets, when He had purged sin, sat down on the right hand of Yahweh on high;

http://www.yahweh.com/pdf/Booklet_Shaul-Do-Away.pdf

Much like the Christian NAZIs that preceeded you, you are ignorant an ddon't know what you speak of. I see through you like I see through the water that flows down my drain. thumbs up

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8820.html

Was Jesus a Nazi? During the Third Reich, German Protestant theologians, motivated by racism and tapping into traditional Christian anti-Semitism, redefined Jesus as an Aryan and Christianity as a religion at war with Judaism. In 1939, these theologians established the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life. In The Aryan Jesus, Susannah Heschel shows that during the Third Reich, the Institute became the most important propaganda organ of German Protestantism, exerting a widespread influence and producing a nazified Christianity that placed anti-Semitism at its theological center.

Based on years of archival research, The Aryan Jesus examines the membership and activities of this controversial theological organization. With headquarters in Eisenach, the Institute sponsored propaganda conferences throughout the Nazi Reich and published books defaming Judaism, including a dejudaized version of the New Testament and a catechism proclaiming Jesus as the savior of the Aryans. Institute members--professors of theology, bishops, and pastors--viewed their efforts as a vital support for Hitler's war against the Jews. Heschel looks in particular at Walter Grundmann, the Institute's director and a professor of the New Testament at the University of Jena. Grundmann and his colleagues formed a community of like-minded Nazi Christians who remained active and continued to support each other in Germany's postwar years.

The Aryan Jesus raises vital questions about Christianity's recent past and the ambivalent place of Judaism in Christian thought.

ANTISEMITISM AND CHRISTIANITY

http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8820.html

Hitler did not achieve most of his political and military goals, but on the Jewish question he succeeded remarkably. If his antisemitic propaganda found resonance, its success can be credited in large measure to the unrelenting anti-Jewish Christian theological discourse that linked Nazi propaganda with the traditions and moral authority of the churches. That link was proclaimed with enthusiasm by Nazi Christians: “In the Nazi treatment of the Jews and its ideological stance, Luther’s intentions, after centuries, are being fulfilled.”13 Antisemitism was the lingua franca of the Nazi era and was employed by church leaders to gain credibility with their own adherents—but also out of sincere antisemitic conviction. Antisemitism was also a tactic in the rhetorical battles among the different Christian factions, with each accusing its opponents of being “Jewish” while positioning itself as the true Nazi believer.14

Already in 1971 the historian Uriel Tal challenged the entrenched view that racist antisemitism is a new phenomenon that repudiates Christianity by arguing that it was actually utterly dependent on Christian anti-Judaism for its success: “it was not the economic crises that brought about this new political, racial and antireligious antisemitism, but completely the reverse, it was precisely the anti-Christian and antireligious ideology of racial antisemitism which hampered the first antisemitic parties in their efforts to utilize the economic crisis for their political development . . . [because] what still attracted the masses was the classical, traditional Christian anti-Judaism, however adapted it may have become to the new economic conditions.”15 Tal demonstrated that Germany’s antisemitic, völkisch movements that arose in the nineteenth century had to abandon their initial anti-Christian stances in order to win supporters for whom Christian anti-Jewish arguments held profound political appeal.16 Even within the so-called “church struggle” between German Christians and the Confessing Church for control of the Protestant church, antisemitism became the glue that united the otherwise warring factions. Similarly, however much Hitler made use of images of messianism, redemption, and other Christian motifs, the most useful and consistent aspect of Christianity for the Nazi movement was its anti-Judaism, just as the single most consistent and persistent feature of Nazism was its antisemitism.

Hitler was well aware of arguments that were central to the Institute: that Jesus was an Aryan, and that Paul, as a Jew, had falsified Jesus’s message, themes he repeatedly mentioned in private conversations, together with rants against the church as a Jewish subversion of the Aryan spirit (though the reliability of his reported private conversations is uncertain). In a diatribe alleged to have occurred in October of 1941, the month Hitler made the decision to murder the Jews,17 Hitler proclaimed that Jesus was not a Jew, but a fighter against Jewry whose message was falsified and exploited by Paul: “St. Paul transformed a local movement of Aryan opposition to Jewry into a super-temporal religion, which postulates the equality of all men . . . [causing] the death of the Roman Empire.”18 His views demonstrate that the German Christian diagnosis of Christianity as tainted by Jewish influence resonated at the highest levels of the Reich, but that its prescribed solution of dejudaization was met with skepticism if not sheer mockery. Was Christianity thoroughly impregnated with Judaism, or could it be dejudaized, as the Institute claimed?

Like the antisemitic parties of the nineteenth century, the Nazi Party could not reject Christianity—not only because it would offend the moral and social sensibilities of Germans, but because the antisemitism of Christianity formed the basis on which the party could appeal to Germans with its racial and nationalist ideology. Nazism’s relationship to Christianity was not one of rejection, nor was it an effort to displace Christianity and become a form of “political religion.” Nazism did not present racial antisemitism as antithetical to Christian theological anti-Judaism; rather, Nazi ideology was a form of supersessionism, a usurpation and colonization of Christian theology, especially its antisemitism, for its own purposes. The theology of the Institute was a similar effort at supersessionism in reverse, taking over elements of Nazi racial ideology to bolster and redefine the Christian message. The result was an uneasy competition between two sides seeking popular support and institutional control, though access to power was, of course, highly asymmetrical.

Thus, while seeking to undermine the political power and moral authority of the churches, Nazism simultaneously appropriated key elements of Christian theology into its own ideology both for purposes of winning adherents used to Christian arguments and also to give its own message a coherence and resonance with the age-old Christian teachings that had shaped European culture. Conversely, German Christians appropriated Nazi rhetoric and symbols into the church to give its Christianity a contemporary resonance. Both the Nazis and the German Christians identified Hitler as Christ’s second coming. That gave Hitler the status of a supernatural being and gave Christ renewed glory as a contemporary figure of enormous political significance. Both were suspicious of the institutional church. Factions within the Nazi Reich and the party saw the church as competition and a potential threat to be ultimately eliminated after the war.19 The German Christians sought control and radical reform of the Protestant church, which they never fully achieved, leading them to bitter complaints and, in some cases, demands for its demolition. Meanwhile, Christianity was not to be banned nor the churches outlawed; rather, as the historian Ernst Piper writes, Nazi strategy was to control the churches and lead to “a steadily advancing process of delegitimization and disassociation, of undermining and repression” that would undercut the church’s moral authority and position of respect.20 In its own supersessionist theology, an amalgam of Nazism and Christianity, with a rejection of church authority and doctrine, an assertion of German supremacy and Jewish degeneracy, and absurd revisions of the Bible, the German Protestant church contributed substantially to the Nazi project of undermining Christianity.

The establishment of the Institute in 1939 and the proliferation of its projects during the war years demonstrates that the antisemitism of the German Christians was not simply rhetorical, but was intended to lend active support to Nazi policies against the Jews—or, at times, to push those policies in more radical directions. Indeed, certain Protestant theologians stood at the forefront in discussions of the so-called Jewish problem; Gerhard Kittel’s notorious speech of May 1933, later published as a pamphlet, has been called the most antisemitic utterance of that year.21 In considering ways to rid Germany of Jews, Kittel proposed not only expulsion and guest status, but extermination (“Ausrottung”), a method he rejected only because it was too difficult to implement. On February 24–25, 1936, a few months after the proclamation of the Nuremberg Laws, but long before Jews were being deported and murdered, a group of theologians, some of whom subsequently became leaders of the Institute, met in Dresden to discuss a merger of the German Christian factions of the state churches of Thuringia and Saxony. During the course of the meeting, Siegfried Leffler, a German Christian leader, official in the Thuringian Ministry of Education, and, by 1939, figurehead of the Institute, stated:

In a Christian life, the heart always has to be disposed toward the Jew, and that’s how it has to be. As a Christian, I can, I must, and I ought always to have or to find a bridge to the Jew in my heart. But as a Christian, I also have to follow the laws of my nation [Volk], which are often presented in a very cruel way, so that again I am brought into the harshest of confl icts with the Jew. Even if I know “thou shalt not kill” is a commandment of God or “thou shalt love the Jew” because he too is a child of the eternal Father, I am able to know as well that I have to kill him, I have to shoot him, and I can only do that if I am permitted to say: Christ.22
What is striking is not only that Leffler spoke of killing Jews as early as February 1936, long before mass murder of the Jews became Nazi policy, but that there was no response to his comments from those attending, neither immediately nor later in the session; the discussion simply continued as if murder of Jews in the name of Christ was a customary topic.23 The aryanization of Jesus into a manly, heroic, fighting spirit reflected among the theologians the “heroic realism” that prevailed in the 1930s within right-wing political thought. That “heroism” meant killing one’s opponent without emotion but in accord with principles of natural law, in defense of one’s own race and at the cost of personal sacrifice.24 Paul Althaus, professor of theology at the University of Erlangen and a noted ethicist, was present at the meeting, but expressed nothing to indicate that he was appalled or disturbed by Leffler’s remarks. The lack of outrage is evidence that ridding Germany of Jews had become an acceptable point of discussion among theologians, even when murder was proposed as a technique of achieving it. The Nuremberg Laws, while perceived by many German Jews as protection from far worse legislation, were viewed as an encouragement by the German Christian movement to take even more radical positions. Legal cases in German courts, brought in the wake of the Nuremberg Laws’ criminalization of sexual relations and marriage between Jews and Aryans, and widely reported in the German press, implicated Jews as sexual predators of Aryans, further encouraging Christian theologians to insist on protecting Christian purity by eradicating Jewishness with even more radical measures.25 The penetration of Christian bodies by Jewish sex reiterated a typical motif of racist rhetoric, the dangers of miscegenation, and reinforced fears that Aryanism was not immutable, but subject to destruction by Jews.26 Antisemites had long insisted that German Aryan women were vulnerable to Jewish predation, and Jesus, whose gentleness and suffering was viewed as effeminate by German Christians, was depicted in one caricature as an Aryan woman on a cross with a lecherous Jewish man in the foreground: the crucifixion as the Jewish rape of Germany. ............................

rodin Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:34 pm

The Old Testament is a fake

Read this thread

http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=77604

MoMo Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:29 pm

rodin wrote: The Old Testament is a fake

Read this thread

http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=77604

More lies and hatemongering, you overlook the fact that there is Ancient archaeological fragments of the Texts and other evidence to support the Old Testament Narrative. The respondees in your Thread told you you are a lying hatemongering moron, is that what you want us to read? If so, I agree with their assesment.

Also Yahshua/Jesus and the Apostles constantly cited the Old Testament as THE Authority. Yahshua/Jesus and the Apostles preached and taught the Old Testament to a mixed multitude of Jews and Gentiles, He universalized Yahwism. thumbs up

When the New Testament declares that He and the Apostles went into the Synagogues and read from the Scriptures, what scriptures do you think they were using? thumbs up

What Planet are you from?

Planet Idiot?

This is completely stupid, and the Carbon Dating process has improved greatly since 1947 and without a doubt the Texts are pre CE. The problem you have is all credentialed Scientific Evidence is proven by Repeatable Experimentation, any credentialed Scientist or Technician may challenge the results and examine the praxis of the Science. In this case, the Science has been held up by a majority of Credentialed Scientists. You consistently use the lousiest, most biased, antisemitic sources for your claims. They always prove to be false. thumbs up

Radiocarbon Dating of Dead Sea Scrolls
Confirm Paleographic Dates

http://dwb4.unl.edu/Chem/CHEM869Z/CHEM869ZLinks/www.physics.arizona.edu/physics/newsletter/summer95/deadsea2.html

Researchers in the Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) Laboratory at the University of Arizona have carbon-14 dated samples of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their results are consistent with ages determined by paleographic research.

A. J. Timothy Jull, Research Scientist, and Douglas J. Donahue, Physics Professor and Director of the AMS facility, measured the amount of radioactive carbon in samples of 18 texts and two textiles from four Qumran Caves and from Nahal Hever, both in the Dead Sea region............Carbon-14 dating of milligram samples taken from ragged edges of manuscript margins determined the ages of the scrolls to range from the third century B.C.E. (Before Common Era) to 68 C.E., nearly 2,000 years ago. These dates support earlier paleographic research, which estimated the ages of the scrolls by analyzing the handwriting styles, materials, and formatting of the manuscripts.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in jars inside a Qumran cave by young Bedouin shepherds in 1947. Coming from the late Second Temple Period, a time when Jesus of Nazareth lived, they are older than any other surviving biblical manuscripts by almost one thousand years.

The carbon-14 dating technique, developed by Nobel Laureat Willard Frank Libby in 1946, involves measuring the amount of residual radioactive carbon (carbon-14) in a given sample. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730+/-40 years, which means that it takes 5,730 years for half of the radioisotope to disintegrate. Because carbon-14 decays at this constant rate, an estimate of the age of the sample can be made by measuring the amount of its residual radiocarbon.

The AMS Facility features a tandem accelerator mass spectrometer, the first of its kind in the world dedicated exclusively to radiocarbon dating. The accelerator sorts and counts carbon isotopes by mass, enabling researchers to directly count carbon-14 atoms in a sample using only milligrams of the sample to be dated. The laboratory is supported by the National Science Foundation.

.

Is the Old Testament Historical?
http://www.truthnet.org/Apologetics/7/

New archaeological find affirms Old Testament historicity
A clay tablet with details of one of Nebuchadnezzar’s court officials supports the historicity of the book of Jeremiah

http://creation.com/new-archaeological-find-affirms-old-testament-historicity

Tiny tablet provides proof for Old Testament

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557124/Tiny-tablet-provides-proof-for-Old-Testament.html

Explain this

http://biblicalstudies.info/top10/schoville.htm

2 THE HOUSE OF DAVID INSCRIPTION
More than a quarter of a century of excavations at Tel Dan in the north of Israel at the foot of Mount Hermon produced little in the way of written material. The excavations have been directed through the years since 1966 by Dr. Avraham Biran, distinguised Israeli archaeologist. Then on July 21, 1993, while work crews were preparing the site for visitors, a broken fragment of basalt stone was uncovered in secondary use in a wall. Surveyor Gila Cook glanced at the stone in the rays of the afternoon sun and saw what looked like alphabetic letters. On closer examination it turned out that, indeed, they had found an inscribed stone.. The discovery was of a fragment of a large monumental inscription, measuring about 32 cm. high and 22 cm. at its greatest width. Apparently the stone had been purposely broken in antiquity. It turned out that the stele fragment mentions King David's dynasty, "the House of David." As the preparatory work for tourism proceeded, two additional fragments of the stele were recovered in two separate, disparate locations in June of 1994. The partially reconstructed text reads as follows:

1. [ ... ...] and cut [ ... ]
2. [ ... ] my father went up [against him when] he fought at [ ... ]
3. And my father lay down, he went to his [ancestors]. And the king of I [s-]
4. rael entered previously in my father's land. [And] Hadad made me king.
5. And Hadad went in front of me, [and] I departed from [the] seven [ ...-]
6. s of my kingdom, and I slew [seve]nty kin[gs], who harnessed thou[sands of cha-]
7. Riots and thousands of horsemen (or: horses). [I killed Jeho]ram son of [Ahab]
8. king of Israel, and [I] killed [Ahaz]iahu son of [Jehoram kin-]
9. g of the House of David. And I set [their towns into ruins and turned]
10. their land into [desolation ... ]
11. other [ ... and Jehu ru-]
12. led over Is[rael ... and I laid ]
13. siege upon [ ... ] [6]

The pavement and the wall where the fragments were found was laid at the end of the 9th or beginning of the 8th century BC, according to pottery fragments recovered in probes beneath the flagstone pavement. Since the fragment and the entire pavement was covered by the debris of the Assyrian destruction of Tiglath Pileser III, in 732 BC, it could not have been laid latter than that year.

The surmise is that Jehoash (798-782), grandson of Jehu, or Jehoash's son, Jeroboam II (793, co-regent 782-753), and more likely Jehoash, was the monarch who had this reminder of Aramaean domination smashed (2 Kgs 13:25). It is further assumed that Hazael (844/42-798?) was then king of Aram- Damascus, because Hazael fought against Jehoram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah ( 2 Kgs 8:7-15, 28; 2 Chr 22:5). Hazael was followed by his son and successor, Ben-hadad III, early in the 8th century BC

The discovery provides an archaeological connection to the biblical references to the ruling dynasty established by King David approximately two centuries before the events that are mentioned in the inscription. It is the first mention of King David and the earliest mention of a biblical figure outside of the Bible. The discovery is of particular importance in the face of those scholars who were either skeptical or denied the historical existence of King David [7]

3 AMULET SCROLL [8]
In 1979 Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, working with a group of students from the Institute of Holy Land Studies (now Jerusalem University College), excavated several tombs in Jerusalem on the "Shoulder of Hinnom," on the southwestern slope of the Hinnom Valley adjacent to the Scottish Presbyterian Church of St. Andrew. In one burial cave a repository for grave goods was found, containing approximately 700 items, including burial gifts of pottery vessels, over 100 pieces of silver jewelry, arrowheads, bone and ivory artifacts, alabaster vessels, 150 beads and a rare, early coin. Among the silver items was a rolled-up amulet bearing the tetragrammaton, the name of God (the consonantal letters yod, he, waw, he), YHWH.

The tomb dates to the end of the Davidic dynasty, approximately the seventh century BC. The silver amulet thus dates to the end of the seventh or early sixth century. The prayer-like inscription containing the divine name provides the oldest extra-biblical evidence for the name of God thus far archaeologically recovered in Jerusalem. The scripture passage on the amulet is from the Aaronic or priestly blessing found in Num 6:24-25. The owner apparently wore the inscribed, rolled-up silver amulet during his/her lifetime, and people felt it appropriate that such objects should accompany the owner in death as in life.

Of secondary interest is the fact that the evidence from the Shoulder of Hinnom tombs indicates a population in the Jerusalem area in the aftermath of the Babylonian destruction of the city. The evidence also indicates a certain level of wealth on the part of those buried in the tombs.

RADIOCARBON DATING AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS:
A COMMENT ON “REDATING”
JOHANNES VAN DER PLICHT
Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University
and Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University

http://cio.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/root/2007/DeadSeaDiscvdPlicht/2007DeadSeaDiscovvdPlicht.pdf

................To summarize, from the 14C point of view, no significant offset between
the palaeographic dates and the calibrated 14C dates are observed for
at least 7 of the 10 dates listed. The whole situation is perhaps best
illustrated for the scroll 1QIs: the quoted age ranges are 356–103 BC
for 14C, and 150–125 BC for palaeography. These age ranges are in
perfect agreement, but nevertheless the “amount of error” calculated
by Atwill et al. is 97 years—which is practically a century of difference
in dating. Not only that, but the calibration here yields two
2s ranges: 356–291 and 250–103 BC2, which are conveniently taken
together by Atwill et al. There is (almost) no probability between 291
and 250 cal BC. The “median concept” for calibrated ranges should
not be used, and the “amount of error” used this way is a meaningless
concept.......................The most publicised correction, also referred to by Atwill et al., concerns
the 1993 dataset. This dataset includes an instrumental correction
of 18 14C years to the 1986 dataset. Later on, this correction was questioned
using special high precision studies.20 But it was also stressed
that the corrections are very small (about 0.2%), and therefore in general
not detrimental in terms of archaeological utility of 14C dates.21
This is the reason many researchers kept using the “1986 dataset”
instead of the “1993 dataset.” In addition, there was a formal reason:
the “1986 dataset” had been recommended by the international 14C
community for general use, whereas the “1993 dataset” had not been.
For the period 250 cal BC–250 cal AD, the four calibration datasets
(1986, 1993, 1998, 2004) are compared in Figure 2. As can be seen,
the differences between the four datasets are not very significant for
purposes of calibrating archaeological 14C dates.

RADIOCARBON DATING OF FOURTEEN DEAD SEA SCROLLS
GEORGES BONANI', SUSAN IVY', WILLY WOLFLI', MAGEN BROSHI2, ISRAEL CARMI3
and JOHN STRUGNELL 4

http://www.jstor.org/pss/4193320

SELECTION AND SAMPLING OF THE SCROLLS
Initial sampling of the scrolls took place on 7 July, 1990 at the Rockefeller and Israel Museums
in Jerusalem. Table 1 lists the 14 scrolls finally selected for dating. A total of 20 samples (in some
cases up to 3 samples from different parts of a particular scroll) were taken, photographed and
weighed. Scrolls 1, 12, 13 and 14 are date-bearing documents. They span 1096 years, and were
used to test the 14C method. Detailed information on the content of the selected scrolls is in Bonani
et al. (1991).

http://www.roberteisenman.com/articles/Redating_the_Radio_Carbon_Dating_of_the_DSS.pdf

MoMo Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:00 pm

Rodin, as long as you Post lies and icite hatemongering I will urinate in your face and expose you and your sources as the Neo NAZIs you are. Try Webanarchy, you will have an Echochamber and Circle Jerk with Ciggytard and co. thumbs up

MoMo Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:01 pm

THE USE OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

http://www.abu.nb.ca/courses/ntintro/OTinNT.htm

Introduction

Even a superficial reading of the New Testament reveals how frequently its authors and those about whom they write quote from the Old Testament. This should come as a surprise to no one familiar with the authoritative role that the scriptures played in Jewish religious life. What may come as a surprise, however, at least to the modern reader, is the variety of ways in which scripture is interpreted and used by Jesus and the early church. In their hands, the meaning of the Old Testament is not restricted to its so-called literal and historical meaning, but has other dimensions of meaning. Moreover, with one exception, the interpretive methods adopted by Jesus and the early church are identical with those used by other Jewish interpreters of the second-Temple and early rabbinic periods.

One can identify three interpretive methods used by Jesus and the early church that have parallels to texts from the second-Temple period and to early rabbinic exegesis. First, a text from the Old Testament can be interpreted literally, according to the author's intended meaning. Second, Jesus and the early church find subtle and not-so-obvious interpretations for Old Testament texts, in some cases, using certain rules of exegesis known from early rabbinic texts. This interpretive approach could be called midrashic. Third, one finds what scholars call pesher interpretations in the New Testament; these are characterized by finding a second, eschatological (including messianic) meaning for an Old Testament text that is not originally eschatological (or messianic) in meaning. In addition, unique to the New Testament is what is called typological interpretation, in which a person, place, thing or event in the Old Testament is assumed to foreshadow an eschatological reality to which it is analogically or functionally similar.

http://deeperstudy.com/link/intro_ot_f.html

The Ten Basic Steps: Lesson 3-Authority of the Old Testament
http://www.tenbasicsteps.org/english/bible/step5l3.htm

Researchers in Israel subjected the first five books of the Old Testament to exhaustive computer analysis. They came to a different conclusion than expected.

Skeptics had long assumed that the Torah, or Books of Moses, was the work of multiple authors. But scripture scholar Moshe Katz and computer expert Menachen Wiener of the Israel Institute of Technology refuted this belief. They discovered an intricate pattern of significant words concealed in the canon, spelled by letters separated at fixed intervals.

According to Katz, the statistical possibility of such patterns happening by chance would be one in three million. The material, suggests a single, inspired author -- in fact, it could not have been put together by human capabilities at all. "So we need a nonrational explanation," he said. "And ours is that the Torah was written by God through the hand of Moses."

The Old Testament was considered by its writers to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God. Our Lord Himself, the New Testament writers, and the early church, also affirmed its authenticity.

Of Moses it is said, "Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said." (Exodus 24:4) David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; His word was on my tongue." (II Samuel 23:2) The prophet Jeremiah said, "The word of the Lord came to me saying..." (Jeremiah 1:4) Ezekiel, Daniel, and Amos made it perfectly clear that their messages were absolutely and wholly from God.

Jesus frequently referred to Old Testament scriptures during His earthly ministry. In confronting the unbelief of the Jews, Jesus affirmed that "the Scripture cannot be broken." (John 10:35) During His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, until Heaven and Earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:18)

While teaching in the temple courts, Jesus cited Psalm 110:1 and declared that David spoke by the Holy Spirit. (Mark 12:35-36) After His resurrection, Jesus said to His disciples, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms." Then Luke notes, "He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." (Luke 24:44-45) The Jews used the expression, "The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms" to represent the entire Old Testament.

Concerning the birth of Christ, Matthew records, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet." (Matthew 1:22) In quoting the song of Zechariah (Father of John the Baptist) concerning the birth of Jesus, Luke included the affirmation, "as he said through His holy prophets of long ago." (Luke 1:70) And the writer of Acts records Peter's speech concerning the fate of Judas who betrayed Jesus, "Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David." (Acts 1:6)

Many other passages testify to the authority of the Old Testament, often with the words, "that the Scripture might be fulfilled," or "for this is what the prophet has written." Peter affirmed, "No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origins in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." (II Peter 1:20-21)

As the early church grew, differences in doctrines surfaced. But no matter how much the church fathers differed in their teachings, they were unanimous in one thing: that the entire Old Testament, God and Christ, the incarnate word of God, spoke by the Holy Spirit through men. They affirmed the writing of Paul to Timothy, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." (II Timothy 3:16) Unlike other doctrines, the authority of the Scripture was indubitable.

Belief in the absolute authority of the Scripture is foundational to your faith. I encourage you to study this lesson carefully and prayerfully so you will be able to assure others of the divine authority and sureness of God's holy Word.

Back to top

Testimony of Its Writers
The phrase, "Thus says the Lord," or its equivalent, occurs more than 2,000 times in the Old Testament. Write out these statements concerning inspiration made by the following writers:

1.David (II Samuel 23:2), Isaiah (Isaiah 8:1,5,11), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:9), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:4)
What is different about each one? What is the same?

2.What two statements of Moses in Exodus 31:18 and 32:16 show that God actually wrote the Ten Commandments?

3.What statements made by David show that the pattern for the temple was dictated by God? (I Chronicles 28:19)
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Testimony of Christ
The New Testament had not been written during Christ's earthly ministry, and His references to the Scriptures refer to the Old Testament writings. He never once denied or made light of Old Testament Scriptures; He related Himself to them as their fulfillment. He said: "These are the Scriptures that testify about Me." (John 5:39)

1.How did Christ describe those who did not believe the Old Testament prophecies? (Luke 24:25)

2.What is the result of not believing in the Old Testament? (John 5:46-47)

3.What did Christ think of His responsibility concerning Old Testament prophecy? (Matthew 5:17-18)

4.What was Christ's view of the story of man's creation as recorded in Genesis? (Matthew 19:4-6)

5.What authority did Christ use to answer Satan? (Matthew 4:4-10) Men? (Matthew 22:29-32, 43-46)

6.Summarize Christ's attitude and view of the Old Testament.
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Testimony of the Apostles
It is evident from their inspired writings that the apostles of Christ considered the Old Testament Scriptures prophetic and inseparable from the authority, power, and ministry of Christ.

1.From whom did the apostle Peter say the writings of the Old Testament came? (II Peter 1:21, Acts 1:16)

2.How did Peter feel about the Old Testament historical account he recorded in I Peter 3:20? Who did Peter say were inspired by God? (Acts 3:20-21)

3.How much of the Old Testament is inspired by God, according to Paul in II Timothy 3:16? What did Paul believe the Old Testament to be? (Romans 3:2)

4.Acceptance of the Old Testament writing is evidenced in the Book of James by references to whom? (James 2:21, 25, 5:11, 17)

5.One of the many evidences that John believed the Old Testament is his acceptance of which story? (I John 3:12)
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Life Application
1.The writers of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Apostles of Christ, and the early Church Fathers all say of the Old Testament, "This is the inspired Word of God." What do you say? (John 8:47, I John 4:6)

2.Describe how the information in this lesson give you confidence in the authority of the Old Testament.

3.Write down several proofs of the authority of the Old Testament that you could use to explain to someone who doubts it.

rodin, lying hatemongers never fare well, do be caREFUL. thumbs up

MoMo Tue Sep 13, 2011 3:36 pm

wow!!!! lots of hitz rodi...................... thumbs up

yeah....but...................speculations and conjecture are the 'Coins of the Realm' in Internetz Conspricarytardia.......................capiche? thumbs up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3oxJvSRj0

Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs' Funny-pictures-cat-denies-taking-photos

Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs' Hello+kitty+smartcar

Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs' Funny-pictures-cat-cannot-feel-his-butt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3oxJvSRj0
tholms

Rodin the Deluded Neo Nazi and his 'beliefs' Cat

rodin Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:12 am

el kabong wrote:THE USE OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT etc

I am aware of this. The New Testament however is not devoid of adulteration itself. You may ask how can you tell which bits are right? The bits that align with my personal experience

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