Shakey-Lo on 17/9/2007 at 04:38
fett, do you have a newsletter I could subscribe to?
Seriously though, are there any books (etc) in particular that you would recommend that deal with the topic of these prophecies and so on?
demagogue on 17/9/2007 at 04:39
Haha Stryper! They were so much awesome in middle school ... only Petra could compete. :cool: :laff:
I'd love to add something to this discussion, but this kind of forum isn't very conducive to it. If I had to pare it down, then yeah, I think religion has most to do with human experience, phenomenology ... the brain (except not as most people laughably talk about it, as if everything going on in the brain is the same ... "just in your head"). And I think most religious people ought to be on board with that (whether they want to use the word "brain" or not ... doesn't matter; if they say "spirit" or "experience" it's the same point with different vocabulary), otherwise they'll be stuck with the problem that all this cosmic machinery has nothing to do with them! And that's the only really important part!
But basically I'm on board with Darwin, et al; I mean, how could you look at the evidence and not be? But that won't stop me from critically reading the bible as a religious text, as a discipline. It's the discipline that stays the anchor for me, the inner stuff going on, not the cosmology outside of me. If I want to know why the planets move how they do, or how the brain works, I'll read a GRelativity or CogSci textbook and take it to heart. If I want to tap into my inner sense of awe at the universe or muse on the covenant-like moments in history that make some higher demand on my life (the stuff at the level of my own experience), I'll read Ecclesiastes or Romans and take it to heart at that level. Different texts offer different disciplines ... and when you're talking about phenomenology, experience, the better gauge, at least the more human one, the more universal one, is the authenticity/inauthenticity of a discipline or tradition, rather than the true/false of a thing, as if it were a widget to pick up, carry around, and poke at. This is what we do in law all the time; and there's a lot of overlap between how law works and how religion works, at least the way that I've learned both.
I do think, though, that when the cognitive revolution starts speeding up ... a lot of people are going to be enlightened about a lot of things; there really is more to this brain thing than ion-gates and synaptic transmitters. And it's all there; it's always been there all along.
Somnus on 17/9/2007 at 05:11
Quote Posted by the_grip
Hey, if folks don't like the cheesy media coverage, just turn off the TV/Radio/Browser ffs. No need to get all shitty about it... the media is doing what it is supposed to do - make money.
Therein lies the problem.
Cheesy media coverage is a much bigger problem than simply annoying people. It contributes to chronic ignorance.
Edit-- Sorry, didn't think the thread would get this off topic.
fett on 17/9/2007 at 12:27
Quote Posted by Shakey-Lo
fett, do you have a newsletter I could subscribe to?
Seriously though, are there any books (etc) in particular that you would recommend that deal with the topic of these prophecies and so on?
I can't think of any single books right off hand - I did most of the leg work myself and based on language studies and such. You will find mention of things like this scattered throughout books sometimes. Off the top of my head, you could check out (
www.khouse.org) which Chuck Missler's site - he deals with such things in various articles that are available (I think part of it is a pay-site though). I'll have to look around and PM you. Most 'prophecy' books since 1997 are of the 'OMGJEBUS IS COMING BACK
SOON BECAUSE LOOK - BUSH IS THE ANTI-CHRIST HE ATTACKED BABYLON' variety.
demagogue on 17/9/2007 at 16:40
@Shakey-Lo. Sites that I like on critical bible studies, that are pretty well respected, are:
(
http://www.sbl-site.org/)
(
http://www.religion-online.org/)
(
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/)
(
http://www.ccel.org/)
(
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/christianity/) [shouldn't be ironic that some really solid critical readings of the bible are going to be on an pro-atheism site
But as for a popular (not academic) magazine that likes to deal with prophecy, what I think you're looking for, I'd recommend (
http://sites.silaspartners.com/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID306608|CHID556140|CIID,00.html) Israel my Glory ... which is all about the ties between modern evangelical Christianity and Messianic Judaism, so you could see how it would be heavy on prophecy and where the Church and Israel is going, etc. It's not academic like the ones above, so it won't win any awards for great criticism, but it stirs the popular imagination better, and it's not so reactionary like some of the crap fett was talking about. And they'll also recommend prophecy books through that site that you'd probably like, too. (I hung out with the (older) editors and staff while I studied in Israel, so there's a personal connection there, too.)
.......
Off topic, found while searching sites ... It's unfortunate that dead sites have to be replaced with those soulless commercial placeholder sites that blindly use templates and keywords. :sweat:
37637598 on 17/9/2007 at 18:00
My dad became christian when he figured out that it makes him alot more money. Christians buy shit from christians simply because they're christians. End of story. Stupid I think. But they eat that shit up. Business owners, if you want to improve your sales, advertise the lord! He saves after all, and fills your pocket with money. Isn't that the point of christaianity these days?
*Zaccheus* on 17/9/2007 at 18:29
37637598, sadly there's a lot of truth in that and it makes me sick. :(
Rogue Keeper on 18/9/2007 at 07:49
Not just these days and not just Christianity. Judaist business supports Judaist business, Islamic business supports Islamic business (at least Islam is less hypocritical in questions of profit- Quaran openly says that Allah created man to make business.) ... The more material side of religion.
SD on 18/9/2007 at 10:01
Quote Posted by 37637598
Business owners, if you want to improve your sales, advertise the lord! He saves after all, and fills your pocket with money. Isn't that the point of christaianity these days?
Was there ever any other point to organised religion than money, power and control?
The biggest irony of the lot is that Jesus was killed for challenging this hegemony, yet the religion that was founded in his name is the worst of the lot.
