Hi

[Mike Cl]

When I came upon a doe in a small clearing, when I was 14 was great.  When my dad and I were covered with ticks when I was 16, not so great.

Been to Willits several times.  Twice by steam train from Ft Bragg.

That's called the Skunk Train--quite the ride!  but then, the road from Willits to Ft. Bragg is quite the ride, as well.  I taught at a continuation school in Lakeport for four years and one of those years we had a teacher named Gabe.  He lived in Willits and drove that return trip daily.  He lived in a commune and his home was a teepee.  Yes, an actual teepee; he and his daughter.  He gave all his earnings to that commune who then supplied all he needed.  I was able to visit the commune once and I must admit I was not much impressed.  And Gabe did caution us to stay within said commune, as wandering too far into the forest could be dangerous--marijuana plots were everywhere and often watched over by armed men.  But that was many, many, many moons ago.

[Cavebear]

Yeah, especially since it was the serpent who told the truth, and God that lied his ass off - if God can be said to have an ass. Presumably he does though, since Moses could only see his "back parts", and not his face...


Exodus 33:22-23

THat actually seems like a fun question to ask a preacher or priest.  "Does God have an ass"?  Does that mean he has to eat?  Why?  And where does his shit go (surely it can't sit around in heaven, HE has been there a long time and that would be worse than PR's SF complaint about feces), right?  Or is that what "manna from Heaven" is?  What does HE wipe HIS butt on?  Clouds?  Etc, etc. etc... 

[Baruch]

THat actually seems like a fun question to ask a preacher or priest.  "Does God have an ass"?  Does that mean he has to eat?  Why?  And where does his shit go (surely it can't sit around in heaven, HE has been there a long time and that would be worse than PR's SF complaint about feces), right?  Or is that what "manna from Heaven" is?  What does HE wipe HIS butt on?  Clouds?  Etc, etc. etc...

"At the turn of the twentieth century, Arabs of the Sinai Peninsula were selling resin from the tamarisk tree as man es-simma, roughly meaning "heavenly manna".[15] Tamarisk trees (particularly Tamarix gallica) were once comparatively extensive throughout the southern Sinai, and their resin is similar to wax, melts in the sun, is sweet and aromatic (like honey), and has a dirty-yellow color, fitting somewhat with the Biblical descriptions of manna."

Not that a countless mob of people could have lived off of it.  But stories are just stories.  If you want to know something about the Bible, best to ask an Arab who actually lives in the area.  But there were historically, refugees escaping from Egypt into the Sinai, and memories of that could have been incorporated into the fictional Exodus story (which was written sometime before 600 BCE).  The Arabs and the tamarisk trees were there then too, not just earlier.

[Cavebear]

"At the turn of the twentieth century, Arabs of the Sinai Peninsula were selling resin from the tamarisk tree as man es-simma, roughly meaning "heavenly manna".[15] Tamarisk trees (particularly Tamarix gallica) were once comparatively extensive throughout the southern Sinai, and their resin is similar to wax, melts in the sun, is sweet and aromatic (like honey), and has a dirty-yellow color, fitting somewhat with the Biblical descriptions of manna."

Not that a countless mob of people could have lived off of it.  But stories are just stories.  If you want to know something about the Bible, best to ask an Arab who actually lives in the area.  But there were historically, refugees escaping from Egypt into the Sinai, and memories of that could have been incorporated into the fictional Exodus story (which was written sometime before 600 BCE).  The Arabs and the tamarisk trees were there then too, not just earlier.

I have never doubted that most stories in all religious texts had some part of truth to them.  I've always viewed the bible as the struggle of some nomadic tribes to adapt to farming, personally.  And some logical rules to adapting to living in larger communities with the complications that arose with it. 

[SGOS]

I have never doubted that most stories in all religious texts had some part of truth to them.  I've always viewed the bible as the struggle of some nomadic tribes to adapt to farming, personally.  And some logical rules to adapting to living in larger communities with the complications that arose with it. 

Successful propaganda usually contains some truth.  Kernels of truth that by proximity add a bit of credibility to the whole.  Not to say it makes a lie more logical, but for the unwary, it makes it seem more like truth.  Caesar did exist, and so did the Egyptians.  Some parts of the Bible are wholly made up and nothing about them is true.  Adam and Eve!  No one else was there to see it.  I suppose Eve could have related the story to her great great grand niece, who started an oral tradition that passed on down the line until writing was invented.  But there's a stretch of apologetics that would make the Pope proud.  The part about the talking donkey was most likely pulled out of someone's ass, and the only truth was that one time some guy whipped his donkey for no particular reason, but that even less than a kernel.

[Baruch]

I have never doubted that most stories in all religious texts had some part of truth to them.  I've always viewed the bible as the struggle of some nomadic tribes to adapt to farming, personally.  And some logical rules to adapting to living in larger communities with the complications that arose with it.

Correct.  Though Huckleberry Finn is also about boyhood in the US circa 1850.  Most read it for entertainment though.  Since there are no native speakers of Biblical Hebrew ... their natural fans are extinct.  But it lives on thru more or less bad translations.  Theology ... think of that as Cliff Notes for lazy kids.

[Mike Cl]

Correct.  Though Huckleberry Finn is also about boyhood in the US circa 1850.  Most read it for entertainment though.  Since there are no native speakers of Biblical Hebrew ... their natural fans are extinct.  But it lives on thru more or less bad translations.  Theology ... think of that as Cliff Notes for lazy kids.

Wrong again.  Theology=tools of dictators.

[Baruch]

Wrong again.  Theology=tools of dictators.

Ideology=tools of corporations

[Mike Cl]

Ideology=tools of corporations

Actually, I should have said theology=tool of totalitarian dictator.

Corps don't have ideologies, they only have greed.

[Baruch]

Actually, I should have said theology=tool of totalitarian dictator.

Corps don't have ideologies, they only have greed.

You apparently have never read corporate vision statements ;-)

[Mike Cl]

You apparently have never read corporate vision statements ;-)

vision=greed--maximize profits

[Jason78]

Hi! I'm in the minority on this forum because of my Faith, yet I don't mind. I probably wouldn't be writing this if I did. Thanks for allowing me.

Welcome to the forum :)

Please excuse the mess, but it's Baruch's turn to vacuum.

[Unbeliever]

Or, in other words, to be vacuous.

[aitm]

They are breath taking moments for me too. ...
And with a rare sighting like a lion or bear up close, the excitement is magnified by the uniqueness:

When I was a young boy I got my first slingshot. Out into the woods I tromped, at one spot pushing over a dead tree and there.....was a nest of baby mice. Naturally being a piece of shit male human I launched a bee-bee into the nest...maybe...probably killing one or two...don't know because immediately after the shot made a sound the parent mouse...didn't notice the genitalia, launched itself onto my leg, sending me screaming and writhing into the woods, dropping the slingshot (never to be found again) somewhere from A to Q and forever more...finding mice more terrifying than other forrest animals.

[SGOS]

Mouse 1
aitm    0