Isn't it sad that we're in the year 2010 and we're still worrying more in the USA about same sex marriage than stuff that really affects everyone like, oh..THE ENERGY CRISIS
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Enlightenment is about realizing you don't know everything. Morality, at least the version American religious conservatives seem to be pushing, is about thinking you do and forcing it on everyone else.
There's little I hate more than know-it-alls. I know better than to be like that, I ought to sit them down and pound it into their heads that...oh wait.
A delusion with a disturbing amount of support in some religions, I've heard homilies along those lines from Catholic priests - "I'm God, you have to do everything I say without question" and so on. They'd tell you it's not a delusion, the priest literally IS God (...for one brief instant during mass, I feel compelled to point out, but some of them think it carries over to the rest of their lives). But yeah, that's not enlightenment, that's ego.
In the kind of holistic spirituality I embrace, overfeeding the ego is detrimental to evolving the soul.
Any faith that encourages ego to that extent is barking up the wrong dogma...
Ego rarely needs encouragement, it's the first part of ourselves we develop, so it's a pretty strong thing, unless totally abused or beaten down. We need it for survival, but it's a monster when it takes over.
I know enough from my studies to know that some parts of the Bible were translated by people who slid their own prejudices and agendas into it. But, what else is new? That's what people tend to do.
A quick summary. The word translated "homosexuals" or "men who lie with men" in Greek is not the Greek word for homosexual. That word is "adonokoite" which literally means "sex between males". The word the apostle Paul uses 4 times in his writing is "adenokoite" which looks a little like "adonokoite" but isn't the same word.
Adenokoite is a word not really found in modern Greek usage, it refers to something that was part of the culture then, but has died out. It is used in a heterosexual context, for one thing, it has nothing to do with same sex relations. It meant "temple prostitute" roughly according to most Biblical scholars who are more familiar with the Greek culture and language of the time. Paul was warning against having sex with people(male of female) who prostituted themselves in the name of a local god or goddess...very much part of Greek society at the time. Mostly because it was spiritually inconsistent with Christianity, but not because it was "queer"...temple prostitutes were both male and female.
Yeah, there are a couple of sites that explain it, probably better than I did.
Strangely enuf, you happen to Google "adenokoite" you get my own comments on an exJW forum about the subject under my other online name, "mindmelda". I"m Googleable! LOL
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There's little I hate more than know-it-alls. I know better than to be like that, I ought to sit them down and pound it into their heads that...oh wait.
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Any faith that encourages ego to that extent is barking up the wrong dogma...
Ego rarely needs encouragement, it's the first part of ourselves we develop, so it's a pretty strong thing, unless totally abused or beaten down. We need it for survival, but it's a monster when it takes over.
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You know Greek???
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But, what else is new? That's what people tend to do.
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That's the reason that I love to read your entries you are saying things with their names and sufisient bite...
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The word translated "homosexuals" or "men who lie with men" in Greek is not the Greek word for homosexual.
That word is "adonokoite" which literally means "sex between males".
The word the apostle Paul uses 4 times in his writing is "adenokoite" which looks a little like "adonokoite" but isn't the same word.
Adenokoite is a word not really found in modern Greek usage, it refers to something that was part of the culture then, but has died out.
It is used in a heterosexual context, for one thing, it has nothing to do with same sex relations.
It meant "temple prostitute" roughly according to most Biblical scholars who are more familiar with the Greek culture and language of the time. Paul was warning against having sex with people(male of female) who prostituted themselves in the name of a local god or goddess...very much part of Greek society at the time.
Mostly because it was spiritually inconsistent with Christianity, but not because it was "queer"...temple prostitutes were both male and female.
That's all.
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An omnipresent force is one thing, but someone looking everywhere at everything...too big brother.
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Strangely enuf, you happen to Google "adenokoite" you get my own comments on an exJW forum about the subject under my other online name, "mindmelda".
I"m Googleable! LOL
I like this site, though.
http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-gay-christian
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