quote:

ORIGINAL: Darcyandthedark

I don't know about that - much of the bible could make good porn, depending on the director.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

Not many could read then. Are they sure Jesus actually could read? He was from a lower cast

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

Not many could read then. Are they sure Jesus actually could read? He was from a lower cast

Not being able to read would make him no worse off than the average modern Christian, since there is no difference between being unable to read and unwilling to do so. Anyway, that digression aside, we can consider a few other positions. First, there's the bit about the possibility of inside knowledge. Second, one can memorize a friggin' huge amount of text in a few years. It takes me- at a regular speech rate- approximately an hour to memorize a page of text. When reading, that takes about 20-30 minutes. If I practiced (and I'd think doing it for a few years would qualify in that regard), the pace could probably be improved. And that's without the use of things like memory palaces and so forth, techniques that were available to the Romans in his day, at least. Passing on histories orally is as old as language itself, yanno. Third, reading is not extremely complicated. It is difficult, granted, but there is at least one recorded instance of a later monk who was able to read without speaking the words aloud, so it's not that hard. Anyone who knows how to do it would be able to teach him. Someone suggested elsewhere that Jesus might be the bastard offspring of some Roman stationed in the area, which isn't exactly all that unthinkable; and if the guy had anything to do with him after he was born, or if the purported three magi did, then he would have people around who did know how to read and write. In short, it's not a stretch for such an exceptional man to have sufficient exposure. He even spoke Arameic, after all. And that's even if you don't believe the whole son of God thing.

Health,
al-Aswad.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

Not many could read then. Are they sure Jesus actually could read? He was from a lower cast

Not being able to read would make him no worse off than the average modern Christian, since there is no difference between being unable to read and unwilling to do so. Anyway, that digression aside, we can consider a few other positions. First, there's the bit about the possibility of inside knowledge. Second, one can memorize a friggin' huge amount of text in a few years. It takes me- at a regular speech rate- approximately an hour to memorize a page of text. When reading, that takes about 20-30 minutes. If I practiced (and I'd think doing it for a few years would qualify in that regard), the pace could probably be improved. And that's without the use of things like memory palaces and so forth, techniques that were available to the Romans in his day, at least. Passing on histories orally is as old as language itself, yanno. Third, reading is not extremely complicated. It is difficult, granted, but there is at least one recorded instance of a later monk who was able to read without speaking the words aloud, so it's not that hard. Anyone who knows how to do it would be able to teach him. Someone suggested elsewhere that Jesus might be the bastard offspring of some Roman stationed in the area, which isn't exactly all that unthinkable; and if the guy had anything to do with him after he was born, or if the purported three magi did, then he would have people around who did know how to read and write. In short, it's not a stretch for such an exceptional man to have sufficient exposure. He even spoke Arameic, after all. And that's even if you don't believe the whole son of God thing.

Health,
al-Aswad.

Interesting read and some nice points. Gonna dig into this

I think the gnostics..were silent also..but I could be wrong..have to read soem more

quote:

heh, you might be thinking of the Essenes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes Though Wikipedia doesn't cover all of their customs. They followed a strict adherence to their codes.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad

quote:

ORIGINAL: Darcyandthedark

I don't know about that - much of the bible could make good porn, depending on the director.

We already have a great script for a movie: 1QM, 4Q285, 4Q491, 4Q492-4Q496, etc. [:D]

Health,
al-Aswad.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Darcyandthedark

Whooohooo - religious and spiritual debate and Aswad arrives in the nick of time.

quote:

I wonder if that is how the people felt when Jesus turned up?

quote:

ORIGINAL: OmegaG

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

quote:

This meant that he was teaching, not from "the book"

the book was written afther Jesus, stories were oral then..if I am correct

There are scholars that studied the syntax of the original texts of the NT and compared it the the venacular usage in other writings and some believe that one of the gospels (and I'm drawing a blank on which one) was written about 80 years after Jesus' death.

That's not conclusive proof of it's innaccuracy, just that it was oral tradition for a long time.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

I thought that too. Didn't know about the homosexual part....so it was added..

quote:

ORIGINAL: Justme696

I thought that too. Didn't know about the homosexual part....so it was added.

quote:

ORIGINAL: takenbyjohnr07

that it is against God to do any BDSM. Does anyone know why? Is it because of the sexual pleasure that they object to or is it something else? Thanks

quote:

So it's not clear whether or not homosexuality had anything to do with the city being destroyed.

quote:

ORIGINAL: dcnovice

quote:

So it's not clear whether or not homosexuality had anything to do with the city being destroyed.

Sodom's failings are actually spelled out pretty clearly in Ezekiel 16:49-50:

49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.