Religion & Spirituality - 8 November 2006

2006-11-08 10:54:19 · 11 answers · asked by Wandering Sage 6

Why is that? Id like to know where you live that theres so many atheists that you need to talk about us all the time. Cause i know if your in the United States, 85 percent of the losers are retarded enough to be christians.

2006-11-08 10:53:47 · 14 answers · asked by SN 1

2006-11-08 10:53:16 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous

,for one example, are as high in christian churches according to recent studies than other groups. Divorce being one of the main components needed for adultery, as defined in the Bible, and the Bible stating : "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies.... they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." Jerimiah 23:14

How can activist claiming to be Christian attempt to judge others in the politcal arena and try and legislate laws against groups of American culture?

Honestly, I asked this question in other words earlier and some "loving person" without an answer but apparent reporting grace said it was slur so it was removed. So, I did not get to finish reading most of the answers, There is not intention to offend anyone, just wanting some others viewpoints.

http://www.adherents.com/largecom/baptist_divorce.html

http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/january10/28.36.html

2006-11-08 10:52:50 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

I just want a brief description of the passover (jewish feast). I want to know the history of passover (how it came about) and what the passover consists of (like the blood of the lamb and stuff like that). And also, I would like to know why this is extremely significant to the Jewish faith.

So, if you could help me out, that'd be great! I need to know this for some research I'm doing.
THANKS!

2006-11-08 10:50:37 · 9 answers · asked by Pirate 4 Life 3

I know alot of christians are to blame and are judgmental and give the good ones a bad rep but noone attacks non believers for voicing the veiws of a Godless world. And the last time I checked I never seen a christian follow someone home bang on doors and force into peoples homes,I call them jahovah( spelled wrong I think) and mormons. Not the same we all have different beliefs. Im a christian who dont yell your going to hell, and only talks about it when im asked. Is that wrong?

2006-11-08 10:50:12 · 9 answers · asked by fatpeople_atemy_family 2

Do you say those things because you want to save peoples souls or have had a bad experience with mormonism? I'm sure that some people are just being idiots but i believe others are doing it to honestly try to save people.

2006-11-08 10:49:31 · 11 answers · asked by me 2

Do you believe that the Bible is underminded by your belief in evolution? Were you ever a creationist? Do you think you'll ever become a creationist?

2006-11-08 10:49:22 · 7 answers · asked by Nowhere Man 6

Take things SO seriously?

2006-11-08 10:49:18 · 19 answers · asked by kjhgfdsghjkljhgdfhj 1

As an atheist, people will say to me "I'll pray for ____" I smile and thank them.

But I have never figured out a graceful way to respond when they ask ME to pray for them! I don't like to lie. I used to say "Sure will" and say a little prayer to my computer hard drive, but I don't like that solution either.

Lately I have just taken to responding with "I'll be thinking of you so much" but yuck! Does anyone have a better solution?

2006-11-08 10:48:20 · 20 answers · asked by Black Parade Billie 5

Let me give you two senerios - both true

C&B have been together for 7 years. They have two children together and have lived together for 5 years. They are totally committed one another, their children are being raised by both parents who love and adore both of them. They are getting legally married in 2007.
~~~~~
J&R have been legally married for almost 20 years. They got married because they got preggers. The majority of these have been spent fighting and hating one another. Their children have grown up with mom raising them and Dad sitting in front of a TV or out in the garage. Mom goes out with the girls, Dad goes and plays pool with the guys.
~~~~~~~~~

Which one of them are married in the eyes of God?

2006-11-08 10:47:26 · 12 answers · asked by Miss Vicki 4

Why are less and less people choosing to worship in Religous buildings and heading to places like Tesco/Walmart?

2006-11-08 10:47:24 · 11 answers · asked by Jimbobarino 4

No no nothing to do with me, I'm a virgin and not planning on fornicatin!

Anyway that question popped in my head. You know how Christians say don't flirt with the world or something?

2006-11-08 10:45:13 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-11-08 10:41:56 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous

Do we really need priests, pastors, mullahs etc..? No doubt they were useful when the majority of people didn't know how to read and write and books were not available to everyone. Shouldn't the modern man/woman be personnally responsible for his spiritual progress?

2006-11-08 10:41:53 · 14 answers · asked by apicole 4

Can someone tell me a nice one the i can say for them.

2006-11-08 10:41:28 · 8 answers · asked by Michael S 1

...look really unintelligent? - eyes close together, big forehead, etc?

2006-11-08 10:41:05 · 29 answers · asked by kjhgfdsghjkljhgdfhj 1

I did and it happened when I finally believed the Jewish prophecies of Isaiah 532:13-53vs12 He will be exaulted. He will first be marred more than any man. All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord will make to light on him the iniquity of us all. He will lay down his life as an atonement for sins."
then I saw what he said from heaven after he resurrected from the dead and then asended unto heaven Revelation 1:1 and 3:19&20 "Behold I stand at your heart door, and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him and have fellowship with him and be their friend, if they ask me in to forgive sins."
so I prayed "Messiah Jesus I am sorry for my sins, come into my heart and help me, be my friend, amen"
and a new life began for me-how about for you?

2006-11-08 10:40:30 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

Seeing Stars*

First Publication:
Jewish Free Press, November 20, 1997, pp. 6-7.

Bibliography:
J. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Garden City, 1985.
N. H. Glatzer, Franz Rosenzweig, His Life and Thought, New York, 1961.
G. Scholem, Kabbalah, New York, 1974.
G. Sholem, The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays, New York, 1971.
J. Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition, New York, 1970.
What pictorial symbol would you choose to represent Judaism?
If you were living in ancient times, it would probably be an image connected with Israel's most revered religious shrine, the Jerusalem Temple. Thus, when we survey the ornamentation on coins and funeral memorials from the Second Commonwealth era, we encounter representations of the Temple gates, incense-burners or musical instruments, and an occasional lulav and etrog. It was the seven-branched candelabrum that would emerge as the most widely accepted image of Jewish faith and peoplehood.

Conspicuously absent from the above list is the six-pointed star that is now referred to as the Magen David, the "shield of David." Indeed, our ubiquitous Magen David has only a dubious claim to authenticity as a Jewish symbol. It was not until well into the medieval era that anyone would have dreamed of associating it with Judaism--and the nature of that association was not necessarily a favourable or complimentary one.

The earliest known incarnations of the star of David are not found in Jewish sources, but in Christian and Muslim traditions, albeit in works that borrowed freely from Hebrew prototypes. In those sources, the shield is not associated with King David, but with his son Solomon. And the star in question has five points, not six.

According to a popular legend related by Josephus Flavius and in the Talmud, Solomon was able to exercise control over the demonic realms by means of a magical ring. The legends about King Solomon's ring were elaborated in extensive detail in "the Testament of Solomon," a Greek pseudepigraphic work of undetermined date. Several versions of this work contain precise descriptions of the ring, and in some of them it is described as a "pentalpha," a star composed of five interlaced A's. The pentalpha reappears in several Byzantine amulets.

Stories about the "seal of Solomon" were also mentioned by Arabic writers, and through them they became known to Jews. The twelfth-century Karaite scholar Judah Hadassi was apparently the first to allude to this magical sign by its alternative name, the "shield of David," a usage that might have originated in the Qur'an's depiction of David as a fashioner of armour.

For the most part, references to the shields of Solomon and David, and their use in occult practices, are found in non-Jewish sources, and they frequently reinforce the medieval stereotypes of a Jewish predilection for sorcery. This is not to say that Jews were totally removed from the practice of the magic. Like everyone else in those times, our medieval ancestors made ample use of protective amulets and mezuzahs, etc. Variations on the star shape--including the six-pointed kind--appeared with some frequency in those contexts. However there was nothing uniquely Jewish in such superstitions.


The earliest known appearance of the Magen David as a specifically Jewish icon was on the official emblem of the Prague Jewish community in the seventeenth century. By then the shield's association with King David had became sufficiently established for it to serve as a symbol of national pride. In the eyes of many gentiles, it presumably confirmed their suspicions that Jews were generally involved in the dark arts.

In truth however, it was the Christian adepts of alchemy and the occult who were most likely to draw upon Hebrew images, real or imagined, in order to lend their work an aura of authoritative mystery. This tendency gave rise to a widespread impression among outsiders that the Kabbalah was primarily a system of magic.

Nonetheless, the popularity of the Magen David spread rapidly over the subsequent years. The Jews of Vienna adopted it in 1655 to symbolize their own community, and following their expulsion in 1755 they bore it to their new homes in other central European towns. It did not take long for it to achieve immense popularity as a motif of synagogue ornamentation.

Of course in the eyes of Jews, the figure of King David has a special significance as the paradigm of national glory and the ancestor of the Messiah. In the latter part of the seventeenth century this motif was cultivated by the devotees of the mystical messiah Shabbetai Zvi, and the Shield of David would appear as a secret sign on amulets produced by the faithful, particularly after it had gone underground.

Thus there is no small measure of irony in the fact that, when nineteenth-century Jews were looking for a recognizable trademark to serve as the equivalent of the cross or crescent, their choice was a symbol whose associations with Judaism owed more to anti-Jewish stereotyping than to any meaningful links with our national or religious values.

However such is the vigour of symbols that, whatever their original purpose, they can be infused with profound and inspiring meaning. For Jewish nationalists, this occurred when the Zionist movement positioned it at the centre of their new national flag. In the domain of the spirit, the imagery of the six-pointed star stimulated Franz Rosenzweig to formulate a brilliant religious philosophy in which the realms of God, Humanity and the World are linked together through the religious axes of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.

Notwithstanding these development, my overall feeling is that the Magen David makes a poor choice of symbol. It has no tangible roots in Jewish tradition, and even evokes some themes that are antithetical to healthy Jewish values.

Let me therefore take this opportunity to issue a call to my readers to forgo the Star of David in favour of more authentic Jewish images the next time you are in the market for an item of jewelry or a wedding invitation. Perhaps the change can be accomplished if enough of us rally behind its banner--a banner that will, of course, display a menorah and not a Magen David.

2006-11-08 10:38:55 · 6 answers · asked by Soul saviour 4

The truth that you are not the superior being and that there's someone or thing far superior than you? Is that why atheists are arrongant and immoral so they dont' have to worry about answering up to anyone?

2006-11-08 10:37:28 · 23 answers · asked by Believe me 3

He believes in Jesus - he believes in the Bible - he's regarded as such by millions of people all over the world - he claims that everyone must do as he says because Jesus tells him so - so, how do I know for sure he isn't?

2006-11-08 10:37:08 · 16 answers · asked by Da Vinci's Code 3

but people say Hes not real,you cant see him,you cant touch him.Well yes you can if you can breath,but you cant see your breath,I dont believe you are breathing,I cant see your breath.Jesus wants us to be his hands and feet,to do his work.Dont let this hate get to you,I know God is real,everytime I see a new birth,I know HE breathed air into those tiny lungs.If you want some of GODS love just breath.And just say hi

2006-11-08 10:36:20 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

Please be specific, give historical accounts, and provide evidence for your arguments. I'm curious to see the responses from both camps.

2006-11-08 10:35:50 · 5 answers · asked by AM 3

As a child I made an evangelism bracelet that was 6 beads each color had a faith based meaning. Black was sin, red was Christ's blood, white was purity, ...what do green , blue and yellow stand for? Simple answers desired. Thank you for your help!

2006-11-08 10:32:06 · 10 answers · asked by coolmom 1

If evolution is true, then where are the missing links? Can ANYONE show me some hardcore proof that, I repeat, has NOT been refuted? No wishful thinking, just proof.

2006-11-08 10:31:40 · 25 answers · asked by . 7

2006-11-08 10:28:54 · 4 answers · asked by Deena B 1

What did Saint Raphael (archangel) do to become a saint?

2006-11-08 10:26:18 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous

Why not advocate some kind of rational irenic between the two schools? Is the argument over naturalistic methods in science and ethics?

Higher rational beings need not the tools for warfare.

2006-11-08 10:25:20 · 12 answers · asked by AM 3

I'm not a real religious person, and have always been to embarrassed to ask any one but what is the difference between god and Jesus

2006-11-08 10:23:01 · 24 answers · asked by dcpixiedust 1

Was it caused by curiousness or what? I've been wondering for a while now...

2006-11-08 10:22:09 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous