Are You Religious?

I am agnostic. I feel you can never prove god.

Very limited poll.
What about "Spiritual"?

Hi Bryan!

I am a Christian. BJ is a Christian also. Commander Keen is a Christian. They have to be. BJ fought Satan multiple times. BJ has to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that He died on the cross to save us from our sins. Based on Satan being in the Wolfenstein games, BJ is 100 percent a Christian.

Christianity is a relationship and not a religion. My favorite books of the Bible are Daniel and Revelation. Does anyone on here besides Brian and me think BJ is a Christian?

I am a believer in Jesus Christ.

I'm not religious though.

So your poll doesn't have a choice that I am comfortable with.

@jpb6891: Is BJ a Christian? Well, the story doesn't say so, and it isn't important to the story either. He is just hired to fight against evil powers in the world. But his background (1940's Polish-American) would suggest he is likely a Roman Catholic.

Would Jesus approve of BJ's actions? My guess is no.

Jesus prolly wouldn't. Jesus would be like, oh, you are all bad, but I'll let you kill me. And all the others too.

Wait, please explain how you can be non-religious and believe in Jesus Christ.

I suppose he means he believes Jesus lived for real, way back when. There's plenty of evidence for that. But the bull about him being a sort-of wizard hasn't been proved by anyone worthy of listening to.

You non-believers keep using the word "prove". Faith is a belief/confidence/trust not based on proof. So saying there's no proof of God or Jesus' power means nothing to the faithful.

Mind you, a "blind faith" is not the way to go, which is what most (all?) organized religions encourage to keep their members in line and spritually powerless. And why I don't consider myself "religious". It's understandable that a non-believer might automatically assume a belief in Jesus Christ means one is religious. I think most believers think so also.

For me, a faithless existence was quite empty and meaningless, no matter how many pleasures I experienced and wealth I accumulated. I sought for Truth and found it.

Jpb6891, maybe the phrasing that you might have chosen should have been, "BJ Blazkowics must have been a Christian or he wouldn't have believed in the power of The Spear of Destiny."

Two-thirds of the people that the Nazis killed were Jewish. So I suppose that we could as well say that BJ Blazkowics might have been Jewish and fighting The Nazis. Or you could say that he was a fictional video game character and it doesn't matter.

jpb6891 wrote:Commander Keen is a Christian.

Huh? I played a game years ago that I think was Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy. I remember no mention of Keen's religious preference. But I suppose maybe you think that Commander Keen is a Christian if he's the grandson of Christian BJ Blazkowics.

jpb6891 wrote:Based on Satan being in the Wolfenstein games, BJ is 100 percent a Christian.

Other cultures believed in a Lucifer or Satan. The Egyptians believed in a darkness character named Set who wasn't completely evil. If the word Satan isn't based on the word for betrayer or deceiver, then the word Satan could be based on Set. Or it could be based on the word Satyr. The Greek Satyr was part man, part goat, like Satan.

However, I think that the difference is that in The Book of Job, Lucifer is not completely evil and it was before his fall. Some Jews believed or still believe that Lucifer is not completely evil.

Zoroastrianism is a Persian religion from about 600 BC and they believed in what I would paraphrase as an underworld demon that I think was named Ahriman. It's a Judaism-like religion that believes in one God, one Devil, Heaven, Hell, souls, and eternal judgement. Freddy Mercury was probably the most famous modern person I can think of who was raised Zoroastrian. I don't think that Jews, Muslims, and Zoroastrians would be offended if I said that they believed in a character a lot like The Devil.

jpb6891 wrote:Christianity is a relationship and not a religion. My favorite books of the Bible are Daniel and Revelation. Does anyone on here besides Brian and me think BJ is a Christian?

Then you might as well say that Judaism and other religions are relationships and not religions. I don't do the Jesus thing nor kiss Jesus' butt. I'm not Jewish either. Somebody wrote a paper with, "If the first commandment is 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me' then Christians and Muslims break this commandment by not worshiping the God of Judaism."

Daniel was written 450 to 490 years after the events that it pretended to predict. I read about it in a Philosophy class and in Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of World History. Revelation is paranoid, fire, and brimstone. There are historical people that said that Revelation is unintelligible or was written by a madman. Martin Luther almost didn't want Revelation included in The Bible. This reminds me of my 666th post: https://wolf3d.darkbb.com/t2288-do-you-fear-666

Dark_wizzie wrote:Wait, please explain how you can be non-religious and believe in Jesus Christ.

One of my professors was from Romania. He said that in Romania that they believe in Jesus, but not in The Resurrection. So people that aren't religious can believe in Jesus, but not the same concept of Jesus. I suppose I could say that a Non-Muslim, Non-Buddhist could say that Mohammed and Buddha existed, but that they weren't God-like, and were only historical people. The apostles of Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha interpreted them different ways.

Some Lost Gospel Christians and/or Gnostic Christians believed that Jesus came down to Earth like a phantom or archangel without parents. They believed that it was a scandal to say that Jesus was born of a woman. I read about it in "The Jesus Mysteries: Was the 'Original Jesus' a Pagan God?" By Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. Also, some of them believed that Jesus couldn't die on a cross because Jesus couldn't die.

Jews and Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet. Jesus was Esa and Mary was Maryam in The Book of Mary or Maryam in The Koran. I see in documentaries that people before the time of Constantine said that Jesus was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier named Panter. Also, Jesus would have been called Joshua, Jeshu, Jesu, or something similar.

There are definite places where The Bible shouldn't be taken literally. Lucifer means "light follower" and "Babylonian Prince," not "devil." There was an author that I don't know if you'd understand or appreciate that said that Solomon's Temple will never be found by archaeologists because Solomon's Temple is in Heaven, not on Earth. Noah's Ark is based off of King Utanapishtim from The Gilgamesh Epic. I think that my favorite contradiction in The Bible involves Genesis 6 and Genesis 25. In Genesis 6 they are getting off of Noah's Ark and God or an angel tells them that nobody will live past 120 years anymore. Then I think that in Genesis 25, Abraham dies at age 175.

I don't believe that the wafer is Jesus' flesh and the wine is Jesus' blood. That's sick. I don't believe in Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, The talking snake, Balaam's donkey talking, nor Lott's wife turning into a pillar of salt.

I read a lot, and I mean a lot about different religions. You can probably continue to discuss religion with us.

Hi Mike!

Faith is a belief/confidence/trust not based on proof.

And that there is exactly the problem with faith/religion. You might as well believe in Superman or Santa Clause and it would be the same thing. Or in Chris' case, trance music. Actually, trance music is better as it exists.

I sought for Truth and found it.

I'm curious, what do you mean?

jpb6891 wrote:Christianity is a relationship and not a religion

Well (I'm glad you're THAT advanced in your religious views, but:), most Christians in the world themselves refer to it as a religion. Not to mention that Christianity has EVERY single attribute of a religion.
Humanized God (with "primitive" human attributes of judgement, anger), who is believed to give humanity a set of rules to live by and punishes for not doing so... Giving humans only one life to live (with no reincarnation) - and condemning them based on this one life to eternal heaven or hell...Controlling people by guilt and shame, sins...I can go on and on and on...there are SO many attributes...

For a relationship - you don't need to invent name for it.

Atina wrote:
hm and fom all religions i guess buddism would make most sense to me so far, since everything circulates in nature soul would do same so reincarnation sounds most smart for now.
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"Like" Now this guy is talking some sense

You people is crazy. The mothership will pick us up in 4000 years and we'll all live happily in eternity in outer space, drinking Pepsi and playing Schabbs 2000 (the original, the SDL version hasn't come out yet in 6012).

Thomas wrote:You people is crazy. The mothership will pick us up in 4000 years and we'll all live happily in eternity in outer space, drinking Pepsi and playing Schabbs 2000 (the original, the SDL version hasn't come out yet in 6012).

Hey, don't forget to invite me. Now, if I could just invent an immortality potion to live 4,000 more years. Have you ever seen the movie Cocoon?

Some people never go crazy. What truly terrible lives they must be leading.

doomjedi wrote:"Like" Now this guy is talking some sense

What guy? Chris is a chick, not a dude. I'm kidding.

You almost had me there, man... Almost.

Dark_wizzie wrote:Are You Religious?

In the world there are many interesting texts from North America to Australia written in ancient times.
I adhere to the Orthodox Church.

You gotta hand it to the Orthodox thing; they've got the coolest hats.

Thomas wrote:You gotta hand it to the Orthodox thing; they've got the coolest hats.

English I transport by means of the online translator.. Probably not correctly translated..
What "gotta hand it to the Orthodox"?
Phrase (words) "In the world there are many interesting texts"?
If the priest conducts scientific research the history of religions, all texts being studied.
For example priest Alexander Men (1935 — 1990). His main work "History of religions" in seven volumes, consisting of a series "In search of a way, truth and life" (t.1-6, Brussels 1970 — 1983; in the USSR 1991 — 1992) and books about Jesus "the Son Human", (Brussels 1969; In the USSR 1991).
At the same time someone is enough of a book. Another person read a lot of texts. I started with the Baptists, became acquainted with the books of other "new" Christians formed after a split in the Middle Ages. At the same time read a little mythology and religious books of other nations. Gradually came to Orthodoxy.

LOL all I meant was that I just dug the hats they were wearing.

Akuul wrote:What "gotta hand it to the Orthodox"?

It's not literal. He isn't handing anything to them. In English if you say, "Gotta hand it to..." then it's a figure of speech for giving respect, giving homage, or showing amazement. I was watching a video on the internet of some guys filming at a get together on a balcony. Lightning struck a tree near the balcony about 15 feet away from the camera and they look on in amazement. In the description of the online video some guy typed, "You gotta give it to Zeus. Lighting is amazing."

I've heard that English is a difficult language to learn. To my understanding, it doesn't have a lot of Latin compared to other European languages. Your English is much better than my Russian.

I have a joke since you're Russian. A non-Russian man runs The Wolfenstein 3D Dome web site. If a comedian impersonating a Russian man were running the web site, then it would be The Wolfenstein 3D Onion Dome! That's because your buildings have Onion Domes!

I've heard that The Orthodox have gift-giving on January 6th or 8th on Three Kings Day instead of on Christmas. I think that they have Easter one week later than American Protestants and American Catholics. This year, we're having Easter on April 8th. Maybe they are still on The Julian Calendar instead of The Gregorian Calendar.

stathmk wrote:

Akuul wrote:What "gotta hand it to the Orthodox"?

It's not literal. He isn't handing anything to them. In English if you say, "Gotta hand it to..." then it's a figure of speech for giving respect, giving homage, or showing amazement ...

Now I understand. Thanks. Once again you realize that a metaphor or a joke or an oxymoron difficult to translate from a foreign language

stathmk wrote:The Julian Calendar instead of The Gregorian Calendar.

Yes. Currently, only four of the Orthodox Church - Russian, Georgian, Serbian and Jerusalem - follow the Julian calendar. For example Easter 2012 - April 15.

stathmk wrote: A non-Russian man runs The Wolfenstein 3D Dome web site .. Russian man were running the web site, then it would be The Wolfenstein 3D Onion Dome! ..

It could be. While it may have been another name - Wolf 3D Kremlin Indeed, the Kremlin is not only Moscow. This is the name of the city's fortifications in ancient Russia, a city surrounded by ramparts and towers with loopholes. Kremlin is sometimes referred to some of the fortifications, which in ancient Russia were originally created not as the city's fortifications, but as a frontier military outposts, were called the Kremlin some monasteries.

stathmk wrote:
I've heard that English is a difficult language to learn.

No, it's quite an easy one...relatively. Beside the different time constructs - it doesn't have too many "tricks".

Russian is MUCH harder

doomjedi wrote:

stathmk wrote:
I've heard that English is a difficult language to learn.

No, it's quite an easy one...relatively. Beside the different time constructs - it doesn't have too many "tricks".

Russian is MUCH harder

Really? I've heard that English is less logical than Spanish, German, or Italian.

DoomJedi, you know Russian? Am I supposed to know the difference between a Bolshevic and a Menshevic? Which one meant "political majority" and which one meant "political minority?" Am I confused?

My Dad read the English translation of Doctor Zhivago and he said that it was confusing. I think that characters have a birth certificate name, a formal name, and a nickname. Correct? For instance, I had heard that nickname for Alexander is Sasha.

I took 2 years of Spanish. The Moors or whichever Muslim group were a large section of the population of Spain hundreds of years ago and influenced the Spanish language to my understanding. I've heard that's why Arabic and Spanish have words like el and la.

Some Southeast Asians who speak perfect English were typing on a message board about which language an Asian commercial was in. One of them typed that the difference between Chinese and Japanese is larger than the difference between English and Russian!? I'm not sure where he gets that info or how accurate it is.

stathmk wrote:Really? I've heard that English is less logical than Spanish, German, or Italian.

Well, I was comparing it to harder languages, eastern especially.

DoomJedi, you know Russian?

Yes, it's my mother language

Am I supposed to know the difference between a Bolshevic and a Menshevic?

Yes One is from russian word "Bol'she" - meaning "more"...and the other is based on a russian word "men'she" - which means "less"

I think that characters have a birth certificate name, a formal name, and a nickname.

Didn't read the book...
Well...for most names, yes. Even more than one....well...one in many sub-forms.
This is one of the 3 most noticable russian unique language characteristics - each word can be said in many different ways with delicate differenced which are hard to grasp for non-russians, making the language much richer. Some nicks mean "small xxx"...many name and word variations mean special kinds of affection.

For instance, I had heard that nickname for Alexander is Sasha.

Yes. There are many more - "Nikolai - Kolya", "Evgeny - Zhenya", "Vitalij - Vitya", "Dimitri - Dima", "Peter - Petya", "Vladimir - Dima", "Michaiil - Misha", "Anatolij - Tolik", "Stanislav - Stas".... etc etc etc.....
Each name can have sub-expressions:
"Dimitri - Dima - Dimka - Dimochka"....etc....

The same for women -
"Tatyana - Taniya - Tanechka - Tat'yushen'ka - Tanyushechka - Tan'ka .....",
"Ol'ga - Olya - Ol'ka - Olechka"
"Elizaveta - Liza"
"Valeriya - Valya"
"Katerina - Katia"
.....
...
etc etc.....

I've heard that's why Arabic and Spanish have words like el and la.

"La"? "El"? Where in Arabic you have those words?

Spanish: "La Marina", Arabian: "El Kebaba" etc.

I thought that "Al-" is the prefix that means "The" in Arabic." I've heard that Arabic doesn't translate literally to English. The best example that I've heard is that the Arabs were apparently swordsmiths or blacksmiths and have 19 to 27 different words for sword based on the type. "72 virgins" means "many virgins." 72 and 40 must mean "several" in Middle Eastern languages like "Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves" and the 40 days and 40 nights of rain in the Genesis flood.

Hebrew and Greek can't be literally translated to English either. I've heard that Moses crossed The Reed Sea, not the Red Sea, so Hebrew didn't have written vowels. When Moses struck the rock for water, he didn't literally strike it. Striking something means uncovering, like striking oil. An author that I don't know if you'd understand or appreciate wrote that Solomon's Temple will never be found because in the original story the temple was in Heaven not on Earth. In The English Bible there are 144,000 Jews, but in The original Greek, there are twelves of twelves of thousands of Jews.

stathmk wrote:I thought that "Al-" is the prefix that means "The" in Arabic."

Yes, probably.

I've heard that Arabic doesn't translate literally to English.

IFAIK this is a bit far-fetched. Don't think it's less literal than other languages.
Arabic is just one language from a prosemitic tree of languages, that have very simular grammar, roots, words, structure etc.
Ancient roots of both arabic and Hebrew are Ugaritic, Babilonian, Sumerian, Akkadic, Aramaic languages etc.
I've just recently read a whole book on ancient Ugarit language....and it's basically Hebrew/Arabic ...only much older. Very interesting.

"72 virgins" means "many virgins."

Actually it means "72 raisins"

the fate of Martyrs as told in the Koran is not 72 virgins but rather 72 white grapes or white raisins thanks to a mistranslation from Aramaic.

72 and 40 must mean "several" in Middle Eastern languages like "Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves" and the 40 days and 40 nights of rain in the Genesis flood.

As a free Hebrew speaker - I've never heard of that. Seems like a rumor.

Hebrew and Greek can't be literally translated to English either.

Again...this can be said about any language...russian included. Languages are different English is far from Slavic language group as it is from Semitic one. English words have only one version mostly...while almost any russian word can be said in many ways, depending on the goal/context etc....Translating it to one same english word makes translation very poor. This is why it's hard to translate Pushkin and such.
Russian language has 3 sexes - male, female and one that is neither (like window, cloud, sun, shoulder, glass - is neither male of female)...already making verbs and adjectives to have at least 3 versions, + another 3 for plurar form.
Also the word has different enging depending on the "padezh" - "home" in "to home" is written differently than "home" in "from home" or "at home" or "with home" or "near home".... Making russian a hard language to learn and master.

Depends what you mean by "literal". They have different sentence structure.
"Beautiful Flower" in english - is "Flower Beautiful" in Hebrew.
In russian it's still "Beautiful Flower".

Being a free speaker of Russian, English and Hebrew - don't see anytning specific that makes translation from Hebrew harder than from other languages.

I've heard that Moses crossed The Reed Sea, not the Red Sea, so Hebrew didn't have written vowels.

?
Well, in Hebrew "Red Sea" is a modern word, not used in the Bible.
In the Bible it's called "Suf Sea"... So I guess Suf means Reed?

When Moses struck the rock for water, he didn't literally strike it. Striking something means uncovering, like striking oil.

Being a Hebrew Speaker/reader, and quite a Bible expert - never heard of this interpretation.

Solomon's Temple will never be found because in the original story the temple was in Heaven not on Earth.

There was a First Temple, Second Temple...it's archeological and historical fact.

"72 virgins" means "many virgins."

Actually it means "72 raisins"

the fate of Martyrs as told in the Koran is not 72 virgins but rather 72 white grapes or white raisins thanks to a mistranslation from Aramaic.

I've heard that Ibn Wariq said that. It might not be his real name because Ibn Wariq is a common name in the Middle East like John Smith is here in America. Also, he's critical of Fundamentalist Muslims or Shariah Government, so he might not be using his real name. American comedian Jimmy Kimmel said that a scholar indicated that the "72 virgins" are actually "72 raisins."

Aramaic is from Syriac? Right? Am I confused?

When Moses struck the rock for water, he didn't literally strike it. Striking something means uncovering, like striking oil.

Being a Hebrew Speaker/reader, and quite a Bible expert - never heard of this interpretation.

I thought that I read about striking oil or striking water in "Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of World History." I can't think of the authors' name off of the top of my head. There may have been about 4 pages about Judaism and/or The Old Testament and about 4 pages about Jesus. In The Bible, there was no mention of Jesus being born on December 24th or 25th. The Christians replaced a competing holiday with Jesus' birthday. The author was critical of the existence of Adam, Eve, and Noah's ark, which was nothing new or strange. Lott's wife turns into a pillar of salt in The English Bible when she looks back. I've heard from that same book that in the original Bible that "turning into a pillar of salt" means becoming infertile. That must be a real traumatic interpretation to say that she had post traumatic stress disorder causing infertility from seeing the mental illness, crime, fire, or earthquakes in the 5 doomed cities.

Solomon's Temple will never be found because in the original story the temple was in Heaven not on Earth.

There was a First Temple, Second Temple...it's archeological and historical fact.

OK. I'm not religious, but I read a lot about religion. I'm not trying to be a smart Alec. Have you ever heard that in The Book of Revelation that Jesus is at the right hand of God in a throne next to God's throne in Heaven? Then what temple in Heaven are they in? What's the Hebrew name for this temple? Revelation is a controversial book where they are in a temple in Heaven with 7 seals, a slain lamb with 7 eyes and 7 horns, and other freaky stuff. I think that it might have been American President John Adams Sr that said that he hadn't read Revelation in 40 years because, "Revelation was written by a madman." I don't believe Revelation.

There may have been a temple or 2, but we can't believe everything we hear about the Temple. Have you heard of The Masons in Scotland, England, and America? They believe in Hyram Abif, Hyram of Tyre, and Solomon in The Temple and that the Temple was on Earth. However, some Masons are asked about the stories and rituals about The Temple and respond by saying that it's all legend. I think of it this following way: Maybe Shakespeare existed, but he didn't write all of his plays. Maybe a commander in chief with the middle name Artorius existed as King Arthur but not all of the legends about him are true. Legends can be exaggerated or added hundreds of years later.

What's Jesus Christ's name in Hebrew? Joshua Christos? Wasn't Christos a title and not a last name?

How can there be a literal astronomical Star of Bethlehem and only a few people see it instead of everybody on Earth? I'm wondering something. Does it say "Light of Bethlehem" in The Hebrew translation? If it was a light leading the 3 wise men, then I wonder if it could just be a torch or lantern that somebody is carrying.

Have you also heard that Joshua from The Old Testament wasn't a person of flesh and blood but instead an archangel or "phantom that came down from Heaven to Earth without parents?" A "phantom that came down from Heaven to Earth without parents" is my phrasing.

Look up Melchizedek for a couple minutes because I don't know his Hebrew name. Would he be a person of flesh and blood, an archangel, or a phantom? If you've never heard of him, then just ignore this paragraph because I don't think he's famous.

Does the "salem" in Jerusalem mean "shalom" or "peace?" Then what does "Jeru" mean?

I like talking to you. But I don't mean to bother you since this is about religion. It must be the middle of the night where you are. Feel free to respond over the weekend. Or if this is too much at once, then you can just tell me to stop for a while.

stathmk wrote:
Aramaic is from Syriac? Right? Am I confused?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language

In The Bible, there was no mention of Jesus being born on December 24th or 25th. The Christians replaced a competing holiday with Jesus' birthday

This fits well with what I've learned about the subject.
Jews did the same to Sumerian/Ugaritic "holy-days", the most known case was originally devoted to the death of God "Dumuzi".

The author was critical of the existence of Adam, Eve, and Noah's ark, which was nothing new or strange.

I know so many versions and explanations of that one...A whole forum is not enouph to say all I know regarding the subject. Let me just say that it's much more complicated than a simple question if they existed or not. I can say one thing - Bible is the worst source to study the subject.
To explore those myth we have to go back to it's Sumerian origins....as Bible was a re-written, wrongly translated, manipulated, censored version of those myths.

Lott's wife turns into a pillar of salt

Well, she didn't really, it's 99% mistake in translation...and quite a late one BTW.
I have sources that get me an understanding this myth looked different 2000 years ago.
http://dolorescannon.com/index.php?page=view-book&id=26&hash=08ce2c0301d6b2176de3f17cf0b34fed
She could be slightly covered by a thin layer of salt at most.

I've heard from that same book that in the original Bible that "turning into a pillar of salt" means becoming infertile.

Sounds absurd to the extent it's even hard for me to express

OK. I'm not religious, but I read a lot about religion.

Same here

Have you ever heard that in The Book of Revelation that Jesus is at the right hand of God in a throne next to God's throne in Heaven? Then what temple in Heaven are they in? What's the Hebrew name for this temple?

Well, I'm more of an Old Testament expert...living in a jewish state...so you probably know New Testament better.

Revelation is a controversial book

(If you're devoted Christian, you might want to skip my reply!)
...As are quite some other New Testament Book.
Each chapter of the New Testament, Revelation including, was tested/calibrated for truth and we know the level of truth of each chapter.
"Revelation" calibrates for only 70, meaning it's a evil text poisoning the mind, with no truth to it. There are very little written sources on Earth worse than this one. 70 is a VERY low mark, evil.

The Old Testament calibrates at only 190. However, Genesis is at 660, Psalms is 650, Proverbs is 350. If these are excluded then the remaining Old Testament calibrates at only 125. The New Testament calibrates at 640. However if Revelations were removed (calibrates at only 70) then the New Testament would calibrate at 790.

The current bible calibrates at 475 as a whole. To make it authentically "Holy" as the title implies, it would have to exclude all of the books of the Old Testament (except Genesis, Psalms and Proverbs) and Revelations. If that were done, then the bible would be truly "Holy" and calibrate at over 740. Importantly, the Lamsa version of the bible (Translated from Aramaic, Jesus’ language) is more accurate than the King James Version (translated from Greek). It calibrates 20 points higher. If the Lamsa bible excluded the old testament (except Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs) and revelations it would calibrate at 810. If Revelations were removed from the Lamsa version of the New Testament, it would calibrate at a whopping 880.

http://happy-firewalker.blogspot.com/2010/03/dr-david-hawkins-reading-list.html

There may have been a temple or 2, but we can't believe everything we hear about the Temple.

I meant their historic existence, not autobelief of everything regarding them.

However, some Masons are asked about the stories and rituals about The Temple and respond by saying that it's all legend.

Those rituals very not unique to the area and were simular to pagan religions around it, only given a different meaning....So their claim is a bit far-fetched.

What's Jesus Christ's name in Hebrew?

"Yeshu' is the common hebrew name/term, though it has bad meanings (abbriviations). Yeshua/Jeshua is a better name.

Joshua Christos?

Jews will never call him Christos
It was never his real name anyway.

Wasn't Christos a title and not a last name?

Title...it's a word with deep spiritual meanings...that existed before him.
So the answer is depending on who you ask. Spiritually - it means someone from Christ Consciousness level...which brings that vibration to Earth....Christalline Vibration. Unconditional Love.

http://www.ctrforchristcon.org/christ-consciousness.asp

How can there be a literal astronomical Star of Bethlehem and only a few people see it instead of everybody on Earth?

Not only a few people could see it.
Your answer is in the book link to which I've posted in this very reply.

Does it say "Light of Bethlehem" in The Hebrew translation?

Not that I'm aware of.
Anyway, BethLehem is a city...both ancient, and actual city in Israel. Meaning "House of Bread" - "Beth-Lehem".

If it was a light leading the 3 wise men, then I wonder if it could just be a torch or lantern that somebody is carrying.

Not according to the book.
It was a celestrial event.

Have you also heard that Joshua from The Old Testament wasn't a person of flesh and blood but instead an archangel or "phantom that came down from Heaven to Earth without parents?" A "phantom that came down from Heaven to Earth without parents" is my phrasing.

No, he was flesh and blood...and he was born a natural way...and not from a virgin.
This is too far-fetched...look for better sources to read

Look up Melchizedek for a couple minutes because I don't know his Hebrew name.

It's the same in hebrew, it's hebrew words. Meaning "King of Justice"

Would he be a person of flesh and blood, an archangel, or a phantom? If you've never heard of him, then just ignore this paragraph because I don't think he's famous.

He is in the Old Testament, so I've heard of him
And yes, he is flesh and blood.

Does the "salem" in Jerusalem mean "shalom" or "peace?"

Could be.
But it's more appropriate meaning/root is "Shalem" (and not Shalom) - which means "Whole/Complete".

Then what does "Jeru" mean?

It can come from roots of "god-fear", but more appropriate root is "They'll See".

So we can say that JeruShalem probably means "(City which) will be seen as complete"

You've got a lot. Can I respond tomorrow?

No rush

I deleted the message because its meaning is lost
.
I will not start again .. The next time again ..

Oops, sorry Akull - I seem to have edited your post instead of quoting it....

doomjedi wrote:Oops, sorry Akull - I seem to have edited your post instead of quoting it....

+1 Epic success

Again, sorry Akuul.
This happens when you are a moderator...happened to my own message just the other day on another forum by other moderator. It can happen to anybody, happened to me on other forums many times...as I administrate a few forums and moderate a few more.

On other forum I have a way to retrieve the original message in such a case, but this forum is much less forgivable.

DoomJedi, I have your email. I want to respond to you overnight or tomorrow. I think that it would make people a little bit uncomfortable if I discussed religion here in the thread more and I want to keep it more personal.

...? It's a thread about religion, if you are not comfortable with that, don't go to this thread. I don't see why you can't post it here.

Exactly. What's the worst that could happen? Someone might not agree with you or what? Come on, stathmk. WE WANT SHOW... WE WANT SHOW...

I think that religion can be seen more widely. Believers are not only the ancient myths or church or the new sect. Believers can be called an atheist who believes that the man appeared by natural selection. Or, for example, adherents who claim that man is the ancestor of space aliens. Or like love - a boy and a girl. The two love each other and believe that their life will go well ..
At the same time I realize that each person has his arguments. These arguments vary in strength and reliability. And yet in religion, science, history of ancient peoples everywhere there are missing links. And I think it's an important point because the answer to the question "is there a god or not" we can get only after death .. And until this moment there is only faith and hope.

Someone might not agree with you or what?

This is not exact....religious people tend not only to "dissagree" (atheists "dissagree") - but to get religiously offended by any doubt in their faith or their God...as they are usually more sensitive and in need to protect their God's good name...this is holy for them. Atheists don't treat Darwin as Holy...
So such thread can offend religious people...not by intent, just by self-protecting mechanism of religious people, as they don't want to see their God discussed in such a manner.
Critical thinking is a thing that is not natural for religions in general. Critical thinking is doubt - doubt is opposite of faith - and so opposite of religion as a concept.

But, if we'll continue the discussion here:
I promice not to delete accidently messages I'll double-check now

Again, I'm sorry, Akuul. I know how it feels to lose a post. You "losted" my reply too BTW

doomjedi

As they say - little things in life ..
Perhaps this was an accident for the better

"This is not exact....religious people tend not only to "dissagree" (atheists "dissagree") - but to get religiously offended by any doubt in their faith or their God...as they are usually more sensitive and in need to protect their God's good name...this is holy for them. Atheists don't treat Darwin as Holy...
So such thread can offend religious people...not by intent, just by self-protecting mechanism of religious people, as they don't want to see their God discussed in such a manner."

Then they can kindly get out of this thread.

Dark_wizzie wrote:..Atheists don't treat Darwin as Holy..

For an atheist is a holy slogan which states that there is "No God".
This idea can be embodied in various ways.
For example, in one of the tenets of that "nature comes first".

No, it's not a holy slogan for the Atheists...it's not a holy principle - it's a convincion based on scientific evidence and research gathered so far. Simple logic conclusion. This itself makes it very temporary an unholy, as new research can prove other things any day.
Even extreme Atheists - would love to believe in afterlife and reincarnation - if enouph evidence is gathered. Noone want to believe he'll die and cease existing. And everyone would prefer to be creation of God and not hairless smart ape.

They don't say God doesn't exist...they just say that based on evidence thus far - he seem not to exist (sure not in Bible concept), or there is no evidence of him existing, or even consistent concept (or definition) of such a God. So there is no reason to live in an assumption of existence of such a God, especially as such would lead to drastic lifechanges.

doomjedi

Any idea where there is a leader (or leaders) and associates have contained elements of religiosity.
Rituals, precepts, canon, scripture can take many forms but the essence remains the same.
Of course somewhere will take less religious, somewhere more than anywhere.
Some may be closer to polytheism to monotheism other close..
..since we all dream of not knowing all the answers to all questions that generates faith.