Uh, wow, that door is indeed wide open to teach a critical historical analysis of the bible. Can I be a high school teacher, please? I have so many ideas for those essays:
"The Old Testament and its role in cementing patriarchal gender stereotypes"
"The ten commandments as compared to the law of...
Tbh, that sounds like a good idea... in a country where literalism and propaganda are widespread, a little education at school might be good.
- historical context: such as the physical impossibility of a Young Earth, the lack of archaeological sources for any biblical stories in the Bronze Age...
I think that is the basic idea, yes: a sharing of precious food. Not just among humans, but also between humans and deities.
This is how you establish and maintain a positive relationship.
The human sacrifice, on the other hand, is usually an extreme measure. Some cultures killed criminals or...
All of them usually ate the animals. The Greek and Romans only burned head, bones and some intestines, while the main part of the meat was taken away for the humans to eat.
A complete holocaust, or burning of the entire sacrifice, was rare.
I am not familiar with Jewish festivals ... they also...
Daily?? That would just cause a huge amount of washing I don't even have enough space to hang them all up to dry.
I have no fixed schedule, I change them when the bed stops smelling nice and fresh.
Also, by sheets, I guess you are talking about those weird layered bedsheets with blankets on...
Your mind works in weird ways, my friend, but I appreciate your active and questioning brain.
So. Let me see
Sacrifice is a common way of creating a relationship with the divine in many cultures.
Animals, especially domesticated animals, have long been a valuable resource for humans and as...
Difficult question.
Me, personally? - no, I don't mind it. I like getting into religious debates. If anyone comes into my house, they end up in my living room withy ancestor shrine as a centerpiece. I will gladly offer coffee and tea and talk to them.
As a general practice? Yes, I mind.
I...
Me too, but I don't think so, unfortunately.
If it's not religion, people will just find a different ideology to justify their hate and violence. Any type of narrative that allows you to separate the world in "us" versus "them" will work just fine.
Oh, no, the Romans were not tolerant of other cults because of a conscious ethical decision to value religious freedom - that is not at all the case, you are right.
The Romans needed an efficient way to run a multi-cultural empire, and chose one that made sense in the context of their own...
Yeah, but that is the point actually: the Jews and the Christians were the only "atheists".
All of the polytheist cults were generally inclusive - if you told an Egyptian or a Celt that they need to offer incense to the image of the Emperor, they would shrug their shoulders and do it, and then...
Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern polytheists did not believe that.
Egyptians, Canaanites and Assyrians exchanged gods among each other, integrating some foreign deities into their Pantheon or sending god statues abroad to their allies. They may have considered their own gods and practices...
I highly doubt that. The link given just contains a lot of speculation and is not based on any Egyptological evidence.
Nekhen was a Hebrew site? The term "Hebrew" didn't even exist yet, and afaik no structure found in Nekhen shows any signs of Hebrew religion or customs. Citation needed.
True...
I was talking about the Goddess, not the princess.
"Lady of Dendera" and "Gold" or "Golden One" are common titles of Hathor.
The hymn you found there is beautiful, but it entirely centers on Sekhmet, who is arguably an alternate form of Hathor... but by many considered a different goddess
Uhm, someone please tell me this is a joke, right?
...Right???
Anyway, "Direct descendant" is an almost meaningless term after 2000 years. You might not even have a single base pair in your DNA from one specific ancestor after a few generations. See here:
That's why we don't really do patriotism any more.
I don't get it, honestly - why be proud of something that is decreed by chance or fate?
A nation is but one level in a complex Russian doll of nested identities: Individuum, family, city, state, nation, continent as well as education, religion...
I agree. My home has automated voter registration. People are required to register their home address with the city government anyway, so we just send them the invitation to vote whenever an election occurs.
And I would support making it mandatory. People who do not want to vote for any of the...
I think you have a somewhat simplistic view of the matter.
Bonhoeffer warned against Hitler already in 1933 and in the following years oscillated between times spend abroad and the possibility of remaining in exile, and his sense of duty and wanting to face the situation at home. Up until 1940...
So in the light of what I quoted above, here's my interpretation - I believe he would say something like this:
"That kid" chose to take action, probably because he saw it as the best responsible action among several imperfect choices. Who am I to judge if this action was good or evil? I cannot...
Alright. So.
I thought, well, let me check - if shouldn't be too difficult to find some Bonhoeffer quotes or original writings on the subject of killing potential tyrants...
This sent me down a rabbithole and I have been reading Bonhoeffer for the last 13 hours, with a bit of sleep in...