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How many Christians understand Jesus’ teachings? (pg. 5)
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| chach |
I'm starting to get worried about you wiz, first no sex on prom night. Now I look over to the left and see your location. :o
Time for a intervention.
:wtf: |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtunwali
| quote: | * Faith - trust in the Universe, God (known as Allah in accordance with their Islamic beliefs). The notion of trusting in the one single creator generally comports to Islamic monotheism and tawheed.
* Unity - above the languages we speak, above the bloods we keep, above the amount of money we make, Pashtunwali keeps us in due bounds with all fellow Pashtuns, humankind and God.
Pashtunwali unites the Pashtun as one people across the world. Where there is true unity, every effort to disunite us will only serve to strengthen the unity we have. What happens to one - happens to all (One for all and all for one).
* Equality - Every man is equal within the tribe, no one is superior to the other. It is this concept which has necessitated the development of a Jirga system, whereby decision making takes place with the participation of all members of the society/tribe. Every man wants a say in his future and he will fight for his right to have his opinions heard. All people must therefore deal with each other with the proper civility/respect and no one can try to impose their own will on to another.
* Freedom and independence - the belief that freedom in physical, mental, religious, spiritual, political and economic realms is for all to pursue, man and woman, so long as it is done without bringing harm to others. The free have nothing to gain of freedom without discipline.
* Proselytizing - Pashtunwali teaches that no one has the right to place demand upon others who are not their children regarding what to believe.
* Hospitality/Sanctuary - being hospitable to all, especially guests and strangers, and, at times, even the most hostile of enemies may (if asked for) be provided sanctuary, food, water and protection.
* Justice and forgiveness - Pashtunwali also teaches us if one intentionally wrongs you, you have the right, even an obligation, to avenge this injustice in equal proportion. As long as you do not overzealously avenge the injustice done to you, whomever has wronged you may not avenge your justified reaction. If one has intentionally wronged you, and you did not seek justice nor did the wrongdoer ask you for his/her forgiveness, then a debt, is owed to you by him/her, which can only be fulfilled once justice (through an act of revenge or the decision of the tribal Jirga) has been provided to recompense the wrong done.
* Brotherhood, sisterhood, friendship, and trust - the belief that fellow Pashtun brothers and sisters should be trusted and assisted to the greatest extent possible.
* Honour - the belief that Pashtuns must maintain their independence and human dignity. Honour has great importance in Pushtun society and most other edicts and codes of life are aimed towards the preservation of ones honour and pride.
* Self-respect - the belief that individuals must respect themselves, and respect others in order to be able to do so, especially those they do not know. Respect begins in the home, with wives, mothers, and children.
* Compassion, understanding, and cooperation - the poor, the weak, and the challenged must be supported. Inclusion must be preferred to exclusion. To defend against tyranny, fascism and overzealous groups and to work smart first and then hard.
* Family - the belief that the family unit must be glorified under a sacred conviction of responsibility and duty with respect for wives, daughters, elders, parents, sons, and husbands.
* We are one family - the belief that fellow Pashtun must be cared for. There may be hundreds of tribes, but they have one destiny in union with each other.
* Knowledge - Pashtuns seek objective knowledge in life, art, science, and culture, which are considered fruits granted by God.
* Pashtun history - great value is placed in Pashtun history, with all its depth and pluralism, tragedies and victories, spanning over 5000 years. It teaches Pashtuns "to keep the mind open, to continue the search for the truth, much of which has vanished under history itself".
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| RJT |
Pretty interesting stuff there, thanks for the link. |
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| Clovis |
| quote: | Originally posted by RJT
I also fail to see how religion and philosophy fall under "Political Discussion and Debate."
:conf:
And Clovis - that is honest to god what Myra actually told me the other night while discussing children.
:stongue: |
Man, I've been catching so much from various folks for my sig, but I really don't want to change it... :stongue: |
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| XaNaX |
| quote: | Originally posted by Clovis
Man, I've been catching so much from various folks for my sig, but I really don't want to change it... :stongue: |
leave it, it is gold |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by RJT
Pretty interesting stuff there, thanks for the link. |
I find this:
| quote: | | Melmastia (hospitality) - to show hospitality to all visitors, regardless of whom they are, their ethnic, religious, or national background, without hope of remuneration or favour. Pushtuns are widely considered to be the most hospitable people in the world, a pushtun will go to great extents to show his hospitality, so much so, that in very many recorded cases it has been observed that a pushtun has even provided his deadly enemy with sanctuary when he was asked for sanctuary by his rival. But in return, those guests who are accorded this are expected to do the same for their host. |
to be one of the most incredibly civilised concepts I've ever heard of.
And to think that this entire code of ethics could have very well existed some 3,000 years before Jesus was ever even "immaculately" conceived... |
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| RJT |
| quote: | Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
I find this:
to be one of the most incredibly civilised concepts I've ever heard of.
And to think that this entire code of ethics could have very well existed some 3,000 years before Jesus was ever even "immaculately" conceived... |
Man, I wish Craig was still posting right now (he would know for sure) - because I'm not certain of the specifics of the modern stance of the Catholic Church, but one of their quote en quote "less crazy" stances has to do with it being disallowed for Catholics to deny the faith's of others throughout the world.
- I wish I could find the exact wording. It's the reason I'm looking for jobs teaching Western Religious history in Catholic High Schools.
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| RickyM |
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
It's often far from clear what "taking it literally" entails, except in really obvious cases like "10,000 Moabites were slain." It's easy to find contradictions between numerical things like that, since different books of the Bible often describe the same events through the perspective of different writers. "Chronicles" and "Kings," for example.
There are so many things that need to be taken into account for an informed interpretation of most religious writings: the beliefs and experiences of the audience for the original writings, literary and historical context, translation issues, interpretations of past believers and scholars, and so on. It's pretty silly to think that you can just casually reach across a few thousand years of history and immediately get a solid handle on what the writer meant. |
Well for example:
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." -- James 1:13
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham..." -- Genesis 22:1
I don't know how that can be taken any other way except contradictory...although no doubt some Christians will try. I think that if the Bible said that 1 + 1 = 3, Christians would try to find some way to believe that it does. |
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| RJT |
Indeed it does appear to be contradictory, however - this is undoubtedly a situation where a literal interpretation of the Bible fails miserably to capture any nuances in the scripture that may not appear on the surface.
I don't think I can make a strong argument that there is no contradiction there, but will say that there is a bulk of study done on the paradox of Abraham in general, and in thousands of years no person has truly made sense of it without accepting the absurdity of faith (and make no mistake, I do not mean "absurdity of faith" as a slight against the faithful - but rather in the Kierkegaardian sense; something more akin to irrational admiration).
Simply put again, it's examples like the one above that in my mind prove the Bible's fault as any literal source of explicit knowledge - it's no different than any other classic text whose meaning evolves with its age. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
Perhaps Abraham was tempted - though not an intention of God, but rather, a fault of mankind.
Free will and all that.
The current bible has been through so many translations and hackjobs where the council couldn't agree on , much less even adequately translate certain passages into the limitations of a language as young as English, you've no choice but to read everything in it with a bit of suspicion. And that's completely outside of the figurative context of the subject matter. :stongue: |
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| RJT |
Well, the standard argument goes that the apparent temptation of Abraham by God was actually Abraham tempting himself, because it was solely through his desire to prove his faith the he was led to take his son to the mount and kill him.
Kierkegaard effectively says the choices were between the ethical, his duties to his son, and the realm of faith, his desire to prove himself worthy in the eyes of God.
At least that's what a good bit of "Fear & Trembling" is about. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by RickyM
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." -- James 1:13
"And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham..." -- Genesis 22:1 |
Just for a start, those two books were written in two different languages (the first in Greek, the second in Hebrew), so the words used for "tempt" are different. The Bible says that God does not tempt people, but it also has many examples of God testing people. If the Hebrew word translated as "tempt" can also mean "test," then there isn't a problem, since tempting and testing can be two different things.
Don't get me wrong, I think the Bible is wrong about lots of things, but forcing a wooden, contextless reading on a text precisely in order to find contradictions isn't a very fruitful practice in dealing with any work of literature, religious or otherwise. |
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