Burl

Reliability is internal, textual consistency. Does the NT hang together, or does it have internal contradictions? Validity is did the events stated actually occur.

You two are talking past each other. Reliability and validity are two different questions.

The basic penitent’s cross symbolizes the intersection of the divine plane (vertical) with the temporal plane (horizontal).

The reason for canonization was that Constantine had 3 major churches, and he needed a single anthology that would be suited for public worship anywhere in his kingdom. The reason we know the canon is reasonably accurate is that all three churches overwhelmingly agreed on almost everything except Revelation already. There was no “win the day” moment. It was “if you like your scripture, you can keep your scripture”. Constantine got his universally accepted canon. The Alexandrites continued to include Enoch, and the Roman church kept the Apochrapha. Nothing was lost and almost everything had been agreed upon and in use for centuries before Constantine ordered a formal canon.

I’m no expert, but from what I have read pansexuality is a tenet of Satanism. It is used ritualistically, as a reversal of Christian practice and as an expression of ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’ in Crowley’s version.

Thormas, I’m not yet convinced Isaiah90 is real. Kinda random with a lot of cut ‘n paste. Should be interesting if he is real though. Homosexuality is intertwined with satanism.

Commentary on the true question. Diana Khoi Nguyen, “Vow.” It will be windy for a while until it isn’t. The waves will shoal. A red-legged cormorant will trace her double along glassy water, forgetting they are hungry. The sea will play this motif over and over, but there will be no preparing for it otherwise. Water will quiver in driftwood. Sound preceding absence, a white dog trailing a smaller one: ghost and noon shadow, two motes disappearing into surf. And when the low tide comes lapping and clear, the curled fronds of seaweed will furl and splay, their algal sisters brushing strands against sands where littleneck clams feed underwater. Light rain will fall and one cannot help but lean into the uncertainty of the sea. Bow: a knot of two loops, two loose ends, our bodies on either side of this shore where wewill dip our hands to feel what can’t be seen. Horseshoe crabs whose blue blood rich in copper will reach for cover, hinged between clouds and sea. It will never be enough, the bull kelp like a whip coiling in tender hands, hands who know to take or be taken, but take nothing with them: I will marry you. I will marry you. So we can owe what we own to every beautiful thing.

Isaiah, you asking a weak question and answering it with supposition instead of enlightenment. The bigger question is how and why does sexual ideation and behavior influence one’s spiritual condition. This is universal in all religious traditions.

Certainly it can. New and better interpretations are often inspired but they need a proper exegesis and comparison with historical thinking. I have had lots of new biblical inspirations, but my exegetical matrix has over a hundred viewpoints and comparisons to consider. Then I find out one of the Apostolic Fathers wrote the same thing a little differently two centuries ago 😕.

Post if you find something. A postmodern viewpoint can be an interesting heuristic but too many career challenged academics use it as a hermeneutic. That is an error.

Check out Ehrman’s Great Courses lectures. An exegesis of the text is hard enough without worrying about postmodern concerns.

One point Ehrman usually brings up is that genuine eyewitness accounts always vary, and that perfect replication is evidence of fakery. He even starts his initial NT101 lecture by walking in wearing costume and does some pantomime. He then has his students write what they saw and demonstrates the variance in honest eyewitness reports.

Seek contentment instead of pleasure or good fortune. Accept people as they are, and don’t try to change them. Everyone prays frequently every day.

Your friends should have been filling steins.

Forgiveness is predicated upon judgment. It takes a lot of painful effort to forgive and achieve freedom from resentment. It is very common for people to simply deny their judgment and repress their emotions on the pretext of forgiveness or universal love.

Portugal legalized everything over a decade ago to an extremely good effect.

The law is the evidence! Prove me wrong.

I can easily be out of date about Australia because I don’t live there. If one wants to discuss legality, they look at the laws.

Illegal immigrants in Australia get no trial life sentences on a deserted island in Papua. I think that is disgraceful, and I doubt it is even a mild deterrent.

Any child born in the US is automatically a citizen. They can leverage this citizenship to get legal immigrant status for their family (anchor babies). Any refugee who can put their feet on US soil is granted refugee status. I do not believe any other country is this liberal in immigration. That is long-standing law. The US also has huge resettlement projects in response to emergencies such as rescuing the entire Hmong people from Pol Pot and the Haitian earthquake which brought in so many people Florida had to add Creole as an official language.

All nations have legal restrictions on immigration. It is an essential part of being a nation. The US legal policy is by far the kindest and most liberal policy in the world. We certainly do not dump all illegal immigrants off on an isle of the damned like Australia.

The incident I spoke of was Augustine’s conversion. He was distraught, prayed, opened to a random verse and it spoke to him.

Variety and complexity is rather Augustinian compared to Iranaeus the heretic persecutor.

Generally agreed. AFAIK only Q’uran and the Book of Mormon claim a divine authorship. By perspective here I am speaking of how the reader connects with the Bible. Simply reading the Bible with a divine perspective has brought thousands to Christ, including Augustine and his conversion from Manichaeism. Reading the Bible from a purely human perspective (as if it was a simple book) regularly leads pagan and priest alike into error.

Excellent.