Understanding Religion's Relationship To Human Social Systems

" re read the gospel of John with particular emphasis on the 20th chapter verse 30-31. John states the entire reason why he like three other witnesses bothered to put their experiences to paper and make a record of these things. John says concerning Christ “We held the creator of the universe in our hands. “ " - Justin Justice Justinson My reply:  Justin Justice Justinson —John 20:30–31 makes none of the claims you just attributed to it. Here is what those verses actually say: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God…” That is a statement of the book’s theological purpose. It does not say: that the author was John; that the author was one of Jesus’s twelve apostles; that the author personally witnessed those signs; that four eyewitnesses independently recorded their experiences; or, “We held the creator of the universe in our ...

I’m not actively dating right now—not in the conventional sense. I’m trusting the timing, but that trust is not passive. As I manifest for the journey, the journey manifests—both for me and as me. I’ve been bringing my inner currents into harmony while learning to navigate the greater flow. I move with destinations in mind, but without allowing those destinations to consume my experience of the river. For me, life isn’t merely what happens . It is more than that. It is how we experience what happens, how it changes us, and how we share all of this with others. Together, our experiences of the river, ourselves, and one another form the unimaginably complex, living whole we call life. The journey is both the events that shape us and the ever-emerging selves that keep shaping what comes next. The currents carry their own music—as do we—in turbulence and stillness, in tension and release. The bitter and the sweet—together, this symphony of our becoming. Each moment reveals me to myself,...

  The Reality Of What She Did https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1EdiQmuKUz/ https://www.facebook.com/reel/1718503199816022

Discussion: Monotheism, the Bible, Akhenaten, Dan McClellan, and Paula Fredriksen Initial Claim The first monotheism was created by King Akhenaten as a way to unify his society, as a means to consolidate his own power. Monotheism isn’t “modern” in the sense of post-Enlightenment. Rather, it’s modern in the context of the timeline of human history. Polytheism very far predates monotheism. But even polytheism took a very long time to develop out of our species’ heightened agency detection, imaginations, storytelling, superstitions, scientific illiteracy, social-power paradigms, major personality disorders, etc. None of the Bible writers or characters were monotheists. The stories about Jesus are stories about a henotheistic Jew who joined and later took over an apocalyptic Jewish mystery cult. Do I think any of the Bible characters thought that any “God” is always and purely “good”? That’s not how I read it. But I also have no interest in arguing comparative interpretations about that ei...

  As every day, there's so much on my mind and in my heart. Yet, nobody to share it with. Seldom, an ear. Rarely seen. Rarely heard.  Never deeply known. From someone, somewhere, somehow ... I need so much more. I know people. I even really value some of the people I know. But everyone's so busy with their own lives. So far, I'm always the spare tire in the trunk ... of the vehicle of someone's life; as they rumble roads and soak sheets ... with other men. When the people who matter are unavailable, suddenly, there's a text on my FB or phone. Just as quickly they appear, they're gone again. Seldom is there even a chance for me to find out if the groundhog saw its own shadow. But, to be fair, I always know the answer. With every sighting, ... There will always be six more weeks of winter. --- --- So then, what and who do I need? I need two Ride Or Dies. 1. A Turk to my JD. ("Scrubs" reference). #guylove #bromance -A Charismatic, high-energy, fully a...