Ten Points Relating to the Bible

Watch out for Babel

If you want tips, here are heart-warming ones:

1

"[I find] your writing well-done . . . [giving] fair and mindful consideration to the subjects discussed . . . Bless you for reaching out to others." - JW

Stick to the best you learn, but count the cost. Erich Fromm (1900-80), disciple of Sigmund Fromm, explains in his book The Heart of Man: Its Genius for Good and Evil (1964) that you can be saved to and saved from. That is easy to grasp. But seek to sort out exactly what kind of help or salvation could be involved when someone says "saved" or "helped", and you could be on the way of being duly informed.

Proselytising faith is not true evidence, and the blindness that may be into it, is of the mind. Say, "Blind is blind" and take to adequate ways instead. they are other than blind or rigid belief that is totally free from evidence.

There is reason to suspect heavily that people believe blindly in things they have need for, a libido-grounded need for. You should put no faith in what frogs seem to sing or croak like a choir in the dam together either. That is how I feel about it.

Then, what about getting laid by some Christian babe who tells you that sex with her is not only good, but saving sex on God's word as well? Ask for evidence if you can find it in your heart to be that straight.

Not all and sundry consider that the gorgeous woman might need to be protected and saved from display of her bosom and the like, by good customs.

If a nice-looking woman smiles sweetly to you at a convention, "Have you been saved by sex yet?" and does not try to keep you off her, there and then you could improve on Erich Fromm's idea about being saved from and being saved to and ponder, "Where is all this probably heading, and will this help me? Am I willing to take the risk?" All that might be better than musing: "Saved from the boredom of a rainy day?" Make a guess, make it savoury: making things savoury may help us prosper.

Now comes the tedious part: in science and in scholarship one tends to start by defining one's key terms. It is OK to look up the frequent, quite general meaning of a term in one or more large dictionaries. In the following we take off from the entry 'save':

• In Longman's Dictionary of Contemporary English (5th ed, 2009), where 'saved' means saved from harm or danger, to made safe from danger, harm, and destruction. Or helped to escape from some extremely difficult or dangerous situation. In the Christian church it means 'to free someone from the power of evil and bring them into the Christian religion', which is hollow, coarse and indecent - unfair too. [More]
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed., 2009) adds 'rescued, delivered, unchained, unshakled, as opposed to 'damned'. It may also mean 'snatch from the jaws of death', and also 'kept up, preserved, sustained, kept secure or maintained intact from injury', and much else. Among its synonyms are 'rescued, redeemed, ransoimed, reclaimed, and each has its nuances of meaning.
• Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus has these added mentions: 'freed from the penalties and consequences of sin', but not yet 'saved from harsh Christian dogmatism'. Among the synonyms are 'brought off'.
• I derive from the entry 'save' in the good Collins English Thesaurus (6th ed, 2008): freed, released, delivered, recovered, got out, liberated, salvaged, redeemed, bailed out, be set free, "life-saved", extricated. It may also mean 'protected, kept, guarded, preserved, looked after, taken care of, safeguarded, salvaged, conserved, kept safe, put aside, kept', and much else."
• And a look into Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (8th ed., 2011) gives: such as 'kept safe from death, harm, loss, etc'.

If someone asks you, "Are you saved by something from something, and to something?" there is good reason to ask exactly what is meant, and whether 'well saved' is into the picture too. Asking, "Are you saved?" is not good enough for many other reasons too.

Further, 'saved' means 'having entered Nirvana' to the good Buddhist. You may tell others you know it once you have "been there". Ask for evidence in this case too, to avoid being hooked by common tomfoolery through blind dogmatism or whatever.

Many of the listed synonyms could help us enlarge on and elaborate on the meanings and nuances and shades of meaning inherent in 'saved'. Yet, exactly what it means to a person depends on how it is used, in what setting, and so on. The point is that Christianity has no monopoly on the word. In Hinduism, 'saved' equals liberated, freed in the great Bliss, and in Buddhism, being saved equals being Awakened, Enlightened in the joy of Nirvana. I like those terms..

Conclude: "Saved . . . how far can it be substantiated?" You can enlarge on the topic if you feel keen on it.

Now, if great-looking come your way, maybe they play on unfulfilled desires in your busom, and maybe not. How can you tell the difference? Yodeling in a choir is no good proof, remember.

Maybe professional sayings are too expensive to take into you right now. If so, hope there will be later chances. Much is determined by how you live. Not very elevated persons seek a lot of confirmation by others as to views, ways of living, and so on. If you cannot hold a good idea, it may turn too hard for you to swallow. That is a great finding of Rollo May, and I trust him on that.

There is this way of handling tall doctrine: Suppose that truly great teachings over-ride some of those you grew up under. If so, stick to the best of them and do the best you can. Healthy ones do not need Jesus, says Jesus, and encourages you to do better than he ever did. This being so, why won't you listen to him? [Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:12-13; John 14;12]

Hm, checking the true faith checklist too could be good for your against fooling yourself and innocent others.

2
Have shepherds that know better. As a shepherd, Jesus eulogises leaving ninety-nine sheep untended or at risk in the wild for the sake of one lost sheep. It is very irresponsible to hold on to that "policy". "Safety first" could make a difference in man-shepherding over time.

3
Don't be deceived by fishers, for the sake of survival. And while we are at it, why do unreflective ones imagine that fishers love fish for the sake of the fish and not to make a catch and have plenty "over their dead bodies"? The encouragement: Feel free to do better than man-fishing! [John 14;12]

4
Try to see that sacrificing innocents for the sake of scumbags, means corruption. To manifest good moral, and not sacrifice victims in the steps of the Father and Jesus, try to read Buddha's heart-warming and helpful exposition and counsel and think about it: [Apannaka Sutta]

5
Go for up-to-date health-care. While we study the doings of Jesus a bit: His role as "doctor" is not all up-to-date. For example, mud in blind eyes is nowhere recommended - and adjust firmly to what helps life. [John 9:11]

6
Learn good gardening from gardening books. As a matter of fact, Jesus was no good gardener according to modern standards. He showed no good gardening principles, and kept spreading wrong information about mustard seeds [Matthew 13:33] and how to deal with the weeds of bad influences. Today's gardeners and farmers have to do far better to manage [Matthew 13:30].

7
Pray well and don't bluff. Jesus prayed on behalf of Jews while he was hanging on a cross and punished as a criminal, and showed by that than not all prayers are answered [Luke 23:34]. All the same he taught that nothing was impossible by prayer and by God. Now to claim one thing and show it is not coming to pass in a pucker, that is menial. See if you manage to better than saying things that you yourself put in a bad light by your doings. Words may not count as much as deeds. And do not cheat like - eh - Nixon? [John 14:13; Mark 11:24; Matthew 21:22].

8
Firmly decide on what you must do to stay safe and whole, and take heart. It should be good to do one's needed, skilful work towards wholeness and integrity as the journey unfolds. That should work far better than wishing and sighing for a retreat in "heaven", based on idealised descriptions that uses jewels, gold and such things in another setting.

Accomplish this:

See that Jesus has not exclusive claim to heaven. Buddha does not make any such claim, but his guidance is aimed at setting you free, to reach gladness within. Jesus tells heaven in his days was inhabited by many persons that did not meet the person Jesus.

Second, the Bible says you can always do better than Jesus in the right spirit. It is not one of marked competition or market competition. [John 14:12].

Third, the glossolalia spirit and all the apostles decided to let Gentiles get a far less maiming fare than the original "target group" of Jesus. The apostles and the Spirit they had got, decided to dispense with such as circumcision and Saturday rest, no matter what Jesus had almost sworn in Matthew 5:17-20, and they seem to have discarded any saying of Jesus too. Mind the gospels were not written yet, so they could not have been really necessary for salvation in the first church either. [Acts 15; 21:25].

9
Let not your speech be gibberish, or just "no-no" and "yes-yes" on the dictate of Jesus, for both these approaches are unfulfilling most often I daresay. It usually helps to be articulate and nuanced enough in educated settings. If you want to pass grades in a language course, take these hints to heart and go for study with skills.

To do better works than the Bible's God seems out of hand till you understand there were lots of things the Bible's God did not do or did not do well. For example, the couple he created in Eden got out of control, and later he sent a Flood to clear up "all that mess", that is, wipe out the humans he himself was responsible for. Honour to the one on whom honour is due. Say the same for blame.

You may have read that at one time "the whole world had one language and a common speech" - and some of them wanted to build a high brick tower for their city as part of an old Mesopotamian myth. The God of the later Jews came to inspect personally, and decided that mankind had to be hampered. The means was to confuse their language so they would not understand each other. The people were scattered and could not finish their dream tower. [Genesis 11:1-9]

It has also been shown that many who believed they had the gift of interpreting tongues (glossolalia) did not agree on the meanings when one individual's ecstatic speech was tape recorded and played back separately to them. Their interpretations were quite inconsistent. Those particular interpreters were unable to extract significant meaning out of the glossolalia. - Some things allow themselves to be tested. [Link]

Further consider that many of the bigwigs of the Old Testament would be criminals today. But someheinous misdeeds were committed before the Law of Moses. So a murder by Moses was not punished, or was it? And Abraham's sex and marriage with his half-sister was not punished by death either, for the Bible's death penalty for such doings came later ... Also, the sons of Jacob violated his harem and tried to kill Joseph. Those harem-violators of attempted murder became heads of tribes and much esteemed later by the twelve tribes of Israel. David had an innocent husband killed to take his wive, and "sleeked" out of punishing himself by death too. Jesus did not get married to a perfect bride and did not fulfil a prophesy of Isaiah that he should be a father. Neither did he accomplish the mission he said he had - "for Jews only", and so on. Paul was a mass murderer and accomplice to that, and so on.

10
Get out of the tangle of Bible inconsistencies and self-contractions as fast as you can if you have been breast-fed on them and have come to think you deserve better, and that it is possible to you, and so on. Consider that there are over a hundred self-contradictions in the Bible, and even more forgery than you might like to know of.

11
Stay as classy as you can. Life tends to be easier and more affluent among successful ones, and there are more benefits there than among the depraved and mean guys. "Classy" means of high quality, that is, having or showing class, having or reflecting high standards of personal behaviour, being greatly skillful and graceful, and at times fashionable. It is not very classy to be tamed into conformity or class-ridden.

Remain intact, preferably having your own family garden

If you are too sweet, they will eat you up - if too sour, you will be spit out (Oriental).

Stereotyped and greatly conventionalised behaviour patterns (instinct-driven) are highly important to species. Learn to bulwark and remain very well guarded, and you could offer your dear ones opportunities for pleasant living and garden living, and so on.

Many vital elements of life and respect are either changing or in the act of being reshaped in our time. Global concerns start to override narrow business profit balances rooted in abuse. Then there is urban living taking over world-wide, there are many weapons in hater hands, hard technology mars minor humans already, and so on. Kind hearts that cannot follow suit in changing conditions of damage, could have shrinking options to live well the world over.

One major connection is to "I Am" deep within. Another is to others "out there", or through proxy. You need to have your inside rooting intact. Otherwise God-fear may come and get you.