Did I say knowing that Bible was the only way to know yourself?
No.
But I know from experience it is an excellent way, in fact, the most thorough and purging way that I've found.
To me this kind of sounds like a rather round about way of saying that the bible really
is the only (thorough) way of knowing “thyself”. You seem to be saying: “But wait, I didn’t say that! Except, well .. OK, it is more or less true anyway.”
Does Elizabethan and Jacobean literature contain prophecies foretelling the future, or does it contain gematria?
Possibly, though I’d be surprised. I can’t say I’m concerned with prophecies however. Some biblical prophecies may very well be true, granted – including non-Christian prophecies. But then there’s the whole fallacy to most prophecies anyway (like your example of orange paper money.) If I foretell that in 100 years from now wearing wigs will be all the rave, and then in 100 years wigs really do become a fashion, does that mean I actually prophesized anything or that people read what I was foretelling and put my words to use? Maybe the person who read about orange money took that very idea and made it possible – because he read it, not because it was destiny or fate.
The United States was built on Biblical principles which enabled it to become the power that it was (and sadly is no longer, because those principles have been violated).
If the United States’ descent is because it stopped observing biblical law then how come so many European countries are marvelously successful nations yet their laws are not based on biblical law? I’d say the U.S. is diminishing because it acts so unilaterally amongst its peers.
Do you know better than the forefathers?
If by forefathers you mean people such as Andrew Jackson, who murdered innocent Native Americans and – no joke – had their skins tanned into hide to be used for his horse’s bridle and whip, then I daresay yes. I think I know more than some of them.
Pwcca, I appreciate your passion, but why don't you consider reading the Bible along with your other books in an effort to explore the depths of what it can uncover?
Honestly, it really just doesn’t inspire me. I’ve made some comments about the bible, sure, but I’m generally not out there pointing out all its fallacies for you to ask me how I can do such a thing if I haven’t read it. I am not doing such a thing and I haven’t read it.
I can’t expect you to be as enthused as I am about Renaissance drama – why expect me to be as enthused as you about a religion I wasn’t born into? Asking me to study the bible is akin to asking me to study any other religion’s scripture. Why Christianity among all the rest? I’m not saying I won’t outright (though as I mentioned, it really just doesn’t appeal to me personally – we all have our interests.) There are a lot of books I have on my list to read next. On my pending list right now are: the entire Dune Series (for the second time) by Frank Herbert, The Standing Dead, by Ricardo Pinto, Stardust, by Neil Gaiman, The Island of the Day Before, by Umberto Ico and this gigantic tome I own on the Crusades which I don’t have with me to provide an accurate title for. And all my friends keep heaping more suggestive reading on top of this (all of which I do intend to eventually tackle.) So you want to convince me to add the Christian Bible to the list. OK, why should I select that work over any other religion’s scripture? Why should it take precedence over, say, the Tibetan Book of the Dead (which I haven’t read) or the Bhagavad Gita or the Qur’an?
Why all the resistance and prejudice, and sometimes hostility?
I’m probably the least hostile poster on this board. As for resistance and prejudice. Aren’t you the one who discriminates against homosexuals? If I’m resisting anything it’s the resistance to follow your belief system – just as you too may be resisting mine. I have nothing against you and I don’t say anything on here to be rude or sarcastic. I actually enjoy reading many of your posts and appreciate all the work you've put into both this forum and the mercury issue.
So everything I say really is an honest-to-god reply - not some "nyah nyah" reaction fueled only by a desire to argue for the sake of arguing. I know it’s hard to believe when surrounded by so many inauthentic posters but I really am being straight forward with everything that I say.
Blessed be.
