Bigfishbest

I love the section when the pharisees bring Jesus to Pilate, and he asks them "What charges are you bringing against this man?" The pharisees response: "If he were not a criminal we would not have handed him over to you".

They don't have any real cause, they just want to get rid of him, which in my reading, Pilate sees right away.

Dude! This is the most prophetic thing in the whole Bible. Hear me out. Simon son of Jonah (not the whale guy), is a fisherman, and Jesus tells him to come along and fish people instead. Jesus gives him a nickname, Kephas, this nickname was then translated from Aramaic into Greek, Petros. Jesus later says that "On this rock I will build my church", and that's the meaning of the nickname Kephas/Petros, Stone, or Rock.

Now considering that Simon's full name was Simon bar Yonah, in English: Simon son of John, or even Simon Johnson, then his full name with Jesus' nickname is: Simon the Rock Johnson!

Funny coincidence? Skipping ahead a few thousand years, our current Rock is called Dwayne, and the meaning of that name happens to be Fishhook. And if you really wanna bring it home, Dwayne the Rock Johnson's daughter is named... SIMONE! We've come full circle! The end times are near.

Am I mad as a hatter?

You seem well read and would probably agree that capitalism will climb or remove any barrier. The post war years that gave the boomers the biggest part of wealth creation in history was the result of policy that has since been dismantled bit by bit until we are once again back at the conditions for war, Fascism and social division.

I've been thinking about that particular event. Leonard Cohen has a song about it as well that put me on this track.

Now, as a historical fact, back in those days, sacrificing ones children was a not uncommon thing to do. The old testament god in several places tells the israelites NOT to put their children to the fire, as the term was. But if you read the texts you find that the israelites weren't very good at following commands, and one could guess that god knew that.

So he puts his favorite follower through the worst nightmare imaginable, demanding that he sacrifice his beloved son. Put him through the ringer, of doubt, despair, fear, and sorrow, let it sink in what it actually means to sacrifice a child. Then stop him. It's basically show don't tell. Put the experience of the evil of that action into his heart, and vaccinate him against such ideas. And while Abraham took that lesson to heart, I'm reasonably certain that Isaac took the lesson even more, and taught it well to all his descendants.

Is it a shit thing to do? In one man's perspective, yeah. But to set a people on a path away from human sacrifice, I'd say it wasn't a very high price to pay.

And that's if you take the story and all literally. If you take it figuratively, as a demonstration of what is the path to goodness, to people in a bronze age culture, I'd say the story carries the message across exceptionally well.

I'm a history teacher, and the first thing you learn is that history must be understood by its own time and standards, not by ours. The story of Isaac is a great example of what in our modern eyes is pure malice, but to its original culture it was a story that had the function of making a culture better.

The who? The Hu! Who? The HU!

French aristocracy? Who ordered French aristocracy?

You made me think stubeef had died. Bad meme! Bad!

Dickin around with lil'dicky

Can you guys stop complaining on Lemmy and get together a labor party. Any day now would be great.

Thank you so much America and RFK. Vaccines have become contested as scientific fact, and the only way to truly show the world the truth, is to rip away vaccines from a country that has them, and count the dead before and after. Your willingness to sacrifice potentially thousands of American lives to prove your opponents' point, is almost Christ-like in its self-sacrificial nature, and Trump-like in its mythical level of stupidity and disregard for the value of human life. The rest of the world thanks you for ridding our countries of any traction vaccine skeptics might ever have had. We thank you for your service.

Still have a few shares from the old gamestop squeeze, said I'd keep them as a memory. Might not now.