To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Him that overcometh...I will write upon him my new name.

He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Thanks for dropping in.

I'm not interested in a hermaneutic agon.

I'm interested in sharing something I found useful with other people who might find it useful.


Again: you obviously don't find it useful, so....

Take care. :smile:

I interpret the word god metaphorically as needed. That's easy; god is a mysterious word.

To him that overcometh ... — ZzzoneiroCosm

The question is, what is it that is overcome? It is not the self, but rather external forces.

We may regard it as simple-minded and perhaps as a matter of avoidance -"the devil made me do it", but have we gone too far in the other direction by making the self the locus?

Not interested. Take care. :smile:

Well, I don't know. I'm trying to find out what I actually mean. There are also other definitions of collective consciousnesses. Unconscious, subconscious etc. You could call me a psychonaut, as our dear friend so aptly calls it. Explorer of life, for I don't know if my consciousness will continue outside of this body of mine.

Explorer of life, for I don't know if my consciousness will continue outside of this body of mine. — Kevin Tan

Mine barely functions inside a body, so I am damn sure there will be nothing when I die. :razz:

My neighbour and I always joke about our depressive episodes. She used to be in a group for suicidal people. I don't need that to feel good about myself. I used to pray to God: okay, I'm ready, you can take me tonight. Next morning: 'Fuck, I'm still here :mask:

It's a funny idea. About the Bible being a Rorschach-test. So basically you're saying that the stories are not factually based, so therefore it's all about the readers' interpretation. Well, historians believe that The Buddha, The Muhammad, The Jesus etc. all existed at some point in history. But the religious texts could very well be FICTION. Why not?

Colored spectacles. I'm fallible!

Well of course. We're all fallible. With or without glass. This idea of perfection and absence of imperfections is really outdated in my opinion. The Matrix is from 1999. Perhaps perfection is something from a previous age.

I didn't mean that in an offense way, by the way. I'm just a bit confused about this conversation. Also a bit confused in general :D.

:ok:

Do you want to discuss the Bible being a Rorschach test or not?

Do you want to discuss the Bible being a Rorschach test or not? — Kevin Tan

I wouldn't know where to start.

The heart ignores flaws (+).

The mind focuses on flaws (-).

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. — Richard Dawkins

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Quite an interesting interpretation of Revelation... — ArielAssante

Thank you. :smile:

A fresh slant, I hope, on this astonishing poem.

... which reveals a great deal about the interpreter. — ArielAssante

I'm not shy.

This is not a theology thread. Shoo! — ZzzoneiroCosm

Whether you like it or not, Revelation 5:1-4 explains why it is impossible to understand the revelation.
first 3 chapters are self explanatory, the rest is "sealed".

How much does it make sense to ignore this fact, I don't know.

Whether you like it or not, Revelation 5:1-4 explains why it is impossible to understand the revelation. — SpaceDweller

That's John's opinion. It isn't a fact that the Revelation is ununderstandable.

That's John's opinion. It isn't a fact that the Revelation is ununderstandable. — ZzzoneiroCosm

The book may be understandable and for certain portions of it there is official interpretation, but you can't fulfill it, such as going trough personal psychological stages according to the book which is what you seem to be aiming for.

You can pretend only.

All of the 7 seals are unsealed (or fulfilled) by Jesus (ex. see Revelation 6:1), otherwise anyone could claim it has been fulfilled and destroy Christianity.

You can take the role of Jesus ofc. and suffer, but are you willing to take that psychological stress and suffering?

All of the 7 seals are unsealed (or fulfilled) by Jesus... — SpaceDweller

This is theology. Not what this thread is for. Take care. :smile: