Important Biblical Figures!

I wanted to ask, I know the basic story of John the Baptist. I will take the time to read a bit of the bible about him here today well i am behind the counter of the liquor store that is my second job. But, I wanted to ask others their ideas about him, and any other figures people see as important or inspirational. Because end of the day I may not get the same meaning you read from the same text.

Much Love,
Kobos

So , Kobos - my wife had a co-worker ask a question and his answer was this - psalms and proverbs man, songs n stuff dude ! King David - there a solid figure in the Bible - dudes credited for writing a few books and creating a dynasty that lasted a pretty good chunk of time. The life of David from any seminary is pretty much a win for any Christian wanting to know their heritage. smiley face

I will have to look into David then also, I just am kinda taking a look at the things I never paid attention too. I don't think I will ever be a Christian but that doesn't mean the texts are not worth knowing.

Much Love.
Kobos

The all myth - all myths for every one !!

SO I was thinking like I said about John the Baptist. Here is why I like that story. The man didn't judge. He instead offered people to wash away their "sins" and let the retouch the spirit of God. He left God to be the judge picking no position of authority given by the self. He even did it to the person he "knew" was the direct descendant of God. He died, in a particularly brutal way in order to maintain this idea. I find this interesting because is this not a message from the bible. that we are not the judges, That the deity or conscious Force depending on your beliefs, that is the judge of all of Mankind. I find this very interesting.

Much Love,
Kobos

Don’t forget - I do often when reading the Bible, most scholars will agree - God didn't intend for his people to have Kings or judges at all. It was through the priest that everything should have began with but ... ya know man. Lol

Some figures are representations of what’s to come of has been done some are just wrath of God stuff quite literally. Some figures in the OT are for judging... some were for mercy.

Kobos wrote: SO I was thinking like I said about John the Baptist. Here is why I like that story. The man didn't judge. He instead offered people to wash away their "sins" and let the retouch the spirit of God. He left God to be the judge picking no position of authority given by the self. He even did it to the person he "knew" was the direct descendant of God. He died, in a particularly brutal way in order to maintain this idea. I find this interesting because is this not a message from the bible. that we are not the judges, That the deity or conscious Force depending on your beliefs, that is the judge of all of Mankind. I find this very interesting.

Much Love,
Kobos

I wouldn't say he didn't judge. John the Baptist, if I may, is a bit like how I view myself as a Jedi.

Matthew 14


John was a zealot. Him confronting Herod was not a private affair. Herod liked John but his wife considered it a public embarrassment.

In Matthew 3 John also goes after the Pharisees similar to how Yeshua (Jesus) will later.

sick burn:
9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

John the Baptist basically went after people in positions of power and judged them for the purpose of getting people to repent. He was very much like Yeshua in this way but a bit more brimstone and fire. John is a very good character with less moral ambiguity than a lot of other biblical figures.

ZealotX wrote:

Kobos wrote: SO I was thinking like I said about John the Baptist. Here is why I like that story. The man didn't judge. He instead offered people to wash away their "sins" and let the retouch the spirit of God. He left God to be the judge picking no position of authority given by the self. He even did it to the person he "knew" was the direct descendant of God. He died, in a particularly brutal way in order to maintain this idea. I find this interesting because is this not a message from the bible. that we are not the judges, That the deity or conscious Force depending on your beliefs, that is the judge of all of Mankind. I find this very interesting.

Much Love,
Kobos

I wouldn't say he didn't judge. John the Baptist, if I may, is a bit like how I view myself as a Jedi.

Matthew 14

Warning: Spoiler!

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,

2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.

8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

John was a zealot. Him confronting Herod was not a private affair. Herod liked John but his wife considered it a public embarrassment.

In Matthew 3 John also goes after the Pharisees similar to how Yeshua (Jesus) will later.

sick burn:
9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

John the Baptist basically went after people in positions of power and judged them for the purpose of getting people to repent. He was very much like Yeshua in this way but a bit more brimstone and fire. John is a very good character with less moral ambiguity than a lot of other biblical figures.

My thoughts exactly. As it concerns the common man he wasn't a judge, but when it came to the ones in power, Herod and the Pharasees he didn't mince words.

Carlos.Martinez3 wrote: Don’t forget - I do often when reading the Bible, most scholars will agree - God didn't intend for his people to have Kings or judges at all. It was through the priest that everything should have began with but ... ya know man. Lol

Some figures are representations of what’s to come of has been done some are just wrath of God stuff quite literally. Some figures in the OT are for judging... some were for mercy.

I don't think God originally intended for them to have kings or priests. Judges imho were different. The priesthood was only introduced post Exodus and basically quantified the distance between God and man; introduced more so as a "punishment". I think he would have preferred to lead through prophets only, with rabbis acting as educators. Anyone could be a 'priest' if they simply went through some kind of cleansing ritual involving asking forgiveness.

But truthfully, its a lot of legal mumbo jumbo I think designed to convince people that they couldn't go directly to God. If you think about the requirements for the priests and how they had to tie a rope around them to pull their dead body out of the most holy place if they messed up... I think this achieved the same thing as telling people not to go up on Mount Sinai otherwise the "holy ground" could kill them. In reality, I think this was done so that there would be no witnesses to what Moses was doing up there. And in the case of priests this was done so that the people would be under the belief that the job of the priest was so holy, difficult, and risky that they were performing an invaluable service. And therefore the people would bring their sacrifices to them (the priests). And that's part of what the priests lived off of; that and tithes.

So its kind of like the Vatican. There's a transfer of wealth that happens because people believe in God but don't believe that they can go to God directly. The church becomes the middle man and the middle man, unfortunately, always marks up the product. If their deity were more than a myth I would think he would have dealt more harshly with the priesthood class than he did against the Egyptians. Let's try to avoid talking about Moses in this thread though. Moses is one of the few subjects I have less ability to restrain myself on.

ZealotX wrote: I don't think God originally intended for them to have kings or priests. Judges imho were different.

But truthfully, its a lot of legal mumbo jumbo I think designed to convince people that they couldn't go directly to God.

Let's try to avoid talking about Moses in this thread though.

Yes, no, no. Kings were very reluctantly given to Israel by God. Priests existed since Exodus at least, but functionally the needs of a family and small nation are different. Judges didn't come around until much later than the priests, and were temporary positions for the most part (kinda like dictator for the Romans). So chronologically (and descending value): priests, judges, Kings (there's an argument to be made that prophets deserve a position up here as well)

Yes and no. Priests were to be consecrated in the literal sense, so they did nothing besides holy work. There are takes of priests abusing their power for personal gain (Eli et Al.) but those are always seen as evil and generally received justice.

Why can you decide for us to not talk about Moses? He's very relevant and has quite a bit of literature about him