An ending but also a beginning.

My Father died of cancer in November 1983. From April 1983 I was on HMS Danae on patrol down in the South Atlantic,  I had been receiving updates about my Dad regularly and I knew he wasn't likely to survive. At the time I believed in God and Jesus and I prayed that my Dad would pull through, I also prayed that God should take me instead thinking that if that happened, my Dad would be fine and healthy. Yes, I know, naïve thinking. Obviously he died and I blamed God and from then till a few years ago, I totally rejected Christianity completely. However, a few years ago, I was on YouTube and I came across a video by a man called Michael Heiser who was a very well thought of as a biblical scholar and devout Christian. To cut a long story short, listening to him talking about his faith seemed to reawaken my interest in the bible, and today while sitting outside in the summer sunshine just thinking, something came into my head about why God refused to take me instead of my Dad. If God had agreed to accept my offer, I would have obviously been dead but, my Dad would have kept on suffering the intense pain of his cancer. 

I believe I was told that, and I believe the thought came from God, Jesus. Why, I don't know. Whatever it is, I am and always will be grateful. 

I promise that I will try and live the rest of my life, I'm 71, in a more meaningful way. 

Monotheism 2

In Psalm 82 verse.  God says to the divine council, " You are Gods, sons of the most high, all of you. " Why does God not say, you are MY sons? The God mentioned first is presumably YHVH, so could the Most High actually be the actual creator God? I might be reading too much in to it but as someone who has an avid interest in Gnosticism, what I have just written, to me, fits in with the unknowable creator God is Most High, and the lower demiurgic God YHVH. 

To continue with the divine council narrative, I have been thinking on where the divine council met. Maybe they convened in the garden of Eden which brings me to Adam and Eve. Obviously, Adam and Eve were not the only humans on the planet but, could Adam and Eve have been created to be intermediaries between humans and the divine realm? The fact that they were both tempted to disobey God's law by what is misconstrued as a serpent somewhat ruined the plan. Michael Heiser says that the serpent wasn't actually an animal but a divine being, unhappy about mere humans having an influence in the divine council. He links the rebellious being to Lucifer. 

I will try and expand on this.

Monotheism?

Recently I have been looking at videos by Michael Heiser, an American biblical scholar. He has a podcast, the named The Naked Bible podcast, It was when he mentioned Psalm 82 verse one which reads, " God takes his place in the divine council, In the midst of the Gods he holds judgement. " It was the use of the plural, God's, that surprised me. To my mind and to what I was used to was always the word God, singular. It was then that I remembered the second commandment, " thou shall have no other Gods before me. "

God is actually letting us know that there are indeed other Gods. Michael Heiser said that Psalm 82 gave him food for thought as he hadn't been taught and hadn't realised the passage was there. He mentions all this in his book Unseen Realm, I haven't read it yet but I will in the near future. My take on it is that it makes me want to find out all I can about the beliefs of the early Israelites and related tribes. 

I will probably update this in the future.

Broken World.

Even without taking this past year into consideration, I believe the world we live in is broken. First of all, morality has all but vanished from our thoughts and actions. Anything, and I mean anything, goes. The pursuit of sexual pleasure is all consuming and is even masquerading as scientific research in television shows like "Love Island" "Married at First Sight" and a host of others. I believe it won't be long before pornography is shown as a matter of course on mainstream television. Sports are affected by what I call "protectionism"  on one hand, Rugby, NFL and Soccer are being "dumbed down" by measures that supposedly prevent serious injury but since the measures were introduced, serious injuries have increased, and on the other hand, sports like Boxing and Wrestling have been overshadowed by this mixed martial arts craze. Anything goes, as long as it's violent and bloody. I also believe that gladiatorial contests will be tried out soon, and yes, I mean Roman style gladiators using the weapons of that era. 

There is a video on various social media outlets that show beyond doubt, the UK Prime Minister continually lying in Parliament over a long period of time. It has been viewed over twenty million times and yet the so called, independent, state sponsored media company, the BBC, has failed to mention anything to do with it. The fact is, lying in Parliament is a criminal offence and carries a prison sentence. World politics is awash with attention seeking narcissists that don't care about the general population, they only care when it comes to election time. Voting means nothing and in fact there has been election fraud in at least the last four US presidential elections and the UK general elections. World politics is corrupt to the core.

I could go on but it just depresses me. I reach seventy years old later this year which gives me twenty years or so of life left at the most and to be honest I am happy about that. 

Till next time.

Connection.

The more I read, study and think about things, the more I realise that everything, yes everything, is connected. In the past I've read and been told this but back then, say thirty years or so, I didn't get it. Now, after reading about and by simply thinking about my own life experiences, I do get it. The different religions, ancient and modern, have obvious connections, from messiahs/God's/Goddesses and the time of the year they were born and died, to the length of their lives and the pattern of their lives. The connections between Christianity, Judaism and Islam are obvious but while reading "comparative religions" articles I began to see connections between ancient Paganism and Christianity, especially the timing and nature of the religions festivals. ie.Christmas/Yule, both on or around the winter solstice, the re/birth of the Sun/Son. That brings me to something i've only recently come across, Astrotheology. I have not studied the subject long or thoroughly enough but the subject has caught my interest enough to warrant more study. 

Studying and understanding comparisons between religions is an extremely complicated subject and I would be grateful to anyone who reads this for any advice or guidance they could give me on any part of the subject. 

All comments are welcomed and appreciated and I will reply to questions.

Till next time.

PS. I found a good site for this subject. www.comparativereligion.com  

The Ultimate Self Sacrifice.

We all, I presume, have people we admire and look up to. I know parents, immediate family and friends come into that remit but, I mean people out with that, for instance, historical figures.The person I have admired from a very young age is Leonidas, king of Sparta at the time of the Persian invasion of Greece. He and his personal guards, made up of three hundred hoplites chose to confront a massive Persian invasion force at a place called Thermopylae. Unfortunately, after managing to hold the narrow strip of land for a few days, the Spartans were betrayed by a farm hand and were being outflanked. Instead of retreating, Leonidas and his three hundred hoplites stood firm knowing that their position was hopeless. They were willing to lay down their lives to give the forces from the Greek city states valuable time to prepare for the battles to come. They were indeed, all killed, the Persians marched on, only to be defeated in a naval battle at Salamis. 

I often wonder if I had been in the same position, would I have had the same courage as the Spartans. 

I will leave it there for whosoever reads this to think about.

Till next time.

Alterations.

There is a change to the blog. Not only will I be writing about religious subjects but also historical subjects, both ancient and modernish, All religions will be included as well as mysticism and philosophy. I will try to remain balanced in my utterances but sometimes I just rant. Thankfully they don't last long. 

Till the first time.