JAH - Desiring Respect - Beneath Dreadlocks or a Hijab

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Desiring Respect - Beneath Dreadlocks or a Hijab

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Messenger: GARVEYS AFRICA

Sent: 1/21/2019 3:46:12 PM

Then lets settle there

On perceptual differences

But for me my context is absolute and right. Key words....FOR ME. I have studied the Bible in its entirety for many years and my conclusion is to remove it completely from I psyche

Give thanks

Messenger: RasTafarIWork

Sent: 1/21/2019 3:52:15 PM

As I once said before, the bible is the bible, take it or leave it.
If it is true, it will stand firm, unshakable, otherwise it will fall, even as Babylon is fallen.

Messenger: Nesta1

Sent: 1/22/2019 3:29:00 AM

"I have studied the Bible in its entirety for many years and my conclusion is to remove it completely from I psyche"

I&i can completely understand such a sentiment. As i have stated before that I&i find some beautiful poetry & teachings of Wisdom in the Bible which have been very useful to me personally in coping with the spiritual challenges that one faces in their trod through Babylon.

Nevertheless, I&i also find the Bible as a whole to be tedious, confusing, unnecessarily complicated, and filled with contradictory and/or irrelevant matter. To me, it's also obviously been adulterated.

To wit:

I&i enjoy the Sermon on the Mount, and find solace and wisdom in much of it. But as one reads it, one comes to this:

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27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
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and this:
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31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
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What are these doing here?

The first sets up any human male (with normal hormonal production and sex drive) who reacts to visually enticing visual female stimulus exactly as he is programmed to biologically as an adulterer "in his heart". That seems a bit ridiculous. As if that normal biological function can be suppressed or superseded by intellect or deep philosophical reflection.

The second seems like some legalistic matter culled from the local laws and ordinances of some time and place, and simply cut and pasted into this speech.

So, yes, G.A., I&i have frequently said that a RastafarI can find Truth and Wisdom without ever consulting a Bible (which may well lead him/her to more confusion than enlightenment). For virtually all matters, JAH speaks to us directly from within. As for external sources, might I&i suggest putting on a few hours of reggae music, and listening and dancing to it.

Messenger: GARVEYS AFRICA

Sent: 1/22/2019 4:55:06 AM

And let's not forget the bliblical Law states that the punishment for adultery is to be stoned to death!
Stoned to death for looking at a woman in a lustful way.....

But we are told context context context.

Yet most people do not need in depth bible study to Already be born with a divine conscience to know adultery is wrong, to look at a woman is not adultery; and in any case the punishment for adultery should not be a stoning!

I appreciate ones who personally choose to live within the Bible. I fight against the idea that all people NEED the Bible and Jesus to escape savagery and to achieve any form of salvation as propagated throughout the globe by European powers historically. I also fight against the brainless following of a religion by simple inheritance and following of the norm; without active discernment and critical thinking. I ALSO fight against the literalist dogmatic fundamentalist approach to any religious text

Messenger: Nesta1

Sent: 1/22/2019 5:58:14 AM

Very good, G.A., i almost forgot: If you are going to pick up a Bible as a source of wisdom, do bring your brain with you to it and engage it. Seems like it should go without saying, but it's surprising how many people don't -- they end up citing something in the Bible someone taught them and have no idea if it makes any sense or if it does, then why it does.

Messenger: RasTafarIWork

Sent: 1/22/2019 8:52:43 AM

People often misquote the bible,
for example there is a diffrence in looking at a lady and looking at a lady lustfully. Like they say, its all about how you do it.
Another common misquote says "money is the root of all evil", but what is actually written is "the love of money is the root of all evil..
The two examples above show how misleading wrong informers are. Dont take any interprators interpratition at true, withouit your own analysis

Messenger: Nesta1

Sent: 1/22/2019 9:16:39 AM

Point taken, RasTafarIWork. "The love of money is the root of all evil" is the much more profound wisdom.
My problem with a healthy man having involuntary sexual (or "lustful") thoughts about an enticingly presented woman is that this reaction is hard-wired biologically into the male human brain for reproductive purposes. i've always felt that classifying such a naturally-occurring, involuntary psychosexual response to certain female visual stimuli as a "sin" is a way of trying to manipulate an otherwise righteous man (who has normal biological urges) into considering his natural biological responses to be sins (for which, for example, he may need to seek formal absolution). Why create a man with natural biological reactions to certain stimuli and then classify those same reactions as intrinsically sinful. As my Nicaraguan brother-in-law used to observe "Cual es el chiste?" which translates roughly as "What a joke!"

Messenger: RasTafarIWork

Sent: 1/22/2019 12:22:46 PM

Ok let me put it like this, in some indegeneous communities, the people dress in very scanty clothing. Men in that community are not blind, but see them. How do they view them?
Down in a babylon girls dress very scanty very sexy. How will their men view them? Therefore, its not what you do, but how you do it.
Human being are like angels in speach and interlect, and like beasts in feeding and mating. Thus ladies should respect their mens strength and appreciate their animal nature, not vexing em into wild actions.

Messenger: RasTafarIWork

Sent: 1/22/2019 12:36:46 PM

And men should respect their ladies and not intimidate em

Messenger: Nesta1

Sent: 1/22/2019 1:00:55 PM

Agreed, RasTafarIWork.

"not vexing em into wild actions" -- Among the reasons that I&i harbor tremendous respect for sisters who rebel against the popular culture of vanity and enticement by dressing modestly and covering themselves. Many in Western society mock them as prudish or insist that they must be 'oppressed' for desiring to present themselves modestly in public, but I&i applaud them for refusing to be just "stock on the shelf" for gawking men. They don't 'lead into temptation' and then feign indignation when they are noticed by men; instead, they insist upon being regarded as human beings not "eye candy".

You bring up the very good observation that in many indigenous communities it was normal for men and women alike to see each others' naked or nearly naked bodies in the course of everyday life. Undoubtedly, the female body has become greatly "sexualized" by commercialized exploitation in Western society (probably unnaturally so). Men's visually-stimulated psychosexual arousal responses are definitely influenced (sensitized or desensitized) by the norms of the societies in which they are raised and live.

It seems clear that if a pious society did indeed embrace as true the definition of adultery articulated in Matthew 5:28 then it would strongly encourage, or even mandate, that women dress modestly in public to avoid inadvertently fomenting the sin of lust.

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