Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Monday, October 15, 2018
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Roman Empire
Two centuries after Jesus' crucifixion and one century after the end of the macabre Jewish-Roman wars (that caused at least 2 million fatalities from both sides), the Roman Empire nearly collapsed during the Imperial Crisis (235-284 AD), under the combined pressures of invasions (Germanic raids in the north, Goths, Vandals, Alamanni from the Danube frontier, Sassanid attacks from the east), civil wars (numerous usurpers, the Empire split into competing states, Roman generals were fighting each other while neglecting their duties of defending the frontiers), the Plague of Cyprian (250-262, probably smallpox, 5,000 people a day were said to be dying in Rome) and economic depression (hyperinflation, agricultural crisis, barbaric migrations, disruption of Rome's internal trade network).
At the same time, Christianism, with its redemptive oratory and promises of afterlife salvation, was strengthening its numbers of followers massively. Due to this generally ominous situation, the Classical studies were under constant and reevaluation by the remaining scholars of the ancient world.
In these twilight years of the Classical antiquity, Neoplatonism was born in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccas and developed greatly by his student, Plotinus (ca 205-270 AD). Plotinus reinterpreted Platonism and Pythagoreanism in a monistic and pantheistic way, offering to the world a renewed, complete teaching that was harmonized and combined with the rest of the Greek philosophy, the Greco-Roman cultural traditions, Zoroastrianism, Egyptian theology, Eastern mysticism, and Hinduism.
According to Neoplatonism, the supreme cause of reality is "the One" (EN), which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. The second principle is the Mind (ΝΟΥΣ), which is corresponding to Plato's world of ideas and is a part of the One. The third and final principle is the Soul (ΨΥΧΗ), a part of which exists in every living being.
The purpose of human, according to Neoplatonists, is his individual part of the Soul to return to the primary source, the One. This can only be achieved, however, through virtuous life (ΚΑΘΑΡΣΙΣ).
Neoplatonism was the last great spark of the ancient philosophy. It became widely accepted in Alexandria, Pergamos, Athens, Antiocheia and Rome. The last Neoplatonic faculty was the Academy of Athens, which was closed arbitrary by Justinian in 529, and its scholars migrated to the Sassanid Persia. However, the Neoplatonic teachings never vanished from the eastern Roman Empire. Some of the most notable Neoplatonists were Iamblichus, Porfyrios, emperor Julian, Hypatia, Damaskios, Syrianos, Proklos, Asclepiodotos, Gemistos Plethon, Meister Eckhart and Marsilio Ficino.
At the same time, Christianism, with its redemptive oratory and promises of afterlife salvation, was strengthening its numbers of followers massively. Due to this generally ominous situation, the Classical studies were under constant and reevaluation by the remaining scholars of the ancient world.
In these twilight years of the Classical antiquity, Neoplatonism was born in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccas and developed greatly by his student, Plotinus (ca 205-270 AD). Plotinus reinterpreted Platonism and Pythagoreanism in a monistic and pantheistic way, offering to the world a renewed, complete teaching that was harmonized and combined with the rest of the Greek philosophy, the Greco-Roman cultural traditions, Zoroastrianism, Egyptian theology, Eastern mysticism, and Hinduism.
According to Neoplatonism, the supreme cause of reality is "the One" (EN), which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. The second principle is the Mind (ΝΟΥΣ), which is corresponding to Plato's world of ideas and is a part of the One. The third and final principle is the Soul (ΨΥΧΗ), a part of which exists in every living being.
The purpose of human, according to Neoplatonists, is his individual part of the Soul to return to the primary source, the One. This can only be achieved, however, through virtuous life (ΚΑΘΑΡΣΙΣ).
Neoplatonism was the last great spark of the ancient philosophy. It became widely accepted in Alexandria, Pergamos, Athens, Antiocheia and Rome. The last Neoplatonic faculty was the Academy of Athens, which was closed arbitrary by Justinian in 529, and its scholars migrated to the Sassanid Persia. However, the Neoplatonic teachings never vanished from the eastern Roman Empire. Some of the most notable Neoplatonists were Iamblichus, Porfyrios, emperor Julian, Hypatia, Damaskios, Syrianos, Proklos, Asclepiodotos, Gemistos Plethon, Meister Eckhart and Marsilio Ficino.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Monday, October 8, 2018
Saturday, October 6, 2018
What does Genesis 1:28 mean?
What does Genesis 1:28 mean?: God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' - What is the meaning of Genesis 1:28?
Friday, October 5, 2018
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Monday, October 1, 2018
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Earth
Genesis 10:25 says in the days of Peleg the earth was divided . The original Hebrew word behind the English word “Earth” in the above verse is “Erets” and has a literal meaning as “land” or “soil”.
When God prepared our Earth to become a habitable planet, he caused onesupercontinent emerged from the vast ocean.—Genesis 1:9,10. Adam and all his offspring were living in this supercontinent.
After the great flood of Noah, after the building of the tower of Babylon, the Bible records of divine intervention where he confounded the language of mankind and scattered them to all the surface of the land. The dividing of the land or soil as mentioned in Genesis 10:25 above was in this time frame.
Accordingly, it is likely that Genesis 10:25 tells us that the primeval supercontinent began to crack and be divided into several smaller continents and many islands, along with the divine intervention to scatter mankind, and to give mankind a different set of language to each nation.
Does life begin at conception according to the Bible?
Does life begin at conception according to the Bible?: Does life begin at conception according to the Bible? Is it biblical to say that life begins at conception? What Bible verses support the concept that life begins at conception?
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Monday, September 24, 2018
Henotheism and the Papacy
Henotheism and the Papacy
Most Roman
citizens and emperors believed in many gods
but focused on one particular god or considered one god higher than the others.
This is Henotheism. When the Catholic Church absorbed Roman paganism, it replaced
all their god’s with the saints. The
Romans had a god of love, war, peace, strength, wisdom and many other gods. The Catholic Church has a saint in charge
over each of these , as well as, many other catagories. Each city had it’s own
god so the Catholic Church provided a saint for each city.
The papacy
was created with the support of the Roman emperors. The city of Rome was the
center of government for the whole Empire, and with the Roman emperors living there
as well, the city rose to prominence. Constantine and his succesor's gave their
support to the bishop of Rome as the supreme ruler of the church. It was best for the Roman empire that the
government and state religion be centralized. Most other bishops and Christians
alike resisted the idea of the Roman bishop as
being supreme. Due to the power and influence of Roman emperors, the Roman bishop eventually reigned supreme. When the
empire collapsed in 476, the pope’s took the title Pontifex Maximus, a title
that had previously belonged to the Roman emperors.
The origin
of the Catholic church is nothing more than a compromise of Christianity and pagan religions. Instead
of converting pagans they “Christianized” the pagan religions, and paganized
Christianity. The cult of Isis and Mithraism are two more of many pagan
religions. I will talk about these two later.
Isis and Mithraism
The cult of Isis- mother-goddess
religion in Egypt was absorbed into the Christian religion, and named Mary. Most
titles used for Isis are now names for Mary. Names like “ Queen of Heaven’’, Mother of God”, and “God-bearer”. Mary’s role was exalted far beyond what is taught in the Bible in order to attract those who
worshipped Isis. Most temples dedicated to Isis were
then dedicated to Mary. These were the first clear hints of Catholic Mariology
according to Origen. This man lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was the
main place for Isis worship.
Mithraism was a
religion in the Roman Empire from the 1st- 5th century
AD. It was especially popular among the Roman soldiers. It was not the official
religion, but it was the de facto official religion until Constantine and the
Roman Emperors who succeeded him replaced it with their form of Christianity.
One of the key features was eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a bull. This
is called theophagy (eating one's god). Mithraism also had seven sacraments.
There just too many similarities between Mithraism and Roman Catholicism to
ignore. After Constantine, the church leaders found it easy to substitute the
sacrificial meal of Mithraism with the Lord's supper. The Roman’s had changed the Lord’s supper and
made it a sacrificial consumption of Jesus. This is now known as
mass/Eucharist.
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