[MD]

Bring on the extra long sleeves; Raphael is making sense.

The tithe is one of the most mis-used tools in history, clearly.

Don't forget Jesus tossed the money changer's tables and turned away from the rich man who wanted to follow but refused to exit the system.

Jesus saw what would grow out of the systems of the day. He saw the end of the exponential growth curve and spoke of terrible things that would occur when we arrived there

This end has been forseen by many through the ages.

Lucky us get to live through them.

John the Revelator: The First Limits of Growth Doomer

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')Jesus saw what would grow out of the systems of the day. He saw the end of the exponential growth curve and spoke of terrible things that would occur when we arrived there

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesertBear2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')Jesus saw what would grow out of the systems of the day. He saw the end of the exponential growth curve and spoke of terrible things that would occur when we arrived there

[lateralus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'I') was just wondering right now what the correlation between church membership and NRA membership is in the US... (no value judging here, just wondering)

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bas', 'I') was just wondering right now what the correlation between church membership and NRA membership is in the US... (no value judging here, just wondering)

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')You don't believe that individuals of the time could see the systems in place around them at work and recognize their inherent problems and point to their ultimate failure in some far future?

[lateralus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesertBear2', 'T')o think that the Book of Revelations is a predictive text for resource depletion several millenium into the future is a big pill to swallow.

[gg3]

Ten points to TheDude for your website & attitude.

---

It's not too far a stretch to say that occasionally people do see the big picture and the probable outcomes of trends. Remember that the entire history of the Middle East was one of a richly fertile area subjected to bad agricultural practices & overpopulation and thereby turned into a desert. The constant violence, the "two teeth for a tooth" tribal codes, and all the rest of it, were small cycles of history repeating themselves again & again within the larger cycle.

The Jewish prophets, knowing nothing of germ theory, at least managed to come up with various rules that today would be recognized as an early form of sanitary code. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was an early attempt to de-escalate the positive feedback cycle of violence in the region by reducing it to an even exchange.

When that didn't work, Jesus stepped in with "turn the other cheek," which we would now recognize as the application of negative feedback (reduced response at each turn). Mohammed stepped in from the perspective of a general in wartime, calling for what at the time was proportionality in war and humane treatment of noncombatants. To this day, none of these have worked as intended. And though we've learned to cook our pork, we still haven't learned to "love thy neighbor as thyself."


----

Join our community: Teach what you know, learn what you don't, and build sustainability in Northern California. www.thefosl.org

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', '
')When that didn't work, Jesus stepped in with "turn the other cheek," which we would now recognize as the application of negative feedback (reduced response at each turn).

[gg3]

DesertBear, please go look up the "just war theory."

---

Here's another interesting case of extraordinary foresight for you:

There are tribal religions in the Caribbean (often evolving to include elements brought over by Africans during the slave trade) that include the injunction that one must not leave one's hair clippings, nail clippings, etc. lying around, because a hostile person could gather them up and use them in conjunction with magic to gain control of one's soul.

Wise advice in an age of DNA testing.

[MD]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Raphael', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '
')
The church here is arming itself. There is a grass-roots movement afoot that is cutting across several denominations. Publicly we are talking clubs with indoor ranges and leagues and such. I'm not privy to the insiders talk but I suspect the conversations go significantly beyond this weeks team match . . .