Heck, He might've been Buddhist

[BornReady]

paul was a pharisee; one of the muckety-mucks jesus got so upset they had him killed

In my understanding, the pharisees didn't come to prominence until after Jesus' time. The sadducees were the religious elite during the early first century until the destruction of the temple. They were an upper class group who weren't well liked by the common Jew. It seems reasonable someone like Jesus would have had some conflict with the sadducees but probably wouldn't have met many pharisees if any.

 

[TommyTooter]

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sadducees_pharisees_essenes.html

the pharisees were the priests, the sadducees were the merchants and the essenes were the ascetes who thought both groups were full of crap. modern rabbis think it's possible that jesus was an essene and could have been a student of hillel's.

 

[Accountable]

Superman's dad?!?

:unsure: No, wait.

 

[TommyTooter]

Superman's dad?!?

:unsure: No, wait.

that was jor-el, not hillel

 

[Accountable]

that was jor-el, not hillel

I know. I meant no offense.
I googled him. Bigtime Hebrew Heavy Hitter, right?

 

[Minor Axis]

If you really want to hedge your bet, consider Buddhism. Since they believe in reincarnation, you'll be essentially immortal.

What's nice about that is if reincarnation happens, it happens whether one believes in it or not. The down side is that if you don't meet 'God's Standard' you might end up in Hell whether you believe in him or not. Lol.

 

[TommyTooter]

I know. I meant no offense.
I googled him. Bigtime Hebrew Heavy Hitter, right?

i know you didn't. i was teasing.

hillel is credited with coining the golden rule. he's also often quoted saying, "if i am not for myself, who am i? yet, if i am only for myself, what am i? and if not now, when?"

akiva was another rabbi of that era who was tortured and killed by the romans during the rebellion following jesus' death that resulted in the destruction of the temple. bar kochba and the mass suicide at masada were other prominent folks of the israelites in that period.

 

[Accountable]

What's nice about that is if reincarnation happens, it happens whether one believes in it or not. The down side is that if you don't meet 'God's Standard' you might end up in Hell whether you believe in him or not. Lol.

Maybe, but Hell might be a mouse on an island of cats, and it's only one lifetime. Calvinists are the ones that kill me. They believe God has already decided who's going to heaven and who's going to hell before you're even born, and no amount of works or repentance is going to change it. Where's the incentive to do anything at all?

 

[BornReady]

I believe in determinism (but not Calvinism). The world appears to be deterministic. I realize the quantum level is an exception. But the quantum level may only be non-deterministic from a practical standpoint. Similar to the way the weather is non-deterministic from a practical standpoint. If we understood everything going on at the quantum level we may find it too is deterministic like everything else.

Also the equations of relativity suggest all of time exists in the same way as all of space. The theory is time and space are the same except time contains a broken symmetry. Being trapped in the present doesn't mean the future doesn't exist. And if the future exists then determinism is a must.

I can't prove all of nature, even our own behavior, is deterministic. It's only a belief and, as with all beliefs, dogmatism is silly.

 

[Accountable]

Is determinism & predestination synonymous? If so I can't buy it. If everything is already laid out, then what's the point of doing anything at all?

 

[BornReady]

Is determinism & predestination synonymous? If so I can't buy it. If everything is already laid out, then what's the point of doing anything at all?

They're similar but not the same. Predestination claims a god has predetermined your fate. No matter what you do, your fate is the same. Determinism claims your desires, memories, knowledge, beliefs, personality, etc determine your actions. If someone knew everything there is to know about you then they could predict how you would act in any given situation. If they knew everything there is to know (clearly impossible) then they could even predict your fate.