This Forum Proves that Religion Allows People to Pretty Much Argue Anything

[Secret Alias]

Can anyone think of an argument or thesis that has never been proposed before? A wholly original interpretation of Biblical material (only rule can't involve the introduction of new technology like "Jesus used an Iphone").

[Chrissy Hansen]

Jesus survived entirely on eating dictionaries and thesaureses.

That's my new theory.

[Secret Alias]

Did they have thesauruses in antiquity?

[StephenGoranson]

thesauri?
OED:
Latin, < Greek θησαυρός a store, treasure, storehouse, treasury.

[schillingklaus]

Nolite thesaurizare vobis thesauros in terra.

[Secret Alias]

Obviously I know it means treasure. Doesn't mean that pirates were searching for books with synonyms and antonyms on the high seas. And is turns out they didn't have books called "thesauri" in antiquity ("thesaurus" is perfectly acceptable in English unless you're prétentieux; it's even more pretentious when you use the French word).

https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%B8%CE%B7%CF%83% ... F%8C%CF%82

[MrMacSon]

Can anyone think of an argument or thesis that has never been proposed before? A wholly original interpretation of Biblical material (only rule can't involve the introduction of new technology like "Jesus used an Iphone").

Well, duh. Just as with Christianity, which he invented, Jesus didn't use the iPhone his Father created.

[MrMacSon]

Thesauri were the figurative swords of the wordsmiths who overcame the Sicarii and their sicae

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fwiw,

... the Sicarii are mentioned first in the general summary in Book 7 [of Josephus' Jewish War]. Elsewhere Josephus describes the emergence of this extreme freedom group against the background of the establishment of the Province of Judea, which was connected with the census instituted by *Quirinius, the legate of Syria, in the year 6 C.E. (Ant. 18:4–10). The census was a profound shock to the Jewish people as a whole and it was only after considerable effort that the high priest at the time, Joezer ben Boethus, succeeded in quietening the emotions aroused among the majority of the people. Nevertheless, *Judah the Galilean of Gamala in Gaulanitis joined forces with *Zadok the Pharisee to issue a call for armed revolt, since in their eyes the census represented outright slavery. In their speeches they went so far as to declare that God would come to the aid of those who did not spare themselves in the struggle. According to Josephus, Judah and Zadok were the founders of the "Fourth Philosophy" ...

In The Jewish War (2:117–8) only a precis is given of this. The census of Quirinius is not even mentioned in this connection – only that *Coponius was sent as governor to Judea ... Nowhere does [Josephus] mention the end of Judah the Gaulanite, or Galilean; only in the New Testament (Acts 5:37) is it stated that he was put to death by the Romans.

It seems reasonable to accept the theory of those scholars who identify Judah the Gaulanite with Judah ben Hezekiah, who headed the revolt in Galilee against Varus after the death of *Herod in 4 B.C.E. (Ant. 17:271–2; War 2:56). Thus Judah assembled a large number of followers and attacked the royal palace in *Sepphoris, the capital of *Galilee. According to Josephus he had aspirations to the throne of Judea ...

Of Hezekiah we are told that he was active in the area bordering on Syria and that his execution by Herod was greeted enthusiastically by the Syrians (War 1:204–5; Ant. 14:159–60). This is easily explained on the assumption that Hezekiah was a native of Gamala in the Gaulanitis, as is mentioned explicitly with regard to Judah, the father of the Fourth Philosophy.

Hezekiah and his son were the founders of a dynasty of leaders of an extremist freedom movement, a dynasty which it is possible to trace until the fall of *Masada and the final crushing of Jewish opposition to Rome. They, the proponents of the Fourth Philosophy, were the first to raise the standard of revolt against the Roman Empire and were the last of those who waged the battle in Ereẓ Israel itself and preached rebellion throughout the length and breadth of the Diaspora. Among the descendants of Judah was *Eleazar b. Jair, the commander of Masada. Eleazar and his men are usually called Sicarii (Σικαριοι) by Josephus, and the same historian also explicitly identifies the Sicarii with the fomenters of unrest after the census of Quirinius (War 7:252–5): "This fortress was called Masada; and the Sicarii who had occupied it had at their head a man of influence named Eleazar. He was a descendant of the Judas who, as we previously stated, induced multitudes of Jews to refuse to enroll themselves when Quirinius was sent as censor to Judea. For in those days the Sicarii banded together against those who consented to submit to Rome and in every way treated them as enemies, plundering their property, rounding up their cattle, and setting fire to their habitations, protesting that such persons were nothing but aliens who so ignobly sacrificed the hard-won liberty of the Jews and admitted their preference for the Roman yoke."

In consequence of this, it should in general be assumed that when Josephus refers to the Sicarii, the reference is to the successors of Judah the Gaulanite, the upholders of the extremist ideology ... the first time he feels the need to employ the term Sicarii is against the background of the events during the procuratorships of *Felix (52–60 C.E.) and *Festus (60–62). The word itself is a Latin one ... It is clear that such a pejorative name was first given to them by their Roman opponents.

The name Sicarii appears for the period of the procuratorship of Felix only in The Jewish War (2:254–7) ... as a new phenomenon ... they would mingle with the crowds and put their opponents to death without any possibility of being identified. Their first victim was *Jonathan (b. Anan), who had previously been high priest. His murder is also described in the parallel passage of the Antiquities (20:162–66), where it is stated that it was carried out under the influence of the procurator Felix, who was interested in getting rid of Jonathan by means of the "bandits" (λησταί). Hence no one was punished for the murder of Jonathan. "The 'bandits' adopted the custom of coming to Jerusalem during the festivals and concealing their weapons in the same way and carrying out their crimes." Thus, in the Antiquities, Josephus describes the same system and methods as he does in the War against the background of the procuratorship of Felix, but without mentioning the same Sicarii. In both works Josephus refrains from presenting any ideological explanation of the stimulus behind these acts.

The first time Josephus explicitly mentions the Sicarii in the Antiquities is during the procuratorship of Festus (Ant. 20:186–7), and he goes on to describe their activities against the background of the procuratorship of *Albinus (62–64 C.E.). During that procuratorship the Sicarii adopted a new tactic of seizing hostages in order to obtain the release of their comrades who had fallen into the hands of the Romans. It was thus that they seized the secretary of *Eleazar, the son of the previous high priest, *Ananias, who served as "captain of the Temple" (στρατηγός τοῦ ὶεροῦ) and [they] sent a message to Ananias that he would be released only in exchange for ten of their men who were being held by Albinus. When they succeeded in this, others were captured and held as hostages and similarly released in exchange for other Sicarii (Ant. 20:208–10).

The New Testament also mentions the Sicarii during the procuratorship of Felix (Acts 21:38). According to this reference, the Roman officer Claudius Lysias was of the opinion that *Paul was identical with an Egyptian visionary who had led 4,000 Sicarii into the wilderness. It is, however, highly doubtful if there is any justification for assuming any connection between 'the Egyptian prophet' and the adherents of the Fourth Philosophy.

https://web.archive.org/web/20141118030 ... 21428.html

[gryan]

Yogananda wrote:

Kriya Yoga is a simple, psychophysiological method by which the human blood is decarbonized and recharged with oxygen. The atoms of this extra oxygen are transmuted into life current to rejuvenate the brain and spinal centers.1 By stopping the accumulation of venous blood, the yogi is able to lessen or prevent the decay of tissues; the advanced yogi transmutes his cells into pure energy. Elijah, Jesus, Kabir and other prophets were past masters in the use of Kriya or a similar technique, by which they caused their bodies to dematerialize at will.

Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his guru, Babaji, who rediscovered and clarified the technique after it had been lost in the Dark Ages.

“The Kriya Yoga which I am giving to the world through you in this nineteenth century,” Babaji told Lahiri Mahasaya, “is a revival of the same science which Krishna gave, millenniums ago, to Arjuna, and which was later known to Patanjali, and to Christ, St. John, St. Paul, and other disciples.”

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St. Paul knew Kriya Yoga, or a technique very similar to it, by which he could switch life currents to and from the senses. He was therefore able to say: “Verily, I protest by our rejoicing which I have in Christ, I die daily.”10 By daily withdrawing his bodily life force, he united it by yoga union with the rejoicing (eternal bliss) of the Christ consciousness. In that felicitous state, he was consciously aware of being dead to the delusive sensory world of maya.

In the initial states of God-contact (sabikalpa samadhi) the devotee’s consciousness merges with the Cosmic Spirit; his life force is withdrawn from the body, which appears “dead,” or motionless and rigid. The yogi is fully aware of his bodily condition of suspended animation. As he progresses to higher spiritual states (nirbikalpa samadhi), however, he communes with God without bodily fixation, and in his ordinary waking consciousness, even in the midst of exacting worldly duties.

FOOTNOTE
10. I Corinthians 15:31. “Our rejoicing” is the correct translation; not, as usually given, “your rejoicing.” St. Paul was referring to the omnipresence of the Christ consciousness.▲

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A YOGI
Copyright, 1946, by
Paramhansa Yogananda

I Corinthians 15:31

Beza and Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894, and Vulgate and modern texts read "your rejoicing"
καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκω, νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν [your] καύχησιν, ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν.

Erasmus and also Stephanus Textus Receptus 1550 read "Our rejoicing"
(preferred by Yogananda)
καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνῄσκω νὴ τὴν ἡμετέραν ["our"] καύχησιν ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν

The 1611 KJV read "your" but had "our" in a marginal note. Currently online, I found no English text of the New Testament, ancient or modern, with "our" rather than "your" in the main text. In the autobiography, this is the only quotation from Paul, and an alternative to the prevailing text was preferred by Yogananda.