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The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

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171–180 of 313 posts

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the response here seems obvious: by putting his law in writing, god invites (even demands) interpretation. You, just a man, purport to know what God invites and even demands us to do.

Seems logical to me, either you believe you can understand the divine will by interpreting holy books or you don't. If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion?

> If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion?

This doesn't follow. If you believe you can just decide how to reinterpret the word of God then you put yourself at the same level as Him and are qualified to follow your own word, rather than a religion.

You follow a religion because you want to be given the word of God to follow. Not the word of a man who pretends he is at the same level as God so his reinterpretation weights the same.

Let me bring it down to earth. If you go for a lecture from Einstein you want to get Einstein's word, not an assistant to interpret "I think he meant we're all relatives man".

If anything you have two choices. 1) You take God's word at face value, no interpretation, no exceptions. 2) You choose to freely interpret everything because God wanted you to.

E.g. In war time emergency you are allowed to carry guns and a radio but the volume must be kept low. This is a very arbitrary interpretation drawing from present needs rather than anything in the word of God. Well and good, anything can be categorized as an exception. If everything can be an exception that you don't need a rule book. The only reason for that book to still exist is so some men can make rules for other.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the response here seems obvious: by putting his law in writing, god invites (even demands) interpretation. You, just a man, purport to know what God invites and even demands us to do.

Seems logical to me, either you believe you can understand the divine will by interpreting holy books or you don't. If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion?

It is my understanding that Catholics believe that Pope can interpret the scriptures, but laypeople can't. Sort of how a Supreme Court judge can interpret the law, but a layperson can't, I guess.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#173
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> God knows what He wants and wrote it down exactly like that. When the word of God has obvious contradictions and inconsistencies what does it mean? Are there little traps that He set up for us mortals? Is God mischievous?

> the word of God has obvious contradictions and inconsistencies Such as?

"Problem of evil".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#175
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just a loophole to justify exploiting loopholes.

Only if you believe the loopholes to be actually loopholes. I'm not religious, but taking the word of God and declaring that it means something else than what it actually says would be a textbook example of the sin of hubris, no?

That would remove all interpretability as a side effect, wouldn't it? I'm not religious either, but I imagine that would make all sorts of literal claims problematic as measured against modern ethics, and make it impossible for contradictory claims to be resolved.

Personally I do think interpreting rather than following the word of your chosen supreme being is the height of hubris. Intentionally interpreting it such that you can ignore the ostensibly obvious meaning even more so.

Then again if a text allows for ways to skirt the spirit of a prescription then maybe the 'supreme' being that is supposed to have dictated it isn't all that.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems logical to me, either you believe you can understand the divine will by interpreting holy books or you don't. If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion?

It is my understanding that Catholics believe that Pope can interpret the scriptures, but laypeople can't. Sort of how a Supreme Court judge can interpret the law, but a layperson can't, I guess.

There's a long tradition of rabbinical interpretation, not just random believers making up what they want.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#177

Since people seem to be completely misunderstanding what the point of this is, or why it's even a problem in the first place, let's start with two simple definitions of what's going on: 1. In Jewish law, the definition of "work that is prohibited on the Sabbath" includes "moving objects outside the private domain". 2. The definition of "domain" has three kinds: "public domain" (such as a house), "private domain" (suc…

I'm sorry but I fail to see how what you wrote makes it any different. The wire is nothing more than a hack, like a cheat in a game. The law prohibits work "outside" so let's redefine the meaning of "outside" so we can continue working there.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems logical to me, either you believe you can understand the divine will by interpreting holy books or you don't. If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion?

> If you don't believe the divine will is knowable, then why would you follow any religion? This doesn't follow. If you believe you can just decide how to reinterpret the word of God then you put yourself at the same level as Him and are qualified to follow your own word, rather than a religion. You follow a religion because you want to be given the word of God to follow. Not the word of a man who pretends he is at t…

I’m not sure whether it’s possible to read a text without any interpretation. I don’t think you can derive any meaning without interpretation.

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#179

Since people seem to be completely misunderstanding what the point of this is, or why it's even a problem in the first place, let's start with two simple definitions of what's going on: 1. In Jewish law, the definition of "work that is prohibited on the Sabbath" includes "moving objects outside the private domain". 2. The definition of "domain" has three kinds: "public domain" (such as a house), "private domain" (suc…

A rabbi and a priest are sitting next to each other in a plane on the Sabbath. The priest notices that the rabbi keeps on his seat belt for the whole journey. Finally, overcome by curiosity, he asks: "Rabbi, why are you traveling on the Sabbath and why do you keep your seat belt on the whole time?"

The rabbi answers: "I'm not traveling, I'm wearing the plane!"

Re: The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)

#180

Since people seem to be completely misunderstanding what the point of this is, or why it's even a problem in the first place, let's start with two simple definitions of what's going on: 1. In Jewish law, the definition of "work that is prohibited on the Sabbath" includes "moving objects outside the private domain". 2. The definition of "domain" has three kinds: "public domain" (such as a house), "private domain" (suc…

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