And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.
Ezekiel 1:4-14
Well, the only thing to say to that is, "I'll have a glass of whatever he was drinking".
Seriously though, I guess people knew little of mental health problems and the effects of substance abuse in those days but, in this day and age, do sane people really hang on every word of people who come out with stuff like that?
Would you follow someone who was ranting this stuff on a street corner near you?
Seriously?
Me neither. I'd assume their medication needed reviewing or they had stopped taking it.
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ReplyDeleteI've long felt that strong religious belief is a form of mental illness. At least when it comes to Western mono-theism.
ReplyDeleteBut, to most people, you will sound crazy yourself if you advance the argument that the great majority of people around you are insane.
Maybe you're the crazy one rubi.
ReplyDeleteHezekiah Ahaz
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you felt unable to comment like an adult or to say anything worthwhile even for an infant.
Any more gratuitous abuse from you will be removed.
You can criticize the Bible and make jokes about "I'll have what he's drinking" , but somebody makes one tiny (infant sized ) challenging comment (half seriously -sounded to me) directed at you and you try to label it "abuse" ? Really ? C'mon , your grown-up enough to take it . You can dish , right ? Well ...... Sorry , don't mean to be such an abusive infant towards you . God Bless and lighten up .
DeleteThank you for your smug condescension. I hope it helped you feel better about yourself. It can't be nice needing to hate people because you don't feel good enough.
DeleteIt's ok if you call other people crazy but when the tables get turned on you suddenly you wanna cry like a 2 year old wanna explain yourself?
ReplyDeleteHezekiah Ahaz
ReplyDeleteI'll let that stand so people can see why I've removed the rest of your infantile abuse, should there be any.
Obviously you've abandoned even the pretence of wanting a serious debate.
Hmm.. those are definitely some weird ideas coming from a book that is supposedly the "No. 1 best seller of all time." As for the little squabble between you two. I might be inclined to agree with this Ahaz person.. Don't dish it out if you can't take it.
ReplyDeleteThere was no squabble. The deal is, people who come here merely to post abuse will have their comments removed.
Deleteits passages like that that are wholly ignored...and my question is, if they can be ignored and have no impact whatsoever on belief, etc...what the hell was/is the point of them being there in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIt wasnt god inspired, but if you believe it was, why would god want that part in there...he could have used that space a lot better. If you believe it was (as it was) a decision by a panel of men to include this book...this passage...what was THEIR point?
Religion poses more questions than it answers.
Can`t see what the problem is: Evolutionists tell me that this happened in the womb via Ernst Haeckel`s drawings.Human embryo`s with fish heads and pigs faces. As You say I`ll have a pint of what he`s having.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you felt you needed to tell lies about what evolutionists say to diver attention away from your obvious embarrassment over that clearly deranged passage from the Bible.
DeleteDid it help you deal with the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance you were feeling?
I love this passage its one of my favs and I believe it literally. There are allot of things we cant explain in this world. I hope that you come to an understanding that just because you don't see something with your own eyes doesn't mean that it doesn't exist or that it couldn't ever exist.
ReplyDeleteAnd hopefully you'll one day have the humility to understand that something isn't real just because you want it to be. Reality really doesn't obey your commands and the Universe doesn't feel any need to conform to your requirements.
DeleteHumbling one another and being open minded to something you may not understand is key. I may not agree with your point of you but I can understand it. Im not here to argue with you or say that you are wrong for feeling the way that you do. You are entitled to your point of view. I was simply sharing my own mine. May the almighty God bless you!
DeleteDid you ignore my point and go for a diversion for any reason you can own up to?
DeleteRubi may GOD have mercy on your soul for being lost. Every book was written by man & yes some thing are hard to believe. But I truly believe in the power of GOD & never questioned GOD's work. & Who are you to question why he created something the way he did. You don't see a strong believer asking GOD why did he create a fool like you. The society and government tells us, well theres aliens out there or do this, this way, or look at things that way or even vote for this president and all things will be better. Without questioning people tend to just believe and have faith. & what is the outcome at the end. Just sit back and look at your life and look at a true believer life.... Then come back and make your foolish remark and say you'll drink what he had. But like i said I pray that one day that GOD shows you the truth and hopefully it won't be too late. "Now drink to that"
DeleteI hope that piece of smugly bigoted condescension helped you feel better about yourself.
DeleteI wonder if others noticed how you didn't deal with the subject of the blog but merely parasitised this site for somewhere to post your bigotry.
Any more preaching will be removed. Even Christians are expected to be civilised here so please try to behave in a civilised manner here in future.
Thanks.
This passage reports a vision. The cherubim are spiritual creatures. Ezekiel describes the "likeness" of physical creatures known to him. These multiform creatures have attributes that symbolize the character, role, and action of the cherubim.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the title, I can't see any sane person believing this stuff nowadays.
DeleteThey had the very nature of Christ. The Lion- Gospel of Matthew ( Christ the ultimate King). Ox - Christ the unconquerable, Marks Gospel....Eagle - Christ the prophet (John) ... The Man .. Lukes Gospel.
ReplyDeleteHow does that explain why any sane person would believe the ravings of a madman or someone hallucinating on mind-altering substances?
DeleteAnd where may we read the words that give you that interpretation, please? Or did you just make something up to help with the dissonance?