His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! Song Of Soloman 2:6
It looks like Jesus is about to get his throat torn out, and he’s discharging a rainbow in anticipation.
She will honor you if you embrace her. Proverbs 4:8
Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Genesis 48:10
Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. Mark 11:23-25
That is beautiful @HappinessHenry
Thanks @iamkimmyp HB @hogboblin The Grinch is at Christmas mate.
Though actually on second thoughts HB @hogboblin I take that back entirely as "discharging a rainbow" is actually a lovely allusion. I wish I had discharged a rainbow in my time (though getting into potentially sensitive areas now - hopefully SCZ is on holiday?).
Thanks for this, Henry! Love the passages you've sought out. I'm seriously re-exploring the Christian faith (I'm the first in my family to do so in at least 50 years, so I'm kind of alone in my walk) and I am looking for ways to relate and tie it into what I do. I'll be keeping these in mind. Here's an article I came across some time ago which piqued my interest... Was There Cuddling In Eden?
Great. Thanks CL @Catloaf What a pity we are so many miles apart or I would be asking you if you wanted to be my church going buddy.
I think it's a really lovely religion - if interpreted as it was intended - and is drawing me more and more (than Buddhism which has usually been my default when filling in forms, in he past). JC is a huge hero of mine.
I will defo read your article. Thank you.
I dunno. According to Revelation 14:14 to 14:20, Jesus seems more inclined to murder innumerable amounts of people with a scythe than to cuddle.
14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
How delightful.
My...mentor pointed me to these passages, too. From Matthew:
10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
So, yeah. Instead of cuddles, it seems as if Jesus will bring bloodshed and horror.
I love fairy tales when I do not want to deal with reality and facts.
if interpreted as it was intended
Exactly the point @HappinessHenry.
It's meant to be studied and used as a spiritual food rather than a strict doctrine on how to live. The Bible etc. is not to be interpreted literally, but figuratively/metaphorically. And it is not about right nor wrong, nor good or bad. It's about making your decisions on the basis that the outcome of that decision gives you life. As a former atheist and later agnostic/mystic, I never understood this basic element. I've been reading some material written by two Chinese ministers, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and they very clearly paint the picture for me of what modern Christianity is and is not. If followed by the principle of life rather than the principle of knowledge of good/evil, it can give a new outlook on life.
And jesus built my hot rod
It may fly and it may be glorious but divine protection from accidents is sadly not covered under your insurance policy @pmvines
@pmvines
And now there’s only one thing you can do: ding a ding dang your dang a long ling long?
@Catloaf
“It's meant to be studied and used as a spiritual food rather than a strict doctrine on how to live. The Bible etc. is not to be interpreted literally, but figuratively/metaphorically. And it is not about right nor wrong, nor good or bad.”
Looking at history, it’s pretty clear that many, many people didn’t think that the Old or New Testaments were just “spiritual food”. Many people don’t see them as such now.
Kinda sounds like you’re trying to give something with a history directly tied to tyranny, subjugation, perversity, madness, death and destruction a pass because it happens to make you feel good, by way of claiming that you and those like you have gotten it right. Just like innumerable others have gotten it right.
Who has made your group the arbiters of the truth? What insights do you have into the minds of those who wrote your divine texts so many centuries ago?
The question is interpretation and intent and that is problematic. I grew up in a very religious family and was then exposed to other churches of Christian faiths. What Christianity is and is not is in the eye of the beholder and the agenda they are protecting. I find the whole concept now laughable after studying it for decades because those doing the interpreting rarely answer the inherent conflicts clearly—such as homosexuality is evil yet we love everyone. The usual response is very political—hate the sin love the sinner yet too often the sinner is ostracized and persecuted. Religion is just another fallible human construct—one that I do not need to know how to respect people and understand that murder is bad. Moreover the goal of eternal salvation seems very self-serving and a Petrie dish full of lemmings for con men to profit off the lemmings’ desire to live forever.
Song of Songs is about sex. Straight up carnal sex. It's written as an example from old testament before Jesus, to illustrate that married sex is amazing and should be enjoyed and thought about.
It has noting to do with Jesus or platonic cuddling.
Proverbs that you quoted is Wisdom. It's telling the person reading it to embrace wisdom so he/she doesn't make stupid mistakes. The Mark reference is about an attitude, not an actual physical act. The only one above that actually pertains to Cuddling is the Genesis one, that's a genuine act of embracing, acceptance, love in the platonic sort.
But @iamkimmyp is right, it is a cool pic and I also really like the rainbows coming out. In fact if you wanted to take it one step further you could also say that the abundance of rainbows in that embrace shows His full acceptance of other sexual identities. He embraces all who identify somewhere along the sexual rainbow.
@hogboblin Well summed up. The whole statement “when interpreted as intended” is dangerous and untrustworthy even when not applied to Christianity. Politicians and judges essentially say the same thing when referring to the Constitution or to the letter of law. It is a statement used to rationalize an agenda and one should be immediately be suspicious of it as soon as those words are uttered.
Besides Jesus hung around with prostitutes so I suspect he is a boundary pusher.
@FunCartel
Agreed.
Things have likely been “interpreted as intended” by our species since we conjured up cuneiform and hieroglyphs; as a means to justify/excuse/validate any horror that could be conceived when using a body of text created by another human as a jumping point.
@Catloaf i thought i had seen on a commercial once that allstate covered that?
I don't see anything in common between cuddling and religion. Religion is about indoctrination, encouraging conflict, and making people feel guilty. Cuddling, hopefully, will help to alleviate all of those curses, and free us to feel good about ourselves.
@UKGuy They have commonalities too. They both have the ability to put you to sleep.
I am not sure that is Jesus in the picture. It looks more like Peter explaining to a groupie about the cock crowing three times.
?
Nobody seems really certain what Jesus looked like. You’d think there’d be some compelling evidence, given that he was god made flesh.
I mean, we have a solid idea of Alexander the Great’s appearance, thanks to the Azara herm—and he died in 323 BC.
But Jesus? For the longest time he was (and still is) depicted as a beautiful Caucasian man. Of course, there are variations, but that there’s so much debate over such a simple thing seems highly peculiar.
@hogboblin Here is where I disagree. He looks like any Christ-like make believe character. He looks like this:
I will also accept this facsimile as well: