Interesting. It’s the computer overlords who close threads six days after the last response, but there isn’t even a warning at the bottom. Hmmm.
What a great Psalm. I looked it up on Bible Gateway a few minutes ago, and they gave the KJV which speaks on being impaled on unicorn horns, which is interesting and makes me smile (NRSV changes to wild oxen).
I’ve seen others suffer and suffered a bit a times from depression, which the psalmist seems to be in the midst of, and while we know it does not compare to the suffering of Christ, in the depths of depression, the pain is very real and the loneliness and despair great, even to the death unfortunately for some. Like singing the blues, the Psalm brings hope in the midst of the pain, and verbalizing the pain helps work through it.
(And usually, as Christy commented, if a moderator kills a thread, its stays dead.
If we can’t kill it, it is immortal. Threads of comments on a blog article posted on the site are pretty much immortal. Most commonly, there will be an ending comment by the moderator as to why if they kill a thread.
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Allways find it fascinating when people only understand unicorns as fairytale characters.
Todd Friel gives a nice lesson on Unicorns in the bible Wretched TV - Unicorns in the Bible - YouTube and http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/119/1195464949.pdf gives some historic context on their description.
The Psalm is an imagination of the Crucifixion ahead of the event, also known as the song of lament. Thus the final words of “es ist vollbracht” of the Passion is reflecting this finalisation to the glorification of the Lord at the end of the psalm.
(I thought threads have an automatic execution after 6 days of no comment, so if they are of sufficient interest they have to be born again )
You all are making it seem as if you’ve never seen a resurrection before! 
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Geez Mervin, just how old are you? No wonder you believe.
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I thought I just stated the opposite 
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Oh – I’ve seen plenty an old thread resurrected to new life around here! I’m definitely a believer. And then there are also some threads that might be called “Methusaleh threads”.
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where is God?
Not in the role of a designer.
This antiquated idea of God as a watchmaker confuses living things with machines. The fact that living things self-organize, i.e. create themselves through growth and leaning is what it means to be alive. One day we will design machines using DNA chemistry and they will not be alive, because life isn’t matter of what we are made of. So failure and death is a unavoidable fact of life, which requires us to overcome such challenges. We have been at it for billions of years with the rather slow process of evolution, but now we can solve problems much faster with the techniques of science.
So where does that leave God? The same place He has always been despite the delusions of various preachers and theologians. Not as a designer or controller but as a participant in our lives giving us the smallest nudges (inspiration) towards better ways of doing things.
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I would like to point out that Psalm 139:15 about the depths of the earth is not that far out. David went from being the youngest son of the lowliest profession known as shepherding among the hills of Bethlehem in Judea to being a king. It is quite possible that his family used the caves in the area quite frequently. Perhaps overstating the fact they were cave dwellers. Perhaps David was born in the same cave as another well known descendant?
With all this heeping of woes on God as creator and sustainer, it occurs to me that God seems to be closer to those who are suffering and the lowest of the lows, as opposed to those with pride taking the most favorable positions in life. Sure we want to view evil as random and unplanned, and it should not be viewed as “just bringing us closer to God”. Do I want to know the answers why? It would be nice, but it seems that those who demand accountability of God, like Satan does, really do not know everything. Thus understanding is incomplete.
The Christian concept of God is flawed. Christians have developed an anthropomorphic concept of God.
The closest we have come to an understanding of God is Buddhist thought: it consistently rejects the notion of a creator deity. It teaches the concept of gods, heavens and rebirths in its Saṃsāra doctrine, but it considers none of these gods as a creator. Buddhism posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are misconstrued to be a creator.
I think textual criticism of OT text does the same thing. The Hebrews allegedly borrowed existing gods as their one God.
I do not think claiming it is Christianity that got it wrong is a proper view. If the Christian view is anthropomorphic it is probably from the Greek view of philosophy. Did Greek philosophy flaw Christianity?
If Jesus was a human invention or Buddha for that matter, what value are we using to get a better understanding of God? Your personal value? I am not knocking your opinion. I clearly think that Buddha was the closest thing to the humans at the time Buddha was introduced into the human experience. Some say today’s understanding gives a better view. Some say the oldest accounts cannot be changed and are true, even if current knowledge contradicts the “originals”.
Even the Bible is under strict scrutiny that what was originally written may not be what we think it means today, because there has been too many changes in human linguistics and thought processes.
It could be said that the thoughts of Buddha have a stronger connection between today and when they originated because outside influence had less effect on Buddhism than the influences on Christianity and Judaism. But I think it is possible to show at times both religions influenced each other and in both directions, not that one had a stronger influence on the other. Both seemed to effect how the other evolved. From a clearly religious standpoint there are three sections to the Abrahamic faith. So one would have to include Islam into the whole picture as well.
I just feel we neglect the ‘feet of Clay’ aspect of our bodies. We are animals, the result of Evolution. We should concern ourselves with our Consciousness. This is the Divine spark( our Soul). Our Awareness, Knowledge.
John 1:1 is the first verse in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John. In the Douay–Rheims, King James, New International, and other versions of the Bible, the verse reads: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. GOD IS LANGUAGE. The KNOWLEDGE. CONSCIOUSNESS AND CONSCIENCE.
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