On the Amazon.com "Christianity Forum" I have posed the question: Does God Still Speak to Man? The purpose of this question is to know your response, specifically in reference to Prophets, who have messages to tell huge audiences. In other words - not a personal God or Jesus, but a God like the one in the Old Testament, who spoke personally to several Prophets, or the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who appeared to John of Patmos. I see Nostradamus as one such Prophet, who has come well after the time the Bible was finalized.
The responses have basically led to a plethora of name-calling (people calling me names and cursing my soul to hell), and to counter this assault I have relied on the tools of logic. Logic is not some "tool of the Devil", but it easily becomes clear that many people believing they are Christian do not act Christian, and Logic points this out to them loudly. They then call anyone who does not agree fully with their preconceptions evil, regardless of logic and their lack thereof.
This posting it then related to those who wish to condemn others (me particularly) because of taking the evil step of understanding something, rather than fearing it out of faith.
The word "ignore" means, "To refuse to pay attention to; disregard.". The root word comes from the Latin, "ignorare" and the French, "ignorer" (to ignore). The French also have the ending, -ant, which translates in English as -ing." Thus, "ignorant" means "refusing to pay attention to" and "disregarding." Thus, the English word "ignorant," as defined as "lacking education or knowledge," implies those who purposefully disragard education or knowledge. In this sense one can easily understand that calling a baby or infant "ignorant" is wrong, because a baby is understood to be lacking education and knowledge, but it does not consciously choose to do so. Since there are no babies posting in this thread, welcome to the land of the ignorant. Thos who wish to become educated may learn that language is a powerful tool, which has precision means. Some people misuse the tools of words because they do not know the true meaning of words. With so many dictionaries available online, not knowing a word's meaning, context and uses becomes an exercise in "ignorance" - the state of "ignoring," thus becoming "ignorant."
n. 1. The art that purports to control or forecast natural events, effects, or forces by invoking the supernatural.
2. a. The practice of using charms, spells, or rituals to attempt to produce supernatural effects or control events in nature.
b. The charms, spells, and rituals so used.
Magi (Bible)
In
Christian tradition the
Magi, also known as the
Three Wise Men,
The Three Kings, or
Kings from the east, are
Zoroastrian judicial astrologers or
magi from Ancient Persia who according to the
Gospel of Matthew came "from the east to
Jerusalem", to worship the Infant Jesus, whom they describe as the Christ "born King of the Jews". According to
Matthew, they followed a star, and as they approached Jerusalem,
Herod tried to trick them into revealing where Jesus was so he could be put to death. Upon finding Jesus, the magi gave him an unspecified number of gifts, amongst which are three highly symbolic ones.
The Magi were then warned in dreams that revealed Herod's true deadly intentions for the child and decided to return home by a different route in order to thwart them. This prompted Herod to resort to killing all the young children in Bethlehem in an act called the
Massacre of the Innocents to attempt to eliminate a rival heir to his throne, although Jesus' family had
escaped to Egypt beforehand.
The story of the nativity in Matthew glorifies Jesus, likens him to Moses, and shows his life as fulfilling prophecy. Some Bible scholars consider this nativity story to be an invention of early Christians, but others maintain its historicity.
divination
Practice of discerning the hidden significance of events and foretelling the future. Divination is found in all societies, ancient and modern, though methods vary. In the West, psychics claim innate ability to predict the future, and horoscopes, palm reading, and tarot cards are popular methods of divination. Other methods involve or have involved interpreting dreams, discovering omens in natural events, reading the entrails of animals, casting lots, and consulting oracles. Divination has long been viewed as the province of specially gifted persons, such as prophets, shamans, and magicians. See also astrology.
If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling, divination has a formal or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes.
Science has made it possible to predict future events with some success, including eclipses, weather forecasts and volcanic eruptions. Science operates by objective results obtained from analysis of observable, repeatable phenomena. Divination, on the other hand, is rooted in religious or other belief systems that assume some supernatural cause or link with observable events. In so far as such supernatural causes are erratic and cannot be duplicated, quantified, or modelled, or if they are just imaginary, then they can not be studied by scientific method.
Please learn to use a dictionary. It will help you more than hurt you.
