Apech

So just to be clear the sole reason for Michael having to stop moderating was the 8 month time limit. Is that correct?

Can I point out that I had a nice chat with Jeff the other day and exchanged PMs today. I have explained in detail to him that I have no conflict with him as a person at all and I have been perfectly frank about any reservations I have about working with him. As far as I am concerned we have a good respectful relationship and I can't see how this has any bearing on Michael continuing as a moderator. My objections to using the chatroom for 'light work' was simply that it excluded anyone who did not want to join in and given they have two other sites which they use I don't see the reason for using this one. I'm surprised its even controversial as an issue.

Yes you did a good job Michael - thanks. Shame it ended this way.

Eh what? Someone else like Ayn Rand for instance. Anyway relax I was joking of course

relax. I sorted it by clearing browser cache. Thank you.

Karl calls someone else's post dull - shock horror!

Om Seti was quite well respected by mainstream Egyptologists - despite being thought a little eccentric.

Unfortunately its not 'some historical inaccuracies' but a whole series of invented 'facts' to fit a theory. Massey's theories spawned the dreadful Zeitgheist video which contains such idiocies as the word 'horizon' is etymologically derived from 'Horus is risen'. Had he bothered to research real facts he would indeed have found that the early Christian church did indeed 'borrow' from Ancient Egypt through such things as the image of the Virgin Mary holding child Jesus which resembles Isis and Horus and also the fact that when the Christians took over Egyptians temples they very often preserved the temple function - for instance if it was a place of healing they would dedicate it to a Saint concerned with healing. In this way the temples could continue their social function.

(Jonesboy you forgot to make it green!) This is about codifying knowledge and deliberate priestly interference in that process which seeks to make knowledge inaccessible to anyone who is not part of the chosen group. So the use of jargon and imagery which is sometimes deliberately garbled so that 'the many' cannot read it in a way that makes sense. The 'keys' are the right concepts which allow texts and images to be properly understood and applied. But then it says 'they have not entered' - so in fact in blocking others they have actually limited themselves. Sly as snakes and simple as doves is mentioned in the other gospels - I don't know which ones. It means you have to apply two kinds of wisdom. Snake wisdom is power tricks learned on the 'street' - as in streetwise and doves refer to the open hearted wisdom of the nature of the holy spirit.

Please do now carry on, thanks.

Thanks - as I have owners permission I am going to hide all recent comments which have nothing to do with discussing the Gospel of Thomas section by section.

Pale Moon! Haven't seen that one before. But not available for OSX which is a shame.

At the moment I use Vivaldi on a Mac Mini Osx El capitan. I used to use Chrome but then found Vivaldi which uses the Chrome engine but is independently developed. It has some problems with the speed of tabs and so on but still I have stopped trusting Google and Chrome for privacy reasons. Firefox is ok but I find an energy leakage can make the computer run very hot - but that was more on a MacBook. I don't like Safari but still use it occasionally.

That is a ridiculous argument. Why would anyone, altruist or not, assist someone who was trying to kill them?

Most awards for bravery in battle, the Victoria Cross for instance, are awarded to people who put themselves at risk to prevent harm to their fellow soldiers. This is in recognition that even in the worst situations, that of war and killing, the human spirit is capable of rising above the narrow confines which you value so much.

You have the habit of imputing on to me all sorts of things I do not actually think. If what you exhibit is 'rational thought' then indeed I am incapable of it.

As human beings we have moral agency. If you are a parent or have in your care a seriously ill or disabled person for instance, then there will be many occasions where you put the needs of the other over your own needs. You always have the choice of course, you could abandon your new born child on a hill side and walk away should you so choose. But then if most people thought this way there would be no human race. In a wider sense if most people failed to understand what others were experiencing - what they were feeling - then we would live in the world of the psychopath. We're not quite there yet. Since the evidence is that most people who have the power are given pause before unleashing violence on others. Some don't, either because they are psychopaths or because an ideology has blinded their humanity. They have been convinced that other beings who actually share their capacity for pain and suffering are 'the other' and thus it is ok to kill and maim them. Altruism or selfless acts make sense. For instance with the example of the airplane oxygen masks - the reason a parent attaches their own mask first is to ensure that they do not pass out before being able to help their child or dependent. Thus if they did it the other way round, should they pass out, no-one gets a mask and lives. Being able to see beyond your self makes sense not through sentiment but just through understanding. Understanding the options and choosing the right one.

Steve, Is this aimed at anyone in particular?

Intersectionalism reduces people to categories by 'identity politics' ranked in order of victimhood. This is based on the the strange idea that the views and experiences of the underdogs are more true and more valid than anyone else. So of course the heterosexual white middle class male - being supposedly top of the pyramid of patriarchal power is supposed to born into a world free of suffering and full of privilege and his views are discounted. This is why the left and what used to be called socialism is effectively dead and unelectable. They now, according to the guardian are thinking of refocussing on 'class' - having learned no lessons at all. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/18/left-must-refocus-on-class-care-about-workers-liberals-priority-right-exploit-divisions

We've done this before ... so I'm not going to do this - and the number of people killed is not a measure of how th eideology works.

Yes we're back to that old chestnut. Fascism and communism are distinct ideologies. And fascism is misused to mean Totalitarian or Authoritarian.

I think perhaps the Op's motives were provocative since the title was designed to shock and yet the content did not relate directly to it.

The women's cadre of the Democratic Peoples Front for the Liberation of DaoBums celebrate the removal of reactionary imperialist lies from the heart of their glorious homeland.

yes I have great respect for Wenger even tho I'm a Spurs fan.