Dualism (Identity)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Sunday, March 29, 2015, 21:52 (3526 days ago) @ dhw

TONY: I did some research on Matthew 17. While I commend you on pointing out something that doesn't make sense, as I have often said, you need to read a bit more. There are actually 3 accounts of this event, one in Mathew, Mark, and Luke. All three are substantially identical, but as is typical in the gospels, each add details or commentary that the others did not. Or, put a different way, they are all different perspectives on the same event. 
> Christ himself answers your question in Matthew 17:9. As they were descending from the mountain, Jesus commanded them: “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of man is raised up from the dead.” So what they saw was a vision, more along the lines of the visual prophecies described elsewhere throughout the bible. In fact, the bible actually confirms this by saying "Peter, not realizing what he was saying.." offered hospitality. In short, the vision was so vivid Peter didn't realize it was not real.
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>DHW: Not only different perspectives on the same event, but also different implications: Luke 9, 30ff: “...two men were conversing with him, who were Moses and Elijah. These appeared with glory and began talking about his departure that he was destined to fulfil at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those with him were weighed down with sleep; but when they got fully awake they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. And as these were being separated from him, Peter...not realizing what he was saying...” 
> The emphasis on their being fully awake does not suggest an illusion, and there was no point in Peter offering them hospitality if they were going away. Apparently, they “did not report to anyone in those days any of the things they saw.” Not the things they thought they saw but didn't. Are you saying that Christ's conversation with Moses and Elijah about his forthcoming death was an attempt by Satan to turn him and the disciples away from God? Seems pretty pointless, doesn't it? And of course, one has to ask how the heck Luke knew all this.-I can't help but think that sometimes you are deliberately misunderstanding what I have said, not to mention what was written. (Or are you simply playing devil's advocate?) "Visions", what you might consider a waking dreamlike form of communication, was used throughout the bible, and was apparently common enough at one point that the bible writers felt that their absence was worth noting. (1 Samuel 3:1, Psalm 89:19, Numbers 12:6, the entire book of Revelations, and more) Vision, DHW, not illusion, not a lie, not the dead come back to life for tea and a chat. The Greek word that Christ used to describe the event was "horama" which literally means:-Cognate: 3705 hórama (a neuter noun derived from 3708 /horá?, "to see, spiritual and mentally") - a vision (spiritual seeing), focusing on the impact it has on the one beholding the vision (spiritual seeing). See 3708 (hora?).

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.