Freethought & Rationalism Archive

FinBak · 01-06-2010, 10:24 AM

Hi all. I am new here and id like to thank FRDB for my membership and i apologize if this question has been raised before.(Ive searched and i cant find it anywhere.)

Can anyone here please explain to me, in what sence is the bible portraying the "Visions" that people had?...I have read said book quite a few times and it quotes "Visions" on many many occasions and appears to rely on these "Visions" as true fact.
Now, the word "Vision" can mean quite a few things (Aptly i guess!), it all depends on how it is phraised. Eg. I have vision=I can see with my own eyes=true fact...On the other hand if i say, "HE" "SHE" had "A" vision, this can mean that "I" /"THEM" have an idea for the future...It can also mean that "I" "WE" "HAD" "A" "DREAM"... Are the "Visions" depicted in the bible the latter?
Any help grately appreciated. Thankyou.

Andykiwi · 01-06-2010, 04:07 PM

In some cases I think the "vision" was more like an artists painting, but done in words.
It may have been hard to make paintings back then ...and even harder to reproduce them so they can be distributed.

Doug Shaver · 01-07-2010, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinBak

Can anyone here please explain to me, in what sence is the bible portraying the "Visions" that people had?

It depends on which vision and which author is reporting it. Your question seems to presuppose that the Bible's authors were all thinking the same way. They most certainly were not.

Most of the visions, I suspect, never really happened. The stories about the people who had those visions were just made up.

storytime · 01-07-2010, 06:10 AM

I envision the time when the bible will be used as toilet paper.

neilgodfrey · 01-07-2010, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinBak

Hi all. I am new here and id like to thank FRDB for my membership and i apologize if this question has been raised before.(Ive searched and i cant find it anywhere.)

Can anyone here please explain to me, in what sence is the bible portraying the "Visions" that people had?...I have read said book quite a few times and it quotes "Visions" on many many occasions and appears to rely on these "Visions" as true fact.
Now, the word "Vision" can mean quite a few things (Aptly i guess!), it all depends on how it is phraised. Eg. I have vision=I can see with my own eyes=true fact...On the other hand if i say, "HE" "SHE" had "A" vision, this can mean that "I" /"THEM" have an idea for the future...It can also mean that "I" "WE" "HAD" "A" "DREAM"... Are the "Visions" depicted in the bible the latter?
Any help grately appreciated. Thankyou.

Check out the Wikipedia article on Visions -- it gives a good overview in the first few lines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_%28spirituality%29

John Kesler · 01-07-2010, 07:17 AM

Entry from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:

Quote:

vizh'-un (chazon, chizzayon, mar'ah; horama, optasia): Psychologists find that man is prevailingly and persistently "eye-minded." That is, in his waking life he is likely to think, imagine and remember in terms of vision. Naturally then, his dreaming is predominantly visual; so strongly visual, we are told, that it is not rare to find dreams defined as "trains of fantastic images." Whether man was made this way in order that God might communicate with him through dreams and visions is hardly worth debating; if the records of human life, in the Bible and out of it, are to be trusted at all, there is nothing better certified than that God has communicated with man in this way (Ps 89:19; Prov 29:18; compare Am 8:11,12; Hos 12:10). If one is disposed to regard the method as suited only to primitive peoples and superstitious natures, it still remains true that the experience is one associated with lives and characters of the most saintly and exalted kind (1 Sam 3:1; Jer 1:11; Ezek 1:1; Dan 2:19; Acts 9:10; 10:3; 16:9).
The vision may come in one's waking moments (Dan 10:7; Acts 9:7); by day (Cornelius, Acts 10:3; Peter, Acts 10:9 ff; compare Nu 24:4,16) or night (Jacob, Gen 46:2); but commonly under conditions of dreaming (Nu 12:6; Job 4:13; Dan 4:9). The objects of vision, diverse and in some instances strange as they are, have usually their points of contact with experiences of the daily life. Thus Isaiah's vision of the seraphim (Isa 6:2) was doubtless suggested by familiar figures used in the decoration of the temple at Jerusalem; Paul's "man of Macedonia" (Acts 16:9) had its origin in some poor helot whom Paul had seen on the streets of Troas and who embodied for him the pitiful misery of the regions across the sea; and "Jacob's ladder" (Gen 28:12) was but a fanciful development of the terraced land which he saw sun-glorified before him as he went to sleep. Among the recurring objects of vision are natural objects--rivers, mountains, trees, animals--with which man has daily and hourly association.
<snip>

FinBak · 01-07-2010, 11:27 AM

John that reply.Does't doesnt cover it at all. Thakyou anyway...for your reply.Do you see what im getting at yet?

semiopen · 01-07-2010, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by storytime

I envision the time when the bible will be used as toilet paper.

That might depend on the kind of paper it is printed on.

I'm planning on coming out with a line of bible panties though.

FinBak · 01-07-2010, 11:39 AM

neielgodfrey...I allready did but thanks anyway..I do know what im talking about..

Sheshbazzar · 01-07-2010, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by storytime

I envision the time when the bible will be used as toilet paper.

It has already, often, and long since been so used, and still is being so used.

01-06-2010, 10:24 AM	#1
FinBak Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Sheffield ENGLAND Posts: 102	VISIONS in the BIBLE? Hi all. I am new here and id like to thank FRDB for my membership and i apologize if this question has been raised before.(Ive searched and i cant find it anywhere.) Can anyone here please explain to me, in what sence is the bible portraying the "Visions" that people had?...I have read said book quite a few times and it quotes "Visions" on many many occasions and appears to rely on these "Visions" as true fact. Now, the word "Vision" can mean quite a few things (Aptly i guess!), it all depends on how it is phraised. Eg. I have vision=I can see with my own eyes=true fact...On the other hand if i say, "HE" "SHE" had "A" vision, this can mean that "I" /"THEM" have an idea for the future...It can also mean that "I" "WE" "HAD" "A" "DREAM"... Are the "Visions" depicted in the bible the latter? Any help grately appreciated. Thankyou.

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01-06-2010, 04:07 PM	#2
Andykiwi Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 2,515	In some cases I think the "vision" was more like an artists painting, but done in words. It may have been hard to make paintings back then ...and even harder to reproduce them so they can be distributed.

01-07-2010, 06:10 AM	#4
storytime Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 2,608	I envision the time when the bible will be used as toilet paper.

01-07-2010, 11:27 AM	#7
FinBak Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Sheffield ENGLAND Posts: 102	John that reply.Does't doesnt cover it at all. Thakyou anyway...for your reply.Do you see what im getting at yet?

01-07-2010, 11:39 AM	#9
FinBak Regular Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Sheffield ENGLAND Posts: 102	neielgodfrey...I allready did but thanks anyway..I do know what im talking about..

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