@Monica I've removed those comments as I don't think that's a helpful discussion to have in here right now. Perhaps ask the person to speak with you one-to-one if you think that might be helpful instead.
"Perhaps" and "if you think that might be helpful instead" sure sound like suggestions to me. He objected to the original comments and I rephrased; I do not think that an unreasonable interpretation of what happened. I am not trying to rules-lawyer; I am explaining how I read it. His (non-)followup did not add clarity.
For anybody who's around: at Caleb's request, the bulk edit of the rest of my answers to add the disclaimer is starting now. You may wish to hold off on asking, answering, or editing any questions for the next hour or so, lest they get pushed off the front page.
I am becoming more and more intrigued by this site.... reading the questions on the main site and in meta.... compelling! As an agnostic, would my questions and insights be welcome?
@Scrooge sure they would be! This isn't supposed to be a religious site (though many people here are religious and sometimes they bring that into their answers). We expect exegesis questions and answers to start from the text and follow a chain of reasoning to an answer. That reasoning can be based on history, linguistics, archaeology, or whatever else makes sense. And you'll see some non-exegesis questions -- ones asking about history or hemeneutic techniques, for example. Fire away!
However, you may want to hold off for a bit as there's a major edit in progress now and I wouldn't want your new questions to get pushed off the main page by newer edits before we get to see them. I'll post an all-clear here when I'm done.
this does sound very good - I have been fascinated by the texts, and history for a very long time - ever since my grandmother sat me down and taught me about the Bible (truly the best teacher I ever had)
I will hold off of questions until the all clear and when I have read some more
I come from a very diverse religious background - my family are Catholic, Baptist and Mormon - I have taught in Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican and Coptic Orthodox schools and lived in a Buddhist-Shinto based country for several years
@MonicaCellio massive edit done (AFAICT). Search indexing seems to be on a lag so I can't do my checksum yet, but if I missed any it's probably just one or two and I'll edit them when I find them. Carry on.
@Scrooge hi. Sorry, done now -- feel free to ask away!
@Scrooge that's quite the background! Sounds like you've been exposed to a lot of different religious communities. Must be fascinating to compare and contrast them.
@Scrooge welcome. Normally the front page provides a good mix; currently it's full of stuff I thought worth answering. But tag searches are also useful; all text questions must be (at least) tagged with the relevant book, so if you've got a favorite book you can find questions about it easily.
@Scrooge is that a general prediction or have you spotted a question you can answer? (BTW, that a question has an accepted answer shouldn't deter you from adding one if you've got something new to say.)
@Scrooge good start, and thanks for citing a source. Does that source explain its reasoning for these identifications? If so, adding something about why it says each of those is as it is would help. We do want answers to show their work as much as possible; you've shown your work but if you can show us the source's work too, so much the better.
@Scrooge I just saw that your main site is Academia. Ok, I'll stop lecturing you on sources 101. :-) (Sorry, didn't notice.) Anyway, please do edit when you have more info.
It is often thought that the fundamental principle of atonement is "life for life."
In Lev. 6:2, if an individual sinned, he would bring a "trespass offering to YHVH" (Lev. 6:6), and the kohen would make atonement for him before YHVH (Lev. 6:7).
The individual sinned. He brought an offering. Th...
Is this tracked for deletion or is it fixable? I like the answers dealing with the assumptions of the question and stepping through what can be interpreted, but if any of the content is salvageable (for here or elsewhere) it should be attended to.
@MonicaCellio @Caleb I just wanted to drop in for a minute, because I have a wish to try to share, and I don’t think God will mind the order in which I say it. …Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! Sincerely
@Caleb I have my doubts about being fixable; at its core it's a theological question. I remember a discussion at the time (I think in here and not just in the comments, and I think involving Jon), with the conclusion then that close + keep was the right call. That was a while ago so worth revisiting. (At the very least, to reopen it'd need to support the claim in the very first sentence, from which the rest of the question derives.)
@JohnMartin thanks and happy new year to you! (Hey, just reaching for one that hasn't been covered yet. :-) )