Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no. I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist [one who believes that God’s divinity is manifested in all of Creation]. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.
May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe.
We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God.
We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations
There was a time when a shirt worn by Joe M would not have made the news. It seems that now demonstrating ones faith takes an act of faith. Faith that even though some unknown cupcake sitting in their unknown corner of their little sprinkles on the cupcakes world is going to find a way to sue him into oblivion (or submission) for showing a faith that the cupcake cannot understand or own.
Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla wearing a powerful shirt after winning the NBA Finals:
To be clear: I find Catholics to be an odd lot. Almost cult-like and a lot more rigid than my ever-backsliding ass could comfortably ascribe to. However, Joe shows the kind of ‘moral big balls’ that our society desperately needs to be reminded of. Thanks Coach.
The rainbow people are slowly becoming aware that the Religion of Peace has a real hard on (pun intended) for demonstrating their life choices. The idea that the Dem party is a big tent party is about to be tested; couldn’t have happened to a more deserving group.
"No pride in genocide!" A scene of rare beauty as PaIestine protesters in Philadelphia refuse to let the 'Pride' march through. PLEASE LET THIS GO GLOBAL 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/gZXek4LXar
What surprised me most about the clip is how well the alphabet people are organized. Now that these two sides have found themselves in an ‘intersectional civil war’ what new players will emerge and what alliances will be constructed.
Pro-"Palestine" thugs blocking the way for the Philadelphia Pride Parade
There is a good read by Melissa Harl Sellew floating around and I thought it informative for a couple of reasons: because it provides insight into the differences between Thomas and the Synoptic Gospels and because it demonstrates a different approach to understanding those differences. Her words in the ‘Abstract’ (introduction) provide a tidy description of this, her approach.
“This article moves away from questions of dependence or autonomy to show that comparison of the texts’ style and content is fruitful for understanding both Thomas and the Synoptic Gospels. When we read the Synoptics against Thomas, some of the central characteristics of Mark, Matthew, and Luke stand out in higher relief. Differences in theology, narrative structures, genre, and approaches to community formation combine to confirm that early gospel writers had a variety of choices about their modes of representation of the meaning(s) of Jesus. As part of its pattern of distance from Judaism, Thomas shows that it was possible to present Jesus as somehow removed from the thought world of Scripture, even as a source of revelatory or prophetic information.”
Here (below) is a teaser from the article that, when well considered, gives good cause for pause and contemplation.
“The Jesus of Thomas, in great contrast, though he speaks proverbs, macarisms, and parables alike to those of his Synoptic counterpart, nonetheless performs no deeds of power, encounters no opposition from either Jewish or Roman leaders, makes no threats or warnings of imminent divine judgment or eschatological crisis. Only by foreknowledge of the New Testament Gospels (or for argument’s sake, the Gospel of Peter) would a reader of Thomas realize that Jesus was to meet a gruesome death at the hands of the Romans, framed as a divinely required sacrifice to redeem the world of sin, and yet was somehow able to transcend death through resurrection. In other words, the “Jesus Christ crucified, and him alone” preached by Paul (1 Cor 2:2) is not the subject of the Gospel of Thomas.“
In contemplation, if you decide to go there, there’s a lot more to unpack than you might first think.
It looks as if a good number of Jewish folk have figured out that ‘passive resistance’ is a tactic that ends with long trains and ovens. A sorely learned lesson that goes along with the realization that if you give your enemies enough rope they’ll hang you with it.
NOW at UCLA: Pro-Israel protesters just tore down the metal barricades and began ripping flags off the encampment. They trying to break in the encampment to fight people. pic.twitter.com/C5uVAEZuoh
BTW, another lesson to be learned is that those that hate you will do all that they can to paint you in the worst possible light: the ‘Pro-Israel Protestors’ are tearing down flags and ripping apart the encampment because they want ‘to fight people’.
Two important observations: As an ‘Investigative Journalist’ Joe Scott sucks (as the last sentence in the screed above demonstrates) and his bias is as apparent as the red ass on a baboon.
Good to see that our brothers of the Jewish faith have, at least in the short term, managed to demonstrate a desire for self preservation (grown a set of balls).
These folk are calling on churches in Boston (and the surrounding area) to payout billions in reparations. This is going to be a wonderful show and a great test of these christian enterprises ability to walk the line between benevolent talk and actually stepping up to the plate with checkbook in hand.
What a shit show.
Radicals in Boston are demanding at least ten billion dollars for reparations because… they're insane. Democrats brought 100% of the political problems from reparations on itself. pic.twitter.com/2wt3jNlqma
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 25, 2024
Some time ago I posted a large collection of ‘Gnostic’ writings in a volume titled The Gnostic Bible. It contains 47 complete works by various authors or are ‘gospels’ of some sort or another.
47 is bunches and this volume runs 860 pages. An index at the back end makes it more useful than what otherwise might be.
A very informative introduction by Marvin Meyer and Willis Barnstone provide an excellent backdrop on how/why nonconforming people, doctrine and documents were treated by ‘The Church’. These folk (church leadership) could not be safely crossed because the church had cornered the market on religion, faith and salvation and were one of the most powerful agencies in the world. They were not about to give away the keys to their kingdom to any upstart spiritual movement. The simple act of translating the scriptures (for consumption by the laymen) was prohibited.
The fates of John Wycliffe, Etinette Dolet, and William Tyndale testify to what the punishment for translating the New Testament out of Latin and into English or French might be. (See page 25 of the document)
Some two or so years ago I downloaded a paper from a site that asked if I wanted to receive other papers or articles on the same subject. I accidentally selected the yes button (something I never do). Now, every morning I receive an email with a link to a new paper or book or lengthy article that is related to Thomas, Jesus, Gnostic, Early Christian, or other same such topics. Frankly, many of the papers could benefit (as could my own writing) from perusal by an editor or, for that matter, a senior HS student with a few spare minutes and a red pen.
The paper that arrived this AM is titled : YOU ARE GODS: AT THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIANITY by Vincenzo Belmonte.
Pieter Paul Rubens, Bellerophon, Pegasus and Chimera, 1635,
One of the interesting currents in this read is the idea that Jesus not only took on the physical appearance of man, but also the intellectual qualities of man. A pretty radical thought in my mind. Here is a short extract that is not so much about Jesus as it is about ‘interpretations’.
Jesus’ self-awareness was born fundamentally from his personal relationship with the Father, but it got hold of documentary support in the Tanakh, which was creatively interpreted. From this we may infer a principle of general validity: the ‘truth’ of the sacred scriptures of any religion resides not so much in their historical and scientific reliability as in the effectiveness of their emotional and moral grasp in view of the experience of God based on openness to the infinite.
They are but fruitful instruments for setting up and implementing the personal project of perfecting one’s own humanity. As such, they involve the interpretative intervention of those who ad modum recipientis*, that is, in keeping with individual needs, expectations and limitations, draw from them.
Jesus (as a man) and the apostles discovered new meanings in the Hebrew Scriptures, on the grounds that, since they were already bearers of a more radical existential project, they could only read them with new eyes.
Regardless of the authors’ intent, in them they sought and found themselves, their own personal aspirations dictated by the Spirit.
*The Latin maxim is ‘quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur’ — literally, “what is received is received according to the mode [or manner, or condition] of the receiver.” Less literally, the maxim holds that our predispositions (our mental filters) color our perceptions.
I’ve seen several (many?) different portrayals of Plato’s Cave and just now have noticed that many of them use monks (or similarly attired such folk) as the standard bearers. Given the timing (Plato vs Christian Church) it certainly could not have been the intent of Plato to suggest deception as a method of the church, but it appears to be the object of the artist(s).
A rational man might suspect that a rogue would welcome the sociological cover that the robes provide.
I’m tempted to send along a contribution just to have her back on the air again.
End Times preacher Sharon Gilbert says that an alien imitated her husband, and then it tried to have sex with her, and then it claimed to be Xerxes, and then Jesus got involved, and then the alien turned out to be a reptile with a posse of gargoyles. pic.twitter.com/aBqC2IMSqn
Wouldn’t want that little tid-bit of information to leak out.
WANTED in connection to shooting three people near West 44th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan on May 8, 2021. @NYPDDetectives need anyone with information about the identity or whereabouts of this individual to contact @NYPDTips at #800577TIPS. All calls are anonymous. pic.twitter.com/qciBGCR6AK
I guess the run that the moral majority enjoyed here in Am Murica is well over, now comes the days of the Orcs. It wasn’t that long ago when headlining an article captioned as below would have been unthinkable. Now the dark side has become so emboldened that they don’t even pretend to conceal the hatred they have for Christians.
It’s a neat trick the author/publisher is playing with the words and image. They would have the weak minded believe that the ‘Christian Nationalist’ (those folk who believe that God shines his light on America) are barbarians, anti-democratic, and are subverting (‘working quietly to take America’) the government to satisfy their own wants. It really is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
The kids and grand-kids will begin showing up here on the farm again in a few hours. Christmas Eve has become a tradition, another way to count the passing years. The same great meal (flank steak, casseroles, crab/artichoke dip), crackling fire, gifts passed back and forth.
Tomorrow brings reflection and hope. Reflection on the past and a hope that the promise made more than 2000 years ago holds. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and may all your reflections be kind and your hopes come true.
How often do you look at something without seeing? It seems to happen to me at almost every turn; the light through the trees, a reflection in the glass, a coasting bird in the afternoon breeze.
I’m beginning to believe that the apostles of Christ as portrayed in the Gospel of Thomas are the Worfs of the ancient world. Almost every time they are mentioned it is in a derogatory way and every question they ask is either left unanswered or answered while chastising them. It’s almost as if Jesus realizes he got stuck with the B Team of humanity when selecting Apostles and is unhappy about it.
Is there an infinite amount of time? Must matter exist for time to exist? Will the universe continue to replicate?
Here are some of Roger Penrose’s thoughts
An earlier universe existed before the Big Bang and can still be observed today, Sir Roger Penrose said, as he received the Nobel Prize for Physics. He says he has found six ‘warm’ points in the sky (dubbed ‘Hawking Points’) which are around eight times the diameter of the Moon. Sir Roger believes that ‘dead’ black holes are from earlier universes or ‘aeons’ and are observable now.
The Big Bang was not the beginning. There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will have in our future.
“We have a universe that expands and expands, and all mass decays away, and in this crazy theory of mine, that remote future becomes the Big Bang of another aeon. So our Big Bang began with something which was the remote future of a previous aeon and there would have been similar black holes evaporating away, via Hawking evaporation, and they would produce these points in the sky, that I call Hawking Points.”
Genesis 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not
The “and the darkness comprehended it not’ of John sounds a whole lot like the “but you do not know it” of Thomas.
Just a thought, and in the same simple vein, doesn’t ‘the spirit of God moved on the face of the waters” make this world his kingdom?
Third in the series: historical context is crucial to understanding the New Testament. Alexander the Great, in his conquests, spread Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean world. This would shape the structure of city-states, which would share characteristically Greek institutions, such as the gymnasium and the boule. This would also give rise to religious syncretism, that is, the mixing of different religions. The rise of the Romans would continue this trend of universalization of Greek ideals and religious tolerance, as well as implement the social structure of the Roman household. The Pax Romana, and the vast infrastructures of the Roman Empire, would facilitate the rapid spread of Christianity.
This is the second presentation of that Yale series I mentioned last Sunday. The subject matter talks to how the Christian faith (actually faiths–plural) are based upon a canon of texts considered to be holy scripture. It talks to how they came to be and what factors, such as competing schools of doctrine, growing consensus, and the invention of the codex, helped shape the canon of the New Testament.
This guy is a great presenter and does an excellent job of keeping the discussion lively and interesting.
Churches and Christian statues continue to be targeted in ever increasing numbers across Europe. I guess that’s exactly what any rational man would predict if you were to throw your doors open to all comer’s from the Middle East.
So another church in France was destroyed by fire last night, another clueless population wonders why so many churches are aflame. Another day closer to the demise of Europe.
While wandering around the interwebs I found a great sight that offered free quality courses on both the Old and New Testaments. Because the courses are not ‘religious’ (they’re historical) they appear to be completely without bias. Each course consists of roughly 24 lectures and each lecture is 40 to 60 minutes in length.
There is a lot that Phil has said in the past that I either disagree with or believe that he should have stated differently. In any country, free or otherwise, that is my right. It’s a right that flows from God. I might die in some other country for exercising this right, but that does not make it any less a right.
There are folk in this country that would have us believe freedom of expression is a privilege and must be closely monitored and controlled. The movement of our freedom of expression from a right that flows from God, to a privilege controlled by man is essential to transforming the US to a Socialist country.
So while I may disagree with what Phil may have to say, I very much encourage him to continue to say it. Does that make sense?
The sub title ‘One less baby helps the planet……’ What a wonderfully wicked way to encourage a young mind to abort a human life. Now, you see, it’s no longer about discarding innocent life out of selfishness, rather is a ‘sacrifice’ to save the planet.
Evil is a sneaky bastard and creeps in as a thief. It targets those that have yet to gain moral strength.
UC Santa Cruz has announced that it will remove historic
bells from the “Spanish Missions” after many in the UC Santa Cruz community
argued that the artifact is offensive.
The “Spanish Mission” bells were used between 1769 and 1833
to highlight the path of the 21 California Missions, which were constructed to
evangelize Native Americans. Now, the
school views these bells as symbols of past oppression.
Valentin Lopez, chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, encouraged the university to remove the bells. “These bells are deeply painful symbols that celebrate the destruction, domination and erasure of our people, they are constant reminders of the disrespect our tribe faces to this day.”
I took wifey’s car in for an oil change and thought it would be good to balance and rotate the tires as well.
Some few days later we were traveling to Huntsville AL (about 50 miles away) and went using Interstate 65. Sure as shit, once I got over 60 miles an hour there was a hint of a shutter. At 70 it was more pronounced, not really bad but enough to know that the knuckleheads didn’t balance the tires right.
The next morning I’m looking over the tires and notice that there are 3 large (about 3 inch long each) weights on the left front and two of the same size on the right front. Some of the weights were put on when I purchased the tires, some were place there on the most recent balancing.
Off I go to a different service center and explain the issue to the mechanic there. Here is how I relearned a simple lesson. The mechanic removed the tires and then removed all of the weights from every tire. He then ran each tire on his machine and added weights as needed to bring each tire into balance. He would add a weight, check for balance, and then add another as needed. Essentially, he discarded all of the errors that had accumulated over time and started from scratch; checking each change he made as he worked.
It strikes me as odd how such a simple lesson can have an esoteric character to it. Over many years I’ve been trying to reconcile all that I have been taught (or have otherwise learned) about Christ and God with other things, taught or learned, about Them. The incongruences were/are pronounced and enduring.
So I’ve begun to remove all of the weights and am starting again. Here is what I know absent any weights (influences): There is a God and Christ walked/taught among us. Both continue to exist. The nature of their existence and the relationship of my existence to Theirs is my great unknown. For me it’s uncharted territory. I’m very excited about the journey and know. with the weights removed, I’ll find the true balance I’ve searched for.
