A line from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" tells you why it's easily the most disputed religious novel of all time: "Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false."
With 46 million copies in print, "Da Vinci" has long been a headache for Christian scholars and historians, who are worried about the influence on the faith from a single source they regard as wrong-headed. Read More.
Dear POW,
When I took my vows as an advice columnist I swore to always tell the truth. So while I’ll probably get in trouble for letting you in on our secret, I have to be completely honest: We're not really directionless, we’re just pretending to be lost.
The suprising truth is that we just drive around in circles acting confused because we know how much this behavior infuriates women. Admittedly, it’s ridiculously passive-aggressive. But it’s also a lot more fun that you could imagine. When we pass the same gas station for the thirteenth time and mutter, “Well, it’s got to be around here somewhere…” we do it just to see the look on your face. That pained, frustrated expression you make when you’re trying to keep from losing your last fingerhold on sanity is priceless.
The best part of the experience, though, is when we get together with other men and compare stories about how our wife's head almost exploded while we were pretending to search for a street address. Somehow when we’re pulling this stunt we retain the ability to be completely stoical and straight faced. Yet when we share this tale with our buddies we start giggling like Japanese schoolgirls.
It's a biological fact that all men are born with innate sense of direction; we couldn’t get lost if we tried. What makes it even funnier is that we often confess to having this ability and yet no woman ever believes us! That is why we are able to pass on this lark down to our sons, and generation after generation, women fall for it every time.Arminianism was developed from the writings of Jacobus Arminius (1559-1609). Known as “the quiet Dutchman”, Arminius’ writings emphasize free will, and subsequent Arminian theologians developed a five-point rebuttal of Calvinism’s TULIP (but without the nifty flower acronym):
Natural Ability (the Imago Dei is marred but not obliterated; however, humanity is dependent of the Holy Spirit for new birth)
Election (based on God’s foreknowledge of who would respond with free will to the Gospel)
Unlimited Atonement (salvation is available to all, but effective only for those who respond)
Prevenient Grace (preparatory work of the Holy Spirit enabling humanity to respond to the Gospel), and
Conditional Perseverance (believers are empowered for victorious life, but are capable of turning from grace and losing salvation)
The suggestion that jews control the world by proxy - particularly by manipulating the media and by secretly directing the policies of other countries - is a widespread, and racist conspiracy theory with a long history. It is a view which is very much alive, on the far right and the far left, and - indeed - the far green.
To take a recent example Abdurrahman Jafar, the RESPECT Mayoral candidate, claimed yesterday in the Muslim Weekly, that Tony Blair had lied about "how Israel has been formulating and directing UK and US foreign policy". Read More.
In the 20th century, malaria all but vanished from the developed world. Chloroquine and DDT helped eradicate the disease in North America and Europe, and brought it to a nadir worldwide. In Africa and parts of South Asia and South America, however, the effort was thwarted by lack of basic infrastructure. Today, sub-Saharan Africa is home to 90 percent of reported cases. Read More.
While conservatives argue for closing the southern border and enforcing the law to deport illegal immigrants, our opposition argues for a supposedly more humane approach of either completely open borders or the granting of amnesty to the twelve million who have already come to the US. That argument wins on the basis of understandable sympathy for poor people who want to escape crushing poverty in their native land, primarily Mexico; it makes the conservative argument sound heartless and cruel.
But is it really? An e-mail I received this evening from Eusebia Flores at Artcamp Artesanas Campesinas in Guerrero, Mexico argues the exact opposite -- that the lure of American dollars literally subsidizes the abandonment of Mexico and families by the men who could otherwise have helped transform the destitute Mexican economy:
Dear friends in the United States....We are Mexican women from villages in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero.
Our brothers and husbands have left us for work in the US.
We strongly support closing the US-Mexico border to illegal entry.We did not want our men to leave and we want them to return to us.
As we struggle as women, against the difficulty of our situation, we focus all effort on building a business to sustain ourselves and our children.
But we need the help of our husbands and our brothers to re-unite our families and to help us develop economic opportunity in the traditional fashion jewelry production industry that is the heritage of our parents.
Please close the US Border to illegal migration and send our men home to us. Thank you.
Best wishes from Mexico to all persons of good will.
We should continue to be friends and respect each other.
Atentamente,
Eusebia Flores
Artcamp Artesanas Campesinas
Tecalpulco, Municipio de Taxco de Alarcon; Guerrero, Mexico
Rahella Khanom, 24, caused the five-month-old boy in her care to suffer fractures to his breast bone and ribs as she tried to rid him of evil spirits, Southwark Crown Court was told. Read More.
Thank goodness this insensitive name was thwarted!
Another victory in the centuries-long struggle against bigotry and oppression can be celebrated today, as "community leaders" - led by Simba Tongogara (pictured) - have forced capitalist land developers in Bristol to abandon an appallingly racist name that had, with incredible insensitivity, been chosen for a local shopping centre.
After much consideration, and fully cognizant of the risk of deeply disturbing readers, the Daily Ablution has decided to reproduce the revolting designation in full - not from a sense of sensationalism, or in order to offend, but to illustrate the extent to which the racism that permeates all levels of today's society continues to fester. While discussion of such matters may be unpleasant at times, it is only in educating ourselves - emancipating ourselves from mental slavery, as it were - that the problem can be overcome.
Unbelievably, the shopping centre was to be called Merchants Quarter. Read More.
Considered felons by the government, these migrants fear detention, rape and robbery. Police and soldiers hunt them down at railroads, bus stations and fleabag hotels. Sometimes they are deported; more often officers simply take their money.
While migrants in the United States have held huge demonstrations in recent weeks, the hundreds of thousands of undocumented Central Americans in Mexico suffer mostly in silence.
And though Mexico demands humane treatment for its citizens who migrate to the U.S., regardless of their legal status, Mexico provides few protections for migrants on its own soil. The issue simply isn't on the country's political agenda, perhaps because migrants make up only 0.5 percent of the population, or about 500,000 people - compared with 12 percent in the United States.
The level of brutality Central American migrants face in Mexico was apparent Monday, when police conducting a raid for undocumented migrants near a rail yard outside Mexico City shot to death a local man, apparently because his dark skin and work clothes made officers think he was a migrant. Read More.
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Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à -tête) with the Hidden Imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into "grand occultation" in 941.
According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World. In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmad-inejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".
Last year, it was after another khalvat that Ahmadinejad announced his intention to stand for president. Now, he boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a "clash of civilisations" in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the "infidel" West, led by the United States, and defeats it in a slow but prolonged contest that, in military jargon, sounds like a low intensity, asymmetrical war. Read More.
The main force, named the Special Unit of Martyr Seekers in the Revolutionary Guards, was first seen last month when members marched in a military parade, dressed in olive-green uniforms with explosive packs around their waists and detonators held high.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 14 — Al and Diane Kitlica have not paid close attention to the immigration debate in Congress. But when more than 100,000 mostly Hispanic demonstrators marched through Phoenix this week, the Kitlicas noticed.
"I was outraged," Ms. Kitlica told J. D. Hayworth, the Republican who is her congressman, as she and her husband stopped him for 20 minutes while he was on a walk through their suburban neighborhood to complain to him about the issue.
"You want to stay here and get an education, get benefits, and you still want to say 'Viva Mexico'? It was a slap in the face," Ms. Kitlica said, adding that illegal immigrants were straining the Mesa public school where she teaches. Read More.
Last week, NKU British literature professor Sally Jacobsen and several of her students destroyed a display of hundreds of crosses pro-life students have put up in the grass outside the student center to talk about the 47 million unborn babies who have been killed via abortion. Read More.
Matthew 28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Out there, awaiting her building fury: the Angry Left, where O'Connor's reputation is as one of the angriest of all. "One long, sustained scream" is how she describes the writing she does for various Web logs, as she wonders what she should scream about this day. Read More.
Iran said it could defeat any American military action over its controversial nuclear drive, in one of the Islamic regime's boldest challenges yet to the United States.
"You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures.
"The Americans know better than anyone that their troops in the region and in Iraq are vulnerable. I would advise them not to commit such a strategic error," he told reporters on the sidelines of a pro-Palestinian conference in Tehran. Read More.
Angry devotees inside the mosque and others, who rushed to the spot from nearby areas shouted 'Allah Ho Akbar' (God is Great) as they sought vengeance against perpetrators of the blasts at the 17th century monument. Read More.
Attackers armed with knives went on the rampage in three Coptic churches in Egypt's second city of Alexandria today, killing one worshipper and injuring at least a dozen more.
The attacks triggered clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Sidi Bishr district, the site of the Saints Church where at least ten people were injured, two seriously.
Police said three people were wounded at the nearby Mari Girgis (St. George) Church, and four attacked at a church in Abu Qir, several miles to the east.
"The attacker stormed the church armed with a knife and shouted ’There is no God but Allah’ and ’Allah is the greatest’ before stabbing the worshippers," one of the Marie Girgis church employees told an AFP reporter at the scene. Read More.
The militant pro-animal group PETA said the activists would be suspended from crosses with crowns of thorns on their heads.
The slogan of the protest action would be "We suffer and die for your sins of nourishment." Read More.
After experiencing many Easters as a Christian, I still struggle to fathom the love of God. That the Father would let His Son be sacraficed, and that the Son would willingly do the will of the Father is, to me, incredible.
As we contemplate what Christ did for us, may we be able to impact others for Him.
"Jesus arrives at Golgotha. The soldiers take away the cross-beam from his shoulders and neck. Jesus is relieved from this weight. He stands there motionless. Everyone around him is doing his job. He just waits. They move around.
Jesus looks up and sees the two thieves already in their place. They are screaming with pain. He looks down again and, keeping his eyes fixed to the ground, awaits his turn. Suddenly the soldiers came. He knew it was his time.
They took off his clothes. They threw them in a heap nearby. Jesus is again humiliated. He stands there almost naked. The bloodstained body showed to all those present the bruises and the open wounds of the lashes. He started shivering. The northerly breeze was chilling his sweating body.
They had placed the cross-beam on the ground in front of him, while the soldiers were debating what to do with his garments: "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." (Jn 19,24) This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing"(Ps 22,18). So this is what the soldiers did.
And Jesus lifting up his eyes to heaven repeated the prayer: "But you, O Lord, be not far off! O my Strength, come quickly to help me!" (Ps 22,19)."
More stations of the cross at Via Crucis.
Station 9
He is almost there. Breathless and speechless, Jesus moves on. Every now and then he is pushed by the guarding soldiers. Every now and then someone shouts out from the crowd. They are already there.
They had prepared the necessary tools for the crucifixion. He can already hear the screams of the two other prisoners who had left the fortress with him. They are crucifying them.
The soldiers are running around keeping the people at bay. Others are guarding the northern side of Calvary lest someone might fall in the garden below. The Jewish guards and the members of the Sanhedrin together with some elders of the people are there too. They wanted to make sure that this impostor gets what he merits.
And again he stumbles. They laugh at him and mock him. The soldiers push him. But he does not give up.
He rises again, steadies himself, walks the last metres separating him from his final destination - the Place of the Skull - Golgotha (Jn 19,17) and softly prays: "The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" (Ps. 27,1-4)
A Prayer
Dear Jesus, here I am wondering what has happened to all those with whom you had shared your life during the ministry. I am wondering why Peter denied you, why Judas betrayed you, why all the others left you, except for John. I am wondering why Peter had to hear the cock's crow to realise he was mistaken. Was it not enough to hear your voice warning him?
And while Judas despaired, Peter repented. Yes, Lord Jesus Christ, looking at your disciples I realize how weak I happen to be and how many a time I left you too, sometimes acting cowardly like Peter to avoid risking my "reputation". Other times I went even further and betrayed your love!
All this, Lord, you carried on your shoulders to help me rise again. Please Lord, fill my heart with strength so that whenever I feel like falling I realize you want me to stand upright in your path!
By common consent, great is the beauty of holiness. God himself is that beauty than which nothing greater can be desired, to give Anselm’s “maximal being theology” an aesthetic spin. Because God, unlike creatures, is not compounded of separable parts, he does not have a beauty with which to be beautified. Rather God simply is the beauty which he has." Read More.
This is the best article on the Judas issue I have read. This "gospel" is very interesting for our understanding of 2nd century gnosticism but is irrelevant for our understanding of Jesus and his relationship with Judas. If you would like to download and english translation click here.
The Gospel of Judas is a portion of a centuries-old codex (book) written in Coptic (an ancient Egyptian language). Included in this codex are other documents known to be Gnostic. This suggests that the contents of the Gospel of Judas may well be Gnostic, an assumption confirmed by the evidence of the text.
The Gospel of Judas does not claim to be a firsthand account by Judas. He is not the narrator, but a chief participant, along with Jesus. The other disciples appear in this gospel. That are insignificant and in fact condemned by Jesus Himself.
The Gospel of Judas, in an earlier form than we have it now, was known among second-century orthodox Christians. Irenaeus of Lyons, who wrote an influential refutation of what he considered to be heretical Christian ideas, said this in Against Heresies. Read the Whole Thing.
Update: Found another good article here.
The Bush administration is planning to use nuclear weapons against Iran, to prevent it acquiring its own atomic warheads, claims an investigative writer with high-level Pentagon and intelligence contacts.
President George W Bush is said to be so alarmed by the threat of Iran's hard-line leader, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, that privately he refers to him as "the new Hitler", says Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Read More.
This puts this text in context.
An expert on ancient Egyptian texts is predicting that the "Gospel of Judas" — a manuscript from early Christian times that's nearing release amid widespread interest from scholars — will be a dud in terms of learning anything new about Judas.
James M. Robinson, America's leading expert on such ancient religious texts from Egypt, predicts in a new book that the text won't offer any insights into the disciple who betrayed Jesus. His reason: While it's old, it's not old enough.
"Does it go back to Judas? No," Robinson told The Associated Press on Thursday. More.
An ancient manuscript rediscovered after 1,700 years may shed new light on the relationship between Jesus and Judas, the disciple who betrayed him.
Rather than the traitor Judas is portrayed as in the New Testament, this document — the "Gospel of Judas" — indicates that he acted at the request of Jesus to help him shed his earthly body. Read More.
Abraham Lincoln was fond of asking, “If you call a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?” “Five,” his audience would invariably answer. “No,” he would politely respond,” the correct answer is four. Calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg.”
Like Lincoln’s associates, many of our fellow citizens appear to fall for the notion that a change of name causes a change in essence. A prime example is the attempt to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex unions. Simply calling such relationships “gay marriages”, they believe, will actually make them “marriages.” Such reasoning, however, is as flawed as thinking that changing “tail” to “leg” changes the function of the appendage.
In order to understand whether marriage can be legitimately redefined by the government we must first understand its relation to the state. Fortunately, we only have two options to choose from. Marriage is either an institution that has an existence and autonomy apart from the state or it’s a construct that only comes into being after being created by positive law.
If marriage is autonomous and separate from the state--the common view for the past 5,000 years--then the government cannot simply define the term in any way it chooses. Because the two institutions stand apart, they can decide whether to recognize the legitimacy of the other but they cannot delineate each others boundaries. In this way, the relationship is similar to nation-states. The U.S. government, for example, can decide to “recognize” the state of Israel but it cannot redefine the country in a way that contracts its border to exclude the Gaza Strip. The U.S. either recognizes Israel as it defines itself or it rejects its legitimacy altogether.
Whether they would articulate it this way, I suspect this is what most Americans mean when they claim that the government does not have the right to redefine marriage. The fact that such an argument even needs to be made shows how degraded and confused both language and law have become.
But what if marriage is a social construct that is created by the state? If we assume this is true then we must admit that the state has the right to change and redefine the meaning of marriage in any way it chooses. Naturally, this would be good news for gay marriage advocates. It is also be welcome news for polygamists and those in incestuous relationships. After all, if the government is allowed to expand the definition in order not to discriminate against homosexuals, then it should not exclude other groups either.
Gay marriage advocates, however, bristle at the idea that polygamists should have the same “rights” that they seek for homosexuals. While they lobby for a redefinition of marriage, they want to do so in a way that includes same-sex unions but will still exclude other minority interests that they themselves do not recognize as legitimate. Their reasons for closing the marriage gate behind them are remarkably similar to the ones given by their opposition. Unfortunately, the irony of their “bigotry” appears to be lost on them.
Naturally, it would take a radical reinterpretation of both history and law to draw the conclusion that marriage is solely a creation of the state. But if such a view is espoused then it opens other areas for possible reinterpretation. Can I as a blue-eyed, light skinned Caucasian petition the government to “redefine” my race in order to take advantage of affirmative action programs? If not, then what would be the argument against such a redefinition? If the boundaries of marriage can be stretched then shouldn’t other institutions be open as well?
And why should the government have sole control over the lexicon? Why shouldn’t the common man -- like me -- be able to redefine words in whatever way we choose? Think of the possibilities! I could call my dog’s tail a leg, take him to the dog track, and make a fortune by winning every race. No matter how fast the other dogs ran they wouldn’t be able to keep up with my five-legged canine.
This is because our nation is progressing and is victorious. . . . By Allah, you will be defeated. . . . Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing. Apologize today, before remorse will do you no good. Read More.
Another piece of Limoge that I found. To me this is stunning.
