I picked up three books in the last couple of days, all three written by Dr. Robert Price. Two of which are responses to more popular works, The Da Vinci Fraud, and A Reason Driven Life. The third book I picked up is The Pre-Nicene New Testament. This looks the most interesting, and is the longest. It's a new translation of, not just the 27 books in the canonical Bible, but 27 additional books which were excluded for one reason or another. This collection hopes to express the theological diversity of early Christianity through the earliest surviving writings.
Earlier this afternoon, I attended a talk on the Pagan Parallels to the Christ Story. It was interesting to hear how similar the writing was of the new testament with Greek and Latin writers of around the same time. Tales of people rising from the dead were not unique to the story of Jesus, or ascension to heaven, or even the story of Jesus telling men to not give up catching fish, to drop their net again, and there are 153 fish there.
Dionysus turned water into into wine at his wedding to Adriadne. 153 was a sacred number to Pythagoreans, its mathematical ratio called the measure of the fish. The story of Pythagoras performing a similar miracle, however, the specific number of fish was guessed by Pythagoras, but never revealed. Jewish mysticism is full of importance on numbers, and there is no reason that the bible would be exempt from the same treatment from time to time. For example, the mark of the beast being 666 in John's Revelations, is speculated to be Caesar Nero by some people. There is an example of using a number to hide the person's name in Pompeii. The graffiti on the wall said, "I love the one who's number is 545." Of course, lots of names can add up to 666, and no one can be totally sure whether 666 was meant to be one person or not.
I have much more reading to do this weekend.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
BEWARE! Women, nonbelievers and general idiots...
Attention to all women, Atheists, impoverished, mentally retarded and Christians! You have no Neshma. The road to heaven is not open to you. You are ALL GOING TO HELL. According to the Kabbalists that is. Sound crazy? Let me explain my outburst, and when I'm finished I would GREATLY appreciate your feedback, as it will help me write an essay due in May. (Thank you in advance).
Today in my Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah class we discussed the human soul. I am aware of how Christians and Atheists view the soul, even vaguely the traditional Jewish view but this was new to me and I found it extremely interesting. There is a long back story involving Adam (surprisingly not so much Eve) and the original sin. Long story short, we are not inherently born with the divine part of the soul called the Neshma, but have to earn it. Unfortunately having this said Neshma is the only ticket into heaven. Even more alarming, attaining this Neshma is not very easy. First off you must follow the commandments.... this is broad umbrella. Second off you must know the Torah front to back. This counts out the Christians, unless they convert. This counts out women and the poor (keeping in mind antiquity). The Torah was written by Rabbis who more than likely did not want these people in heaven, and fortunately enough these populations did not have access to the Torah. BUT, you not only had to know the Torah in its entirety, but know the mystical meaning behind all the passages, and the Sefirotic context of the commandments. This got me thinking, this isn't very fair. What if you are too dumb to get it? What if you are smart, but not good at interpretation? Does this mean the mentally retarded have the same status as the animals? Than again, the idea of an elite heaven isn't so exotic. Many faiths believe non believers and animals don't get into heaven. Can someone who is mentally retarded really believe? Or do they just clap their hands in church and follow the sheep?
I also found it interesting that the Kabbalists don't let you merely go through the actions of reading the Torah and obeying the Commandments. They actually have to delve in, understand what they believe. There are still Kabbalists , and of course the rules have broadened to let in more people, including the Hollywood wave. Is it o.k to mix the words of the ancient book the Kabbalists follow, to fit more people into heaven? Christians nitpick the words of the bible all the time. There will never be room in heaven for a Secularist like me. Thats fine, but I do feel sorry for my pet cats that have died, and all the little retards I work with.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
Tonight, Jeannette and I attended a debate between Dr. Robert Price and Rev. Dwight Knight called, "Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?" The debate featured two opposing viewpoints, one that Jesus rose form the dead, and the other, that Jesus may have risen from the dead, but it's pretty unlikely. The bigger question is, does it matter? Reverend Knight contradicted himself on this topic during the debate when asked what it would take for you to believe that Jesus didn't rise from the dead. He responded that even if he had a time machine to view for himself whether the tomb was empty or not, it didn't matter, he would believe Jesus rose from the dead anyway, but that isn't what he bases his faith in Jesus on anyway. In his closing remarks, he quotes Acts regarding Jesus' divinity being dependent on the ascension. He would cease to be a Christian if Jesus didn't rise from the dead.
Dr. Robert Price, when asked what would it take for him to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, answered that he's agnostic on the issue. If he could go back in time, and if to him it seemed more probable that Jesus rose from the dead, then he would believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Dr. Price cites examples of other mythological figures and literary heroes who also rose from the dead, or who fit the hero model of classic literature, for example, who had virgin births, died on a hill, went missing, became king, had his followers turn on him, are killed by his followers, become a god. In discussion after the debate, Dr. Price made a good point. If you turn the Bible into history, you run into trouble with contradictions and different accounts. You can make excuses, like a philosophical argument that each person has their own account of what they see. That may be the case that four different people may describe a table four different ways, but they can all agree that there is a table there. The point is that, do the specifics matter? Did Mary and Mary go to the tomb, or was there just one Mary? Were their angels there? Were they inside or outside the tomb? Does it matter? The answer should be no. Christianity is not some evil religion, but like any religion it can be used for evil. The specifics of the Bible shouldn't be important, nor should the reliance of each word being infallible. You shouldn't have to have the Bible be historically accurate, or else all the good parts become invalidated. It's important to critically look at the Bible, think of why certain things are written the way they were, take a look at other writings around that time, understand the history, and then you'll have a better understanding of your own faith. Even if the Bible is all mythology and folklore, that doesn't mean that you can't be a Christian, or your going to hell if you don't believe that a woman's donkey talked to her, or a burning bush spoke. You can still follow rituals and traditions, recite incantations. That doesn't mean you are a fool, but you'll be better off focusing on your faith, and things you can't prove, then by trying to justify your faith through proving historical facts. There were great questions after the debate, like Luke's treatment of women in his gospel, the Sumerian origins of the pre-flood patriarchs, and why would Jesus be so upset about dying if he knew he was going to rise from the dead three days later. A girl in the classroom was upset because Dr. Price trivialized Jesus' suffering before death, that he not only physically suffered, but suffered spiritually. Spiritual suffering isn't mentioned in the Bible. She urged everyone to read the Bible, and find the truth. A number of us in the room said, "We have!" I think there is a feeling that, as atheists, we are ignorant of the Bible. There are a number of other myths about atheists, such as, atheists can not be moral or ethical, you can't know there is no God, because you can't prove he doesn't exist, atheists seek to remove religion from society, and atheists are smug and arrogant. Atheists can be, and often are, very moral people. Morality does not come from religion, but is a means for sustainable society which has developed over time. Atheists don't have to prove the non existence of God, just as atheists or theists don't have to prove the non existence of Zeus. Atheists don't try to push atheism on people, or seek to remove religion from society. However, atheists do try to remove theism from government and schools, so people have the freedom to make your own choice. Some atheists are smug and arrogant, just as there are smug and arrogant people who follow religions. People also believe that atheists have no purpose in life, so their lives are empty. I believe that life is meant to be lived. You shouldn't be good for fear that God will send you to hell otherwise. If you want to help someone, don't just pray for them, but do something. If your friend needs help overcoming an addiction, help them, go with them to treatment. If your kid is sick, don't just pray they'll get better, take them to a doctor. If you are angry with another group of people, don't blow yourself up for God so you can go to heaven with your 70 new virgins.
There were about 200 people at the debate, from both sides. The debate was put on by Christian Believers On Campus, and CASH, Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists. I thought both sides were well debated.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
You're the One that I Want
Jeannette and I have been watching off and on the NBC show, Grease: You're the One that I Want. Since Grease is one of Jeannette's favorite movies, and the winners of this show will be performing in NYC this summer, AND one of the people suspected to win is from Minnesota, I decided we should go see the show on Broadway. We are seeing the third performance on Thursday July 26th. We'll be taking the traditional road trip, through Ohio, down to DC, to NJ, spending a few days in NY, maybe spending a day in PA, then to Ohio, and back home, all in one week. It'll be a blast. We haven't been out to NYC in too long. I'm looking forward to hitting all of the places we usually do, like Maxie's Deli, Little Italy, the museums, of course Broadway, and new places, like the Apple Store.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Support Comic Relief
Kwai Chi's Video Making Marathon on Youtube/Livevideo/Stickam
The challenge was to make and upload a total of 100 unique videos in the space of 24 hours on Comic relief day (16th March 2007) We ended up making 114!
My videos are available to view on
www.youtube.com/kwaichi
www.livevideo.com/kwaichi
www.stickam.com/profile/kwaichi
Along the way we were given lots of donations, please go to http://members.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=therealkwaichi and place a bid now!
Chekc out all of the videos, there are a ton. This guy spent a lot of time editing all these videos, support Comic Relief and help this guy feel less silly for spending so much time making videos. Also, bid on an auction if you'd like. There's an amazing painting in there, as well as a Casino Royale cardboard cutout, umbrella, and red nose. Be warned, the donation is in pounds, so adjust accordingly. Even one pound helps.
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