tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243135542024-03-13T04:35:13.063-07:00Sixth-FingerBoth my exultation and whining thru my sixth finger...தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-35657324681271133822021-12-20T21:57:00.003-08:002022-01-03T01:02:37.365-08:0078. #hell&heaven #atheism #exCHRISTIAN #HEAVEN&HELL<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/7oy0qQRogyA" frameborder="0"></iframe>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-50166676582335304572021-03-11T23:30:00.009-08:002021-03-11T23:37:26.801-08:0077. A HISTORICAL EVENT WHICH DECIDED THE "FATE" OF JESUS<p> </p><p><br /></p><p>*</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Origen of Alexandria</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"> (184 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity" title="Early Christianity"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">early Christian</span></a><span style="background: white;"> scholar, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism" title="Asceticism"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">ascetic</span></a><span style="background: white;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_theology" title="Christian theology"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">theologian</span></a><span style="background: white;">. He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly
2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology. He was one of the most
influential figures in early Christian theology, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_apologetics" title="Christian apologetics"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">apologetics</span></a><span style="background: white;">, and asceticism. He has been described as
"the greatest genius the early church ever produced".<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Origen came into conflict with </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Demetrius_I_of_Alexandria" title="Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Demetrius</span></a><span style="background: white;">, the bishop of Alexandria, in 231with his
revolutionary view on the Holy Trinity. Origen taught that, before the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-existence" title="Pre-existence"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">creation of the material universe</span></a><span style="background: white;">,
God had created the souls of all the intelligent beings. These souls, at first
fully devoted to God, fell away from him and were given physical bodies. The
Christological debate could no longer be contained within the Alexandrian </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocese" title="Diocese"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">diocese</span></a><span style="background: white;">. It had become a topic
of discussion—and disturbance—for the entire Church. The Church was now a
powerful force in the Roman world,<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This
debate continued even after Origen. It was a priest Arius - <span style="background: white;">256–336
- believed that Jesus was divine but somewhat less so than God. This was
in Alexandria in Egypt and Arius was tremendously popular, in part because he
was also a poet and a singer. Arius’s basic </span><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/premise"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">premise</span></a><span style="background: white;"> was the uniqueness
of God, who is alone self-existent (not dependent for its existence on anything
else) and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot therefore be the
self-existent and immutable God. This was considered to be a form of </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Unitarianism"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Unitarian</span></a><span style="background: white;"> theology. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">There were endless religious debates, often leading to
violence between partisans and riots in the street, were a source of
significant annoyance to Constantine, the Roman Emperor. These disagreements
divided the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire" title="State church of the Roman Empire"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Church</span></a><span style="background: white;"> into two opposing theological factions for many
years. The Emperor Constantine viewed
uniting the Christian Church as a way to strengthen and unify the Roman Empire
and to bring order to the outlying areas. In 325 he convened a council at his
summer residence at Nicaea, in what is now Turkey, insisting that the bishops
agree on a creed that would bring unity to the church. Arius himself attended
the council, as did his bishop, Alexander. The debate at the council
became so heated that at one point, Nicholas struck Arius across the face.
Arius appealed to Scripture, quoting verses such as </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A28&version=NRSV"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">John 14:28</span></a><span style="background: white;">: "the Father is
greater than I". And also </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+1%3A15&version=NRSV"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Colossians 1:15</span></a><span style="background: white;">: "the
firstborn of all creation." Thus, Arius insisted that the Father's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinity" title="Divinity"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Divinity</span></a><span style="background: white;"> was greater than
the Son's, and that the Son was under God the Father, and not co-equal or
co-eternal with Him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">One purpose of the Council was to resolve disagreements arising
from within the </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Alexandria" title="Church of Alexandria"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Church of Alexandria</span></a><span style="background: white;"> over the nature of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus" title="Jesus"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">the Son</span></a><span style="background: white;"> in his relationship to the Father: in
particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own
being, and therefore having no beginning, or else created out of nothing, and
therefore having a beginning. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_I_of_Alexandria" title="Pope Alexander I of Alexandria"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">St. Alexander of
Alexandria</span></a><span style="background: white;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius" title="Athanasius"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Athanasius</span></a><span style="background: white;"> took the first
position; the popular </span><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyter" title="Presbyter"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">presbyter</span></a></b><span style="background: white;">
</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arius" title="Arius"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Arius</span></a><span style="background: white;">, from whom the term </span><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism" title="Arianism"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">Arianism</span></a></b><span style="background: white;"> comes,
took the second. The Council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the
estimated 250–318 attendees. Some 22 of the bishops at the Council, led by
Eusebius of Nicomedia, came as supporters of Arius. But when some of the more
shocking passages from his writings were read, they were almost universally
seen as blasphemous. Of course, there was some language problem - the exact
meaning of many of the words used in the debates at Nicaea were still unclear
to speakers of other languages. Nevertheless, at the end, all but two agreed to
sign the creed and these two -Theonas and Secundus - along with Arius, were
banished to Illyria.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
edict by Emperor Constantine against
the Arians: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">If
any writing composed by Arius should be found, it should be handed over to the
flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated,
but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a
public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing
composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed
it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this
offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment....."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">In Nicaea, questions regarding the Holy Spirit were left
largely unaddressed until after the relationship between the Father and the Son
was settled around the year 362. Constantine gradually became more lenient
toward those whom the Council of Nicaea had exiled.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There
are several contemporary Christian and Post-Christian denominations today that
echo Arian thinking. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses" title="Jehovah's Witnesses"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Jehovah's Witnesses</span></a> are often referred to
as "modern-day Arians" or sometimes "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-Arians" title="Semi-Arians"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Semi-Arians</span></a>", usually
by their opponents.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 27pt 5pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 27pt 5pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 27pt 5pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 5.0pt; margin: 5pt 27pt 5pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 0in 45pt; mso-outline-level: 1; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 45.0pt; margin-right: 27.0pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 27pt 10pt 45pt; tab-stops: 441.0pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-56052323925518942962021-01-28T09:18:00.002-08:002021-01-28T09:18:32.764-08:0076. EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK - THE GOD DELUSION<p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">2.2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">THE GOD DELUSION</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">RICHARD DAWKINS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">(Clinton) Richard Dawkins </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(26 March 1941),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was born in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>British Kenya and moved to England when he was 8 years old. Halfway
through his Christian teenage years, he concluded that the </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_evolutionary_synthesis" title="Extended evolutionary synthesis"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">theory of evolution</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> alone was a better explanation for life's complexity,
and ceased believing in a god. Dawkins states: "The main residual
reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of
life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I
realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out
from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing".<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">As a biology researcher
under </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize" title="Nobel Prize"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Nobel Prize</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">-winning
ethologist </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaas_Tinbergen" title="Nikolaas Tinbergen"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Nikolaas Tinbergen</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">, he received
his </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_(Oxbridge_and_Dublin)" title="Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">MA</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> and </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy" title="Doctor of Philosophy"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Doctor of Philosophy</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">.
He worked as a lecturer in zoology and became a great ethologist and an </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_biology" title="Evolutionary biology"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">evolutionary
biologist</span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">. He became a prolific
writer bringing out books of repute one after another. <span style="background: white;">Dawkins got his prominence with his first book </span></span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Selfish Gene</span></a><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> in 1976. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> In </span></i><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Selfish-Gene"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The Selfish Gene</span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> Dawkins argues that </span></i><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/natural-selection"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">natural
selection</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> takes
place at the genetic rather than the species or individual level, as is often
assumed. Genes, he maintains, use the bodies of living things to further their
own survival. He is the one who coined and introduced the term </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">meme</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> in this
book, from </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Greek word <em><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">mimeme</span></em>, meaning
“to imitate.” It later spawned an entire field of study called memetics.
In his </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Delusion" title="The God Delusion"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The
God Delusion</span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> (2006),
Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist
and that religious faith is only a </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusion" title="Delusion"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">delusion</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">.
Though many of his books are able to generate debates, asserting the supremacy
of science over religion, nothing matched<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The God Delusion in creating more disputes and controversies.<span style="background: white;"> The book relentlessly points out the logical
fallacies in religious belief and ultimately concludes that the laws of
probability preclude the existence of an </span></span></i><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnipotent"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">omnipotent</span></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> creator.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Dawkins
argued, in his usual uncompromising fashion, that science and religion are
incompatible. He set up the </span></i><a href="https://richarddawkins.net/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Richard Dawkins
Foundation</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> in
2006 to promote the cause of removing religion from science. He was elected
Fellow of the </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_of_Literature" title="Royal Society of Literature"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Royal Society of Literature</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> in 1997 and a </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_elected_in_2001"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Fellow
of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dawkins</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> is a
ferocious polemicist, a defender of reason and enemy of superstition. </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">He
refused to accept religions on two aspects; one, religions are the birthplaces
for all confusions; and two, believers hold on to their faith even without any
basic proof for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He feels the
greatest mistake is to believe something without any evidences or proofs.
According to him, all atheists should keep their heads high without any trace
of guilt since being anti-religious is because of a complete and free mind. <span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dawkins</span><span style="background: white;"> suggests that atheists should be proud, not
apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind.
He is an outspoken atheist and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and
humanistic organisations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement of
U.S.A.. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Dawkins reiterates four
aspects of awakening in his book. They are: <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">1. Non-believers always lead
an intellectual life with discipline and utmost responsibility. Their minds are
always filled with happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">2. 'Creation' as told in
holy books is baseless; but evolutionary concepts and physical sciences and
their concepts are more meaningful.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">3. Children are forcefully
brought into the religion of their parents. This makes the world for children
narrow and parochial.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">4. Atheism is the result of
deep analytical thinking of the person. Hence non-believers should feel proud
of themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">BOOKS WRITTEN DAWKINS:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">1. The Selfish Gene (1976)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">2. The Extended Phenotype
(1982)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">3. The Blind Watchmaker
(186)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">4. River out of Eden (1995)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">5. Climbing Mount
Improbable (1996)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">6. Unweaving the Rainbow
(1998)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">7. A Devil's Chaplain
(2003)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">8. The Ancestor's Tale
(2004)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">9. THE GOD DELUTION (2006)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 45.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">10.
The Greater Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (2009)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 45.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">11.
The Magic Reality: How We Know What's Really True (2011)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 45.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">12.
An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist (2013)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 45.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">13.
Brief Candle in he Dark: My Life in Science (2015)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 31.5pt; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 45.0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">14.
</span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 5.5pt;">. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_the_Soul:_Selected_Writings_of_a_Passionate_Rationalist"><i><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Science in the Soul: Selected
Writings of a Passionate Rationalist</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"> (2017)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
1<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS NON-BELIEVER<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Robert M. Pirsig, author of
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, writes when one person suffers from
a delusion, it is called insanity; when many people suffer from a
delusion, it is called religion. (28)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">I do not try to imagine a
personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the
world, insofar as it allows our inadequate to appreciate it.
-- Albert Einstein (31)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Some more quotes from
Einstein: “I am a deeply religious non-believer. This is somewhat new kind of
religion."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">“The idea of a personal god
is quite alien to me and even naive." (36)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Even
in his life time Einstein was very crudely criticised. Like many common fables
yarned after the death of famous people, it was rumoured that Einstein came
back to Christian faith at the time of his death. Another baseless concoction!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Carl Sagan in his book Pale
Blue Dot, wrote: “How is it hardly any major religion has looked at
science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The universe
is much bigger than our Prophet said, grander, more subtle,
more elegant? Instead they say, “ No, no, no! My god is a
little God, and I want him to stay that way!” (33)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Douglas Adams says: “Religion
… has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy or
whatever. What it means is, - “Here is an idea or a notion that you are not
allowed to say anything bad about; you are just not. ….. If
somebody thinks taxes should go up or down you are free to have an argument
about it. But on the other hand if somebody says,’ I must not move a
light switch on a Saturday’, you say, I respect that." … We are
used to not challenging religious ideas but it is very interesting how much of
a roar it creates." (42)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Dawkins elaborately gives
the details of an incident that occurred in September 2005 in Denmark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve
cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad. In the next three months serious
problems cropped up all the world over. News was spread that the newspaper was of
a governmental organ and in many distant countries, the Danish flag was burnt.
None knows how all those countries got the flags of Denmark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A bounty of one million was placed on
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>head of the Danish cartoonist by a
Pakistani imam - by the say, where was that million going to come from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further in addition to the twelve cartoons
another three more were added by zealous propagandists. Of these three, one was
a bearded man wearing a fake pig's snout held on with elastic. Later this was
turned out that this was an Associated Press photograph of a Frenchman entered
for a pig-squealing contest at a country fair in France. Banners carried by
protesters in Britain were saying: "Slay those who insult Islam",
"Europe you will pay", and "Behead those who insult Islam."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Fortunately, our political
leaders were on hand to remind us that Islam is a religion of peace and mercy.
If people wish to love a 7th century preacher more than their own families,
that's upto them, but nobody else is obliged to take it seriously …."
(46-49)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>H.L.Mencken said: "We must respect the
other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we
respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. (50)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">THE GOD HYPOTHESIS<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">The religion of
one age is the literary</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">entertainment of
the next.</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>RALPH WALDO EMERSON<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all
fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control
freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic,
homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal,
pestilential, megalomaniacal, sado-machistic, capriciously malevolent
bully.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Thomas
Jefferson was of a similar opinion, describing the God of Moses as “a being of
terrific character - cruel, vindictive, capricious and unjust." (51)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Pope John Paul II created
more Saints than all his predecessors of the past several centuries put
together and he had a special affinity with the Virgin Mary. His polytheistic
hankerings were dramatically demonstrated in 1981 when he suffered an assassination
attempt in Rome and attributed his survival to intervention Of Our Lady of
Fatima: “A maternal hand guided the bullet." One cannot help wondering why
she did not guide it to miss him altogether. (56)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The burden of proving the
existence of a God falls on the believers. This was demonstrated by Bertrand
Russel’s parable of the celestial teapot. “If I have to suggest that
between the Earth and Mars there is a China teapot revolving about the sun in
an elliptical Orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion. … But
if I had to go on to say that since my assertion cannot be proved, it is
intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it. … If
however the existence of such a teapot where affirmed in ancient books, taught
as a sacred truth every Sunday and instilled into the minds of children at
school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of
eccentricity and entitled the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in
an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time." (75)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">How many liberalists have
read enough of the Bible to know that the death penalty is prescribed for
adultery, for gathering sticks on the Sabbath and for cheeking your
parents?(81)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">THE GREATER PRAYER
EXPERIMENT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Darwin’s cousin Francis
Galton was the first to analyse scientifically whether praying for people is
efficacious … but he found no statistical difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Then
Russell Stannard, one of Britain's 3 well known religious scientists went
on with an experiment with funding from Templeton Foundation to the tune of 2.4
million dollars. It was done on 3 batches of patients who underwent coronary
bypass surgery. The results reported in the American Heart Journal of April
2006 very clear cut there was no difference between those patients who have
prayed for and those who were not. Many funny interpretations were tried by the
believers. Many theologians like Swinburne disowned the study, only after
getting the negative results. (86-89)</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CHAPTER 3</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">ARGUMENTS
FOR GOD’S </span></b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">EXISTENCE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">A
professorship of theology should have<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">no
place in our institution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>-- THOMAS JEFFERSON<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The 5 proofs asserted by
Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century don't prove anything and are
easily exposed as vacuous.(101)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">THE ARGUMENT FROM PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Many people believe in God
because they believe they have seen a vision of him or of an angel or a virgin
in blue with their own eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">I too personally have such
an experience. I lost my mother when I was just two or two and half years old.
No memories of her. Her cemetery was in our village. It was in a small piece of
land surrounded by tall palmyra trees and big and bushy tamarind trees. Even
till my teens when I happen to cross that area I used to have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>some odd feelings. Never dared to look
straight at the cemetery. But at the same time I could not want to miss it.
Some unknown feeling used to pervade me. Once, probably, I would have been when
I was ten years old. I was coming with one of my relatives. There was the usual
disturbance. Almost crossed the cemetery. Then without my own control, I looked
back at mother's cemetery. What I "saw" then is still in my memory so
fresh. There were two long white angels on the both the sides of amma's
cemetery, as tall as the palmyra. They were in a kneeling posture - as we see
in all catholic churches. It was for a fraction of a second. Even now<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get jitters thinking of it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">After becoming a
non-believer I introspected<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and found a
very simple answer to that "apparition". It was the idea of heaven
and angels, my mother being protected here by two angels. It should have been
the picture I had in my deeper mind. So I saw what I wanted to see. The answer
looked so simple and satisfying to me.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">THE ARGUMENT FROM SCRIPTURE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">When
the gospels written many years after Jesus’ death nobody knew where he was born
but the old Testament prophecy (Micah 5 : 2)has led Jews to expect the
long awaited Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.(118) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">David, if
he existed, lived nearly a thousand years before Mary and
Joseph. Why on earth would the Romans have required Joseph to go to the
city where a remote ancestor had lived a Millennium earlier? Robert Gillooly
shows how all essential features of the Jesus legend including the star in the
East, the virgin birth, the veneration of the baby by kings, the miracles, the
execution, the resurrection and the ascension are borrowed from other religions
already in existence in the Mediterranean and near East region.(119)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do
the Christians never open the book that they believe is the literal truth? Why
don't they notice those glaring contradictions? Mathew traces Joseph’s
descent from King David via 28 intermediate generations, while Luke has
41 generations? (120) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
only difference between The Da Vinci Code and the gospels is that the gospels
are ancient fiction while The Da Vinci Code is modern fiction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> Bertrand
Russell - The immense majority of intellectually eminent men disbelieve
in Christian religion, but they conceal the fact in public, because
they are afraid of losing their incomes.(123)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The only website I could
find that claimed to list “Nobel Prize winning scientific Christians” came
up with six out of a total of several hundred scientific Nobelists. Of
these 6, it turned out that four were not Nobel Prize winners at all and at
least one to my certain knowledge is a non-believer who attends church for
purely social reasons. A more systematic study by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi 'found
that among Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences, as well as those in
literature, there was a remarkable degree of irreligiosity, as compared to the
populations they came from'. (126)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">American scientists are
less religious than the American public generally and that the most
distinguished scientists are the least religious of all. What is
remarkable is a polar opposition between the religiosity of the American public
at large and atheism of the intellectual elite. (127)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CHAPTER 4</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>WHY THERE ALMOST<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>CERTAINLY IS NO GOD<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Creationists eagerly seek a
gap in present-day knowledge or understanding. If an apparent gap so
found<i>,</i> it is assumed that God, by default, must fill it.(151)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">This chapter has contained
the central argument of my book and so I shall summarise them as a series of 6
numbered points’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">One
of the greatest challenges to the human intellect has been to explain how the
complex, improbable appearance of design in the universe arises.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">In
a man-made artefact such as a watch, the designer really was an intelligent
engineer. It is tempting to apply the same logic to an eye or wing, a spider or
a person.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The
temptation is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises
the larger problem of who designed the designer. … We need a ‘crane’, not a
Skyhook’ for only a crane can do the business of working up gradually and
plausibility from simplicity to otherwise improbable complexity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The
most ingenious and powerful crane so far discovered is Darwinian evolution by
natural selection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">We
don't have an equivalent crane for physics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">But
even in the absence of a strongly satisfying crane to match the biological one,
the relatively weak cranes we have at present are, when abetted by the
anthropic principle, self-evidently better than the self-defeating skyhook
hypothesis of an intelligent designer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">If the argument of this
chapter is accepted, the factual premise of religion - The God Hypothesis
- is untenable. God almost certainly does not exist. (189)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
5</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">THE
ROOTS OF RELIGION</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Universal features of a
species demand a Darwinian explanation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">There is little evidence
that religious belief protects people from stress related diseases.(194)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Is religion a placebo that
prolongs life by reducing stress?(195)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religion is a tool used by
the ruling class to subjugate the underclass. (197)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Biologists see religion as
a by-product of something else. … Religion does not have a direct
survival value of its own, but it is by-product of something else that does.
(Dawkins explains this with the example of animal behavior of moths.)(201)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">“Don't paddle in the
crocodile-infested Limpopo” is a good advice but ”you must sacrifice
a goat at the time of the full moon, otherwise the rains will fail” is at
best a waste of time and goats. Both admonitions sound equally trustworthy.
Both come from a respected source. … When the child grows up and has children
of her own, she will naturally pass the whole lot onto her own children -
nonsense as well as sense - using the same infectious gravitas of manner.(205)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The ethologist Robert
Hinde, in Why Gods Persist,, and the anthropologists Pascal Boyer, in Religion
Explained, and Scott Atran, in In Gods We Trust, have independently
promoted the general idea of religion as a by-product of normal psychological
depositions.(206) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Martin Luther was well
aware that reason was religion’s arch-enemy and he frequently warned of
its dangers: “Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has." … Whoever
wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason. And gain:
Reason should be destroyed in all Christians."(221)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The Cargo cults of South
Pacific suggest sour lessons about the origin of religions generally and I’ll
set them out briefly here. First is the amazing speed with which a cult can
spring up.. Second is the speed with which the origination process covers its
tracks. … The third lesson springs from the independent emergence of similar
cults on different islands … Fourth, the cargo cults are similar not just to
each other but to older religions.(239)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">CHAPTER 6</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>THE ROOTS OF MORALITY:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WHY ARE WE GOOD?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Strange is our situation
here on Earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet
sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life,
however, there is one thing we do know; that man is here for the
sake of other men - above all for those upon whose smiles and well-being of our
own happiness depends. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">…
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>ALBERT EINSTEIN<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Many religious people find it
hard to imagine how, without religion, one can be good, or would even want to
be good. (241)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">What about the wrenching
compassion we feel when we see an orphaned child weeping, an old widow in
despair from loneliness, or an animal whimpering in pain?... Where does the
Good Samaritan in us come from?(246)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Hauser
and his colleagues adapted their moral experiments to the Kuna, a small Central
American tribe with little contact with Westerners and no formal religion.
Peter Singer, a moral philosopher also joined this work. The main
conclusion of Hauser and Singer’s study was that there is no statistically
significant difference between atheist and religious believers in making their
judgments. This is compatible with the view, which I had and many
others hold, that we do not need God in order to be a good - or
evil.(258)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">THERE
IS NO GOD, WHY BE GOOD?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Einstein
said, “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and
hope for the award, then we are a sorry lot indeed."(259)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Do
we really need policing, weather by God or by each other - in order to
stop us from behaving in a selfish and criminal manner? … A police
strike in Montreal was described in ‘The Blank Slate’ by Steven Pinker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Majority of the population of Montreal presumably believed in God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why didn't the fear of God restrain the
people when earthly policemen were temporarily removed from the scene? Wasn't
the Montreal strike a pretty good natural experiment to test the hypothesis
that belief in God makes us good? Or did the cynic H.L. Mencken get it right
when he tartly observed: "People say we need religion when what they
really mean is we need police."(261)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">I
am not necessarily claiming that atheism increases morality, although humanism
- the ethical system that often goes with atheism - probably does. Another good
possibility is that atheism is correlated with some third factor, such as
higher education, intelligence or reflectiveness, which might counter-act
criminal injustice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
idea of Sam Harris in his Letter to Christian Nation is striking: Red
(Republican) states' are primarily red due to the overwhelming political
influence of conservative Christians. (Blue are the Democratic states.) Of the
25 cities with the lowest rates of violent crime, 62% are in blue states, and
38% are in red states. Of the 25 most dangerous cities, 76% are in red states,
and 24% are in blue states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
three of 5 most dangerus cities in the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>are in pious state of Texas.(262)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Gregory
S.Paul, in the Journal of Religion and Society (2005) reached devastating
conclusion that 'higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate
with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early mortality, STD infection
rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies'. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Comment
of Dan Dennett on such of these studies in Breaking the Spell: "if there
is a significant positive relationship between moral behavior and religious
affiliation, practice or belief, it will soon be discovered, since so many
religious organizations are eager to confirm their traditional beliefs about
this scientifically."(263)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">CHAPTER 7<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">THE
'GOOD' BOOK AND THE CHANGING<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">MORAL
ZEITGEIST</span></b><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">*</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Politics
has slain its thousands, but religion<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">has
slain its tens of thousands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SEAN O'CASEY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">(* zeitgeist = the spirit
characteristic of an age or generation)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Those who wish to base
their morality literally on the Bible have either not read it or not understood
it, as Bishop John Shelby Spong, in The Sins of Scripture.(269)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The biblical story of
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is discussed by Dawkins. Gen 19:5;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">19: 7-8; 31-36. If this
dysfunctional family was the best Sodom had to offer by way of morals, some
might begin to feel a certain sympathy with God and his judicial brimstone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The story of Lot and the
Sodomites is eerily echoed in another chapter 19 of the book of Judges. Judges
19: 23,24; 19: 25,26.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Then the story of Abraham
is discussed: Genesis 12: 18,19; 20: 2-5<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Abraham,
the "father" of all three monotheistic religions, stands as a role
model for all the believers. But the way he 'handled' his wife Sarah was
obnoxious. How he dealt with the Pharaoh and then the King of Gerar are very
unpleasant even to read. In both the stories it was Abraham who was making
continuously huge frauds; but his God punishes the kings and spares Abraham,
the culprit. That is God of Abraham's<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>justice! I used to wonder how people even after reading the Bible, name
their kids as Abraham or Sarah. And all these wicked stories and bad judgment
were in the 'word of God'!<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">God ordered Abraham to make
a burnt offering of his longed-for son. … His murdering knife was already in
his hand when an angel dramatically intervened with the news of the "last-minute
change of plan": God was only joking after all, 'tempting' Abraham, and
testing his faith. A modern moralist cannot help but wonder how a child could
ever recover from such psychological trauma. This legend is one of the great
foundational myths of all three monotheistic religions. (275)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The book of Numbers tells
how God incited Moses to attack the Midianites. Moses was not a great role
model for modern moralists. (Numbers 31:18).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chapter 25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Numbers gives
another 'beautiful' story - a story of cruelty, guided by the God!(278)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The Bible story of Joshua's
destruction of Jericho and the invasion of the Promised Land in general, is
morality indistinguishable from Hitler's invasion of Poland or Saddam Hussein's
massacres of the Kurds and the Marsh Arabs. The Bible may be an arresting and
poetic work of fiction, but is not the sort of book you could give your
children to form their morals.(280)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Do the people who hold up
the Bible as an inspiration to moral rectitude have the slightest notion of
what is actually written in it? (Numbers 15)(281)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">IS THE NEW TESTMENT ANY
BETTER?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">"If any man come to me
and hate not his father and mother and wife, and children … and his own life
also, he cannot be my disciple". Julia Sweeney, an American comedian,
asks: "Isn't that what cults do|? Get you to reject your family in order
to inculcate you?"<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Christian focus is overwhelmingly
on sin sin sin sin sin sin sin. (285)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">I have described atonement,
the central doctrine of Christianity, as vicious, sado-masochistic and
repellent. We should also dismiss it as barking mad, but for its ubiquitous
familiarity which had dulled our objectivity. If God wanted to forgive our
sins, why not just forgive them, without having himself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tortured and executed in payment - thereby,
incidentally, condemning remote future generations of Jews to pogroms and
persecution as 'Christ-killers': did that hereditary sin pass down in the semen
too? (287)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religion is undoubtedly a
divisive force, and this is one of the main accusations leveled against
it.(294)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">In India at the time of
partition, more than a million people were massacred in religious riots between
Hindus and Muslims (and fifteen million displaced from their homes). There was
nothing to divide them but religion. Salman Rushdie was moved by a more recent
bout of religious massacres in India to write an article called 'Religion, as
ever, is the poison in India's blood'.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">What is there to respect in
any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around
the world in religion's dreaded name? How well, with what fatal results,
religion erects totems, and how willing we are to kill for them! And when we've
done it often enough, the deadening of affect that results makes it easier to
do it again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">So India's problem turns
out to be the world's problem. What happened in India has happened in God's
name.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The problem's name is God.
(295)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religion amplifies and
exacerbates the damage in at least three ways:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Labelling of children - as
catholic children or protestant children …….<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Segregated schools - in
group education separated from other religious children<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Taboos against 'marrying
out'.(296)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Even if religion did no
other harm in itself, its wanton and carefully nurtured divisiveness<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its
deliberate and cultivated pandering to humanity's natural tendency to favour in
groups and shun out-groups<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would be enough to make it a significant
force for evil in the world.(297)`<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Zeitgeist progression is
more than enough to undermine the claim that we need God in order to be good,
or to decide what is good.(309)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Hitler and Stalin were
atheists. What have you got to say about that? The question comes up after just
about every public lecture. It was with 2 assumptions: both are atheists; they
did their terrible things because they were atheists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
if we accept that Hitler and Stalin shared atheism in common, they both also
had moustches, as does Saddam Hussein. So what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>… What matters is not whether Hitler and Stalin were atheists, but
whether atheism systematically influences people to do bad things. There is not
the smallest evidence that it does. (309)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Hitler was not really
religious but just cynically exploiting the religiosity of his audience. He may
have agreed with Napoleon, who said, 'Religion is excellent stuff for keeping
common people quiet', and with Seneca the Younger: 'Religion is regarded by the
common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful'.(313)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religious wars really are
fought in the name of religions and they have been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>horribly frequent in histroy. I cannot think
of any war that has been fought in the name of atheism<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Sam Harrison hits the
bullseye, in The End of Faith: The danger of religious faith is that it allows
otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them
holy. Because each new generation of children is taught that religious
propositions need not be justified in the way that all others must,
civilization is still besieged by the armies of the preposterous. We are, even
now, killing ourselves over ancient literature. Who would have thought
something so tragically absurd could be possible?(316)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
8<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">WHAT'S WRONG WITH RELIGIONS?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">WHY BE SO HOSTILE?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religion has actually
convinced people that there's an invisible man - living in the sky - who
watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has
a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of
those ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning
and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and
choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time …. But He loves
you!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>… GEORGE<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CARLIN<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">I, as a scientist, believe
(for example, evolution). I believe not because of reading a holy book but
because I have studied the evidence. It really is a very different matter.
Books about evolution are believed not because they are holy. They are believed
because they present overwhelming quantities of mutually buttressed evidence.
(319)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">We believe in evolution
because the evidence supports it and we would abandon it overnight if new
evidence arose to disprove it. No real fundamentalism would ever say anything
like that?(320)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">I am hostile to
fundamentalist religion because it actively debauches the scientific
enterprise. It teaches us not to change our minds, and not to want to know
exciting things that are available to be known.(321)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">One of the fiercest
penalties in the Old Testament is the one exacted for blasphemy. It is still in
force in certain countries. Section 295-C of the Pakistan penal code prescribes
the death penalty for this 'crime'. (324)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">It is still an article of
the constitution of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'liberatred'
Afghanistan that the penalty for apostasy is death.(325)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">The cause of all this
misery, mayhem, violence, terror and ignorance is of course religion itself and
it seems ludicrous to have to state such an obvious reality, the fact is that
the government and the media are doing a pretty good job of pretending that it
isn't so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">They have been brought up
from the cradle to have total and unquestioning faith.(344)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">We accept the principle
that religious faith must be respected simply because it is religious
faith.(345)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Christianity, just as much
as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue.(346)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">If children were taught to
question and think through their belief, instead of being taught the superior
virtue of faith without question, it is a good bet that there would be no
suicide bombers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Faith can be very very
dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an
innocent child is a grievous wrong. (348)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">CHILDHOOD
ABUSE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AND THE ESCAPE FROM RELIGION<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">There
is in every village a torch - the teacher; <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">and
an extinguisher - the clergyman.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>…. VICTOR HUGO<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Our society, including the
non-religious sector has accepted the preposterous idea that it is normal and
right to indoctrinate tiny children in the religion of their parents, and to
slap religious labels on them - 'Catholic child', Protestant child', 'Muslim
child' etc.(382)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">CHAPTER
10 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni MT Black","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A MUCH NEEDED GAP<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Does religion fill a much
needed gap? It is often said that there is God-shaped gap in the brain which
needs to be filled; we have psychological need for God - imaginary friend,
father, big brother, confessor, confidant - and the need has to be satisfied
whether God really exists or not. But could it be that God clutters up a gap
that we'd be better off filling with something else? Science, perhaps? Art?
Human friendship? Humanism? Love of this life in the real world, giving no
credence to other lives beyond the grave? A love of nature, or what the great
entomologist E.O.Wilson has called Biophilia? (389)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Perhaps even better;
imaginary friends - and imaginary gods - have the time and patience to devote
all their attention to the sufferer. (391)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Religion's power to console
doesn't make it true. (394)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";">Why don't religious people
talk like that when in the presence of the dying?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it be that they don'r really believe
all that stuff they pretend to believe?(399)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: -31.5pt; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-34043352729295190002020-11-12T01:49:00.014-08:002020-12-12T23:05:23.959-08:0075. SOME SHOCKING EXPOSURE -- MOTHER TERESA<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="321" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1REg-E14ossMSG1wbAeyltZHktheTnlGIyaQbUOtXG8zWLlYTX_MnxGor_mZEFicUVZf8z3O1syS72-RVrHL8wlB78nOdMUoQ561oV6uHmjGRH-ljrk5ZEmZkLpc7K4qUaQw/s320/mother+%2528Small%2529.jpg" /></div><p></p><p>*</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even in those early
days when I was holding my Christian faith strongly, I started getting many
doubts in it. The doubts appeared to be very genuine. But the answers I got for
those doubts, I felt, were pushing me off from my faith, nurtured from
childhood. That was making me feel very guilty. How can a half-wit in theology
like me can have such doubts in religion while many great theologians hold on
to the religion with so much faith? Even to enter into priesthood, a novitiate
has to learn nearly 10 years and they study so much in theology. For years all
clergy who study the religion so deeply, keep their faith intact. So I thought
I was making mistakes. I am not getting the right answers for my questions.
This was satisfying me for some years to keep me within the faithful lot. Then
the load of questions outgrew these excuses and very hesitantly I moved out of
my faith. However, it took me a long period, nearly 8 - 10 years to call myself
an atheist.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">For anybody who had
been travelling like me in a road of doubts, questions and tribulations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>might also be shocked if they come to know
none other than Mother Teresa had lost her faith. For me it was a very big
shock. I read one or two of her quotes and found them so unbelievable. Then I
came to know the book where all her letters to her spiritual advisers had been
collected and published. The title of the book is "Come Be My Light",
The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta" edited and commented
by Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., 2007. Mother personally wanted her letters to
be burnt and request her spiritual guides to do so. However, I really wonder
how and why the Church compiled all of them and had brought them in a book. In
the book, we can find how Mother had her own <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>questions and also greater pain over her own
loss of faith. It was an excruciating pain for her. She was in great love with
Jesus; but at the same time lost her faith. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">For an ordinary person
like me religion could be, I used to compare it, just a shirt; but for an
established Christian like Mother or a priest, religion would be no more than a
shirt; it would be like a close skin or the deep heart. For me throwing a shirt
would be so simple. But for a great religious personality it would not be
possible. Especially for people who are identified in the society with their
religion, it should be a big hurdle. It may stand between them and the society.
They may not be able even to show their shaken faith openly. They are
pathetically in a strait jacket confining them within their own shell. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mother had been writing
letters to her spiritual guides for 66 long years. Of these two persons are
very important. They are Ferdinand Perier and another Jesuit priest Celeste van
Exem. Though Mother had requested to burn all her letters since the content
were mostly about her and much less about Jesus. However all these letters were
compiled, edited and commented by Father Brian Klolodiejchuk. He was in
communiation with Mother from 1977 and he was heading the ministry started by
Mother. He was the one who took great efforts for the sainthood of Mother. He
had said that there were three things in the life of Mother that captivated him
. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Firstly, the very deep
love she had for Jesus and the deep concern she showed to the poorest of the
poor people. Secondly, the bleakness enshrouded her spirit, made her life dark
and bitter. Thirdly, even though her heart was so bitter with her feelings, she
bore them heroically and continued her service to people whole-heartedly.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">ABOUT THE BOOK…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was very shocking
to know that a great darkness was there in the mind of an ever-smiling
mother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One other surprising thing was
the Catholic Church was ready to publish all these letters even against the
request of Mother. Those letters reveal the inner world of Mother and how she
had this suffering for a very long period. The astonishing thing was her
patience and perseverance to carry on her noble work for the helpless inspite
of the heavy cross on her shoulders. She managed to keep afresh the care and
love for the poor and at the same time carry the heavy spiritual agony. This
makes her to stand out as a very rare and exceptional human being.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had a very serious
introspection before adding this book in this chapter. I was worried whether
the verses in the book would pull down the stature of Mother from the minds of
the readers. However, I strongly felt this would only raise her stature. She is
and had been respected by everyone not because she is a Christian; but the love
showered on her was for her service to the poor and helpless. She assured a
peaceful end to many sick and suffering people. Hence she would become more
respectable even after knowing her spiritual dilemma. She kept those inner
turmoil within her and continued her services so devotedly. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Hinduism the
Jeevathma (the spirit) keeps trying to reach the Brahmathma (the divine
spirit). The former goes through many obstacles before attaining
"Mukti". Andal and Meera are two such Jeevathmas trying to merge with
their gods through their piety. Like these Hindu stories, Mother had so much
love for her Jesus. Irrespective of her spiritual doubts she keeps the love for
Jesus and pleads Him to salvage her from the abysmal darkness. Loss of faith
did not make her leave Jesus. Anyway people like me do not have any such
barrier she had. My religious faith is just a like a shirt which they can
easily throw off; but it is "all" for her. She had to live with that.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the following pages
I have given some selected excerpts from the book.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If I
ever become a Saint…. I will surely be one of “darkness”. I will continually be</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> absent from Heaven -- to light the
light of those in darkness on earth”.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Mother Teresa. (230 & Back
cover) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">“Darkness” … her companion<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This letter to her confessor back in Skopje is
the first instance in a correspondence where Sister Teresa refers to the
“darkness”. …. In future this term would come to signify profound
interior suffering, lack of sensible consolation, spiritual
dryness, an apparent absence of God from her life, and, at the same
time, a painful longing for Him.(22)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> 18 3.53</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Thirst of Jesus crucified</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> A terrible darkness within</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Disclosed</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">…. For there is such terrible darkness within
me, as if everything was dead. (149)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After two years of suffering in silence and with
only occasional and the vague differences to her interior state, Mother
Teresa at last revealed to Archbishop Perier the great pain that had been
tormenting her soul from the beginning of her mission with the poor. (150)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mother Teresa again reported that my own
soul remains in deep darkness and desolation. (154)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“ A deep lonliness in my heart”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In January 1955, a little less than a year since
had last mentioned the darkness to Archbishop Perier, noted a new
element in her experience: deep loneliness. (157)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">15.12.55<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">Despite her prayers
still her heart had sunk into darkness. She was not able to divulge this openly
to anybody. Nevertheless she opened to her spiritual guides. She asked them to
pray for her<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>since everything had gone
meaningless to her. She had only blind faith; and that alone led her life from
her enshrouded darkness. Still she felt that she was in utter darkness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only that blind faith that carries me through.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> pray for me… for within me
everything is Icy cold… It is only that blind faith that carries me
through for in reality to me all is darkness.(163)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">letter to Father Picachy on July 3, 59</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">You have thrown away as unwanted -
unloved. I call, I cling, I want - and there is
No One to answer - No One on whom I can cling - no, No
One. Alone. the darkness is so dark - and I am alone.
and unwanted, and forsaken. The loneliness of the heart that wants
love is unbearable. where is my faith? - even deep down, right
in, there is nothing but emptiness and darkness - I have no faith -
so many unanswered questions live within me - I am afraid to uncover
them, because of blasphemy. If there be God - please forgive
me- I am told god loves me - and yet the reality of darkness and
coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. (187)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> 3.9. 59</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Part of my confession today</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of
loss - of God not wanting me - of God not being God - of God
not really existing (Jesus, please forgive my blasphemies - I have been told to
write everything)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">if there be no god - that can be no soul.
- if there is no soul then Jesus - you are also not true. -
heaven, what emptiness - not a single thought of Heaven enters my
mind - but there is no hope.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I don't pray any longer - I
utter words of community prayers - … but my prayer of union is not there any
longer. - I no longer pray. - my soul is not one with You.(193)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now father - since 49 or 50 This terrible sense
of loss - this Untold Darkness - this loneliness -discontinue
longing for God - which gives me that pain deep down in my heart. …
the place of God In my soul is blank -. there is no God in me. …
heaven - souls - why these are just words - which mean nothing to me. -
my very life seems so contradictory. I helped Souls - to go where?
- why all this? Where is the soul in my very being?(210) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How cold - how empty - how painful is my
heart.- Holy Communion - Holy Mass all the holy things of
spiritual life - of the Life of Christ in me - are also empty
- so cold - so unwanted. (232)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">People say they are drawn closer to God -
seeing my strong faith. - Is this not deceiving people? Every time I have
wanted to tell the truth - “ that I have no faith” - the words just do
not come - my mouth remains closed. - and yet I still keep on
smiling at God and all. (238)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pray for me, that I may not turn a
Judas to Jesus in this painful darkness. (144)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"" style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After 15 years of Darkness, she presented Father
Neuner with this description…. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">If there is hell - this must be one. How terrible is to be
without God - no prayer - no faith - no love.. - The only thing that still
remains - is the conviction that the work is His - that the Sisters & the
brothers are His. - And I cling to this as the person having nothing clings to
the straw - before drowning. - And yet Father - in spite of all these - I want
to be faithful to Him - to spend myself for Him, to love Him not for what He
gives but for what He takes - to be at His disposal. (250)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Even when she felt as
though she had lost her faith in God, she could not question the authenticity
of that experience.<span style="color: red;"> </span>(259)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mother Teresa's
uncompromising fidelity to prayer was one virtue that her sister had observed
back when she in Loreto. … "People were fascinated just watching Mother
pray. They would sit there and watching her be really drawn into this
mystery", one of the followers observed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>… little did they know that she had not enjoyed the fruits of that
intimacy for decades. ..<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don't pray any
longer. - I utter words of community prayers - and try my utmost to get out of
every word the sweetness it has to give. - But my prayer of union is not there
any longer - I no longer pray.- My soul is not one with You. (270)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mother Teresa had
reached the point in her life when she no longer ventured to penetrate or
question the mystery of her unremitting darkness.(172)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Seeing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people suffer
horribly daily,Mother Teresa pondered, "how the people can suffer so much
and never break?".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">The same question could be put to her: How could she suffer so
much and not break?(289)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">"Father, I do<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>realize that when I open my mouth to speak to the sisters and to people
about God and God's work, it brings them light, joy and courage. But I get
nothing of it. Inside it all dark and feeling that I am totally cut off from
God". This sounded to me like pure John of the Cross.(306)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Normally people think
that saints might not have got any doubts in their faith. It may be true in St.
Francis de Sales, since he wrote in his autograph that he had never lived more
than 15 minutes without thinking of God. But many saints had experienced the
same desperate feelings of Mother. St. John of the Cross, a priest of Carmelite
society wrote a poem titled Dark Night of the Soul. This poem was about the tough
path one had to pass through to reach Almighty. During this it might have to
experience so many hardships. There could be series of question, doubts and so
on. Likewise, St. Therese of Lisieuss had written about how she had sunk into
darkness. Mother had lived in this confused mind from 1959 to 1997. This would
be a shocking thing to almost anybody. More than this it was brought to light
by the catholic church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No religion is
ready to take any leeway. It never encourages people to question on their own
faith. Contrary to thi, church has very openly come out with Mother's <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spiritual darkness. It is highly appreciable.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-17838228800684538682020-10-31T03:29:00.014-07:002020-11-03T02:35:18.514-08:0074. GOSPEL OF JUDAS <p> </p><p> </p><div><div><br /></div><div>*</div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyTmpV0-KctP7jxd8FfI6VliEL7mN2to_4bTiUustUoUi8uWY2OR-9nYHzqjonkl9VK8cQmyfldz7dMbcArh4wlfH9iuq1SLq8nkUeqzOppzn09zkloVsxXpSVTzFstlWQ0kBMA/s1600/Scan+%281%29.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyTmpV0-KctP7jxd8FfI6VliEL7mN2to_4bTiUustUoUi8uWY2OR-9nYHzqjonkl9VK8cQmyfldz7dMbcArh4wlfH9iuq1SLq8nkUeqzOppzn09zkloVsxXpSVTzFstlWQ0kBMA/s1600/Scan+(1).jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><i>It is normally said that whenever anyone gets some theological doubts he should read the religious scripts which would, they say, enlighten them; give them the clarity and all that. But in my case things had so far gone the other way round. I had little doubts. Tried to get answers. People said read the bible. I obliged a little. But I also started not only reading but also analyzing. I went one other "wrong step" too! I started reading the history of religion(s) also. That almost put an end to all my questions. Got the enlightenment. Got my eyes fully opened. Finally, I came back to my earlier conclusion - religion(s) cannot stand against rationality.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Moreover, when we start knowing the religions and their origin and history (especially the Abrahamic religions) they simply lose their grounds to sensible questions.</span> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">In Christianity this comes very much true. Its earlier period it was so competitive with so many different groups and Paul had been on the steering wheel in his hand and he manipulated the religion to his direction so well. What we have now as an institutional religion, we come to know, has come through so many trials and changes. Whether it was converting Jesus a god to the whole humankind or fixing the date for Christmas … all these were made by a group of men.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;"><i>The following essay is one such thing. Judas, always considered as an obnoxious villain changes to a different person who was so close with Jesus. This essay also mentions about the various groups in Christianity and how a stronger team writes the history of the religion. We are taught from childhood that the gospels are words of god. But in reality it is not so. Not even the names of the authors are true! They were written far later than the lifetime and death of Jesus. And they were written by somebody and named after some disciple later. It makes the statement - SUCCESSFUL MEN WRITE THE HISTORY - completely TRUE!</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">In the earliest period of Christianity, many gospels were written and there were many competing groups among them. The group headed by Irenaeus became the largest. In this group during the second and third centuries. There were martyrs like Justin Martyr, and Tertullian in this group. This group was known as Orthodox. When this group became dominant, a new Christian history was written. (</span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">History, as we know, is written always by the winners.</span></i><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">) </span></b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Only the gospels they selected became the approved canonical gospels. Old books when unearthed now show a different story proving that there were many groups in early period. Gospel of Judas is one such book that gives a very different content and it can even change it very much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="smartbodylead-in"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="letter-spacing: 1.45pt; text-transform: uppercase;">JUDAS</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> is one of the most reviled men in history. But was Judas only obeying his master's wishes when he betrayed <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-tomb-opened-church-holy-sepulchre/"><span color="windowtext" style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt; text-decoration-line: none;">Jesus</span></a> with a kiss?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">That's what a newly revealed ancient Christian text says.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">After being lost for nearly 1,700 years, the Gospel of Judas was restored, authenticated, and translated. </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white;">A leather-bound Coptic language papyrus document that surfaced during the 1970s, near Beni Masar, </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt" title="Egypt"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Egypt</span></a><span style="background: white;">,</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas#cite_note-1"></a><span style="background: white;"> was named the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Tchacos"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white;">Codex Tchacos</span></a><span style="background: white;"> and was first translated in the early 2000. The only copy of it known to exist is a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_language" title="Coptic language"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Coptic language</span></a><span style="background: white;"> text that has been </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating" title="Radiocarbon dating"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">carbon dated</span></a><span style="background: white;"> to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/280_AD" title="280 AD"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">280 AD</span></a><span style="background: white;">, plus or minus 60 years. This research work on it was done by Barabe and his colleagues for the National Geographic Society. Given that it includes late </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_century" title="2nd century"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">2nd century</span></a><span style="background: white;"> theology, it is thought to have been composed in the 2nd century by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism" title="Gnosticism"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Gnostic</span></a><span style="background: white;"> Christians. It asserts that the other </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciple_(Christianity)" title="Disciple (Christianity)"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">disciples</span></a><span style="background: white;"> had not learned the true Gospel, which Jesus taught only to Judas Iscariot, the sole follower belonging to the "holy generation" among the disciples. The <b>Gospel of Judas</b> is a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_gospel" title="Gnostic gospel"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Gnostic gospel</span></a><span style="background: white;">. The content consists of conversations between </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus" title="Jesus"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Jesus</span></a><span style="background: white;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_Iscariot" title="Judas Iscariot"><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Judas Iscariot</span></a><span style="background: white;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">============<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Translated by<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst</span></b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">in collaboration with <b>François Gaudard<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">INTRODUCTION:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during three days before he celebrated Passover.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">SCENE 1: Jesus dialogues with his disciples: The prayer of thanksgiving or the eucharist:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">They said, “Master, you are […] the son of our god.” Jesus said to them, “How do you know me? Truly [I] say to you, no generation of the people that are among you will know me.” THE DISCIPLES BECOME ANGRY When his disciples heard this, they started getting angry and infuriated and began blaspheming against him in their hearts.(35)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">But their (disciples) spirits did not dare to stand before [him], except for Judas Iscariot. He was able to stand before him, but he could not look him in the eyes, and he turned his face away.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas [said] to him, “I know who you are and where you have come from. You are from the immortal realm of Barbelo. And I am not worthy to utter the name of the one who has sent you."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Barbelo: <b><span style="background: white;">Barbēlō</span></b><span style="background: white;"> (</span></span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" style="color: black;" title="Ancient Greek"><i><span style="background: white; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">Greek</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white;">) refers to the first </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanationism" style="color: black;" title="Emanationism"><i><span style="background: white; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">emanation</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white;"> of </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God" style="color: black;" title="God"><i><span style="background: white; color: black; text-decoration-line: none;">God</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white;"> in several forms of </span></i><span style="color: #121111;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic" title="Gnostic"><i><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">Gnostic</span></i></a><i><span style="background: white;"> </span></i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogony" title="Cosmogony"><i><span color="windowtext" style="background: white; text-decoration-line: none;">cosmogony</span></i></a></span><i><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: #121111;">.</span> Barbēlō is often depicted as a supreme female principle.)</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JESUS SPEAKS TO JUDAS PRIVATELY Knowing that Judas was reflecting upon something that was exalted, Jesus said to him, “Step away from the others and I shall tell you the mysteries of the kingdom. It is possible for you to reach it, but you will grieve a great deal.(36)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">SCENE 2: Jesus appears to the disciples again The next morning, after this happened, Jesus [appeared] to his disciples again. They said to him, “Master, where did you go and what did you do when you left us?” Jesus said to them, “I went to another great and holy generation.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">His disciples said to him, “Lord, what is the great generation that is superior to us and holier than us, that is not now in these realms?” When Jesus heard this, he laughed and said to them, “Why are you thinking in your hearts about the strong and holy generation? [37]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Truly [I] say to you, no one born [of] this aeon will see that [generation], and no host of angels of the stars will rule over that generation, and no person of mortal birth can associate with it, because that generation does not come from […] which has become […]. The generation of people among [you] is from the generation of humanity […] power, which [… the] other powers […] by [which] you rule.” When [his] disciples heard this, they each were troubled in spirit. They could not say a word. Another day Jesus came up to [them]. They said to [him], “Master, we have seen you in a [vision], for we have had great [dreams …] night […].” [He said], “Why have [you … when] have gone into hiding?” [38]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE DISCIPLES SEE THE TEMPLE AND DISCUSS IT<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">They [said, “We have seen] a great [house with a large] altar [in it, and] twelve men— they are the priests, we would say—and a name; and a crowd of people is waiting at that altar, [until] the priests [… and receive] the offerings. [But] we kept waiting.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JESUS OFFERS AN ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE VISION OF THE TEMPLE<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? Truly I say to you, all the priests who stand before that altar invoke my name. Again I say to you, my name has been written on this […] of the generations of the stars through the human generations. [And they] have planted trees without fruit, in my name, in a shameful manner.”(45)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JUDAS ASKS JESUS ABOUT THAT GENERATION AND HUMAN GENERATIONS<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas said to [him, “Rabb]i, what kind of fruit does this generation produce?” Jesus said, “The souls of every human generation will die. When these people, however, have completed the time of the kingdom and the spirit leaves them, their bodies will die but their souls will be alive, and they will be taken up.” Judas said, “And what will the rest of the human generations do?” Jesus said, “It is impossible [44] to sow seed on [rock] and harvest its fruit. [This] is also the way […] the [defiled] generation […] and corruptible Sophia […] the hand that has created mortal people, so that their souls go up to the eternal realms above. [Truly] I say to you, […] angel […] power will be able to see that […] these to whom […] holy generations […].” After Jesus said this, he departed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">SCENE 3: Judas recounts a vision and Jesus responds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas said, “Master, as you have listened to all of them, now also listen to me. For I have seen a great vision.” When Jesus heard this, he laughed and said to him, “You thirteenth spirit, why do you try so hard? But speak up, and I shall bear with you.” Judas said to him, “In the vision I saw myself as the twelve disciples were stoning me and [45] persecuting [me severely]. And I also came to the place where […] after you. I saw [a house …], and my eyes could not [comprehend] its size. Great people were surrounding it, and that house a roof of greenery, and in the middle of the house was [a crowd—two lines missing—], saying, ‘Master, take me in along with these people.’”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JUDAS ASKS ABOUT HIS OWN FATE Judas said, “Master, could it be that my seed is under the control of the rulers?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Come, that I [—two lines missing—], but that you will grieve much when you see the kingdom and all its generation.” When he heard this, Judas said to him, “What good is it that I have received it? For you have set me apart for that generation.” Jesus answered and said, “You will become the thirteenth, and you will be cursed by the other generations—and you will come to rule over them. In the last days they will curse your ascent [47] to the holy [generation].”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JESUS TEACHES JUDAS ABOUT COSMOLOGY: THE SPIRIT AND THE SELF-GENERATED Jesus said, “[Come], that I may teach you about [secrets] no person [has] ever seen. For there exists a great and boundless realm, whose extent no generation of angels has seen, [in which] there is [a] great invisible [Spirit],<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE COSMOS, CHAOS, AND THE UNDERWORLD “The multitude of those immortals is called the cosmos— that is, perdition—by the Father and the seventy-two luminaries who are with the Self-Generated and his seventytwo aeons. In him the first human appeared with his incorruptible powers. (51)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE CREATION OF HUMANITY<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">“Then Saklas said to his angels, ‘Let us create a human being after the likeness and after the image.’ They fashioned Adam and his wife Eve, who is called, in the cloud, Zoe. (53)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JUDAS ASKS ABOUT THE DESTINY OF ADAM AND HUMANITY<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas said to Jesus, “Does the human spirit die?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">the Great One ordered Gabriel to grant spirits to the great generation with no ruler over it—that is, the spirit and the soul. Therefore, the [rest] of the souls [54] [—one line missing—].<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">CONCLUSION: JUDAS BETRAYS JESUS<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">They approached Judas and said to him, “What are you doing here? You are Jesus’ disciple.” Judas answered them as they wished. And he received some money and handed him over to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">https://www.livescience.com/28506-gospel-judas-ink-authenticity.html<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">https://www.livescience.com/28506-gospel-judas-ink-authenticity.html<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">https:// www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2006.04/lost-gospel-Judas-revealed-jesus-archaeolgy/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">=============<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">There were some comments from the translators. Some excerpts from their essays are given:<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">1. THE STORY OF CODEX TCHACOS AND<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;">THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; font-size: large;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">EXCERPTS FROM THE ESSAY OF <b><span style="background: white;">RUDOLPHE KASSER<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">What I could see from this initial perusal of the text showed it was written in a Sahidic supralocal dilect of the Coptic language.(64)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The papyrus had become so weakened that it didn't tolerate the last touching, nearly all contact, as light as it was, threatened to leave it in dust. (65)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">All the folios of the manuscript had, alas, been broken brutally at (about) two-thirds of their height by the deep fold previously mentioned. This rupture had divided every page into two parts of unequal area.(68)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">In a satisfying manner, the "packet" of about thirty folios appeared to conclude with the final title - titles then normally appearing at the end - "GOSPEL OF JUDAS". (70)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">…a priceless document that was nearly lost to us has at last been saved.(75)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">======================== <o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">CHRISTIANITY TURNED ON ITS HEAD<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE ALTERNATIVE VISIONOF THE<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">EXCERPTS FROM THE ESSAY OF BART D. EHRMAN<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The Dead Scrolls discovered in 1947 play a role in our collective popular imagination still today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The scrolls do not contain any gospels about Jesus or indeed any reference at all to early Christianity.(77)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Writings of Nag Hammadi allegedly record teachings of Jesus himself, in words quite different from those of the New Testament.(78)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The Gospel of Judas is centered on a figure who is widely known, much maligned, and broadly speculated about.(79)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas is not the devil, corrupt, devil-inspired follower of Jesus; but instead he is Jesus' closest intimate and friend, who understood Jesus better than anyone else, who turned Jesus over to the authorities because Jesus wanted him to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">This gospel has a completely different understanding of God, the world, Christ, salvation and human existence.(80)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Most of the these alternate gospels were eventually destroyed as heretical - that is, for reaching the "wrong ideas" - or were lost in antiquity. Finding them and learning what they have to say has become the obsession of numerous scholars. (81)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">This surviving copy was targeted by one of the great authors of the early Christian Church - Bishop Irenaeus, of modern France. In his work he named a number of heretical groups and attacked them. One of the false writings he names was Gospel of Judas. (82)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE GNOSTIC RELIGIONS<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Irenaeus was one of our chief sources of information about the various Gnostic groups of the second century.(83)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">For Gnostics, a person is saved not by having faith in Christ or by doing good works. Rather, a person is saved by knowing the truth- the truth about the world we live in, about who the true God is, and especially about who are ourselves are. (84)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Traditional Christianity has taught, of course, that our world is the good creation of the one true God. But that is not the view of Gnostics. How can anyone look at this world and call it good?(85)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">.. the ultimate divine being is completely removed from the world. This divine being generated lots of offspring known as aeons who like him were spiritual entities.(85)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Irenaeus' five-volume refutation of Gnostics maligned their beliefs for being hopelessly contradictory, ridiculously detailed and contrary to the teachings of Jesus' own apostles.(88)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JUDAS IN THE GOSPELS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Mark and John don't say anything about Judas' demise, nor does the Gospel of Luke. But in the book of Acts - written by the author of Luke, as a kind of sequel to his gospel - we learn another version of Judas' death. Judas bursts forth in the midst and he spills his intestines on the ground, creating a bloody mess.(96)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">JUDAS IN THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Jesus reveals the secret to Judas Iscariot alone, his most intimate companion and the only one in this gospel who understands the real truth of Jesus.(97)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Jesus takes him aside, away from the ignorant others, to teach him "the mysteries of the kingdom". Judas alone will receive the secret knowledge necessary for salvation.(98)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Jesus says, "You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me".(101)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">UNUSUAL THEOLOGICAL VIEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">The creator of the world is not the one true God; this world is an evil place to be escaped; Christ is not the son of the creator; salvation comes not through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but through the revelation of secret knowledge that he provides. (102)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">There was theological wars of the second and third centuries, when different Christian groups maintained different systems of belief and doctrine. (103)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">THE VIEW OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">God of Jesus is not the creator god of the Jews. After their meals the disciples start thanks giving ; but Jesus begins to laugh. The disciples don’t see what is so funny. For this Jesus replies that they don’t know what they are really doing. By giving thanks for their food, they are praising their god - that is, not the God of Jesus. Now the disciples are befuddled: "Master, you are … the son of our god". Jesus responds that no one of their "generation" will know who he really is.(104)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Jesus proceeds to upbraid them and speaks again about "your god who is within you". (<i>Is it the concept of "</i> AHAM BRAHMASMI"!!??)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;">Judas, the only one who truly understands, declares that Jesus has come from "the immortal realm of Barbelo," that is, from the realm of the true immortal living beings, not from the lower realm of the creator god of the Jews. (105)<a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> A number of Christian writings outside the new testament portray Jesus as “docetic” being - that is, as one who looked human only because it was an appearance.(107)<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;"> </span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;">As Jesus says,<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 85.5pt; margin-right: 85.5pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 85.5pt;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;">The souls of every human generation will die. When these people have completed the time of the kingdom and the spirit leaves them, their bodies will die but their souls will be alive and they will be taken up. (111)<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;"> </span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;">THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS AND THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;"> Why some few Christian writings made it into the Canon but most others like the Gospel of Judas were excluded? (116)<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;">What happened to all the other books, the ones that told a different version of the story and so had been left out of the proto-orthodox canon? Some of them were destroyed but most were simply last or crumbled with age.<o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBD_enIN919IN919&sxsrf=ALeKk02is8qQnrG7iJZxyh0j5pJtqbG4lw:1604061838753&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=aham+brahmasmi&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvwuKArNzsAhV4yTgGHfx2Du8QjJkEegQIChAB"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: large; text-decoration-line: none;">Orthodox understanding of religion was not the only one in the second century of Christianity. (119) <o:p></o:p></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">IRENAEUS OF LYON AND THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">EXCERPTS FROM THE ESSAY OF GREGOR WURST</span></b><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">EARLY WITNESSES </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">IRENAEUS AND PSEUDO-TERTULLIAN<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The existence of a gospel of Judas is first attested by the second century Bishop<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Irenaeus of Lyon.(122)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">According to Irenaeus this group of gnostics argues for reevaluation of the Jewish and orthodox Christian ideas of divine salvation.(123)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">From the beginning of the third century on, this group of gnostics was called ‘Cainites’ (followers of Cain) by Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria.(124)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">In the newly discovered text there is no mention of Cain or the other antiheroes from the Jewish scriptures mentioned by Irenaeus. As a result we would have to assume the existence of more than one Gospel of Judas circulating within gnostic communities in antiquity.(127)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">COMPARISON OF THE COPTIC GOSPEL OF JUDAS WITH IRENAEUS ACCOUNT</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Judas Iscariot is portrayed as having a special knowledge about Jesus’ true identity. He appears for the first time on page 35, where he is presented as the only disciple who is able to allow his inner spiritual personality to come to expression before Jesus.(128)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">To Judas alone Jesus discloses that knowledge of the ‘great and boundless realm, whose extent no generation of Angels has seen.</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">At the end, Judas is a perfect gnostic, worthy to be in a sense ‘transfigured’ by ascending into the luminous cloud where he will receive his vision of the divine.(129)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Judas’ task is to sacrifice the body of Jesus.(130)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Gospel of Judas is referred in the book of Acts from the New Testament. On page 36, Jesus says to Judas: “For someone else will replace you in order that the 12 disciples may again come to completion with their God” - a clear allusion to the selection of Matthias to replace Judas in the circle of the twelve disciples. (Acts 1:15-26)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">============================</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">JUDAS AND THE GNOSTIC CONNECTION</span></b><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">EXCERPTS FROM THE ESSAY OF MARVIN MEYER<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">There is no historical evidence that any group of people within the early Christianity call themselves Cainites; that name seems to be a nickname invented by heresy hunters.(137)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Irenaeus says that in fact certain religious groups refer to themselves as “gnostics”. The knowledge claimed by these people is not worldly knowledge but mystical knowledge, knowledge of God and self and the relationship between God and self. In the Gospel of Judas the word ‘gnosis’ is used twice.(50,54)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">As Bart Ehrman also points out in his essay, the Gospel of Judas and Jesus himself in this Gospel thus proclaim salvation through knowledge, the self-knowledge of the divine light within.(139)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">The phrase ‘the Immortal realm (or aeon) of Barbelo” is a familiar phrase in Sethian texts.</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The origin of Barbelo and her name remains obscure, but it may come from the ineffable four letter name of god, YHWH or YAHWEH - JEHOVAH - used in Jewish scriptures and within Judaism. The Hebrew word for “four”, - arba - may designate the holy name and the name of Barbelo may derive from Hebrew for an expression like “God”.(140)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">THE GREAT ONE, BARBELO AND<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">AUTOGENES THE SELF-GENERATED<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> The transcendence of the Great One is emphasized in the Gospel of Judas.(144)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Autogenes, the self generated, is discussed in Gospel of Judas 47-50 when Jesus reveals the glorious manner in which the divine extends itself and comes to full expression.</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Autogenes is a term commonly used in Sethian texts to characterize the offspring of Barbelo.(146)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> Sethian texts speak of divine wisdom personified as Sophia, whose shares traits with Eve and falls into an error that would have grave consequences. </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">There is only a single reference to Sophia in a fragmentary part of the text where with little explanation she is called “corruptible Sophia”.(150)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">SETH AND THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">The figure of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, is a significant figure in the Gospel of Judas. The Gospel of Judas lists Seth (also called Christ) as an angelic ruler of the world.(157)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS AS A CHRISTIAN SETHIAN TEXT</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">In this essay, the Gospel of Judas appears to be an early Christian Sethian Gospel with teachings of Jesus presented to Judas Iscariot to announce a way of Salvation and Enlightenment based upon knowledge of self and the divine.(166)</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;">Jesus says to Judas in Gospel of Judas 57, “Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star.</span></b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;"> (169)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><b> </b> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> </span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p>*</p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/92/EC8E1548066E8691FE8C4E82AB8A105B.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px;" /></a></div>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-3722608238627784782020-10-16T03:39:00.006-07:002020-10-16T03:39:55.037-07:0073. GNOSTICISM - GOSPEL OF MARY OF MAGDALA<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: large;">ஏசுவும் மகதலேனா மேரியும் திருமணம் செய்தது உண்மையா?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Christoph Markschies suggests that we have lost 85% of Christian literature from the first two centuries–and that includes only the literature we know about. Surely there must be even more, for the discovery of texts like the <em>Gospel of Mary </em>came as a complete surprise. We have to be careful that we don't suppose it is possible to reconstruct the whole of early Christian history and practice out of the few surviving texts that remain. Our picture will always be partial—not only because so much is lost, but because early Christian practices were so little tied to durable writing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36danzSUKsBe_0R3kv18fB6I0aVEfAKvGY5MfsFWj9Z8L7z65eG1QNGBLti7K7ANL5DzyvWFR89E2VZWMCsHQiPV3ubxhEzFBTh-daWf3hrp33JppDb9x4YwVi5-ZCHmUqA1qbw/s137/marygospel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="137" data-original-width="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36danzSUKsBe_0R3kv18fB6I0aVEfAKvGY5MfsFWj9Z8L7z65eG1QNGBLti7K7ANL5DzyvWFR89E2VZWMCsHQiPV3ubxhEzFBTh-daWf3hrp33JppDb9x4YwVi5-ZCHmUqA1qbw/s0/marygospel.jpg" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The <strong><i>Gospel of Mary</i></strong> is found in the <em>Berlin Gnostic Codex </em>(<em>Papyrus Berolinensis 8502</em>). This very important and well-preserved codex was discovered in the late-nineteenth century somewhere near Akhmim in upper Egypt. It was purchased in Cairo in 1896 by a German scholar, Dr. Carl Reinhardt, and then taken to Berlin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px;">The codex (as these ancient books are called) was probably copied and bound in the late fourth or early fifth century. It contains Coptic translations of three very important early Christian Gnostic texts: the <i>Gospel of Mary, </i>the<i> </i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px;"><a href="http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_sbj.htm"><span style="color: windowtext;">Apocryphon of John</span></a></span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px;">, and the <i>Sophia of Jesus Christ</i>. The texts themselves date to the second century and were originally authored in Greek.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But more importantly, the codex preserves the most complete surviving fragment of the <em>Gospel of Mary</em> – and it is clear this named Mary is the person we call <em>Mary of Magdala</em>. Two other small fragments of the <em>Gospel of Mary</em> from separate Greek editions were later unearthed in archaeological excavations at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt. …..Finding three fragments of a text of this antiquity is extremely unusual, and it is thus evidenced that the <em>Gospel of Mary</em> was well distributed in early Christian times and existed in both an original Greek and a Coptic language translation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately the surviving manuscript of the <em>Gospel of Mary</em> is missing pages 1 to 6 and pages 11 to 14 – pages that included sections of the text up to chapter 4, and portions of chapter 5 to 8. The extant text of the <em>Gospel of Mary</em>, as found in the Berlin Gnostic Codex, is presented below. The manuscript text begins on page 7, in the middle of a passage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p><h2><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 27.6px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">http://www.gnosis.org/library/GMary-King-Intro.html<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2><h2 align="center" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px;">The Gospel of Mary of Magdala:<br />Jesus and the First Woman Apostle</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h2><h3 align="center" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">by Karen L. King<o:p></o:p></span></span></em></h3><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We do know that the fifth-century manuscript in which it was inscribed was purchased in Cairo by Carl Reinhardt and brought to Berlin in 1896. Two additional fragments in Greek have come to light in the twentieth century. Yet still no complete copy of the <em>Gospel of Mary is </em>known. Fewer than eight pages of the ancient papyrus text survive, which means that about half of the <em>Gospel of Mary </em>is lost to us, perhaps forever.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yet these scant pages provide an intriguing glimpse into a kind of Christianity lost for almost fifteen hundred years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">it exposes the erroneous view that Mary of Magdala was a prostitute for what it is-a piece of theological fiction. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The story of the <em>Gospel of Mary </em>is a simple one. Since the first six pages are lost, the gospel opens in the middle of a scene portraying a discussion between the Savior and his disciples set after the resurrection. The Savior is answering their questions about the end of the material world and the nature of sin. He teaches them that at present all things, whether material or spiritual, are interwoven with each other. In the end, that will not be so. Each nature will return to its own root, its own original state and destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Savior concludes this teaching with a warning against those who would delude the disciples into following some heroic leader or a set of rules and laws. Instead they are to seek the child of true Humanity within themselves and gain inward peace. After commissioning them to go forth and preach the gospel, the Savior departs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But the disciples do not go out joyfully to preach the gospel; instead controversy erupts. All the disciples except Mary have failed to comprehend the Savior's teaching. Rather than seek peace within, they are distraught, frightened that if they follow his commission to preach the gospel, they might share his agonizing fate. Mary steps in and comforts them and, at Peter's, relates teaching unknown to them that she had received from the Savior in a vision. The Savior had explained to her the nature of prophecy and the rise of the soul to its final rest, describing how to win the battle against the wicked, illegitimate powers that seek to keep the soul entrapped in the world and ignorant of its true spiritual nature.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But as she finishes her account, two of the disciples quite unexpectedly challenge her. Andrew objects that her teaching is strange and he refuses to believe that it came from the Savior. Peter goes further, denying that Jesus would ever have given this kind of advanced teaching to a woman, or that Jesus could possibly have preferred her to them. Apparently when he asked her to speak, Peter had not expected such elevated teaching, and now he questions her character, implying that she has lied about having received special teaching in order to increase her stature among the disciples. Severely taken aback, Mary begins to cry at Peter's accusation. Levi comes quickly to her defense, pointing out to Peter that he is a notorious hothead and now he is treating Mary as though she were the enemy. We should be ashamed of ourselves, he admonishes them all; instead of arguing among ourselves, we should go out and preach the gospel as the Savior commanded us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Disciples were offended by Jesus' apparent preference of a woman over them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In many respects incidents and personalities are the same as found in other gospels. Yet it is also clear that the story of the <em>Gospel of Mary </em>differs in significant respects. For example, after Jesus commissions the disciples they do not go out joyfully to preach the gospel, as they do in <em>Matthew; </em>instead they weep, fearing for their lives. Some of the teachings also seem shocking coming from Jesus, especially his assertion that there is no such thing as sin. Modern readers may well find themselves sympathizing with Andrew's assessment that "these teachings are strange ideas."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is important to remember, too, that these first Christians had no New Testament, no Nicene Creed or Apostles Creed, no commonly established church order or chain of authority, no church buildings, and indeed no single understanding of Jesus. All of the elements we might consider to be essential to define Christianity did not yet exist. Far from being starting points, the Nicene creed and the New Testament were the end products of these debates and disputes; they represent the distillation of experience and experimentation—and not a small amount of strife and struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All early Christian literature bears traces of these controversies. … whether the resurrection was physical or spiritual were stimulating theological conversations and causing rifts within and among Christian groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">History, as we know, is written by the winners. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Much of the Gospel of Philip is dedicated to a discussion of marriage as a </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_mysteries#Christian_mysteries" title="Sacred mysteries"><span style="color: #0b0080; text-decoration-line: none;">sacred mystery</span></a><span style="color: #202122;">, and two passages directly refer to Mary Magdalene and her close relationship with Jesus:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion. His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.<sup> </sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">In different places in the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is called Jesus's companion, partner or consort, using Coptic variants of the word <i>koinônos</i> (κοινωνός),</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Philip#cite_note-11"></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;"> of Greek origin, or the word <i>hôtre</i>, of Egyptian origin.<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">In the Bible, <i>koinônos</i> is sometimes used to refer to a spouse (</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=nasb:Malachi%202:14"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #bb6633;">Malachi 2:14</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;">; cf. </span><a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=3%20Maccabees%204:6&version=nrsvae"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #663366;">3 Maccabees 4:6</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;">), but is also used to refer to a "companion" in faith (</span><a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=nasb:Philemon%201:17"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #663366;">Philemon 17</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;">), a co-worker in proclaiming the Gospel (</span><a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=nasb:2%20Corinthians%208:23"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #663366;">2 Corinthians 8:23</span></a><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;">), or a business associate <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The other passage, purportedly referring to Jesus kissing Mary Magdalene, is incomplete because of damage to the original manuscript. Several words are missing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Most notably there is a hole in the manuscript after the phrase "and used to kiss her [often] on her...." But the passage appears to describe Jesus kissing Magdalene.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="color: #202122; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As for Wisdom who is called "the barren", she is the mother [of the] angels. And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [... loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [...]. The rest of [the disciples...] They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in the darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness.<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Gospel of Philip is the document responsible for popularizing the idea of a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.4pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;">=====<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is not completely an imaginative story. Probably it springs from the verses we find in gospel of Philip, "<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #202122;"> In different places in the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is called Jesus's companion, partner or consort" and "</span><span style="color: #202122;"> And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [... loved] her more than [all] the disciples [and used to] kiss her [often] on her [...]".<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin: 6pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is one another view about the 'hidden life' of Jesus. In those days, any young man remaining a bachelor till the age of 30 was very rare and unusual. These could have made the author to fabricate a story where Mary of Magdala becomes the loving wife of Jesus. Further, Peter and his fellow disciples showed great envy and jealousy with Mary. These could have been the point of germination for Brown's story. Of course Gnostic Gospels of Elaine Pagel and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail of <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln should have given the supporting materials for Brown's novel - for the latter it was a five-year "labour of love" in researching their book. The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, itself a bestseller at the time, purports to be a factual history theorising that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child, and that the bloodline continues to this day, with a secret society protecting their heirs against the Catholic church. The same theme is there in Brown's novel which became a best seller -<span style="color: #121212;"> 40m copies worldwide - and also earned money for the film with the same title. Brown had to face a case of plagiarism since he used the research materials of </span><span style="color: #333333;">co-authors of </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail</span></em>.</span></span></span></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-17753882413726726492020-10-14T23:40:00.000-07:002020-10-14T23:40:00.630-07:0072. GNOSTICISM - GOSPEL OF PHILIP<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">GNOSTIC GOSPELS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">GOSPEL OF PHILIP</span></b><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPcepJjrynIZHzOPx7vou3fC-Ppk-IAcPKdR0K4AroVg6LcoIBApG9tTKr1WnL5boYOBhSLY_plBpx0syg3-r1GgaUYjxS6yzhbY5h2LoL5D5Jp8REc9QZGi11wwXfhtjB7ir/s160/philip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKPcepJjrynIZHzOPx7vou3fC-Ppk-IAcPKdR0K4AroVg6LcoIBApG9tTKr1WnL5boYOBhSLY_plBpx0syg3-r1GgaUYjxS6yzhbY5h2LoL5D5Jp8REc9QZGi11wwXfhtjB7ir/s0/philip.jpg" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Black", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></span><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Translated by<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Wesley W. Isenberg<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">http://gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">SOME EXCERPTS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A Gentile does not die, for he has
never lived in order that he may die. He who has believed in the truth has
found life, and this one is in danger of dying, for he is alive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who sow in winter reap in
summer. The winter is the world, the summer the other Aeon (eternal realm). Let
us sow in the world that we may reap in the summer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before Christ came, there was no
bread in the world, just as Paradise, the place were Adam was, had many trees
to nourish the animals but no wheat to sustain man. Man used to feed like the
animals, but when Christ came, the perfect man, he brought bread from heaven in
order that man might be nourished with the food of man<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some said, "Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit." They are
in error. They do not know what they are saying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And the Lord would not have said "My Father who is in
Heaven" (Mt 16:17), unless he had had another father, but he would have
said simply "My father".<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who say that the Lord died
first and (then) rose up are in error, for he rose up first and (then) died. If
one does not first attain the resurrection, he will not die. As God lives, he
would [...].<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There were three who always walked with the Lord: Mary, his
mother, and her sister, and Magdalene, the one who was called his companion.
His sister and his mother and his companion were each a Mary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As for the Wisdom who is called
"the barren," she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of
the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used
to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples [...]. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">They said to him "Why do you love her
more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them,"Why do I
not love you like her?</b> When a blind man and one who sees are both together
in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then
he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in
darkness."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Lord did everything in a
mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a eucharist and a redemption and a bridal
chamber. [...] he said, "I came to make the things below like the things
above, and the things outside like those inside. I came to unite them in the place."
[...] here through types [...]and images.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who say, "There is a
heavenly man and there is one above him" are wrong. For it is the first of
these two heavenly men, the one who is revealed, that they call "the one
who is below"; and he to whom the hidden belongs is that one who is above
him. For it would be better for them to say, "The inner and outer, and
what is outside the outer". Because of this, the Lord called destruction
the "the outer darkness": there is not another outside of it. He
said, "My Father who is in secret". He said, "Go into your
chamber and shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father who is in
secret" (Mt 6:6), the one who is within them all. But that which is within
them all is the fullness. Beyond it, there is nothing else within it. This is
that of which they say, "That which is above them".<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Before Christ, some came from a
place they were no longer able to enter, and they went where they were no
longer able to come out. Then Christ came. Those who went in, he brought out,
and those who went out, he brought in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">My God, my God, why, O Lord, have you forsaken me?" (Mk
15:34). It was on the cross that he said these words, for he had departed from
that place.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">God created man. [...] men create
God. That is the way it is in the world - men make gods and worship their
creation. It would be fitting for the gods to worship men!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those who say they will die first
and then rise are in error. If they do not first receive the resurrection while
they live, when they die they will receive nothing. So also when speaking about
baptism they say, "Baptism is a great thing," because if people
receive it they will live.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The children a woman bears
resemble the man who loves her. If her husband loves her, then they resemble
her husband. If it is an adulterer, then they resemble the adulterer.
Frequently, if a woman sleeps with her husband out of necessity, while her
heart is with the adulterer with whim she usually has intercourse, the child
she will bear is born resembling the adulterer. Now you who live together with
the Son of God, love not the world, but love the Lord, in order that those you
will bring forth may not resemble the world, but may resemble the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Farming in the world requires the
cooperation of four essential elements. A harvest is gathered into the barn
only as a result of the natural action of water, earth, wind and light. God's
farming likewise has four elements - faith, hope, love, and knowledge. Faith is
our earth, that in which we take root. And hope is the water through which we are
nourished. Love is the wind through which we grow. Knowledge, then, is the
light through which we ripen.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Word said, "If you know
the truth, the truth will make you free" (Jn 8:32). Ignorance is a slave.
Knowledge is freedom. If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the
truth within us. If we are joined to it, it will bring our fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-17908348808165039622020-10-14T08:38:00.008-07:002020-10-14T08:39:17.084-07:0071. GNOSTICISM & GOSPEL OF THOMAS<p> </p><p>*</p><p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> </span></b></p><p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">GNOSTICISM<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
word 'Gnosticism<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">" is</span><span style="background: white;"> from Ancient Greek language. It is a collection
of religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among
early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasised personal
spiritual knowledge more than the teachings, traditions, and authority of the
church.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It
</span><span style="background: white;">says that humans are divine souls trapped
in the ordinary physical (or material) world. They say that the world was made
by an imperfect spirit. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gnostics</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> were dualists
and worshipped two (or more) gods; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Christians</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> were monists
and worshipped one God. </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gnostics</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> focused on
eradication of ignorance; </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Christian</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> concern was
the eradication of sin.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white;">The </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gnostic Gospels</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">: The 52 texts discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt include
'secret' </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">gospels</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> poems and
myths attributing to </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jesus</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> sayings and
beliefs which are very different from the New Testament. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Gnostic </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Gospels</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> rejected this
idea of the kingdom of God at work on Earth in Jesus.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">The </span><b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Nag Hammadi library</b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> is a collection of early Christian and </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic_texts" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Gnostic texts"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: black;">Gnostic texts</span></span></a><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> discovered near the </span></span><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Egypt" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Upper Egypt"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: black;">Upper Egyptian</span></span></a><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> town of </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Nag Hammadi"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: black;">Nag Hammadi</span></span></a><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> in 1945..</span></span></span><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Three
Gnostic gospels - gospel of Thomas, gospel of Philips, gospel of Mary Magdala
and gospel of Judas - and some of their contents would bediscussed here. Of
these the first one <span style="background: white;">is composed of
114 sayings attributed to </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Jesus"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: black;">Jesus</span></span></a><span style="background: white;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">. Almost two thirds of these sayings resemble those found in
the </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_gospels" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" title="Canonical gospels"><span style="background: white;"><span style="color: black;">canonical
gospels</span></span></a>. (Numbers in bold fonts are such sayings.) It is one that
was found almost full and complete.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">INFANCY
GOSPEL OF THOMAS<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Translated by<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thomas O. Lambdin<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">SOME EXCERPTS:<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and
which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.</span><strong><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(2) Jesus
said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds,
he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and
he will rule over the All."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(3) Jesus
said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,'
then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the
sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and
it is outside of you.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(9)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, took a handful (of
seeds), and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered
them up. Others fell on the rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not
produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate
them. And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore
sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(16)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace
which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is
dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For
there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against
three, the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they
will stand solitary."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(20) The
disciples said to Jesus, "Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like."</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">He said to them, "It is like a mustard seed. It is the
smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great
plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(26)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "You see the mote in your brother's eye,
but you do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your
own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother's eye."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(33)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "Preach from your housetops that which
you will hear in your ear. For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel,
nor does he put it in a hidden place, but rather he sets it on a lampstand so
that everyone who enters and leaves will see its light."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(44) Jesus
said, "Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever
blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the
holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven."</span> <span style="color: red;">WHY?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: red;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(47)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two
horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two
masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously.
No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine
is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new
wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment,
because a tear would result."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(53) His
disciples said to him, "Is circumcision beneficial or not?"</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">He said to them, "If it were beneficial, their father
would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true
circumcision in spirit has become completely profitable."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(54)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor, for yours is the
kingdom of heaven."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(66)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "Show me the stone which the builders
have rejected. That one is the cornerstone."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(93)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> <Jesus said,> "Do not give what is holy to
dogs, lest they throw them on the dung-heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine,
lest they [...] it [...]."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(94)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "He who seeks will find, and he who
knocks will be let in."</span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(100)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him,
"Caesar's men demand taxes from us."</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">He said to them, "Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar,
give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine."</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">(107)</span></b><span style="color: black;"> Jesus said, "The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a
hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine
sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such
trouble, he said to the sheep, 'I care for you more than the ninety-nine.'"</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">(114) Simon
Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life."</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make
her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For
every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."</span><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></b><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-50433915557067735172020-10-01T04:31:00.000-07:002020-10-01T04:31:18.248-07:0070. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT ... 11<p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: medium;">MYSTERIOUS PERIOD IN THE LIFE OF JESUS</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">*</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nothing is known about most part of Jesus'
life. At age of twelve he was missed by his parents during the Passover
festival in Jerusalem. They later found him in the temple talking or discussing
things with the teachers there. After this age he comes again at the age of 30
to start and continue his religious work or ministry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Umpteen number of theories about this missed
time of his life and also for life "after crucifixion". They are so
many and also so much unbelievable. Some of them are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">In the late </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval" title="Medieval"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">medieval</span></a><span style="background: white;"> period, there
appeared </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthurian_legends" title="Arthurian legends"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Arthurian legends</span></a><span style="background: white;"> that the young Jesus had been in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain" title="Great Britain"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Britain</span></a><span style="background: white;">.</span> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">Arthurian</span></a><span style="background: white;"> legends
hold that Jesus travelled to Britain as a boy, lived at </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priddy" title="Priddy"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Priddy</span></a><span style="background: white;"> in the Mendips.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> In the 19th and 20th
centuries theories began to emerge that between the ages of 12 and 29 Jesus had
visited </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir" title="Kashmir"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Kashmir</span></a><span style="background: white;">, or
had studied with the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essene" title="Essene"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Essenes</span></a><span style="background: white;"> in
the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judea" title="Judea"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Judea</span></a><span style="background: white;"> desert. Modern
mainstream Christian scholarship has generally rejected these theories and
holds that nothing is known about this time period in the life of Jesus.</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus#cite_note-Losch-4"><sup><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">[</span></sup></a><sup><span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></sup></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus survived his
crucifixion and continued his life, instead of what was stated in the New
Testament that he ascended into Heaven with two angels<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Jacolliot compared the
accounts of the life of </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna" title=""><span style="background: white; color: windowtext;">Bhagavan Krishna</span></a><span style="background: white;"> with
that of Jesus Christ in the gospels and concluded that it could not have been a
coincidence that the two stories have so many similarities in many of the finer
details. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">According to the scrolls, Jesus abandoned </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem" title="Jerusalem"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Jerusalem</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;"> at the
age of 13 and set out towards </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sind" title="Sind"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Sind</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;">, “intending to improve and perfect himself in the
divine understanding and to studying the laws of the great Buddha”. He
crossed </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab" title="Punjab"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Punjab</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;"> and
reached </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puri" title="Puri"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Puri Jagannath</span></a><span style="background: white;"> where he
studied the Vedas under </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin" title="Brahmin"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Brahmin priests</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;">. He spent six years in Puri and
Rajgirh, near Nalanda, the ancient seat of </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu" title="Hindu"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Hindu learning</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;">. Then he went to the </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas" title="Himalayas"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Himalayas</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;">, and spent
time in Tibetan monasteries, studying </span></b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism" title="Buddhism"><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; text-decoration-line: none;">Buddhism</span></b></a><b><span style="background: white;">, and
through Persia, returned to Jerusalem at the age of 29.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Modern mainstream Christian
scholarship has generally rejected any travels by Jesus to India, Tibet or
surrounding areas as without historical basis:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Evidences of Christ in the
Americas are claimed in the Book of Mormon<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_years_of_Jesus#New_Testament_gap<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><br /></h3>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-47677382726396846292020-09-29T09:16:00.002-07:002020-09-29T09:16:14.962-07:0069. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*</p><p><br /></p><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Almost all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still holding strongly the view of Creationism. Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught. The catholic Church has almost accepted or at least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II (1996) tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an anathema to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Mutation,which is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE words! But in the words of Genesis I have my own questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Genesis 2:18 -- <span style="background: white;">The <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span> God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Genesis 1:27 -- <span class="text">So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Genesis 2:21 -- "So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Genesis 2:18 So god did not think of creating man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a "helper" to him!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">In Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21 creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give such varied mode of creation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">There is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God know at the time of creation that some of his creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just 6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to <span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253);">4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to accept even these proved results.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest! There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!! The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.</span><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"> Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us need not be a 24-hour day for god!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the genesis story of the seven days of creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith by John Dewey (1859 - 1952)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket in Christianity. Such mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian faiths. Let me take just two examples.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">The first is one of the Sacraments - confession, among Catholics. When I was a kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long. Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter, Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession has become a non-functioning sacrament now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should start from the first minute after birth. Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">=============<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Ref:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /></div>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-43947939695799703942020-09-26T10:08:00.005-07:002020-09-26T10:09:40.465-07:0068. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<p> </p><p>*</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mostly in all mythologies, animals would come and 'talk' to
humans in understandable human language. Such a case happens in Bible too! In
Genesis, a serpent comes and talks to Eve. I don’t know in what language! Who or
what is this serpent? Is it any allegory, a serpent representing the devil? But whatever
it could be, it was quite efficient and very tricky.( I wonder how do you
believe this story, a kid stuff, just like that. God's word??)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">Genesis
2:9</span></b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; line-height: 115%;">,: "And out of the ground made the LORD
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the
tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good
and evil."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #002060; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So there were two types of trees in the midst
of the garden; one was good and the other was a tree of knowledge of good and
evil. If fruits of the latter tree were eaten, they would leave behind their
blissful state of innocence. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;">God forbids Adam and Eve
to eat the 'fruit' of the second tree. But everything goes awry! God becomes very angry and goes in search of Adam. </span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;">Genesis 3:8 "…<span class="small-caps"><span style="background: white; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> Lord</span></span><span style="background: white;"> God called to the man, “Where are you?”<i> So the almighty god could not even find him
in the garden of Eden! Another part of the kid stuff!! Then god's curse is followed. So god did not
know earlier that Adam would disobey his orders.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"… Adam's
decision to disobey God originated with Adam and not with God eluded by the
claim that God foreknew from eternity that just that eternity that decision
would bemade. The ruse here is the insistence that God foreknew from eternity
that Adam would freely choose to disoney God. But the very notion of freedom as
originative casualty loses loses its meaning in such an
interpretation". -- Reason and
religion: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion by Rem B. Edwards
(pp180)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">******<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why is god
against knowledge?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Proverbs 1</span><span style="background: white;">:7: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but
fools despise wisdom and instruction." </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;">Proverbs 9:10 --<span style="background: white;">
The fear of the <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span> is
the beginning of wisdom,…<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white;">Corinthians
1:19 -- </span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; </span></span><span class="indent-1-breaks"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">the intelligence of the intelligent I will
frustrate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Corinthians 3:20
-- </span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">“The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are
futile.</span></span></li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Have two doubts on the above quotes. Firstly, why should god be
so against knowledge, wisdom, intelligence? Does it now show my contention -
that no religion can stand against rationality - is quite correct? Faith, if rationally
questioned, might develop a week knee.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;">Secondly, christianiy is always proclaimed by the believers that
it is a religion of love. They say their god is so merciful and their god loves
us all. But this quote - </span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;">Proverbs 1:7 --
"</span><span class="small-caps"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="background: white;"> </span></span><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="background: white;">The
fear of the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="background: white; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span face=""Segoe UI", sans-serif" style="background: white;"> is the beginning of knowledge,</span> but fools despise
wisdom and instruction. -- <i>says that
"fear</i></span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;">" is the essential
and only from fear knowledge grows.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-83063604713844395692020-09-24T22:18:00.000-07:002020-09-24T22:18:02.944-07:0067. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*</p><p><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Almost
all religions , especially the organized religions, had been and are still
holding strongly the view of Creationism.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even after one and a half centuries after Darwinism still people rush
madly to the justice system to stop teaching Evolution in schools. However, probably
after learning lessons from the bitter experience with Galileo, Christian
religion is trying to wriggle out from Darwinian onslaught.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">The catholic Church has almost accepted or at
least not objected to evolutionary concepts. Some earlier popes like Pope Pius
XII (1950) and Pope John Paul II</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">(1996)
tried to give space for the theory of evolution. But Pope Francis publically
announced that evolution is compatible with church teachings. But Islamic
religion is still trying to hold on to creation theory as such. Evolution is an
anathema to them.</span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mutation,which
is the raw material for evolution is a proved scientific fact. But believers
question that. At the same time, they are ready to believe that one of the ribs
of Adam is enough to make Eve! It is also quite interesting to find evangelists
very boldly giving messages that all males have one rib less, since it was
plucked out to make Eve. I have personally found even biology teachers and
physiotherapists fully believing one-rib-less-man! So strong are the THE</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">words! But in the words of Genesis I have my
own questions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis
2:18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- <span style="background: white;">The <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span> God
said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable
for him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1:27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="text">So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of
God he created them; male and female he created them.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis 2:21<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"So the LORD God caused the man to fall
into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and
then closed up the place with flesh."</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis
2:18<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So god did not think of creating
man and woman; he made man; then on second thoughts created a
"helper" to him!<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In
Genesis 1:27 god created man and woman in his image. But in Genesis 2:21
creation of man and woman was in a different process! Two versions of Bible give
such varied mode of creation.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There
is no explanation for a few questions like presence of fossils, extinction of
some species (dinosaurs), geological strata, mutations and so on. What could be
the explanation for some animals becoming extinct? God created and some of them
in the course of time became extinct! Didn’t God<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>know at the time of creation that some of his
creations would disappear from this earth at a certain time. Moreover, Christian
believers calculate the genealogy of Christ from Adam and say the world is just
6000 years old while the scientists have calculated the age of earth to <span style="background: #FCFDFD;">4.6 billion years. When the age of fossils have been
calculated scientifically by carbon dating believers are never willing to
accept even these proved results.</span></span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">Another interesting question is how come the Almighty God
should take six days to create all those in the earth. Then a day to rest!
There is even a dispute whether that 'sabbath day' was a Saturday and Sunday!!
The whole story of creation in the Bible looks more like a kid story, and
nothing less. Genesis 2:3 : -- </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;">God blessed the seventh day
and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done.</span><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is god so tired? Is creation such an arduous
and hard work for god? Does he need a 'rest day' after six day's work? Looks too
humanish!! One another explanation the believers keep giving is 'a day' for us
need not be a 24-hour day for god!</span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"…. developments in astronomy and geology had made the
genesis story of the seven<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>days of
creation seem like a fairy tale, that modern views of the spatiotemporal
universe had made the doctrines of 'heaven above and hell below' and Christ's
ascension into heaven unacceptable to the modern mind". -- A Common Faith
by John Dewey (1859 - 1952)</span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In spite of some hard core believers still sticking to the
Biblical story of creation, Christianity as such has very much mellowed down
and they try to accept changes in their faith. Unlike in Islam, faith is not a straitjacket
in Christianity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mellowing down has happened in some religious Christian
faiths. Let me take just two examples.</span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first is one of the Sacraments <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- confession, among Catholics. When I was a
kid we were taught to have weekly confessions. This ritual lasted for long.
Even when I was a college student this was practiced by most of the regular
church goers. But then there was a great decline. From being a regular Saturday
feature it then became a thing for the Christmas festivals like Easter,
Christmas etc.. But it has lost its importance and nowadays people have to go
for confession only either before their communion or marriage. There ends the
matter. What was a weekly feature when I was a kid, has now faded. Confession
has become a non-functioning sacrament now.</span></span><span style="background-color: #fcfdfd; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another feature is the concept on birth-control. Even when
I was doing my elementary classes, we were taught in our catechism classes that
any mode of birth control was against Christianity. We were taught that coitus
was only a procreative act and it has to be so always. Conception should not be
wantonly stopped. The Government was then insisting on birth control. I
remember in my high school days our catechism teachers used to give a simpe
analogy: god has given us two hands - to work for our bread; but only one mouth
to feed! It sounded so good then. Only after a few years, it dawned on me that
to earn bread with two hands would take two decades while the feeding should
start from the first minute after <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>birth.
Of course, these ideas were strictly among catholics. Not sure about
Prostestants. I feel that protesstants never openly come out for or against
birth control. But Catholics were so serious about it. When I grew up I used to
feel that having more number of children was a 'Christian disease'! But these
strict ideas and taboos were lost in the course of time. Nowadays Christians
finally have understood the positive side of coitus and all restrictions have
gone off with the modern wind. I am happy that the 'faith' gave space to the
changing social views, without being adamant with some blind ideas and concepts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">=============<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="background: rgb(252, 253, 253); font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ref:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/30/5-facts-about-evolution-and-religion</span></span></strong><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-4528974793886158172020-09-15T07:02:00.020-07:002023-07-01T07:53:13.873-07:0066. IS JESUS GOD? NO … so says Bible! ... 7<p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background: rgb(238, 236, 225); text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">IS JESUS GOD?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background: rgb(238, 236, 225); text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">NO … so say Biblical verses!</span><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="background: rgb(238, 236, 225); mso-background-themecolor: background2; text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Holy
Trinity is a mystic dogma of Christianity. None knows the meaning; none should
even try to find its meaning; at least that is what every Christian child is
taught. Even when I was a believer one question used to lurk at the back of my
mind. They say Three Gods .. but all in one …but always the Father is being
forgotten. But for the Lord's prayer, all other prayers always end up either
with Jesus or Holy Spirit. When my faith started shaking I tried to delve into
this. Surprisingly and luckily I got a book in Tamil with the title "Jesus
of Jews and Christ of ST. Paul" (யூதர்களின் இயேசுவும் பவுலின் கிறிஸ்துவும்).
I found this book very extensive and it elaborately deals with both the Old and
New Testaments. St. Paul, who became the follower of Jesus after his crucifixion,
says that god had sent Jesus, the messiah to 'liberate' the Israelites from
their bondage in the O.T. very clearly. Jesus calls himself as the son of god,
messenger from god, the way to reach Father, and so on. But never proclaims that he is 'the god'! After Paul came into Christian faith he wants
to expand the religion far and wide, while it had been a religion for Jews
alone initially. Many verses in the testaments stand a witness to that. Paul wants
to break this bondage between Jesus and Israelites and wants to make the
religion open to all, Jews and the 'gentiles'. He comes out with concessions
for these new converts, like freeing them from circumcision, which was
considered ' a must' for earlier Christians.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Evidences
for the above are only from the two testaments. The list is as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Exodus
3:15 -- "<span style="background: white; color: #001320;">God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God
of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has
sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from
generation to generation."</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><u>God
proclaims that he is the god of the Israelites</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Exodus
5:2 -- <span style="background: white;"> Pharaoh said, “Who is the <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span>, that
I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span> and
I will not let Israel go.” So, Pharaoh
did not know about the god of Israelites.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Exodus 29:45<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Then I will dwell among the
Israelites and be their God. - So god of
O.T. is the god only for Israelites.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Exodus
34:15,16; <span style="color: #222222;">Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Lavier 25:42-45; Ezra
9:11-15<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #222222;">All these verses command that gentiles had to be treated as </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">untouchables or as enemies,
or as slaves<span style="color: #222222;"> by the Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;">The land of
Israelites was of two different regions; the northern side was called Israel
and the southern side was called Judea. In 596 B.C. a gentile king,
Nebuchadnezzar went </span></i><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #00b0f0;">to</span></i><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;"> war against Judea and won. Israelites felt bad that their god
had been defeated.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #222222;">Jeremiah 51:34 -- </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="background: white; color: #001320;">"Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has
devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like
a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and
then has spewed us out. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;">Jeremiah 25:6-9 -- god
orders them "go not after other gods to serve them'. Jeremiah accused the
Israelites worshipping other gods and god had forsaken them because of that.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ezra 9:12 -- give not your daughters unto their
sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or
their wealth for ever: " Ezra
said that god had forsaken them since they went against the orders of
the god.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Messiah as a savior of <o:p></o:p></span></span><span face="Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;">Israelite</span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jeremiah 23:3-6<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">3 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">And I will gather the remnant of
my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">4 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">And I will set up shepherds over
them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall they be lacking, saith the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">5 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Behold, the days come, saith
the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span>, that I will raise
unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">6 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">In his days Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be
called, <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">The Lord Our Righteousness</span>.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><u><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Based
on the above verses, Messiah, as the Saviour was expected to achieve good things for Jews.</span></span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></u></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ezekiel 36:24, 28<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">24 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of
all countries, and will bring you into your own land.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="text"><b><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ezekiel 37:28<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye
shall be my people, and I will be your God.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Zephaniah 3:15<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;">Thus saith the Lord <span class="small-caps"><span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">God</span></span>; Behold, I will take the
children of Israel from among the heathen, </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">15 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">The <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span> hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out
thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the <span style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span>,
is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jeremiah
51:24<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">24 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of
Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith
the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jeremiah
51:36<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">36 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Therefore thus saith the </span></span><span class="small-caps"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;">Lord</span></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">;
Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up
her sea, and make her springs dry.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Thus O.T. explicitly shows that
Jesus was more a rebellious messiah to bring freedom to Israelites. Never was
he given the status of a god.</span></i></b></span></span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>NEW
TESTAMENT</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Matthew 1:1-16; Luke
3:23-34 - Both give the genealogy of Jesus but both
vary so much. Even the father of Joseph, father of Jesus, were of two different
persons in the two gospels. In Matthew the number of generations between
Abraham and Jesus is 41 but in Luke it is 56.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">Luke 1:1-4 -- </span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Luke claims that he went through
the two earlier gospels of Matthew and
Mark written before his time and then wrote his gospel. But he had changed some
incidents narrated in the other two gospels which show that Jesus was in
support of only the Israelites. For instance Matthew and Mark quote an example
of a dialogue between Jesus and an expert in the law. But Luke extends the
incident and gives the story of good Samaritan. This story actually gives great
credit to Jesus, as it shows that though Jews are expected to keep off Samaritans,
Jesus shows his love to them. While Luke
is extrapolating the above incident , he just avoids the questionable story of
a Canaanite woman pleading to help her daughter. This story tells the hatred of
Jews on gentiles. Luke conveniently skips this story. Instead, Luke writes
elaborately on the love and support
Jesus showed to gentiles, putting Jesus in different brighter light.</span></i></span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Jews
and specifically the chosen apostles who are all Jews expect that Messiah would
come and liberate them from all their social and political bondages. However,
when Jesus does not do what they expected, most of the Jews startthinking that
Messiah would come later. These are the non-believing Jews and their religion
is Judaism. With these confusing state of affairs as the backdrop, Paul comes into
the scene and he starts working on Christianity-For-All, and not for Israelites
alone. Only in A.D.36 Paul gets introduced in Bible and because of his efforts only after A.D. 49 the
terms "Christ" and "Chrisitians" come into being. It is Paul
who wants to introduce Jesus to gentiles too. There are some changes and
additions to Bible because of this.</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"> One big controversy
is about the verses "</span><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;"> </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;">He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to all creation”. (Mark 16:15)<i> </i> </span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #002060;">Till
now that controversy exists. According to one school of thought the verses Mark
16:9-20 are considered as inclusions at a later period. The two copies of Codex
Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus do not contain these verses.</span></i></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Around B.C.36,
biblically Paul first gets introduced as an enemy against Jesus. Then he gets converted
and accepts Jesus as the Messiah. But he is not happy with his work since many
Jews remain<s>ed</s> as non-believers.
So Paul wants to broaden his work to bring all the people into faith.
But to transform a regional or tribal leader to a higher status is <s>s</s> not
that easy. Paul, of the 27 books in N.T. writes14 letters to many different
people. Another 2 books are written by Luke; of these the first one is the
gospel and other was Acts of the Apostles. In all these 16 books efforts are made
to liberate Jesus from all regional or tribal or racial boundaries. These two people
are also unknown to each other and only after the death of Jesus, they<s> </s>meet
and take united efforts to achieve their common goal. Their intended plan can be
proved by two verses from Bible.</span></span></i><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif""><span style="font-size: medium;">Acts
of Apos 13:46 <span style="background: white;">Then Paul And Barnabas Answered Them Boldly: "We Had To Speak The
Word Of God To You First. Since You Reject It And Do Not Consider Yourselves
Worthy Of Eternal Life, We Now Turn To The Gentiles.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Galatians
1:15,16<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">15 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and
called me by his grace, was pleased</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><b><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">16 </span></sup></b></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the
Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="text"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
second set of verses <b>are</b> highly
questionable. Paul says<b> </b>that he was
selected by God even before his birth. If so, how come he is against Jesus till
A.D.36 ?</span></span></i></span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Efforts
of Paul are not successful in the beginning. Paul and his new concepts are sidelined
by all since people do not believe what he said. </span></i></span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Biblical verses are also against what Paul preaches.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Genesis 17:11<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">11 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">You shall be circumcised in the
flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me
and you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">This
verse very clearly indicates the covenant between Jehova and mankind. But Paul goes against this with a new verse</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Romans
2:26-31<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #363936;">Verse 29:
-- Rather, one is a Jew inwardly,
and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter; his praise is
not from human beings but from God.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">Galatians 5:2 -- </span><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">2 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Mark
my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be
circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Then Paul even goes one step further:<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Galatians 5:2: -- </span><sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">2 </span></sup><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ
will be of no value to you at all.</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Paul
starts<s>ed</s> opposing the age old laws of Moses and circumcision but the
apostles oppose the concepts of him</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">.</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">
(Act 15:23,24). </span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Paul and his associates like
Barnaba want<s>ed</s> to have a discussion with the apostles and Elders</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">.
</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">(Act 15:1-3) </span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">Group
of Paul want<s>ed</s> to have an exemption with their two demands on Laws of
Moses and circumcision. The Council of Jerusalem is convened in A.D.49. In the
discussion Peter supports<s>ed</s> Paul. Jacob, brother of Jesus is</span></i><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #00b0f0;"> </span></i><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">also pulled in by Paul.</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif"> (Galatians 1:18,19) </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">After
this many a time Paul sends donations to Jerusalem</span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif">.(1
Corinthians 16:2-4, 2 Corinthians 9:5
& 8: 10,20; 4:16-19 Roamer 15:26,27; Philippians 4:16,19) </span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">When
Jacob talks in support of gentiles, he cannot quote any incident wherein Jesus
serves gentiles in any way. If at all there are some incidents they could only
be the handiwork of Luke or translators at later period. In spite of all these
things the Jerusalem council gives Paul the right to work with gentiles.
Council exempts new gentile converts from the laws of Moses and circumcision.
It is a concession extended to them. But later Paul <s>t</s>akes a view that
O.T. could be discarded totally</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">. (Act 21.20,21)</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;">In
spite of all these, the true apostles are against taking Jesus out of Jewish
boundary. But Paul steadily undoes the Jewish boundary of Jesus. Unlike many of the chosen illiterate apostles,
Paul is a great scholar in Greek and he takes up that language to give a new
status to Jesus. The term "Christos" in Greek means 'god acceptable to all'. Based on
this term Jesus is introduced by him as "Christ".
He goes with this in spite of the objection from some apostles.</span></i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"> </span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">(Roamer 1:2-5)</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #222222;">Roamer 1:2-5: -- "..t</span><span class="text"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;">he gospel he promised beforehand through his
prophets in the Holy Scriptures</span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white;"> <span class="text"><b><sup>3 </sup></b>regarding his Son, who as to his earthly
life was a descendant of David,</span> <span class="text"><b><sup>4 </sup></b>and
who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in
power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.</span> <span class="text"><b><sup>5 </sup></b>Through him we received grace and
apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes
from faith for his name’s sake.</span></span></span><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #002060;"><b>Thus both historically and biblically, Paul is able to bring greater
changes in the course of Christianity. A religion which is meant to be for a
small sect of people gets wider to embrace all those in this world. But over
and above, he is able to make a "man" into a "GOD". So says
the history. Wonder how many Christians know this sea change in their faith!</b></span></i></span><i><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="color: #002060;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #222222;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(238, 236, 225); mso-background-themecolor: background2; text-align: justify;">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p> </o:p></p><p>
</p><pre style="background: rgb(238, 236, 225); line-height: 16.85pt; mso-background-themecolor: background2; text-align: justify;"><span face=""Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"" style="color: #222222;"><o:p> </o:p></span></pre>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><br /><p></p>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-74229573534070735662020-06-24T10:21:00.001-07:002020-06-28T00:28:31.487-07:0065. A RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT ... 6<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Latha","sans-serif";">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">HOW
DO I LOOK AT BIBLICAL PARABLES</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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HOW DO I LOOK AT BIBLICAL PARABLES</div>
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<i>”Our Lord made
ready use of the parabolic method of teaching to the extent that Mark comments
"but without a parable spake he not unto them" (4:34)”. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">So goes
the story about our biblical parables. Jesus on his preaching line took up so
many parables - some understandable, some are not; some at par with humane
justice and some are not. But since it was all from the mouth of God each one
is always praised and complied with by the believers. But for one who went out
of faith like me, so many questions on the rightness of the parables and their
intended objectives may arise. Simple acceptance of all the words in Bible is
meant only for the believers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">I quote
some parables here and give my perception of them, which are, as far as I am
concerned, very humane in nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>PRODIGAL SON<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>The story of the
prodigal son,(Luke 15:11-32), a very famous and well known biblical parable,
stands as a good example for me. No need to elaborate the story; everyone knows
it. Normally we accept the end of the story, even praising the
all-forgiving-dad.</i> <span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">But for
me there is a question. Had I been the father, I would have asked my prodigal
son to be under the tutelage of my elder son till he proves his repentance.
That would correct my younger son and honour my elder. But what the father of
the story did actually provoked his ever dependable and sincere elder son. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>//“The older
brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded
with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving
for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young
goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has
squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened
calf for him!’//<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">This is
what the elder son felt. None knows what happened when father justified his
celebration for his prodigal son. I personally feel the unreasonable father
would lose both his sons soon. A very bad managerial error, the dad had made.
Reward should go to the right person and punishment should go to wrong
character. Only that would infuse real justice in the minds of both the sons. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>VINEYARD PARABLE<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">Almost
this same type of judgment happens in another vineyard parable</span><i>. Matthew
20:1-16. Master fixes up salary and asks labourers at the early hours of the
day with specific wages. Then he employs labourers till evening at various
different times. At the end of the day he pays them equally. Very natural for
the early comers to murmur. But the boss defends his choice of paying equal
amounts: "</i><span class="woj"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you
agree to work for a denarius?</span></i></span><i><span style="background: white;"> </span></i><span class="woj"><i><sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">14 </span></sup></i></span><span class="woj"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Take
your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave
you.</span></i></span><i><span style="background: white;"> </span></i><span class="woj"><i><sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></sup></i></span><span class="woj"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Don’t
I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious
because I am generous?’</span></i></span><span class="woj"><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="woj"><span style="background: white; color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">My contention is<b>,</b> if the boss
wants to be this generous, he could have extended more generosity to the early
workers, paying them more than a denarius. He could <b>h</b>ave made all happier. I had been <b>professionally a</b> teacher and so my judgment is based on how a
teacher should evaluate his students. I should give them marks according to
their efforts and results. I should not give <b>centum to</b> all my students, irrespective of their achievements. This
would hurt a real sincere worker and all his motivation would be thoroughly
spoiled. The following interpretation for this parable does not cut ice for me:
<i>"</i></span></span><i><span style="background: white;">Some who are
faithful with the small opportunities that God gives them, now “last” in the
eyes of people, might receive more reward than one who is “first” in the eyes
of people but who is unfaithful with the bigger opportunities God has given
him".<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i>WHEAT AND WEEDS<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>The sower has sown good seed in his field for a healthy
wheat harvest. But in the dark of night an enemy came and sowed weeds among the
wheat. "So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared
as well" (13:24-26).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i><span style="background: white;">It is interpreted that the good seeds are
the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and
the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age. Jesus
says that the reapers -- not the slaves -- will take care of this at harvest
time. "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect all
causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of
fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #1f497d;">So god allows wantonly the evil to grow among the good ones
and then punishes. Poor logic. God allows the bad to exist, allows them grow,
but then at the end throw them into an eternal fire! I don’t find evn human
justice in this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i> PARABLE<sup>
</sup>OF NET<sup> </sup><a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-47.htm"><b><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></a></i></div>
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<i><u><a href="https://biblehub.com/matthew/13-47.htm"><span style="color: windowtext;">Matthew
13:47 </span></a></u><sup> 47 </sup>“Once again, the kingdom
of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all
kinds of fish. <sup>48 </sup>When
it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and
collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. <sup>49 </sup>This is how it will be
at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the
righteous <sup>50 </sup>and
throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">It just
shows explicitly how and what a MERCIFUL god he is! Why are bad fishes bad and
how? Who made them bad? At least in human beings one can keep talking about
'free will' and say that a man has to choose the right thing and all that
logic. But in fishes how come some are good and some are bad. Did they sin and become
bad?! My question: How come a merciful
god could create an eternal blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. (I have been having this question as my STANDARD QUESTION
since I feel creation of an eternal hell fire to punish short lived men sounds not
only logical but also humanly irrational.) And how bad fishes or bad men came into being.
As in the previous parable of Wheats and Weeds, the weed is ALLOWED to grow and
finally is thrown into everlasting hell. Are the weeds so sinful? Weeds are not
useful 'directly' for man; that's all. Not 'sinful' anyway! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>SEEDS & SOIL<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Of course some
parables would be so nice and meaningful and simply straight. </i><em><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; font-style: normal;">Math 13:18-23 - It is about s</span></em><i>owing seeds. Seeds fallen on right soil would grow well
unlike those fallen on hard rocks</i>. </div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">So
simple, straight and clean. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>CORRECT FIRST
THYSELF<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">There is
one other parable, again a simple and effective, statement:</span> . <i>“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in
your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Math
7:1-5) <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>LAMP ON THE HILL<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> “You are the light of the world. A town built
on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a
bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see
your good deeds and glorify your Father in <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-is-heaven-like-11636670.html"><b><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">heaven</span></b></a></i><i><span style="font-family: "roboto" , "serif"; font-size: 8.5pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">But most
of the parables are not like this. Jesus has to give some interpreation for
such difficult parables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>Mat 13:10-12 <span style="background: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span class="passage-display-bcv"><i><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew 13:9-15</span></i></span><i> <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span class="text"><b><i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">9 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Who hath ears to hear,
let him hear.</span></i></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span class="text"><b><i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">10 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And the disciples
came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?</span></i></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span class="text"><b><i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">11 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He answered and said
unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven, but to them it is not given.</span></i></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span class="text"><b><i><sup><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">12 </span></sup></i></b></span><span class="text"><i><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">For whosoever hath, to
him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken away even that he hath.</span></i></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span class="text"><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This
12th verse is still a mystery for me. I really don’t get the meaning of it. It also
sounds to me bad since whoever has, would be given more; and whatsoever does
not have, shall be taken away. It sounds almost like: make rich richer; make
poor poorer!! Is it right? Does the parable mean this?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i>RICH MAN AND
LAZARUS <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>Luke 16:19-31<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i> “There was a rich man who was dressed in
purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a
beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the
rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“The time came when
the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also
died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw
Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham,
have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool
my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“But Abraham
replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things,
while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in
agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in
place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone
cross over from there to us.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“He answered, ‘Then
I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him
warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i>“Abraham replied,
‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i>“‘No, father
Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will
repent.’<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“He said to him,
‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead</i>.’”</div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; mso-themecolor: text2;">//remember
that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad
things,// what does bible say? No rich man can enter heaven. Does the bible say
poverty is the ladder to heaven.. leave alone things they had done on earth. I really
don’t know why all religions keep poverty always on a high pedestal'? Is it for
attracting even the poor people to become the believers of gods, as Osho
suggested. Here the Lazarus did not go to the lap of Abraham not for any good
deeds he did; just because he was poor (who knows how he became a poor!) The
rich man, it seems, sinned by wearing a finely stitched suit, driving in his
Rolls Royce! So he goes to hell, not for doing sinful things but living a
luxurious life (who knows how hard he had to work to reach that level?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-81870664207734056952020-03-12T06:34:00.003-07:002021-12-19T23:52:06.625-08:0064.. MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT .... 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span face=""Latha","sans-serif"">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>DISTANCING FROM CHRISTIANITY</b></span></div>
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<b><u><span face=""arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt;">LINKS TO POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a><span face=""arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: red;">RED COLOURED PARTS are of my personal opinions....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">My school and
church were in the same campus and I grew up as a campus kid. Most of my
activities were in the campus. Early morning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">appa</i> woke me up and I had to attend the second mass at 5.30 am.
After the service it was my duty to get daily milk from the farm in the Jesuits
house behind the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This life
continued mostly all through my school and college days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">During schooling
for catholic students, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we used to have
catechism classes where we were taught the 'history of church' and all that.
Many stories were taught in our catechism classes. I remember most of them very
well. I would give just two examples: It was the 'story' about the communion. In
catholic faith the ' <b><u><span style="color: red;">consecrated </span></u></b><u><span style="color: red;">host' changes into the
'flesh of Jesus</span>' </u>during the mass. A nun had a doubt on this and one day she
bit the host, which is a very thin bread made of wheat. She had the doubt
whether it had really become the flesh of Jesus. When she bit it, blood started
flowing from the host in her mouth. Only after great repentance and weeping of
the nun it stopped. This story was to make our faith stronger. This story was
routinely given to kids just before they went for receiving the holy sacrament
of communion for the first time. Later, this story faded from catechism
classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second teaching was about <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>birth control. In those story days Catholic
Church <s><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></s>very strongly condemned
any method of family control. Even following the safe days of ovulation was
considered a sin. To convince us, another story was given. A new child is born
with one mouth to feed and two hands to work for the bread. This was to
convince us against birth control. It took us more than twenty to thirty years
to understand that the 'two hands' would take at least a quarter century to
earn bread. This story is also lost in the course of time. Nowadays they don’t
teach these 'kid stories' to children. A sign of modernization! Nowadays no
church is against birth control. It has been sidelined now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Another
interesting thing of my school days was the annual religious retreats organized
by our school. It would normally start on a Friday evening. There would be a
sort of hourly sermons. Normally the first sermon would be about the rules and
regulation of the retreat and about what to do and what not to do. And then would
come the serious sermons. The very second sermon on the Friday evening after
supper would invariably revolve around "HELL"! It would be terribly
threatening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elaborate description of an
eternal hell and the terrific satanic tortures there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would terrify us so much that a cloud of
fear would follow us to our bed. So normally on that night there would not be
any catcalls or other pranks by us. Since this used to be a rare occasion for
us to be with our friends normally we would be tempted to play pranks in our
gang. This might happen in the next Saturday night<span style="background-color: white;"> and not</span> on Friday night,
since we would still hear the tik-tok sound of the "eternal clock" of
the Hell! No nerve to play games then! Of course within one day this would slowly
fade away and in the next night the supervisors would face hard time to keep us
well behaved!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Another
important thing of those days, we used to be regular in attending masses
everyday in the church. So next best thing for the 'pious' boys like us was to
be altar boys. In sacristy, there would be a spacious room with the red-white
robes in all sizes. The altar boys first had to memorise Latin prayers. Well,
in those days mass was done in Latin. Over the course of time it switched over
to mother tongues. If we were able to render the Latin prayers to the person <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in charge of sacristy - nearly four pages of
Latin in Tamil script - we would be eligible as altar boys. We<s>,</s> then
could choose the loose red-white robe and be with the priest in the altar
during the mass. I too was an altar boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was then considered a very big privilege for us. Such altar boys used
to say that they would all become priests later in their lives. I too had that
resolve for some years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">When I started
distancing from my faith, among the many questions I raised, one was on Hell
and Heaven. Hell seemed very illogical. Hell is considered eternal. On one hand, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Christianity
claims at high pitch that their god is merciful. On the other hand it talks
about an eternal hell,</u> </b>punishment for the sins of a man in his life
time. There is not even any 'human justice' in that. Man for his sins in his
short life had to be in the eternal hell, suffering. They also keep saying
that Jesus came to redeem us for our sins. Incongruity at its height! It was
simply an arrangement - man has to be cautioned - so hell is there. Man has to
be made to feel good - so heaven is there! Some hope has to be given - so the
merciful messiah is there. Even the Hindu concept of many births before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mukti</i> at least has some human reasoning.
In Christianity, there is no such thing. For the sin of a man, he should be
in the painful hell for ETERNITY. People
have been arguing for long to do away with capital punishment.<span style="background-color: white;"> By Bible, <span style="color: white;"> </span></span>a merciful
god has a hell made ready for sinners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Many a time <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I </b>have found Christians relinquish the Old
Testament when I asked some pointed questions about the ridiculous and sensual stories
from it. They would say adamantly that the New Testament is their book and we
have to go by that. Naturally at such junctures my question would be: why then
have the Old Testament as your religious book?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The same escapism they adopt when questions on Hell are raised. They
will try to make it light and wriggle out from such a question. My question is
so simple: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HOW A MERCIFUL GOD CAN CREATE
AN ETERNAL HELL. </b>No meaning in denying hell because there are many very
clear verses about hell in the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Not only
Christianity, all the three Abrahmic religions also talk about "Seven
Heavens"! This concept might have been derived from the ancient
Mesopotamian religions. This concept is also found in Hinduism and Jainism. The
'seven' may correspond to the seven planets known to antiquity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">BIBLICAL
HEAVEN: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+13%3A42&version=ESV"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 13:42</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">And throw them into the fiery furnace.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A46&version=ESV"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 25:46</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">And these will go away into eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A2&version=ESV"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">John 14:2</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">In my Father's house are many rooms. If
it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for
you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: red;">(Does this not sound so funny ?
Almost like a ordinary human vision .. big mansion .. so many rooms. Even
preacher Dinakaran - who visited heaven weekly for Sunday breakfast with Jesus,
never revealed anything like this!! please have a look at : </span><b><span style="color: blue;"> </span></b></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8InbUvICDs"><b><span style="color: blue;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8InbUvICDs</span></b> </a> <b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt;">)</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Luke 16:23</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">And in Hades, being in torment, he
lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A28-29&version=ESV"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">John 5:28-29</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Do not marvel at this, for an hour is
coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those
who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to
the resurrection of judgment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">A
PARTIALITY</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="passage-display-bcv"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 12:32</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span class="woj"><b><sup><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>32 </span></sup></b></span><span class="woj"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Anyone
who speaks <u>a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who
speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven</u>, either in this
age or in the age to come. (<span style="color: #c00000;">What a partiality
in the Trinity! Why one member of the trinity - the Holy Spirit - should be
valued more than Jesus - the Son of Man??)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+20%3A14-15&version=ESV"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Revelation 20:14-15</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Then Death and Hades were thrown into
the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's
name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of
fire .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/21-8.html"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/21-8.html"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Revelation
21:8</span></a><a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/21-8.html"><span style="background: white; color: #555555;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/revelation/21-8.html"><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">But the
cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those
who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to
the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” </span><span color="windowtext" style="text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Revelation
21: describes the City of Heaven -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that
the height, length, and width of the walls are of equal <b>dimensions</b> –
as it was with the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and First Temple – and they
measure 12,000 furlongs (which is approximately 1500.3 miles, or 1 furlong =
approx 220 yards)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(</span><span style="background: white; color: #c00000; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">This "data" also very much stands
like a human imagination / invention! Anyway I fear / wonder - this Heaven is
so tiny and small comparing the human populations of present, past and future.
Can we - I mean the believers - all get some accommodation there? It is really a
Hellish problem!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Since the concept of
hell and heaven were so much discussed from the beginning of the Church, lately
some attempts were made<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to distance
Christianity from this hellish or heavenly problem!<span style="color: #c00000;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: red;">(<span style="letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Like me,)</span></span><span style="color: #333333; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the conscience of
some Christians was there from the beginning of Chrisitianity, who find it
difficult to reconcile the existence of a just, loving God with a doctrine that
dooms billions of people to eternal punishment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">In theological circles
this doctrine is known as Eternal Conscious Torment (ECT). Critics fault
it for its lack of proportion. Why would a loving God punish a single lifetime
of sin with endless lifetimes of torture? And, among sinners, does an adulterer
merit the same punishment as a murderer? And what about the billions of people
whose only sin was to follow a different faith? </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">In its earliest years, Christianity didn’t have a consensus
on the nature of hell. Earliest theologians were on two sides: one is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">UNIVERSALISM</b> (</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Hell and the punishment there
is NOT eternal</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">.) and second is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">ANNIHILATIONISM</b>
(</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">The
'mortal soul' will die and fade away</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">These two views are quoted here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/origen-of-alexandria/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Origen
Adamantius</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">,
a third-century theologian, believed the wicked were punished after death, but only long enough fo<span style="color: #333333;">r their souls to repent and be
restored to their original state of purity. This doctrine, known as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">universalism,</b> envisioned that
everyone—including Satan—would eventually be redeemed and reunited with God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Contemporary theologians generally credit </span><a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Irenaeus"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Irenaeus of
Lyons</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">,
a second-century bishop, as the intellectual forefather of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">annihilationism</b>. In his seminal five-volume work, </span><a href="http://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-the-fathers-of-the-church/irenaeus-against-heresies-book-i/"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Against
Heresies</span></i></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">,
he emphasized that the soul is not inherently immortal—eternal life would be
bestowed upon the good with the resurrection of Christ, while the wicked would
be left to die and fade from existence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Augustine of
Hippo</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"> and
his book, </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_City_of_God.html?id=b-9EAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">City of God</span></i></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">, published in A.D. 426, that set the t<span style="color: #333333;">one for official doctrine over the next 1,500 years. Hell
existed not to reform or deter sinners, he argued. Its primary purpose was to
satisfy the demands of justice. Augustine believed in the literal existence of
a lake of fire, where “by a miracle of their most omnipotent Creator, can burn
without being consumed, and suffer without dying.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">"Everlasting
torment is intolerable from a moral point of view because it makes God into a
bloodthirsty monster who maintains an everlasting Auschwitz for victims whom he
does not even allow to die," </span><a href="http://www.onthewing.org/user/Esc_Annihilationism%20-%20Pinnock.pdf"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt; text-decoration: none;">wrote</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"> the late </span><a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/augustweb-only/43-22.0.html"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt; text-decoration: none;">Clark Pinnock</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">, an influential evangelical theologian.
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"> </span><a href="http://edwardfudge.com/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">Edward Fudge</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">, whose 1982 book, </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89573.The_Fire_That_Consumes"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">The Fire That
Consumes</span></i></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">,
is widely regarded as the scholarly work that jump-started the current debate<u>.
</u></span><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">A new generation of
evangelical scholars are challenging the idea that sinners are doomed to
eternal torment— and traditionalists are pushing back.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">POPE FRANCIS (ALLEGED)
STATEMENT ON HELL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Eugenio Scalfari — a
longtime friend and intellectual sparring partner of Pope Francis and an
atheist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Speaking to this
newspaper’s founder, journalist and atheist Scalfari, Francis was quoted as
saying of those who die in a state of mortal sin: “They are not punished. Those
who repent obtain God’s forgiveness and take their place among the ranks of
those who contemplate him, yhose who do not repent and cannot be forgiven
disappear. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A hell doesn’t exist, the
disappearance of sinning souls exists.”<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">However Vatican became
serious after this statement of Pope got published. The chief communications
secretary, Dario Vigano, </span><a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/3/19/17125476/vatican-doctored-photo-pope-francis-conservative-fake-news"><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; text-decoration: none;">resigned under pressure</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">In short, whether people say yes or no to hell, still such
things <s><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></s>exist in the Bible. Theologians,
because of their conscience cannot ignore what is said in the Bible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">In
addition to hell and heaven, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Roman Catholic
Christians<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>believe in <b>purgatory.
It is mostly by their own Biblical interpretations<span style="color: #222222;">.
(</span><span style="color: #c00000;">In my childhood,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>purgatory was given importance in our prayers
too. </span>Now<span style="color: #c00000;"> I have found that Catholics
had dropped this concept, like what they did to family planning. There is also another mystic thing in catholic church. it is "limbo" - a place for unbaptised infant souls. This has also lost its importance in due course of time in catholic teaching.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">P.S. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">In Christianity more discussions are on hell</span><span style="background: white; color: #c00000; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> While </span>in Islam it is their heaven or Jannah
which is much talked about subject - especially<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>between the</span><span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt; letter-spacing: 0.05pt;"> believers (mumins) and non-believers (kafirs).</span><span style="background: white; color: #757575; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<cite><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-size: 14pt;">Al-Qur'an</span></cite><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> 44:51-57<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">"Verily,
the </span><em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-size: 14pt;">muttaqun</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> (the pious), will be in place of security
(</span><em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-size: 14pt;">Jannah</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">). Among Gardens and springs dressed in fine
silk and (also) in thick silk, facing each other. So (it will be). And We shall
marry them to </span><em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-size: 14pt;">hur</span></em><span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> (fair
females) with wide, lovely eyes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<cite><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-size: 14pt;">Al-Qur'an</span></cite><span style="background: white; color: #666666; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"> 83:22-28<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #000033; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">They will
be given to drink of pure sealed wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: red; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">Of course,
more that the wine in golden cups, getting a share of 72 ever-virginal houris
(fair females with large eyes) is more tempting ..!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;">References:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WUBu4iDiY&t=377s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WUBu4iDiY&t=377s</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/05/160513-theology-hell-history-christianity/">https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/05/160513-theology-hell-history-christianity/</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/3/30/17179952/pope-francis-hell-vatican-interview-scalfari-italian">https://www.vox.com/2018/3/30/17179952/pope-francis-hell-vatican-interview-scalfari-italian</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-28280285870182940132020-02-23T23:35:00.002-08:002020-06-28T00:29:50.491-07:0063. MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT ... 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Latha","sans-serif";">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>DISTANCING FROM CHRISTIANITY</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">LINKS TO POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We inherit our religion from our parents. May be there are
some exceptions. But normally this is true - religion is birth or family-related
or inherited. Therefore, we imbibe the religious faith and rituals from very
early age. Normally what is imposed by the family and the background gets deep
into our mind as very strong and unquestionable faith. As I said earlier, even
questioning this faith is normally considered very uncouth and unnecessary.
Normally people do<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not dare to do it. They
always walk on the well-trodden good old path never wave from it. It was so for
me too, but only in the beginning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I started questioning my own faith, it was after a long
struggle with my internal force. I thought in those days how come a very normal
guy like me can question the Christian faith while I see day in and day out so
many scholastic theologians. When those knowledgeable persons accept faith so
completely, how can I refute the faith? It was very hard to come over this
stumbling block. But when I started questioning and finding my own truth,
things started becoming brighter and easier. The very first question was about
the free will of man and the will of god. I could find the incongruity of both
of these<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>going together. I, though very
hard in the beginning, accepted my conclusions on free will as stated earlier
(in previous post). Then came the second important question. Christians always
have a very strong conviction that prayer can make them achieve their wishes /
desire.. Prayer was considered as a powerful tool. I questioned that. I found
prayer and predeterminism<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of god were
again incongruous with each other. I found prayer only as a psychotherapy and
not more than that. It may give solace and some peace to human mind. There it
stops. Contrary to what <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians believed
prayer may not be a successful tool. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After I crossed over those first two
hurdles, I overcame the usual reluctance to probe further. Rather I became more
emboldened to question anything in religion. It became an academic interest. All
inhibitions disappeared which I had in the initial stages. During this time, I
set my own "Ten Commandments" as my disciplinary code. Of these ten,
the second commandment was: "YOU OPEN <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">YOUR</b>
OWN EYES". This commandment gave me the strength and guidance. I made up
my mind: anything can be questioned; better I open my own eyes and start seeing
things in that new light. These ideas filled my questioning, hungry mind. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One thing became very certain.
Whatever may be the religion, a person born and brought up in that religion
always strongly feels that his religion is the TRUE religion and starts to look
down upon the other religions. This animosity for other religions is widely
prevalent in the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
These three religions strongly emphasize this superiority and the people in
these religions grow with this idea strongly rooted in their minds. They always
keep their chins up thinking
their religion is the true religion and their god is the only true god. They never
think twice before insulting other religions. They call all the other religions
as pagan religions. Quotes to prove this: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #3d3d3d;">Isaiah 46:9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></b><span style="color: #3d3d3d;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #3d3d3d; padding: 0in;">remember the former things of
old;</span><span style="color: #3d3d3d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #3d3d3d; padding: 0in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for I am God, and there is no other;</span><span style="color: #3d3d3d;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d3d3d;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">I am God, and there is none like me,<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">1 Timothy
6:3-4. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>If anyone advocates a different doctrine</u></b> and does not agree with sound
words, those of our Lord Jesus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ,
and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>he is conceited and understands nothing</u></b>; but he has a morbid
interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which
arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions . . . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Matthew 7:26 <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But everyone who hears
these words of mine and does not put them into practice <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">is like a foolish man</b> who built his house on sand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This continuous search made me form a hypothesis: <span style="color: blue;"><u>It is
perfectly correct if a person says that his mother is a good cook; but if he
says that his mother is the ONLY good cook … well, then he has to be vehemently
protested and corrected. </u>T</span>his same feeling persists among the highly religious
people: they claim only their religion is true; and their god is only true
god.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They never hesitate to insult or
degrade other religious faiths. We love our parents. We love them despite their
shortcomings because they are our parents. This should be the mentality
regarding our religions too. Your religion is good since you were brought up in
it. In the same way for others their religion is good. This should be the real
spirit of religious acceptance. This is much better than the often much used
term, "religious tolerance". But in fact most of us are unable to see
beyond our religions and faith. We are simply taught that religions other than
yours are false or wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In reality it
is very hard to come out of this entrenched concept and almost impossible to
have a proper religious tolerance and acceptance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With this equanimity on different religions, I started to go
further in my search. The very first thing was the loss of faith in my
religion, Christianity. Christians attach so much importance to faith. The
religion itself never encourages "questioning" faith; it prefers
utmost faith, never questioning anything in the religious concepts, whether it
is the holy trinity, the birth of Jesus from a virgin, his crucifixion and
resurrection. Even the parables in Bible which were all praised so often became
highly questionable for me. I questioned even the very wisdom of those
parables. The countless 'miracles' postulated by Christianity became questions
to me. The list is long. Let us consider them one by one. </span></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-58174905530779758132020-02-16T02:54:00.002-08:002020-10-16T05:32:40.541-07:0062. QUESTION ON PRAYER ...3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Latha","sans-serif";">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b>QUESTION ON PRAYER</b></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">LINKS TO POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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RELIGION is a strong castle on a solid
rock, the FAITH. Pillars of religion are always deep rooted into that rock and
they are unassailable, unshakable and inscrutable for the BELIEVERS. What I did
was testing the pillars one by one. When I tested the pillar on - FREEWILL - it
wobbled.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My conviction is that free will of man
and omniscience of an almighty would never stand together. Any <i>one</i> of these two should alone stand. If
there is omniscience of god, free will becomes meaningless and defunct and vice
versa. This tussle I had explained in the previous post. That led to me to a
conclusion against what Christianity says. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first defiance of my faith has
pushed me to a next question: <b>Question
on prayer. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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It is always said by prayer you can
'make' god do what you ask for. Prayers are considered by Christians <o:p></o:p></div>
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only as a tool to get the mercy of
god. It is stressed that our daily life should be filled with prayers. But to
me there was one another incongruity - who stands as the winner - will of god
or human prayers? The following quotes proclaim the supremacy of god and his
will.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Proverbs 19:21<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="background: white; color: #262626;">“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the
purpose of the Lord that will stand.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Proverbs 21:1<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="background: white; color: #262626;">“The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the
Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Luke 12:7 <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b><sup> </sup></b>But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not
therefore …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Romans 9: 18 - 20<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Everything depends on what God decides to
do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.</span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span class="text">Someone may ask, “How can
God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?” </span><span class="text"><b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">20 </span></sup></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does
the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?</span></span><b><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Daniel 2:21<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
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<span style="background: white; color: #262626;">“He changes times and seasons; he removes
kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who
have understanding.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #262626;">Above quotes stress that everything is under the control and
wish of god. God's omniscience gets fully established by these quotes. But there
are another set of quotes wherein god's will gets deviated by ther prayers of
believers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Matthew 7:7</span></b><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ask and it will be given to you;<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> seek
and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i> </i><u>Proverbs 15:29</u><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Lord is far
from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-shading-themecolor: background1;">Mother Teresa</span></u><u><o:p></o:p></u></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222;">"God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there
is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against
evil."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Thomas Watson<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Prayer
delights God's ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a
praying soul.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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These above
quotes show how god yields to prayers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In our
childhood days, we were always taught that a crying hungry child alone gets fed
by its parents; in the same way by praying you get things from god. More so we
were taught that prayer always wins. 'Victory through prayer' has been the
often heard saying of Christian believers. Early morning prayer, fasting
prayer, whole night prayer .. varieties of prayers among believers. <o:p></o:p></div>
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These
beliefs raised a question. Prayer is
defined as a communication with god. You ask for it , you would get it. This is
what most Christians feel and believe in. In continuation of my question of
free will and predeterminism, god, the omniscient knows what would happen, when it would happen and all. Things were
pre-decided. If so, how come a prayer from a believer would make any difference
in his will? Things should happen as decided by god. So what do we get out of
prayer. With or without prayers omniscient's decision or 'His Will' would be
carried out. Even by praying a believer cannot make a dent in the predecided
plan of god. Right? If so why prayers then?! Let all be His will ! <o:p></o:p></div>
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In a light
hearted vein, I thought of the prayers of Jesus. Jesus had been shown in Bible
praying. But we never knew what he prayed for. But in Gethsemane he prays to
relieve him of the crucifixion. Only time when we know what he prayed. Was it
heard? Did his prayers change anything? If it is "<i>but as thou will</i>" (Mat 26:39) .. why pray then?<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Matthew 26:39</b> <b><sup>39 </sup></b>And
he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I
will, but as thou wilt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Mark 14:36</b> <span class="woj"><i><span style="background: white;">Abba</span></i></span><span class="woj"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">,<sup>[</sup></span></span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A32-42&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24791a" title="See footnote a"><sup>a</sup></a><span class="woj"><sup><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">]</span></sup></span><span class="woj"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> Father,”</span></span><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> he said, <span class="woj">“everything is possible
for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Luke
22<sup><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">42 </span></sup></b><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet
not my will, but yours be done.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Jesus prayed like
this 'to take this cup from him'. But god didn't !<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">P.S.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Well, when I posted
the above ideas in Tamil in my blog, surprisingly I got a comment from a
'fundamental' muslim that prayers of Prophet Esa were really heard by Allah.
Rest of the story goes like this: Gibrail (Gabriel) comes before Esa in </span>Gethsemane and commands Esa to run when he would be
about to be arrested by Roman soldiers. They would run through a cave. During
this, Esa had to scoop a handful of sand and hurl it on the face of a chasing
soldier. Then, that soldier gets the face of Esa and he gets arrested and goes
through the whole of Calvary and final crucifixion. The 'real' Esa escapes and
stands on a stone at the opening of the
cave. From there he is taken to <span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Jannah</span> or heaven
by angels. So prayers of Esa were heard and he gets what he prayed for!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hope this
post script would be interestingly new to many Chrisitians.<o:p></o:p></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-1108860034472705302019-03-22T10:04:00.002-07:002020-10-16T05:31:43.607-07:0061. THE FIRST QUESTION ON RELIGION(S) FREE WILL ...2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Latha","sans-serif";">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-size: large;">HE FIRST QUESTION ON RELIGION(S)</span></span></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial unicode ms" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">LINKS TO POSTS ON - MY RELIGIOUS TURNING POINT<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was a very "regular"christian. From childhood
I was brought up in that environment. I never missed Sunday masses. As a
catholic quite fervently attended novena. Attending novena for Mary of
Perpetual Help on Saturday evenings was so regular for years in my twenties.
Wearing my religion on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my sleeve was then
a pride. I defended Christianity and its principles and dogmas even with those
who could have their negative weight on my life. My god was my first. That gave
me that much audacity. I felt that i should defend Him. I thought it was my
birthright as a christian. Regular to the weekly confessionals till my late
thirties. There used to be some questions, now and then, but immediately threw
them off. Because, i thought, while so many learned people were deep believers
how could be a half-baked guy like me could raise questions on religion. Still
the number of questions started to grow more and more. So i started to pray.
"God! Give me the answers or at least spare me from such questions". <u>God
never heeded</u>. So my mind started taking a different route. It all started
in my early forties.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Though it started so explicitly at such an 'old' age,
'the beginning' of questions was from very early age too. <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">In our
childhood catechism classes, we were always discouraged to poke our noses to
find answers or explanations on some of the religious dogmas and faiths. Any
normal thinking person would have some questions raised in his mind when he is
taught one of the very important - and very elusive - dogmas, the Holy Trinity.
I too had it my early days. The list of course grew longer as time went by. The
list has:</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Holy Trinity</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Resurrection</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Who is the Christian god - the Father or Jesus,
his only begotten son?</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Parthenogenetic birth of Jesus</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Communion becoming the Flesh of Jesus during a
mass</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">How come a merciful god could create an eternal
Hell, to punish sinful souls?</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Human sacrifice Father wanted from Abraham.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Story of Abraham and his wife, Sara.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Some interesting and some "nasty"
stories in OT.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">The fearful, vengeful, jealousy and
tooth-for-tooth God of OT.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "symbol";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">Is there anything like fate?</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: black;">The forbidden fruit of Eden.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
lastly ...</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;">QUESTIONS ON</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;">FREE WILL OF MAN</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;">&</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white;">OMNISCIENCE OF GOD</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">Anybody who questions any of the above is always looked down
by theists. Probably the only reason for their ire could be the uneasiness we
put them in. Though Islamists say that they have answers for all questions from
their Holy book they would be evasive if we ask them about 'fate'. Their answer
usually is fate is Allah's matter or Allah's concern. Christianity goes against
very heavily on such non-believers who raise such questions. “The god of this
world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (</span><a href="https://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor%204.4"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Corinthians 4:4</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">). That is
the punishment (?!) for the unbelievers in Christianity.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">FREE WILL</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">Matthew 10:30</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";"> </span><span style="background: white;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/1161.htm" title="1161: de (Conj) -- A primary particle; but, and, etc.">And</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/2532.htm" title="2532: kai (Conj) -- And, even, also, namely. ">even</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/3588.htm" title="3588: hai (Art-NFP) -- The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.">the very</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/2359.htm" title="2359: triches (N-NFP) -- Hair (of the head or of animals). Genitive case trichos, etc. of uncertain derivation; hair.">hairs</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/3588.htm" title="3588: tes (Art-GFS) -- The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.">of</a> <a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/4771.htm" title="4771: hymon (PPro-G2P) -- You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.">your</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/2776.htm" title="2776: kephales (N-GFS) -- From the primary kapto; the head, literally or figuratively.">head</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/1510.htm" title="1510: eisin (V-PIA-3P) -- I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.">are</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/3956.htm" title="3956: pasai (Adj-NFP) -- All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.">all</a><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span><a href="https://biblehub.com/greek/705.htm" title="705: erithmemenai (V-RPM/P-NFP) -- To number, count. From arithmos; to enumerate or count.">numbered.</a></span><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Luke 12:7</span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"> Indeed,
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are
worth more than many sparrows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two quotes are from the New Testament. So <u>according to
Christianity God is an all-knowing entity:</u> that is omnipresent and
omnipotent. Omniscient in toto.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Usually
this is followed with a simple question. God ordered Adam that the fruit of
knowledge should not be eaten. Adam ate it. He had sinned. God became furious
but did not know (!) where Adam was. <span style="background: white;">But
the <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Lord</span> God called to
the man and said to him, “Where are you? (Gen 3 : 7) .... <span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">He </span>(God) said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have
you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Gen 3:
11)] </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">The questions:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" "symbol" "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "" "times new roman" "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">Did God
know that Adam would not abide his command?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" "symbol" "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "" "times new roman" "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">If yes,
then why did He give that command to Adam?</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">These questions are raised against the omniscience of God.
Had He known why did he give that order. Had he been omniscient Adam could not
have done that. So the story goes on ... with so many added questions.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Such a
discussion had been going on for very long, probably it started along with
earliest first believers. All along so many interpretations or explanations
have been provided by many theologians. Some of them are as follows - with my
comment within brackets.:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is
an apparent </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contradiction" title="Contradiction"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">contradiction</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> between God's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscience" title="Omniscience"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">omniscience</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and free will. This
problem is formally described as a </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox" title="Paradox"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">paradox</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> of free will or
theological fatalism. This <span style="background: white;">contends
that </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniscience" title="Omniscience"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">omniscience</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will" title="Free will"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">free will</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";"> are </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incompatible-properties_argument" title="Incompatible-properties argument"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">incompatible</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";"> .</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">Augustine</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";"> proposed that evil could not exist
within <b>God</b>, nor be created by <b>God</b>, and is instead a
by-product of <b>God's</b> creativity. ... He <b>believed</b> that
this evil will, present in the human soul, was a corruption of the will given
to humans by <b>God</b>, making suffering a just punishment for the sin of
humans. (God cannot create evil; but evil could be a by-product ...looks very
funny. Sounds so illogical.)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">Christians who were influenced by the teachings
of </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Arminius" title="Jacobus Arminius"><span style="color: blue;">Jacobus Arminius</span></a><span style="background: white;"> (such
as </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodists" title="Methodists"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Methodists</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">) believe
that while God is all-knowing and he still gives them the ability to choose or
not choose everything, regardless of whether there are any internal or external
factors contributing to that choice. (if so, does god know what the man would
do? Adam's case may be cited here.)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church
asserts that "Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will". It
goes on to say that "God created man a rational being, conferring on him
the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God
willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel. (If so man is
not under god's control; so god is not omnipotent?)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">The above said interpretations have not given a
direct and correct answer. They were mostly beating around the bush and very
much verbose. My contention has always been that no religion can answer
rational questions. When god has said that even hairs on a person's head are
numbered it simply means god is omnpotent and all that happens in our lives
were all under his control. In that case, there is no space for free will.
Assuming that god has given free will and man can handle things all by himself,
then god cannot be omnipresent, since god may not know what the man would do.
It was like Adam- God story. God said no to a fruit; but Adam ate that; then
god comes to know; then curses mankind to a hard and painful life.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "" sans-serif "" , "serif";">So the </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="background: white;">question still stands strong: can
omniscience and free will co-exist? The answer is simply "no"!</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">An extra information on free will in
Islam: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">P.S.: </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Disputes about free will in </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam" title="Islam"><span style="color: #0b0080; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Islam</span></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> began with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu%27tazili" title="Mu'tazili"><span style="color: #0b0080;">Mu'tazili</span></a> vs <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbali" title="Hanbali"><span style="color: #0b0080;">Hanbali</span></a> disputes, with the Mu'tazili
arguing that humans had <i>qadar</i>, the capacity to do right or wrong,
and thus deserved the reward or punishment they received, whereas Hanbali
insisted on God's <i>jabr</i>, or total power and initiative in managing
all events.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">***</span></span></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-86633433592373382732018-11-10T04:47:00.010-08:002023-06-19T09:05:05.635-07:0060. MY TWO BASIC QUESTIONS TO BELIEVERS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
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<span face=""Latha","sans-serif"">ஏனைய பதிவுகள்:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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1. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2018/11/60-dialogue-with-jim.html</a></div>
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2. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2019/03/61-question-on-free-will-of-man.html</a></div>
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3. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/62-question-on-prayer.html</a></div>
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4. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/02/63-distancing-from-christianity.html</a></div>
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5. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/03/64-distancing-from-christianity-2.html</a></div>
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6. <a href="https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html">https://sixth-finger.blogspot.com/2020/06/65-religious-turning-point-6.html</a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white;">Let me start with TWO questions:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background: white;">1. Some quotes to show what a tiny
piece is our earth in the galaxies:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">· <span style="background: white;">The number of </span><a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/universe/galaxy-hunters">galaxies</a><span style="background: white;"> cannot be counted—the observable universe alone
may contain 100 billion.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">· <span style="background: white;">The universe's largest known galaxies
are giant elliptical galaxies, which may be as much as two million light-years
long.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">· <u>The visible universe is about 98 billion light years in
diameter; and the diameter of the earth only about 0.04 light seconds.</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">· <span style="background: white; letter-spacing: -0.05pt;">Earth is a small tiny piece in our universes.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-large; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">We live on such a tiny speck of dust, a very little
thing in the universe. But <u>all our religions tell us gods come to this speck to
salvage the Homo sapiens,</u> even leaving out all other living things on this
planet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The two facts, earth being so small and gods select
only this planet, sound so illogical. <u>How come gods selected only this
part of universe to have all their funny games?</u> Who knows, they do
this in all habitable planets - I don't think this answer is suffice. <u>The
geocentric and anthropocentric ideas of all religions are highly questionable.</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2. <u>NO RELIGION IS UNIVERSAL</u>. All religions
are topographic-specific. Gods of a country go around only in that country and
never dare to visit other countries, let alone continents. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Greek gods roam around Greece; all hill tops in Greece
are their abodes. No Greek god appeared anywhere other than Greece.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><o:p></o:p>All
Hindu gods - innumerable in number - never crossed the borders of India. They
may be in Himalayas or in Cape Comerin, the southernmost end of India. They had
their flying fleet but never crossed our shores.<o:p></o:p>
Even to Sri Lanka Rama (man or god?) waded through a (Hanu)man made (sic)bridge!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Same goes true for all three Abrahamic religions - Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. They have a common big god - Jehova. But all happenings
detailed in Torah, Old and New Testaments and Quran were there only in the
Middle East. Leave alone the gods; even the prophets, ruling dynasties, and all
miracles like being swallowed by whales and regurgitated the live prophet after
three days; the Noah's arc .... you name any person or any incident
in these three holy books, all these men and matters belong to Middle East. Not
even a single prophet came from another country or continent. WHY?</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: blue;"><u>This just proves every religion is a localised entity</u></span>
and was the creation of the people of a specific country. Had there been one
god, it should have gone to all places of our earth to salvage all human
souls; <u>nothing should restrain the omniscient god to crossing oceans or
mountains ...<o:p></o:p></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #333333;"> ****</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u><span style="color: #333333;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #333333;">
<u>This post is open to all.</u> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #333333;"> All are welcome to have
a </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #333333;">
discussion on this. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #333333;"> The comment section would go
well </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-large;"><span style="text-align: justify;"> with further discussion with YOU!</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333;">*</span></div>
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-76236284734619708292018-11-10T03:48:00.000-08:002020-02-22T02:01:44.517-08:0059. SOME EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK ON MOTHER TERESA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-24146462996537033192014-03-19T10:21:00.000-07:002014-03-19T10:36:49.702-07:0058. ANOTHER POEM ON MY PATH <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You’ve
had a good life –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You’ve
left a maverick mark<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">On
the modern sands of education;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A
lot of people respect you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">A
lot of your students adore you; you’ve made a little of a lot of students,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You’ve
had French Café atmosphere times with the <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">
aroma of intellectual stuff<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">you’ve
enjoyed the world with your camera<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">you’ve
lived and loved and laughed till you cried.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So
be happy …. You ought to be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s
only a few people who could have enjoyed life like you did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
suppose you could have run other things too<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">May
be better than others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But
when, if you could have done it then<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You
can do it now too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">At
least <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
a different way, through a different role,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">With
or without official badges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s
the things done which matters, yes?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Do
it Sam. Make a difference<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Start
an organization like Cry – perhaps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Make
it work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Make
me more proud of you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Come
to think of it, for whatever little, it may mean to you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
never interacted like this, with anyone else<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
the whole of the universe,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
soul of Sam means the most to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Since
you came into my life,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Life
has become heady like champagne ( </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> I’ve
never tasted it but…)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
wish I could tell you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How
much I like you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Or
may be, just may be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You
feel the same way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
so you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If
at the end of life<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If
all souls are free and asked <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">To
choose their own heaven<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">If
God were to say to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">‘you’ve
been good,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">What
do you want?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I
would say – ‘Sam”!</span></div>
</div>
தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-39691395101999074952013-02-05T02:53:00.003-08:002013-02-05T03:11:45.858-08:0057. OCHAPPAN AND HIS LOVE FOR HIS MOTHER TONGUE <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ochappan is
the pseudonym of Henk, from Belgium. An ace photographer - not interested in
taking snapshots of our temples or our celebrations. Instead he likes to
capture the dynamic lives of people on the roads and at their homes. He is an
avid visitor of Madurai for the past two decades. Comes during our winter
months, roams around the rural Madurai photo-capturing lively and lovely
colour-filled scenes of our lives. Scanning his photographs will tell more
than<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a book could tell on our culture.
He likes Madurai and its people so much that he chose the Dravidian name,
Ochappan, whom he befriended in his first visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All his photos are known in this name rather
than<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in his own name! The name Ochappan
has been immortalised by him on a very high artistic pedestal through his
photographs in the internet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week we
had a chit chat. Talked about our countries and he projected the major
difference between our two cultures. He detailed how they were more linguistic
than us and protected their personal lingual entity and showed their love for
their mother tongue. On the contrast we have been keeping Tamil in a high ivory
pedestal with lovely adulations … as </span><span lang="TA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">கன்னித் தமிழ்<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>.. தெய்வத் தமிழ் ... தமிழன்னை</span><span lang="TA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> .. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">etc .. etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he questions whether we do the right thing to
our mother tongue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Following
are the questions raised by Henk / Ochappan to everyTamilian:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dear Sam,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Sint-Lievens College was founded in 1930 for the insight and the deployment of Lieven
Gevaert (Afga-Gevaert), an industrialist with an eye for social and Flemish
needs for Dutch school education. The pride of your
own mother-tongue, Dutch was the key for the revival of the
Flemish culture, dominated for years by French invasions and domination, which
chased away very famous Dutch writers from Antwerp (Belgium) to the
Netherlands. Nowadays Flanders grew out to a strong region at the top of world
technology, proud leaving behind the French hegemony.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Remarkable
reverse evolution happens in Tamil Nadu</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, people are dominated by the foreign language,
English. It is considered English-speaking ones are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the elite of Tamil society. Many such are not
able anymore to read or write their own mother-tongue Tamil,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>making<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>them <u>foreigners in their own land</u>, alienated from their own
culture, looking down on their origin and the common Tamilians as
lower caste, copying the English, and exploiting other non-English-speaking
Tamils in a worse way. They can't be called proud Tamilians anymore as they chose to
reject all Tamil values and its tradition and culture, not aware that they lost
their personal-identity. They may praise themselves lucky for the tolerance of
the majority Tamils.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only the
Tamil government can preserve their culture by making Tamil a compulsory medium
of education. Tamil is one of the oldest languages and still remains as a
spoken classical language, with its great Tamil culture, traditions and great
jewels of Tamil literature. The more languages you know the more cultures you
understand. But<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you have an identity
only when you master your own mother-tongue. A proud Tamil should know his
language and his culture.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Greetings</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Henk</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-9857140130342762372011-02-10T00:48:00.000-08:002011-02-10T00:48:12.963-08:0056. A POLITICAL HYBRID*<br />
Every morning a few points of my BP shoot up a little and then after one or two hours it comes down to its original state. My doctor suggested that I try to avoid this unnecessary hip hop of my pressure. The only way out is to stop reading the newspaper. What could an old retired guy like me do other than this everyday morning? Does it not become a routine part of our lives? Imagining the numbers of zeroes you have to add to the assumed amounts of corruptions makes anybody jitterybut it is a nice pastime! It is even more interesting than playing the sudoku! So I could not help but reading the news and playing a ‘deadly’ game with my blood pressure.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
But two days back a centre page news item made me feel so happy. I did not feel any usual head swinging after reading the paper. It was a different story. One centre page news item told that Italy is more corrupt than India – at least one step ahead. The country does not stop with that. The sexual exploits of the PM, which can be competed ball-for-ball by one of our own old governors, are really awesome. How can we, the normal human beings, try to feel envy of those ‘big people’ and their games? Italy’s PM not only enjoys his ball game with ‘under-age nymphets’ but also earns the support of half of the country’s poplulation. But I don’t know whether the sexual exploits and the support have any correlation. The story was long and very interesting, and challenging too for the Indian bahus.<br />
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<br />
<br />
With this joyous mood I closed the paper for the day. But suddenly another thought came to my mind. It was a sort of scientific query. It was about HYBRIDS. Dictionary says a hybrid is an offspring produced by two different varieties of parents. A question propped up in my mind. What would happen if there is some one as an ‘offspring’ of an Indian – Italian pair taking the prime post in India?<br />
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<b>Disclaimer:</b> This post without any picture is very dull. So just to add some ‘colour’ I am adding a few photos of known people. <b>Don’t connect the content of the post with the photos.</b></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://tinypic.com/?ref=30ic494" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic" border="0" src="http://i55.tinypic.com/30ic494.jpg" /></a></div>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-36860457679706341102008-07-25T11:22:00.000-07:002011-06-10T03:11:46.216-07:0055. AN OLD STORY RETOLD ...<span style="color: blue;">An Old Story:<br />
<br />
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.<br />
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">The following Indian version of the Old Story has been made by some sick mind and so it has to be corrected (உண்மைகள் அப்டின்னு ஒண்ணு இருக்குல்ல ) and retold:<br />
(The “original’ is in blue colour and the corrections are in red)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Indian Version</span><span style="color: red;"> retold:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.</span><span style="color: red;">(Long long ago .. so long ago .. the ants proclaimed from the tops of temples that they had come straight from gods’ some vital anatomical parts and hence they were more than normal humans; and prescribed that the destiny of all grasshoppers is only to serve the ants. They sapped all the fruits of grasshoppers’ labour and enriched themselves for millennia. The grasshoppers were forbidden from any type of learning for long by the ants… a real great strategy – to keep their work force in absolute ignorance. At the end of this story you will find the ants continuing this strategy still to this day!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.</span> <span style="color: red;">(No, instead, for long the poor, illiterate and enslaved grasshoppers toil and suffer, never even knowing their rightful place as ‘human beings’ in this society. Such was the way the ‘mantra of ants’ worked on the lives of the grasshoppers.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Come winter, </span><span style="color: red;">(Some great souls like Ambedkar, Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Periyar ... appear on the scene and infuse some sense of decency and rebellious mood into the grasshoppers.)</span> <span style="color: blue;"> the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.</span><span style="color: red;">(The voice of grasshoppers is slowly getting noticed.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">NDTV, BBC, CNN show up </span><span style="color: red;">(It should have been so different if these agencies do such a balanced act. But these agencies invariably run for and run by the ants project grasshoppers with least esteem. Who would forget the way these channels show cased the AIIMS issue? )</span><span style="color: blue;"> To provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.</span><span style="color: red;"> (அடப் பாவிகளா! )</span><span style="color: blue;"> The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?<br />
<br />
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.<br />
<br />
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.</span> <span style="color: red;">( They don’t spare even this lady! Anybody who cares for the downtrodden grasshoppers would become a laughing stock for these ants. Their only concern is their supremacy is never questioned and they always remain at the top of helm.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.<br />
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Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.<br />
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The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the<br />
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance.) </span> <span style="color: red;">(On the other hand grasshoppers have been always tutored that they can get ‘moksha’ only if they serve ants.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.<br />
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.<br />
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Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.<br />
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Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism<br />
Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.</span> <span style="color: red;">(If such things really happened the fate of grasshoppers would have improved a lot by now. முழுப்பூசணிக்காயை இப்படி மறைப்பதற்கும் ஒரு திறமை வேண்டும். இந்தத் திறமை antsகளிடம்தான் கொட்டிக் கிடக்குதே..)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.</span> <span style="color: red;">(<b>அப்படி வாங்கப்பா antsகளா வாங்க .. இதுக்குத்தான் வருவீங்கன்னு தெரியுமே! </b>This is what was said in the beginning – the <b>ancient and very original strategy of ants to forbid the grasshoppers from any type of learning – is continuing to this day.</b> When this scheme is threatened the ants feel that their ‘supremacy’ is at stake and rise as one against such proactive measures. நல்லா இருங்க’டே!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, it’s home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.</span><span style="color: red;">(ஒரு புரட்சி வந்து இப்படி நடந்திருந்தா, வேணுகோபால் & Co.வை வீட்டுக்கு அனுப்பியிருக்கலாம். Ants strongly feel that the higher institutions are meant only for them, the chosen and ‘meritorious’ ones. ) </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.<br />
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Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.<br />
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CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '<br />
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Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.</span> <span style="color: red;">(Ha! Didn’t the erstwhile B.J.P. government obstruct the issue of dalits to be taken to U.N.?)</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Many years later...</span> <span style="color: red;">( இப்படியெல்லாம் நடந்தா நல்லாத்தான் இருந்திருக்கும்; நடக்கலையே) </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">The Ant has since migrated to the US </span> <span style="color: red;">(you mean, deserter, preferring greener pastures? could be .. it is always said that they were afterall a nomadic group.)</span><span style="color: blue;">and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,<br />
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100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,</span><span style="color: red;"> (ha..ha… Hi dear ant! Have you not looked around you of late? It was true many ants migrated and became rich in the land of plenty. But of late the<u> <b>ants are outsmarted, outclassed and outnumbered by a variety of grasshoppers </b></u>in that land proving that <b>ants are in no way better than grasshoppers!!</b> Why go for onshore examples? Even in our motherland it is being proved time and again. Any doubt? <a 06="" 2008="" 500.html="" href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9D" http:="" payanangal.blogspot.com="" v”="">Better see this</a> It is just the tip of the iceberg…It is not the end; not even the beginning of the end; but just the end of the beginning for things to come.)</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">AND<br />
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the<br />
grasshoppers,</span><span style="color: red;"> (Is it not the other way round all these times?)</span><br />
.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">India is still a developing country…!!!</span><span style="color: red;">(Sadly it is true .. majority are the grasshoppers… and still a great number of them are to be lifted up from the murky depths into which they were thrown; they are to be shown a new humane way of life as equal to any other human being .. a lot to be done. But the major stumbling block is the ant and its விஷமத்தனம், மேட்டிமைத்தனம், ஆங்காரம் etc..etc..)<br />
But the days are not far off ……</span><br />
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<b></b><br />
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you need to see this post of Dr. Bruno also: <a href="http://payanangal.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_26.html"> a reality .. A POOR GRASSHOPPER .. help her </a>தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24313554.post-57267032576224501402008-01-22T23:38:00.000-08:002008-03-16T09:44:22.846-07:0054. AN OPEN LETTERThis open letter is meant to one Mr Eric in response to his article in Wall Street Journal.<br /><br />SEE MY TAMIL POST ON THIS <a href="http://dharumi.blogspot.com/2008/01/249.html">HERE</a>.<br /><br />Mr. Eric,<br />Happened to come to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB119889387595256961-lMyQjAxMDE4OTA4NDgwOTQzWj.html ">your article in WSJ</a> - - from the <a href="http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/18/stories/2008011853351000.htm">columns of P.Sainath</a>, the winner of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in The Hindu dated 18.01.’08 - <br /><br />It made an interesting read! <br /><br />Just wanted to make few comments:<br /> <br />- From your title I understand that you say that the Brahmins WERE at least once the fortunate lot and that has reversed now. <br /><br />- From the data in the table given by you and from the corrigendum to your article those ‘misfortunate’ lot are the RICHEST lot (65% and 50% respectively)<br /><br />- I understand that for your case study you have taken a poor teacher from the RICHEST group.<br /><br />- I request that you may consider to compare this poor teacher with another poor from the POOREST group, some one from the 91%. I am sure it would give some very interesting points for your future columns.<br /><br />- Since your name sounds different I take it that you are from a different culture. If so, I would like to request you to first understand the ground realities before you make your valuable comments in a journal of any kind. <br /><br />- There is a saying in my mother tongue, Tamil: “Some cry for sugar for their daily milk; while there are many who cry for salt for their sporadic gruel”. Your article was about an unfortunate from the former. Why not try to know somebody from the latter. Try. No harm.தருமிhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02446077904734676229noreply@blogger.com7