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Northern
Ireland Violence Subsides, Maybe
Whistles
and air-horns marked a first step towards a reduction in the
violence launched by protestant militants upon
mothers and their children walking to a catholic girls' school
which had been plagued by stone-throwing, obscenity-ranting,
and a bomb in the preceding 3 days.
However,
peace is not exactly all that it might seem. Catholic parents
of girls attending the school at the center of the dispute said
they had received death threats from the opposition.
Death
threats -and- peace ... it seems the "lord", if one
wishes to pretend it exists, works in mysterious ways ...
Meanwhile,
the week is not done, and there remains the threat of harassment
/ violence.
Sources:
New
Species' Genes Near One Another
Per
a recent scientific study, genes involved in division into separate
species are located close to one other. Genes that lie close
together appear to change together, causing very rapid evolution
and speciation (after hundreds or thousands of generations).
Source:
Speciation
Reference:
Humans
May Be the World's #1 Evolutionary Force
Humans
are almost always involved in rapid evolution in the modern
day and age. As evidence, much of the environmental damage which
humankind is dealing with has been the direct or indirect result
of the consequence of human interaction with that which is the
state of our natural world..
Source:
- World
Scientist / AP [link inactive]
'Black
Wave' Could Sweep Universe, End Everything
The
bad news is that, according to a physicist, the universe could,
at any moment, turn inside-out, yielding all that we know a
has-been in the scope of space and time.
The
good news is that the odds of this happening are, according
to the physicist, somewhere along the lines of 169 million million-to-one
or the equivalent of winning two consecutive lotteries ... perhaps,
not very consoling to fans of lotteries, but nevertheless, not
bloody likely.
Also
of interest, the calamity which we know has beset our planet
from time-to-time, comets and asteroids ... worth worrying about
and protecting against, if one is into such things, as it were
...
Source:
- Independent
News [link inactive]
Christianity
In a Funk
United
Kingdom christianity just isn't what it was once cracked up
to be, at least not according to the head of catholicism in
Wales and England
Per
his view, music and new age and occult practices have replaced
christianity as far as something people could trust. Of note,
items such as open-minded search for verity, refusal to submit
to myth and delusion, recognition that religions are a crock,
and other like-minded items were missing from the head of catholicism's
list of items of concern.
Source:
Guru
No More
French
authorities demolished a 107 feet high statue devoted to a former
guru and messiah. Devotees chained themselves to the statue.
Nevertheless, French law with less than a receptive attitude
towards "new" cults prevailed, and the devotees were
cast aside.
Source:
- BBC
- Miami
Herald [link inactive]
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WWJD?
What
Would Jesus Do?
Per
the new testament, he offered no cures for any diseases. Oh,
he magicked up some hocus pocus, reminding one of faith healers
in the modern age, but cures other than "please god, help
me"? Nope.
Per
the new testament, he did nothing that good humans had not figured
out long before he arrived, as 1) son of god claims / myths
were widespread in that part of the world, and 2) pro-human
concepts were promoted by wide groups of people, both rulers
and the ruled, before he arrived and here, 2,000 years later,
pro-human folks of all faiths and non-faiths are still persevering
in that effort, yours truly included.
Oh,
by the by, really helpful suggestions for how humans could use
science to cope in a natural world, easing pain and suffering,
suggestions that would have saved hundreds of millions of lives
and would have made for a convincing case that the mythical
J was real rather than imaginary? Sorry, WWJD? Nothing.
The
fit? Made up stuff by creative writers based on the multitude
of son of god and christ and hero superstitions and myths and
religious and secular goings on in the day and age of the cross-fertilized
cultures of that region of the world, no more, no less.
Around
400 years prior to the christ myth charade, Alexander the Great
did conquer an area from far west of Egypt, thru Egypt, Judea,
Turkey, the fertile crescent, Persia, present-day Pakistan,
up to the plains north of Afghanistan, and down to the edge
of India.
My,
my, now that's quite an array of cultures and myths and religions
and superstitions that the Greeks were exposed to, from ancient
Egyptian and Persian and other Middle Eastern deities / cultures
to Zoroastrianism to Hinduism to Buddhism, mixed in with the
myths and religions from their own culture ...
One
of Alexander's many establishments? Alexandria in Egypt, a center
of Jewish settlement and the first translation of Jewish scriptures
into Greek.
After
exposure to and influences upon / by Roman culture, around 400
years after Alexander's conquests, surprise, surprise, the new
testament gospels were written in Greek, wrapped in myths /
superstitions / secular goings on from (see above) ...
Per
the new testament ...
Genealogies
of Jesus from Matthew and Luke (David to Jesus)
Those
who are not with Jesus are against him.
Those who are not against Jesus are for him.
If
Jesus bears witness for himself, his witness will not be true.
Jesus bears witness for himself, yet his witness is true.
Jesus
came to bring peace. Jesus did not come to bring peace.
There
are some things that Jesus lacks the power to do. Jesus is all-powerful.
Per
the Old Testament, honor your parents.
Per the Jesus of the New Testament, disrespect and hate your
parents.
Jesus
was silent in his trial before Pilate. Jesus made lengthy speeches
in his trial before Pilate.
Both
thieves reviled Jesus. Only one thief reviled Jesus.
The
disciples were frightened when they saw Jesus. The disciples
were gladdened when they saw Jesus.
Jesus
judges everyone. Jesus judges no one.
It
is possible to fall from grace. It is not possible to fall from
grace.
Jesus
said that he'd return before his disciples can preach throughout
Israel. Jesus said that he'd return after the gospel is preached
throughout the world.
No,
the gospel is not to be preached to the Gentiles and Samaritans.
Yes, the gospel is to be preached to everyone, including the
Gentiles and Samaritans.
Christians
must obey the laws of the Old Testament. Christians are not
bound by Old Testament laws.
Humans
are to serve God only. Some humans must serve other humans.
The
true followers of Christ routinely perform the following tricks:
1) cast out devils,
2) speak in tongues,
3) take up serpents,
4) drink poisons without harm, and
5) cure the sick by touching them.
-
- -
Of
course, if you're a Muslim, 'tis a different Jesus myth we're
dealing with ...
28
verses of Jesus in the Quran...
If
you're a Jew or a Hindu or a Buddhist, 'tis different Jesus
myths we're dealing with, but that's a topic of discussion for
another day ...
Sources:
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