Torah on Stone Provides New Controversy

Ancient Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection
New York Times

JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

When David Jeselsohn bought an ancient tablet, above, he was unaware of its significance.
If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

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The real debate, in my opinion, is not the age of the stone or what is blurred on the edges, but the messianic statement about dying and rising on the third day. The statement, "...it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time," is the real story here, the one that could ignite the entire Christian world.

I would imagine that the 'spin doctors' in the church are already burning the midnight beeswax candles to save their interpretation of the 'uniqueness' of the death of Jesus. If these lines are not disputed and not fully spun, then many Christians will have lost their platform, their foundation for the claim that Jesus 'died and rose again on the third day.' At that point the life and death of Jesus becomes just one more great prophet who had a powerful message on how to live life fully.

To me personally, I don't give a hoot if Jesus rose from the dead; what he said during his living is most important. His message, like all of the great prophets, is not very complex: live simply, help and love others, and stand up for injustice where you see it.

Those Resurrection and Ascension scenes that were added after his death are unimportant unless one wants to have their faith moved upwards on the ladder to the one-true faith position. This oneupmanship, like a sports theme, has no place in the lives of people except by partisan fanatics who want their 'team' to be Number One!

Such is the game of religion. It will go on with the proper cheerleaders and the pompoms no matter what the 'facts' reveal. If people are comfortable with that, fine. Just don't try to cram it down our throats.

Facts Versus Opinions

It seems people have a difficulty of differentiating
a fact from an opinion. According to Webster an
opinion is a belief or a conclusion held with confidence
but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.
It is more of a personal judgment. An opinion is a
feeling, many times it is based on emotion, or its a
viewpoint. Direct opposite of a person's opinions are
facts. A fact is verifiable; it is real.A fact is based
on evidence; it is not something tobe surmised.It is proveable.

Facts are not debatable. There is no guess work in a
fact; a fact is known with certainty. Opinions are not
solutions to factual problems. Opinions are akin to
feelings. How often do we hear some discuss a problem
or an issue with "I feel that...", or "In my heart and in
your heart you know that I am right or this and that is
true, or "In your gut you know what the facts are and that
I speak the truth about..." These statements are nonsense.
They are the nature of animals. Animals react on instinct to
their feeling; humans do not. Humans have the ability to
think and to reason, and this is done by collecting facts and
then making conclusions. Opinions are not facts, as opinions
can come from many subjective and bias sources. Opinions are
generally logical inconsistencies. Therefore, not true.

Why does this Mike write such a long comment on homosexuality?
He has a religious bias which prevents him from seeing any
other side of a factual argument. He has chosen to block out
reason and the nature of humankind. Mike cannot face the
real facts of life and is forced to accept some unproven
supernatural force for his opinion or set of beliefs.

I am not suggesting that unsubstantiated viewpoints are not to
be tolerated. The Constitution of the United States demands
tolerance. That doesn't mean, however, we have to accept non
factual opinions. What of a person's comments are to be
considered worthy of consideration? What is a person's bias
when writing comments? Whose opinion is more valuable? Is it
my right to make the decision to cut off life support of a
terminally ill family member? Mine or a medical ethicist's
professional opinion? Should a religious belief be imposed over
my private opinion? Or that of a professional medical ethicist?
What of my right to have assisted suicide, if I so choose?
Should a religious law be passed forbidding me of that? Whose
value system is more important? One own's personal decision
or a societal decision? Or a societal decision based on some
one's religious beliefs? Who determines the common good?

This holiday weekend we have heard the words of Thomas Jefferson
often...Here are some more of his words that we should take to
heart: "If a nation expects to be ignorate and free...it expects
what never was and never will be." If we are to be ignorant of
facts and reality, "because the bible tells me so," a democratic
and free people cannot last. Freedom cannot exist because of
an opinion.....

Fundamentalist Christian Homophobia Outted

For the Bible Tells Me So is an excellent video available to rent through Netflix. My wife and I watched it last night and could not help but think of three families we know very well who have a gay son or lesbian daughter. Here is the trailer for the film [link]

This is not the first time I have blogged on this subject nor, I suppose, the last. The cruel ignorance of this knot of righteous people needs to be exposed at every available opportunity. The film focused on 5 families with gay or lesbian children as well as James Dobson's Focus on the Family. "This is a family values story," said one of the parents who stood outside of the headquarters of Dobson's compound. The family was attempting to deliver a letter to James Dobson and was arrested for 'trespassing' when they attempted to do so.

Two of the families are fairly well known. Congressman Richard Gephardt's family was featured along with the recently ordained first gay Episcopalian bishop, Rev. Gene Robinson. The struggle of the parents of the five children is documented as is their epiphany and acceptance of the lifestyle that their child has chosen.

Intermixed with this is the oh-so righteous sprinkling of fundamentalist Christians who 'know' what the Bible says. It turns out that they are ignorant about the Bible texts that flow freely from their foul mouths. One laughable scene is of a televangelist mispronouncing the word, 'abomination' by saying 'bom-nation.' Not only can he not speak proper English, he also is ignorant of the meaning of this term as the film points out.

One interesting line from the film is this: "There's nothing wrong with a 5th grade understanding of God as long as you're in the 5th grade." Ignorance was on display for all 90 minutes of this documentary. It was particularly difficult for one black woman who pointed out how the Bible was historically used to subjugate women and defend slavery, and now it is being used once again to victimize gays and lesbians.

The website, For the Bible Tells Me So, offers more information on the book and the film.

Mary Lou Wallner, one of the parents of a lesbian daughter featured in the film, founded TEACH MINISTRIES after the suicide of her daughter in February of 1997. "Mary Lou Wallner found herself faced with a spiritual journey to try to comprehend the events of their stormy mother-daughter relationship and the implications of her refusal to accept Anna's homosexuality." TEACH MINISTRIES goal is to educate about the consequences of homophobia.

Other sites dedicated to the defense and tolerance of the gay and lesbian lifestyles are listed below.

GLADD [Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation]

PFLAG [promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons]

The Human Rights Campaign [WORKING FOR GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER EQUAL RIGHTS]

The Trevor Project [nationwide around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for gay and questioning youth.]

Faith in America [The mission of Faith In America, Inc. is the emancipation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from bigotry disguised as religious truth.]

Zoriah Miller's Journalistic Blog on Iraq

Journalist Charges Censorship by US Military in Fallujah
by Dahr Jamail

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing.
On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials.

The explosion also killed two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including the mayor of the nearby town of Karmah, two prominent sheikhs and their sons, and another sheikh and his brother. All were members of the local “awakening council,” one of the U.S.-backed militias that have taken up arms against al Qaeda in Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

Miller was embedded with Marines on a patrol one block from the attack when it occurred. He had originally turned down the option of going to report on the city council meeting that was bombed.

Miller ran with the Marines he was with to the scene of the attack. “As I ran I saw human pieces…a skull cap with hair, bone shards,” he told IPS during a telephone interview from the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad. “When we arrived at the building it was chaotic. There were Iraqis, police and civilians running around screaming. Bodies were being pulled out of the building.”

“I went in and there were over 20 people’s remains all over the place,” Miller continued, “Of the Marines I jogged in with, someone started to vomit. Others were standing around, not knowing what to do. It was completely surreal.”

Miller was terminated from his duties with the Marines. The reason: The letter he was given stated reasons for his dismissal as “you photographed the remains of U.S. soldiers”, “you posted these images along with detailed commentary”, and “by posting the images and your commentary you violated 14 H and O of the news media agreement you signed”.

His blog: link

Patriotism: Property of the GOP

I had to laugh yesterday when I was 'reminded' that the REAL patriots in this nation belong to the GOP. It was a dopey reply on the WTAM Radio message board run by former Toledo radio jock Bob Frantz. Apparently the GOP knows about and is the exclusive home for American patriots.

Funny stuff, always funny on the right-wing. Slate.com posted an article about GOP patriotism today called, Wave the Flag: How the Republicans Claimed the "Patriotism" Mantle in Presidential Politics.

On the WTAM message board, hucksters from the GOP purport to be the real, true Americans and call those to the left of them cowards, un-American, and other sordid names. They love their jingoistic phrases as well. Today one of them told me that 'I love our enemies more than this country.' I'm not patriotic and 'I love to dance on the graves of our soldiers.'

Here's the odd thing: these jingoistic phrases along with 'We're bring'n freedom to Iraq' were used to propagandize the American people just before Shock and Awe on March 20, 2003. That terrible decision by the Bush/Cheney team has led to 4000 dead soldiers and more than 20,000 severely injured military men and women. The Afghanistan War, we read in today's paper, is going badly. One headline read: Outgunned in Afghanistan. How pathetic.

I often point out that the War on Iraq was a war of choice and that it took away our focus on the perpetrators of 9-11, the al Qaeda masterminds, and their allies the Taliban in Afghanistan. That angers some right-wingers. They don't like to be reminded that their man, the Republican George Bush, screwed up badly. As a result, they hide behind their faux patriotic jingoistic phrases and accuse me of not being a real patriot. The fools.

Rather than being real patriots, these people are stooges for the GOP. They proclaim to be such great Americans yet fail to analyze the awful mess that Bush created in Iraq while leaving Afghanistan to the Taliban and al Qaeda. Stooges for the GOP hiding behind the flag, not wanting to see the reality of a bad decision by a group of ideologues surrounding the President.

Patriotism- the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Fly Your Flags Findlay, But Close Your Mind

In Flag City USA, False Obama Rumors Are Flying is a Washington Post article on the folks in Findlay, Ohio. The poor souls: they would rather cling to their rumors than know the truth. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Read the article and see for yourself.

I wonder if 'flying the flag' absolves them from their stupidity? Lots of scoundrels throughout history flew the flag. The Nazis did and that is why the German people today are reluctant to fly their flags. In the small village from where my grandfather emigrated there isn't a flag to be seen. It isn't that they do not love their country, but they lived through the ugliness of the Nazis with their pomp, flags, hate and murder.

"Some Findlay voters rejecting the truth" is the subtitle of this story. Jim Peterman, featured in the Post story ' believes a smart vote is an American's greatest responsibility. Which is why his confusion about Barack Obama continues to eat at him.'

On the television in his living room, Peterman has watched enough news and campaign advertisements to hear the truth: Sen. Barack Obama, born in Hawaii, is a Christian family man with a track record of public service. But on the Internet, in his grocery store, at his neighbor's house, at his son's auto shop, Peterman has also absorbed another version of the Democratic candidate's background, one that is entirely false: Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Stupid stuff? Of course. Stupid people? No, but dumb to investigating the truth. No doubt that is why this city voted Bush/Cheney overwhelmingly in both elections. Don't confuse the people in Findlay with the truth; let them steep in the rumors and innuendo. They apparently feel more comfortable swimming in the sludge.

Bigoted Baptist Pastor Pens Ugly Anti-Gay Letter to Editor

"The wickedness of the homosexual movement is well documented in the Bible and history. Their sin has contributed to the spread of AIDS, hepatitis, syphilis, and myriad other diseases."

So says Pastor Russ Merrin of the Monclova Road Baptist Church.

"To the homosexual reading this letter, the world will not be there to hold your hand on death's bed. Christ is the only person you can go to get true forgiveness and peace. It is Christ who will forgive you and restore you when you repent and believe in His shed blood and His resurrection."

What a hatemonger! By the way, this church is one of those behemouth structures built in the farmlands of suburbia. Lots of white folks out there.

A pastor like Merrin surely draws big crowds- people who want to know that they are righteous and those 'other people' are the sinners. No doubt the good pastor tells them how good they are and, by the way, will the ushers pass the basket.

Jesus would vomit if he knew how his message was corrupted by narrowminded jackasses like Merrin. I hope the money keeps pouring in, pastor, so that you can expand your school and teach even more little children the hate that is in your heart. Do the little children sing, "Jesus loves me this I know....but if I'm gay oh NO, NO NO!"