Saturday, June 06, 2009

"Four Challenges to Darwin's theory on Evolution": ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN

A message from Dr. Terence Meaden to all members of ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN on Atheist Nexus!
Here's a new topic, already being well answered: "Four Challenges to Darwin's theory on Evolution" (Posted by Kwok Fong Lo, 6 June 2009).
Visit ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN at:
http://www.atheistnexus.org/groups/group/show?id=2182797%3AGroup%3A109911

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Christ Conspiracy Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible

Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible
"At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries."
"Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place. There's no proof Jesus physically rose from the dead, and the resurrection stories contradict one another, he says."
- Bart Ehrman
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/15/bible.critic/index.html
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[TC-Alternate-list] Sinaiticus Font

Jack Kilmon,
Thanks! I aspired to give the G.U.A.M. a more early-papyrus-scriptish look than the characters in Sinaiticus provide, but your Sinaiticus font is bound to come in handy in the course of some other projects I hope to undertake. Again, many thanks!
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Christ Conspiracy Roger Ebert on the Christ Myth





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Interesting - in this blog of movie critic Roger Ebert, someone comments about my work, and he responds, basically stating that he is an evemerist, although not using that term.

He says, "I believe there was a historical man named Jesus. That whether or not some of his teachings were attributed to him after bis death, they are largely teachings I agree with. That the Sermon on the Mount contains the essence of them. That his life story seems to reflect then-existing archetypes...."


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[TC-Alternate-list] Tregelles New Testament (TNT): an exercise in scribal error

Tyndale House at Cambridge University has released a downloadable (for some) edition of Tregelles' 1879 Greek New Testament. Here is what they say about why this publication is still applicable today:
http://www.tyndalehouse.com/Download/IntroductionTregelles.pdf
"Why would one bother with a Greek New Testament printed in the 19th century? Has it not been superseded by improvements, new discoveries, and a finer methodology? Is this text not simply a relic from the past, with mere curiosity value, but of no further importance?
"First of all, in order to understand where the textual criticism of the New Testament is at the moment, it is of crucial importance to know how we arrived at this point. The principles Tregelles laid down, and the result of these principles (alongside the evidence he provides for and against his choice of text), are part of the history of the discipline and form an important contribution to that discipline.
"Secondly, even after 150 years, Tregelles's edition pays attention to variants that are not recorded in the Greek New Testament mostly used in the universities and seminaries, the Nestle-Aland 27th edition. Many of these variants are not yet covered by any of the current major projects in the textual criticism of the New Testament (though many of these will be found in Tischendorf's edition and the work by Von Soden). Though it is likely that this situation will change in the coming decades, there is still real value in the collection of the evidence.
"Thirdly, independent voices need to be heard and not forgotten. It happens all too often that students of and commentators on the Greek text find safety in the consensus text, tacitly accepting the methodology and assumptions of the day. Dissenting voices from the past such as Tregelles, who earned the right to be heard by means of his long exposure to and interaction with the evidence and methodology of the discipline, can guard us from a misplaced confidence.
"Fourthly, Tregelles can arguably be described as a theologically conservative scholar. There is a sense in which this conservatism shines through in his method. Tregelles had come to the conclusion that any speculation and reliance on a constructed history of transmission was a dangerous thing to do, but that the only sure ground for establishing the text of the New Testament was to limit oneself to what can be seen in the manuscripts as surviving artefacts. Tregelles combined this notion with his conviction that theology should follow from the text, and that therefore he stood under an obligation to print the text established to the best of his abilities."
This last point is perhaps the most important for me. While I will not necessarily agree with SPT's conclusions or even his approach, the fact that they were couched in a firm belief in the authority of the Scriptures speaks volumes.
That being said, it is also interesting to see Tyndale House's frenzied but futile attempts to eliminate scribal errors in this edition--they couldn't even avoid making one in the process of writing two sentences about how hard it was:
"It turned out harder than imagined to avoid transcriptional errors. . . . These two transcriptions where then compared against each other and the differences were reconciled."
The very defects Tregelles' text exihibit, having been typeset 150 years ago, are with us still:
"Tregelles used a series of identical printings of the then standard text of the Greek New Testament (the Textus Receptus) as the basis for his collation of manuscripts and ascertaining the text of his edition. It is almost inevitable to avoid errors caused by this base text shining through, and these are particularly visible in the errors of the printed edition. . . . And in Luke 19:41 we find the conflated reading &#7952;&#960;&#8125; &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#8132;&#957; (EP AUTHiN), a combination of the reading of the Textus Receptus, &#7952;&#960;&#8125; &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#8134;&#837; (EP AUTHi), and the reading Tregelles must have preferred, &#7952;&#960;&#8125; &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#8053;&#957; (EP AUTHN).
"The procedure that was followed was to have two people, independent of one another, adjust existing electronic editions towards what was seen on the photographs on screen. . . . Neither electronic text proved to be completely free of accentual errors. . . . After this a print out of the transcription was compared against the actual printed text which resulted again in the correction of details that were missed at the first stage. Finally, a last proof reading of the transcript was made in conjunction with the "Table of Changes and Corrections to TNT" in which special attention was given to issues of accentuation and consistency. Especially in this phase, the expert knowledge of Dr P.J. Williams filtered out a considerable number of glitches."
And all types of scribal error are likely present, even orthodox corruptions in the TNT2 redaction:
"I am all too painfully aware that the TNT and TNT2 we are releasing will contain some errors in transcription of some accents, punctuation, and possibly even of a word or word order."
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Daniel

[JesusMysteries] Who Crucified Jesus?

Hi Richard Godwin,
The Pauline gospel consists of "Christ preached," (1 Cor. 15:12) and Christ portrayed (Gal. 3:1). There is not a single appeal to an eye witness for any "fact" of the life of Jesus. Other than vision and revelation, no one has any knowledge of Christ. Where are the thousands of followers who ate miraculous meals at his behest, listened to him preach, welcomed him to Jerusalem in the triumphal entry? Paul must have avoided them like the plague if the tradtional story is true. Paul must have stopped his ears and hummed loady to never know that Jesus had (supposedly) been known as a great healer, and had cast out legions of demons. Richard, something is stinky fishy in the orthodox beliefs regarding Jesus and Paul.
Who were his parents? Paul doesn't know. Where was he born, where did he die, was he buried in a tomb or eaten by dogs? Don't ask Paul. It is as if Paul and Jesus were from different planets.
The Pauline crucifixion does not mention Pontius Pilate, or the Jews, or King Herod; so it doesn't do a thing to advance the case of historicity. The Rulers that are said to crucify Jesus are as much adrift in otherworldliness as Jesus himself.
The "Lord of Glory" was crucified by unnamed "Archons of the Aeon". 1 Cor. 2:8. There are no historical anchors in the Pauline corpus as to when or in which realm Jesus was crucified. See "Who Crucified Jesus?" by Earl Doherty, http://home.ca.inter.net/oblio/supp03.htm
Jesus is written of as crucified in the Pauline corpus, but not in a historical context.
None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:8. A similar scene is found in the _Ascension of Isaiah_ chapter 9,
http://tinyurl.com/7vx2z .
There is no indication that Jesus was crucified in the Pauline writers' recent past. In fact, the opposite is indicated. "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past" Romans 16:25.
Jesus redemptive deeds were either done in a higher realm or the primordial past. The revelation of these deeds was through the preaching of the gospel in the writers' present time.
Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: Col. 1:26.
The oldest known interpretation of 1 Cor. 2:8 is that of Marcion (Against
Marcion Book V). Marcion taught that Jesus was crucified by spiritual archons, minions of the Demiurge. Tertullian's argument is clearly secondary to Marcion's, and was only fashioned contra-Marcion, but has become the standard orthodox apology ever since.

But because (the apostle) subjoins, on the subject of
our glory, that "none of the princes of this world
knew it for had they known it they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory," the heretic [Marcion]
argues that the princes of this world crucified the
Lord (that is, the Christ of the rival god) in order
that this blow might even recoil on the Creator ... it
properly enough was unknown to all the princes and
powers of the Creator, on the principle that servants
are not permitted to know their masters' plans, much
less the fallen angels and the leader of transgression
himself, the devil Himself.
Tertullian Against Marcion Book V
http://ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-03/anf03-35.htm#P7393_2130388

The Redeemer in Gnostic myth, (Christos/Chrestos), descends incognito through the spheres, and fools the archons by taking on the appearance of the beings appropriate to each realm, and gains passage through each Archonic gate by means of secret passwords. When he emerges from the last gate, he begins to preach, and is put to death in ignorance by the demiurge and his minions.

Jake Jones IV

Christ Conspiracy Answers in Genesis: Atheists more likely to commit murder





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Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Christ Conspiracy NBC Skips Islamic Conversion of Shooter, Trip to Yemen | NewsBusters.org





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[TC-Alternate-list] Coming Soon: Planned Projects for TC-Alternate

Coming soon, God willing:
(1) The complete Greek Uncial Archetype of Mark. Chapters 1-14 are already available.
(2) A Greek uncial text of Jude alongside an English translation, with a few text-critical footnotes. Waitaminute; this is already online, as of today! This is a vestige of some work I did on Jude years ago with another researcher. (I wish I could get that Greek uncial font I made to work on the new computer.) The reading in verse 5 does not reflect my thinking; I favor "KURIOS" not "IHSOUS," and suspect that the origin of the "_IS_" variant depended on a sloppy copyist writing a two-stroke "K" with the bar separated from the rest of the letter. But the evidence is finely balanced; Wasserman prefers KS; the ESV adopts IS.
(3) A short essay on how numerals were represented in Greek.
(4) A collection of links to the many valuable and useful text-critical resources at Google Books and Archive.org .
If there is some resource that is not yet provided, please make your wishes known. Or if you have a resource and would like it to be available to others in the Files, send it on over for consideration!
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.

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Superconsciousness Wikipedia Bans Scientology Church?s Edits





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Are they going to ban edits on Islam Wiki from Muslim countries? What about all the Christian entries? Anything on Israel?

That being said, the Scientologists can be very annoying - and litigious. I'll be surprised if we don't see a lawsuit over this decision.








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Superconsciousness Frank Schaeffer: How I (and Other "Pro-Life" Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller'

How I (and Other "Pro-Life" Leaders) Contributed to Dr. Tiller's Murder

Frank Schaeffer
New York Times best-selling author
Posted: June 1, 2009 12:34 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/how-i-and-other-pro-life_b_209747.html

The interesting point, I think, is that by labeling abortion equivalent to Hitler's Germany, "whatever tactics would have been morally justified in removing Hitler would be justified in trying to stop abortion." The usual scenario goes something like this (I'm thinking of The Dead Zone movie): if you knew back then what you know now about Hitler, would you assassinate him? This is hindsight morality. Back then, "God" did not feel it necessary to tell anyone about the future devastation of Europe and the slaughter of the Jewish people. Further, time travel is not allowed, so there would be absolutely no possible way that such a situation would ever arise, thus using this moral criterion of an imaginary and absurd scenario as a basis for action in the present inevitably leads to tragedy.

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Monday, June 01, 2009

Keyword News: [atheism]



Monday, June 01, 2009 6:21 PM PDT


Comment: Nothing is more certain than uncertainty
eFinancial News Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:07 PM PDT
Geoffrey Berg, the author of a new book that claims definitively to back atheism, held press conferences last week to argue that God cannot exist because the universe is too uncertain for his existence to be tolerated. If that is so, then is it also too uncertain for anyone to decide whether deflation or inflation is the greatest threat to the global economy?






See more news stories that match my keyword






Sunday, May 31, 2009

Christ Conspiracy Alice Bailey, Madam Blavatsky and Theosophy

Some Christian fanatics have been spreading libel, slander and assorted other falsehoods and smears against me and others. I've already addressed these issues, both in writing and on radio. Like many net rumors, these lies continue to fester among those not interested in facts and doing actual research and study for themselves. Maybe these folks only understand shouting?
I HAVE NEVER READ ANY OF ALICE BAILEY'S WORKS, NOT EVEN A PARAGRAPH. I HAVE QUOTED BLAVATSKY ONLY A FEW TIMES IN THOUSANDS OF PAGES. ALICE BAILEY HAS HAD NO INFLUENCE WHATSOEVER ON ME OR MY WORK. NOR HAS BLAVATSKY OR THEOSOPHY IN ANY SIGNIFICANT MANNER. I HAVE ALREADY PROVED THAT THE CONCEPTS I PUT FORTH IN MY WORK CAME FROM SOURCES LONG PREDATING THE ERA OF BLAVATSKY. THESE SOURCES INCLUDE NUMEROUS ANCIENT PRIMARY SOURCES AND THE WORKS OF HIGHLY CREDENTIALED MODERN AUTHORITIES IN RELEVANT FIELDS.
THESE SMEARS REPRESENT UTTER FALSEHOODS FROM RELIGIOUS FANATICS WHO CONTINUE TO IGNORE THE FACTS AND ARE WILLFULLY BEARING FALSE WITNESS BY SPREADING DEFAMATION, LIBEL AND SLANDER. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THOSE SPREADING THESE SMEARS AND LIES HAVE NEVER READ MY WORK TO ANY SIGNIFICANT DEGREE, IF AT ALL.
It's clear these individuals understand that throwing manure up against the wall is bound to stick to some degree. But, that's all it is - dung.
D.M. Murdock/Acharya S
http://TruthBeKnown.com
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http://FreethoughtNation.com

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Randigram for May 30, 2009

James Randi Educational  Foundation
May 29, 2009

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JREF Activities & Events

http://www.amazingmeeting.com
  • TAM 7 registrations are growing daily, but there's still space for you. Join us!

More TAM London tickets available!

tamlondonsmallWhen the JREF opened up registration for TAM London (our critical thinking conference to be held on October 3-4 of this year), the response was literally overwhelming: the server and database both freaked out. Now that the dust has settled and we've confirmed how many people got tickets, we have a pleasant bit of news: more tickets are indeed available!


Rather than simply do a first-come-first-served offer, which can be biased towards some time zones over others, we have opted instead to have an email lottery. Here's the deal, as enumerated on the TAM London website:
1) Send an email to tickets@tamlondon.org from the email address you wish you register. You don't have to put anything in the email (unless you really want to), the subject and body won't be read.
2) You will receive an automated response confirming you've been added to the database.
3) 25 email addresses will be chosen at random on Sunday 7th June. If yours is chosen, you will be notified by email no later than Monday 8th June 2009 with a link to buy a maximum of two tickets.
4) Your purchase link will expire after two weeks. If you have not made a purchase after that time, another email address will be drawn.
There's more info on the website, including terms and conditions, so PLEASE go there before sending in your email. This deadline is a little over a week away, so get cracking! And remember, you can keep up with TAML on Facebook, Twitter, and through RSS.



SWIFT Digest
The official blog of the JREF, here are this week's entries:

This week's topics include:

Don't Read My Lips

"When you run your hands through your hair like that it makes me think you're flirting with me," a colleague said recently.
I replied, "Maybe I'm not flirting, but I'm getting my hair out of my eyes, or detangling my hair, or it's a nervous habit, or I have dandruff, or I'm readjusting my wig."
Someone's been reading those self-help books about so-called "Body Language"…
Linguistics, kinesics and semiotics are among the disciplines that attempt to observe and describe gesture and other forms of non-verbal communication.
On the other hand (excuse the pun), Body Language "experts" claim they can "read" posture, facial expressions, and other body movements. But people try to conceal their thoughts and emotions, and our own bodies reveal too much. It's a conspiracy.

Read more


Skeptic's Toolbox: Enlightenment in Eugene

skepticstoolboxIn 2004, I attended my first Amaz!ng Meeting at the Tuscany Hotel in Las Vegas. It was an event that changed my life. Hungry for more, I subscribed to Skeptic and Skeptical Inquirer, and it was there that I found an advertisement for something called "The Skeptic's Toolbox."
This event has been held for the last twenty years at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Led by skeptic, scholar and magician Ray Hyman, The Skeptic's Toolbox is an intense weekend devoted to a single aspect of skepticism. This year's topic: "The Scientific Method." August 6-9 is going to be an interesting weekend in Eugene.
From the site:
Skeptics believe that unusual claims should be backed by evidence which is supported by sound scientific method. However the status of science and the existence of scientific method are currently highly controversial issues. Cynics argue that scientific method does not, and cannot, yield objective outcomes. Indeed, they argue that all scientific knowledge is relative to a given culture or social group.

Read more


Illusion/Delusion





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