Friday, June 26, 2009

RE: Superconsciousness Skeptic Mangles ZEITGEIST (and Religious History) - Again!

Posted by: "John F. Felix DIAGroup" jffelix61@
Date: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:57 am ((PDT))

Dispraxis writes:

I hate when my e-mail address is in the subject line! Anyway...

Unfortunately (?) I don't subscribe to the Skeptic mag, only the e-newsletter. Back when Acharya posted a link to the original Callahan article (http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic09-02-25#feature), her rebuttal (http://stellarhousepublishing.com/skeptic-zeitgeist.html) and Callahan's re-rebut here: (http://www.runboard.combiblicalprophesyandmythology.f22.t91), I was assaulted by such statements from Callahan as:

'Of course I avoid the "Testimonium Flavianum," bacause I know it's a forgery. You're faulting me for this?
As far as I know, there is no reason to see the James passage as a forgery, while there is every reason to see the so-called "Testimonial" as a forgery.'

Would you trust a document with an admitted forgery in one place, in any other place? And there *is* "reason to see the James passage as a forgery," from two other source besides me, but I won't bore the group with my own theories, yet Earl Doherty thought of it as a possibility (see also Suns of God), because in the very same section of Josephus, the (ex) high priest Jesus is mentioned, so either "the one called Christ" is an interpolation, or it is a reference not to any Messiah, but to Jesus the high priest who was removed from office, and who could be seen as the one "annointed," or the true high priest, in contrast to the new one seen as an illegitimate pretender. Or maybe Christians have been unknowingly worshipping Jesus the ex-high priest for two millenia!

And after seeing Tim debate Christians on video, I'd say that his problem, IMO, with Acharya is that he is not knowlegable enough to debate such issues as the dying-resurrecting god motif with a Christian scholar, and she no doubt in my mind is, so she is perhaps seen both a rival and as an object of envy. since he's promulgating basically the same ideas, but lacks the in-depth knowledge to present a coherent and evidence-based case. One point he was asked to provide scholarly-accepted evidence for Dionysus' resurrection pre-dating Christianity. I thought I could almost tell he wanted to quote sources that probably Acharya is the only one ever to cite, but he just couldn't do it. :)

After listening to Acharya speak and reading a great deal of her books and posts, I know that she can get worked up, but Callahan accuses her of savagely attacking people who don't agree with her, but I can honestly say, this is a misinterpretation. What irks her, I believe, is how people seem to hold on to a belief or opinion or factual interpretation in the face of such overwhelming evidence in support of the mythicist position, not even mentioning the prominence of astrotheological sources at the basis of all religions. So, to me, it seems more frustration than anything else, especially when I can clearly detect from her many posts how tiring it must become to possess such erudation and have to argue against the same uninformed attacks everyday.

Now, concerning the Jesus Project, of which I knew nothing about, I read on their website that they expanded their focus into Quranic studies, and since I don't know all the details of the unfortunate abduction of your kid, I was thinking that their move was motivated because of your apparent anti-Islamic public positions, i.e., for political rather than any other stated "official" reasons they may have offered, but I'm speculating.

John F. Felix

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Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Dispraxis was edited

Recent changes on Dispraxis

Page Damascus Document Sneak Peek

edited by John F. Felix (diagroup@)
The Dead Sea Scrolls interlinear
The "sneak peek" is now available here in .pdf format:
(Use your browser back button to return here.)
The Damascus Document (CD)
The Damascus Document (Covenant of Damascus) was known from the Cairo geniza before the discovery of the DSS in the caves of Qumram. Considered by the supposed Qumram sect as extremely important to their religious way of life, it probably began as a religious treatise expanded to include rules and commentary for the group over a span of time.
This new interlinear
Fortunately there are e-texts available for the DSS sectarian documents. I am eagerly awaiting the release of an e-text of the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, due sometime soon (I hope). However, there is as yet no good electronic wedding of the DSS to an English interlinear or translation, although there are two popular print English translations recommended:
The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation, Revised Edition by Michael O. Wise, Martin G. Abegg, Jr., and Edward M. Cook, HarperSanFrancisco, 1996, 2005.
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, Revised Edition by Geza Vermes, Penguin Books, 1962-2004.
Each version above is represented in this interlinear sneak peek, which are for my own use. The third column is my own translation.
About the sneak peek PDF file
The DSS are not arranged into chapter and verse, but rather column and line, so the system has been altered in the Excel file used to produce this text. The Hebrew or Aramaic is unpointed, but pointed lexical entries are given, as well as the GK numbers, if applicable, and I am also disambiguating the Louw-Nida numbers.
This interlinear is literally pressing the limits of what I am capable of as an amateur Biblical scholar!
The CD Interlinear and this page Copyright (c) 2009 by John F. Felix. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Re: Superconsciousness Link shared by dispraxis

If you get that article by Callahan, send it.

Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic. "

http://www.skeptic. com/the_magazine /

[Message sent by dispraxis@ via AddThis.com. ]





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Please support Acharya by visiting http://www.truthbeknown.com Help spread the word and post this site wherever you can!

Re: Superconsciousness Skeptic Mangles ZEITGEIST (and Religious History) - Again!

As many know, I rebutted this article months ago. It is my understanding that, although he read my rebuttal, Callahan made next to no relevant changes and repeats the same tired and refuted canards.
Here's my rebuttal:
http://stellarhousepublishing.com/skeptic-zeitgeist.html
With such shallow - and UN-skeptical - commentary, it seems to me that Skeptic is quickly making itself irrelevant.
In the same regard, as I suspected, the Jesus Project - which unceremoniously removed me as Fellow after I informed these "humanists" that I had security issues because of my son's abduction - has likewise fizzled.
--- In superconsciousness@, jffelix61@... wrote:
>
> Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic."
>
> http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/
>
> [Message sent by dispraxis@... via AddThis.com.]
>

------------------------------------
Please support Acharya by visiting http://www.truthbeknown.com Help spread the word and post this site wherever you can!Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/superconsciousness/

Superconsciousness Link shared by dispraxis

Dispraxis writes:

Acharya's recent "nemesis" gets front-page coverage; ironic, since IMO THE classic case in skeptical thinking is the entire biblical-critical school, using scientific rationality to reveal the non-historicity of Tim's "apologetic."

http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/

[Message sent by dispraxis@ via AddThis.com.]


------------------------------------

Please support Acharya by visiting http://www.truthbeknown.com Help spread the word and post this site wherever you can!Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/superconsciousness/