Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day began with my performance of the dreaded laundry chores at 7:30am. Afterward, I rode the bus to town. As usual, I spent the morning in the inner courtyard of the library along with the various homeless. I completed reading Colin Humphreys' book, "The Miracles of Exodus." I cannot overstate that I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Sadly, I do not believe that the world of Biblical scholarship will take his thesis seriously. Humphreys has provided an entertaining thesis about the exodus itinerary of Moses and the Hebrews. He has also postulated the exact location of Mount Sinai (Horeb), and it's not Jabel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula.
I met up with Shirley at 12:30pm. We ate lunch at the Hukilau Restaurant in the Executive Center. We were able to chat for about an hour. The occasion, of course, was Shirley's recent B-day.
After lunch, I performed my usual urban nomad workout at the gym. Then, I rode the bus back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). I was quite full from lunch, so my dinner was modest. The evening? An urban nomad kind-of-an-evening, of course.
The despicable "condotel" unit produced a loss of $500 last month which has now made it a major liability for me. It is draining money from my savings quicker than anything else. According to the latest tourist arrivals, the declines are increasing each month. Most hotels are already at or below 50 percent occupancy. There has been an exponential increase in property listings for "condotel" units on the Hi Central site. Several desperate sellers are willing to assume losses of $70,000 or more. And, there has been at least one "short sale" so far. I suspect that there are going to be a huge number of "condotel" mortgage defaults coming up soon. For me, the situation is at critical mass. I expect losses to exceed $1,000 per month before Summer. Essentially, that means the hotel occupancy rate will be close to zero percent. I have only two viable options. I can either move back into the unit, or I can rent it out myself. Even less desirable is the option to pay off the mortgage in cash. The unit will not sell for several years, if ever. Of course, I could voluntarily become homeless to save money. Isn't the economic recovery great?
Back in the "blog" of March 31st, I discussed the "Original Sin" from the common theological perspective. However, in retrospect, I am not all that convinced. According to the Good Book, the first human pair entered into "sin" when they partook of the fruit from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad." Of course, the obvious question that most of the great thinkers have asked is, why was the tree there in the first place? Thus, I do not need to go down that path. There is no logical answer. What I do find odd is that, after partaking of the forbidden fruit, the first human pair realized that they were naked and felt shame. That's quite odd, since I cannot understand how they could have been traipsing around the "Garden of Eden" without clothes. I do not believe that they were physically different from humans today because the latter are the former's descendants. Out of all the living creatures on earth, humans are the most physically vulnerable to every aspect of environment. We were created essentially with the need for clothing.
Then, there is the issue of "sin" itself. I am certain that the great thinkers have already contemplated and discussed the nature of "sin" versus "free will." The fact of the matter is that the first human pair committed the alleged "sin" before eating the forbidden fruit. In other words, they decided to commit the "sin" before actually performing the dirty deed. Innocence was already lost prior to eating the fruit. So, what exactly happened after they ate the forbidden fruit? Is that when they gained knowledge of good and bad? That makes absolutely no sense. Did they not already know good and bad? Apparently not, because the Good Book quotes the Almighty as saying after-the-fact that they had "become like [God], knowing both good and evil."
I am perplexed by what transpired in the "Garden of Eden." The first human pair must have had "free will." Otherwise, they would not able to contemplate their subsequent action to eat the forbidden fruit. And, would they not already know good and bad in order to exercise "free will"? Or, did the fruit itself plant the various evils (e.g., covetousness, murder, greed, etc.) into their psyche?
The phrase "free will" does not appear anywhere in the Scriptures. Thus, I will assume that the great thinkers coined the term to describe the moral disposition of the first human pair prior to eating the forbidden fruit. The Scriptures imply that the Almighty apparently did not want humans to have the knowledge of both good and bad. Yet, when the first human pair went against the command of the Almighty, they had to know that they did bad. Otherwise, they would be innocent. The circular logic of the incident leads me to suspect that the latter may not have been part of the original oral tradition handed down from the Creator.
I am not sure that humans, even in the state of alleged perfection prior to eating the forbidden fruit, could maintain an absolute good life. With the ability to exercise both good and bad conduct, we are always driven to make choices. Even when we know better, we tend to make bad choices deliberately. We may also react out of rage or fear, which is illogical. However, that is part of the temperament inherent in our design. A level of moral quasi-perfection is possible in all of us, provided that we employ long periods of contemplation and reason before executing any decision or action. Realistically, though, we live in a physical and material world which essentially clashes with the ideals of perfection. So, once again, we are faced with yet another conundrum.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Origins
Yet another urban nomad kind-of-a-day has been roasted on the campfire. At the library, I discovered that someone had checked out all of the Bart Ehrman books. No loss, however. I simply continued to read Colin Humphreys' book, "The Miracles of Exodus." I am quite impressed by the book, although it remains quite obscure.
The same group of homeless people are still frequenting the library. I am certain that I have been lumped into that generic category by any casual onlookers. I have no idea how the homeless survive. I have been tempted to establish some kind of acquaintanceship with some of them in order to learn their techniques of survival. However, they appear to be quite wary of "outsiders." Common fools may mistake the ol' lavahead for one of the homeless, but the real homeless know their brethren.
The bus has somehow marginally filled in for a weak social life. For some reason, a few people talk to me on occasion. An older guy (retired) rides the bus to town once a week in the morning. He lives in Nu'uanu, but commutes to Kuli'ou'ou very early in the morning to do yard work for his sister (who is 97 years old). He chatted with me this morning for the entire bus ride. This afternoon, a guy who was on the same bus with me on Sunday when the crazed babe (term used loosely) caused me to snap initiated a conversation. His name is Tim. He chatted with me for the duration of the bus ride back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing).
I read an interesting interview with John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics fame on the Carolyn Baker site. Williams is predicting a hyperinflationary depression as early as the end of the year. Although I continue to read articles of this genre, I now know that the doom-and-gloom predictions will not come true. There is a major recovery going on right now with the stock market surging onward to Dow 30,000 or more. As I said, the moneychangers and powers-that-be have it all under control. Armageddon is not coming. The secular Apocalypse is not coming. Only the "good times" are coming back!
I neglected to mention that moms was spewing a few church platitudes to me yesterday. I chose to remain silent instead of commenting. Moms is one of the diehards in the church. For moms, the church is the "truth." Never mind that the church has been so way off from the Good Book that I am not even sure how to classify its apostasy. The church leadership has been predicting Armageddon's wrath now for almost 100 years, and each prediction has been a sorry failure. My one-and-only complete read of the Good Book exposed all of the faulty doctrines and beliefs. Doesn't anyone in that church read the Good Book?
Frankly, the whole Christian issue is moot anyway. I cannot find anything that validates Christianity insofar as the transition from Hebrew times is concerned. None of the prophesies in the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") are fulfilled by Jesus' short tenure. There is no mention or implication of "hell," the trinity, or any kind of resurrection in the Hebrew beliefs. Of course, I am just repeating myself at this point.
Perhaps I need to start with the basics. I am a Creationist. In other words, I believe that the entire universe and all life forms were created by a very powerful and intelligent entity. There was a time when I was not a Creationist, but that's a story for another time. The design of all matter and lifeforms are just too complicated and too entwined to be the result of random order. In the microcosm, we humans are very puzzling creatures. While we have biological similarities to animals, the differences are very striking. We are clearly naked, with no built-in clothing. We also seems very awkwardly unprepared for living in the wild. We also have no true survival instincts, but we were given self-awareness and the ability to think, reason, and learn instead. I am certain that we had to be created with linguistic abilities and given an initial language to communicate. Without language, we would not have self-awareness. We would not even be able to think.
As physically frail as we humans are, our original ancestors would have had to be nurtured and supervised for several decades to insure the incubation of at least one or two generations of progenitors. In addition, there is no way to get around the fact that our ancestors had incestuous relationships in order to procreate. Our original ancestors also had to be taught how to survive (i.e., what to eat, how to procreate, and so forth). In other words, there was an oral tradition. Somewhere along the line of history, the original oral tradition metamorphosed into various myths and legends through the facility of embellishment. Thus, either the oral tradition has been completely lost or it is deeply embedded in what has been passed down to us.
Hence, I now believe that we must start at Time Zero, the creation point, and work forward. We have the creation account of the Good Book, although it does not tell us much. What is of interest to me is the so-called "Original Sin." I have glossed over the subject previously. However, now we must look at whether the concept of sin makes sense in terms of the creation of humans. No doubt, many great thinkers have already thought and wrote about the subject. I am not a great thinker, so I will be offering the imbecilic peon's version. That's where the journey takes us next.
The same group of homeless people are still frequenting the library. I am certain that I have been lumped into that generic category by any casual onlookers. I have no idea how the homeless survive. I have been tempted to establish some kind of acquaintanceship with some of them in order to learn their techniques of survival. However, they appear to be quite wary of "outsiders." Common fools may mistake the ol' lavahead for one of the homeless, but the real homeless know their brethren.
The bus has somehow marginally filled in for a weak social life. For some reason, a few people talk to me on occasion. An older guy (retired) rides the bus to town once a week in the morning. He lives in Nu'uanu, but commutes to Kuli'ou'ou very early in the morning to do yard work for his sister (who is 97 years old). He chatted with me this morning for the entire bus ride. This afternoon, a guy who was on the same bus with me on Sunday when the crazed babe (term used loosely) caused me to snap initiated a conversation. His name is Tim. He chatted with me for the duration of the bus ride back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing).
I read an interesting interview with John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics fame on the Carolyn Baker site. Williams is predicting a hyperinflationary depression as early as the end of the year. Although I continue to read articles of this genre, I now know that the doom-and-gloom predictions will not come true. There is a major recovery going on right now with the stock market surging onward to Dow 30,000 or more. As I said, the moneychangers and powers-that-be have it all under control. Armageddon is not coming. The secular Apocalypse is not coming. Only the "good times" are coming back!
I neglected to mention that moms was spewing a few church platitudes to me yesterday. I chose to remain silent instead of commenting. Moms is one of the diehards in the church. For moms, the church is the "truth." Never mind that the church has been so way off from the Good Book that I am not even sure how to classify its apostasy. The church leadership has been predicting Armageddon's wrath now for almost 100 years, and each prediction has been a sorry failure. My one-and-only complete read of the Good Book exposed all of the faulty doctrines and beliefs. Doesn't anyone in that church read the Good Book?
Frankly, the whole Christian issue is moot anyway. I cannot find anything that validates Christianity insofar as the transition from Hebrew times is concerned. None of the prophesies in the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") are fulfilled by Jesus' short tenure. There is no mention or implication of "hell," the trinity, or any kind of resurrection in the Hebrew beliefs. Of course, I am just repeating myself at this point.
Perhaps I need to start with the basics. I am a Creationist. In other words, I believe that the entire universe and all life forms were created by a very powerful and intelligent entity. There was a time when I was not a Creationist, but that's a story for another time. The design of all matter and lifeforms are just too complicated and too entwined to be the result of random order. In the microcosm, we humans are very puzzling creatures. While we have biological similarities to animals, the differences are very striking. We are clearly naked, with no built-in clothing. We also seems very awkwardly unprepared for living in the wild. We also have no true survival instincts, but we were given self-awareness and the ability to think, reason, and learn instead. I am certain that we had to be created with linguistic abilities and given an initial language to communicate. Without language, we would not have self-awareness. We would not even be able to think.
As physically frail as we humans are, our original ancestors would have had to be nurtured and supervised for several decades to insure the incubation of at least one or two generations of progenitors. In addition, there is no way to get around the fact that our ancestors had incestuous relationships in order to procreate. Our original ancestors also had to be taught how to survive (i.e., what to eat, how to procreate, and so forth). In other words, there was an oral tradition. Somewhere along the line of history, the original oral tradition metamorphosed into various myths and legends through the facility of embellishment. Thus, either the oral tradition has been completely lost or it is deeply embedded in what has been passed down to us.
Hence, I now believe that we must start at Time Zero, the creation point, and work forward. We have the creation account of the Good Book, although it does not tell us much. What is of interest to me is the so-called "Original Sin." I have glossed over the subject previously. However, now we must look at whether the concept of sin makes sense in terms of the creation of humans. No doubt, many great thinkers have already thought and wrote about the subject. I am not a great thinker, so I will be offering the imbecilic peon's version. That's where the journey takes us next.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Chaos in Stasis
My Nissan® Frontier truck and I were on my way to Hawai'i Kai at 8:40am this morning. Moms was home when I arrived. Moms and I made the usual rounds ... Longs® in Kuapa Kai and Foodland in Koko Marina. Moms and I ate lunch at Zippy's. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1pm.
Moms told me that she will have to appear in court again in June. Moms had gone yesterday for the trial over the mangy mutt, but the House of Lolo was apparently not prepared to defend itself. In over two months time since the subpoena was issued, the defendant (i.e., House of Lolo) did nothing to secure an attorney. I told moms that the House of Lolo is obviously stalling for time in order to prevent the mangy mutt from being put to sleep.
I spent an hour at Koko Head Park. Then, I drove to Koko Marina, found shaded parking, walked to the gym, performed my usual workout, shopped at Foodland, and returned to Slob Manor in anticipation of another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening.
Incidentally, for dinner, I ate a $2 hot meal (i.e., local-style bento) that I had purchased at Foodland this afternoon. It was a markdown from sometime in the morning because I remember seeing a few hot meals next to the lamp-baked chickens when moms and I were there earlier. The rice was extremely hard, but the spare ribs (sans swine flu toxin) were fine.
Moms told me that she will have to appear in court again in June. Moms had gone yesterday for the trial over the mangy mutt, but the House of Lolo was apparently not prepared to defend itself. In over two months time since the subpoena was issued, the defendant (i.e., House of Lolo) did nothing to secure an attorney. I told moms that the House of Lolo is obviously stalling for time in order to prevent the mangy mutt from being put to sleep.
I spent an hour at Koko Head Park. Then, I drove to Koko Marina, found shaded parking, walked to the gym, performed my usual workout, shopped at Foodland, and returned to Slob Manor in anticipation of another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening.
Incidentally, for dinner, I ate a $2 hot meal (i.e., local-style bento) that I had purchased at Foodland this afternoon. It was a markdown from sometime in the morning because I remember seeing a few hot meals next to the lamp-baked chickens when moms and I were there earlier. The rice was extremely hard, but the spare ribs (sans swine flu toxin) were fine.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Ad Infinitum, Ad Nauseum
"The question is not why we suffer. The question is why we permit others to suffer. And if we must accept suffering to relieve the suffering of others we move not away, but toward God." -- From "A Hollow Agnosticism" by Chris Hedges in the Harvard Divinity BulletinAnother urban nomad kind-of-a-day has been relegated to the dung heap. Nothing out of the ordinary transpired, thank goodness. I continued my religious research in the library. I have located "God's Problem," by Bart Ehrman, so I am now reading three books concurrently. At present, I have given priority to Colin Humphreys' book, "The Miracles of Exodus."
Well, with the economy collapsing (for the peons only) and now the damned swine flu, one would think that the religious research would be put on the back burner. Not so. We've discussed such nonsense ad nauseum in the "blog," only to realize in the end that all are "false flag" operations. Yes, the swine flu is apparently a lab-concocted one (i.e., "weaponized"), but the powers-that-be are not ready for the prime-time pandemic yet. This is just another test run. Don't worry. Armageddon is definitely not coming. The secular Apocalypse is also not coming. The moneychangers and powers-that-be have it all under control.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Prophetic Bloviations
"Jesus' genealogy does not prove that Jesus is the Messiah, but it does make him a possible candidate." -- Article titled, "Jesus' Genealogy," in the NLT (New Living Translation) Study BibleAnother urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday almost passed without incident. Too good to be true, eh? Wherever the urban nomad travels, trouble is sure to follow. A crazed babe (term used loosely) boarded the bus at Kahala, and the dumb ho' ended up putting us behind schedule by 15 minutes. I was not in a hurry, mind you, but the ho' was playing games with the bus driver. First, she took about five minutes searching through her crap to find her bus pass. Then, she refused to remove one of her bags from the small shelf above the tire well that has a sign strictly forbidding the placement of any personal crap there. The driver kept asking her to move the stuff. Instead of complying, she kept showing him her bus pass. He finally called the transit supervisor. I, for some reason, could not take it anymore. From the back of the bus, I yelled out, "Move your fucking bag to the seat already!" Reluctantly, the ho' complied.
Finally, we were on our way again. I made a stopover at Foodland in the Aina Haina Shopping Center. I was not able to secure a bento, most likely as retribution for my actions earlier. I was able to find a small package of sushi and a pathetic Reser's® frozen burrito. I also purchased a pint of Dreyer's® ice cream. As I waited at the bus stop and ate the ice cream, I saw the group of kids who were sitting across from the crazed ho' on the bus. They had also alighted in Aina Haina. I chatted with them briefly.
Once back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I heated up the frozen burrito and ate it. Then, I performed the dreaded laundry chores. No doubt, another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening awaits me. Sheesh!
I should state that my religious research will continue unabated. I am not certain about what I will find. Most likely, I will move further, albeit reluctantly, toward agnosticism. I seriously doubt that I will read the entire Good Book again, which now makes me question my $40 purchase of the NLT Study Bible. Of course, at the time, I was totally ignorant of the inaccuracies and anachronisms in the Good Book. I was also not aware of the history of the manuscripts and the even more sordid history of the various religions that rely upon the Scriptures.
I am quite surprised that I identified as many problems as I did with just one reading of the Good Book (see the last couple of months of the "blog"). I was also able to quickly isolate the many misinterpretations which moms' church utilized to formulate its doctrines. In fact, I have even regularly browsed the ex-member forums of a few denominations of churches. What I find is that there are a lot of ignorant people (like myself) who thought that the Good Book was one complete volume of work delivered by God through Divine Inspiration. Who would have thought that the world's most revered document is a compilation of poorly copied scrolls penned by humans?
Even with the short period of time between last night and now, I have increased my suspicion of the prophets (i.e., Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Paul of Patmos, et al.) and their authenticity. The prophecies are almost entirely apocalyptic. As omnipotent as the Almighty is, He need not waste His time going through middlemen. If He was going to rain down destruction upon humankind, then He would have just done so. The prophets, on the other hand, were simply trying to conjure an explanation for the outcome of certain events using the "good versus evil" model. While honorable in an academic sense, the explanations do nothing to solve the problems at hand.
The prophets were frustrated people, obviously locked in internal philosophical debates about good and evil. That "extracranial" activity caused them to experience "visions." Frustration, anger, and revulsion permeated those "visions," which caused them to bloviate vicariously through an omnipotent entity in an insanely grandiose manner. The sheer rage pushed them to edge of reason. They, in effect, materialized the "angry God." So, how different were they from the sorcerers of the pagan world?
Yes, my testimony does sound quite blasphemous. So, let us look at religious worship today. It's all over the map, so to speak. There is no consistent worship. In Christianity alone, there is not a single denomination that follows the practices or doctrines of the early 1st century Christians. Strangely, the Almighty has not reacted to the debauchery. Heck, remember when Nadab and Abihu were charbroiled by the Almighty for swinging around the wrong kind of incense in their lamps in front of the Tabernacle? In the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament"), the Almighty was an exacting deity. Not so in 21st century. Why?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Is That All There Is?
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day ... nothing out of the ordinary, with the exception that I decided restore my monk haircut at the Institute of Hair Design. The haircut was so-so, and the price has gone up again. Soon I will have no choice but to cut my hair at Supercuts®, where the hottie friend works.
At this time, I should post a few of my preliminary findings concerning the Good Book. The Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") appear to be composed from a variety of sources, the bulk of which is dated around the time of the Diaspora. I am, however, still of the opinion that much of the material has some genealogical basis (perhaps from an oral tradition). Colin Humprheys in his book, "The Miracles of Exodus," also cleared up another conundrum concerning the actual number of Israelites who fled Egypt. In all of the translations, we are led to believe that well over a million people made the exodus. Humphreys postulated that the number is completely wrong because of the misinterpretation of the Hebrew word 'eleph, which could mean either "thousand" or "clan." Humphreys' actual figure is about 20,000 or so (which would coincide with the digs of sparse tribal villages discussed by Finkelstein and Silberman in "The Bible Unearthed").
I have also lost confidence in the integrity of the prophetic books. While the prophets were somewhat accurate in predicting the fall of Israel and Judah, their final prediction of the return of a unified kingdom never materialized. In addition, I fail to see an omnipotent Almighty launching into the endless "fire and brimstone" diatribes attributed to Him. I am also wary of the idea of the priesthood, altars, sacrifices, and rituals. Why would the Almighty require His people to engage in such petty, and seemingly pagan, activities? I am more inclined to believe that the priest-prophets later added those features into the manuscript.
Why did the Almighty need a communication channel of prophets in the first place? Prior to the prophets, the Almighty spoke directly to the people. What happened? It seems that as the time grew closer to 700 BC (coincidentally when the Hebrew manuscripts were first allegedly written), the Almighty began to use prophets to communicate His Word. Was this a cover-up of a farce by the prophets themselves? Incidentally, the Almighty spoke directly only once in the Common Era when Jesus was baptized. That's it.
With the Hebrew Scriptures now at the crossroads of credibility, there is little left to support the Greek Scriptures (so-called "New Testament"). There is perhaps only one prophecy that loosely relates to a coming Messiah (i.e., Immanuel) in the account of Isaiah. In fact, the word "Messiah" does not even appear once in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Israelites were also never told that God had a Son. Odd, isn't it?
In the Gospels of the Greek Scriptures, there are many attempts at citing verses from the Hebrew Scriptures that "prove" the fulfillment of prophecy with the birth of Jesus. For the most part, the interpretation of those Scriptures seemed to be taken out of context. I was dumbfounded to find a correlation. The Messiah is said to be fulfilling the promise of a new king in the family line of David. However, that cannot possibly be true. Joseph is shown to be a descendant of David, but he is not the biological father of Jesus. If Mary was a descendant of David as well, then the prophesy would hold true. Even then, family lines are always patriarchal-derived.
I have noted that I am beginning to sound more and more like an agnostic. Let it be known that I have made every attempt to find the truth in the Scriptures. I am still certain that the Creator exists, but I am at a loss to conclude that the latter entity is the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. If I do not accept the God of the Scriptures, then the implications are clear. The Creator has not communicated with us since humans were first put on the planet. We have been left to our own devices. Justice is a farce. We have no accountability except to other humans, which is also a farce. I am left asking, "Is that all there is?"
At this time, I should post a few of my preliminary findings concerning the Good Book. The Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") appear to be composed from a variety of sources, the bulk of which is dated around the time of the Diaspora. I am, however, still of the opinion that much of the material has some genealogical basis (perhaps from an oral tradition). Colin Humprheys in his book, "The Miracles of Exodus," also cleared up another conundrum concerning the actual number of Israelites who fled Egypt. In all of the translations, we are led to believe that well over a million people made the exodus. Humphreys postulated that the number is completely wrong because of the misinterpretation of the Hebrew word 'eleph, which could mean either "thousand" or "clan." Humphreys' actual figure is about 20,000 or so (which would coincide with the digs of sparse tribal villages discussed by Finkelstein and Silberman in "The Bible Unearthed").
I have also lost confidence in the integrity of the prophetic books. While the prophets were somewhat accurate in predicting the fall of Israel and Judah, their final prediction of the return of a unified kingdom never materialized. In addition, I fail to see an omnipotent Almighty launching into the endless "fire and brimstone" diatribes attributed to Him. I am also wary of the idea of the priesthood, altars, sacrifices, and rituals. Why would the Almighty require His people to engage in such petty, and seemingly pagan, activities? I am more inclined to believe that the priest-prophets later added those features into the manuscript.
Why did the Almighty need a communication channel of prophets in the first place? Prior to the prophets, the Almighty spoke directly to the people. What happened? It seems that as the time grew closer to 700 BC (coincidentally when the Hebrew manuscripts were first allegedly written), the Almighty began to use prophets to communicate His Word. Was this a cover-up of a farce by the prophets themselves? Incidentally, the Almighty spoke directly only once in the Common Era when Jesus was baptized. That's it.
With the Hebrew Scriptures now at the crossroads of credibility, there is little left to support the Greek Scriptures (so-called "New Testament"). There is perhaps only one prophecy that loosely relates to a coming Messiah (i.e., Immanuel) in the account of Isaiah. In fact, the word "Messiah" does not even appear once in the Hebrew Scriptures. The Israelites were also never told that God had a Son. Odd, isn't it?
In the Gospels of the Greek Scriptures, there are many attempts at citing verses from the Hebrew Scriptures that "prove" the fulfillment of prophecy with the birth of Jesus. For the most part, the interpretation of those Scriptures seemed to be taken out of context. I was dumbfounded to find a correlation. The Messiah is said to be fulfilling the promise of a new king in the family line of David. However, that cannot possibly be true. Joseph is shown to be a descendant of David, but he is not the biological father of Jesus. If Mary was a descendant of David as well, then the prophesy would hold true. Even then, family lines are always patriarchal-derived.
I have noted that I am beginning to sound more and more like an agnostic. Let it be known that I have made every attempt to find the truth in the Scriptures. I am still certain that the Creator exists, but I am at a loss to conclude that the latter entity is the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. If I do not accept the God of the Scriptures, then the implications are clear. The Creator has not communicated with us since humans were first put on the planet. We have been left to our own devices. Justice is a farce. We have no accountability except to other humans, which is also a farce. I am left asking, "Is that all there is?"
Friday, April 24, 2009
Rotational Rote
I walked to Kawaikui Beach Park this morning at 7:20am. I spent about 30 minutes there, mostly pondering what I have been recording in the "blog." My Nissan® Frontier truck and I were finally on our way to Kahala Mall at 8:50am. My one and only destination was Barnes & Noble®. Obviously, we already knew that. I purchased a cup of decaffeinated coffee in the café. Once again, I gravitated to the religion section. I located another book by Bart Erhrman titled, "God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer." The subject of the book is "theodicy," the conundrum of the existence of evil.
I departed the mall at 10:45am. I drove to Hawai'i Kai. Moms arrived about ten minutes after me. Moms and I ended up making the rounds at Koko Marina only. We ate lunch at Yummy's. Then, moms shopped for groceries at Foodland. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1:30pm.
I then spent about 45 minutes at Koko Head Park. The rest of the day was pure routine. I drove to Koko Marina, found shaded parking, walked to the gym, performed my usual workout, shopped at Foodland, and returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Why do I keep typing the same crap every day?
I departed the mall at 10:45am. I drove to Hawai'i Kai. Moms arrived about ten minutes after me. Moms and I ended up making the rounds at Koko Marina only. We ate lunch at Yummy's. Then, moms shopped for groceries at Foodland. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1:30pm.
I then spent about 45 minutes at Koko Head Park. The rest of the day was pure routine. I drove to Koko Marina, found shaded parking, walked to the gym, performed my usual workout, shopped at Foodland, and returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Why do I keep typing the same crap every day?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
General Dullness III
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day approached the pinnacle of general dullness. Nothing out of the ordinary, except that I performed the dreaded laundry chores at 7:30am this morning. The nauseating itinerary remained the same. Only an urban nomad kind-of-an-evening awaited me upon arrival at Slob Manor (read: rental housing).
I have been at wit's end since I began entertaining the thesis presented by the book, "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts," by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman. What are the ramifications of a universe without a Supreme Being? Can there be any semblance of order? Are there any universal laws? Is there an authority to hold subordinate lifeforms accountable for their actions?
Without the Creator, without the Supreme Being, without God, as it were, we are left to our devices. Yes, our own devices, whatever that may be. And, what does our life amount to after the 70 or so years of surviving on the planet (if even that)? What about justice? I am speaking of ultimate justice. Will there be any real justice for all of us at some appointed time? Or, was this it?
At the library, I commenced the overlap reading of the book, "The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew," by Bart Ehrman while concurrently finishing Finkelstein and Silberman's book. However, I had to put the book on hold as I discovered another book, "The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories," by Colin Humphreys. The issue of the validity of the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") overrides other concerns of the Good Book. If the Hebrew Scriptures are a complete fabrication, then there is no need to go any further.
Humphreys has already solved a major conundrum concerning the time period of Moses and the exodus from Egypt, which was alleged to be 480 years before King Solomon's reign. Using that number of years precedes the time of Rameses (Pharaoh of Egypt). The Israelites, prior to the exodus, were slaves who were building the city of Rameses. Obviously they could not be building a city named after a pharaoh that came to power years later. Finkelsten and Silberman claimed the latter as evidence that the Hebrew Scriptures were written much later and prone to errors. Humphreys indicated that time period in those days were often referenced to generations. Hence, the 480 years was comprised of 12 generations of 40 years. Yet, a generation in the Good Book usually inferred the time period between a man's birth and the birth of his first child. Humphreys noted that childbearing probably occurred much earlier in life back then. He settled for a generational period of 25 to 30 years. Using the shorter generational period puts the exodus around 1200 BC (which was during the reign of Rameses II).
Where am I going with all of that nonsense? I really don't know. Even if there is enough proof to verify the chronology and genealogy of the Hebrew Scriptures, how can we verify that the laws and prophecies are truly from the Almighty?
I have been at wit's end since I began entertaining the thesis presented by the book, "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts," by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman. What are the ramifications of a universe without a Supreme Being? Can there be any semblance of order? Are there any universal laws? Is there an authority to hold subordinate lifeforms accountable for their actions?
Without the Creator, without the Supreme Being, without God, as it were, we are left to our devices. Yes, our own devices, whatever that may be. And, what does our life amount to after the 70 or so years of surviving on the planet (if even that)? What about justice? I am speaking of ultimate justice. Will there be any real justice for all of us at some appointed time? Or, was this it?
At the library, I commenced the overlap reading of the book, "The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew," by Bart Ehrman while concurrently finishing Finkelstein and Silberman's book. However, I had to put the book on hold as I discovered another book, "The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories," by Colin Humphreys. The issue of the validity of the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") overrides other concerns of the Good Book. If the Hebrew Scriptures are a complete fabrication, then there is no need to go any further.
Humphreys has already solved a major conundrum concerning the time period of Moses and the exodus from Egypt, which was alleged to be 480 years before King Solomon's reign. Using that number of years precedes the time of Rameses (Pharaoh of Egypt). The Israelites, prior to the exodus, were slaves who were building the city of Rameses. Obviously they could not be building a city named after a pharaoh that came to power years later. Finkelsten and Silberman claimed the latter as evidence that the Hebrew Scriptures were written much later and prone to errors. Humphreys indicated that time period in those days were often referenced to generations. Hence, the 480 years was comprised of 12 generations of 40 years. Yet, a generation in the Good Book usually inferred the time period between a man's birth and the birth of his first child. Humphreys noted that childbearing probably occurred much earlier in life back then. He settled for a generational period of 25 to 30 years. Using the shorter generational period puts the exodus around 1200 BC (which was during the reign of Rameses II).
Where am I going with all of that nonsense? I really don't know. Even if there is enough proof to verify the chronology and genealogy of the Hebrew Scriptures, how can we verify that the laws and prophecies are truly from the Almighty?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
General Dullness II
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day was an extreme lesson in general dullness. No further itinerary details are necessary. Well, I completed reading the book, "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts," by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman at the library. The last half of the book presented the authors' thesis of how, when, and why the Hebrew Scriptures (so-called "Old Testament") in the Good Book was written. The thesis was convincing to a point. The authors asserted that the priest-prophets composed the entire manuscript during and after the seventh century BC. Various additions were made in order to keep the storyline open-ended. In other words, additional prophesy was included to look forever into the future. The purpose of the Hebrew Scriptures, according to the authors, was to rally the discouraged and exiled people of Israel (and Judah) around a nationalistic cause and also to consolidate the power of the priest class.
Since absolutely no legitimate reader has visited the "blog" in the last three days, I will make a long story short. Finkelstein and Silberman essentially discredited the entire Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, the bottom line is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are worshipping an imaginary god. That should leave a few people breathless, eh?
I am, however, not totally convinced. I simply cannot understand why the priest-prophets would go through so much trouble to create such an elaborate document spanning from the beginning of creation onward including a very detailed genealogy, an exhaustive code of law, and detailed specifications for the Tabernacle. Imagine the amount of work that the scribes had to put in just to duplicate the original scrolls. And, with each addition and redaction, the scribes had to recopy the whole damned thing again and again.
So, is some portion of the Scriptures actually authentic? I do not know. I have recorded many of my doubts in the "blog." While I am still very certain that a Creator exists, I do not know whether the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims is one and the same as the Creator. I can honestly say that I have experienced deep frustration as a result of my research.
Well, I donated my cheap copy of the New Living Translation (NLT) to the library, along with the small panini cookbook that came with my DeLonghi® "retro" contact grill and panini press. Did my frustration cause me to divest the Good Book? Yes, and no. I still have the huge NLT Study Bible in my reference library. I am just trying to divest a few possessions to add to the general dullness.
Since absolutely no legitimate reader has visited the "blog" in the last three days, I will make a long story short. Finkelstein and Silberman essentially discredited the entire Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, the bottom line is that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are worshipping an imaginary god. That should leave a few people breathless, eh?
I am, however, not totally convinced. I simply cannot understand why the priest-prophets would go through so much trouble to create such an elaborate document spanning from the beginning of creation onward including a very detailed genealogy, an exhaustive code of law, and detailed specifications for the Tabernacle. Imagine the amount of work that the scribes had to put in just to duplicate the original scrolls. And, with each addition and redaction, the scribes had to recopy the whole damned thing again and again.
So, is some portion of the Scriptures actually authentic? I do not know. I have recorded many of my doubts in the "blog." While I am still very certain that a Creator exists, I do not know whether the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims is one and the same as the Creator. I can honestly say that I have experienced deep frustration as a result of my research.
Well, I donated my cheap copy of the New Living Translation (NLT) to the library, along with the small panini cookbook that came with my DeLonghi® "retro" contact grill and panini press. Did my frustration cause me to divest the Good Book? Yes, and no. I still have the huge NLT Study Bible in my reference library. I am just trying to divest a few possessions to add to the general dullness.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
General Dullness I
Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day ... actually, a perfect replica of the ideal urban nomad kind-of-a-day. No stupidity, no excitement, just general dullness. I started off the day by performing the dreaded laundry chores at 7:30am this morning. The task was completed before I departed for town. I followed the usual itinerary and returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing) to prepare for another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening. No further details are necessary.
I neglected to mention that Aunty M was 92 years old when she passed on. I also learned that the problems leading to Aunty M's demise all happened within the last year. First, she fell and broke her hip. While in rehabilitation after surgery, she suffered a stroke. A second stroke proved to be lethal. Of course, I cannot help but think about moms' situation in the future. Are my bro and I prepared for what may happen?
I have once again resumed the benign activity of divesting my useless crap. However, I am simply not doing enough. It seems that I now have even more stuff than when I first moved into Slob Manor. How can that be? Apparently, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to avoid petty materialism. The crap that I purchase may not cost much, but the real sacrifice is in the amount of space displaced by such crap. My own foolishness will be my undoing.
I neglected to mention that Aunty M was 92 years old when she passed on. I also learned that the problems leading to Aunty M's demise all happened within the last year. First, she fell and broke her hip. While in rehabilitation after surgery, she suffered a stroke. A second stroke proved to be lethal. Of course, I cannot help but think about moms' situation in the future. Are my bro and I prepared for what may happen?
I have once again resumed the benign activity of divesting my useless crap. However, I am simply not doing enough. It seems that I now have even more stuff than when I first moved into Slob Manor. How can that be? Apparently, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot seem to avoid petty materialism. The crap that I purchase may not cost much, but the real sacrifice is in the amount of space displaced by such crap. My own foolishness will be my undoing.
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