A backlog of misbehavior: Muslims, Belarus, and PETA—oh my!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wa’erah).

Today’s holidays:  Baptism of the Lord (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save Canada's Woodland Caribou - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  I have a backlog of material on Islamic misbehavior.  (Let’s face it:  no matter how much anyone tries to whitewash Islam, it is still the planet’s most pro-terrorism religion and has practically nothing to do with real peace.)  “America's Terrorism Amnesia” deals with the tendency in the United States (at least in the government) to treat every single incident of Islamic terrorism as if it were an isolated incident and without precedent when in reality the West has been under continuous assault from Islamists hoping to extend Dar al-Islam for decades.  Also noted is that the jihad agains the West is not a conventional war and there is no realistic way of ending it quickly.  On the Arab-Israeli War we have “FAQ: The Peace process with the Palestinians - Dec 2009”, “The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace”, “The "Mandate for Palestine" is the Best Reply to "Occupation"”, “Israel's Right in the 'Disputed' Territories”, and “Shhh…Mubarak is building a wall”.  And just in case you thought that business in Malaysia complaining about Christians using the term “Allah” to refer to the God of Christianity was over, see “Malaysia appeals 'Allah' for Christians ruling” and “Four Malaysian churches attacked with firebombs in 'Allah' dispute”.  (It is not just in and around Israel that Muslims are sore losers.)

Topic 2:  And, no, it is not just Muslims who misbehave:  “N. Korea, Iran top list of persecutors of Christians”, “BELARUS: "We don't have such persecution here. We're absolutely democratic"” (WRONG), and “BELARUS: Two Catholic parish priests banned from religious activity”.  And on top of all this, even the quasi-religious People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is being bad by using Michelle Obama’s image for one of their advertisements:  “Fur flies over picture of Michelle Obama in ad”.  I think I will stop here before Blogger tells me I have passed the 200-character limit on labels...

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Wen Basement Cat refused to move…”.


Peace.

Aaron

Mark your calendars for the Rapture, but don’t hold your breath

Greetings.

Jewish date:  21 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Shemoth).

Today’s holidays:  Feast of Raymond of Penyafort (Roman Catholicism), Synaxis of John the Holy Glorious Prophet, Baptist, and Forerunner (Eastern Christianity, Gregorian Calendar).

Topic 1:  “Why Science Tells Us Not to Rely on Eyewitness Accounts”.  This is very relevant to the question of judging people.  Humans are not perfect, so even the accounts of people doing their utmost to tell the truth may be imperfect.  We must therefore at least be open to the possibility that reports uncorroborated by other evidence might not be perfectly true and act accordingly.

Topic 2:  “Afro-Cuban priests predict social unrest in 2010” and “Biblical scholar's date for rapture: May 21, 2011”.  Both of these deal with predictions made on a religious basis.  The former article deals with predictions made by Santeria priests in Cuba for 2010, which they have predicted to be “a year of social and political unrest, struggles for power, and treachery.”  This prediction is rather fuzzy, applying to a lot of politics on this planet.  It is also noted that this group has been wrong for the past two years, and another Santeria group predicts “that 2010 would be a year of improving health”, also not very specific.  The latter article deals with Harold Camping, a Protestant preacher who believes based on his own personal numerology that the Rapture will be May 21, 2011.  His specificity is appreciated, but it is noted that his previous predicted date, September 6, 1994, proved wrong.  General rule:  Be wary of the predictions of people with a bad track record or who give vague predictions.  In the meantime, I have to start keeping a list of predictions in order to better test who is reliable.  May 21, 2011 is already marked in iCal on my computer.

Topic 3:  Jews and Christians (and probably a number of other religious groups) are supposed to bless their god before they eat.  Today’s religious humor is in this spirit:  “Tank u, ceilingcat, for our daily nomz « Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats” and “Lord, for what I am about”.  NOTE:  Some people may not appreciate the later LOLanimal.





Peace.

Aaron

What the gezornenblat was Jesus thinking?

Image of Yeḥezqe’l’s tomb via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Shemoth).

Today’s holiday:  Epiphany (Christianity, Gregorian Calendar).

Topic 1:  “Reports: Iraq De-Judaizing Ezekiel's Tomb”:  Hint to the Muslims:  Destroying evidence does not change facts.  There were Jews in what is now Iraq centuries before the rise of Islam, and nothing is going to change that.

Topic 2:  Other religious oppression:  “Algerian Muslims Block Christmas Service” and “Beijing imposes harsh sentences on Tibetan monks and lama”.

Topic 3:  As I have noted previously, I am working my way through the New Testament in the original Koinē Greek, and yesterday I ran across a passage which is totally baffling.  Thus is it written in Mark 12:18-27 (KJV translation with extra punctuation and annotation given here):

Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, “Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.  Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.  And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.  And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.  In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.” 

And Jesus answering said unto them, “Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?  For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.  And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ (Exodus 3:6)?  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”

To be blunt, Jesus’s answer makes no sense.  The Sadducees’ question deals with levirate marriage and the Resurrection:  which of one’s spouses in life does one have at the Resurrection.  Jesus claims that there is no marriage at the Resurrection.  But his prooftext is irrelevant.  Despite Jesus’s claims, Exodus 3:6 is part of a section dealing with the Exodus from Egypt, not the Resurrection.  Furthermore, Jesus gives no reason to infer that YHWH is the god of the living only, nor does he connect this to the Resurrection, nor does he explain how this passage somehow proves that there will be no marriage at the Resurrection.

While Jesus in general is presented in the Gospels as being such a poor exegete that his opponents’ arguments have to be omitted to make him look good, this passage has gaping holes of logic wide enough to drive a herd of camels through.  The question is how to understand this passage.  The simplest alternative, assuming this event really occurred, is that Jesus had no real answer and bluffed, and anything the Sadducees said back to him was not recorded.  However, I cannot a priori exclude the possibility that Jesus’s answer really was meant as a serious answer.  But if it was, then there are unstated assumptions, perhaps left out by scribal error, to bridge the chasm between Exodus 3:6 and no marriage at the Resurrection.  If anyone has any idea what these unstated assumptions are, please let me know.


Topic 4:  Today’s religious humor:  “Cat Spilleth Over”.

This seems to be a reference to Psalms 23:5.

Peace.

Aaron

Jimmy Carter’s apology and Amish LOLcats

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Shemoth).

Today’s holidays:  Feast of John Neumann (Roman Catholicism), Eve of Epiphany (Roman Catholicism), Mungday (Discordianism).

Topic 1:  “Jimmy Carter Apologizes”.  This Dry Bones cartoon deals with Jimmy Carter’s recent apology for years of anti-Semitism in the form of Israel-bashing.  Noted in the cartoonist’s commentary is a reply to Carter’s apology from CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) which correctly points out that in Judaism, an apology is not merely admitting fault but also working to correct the original error.  Admitting fault but doing nothing to correct the original error makes for a good chance of repeating the error.  CAMERA thus asks Carter to address the many factual errors he has promoted (e.g., in his notorious book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid).  I am curious to know whether Carter will go this far.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor, something a bit different:  “Amish kitteh disapproves” and “I IS AMISH LOLCAT.”


(You have to click on the link to see the other Amish LOLcat; this one has no provision for showing the picture off the I Can Has Cheezburger? site.)

Peace.

Aaron

The Jesus Film and how to celebrate Christmas

Greetings.

Jewish date:  18 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Shemoth).

Today’s holiday:  Feast of Elizabeth Ann Seton (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell EPA: No Tire or Waste Burning in Unregulated Incinerators - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  I watched Jesus (otherwise known as The Jesus Film) yesterday.  As it so happens, I wrote a review of it a few years back.  As my views of this film have not changed substantially, and the site where it was originally posted has disappeared (not to mention that it is a slow religious news season), I reproduce it for you here:

Image via Wikipedia

Movie Review: Jesus (1979)
November 2, 2002

Jesus (1979)
Written by: Barnet Bain, based on the Gospel According to Luke
Directed by: Peter Sukes
Genre: Documentary (?), Propaganda (Religious)
0/4


I am an observant Jew, and as such I am no fan of Christianity.  But being religious myself, I can understand that Christians might feel so strongly about their religion that they would want to do whatever they can to enlighten others and convert them.  Distributing a videotape is a rather unique method of proselytizing, one with great promise in an age when many people do not read books.  Unfortunately for the Christians who made the Jesus video, they botched it so badly that the project will undoubtedly backfire.


There is an unwritten rule of religion that one is absolutely not supposed to change scripture.  The makers of this video tried hard not to violate this rule, sticking as close as possible to the Gospel According to Luke. But one cannot simply shoot straight from a narrative and expect everything to come out alright.  The New Testament is not crystal clear as to who various people are and what is happening in their heads, and to portray them credibly requires serious interpretation—interpretation that the scriptwriter failed to do and, to make matters worse, the actors failed to deliver.  Everything anyone says in the video is done in a calm tone and with little in the way of facial expression.  It does not matter if one is happy or sad, talking to one person or a crowd; the voice is the same. Even when he is being nailed onto the cross, when most humans would be screaming in agony, Jesus barely winces.  We learn nothing of why the Pharisees hate Jesus or why Judas Iscariot betrayed him.  To be blunt, the actors cannot act; they merely parrot the Gospels as two-dimensional characters who could be replaced with cardboard cutouts without anyone noticing.  With such a pathetic performance and pathetic writing, the video is painful to watch. Because of the lack of effort to try to credibly show what Jesus's message was, nonbelievers are given no solid reason to accept it, and, in fact, offended, may be less likely than ever to consider converting to Christianity.


Topic 2:  I am not the only one getting in on the religious criticism act.  “Inspirational Films” on BizarroBlog makes a valid point on Christmas movies.  (This also doubles as today’s religious humor.)

Peace.

Aaron

How to make a good Gospel-based film

Greetings.

Jewish date:  17 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Shemoth).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Support Cleaner Air in NYC - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  It is another slow religious news day, so you all have to suffer me musing about my continuing project of watching Gospel-based movies.  Last night I watched The Miracle Maker, an animated Gospel film, on Hulu.  The parable and memory sequences, especially the temptation of Jesus by Satan, were visually appealing, but everything I complained about last week on “cardboard Jesus” applies, though Jesus seemed a bit more animated than in the non-musical live-action Gospel films.  This set me thinking:  what would a good film about Jesus be like?  Everything I complained that was interesting about Jesus but was left out of or underplayed in conventional Gospel films (arguing, cursing, personality, charisma, and the fig tree incident) needs to be put in.  Oh, let us not forget the casting out of demons and faith-healing, which could be a lot of fun on film.  But it is the arguing which really needs a lot of work because the Gospels really only give half of what would happen in a real argument.  For example, let us examine Luke 6:1-5:

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 

Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

The writer of Luke omits anything that the Pharisees might have said back to Jesus, such as:

“First, showbread is permissible to the ritually pure, not just priests.  You might have know this had you actually studied the Torah.  Secondly, even if it were not, it is irrelevant.  One group’s violation of the Law is not an excuse for anyone else’s transgression.  Thirdly, this ‘lord of the Sabbath’ business is meaningless.  Unless you have solid evidence that you have a prophetic mandate to let your followers do something that is otherwise prohibited, you simply are not making a case.”

More arguing may well have followed.  Having Jesus being forced to try to hold his own against people who knew what they were talking about would be not only a lot more interesting, but a lot more realistic.  Jews have been arguing with each other over Jewish law at least as far back as Mosheh (Moses), and it is inconceivable that no one ever had a reply to what Jesus was claiming.  Adding back in the missing half of the arguments would go a long way towards making these films more interesting and make more sense.  Do note, however, the likely results of such arguments are nothing a serious Christian would want.  Jesus as an exegete was forgotten in Jewish tradition and none of his opinions are recorded in contemporary Jewish literature.  His style of argument is unconvincing (see above example), and in his clashes with Jewish scholars he was almost certainly the loser.  This may have well shaped how Jesus’s unscholarly followers viewed the arguments and depicted them in the Gospels.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor:  “FINDING JESUS”.


Peace.

Aaron

“Inappropriate Innuendo Fail”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  15 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wayḥi).

Today’s holidays:  Gregorian New Year (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of Pan (Thelema), Feast of St. Basil the Great (Greek Orthodox Christianity).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Free passage in Shechem (The Shomron Liaison Office)”.

Topic 1:  Updates on current anti-Semitism.  First, we have the Dry Bones cartoon “Bombing Argentinian Jews (1994)”.  (Check the author’s commentary.  What happens in the past doesn’t stay in the past.)  I also note a number of articles which deal with misconceptions about the Arab-Israeli War:  “Gaza by the Numbers: One Year After Operation Cast Lead” (the numbers support the Israeli side of the story), “A right of return to what?”, “Israel's Right in the 'Disputed' Territories”, and “In defiance of demographic fatalism”.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor (submitted by Barry):  “You can’t say it isn’t true”.

FAIL Blog labels this one an “Inappropriate Innuendo Fail”.  This is a real sign that was posted outside of an Anglican church in New Zealand.  Thus is it written:

Church vicar Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the billboard was intended to challenge stereotypes about the way Jesus was conceived and get people talking about the Christmas story.

"This billboard is trying to lampoon and ridicule the very literal idea that God is a male and somehow this male God impregnated Mary," said Cardy, who described his church as having very liberal ideas about Christianity.

"We would question the Virgin Birth in any literal sense. We would question the maleness of God in any literal sense," he said.

The idea that God is neuter is, last I heard, standard Christianity; a unique, immortal deity has no need to belong to any sex or engage in genetic recombination.  The Gospel accounts of the impregnation of Mary do not mention sexual intercourse, and none would be needed anyway.  However, this is still a sensitive topic, and thus this sign was controversial and criticized by some as inappropriate.

Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron