Jesus notes the poor widow gave more than a rich man in Luke 21:
1
When he [Jesus] looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury
2
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
3
He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
4
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
5
2 While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, he said,
6
“All that you see here–the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” (Referring to the Day of Judgment)
So… according to the GOP… is Jesus being Socialist here?
Wax socially.
In the spirit of fairness today, I’d like to focus on some non-Western faith practices. Buddhist monk, author and activist Thich Naht Hanh speaks to being mindful and explains the mental state of nirvana. I sincerely hope you enjoy these videos and words of wisdom. Thank you to both Youtube users for these videos! If you like what you see and hear here, please click on each video and let these folks know you enjoyed the videos.
Author and rational atheist Ayn Rand discusses her atheism with Phil Donahue and Tom Snyder. She proclaims that faith has nothing to do with rational thought and thus keeps man from a rational understanding of reality.
Credit to YouTube user thruthem for this video. Click on the video to see more videos.
Debate point: Just a thought, I am a theist in the tradition of Joseph Campbell with some Alan Watts theology mixed in. My concept of God is not at all outside rational thought. God to me, can be a thought, idea, or the cause of consciousness itself. None of my God-believing friends believe in anything like a bearded man who lives in outerspace.
Furthermore, there are many phenomena for which scientific knowledge of the time did not provide what was thought to be credible evidence for they’re until they were discovered e.g, electromagnetism, dark matter, regeneration of brain tissue, etc. (Even if they did have evidence, it was at least a step-by-step process). That is to say, just because one’s senses are not aware of something, doesn’t mean it’s not there… but it also, doesn’t mean it is either. Am I a crazy to think this way?
From YouTube:
http://www.aynrand.org
Ayn Rand Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand
Ayn Rand, two years before she died:
‘What I’ve always thought was a sentence from some Greek philosopher — I don’t, unfortunately, remember who it was — that I read at 16, and it’s affected me all my life: “I will not die. It’s the world that will end.” And that’s absolutely true.’
The BBC reported this week that the world’s oldest known Bible has been unveiled in an unusual fashion: the Internet.
The Codex Sinaiticus, originally kept in the Sinai monastery in Egypt, was thought to be stolen or lost 1,500 years ago and subsequently scattered across parts of Egypt, Germany, Russia and Great Britain. The parts have now been compiled by experts for an online text to be available in full this July. But unlike its canonical cousins, scholars note some key parts of the modern text are conspicuously absent from this ancient version. Namely, the Codex has two additional books in its New Testament: the Shepard of Barnabas and the Epistle of Barnabas which the BBC’s Roger Bolton reports have what might be construed as anti-Semitic as they place a clear blame on the Jews for Jesus’ crucifixion rather than the Romans. Bolton quotes one line in which the Jews cry out, “His blood be on our hands.”
Additional discrepancies occur in when in this version of text Jesus is claimed to have healed with anger rather than compassion. Bolton’s article asserts that the various changes are so vast that they may easily alter contemporary perspectives saying, “For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today’s bible.”
But after reading this, one might consider again that this was and older daft. Like all books, non-fiction included, the Bible may have gone through an editing process (even if only for grammatical flubs). The Bible’s stories were told in the oral tradition of ancient times and passed from rote memory from town to town, nation to nation in the evangelist style of Gospel spreaders such as Saint Paul in the same way most illiterate cultures passed on knowledge in the the days prior to Gutenberg’s printing press. Furthermore, when knowledge is passed one to another, is it not likely that some alterations are possible? Is it also not likely that was the best of intentions on writing the will of God that some words, phrases and whole scenes might be omitted? The phrase “lost in translation” is often not exclusive to language spoken but also to its speaker’s speaking. It is simply that if one person tells one person something, then that person tells another and another until 30,000 people have heard the story as told by everyone but the original teller, then no matter how divine a message one may have had originally, in corrupted hands, it can tend to be anything but the original storyteller’s intended story or meaning of that story. (After all, the KKK claim to be a “Christian” organization). Therefore, even if the “True” message of the Bible is a universal one, getting a perfect draft may not have been as easy as some might have considered.
Until we meet again… may you be guided to good editing. Wax
meticulously.
Alan Watts (1915-1973) who held both a master’s degree in theology and a doctorate of divinity, is best known as an interpreter of Zen Buddhism in particular, and Indian and Chinese philosophy in general. He authored more than 20 excellent books on the philosophy and psychology of religion, and lectured extensively, leaving behind a vast audio archive. With characteristic lucidity and humor Watts unravels the most obscure ontological and epistemological knots with the greatest of ease (http://deoxy.org/watts.htm).
This is a trial run of a new feature on Waxing Poetically in which the core issues of our time are tackled by great thinkers of modern philosophy. Today: Alan Watts confronts the myths and stories which have helped world cultures throughout history discover who they are by asking, “Why am I here and how am I here?”
This week, Articles of Faith takes a close look at the following clip of NBC’s The West Wing. Martin Sheen in characteras the President sternly addresses a Fundamentalist Christian woman’s Biblical literalism as she cites Leviticus’s condemnation of a man lying with another man as he would a woman as fuel for her views toward homosexuality. Sheen, in presidential certitude, fires back with a series of prohibitions that if taken literally on the words written, bar all work on the Sabbath, all Football and the majority of today’s farming practices as well as to allow him to sell his daughter into slavery.
As a companion, I was planning to link a few apologetics web pages but quickly realized in my research that doing so would be a huge task and further, that I might be too partial in my picks and that there are so many sites in fact (and across multiple faiths) that I should leave you with the option of looking these sites up yourselves.
Yes, believe it or not, according to a report filed by ABC News’ Emily Wither just this morning from London, a British evangelical media watch dog by the name of the Evangelical Alliance has listed ten blogging tactics that qualify as sins in citing new commandments based the traditional set. These include taking one day off for the Sabbath, not coveting your neighbor’s content, (for those praying to make the top ten blogs list) and not using one’s anonymity to lie, slander or commit adultery in one’s mind.
The report makes a brief mention of how these commandments come at a time when many angry words have been exchanged through the new medium and often harsh and biting commentary found on many a Christian blog and blogs in general.
Here is the list in its entirety:
The Blogging Ten Commandments, according to the Evangelical Alliance:
1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8. You shall not steal another person’s content.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content.
As a blogger and a practicing Catholic I personally hold no objections to any of the above rules, especially the one about maintaining personal integrity. As far as my Sabbath goes, a day off is never disputed in my book, (whether that book be the Bible or not, religious or not). As for the others, condemning slander, jealously and “blog worship”, these seem to have little to do with God and more to do with general morality. I doubt that many atheists and agnostics, or people of any non Judeo-Christian faith will dispute these “commandments” in their good will - and if any do, they can civilly do so in their responses to this blog.
“Jesus in the Booth” (Inspired by Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat”)
The decision wasn’t easy for one Jesus on that day.
So he stepped outside a moment and at once began to pray. I had come back in this moment to better cultivate the youth
But ’tis hardest to seek righteousness from inside a voting booth!
So many politicians say they speak on my behalf
But the way they conduct business makes the Devil fully laugh!
Some say that I’m a Democrat, that I’m Republican.
I tell them that the Son of Man is only free from sin!
Yes, I do oppose abortion of a fetus in a womb,
But I truly, truly, hope their war will end so very soon!
And they shall see the wrath of God if they ignore the poor,
Give tax breaks to the mega rich with treasure that men hoard!
Oh, so many politicians seem to live as pharisees
With no care for one another but the highest self-esteem.
They offer many promises to the public by in large,
But soon they will take office for the people’s disregard.
I see how they treat each other as the scum on Satan’s shoes!
I watch TV moderators create sound bites for the news.
They twist and tangle subtle words that no one can debate
And soon the words are opposite of what they should relate.
Yet, some speakers are directly quoted, let the record show
And do not let a “yes” mean “yes”, a “no” to just mean “no!”
They actively use passive voice and say, “Mistake were made,”
But do not realize doing so, will dig them deeper graves.
For those who walk in righteousness are those I would elect,
They give comfort to their fellow man and never force neglect!
How many of them would oblige to love their enemies?
I might be in Guantanamo if they’d encountered me!
Yet truly there are those I know whose righteousness withstands,
The slings and arrows, roadside bombs begat with evil hands.
And so I choose to keep my vote away from such a place.
Regardless of their politics… the just shall live by faith!
Joe Heller has been a political cartoonist and satirist at The Green Bay Press-gazette since 1985. In the cartoon above, Heller points to the absurdity of religious intolerance.
An exceedingly wise person once reminded me that if aliens came to Earth tomorrow, they would likely see us as all human. Our races and cultural sects and schisms would be seen as minor variations of the same habits and rituals - just as wearing a different shirt by itself is not groundbreaking, yet it can have great cultural symbolism to some in religions, clubs and at their worst, in gangs and prison systems and Nazi Germany to name just a few.
Yet because religious devotion is so embedded to the bedrock of who some of us are as people, we make exceptions to bicker with our bothers and sisters over unarguable beliefs about abstract ideas about what afterlife is, what race Jesus was, who Mohammad’s true ancestors are, or whether God is one being, a Trinity in one or a multitude of incarnations manifested in one Universal Soul called Bhraman. We never seem to think of how impossible any of these cultural convictions are to prove… and so the more fundamental we are in these convictions, the more and more and more we fight. One has to wonder what a true God would have to say about all this. Have mercy on us!
Stumble It!