Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Destroyed Bible – On How to Reconstruct the Bible, part 4 | True Freethinker

Mariano continues his look at what we could know about Jesus is the New Testament was lost. Here is the beginning of the beginning of his article. The whole thing is brilliant and I think that you should look at his whole article:

But what if the works of the church fathers were destroyed? What could we learn about Jesus and about Christians from sources outside of the Bible and outside the writings of the church fathers? (note that in what follows I am not even referencing history and archaeology affirming the Old Testament and much more that affirms the New Testament)
We could learn a number of claims regarding Jesus:
A person named Jesus (Yeshu, Yeshuah, etc.) existed.
Jesus was from Nazareth.
He had a brother name James.
He was called a wise man.
He was a teacher.
He introduced new teaching contrary to Judaism.
His teachings spread rapidly.
He lived a virtuous life.
He was followed by Jews and Greeks.
He had the ability to prophecy.
He was known to be worshipped as a God.
He was regarded as the Son of God.
He was referred to as the savior.
He was called Christ (Kristos, etc.).
He worked miracles.
He was crucified during the reign of Tiberius in the Procuratorship of Pontius Pilate.
Darkness and earthquake at the time of His death.
He was said to have resurrected on the third day.

The Destroyed Bible – On How to Reconstruct the Bible, part 4 | True Freethinker
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 LIBERTY FOUNDATION GOSPEL MINISTRIES ...::: Home

 It has been brought to my attention that news is coming out of Nigeria that Christians are murdering children because they think that these children are demon-possessed. Do children get possessed? According to the Bible...yes! However the stories coming out of Nigeria are saying that witches and allegedly possessed children are being cruelly and ritually murdered. Is that Biblical? No. Killing witches was for ancient theocratic Israel. Why would Christians do that today? We don't need to. God has given us the power to cast out demons. We have record in the whole Bible of anyone killing someone who was demon-possessed . Instead we are supposed to fast and pray for the possessed to be delivered. I don't think that there is much demon-possession in the United States but in other parts of the world where power miracles mean something, they see more exorcisms and divine miracles. In the west, we are too snooty to trust God enough to see those kinds of things. We trust more in what we have. So God moves differently for us here.

I've been on LIBERTY FOUNDATION GOSPEL MINISTRIES ...::: Home the church of Evangelist Helen Ukpabio who is being blamed for teaching theology that validates the murder of children. I can find nothing on her website that substantiates the claims. However such practices are taking place and the there is no way Christians can sign off on it. It's wrong. This is kind of tricky. We don't focus on exorcism ministries because the devil doesn't move here like he does in Nigeria. He doesn't need to. Therefore I'm not going to say her doctrine or focus is wrong - just the application people are taking. I've talked to more than one Nigerian who has seen and experienced too much to totally ignore the need.

As for the accusations that the Church of God In Christ (COGIC) is responsible because she may or may have been be a member of our church is laughable. There are more pentecostal denominations as well as other persuasions, cults, and religions in Nigeria. The practice of killing children or witches is un-Biblical and I know of no legitimate Christian organization condones such practices!

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Is Dora the Explorer an Illegal Immigrant? - AOL News


I just heard that Dora the Explorer's citizenship has become controversial.  I watch Dora with my daughter - she likes it. However, I never really gave any thought to what she represents in the debate of immigration. In my opinion the debate is silly. Every person in this country is an immigrant or children of immigrants - either by choice or force. Immigrants are not the problem in our society. IT's not all of their fault. I think this is important because Dora will affect the way our children think of those who speak spanish. What does it look like allowing Spanish speakers to do the jobs we don't want and not let them share in the fruits of their labor - that's called slavery.

Is Dora the Explorer an Illegal Immigrant? - AOL News
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