SupernaturalWarfare

Back on March 30th, I commented on Honjii’s blog saying:

So if I can’t use God to determine or prove anything (because of ‘Circular Reasoning’), then you can’t use reason.
Meaning, if I believe something because God says so, then what’s wrong with that? You believe something because ‘reason’ tells you so, what’s the difference? We both believe that a ‘higher power” (God and Reason) determines what we know. Let’s both use that.

On April 1st, Simen of import Mind.Reason made a post of his own mocking calling me a “true fundamentalist.”

I then proceeded to partake in a discussion with Simen (aided by Allison, a regular SW Reader) on my comment.

Simen evaded our questioning and refuesed to answer several of our questions - including the original question, “If Athiests can use reason to prove something, then why can’t Theists use God to prove something?”
I asked Simen that very question (with some word variation) seven times out of eight comments - and he still never answered it. Even when I said:

And since you still haven’t answered my original question, I assume you don’t have a response to it but don’t want to acknowledge that I’m right.
So why can’t I use God to prove things when you can use reason to prove things?

he still didn’t answer the question, said I’m “dead wrong,” and still didn’t answer my question.

I can see where he’s coming from, but to flat out not answer a question just seems a bit extreme.

Pray for him.

//Bring it World
-Brian Purkiss

//Continued from A True Fundamentalist

Share This

How to win (or not win) the presidency.

Courtesy of ClusterFlock.org and GracefulFlavor.net

Share This

I recieved this ‘forward’ today.
Makes you think doesn’t it?

The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ”What are we so unhappy about?”

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intr udes , an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn’t take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

Think about it……are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the “Media” told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn’t have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ”general” discharge, an ”other than honorable” discharge or, worst case scenario, a ”dishonorable” discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by “justifying” them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn’t kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way……Insane!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.

Share This

A map of how much Evolution is taught in the US.

So why are so many states teaching a hypothesis as a fact?

Map courtesy of Strange Maps

Share This

James Cameron[digg=http://digg.com/world_news/Jesus_Body_Has_Been_Found_AGAIN]
Three-time Academy Award winner, director, producer, and screenwriter James Cameron has a diverse blockbuster history. Cameron has written, produced, and/or directed many films - including: Solaris, Aliens of the Deep, Titanic, Terminator 1, 2, & 3, True Lies, Aliens, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and many others. Now, Cameron’s taken a bold step and produced The Lost Tomb of Jesus. Why is he producing such an explosive and controversial documentary? Who knows? But what is Cameron’s latest documentary claiming?

The Find
Twenty-seven years ago on March 28, 1980, Israeli construction workers were developing an apartment complex when they discovered a two thousand year old tomb - revealing ten stone caskets. Twenty years later, archeologists deciphered the names on six of the ossuaries, or coffins, (the remaining four did not have any inscriptions): Yeshua bar Joseph (Jesus, son of Joseph), Maria (presumably Mary, mother of Jesus), Mariamene e Mara (“Mary known as the master” who is supposedly Mary Magdalene), Matia (supposedly Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples), and Jofa and Judah - son of Jesua (supposedly the sons of Jesus). By conducting a series of DNA tests, and archeological evidences, Cameron’s crew concluded the true identity of the body labeled “Yeshua bar Joseph” to be Jesus Christ. (Tim McGirk - Time Blog, Jennifer Viegas - Discovery News, & Discovery.com/tomb)

Implications?
What are the implications of this discovery, if it’s true? Simple. “Without the Resurrection, Christianity will become an empty vessel.” (David W. Boles - Urban Semiotic) If Cameron’s claims are accurate, Jesus didn’t rise form the dead and thus, He wasn’t really the Son of God - as he claimed to be. Therefore, Christianity would have no foundation and ultimately collapse. Since “Cameron has the whole story well tied down,” (Joe Fay) he has to have some pretty astounding evidences. So what proof does Cameron and his cohorts have?

Evidence: The Ossuary is Named
First of all, one of the ossuaries in the tomb is labeled “Yeshua bar Joseph.” Who’s to say Yeshua bar Joseph (Jesus, son of Joseph) is the same Jesus as Jesus Christ? And for that matter, an inscription cannot clarify anything. Anyone can label a coffin. Just because there is a name on a ossuary, doesn’t mean it’s really the person it claims to be. Jesus was actually a popular name two thousand years ago. In fact, the name Jesus has been discovered on at least ninety-nine tombs and twenty-two ossuaries. (Dr. Gary R. Habermas) And specifically, the name ‘Jesus son of Joseph’ has been found on three or four ossuaries already. (David Horovitz - Jerusalem Post) Similarly, Mary was the most common female name in the ancient Jewish world. (Dr. Gary R. Habermas) Just because an old stone box has the name Jesus’ on the lid, doesn’t mean that the body it contains is the Jesus of the Bible.

Evidence: DNA Samples
So, what else does Cameron have? Supposedly Cameron and his crew have DNA evidences proving that the remains truly are Jesus’. But how could they actually use DNA to prove that a two thousand year old body really is Jesus Christ, when they have no DNA to compare it to? After all, we don’t have any of Jesus’ blood samples. When researching that dilemma, it’s easy to find people claiming that Cameron has DNA analysis that proves that the body is the body of Jesus Christ. But it’s difficult to find some ‘evidence’ and reasoning behind their alleged DNA analysis. Turns out, a team headed by Carney Matheson, a scientist at the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada, examined the remains. Interestingly, the scientists could get adequate DNA samples from only two of the ossuaries - the ossuaries of Yeshua bar Joseph and Mariamene e Mara. They concluded that the body in the ossuary labeled “Jesua bar Joseph” and the body labeled “Mariamene e Mara” were not blood relatives. Cameron claims they were married, since relatives were normally placed in the same tomb, which could be true. The fact that Mariamene e Mara could have been married to one of the other men in the tomb has been ignored. Even so, because they aren’t related, doesn’t guarantee that the two were married. Similarly, just because the body labeled “Judah, son of Jesua” doesn’t mean that the body is the son of Jesus and Mary Madeline. (Jennifer Viegas - Discovery News)

Evidence: Statistics
Finally, professor of statistics and mathematics at the University of Toronto Andrey Feuerverger played with numbers and supposedly calculated the chances of the tomb actually being the tomb of Jesus’ family. But it’s strange that scientists would rely on statistics to prove their theory. After all, the chances of the process of evolution occurring are 1:10:1030 (one to the ten to the tenth to the thirtieth). (Dr Roger Penrose - Cambridge University for statistics) In other words, if you could write a million zeroes a second, it would take you a few billion years to write the number down. Interestingly enough, just about every scientist considers something to be impossible if the odds are greater than 1050. So it seems that scientists can pick which stats to follow and which to ignore - if it fits their agenda.

But let’s just assume for a moment that statistics in regards to history can be trusted and take a look at what good ‘ol Andrey Feuerverger has done. “Feuerverger multiplied the instances that each name appeared during the tomb’s time period with the instances of every other name. He initially found ‘Jesus Son of Joseph’ appeared once out of one hundred ninety times, Mariamne appeared once out of one hundred sixty times and so on. To be conservative, he next divided the resulting numbers by twenty five percent, a statistical standard, and further divided the results by one thousand to attempt to account for all tombs - even those that have not been uncovered - that could have existed in first century Jerusalem. The study concludes that the odds are at least six hundred to one in favor of the Talpiot Tomb being the Jesus Family Tomb. In other words, the conclusion works five hundred ninety nine times out of six hundred.” (Jennifer Viegas - Discovery News)

So, Feuerverger makes a bunch of assumptions, plays with numbers, and gets his numbers posted in a ‘leading statistical journal,’ and we then believe that the chances are too great to be ignored. “To be conservative, he next divided the resulting numbers by twenty five percent, a statistical standard, and further divided the results by one thousand to attempt to account for all tombs… that could have existed in first century Jerusalem.” Feuerverger made two large assumptions, and then we believe that a body labeled Jesua is really Jesus Christ. Why?

Something else to consider is that Jesus was a Galilean, and a carpenter’s son. From a logical standpoint, Jesus would have been buried in the Galilee area, over eighty miles (one hundred thirty kilometers) to the north of where they found the tomb in Jerusalem! And again, from a logic standpoint, Jesus was a carpenter’s son. Meaning, Jesus wasn’t a millionaire. The tomb that is claimed to be the tomb of Jesus is a tomb for the rich. After all, the ossuaries (coffins) were limestone, and the cave was large (for a tomb). A carpenter’s family couldn’t afford such a lavish tomb. Amos Kloner, a Professor at Bar-Ilan University said, “There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb. They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem.” (Kloner: A Great Story, but Nonsense - Jerusalem Post and New Film Claims Jesus Buried in Talpiot - Jerusalem Post)

In addition, Feuerverger didn’t account for all the bodies that were not buried in a tomb, found or not found, labeled or not labeled. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, who’s to say he was buried in a tomb? If Jesus Christ remained dead, his body couldn’t have been in the original tomb. If it was, the Jewish leaders would have paraded his body to squash the growing Christian faith. Since they didn’t, they didn’t have the body. That means Jesus did rise from the dead, or the body had been moved. If Cameron’s claim is true, and Jesus’ body has been found, then the body had to have been moved. If it was moved, why couldn’t it have been buried in a common grave and not an expensive tomb? Factor that into Feuerverger’s statistics and see where they go.

Why is it Getting Publicity?
James Cameron claims that he has proven that we have Jesus’ body - even though he has no real evidence. What’s the difference now than when the tomb was discovered in 1980 or when BBC a documentary on the tomb in 1996 (The Tomb that Dare Not Speak its Name)? Even then all claims were discredited. The difference now is that James Cameron is producing this documentary, who has three Academy Awards; Discovery has put their stamp on it; some doctors have put their stamp on it; and Cameron used a bunch of big words and hard concepts that is out of the reach of the general public. Those connections get “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” its airtime.

Real Authorities on the Subject
But what do the real authorities on archeology and related subjects have to say? When the tomb was discovered twenty-seven years ago, the highly accredited Jewish archeologist Amos Kloner who was in charge of the original excavations, determined the tomb was not the tomb of Jesus Christ and further that it was ‘un-likely Jesus and his relatives even had a family tomb.” (Father Jonathan Morris - FoxNews.com) Further still, not a single respected archeologist from the Holy Land has gone on record agreeing with Cameron’s claims. Amos Kloner also said, “The claim that the burial site has been found is not based on any proof, and is only an attempt to sell.” He further told the Jerusalem Post, “It makes a great story for a TV film, but it’s impossible. It’s nonsense.” (Kloner: A Great Story, but Nonsense - Jerusalem Post and New Film Claims Jesus Buried in Talpiot - Jerusalem Post)

Stop Banging Pots and Pans
Again, So why is “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” getting so much coverage and praise? Who knows? James Cameron and his crew do not have one shred of any real evidence or any backing by anyone who would have authority on this issue. Cameron has some scribblings on six old stone boxes, DNA testing that proves two people are not related, and a guy who played with numbers, called them statistics and got his statistics posted in a statistical journal.
If Cameron and his crew acquire any real evidence, the Church will consider the evidence. But until then, James Cameron and his buddies should stop banging pots and pans.

Further Reading:
» Kloner: A Great Story, but Nonsense - Jerusalem Post
» New Film Claims Jesus Buried in Talpiot - Jerusalem Post
» ‘Lost Tomb of Jesus’ Claim Called a Stunt - Washington Post
» If James Cameron Were Honest About His “Discovery”
» The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Habermas Response

Share This