#through virgin birth like jesus style

[genderdog]

every time i listen to ugly death no redemption i go fucking insane about ice the last generation again

[bustyasianbeautiespod]

Re: Chuck's dad, I always assumed that he made himself a baby and just lived a whole life as a human complete with family and everything so he could experience being human, which is also how he had a high school relationship. This admittedly isn't in the actual text though because retconning Chuck to be god was incredibly messy and not thought through

that's a good assumption and prob canon-backed and also i loveee that if we're to take the ep extras seriously that he deliberately chose to either 1. be adopted by a single gay man who acts like bobby singer (he said none of my kids had a mom or second parent and they turned out fine why should i) or 2. be born to a woman and a gay man who acts like bobby singer (closest shot at a jesus style virgin birth is a birth from unenjoyable sex). (i'm sure there are other family structures i'm missing wherein chuck only has one dad and he's gay such as trans guy who got pregnant from a one-night stand but anywho) funniest guy ever. not sure if it was to understand humanity better or to understand Not Being God better or just him running away though i'm sure i'll form more conclusions as i go

i look forward to seeing how messy this retconning is! i'm sure if it just ended at 5.22 it'd be a fun spicy guitar twang ending but after they have to flesh out the details in later seasons it gets weird

- Crystal :)

[scobbe]

A quick Christian Religious Art History post because that post that bothered me said it was Christianity (sorry, “Xianity”) that was pushing the whole old man in the sky thing. 

Early Christians painted pictures mostly of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, some early saints. The Good Shepherd was a popular motif (sometimes a young, unbearded, very Roman-looking Jesus!) as well as Mary with the Infant Jesus. Very soon the style started veering towards what would be recognized as Byzantine Iconography.

The Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox/Greek Church) went through a period of Iconoclasm, where many Church leaders said there shouldn’t be pictures of anything dealing with God at all, which lead to the destruction of a lot of beautiful artwork in early churches (this is all pre-1000 CE). This was mostly due to Old Testament/Jewish Law against “worshiping graven images.” St. John of Damascus popped up and said, but Jesus changed the rules by being, like, God in the form of Man, so we can in fact make pictures of HIM as God (the Son). So the Eastern Orthodox church took off with iconography, pictures everywhere. 

But icons are written by very specific rules, and Jesus is THE picture you will see of “God.” If you go into any Byzantine/Greek Orthodox/Eastern Orthodox church, you will probably find a huge mural of “Christ Pantocrator” or “Christ Almighty”. He looks like this:

Not an old man with a beard on a cloud.

So while the Eastern Church was doing that the Western/Roman/Latin Church just kept making art fairly freely. Most of this art had to do with the Harrowing of Hell or the Crucifixion or the ever popular Virgin with Child. Not God the Father. When Michelangelo did finally paint the Sistine Chapel ca. 1508 and the famed Creation of Adam, we were deep into the Renaissance, when everyone was “rediscovering” the art of ancient Greece and Rome, and trying to “bring back” the flavor of those Classical civilizations. So of course he painted God to look like Zeus/Jupiter and we ended up with this:

Old man kind of floating? It’s Michelangelo's classically-influenced idea of God the Creator. He was literally working from sketches of Greek and Roman statues. It was the style of the day.

It became one of the most replicated works of religious art ever. Thanks, Mike.

(And it’s actually got a lot of very clever symbolism about wombs and birth going on as well. Sorry there’s no women involved. Michelangelo was not real into the ladies.)

Meanwhile, in Germany, Martin Luther was getting his tights in a twist over various serious issues in the Roman Church and began the Protestant Reformation. This drove a whole crew of Christians back to Biblical Scripture and they pulled out the “no graven images” deal again. HUGE amount of artwork was destroyed in the Reformation, statues smashed, mosaics covered over. If you go to England it’s obvious on almost every cathedral, there are smashed statues or empty niches where statues used to be.

Because of this, a large portion of Reformed Christian churches are very skimpy on imagery, if they have any at all. When I say Reformed Churches, I’m talking Baptists, Methodists, Evangelical, Pentecostal, all the Protestant denominations. It varies, of course, but thanks to Puritan influence a huge number of churches in America ended up looking like Boston’s Old North Church, like this:

Maybe the Big Sky Daddy sits up in the balcony, I dunno.

So on one hand you’ve got Eastern Churches with Christ Pantocrator, then you’ve got the Roman Catholics with lots of crucifixes and Blessed Virgins and one (1) old man in a cloud from 1508, then you’ve got about 500 years of Protestants being exceedingly careful about having any images of God at all. 

Overall, the main man you’re going to see in Christianity is Jesus, a guy in his early 30′s with dark hair and a beard. Yeah, there were some years he got more white than he should be. Sometimes he’s a little shiny. But it’s just this guy, you know? It’s not an old man in a cloud.

I hope this clarifies where the Old Man in the Cloud may have come from, though, re: popular culture and not actually religion, the same way learning about how a single Coca-Cola ad campaign created what we normally think of as Santa. 

[faustocosgrove]

and on the fourteenth day of reviewmas I, Fausto, give to thee:

14 missing light sources

[(a show taking place in 2040/6 other shows i reference in this dual review)/(a different franchise with 1 manga + 4 anime series + 3 tv specials + 5 feature films + 1 musical +1 video game + 2 live action adaptations)] - (one show released in 1994 - the other released in 1987) = 13 reasons why i’m placing this review at number 13.

one of 12 instances of elder abuse

11 yawns

my 10 remaining brain cells after this shitty movie jfc

9 instances this show reminded me of a better show

an 80s cult movie

7 lgbt main characters in an incredibly queer manga like holy shit

6 ye olde government agents

5/5 stars best movie of the decade easily. might be the best movie of all time

4 scantily clad teenaged girls (fbi open up! meme)

the 3rd time i read the same book about lawns maybe?

2 high school animes

and a ninja book

…from a guy who still thinks about the naruto series in the year 2024

the devil conspiracy

this movie had so many plot holes it was like watching a how it’s made video about colanders. it was also dark as fuck. as in lighting wise you can literally not fucking see anything that’s going on. and it has some of the worse cgi i’ve seen.

the basic plot is there’s devil worshippers in italy who want to steal the shroud of turin to get jesus’s dna to make a jesus clone so lucifer can possess the jesus baby and take over the world. they pick some random blonde american woman to knock up with jesus, her italian priest friend dies in the scuffle and his dead body is possessed by the archangel michael who proceeds to save the world lone wolf american action hero style.

if i started listing everything about this movie that didn’t make sense i would get nothing done today. i will say the most problematic thing about this movie is the over arching character development the random blonde lady goes through. she starts as an independent, world traveling, phd student on her way to gaslight gatekeep girlboss her way to the top and then she gets raped and fails to abort the baby, pops out the kid and can’t give him away because he’s literally jesus and she’s suddenly this pure virginal birth mothering character who doesn’t speak.

the best thing about this movie is that the actor who plays toddler jesus for the last minute of the movie is clearly not white. so 10/10 for that. and i’m pretty sure the actor playing powered up angel michael is black but i’m honest to god going to have to google who the actor is because the movie is so dark you couldn’t really tell. light googling he is! his name is peter mensah. which is like, some pretty bottom of the barrel praise. especially since like, you’ve cast a black actor as the character whose going to save the world but then turn the character into a white guy for like 90% of the movie. and double that with the non-white jesus actor and the kind of ambiguous ending the movie has where it’s sort of implied that resurected jesus is like trapping lucifer in his body naruto and kyuubei style. but like this could also be lucifer acting like he’s jesus, it’s actually that ambiguous.

okay i gotta stop now or else i really will be here all day.

[sinfulcries]

iwaizumi or suna getting fucked in a confessional by priest reader please!

our father — iwaizumi x male reader

authors notes: new writing style again aha . literally so pissed that ive been vent writing a lot recently. so here’s a work that was birthed from it. stan ‘tennis’ and stream “runner”

tw. sacrilege, corruption, unethical practices, penance, cum eating, breeding, dubcon, noncon undertones, manhandling, virginity loss, power imbalance, manipulation, rough sex, age gap (10+ years), sex in a confessional

Iwaizumi was pure. Innocent and almost too blind to see just how corrupt the world actually was. With how he sat quietly in front of you, the thin barrier of the confessional’s walls making it hard to see his rather adorable expression-- He was just too cute not to toy with.

“Bless me Father for I have sinned,” The boy started, taking a deep breath before continuing. “My last confession was 8 months ago.” You merely hummed attentively, signalling him to confess his sins.

“I-- Father, this is a bit embarrassing…” It was cute the way he tripped over his words and you could vaguely see him fidgeting nervously through the other side of the wall. “It’s alright Iwaizumi-san. Please continue.”

With another shaky breath, Iwaizumi whispered, “I-Ive touched m-myself somewhere I wasn’t s-supposed to be touching....”

Was he that innocent? The thought alone made you grin mischievously wanting to corrupt the boy’s sweet innocence. “If you knew that it was wrong, then why’d you do it?”

The brunette’s clammy hands went to cup his face embarrassedly, and he could barely make out your wide grin through the wall. “My f-friends told me t-that it would feel good, I-I’m sorry father.”

“Well,” You started, licking your lips before continuing. “I need to make sure you have the spiritual guidance you need to get through a time like this.”

Iwaizumi keened at your words, Eyes shining hopefully as he sighed in relief thanking the Lord for giving him such a kind priest to guide him with his sins. “S-Spiritual guidance…?”

With a curt nod you responded, “Jesus Christ merits special attention for you to be guided.” Iwaizumi was more so confused however he was more than willing to receive this special attention!

“What do I do now father?” He asked, letting out an embarrassed sign once he heard the faint sound of your chuckling through the other side of the small space. “Kindly leave the confessional and sit beside me.”

Without another word, The boy complied obediently, Turning the knob of his door to exit towards your side. Iwaizumi’s gut was telling him not to trust you but how could he not? God wouldn’t abandon him! He gave him such an attractive priest to trust!

Now that he was beside you, He shifted his leg awkwardly away from yours, Avoiding your gaze. “Get on your knees and pray.” You instructed and Iwaizumi did exactly just that, clasping his hands together as he started chanting the hail mary loud and clear.

“Yeah that’s it keep praying, son. God will forgive you.” You mused watching him shut his eyes tighter, chanting the prayer much louder than before. Hajime could hear the sound of your belt unbuckling and your trousers hitting the floor however he payed no mind to it, continuing to pray before he felt the smooth head of your cock rubbing against his lip.

“What are you—mmf!” The boy was cut off as you shoved your cock into his mouth, grabbing him by the back of his head— forcing him to take every inch. You could see the panic in the boy’s eyes and your cock only twitched seeing just how helpless he was against you. “Shh, Don’t fight it little one. This is part of your penance.”

Iwaizumi trusted you. He wanted to be cleansed of his sins— and he would do anything just for God to forgive him again, even if it meant having his priest cleanse him in a way that made him feel so filthy.

As you gripped the back of the teens head, pushing him in to take more of your cock, You started to hold him in place— Thrusting into his mouth as you felt your high approaching.

“With how pretty you look just like this I’m sure God will save you.” You moaned breathlessly watching Iwaizumi sucking eagerly on your cock. Your hand which was previously situated on the males head was now on his cheek, lulling him in closer as you spilled your load inside of him.

Iwaizumi obediently swallowed the salty seed, gulping every last drop down his throat as you peered down at him, smiling at the sight of his teary eyes. “Good job. You’re one step closer to being forgiven.”

At this rate, Iwaizumi was bound to comply with every word that escaped your mouth. His trust was growing with each word you spoke and he could only obey as you ordered him to turn around— Taking off his underwear to show you his plump little ass.

“Fuck— How beautiful.” You cooed, giving his ass a harsh spank, watching the flesh jiggle teasingly against your length. “Father, I-I... C-Can God forgive me n-now?” The shorter man murmured shyly.

You gave a hum in response, lifting his tiny body with ease before pushing him against the confessional’s walls, Pushing your tip against his puffy hole before bottoming out.

A pained gasp left the teens lips and he could only sob as you pushed in more of you thick length inside of him. It was so painful! Was this really necessary for God to forgive him? Nevertheless, Iwaizumi was one good and faithful little boy, and his faith in God would never waver no matter how hard it was for him to take it.

A raspy moan left your lips as you started to fuck into Iwaizumi’s hole, a flurry of moans escaping his throat every time your tip brushed against his prostate. “Pray, little boy. Tell God how sorry you are.”

“I-I— Ahn~! sssso—rr ah!” He was a dumb mess, eyes crossed together lewdly as he recited random gibberish. It almost seemed like a memorized prayer with how dedicated he was trying to apologise, but you knew he was trying to tell you just how good your cock felt inside of him.

“Oh God Hajime— You’re gonna feel so much of God’s love inside of you.” Biting against the expanse of his neck, You cupped his leaking cock before continuing. “You’re gonna have so much of God’s love in you that it’s gonna be dripping out of your tight lil cunt.”

[writeforfandoms]

Jen! Hello! Hi there 🤩💙💙

Any spare art thoughts? Any medium, any period, any style? Whether you like it just because or you have more detailed critiques or any thoughts between!

@fictitious-little-stitious

Oh interesting! I'm gonna brush off my couple classes of art history here.

Okay so I know tons of people love the Renaissance but it really is such a fascinating period, even just through the lens of art history. You've got so many changes in such a relatively short period of time.

Under a cut because of picture references.

Okay so 1322, still have fairly flat people. The baby looks like a wonky miniature human rather than a baby. Still lots of detail work but it looks flat, lacking that depth that we'll see shortly.

"San Procolo Polyptych", Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1322.

Now, skip 90 years forward. We've still got the kind of flat figures BUT we're seeing progress! If you look at the clothing, you are beginning to see limbs in there, not just shapeless mass of robes. Saints are still outlined in gold, prominent figures are still religious in nature. But look at those colors too! So vibrant!

"Coronation of the Virgin" Lorenzo Monaco, 1413.

And then! More progress! Lookit the folds in the angel's robes here. See the draping, the folds, the details and shadows here? And see how you can very clearly see the knee? We're getting close, folks.

"Annunciation," Fra Angelico, 1438-1445.

We're still working our way towards realistic people here. But I'm adding this in for a couple reasons. The first is the sheer variety of animals. I mean in this one shot you've got deer, dogs, horses, mules, a duck, a leopard-like cat, a hawk, and a monkey. And this is not even one full wall! Also, notice the background. You've got an actual background. Mountains and trees and clouds and a sky. Now, it is a fake background, not based on a particular spot. There was a period where this type of background was quite common, this mythic picturesque background. And this is also an example of money buys fun stuff! This was commissioned by the Medici family, who at this point were quite wealthy. I can't point to a person and say "this guy!" Without more research, but members of the Medici family were painted into this scene. And this became quite common, especially for the wealthy, to have yourself painted into a position of power and favor.

"Procession of the Magi," Benozzo Gozzoli, 1459.

Now, those familiar with this period of art history are already familiar with the name Botticelli. However, I'm skipping Birth of Venus because it's so well known. Instead, let's look at another one. Notice in this the well defined figures, with actual correct anatomy. Look at the folds of the robes, the flames, the shadows. Look at how they look simply paused, but so realistic they could leap back into motion at any time. Now, look at this background. He painted sculptures into the background. And they look like sculptures. There is so much going on here I could probably write a whole essay.

"Calumny of Apelles," Sandro Botticelli, 1497.

I am going to end tonight's lecture with Leonardo's "Last Supper." Look at the groupings of three, the first time this had been depicted this way. Jesus is physically alone in the center, with the groups on either side of him leaning away to make a physical space. And those hands! These are people talking with their hands. Look at the range of emotions here. It's incredible. Just. Incredible. And of course they look like people. They fill their clothing. They're articulate and proportioned and they look so real, like a snapshot. Like an echo of the past, in more ways than one.

"The Last Supper," Leonardo da Vinci, 1495-1498.

This is... Way more than you asked for. I'm sort of sorry. I hope you enjoyed anyway!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

I can't seem to quite grasp the critical thinking of Jack to go from believing women can be pregnant without sex like the Virgin Mary, to demand a child to get impregnated by exposing her ass... I am not christian but I definitely do not think even the most unorthodox nun would raise him that way. Also, wouldn't this "mean" he could technically kill non prostitute women who had sex (to procreate or otherwise) as well?

Honestly...

you aren’t alone in not understanding how Jack’s mind work in this manga.

To put it mildly I’ve been very critic of how Noda created him.

To compare him with Ueji, Ueji is a terrible person but a well written character... while Jack is just a horribly written character who also happens to be a terrible person.

There’s plenty of things I can criticize in the making of Jack, the whole thing is so weak it just doesn’t stand and this includes also how, for him, Jack is Michael Ostrog, a Russian criminal and Jack the Ripper suspect who was proved innocent.

Overall though, I got the impression Noda decided to make him Jack but, while he was writing that arc he didn’t have the time to research on him yet and didn’t have a clear idea on how to make him and that Jack is going to go through many corrections in the volume version.

For example in the magazine version Noda waited till chap 248 to reveal his face. This is something I’ve complained back then because the ‘face reveal’ that usually takes place when we learn something relevant about a character or we met him, took place merely when we were told where he would hit next.

The volume version changed things as we had a face reveal in chap 239, when Kikuta saw his face.

Noda also changed how Kikuta, in the volume doesn’t just say he has seen his dick and stop here, generating the idea Noda wants to have a scene in “Once Upon a Time in America” style, where a character was called to recognize another by checking on a group of men’s dicks, but adds he has noticed a birthmark there, giving sense to Kikuta’s sentence.

Noda in vol 24 also added Jack saying that the prostitute’s sins were forgiven when he killed her, and, looking at the church, he said ‘I’m your child’.

He also removed the fact Jack saw in the letters ‘from hell’ and replaced it with ‘whores are sinners’.

I expect Noda to fix Jack’s backstory so that it will make sense in the volume version because what we got from the magazine, absolutely didn’t.

Now, I don’t really like to talk about faith.

I’m not English so I’m not familiar with the Anglican brand of Christianity and their beliefs which are probably the ones in which Jack should have been raised into, so I can’t really talk about it.

However yes, in the brand of Christian beliefs I’m familiar with, Jack’s reasoning make no sense and I’ve hard time thinking it could make sense in the Anglican ones as, as far as I know, Anglicans too believe Mary is the Theotokos (Mother of God) and that she was a Virgin, because she was chosen by God to give birth to Jesus and so she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit to conceive him.

Jack basically equates the Holy Spirit with the East Wind and all the Ainu children as Jesus, never mention he views himself as God because he decides Asirpa has to get impregnated in such way.

I just can’t see how he made such a leap and it doesn’t even make sense narratively.

Prostitutes don’t have sex to make children, and if his problem is really how women conceive children by having sex he should target mothers, not prostitutes... or believe that married women are also virgins, which would make the whole Ainu thing not really that special.

So... I don’t know. For me it makes no sense.

Now okay, I accept that since Noda is representing insane convicts they can misinterpret religion, I mean, I don’t mind Sekiya and the way he handled his faith because really, people that undergo trauma start questioning it and misinterpreting and whatever if they go mad in their grief... and sometimes you also have insane criminals who interpret religion all in the wrong way, starting to believe the most absurd things but, in theory, especially in a story, there’s always a logic that lead misinterpretations.

The logic behind Jack’s reasoning is lacking and I can’t follow it.

I would have found it better if Noda had kept the whole Ainu belief and Jack’s insanity unrelated.

But, as i said, Noda might be planning to change things in the volume version so let’s hope he’ll take his time to fix Jack because, as of now, he’s really horribly written and Noda never made such a poorly written character.

I mean, sometimes he neglected to develop characters, but when he did develop them they made sense. Jack is just... tossed in as if Noda were merely using the popularity of his name.

That’s definitely no good so really, I hope it’ll get fixed. Thank you for your ask!

[beneaththetangles]

12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 9: Nichijou

“…the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Well, now that is crazy. Just imagine.

As you may have expected, Nichijou´s Christmas episode is, well, not very Christmas-like at all. More like your usual absurdist everyday whirlwind. Let´s just list the facts:

A certain Nakanojo claims that everything in this universe can be explained by science, and there is no way something as ridiculous as supernatural phenomena could exist. He thus tries to expose an exorcist as a fraud, with hilarious results. Young and serious Mihoshi Tachibana is indignant because of the levity of Mei Naganohara, a natural genius at kendo who never trains but always wins. So she tries to get a strike, just this once… While Mei is petting a cat at the street. Fe-cchan is trying to live according to an optimistic motto, but destiny won´t allow it. Back to Nakanojo, who defies the will of his father, who wants him to become a living advertisement for the onigiri street stall. At her orientation interview, Misato Tachibana, Mei´s sister, insists she won´t marry Sasahara, though nobody suggested that. Trapped by Mei’s dogs, Sakamoto and the Professor are saved by Mio and Yukko… Well, sort of.

There are two Christmas sections in the middle of this crazy yet hopeful portrayal of our ordinary lives. Nano and the Professor discuss what will they ask from Santa as they prepare the decorations for their house. The Professor, in her spoiled style, wants everything she can think of. Nano, in her own way, wants some household accessories and an Ivan Bilibin book (I approve! His illustrations are amazing.). But the Professor gets mad: She has asked for a lot of things, so Nano can only ask for one present. This is so obviously unfair, and Nano is so utterly shocked, that the Professor tries to make amends, somehow. Cut to Helvetica Standard, where Santa disappoints a young boy by bringing him sweet melon bread as a present.

That was Nichijou. But, have you ever considered how the first Christmas was for St. Joseph and St. Mary? You may discover that it was, well, not very Christmas-like at all either, in the usual sense of the word. More like your not-so-usual jaw-dropping, historical and miraculous divine-humane whirlwind. Let´s just list the facts. Consider the data which the Scripture, geography and history give us. This is the Roman province of Palestine, a vassal kingdom under Herod the Great. The year is either 8, 7 or 6 BC (from the data concerning the death of Herod, we have recently found that there was a calculation error when setting the year zero), and Joseph and Mary are a poor couple of Hebrew betrothed, though of illustrious descent (as shown by the fact that they paid a pair of turtledoves and two pigeons, the tax of the poor, at the Temple).

Zoom on St. Joseph, a man whose relatives live in Nazareth, Galilee, and who works there as an artisan of some sort. This is a quite complicated extended family living in a quite complicated village: You may remember that the people of Nazareth will try to kill Jesus by throwing him down a ravine, while his relatives will try to have Him declared insane and take him by force, among other things. Not that everyone is a monster either, as some relatives of Jesus will have a role in the early Church. As Medieval Otaku once pointed out, the Scripture does not record any single world of Joseph, but at least I feel that the story by itself is quite expressive. Let´s get into it.

St. Joseph is formally engaged to a girl who was probably a member of his extended family, as was the custom. They both love God and hope that He will assist Israel, according to His promise: She is “full of grace,” kecharitomene, and engages in prayer, while he is “just,” díkaios, and struggles to comply with the Law of God. And you see, after receiving the visit of the angel, St. Mary found out that her old cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, after which she traveled about 97 miles (if, as an ancient tradition holds, Elizabeth lived in Ain Karem) to help her, and remained there for three months (during which Zachariah, Elizabeth´s husband, remained mute), then traveled another 97 miles back to Nazareth. It is not exactly the smoothest road, either. You have around eight hundred meters of elevation gain near Jerusalem, and it is a rocky, thorny, and desertic path.

At some point during that period, St. Joseph made the painful discovery that St. Mary, so pure and full of virtue and piety, was nevertheless pregnant before their marriage, and not by him. He made the difficult decision, after considering the matter in his heart (enthymetentos), to obey the Law and leave her, but in secret, to take the blame, which amounted to prevent her stoning, no less. That was, the Gospel tells us, because he was a just man, what the Old Testament calls a zaddik—that is, the kind of man who carried out what ought to be done according to God in the most loving way available to him. And then, there came the dream, the message of the angel, the astonishing revelation of the virgin conception, and the plan of salvation, the impossible mission which surpassed everything he could have ever imagined.

We have become used to talking and hearing about the Incarnation, but think of it again from the perspective of a faithful Jew who associates God with the veiled ark of the Temple, the thundering mountain of Horeb, the prophets who brought fire from the sky and the twelve plagues of Egypt. God will be a child, and you will take care of Him. Good luck. At least, he and St. Mary could be together.

So, change of plans. Bear with the impossibility to explain anything to his circle and relatives, whatever they may have assumed. Hearing of the edict of August Caesar. Traveling another 97 miles with a pregnant woman in her late term up the rocky path to a village which your ancestors lived, and find that there is no place to host her in the day she is about to give birth.

Bethlehem was a small village (“And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be among the thousands of Judah…”—that is, it had a population under 1,000 families, the minimum for being considered a city). It was built over two hills that are not very far from each other, and the houses were built mostly by adapting natural caves. Other caves were used for the animals. In one of these, Joseph and Mary found shelter, and Jesus, God Incarnate, was born.

Suddenly, local shepherds come from nowhere to adore the Child, warned by a singing legion of angels. After forty days, St. Joseph and St. Mary come to fulfill the Law and offer a poor man´s offering at the Temple, in which an old man who is praying there, Simeon, tells them that he had been waiting for this very moment all his life, that he can die in peace at least, and that Mary and the Child will suffer horribly. And, shortly before or after that, foreign Magi, astrologers, from the East come to Bethlehem to adore the Child, whose birth has been prophesied by a star which has guided them to the exact spot where they live.

That by itself would be a lot for any man to take, but then comes the next news, from another prophetic dream. The most powerful man of the country, Herod the Great, wants to kill the Child. This was a man who had been the king of Judea for thirty years and was a paranoid, bloodthirsty tyrant that had exiled his first wife and executed the second with half of his own family, was in command of a secret police of sorts and, according to the ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, was so cruel that when he felt like dying, he ordered his sister Salome to kill some of some of the most popular figures of his people the moment he stopped breathing just to guarantee that they would not rejoice too much (luckily, when he in fact died, she disobeyed the order). To avoid the danger, he was to take his wife and the Child and go immediately to the foreign land of Egypt, to begin there from zero. Until another prophetic dream sends him back.

Life, says Mio Naganohara at one of the peak moments of Nichijou, is like baseball. You never know what may come next. Life in Christ is like Haruhi Suzumiya’s baseball: Literally all things are possible. Nakanojo is wrong: There are things happening in this world that are beyond explanation, that surpass us, sometimes ridiculously so. And there is hope in that. With Joseph and Mary, the very first Christians, we are called to follow the same Child, the Redeemer of Humanity, God Incarnated, and play our part when is our turn to bat, knowing that in doing so there is the highest love and the deepest meaning. Little by little, we will realize that our ordinary, or not-so-ordinary life, is truly full of miracles. That we are together in this. That God is truly with us.

So keep your ear open this Advent. Smooth the roads, clear the paths. Don’t take anything for granted. After all, who knows what Christmas may you be called to live this year?

=====

Nichijou can be streamed at Crunchyroll.

[giorgiosgiovassiliou]

September 2019

| Reading time: 11 min

ORTHOS LOGOS magazine-Original text in greek

https://orthoslogos.news/author/gvasiliou

Transcendental Surrealism in visual arts and modern era…

A discussion with the visual artist-architect Mr Giorgios (Gio) Vassiliou

Odysseus's return-the decisive instant 110x70cm oi on canvas

A new Surrealism which conveys an idea of what man is capable of achieving, when he is released from his shackles and looks free at the cosmic becoming as well as himself! He is carried by the Visual artist-Architect Mr Giorgos (Gio) Vassiliou , calling him Transcendental. Historically, it was presented in the summer (July) of 2018 at the Historical Archives-Museum of Hydra-Greece***.

According to the rapporteur of this new proposal,

it is the progressive development of Surrealism, as presented in the beginning of the 20th Century.

«I asked a child holding a candle:

Where did your light come from?

He immediately turned it off and told me:

If you tell me where it went I will tell you

where it came from!»

Poem by Hasan of Basra

Giorgios (Gio) Vassiliou was born in Athens in 1970.International recognized as the inventor and founder of Transcendental Surealism in visual arts. He Studied Architecture at Westminster University (London) and Life Drawing. He has been involved in the arts since his childhood and has presented his works in important art galleries in Athens. Many prominent Greek art historians have written official reviews on the evolution and importance of his work, such as: Stelios Lidakis, Georgios Prokopiou, Athena Schina, M. Georgousi, etc. During his many years of artistic research and development, he gradually developed and presented his own artistic style, a new proposal in the visual arts, Transcendental Surrealism. Artworks of him can be found in major Private Collections.

"We all know, Mr. Vassiliou notes, that every season .......

"It simply came to our notice then, that this very idea had to dress up itself and come out in the daylight. Its dress in this charge of it, is the very vision that gives its breath and substance. The subjective nature of the vision is called to be realized, to become real and to be externalized as something with a material existence. This is exactly what happens with the vision of Transcendental Surrealism (TS), descending from the subjective heights that emanates and "lands" in our natural world.

The nature of a vision (as we all know) is to travel us, to fly to unprecedented heights, to transport us to unknown places and dimensions. However, just as vision includes its "flight", it must also have a "takeoff" as well as a safe "landing". Only under this condition, a vision respects itself, when it includes in its manifestation a complete cosmic cycle of events. "

has very special conditions, which define and characterize it, as unique and unrepeatable in the space-time continuum. These conditions give birth to or create "We all know, Mr. Vassiliou notes, that every season is inspired by special conditions, which define and characterize it, as unique and unrepeatable in the space-time continuum. These conditions give birth to or create from their very essence, this entity identity that directs the conquests and aspirations of this historical period. Here in this new proposal, we are primarily interested in the vision of that accompanies the starting idea.

In the vision that concerns T. S. ., as its founder and inventor , Giorgios (Gio) Vassiliou, hopes that the aforementioned condition will be met, in order to offer us safe and complete flights in the future.

The saying "that art follows life" is also known, but sometimes life follows art, and this has HAPPENED lots of times. In Transcendental Surealism the notion of "reasonable time" and causality is collapsing, because the future comes to meet the present and the aftermath! Let us now look at the necessity and usefulness of the Transcendental Surealism not only in the visual arts, but also in the age in which we live and which is creatively integrated. First of all, I must (but I must) refer to the transcendental element, which is the dominant synthetic factor of The T. S..

By definition, the transcendental element is an extraterrestrial or exocosmic conception of another kind of "superior" impression on our world. While it is intended for the here and now, however, its origin (potentially at least) is not of this world!

And, I am referring to this subtle and refined factor, which expands our perception, after all, it is transcendent that transcends our understanding, expands it , if you will, to unprecedented proportions compared to before.

Painting of

Imagine a vast horizon, which as we approach it expands and opens up new dimensions in our visible and invisible spectrum!

Historically, the Transcendental Element has existed, like flashes, since the time of the caves in the human factor! Then humo erectus recognizes that the natural elements (that surround him) surpass him, the sun and the stars surpass him, he begins and sets foot on the transcendental element, ending up with the approach of the divine factor that transcends everything.

Giorgios (Gio) Vassiliou :Collecting the quintessence of life/oil on canvas /135x70cm

"There, somewhere in the depths of history, begins the journey of the search for the transcendent in the human race. The Transcendental Element, it seems, has always been and is (still) intertwined with man's religious or theological existence, as if there were only a means to it.

And, I explain the above conclusion: man seems to be made like an apartment building, his consciousness resides in only one or two at most three floors. Its transcendental nature is found and exists only on the upper floors.

All that remains is to inhabit them so that they do not remain uninhabited! That is, the upper floors are also our home, so we need to get to know them, finally, to inhabit them, as we do with the lower floors. In addition, we can say that if the ground floor is our normal (mostly instinctive) life, the first is our emotions with dreams and the second is our intellect, from there on there is our transcendent floor. That is, we must go up and settle on these floors. This is our future and our destination as humankind! "

And this very fact, through the T. S. , will prove to be a natural factor of human existence and not only through its religious nature. In a way, we are structured to function "transcendentally", beyond all others. We can function, not only logically or mentally or emotionally, we can also "transcendentally".

Over time in arts and literature, the Transcendental element was, with flashes, present in many works throughout the centuries.

It is worth mentioning: the Opus of Gilgamesh, the Iliade and the Odyssey, Sufi poetry, Christian transcendental texts, Byzantine hagiography, the Virgin of the rocks of Leonardo da Vinci and others.

"But even in the most recent years, such as: Jesus of St. John of the Cross by Dali, the crazy pomegranate – poem of O. Elytis, Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, the Nibelungen ring of Richard Wagner, etc. I must also mention the participation of science in the transcendental, in addition to modern quantum physics, which has as its given information: the spirit, world consciousness, the overthrow of the law of causality, etc.

But let's take a closer look at the Minkowski diagrams, which, in addition to the two space-time cones, also have the factor "elsewhere" = somewhere else or something else.

The most obvious scientific allusion to the transcendental (in my opinion) is the so-called 4-dimensional Minkowski diagrams. Scientifically, the diagrams of German mathematician Herman Minkowski accompany A. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, presenting the unity of space with time. They show us in the most obvious way that there is no space without time, just the opposite. These two fundamental quantities exist as a unit in the universe of relativity, where we all live, move and exist! The same goes for the microcosm of man and the Transcendental element. Human factor and Transcendental element, it is a unity that we must discover and understand.

This "elsewhere" is an undefined but real factor.

In the role of "elsewhere" can we assume that the super-logical or transcendental element is the most appropriate to place?

The current and prevailing systems have their "axioms" as well as their "laws", and, it seems, are inspired by a dominant factor, which as another God rules them in their own particular way. Everyone wants to get along with this "God" because he provides "happiness" to anyone who is a faithful follower of him!

As for glory (because of the well-known saying: money many hated glory nobody), I must say that today with the power of money, even glory can be acquired or something like that…

"In order to complete this first level of approach of the T. S. , I have to cite some data regarding the time we live in and the acceptance of the transcendental in it. Our age is characterized as "the age of speed" but also of stress. The transitory and the fleeting are dominant everywhere, as never before in history.

This "current God" of our time, it seems that in his total domination of human consciousness has been overturned unilaterally. Now, it seems that the cosmic scales are tilting a lot. A second factor (second voltage on the scales) is needed to adequately balance the human-world system. Now, I have to say in detail that money only provides strength and power when accumulated in quantity by a person. The quantity factor, is what is sought in anyone, who seeks "modern happiness." The amount of money circulating around the world is like the corresponding amount of blood flowing in our veins and arteries. But I ask: where rests the quality to balance quantity? The second balancing factor is only the quality, which seems to be in search. But we must not forget (nor confuse) quality with anything else.

Minkowsi diagram (image above)

So in this current period, the "current God" or the "current material God" or "the one who is finally in fashion" seems to be represented by money and its accessories.

Quality is not a quantitative factor, it is like the salt that flavors the food or the aroma that enlivens the atmosphere. It is a subtle and refined factor, therefore hard to find, in the material world of the quantity we live.

"All these elements over the years have created a need for artistic expression within me. My accumulated quantity was looking for its balancing quality.

So fatal, at some point I felt it was time for this inner event to manifest itself. And what better way to make it visible to everyone through painting, the oldest of the visual arts, which directly concerns human vision, so that it becomes a visible event for everyone. It is now clear that there was a historical need to present the transcendental element in a structured artistic proposition and philosophy.

The next step is to explain why the visual movement of Surrealism was chosen to accompany, in this journey, the transcendental

Surrealism (Surealism = Sur-Realisme = Upper Reality or Over-Reality) by definition refers to a higher level, than the real one, of human perception and understanding. It was historically presented at the beginning of the 20th century. by Andre Breton and his circle (Daly, Ernst, Magritte, etc.) and came from the liberation movement of Dandaism that preceded little time. It was based on three key elements, to express the new perception and approach they offer us, in terms of understanding our world. These were the following:

a) The dream element

Gio Vassiliou artwork :Transcendental woman 60x60cm oil on canvas

Quality, you say, seems to require a struggle to be acquired, not bought, nor is it readily available. It is this direction that characterizes it. Is quality the denominator in the cosmic fraction of the modern age?

b) Associative thinking-free association thoughts

c) Automatic writing

These three factors present a different perception from the real one. Impressions are gained in a fluid, global, diffused way, not from the natural world, but from a parallel stream of thought that runs parallel to life but is not the same as it is.

"There is a shift in the perception of impressions, from the real, to a semi-subjective level, based on the three main points of reference that we mentioned a little while ago.

G. Vassiliou :Long day’s journey into night /oil on canvas /80x60cm

These three factors on which the expression of Surrealism was based, certainly and unquestionably, stand above our natural world, where everything in the cycle of activities almost happens to us, because they are just happened automatically, instinctively and mechanically. But all three factors of Surrealism belong to a semi-conscious or subconscious nature if you want, reducing the participation of consciousness that is also required in our evolution. Concequently, I do not decide when and what I will dream, or when will never have free associative thinking! What happens to me subconsciously in the "I" is not the driver of the human vehicle, but just a passenger!

The need for a more conscious framework than Surrealism seems to be more evident than ever. So my personal study and observation led me to the presentation of Transcendental Surrealism, which combines all the aforementioned elements together into a single and organized whole for the first time in the visual arts and the human intellect. Of course, we still have a lot to say about this event in the future, which will become more extensive in future posts.

Concluding, Mr. Vassiliou states,, "from the bottom of his heart" that Transcendental Surealism is just beginning its long journey in human history and has many destinations and ports to visit. He wishes that in some of these ports (or even airports due to the "flight mentioned above") we all meet and get to know each other better "not only naturally but also transcendentally".

Diptich-Collecting the quintessence of life - Day Night/ by Gio Vassiliou

[hillbillyhocuspocus]

December 22nd // Full Moon in Cancer // “Home is Where the Heart is”

           Merry Solstice!! Today marks the beginning of Yule, and brings us one day closer to the Christian celebration of Christmas! 

[dfroza]

God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,

Shining on those in the darkness,

those sitting in the shadow of death,

Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,

down the path of peace.

A set of lines from Today’s reading of the Scriptures in the New Testament from the first chapter of the book of Luke where it is seen the significance of thinking and writing and speaking, all essential in life on earth where we are destined to “believe...” in the heart and to speak words through a body of physical earth. for we have the Spirit here with us (God’s Heart and the silence of His thought-life that seeks to inspire our own when we are open to welcome Him in) just as we have created things, such as the silence of the stars and the Trees to inspire us, right along with the instrumental music of earth’s True nature such as the rain and streams, and the many songs of birds.

and i personally view this as (A full circle of silence & sound) where writing from the thought-life connects hearts & minds in friendship to inspire speech, accompanied by the sounds of music such as played on strings. for i have come to place my trust in a book that illuminates this as a seed of being befriended in True nature, which is why my heart feels a constant need to write in the hope of making a clear connection at some point.

[Luke 1]

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

During the rule of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and now they were quite old.

It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.

But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.

“He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”

Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn’t long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. “So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!” she said.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!

You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,

Beautiful inside and out!

God be with you.

She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,

be called ‘Son of the Highest.’

The Lord God will give him

the throne of his father David;

He will rule Jacob’s house forever—

no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

the power of the Highest hover over you;

Therefore, the child you bring to birth

will be called Holy, Son of God.

“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”

And Mary said,

Yes, I see it all now:

I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.

Let it be with me

just as you say.

Then the angel left her.

Mary didn’t waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah’s house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,

You’re so blessed among women,

and the babe in your womb, also blessed!

And why am I so blessed that

the mother of my Lord visits me?

The moment the sound of your

greeting entered my ears,

The babe in my womb

skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.

Blessed woman, who believed what God said,

believed every word would come true!

And Mary said,

I’m bursting with God-news;

I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.

God took one good look at me, and look what happened—

I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!

What God has done for me will never be forgotten,

the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.

His mercy flows in wave after wave

on those who are in awe before him.

He bared his arm and showed his strength,

scattered the bluffing braggarts.

He knocked tyrants off their high horses,

pulled victims out of the mud.

The starving poor sat down to a banquet;

the callous rich were left out in the cold.

He embraced his chosen child, Israel;

he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.

It’s exactly what he promised,

beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.

When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her.

On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: “No. He is to be called John.”

“But,” they said, “no one in your family is named that.” They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.

Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, “His name is to be John.” That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah’s mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!

A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, “What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this.”

Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;

he came and set his people free.

He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,

and in the very house of David his servant,

Just as he promised long ago

through the preaching of his holy prophets:

Deliverance from our enemies

and every hateful hand;

Mercy to our fathers,

as he remembers to do what he said he’d do,

What he swore to our father Abraham—

a clean rescue from the enemy camp,

So we can worship him without a care in the world,

made holy before him as long as we live.

And you, my child, “Prophet of the Highest,”

will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,

Present the offer of salvation to his people,

the forgiveness of their sins.

Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,

God’s Sunrise will break in upon us,

Shining on those in the darkness,

those sitting in the shadow of death,

Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,

down the path of peace.

The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.

The Book of Luke, Chapter 1 (The Message)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 9th chapter of the book of Job where Job states his case:

Then Job spoke to them.

Job: Sure, I know all of this is correct,

but tell me this: how can a person set things straight with God?

If one wanted to argue with Him,

even in a thousand questions he would not be able to answer Him once.

His wise heart is vast; His strength immeasurable.

Who has ever challenged Him and remained safe and at peace?

He uproots mountains,

and they are unaware when He overturns them in His rage.

He shakes the earth out of its place

so that its foundation pillars shudder.

He commands the sun to go down and not rise,

and He sequesters the stars so they do not shine.

He single-handedly stretched out the heavens overhead

and walks on the back of the raging sea.

He fashioned the stars into constellations we know by name—

Bear, Orion, the Pleiades—

and the lights of the southern sky.

He does wonderful things, even confounding things,

and performs an infinite number of miracles.

Still, if He passes right by me, I don’t see Him;

if He brushes past, I don’t notice Him.

Ah, but if He were to steal like a thief in the market,

who could stop Him? No one has authority over Him.

Who could dare say to Him, “What are You doing?”

God does not restrain Himself in His anger.

Even the minions of Rahab—that monster of the sea and purveyor of chaos—

cower at His feet in subservience.

So then how do I argue with Him?

How can I find the right words to state my case to Him?

After all, I am the innocent one here, and I still can’t find an answer.

So I must continually appeal to the mercy of my judge.

But even if I were to call Him and He were to answer,

I still could not believe that He would listen to my complaint.

For He flattens me with a tornado

and multiplies my wounds for no reason.

He won’t even give me time to catch my breath;

instead He force-feeds me more bitterness.

If it is an issue of power, there is no question

He is the mighty one;

and if it is an issue of justice, who would ever appoint me?

Even though I am right in all of this, my own mouth sentences me.

Though I am blameless, my own lips cheat me.

I am blameless, but I don’t know myself.

I hate my life.

Well, then this is what I say: it’s all the same.

In the end, He kills off both the innocent and the depraved.

If a flood of disaster rushes in and kills,

He ridicules the anguish of its innocent victims.

The earth has been given over

and is under the dominion of some wicked hand.

God conceals these things from its judges, covering their faces, blinding their eyes.

If not He, then who is it?

As for me, my days are sprinting by like a runner.

Seeing nothing good, they seek escape.

They glide past in swift silence like reed boats on the river.

Now a blur, they dive like an eagle toward its prey.

If I tell myself, “I will forget all about my grievance against God,

I will simply abandon my long face and cheer up,”

Then I fear the suffering to come

because I know there’s no chance that You, Lord, will find me innocent.

So if the verdict is already in, if I have already been found guilty,

why should I bother to clear my name?

Why struggle in vain?

Though I wash my body in the pure melted snow

and scrub my hands thoroughly with the strongest soap,

You would toss me into a putrid pit,

and when I emerged, even my own clothes would hate me.

The Lord . . . He is no man, like me, whom I could answer,

no human being whom I could face in court.

There is no judge to stand between us

who can lay his hands on us both,

Who can remove God’s rod from my back

and stave off the terror of Him that haunts me.

I long to speak and defend myself without fear of Him and His reprisals;

but as things stand now and as I am within myself, that’s not possible.

The Book of Job, Chapter 9 (The Voice)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, April 16 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons that points to the significance of our words and the treasure of the heart:

Just as a body can become sick with illness, so can a soul: "I said, 'O LORD, have mercy on me; heal my soul (רְפָאָה נַפְשִׁי), for I have sinned against you'" (Psalm 41:4). Likewise we understand that fear profoundly affects the way the brain processes images and messages. Fear colors the way we see and hear things. And since the mind and body are intricately interconnected, fear is often the root cause of many physiological problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, clinical depression, and other ailments. Left unchecked, fear can be deadly. Note the connection between fear, lashon hara (evil thoughts/words), and sickness (tzara’at), which are themes of this week's Torah portion...

The targum Onkelos states that God breathed into Adam the ability to think and to speak. In other words, thought and speech are two primary characteristics of the image (tzelem) and likeness (demut) of God. Since our use of words is directly linked to the "breath of God" within us, lashon hara (לָשׁוֹן הָרָה) defaces God's image within us.... Using words to inflict pain therefore perverts the image of God, since God created man to use language to "build up" others in love. This is part of the reason the metzora (i.e., one afflicted with tzara’at) was regarded as “dead” and in need of rebirth.

Lashon hara is really a symptom of the “evil eye” (ayin hara). “Evil comes to one who searches (דָּרַשׁ) for it” (Prov. 11:27). We must train ourselves to use the “good eye” (ayin tovah) and extend kaf zechut - the “hand of merit” to others. Genuine faith is optimistic and involves hakarat tovah, that is, recognizing the good in others and in life’s circumstances. Gam zu l’tovah: “This too is for the good” (Rom. 8:28). The Midrash states that God afflicted houses with tzara’at so that treasure hidden within the walls would be discovered. The good eye finds “hidden treasure” in every person and experience.

King David said (Psalm 35:13): “May what I prayed for happen to me!” (literally, tefillati al-cheki tashuv - “may it return upon my own breast”). Some of our prayers are conscious words spoken to God, whereas others are unconscious expressions of our inner heart attitudes. When we harbor indifference, ill will, or unforgiveness toward others, we are only hurting ourselves. It is very sobering to realize that our thoughts are essentially prayers being offered up to God... When we seek the good of others we find God’s favor, healing and life. Yeshua spoke of "good and evil treasures of the heart" that produce actions that are expressed in our words (Luke 6:45). A midrash states that if someone speaks well of another, the angels above will then speak well of him before the Holy One.

In light of the enigma of “spiritual impurity” (i.e., tumah) and its ultimate expression revealed in the corruption of death, it is all the more telling that we should heed the cry of the Spirit: "Choose Life!" (Deut. 30:19). Sin is a type of "spiritual suicide" that seduces us to exchange eternal good for the petty and trivial. The nachash (serpent) in the garden of Eden was the first to speak lashon hara. He slandered God and lied to Eve about how to discern between good and evil. He is a murderer and the father of lies. Resist his wiles with the truth of God.

May it please the LORD to help each of us be entirely mindful of the power and sanctity of our words... May it please Him to help us use our words for the purpose of strengthening and upbuilding (οἰκοδομὴν) one another (Eph. 4:29). May God help us take every thought “captive” to the obedience of the Messiah, thereby enabling us to always behold and express the truth of God’s unfailing love. [Hebrew for Christians]

4.15.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

April 16, 2021

A Broken and Contrite Heart

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

God prescribed a system of animal sacrifices for sin in the Old Testament. These sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus, who offered Himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:11-12). King David understood the importance of the prescribed animal sacrifices but knew that what God truly wanted is a person’s heart.

In Psalm 51, David, who was described as “a man after [the LORD’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), demonstrated God’s heart in his attitude toward his own sin. The occasion of writing was David’s transgression with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). He asked God to forgive his sins, both specifically in the matter of Bathsheba (“this evil,” v. 4) and in general (“blot out all mine iniquities,” v. 9). He recognized that sin was in his heart long before he committed adultery and praised his Creator by repenting of his rebellion against God’s commands.

David had committed two death penalty crimes: adultery (Leviticus 20:10) and murder (Genesis 9:6). No animal sacrifice could atone for David’s sin (Psalm 51:16; cf. Hebrews 10:4), yet God forgave him (2 Samuel 12:13). David’s words show a deep awareness of and contrition for his sin. Only when a person acknowledges his or her sin with “a broken and a contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17) can that person truly appreciate God’s forgiveness.

Praise God that Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, became a man and died to pay the penalty for sin, offering salvation to all who turn from sin to Jesus and trust in Him alone for salvation (John 1:14; 3:16; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Thanks to Jesus’ atoning work, “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). WP

[confrontingbabble-on]

“Mixed messages, repetition, bad fact checking, awkward constructions, inconsistent voice, weak character development, boring tangents, contradictions, passages where nobody can tell what the heck the writer meant to convey.  This doesn’t sound like a book that was dictated by a deity.

A well-written book should be clear and concise, with all factual statements accurate and characters neither two-dimensional nor plagued with multiple personality disorder—unless they actually are. A book written by a god should be some of the best writing ever produced. It should beat Shakespeare on enduring relevance, Stephen Hawking on scientific accuracy, Pablo Neruda on poetry, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on ethical coherence, and Maya Angelou on sheer lucid beauty—just to name a few.

Why does the Bible so fail to meet this mark? One obvious answer, of course, is that neither the Bible—nor any derivative work like the Quran or Book of Mormon—was actually dictated by the Christian god or other celestial messengers. We humans may yearn for advice that is “god-breathed” but in reality, our sacred texts were written by fallible human beings who, try as they might, fell short of perfection in the ways that we all do.

But why is the Bible so badly written? Falling short of perfection is one thing, but the Bible has been the subject of literally thousands of follow-on books by people who were genuinely trying to figure out what it means. Despite best efforts, their conclusions don’t converge, which is one reason Christianity has fragmented into over 40,000 denominations and non-denominations.

Here are just a few of the reasons for this tangled web of disagreements and the generally terrible quality of much biblical writing (with some notable exceptions) by literary standards.

Too Many Cooks... Far from being a single unified whole, the Bible is actually a collection of texts or text fragments from many authors. We don’t know the number of writers precisely, and—despite the ancient traditions that assigned authorship to famous people such as Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—we don’t know who most of them were. We do know that the men who inscribed the biblical texts had widely different language skills, cultural and technological surroundings, worldviews and supernatural beliefs—along with varying objectives.

Scholars estimate that the earliest of the Bible’s writers lived and wrote about 800 years before the Christian era, and the most recent lived and wrote around 100 CE. They ranged from tribal nomads to subjects of the Roman Empire. To make matters more complicated, some of them borrowed fragments of even earlier stories and songs that had been handed down via oral tradition from Sumerian cultures and religions. For example, flood myths that predate the Noah story can be found across Mesopotamia, with a boat-building hero named Gilgamesh or Ziusudra or Atrahasis.

Bible writers adapted earlier stories and laws to their own cultural and religious context, but they couldn’t always reconcile differences among handed-down texts, and often may not have known that alternative versions existed. Later, variants got bundled together. This is why the Bible contains two different creation myths, three sets of Ten Commandments, and four contradictory versions of the Easter story.

Forgery and Counter-forgery...  Best-selling Bible scholar Bart Ehrman has written a whole book about forgery in the New Testament, texts written under the names of famous men to make the writings more credible. This practice was so common among early Christians that nearly half of the books of the New Testament make false authorship claims, while others were assigned famous names after the fact. When books claiming to be written by one person were actually written by several, each seeking to elevate his own point of view, we shouldn’t be surprised if the writing styles clash or they espouse contradictory attitudes.

Histories, Poetries, None-of-These...  Christians may treat the Bible as a unified book of divine guidance, but in reality it is a mix of different genres: ancient myths, songs of worship, rule books, poetry, propaganda, gospels (yes, this was a common literary genre), coded political commentary, and mysticism, to name just a few. Translators and church leaders down through the centuries haven’t always known which of these they were reading. Modern comedians sometimes make a living by deliberately garbling genres—for example, by taking statements literally when they are meant figuratively—or distorting things someone else has written or said. Whether they realize it or not, biblical literalists in the pulpit sometimes make a living doing the same thing.

Lost in Translation... The books of the Bible were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, though not in the modern versions of these languages. (Think of trying to read Chaucer’s Old English.) When Roman Catholic Christianity ascended, church leaders embraced the Hebrew Bible and translated it into then-modern Latin, calling it the Old Testament. They also translated texts from early Jesus-worshipers and voted on which to include in their canon of scripture. These became the New Testament. Ironically, some New Testament writers themselves had already quoted bad translations of Old Testament scriptures. These multi-layered imperfect translations inspired key doctrines of the Christian faith, the most famous being the Virgin Birth.

Most English versions of the Bible have been translated directly from the earliest available manuscripts, but translators have their own biases, some of which were shaped by those early Latin translations and some of which are shaped by more recent theological considerations or cultural trends. After American Protestants pivoted away from supporting abortion in the 1980s, some actually re-translated a troublesome Bible verse that treated the death of a fetus differently from the death of a person. The meaning of the Bible passage changed.

But even when scholars scrupulously try to avoid biases, an enormous amount of information is simply lost in translation. One challenge is that the meanings of a story, or even a single word, depend on what preceded it in the culture at large or a specific conversation, or both. Imagine that a teenager has asked his mom for a specific amount of money for a special night out, and Mom says, “You can have $50.” She is communicating something very different if the kid asked for $20 (Mom is saying splurge a bit) versus if the kid had asked for $100 (Mom is saying rein yourself in).

As the mother opens her wallet, the son scrolls through restaurant options on Yelp and exclaims, “Sick!” Mom blinks, then mentally translates into the slang of her own generation which, her son’s perceptions aside, doesn’t come close to translating across 2000 years of history.

Inside baseball...  A lot changes in 2000 years. As we read the Bible through modern eyes, it helps to remember that we’re getting a glimpse, however imperfectly translated, of the urgent concerns of our Iron Age ancestors. Back then, writing anything was tremendously labor intensive, so we know that information that may seem irrelevant now (because it is) was of acute importance to the men who first carved those words into clay, or inked them on animal skins or papyrus.

Long lists of begats in the Gospels; greetings to this person and that in the Pauline epistles; instructions on how to sacrifice a dove in Leviticus or purify a virgin war captive in Numbers; ‘chosen people’ genealogies; prohibitions against eating creatures that don’t exist; pages of threats against enemies of Israel; coded rants against the Roman Empire. . . As a modern person reading the Bible, one can’t help but think about how the pages might have been better filled. Could none of this have been pared away? Couldn’t the writers have made room instead for a few short sentences that might have changed history Wash your hands after you poop. Don’t have sex with someone who doesn’t want to. Witchcraft isn’t real. Slavery is forbidden. We are all God’s chosen people. Answer: No, they couldn’t have fit these in, even without the begats. Of course there was physical space on papyrus and parchment. But the minds of the writers were fully occupied with other concerns. In their world, who begat who mattered(!) while challenging prevailing Iron Age views of illness or women and children or slaves was simply inconceivable.

It’s Not About You...  The Gospel According to Matthew (not actually authored by Matthew) was written for an audience of Jews. He was a recruiter for the ancient equivalent of Jews for Jesus. That is why, in the Matthew account, the Last Supper is timed as a Passover meal. By contrast, the Gospel According to John was written to persuade pagan Roman prospects, so the author timed the events differently. This is just one of many explicit contradictions between the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’s death and resurrection.The contradictions in the Gospel stories—and many other parts of the Bible, are not there because the writers were confused. Quite the opposite. Each writer knew his own goals and audience, and adapted hand-me-down stories or texts to fit, sometimes changing the meaning in the process. The folks who are confused are those who treat the book as if they were the audience, as if each verse was a timeless and perfect message sent to them by God.  Their yearning for a set of clean answers to life’s messy questions has created a mess.

A good culling might do a lot to improve things. Imagine a version of the Bible containing only that which has enduring beauty or usefulness. Unfortunately, the collection in the Bible has been bound together for so long that Christian authorities (with a few exceptions) don’t trust themselves to unbind it. Maybe the thought of deciding what goes and stays feels overwhelming or even dangerous. Or maybe, deep down, Bible-believing Evangelicals and other fundamentalists suspect that if they started culling, there wouldn’t be a whole lot left. So, they keep it all, in the process binding themselves to the worldview and very human imperfections of our Iron Age ancestors.And that’s what makes the Good Book so bad.”

Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington.

https://valerietarico.com/2018/01/28/why-is-the-bible-so-badly-written/

[phgq]

Baguio turns on 'Immaculate Conception' in nativity X'mas decor

#PHnews: Baguio turns on 'Immaculate Conception' in nativity X'mas decor

BAGUIO CITY – The observance of the Immaculate Conception here on Tuesday was made more meaningful as a reminder of the season's reason to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ.

"This is Baguio’s way of commemorating the birth of Jesus as well as celebrating life and unity amid the trials and tribulations brought about by the pandemic and other challenges," Mayor Benjamin Magalong said in a statement.

Proclamation 845 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte listed Dec. 8, 2020 as a special holiday in the country. It is the day observed by the Catholic church as the Immaculate Conception of Mary, when Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary informing her that she will conceive a son -- Jesus Christ.

The 12 nativity panels stand at Malcolm Square located at Lower Session Road. This is part of the story-telling themed Christmas decorations at the city's central business district designed to tell a Cordilleran-style Christmas story portrayed through ethnic symbols and patterns.

There are also six ethnic boards representing the different provinces that comprise the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) signifying the region's oneness in welcoming the birth of Christ.

The decorations were designed and installed uniquely to portray the meaning of Christmas and to give tribute to the Cordillera people's resilience in weathering obstacles like the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The rest of the panels will be lighted each night.

The nativity scene placed on 12 panels are: Angel Gabriel appears to Virgin Mary; Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth; Angel Gabriel appears to Joseph; Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem; All the inns are full; The Birth of Jesus; Angels announce the birth of Jesus to shepherds; The three kings -- Melchor, Baltazar, and Gaspar; The Holy Family escapes to Egypt; and The Life of Jesus of Nazareth. (PNA) 

   ***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Baguio turns on 'Immaculate Conception' in nativity X'mas decor." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1124178 (accessed December 10, 2020 at 02:01AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Baguio turns on 'Immaculate Conception' in nativity X'mas decor." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1124178 (archived).

[savedfromsalvation]

The Jesus Myth

by Barbara G. Walker

Excerpted from:

Man Made God

Thanks to centuries of the most insistent and aggressive indoctrination campaign the world has ever seen, the biography of Jesus is more familiar to more people than any other. Socrates, Charlemagne, Shakespeare, Napoleon: there are many who never heard of them, or who only vaguely recognize their names. But all of Western civilization and most of the rest of the world "knows" Jesus's life story.

Everybody "knows" that Jesus was begotten by a god and born of a virgin, even though the gospel writers unaccountably trace his ancestry through the virgin's mortal husband. His birth was attended by angels, shepherds and gift-giving wise men. His infancy was threatened by an evil king who had babies slaughtered in a futile effort to kill him. When grown, he gathered a group of 12 disciples and went about teaching that his adherents would gain eternal life. He walked on water, healed the sick, exorcised devils, made the blind see and the lame walk. He was anointed with chrism and thus made into a Christ (which means "anointed one") by a mysterious woman who may or may not have been his lover, depending on which gospel you read, and who was the sole official enunciator of his later resurrection. After a triumphal procession accompanied by waving palms and the traditional obsequies of a sacred king, he attended a meal at which he was symbolically cannibalized, the eating of his flesh and blood deemed necessary for his followers' absolution. Then he was scourged, crucified, died and descended into the underworld. Later he returned to earth, apparently alive again, and then ascended bodily into the sky, where he somehow still lives and pays attention to all the doings of humanity. These things are "known" and commemorated every year, over and over.

But during the past century or so, scholars have shown that all these "known" details of Jesus's life story are mythic: That is, they were told for many centuries before his time about many previous savior-gods and legendary heroes in pre-Christian lore. Not a single detail of Jesus's life story can be considered authentic. Some investigators have tried to peel away the layers of myth in search of a historical core, but this task is like peeling the layers of an onion. It seems that there is no core. The layers of myth go all the way to the center.

Fact or Fiction?

One of the problems faced by Christian scholars is that there is no record of Jesus's existence in any contemporary source. The earliest literature concerning him was written by Paul, who never knew him or anyone else who might have known him and who never heard anything about his life story. Paul mentioned none of these now-so-familiar details, which were added much later by unknown writers who pretended to bear the names of various disciples and who sprinkled their writings with mythic data gathered from sacred-king traditions of contemporary Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian and Levantine salvation cults.

"Undeniably, Christian leaders have a vested interest in maintaining the myth."

Educated theologians know this fact perfectly well; yet, they maintain the pretense of apostolic authorship and keep the truth hidden from lay congregants. Undeniably, Christian leaders have a vested interest in maintaining the myth.

The synoptic gospels now accepted into the canon are only a small remnant of perhaps hundreds of proto-Christian gospels extant during the first few centuries BCE and AD/CE. Also, they bear the marks of extensive interpolation, revision and reinterpretation added by Church authorities centuries later. As reference works, the New Testament writings are hardly more reliable than fairy tales.

The Silence of Historians

For a possible hint of Jesus's historicity, Christian authorities relied heavily on a single brief paragraph in the works of the respected Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was born in 37 AD/CE, served as governor of Galilee and traveled extensively in the very same area where Jesus allegedly lived and taught. If anyone was in a position to report the wonder-workings of a local holy man in his own parents' generation, it was Josephus, a dedicated reporter of minute details. Yet in all his voluminous works, the single paragraph (Ant. 18.3.3)-called the "Testimonium Flavianum" or "TF"-says only that Jesus was "a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."

The problems with this famous passage are many. First of all, it is noticeably out of context with the surrounding material. Second, it evidently did not appear in the early copies of Josephus's works, nor in the second-century version quoted by Church father Origen, who would certainly have mentioned it if it had been there. The TF does not appear in any known works until the beginning of the fourth century and is first quoted by Bishop Eusebius, the enthusiastic advocate of what he apparently called "holy lying" for the greater glory of the Church, known to have been responsible for many interpolations, revisions and blatant forgeries.

Moreover, Josephus was a Jew and would hardly have referred to Jesus's ministry as "the truth" or "wonderful things"; nor would he have called Jesus "the Christ." Neither could he have mentioned "the tribe of Christians," for there were no Christians in his day. Christianity did not get off the ground until the second century.

Philo Judaeus (20 BCE-50 AD/CE) was born before the beginning of the Christian era and lived until long after Jesus's time. Philo knew Jerusalem well, and would have known of Herod's massacre of children, plus Jesus's miracles, well-attended preachings, triumphal entry parade and crucifixion, with its attendant earthquake, reanimated corpses and many other wonders. He would have heard about the resurrection before many witnesses.

Another historian, Justus of Tiberius (1st cent.), a native of Galilee, wrote a history covering the period of Jesus's lifetime. His work is lost, but the Christian scholar Photius read it in the ninth century and expressed amazement ("Biblioteca," 33) that it contained "not the least mention of the appearance of the Christ."

"Mythical mentions of the Christ figure are numerous throughout the ancient world."

However, mythical mentions of the Christ figure are numerous throughout the ancient world. In addition to the title of Christos they had names like Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Dionysus, Orpheus, Mithra, Tammuz, Heracles, Hermes, Aleyin and Iasus, Iasion, Jason, Jesu, Yeshua or Jeud. These latter epithets applied to the "only-begotten son" of the god-king Isra-El, who was "dressed in royal robes" and sacrificed by his heavenly father.

Most of the savior gods were identified with the edible flesh and blood of the earth, meaning the bread and wine, harvested, consumed and resurrected with the next planting. Osiris, Adonis and Mithra were all eaten in the form of communion bread, declared to be the god's flesh, which the worshiper thus made a part of his own flesh in order to share the god's resurrection.

Adonis was miraculously born of a temple maiden in Bethlehem, which means "the House of Bread." He appears to have been the "Bread of God," which became the worshiper's body also, as in John 6:56: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him."

The sacrificed god Dionysus, another son of the Heavenly Father, first performed Jesus's miracle of turning water into wine at temples in Sidon and other places, representing the rain of heaven fructifying the vine. In Alexandria, the Dionysian/Christian miracle was demonstrated literally by means of an ingenious system of siphons invented by an engineer named Heron, to enhance the awe of the faithful....

According to the Roman writer Celsus (2nd cent.), the empire was teeming with miscellaneous vagabonds aspiring to such titles, claiming to be gods, sons of God, or saviors, prophesying the end of the world and their own glorious return from the dead at the End of Days. Celsus scoffed at the alleged Christian miracles as no more than "common works of enchanters" who perform for a few coins. "The magicians of Egypt," he said, "cast out evil spirits, cure diseases by a breath, and so influence some uncultured men, that they produce in them whatever sights and sounds they please. But because they do such things shall we consider them the sons of God?"

Nevertheless, the Eastern provinces swarmed with self-styled Messiahs and Christs, so that the gospels' version is most likely to have been a composite picture drawn from an era of widespread credulity and superstitious dread. As we might perceive in our own day, fundamentalist superstitions tend to flower in periods of cultural decline, when a formerly enlightened civilization begins to feel threatened by forces of decay both without and within....

Pagan Christs

These groups were greatly influenced by Persian worshippers of Mithra—the ancient Magi or "magicians" who attended the savior's miraculous birth—and their prophecies of the oncoming Doomsday with its sharp division between the saved and the damned: those who would go to dwell forever in heaven with the solar deity, Light of the World; and those who would dwell forever in underground darkness with the evil Great Serpent and his armies of demons, rebellious angels who had defied the heavenly father and had been cast down to their punishment. Mithra's cult was hugely popular in the later Roman empire and contributed much to the Jesus myth, including even the service of Mass, which was based on the Persian mizd, translated into Latin missa, featuring wafers marked with a cross.

According to Ezekiel 8:14, priestesses in Jerusalem continued to celebrate the cult of Tammuz, the Heavenly Shepherd or Only-Begotten Son, whose blood fertilized the whole earth when he was killed each year on the Day of Atonement. He was slain in the form of a lamb, but this incarnation was understood to be a substitute for earlier human sacrifice. He reappeared in the New Testament as Thomas, sometimes viewed as Jesus's twin, who became known as Doubting Thomas for questioning Jesus's miraculous return to life. The gospel writer declared that Thomas finally accepted Jesus as "my Lord and my God" (Jhn 20:28), indicating the older savior's deference to the newer one. However, 1,000 years later Syrian farmers were still sacrificing to their grain god Ta-uz, who was considered essential to the welfare of the crops, and women were still bewailing his annual demise just as they did in the time of Ezekiel.

"The Jesus myth was really a concatenation of pagan ideas and practices."

Realizing that the Jesus myth was really a concatenation of pagan ideas and practices, early Christian fathers decided to account for this fact by calling all the previous gods "demons," and declaring that Satan in his omniscience had foreseen the coming of the true Christ and had invented all these earlier imitations just to confuse people. Even St. Augustine (Retractiones 1.13) had to admit that his religion existed "from the beginning of the human race," and came to be called Christian only after the lifetime of Jesus.

Gospel teachings attributed to Jesus have been found in earlier texts, often word for word, some-like the famous Beatitudes-in Buddhist scriptures. The Golden Rule was not a Christian teaching but a Tantric Buddhist expression of karmic law, repeated in the proverbs of Egypt's Goddess Maat, the Mother of Justice, as well as those of Greece's Goddess Dike, ruler of fate, and of the Jewish sage Hillel. Nothing truly original has been found in any of the Jesus traditions, and the wonder-tales that used to compel belief because of their very incredibility are now dismissed as crude anachronisms persuasive only to the most naive and credulous minds....

And according to Acts 4:13, the apostles were all "unlearned and ignorant men" who could not have been responsible for writing the gospels or anything else. Therefore those who put apostles' names to their gospel writings were forgers, and all the gospels are essentially fakes.

The truth is that the gospels are not reliable "historical" accounts to tell us what Jesus was—or even if he was. But it is fairly clear that he was connected with the myths of pagan saviors, who were mostly nature deities, representing the eternal cycles of life and death. In this respect their myths might point toward an updated religion more firmly founded on the realities of our world.

Once the Jesus myth is more widely understood as a composite relic of a credulous past, we may be able to go forward toward a more satisfying set of spiritual hopes and insights, and leave behind the simplistic magics of a less enlightened people. We have "modernized" nearly every other aspect of our Western culture. Perhaps it is time to modernize its religion into a form that enlightenment may embrace without insulting its own intelligence.

For more information, including citations, see Man Made God.

[sirtravisjacksonoftexas]

Is Jesus a mythical figure, based on the Sumerian goddess Inanna? Um, NO, and here is why:

Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of war, fertility and love. Queen of both Heaven and Earth, Inanna was known to the Babylonians as Ishtar (though the stories about Ishtar have differences from that of the Sumerian Inanna, reflecting different theologies). Inanna was considered the protector of prostitutes, and she was at times depicted at the keeper of the tablets of the Me, or cosmic laws. She fell in love with a minor god named Dumuzi (known to the Babylonians as Tammuz), only to lose him to the underworld. In some accounts this was for half of the year (fall and winter). When she had him for the other half, plants flourished (spring and summer).

Jesus Mythicists will claim that Jesus is based on this goddess, or that her cult at least influenced the Gospel stories. 

Considering this, I think it is an appropriate time to laugh.

Now that that’s over, let’s try to answer this question again without laughing.

Is Jesus based on…Inanna?

Let’s see why this is NOT the case.

1. Born of a virgin? 

No, she is the daughter of the moon god Sin, aka Suen aka Nanna, and Ningal (though in some sources her mother is not named). She was conceived the old-fashioned way.

3. Visited by Wise Men or Shepherds after she was born? No. Her lover Dummuzi was the god of shepherds, but there is no story of him visiting her after her birth.

4.Star proclaimed her birth?

No. She was identified with the planet Venus (aka the “Morning Star”), but this wasn’t a sign of her birth. If anything, it was symbolic of her descent into the underworld and return from it (Venus disappears and reappears in the night sky).

5. Miracle worker?

Yes, just like any other deity, big deal.

6. Bread and wine miracles? No.

7. Clothes stripped?

When Inanna went to the underworld, she had to pass through seven gates. At each gate, she had to discard jewelry (and at one point even her Me tablets). Eventually, at the seventh gate, she shucked her dress. According to Jesus Mythicists, this is supposed to be the basis for Jesus being stripped naked before being hung on a cross.

However…there is a problem.

You see, it was CUSTOMARY for those being crucified to be naked ! Roman soldiers were allowed by law to take the clothes of a person who was being crucified.

And what were the Roman Soldiers doing to Christ’s clothes in John 19:23-24?

Taking his clothes and casting lots, to see which one of them to get the clothing!

The story of Jesus being stripped naked wasn’t based on Inanna’s forced striptease; it was based on the Roman method of crucifixion.

8. Crucified?

No. While in the Underworld, the 7 judges of the underworld killed her with the “perishing stare of death.” Afterwards she was hung on a hook. (remember, Jesus died on the “upper” world, not under).

Oh, and by the way: Crucifixion wasn’t invented in ancient Sumer (the first civilization). It was invented in the 6th century BC, around 1400 years after the Sumerian Civilization ended.

Jesus Mythicists will protest, however, saying that, despite these facts, both Jesus and Inanna hung while dead; Inanna on a hook, Jesus on a cross. Thus, the latter must be derived from the former!

This objection is so weak that it doesn’t even deserve a response...But I’ll give one nonetheless for the fun of it. 

In UFC 3, a fighting event held in 1994, a master martial artist named Keith Hackney (5 feet 11, 200 pounds) fought Emmanuel Yarborough, a sumo wrestler who was 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighed at the time over 600 pounds. Yarborough was strong enough to curl 315 pounds 20 times  in a row. In terms of size and strength, Keith Hackney was outmatched, but by the time the fight was over…Keith Hackney emerged victorious. He was nicknamed “The Giant Killer” afterwards.

Now, Keith Hackney’s accomplishment is quite similar to fairy tale and mythological stories involving normal sized men or women facing giants, overcoming them with guile (think “Jack the giant killer”, or Odysseus and the Cyclops in Homer’s “Odyssey”). He did use superior fighting styles and strategies in that fight, thus outsmarting and outfighting the Sumo colossus.

Does this similarity with fairy tale stories like Jack the Giant Killer and myths like Odysseus mean that…Keith Hackney never did defeat Emmanuel Yarborough? Does it mean that his fight with Emmanuel Yarborough is a fiction, based on fairy tale stories and myths of normal sized  people overcoming giants?

Then why would Jesus’ crucifixion be based on Inanna hanging on a hook?

9.  Went to the underworld?

After he died, Jesus descended into Sheol (In the New testament called “Hades), which was pictured as being in the earth (Acts 2:31, Ephesians 6:8-10, see also Matthew 12:40). This was the Hebrew underworld. Afterwards, Jesus rose from the grave. True, Inanna went to her version of the underworld and returned as well…but so did numerous ancient mythological figures (and even monsters) who are never said by Jesus Mythicists to have striking parallels to Christ.

Hades (who shared the same name as the underworld. He was given charge of the underworld by Zeus, his older brother. He nevertheless rose back to the world of the living for a short time, to kidnap Persephone).

Persephone, as stated above, was kidnapped by Hades, who took her to the Underworld. She was eventually allowed to leave , but before she went she was tricked to each the Pomegranate of death. As a result, she can only stay on the earth for two thirds of every year. The other third, she has to go back to the underworld).

There were several others, such as Orpheus, Sisyphus (  (Had told his wife not to bury him or make offerings to him (customary offerings for the dead) if he passed away. When he did die, he told Hades about his lack of burial and offerings and asked permission to go back to earth to make sure that these things were done. Hades let him go…but when he realized that he had been duped, he dragged him back to the Underworld) , Hermes ( Watched over Hercules while he was in the underworld, but left when Hercules did. He also accompanied the spirits of the dead as they made their journey to the underworld. Being the messenger of Zeus, he would have no doubt sent messages to the god Hades.), Theseus (Theseus (went to the Underworld, was imprisoned by Hades, but Hercules freed him and brought him back to earth) and Cerberus, the three headed offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna (the latter half woman, half snake). 

The latter lived in Sicily in one version of her myth, the Peloponnese in another. Thus, Cerberus would have been conceived while on earth, only to be taken to the Underworld to keep its spirits within…only for Hercules to bring it out of the underworld and take it to the ancient Greek city of Mycenae.

Not much of a parallel then. 

Keep in mind: Inanna died while in the Underworld; Jesus died before going there.

10. Dead for three days?

No.

After waiting three days, the goddess Ninshubur (aka Nincubura) went to several gods, pleading for help. She visited Enlil first, but he refused. She visited Inanna’s father Sin/Seun/Nanna next, but he also refused. Then she visited Ea aka Enki, who,  despite being angry with Inanna, agreed to help. 

How long did this take? 

How long was Inanna in the Underworld?

We don’t know. The ancient texts do not say.

Indeed, we have to remember that Ninshubur had to wait three days after Inanna descended into the Underworld before seeking aid, not three days after Inanna died (Inanna didn’t know that she was going to be killed). We don’t know how long Inanna’s journey through the Underworld took, or at which point in those three days that she was killed.

11.  Resurrected?

Yes, but not by her own power.

Ea made two sexless beings and sent them to the underworld, to ease the suffering of Ereshkigal, Inanna’s sister and Queen of the Underworld. When Ereshkigal asked them what reward they would like, they asked that they would be allowed to revive Inanna. This was granted, and Inanna resurrected (though some sources use the word “reborn”), and eventually returned to the upper world.

Inanna’s resurrection is more similar to those in the Bible involving mere humans who were resurrected by God, instead of Christ, who is God incarnate and resurrected…himself.

Not much of a parallel, eh?

Folks, the comparisons between Jesus and Inanna are abysmally weak. Indeed, she oddly enough has more in common with Moses than with Christ (Had a set of law tablets, brought plagues on Sumer (Turned all  the well water into blood, then brought floods, and finally sandstorms. She did this because the Shu-kale-tuda, a gardener’s son and Sumerian, raped her while she was asleep), but these similarities don’t mean that Moses was a fictional character based on Inanna (once again, consider the parallels between Alexander the Great, a historical figure, and Achilles, a mythical one. Recall also the similarities between the Novella “Futility/Wreck of the Titan” and the Titanic disaster, which occurred 14 years later, as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” and the sinking of the Mignonette. Plus, the differences between Moses and Inanna FAR, FAR outweigh their few similarities.

No, Jesus was not based on Inanna, who was a myth.

Jesus…is real.

Sources: 

“Epics of Early Civilization” by Michael Kerrigan, Alan Lothian, Piers Vitebsky, and Jeremy Black (Consultant), 36-41 “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology” by Arthur Cotterell and Rachel Storm, 288 (See also 30-31, 47, 51, 74-75, 82-83

https://www.ancient.eu/Inanna/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb4KIFtdRPI&feature=emb_title 

“The Penguin Dictionary of Classical Mythology” by Pierre Grimal, 133, 189, 197-99, 434 UFC 3 DVD

https://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/Keith-Hackney-Where-Is-He-Now-30163 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0352563/ 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1156762/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVs4930ERGw&feature=emb_title 

https://books.google.com/books?id=5lmrCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT90&dq=Who+is+Inanna%27s+mother?&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiO-uum7ZHlAhUPiqwKHYDgB-4Q6AEwA3oECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=Who%20is%20Inanna's%20mother%3F&f=false 

https://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/caracol3.html 

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/sumer 

“The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament” by Craig S. Keener, 313 “In the Footsteps of Jesus” (A National Geographic Book), by Jean-Pierre Isbouts, 263  

https://www.britannica.com/topic/crucifixion-capital-punishment 

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1172309229585125376.html?refreshed=yes 

https://sirtravisjacksonoftexas.tumblr.com/post/628113211750776832/do-supposed-parallels-between-the-gospels-and 

“Encyclopedia of Gods” by Michael Jordan, 114-15