Christian history…101
June 27, 2004 by Bill
When Alfred North Whitehead was the Chair of Philosophy at Harvard University he made this observation: “Christian theology has been the greatest disaster in the history of the human race.” Was he correct?
A brief review:
- 391 A.D. Christians burn down one of the world’s greatest libraries in Alexandria that housed over 700,000 scrolls.
- 1099: Christian crusaders take Jerusalem and massacre Jews and Muslims. In the streets were piles of heads, hands and feet. Millions were killed as a result of the Crusades.
- 1208: Pope Innocent orders a Crusade against the French Cathars. Over 100,000 were killed by Arnaud’s men at Beziers.
- 1231: Pope Gregory 1X establishes the Inquisition. Inquisitors were given license to explore every means of horror and cruelty. Victims were rubbed with lard or grease and slowly roasted alive. Ovens built to kill people, made famous by Nazi Germany, were first used in the Christian Inquisition of Eastern Europe. The gruesome tortures used on hundreds of thousands of non-Christians were so repugnant and horrible that I cannot even describe them to you.
- 1377: The Pope’s army descended on the Italian town of Cessna. For three days and nights beginning on February 3, the slaughter continued. The squares were filled with blood. Women were raped, ransom was placed on children, and priceless works of art destroyed. Over 3000 were butchered.
- 1497: The Church began an enormous burning in Florence. The works of Latin and Italian poets, illuminated manuscripts, women’s ornaments, musical instruments, and paintings were all burned.
- 1500′s: The witch hunts are going full speed ahead. Members of the clergy proudly report how many they have killed. The Lutheran prelate Benedict Carpzov bragged that he had killed over 20,000 of the horrible “devil worshippers.” Historians estimate that more than nine million (NINE MILLION) persons were executed after 1484, mostly women. This was as brutal as anything that happened in the Nazi’s 20th century holocaust.
- 1572: On St. Bartholomew’s Day, over 10,000 Protestants are slaughtered in France. “We rejoice that you have relieved the world of these wretched heretics.” wrote Pope Gregory X111.
The dance of existence
June 20, 2004 by Bill
“At the still point of the turning world…there is only the dance…” wrote T.S. Eliot. To live fully in joy and daily celebration, we must abandon ourselves to the dance of existence. Life is a dance, and the dance goes on, with or without us.
Today, physicists are telling us that their understanding of “reality”, the nature and activity of the universe, is bringing us closer and closer to the cosmology of the Eastern religions.
We are a part of a cosmic dance, and all is one. Physicists assure us now that rocks and flowers dance with the dance of life. Trees dance to the wind. Salmon and trout and porpoise dance and leap with a ballet of grace and rhythm. Atoms and plants dance to intricate laws. And so it is asked of us even as the carpenter asked in Alice in “Wonderland…” will you…won’t you…will you…won’t you…will you join the dance.?”
There is no line between the sacred and profane, the supernatural and natural, the divine and human. Everything…ALL…is natural, sacred and divine. A Dead Sea Scroll records a disciple asking Jesus…”Master, how can we get into the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus answers: “follow the birds, the beasts, the fish and they will lead you in.”
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Biblical contradictions
June 13, 2004 by Bill
Two weeks ago I asked this question: “How, in the year 2004, can people still believe that the bible is ‘reliable’, ‘infallible’ and without ‘contradictions’”? Questions have come to me asking “what contradictions?” To go through the thousands of contradictions in the Old and New Testament would take more space than is available in this entire newspaper. So, only a few to get your brain working. Which of the following contradictions is the one “without error”, “infallible”? It cannot be both.
At what time in the morning did the women visit the tomb? At the rising of the sun (Mark 16:2) or when it was yet dark (John 20:l). Was the tomb open or closed when they arrived? Open (Luke 24:2).Closed (Matt. 28:l).
Who came? Mary Magdalene alone (John 20:1) or Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Matt. 28:1) or Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome (Mark 16:1), or Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women (Luke 24:10).
Did Mary Magdalene know Jesus when he first appeared to her? Yes, she did (Matt: 28:9), or No, she did not. (John 20:14).
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