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Jesus Mysteries

Mysteries of the World / MOTW (Version 0.0d)

This is a KFCP ... No, not Kentucky Fried Chicken Plate ... KFCP stands for "keyword-focused content page". This Tier 2 webpage is based on the keyword "jesus mysteries".
Tagline:Jesus may be the greatest mystery!

The Jesus Mysteries


1.0   Preamble

There is a whole set of mysteries about Jesus Christ Our Lord — aka Jesus the Christ [check out this Kindle e-Book: JESUS THE CHRIST], Jesus the Messiah; or in various Hebrew-language variations, Yahusha or Yahushua (literally, "Yahweh saves" or "Yahveh is salvation"), Yahshua, Yeshua, Yesua; or in Greek, Iesous; in other languages, e.g., Isa, Issa.

These many, many mysteries could allow us to create an entire category that we may refer to in this website as the Jesus Mysteries (although there is nothing to stop us from using the singular form, Jesus Mystery).

Anyway, although we use the familiar English-Romanised name "Jesus", it should always be remember that Jesus had many names and titles — check these out:

Bible Puzzles

... people seem fascinated by the mysterious and puzzling parts of the Bible. This fascination really isn't new, because people have been trying for centuries to "decode" the Bible — such as figuring who (or what) is represented by 666, the "number of the beast" in the Book of Revelation. We may never know (until the end of time, perhaps) how to decode 666, but this hasn't stopped people from speculating.

People also love to speculate about other "coded" passages — such as John 21:11 [that is, The Gospel According to John, Chapter 21, Verse 11], which mentions that Jesus' disciples caught exactly 153 fish in their net. Was John simply reporting a literal fact (there were 153 fish in that net), or did 153 mean something else? Many great minds in Christian history were certain that the number had deep spiritual meaning, but no one can agree on just what it was.
— J. Stephen Lang,
    The Complete Book of Bible Secrets and Mysteries
     (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005)


2.0   Notes

There are extensive writings about Jesus, besides the New Testament, of course ...

Even the Gospel of John has this to say in the last verse of the last chapter (Chapter 21):

John 21:25  (New International Version/NIV)

25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Wikipedia - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Here are some notes on 'Jesus', available from Wikipedia, that fantastic, free, user-editable online encyclopedia ... So, as a baseline, at least, we should examine what Wikipedia has to say about 'Jesus' ...

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE),

[
Cited Sources regarding Jesus' year of birth:

Sanders refers to the general consensus, Vermes a common 'early' date, Finegan defends comprehensively the date according to early Christian traditions.
]

also known as Jesus Christ
[
Check these out:]

or simply Jesus

[
Check these out:],
is the central figure of Christianity
[
Check these out:],

which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament, with most Christian denominations believing him to be the Son of God and God incarnate who was raised from the dead.

[
Cited Source: Theologian and bishop Lesslie Newbigin says "the whole of Christian teaching would fall to the ground if it were the case that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were not events in real history but stories told to illustrate truths which are valid apart from these happenings."

Newbigin, J. E. L. (1989). The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. London: SPCK. p. 66.
]

Wikipedia

The Quotable Einstein

"Thus I came ... to a deep religiosity, which, however, reached an abrupt end at the age of 12. Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached a conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. ... Suspicion against every kind of authority grew out of this experience ... an attitude which has never left me."

Continues Wikipedia, in its Jesus entry, in the online encyclopedia ...

Islam and the Baha'i Faith consider Jesus a prophet and also the Messiah.

[
Cited Sources:
  • Abdulsalam, M. (19 February 2008). "Jesus in Islam". IslamReligion.com. www.islamreligion.com/articles/31/.

  • www.religionfacts.com/bahai/comparison_chart.htm.
]

The principal sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are the four canonical gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels,

[
Cited Sources:
  • "The Gospel of John is quite different from the other three gospels, and it is primarily in the latter that we must seek information about Jesus." Sanders (1993), p. 57.

  • Funk, Robert W.; Jesus Seminar, (1998). Introduction. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. pp. 1—40. ISBN 978-0-06-062978-6 (The Acts of Jesus: What Did Jesus Really Do?).
]
though some scholars believe texts such as the Gospel of Thomas : The Hidden Sayings of Jesus are also relevant.
[
Cited Source: Levine, Amy-Jill (1998). Coogan. ed. Visions of Kingdoms: From Pompey to the First Jewish Revolt (63 BCE—70 CE). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 370—371. ISBN 978-0-19-508707-9 (The Oxford History of the Biblical World)
]

Old Testament of the Bible

The Old Testament is so-called because it is supposed to contain the first "Will" of God. And by the word "Will" is meant the same instrument that a person executes to dispose of his possessions after his death.

The believers in the Bible do not think God is dead, although a great many people feel sure that "he" does not exist. The Bible believers insist that God gave that book to the human race to be their guide in all earthly matters; and that it contains the sum-total of all there is to know; the infallible code of morals by which all should live their lives, and the secret for the preservation of their souls after death. For hundreds of years the "blood of the innocents" has been spilled to maintain this belief.
— Joseph Lewis
    The Bible Unmasked

Most critical scholars in biblical studies believe that some parts of the New Testament are useful for reconstructing Jesus' life,

[
Cited Sources: ]

[
Cited Sources: Examples of authors who argue the Jesus myth hypothesis:]

agreeing that Jesus was a Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer, that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire.

[
Cited Sources: ]

[Cited Source: Though many historians may have certain reservations about the use of the Gospels for writing history, "even the most hesitant, however, will concede that we are probably on safe historical footing" concerning certain basic facts about the life of Jesus; Cruz, Jo Ann H. Moran; Gerberding, Richard (2004). Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 44—45]
Wikipedia

New Testament of the Bible

[If, as a Christian, you believe that] the Old Testament is a benefit to civilization, then you are in perfect accord with William Jennings Bryan's statement "that the Jews have given to the Christian world its greatest heritage."

And yet, peculiar as it may seem, in exchange for this priceless heritage, the Christians have "given" to the Jews a series of persecutions unequaled in the annals of human warfare. This I suppose is the quality of the Brotherhood of Man that naturally manifests itself after a complete conversion to the Bible's precepts. History proves this contention to be true; do not the different Christian sects "love" one another to the point of slaughter and extermination? Does not the church itself grow "sick of love" according to the Bible annotators?

[ ... ]

The New Testament is supposed to be the "last will and testament" of God. Just as a person may make a will and after a number of years decide to change some of his bequests, and executes another, so God, according to the Christian believer, elaborated upon his original covenant [i.e., Hebrew Bible, aka Old Testament, to the Christians].

The Jews do not accept this "last will and testament" of God, and therefore reject it as being unworthy of consideration. The Jews believe the Messiah is yet to come, and that his appearance will be signalized by his riding upon the back of an ass. Their attitude is very similar to the actions of people who refuse to accept the "last will and testament" of some of their relatives when it deprives them of bequests which were stipulated in a previous covenant.

It does seem a bit irregular that the Jews, being God's "Chosen People", should not welcome the issuance of a "second will"; and yet if God found another upon whom to place his affection, it is quite natural that his chosen people would reject this "New Testament" and maintain that it is not a true will; that it is fraudulent; that it was written under duress, and question the maker's mental capabilities at the time of its writing.

As the situation stands to-day, the difference of opinion regarding these two testaments of God has caused more sorrow, bloodshed, harm, devilment, misery and devastation than any other single item in the life and history of the human race. It would have been a thousand, thousand times better had God not made, as the legal phraseology terms it, this codicil. Like a dissatisfied heir, the human race might well say to God: "If the Bible is the best you can give us, we don't want it. We would be better off without it."

Can you imagine the puerility of showing to a distinguished visitor from another planet, called here by some marvelous instrumentality like the radio, the Bible as our greatest legacy in life?
— Joseph Lewis
    The Bible Unmasked

Continues the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, in its Jesus entry ...

Aside from these few conclusions, academic debate continues regarding the chronology, the central message of Jesus' preaching, his social class, cultural environment, and religious orientation.

[Cited Source: Levine, Amy-Jill (1998). Coogan. ed. Visions of Kingdoms: From Pompey to the First Jewish Revolt (63 BCE—70 CE). New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 370—371. ISBN 978-0-19-508707-9. books.google.com/?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&pg=PA352.]

Critical scholars have offered competing descriptions of Jesus as a self-described Messiah, as the leader of an apocalyptic movement, as an itinerant sage, as a charismatic healer, and as the founder of an independent religious movement. Most contemporary scholars of the historical Jesus consider him to have been an independent, charismatic founder of a Jewish restoration movement, anticipating an imminent apocalypse.

[Cited Source: Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. Quest of the historical Jesus. p. 1-16]

Other prominent scholars, however, contend that Jesus' "Kingdom of God" meant radical personal and social transformation instead of a future apocalypse.

[Cited Source: Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition). Chapter 1. Quest of the historical Jesus. p. 1-16]

Christians predominantly believe that Jesus is the "Son of God" (generally meaning that he is God the Son, the second person in the Trinity) who came to provide humankind with salvation and reconciliation with God by his death for their sins.

[Cited Source: Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. pp. 568-603. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-28670-0.]

Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was born of a virgin,

[Cited Source: Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. pp. 529-532. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-28670-0.]

performed miracles,

[Cited Source: Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. pp. 358-359. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-28670-0.]

founded the Church, rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven,

[Cited Source: Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. pp. 616-620. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-28670-0.]

from which he will return.

[Cited Source: Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. pp. 1091-1109. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-28670-0.]

While the doctrine of the Trinity is accepted by most Christians, a few groups reject the doctrine of the Trinity, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural.

[Cited Source: Friedmann, Robert (1953). "Antitrinitarianism". Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A597.html. Retrieved June 8, 2008.]

Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah

[Cited Source: For instance Brown, Raymond E. (1979). The Birth of the Messiah. Garden City, NY: Image Books. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-385-05405-8.]

and as God.

Judaism rejects Jesus' prophethood, arguing that he did not fulfill the Messianic prophecies in the Tanakh,

[Cited Source: Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5]

whereas in Islam, Jesus (Arabic ... Isa) is considered one of God's important prophets,

[Cited Sources:
  • Houlden, James L. (2005). Jesus: The Complete Guide. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-8011-8.

  • Prof. Dr. S,aban Ali Düzgün (2004). "Uncovering Islam: Questions and Answers about Islamic Beliefs and Teachings". Ankara: The Presidency of Religious Affairs Publishing. www.diyanet.gov.tr/English/web_kitap.asp?yid=30.

]

a bringer of scripture, the product of a virgin birth, and a worker of miracles. Jesus is also called "Messiah", but Islam does not teach that he was divine. Islam teaches that Jesus ascended bodily to heaven without experiencing the crucifixion and resurrection,

[Cited Source: "Compendium of Muslim Texts". www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/004.qmt.html#004.157. ]

rather than the traditional Christian belief of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Wikipedia
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Of course, Wikipedia's entries are supposed to be NPOV-based, i.e., neutral-point-of-view.

Other authors are far more critical of the religion started by Jesus Christ — or by others, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Here is an example ...

Even today, when humankind likes to pretend it has evolved, battles go on around the world over whose god is bigger and better, and religious fanatics of any number of faiths repeatedly call for and receive the blood of "unbelievers" and "infidels." Few religions of any antiquity have escaped unscathed by innumerable bloodbaths, and, while Islam is currently the source of much fear in the world today, Christianity is far and away the bloodiest in history:

. . . the briefest glance at the history of the Christian churches — the horrible rancours and revenges of the clergy and the sects against each other in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., the heresy-hunting crusades at Beziers and other places and the massacres of the Albigenses in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the witchfindings and burnings of the sixteenth and seventeenth, the hideous science-urged and bishop-blessed warfare of the twentieth — horrors fully as great as any we can charge of the Aztecs or the Babylonians — must give us pause.

Defenders claim that Christianity ended human sacrifice. This may be true, but to do so, it had to sacrifice millions of humans. Christians also claim Christianity ended slavery, an assertion that is not true, as not only did Christians widely practice slavery, but the ideology itself serves as oppression and soul-enslavement: "Believe or go to hell. Submit your will to God or suffer eternally." As Barbara Walker relates, "Anthropologist Jules Henry said, ‘Organized religion, which likes to fancy itself the mother of compassion, long ago lost its right to that claim by its organized support of organized cruelty.'"

To deflect the horrible guilt off the shoulders of their own faith, religionists have pointed to supposedly secular ideologies such as Communism and Nazism as oppressors and murderers of the people. However, few realize or acknowledge that the originators of Communism were Jewish (Marx, Lenin, Hess, Trotsky) and that the most overtly violent leaders of both bloody movements were Roman Catholic (Hitler, Mussolini, Franco) or Eastern Orthodox Christian (Stalin), despotic and intolerant ideologies that breed fascistic dictators. In other words, these movements were not "atheistic," as religionists maintain. Indeed, Hitler proclaimed himself a "Christian" and fighter for "his Lord and Savior," using the famous temple scene with Jesus driving out the "brood of vipers and adders" as a motivation for his evil deeds. Said Hitler:

It is of no matter whether or not the individual Jew is decent. He possesses certain characteristics given to him by nature, and he can never rid himself of those characteristics. The Jew is harmful to us . . . My feeling as a Christian leads me to be a fighter for my Lord and Savior. It leads me to the man who, at one time lonely and with only a few followers, recognized the Jews for what they were, and called on men to fight against them . . . As a Christian, I owe something to my own people.

Hitler also remarked to one of his generals: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remains so."

Whether or not Hitler was a "true" Christian is debatable, as he also reputedly considered Christianity a Jewish invention and part of the conspiracy for world domination. In addition, Hitler's paternal grandmother was allegedly Jewish. But Hitler himself was raised a Roman Catholic, and he was very much impressed by the power of the Church hierarchy. He pandered to it and used it and religion as a weapon. All during his regime, Hitler worked closely with the Catholic Church, quashing thousands of lawsuits against it and exchanging large sums of money with it. In addition, thousands of Nazis were later given safe passage by the Vatican, as well as by multinational governmental agencies, to a number of locales, including North and South America, via the "Ratline" from Germany through Switzerland and Italy.

In reality, Hitler was only building on a long line of imputation against the Jews as "Christkillers", a charge used numerous times over the centuries whenever the Catholic Church wanted to hold a pogrom against common Jews and seize their assets. The events of WWII, in fact, were the grisly culmination of a centuries-old policy, started by the Church and continued by Martin Luther, as was well known by Hitler. Indeed, Hitler was embraced as a Christian instrument, as Walker relates:

The rise of Hitler's Germany provides an interesting case in point, showing a nation swept by militaristic sentiment coupled with a sense of divine mission. The churches accepted Hitler's warmongering with religious joy. In April 1937, a Christian organization in the Rhineland passed a resolution that Hitler's word was the law of God and possessed "divine authority". Reichsminister for Church Affairs Hans Kerrl announced: "There has arisen a new authority as to what Christ and Christianity really are — that is Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler . . . is the true Holy Ghost". And so the pious gave him their blessing, and the churches gave him God's.

But Hitler and the Church's behavior was not an aberration in the history of Christianity, as from its inception, the religion was intolerant, zealous and violent, with its adherents engaging in terrorism. For example, while blessing peacemakers and exhorting love and forgiveness of enemies and trespassers, the "gentle Jesus" also paradoxically declares:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. (Mt. 10:34)

Jesus further states that "nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom"; thus, with a few sentences, Jesus has seeded extreme division, sedition and enmity wherever Christianity is promulgated. In thus exhorting his followers to violence, however, Jesus himself was building on centuries-old Jewish thought that called for the "extermination" of non-Jews, i.e., "unbelievers," in Christian parlance. As an example of this Judeo-Christian fanaticism, the apostle Paul was a violent zealot who as a Jew first persecuted the Christians and as a Christian subsequently terrorized the Pagans. As Joseph Wheless says in Forgery in Christianity (paperback):

And [Paul], the tergiversant slaughter-breathing persecutor-for-pay of the early Christians, now turned for profit their chief apostle of persecution, pronounces time and again the anathema of the new dispensation against all dissenters from his superstitious, tortuous doctrines and dogmas, all such "whom I have delivered unto Satan" (I Tim. i, 20), as he writes to advise his adjutant Timothy. He flings at the scoffing Hebrews this question: "He that despised Moses's law died without mercy . . . : Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?" (Heb. x, 28, 29). All such "are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7); "that they might all be damned who believed not the truth" (2 Thess. ii, 12); and even "he that doubteth is damned" (Rom. xiv, 23). This Paul, who with such bigoted presumption "deals damnation ‘round the land on all he deems the foe" of his dogmas, is first seen "consenting to the death" of the first martyr Stephen (Acts viii, 1); then he blusters through the country "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts ix, 1), the new converts to the new faith. Then, when he suddenly professed miraculous "conversion" himself, his old masters turned on him and sought to kill him, and he fled to these same disciples for safety, to their great alarm (Acts ix, 23-26), and straightway began to bully and threaten all who would not now believe his new preachments. To Elymas, who "withstood them," the doughty new dogmatist "set his eyes on him," and thus blasted him with inflated vituperation: "O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (Acts xiii, 8-10). Even the "meek and loving Jesus" is quoted as giving the fateful admonition: "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. x, 28)" here first invented and threatened by Jesus the Christ himself, for added terror unto belief. Paul climaxes the terror: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God' (Heb. x, 31)."

— Acharya S
    The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold


3.0   YouTube Videos

YouTube - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
Here are two sets of video clips from the popular video hosting site, YouTube...

One set is a presentation by Dr. Craig Blomberg (author of Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, Revised Edition and The Historical Reliability of the Gospels) about the historical Jesus, in which Dr. Blomberg assessed the past and present scholarly trends in the search for the historical person of Jesus.

This particular YouTube video comes in 6 parts, probably due to the 10-minute limitation placed by YouTube. Dr. Blomberg is apparently a specialist in theparables and the writings in the Gospel of Luke

(check these out: The Gospel of Luke (Sacra Pagina Series) and Luke for Everyone)
and the Acts of the Apostles
(check these out: The Acts of the Apostles (Sacra Pagina Series) and Acts of the Apostles (Mind Over Matter Series))
(both of these "canonical" Biblical books — Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles — are said to have been written by a certain Biblical-time medical practitioner named Luke). The Blomberg presentation is part of an August 2004 series called "Let There Be Light".

The other set is from the John Ankerberg Show ...

Dr. Ankerberg

(author of Israel Under Fire: The Prophetic Chain of Events That Threatens the Middle East; Taking a Stand for the Bible: Today's Leading Experts Answer Critical Questions About God's Word; and The Truth About Islam and Jihad (The Truth About Islam Series))
discussed with two others — namely, Dr. Gary Habermas of Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia)
(check out The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Did the Resurrection Happen?: A Conversation With Gary Habermas and Antony Flew (Veritas Forum Books), Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?: The Resurrection Debate, The Risen Jesus and Future Hope, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, Why Is God Ignoring Me?: What to Do When It Feels Like He's Giving You the Silent Treatment, Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality, The Secret of the Talpiot Tomb: Unraveling the Mystery of the Jesus Family Tomband The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God)
and Dr. Craig A. Evans of Acadia Divinity College (Wolfville, Nova Scotia; "The Graduate School of Theology at Acadia University")
(check out Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls,Routledge Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus,From PROPHECY to TESTAMENT: The Function of the Old Testament in the New,Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels, Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened, and Exploring the Origins of the Bible: Canon Formation in Historical, Literary, and Theological Perspective (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology))
 — five recent books on the historical Jesus. The books are:
  1. The Gospel of Judas (click here or here) ,

  2. The Da Vinci Code (check these out: Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine and The Real History Behind the Da Vinci Code),

  3. The Jesus Dynasty(full title: The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity),

  4. Misquoting Jesus(refer to these texts: Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus), Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's "Misquoting Jesus", Misquotes in MISQUOTING JESUS: Why You Can Still Believe, A Christian Minister Responds to Bart Ehrman, and also Misquoting Jesusby Frederic P. Miller), and

  5. The Jesus Papers (see also The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History (Plus))
.

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Tags: God Religion Spirituality Christianity Bible New Testament Jesus Christ Reurrection Da Vinci Code Gospel of Judas News History


4.0   Postscript

It is doubtful that we would ever solve all the mysteries surrounding Jesus that in this website we have chosen to categorize as the Jesus Mysteries ... unless Jesus Himself solves the whole thing for us! In any case, let us not fall into anything resembling what I have referred to as The Fringe' ... and in the matter of the Jesus Mysteries, the Fringe includes not only the New Age Movement that uses Biblical terms and ideas, but also other apparently 'mainstream' religions that also use many Biblical terms and ideas but have deviated from the Bible in very significant ways — you know who you are! — so that there is little need even to name these religions since their presence is so obvious.
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It is my sincere hope that you are not, or have not become, so gullible as to fall for anything bogus or nonsensical or farcical, such as falling for stuff like "Astrology" or "I-ching" or some such similar garbage ... including falling for anything that is featured, as a warning, in our public service webpages — our entire Mysteries of the World / MOTW Website is geared to warn readers and viewers of these scams, hoaxes, frauds and tricks, in other words, we are asking you to beware and be aware!

It is intellectually dishonest to believe in something that is not true, even if it is profitable (that is, even if it makes you a lot of mullah, money, cash, whatever); surely, you are not chained to the "bean-counter" mentality, are you? Because if you are, that is really, really sad!

If you want to be liberated or if you want to awaken, then walk away from that which is not the truth! ("The truth shall make you free", says the Bible, right? Yes!) Especially, don't be so chained to the money, that you become "richly asleep", unable to awaken from the nightmare of your own making that has ensnared you!

As Stephen Batchelor

[Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening;
see also Living with the Devilaka ego or Mara]
puts it:
"A person who is asleep is either lost in deep unconsciousness or absorbed in a dream [or nightmare! — Paul Quek]. ... An unawakened existence, in which we drift unaware on a surge of habitual impulses, is both ignoble and undignified."

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'Nuff said!

Cheers!

Paul Quek
Webmeister
Woodlands, Singapore


P.S. Some people ask me who is that cute PYT at the top of this web page ... is she my girlfriend, they ask slyly? "I wish!", I replied, if not slyly, at least dreamingly.


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The Complete Book of the Unexplained

A Thrilling Exploration of the Earth's Most Baffling Mysteries

The Complete Book of the Unexplained is a gripping anthology of the world's most mystifying conundrums.

From eerie tales of curses, witchcraft and ghosts, to miraculous accounts of religious visitations and angels, it covers the complete spectrum of the unexplained.


Combining scientific research, witness accounts and historical evidence, the authors recount the most bizarre episodes of our planet — and beyond — in vivid detail.

Intriguing secrets of lost civilizations, alien abductions, mystical places, mythical beasts and stories of life on Mars are revealed, along with tales of individuals whose remarkable psychic powers have set them apart.

Guaranteed to astonish and intrigue, The Complete Book of the Unexplained sheds new light on the deepest, most awesome secrets of the universe.
— Lucy Doncaster, Karen Farrington, and Andrew Holland
    The Complete Book of the Unexplained
    A Thrilling Exploration of the Earth's Most Baffling Mysteries
    [Adapted]


Truth in an Age of Deception



SBI! - Truth Worth Striving For — for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com


The Weird 100


"TAKE A WALK ON THE WEIRD SIDE"


Sure, everyone's had the occasional odd experience — the car keys vanishing from your kitchen table, déjà vu, the case of the disappearing beer.

Most of them can be explained away. (The dog took your keys; you really have been here before; your roommate drank the beer.)

But what about the true enigmas, the puzzles of science and the universe that can't be so easily dismissed?


Questions such as:
  • "Who built the baffling monuments on Easter Island?"

  • "Did the 'lost' city of Atlantis ever really exist?"

  • "What is behind the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle?"


In this fascinating compendium, Stephen Spignesi presents one hundred of the strangest, most mystifying riddles on earth including: angels and zombies, near-death experiences, crop circles, poltergeists, auras and halos, Nostradamus's predictions, possession and exorcism, The Philadelphia Experiment, reincarnation and past-life regression, Stonehenge, time travel, legendary beasts and mythological creatures, and more!

Filled with dramatic photos and drawings, as well as "pro" and "con" evidence from believers and skeptics alike, THE WEIRD 100 explores the unbelievable while proving that life is a lot more interesting — and infinitely weirder — than we ever imagined.
— Stephen J. Spignesi
     The Weird 100
     [Adapted]


Telling the Truth (About Santa, Etc. ...)

Most western parents feel guilty about Santa Claus. When the time comes to face the question about whether Santa 'really' exists, they feel like slayers of children's innocence or exploiters of their credulity, or both. In cultures without Santa, other mythical gift-bearers generate similar family crises.

One mother I know cheerfully admitted that the whole story was hokum and forfeited her children's trust for the rest of her life. A father of my acquaintance tried to stress the poetic truth of the tale and faced an embarrassing interrogation about his hocus-pocus with Santa suits, Christmas stockings and half-eaten mince pies. Another said, 'It's true about Santa the way it's true in the book that Long John Silver was a pirate.' 'So it's not true,' his little boy replied. An academic couple, after discussing it thoroughly between themselves, decided to tell their children, 'It's true that Santa brings you your presents in the same way that we speak of the wind hurrying or the sun smiling.' The little boy and girl, who concluded that the sun and wind exist and that Santa does not, never forgave them for this evasion.

A schoolmaster who taught my own children and had a very pious little girl tried saying that the Santa story was a parable: 'You don't suppose,' he said, 'that the things Jesus told in the parables actually happened, do you?' The child ceased to be pious. Fellow-Catholics gave me rival advice. 'Tell your boys,' one said, 'that the Santa story is an attempt to express the divine love that is reflected in parents' love for their children.' I felt this was good doctrine but that there was no place for Santa in it. 'Of course Santa exists,' the other asserted. 'He's Saint Nicholas, mediating for children.' I was prepared to admit this but felt that it tended to make the image of the gift-bearer pagan and abominable - which, I suppose, it is. I still feel the Santa tale is more than just another of the falsehoods we invent to manipulate our victims but I have not yet found the sense in which it is true or a way of expressing it which exactly fits the facts.

-- Thomas Dunne, Truth - A History and a Guide for the Perplexed (1997)



SPECIAL WEB ARTICLE

If you believe that the Cold War is over, that the KGB is no longer active, that Russian or Soviet Communism is dead, that Siberian incarceration is over, etc., etc., etc. ... think again!

And if you think that the UFO phenomenon is just for the fringe crowd, the kooks, the 'need to get a life' layabouts, and the pseudoscientists, etc., etc., etc. ... think again!

Click here to reach for the 9-part video on The Secret KGB UFO Files, narrated by the one and only Roger Moore, of 007 James Bond and The Saint fame.

The videos are a bit longish than perhaps necessary ... and there are some boring parts, here and there, especially for the 'fast crowd' with byte-sized attention spans ... but nevertheless the 9-part YouTube video is an eye-opener of a documentary produced and aired during the last years of the 20th century (specifically, in 1998).

UFOs are serious stuff to the Russians ... so don't take things too lightly! Especially in this new 21st Century ...

If the Russians think UFOs are real, and if they think they can reverse-engineer UFO-Alien technology to their political, economic, military and security (PEMS) advantage ... well, the 21st Century might just become a Russian century, and we might all just be sipping illegal Volka in underground resistance-movement hideaways (much like the French Resistance folks back during the Second World War)!

Now ... do things begin to take on a new light?

 

What the Mysteries-of-the-World (MOTW) Website is about ...



In general, we are a website about the Mysteries of the Universe (where 'World' = 'Universe') ... and the term 'Mysteries of the Universe', of course, encompasses the more staid and serious scientific Mysteries about the Cosmos, aka Universe, including such mysterious topics as Supernovas, Black Holes, Red Dwarfs, Pulsars, Neutron Stars, and Galactic Superclusters, Clusters and Groups ....

For the more sensationalised Mysteries, we are thus also a site that examines the Mysteries surrounding the controversial and perennially-interesting Roswell Incident, UFOs, Aliens, Anti-gravity Propulsion Systems and the like ...

We also deal with

  • Strange & Elusive Creatures — which we may also called Cryptic Creatures, or Cryptozoological Creatures (or, simply, "Cryptids") — such as the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland and Bigfoot in the USA (so that on this site, you will eventually find a comprehensive Index of all so-called Cryptids);

  • Puzzling Places — also known as (aka) Phenomenal Places — such as the Bermuda Triangle (aka Devil's Triangle) off the coast of Florida where many or several planes and ships have mysteriously and completely disappeared (there will be an Index of such Puzzling, or Phenomenal, Places);

  • Alluring Artifacts — aka Alluring Artwork or Curious Artifacts & Artwork — such as the Baghdad Battery and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (aka the 'Magdalene'??? — maybe!) (there will be an Index of such Alluring, or Curious, Artifacts & Artwork);

  • Monstrous (and/or Mystifying, and/or Mysterious, and/or Marvellous) Monoliths, Megaliths and Monuments such as Stonehenge in England; Ancient Pyramids & Ziggurats in Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Latin America; and the Sphinx in Egypt (there will be an Index of such Strange Stonework, Mindbending Metalwork & Wonderful-Wondrous Woodwork); and

  • Spellbinding Bible and Jesus Mysteries & Codes (e.g., Da Vinci Code and the 'Magdalene') as well as other Strange Religious Mysteries and Mystery Religions (there simply will be a humongous Index of such Religious Mysteries, due to the human race's predilection for, and pre-occupation with, the Divine, the Spiritual and the Transcendental);

and so on and so forth (other examples of Indexes/Indices will become available) ...

Along the way, we will examine unusual topics such as

  • Eastern Mysteries (e.g., Zen & Its Mysteries; Death Touch; Shaolin Kung Fu),

  • Love/Sex Mysteries (e.g., Mystery of Love; Sex Appeal Mystery), and even

  • Intriguing Individuals (such as Quetzalcoatl; King Arthur; Prester John; Robin Hood aka Robin of Loxley; Jack the Ripper; Hitler; even Yahushua/Yesua Marshiach aka Iesous Christos aka Jesus the Christ) ...

And, we will also explore to the full the meanings of such terms as

  • 'Bogosity',

  • 'Unexplained Mysteries',

  • 'Unsolved Mysteries', etc ...

This includes an examination of the various terms associated with what I call 'The Fringe' — 

  • 'Fringe Science',

  • 'Pseudo-science',

  • 'Weird Science',

  • 'Bad Science',

  • various pseudo- or alternative fields (e.g., pseudo-history; alternative archaeology; alternative geology; Creationism; Intelligent Design), and

  • 'Conspiracy Theories' (e.g., 911; Lincoln Assassination; JFK Assassination),

  • 'Urban Legends or Urban Myths' (e.g., "crocodile in the sewers"), and the like.

Eventually, this site will grow to such an extent that it really will become an all-inclusive and comprehensive Index of these and other Mysteries of the World ... proceeding from the Index Page, to every other webpage and every 'web article' ...

As we are still an evolving site (and blog), our current system of arranging the Index of Mysteries (as it were) is a tentative one ... ultimately, we will achieve an Index (or system of pointers) that can bring you, the reader-cum-viewer, to each and every known Mystery, either directly or via various cross-referencings ... The Science of the Librarian will come in handy here, I am sure!

To re-iterate: this site will eventually become an all-inclusive and comprehensive Index of Mysteries ... such an Index cannot be build up in a day, even with an army of eager beavers at work ... so that the Index will be growing, day after day, week after week ... Wish us luck and pray for us for God's blessing on this project.

Caveats to Mysteries Explorers, Investigators & Students ...



In this web site, our aim is to see whether we are any nearer to understanding the 'Mysteries', and even perhaps to see whether we are close to 'solving' them or reaching some other kind of closure.

Please note that, although I am not a scientist, I am quite Science-grounded so that this site is also Science-grounded ... and I embrace such ideas as are embodied in:

  1. Occam's Razor, or the principle of parsimony — to look for the simpler explanation or solution.

    The following brief note from Louise B. Young's The Unfinished Universe (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1986) is rather interesting and pertinent:

    ... it sometimes happens that the same set of facts can be explained in two or more different ways; when this happens the simplest explanation is preferred. A principle known as "Ockham's razor" (proposed by William of Ockham in the fourteenth century) says that it is unsound to set up more than one hypothesis to explain a phenomenon when one will suffice. And this principle has been respected throughout scientific history. The significance and elegance of a scientific theory are measured by its simplicity and the degree to which it makes sense out of what appeared to be unrelated and disorderly facts.

  2. the cautionary exhortation of the Nobel-prize winning physicist Dr. Richard Feynman — that the easiest person to fool is ourselves, and that we should be aware that we do not get caught up in 'cargo cult' sciences and practices (of the advertising people, politicians, educationalists, sociological sciences, especially);

  3. the admonition of CSI (previously CSICOP) founders Dr. Carl Sagan and Professor Marcello Truzzi, to any investigator and explorer and student — that "Extraordinary claims require or demand extraordinary evidence (or proof)"; and

  4. the mind- and eye-opening presentations and writings of Dr. Michael Shermer, Executive Director of the Skeptics Society and Publisher of the Skeptics Magazine — e.g., how our "cognitive bias" (which could be inborn-innate, learnt, and even suggested to us by another person) make us believe in "strange things" or "weird ideas", such that these bias affect what we think we 'see' or 'hear' or 'perceive', especially when we fool ourselves in seeking and seeing familiar patterns such as faces, figures and pyramids on Mars ... or the Madonna on bread buns and glass fronts and tree barks ... or the Loch Ness 'monster' and plesiosaurs and so-called 'paranormal creatures' or 'cryptids (cryptozoological creatures)' and also UFOs and ETs/Aliens in vague photos and videos (usually at someone's suggestion) ... or even hearing the word 'Satan' and 'Hell' in reverse-playing music or songs (and this recognition can dramatically increase after someone's suggestion of the keywords to listen out for)!

    However, note the following caution from Dr. David Noel Friedman (who is described as a "Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar for Over 50 Years") and Dr. Pam Fox Kuhlken in their book What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls and Why Do They Matter? (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 2007):

    Two favorite mantras of mine are "Be skeptical", which you have to be if you're a scholar, and "Be especially skeptical of the skeptics", because skepticism is too easy a position to assume. If someone routinely says of every new discovery, "It's a fake", then they dismiss it and it's over for them. They never have to change their minds or consider new ideas. The fact is, every new discovery may open a door we didn't even know was there.

    I'll tell you something about spotting fakes, though. The fact that we have found something we haven't seen before or don't understand doesn't necessarily indicate a forgery. On the contrary, if it's a fake, we would expect it to conform very precisely to authentic material that has already been found. Otherwise it wouldn't convince anyone. Who would take a chance like that? And the argument that fakes turn out to be clumsy is self-defeating, because that would mean that a fake attempts to be exposed, when it actually intends to elude detection.

More Caveats ...



It's incredible the things that people believes in ... such as Cryptozoology, with its collection of impossible-to-find 'cryptids' (aka 'paranormal' creatures), prominent examples of which are Bigfoot or Sasquatch , the Loch Ness Monster, Skunky, and Chupacabra.

"Penn & Teller [Bullshit!] - Cryptozoology" (Excerpt)

And, of course ... as an intelligent and non-gullible person, you should not believe in such nonsense, unless there is proof!

Extraordinary claims must be accompanied by extraordinary evidence or proof. But so far, no such evidence or proof has been offered that would satisfy anyone whose explorations are reality-based or whose investigations are truth-based ... such reality- and truth-based explorations-investigations are conducted by the mainstream scientists (like the late Nobel-prize winning physicist and all-round maverick, prankster and amateur bongo player, Dr. Richard Feynman) as well as by the professional skeptics (such as the famous and much-sought after speaker who is also the Executive Director of the Skeptics Society, Dr. Michael Shermer).

It is so easy to fool ourselves — many of us are surprised to learn that the easiest person to fool is often ourselves! — as Dr. Feynman warned us when he gave a lecture about Science, especially that bogus variety that he called "cargo cult science".

We also tend to see what we want to see or we believe what we want to believe — as Dr. Shermer observes and cautions in his writings and many presentations in conferences and appearances on TV. "Cognitive bias" and/or "perceptual errors" are terms that Dr. Shermer uses to refer to the matter.

Besides errors of cognition, there is also a tendency to interpret many things according to our affective bias, meaning an emotive state which is engendered by being easily influenced emotionally by events ... And we should be aware that we also may be plagued with 'selective memory' to boot, so that we interpret events out of the time sequence in order to fit our beliefs, prejudices and interpretations of the events ...

Unknowingly, many people suffer from both cognitive and affective biasnesses — I happen to know a few of them in the real world, but these people don't seem to live in the real world ...

For example, while declaring themselves as members of 'the church' or 'the true church' or 'the universal church' or some such nomenclatural claptrap

— which means a situation of 'rituals without relationship' with God; where they practise or embrace non-Biblical 'traditions' and ideas, including pagan ideas such as the Winter Solstice festival known as Christmas, or such as the Spring Equinox-related festival known as Easter, or such as the 'Good Friday' which can't obviously be true because the Gospels say that the Messiah rose on Sunday morning after having declared he will be dead for 3 days and 3 nights and it will be nothing less than the sign of Jonah who also was in the belly of the marine beastie for the same duration ... etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. ... especially as many of these traditions and ideas are explained in extra-Bible sources and appear nowhere in the 'canonical' books; or they believe in such nonsense as "Perpetual Virginity", and they break the Second of the Ten Commandments with their crucifixes, crosses, statues, stained glasses, and pictures, etc.; in other words, they've got their religion, which is simply equal to 'form without power'; —
they still secretly [sheesh ... mustn't let the priest or deacon know about it!] consult the I-Ching book as well as Feng Shui 'masters' (or other equally esoteric texts or so-called 'authorities' or 'gurus') when going about their lives, e.g., when buying properties/real-estate, or decorating or renovating their homes, or making investment decisions, or planning some trip or journey!

And they use traditional or alternative or folk medicine when sick or unwell ... unless the illness is really something major or life-threatening, in which case, suddenly Western medicine, or surgery, or therapy, seems to be the Real Deal ... or Real Thing!

It's so sad to see such delusions and gullibility operating in their lives!

They really need to get a handle on their lives — they really need to "get a real, scientific life"!

They are so proud that they are so 'open-minded', being able to visit this or that shrine or temple or place of worship, etc., etc., etc., ... showing respect to idols of stone and metal and wood. Actually, their minds are so 'open' that they haven't got any to speak of or to use!

As Penn & Teller would say, it's all unadulterated BULLSHIT ... and, perhaps, horseshit as well!

Let's look for the simpler explanation rather than the dramatic or sensational, and often, impossible, explanation — applying with care the principle of parsimony (where less is often better), or Occam's Razor.

Remember: a possibility does not equal to a reality! Many things are 'possible'; they have a tiny chance or probability of occurring, but they usually do not happen or cannot happen at all.

Finally, if you want to see if you are delusional, biased, prejudiced, gullible, and totally ungrounded in reality or Science, then check out whether you have fallen into the trap that I call 'The Fringe'.

This website is predicated on the basis of the following categorization of the Sciences ...

Four Categories of Science

By Stanton T. Friedman (Former Nuclear Physicist)

Some people have insisted that if I can't provide a piece of a [flying] saucer or an alien body, there is nothing to support my claims. I was quite surprised during my last visit with Carl Sagan in December 1992, when he claimed that the essence of the scientific method was reproducibility. In actuality, as I wrote Sagan later on, there are at least four different kinds of science:

  1. [Category-1 Science]  Yes, there is a lot of excellent science done by people who set up an experiment in which they can control all the variables and equipment. They make measurements and then publish their results, after peer review, and describe their equipment, instruments, and activity in detail so that others can duplicate the work and, presumably, come to the same conclusions. Such science can be very satisfying, and certainly can contribute to the advancement of knowledge. However, it is not the only kind of science.

  2. [Category-2 Science]  A second kind of science involves situations in which one cannot control all the variables, but can predict some. For example, I cannot prove that on occasion the moon comes directly between the sun and the Earth and casts a shadow of darkness on the Earth, because I cannot control the positions of the Earth, moon, or sun. What can be done is predicting the times when such eclipses will happen and being ready to make observations when they occur. Hopefully the weather where I have my instruments will allow me to make lots of measurements.

  3. [Category-3 Science]  A third kind of science involves events that can neither be predicted nor controlled, but one can be ready to make measurements if something does happen. For example, an array of seismographs can be established to allow measurements to be made at several locations in the event of an earthquake. When I was at the University of Chicago, a block of nuclear emulsion was attached to a large balloon that would be released when a radiation detector indicated that a solar storm had occurred (something we could neither produce nor predict). Somebody would rush to Stagg Field and release the balloon. When the balloon was retrieved, the emulsion would be carefully examined to measure the number, direction, velocity, and mass characteristics of particles unleashed by the sun.

  4. [Category-4 Science]  Finally, there is a fourth kind of science, still using the rules to attack difficult problems. These are the events that involve intelligence, such as airplane crashes, murders, rapes, and automobile accidents. We do not know when or where they will occur, but we do know they will. In a typical year more than 40,000 Americans will be killed in automobile accidents. We don't know where or when, so rarely are TV cameras whirling when these events take place. But we can, after the fact, collect and evaluate evidence. We can determine if the driver had high levels of alcohol in his or her blood, whether the brakes failed, whether the visibility was poor, where a skid started, and so on. Observations of strange phenomena in the sky come under this last category.

In all the category-4 events, we must obtain as much testimony from witnesses as possible. Some testimony is worth more than other testimony, perhaps because of the duration of observation, the nearness of the witnesses to the event, the specialized training of the observer, the availability of corroborative evidence such as videos and still photos, or the consistency of evidence when there is testimony from more than one witness. Our entire legal system is based on testimony — rarely is there conclusive proof such as DNA matching. Judges and juries must decide, with appropriate cross-examination, who is telling the truth. In some states, testimony from one witness can lead to the death penalty for the accused.

We should take note of the fact that even instrument data is dependent on testimony from the observer of the instruments, and on appropriate calibration and validation under standardized circumstances. Also, our courts place limits on requirements for testimony, such as that against one spouse by the other. Furthermore, there are rules about hearsay testimony, and rules regarding legal evidence are complex and detailed.

When it comes to flying saucers, we must remember that the reason most sightings can be determined to be relatively conventional phenomena, often seen under unusual circumstances, is that most people are relatively good observers. The problem comes with the interpretation of what was observed. People watching the sky late at night may get excited about a very bright light that moved very slowly. Checking on the position of the planets at that time may reveal that that light was Venus, because we have good information as to the angle of observation, the direction of the light from the observer, the relatively slow rate of motion, the location of Venus at that time, and so on. On three occasions, when living in Southern California, I was called by people who described an unusual object moving rapidly. I tried to make sure that I analyzed their observations, such as, what time was it? In what direction were you looking? In what direction did it seem to be moving? Was there any sound? What was its apparent size, say, as compared to the moon (just covered by an aspirin held at arm's length)?

Two of the people wanted to tell me that the object was just over the next hill. I stressed that this was an interpretation, because even huge objects far away can seem to be small objects nearby. In all three cases, I felt that what was being described sounded similar to a rocket launched down the California Coast when the sun had gone down, but while the object was high enough to still be in sunlight. I had seen such a spectacular case once myself. I checked, in all three cases, with Vandenberg Air Force Base, which launches many rockets down the U.S. West Coast. Indeed, there had been a launch at the right time in each case. One case was especially intriguing, because several witnesses were looking out across the ocean from a beach area and described the thing they saw as similar to a string of popcorn. It turned out to be the launch of a special weather satellite with extra solid boosters being dropped off multiple times.

The people were good observers. To say the least, it would be irrational to say that people are good observers when their input allows us to identify the object being observed, and yet poor observers if we can't identify the UFO as something conventional.

   — Stanton T. Friedman (Nuclear Physicist)
        Flying Saucers and Science
        Subtitle — A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs: Interstellar Travel, Crashes,
           and Government Cover-Ups

        (Chapter 1 - "The Case for the ET Origin of Flying Saucers")
        (Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2008)

Stanton T. Friedman (Nuclear Physicist) - Flying Saucers and Science - for www.mysteries-of-the-world.com

Nine Points to Note

  1. Recently, we added a simple blog so that you would be apprised of the latest changes to the Mysteries of the World Website. To get the updates automatically, CLICK HERE to subscribe to our RSS (you will get a new window or 'tab'). Thanks and cheers!
  2. Warning to the unthinking (and to the control freaks and power junkies) ... You probably won't like the following 'thinking' observation ... But it's an important part of any exploration, investigation, study, etc. of the Mysteries of the World ...

    SEVEN DOORS TO SEVEN ROOMS OF THOUGHT

    1. Accept the statement of Eminent Authority with­out basis, without question.
    2. Disagree with the statement without basis, out of general contrariness.
    3. Perhaps the statement is true, but what if it isn't? How then to account for the phenomenon?
    4. How much of the statement rationalizes to suit man's purpose that he and his shall be ascendant at the centre of things?
    5. What if the minor should become major, the recessive dominant, the obscure prevalent?
    6. What if the statement were reversible, that which is considered effect is really cause?
    7. What if the natural law perceived in one field also operates unperceived in all other phases of science? What if there be only one natural law manifesting itself, as yet, to us in many facets because we cannot apperceive the whole, of which we have gained only the most elementary glimpses, with which we can cope only at the crudest level?

    And are those still other doors, yet undefined, on down the corridor?

     — Mark Clifton
        Eight Keys to Eden
        (London, UK: Pan Books, 1962)

    Eight Keys to Eden -- Kindle e-book:
    CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE

  3. This website — Mysteries of the World Website — aims for simplicity when examining the Mysteries ... Here is a TED talk about the topic of Simplicity (note:- TED = Technology, Entertainment, Design -- check this out: The Future We Will Create: Inside the World of TED) ...

  4. Please do not assume or conclude that, just because I present many views (in the form of textual notes, pictures/stills, and audio and video clips) — as well as many advertisements, some by me and some automatically by Google Adsense and Amazon — on this website, it does not mean that I am in agreement with or that I believe in the views and/or ads offered-proferred ... That would be displaying such a parochial and provincial attitude, towards this website and towards me as well!

    As an ex-military officer, I assure you that I am in the habit of reading, viewing and digesting lots of stuff that I don't necessarily believe in ... We call all the stuff we read, view and digest, 'military intelligence' ... The same applies with 'business intelligence' in the business world, of course.

    Our aim, as usual, is to find out what others (including our friends, enemies, competitors, suppliers, strategic partners, business partners, etc.) believe in. In order to do that effectively, we have to 'get out of the way', so to speak — we have to remove our humongous ego! — else we will never ever really have gotten started in our journey of exploration and discovery of the Mysteries of the World.

    Furthermore, similarly and additionally, as a "Charismatic Christian", there are lots of stuff presented in this website that I do not believe in ... which had even led some to label me as "Fundamentalist"!

    ... Whatever!

    Matthew 7

    1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

    2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

    3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

    4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

    5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

       — Jesus the Christ
            (Yahoshua ha Mashiach; Yeshua/Yesua; Ieosus; Joshua),
            "Sermon on the Mount"

    If you want to hear the NIV — specifically, from The Visual Bible: Matthew (1993) — please click the audio player below:



    In short, in this website, I present many things that, I am hopeful, would be of interest to a student, explorer and investigator of the Mysteries of the World ... but this doesn't mean that I believe in any of the stuff presented.

    ... Got it?

    ... Right!

  5. Here is a purpose that I am wholeheartedly in agreement with ...

    [Mysteries, Monsters, Mutants, Myths, Miracles & Much More ...]

    Our purpose ... is to describe the rich variety of anomalous, unexplained, sometimes totally bizarre phenomena that people have experienced in all times and places and that are still occurring today. ... the nature of the world and of our existence are quite different from that which we were taught at school. The reality is far more interesting, humorous and expansive than any religious or rational, scientific world-view can possibly accommodate.

    It is not our intention here to dispute anyone's beliefs or theories — but we should like to point out their limitations. There are things that happen in this world - and have occurred throughout the whole of human experience - for which there has never been a lasting explanation. Explanations are temporary products, coming and going in response to fashions. Meanwhile, the happenings they are supposed to explain carry on as mysteriously as ever.

       — John Michell and Bob Rickard
            The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena (Rough Guide Reference)
             (New York, NY: Rough Guides Ltd, 2007)

  6. Here is a sentiment that I am wholeheartedly in agreement with ...
    As I sit down to redo this book for an American audience, what rises before me is last night's dream: I'm in a broad and beautiful land among many trees. It's night. I look up at a huge old tree that's dark against the starry sky in its detail of twig and branch. There is room enough here for all of us, I realize, here in this big, intricately textured park. But I see that some want to cut down the trees and level it out, so huge throngs of people can gather to gaze up at the sun's glare. I watch dark twigs fingering the remote, untouchable stars. A voice speaks: "Don't turn this into a Copernican Garden."

    Waking up, I remember that I went to sleep wondering how to put this book together. And I take "Copernican Garden" to mean a parking lot vista where masses gather to honor the bright sun of traditional science with its old rules as the center of the universe.

    So I will not cut down the trees and level this book out. It is between you and me [or you and I], a conversation as we stroll along in a moonlit fractal garden past webby connections of thought that merge to patterned insight. Here hidden delights nestle in scaling patterns of self-similar but never quite repeating beauty. Here the tree of life hold stars in its branches. No matter how huge, this garden stays human-sized because we have a place in it, you and I. No need to cut down the connective forest and level things out for that bright Sol [sun] of left-brain logic whose daytime dazzle — so close and glaring — can blind us to the myriad constellations beyond.

    [...]

       — Katya Walter, Tao of Chaos
            Sub-title: Merging East and West
            (1994, 1996)

  7. Here is an observation (adapted) made in the Acknowledgement page of a book ...
    It takes many minds to produce a book [including an e-book, of course]. Although most authors [especially of non-fiction books and articles] would prefer not to admit this fact, fundamentally they are merely 'synthesisers' of accumulated knowledge.

    The process of synthesising may unveil a new reality map, or paradigm, which, in due course, will be used by future pioneers to unveil further paradigms.

    This principle was summed up by Sir Isaac Newton when he remarked: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".

    [...]

       — Christian von Nidda, Our Secret Planet
            (2005)

  8. Here is an observation about UFO-Aliens cover-up or conspiracy that may be of general interest, although some readers would not agree with the observation (e.g., they may say that some whistleblowers, such as Bob Lazar on the Roswell-type flying saucers in secret Area-51 labs, have already come forward) ...
    If any long-term coherent cover up of UFO information does exist, however, then it must operate at all levels of government and the media. It must encompass all the relevant written materials, from the briefest handwritten note in government files to entries in squadron log books to letters in the personal papers of members of the Establishment. Hundreds of politicians, service personnel, police officers, clerks and officials, over half a century, would be required to excise any reference to the reality of UFOs from official documents and the media. The number of people who would have taken part in this cover up would be vast, yet not one person has broken ranks to 'blow the whistle' on the greatest story ever told. Meantime, millions of dollars are being spent every day on space probes and radio telescopes that are searching for evidence of alien life. Would there be any reason for a conspiracy of silence if that evidence already existed?

       — Dr David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows
            (2002)

  9. Even though I am a "Charismatic Christian", the views presented herewith, in this Mysteries of the World Website, will NOT be colored by this fact of being a Charismatic Christian. Rather, where and when I find it necessary (and usually, I would NOT find it necessary, since I find it tiresome to repeat myself, again and again and again ..., ad infinitum ..., but if I should find it necessary to repeat myself), I will then state what my Charismatic Christian beliefs lead me to believe in — even though I am aware that my own Charismatic Christian beliefs may or may not be the same as, or in accord with, those beliefs of others who also may want to regard themselves as Charismatic Christians (nb/note well: there appears to be so many varieties of Charismatic Christian beliefs, including from those who are simultaneously of the traditional-historical denominations — such as the Roman Catholics, with their purgatories, mortal and venial sins, and their Mother this and Mother that. Shudder! Shudder! Shudder!).

    Thus, for example, I do not necessarily "believe" in "ghosts", even as I (will later) examine the entire gamut of so-called "paranormal events or phenomena", especially of those with a psychic bent (truly, these are bent!, as in less-than-straight, aka "crooked", thinking variety). Many so-called "ghosts" are probably some form of "fallen angels" or "demons" of the Biblical kind, masquerading as either gods, demons, spirits, ghosts, or even "angels of light" (when they are obviously "fallen" and are "angels of darkness", or "sons of darkness" as used in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, i.e. The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness).

    Anyway, the author of 1 John, gave us a simple test against any "spirit" to see whether that spirit is of light (God; Christ/Son of God; Holy Spirit of God/Comforter/Advocate/Paraclete/The One; Jehovah/Yahveh/Yahweh/God the Father) or of darkness (Satan, Lucifer, the Devil; the Anti-Christ; the False Prophet; the Beast):

    2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

       — First Epistle of John
            (1 John 4:2-3; New International Version/NIV)
            (Note: many Catholics like NIV and dislike KJV! Tough!)

    Whatever the case may be about "ghosts" and other "apparitions", in this website, I have stated that we will be truth-based and science-based. Despite this, definitely, I will not be ashamed of being a Charismatic Christian or of God's Word:
    If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Spoken by Jesus and recorded in Luke 9:26; NIV)

    If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. (Spoken by Jesus and recorded in Mark 8:38; NIV)

    I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans; Romans 1:16; NIV)

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