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ARTICLES
Preamble &
General Mysteries
The Universe & Its Mysteries
Cryptic Creatures
UFOs
Aliens & Alien Autopsies
Real Aliens & Alien Abductions
Ancient Astronauts - Series #1
Ancient Astronauts - Series #2
Phenomenal Places
Bible Mysteries
Jesus Mysteries
'About'
Mainstream vs Fringe
Misc
Jesus Mysteries
Mysteries of the World / MOTW (Version 0.0d)
| Tagline: | Jesus may be the greatest mystery! |
- The Jesus Mystery: Astonishing Clues to the True Identities of Jesus and Paul
- The Mystery of Jesus Christ: A Christology and Soteriology Textbook (Theology Textbook)
- The Jesus Mystery
- The Mystery of the Historical Jesus: The Messiah in the Qur'an, the Bible, and Historical Sources
- Many Things in Parables: Jesus and His Modern Critics
The Jesus Mysteries
CONTENTS
1.0 Preamble
There is a whole set of mysteries about Jesus Christ Our LordThese 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 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.
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):
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.
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE), [ {Vermes, Géza. Jesus in His Jewish Context {Vermes, Géza. Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels {Vermes, Géza. The Religion of Jesus the Jew {Finegan, Jack. Handbook of Biblical Chronology: Principles of Time Reckoning in the Ancient World and Problems of Chronology in the Bible 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
Cited Sources regarding Jesus' year of birth:
{Sanders, E.P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. London: Allen Lane Penguin Press, 1993. ISBN 978-0-7139-9059-1. p.11, p 249.}
. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2003. ISBN 0-8006-3623-6.}
. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1981. ISBN 0-8006-1443-7.}
.}
, revised ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998. ISBN 1-56563-143-9.}
][
Check these out:]
or simply Jesus [
is the central figure of Christianity
Check these out:],
[
Check these out:
],;
;
;
(Kindle e-Book);
(Kindle e-Book);
(DVD);
(DVD);
(VHS Tape)
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. Newbigin, J. E. L. (1989). The Gospel in a Pluralist Society[
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.". London: SPCK. p. 66.
]
The Quotable Einstein
The Quotable Einstein
[The New Quotable Einstein
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:
]
The principal sources of information regarding Jesus' life and teachings are
the four canonical gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels,[
though some scholars believe texts such as the Gospel of Thomas : The Hidden Sayings of Jesus
Cited Sources:
], (1998). Introduction. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. pp. 1—40. ISBN
978-0-06-062978-6 (The Acts of Jesus: What Did Jesus Really Do?
).
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 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.
Most critical scholars in biblical studies believe that some parts of the New Testament are useful for reconstructing Jesus' life,
[
Cited Sources:
] (1993). Introduction. New York: Maxwell Macmillan. pp. 1—30. ISBN
978-0-02-541949-0 (The Five Gospels
)
. Palo Alto: Mayfield. pp. 255—260. ISBN 978-0-87484-696-6
. Edison, NJ: Castle Books. ISBN 978-0-7858-0901-2
[
Cited Sources: Examples of authors who argue the Jesus myth hypothesis:
]. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-06200-8
. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 36—72. ISBN 978-1-56639-081-1
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:
]: from Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the
Four Gospels. New York: Doubleday, Anchor Bible Reference Library. p. 964. ISBN
978-0-385-19397-9.
] pp. 50—56.
] pp. 78, 93, 105, 108.
]. pp. xi—xiii.
]. pp. 34—35, 78, 166, 200.
].
]. 1:68, 146, 199, 278, 386, 2:726.
Sanders [The Historical Figure of Jesus]. pp. 12—13.
. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. p. 37.
[Check this out: The Religion of Jesus the Jew]
(paperback)]
Kregel. pp. 1, 99, 121, 171.
[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]
New Testament of the Bible
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?
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:
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.
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)."
3.0 YouTube Videos
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 the Acts of the Apostles and Luke for Everyone
)
(check these out: The Acts of the Apostles (Sacra Pagina 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". and Acts of the Apostles (Mind Over Matter Series)
)
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
discussed with two others — namely, Dr. Gary Habermas of
Liberty University (Lynchburg, Virginia) ; 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)
)
(check out The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
and Dr. Craig A. Evans of Acadia Divinity College (Wolfville, Nova Scotia;
"The Graduate School of Theology at Acadia University") , 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 Tomb
and The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God
)
(check out Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls
— five recent books on the historical Jesus. The books are: ,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)
)
- The Gospel of Judas (click here
or here
) ,
- 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
),
- The Jesus Dynasty(full title: The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity
),
- 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 Jesus
by Frederic P. Miller), and
- The Jesus Papers
(see also The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History (Plus)
)
If the above menu don't work for your browser (especially, Microsoft's Internet Explorer), try clicking on any of these links: | |
| Part 1 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) | Part 4 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) |
| Part 2 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) | Part 5 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) |
| Part 3 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) | Part 6 of 6 (Dr. Craig Blomberg) |
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.![]() | ||
![]() | ||
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!
[Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening;puts it:
see also Living with the Devilaka ego or Mara]
Check out the following caveats/warnings/remarks on handling what are purported to be "Mysteries" ... the caveats/warnings/remarks are presented below our usual SBI! ads at the bottom of the webpage.
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.
P.P.S. Have a look at the following YouTube video clip ...
P.P.P.S. Thanks to the folks at SBI! SBI! gives results!
![]() | ![]() | |
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Combining scientific research, witness accounts and historical evidence, the authors recount the most bizarre episodes of our planet — and beyond — in vivid detail.
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Guaranteed to astonish and intrigue, The Complete Book of the Unexplained
The Complete Book of the Unexplained
A Thrilling Exploration of the Earth's Most Baffling Mysteries
[Adapted]
Truth in an Age of Deception | ||
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 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:
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 | ||
Telling the Truth (About Santa, Etc. ...)
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
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!
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?
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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
and so on and so forth (other examples of Indexes/Indices will become available) ... Along the way, we will examine unusual topics such as
And, we will also explore to the full the meanings of such terms as
This includes an examination of the various terms associated with what I call 'The Fringe' —
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:
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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 ... 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:
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) ![]() Source: Stanton T. Friedman (Nuclear Physicist) Flying Saucers and Science Subtitle — A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs: Interstellar Travel, Crashes, and Government Cover-Ups
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| Nine Points to Note
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As stated in our Mysteries Blog, the ' Mysteries of the World' Website does NOT aim to sensationalize any particular 'Mystery', although we
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