Shocking Miscellany...LOL

I find it interesting that:

1.       Doctors perform “fecal transplants,” where donated stool is injected into a person’s colon.  More than 90% of the time, healthy bacteria from the donor stool start to grow in the patient’s colon.  If this thought provoking procedure isn’t enough for you, then consider my question…what happens the other ten percent of the time?????

2.       Also, I always wanted to know what on earth prompted A.A. Milne to name his famous storybook character Pooh Bear.  

Quote for March 23, 2015

"When you go through hard times, you might as well pay attention and learn something"  Joan Bauer

Bringing Dead People To Life Again

For some reason while reading John’s account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead this morning, something suddenly bothered me about it…and I have to say, it bothered me a lot!  I suspect many of you may have had the same thought, so I’ll share it and my journey to resolution about it.

You see, the only place in the New Testament where the raising of Lazarus from the dead is mentioned is in the gospel of John.  His writings were circulated very much after the rest of the New Testament writings, and even the comprehensive history that Luke put together.  So why would such a powerful story not be included with Luke’s gospel, or mentioned in Matthew or Mark’s letters?  It brings into question the veracity of John’s writings.

After a good bit of thought and some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is a factual account.  First, presuming this miracle was unusual in Jesus’ ministry is false.  There are several accounts of his raising persons from the dead.  We know of Jairus’ daughter and the son of the widow of Nain.  Here’s the interesting part…John doesn’t mention either of these two miracles in his accounts!  Matthew and Mark fail to mention the widow’s son.  It is even possible, considering these failures to describe these events that even more people were raised from the dead that no account exists about them.  John, in his gospel even says “there are many other things that Jesus did…” that aren’t written down.

There is also the possibility that Matthew and Mark were not present when Lazarus was raised.  We have no complete accounting of the times the apostles were together as a complete group with Jesus, and no reason to believe they always were.  We only know that Thomas was there from John’s account.

There is also the problem that this event was a focusing turning point for the Jewish leadership who we are told were present.  Some of those leaders went back and “from that day on planned to kill (Jesus.)”  Perhaps the other writers sought to protect Lazarus from the wrath of the Jewish leaders, and John didn’t need to any longer, since many years had passed and Lazarus and his sisters may have truly been dead by then.

There is also one other interesting feature to the story that was pointed out to me.  Jews of that time believed that the spirit continues to come back to the body for three days after death and tries to go back into the body (bring it to life) until flesh disfigurement then makes it unrecognizable (See Genesis, Leviticus, and Ecclesiastes.)  It explains why Jesus delayed in responding to the message of Lazarus being ill and even already knew he was dying or dead.  He arrived four days after the burial, so there would be no question of it being anything but a true miracle of God.

Selma

I couldn’t help but notice in the president’s recent speech in Selma that if he had chosen to use one-tenth the energy, emotion, and commitment in speaking about people who cut people’s heads off, who bury people alive or crucify children for their beliefs, we would have defeated radical Islam long ago.

I feel that celebrations like Selma are most often used to just fan the flames of racism rather than celebrating the extremely valuable and dedicated sacrifices of those who fought for equal rights.  Along with positive comments about how far we’ve come, the president also clearly implied “those white racist MoFos are still out there.”  I couldn’t believe that despite his own administration failing to find any civil rights racism in Ferguson (or Florida regarding Treyvon Martin for that matter,) he still chose to use it as an example of ongoing racism…if you ask me, I would agree there was racism in those towns…the people in Ferguson who are racist were Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, the President and the blacks who demonstrated and rioted in the streets, not the whites of that area.  White Christians are on Obama’s hit list, even though it was white Christians who led the fight to abolish slavery in the 1860s and have fought for equal rights and continue to do so.

I have little respect for this president’s administrative skills, his lies, and his consistent efforts to undermine the constitution.   He had a great opportunity in his Selma speech as well as in his presidency as a whole, and as far as I’m concerned, he completely blew it.  Mr. President, you have two years to prove me wrong.  It may not sound like it, but I would love it if you did.

Miscellaneous Silliness For Your Day

Adultery is still illegal in 21 states in the U.S.   In a few it’s a felony.  Colorado just repealed its laws on it last year, but in the west, Arizona, Utah and Idaho still maintain it’s a crime.  These archaic laws are rarely enforced, but with the modern societal trends I think we could probably balance the federal budget if we’d collect fines on these folks!!

Medical science now says they can take the head of one person and graft it onto the healthy body of another person who has died of a bodily injury that leaves the brain and head intact and fully functional.  That, in itself creates a problem since we currently define death as “brain death.”  Think about what that will mean ethically, morally, legally etc.   Will aging people of means get new bodies when theirs deteriorates?  Just buy a new head from some willing person who is told they have terminal cancer and decides to go to Oregon and kill themselves painlessly on their own time schedule to avoid the misery of slowly dying.  Will Hillary get to run in 2070 with a new body?  Will the new body make her a different person?  How does it work if your head is 70 and your body is that of a 19 year-old hottie.  What happens if you are female and the only donor body is male…hmmm?

Obama Slams Christians

There’s been a world of controversy recently about President Obama going to the National Prayer Breakfast and comparing Christianity to Radical Muslim Terrorists.  I thought it was shockingly stupid and historically inaccurate to make that comparison.  The fundamental difference in the whole thing is that Christianity teaches peace and non-violence.  Yes the Old Testament is filled with violence sanctioned at times by God, and all of it was time dependent and site specific.  That is the fundamental difference between Christianity, Judaism and Islam.  The Muslim Qur’an and the Hadith all espouse repeatedly acts of violence against anyone who fails to accept Islam as their faith.  They are not site specific nor time dependent.  Their leader and Prophet, Mohammed, was a violent warrior who attacked other civilizations and killed those who refused to accept Islam as their faith.  It was the way he acquired his empire, and it continued to be the prime way it was expanded after his death.  It is codified in all their sacred writings as part of their belief system.

I would also suggest that President Obama was inaccurate in his presentation to broad brush that the acts of terror were committed in the name of Christ.  I’m sure some were, but the bulk of Christianity stood against slavery, and the crusades were carried out in defense of Islamic terror.  The inquisition was politically motivated, as were Catholic wars against Protestants in England.

I would also offer here that no one, including me, suggests that all Muslims are in favor of aggression and terror, but I will say that as a group they aren’t denouncing and resisting it vigorously enough…perhaps out of fear they will be killed by another Muslim for it.

So, let’s put Obama’s speech in simpler terms.  Suppose you are having breakfast one morning and your wife comes in from the bathroom and says “I am so tired of you leaving all your hair and splashing water all over the sink every time you use it.  You are such a slob.”  Now, you, being sensitive to all this and secretly wishing you could be allowed to be a slob without criticism like when you were a single man, need to respond.  How do you respond?  Most likely you say your secret pet peeve about your wife, “Oh yeah, well last week I realized you drove your car without changing the oil for 12,000 miles. You’re so thoughtless and careless, and now I have to fix it.”

How well did that one work for you?   I bet not very effectively.  If you had answered that you were sorry, it is a little sloppy of you and you would try to do better.  It would have gone well.

Pretty much what Obama did was to say it the first way.  He tried to demean his critics, and to shift the focus away from the current problem.

(I realize most women will say: “huh! it’s not my job to get the oil changed in the first place!”  Sorry, it was the only example I could think of offhand…LOL.  I had considered using another female bathroom analogy and discarded the idea pretty quickly!  Too gross!)

Transfigured

I’ve always been fascinated by the story in Matthew and in Mark in the New Testament where Jesus goes up on the mountain with Peter, James and his brother John and there meets with Elijah and Moses who pop in to visit.  Jesus is transfigured into what basically would amount to a million watt radiating figure, and he has a chat with them about his coming death.  Both of the long dead visitors are brightly transfigured as well, and Peter in his classic bumbling approach offers to build them shelters.  Then God speaks from the sky about how pleased he is with his Son and that they need to obey him.

Now all that is pretty amazing stuff, but really it’s not what I’m fascinated with so much as the fact that neither Peter nor John ever mention it in their writings?  I suppose those things may never have been important enough to them to be related, but it just doesn’t seem consistent considering the other things they did relate about miraculous events.  I mean dead people showing up and God talking from the sky are pretty classic “miracles” so why leave them out?  Did they write about them and the information was lost?  Many scoffers would say it’s just made up, and that’s why it’s not related by the parties who were there, but you would think it would have been challenged since those parties who were there were likely still alive when the letters Matthew and Mark wrote were being circulated.

I’d be interested in your opinions?