Issue 120
News: Lewis' Trilemma: Mad, Bad, or Flawed?
On Newspeak Dictionary, I am currently debating a person who is arguing about my views on religion. One of the arguments he has made (in addition to the Pascal's Wager I dissected earlier) is a famous argument which, far from being the supplementary argument that Pascal's Wager was, is said to be the major foundation of Christian Apologetics itself. As the argument goes, since Jesus claimed to be God, he must have either been on the level, insane, or one of the biggest cons in history. However, the argument is flawed on many levels. First, the fact is that Jesus himself does not seem to advertise his divinity to the same degree as his biographers. Indeed, the term "son of God" inextricably linked to him never, in its original form, implied Divine Paternity, but was a term for an especially holy man (as people like Billy Graham or the Pope may be to many Christians). Second, the Gospel accounts may not be entirely accurate. This is the most obvious of the counter-claims to me, since, as Bart Ehrman showed in his book, even if there was a divinely inspired text, what we've got by now has been messed up so that the original would most likely be unrecognizable. Third, even if we do accept Lewis' claim but conclude that Jesus was insane (indeed, in Mark, one of Jesus' relatives excuses his behavior by claiming him to be crazy), it should be obvious that mental illness and mental ability are not mutually exclusive by any means. One need only look at Glenn Gould, Kurt Godel, Howard Hughes, or Albert Einstein to see what I mean. Fourth, even if Jesus is to be disregarded as a con, many of his teachings were not originally his; even the Golden Rule dated back three millenia before Jesus' birth.
Band Name of the Day: The Black Dahlia Avengers, from the book to be reviewed below.
Review and Movie Idea of the Day: The Black Dahlia Avenger. An ex-cop, after going through his father's possessions, discovers that he was, in fact, the Black Dahlia murderer. He even manages to compile his case to an LA DA, who admits that his case is solid. Of course, his theory has yet to be accepted, but I still believe that his story is pretty solid, as opposed to many other theories (including those who claimed that Woody Guthrie and Orson Welles did it). I am planning to make a film version of the father's life story in the visual tradition of Love is the Devil and Natural Born Killers and the narrative tradition of Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence.
Quote of the Day: "I'm not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Damnit, I'm a billionaire."
_______________Howard Hughes.
Link of the Day: Turn Yourself into a South Park Character
On Newspeak Dictionary, I am currently debating a person who is arguing about my views on religion. One of the arguments he has made (in addition to the Pascal's Wager I dissected earlier) is a famous argument which, far from being the supplementary argument that Pascal's Wager was, is said to be the major foundation of Christian Apologetics itself. As the argument goes, since Jesus claimed to be God, he must have either been on the level, insane, or one of the biggest cons in history. However, the argument is flawed on many levels. First, the fact is that Jesus himself does not seem to advertise his divinity to the same degree as his biographers. Indeed, the term "son of God" inextricably linked to him never, in its original form, implied Divine Paternity, but was a term for an especially holy man (as people like Billy Graham or the Pope may be to many Christians). Second, the Gospel accounts may not be entirely accurate. This is the most obvious of the counter-claims to me, since, as Bart Ehrman showed in his book, even if there was a divinely inspired text, what we've got by now has been messed up so that the original would most likely be unrecognizable. Third, even if we do accept Lewis' claim but conclude that Jesus was insane (indeed, in Mark, one of Jesus' relatives excuses his behavior by claiming him to be crazy), it should be obvious that mental illness and mental ability are not mutually exclusive by any means. One need only look at Glenn Gould, Kurt Godel, Howard Hughes, or Albert Einstein to see what I mean. Fourth, even if Jesus is to be disregarded as a con, many of his teachings were not originally his; even the Golden Rule dated back three millenia before Jesus' birth.
Band Name of the Day: The Black Dahlia Avengers, from the book to be reviewed below.
Review and Movie Idea of the Day: The Black Dahlia Avenger. An ex-cop, after going through his father's possessions, discovers that he was, in fact, the Black Dahlia murderer. He even manages to compile his case to an LA DA, who admits that his case is solid. Of course, his theory has yet to be accepted, but I still believe that his story is pretty solid, as opposed to many other theories (including those who claimed that Woody Guthrie and Orson Welles did it). I am planning to make a film version of the father's life story in the visual tradition of Love is the Devil and Natural Born Killers and the narrative tradition of Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence.
Quote of the Day: "I'm not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Damnit, I'm a billionaire."
_______________Howard Hughes.
Link of the Day: Turn Yourself into a South Park Character
Labels: The Damn Bible
posted by DerekAxe at 9:45 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah... really, Jesus never did actually trumpet how great he was. It was mostly about the whole "love your neighbor" thing and don't be a hypocrite like the religious leaders of the time.
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