left biblioblography: JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM!

Monday, August 14, 2006

JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM!

A friend turned me on to this video recently.

Sadly, for an episode titled the ‘Naked Truth’ it contained so many errors, I couldn’t finish it.

A perfect example of how NOT to debunk xtianity.

It begins with the usual: how religion has proven itself to be violent and savage, even up to the present climes. No argument. It spends a small amount of time pointing out how we use the pyramid, the cornerstone of said pyramid being the top, Yesu Christo claiming himself the ‘cornerstone’ of the faith, etc. However, upon looking up the word ‘cornerstone’, answers.com gives us this: “Ceremonial building block, dated or otherwise inscribed, usually placed in an outer wall of a building to commemorate its dedication. Often the stone is hollowed out to contain newspapers, photographs, or other documents reflecting current customs, with a view to their historical use when the building is remodeled or demolished. Originally placed at a corner, the stone may today be placed elsewhere on the facade.” Hmmm…said video claimed the cornerstone was the apex of the pyramid. Incorrect.



Then the video gives a very poor translation of the word ‘Dalai Lama’, claiming of all things, that Lama is some sort of transposition of the word ‘sheep’, when nothing could be farther from the truth. (Confusing a Lhama with a sheep, when it is in fact a closer cousin of the camel, shows a complete lack of biological acumen).
“Dalai" means "ocean" in Mongolian, and "Lama" (bla ma) is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit word "guru", and so may mean "teacher" or "monk." Incorrect again.

It also claims that the ‘waters of chaos’ constitutes the ‘Argha-noa’, thereby providing the ‘ark of Noah’ with some historical background. Alas, this is incorrect as well: my google search only came up with ten (or so) hits, all of these in direct relation to this film. Again, no citations.

It then shifts focus to a now-debunked book (which it doesn’t cite, but which I recognized the content of), one The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, of which the Wiki entry states:” The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors, or Christianity Before Christ was an 1875 book written by 19th century lecturer and sceptic Kersey Graves. It alleges that Jesus was a mythical figure, largely based on earlier tales of saviours who had been crucified.
Much of the mythology in the book contradicts established facts about various mythologies mentioned, and several of the beliefs alleged to coincide with Christianity post-date Christianity's advent.
It has been noted that Graves derived "many of the most important facts collated in this work" from the comprehensive 1833 work, the Anacalypsis, by Sir Godfrey Higgins.”

Now, while I’m a big proponent of the parallelization of Eastern mythologies and texts with the Judeo-xtian literature, I’m also a big fan of research, facts, and the truth, naked or clothed. There’s no doubt in my mind that the ancient Israelites did indeed do copious borrowing from surrounding cultures, but by no means does that give us artistic license to go about cobbling up pet theories based on the slimmest of clues. For instance: my longtime research into Buddhism has never revealed the ‘story’ of him being born of a virgin, any more than my reading of the Bhagavad-gita has led to the discovery of Krishna being born of one, either.

(Here’s an item that bears mentioning: I recall coming across this statement some years ago, which I found interesting, in the Upanishads – Man does not live by breath alone, but by him in whom is the power of breath.” – Written some centuries precedent to the alleged ‘blessed event’.)

While there is no doubt in my mind, that the concept of the Immaculate Deception was borrowed from Hellenistic traditions, the ancient Hebrews used their own inhibitions to give it a unique spin.

It was, however, the change of focus from the community to the individual (Hellenistic) that gave rise to the ‘personalized’ Messiah as opposed to the communal one. Ergo, some convenient retrofitting had to be done, and quickly too. But that subject is outside the scope of this analysis.

Facts, people, facts! Let’s not give the theists more ammo than they already have.

Or, as Friday on Dragnet used to say: “Just the facts, ma’am.”

That’s my nickel’s worth, anyways.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ra, I do agree with you on some of the issues you take with the google movie, but I have to disagree with you about Buddha and Krishna being born of virgins.

In Joseph Cambels documentary he said Buddha was born of a virgin from her side and the link I provided from Acharya S covers the virgin birth of Krishna(and Buddha).

http://www.truthbeknown.com/virgin.htm

Krystalline Apostate said...

SNTC:
Ra, I do agree with you on some of the issues you take with the google movie, but I have to disagree with you about Buddha and Krishna being born of virgins.
Well, I went to answers.com, looked them both up, and did the CTRL-F (find) on the word 'virgin'. De nada. Looked up Devaki. Same.
Fact is, the emphasis on virginity is pretty much an ME phenomenon.
In Joseph Cambels documentary he said Buddha was born of a virgin from her side
I'll have to take a gander at that.
I'll take a few quick scans of the Upandishads, The Sutras, etc. Thus far, however, am unconvinced.

Anonymous said...

Probably confused cornerstone with capstone, that would have been correct.

Krystalline Apostate said...

mxracer:
Probably confused cornerstone with capstone, that would have been correct.
Yeah, major problem though: they made a bit of a big deal about JC being the cornerstone, & pointed out the pyramid's 'cornerstone' was the capstone.

Anonymous said...

Ra

you could be right. The Virgin birth of Buddha was a latter addition. You know how the ME was and is. Give them a new philosophy and they will conform it to their own beliefs.

Anonymous said...

What did you think about all the zodiac/sun worship stuff they related Christianity and some of the other religions to? Did you manage to get that far? I thought that was interesing, but then again I don't know much about the zodiac and earlier religions, either. *shrug*

Krystalline Apostate said...

anonymous:
Did you manage to get that far?
Nah, once I figured out the Graves thing (& that crap about the Dalai Lama - WHOOO boy!), I just gave up on the thing.

Krystalline Apostate said...

Hey Reggie, how are ya? (Can I call you Reggie, that okay?)
The problem, way I see it, is that if we (individually, collectively) just hop on a bandwagon, & the wheels are broken, it doesn't look too bright.
We're battling a social network that's been around a LONG time: we need to keep our facts straight as possible.

Anonymous said...

About the cornerstone . in the naked true video it says "chief cornerstone" and piramids have five cornerstones .cornerstone is what supports the building and is not one.about "google it" , internet is humans posts and what have wrote , like books , not godsend and it is just (in the way we know it ) a child 12 years old in opposition with religion that is about 5000 years old , you might have in mind that the biggest ancient library "alexandria" was burned and the past 16 centeries vatican has gathered the most available writings (scientific or not) and or dissapeard them or rewrote them.(http://www.mirabilis.ca/archives/001153.html , http://www.archimedesclock.gr/ ) . i dont take what i read for granded but what i can understand through logic.
i thought that the ancient greeks where afraid and respect gods , untill i read aristophanes where he sometimes make fun of gods.so now we are more afraid of god than then, even that we have explained and understand most of the unexplained natural situations that then gave credit to god. Sorry for my english , greedings from greece.
Anyway all that is a good excuse to learn and study history .

Unknown said...

When we strip away the miraculous and supernatural legends in the gospels which came from Pagan sources then what we're left with is an itinerant Jewish carpenter / teacher who taught through parables and by example & that, if he existed at all, lived for about 33 years. He did not invent good deeds, religion, science, writing, the arts, mathematics, astronomy, culture, agriculture, industry, medicine, transportation, belief in higher powers, belief in a single god or gods, trust, compassion, truth, kindness, etc. etc. He grew up in an environment where all this and so much more already existed. As all men we stand upon the shoulders of those who came before us. We all make our contribution. This Jewish carpenter ( IF he existed ) saw that things could be better around him and tried to do something about. Quite commendable. But history bursts at the seams with equally commendable stories of heroism, tragedy, inspiration, enlightenment and greater contributions to civilization from many sources long before Jesus and the 'stories' written, by word of mouth, about him ever came to be. It is not and was not fair to him or us that those seeking to tax & control the masses made him into a deity to serve 'their' purposes. It is equally complicit & corrupt of us to continue this myth. So keep it up folks - we've got organized religion ( evil ) on the run & they know it ! ( H.K. 574 copyrighted ).

Unknown said...

Yeshua, of course, was a Jew. Credible anthropologist unanimously agree that Yeshua/Jesus would have been small in stature and dark-skinned. The flight of Mary and Joseph into Egypt to hide the Christ child from the jealous and murderous plot of Herod, as recorded in the Book of Matthew, leads us to conclude that he could not have been hidden in North Africa had he European features. Although the bible offers two humorously opposed descriptions of what Christ looked like: ( Rev 1:14 ) ( a dream/vision )"His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength". and ( Isaiah 53:2 ) "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Yet a knowledgeable christian church continually portrays Christ willingly & complicity in both paintings, books, effigy, and in more modern times in movies, as an tall, lean, european, long haired, sun tanned ( not dark skinned ) male model. This would have been a stunning and remarkable contrast to all he came in contact with and surely would have been noted at least once in the Bible. This brings up more that just a few serious diversions from the teachings of the bible ( or as the church calls it - the word of god ). As Jesus inspired the apostle Paul to write in Corinthians 11:14 "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?" Physical anthropologist Joe Zias, who has studied hundreds of skeletons found in archaeological digs in Jerusalem points out- 'Jewish men back in antiquity did not have long hair.' 'The Jewish texts ridiculed long hair as something Roman or Greek'. In fact it wasn't at all typical even among the Greeks and Romans, as plenty of statues and coins from the time attest. Along with extensive writings from the period, experts also point to a frieze on Rome's Arch of Titus, erected after Jerusalem was captured in AD 70 to celebrate the victory, which shows Jewish men with short hair taken into captivity. But far more disturbing is the open blessing of these effigies and their sanctioned worship by the church which runs counter to their own teachings; specifically the Ten Commandments & the story of the Golden Calf / False Idol. Commandments One & Two : 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' & 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' Yet this completely made up Christ is what most Christians see when they close their eyes to pray & generations have gone to their grave having worshiped this imaginary figure their entire lives.
For those of you born before the 1960's may have noticed the 'Church' has been quietly removing these effigies from alters & public display in lieu of more abstract & symbolic statements . True to their nature when they found out that no art or antiquities buyers of any real volume were interested in their warehoused statues of caucasian virgin Mary's & 'how-could-you-not-sympathize-with-this-guy' statues of Christ they began destroying them. The church knows how to put on a show and they know when to pull an act off the stage when the audience starts asking too many questions. ( H.K. 574 copyrighted )