What is one affliction?

 

If you think how many diseases, and how much poverty there is in the world, you will fall down upon your knees, and, instead of repining at one affliction, will admire so many blessings received at the hand of God.

-- William Temple (1628-1699)

The only certain provenance of some of the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament is a garbage dump in Egypt

Grenfell and Hunt in Egypt circa 1896

So important were these manuscripts to their owners that they were pitched.

Many important secular manuscripts also have been found in the dump, some hitherto unknown to scholarship.

It's a sobering commentary on human nature, well known to any good text critic, but as little appreciated now as the books themselves happened to be then. 

How We Got the Good Book:

[T]he provenance of many important collections is murky at best. ... In contrast to the Beatty and Bodmer collections, whose origins are archaeologically uncertified, the manuscripts deriving from Oxyrhynchus come from a genuine archaeological exploration, led by the redoubtable British scholars Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, who in 1896 struck gold while digging in a town dump in Egypt. So vast is the number of manuscripts they found—perhaps half a million, spanning centuries and languages, only a small portion of them Christian—that their publication, begun in 1898, had reached seventy-seven volumes by 2011. [Brent] Nongbri provides a helpful catalogue of all the Christian writings identified [there] to date [in God’s Library: The Archeology of the Earliest Christian Manuscripts].

Madonna as Salome, who got John Baptist's head on a platter through seduction

Madonna: Something ‘Poetic and Sometimes Sexual’ About Jesus Hanging on the Cross:

“There’s something really extreme and dramatic about the idea that you know, in any church you go and you see a man on a cross, practically naked, bleeding from his wounds, and everyone genuflects and prays to him,” Madonna said of Christ. “I find that so intriguing, poetic and sometimes sexual, sensual. And the idea that people are – in a way, it’s pagan because people are worshipping a thing.”

And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 

-- Matthew 14:8

Luke strangely tells us all about an appearance of the resurrected Jesus to the two traveling to Emmaus, but nothing about one to Peter on the same day

No gospel at all bothers to tell us about this important appearance to Peter, which Paul puts at the head of his list (I Corinthians 15:3ff.) with the one to himself last.

Luke tells us Peter finds no body in the tomb on the first day of the week, but by the end of this same day Peter is matter of factly said to have had his own encounter with the risen Jesus distinct from an appearance to the eleven, which quickly follows in its turn, as does Jesus' ascension into heaven. There is no appearance to Mary at the tomb, and instead of an appearance in and ascension from Galilee as in Matthew Luke has all this in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

The compression of events by Luke is noteworthy for its similarity to the summary quality of the other accounts. It's almost as if there is a felt need of discomfort by all to get the story over with as quickly as possible. Perhaps because it's so uncertain? 

Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. ... And certain of them which were with us [the Emmaus travelers] went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. ... And they [the Emmaus travelers] rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, [who said], The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

-- Luke 24:12, 24, 33-34

The supplied ending to Mark's gospel seems to cover all the bases of the resurrection appearances, but for one thing

Codex Vaticanus has Mark end with 16:8

It has an appearance of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene (16:9), an appearance to the two traveling, presumably on the road to Emmaus as in Luke (16:12), and to the eleven disciples who are all together at a meal (16:14), but it is completely lacking an appearance to the disciples and Peter in Galilee predicted by the angel in the first place!

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

-- Mark 16:7

The angel at the resurrection appearance to Mary in Matthew didn't get the Garden appearance memo

 

 

And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. ...

And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

-- Matthew 28:7, 9

John's risen Jesus uniquely says touch me, don't touch me within the space of just a few verses

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

-- John 20:17

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

-- John 20:27

The oddity is just one of many involved in all the resurrection narratives, but especially John's, which gives every impression of wanting to conclude at the end of chapter 20, but then picks it up again. There is a perfunctory summary quality to all of the narratives, which combines with the differing details to give the impression that this is the least certain part of the tradition.   

Trump hasn't lied 5,000 times, he's just channeling Norman Vincent Peale's power of positive thinking and the prosperity gospel's power of positive confession

Too bad more people don't understand this.

This guy certainly doesn't. 

Meet Daniel Dale, the man with the Herculean job of keeping track of Trump’s lies:

Usually, the lying is Trump ad-libbing — it’s him deviating from his text. In that [campaign] case, immigration lies in particular were being written into his rally speeches.

In many cases, I think it is unstrategic. I think it’s just Trump being Trump. I don’t know if it’s his natural state, or if it’s a learned behavior, after lying successfully as a real estate guy and lying successfully as a playboy celebrity to get his name in the tabloids. ...

I do use the word lie, but for my database, I call it a database of false claims, because I think while a significant percentage are lies, I'm not sure about all of them.

As we know with this president, he’s often confused or ignorant of policy specifics. And so I don’t know that he intentionally attempted to deceive with all 4,900-plus. So many of those are lies, but I can’t say that for all of them.

This guy, on the other hand, does.

Commentary: Prosperty gospel may be United States' new civil religion:

In terms of religion, this inauguration exhibits the confluence of two major currents of indigenous American spirituality.

One stream is represented by Norman Vincent Peale's longtime bestseller "The Power of Positive Thinking" (1952). The famous Manhattan pastor is Trump's tenuous connection to Christianity, having heard the preacher frequently in his youth. For Peale and his protege, the late Robert Schuller of Crystal Cathedral fame, the gospel of Christ's death for human sin and resurrection for justification and everlasting life was transformed into a "feel-good" therapy. Self-esteem was the true salvation.

Another stream is represented by the most famous TV preachers, especially those associated with the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen and Paula White are the stars of this movement, known as Word of Faith. ...

Besides throwing out doctrines like the Trinity and confusing ourselves with God, the movement teaches that Jesus went to the cross not to bring forgiveness of our sins but to get us out of financial debt, not to reconcile us to God but to give us the power to claim our prosperity, not to remove the curse of death, injustice and bondage to ourselves but to give us our best life now. White says emphatically that Jesus is "not the only begotten Son of God," just the first. We're all divine and have the power to speak worlds into existence. ...

Some representatives, like Osteen, offer an easy-listening version that seems as harmless as a fortune cookie. It's when he tries to interpret the Bible that he gets into trouble, as in his latest book, "The Power of I Am." "Romans 4 says to 'call the things that are not as though they were,' " he says, but the biblical passage is actually referring to God.

But it's not really about God. In fact, one gets the impression that God isn't necessary at all in the system. God set up these spiritual laws and if you know the secrets, you're in charge of your destiny. You "release wealth," as they often put it, by commanding it to come to you.

"Anyone who tells you to deny yourself is from Satan," White told a TBN audience in 2007. Oops. It was Jesus who said "anyone who would come after me" must "deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

Most evangelical pastors I know would shake their heads at all of this.

Righteous Job clothed the naked

If I have seen any perish for want of cloathing,

then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade.

-- Job 31:29*
















*So Samuel Johnson's Dictionary.

Johnson's citation combines parts of Job 31:19 and Job 31:22. The citation as Job 31:29 could be a printer's error:

If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, [or any poor without covering]; ... Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, [and mine arm be broken from the bone].

The Arab predator is a trope at least as old as Jeremiah

Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry.

-- Jeremiah 3:2

Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, bars Illinois Senate President, Speaker of Illinois House, and other lawmakers from Holy Communion

Bishop Paprocki bars pro-abortion Illinois lawmakers from Holy Communion:

“In accord with canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law...Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan, who facilitated the passage of the Act Concerning Abortion of 2017 (House Bill 40) as well as the Reproductive Health Act of 2019 (Senate Bill 25), are not to be admitted to Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois because they have obstinately persisted in promoting the abominable crime and very grave sin of abortion as evidenced by the influence they exerted in their leadership roles and their repeated votes and obdurate public support for abortion rights over an extended period of time.”

“These persons may be readmitted to Holy Communion only after they have truly repented these grave sins and furthermore have made suitable reparation for damages and scandal, or at least have seriously promised to do so, as determined in my judgment or in the judgment of their diocesan bishop in consultation with me or my successor."

“I declare that Catholic legislators of the Illinois General Assembly who have cooperated in evil and committed grave sin by voting for any legislation that promotes abortion are not to present themselves to receive Holy Communion without first being reconciled to Christ and the Church in accord with canon 916 of the Code of Canon Law."

“[I]n issuing this decree, I anticipate that some will point out the Church’s own failings with regard to the abuse of children.”

“The same justifiable anger we feel toward the abuse of innocent children, however, should prompt an outcry of resistance against legalizing the murder of innocent children. The failings of the Church do not change the objective reality that the murder of a defenseless baby is an utterly evil act."

“We also understand many unplanned pregnancies come with fear and difficulty."

“It is our obligation, as a society, to be there for these pregnant mothers, help them in any way possible, and empower them to make life affirming decisions. This also includes continued support for the mother and her child after birth. We must acknowledge a child in the womb is not a problem. He or she is a gift from God.”

“In view of their gravely immoral action to deprive unborn children legal protection against abortion, it must be said that any Catholic legislator who sponsored, promoted, advocated, or voted for these pro-abortion bills has acted in a seriously sinful manner unfaithful to the 2,000-year-old Christian teaching against abortion and therefore, would place themselves outside of the full communion of the Catholic Church."

“Such persons are not to receive Holy Communion until they have celebrated the sacrament of reconciliation and displayed a public conversion of life.”

“As sacred Scripture warns, ‘Whoever eats unworthily of the bread and drinks from the Lord’s cup makes himself guilty of profaning the body and of the blood of the Lord.’ To support legislation that treats babies in the womb like property, allowing for their destruction for any reason at any time, is evil. It’s my hope and prayer these lawmakers reconcile themselves to the Church so they can receive Communion.”

“The Eucharist is the most sacred aspect of our Catholic faith."

“I want to thank lawmakers who stood up to these barbaric pieces of legislation and voted ‘no,’ and I applaud their courage to speak the truth that the most basic right we should all enjoy, is the right to life.”

There is little honesty in the world, but especially little in the courts of a king

A friend in need (1903) by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

 

 

 Tygers and wolves shall in the ocean breed,

The whale and dolphin fatten on the mead,

And every element exchange its kind,

When thriving honesty in courts we find.

-- George Granville

Pope Francis corrects the Lord's Prayer for implying that God leads us into temptation

Pope Francis Approves a Key Change to the Lord's Prayer:

Last month, Pope Francis approved a change in the wording of the Lord's Prayer, the prayer Jesus taught His followers to pray (Matthew 6:9-15). Francis rejected the traditional language "lead us not into temptation," replacing it with "do not let us fall into temptation." ...

In December 2017, Pope Francis argued that the "lead us not into temptation" is "not a good translation." He argued that God the Father does not lead people into temptation, but Satan does. "A father doesn't do that," he said. "He helps you get up right away. What induces into temptation is Satan."

This objection derives from developed theological reflection, as in James:

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

-- James 1:13f.

Unfortunately for the Pope, and James, the narratives of the gospels eschew such rationalism, indicating that the Spirit of God drove/led Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism to be tempted of the devil:

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

-- Matthew 4:1

And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

-- Mark 1:12f.

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

-- Luke 4:1f.

So clearly Jesus was led to the test by the Spirit of God. The Spirit, of course, didn't do the actual tempting, but it was indeed God's will for Jesus to come to the test.

The Lord's Prayer's petition in Matthew 6:13/Luke 11:4 "and lead us not to the test" (καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν) is hardly inconsistent with this. It simply reflects the skeptical view of human nature which Jesus intends his followers to adopt under the perilous conditions of eschatological time. This generation will be judged. Few will be saved.

It is also clear that Jesus did not press the fatherhood of God conception in the sentimental way that the pope does.

Every human father knows that there comes a time when a child must be allowed to fail at something if he is going to grow up with the necessary humility which comes from knowing one's limitations, just as every human father knows that there are some things which are necessary to endure in order to succeed. And every human father also knows there are some things to protect against at all costs lest a son be lost forever. Good fathers know these things about their children individually, for they are all different. The heavenly Father knows them best of all, according to Jesus. It is best to trust him.

Perhaps if the pope had been an actual father he might better know all this.

And perhaps not. Two years ago Pope Francis was ruminating about the utter necessity of temptation if faith is to grow.

This pope is clearly not a thinking man's pope.   

I remember when thrice-married blab-it grab-it gospel grifter Kenneth Copeland was just getting started in the late 1970s, now he's worth over $700 million

Wild eyed televangelist Kenneth Copeland appears unhinged in interview where he defends his $760million fortune and says he needs to use THREE private jets because 'demonic environment on commercial flights are not good for a preacher'

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

-- Luke 14:33