Recent Comments

1. about 2 hours ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Your last part is absolutely ridiculous. I’m sorry you feel that way, but it is absolutely false.

   In regards to the Declaration of Independence, even if only “men” was meant in “All men are created equal,” it was a step in the right direction and revolutionary at the time. In European culture at that time, only the nobility had “rights” that were protected and those only with the approval of the monarchy. Those, too, were generally granted only to men. In the Declaration, Jefferson wrote that equality was inherent in humanity, not granted by some king or government. I think he and others knew the implications of such a statement, even if they couldn’t change the slave situation at that time without dissolution of the union. This is supported by the fact that the only grievance against King George stricken from the document was the grievance against the slave trade. They all knew that either law or war would eventually have to reckon with the evil of slavery. “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!” (Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, 1785)

2. 2 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   The piano was originally called un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte (a keyboard made of cypress wood with soft and loud) by its inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori. I’m glad it was shortened.

3. 2 days ago on Frank and Ernest

   I hope she doesn’t fly the coop…

4. 2 days ago on Peanuts

   Here in the U.S., “holiday” doesn’t always mean we get the day off from work. It can be just a special day or remembrance day. Like you, while we don’t get Valnetine’s Day off, we have Monday off for George Washington’s Birthday (colloquially called Presidents Day). We also don’t get St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, or similar days off but we generally refer to them as holidays. Good Friday is also generally a work day.

5. 5 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   If the shoe fits… ;-) But I was talking about Pearls Before Swine.

6. 7 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Heretofore, I never thought PBS could be so educational…

7. 9 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   It’s easy to say someone was a “fabrication.” What a cop out. I’m not trying to convert anyone. Believe what you want. But please show a little respect to those who do believe.

   You say he most likely did not exist, yet you seem to be an expert on all of those writings. Despite what you say and think, there is plenty of evidence to support Christianity, including a fragment of John’s gospel from the early 2nd century. Irenaeus, an early church father, quoted from the New Testament (including all four gospels) over 1,000 times. Around AD 180, he also listed 23 of the NT books we now have as canonical. The Muratorian Fragment, from about the same time, has a very similar list. So, well before the year 200, churches were already in somewhat agreement in which books were authoritative. Not only did the early church generally agree on what was scripture, they also agreed on what was not scripture. How do you guard against false teaching? By establishing what’s true, and that’s what those authoritative writings do. You are not required to believe, but there is a history to the New Testament writings that is fairly easy to research. Because they were considered “holy” books, care was taken to copy them as perfectly as possible, and the ancient manuscripts we have (over 24,000 from around AD 125 to the 15th century) are used to compare and produce most modern translations. The New Testament we have today, even if we don’t read Greek or Aramaic, is basically the same New Testament the early church of the 1st and 2nd centuries read.

8. 9 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   Nice try.

9. 9 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

   They were conservatives of His time. The Sadducees were liberals of His time. He frequently collided with them all. “I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.”

   ________________________

   But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)

   Jesus does not fit neatly into political categories of our time. He was unique.
10. 9 days ago on Pearls Before Swine

    Then why did you bring him up? I only responded to your comment. Your comment has no bearing if you do not believe.