Jesus the Man - the deception in the very 33rd page

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I am reading 'Jesus the Man'- a 'supposed to be controversial' book by Barbara Thiering - an Australian author. I read in 'amazon.com', the reviews praising it as an authentic work with the backing of deep research which will topple down our views about Jesus and Christianity. The back cover of the book reads as follows:

"Jesus was the leader of a radical faction of Essene priests. He was not of virgin birth. He did not die on the Cross. He married Mary Magdalene, fathered a family, and later divorced. He died sometime after AD 64."

One of the critics claims that "Barbara Thiering is a supreme academic and goes to great lengths to justify her theories with much referencing, to the point where I have to admit that I probably need to re-read this immediately and I do confess to only really reading the narrative chapters at the start - which is very readable."

So, I opened the book with great expectations. It is really intriguing. The theory she proposed to explain the Qumran (and the Gospel) texts is really gripping - something very similar to Vinci Code. She introduces peshar technique - a kind of technique to unlock the 'submerged mysteries' beneath the Qumran and Gospel texts. I would say, it is original. I have never heard or someone used before.

I kept on reading expecting more. Then I came to page 33. I was completely lost... disappointed. She was giving her first example to explain pesher technique. The example she selected was the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (according to Gospels!)

I put down the words of Thiering account of the miracle of Cana (God I have to type all of it.. give me patience!).

"According to a story in John's gospel, Jesus was at a wedding...When, however, a drink was drawn from them and taken to the steward of the feast, it had miraculously turned into wine. The steward's reaction was strange: he did not comment on the miracle at all, but merely complained that Jesus had saved the good wine until last, whereas it was more usual to serve the good wine first and the poor wine later."

I stopped reading there - the text in italics (the text is Thiering's but i've given italics to highlight it) - what has she done?

Because, I never ever heard that the steward "complained that Jesus had saved the good wine. " According to my memory, the gospel clearly stated that the steward didn't know about the source of the 'new wine'. Did my memory fail. I reached home and searched all available versions of Bible. I was happy that my memory still works perfect!

She was quoting 'a story in John's gospel'. In the very 33th page itself, how could she go wrong? Was she just going wrong - a human error. NO WAY. without that small twist, she could not have justified her pesher theory in that instant. That was the pivot.

But it was too much... in the very 33th page manipulating the Gospel text to prove 'a theory'. I didn't expect that. If this is the case of the very first example, what would be the case of the rest of her work... the authenticity! May be her critic would have been right "Barbara Thiering is a supreme academic and goes to great lengths to justify her theories with much referencing..." except the comments put in italics!

Anyway, I will continue to read the book, to hear her stories and theories!

Jesus the Man - the deception in the very 33rd page

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I am reading 'Jesus the Man'- a 'supposed to be controversial' book by Barbara Thiering - an Australian author. I read in 'amazon.com', the reviews praising it as an authentic work with the backing of deep research which will topple down our views about Jesus and Christianity. The back cover of the book reads as follows:

"Jesus was the leader of a radical faction of Essene priests. He was not of virgin birth. He did not die on the Cross. He married Mary Magdalene, fathered a family, and later divorced. He died sometime after AD 64."

One of the critics claims that "Barbara Thiering is a supreme academic and goes to great lengths to justify her theories with much referencing, to the point where I have to admit that I probably need to re-read this immediately and I do confess to only really reading the narrative chapters at the start - which is very readable."

So, I opened the book with great expectations. It is really intriguing. The theory she proposed to explain the Qumran (and the Gospel) texts is really gripping - something very similar to Vinci Code. She introduces peshar technique - a kind of technique to unlock the 'submerged mysteries' beneath the Qumran and Gospel texts. I would say, it is original. I have never heard or someone used before.

I kept on reading expecting more. Then I came to page 33. I was completely lost... disappointed. She was giving her first example to explain pesher technique. The example she selected was the Wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (according to Gospels!)

I put down the words of Thiering account of the miracle of Cana (God I have to type all of it.. give me patience!).

"According to a story in John's gospel, Jesus was at a wedding...When, however, a drink was drawn from them and taken to the steward of the feast, it had miraculously turned into wine. The steward's reaction was strange: he did not comment on the miracle at all, but merely complained that Jesus had saved the good wine until last, whereas it was more usual to serve the good wine first and the poor wine later."

I stopped reading there - the text in italics (the text is Thiering's but i've given italics to highlight it) - what has she done?

Because, I never ever heard that the steward "complained that Jesus had saved the good wine. " According to my memory, the gospel clearly stated that the steward didn't know about the source of the 'new wine'. Did my memory fail. I reached home and searched all available versions of Bible. I was happy that my memory still works perfect!

She was quoting 'a story in John's gospel'. In the very 33th page itself, how could she go wrong? Was she just going wrong - a human error. NO WAY. without that small twist, she could not have justified her pesher theory in that instant. That was the pivot.

But it was too much... in the very 33th page manipulating the Gospel text to prove 'a theory'. I didn't expect that. If this is the case of the very first example, what would be the case of the rest of her work... the authenticity! May be her critic would have been right "Barbara Thiering is a supreme academic and goes to great lengths to justify her theories with much referencing..." except the comments put in italics!

Anyway, I will continue to read the book, to hear her stories and theories!

Ivan Almighty

I just watched a trailer of Ivan Almighty, a new movie coming up. It's quite funny. Just watch it!

ON CONVERSION AND THE CHURCH

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Here is an excerpt from our discussions in DaVinci Code - Helpdesk community on Orkut.

You can go to the whole lot of discussions about DVC, Christianity and more in this community, just follow the link. You may need an Orkut ID though!

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ON CONVERSION AND THE CHURCH
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basically there r 2 issues in our discussion, i guess - the conversion and the role of Catholic Church.

As Ian pointed out, conversion is not simply changing religion. basically, its about change of heart. As Ritin puts it, it should be stimulated by the good works of Christians, themselves.

but there are some issues - if we start to do good works - people say its wrong motivated. i know, after the earth quakes in north India (specifically Gujarat) a team of brothers from our seminary with a train full of supplies (we collected it from the public in Bangalore) were not even allowed to go to those villages. people were still dying and starving. look, we were seminarians with no intention to change their religion. (finally they did help them heroically).

so, its easy to blame church, Christianity etc... but the conversion issue, esp in India - is far more complicated. its not simply about church. people are not frightened about xians, for they convert them. rather they are frightened by the religious extremists with political, economic and cast ambitions 'to hate Christians' or 'risk consequences'. it's basically a political agenda and hate campaign. it was there all through out the history. in the first 3 centuries xians were treated like animals and killed like pigs! (ritin wont like to explain those killings of xians by state, wont u). but the same state accepted xianity as their state religion after that..ha ha.. that's politics, leave it.

then the church's role.

first point, the St Thomas xians in Kerala were catholic from the very beginning. any church initiated by an apostle is considered to be catholic. but the 16th century colonial powers failed to see it.. that's also true. they did a great harm to St Thomas xians. that's why we are divided now.

Ian's observation is valuable - the church may be a communion of saints as well as sinners , but theologically its infallible. that's all.

it does not mean that whatever church does will be right. as a human entity, it may go wrong in its decisions and practice. but what its tells will be infallible - ie, without error - esp regarding the matters of faith and morals.

its a special charism, to make sure that what is good and what is wrong in this very confusing world. church exercise this with utmost care. it does not pass judgments on the realms out side its scope. it has no say in matters of science and mathematics, but of course, in its applications to human life.

i am happy that Ritin came up with the very idea that forcible conversion - in its rude meaning is not a possibility these days.. of course, we, even catholics may have to refine their means of evangelization. but a fact remains - much of the harm is done by the aggressive and unacceptable means adopted by the protestant and evangelical churches (its a great threat to catholic church in India too... why do they aggressively baptize catholics to their churches.. did Jesus tell that!).

I would strongly suggest those so called missionaries - who tries to create communal rifts in our country to stop their way of 'instant conversions'. whoever they may be, they are doing much harm to Christ and Christianity.

but at the same time, every Christian has a right and obligation to live their Christian life in its fullness and to invite others to share its beauty.

Success - "what does it mean to me!"

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We cannot define success categorically in unequivocal terms. This is because its implications are very wide and vivid. We can only have observations, reflections and opinions about success i.e., how people viewed success, analyze it and gave an expression to their understanding. But attentively going through these observations we will be able to create an awareness about ‘what does it mean to me’ and how to create an understanding about success in our minds.

Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal.
Earl Nightingale

To me success is an ongoing process of striving to become more. The road to success is always under construction. It is a progressive course, not an end to be reached.
Anthony Robbins

Success may not be so much a destination as a journey, not merely static but dynamic and ongoing. To an extent success (or failure) is within us. It’s what we do with what happen to us.
Wesley Harris


Success is a self-discipline. It can be accessed, absorbed and acted upon. Nigel Linacre


A successful person is any person who has courage and high purpose. He is the person who puts ideas and dreams to work. He is the person who refuses to believe that there is anything but success ahead and has systematically released himself from the anchors that bind him to mediocrity. He is the person who refuses to channel himself as a conformist and reaches out for his goals one by one.
J.C. Cerney

The sin of our 'Fathers'!

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Yesterday we were asked to submit a new doc - working with children check certificate. All who work with children are to submit this according to the new legislation of Victoria Govt. However, it starts with priests and religious! We have to submit it before this Friday, but others - child care workers, medical persons, etc - will get another few months.

When this news was announced in the community, there was grim silence. It somehow implied 'the sins of our Fathers".

It's a good thing that we are concerned about children. We r all really concerned abt them. But I see the things take a different shape with all these kinds of 'reactions' from the State. The implication is very clear: "the state/society does not trust church/clergy anymore regarding children".

The result: The clergy and the church are getting lesser and lesser interested in child formation or in helping family (values). Here in Australia, there are no more Sunday schools or catechism classes. Some catholic schools may offer value education and religions classes, thats all. Only less than 10 percent are practicing Christians. No more child or youth associations in the parishes. Which means the next generations is coming up with almost zero religious formation and awareness.

How do their values take shape? The state provides them in the schools! (more than 50% of marriages are broken and most of the children live with single parents! We cannot expect those children to get any 'value' from their families). The state cares! what will be the 'state care'? As far as I know its 'market values'. The values driven by the market - consumerism, individualism, distorted nationalism and so on..

The Church is virtually cut off from the next generation, by all sorts of legislations (and of market forces). It seems that somebody wants it to be like that to serve their personal interests.

any way, I have submitted my doc today with other 5 priests living with me. Let's wait and see, whats going to happen. God save the state!

The sin of our 'Fathers'!

go to HOME

Yesterday we were asked to submit a new doc - working with children check certificate. All who work with children are to submit this according to the new legislation of Victoria Govt. However, it starts with priests and religious! We have to submit it before this Friday, but others - child care workers, medical persons, etc - will get another few months.

When this news was announced in the community, there was grim silence. It somehow implied 'the sins of our Fathers".

It's a good thing that we are concerned about children. We r all really concerned abt them. But I see the things take a different shape with all these kinds of 'reactions' from the State. The implication is very clear: "the state/society does not trust church/clergy anymore regarding children".

The result: The clergy and the church are getting lesser and lesser interested in child formation or in helping family (values). Here in Australia, there are no more Sunday schools or catechism classes. Some catholic schools may offer value education and religions classes, thats all. Only less than 10 percent are practicing Christians. No more child or youth associations in the parishes. Which means the next generations is coming up with almost zero religious formation and awareness.

How do their values take shape? The state provides them in the schools! (more than 50% of marriages are broken and most of the children live with single parents! We cannot expect those children to get any 'value' from their families). The state cares! what will be the 'state care'? As far as I know its 'market values'. The values driven by the market - consumerism, individualism, distorted nationalism and so on..

The Church is virtually cut off from the next generation, by all sorts of legislations (and of market forces). It seems that somebody wants it to be like that to serve their personal interests.

any way, I have submitted my doc today with other 5 priests living with me. Let's wait and see, whats going to happen. God save the state!

Dichotomy!

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Here u go - the spiritual and the mundane, together!

Melb in my eyes..

Melb in my eyes.. Its a lovely, calm and clean city. I love it..

BLOGS DIVERSIFIED!

Hi guys (n gals)

I've diversified my blogs... which means I've got couple of blogs under different headings. It's to make things easy for u. U can go the stuff u want/enjoy.

go to my new home in the cyberspace (just click)

Let my country awake...

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action -

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Gitanjali XXXV

Do u wanna be successful?

Do you want to become a failure in your life?

Whenever, I asked this question either to students, youth or adults, their answer was unanimous. It was an emphatic ‘no’. People wanted to succeed in their life. They wanted to win.

Leading a successful life is the birthright of a person. Whoever comes to this world with a human body and soul has a right to win. Other wise God would not have allowed him/her to be born, for God is just. Every human being is capable of going beyond the daily grind and experiencing the bliss of heavenly support and motion.

Moreover, it is not only the right of a few; rather it is the indisputable right of all human beings. All are destined to become great achievers in their lives. This is the will of God and wish of God. The fact is this: there is possibility for each one to win, for God has created infinite ways of success. But the ways and modes of winning may vary from person to person. Winning an Olympic medal may be the success of an athlete, earning a few billions may be the success of a businessperson, having reputation and fame may be the success of a public person, helping the poor and the needy in an effective way may be the success of a social worker, leading a peaceful and effective marriage life will the success of a wife or a husband, scoring higher grades and marks will be the success of creative students or doing pastoral activities in an effective manner will be the success of a pastor. Whatever be the mode of winning, people are destined to lead a successful life in their own life situations.

KEEP READING THIS BLOG TO BROWSE THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS!

The scraps...

B+

Be positive.. It's my philosopy of life..

The inner self is explored!

Spirituality and Religion unexposed!

Its just the beginning!

watchout my political reflections here!

Abstact of my Thesis!

here is the abstract of my Minor Thesis(very fresh.. not yet submitted!). bit technical, but will give an idea about what i'm doing.. have a look.. good luck..

Abstract
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Commercial Content Delivery Networks create their own network of servers around the globe to effectively deliver Web content to the end-users. The peering of Content Delivery Networks (CDN) would increase the efficiency of commercial CDNs. But still the high rental rates resulting from huge infrastructure cost make it inaccessible to medium and low profile clients . Academic models of peer-to-peer CDNs aim to reduce the financial cost of content distribution by forming volunteer group of servers around the globe. But their efficiency is at the mercy of the volunteer peers whose commitment is not ensured in their design. We propose a new architecture that will make use of the existing resources of common Internet users in terms of storage space, bandwidth and Internet connectivity to create a Distributed Content Delivery Network (DCDN). The profit pool generated by the infrastructure savings will be shared among the participating nodes (DCDN surrogates) which will function as an incentive for them to support DCDN. Since the system uses the limited computing resources of common Internet users, we also propose a suitable load balancing (LB) algorithm so that DCDN surrogates are not burdened with heavy load and requests are fairly assigned to them. Simulations have been carried out and the results show that the proposed architecture (with LB) can offer same or even better performance as that of commercial CDN.