thesundayleader.lk
Now the question is whether this pastor is responsible for the deaths of the two women who came for the meeting. I was made to understand that these two women had died in hospital. However, divine healing is real and our Lord has told us to heal the sick in His name. However, I wish to point out that only those who come in faith are healed. The Holy Word of God says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him (God)…”
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This series is presented by
Dr. Ramachandran, a world renowned neurologist. It shows the strange results of brain injury and interviews the patients.
Click on "Read more >>" to access them.
This series is presented by
Dr. Ramachandran, a world renowned neurologist. It shows the strange results of brain injury and interviews the patients.
Click on "Read more >>" to access them.
BBC News
A proposal to bless South Africa's World Cup stadiums by slaughtering a cow in each one has caused concern among animal rights activists.
The Makhonya Royal Trust, which put forward the idea, described the cattle killing ritual as a "true African" way of blessing the 2010 tournament.
Government minister Sicelo Shiceka has promised to lobby football's governing body, Fifa, in support of the plan.
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ynetnews.com
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said there was a whole "industry of false claims in female enlistment. We do not condemn religious girls, but the girls who seek exemptions and leading an un-religious life style.
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Wall Street Journal
The city's Roman Catholic leaders, in particular, have pressed for a broader exemption to allow the church -- or any group or individual opposed to same-sex marriage -- not to provide benefits to same-sex partners of its employees.
...
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Examiner.com
Christian faith-healer Joe Daugherty died of cancer on November 22, 2009...
Mr. Daugherty was 57 years old.
...
In October Mr. Daugherty was admitted to the hospital for a viral infection of his throat. However, tests showed he was suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Why he sought medical help and did not rely on the Christian teachings which he promoted regarding faith-healing is not clear.
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Asianews.it
Ali Sibat, a Lebanese psychic who made predictions on a satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut, was arrested by religious police in the holy city of Madinah during a pilgrimage in May 2008 and then sentenced to death by decapitation on 9 November this year.
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Why does God need a blood sacrifice? Can't God see how much they love him without it? I thought "knowing peoples hearts" was one of Gods distinguishing characteristics.
Eid al-Adha (aka Eid-ul-Azha) from Wikipedia
Eid-UL-Azha from Flixya
Sheep, goats get pricey as Kashmiris shop for Eid
Muslims throughout the world offer animal sacrifice on Eid-ul-Azha to commemorate a centuries-old tradition.
The legend goes that Prophet Abrahim had offered to sacrifice his son Ismail to please Allah. As Abrahim started running the knife on his son’s throat, a ram from heaven replaced Ismail as Allah was pleased with the absolute obeisance of Prophet Abrahim.
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Emily's Post: On a wing and a prayer, Emily Mills, Monday 11/23/2009
Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) is their current champion in the Legislature, having introduced a bill that would create a “new religious exemption in state law by inserting nine faith-based ‘affirmative defenses’ into the state's criminal code. These defenses would have to be considered if a parent or guardian of a child withheld medical treatment for the child in favor of spiritual healing or prayer.”
It’s a tricky bit of business, especially considering that Taylor’s proposal would actually strip out the existing religious exemption -- the same one that the Neumann family invoked in defense of their decision not to seek medical treatment for their daughter who eventually died from diabetic complications. The Neumann’s were still convicted of second-degree reckless homicide.
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What is a good way to determine if someone is trustworthy? What is a good way to monitor the trustworthiness of someone or a group? Do actions speak louder than words? Should groups that have a high frequency of this type of thing be qualified for governmental religions exemptions?
Catholic order pays out for abuse
The abuse happened at institutions run by religious orders
A Catholic religious order is to supply a 161m euros (£145m) package of measures as reparation for child abuse in Ireland.
...
More than 2,000 people told the commission they had suffered physical and sexual abuse as children in the institutions, which included schools and orphanages.
It found that sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys' institutions, and church leaders knew what was going on.
On Thursday a separate report will be published exposing child sex abuse by
Catholic priests in the Dublin Archdiocese.
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What does a Goddess do with animal blood?
Gadhimai Festival from Wikipedia.
Devotees flock to Nepal animal sacrifice festival
Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees have converged on a town in Nepal for a festival which is considered the world's largest animal sacrifice.
The Gadhimai festival, which happens once every five years, is taking place in Bariyapur in southern Nepal.
Over the next two days more than a quarter of a million animals are expected to be slaughtered for Gadhimai - a goddess of power.
Sacrifice is seen as a way of thanking the deity for good luck, or asking her for fortune and prosperity.
"The goddess needs blood," says Chandan Dev Chaudhury, a priest at the Gadhimai temple in the centre of the festival site.
"If anyone has a problem, then I will cut the throat of an animal in the temple and that person's problem will be solved."
Meanwhile, three children of pilgrims who had come to observe Gadhimai festival died due to extreme cold. The deceased include a one-year-old, four-month-old and two-month-old infants. Their parents had come from India. nepalnews.com
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'Witch children' in Africa, Nov 23, 2009 04:55 PM
Children being branded as "witch children" and being abandoned or killed at birth is a problem in much of West Africa. Today we focus on Togo, one of a number of African countries where we tackle all root causes of abandonment. We explain background to the current problem and give a case study of a child we have helped.
We want to do more for so called witch children. Already the problem of "witch children" comes within our remit as the world's largest orphan and abandoned child charity, since it is a major cause of abandonment. But of course often it is far worse than this.
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[Rev. 20091121] If you would like to contribute, please add links to Christians criticizing other Christian denominations in the comments section. I'd like to populate the sidebar on the right with them. I'm going to take a break from posting anything for a couple of days to hopefully collect more comments and to work on some more content. To see whats in the works, you always can click on the "Quirp articles in draft" in the sidebar.
Thanks in Advance.
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Theists use a shepherd analogy to describe the relationship between Gods (i.e. Jesus and Krishna) and us. However, a simple seconds reflection or a trip to your local animal shelter should reveal the flaw in that analogy. Theists who follow a loving, caring characteristically good god have spent thousands of years trying to resolve the Problem of Evil. I say, why worry about the WHOLE problem of evil? Good problem solving techniques break complicated problems down into little pieces, so they should just pick a small piece and start there. Lets start with
"The Problem Of Victimization".
When talking with the Theists, they often misuse the word heart. They say things like "Know in your heart". I recommend not tolerating that type of thing and point out to them that hearts pump blood and can't know anything. By tolerating a loose use of terms, it promotes "entropy" in the meaning of the word, allowing the meaning to shift, thereby permitting equivocation to take place, thereby permitting an illicit type of confirmation and commitment or acceptance of its appropriateness, thereby propagating inaccurate information.
This ScienceDaily article demonstrates the strengths of the Scientific Method compared to other ways of acquiring knowledge. Reasonable people agree that reassessing knowledge with new information is necessary and is a good thing.
[Rev. 20091117] ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2007)
"For decades, school children have learned that human civilization
emerged about 5000 years ago along the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia,
along the Nile, and along the Indus River. But archaeologists working in a broad arc from the Russian steppes
through Iran and onto the Arabian Peninsula are finding evidence that a
complex network of cities may have thrived across the region in roughly
the same era, suggesting a dramatic new view of the emergence of human
civilization."
This is significant because up to this point, Euro-centric, Biblical archeology and (to a small degree) Nazi propaganda have skewed the view of civilizations origins and minimized the contribution of non-near eastern and non-semitic speaking cultures.
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Recently I had a discussion with a religious friend and asked him what I consider to be a key defining question. I've tried to record the dialog here as accurately as I can, but obviously the following is not a transcript. During the course of the conversation the "relationship" topic came up. Knowing that communication is an important part of a relationship I asked him "Does God talk to you?".
Special Pleading from Wikipedia
...Essentially, this involves someone attempting to cite something as an exemption to a generally accepted rule, principle, etc. without justifying the exemption.
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Equivocate, from Dictionary.com
–verb (used without object), -cat⋅ed, -cat⋅ing.
to use ambiguous or unclear expressions, usually to avoid commitment or in order to mislead; prevaricate or hedge: When asked directly for his position on disarmament, the candidate only equivocated.
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In 1804 Thomas Jefferson, one of The United States "Founding Fathers" published
"The Life And Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" (online text). Today it is commonly known as the
"Jefferson Bible". It was his attempt to preserve the teachings and philosophy of Jesus without the supernatural aspects and the parts that he perceived as misunderstandings and mistakes of the Gospel authors. This is one example of Data Cleansing of scripture, and remarkably, it was carried out by one of the most esteemed men in History. It seems that Thomas Jefferson would agree that "once you get the God out of Wisdom Literature, it can be enjoyed by everyone".
Generally speaking,
Wisdom Literature (<- that Wikipedia entry needs revision) are texts written intended to accumulate knowledge used to teach. Unfortunately Wisdom Literature is usually associated with local deities. The fact that it has been associated with a local deity, isolates it to a culture and makes it generally inaccessible to anyone not open to information associated with another culture or deity. Some examples of Wisdom Literature are easily found in the Scripture of most religions. To my disappointment, I've heard and seen people whom I respect very much, whom I consider to be intelligent, and who consider themselves "free thinkers", categorically discredit and disregard ideas contained in religious scripture as "Woo Woo" and irrelevant. An example of a religious concept that is relevant and adds value to civilization even without the God is Yoga and Meditation. Once you get the God out of Wisdom Literature, Wisdom can be enjoyed by everyone.
[Revised 20091103] This is the first article in a series of Brief Introductions to
Hindu Scriptures. As with other ancient religious texts, these are generally considered to be divinely revealed. Divinely revealed information has all the problems identified by Information and Data Quality Dimensions, the most obvious are the Intrinsic dimensions of Accuracy, Believability, Objectivity and Reputation. Hinduism is the oldest religion and the Vedas are its foundation.
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If a believer says that
"it is not unreasonable to believe there is intelligence behind our natural laws"
then they should agree that there must be an intelligence behind the intelligence of our natural laws. But isn't that absurd? Its got to stop somewhere, so why don't we stop before we get to Gods. There is obviously no way to prove which God it is if they are not going to present themselves, so we might as well say, there is no God. If we ask a God to present itself unambiguously to us and it doesn't, isn't that exactly what we would expect if there really wasn't any God? What difference does a God that does not interact make anyway?
Recently in a rejoinder over at
Debunking Christianity one of the participants made the following comment challenging a non-believer to
"Account for the information design that every atheist scholar admits that exists but lives in denial explaining away."
The tragedy at the "Sweatbox" resort highlights several problems with Religion.
'Sweatbox' victims were attending 'Spiritual Warrior' program, CNN, October 10, 2009 -- Updated 2202 GMT (0602 HKT)
"The use of sweat lodges for spiritual and physical cleansing is a part of several Native American tribes' cultures."
Since terms such as "spirit" are not defined, they are ambiguous. They can mean anything. Since they can mean anything, then there is no definition. When there is no definition, there is nothing to compare it to. Since there is nothing to comapare it to, the definition can change as needed to suit whatever purpose its being used for. There is no way to measure it.
So in the case of "spirit cleansing" some simple common sense questions come to mind.
I am confident that ideas are transmitted through language and that ideas follow language. So it follows that as a language spreads across a population, then so will the ideas that are represented by that language. Semitic is of the afroasiatic family of languages, yet Hittite is of the Indo-Eurpopean family, yet it seems that Judaism was developed in Asia Minor/Anatollia/Modern Turkey or "Hittite Land". When did Persia and Greece (which share a common language family) dominate the Levant where Israel and Judah are located? When do we start seeing ideas that are typically contained in the indo-eurpoean language start creeping into Judaism? When did Egypt start to lose its dominance? To be continued...
Hindu is the oldest religion known to man so far. It has been argued that Christianity borrowed heavily from Hinduism. Lord Krishna was the physical manifestation of one of the Gods of the Hindu Trinity who is named Vishnu. Vishnu came to earth as a Human 5000 years ago to battle evil and show people the right way to live. This is an introduction to Lord Krishna, the human manifestation of the God Vishnu.
I was watching Animal Cops (a "reality" TV show) the other night and a Veterinarian was working on a potentially lifeless dog (bear with me, this story does have a happy ending).
On April 14, 1994, two American Air force pilots in F15 fighter planes misidentified two American Army helicopters operating in Iraq and shot them down killing all 26 people aboard. Because the lead pilot was not able to evaluate his personal belief using external evidence, 26 people are dead.
Or, "What is the difference between private personal experience and knowledge?". I know this may sound like a stupid question to some, but it seems that it is pivotal in the "Disregarding Established Knowledge..." discussion. In my view, considering inaccessible personal experience to be of the same value as established knowledge is untenable.
Its simple,
If your beliefs are not consitent with established human knowledge, then they probably are not justified. In that case, other people are not justified in believing what you say about them, and furthermore you have no reason to expect anyone to believe you.
My working hypothesis is that Game Theory and simple rules derived from self-interest are sufficient to generate self-organized behavior that is labeled as "Morality". Here's more evidence to back that up.
[20090617. Added References] This article explores the Social Impact of Poor Biblical Information and Data Quality focusing on two of the sixteen IDQ dimensions, Understandability and Interpretability and provides a method for scoring them relative to other fields.
Over in the
"In a world without God...why does evil exist?" article, Brad Haggard said
make that post into an article so we can discuss it", so I did. Enjoy.
The Fallacy Files, Wikipedia Watch has revealed ANOTHER case of Journalists using Wikipedia as an original source. This is a real life example of how people that should know better will reproduce poor quality information. I'm sure there was no malice involved, just people trying to get a message accross that they believed likely to be true, similar to the authors of scripture.
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I'd like to propose an analogy to represent the relationship between God, Us, the Bible and the World. God would be in charge, and the source and producer of information, and the majority of us would be his potential customer, subscriber or consumer. We would have a value to him and lets assign the value the number 1. So if one of us 'subscribes' to Gods information, then he correspondingly gets to add that to his return on investment.
-=A Human Sacrifice=-
and flaunt your little dead men on a stick, check your facts, most things that Easter depends on don't cross-check. [edited 4/15/2009. added links]
In my view debates about Morality derive from the tendency of people to attribute and misinterpret intent and intelligence in self-organizing phenomena. To me it is obvious that Morality fits in a category of phenomena that derive from self-organization.
Self-organization is commonly spoken about, even by scientists whether they mean to or not, as having some kind of intent or intelligence behind it.
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