SianSkye's Blog

I'm really interested in hearing any and all comments on this article.  I've pondered over posting this and decided - this is what blogging is all about.  So....if you're up to it - let's hear it :-)

Per:  http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,182068
5,00.html

Was Jesus' Resurrection a Sequel?
Monday, Jul. 07, 2008 By DAVID VAN BIEMA / NEW YORK AND TIM MCGIRK / JERUSALEM 
 

When David Jeselsohn, a Swiss-Israeli collector, bought this ancient tablet from a Jordanian antiquities dealer, he was unaware of its significance
 A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed "Gabriel's Revelation" could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus' followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified. However, such a contentious reading of the 87-line tablet depends on creative interpretation of a smudged passage, making it the latest entry in the woulda/coulda/shoulda category of possible New Testament artifacts; they are useful to prove less-spectacular points and to stir discussion on the big ones, but probably not to settle them nor shake anyone's faith.

The ink-on-stone document, which is owned by a Swiss-Israeli antiques collector and reportedly came to light about a decade ago, has been dated by manuscript and chemical experts to a period just before Jesus' birth. Some scholars think it may originally have been part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a trove of religious texts found in caves on the West Bank that were possibly associated with John the Baptist. The tablet is written in the form of an end-of-the-world prediction in the voice of the angel Gabriel; one line, for instance, predicts that "in three days you will know evil will be defeated by justice."

Such "apocalypses," often featuring a triumphant military figure called a messiah (literally, anointed one), were not uncommon in the religious and politically tumultuous Jewish world of 1st century B.C. Palestine. But what may make the Gabriel tablet unique is its 80th line, which begins with the words "In three days" and includes some form of the verb "to live." Israel Knohl, an expert in Talmudic and biblical language at Jerusalem's Hebrew University who was not involved in the first research on the artifact, claims that it refers to a historic 1st-century Jewish rebel named Simon who was killed by the Romans in 4 B.C., and should read "In three days, you shall live. I Gabriel command you." If so, Jesus-era Judaism had begun to explore the idea of a three-day resurrection before Jesus was born.

This, in turn, undermines one of the strongest literary arguments employed by Christians over centuries to support the historicity of the Resurrection (in which they believe on faith): the specificity and novelty of the idea that the Messiah would die on a Friday and rise on a Sunday. Who could make such stuff up? But, as Knohl told TIME, maybe the Christians had a model to work from. The idea of a "dying and rising messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism," he says. "But for the first time, we have proof that it was the other way around. The concept was there before Jesus." If so, he goes on, "this should shake our basic view of Christianity. ... What happens in the New Testament [could have been] adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story."

Not so fast, say some Christian academics. "It is certainly not perfectly clear that the tablet is talking about a crucified and risen savior figure called Simon," says Ben Witherington, an early-Christianity expert at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. The verb that Knohl translates as "rise!," Witherington says, could also mean "there arose," and so one can ask "does it mean 'he comes to life,' i.e., a resurrection, or that he just 'shows up?' " Witherington also points out that gospel texts are far less reliant on the observed fact of the Resurrection (there is no angelic command in them like the line in the Gabriel stone) than on the testimony of eyewitnesses to Jesus' post-Resurrection self. Finally, Witherington notes that if he is wrong and Knohl's reading is right, it at least sets to rest the notion that the various gospel quotes attributed to Christ foreshadowing his death and Resurrection were textual retrojections put in his mouth by later believers — Jesus the Messianic Jew, as Knohl sees him, would have been familiar with the vocabulary for his own fate.

Knohl stands by his reading. "The spelling and the phrasing is unique," he told TIME, "but it is similar to to other texts found around the Dead Sea." Yet for now, at least, Gabriel's Revelation must take its place among a slew of recently discovered or rediscovered objects from around the time of Jesus that are claimed to either support or undermine Scripture but are themselves sufficiently, logically or archaeologically compromised to prevent their being definitive. In 2002, a bone-storage box with the legend "James Son of Joseph Brother of Jesus" bobbed up that seemed to buttress Jesus' historicity while at the same time suggest that the Catholic teaching that he had no true brothers was false — but the Israeli Antiquities Authority declared the inscription as a forgery (although various experts continue to disagree). In 2007 the Discovery Channel aired a documentary (funded by Titanic director James Cameron) that purported to have located the "Jesus Family Tomb" in the Israeli suburb of Talpiot, with bone boxes with the names "Jesus Son of Joseph," "Mary" and one of the names of Mary Magdalene. If the ossuaries were for the gospel Jesus, his mother and Mary Magdalene, then the implications for Christianity would be dire; but despite considerable initial hoopla, the idea is regarded by many as speculation.

It remains to be seen whether Gabriel's Revelation, and especially Knohl's interpretation, will weather the hot lights of fame. Even the authors of its initial research seem a little dubious about his claims that it is a dry run for the Easter story. But, as often happens in such cases, they seem better disposed to a slightly toned-down assertion: in this case, that the Gabriel tablet does indicate a very rare instance of the idea that a messiah might suffer — a notion introduced in Judaic thought centuries before by the prophet Isaiah but which supposedly went out of style by Jesus' time. If that more modest theory gains traction, it will forge a link between a trend in first-century Judaism and one of Christianity's galvanizing thoughts — that God might throw in his lot with a suffering or even murdered man — that could contribute to a growing mutual understanding.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

 AP

MEMPHIS, Tenn. —  A woman who spent nearly 60 years of her life in an iron lung after being diagnosed with polio as a child died Wednesday after a power failure shut down the machine that kept her breathing, her family said.

Dianne Odell, 61, had been confined to the 7-foot-long machine since she was stricken by polio at 3 years old.

Family members were unable to get an emergency generator working for the iron lung after a power failure knocked out electricity to the Odell family's residence near Jackson, about 80 miles northeast of Memphis, brother-in-law Will Beyer said.

"We did everything we could do but we couldn't keep her breathing," said Beyer, who was called to the home shortly after the power failed. "Dianne had gotten a lot weaker over the past several months and she just didn't have the strength to keep going."

Capt. Jerry Elston of the Madison County Sheriff's Department said emergency crews were called to the scene, but could do little to help.

Odell was afflicted with "bulbo-spinal" polio three years before a polio vaccine was discovered and largely stopped the spread of the crippling childhood disease.

She spent her life in the iron lung, cared for by her parents and other family members. Though confined inside the 750-pound apparatus, Odell managed to get a high school diploma, take college courses and write a children's book.The iron lung that she used was a cylindrical chamber with a seal at the neck. She lay on her back in the device with only her head exposed, and made eye contact with visitors using an angled mirror above her head. The lung worked by producing positive and negative pressure on the lungs that caused them to expand and contract so that she could breathe.

Iron lungs were first used to sustain life in 1928, and were largely replaced by positive-pressure airway ventilators in the late 1950s. A spinal deformity from the polio made it impossible for Odell to wear a more modern, portable breathing apparatus, so she continued to use the older machine.

It is not known how many polio survivors still use iron lungs, but Odell was believed to have used it for longer than most.

Odell was determined to live a full life — she earned a diploma from Jackson High School as a home-bound student and an honorary degree from Freed-Hardeman College. A voice-activated computer allowed her to write a children's book, "Less Light," about Blinky, a tiny star who dreams of becoming a wishing star.

In a 2001 interview with The Associated Press, she said she wanted to show children, especially those with physical disabilities, that they should never give up.

"It's amazing what you can accomplish if you see someone do the same thing," she said.

What a wonderful inspiration to us all!  This lady spent almost 60 years in an iron lung.  Here we are complaining about various things that life throws our way - things that in the long run won't mean a thing.  Take a page out of this lady's book - try a little grace under pressure.  Deal with life on a daily basis and be grateful that it has been granted to you.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya —  A group of up to 300 young men have burned to death 11 people suspected of being witches and wizards in western Kenya — in some cases slitting their victims' throats or clubbing them to death before burning their bodies, officials said.

The gang moved from home to home through two villages, identifying their victims by using a list with names of suspected witches and wizards and the kind spells they were believed to have cast on the community, said Ben Makori, a local councilor.

"The villagers are complaining that the (suspected) wizards and witches are making the bright children in the community dumb ... These (suspected) witches are not doing good things to us," Makori told The Associated Press on the phone.

Deputy police spokesman Charles Owino said the gang hunted down the eight women and three men in the western Kenya villages of Kekoro and Matembe. Most of the victims were between 70 and 90 years old, Owino said.

Senior administrator Njoroge Ndirangu said the gang hunted down their victims Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

In some cases the gang pulled the victims out of their homes, slit their throats or clubbed them to death, said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The victims were then thrown back into their homes, which the gang had already set on fire, the officer said. He said 36 houses were burned.

I was dumbfounded when I read this.  Just how ignorant can one group of people get?  Witchburning went out with the middle ages.  Thank goodness US aid to Kenya has slowed down (not stopped unfortunately) due to their presidents misdeeds.  This is horrible.  Essentially what they did was kill the elderly.  How disgusting.

Maybe I'm late to the game or something but this morning on the radio I heard the most amazing thing........"The Homemade Jams Blues Band".......three siblings from Tupelo.  A 15 year old lead with an AWESOME voice, his 13 year old brother and, catch this, his NINE year old sister on drums.  I know this probably belongs in the music section but still, I wanted to make sure y'all hear about these kids.  Want to talk about TALENT.  They are possibly one of the best new bands I've heard in a very long time.  Kids, my hat is off to you!

Here's a link for you all here on the boards and they also have a myspace page.  Look 'em up - you won't regret it!

http://www.homemadejamzband.com/aboutus.htm

Do any of you people back there realize that you have wasted three pages with this "Day 1" stuff??????  One blog at the end of the day will suffice.  If we care to hear more about the jury selection we are quite capable of finding a news report about it.  The blogs posted just this morning are now on the third page.  Please limit the numerous two or three line comments. 

Thank You!

Last night Arkansas was severely hit by tornados as I'm sure you all have heard.  A friend of mine lost her house.  Fortunately they didn't lose their lives.  Thankfully only a couple of people were hurt in Earle.  Unfortunately tho, 9 people have lost their lives in Arkansas.  Just wanted to stop for a moment and say that I'm thinking of every single one of you that was in the way of the storm yesterday.  My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

A lot of people will be without clothing and basic necessities.  Some friends and I got together last night and started bagging up unused clothing and shoes.  It won't cover everything but hopefully it will help them make it thru the next few days.  I have lived thru a massive tornado.  In the late 80's almost half of West Memphis was totally demolished.  I understand their need from first hand experience.

Please everyone, keep these people in your thoughts.  Pray that the looters stay away (I think Earle has already had some problems tho) and pray that people will come together to help fill the need. 

300-Pound Inmate Complains Ark. Jail Doesn't Feed Him Well 

BENTONVILLE, Ark.  --  An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge is suing the county, complaining he has lost more than 100 pounds because of the jailhouse menu.
Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.

"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."

But Laswell then goes on to complain that he undertakes little vigorous activity.

"If we are in a small pod all day (and) do next to nothing for physical exercise, we should not lose weight," the suit says. "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."

The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals. The jail has served only cold food for years.

The meals, provided through Aramark Correctional Institution Services, average 3,000 calories a day, jail Capt. Hunter Petray told The Morning News of northwest Arkansas for a story Saturday.

A typical Western diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.

Laswell's suit was filed without a lawyer in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.

C'mon now!  At that size he shouldn't be complaining about losing weight!  Another thing - dude is in JAIL!!!! He's not at camp, he's not at home - HE'S IN JAIL.  He should be happy that he is in the US and getting fed on regular, daily basis.  When I read this I couldn't help but shake my head at this guys audacity.  He's in jail awaiting trail on a murder charge and has the nerve to demand more food AND he wants it hot to boot.  This is a man who obviously has a problem with self-control and is honestly expecting the taxpayers to pay for his gluttony while in prison.  PLEASE!  Frankly I DON'T CARE that this obese jailbird is wanting more food!  What a waste of the courts time.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Forty-four-year-old Georgia Thornton and her daughter, 17-year-old Sequita Thornton, have been charged with attacking Felecia Williams at Southside High School on February 28th.

According to a police report, the mother was charged with battery on a school teacher, disrupting public schools, criminal trespass and theft by taking in connection with the attack. Sequita was charged with battery on a teacher and disrupting public schools.

Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Joe Manguno says Atlanta school officials have also permanently expelled the girl and ordered her to pay $500 toward the teacher's medical expenses.

Williams said Tuesday she had met with Thornton previously to discuss Sequita's grades and sporadic attendance.

On the day of the incident, Williams says the pair walked into her classroom during class and began arguing about a book. The teacher says she asked them to leave, but the mother pushed past her and grabbed a book off her desk.  According to a police report, when Williams tried to get the book back, the mother pulled the teacher's hair and threw her to the ground. Then the mother and daughter stomped on the teacher.

Only expelled?  I don't think so!  This mother and daughter tag team should be in jail for this.  What kind of parent not only allows, but starts a physical fight with their childs teacher?  I hope that the teacher sues them for everything they own now and will own in the future.  Children should be taught RESPECT for authority figures.  Instead you have trash like this parent saying...."well hey, if you don't like them then kick their butt!"  This is a perfect example of why this country is in the state it is in with our children.  Parents acting like thugs and encouraging their children to do the same.  This parent should lose custody of this child and any others in the household. 

CPS Intervenes in Case of Baby Drowned at School Teen Says She Attempted to Flush Baby Down Toilet Last Edited: Wednesday, 02 Apr 2008, 4:04 PM CDT Created: Wednesday, 02 Apr 2008, 1:06 PM CDT Cedar Bayou Junior High School / Goose Creek CISD Photo FOX 26 News
or just enabling jstl so that we can just write ${bean.property} and jsp takes care of the new lines. -->
Child Protective Services will investigate the welfare of a 14-year-old student who birthed an infant inside a Baytown middle school restroom but allegedly drowned it during an attempt to flush it down the toilet.

Officers were dispatched to Cedar Bayou Jr. High School, located at 2600 Elvinta near Highway 146, to investigate a possible miscarriage after school officials notified them that a 8th-grade student birthed a baby inside a school restroom at 10:51 a.m, Baytown Police Department Lt. Eric Freed said.

Investigators said they were notified after the teen reported the incident to a school counselor and said that she attempted to flush the baby down the toilet. Police said the baby, who was born alive, drowned in the toilet.

The middle school's principal, Gary Allen, sent a letter to parents to notify them of the incident.

"The staff closed off the restroom and kept students in class until the situation was contained, and students were then escorted to lunch," Allen said in the statement.  "I announced to students that a student had a medical issue and was receiving treatment. I assured them that everything was under control and asked them to try and remain focused on their classes."

The sex of the baby has not been released. The Harris County medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death.

Emergency officials transported the teen to a nearby hospital in stable condition.

Baytown Police Department detectives and the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office are investigating the case.

The word is that they are "considering" filing charges against the 14 year old teen who tried to flush her baby down the toilet after giving birth in a school bathroom.  What the heck?  What is there to consider?  The teen admitted that she tried to flush a living child!!!!!  OF COURSE THEY SHOULD CHARGE THIS TEEN.  She was of an age where she knew right from wrong.  Period.  What kind of fool tries to flush a child?  She deserves the harshest punishment on the books.  Then they need to check into the family situation and determine exactly WHY a fourteen year old teen was preggers.  I know there are some who are going to say....well she was probably scared....she didn't know what to do.....poor thing..... BULL!  Even a small child knows that it is wrong to kill someone. Teen preganancy is a HUGE issue that needs to be addressed.  Teach your children well - don't make them go looking for love in other places - teach them right from wrong - teach them to have respect for themselves - but most of all teach them that if they do screw up (and yes, it is a screw up to get preg. as a teen) and get pregenant then they are facing a life long responsibility that THEY will have to deal with.  Mothers quit raising your offsprings children - that doesn't mean don't help them but make sure they are the ones responsible for the childs care.  Don't help them make the same mistakes over and over. 

Friday, March 28, 2008

Ohio police have arrested a man who was caught on tape allegedly having sex with a picnic table.

Art Price Jr., 40, of Bellevue, Ohio, was arrested after a neighbor videotaped him engaged sexually with the metal table, according to a report on FOX19.com.

Price was seen on four separate occasions, always between 10:30 a.m. and noon, having sex with the picnic table, Bellevue Police Capt. Matt Johnson told the TV station.

"The first video we had, he was completely nude," Johnson said, noting the table in question had a hole in the middle intended to hold an umbrella.

Price, a married father of three school-age kids, faces felony counts of public indecency because his house is near an elementary school, according to the report.

I just wanted to....excuse the pun.....insert a little humor into the blogs today.  I saw this and fell over laughing.  That is until I read that his home was near a school and children could have easily seen his .....uh....fetish?......At any rate whatever you call it it is NOT something you want your children to watch.  And after seeing the picture of him on tv I can say honestly that I don't think I would have wanted to watch it either.  I guess now all I can say is...........OUCH!    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Seriously tho........a metal picnic table????????? C'mon now!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin said Madeline Neumann died Sunday.

"She got sicker and sicker until she was dead," he said.

Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

The girl's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to "apparently they didn't have enough faith," the police chief said.

They believed the key to healing "was it was better to keep praying. Call more people to help pray," he said.

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said.

Telephone messages left at the Neumann home by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

The family does not attend an organized church or participate in an organized religion, Vergin said. "They have a little Bible study of a few people."

Officers went to the home after one of the girl's relatives in California called police to check on her, Vergin said. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The relative was fearful the girl was "extremely ill, dire," Vergin said.

The girl has three siblings, ranging in age from 13 to 16, the police chief said.

"They are still in the home," he said. "There is no reason to remove them. There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see."

The girl's death remains under investigation and the findings will be forwarded to the district attorney to review for possible charges, the chief said.

The family operates a coffee shop in Weston, which is a suburb of Wausau, Vergin said.

I rarely feel the need to discuss my personal life on these boards but when I read this article because it struck so close to home I felt like I should.  You see my mother believes in faith healing and like the family above has chosen not to receive treatment of any kind for her uterine and cervical cancer.  After a lifetime of cysts and fibroid tumors she had a pap smear done twenty years ago.  The pap smear came back abnormal and the doctor told her she should take it to the next step and be tested for cancer, etc.  She refused.  She said God would heal her.  Okay, that was twenty years ago so skip forward to the present.  Nine months ago my father literally forced her into going to the doctor.   She had been bleeding for two, yes two, years.  After menopause.  She had not shared this with my sister and I because well, frankly we were not close due to a lifetime of problems. The results came back positive for cancer.  Uterine and cervical.  Once again she has refused treatment stating that God will heal her.  I am watching her steadily go downhill.  In this case - I am the daughter of a grown woman and there is no way that I can make her do the things that I know would help her.  Her choices are her choices not mine.  But the 11 year old child above had no choices.  Her parents selfishly made the choice for her and now she is dead.  What I'm trying to say is don't let your religion blind you to the truth.  God gave humans the curiosity to look for and find answers to the problems that life presents us.  That is where doctors come in. 

Do I feel as though the other children in the family are in possible danger?  Absolutely.  Do I feel as though the parents should be charged in this case?  100%.  I am watching my mother die a painful, horrible death that could have been avoided.  Would I wish that on anyone?  NO!  And these parents did this to this child deliberately to fulfill their own selfish spiritual desire to prove that God can heal.  Well God also gave you a brain to use.  So use it folks.  Use it.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

 AP

March 13: The home of Kory McFarren in Ness City, Kan.

NESS CITY, Kan.  —  A man should be charged for allowing his girlfriend to sit on their toilet so long that her body became stuck to the seat, the sheriff said Thursday.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple was among authorities who discovered the woman last month living in the bathroom of a mobile home she shared with her boyfriend, Kory McFarren.

"The house was cluttered but not in shambles," he said. "The smell was overpowering — a terrible smell about the house, obviously coming from where she was at."

McFarren, 36, told police his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, 35, had a phobia about leaving the bathroom and may not have left the bathroom in two years, although he's unsure how long she was in there.

He said during that time, he brought her food, water, and clean clothes.

"The only thing I am guilty of is I didn't get her help sooner," he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The sheriff said that judging by the woman's condition — she had open sores on which the toilet seat would stick — it appeared she likely sat on the toilet continually for at least a month.  "She would have to be sleeping on the toilet," the sheriff said.

Whipple asked the county attorney to charge McFarren for mistreatment of a dependent adult. The prosecutor did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity," Whipple said.

McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together. He insisted that he tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day. The home has a second bathroom.

McFarren said he finally called police Feb. 27 after he became worried because Babcock was acting groggy, as if she didn't know what was going on around her.

What emergency responders found when they entered the bathroom has left many in the town of about 1,500 people buzzing and authorities incredulous.

Whipple said the seat was taken off the toilet so the woman could be transported to the hospital for treatment.

Doctors at the Wichita hospital told the boyfriend an infection in her legs has damaged her nerves and may leave her in a wheelchair, he said.

I read this yesterday for the first time and frankly didn't know whether it was appropriate to laugh or not.  Then I got to reading a little more and realized that whoever this woman was she was NOT all there.  From what the sheriff stated both the boyfriend and the woman are of diminished mental capacity.  If this is the case then what would be the point in charging the boyfriend?  It sounds like the boyfriend was just trying to please the girlfriend who for whatever reason decided that the bathroom was the best friend she ever had.  I don't think he should be charged with anything because I really don't think he knew any better.  Something is obviously wrong with her - how many people do you know that would let a toilet seat grow into their butt?  Don't charge the boyfriend for her insanity.  Sounds like he's dealing with enough on his own.