Last Commented Religion & Spirituality Blogs (1,493)

Just returned from bringing the kids back from the succesful end of year two at university. Drop off at Mom's. Stopped at my main wifi spot (McD's) for some of your blogging enlightenment. Four squeaky clean young men, next table, LDS lads, came over to get in a few licks of proselytising. Almost all evangelicals have a tendency toward the tedious. They were suprised with my familiarity with their Book and tradition, being a spiritual searcher of sorts, and reading main writings from each. What did I think of what I read. I said that for me, the Book of Mormon had a striking similarity to the King James Bible, new testament, with names and places morphed a little, for the North American first peoples' scene. Didn't have the heart to say that Joseph Smith may have plagiarized the real New Testament, likely while on hallucinogens, between poontang sesssions with upper NY state farmers' wives.. And that it's amazing to me that so many bright people of their faith haven't seen this as well. As a younger Turk, I may have been so brutal. But I'm grateful for more equanimity, and less anger. Aa.

He wants, againgst strong council otherwise. to travel in mostly personal unproteted fashion. Given the scene in Egypt these days, this is brave but of course has merit for many things. Ecumenical relations between both forms of Catholicism, generation of good will, pride among his flock, and so on, to list a few. But it's also a chance to see if radical Islamic hot heads can view his visit similarly, keeping his visit peacceful, and thereby show that they've really read and understood the majority of the Holy Khoran. We'll see. Aa.

HUGS ARE PROOF
Hugs are proof that God is real. How else could such a small gesture be able to do so much. Hugs can reach beyond language barrier, age barrier,race barrier. They can make a nervous person comfortable or say welcome. A hug can help a scared child. It can help someone who is hurting. It can welcome a stranger to a family. A hug can tell you that you matter its going to be alright. A hug can say I love you and love you forever. A hug can say I need you. Yes I believe hugs are proof God is real.
I miss her hugs

Hello Everyone

Does Easter have any religious significance for you personally?

For most of my life it was about chocolate eggs and a few days off work but, following an unexpected religious experience recently, this year I am looking at it through different eyes.

So, who else here is enjoying Easter in a religious way?

Whenever the election process is going on I hear a lot from the Republicans about how they are very religious oriented, namely Christian. Republicans are more for the business man and many of them are wealthy. What confuses me, in the Bible it is said that it would be more difficult for a wealthy man to get to heaven than it would be a for a camel to go through the head of a needle.

We are taught in school that civilization began with Sumer and later the Bronze Age. Before that was the ice age when vast sheets of ice over a mile thick in some places covered the Earth..

There was no civilization before that, or so we are taught.

Consider then this map. "Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accommodata" It was released by Gerardus Mercator in the year 1569. Allegedly he made it using the accounts of sailors and fragments of much older maps from the Mid East.



Most humans today do not notice two improbable features about this map.

In 1541 there emerged a printing of a map drawn in the second century by Ptolemy. Ptolemy maintained it was a copy of a much older map that had been rescued from the ashes of the library at Alexandria.

Here is that map. Again, features exist most did not realize until fairly recently although one should be immediately obvious.

The 1569 map of Mercator, look in the lower left corner. Do you recognize that continent? Antarctica. When was Antarctica discovered and mapped?

Would you believe not until1819? It is true.

Note the land masses near between Australia and Asia on the Mercator map. Note also the shape of the Mediterranean. Until about 50 hyears ago those were believed to be mere map errors. Today however we know those were accurate representations of those areas, back around 30,000 years ago or so. Before the last ice age began. When the miles thick ice melted those areas flooded as the sea rose.

Now look at the Ptolemey map. Again, two things. The same land masses now known to be accurate pre-ice age representations of the coast lines drawn in a time we had no mariners and no civilization, or so we are taught.

Something else on Ptolemey's map. Something that won't be seen again on a map for decades and decades. Latitude and Longitude marks. Calculating latitude is easy. The angle of the sun (or certain agreed upon stars such as Polaris) can be used to detemine that. However calculating Longitude requires something which durn sure (supposedly) did not exist in the time before the ice age, nor in the time of the Library at Alexandria, nor in Ptolemey's time either. Indeed it did not even exist in 1541 when Ptolemy's map was re-printed.

To calculate Longitude you need a chronometer (i.e., an accurate clock) able to measure exactly how many minutes away you are from an agreed upon central reference point (today we use Greenwich, England). The problem with Ptolemy's map is simple. His map set the zero lattitude at the equator, something he should not have known of yet and he copied longitude marks onto his 2nd century copy almost 1,100 years before longitude was again recalculated in 1350 or so.

So what does this give us? Amazingly accurate pre ice age maps showing yet to be discovered continents with a grid coordinate system from a time in which supposedly there was no civilization, no commerce, no need for maps and no technology to use or make them with anyway.

Earth awakens .... time of renewal has begun...fresh and sweet,the wind carries a promise. Green dresses the land and softens the world. A time to feel the pulse of life....we are part of the miracle that surrounds us each year....Spring is here!

"So Now..... Must I Get Ready To Hear...All About A Situation... That Exclaims To Be... The Upper Echelons Of "The High Heavens.....Which Lies Above Us....That... Theres Going To Be A "New Breeze A Blowin"....And
"Its About To Be "A Blowin Your Way"

"So Keep... At The Ready...That Umbrella That Youre Embarrassed To Be Seen With......But...You Keep Repeating To Yourself
"Its Still Better.... Than Getting A Soaking"

"And Now"
"Youre On The Verge Of Calamity....For Your Wasted Resistance ....Of Being A Candidate For "Becoming......................... The "Void Filler"
"And...Its Irresistable........Though...At The Time.... You Werent Aware...That This Reality.... Was Going To Be The Eventuality.... Of A Future..... That Was Lying There.... In Front of You..........But You.... Were To Be... Unable To See
"And That Most Of Your Thrown Away Memories....Were Found... To Have Been Left On The Blindside... Of That One Sided Slope..You Been In Constant Search Of...Since You Were "Eligible" To Remember

"But Enough Now Nam...With Your "Ramblin".... Man
"On With The Point Hah??!!

And The Point Is

"Theres Not The Reason.... Within Memory.... For One To Have A Thought About Being.... Anybody Else Except Themselves"

"So...You Want To Know The Why..The What..And The Who Are You Stuff... Hah?
"Well..Its Relatively Easy To Explain It All Away.... For The Onlookers... And Not To Forget The On Watchers

"That You Are Who You Are...(What Else Are You Expected To Be?
"You Are Someone...That Nobody Else Could Possibly Be
(Nor Could They Be...Even If They Were To Try

"You...Along With Everybody Else Here Is
"Filling In Their Dwn Little designational Spots......... That... In The End.... Completes This C S Puzzle

"We Have Good Girls Here...And Sprinkled In...But Hardly Noticed...The Bad
"We Have Some Good Boys(Not to Many)............. And.................. The Bad Boys
"The Ones You May Not Like On The Blogs Are actually Good for You
For Without Them......One Would Not Know The Meaning Of........ Like

"Yeah...What Are We?... Well...We Are
"The Good".."The Bad"..And The Ugly"
(And Everybody Else In Between..... That Fills Up... All Those Empty Spaces Left There... In Between)
"Make Up The Connecting Singles Blog Site"

"For...The Loss Of Even One"
"Takes Away...............The Whole"

A long long time ago, in a place far far away, the
Chieftain of a small isolated principality decided to
throw his lot in with all of his neighbors and they
joined a revolt against the King.
The revolt ended badly, but the Chieftain had shown
such valor that the King spared his life. He was to
be exiled to the colonies in the New World.
The Chieftain took his wife, his daughter, and his new
born son, as well as a handful of possessions, and
set sail for the colonies.
The New World was kind to them and they prospered
in the new land. Another daughter was born, a lovely
home was built and the Chieftain started to make a
great name for himself hunting, trapping and trading
with aboriginals.
As his reputation grew, the Crown became nervous
that the Chieftain might become a threat and hatched
a plan to remove him forever.
He was hanged after a short trial for having sheep on
his land that were not his own.
His son, only 6 years of age, became the man of the
family that day and went to work.
He went to work for the new electric company as a pole
monkey, climbing up the poles to set the new wires in
place.
He supported his family so that his sisters could attend
school and they could all eat. His sisters taught him his
letters and arithmetic at night by candle light.
The boy became a man and advanced through the new
electric company with a vengeance. No job was too hard
or too complicated for him.
Eventually he was given the responsibility to engineer the
newest power generating station.
Upon it's completion and the ensuing festivities and ball to
inaugurate the system, he was introduced to the Governor's
grand daughter.
They fell hopelessly in love.
With hat in hand, he went to the Governor's mansion and
asked for the grand daughter's hand in marriage.
The Governor was a very smart and honest man. He said
yes, but with only three conditions.
Upon providing a suitable residence, free and clear of debt,
the princely sum of $10,000 pounds on deposit, and a new
automobile in the driveway, he would have the Governor's
blessing, and the hand of his grand daughter, if she agreed.
The deal was struck and in only twelve years, all was as it
needed to be.
They were married in the church that her family had all been
baptized in for three generations.
He went on to become the Superintendent of the electrical
system.
They had one son and lived out the years bringing smiles
to each others' faces every day and all that saw them and
knew them were satisfied in the knowledge that there is
nothing that is impossible.
Many years later, illness caught up with him. He fought hard
to stay with his love, but he could not.
She joined him less than three weeks later.
After all that they had been through to be together, they would
not be separated by death.
They are together now.

The Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico is a very strange
place.

Our winter is nicer than many places' summer. Our
Spring and Fall are very comfortable and easy to live
with. But the kicker is, we get two summers. And in
between those two summers, we get something like
an extra spring season.

You can tell that it's summer here because it gets so
hot you can barely breath. And it's marked by the sun
passing directly overhead.

Because of our latitude, the sun passes over us on it's
way north for the Northern Hemisphere summer, and it
keeps going north for another 5 or 6 weeks. Until it
turns around and heads south again for the winter. On
that trip, it passes over us again and gives us our second
summer.

The second summer is even a couple of degrees hotter
than the first summer.

A curious side effect of the sun being directly above your
head at solar noon is that you cast NO SHADOW.

The ancient Maya took notice of this, and many other solar
and stellar phenomenon and incorporated that knowledge
into their architecture.

I tore a page out of that book when I was designing and
building my castle.

I'm sure that some day in the future, some archaeologist will
be wondering how I did it.

What did I make it do? The shadows of pyramids flow across
the front of the castle as the sun rises and sets on the day
with no shadows......and of course disappear at solar noon.