(430) IT'S A SMALL WORLD IN THE BIBLE

In Grant Woods’ painting, American Gothic, the guy standing next to his wife and holding a rather menacing pitchfork, was a former employer of mine. I don’t think anyone should have to work for this guy, but if you need further information, you may call me if you want to apply for a job.

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Georgia is to be congratulated. They managed to execute someone who may not have been guilty. Last night, when I heard that Clarence Thomas of the United States Supreme Court was considering the petition for a stay of execution, I knew he was dead meat. The state of Texas, not wanting to be outdone, promptly executed one of their prisoners. I wonder what state will be next.

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Question: Why would God, who is almighty and powerful, create mosquitoes? Elaine Pagels wrote, The Gnostic Gospels, in which she speculates that there has to be two different gods. Christianity inspired the burning of the library at Alexandra, among many other book burnings inspired by Christians. And speaking of books, in 367CE,Athanasius declared there were 27 books in the New Testament. That became the official New Testament when Augustine gave his approval of the list. However, everything was not quiet in the Christian world because some African and Asian countries only accepted 22 books, and the Ethiopian church has 11 additional books in the New Testament, and the Catholics have a dozen or so cannons to go with their bible. This causes me to wonder which bible is the one that is inerrant.

As to the four gospels, even though Matthew is often recited first, but there’s a high probability that Mark was the first gospel, and it is widely thought by modern scholars that his writing is the oldest of the gospels. Therefore, there’s a likelihood that Matthew, Luke and John copied all or part of Mark and added their own flavors in writing, which included a description of the birth of Jesus. All of this was written decades after Jesus died. The business about the divine hand of God is mysterious. The obvious fallacy is which time did God get it right? Seems like the all powerful and all knowing being wouldn’t need two or three efforts to produce the correct version.


Respectfully submitted,

Donald M. Heavrin,
A Wanderer