Newt Gingrich declared, during an Iowa debate, that Palestinians were “invented” and never were an historical people. History, archaeology, and more proves that Gingrich is no historian and out-of-touch with reality.
The least educated, most gullible turn to fortune-tellers, star-gazers, numerologists and religious fundamentalists in quest of answers that they are too afraid to find for themselves. All religions have gazed to the stars for answers and ordained or commissioned religious leaders to provide rituals that include eating the body and drinking the blood of their crucified saviours. But why is this? This essay explains the foundations of fear and the quest for comfort in a world not known–even seeking relief from extra terrestrials.
Psychology of Saul/St. Paul – A Study of Linguistics, Translation, Interpretation and Biblical Study
Saul of Tarsus claims that he met Jesus of the New Testament in a “blinding light” (a theophany), yet those around him neither heard nor saw anything. Most psychologists define this incident as a seizure. There was more than a physical seizure, but a psychological reworking of the New Testament to contain not the message of peace, but one of war, hate, and division.
Hate is fequently hidden behind the stain of “religious freedom” and expresses itself in bullying: not just one child hitting another, but teenagers and adults badgering others into committing suicide in an effort to reshape the world in the image wanted by the Koch Brothers of Kansas. Bullying costs millions of lives each year, and now states are fighting back passing strong anti-bullying laws, but the Liberty Institute and Tea Party, organizations created and funded by the Koch Brothers, are fighting hard to gain control of the government and Libertarian idealism that enriches only a few.
More crimes of violence and hatred are committed because of religion and mistranslations and errors in interpretation than for any other reason. Errors in the Bible must be exposed to understand Christian-Muslim hatred for each other and the wars of religion from the earliest times to the promised Armageddon of the New Apostolic Reformation that has anointed Rick Perry of Texas to sit on the left-hand of its god.
For centuries hell was cursed and used as a curse against those who did not agree with a rigid religious mistranslation of a single word. The modern-day Hell is Scandinavian in origin (first used in Iceland) and has no relationship to the word used in the Bible, Qur’an or other religious literature. It is the abuse of the word, its mistranslation and misinterpretation that has cost millions their lives and today is one of the roots of suicides among young teenagers in the USA and other “faith-based” nations. What can be done to stop this epidemic?
John of Patmos is said to be the author of Revelation: the book of the End of Time. Many argue that he wrote it from having two dreams: a worldwide war, and the end of the world. It is not a unique story, nor are the characters within it from the Beast with seven heads (the goddess Tiamat) to the horsemen. This essay fleshes out the original essay on the Apocalypse: a nightmare, and looks closely at mistranslations that have occurred since the second century with every cult wanting its own Bible to defend its position, as with Jehovah’s Witnesses to suicide cults: Jonestown, Heaven’s Gate, and others. The real question is: was John of Patmos Island sane?
As the economic well-being of any people plunges, starvation and unemployment skyrockets, many will seek out demigods and dictators or turn to religion for temporary euphora. Some will argue that bad times are the sign of End Times and an Apocalypse is near. Is the Apocalypse fact or fiction? Here is the judgment of history, texts, and scholars.