We Want Your Money

Katie and Matt Blog

Katie and I are still adjusting to Suburbia. One of the things that I can’t get used to is the large number of people knocking on our door to sell us things. Salad, bug control, lawn chemicals, you name it. They all claim to be able to save me money. But I have to spend money on their product every month in order to save. Hmmmm…..

Also, I recently got a promotion at work. I haven’t really figured out what I am supposed to be doing differently now, but at least I get a new title. Instructional Systems Specialist.

I Think the Press Smells Blood

Katie and Matt Blog

There are a lot of weird religious stories in the news. I think it all comes from the popularity of The Da Vinci Code. Anti-religious segments think that they can finally take pot-shots at Christianity due to the fact that “the Code” reveals a cover up about Jesus’ true identity.

The truth, however, is that there are no new “revelations” in The Da Vinci Code. It’s all based on old allegations that have been disproved by Agnotist Scholars, some for centuries. For example, Dan Brown contends that Constantine was the first to label Jesus as divine (around 300 A.D.). However, ancient writings from as early as the first century show that all Christians considered Jesus divine at that time. There are also several Bible verses that STATE that, but some people want to skip that. Even if you don’t believe the Bible, it is still considered to be fairly accurately passed down from the time it was written (1st century). I would go into the other falsehoods in The Da Vinci Code, but several sites already so it.

If you enjoy the Code as fiction – great. Just realize it is fiction.

The latest story is this whole deal with Jesus asking Judas to betray him. This is claimed to be from “newly” uncovered documents. Huh? How come I first read this exact quote over 10 years ago?

“You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

Ummm….. Yeah. Clear as mud. I would go out and betray my mentor if he said that to me. No problem. But this is what “scholars” claim is the proof that Jesus conspired with Judas. Give me a break.

The Gospel of Judas has been mostly disproven as an original source. All of the Gnostic gospels (the ones that The Da Vinci Code is partially based on) are controversial. Here is the main reason why:

“But Simon Gathercole, a New Testament expert at the University of
Aberdeen, said: ‘The so-called Gospel of Judas is certainly an ancient
text, but not ancient enough to tell us anything new. It contains
religious themes which are completely alien to the 1st-century world of
Jesus and Judas, but which did become popular later, in the 2nd
century. An analogy would be finding a speech claiming to be written by Queen Victoria, in which she talked about The Lord of the Rings and her CD collection.”‘

Consecutive Numbers Day

Katie and Matt Blog

I don’t know why I found this interesting, but I did. Here’s a news clip from Relevant magazine:

“Though it may not be an official holiday, Consecutive Numbers Day
is still pretty cool. At just past 1 a.m. tonight, the time and date
will be in perfect numerological order: 01:02:03, 04/05/06. Now, we’re
no mathematicians, but we’re guessing this doesn’t happen all that often…”