God, forgive them for they know not what they do

The famous last words of Jesus on the cross (except the Bible reads Father instead of God)!

These wise words have ever impressed me since my childhood!

My late parents also used to quote these wise words occasionally when a situation arose.

I am not an expert in world religions, but I (mistakenly?) believe these words also distinguish Christianity from some other religions.

Bible App Hits 1 Billion Downloads since 2008, offered in 2300 languages

Amazing stuff! Impressive! Religion in our time!

"The YouVersion Bible App, a ministry and initiative of the Edmond, Oklahoma-based Life.Church—one of the largest churches in the U.S.—recently surpassed one billion installations across its family of apps since its launch in 2008. ...

The app, which is supported by Life.Church, remains free to users with no ads, offering over 3,600 versions in 2,300 languages."

Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - Join The Flyover

The Tower of Babel: Jewish History in the Torah 3 (Noach) with Henry Abramson

Recommendable!

Lilith or the first wife of Adam

A fascinating story! Unfortunately, rather unknown! Maybe the first femme fatale?

Goethe's Faust also mentions her.

"Lilith ... is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam.

The original Hebrew word from which the name Lilith is taken is in the Biblical Hebrew, in the Book of Isaiah, though Lilith herself is not mentioned in any biblical text. In late antiquity in Mandaean and Jewish sources from 500 AD onward, Lilith appears in historiolas (incantations incorporating a short mythic story) in various concepts and localities that give partial descriptions of her. She is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 100b, Niddah 24b, Shabbat 151b, Bava Batra 73a), in the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan as Adam's first wife, and in the Zohar § Leviticus 19a as "a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man".[5] Many rabbinic authorities, including Maimonides and Menachem Meiri, reject the existence of Lilith. ..."

Lilith - Wikipedia

Credits: Lilith erwacht

Lilith (1887) by John Collier

The bloody history of the King James Bible: Great Books Explained

Very recommendable!

Image of the day

Which human being can seemingly effortlessly hold two large stone tablets like that? Only when they are made of Styropor or similar material!

Avi Azulay as Moses holds the Ten Commandments in the Netflix series “Testament: The Story of Moses,”. (Courtesy Netflix) (Source)

On the House Speaker Mike Johnson's Favorite Bible Passage

How meek is the new Speaker of the House?

This longer Bible passage (i.e. Psalm 37) contains following line " But the meek will inherit the land"

I think, this Psalm is wickedly weak and even misleading. Unfortunately, the wicked don't die and disappear or it takes millennia to happen. I think, there are much better passages in the Bible.

This Is House Speaker Mike Johnson's Favorite Bible Passage

On David Strauss's Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet (The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined)

Recently, I discovered or rediscovered this liberal protestant theologian (1808-1874)! Why this famous and controversial work is not better known is strange.

This book still seems to be controversial as there is not even a separate entry on Wikipedia for this influential book. When you Google this title you can find only digital copies of the book, but no discussion, essay, review etc.

I also believe that most if not all of the supernatural stuff written in the Bible about Jesus should be stripped. Without it, Jesus as a human being remains as a towering example of a a highly moral and good character and of a life dedicated to help other people.

"... Strauss was a pioneer in the historical investigation of Jesus. ... Strauss's Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet (The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined) was a sensation. While not denying that Jesus existed, Strauss did argue that the miracles in the New Testament were mythical additions with little basis in fact. ...
When Strauss was elected to a chair of theology in the University of Zürich, the appointment provoked such a storm of controversy that the authorities decided to pension him before he began his duties and effigies of Strauss were burnt during Zurich's Shrove Tuesday festival. Strauss donated the pension, 1000 Swiss Francs per year, to the poor. ..."

David Strauss - Wikipedia

The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia

Since I once lived in Philadelphia, PA it is a topic close to my heart!

"... The Liberty Bell's inscription is from the Bible (King James version): "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof." This verse refers to the "Jubilee", or the instructions to the Israelites to return property and free slaves every 50 years. ..."

According to the Wikipedia article on Jubilee, to return property to its owner meant return leased land or debt cancellation periodically. Plus, no man should have two masters and "as the servants of Yahweh, the Israelites should not also be the servants of men ...". 

Thus, the Liberty Bell inscription also contained very strong language that slavery in the United States was doomed!

The Liberty Bell - Independence National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

The Conspiracy Of Mary Magdalene

Recommendable! Unfortunately, too little is mentioned e.g. about the Gospel of Mary Magdalene!

National Geographic - Cain and Abel: Brothers at War

Very recommendable! Was the first murder of the Bible, a fratricide, an allegory of a struggle between farmers and herders? Was it an accident? And more ...

Know Before Whom You Stand

Posted: 7/9/2019

Just attended a great Jewish and Black American spiritual music event in a Baptist church here in central Phoenix, Arizona. It was an interfaith event. It was truly uplifting!

A female rabbi spoke to the attending community and mentioned among other things the “da lfinei mi atah omed” inscription you find on top of many arks in synagogues to remind worshippers (I hope this is a somewhat accurate description). She also emphasized that it was also her who faced the community in the church as she spoke. This two way street this rabbi pointed out was something I found to be very  profound. An expression of great humility and civility! No matter who you stand before whether it is God or your fellow human!

Unfortunately, neither the Google nor the Microsoft (Bing) search engine produce very good search results to better understand this Hebrew/Jewish expression.

The black American preacher invoked the Jesus parable “As for a person who stirs up division (a heretic in King James Bible), after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him” (Titus 3:10) “knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. (Titus 3:11)” (S2). Emphasizing, that you have to confront the person first and give warning, but do not kill the person.

Caveat: I am not an expert on Judaism. However, the more I learn about Judaism, the more fascinated I am.

Sources (S):

1. https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Meditations/Da_lifnei/da_lifnei.html
2. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Titus+3&version=ESV

Not Money But For The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Evil

Posted: 12/18/2018

Just watched this excellent and very recommendable Prager University video about John D. Rockefeller by Hillsdale College professor Burt Folsom. Rockefeller was no robber baron or anything like it. He gave away money all his live for charity.

Folsom explained that Rockefeller was deeply religious and believed in “1 Timothy 6:10 King James Version (KJV) For the love of money is the root of all evil ...”, but money itself is not an evil! Money legitimately earned is to be respected and congratulated!

Two Watershed Events In Human History

Posted: 12/28/2014

Geography Or Climate As Destiny

At the end of 2014, two articles about history caught my attention. Both were dealing with momentous events in human history in which large bodies of water were involved. Both articles presented scientific evidence that these events took place in a way similar to how we learnt about them.

1. “The Science of the Red Sea's Parting/It is physically and scientifically possible for a body of water to part” (It is about Moses and the Red Sea)
2. “Geologic evidence supports historic accounts of the great "Kamikaze" of 1274 and 1281” (It’s about the two famous Kamikaze tsunamis that saved Japan from being invaded by China’s then ruling Mongols)

Just imagine these events had not taken place, i.e. the Red Sea did not part or the Kamikazes did not occur?

Bible Study: Lot And His Daughters

Posted: 9/7/2014

Trigger

Just read “Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans”. This article only mentions Lot’s Cave in Jordan. But I became curious …

According to a Wikipedia article about Lot, we read (Genesis 19:30–38; emphasis added):

“Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let's get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father."

That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

The next day the older daughter said to the younger, "Last night I slept with my father. Let's get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father." So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.”

I believe, I never read or heard of that story about Lot and his daughters before. Is this story even, to use a contemporary term, politically correct given the incest taboo? :-)

I freely admit that I am not very familiar with the Bible. But I am aware that the Bible contains e.g. many morsels of wisdom, human understanding of life and much more. In brief, it is a very remarkable book written over hundreds of years over 2000 years ago.

A Few Thoughts

We attach some authenticity to the story here if only for arguments sake.

1. What surprised me in particular was that it was the two daughters who planned and carried out this plan.
2. Why was it emphasized that the father was not part of the plan?
3. From a biological standpoint how was this even possible? The father was asleep and possibly drunk. Was perhaps some kind of ancient artificial insemination used?
4. Is this a story about incest, although the two daughters planned this to happen without the consent or even knowledge of the father.
5. Did such incest indeed happen in the past to preserve the family? I would say this is a concept, which I believe is not well known anymore in modern times at least in the Western world.

Humans In The Image Of God

Posted: 8/13/2014

In Latin image Imago Dei a theological doctrine in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (see e.g. Book of Genesis 1-11). This is anthropogenic wishful thinking! God is love! God is beyond human comprehension for the foreseeable future!

The Demagoguery Of Inequality Destructs Civil Society

Posted: 1/26/2014 Updated: 9/13/2014

Trigger

Just read articles about a recent Oxfam International study “Rigged rules mean economic growth increasingly “winner takes all” for rich elites all over world” dated 1/20/2014.

The subject of an alleged inequality or better demagoguery of inequality is rehashed on a daily basis by so sophisticated people or our so called intellectual elite.

Here is a recommendable article about this subject “Selling Envy/How governments promote the worst in us to redistribute wealth”.

The Bible And Civil Society

The Ten Commandments demand that you do not covet thy neighbor’s wife nor property. The ancient and universal Golden Rule rules.

I would argue that these two principles alone, i.e. thou shalt not covet and the Golden Rule, are the most fundamental principles of any civil society. You may want to add strict non violence.

John Stuart Mill in On Liberty about envy: “that most anti-social and odious of all passions, envy”.

Civil Societies rise and fall or perish if these two principles are abandoned.

The Great Recession And Its Scapegoats

With the Great Recession our elected politicians have been very busy trying to find and blame scapegoats, but not themselves, for massive government failure.

Insufficient economic growth breeds resentment against those who are still successful.

Big government (high taxes, over regulation, too many entitlements) has and still continues to smother economic growth, which would provide more opportunities for more people to improve their lives.

U.S. President Obama Is A Dangerous Populist

Or is he a demagogue?

U.S. President Barack Obama appears to be poised to exploit the ideology of inequality as his main talking point in the mid-term elections of 2014. As if there is something odorous about people who made money during or before the Great Recession.

U.S. President Obama is one of the worst offenders. The community organizers is economically illiterate and he is an enemy of business.

He is the latest incarnation of a U.S. President who is far removed from his predecessor U.S. President Calvin Coolidge perhaps one of the last U.S. presidents who understood that the business of free and responsible individuals in a free America is business not big government.

For any U.S. President to engage in such petty populism is a disgrace to the world.

Conclusion

More economic growth, free trade and free markets, more competition, and foremost less government!

More self-made millionaires!

Bible Study: The Sheep and the Goats

Posted: 11/1/2014

Trigger

The Little Sisters of the Poor quote on their “Vow of Hospitality” webpage from Matthew:

““I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me … sick and you visited me.… Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35–40).”

A Few Thoughts

Why would God distinguish between sheep and goats in the way the Bible does? Are not all animals and humans God’s creation without distinction or preference?

In the Bible, we also find the contrast between Lamb of God (Agnus Dei) and scapegoat. What is wrong with goats? Why were goats singled out? Not by God, I presume.

Why would God distinguish between the blessed/righteous and the cursed in the way described in this chapter? Why would the latter be punished by eternal fire and be prepared for the devil?

Is it possible that God only rewards his creation when we love one another, but never punishes it?

Is there such a distinction between heaven and hell? Perhaps, God is not about symmetry.

Bible Studies

This will be a series of occasional posts about subjects related to the Bible, one of the greatest books ever compiled by humans.

On The 8^th Commandment

An adopted excerpt from the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal. (Ex. 20:15; Deut. 5:19)

The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others (Lev. 25:35; Eph. 4:28b; Phil. 2:4)

The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth, or may, unjustly hinder our own, or our neighbour's, wealth or outward estate (Prov. 28:19ff; Eph. 4:28a; II Thess. 3:10; I Tim. 5:8 )

I was not aware that the 8^th Commandment requires such a two way interpretation and that we are required to further our neighbor’s wealth and outward estate, but it makes perfect sense.

Leviticus 25:35-37

“If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit.” (NIV)

I think KJV did a better job:

“And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase.”

Who would have guessed to find something like this in Leviticus 25?

Senility Caused By Placebo And Nocebo Effects

A Bit Of Background

I have been familiar with the Placebo effect for decades, but only recently I learnt about the Nocebo effect (in German language) from an article published online on 7/12/2012 by my favorite home town newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The following blog is not really related to the above mentioned article about the Nocebo effect.

Faith Moves Mountains

We read in Matthew 17:20 of the New Testament that faith as small as a mustard seed can make a mountain move from here to there and that nothing will be impossible. Did the Bible anticipate Placebo and Nocebo effects?

Besides faith, there is also individual will power: A will to succeed in life; a will to be healthy etc.

A Conjecture About Senility And Its Causes

I am not trying here to explain exhaustively all causes of senility. But I believe that some people as they grow older are conditioned or resigned to experience the usual frailties etc. that come with age, because this is supposed to happen with old age and we are biologically programmed to deteriorate with age.

We all know from experience that seniors have their moments. It’s considered normal by everyone.

It’s like a Placebo effect: I am old now, thus I am expected to have memory lapses, unsteady gait, etc.

It’s like a Nocebo effect, because I am old I should now be more absent minded, more napping, more prone to fall etc. With age also comes anxiety about age related frailties.

How do the trillions or so of microorganisms in our gut react when we have Placebo or Nocebo effects later in life.