Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion – Part I

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Professor Taboo

My good friend Ark (Egyptian Akhenaten) over at A Tale Unfolds has recently gotten into a lengthy discussion/debate with an American(?) pastor about the tale of the Christian resurrection and the reliability or unreliability of the Greek New Testament. He, myself, and many other secularists, atheists, and humanists of our WordPress community have been in these debates with evangelicals, fundamentalists, or otherwise hyper-conservative religious faith-followers an untold amount of times over many years, or at least over a decade, probably more. We are all very experienced, well-informed, well-educated, and quite reasonable in our non-religious views and/or secularism. All of us pop holes in their weak apologetics everywhere and with lethal precision.

*The oldest extant New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus that ends at Mark 16:8, with no resurrection story whatsoever. It was written by four different Greek scribes.*

When we indulge these Faith-followers^TM almost all those times the ending is boringly predictable: They believe merely because their own personal, imagined, paranormal construct makes them feel good inside. Period. They fail miserably every time they try to defend their individual fabricated mental construct because they can never produce any degree of convincing evidence that their “God,” their “Savior,” or their “Holy Scriptures” existed or are universally reliable and unanimous. Yet they keep coming around like a never-ending three-ring circus.

But enough rambling, let’s get on with the subject at hand.

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The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?

We immediately run into a major problem asking this question before even reaching the starting-line or into the starting stalls. What is it? The severe lack of any independent sources for the resurrection tale. Or to say it another way sources that are not strictly Hellenic-Greco-Roman manuscripts, i.e. the earliest extant 4^th-century CE Greek-based New Testament called the Codex Sinaiticus (above image). But this surviving vellum parchment is a manuscript copy of over 292–322 some years later than the events, persons, and concepts they purport to convey and narrate. How much personal bias, editing, changing, and omitting could take place by ancient copyists and scribes overseen and supervised by early archbishops and church fathers over a span of two centuries? A lot. That was a rhetorical question.

Major Problem #2: Confusion among all Christian apologists concerning whether the resurrection story was a non-material event, i.e. a different body, an immaterial body, and thus not in history or time and space. Or if the resurrection was material, the same body, a material body, i.e. in history as a chronological time and space event. The latter belief is held by virtually all Christian apologists and faith-followers today.

These two Christian postures are important because a non-material body does not require an empty tomb nor a body in the flesh, a tactic that avoids all the problematic Gospel and New Testament contradictions and confusion. In other words, the resurrection was an act by God within His dimensions, power, and omnipresence. With a material body it does require an empty tomb and a literal body in the flesh, a far, far harder defense of the resurrection.

*Late Second Temple Jewish Ossuaries with bones of two noblemen – photo Gali Tibbon / AFP / Getty Images*

Major Problem #3.0 and #3.1: Miracles. Did they exist then? Do they exist today? With a material body defense Christians must debate whether or not miracles, or a creator God, events, and people can bend or subvert the commonly accepted laws of nature, physics, chemistry, Quantum Mechanics, et al, to explain the testimony of very biased sources: the Greek Gospels. However, this debate then presents another subproblem of this major problem: background probability. What is meant by background probability of a claim or testimony?

Jeffrey J. Lowder, co-founder of Internet Infidels and researcher in Philosophy of Religion, Metaethics, and Inductive Logic, is one great scholar to explain “background probability of testimony”:

Suppose someone that was presumably reliable and trustworthy claimed they had just flown over a lake by flapping their arms. Surely no rational person would take such a claim seriously (at least initially; although we might change our minds if this event could be repeated). We would reject such a claim because it goes against everything which we know about the powers of the human mind, modern physics, etc. Apart from the testimony of such an event, we would rate the prior probability of such a claim so infinitesimally low that it would invalidate the testimony and make the claim unbelievable.
— Jeffrey j. lowder, the historicity of jesus’ resurrection, accessed march 10, 2024

What is “background probability” (B-P) to a resurrection believer and what is it to a secularist, atheist, or agnostic?

B-P to a Non-Believer: Lets suppose God does exist. If God does exist, then to a believer’s or theist’s world-view and perception, at least to themselves, they can plausibly argue that the “background probability” is improved, if not greatly improved. An all-powerful Creator who designed the laws of nature and the universe could certainly intervene and awestruck us with abnormalities of which we are unfamiliar. And if a God could do that, then it follows that a mere resurrection and levitation of a man is completely within His powers.

Furthermore, a believer and other theists have the doctrine of Special Revelation. From my extensive blog-page Why Christianity Will Always Fail:

Special Revelation is direct revelation to an individual or a group. This sort of revelation includes dreams, visions, religious miracles, experience of extraordinary events, and prophecy like manifestations of “tongues.” It also includes holy scriptures like the Old and New Testaments or the Bible.

Humans can believe to themselves and make-believe to themselves anything they want with very few limits, including the existence of a God. However, not all humans align with this train of thought. Hence, because of widespread disbelief in a deity or deities, it makes sense that this God or gods would intervene in human history revealing His plan, His nature, and His purpose for life on Earth. Richard Swinburne of Oxford University England argues “miracles might be especially useful for the purpose of authenticating a divine messenger or prophet.”

The two reasons above—the existence of God/Gods and Special Revelation—believers can conceivably argue that if God/Gods exist, then the probability of the resurrection improves despite the severe lack of independent sources. Another point to consider in this miracles-paradigm is should a theist/believer reject the resurrection, they must seek out the historical sources and context to do so. A very intriguing position for the believer.

For a non-believer, or secularist, or atheist, “background probability” for the resurrection is as ludicrous as pigs flying and cows on the Moon. Thus, for an event of teleportation of a man executed and dead for supposedly three days and nights, i.e. beyond resuscitation, is simply unrealistic given the known constraints of the human brain and vital organs after 5-minutes and up to 35-minutes for Myocardial ischemia. Plus, such an event would go against all laws of nature. Scottish philosopher, historian, and empiricist David Hume, states “for an atheist to be justified in believing a miracle on the basis of testimony, the possibility that the testimony is false would have to be a greater miracle than if the alleged event actually occurred.” Therefore, the B-P makes a resurrection infinitesimal or impossible to accept for non-believers.

Popular Defenses for the Resurrection

Most lay Christians use the works of two or three apologists to defend the resurrection of Yeshua bar Yosef, or Iēsous Christós in the Greek. The late Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, and J. Warner Wallace are three of many that faith-followers trust to do their legwork. Of these three apologists I will focus on Dr. Craig because he is generally regarded as one of the best. Also, one of his academic advisors and fellow alum was Norman Geisler.

From his website “Reasonable Faith,” Craig’s defense of the resurrection has three premises: 1) the empty tomb, 2) “appearances” after his execution, and 3) the supposed origin(s) of the Christian faith. Let’s examine these while remembering the severe lack of independent sources about Jesus, i.e. non-Greco-Christian sources.

The Empty Tomb Premise — What diverse evidence is there for the empty tomb? Craig addresses this question with 10-lines of evidence in one of his books. Here, I will only quote two of those lines, what he thinks are most important:

Craig purports “One of the most important facts, I think, undergirding the empty tomb is oddly enough the burial story of Jesus. […]
In any case, the Jewish authorities certainly could have made an end to the whole affair by simply pointing to the closed tomb of Jesus and said, “Look! The grave is occupied, he is not risen from the dead” and that would have been the end of it. Therefore, the accuracy of the burial story, I think, provides powerful grounds for affirming the historicity of the empty tomb account.”
“Another aspect of the empty tomb narrative itself, as it is found in the Gospel of Mark, is that this portion of the narrative was probably part of Mark’s early source material that he used for describing the passion and the death of Jesus – the last week of Jesus’ life and his crucifixion. […]
Also, the empty tomb story is connected to the burial account by syntactical and linguistic ties. For example, the pronouns used in the empty tomb story have their antecedents in the burial story so it is really one smooth account. When you remember that Mark is the earliest of our Gospels, that means that his source material was even older and this passion narrative that included the empty tomb story could have gone back to within the AD 30s even. Remember Jesus was crucified about AD 30 so we are talking about a source that is extremely old and is therefore a valuable source of historical information.”

Craig goes on to explain two or three other lines of resurrection evidence on his website, but nowhere at all does he go outside of the Synoptic Gospels other than a peculiar, very brief mention of the early 2^nd century CE Apocryphal Gospel of Peter story, again strictly Greco-Christian sources only. Craig attempts, albeit poorly, to garner pseudo-Judaic sources from Talmudic literature (70–640 CE) and Middle Age polemic Jewish “propaganda,” as he describes it:

One final piece of evidence that might be mentioned would be the fact that the earliest Jewish polemic, or anti-Christian propaganda, itself presupposes the empty tomb. [6] The earliest Jewish polemic that was launched against the Christian proclamation “He is risen from the dead” was to state that the disciples came by night and stole away his body; then the Christians responded to that that there was a guard at the tomb and they would have prevented the theft and so on and so forth. [7] The interesting thing in this dispute is not the historicity of the presence of the guard. Rather the interesting thing is what the Jewish polemic was saying in response to the Christian proclamation “He is risen from the dead.” Were they saying these men are drunk with new wine or his tomb is still out there on the hillside? No, they were saying the disciples came and stole away his body. Think about that for a minute. What that implies is that the body was missing. The earliest Jewish polemic was itself an attempt to explain away the empty tomb. Thus, we have evidence for the empty tomb which comes not from the Christians but from the very enemies of the earliest Christians themselves which is historical evidence of first rate quality because it comes not from the sources which believed in the resurrection but from those which disputed it.

So on the basis of reasons like this and many others the majority of New Testament critics today affirm the historicity of the empty tomb story.
— William lane craig, from “Resurrection,”
Veritas Forum interviews, the reasonable faith website

I am baffled how Craig came up with this feeble Polemical Jewish conclusion. In the 5^th and 6^th centuries CE Jews were not the least bit concerned with Greco-Christian myths and tales spread around the Mediterranean. From the JewishEncyclopedia.com:

In a book entitled “Contra Judæos,” the Archbishop of Seville grouped all the Biblical passages that had been employed by the Fathers to demonstrate the truth of Christianity. Whether learned Spanish Jews took up the controversy and replied to Isidorus’ arguments by counter-treatises in Latin, as Grätz believes (“Gesch.” v. 75 et seq.), is doubtful. In Spain, as everywhere else in that period, the Jews paid little attention to attacks written in Latin or Greek, which languages were not understood by the masses. Moreover, the Christian dogmas of the Trinity, the Incarnation, etc., seemed to them to stand in such direct contradiction to both the letter and the spirit of the Old Testament that they deemed it superfluous to refute them.

More aggressive was Saadia’s contemporary, the Karaite Al-Ḳirḳisani. In the third treatise of his “Kitab al-Anwar wal-Marakib” (ch. xvi.) he says that “the religion of the Christians, as practised at present, has nothing in common with the teachings of Jesus. It originated with Paul, who ascribed divinity to Jesus and prophetic inspiration to himself. It was Paul that denied the necessity of obeying the commandments and taught that religion consisted in humility; and it was the Nicene Council which adopted precepts that occur neither in the Law nor in the Gospels nor in the Acts of Peter and Paul.”
— Jewishencyclopedia.com, polemics with christians and further

It’s safe to say that Craig’s argument for “the empty tomb” is at the most wishful for Christians, and in the least, wholly unconvincing for non-Christians. He actually offers no important pagan evidence as he claims he does.

Jesus’ Appearances Premise — What diverse evidence exists for Jesus’ appearances days after his execution? Craig’s answer from his website:

“The primary evidence that we have for Jesus’ post-mortem appearances would come first of all from Paul’s list of witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15. There he says that when Christ rose from the dead he appeared to Cephas (or Peter), then to the twelve disciples, then to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom were still alive at the time of his writing though some had died, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and then last of all, says Paul, “he appeared also to me.” ”

The implication Craig makes here are six (6) counts of attestation to Jesus being alive days after his execution and burial. They are Peter, the twelve disciples (including Peter again), “500 brethren,” James his brother, all of the apostles, and Paul. None of these six counts of attestation are independent sources or testimony. They are all Judeo-Christians and even Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, is a highly unreliable source as I covered in my five part blog-series Saul the Apostate. And Craig’s final comment about Jesus’ appearances goes:

So we have in Paul’s information very good grounds for believing that various individuals and groups of people under various circumstances saw appearances of Jesus alive from the dead. The Gospel accounts, I think, provide confirmation and attestation that goes to confirm and fill out the details of these appearance stories. [16]

Notice Craig’s vague and veiled descriptions of “various individuals and groups of people.” It is certainly reasonable to suppose that all these individuals and groups were Judeo-Christians, again barring Paul, who had vested interests or skin in the game that Jesus was not the dead, failed Messiah as thousands of Homeland Jews and Gentiles were asserting at the time according to the Greco-Roman New Testament and later writings of early generation Hellenistic Church Fathers.

Another fact that must be remembered with these above counts of attestation and Craig’s framing of them is that the Gospels were written over 40–110 years after Jesus’ execution, burial, and purported resurrection (see image below). It is quite plausible in a range of degrees that the much later testimonies recorded in the Gospels and Acts were retrofitted by those Greco-Roman scribes and copyists to corroborate Paul’s letters regarding the resurrection. This would also explain the many internal contradictions or inaccuracies of the resurrection in the Greek canon of the New Testament.

*Chronological Order of the Greek New Testament Canon*

As noted earlier in the first image above, the oldest surviving Gospel copy, the Gospel of Mark, does not have any resurrection story after Jesus’ execution and burial. It ends at Mark 16:8, nothing more, nothing less until later retrojections were made into Mark c. 70-75 CE or later. This is a lethal blow to Christianity’s core doctrine and its apologists.

Hence, Craig’s argument is not proof Jesus rose from the dead. Moreover, there are still no non-Christian sources or pagan sources of the resurrection. In fact, the Jewish doctrine of a resurrection of the dead is not only quite different than Paul’s, the Gospels, and Acts, but is barely even a mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Isaiah and Daniel to be precise. This fact weakens or undermines early Judeo-Christian testimonies as unrelated.

Therefore, Craig’s argument for the validity of appearance stories is not only his biased six sources cited, but worse, an implied kangaroo court of “witness testimonies.” I think this argument is one of Craig’s weakest and is near laughable.

Origin(s) of the Christian Faith Premise — How did “The Way” Movement, a reforming Jewish sect in 1^st century CE Roman-ruled Judaea and Galilee arise? Craig answers this in a long, sporadic rabbit-trail way:

All scholars agree that the Christian faith, or the Christian movement, – “The Way” as it was called at the first – came into existence because the original disciples firmly and sincerely believed that God had raised Jesus from the dead. They proclaimed this message everywhere that they went. Indeed, Christianity could not have come into existence without this prior belief. […]

The resurrection of Jesus is what enabled them to believe that Jesus was Messiah after all; that God had vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead despite the fact that the Jewish leaders had crucified him for blasphemy. It showed that his claims were true after all.

So without this prior belief in the resurrection of Jesus the Christian movement could never have sprung into being; it could never have come to exist. The question then becomes: where in the world did the disciples come up with this outlandish belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead? If you deny that Jesus really did rise from the dead, then you have got to explain the origin of the disciples’ beliefs in terms of either Christian influences, pagan influences, or Jewish influences on them. Obviously, it could not have been the result of Christian influences for the simple reason that there wasn’t any Christianity yet. Since the belief in Jesus’ resurrection was foundational for Christianity, it cannot be explained as the later retrojection of the Christian church back into the records because there would not have been any Christian church had they not believed in the resurrection to begin with. […]

None of these factors serve to account for the origin of the disciples’ belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead. We have here a belief which nothing in terms of antecedent historical influences can account for. Therefore, it seems to me that the best explanation for the origin of this belief and the origin of the Christian movement itself is that the belief was true – Jesus did rise from the dead. That explains the origin of the Christian faith.

Unfortunately for Craig, by delving into 1^st century CE Jewish customs, doctrines, and traditions he shows his amateur knowledge and understanding of Talmudic literature of post-Second Temple Judaism (70–640 CE).

The resurrection doctrine is fleshed out in a variety of rabbinic sources. Among the ideas associated with it is the belief that during the messianic age the dead will be brought back to life in Israel. According to the Talmud , all bodies not already in Israel will be rolled through underground tunnels to the holy land. Avoiding this process, which is said to be spiritually painful, is one reason some Jews choose to be buried in Israel.

At least two talmudic sources note that the righteous will be brought back from the dead wearing the clothing in which they were buried. .

According to the Jewish mystical tradition, souls can be reincarnated in different bodies if those souls have not completed their missions on earth. At the time of the resurrection, the individual soul will be split among the various bodies it once inhabited, and the portion of the soul whose mission was completed in a particular body will return to that body.
— myjewishlearning.com, resurrection of the dead

Thus, from the above elaboration Craig has misrepresented Talmudic traditions and literature as well as wrongly connect them with the Greek New Testament canon. In Peter Schäfer’s book, Jesus in the Talmud, Princeton University Press, 2007, Schäfer argues:

The references of Yeshu (Aramaic) were not from the early Tannaitic period (1st and 2nd centuries) but rather from the 3rd and 4th centuries, during the Amoraic period. The references of Yeshu in the Babylonian Talmud were “polemical counter-narratives that parody the New Testament stories, most notably the story of Jesus’ birth and death” and that the rabbinical authors were familiar with the Gospels (particularly the Gospel of John) in their form as the Diatessaron and the Peshitta, the New Testament of the Syrian Church. The message conveyed in the Talmud was a “bold and self-confident” assertion of correctness of Judaism, maintaining that “there is no reason to feel ashamed because we rightfully executed a blasphemer and idolater.”
— Jesus in the talmud, wikipedia

Obviously William Lane Craig is not Jewish nor is he a scholar in Second Temple Judaism and Messianism. One must look elsewhere to understand the large chasm between his faith and theology and that of Jesus’ reform movement and his sectarian Judaism. He is way off.

Debunking the Resurrection

One of the most renown atheists and critics of Christianity—or as I like to call it, Pauline Christology—is Dan Barker, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and minister turned atheist. From his book Losing Faith in Faith, in his chapter Jesus: History or Myth?, he explains in four simple reasons why the resurrection and Jesus are not an actual event or a historical person. I often argue this as well for very similar reasons citing some of the same sources:

There is no external historical confirmation of the New Testament stories. [i.e. non-Greco-Christian sources]
The New Testament stories are internally contradictory.
There are natural explanations for the origin of the Jesus legend.
The miracle reports make the story unhistorical.

Myself, like Barker, always ask Christian faith-followers and apologists, Where is the contemporary pagan, unbiased non-Christian testimonies of Jesus’ life and resurrection? They are silent on this because there is none. As I thoroughly cover on my page entitled Why Christianity Will Always Fail, there is no independent historical sources for Yeshua’s/Jesus’ life or resurrection:

There are at least 41 known Pagan and Jewish authors/historians during Jesus’ lifetime or within less-than 100 years of his life that aside from two forged passages in the works of a Jewish author (Josephus), and two disputed passages in the works of Roman writers (Pliny the Younger & Suetonius), there is no mention of a Jesus Christ. Nor within a century of Jesus’ life do any of these authors/historians make any mention of the later disciples or apostles. They are:

Dan Barker also makes this overwhelming fact. Barker points out this:

…the Roman historian Philo-Judaeus, who lived before, during, and after the time of Jesus, does not even mention Jesus, much less his resurrection. With respect to Book 18, Chapter 3 of Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, he argues that it is a Christian interpolation, and he gives six reasons why (Ibid., p. 362). Likewise, he argues that the passage in Book 20, Chapter 9 is also unreliable (Ibid., p. 363-64). Moreover, he claims that alleged references to Jesus in the books of Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, the letter of Mara Bar-Serapion, Lucian, Tertullian, Phlegon, and Justin Martyr are equally unconvincing.
— dan barker, losing faith in faith, citations in quote above, pp. 362–364

For some event like a human being coming back from days of being dead would certainly interest non-believers, Gentile Romans and anyone inside the Roman-ruled Syro-Palestine and beyond to write about the Jewish sectarian Jesus’/Yeshua’s extraordinary defiance of death. But that never happened. There are no extant records testifying to this miraculous resurrection event. Christians then in the 1^st century CE and Christians in the 21^st century have no answer. They fabricated them. All one needs to ask these blinded faith-followers,^TM “What exactly, in comprehensive detail, happened over Easter and the day their most crucial theological doctrine was born?” Aside from the many problematic contradictions in Paul’s letters, the four Gospels, and the Book of Acts, once again, they cannot produce any independent pagan evidence to corroborate, even a whole century after purported claims by 1^st and 2^nd generation Greek Church Fathers. Nothing. Zip. We have a kangaroo court once again.

…prudent history demands that until all explanations for the origin of an outrageous tale are completely ruled out, it is irresponsible to hold to the literal, historical truth of what appears to be just another myth
— dan barker, losing faith in faith, p. 376

Dr. Michael Martin formerly of Boston University and alum of Arizona State University (B.S.), University of Arizona (M.A.), and Harvard University (PhD), another acclaimed atheist notes these five serious problems for Christianity’s claim of a historical factual resurrection:

the extent to which the author’s purpose may have influenced his reliability
the consistency or inconsistency of the NT accounts
whether the accounts are based on eyewitness testimony
the known reliability (or unreliability) of the eyewitnesses
the extent to which the event is confirmed by independent testimony

Martin’s five above points blow the Greco-Roman Christian tales of resurrection into mere fanciful myth, not reliable eyewitness testimonies.

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In the next part of Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion I will briefly go into the reliability of and facts hidden in sources about Paul’s/Saul’s letters, then Paul’s third letter to the Corinthians and the forgeries of it in Paul’s name. Some if not much of what I cover with Paul/Saul is previously covered in my 5-part series mentioned earlier, Saul the Apostate if you care to review it as well. Hope all of you can read and join in. Ark/Doug, I hope this series benefits your debate with the Christian pastor. 🙂

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

Humans & Machines

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Professor Taboo

“You see us as machines.
But if you really want to understand how we work,
you’re going to have to dig a little deeper.”
— Kai-125

Have you ever stopped to think whether humans, you specifically, have complete self-determination? Or are we just pre-programmed to follow precisely how we were prenatally built, constructed by our parents, and their parents, and all of our prior biogenetics from our ancestral genealogy? Are we not all byproducts of our past generations? Why do all of us have certain traits and not others? Why do we have particular preferences and tendencies for some life-experiences and less so or none for others?

Does that not suggest a prearranged blueprint handed down to you from many who came before you? Did you have a choice of various blueprints before birth? Of course not. Whether we like it or not we get the hand dealt to us.

Perhaps I should’ve entitled this post Humans or Machines. Maybe I’ll change that later after further thought and introspection.

Lately I find myself engrossed in a new military sci-fi series on Paramount+ called Halo. I was drawn-in right from the first episode, “Contact,” and haven’t been able to stop watching ever since. Why do I find the series fascinating, compelling, and profoundly aligned with real life, this non-fictional life we live right now?

It asks the same existential questions I asked above about each of us, about human nature, and whether or not humans are capable of saving ourselves… from ourselves. The series also asks Can we unite as humans, as one species, and save ourselves from other lethally aggressive alien species or cosmic forces?

Master Chief-117: What I can see on the ground may not reflect the entirety of the situation.
Kwan Ha: What does that mean?
Master Chief-117: Sometimes, others know things I do not.
Kwan Ha: It ever occur to you that it might work the other way around?
Master Chief-117: Then you question everything?
Kwan Ha: And someone told you that’s bad? [pause] (somewhat resigned, she exhales, answering her own question) …Of course they did.
halo episode 1 “contact,” season one

*Kwan challenges Master Chief-117’s purpose in life*

Watching this first episode and this particular scene really struck a chord with me. It reminded me of how so many people both around me today and those from my past, live or have lived their lives according to how others think of them or want from them. It could be parents, family, bosses, friends, or even a theoretical ideology or religious belief system, a political leader(?) that dictates how lives will be lived. Is that not a machine rather than a free human?

Dr. Catherine Halsey, Chief Scientist of the UNSC and founder of the Spartan-II Project begun decades earlier the next improved evolutionary step beyond antiquated human military soldiering. Otherwise, the human race was not going to win the war against a far superior alien enemy. Therefore, in order for her Spartan project to be a guaranteed success against a winning enemy—known as the Covenant—with better weapons and soldiers than any humans, Halsey had to commit several immoral, deceptive, and unethical acts upon human children and their families in order to rescue all of humanity and its fragile, hopeless future. This was how Halsey justified her heinous actions: sacrificing a few for the greater good of all.

*Dr. Catherine Halsey founder of the Orion and Spartan-II projects*

Putting further twists and conflicted reasoning into these existential dilemmas is Captain Jacob Keyes, ex-husband of Dr. Halsey and the father of their one daughter, Dr. Miranda Keyes, Deputy UNSC Scientist under Halsey, her mother. Talk about familial tensions wound super tight, all stirred into the uncertain future of humanity, it doesn’t get more thick and riveting than that! For example, when Miranda discovers that the UNSC will execute the teenage rebel Kwan, she confronts her father:

Dr. Miranda Keyes: [referring to Kwan] We’re murdering a teenage girl. And I’m complicit.
Capt. Jacob Keyes: We’re in a war, Miranda. The future of humanity…
Dr. Miranda Keyes: What’s the point in saving humanity if we’re going to give up our own?
Capt. Jacob Keyes: Sometimes you have to make hard choices to get good results.
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Now who’s sounding like Halsey?
halo episode 1 “contact,” season one

*Dr. Miranda Keyes (left, daughter) and Capt. Jacob Keyes (right, father)*

As I got into episode two, three, and four, I couldn’t help but compare the Spartan-II soldiers (Silver Team) to specific groups of actual humans and ideologies the United States possess today. Although these fictional badass, undefeated soldiers had superhuman characteristics along with unwavering resilience for mission success—“Failure is not an option” mantra—even if it means death to achieve it, first and foremost they obey every order given to them from their superiors to the tee and without question. Sound familiar? Dr. Halsey also implanted into Spartans an augmentation pellet in their lower spinal cord at a pubescent age. The device increased their physical mass and height to approximately 7-feet by adult age giving them highly advanced exoskeleton physiques required to slaughter and defeat Covenant aliens.

“You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained – and you will become the best [I] can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies.”
— dr. catherine halsey, to the spartan-II recruits

For me, Halsey reminds me of all our history’s past authoritarian, self-consumed megalomaniacs of the world. Remind you of one we have today in the United States? In other words, the end always justifies the means, even if it is unconstitutional and blatantly illegal. Getting the picture?

Discussing the work of Dr. Halsey and her Spartan-II’s and Halsey’s obsessive complete control over their ultimate purpose to first serve her, then second to serve humans:

Dr. Miranda Keyes: Dr. Halsey designed everything to her specifications. When her creations behave in unexpected ways, she get’s uncomfortable.
Kai-125: Well, what does it mean to behave in unexpected ways?
Dr. Miranda Keyes: Like a human I suppose.

Dr. Miranda Keyes: To Dr. Halsey, human beings are messy, irrational, chaotic. They make decisions based on emotion, passion. Halsey is different. She sees the world as a set of data to be optimized, regardless of the short-term pain or sacrifice. Next to this level of dedication, the rest of us ultimately fall short. And when people let her down, Dr. Halsey has a way of cutting them out of her life.
halo episode 4 “homecoming,” season one

Both Master Chief-117 (John) and Kai-125 have cut out their augmentation pellets in order to know and understand better who they are as well as to better decipher who Dr. Halsey is to them and whether she truly is their “protector” and confidant. These are the first signs of Spartans questioning their superior’s motives. To this point, Miranda says to Kai-125:

Dr. Miranda Keyes: Kai, your act of rebellion could just be a glitch. But if I know Dr. Halsey, she doesn’t tolerate glitches.
halo episode 4 “homecoming,” season one

**Halo Season 1** Key art featuring L-R Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha, Natascha McElhone as Halsey, Bokeem Woodbine as Soren, Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, Kate Kennedy as Kai, Natasha Culzac as Riz and Bentley Kalu as Vannak. Photo Credit: Paramout+

Or in our real time conditions today in America, with a rising cult-mentality and blind, unflinching loyalty to the cult leader, if a soldier steps out of line or questions, or criticizes the supreme leader, that dissident or dissidents are quickly attacked, cut out of his/her life and future plans. They are “fired,” replaced for more obedient more loyal subjects/soldiers. Why are so many (poorly?) evolved humans susceptible to this sort of brainwashing? Dr. Halsey gives a few possible answers below. When Master Chief-117 confronts Halsey about lying to him and all Spartans, he demands why:

Dr. Catherine Halsey: Nothing I say to you will make any sense until the benefits are manifest. I just have to accept that you will hate me. I was planning the future.
Master Chief-117: Whose future? Not mine.
Dr. Catherine Halsey: Nor mine. The future of our species. Natural evolution is failing us. Human beings are still hardwired for conflict and selfishness, John. I knew years ago that if we were going to survive, we needed a force. A force that would intervene, that could prevent conflict before it started. So, I created the Spartans, a group who would protect us from ourselves.
halo episode 6 “Solace,” season one

“Protect us from ourselves.” And humans “are still hardwired for conflict and selfishness.” Well, that is certainly true about the human race over its entire existence on Earth. Dr. Halsey is extremely intelligent and accurately observant regarding basic human nature. This cannot in the least, however, be said about America’s current cult leader and apparent 2024 Republican candidate for presidential re-election. This is one glaring difference between the Halo character Halsey and the real-time Orange Orangutan.

Nevertheless, here is another spot-on observation by Dr. Halsey based on her experience regarding human nature and our species’ progress by the 26^th-century:

Dr. Catherine Halsey: We are on a journey. We are born, we live, and we die according to the rules of blind and unguided evolution. As a result, our species is simply not equipped to survive what comes next. It is time for us to take control of our evolution, to push past our narrow ignorance and venture out into the wide unknown, where we will discover our true potential. I suspect the Halo will provide the key.

Much has been lost, and there will surely be more sacrifices to come. But I believe our species will soon spread its wings and soar to new heights, that we will rewrite what it means to be human. That we will achieve transcendence.
halo episode 9 “transcendence,” season one

But will we? Are we really capable of Renaissance and Enlightenment 2.0, the next huge step in human evolution over the next 1 to 5 to 10-years? Is the United States capable despite the growing deterioration and dismantling of our democratic institutions and our pillars of higher education-expertise these last 10-20 years? How is it possible to insure a Golden Age will arrive when so many Americans or humans choose to be simple “Spartans,” or automatons, for the sake of a tyrannical leader and his or her ideology of hate, violence, prejudices, and racism? I wonder.

Aside from our bleak reality in the U.S. today, I am looking forward to Season 2 of Halo streaming on Paramount+ this February 8^th. If it is anything as enjoyable as Season 1, then it will provide plenty of further existential questions, dilemmas, and realizations about our human species and whether or not we truly are capable of “saving ourselves from ourselves” or if we are merely machines destined for extinction. One thing is certain, however. There is no supreme deity or one human that is going to do it for us or rescue us. It is in our collective hands and our hands alone to do it together.

Bring on Season 2. Can’t wait.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

Texas’ Rural Environmental Standards?

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Professor Taboo

Back in August 2023 I shared the national rankings by U.S. News & World Report of the Best U.S. States to Reside based upon eight metrics. My home state of Texas ranked only #35th overall among all 50-states; a ranking that is quite low based upon many rural, arrogant, and biased Texan attitudes here. And as most of you know well, the rural parts of Texas are heavily dominated by MAGA Republican politics. By the way, as a side note and not so coincidental, our Texas 21st Congressional District in the federal House of Representatives is led by (R) Chip Roy who is also the policy chairman of the radical House Freedom Caucus in Washington D.C.

This past Wednesday we received in the mail along with our Kerrville Utilities bill (water & sewage) for the month of December, a letter of disclosure, or as the City of Kerrville worded it, a letter of “Transparency.” This is what it said:

Now, returning to Texas’ national ranking of the “best” states to reside in the U.S., our ranking overall was 35th. But in the category of environmental protections, enforcement, and health-safety we sadly rank a lowly #40. In other words, our environmental care and protection, even for public health and safety, is in all honesty cow-manure! Why do we seem to NOT care for public health and safety and environmental protections? I’ll give you two guesses.

Mom and I live inside the unaffected area toward the top of that map. However, my sister lives down near the Kerr County Municipal Airport (red arrow), the area in yellow that IS contaminated. Granted, a running average of 0.010 mg/L of TTHM, which is equal to 80-parts per billion is nothing to be too seriously alarmed about, right? But here’s my three questions:

When could anyone wholeheartedly trust the MAGA Republicans, especially those who rule all the rural areas of Texas?
Are they divulging ALL the actual data in a correct, unbiased, transparent amount? And…
If all of Kerrville’s water supply comes from only two sources—the Edwards-Trinity Plateau Aquifer and the Guadalupe River, and BOTH are contaminated to some degree now or in the near future, then how will the rest of our water sources be exempt or unaffected?

Did you read the part of the Q&A second page about “What causes high TTHM levels“? It states:

Heavy rainfall can often introduce large amounts of organic matter, including grass and leaves, into the river water. When this organic matter reacts with chlorine during the disinfection process, it creates TTHMs. Additionally, when drought conditions and extreme high [hot] temperatures exist, the water becomes warmer than usual and requires more chlorine be used for disinfection.
— City of kerrville to its water consumers, jan. 10, 2024

The Hill Country of Texas and Kerrville over the last 2-years has experienced all of these climate events listed, except the extended heavy rainfalls, although these last two weeks we have had a steady flow of rainfall for about 12 out of the last 16 days/nights.

There has been another recent climate event contributing to our water contamination: high winds. And the high wind-gusts blow all sorts of pollutants and organic matter into our river which eventually reaches our underground aquifer. High winds also dry out already drought-ridden conditions. Examine these four tables below…

**2021** average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — *WeatherSpark.com*

**2022** average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com

**2023** average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com

**2024** average wind-speed in grey, wind-gusts in red, Kerrville, Texas — WeatherSpark.com

So for the past 4-5 days myself and Mom have suffered horribly from high levels of pollen, cedar, and other air-contaminates. I guess we may be dealing with water contamination soon enough as well. Yes, it is glaringly clear why Texas ranks at #40 out of 50-states in the nation for (poor) environmental health and safety. Surprise surprise.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Be Environmentally Responsible!

Herb Gardener Extraordinaire

Posted on November 29, 2023 by Professor Taboo

I have picked up a new hobby these last 4-6 months. I love my new hobby. It brings me much solace and therapeutic benefits given my circumstances.

Because I spend a lot of my days and evenings in the kitchen making healthy recipes and meals for my Early Alzheimer’s Mom, that on her own she would live off of strictly potato chips, cheeses, almonds, walnuts, and cheese cakes or Blue Bell ice cream exclusively, grazing on these items all morning, afternoon, evening, and into the wee-hours of 1:00am — 3:00am, without pause, so I do this in the kitchen.

How is my herb garden coming along you ask? Well, I’d say for my very first late-summer, early-autumn seeding, rooting, and transplanting, I think pretty damn good. I have some viewers and followers (Arkenatan of A Tale Unfolds) who have been doing this sort of gardening for years and decades, and compared to them I am certainly a rookie learning as I go. For the most part, I must say that I’m fairing pretty well. And according to Mom and sister, when I use some of my various herbs in recipes for them, they are impressed and sometimes rave how good a gourmet chef I’ve become. There is nothing like super fresh herbs straight from your own garden to kitchen and table! Want to see my own home-grown herbs? Of course you do. 😉

*Named from top left tier to right, middle tier L to R, and bottom tier L to R images below*. My pitchers of liquid seaweed in background.

*Bunching Evergreen Onions, had to block the glare with hand.*

*More Bunching Onions, because they need “spreading” once 3″ — 5″ tall.*

*Cilantro that we use in many recipes, especially our Pico de Gallo.*

*More Mint (Spearmint) for my hot teas and recipes like Loin of Lamb or on crackers, as seen below.*

*Common Oregano*, *or Oraganum vulgare. New sprouts on the left.*

Then not pictured from my garden, but otherwise in two pot containers, my Basil Prospera F1, also known as Genovese or Basil Valentino, as pictured here:

Back in late September I planted Rosemary seeds (Rosmarinus officinalis) which grows and thrives very well here in Central Texas. But surprisingly and to my slight dismay my one little sprout—out of 4 or 5 seed-pots—died earlier this week. Grrrrr, can’t win them all, huh? I’ll try again in the Spring 2024. They should do alright for then and rooting/growing in my pots for the full sun summer.

Two of many recipes I’ve used these home-grown herbs for are my fresh Basil Pesto, Mediterranean Veggie or Margarita pizzas, or this one below, Creamy Chicken Pesto Penne Pasta with fresh spinach and sundried tomatoes:

*Creamy Chicken Pesto Penne Pasta with spinach & sundried tomatoes.*

Or this smash hit today, Rosemary & Olive oil crackers with my fresh Sweet Mint leaves, Rat Trap Cheddar or Danish Bleu Cheese (from Denmark), topped with cherry tomato halves. Compliment this appetizer with a glass of—my favorite red—like Mendoza Valley (Argentina) Malbec or a bold Cabernet Sauvignon to explode the flavors and fragrance in your mouth and nose, image below:

*My very fresh Sweet Mint cuttings, cherry tomato halves in container. Mom in the background in her usual spot on the couch enjoying her snack immensely!*

These last several months growing my herbs from seed have been wonderfully satisfying and a bit of therapy for my otherwise full-time/overtime Caretaking of Mom. I’d say it is coming along nicely, wouldn’t you? 🌱🌿

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always – Garden Lots

Crazy Like A Ray of Light

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Professor Taboo

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time
to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
Madame Marie Curie

This post is somewhat random but inspired by friends and great music of 1990 — 1998, all incredibly popular, happy, memorable, and unforgettable years for me personally. Two of my favorites follow, with some musing commentary.

Yet, Seal’s hit song “Crazy” I find so apropos for humanity’s continued evolution, progression, and advancement IF—emphasis on if—humanity (you) is/are BRAVE enough to think and step out of their suffocating comfortable BOXES and move forward! Everything in existence and life is in constant flux; always changing at some degree of speed. We just need to become more adaptable daily, weekly, monthly… for the Universe’s and our planet’s frequent fast-balls or curveballs. Nothing in life, in existence stays the same, always forever. Never. It all eventually becomes antiquated, like all the world’s now very ancient religions. It is past time to move on from the Bronze and Iron Ages or Classical/Post-classical Ages and into the modern knowledge of 21^st and then 22^nd centuries. Otherwise, stagnation only leads to extinction, yes?

Celebrate, dance like Madonna to this advancing, second Renaissance Age that is knocking and trying to break free from the dead, decaying chains of the past! Like a ray of light speeds through space and time, its particles in motion do not need your approval, help, or opinion to exist, much less to move anywhere. Only gravity and Black Holes have that sort of power. 🤓

“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Brene Brown

P.S. I will soon be publishing my Part 4: A New U.S. Constitution, for those of you still following the series (chuckle). Apologies for the delay, but hey… life gets in the way sometimes. We have a lot less control of things than we like to trick ourselves into falsely believing, right? HAH! 😄

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always