How many tales and stories throughout history can you count when the bearer of a factual message is shot, beheaded, or loses their tongue? Think about it for a moment.
My header image above is from the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven where the “new king” of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, brutally kills Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub’s (or Saladin’s) messenger. All the messenger had been tasked with was to deliver Saladin’s factual message. That’s it. And he was murdered for it. I ask, in the 21st-century, does the messenger deserve death? Abuse? Blowback? Victimization for merely delivering the facts/truth? Anyone know the definition and background for a “whistle-blower“?
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Recently, I did exactly this: deliver the truth, the facts.
That’s it! And I will most likely get harsh blowback from those with depraved integrity, dignity, ethics, morals, and a disdain for the raw truth.
Therefore, knowing what most likely awaits me, and what social-media platforms do to messengers of truth/fact… I post this parody of factual news on here, on WordPress, because I will likely get “reported” for something like slander or fraudulent accusations… which by the way are totally unfounded, false blowbacks and merely their deluded defense for staying silent while abuses are committed by their supervisors, their church leadership or congregation members, or worse, their own family members. And all of it in silence… while these people profit from their too-scared-to-speak-upaccessories of abominable sins. 😄
So… this is my Plan B backup when I surely receive blowback and attacks from vanilla, turn-a-blind-eye religious nutcases wanting the Messenger’s head.
I wish everyone a fabulous weekend! 😊
Live Smart – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
Image credit: Thamrongpat Theerathammakorn / EyeEm via Getty Images
Earth.
She has been our only home for well over 250,000+ years. Life and living organisms, however, have been on Earth the last 3.7 billion years, as microbes. But the history of living organisms on our planet has never been a guarantee, nor has it been perpetual.
Texas is experiencing record breaking triple digit temperatures never before seen in June. And traditionally the months of July and August are intolerably sweltering, even life-threatening if outside too long. Also, it is well documented how UNreliable our Texas electric grid is during extreme temps. Very little has changed since February 2021 when we lost our entire power grid statewide.
On a global scale there have been five mass extinction events during Earth’s 4.54 billion year history. The most catastrophic extinction to date, 250 million years ago, wiped out 96% of marine life and 70% of land species. It would be millions of years for these lifeforms to recover.
Is there a sixth extinction event happening now? Most scientists around the globe say yes, absolutely. I must agree with them. All five of these past extinction events were not triggered or caused by any living species on Earth. They were the consequence of terrestrial and cosmic forces, very rare and random occurrences. The current sixth extinction event, however, is intentionallyself-inflicted.
Not to make light of our dire predicament, but one must admit that the 21st-century human race is no different than the fat, arrogantly smirking, boiling frog in the sauce pan. For the last 50-years we were warned repeatedly over and over and over again by expert scientists that this extinction event would indeed happen if we did not diminish then rid ourselves of fossil fuel addiction. It might now be too late to save ourselves from ourselves, save our ecosystems, our animal kingdoms, and our one and only home we have ever known.
What must be done… right away, immediately, with much haste?
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a report in April 2023 stating that three key gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—which contribute to dangerous Greenhouse effects rose sharply in 2022 to levels never before seen or ever recorded.
“The observations collected by NOAA scientists in 2022 show that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at an alarming pace and will persist in the atmosphere for thousands of years,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA administrator. “The time is now to address greenhouse gas pollution and to lower human-caused emissions as we continue to build toward a Climate-Ready Nation.”
The same warnings and alarms were announced as far back as the 1970’s and into the early ’80s that human industrial activity, mining, drilling, and pollution was a one-way ticket to extinction of species on the planet if not all living species. Now, almost five decades later very little, if anything, has changed with human activity and consumption. In fact, the data from NOAA shows it’s worse, much worse.
The Global Monitoring Division of NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory has measured carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases for several decades at a globally distributed network of air sampling sites. This graph shows monthly mean abundance of carbon dioxide globally averaged over marine surface sites. (Image credit: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory)
Because of the factual apologue earlier of the boiling frog, the human race must do everything possible to find another home planet. It is our only hope, if we want to save our species and some of the animal kingdom. We’ve destroyed and ignorantly neglected far too much, for far too long, toward saving this planet. It is over. We waited too long, too stupidly to do anything significant to change Earth’s demise. It’s time to get off our asses and take drastic measures, worldwide.
What has to be done, now?
Because science and her expert scientists always ask What if… what is possible? What isn’t possible, now? we do have answers to save ourselves, or at least some humans and some animals and plants. It is only a matter of applying our intelligence and ingenuity and totally abandon Bronze Age religious myths and tales of self-fulfilling prophecies of Armageddon or the End Times. Hah! Right. 🙄🤦♂️ Another boiling frog.
Every single day astrophysicists and cosmologists with NASA and the European Space Agency are locating numerous exoplanets for humans to colonize. The nearest habitable planet within a goldilocks zone—i.e. a planet that orbits a star/sun within an ideal distance to possess H2O and an atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen protected from solar radiation—is 4.2 light years from Earth. That is 4.514 trillion miles away. A very, very long distance away. Easily more than two or three lifetimes away. It is called Proxima Centauri b.
The exoplanet Proxima Centauri b, 4.2 light years away from Earth
Needless to say, if humans are to colonize an interstellar exoplanet, we must deal with its atmosphere, whatever it may consist of or not, and grow plants, trees, and animals necessary to sustain human life. Today, humanity has no other choices. It must be done and done immediately. It might still be too late. But we MUST act right now!
So… where would we go? Proxima B is the best destination right now. And there are a few other exoplanets to target. But they are further away than 4.2 light years. A staggering 25-trillion miles away (rough average) is no simple trip for a few hundred or thousands of human astronauts/cosmonauts and colonists. Planets within our own solar system are not ideal for human/animal habitation. They are extreme to say the least; nightmares actually.
Mars is perhaps a good “launching point” into interstellar space, but no more than a leaping point. Our Milky Way galaxy has over 300-billion stars with innumerable exoplanets within the ideal goldilocks zone. And there are at least over 2-trillion galaxies in the observable universe. This offers untold, unimaginable sorts of human opportunity to save ourselves and our basic way of life. To date, scientists have discovered about 3,000+ exoplanets within the ideal goldilocks zone of a star/sun.
The Red Planet Mars as a launching colony?
But if these habitable “New Earths” like Proxima B are 4.2 light years away and more, how can we possibly get there in a relatively safe and reasonable time? And does humanity truly grasp the reality of how very grim our survival and future of our children, grandchildren, and descendants actually are here on Earth? To leave Earth it will require no less than a global collaboration. Are we mature and advanced enough to do this… now? Do we really have a choice?
Astroscience, their scientists, physicists, and engineers from around the world have already taken up this challenge to save humanity, some animal kingdoms, and our vital ecosystems for human life.
Interstellar Travel
With our outdated rocket propellants (Saturn 5 at 24,000 mph), reaching Proxima B would take us over 120,000 years to reach. Completely out of the question given the apathetic disaster humans have created for ourselves here on Earth. We require more. We require better advancements.
Former NASA shuttle astronaut Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, founder of the Ad Astra Rocket Company in Houston, Texas, has developed the first phase of interstellar travel for humans. Plasma.
Charged gas particles such as plasma possess much more energy than our current rocket propulsion. It basically works like this: gas is compressed into a cavity/chamber. Inside the cavity is an antenna that shines radio waves throughout therefore turning the gas into highly charged plasma (3-5 million degrees), similar to lightening bolts in thunderstorms. A magnetic field directs the charged plasma to the smaller rear nozzle or cone of the engine creating a remarkable thrust never before harnessed by humans. With this level of propulsion spacecraft would be able to achieve speeds 10-times faster than current rocket engines. This gets us to Mars in as little as 39-days as opposed to 9-months with 1950’s – 1960’s engines. However, even with this propulsion system it would take us about 2,000 years to reach Proxima B.
Dr. Chang-Diaz states his plasma engine is not the system to take us to Proxima B, but would be the precursor to a later system more advanced and high-powered than his plasma rocket. We need technology that is even faster than plasma engines.
At the University of California Santa Barbara a team led by professor and astrophysicist Philip Lubin is developing a rocket system powered only by light. With this technology they calculate they can send a spacecraft to Proxima B in just 20-years. Light transfers energy into a panel of veins which push it forward just as its momentum carries it through air and space. Light from our own Sun has been propelling the Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS for over 12-years. Based on this technology Dr. Lubin’s plan is to have a six mile long array of satellite dishes and/or solar rays from our Sun directing light particles onto a spacecraft sail propelling it through interstellar space. When focused onto the sail it will accelerate the craft to 1/5th the speed of light. Yes, you read that correctly: 1/5th the speed of light.
Light and/or laser propulsion for interstellar deep space travel — image by NASA
There are innumerable propulsion systems in development across the U.S. and Europe that can offer the speeds required for exoplanet colonization in reasonable timeframes.
The initial phase of this journey would be exploratory in nature to determine how viable Proxima B would be to sustain life, specifically human, animal, and plant life to eventually colonize the “New Earth” planet. But with these technological advancements come other questions and issues. How will we choose these intergalactic human space travelers? What qualities, backgrounds, skills, and talents will be needed to travel such long distances, one-way distances? How many human space-travelers should be aboard these spacecrafts?
It is very well-known that for a species to avoid extinction, biological and genetic diversity is a must. The first Proxima B colonists must be at least in the several hundreds if not thousands of human space-goers. The same applies for animals, plants, and microbes. And these missions will require several follow-up trips. We cannot expect to send 8.1 billion humans in two or three costly trips. This will undoubtedly raise many skills, experience, and moral questions such as: Who deserves to go and survive? Who deserves to stay on a dying planet like Earth?
Artist rendition of a near future Moon colony — Wikipedia
Former NASA astronaut and 211-day ISS resident, Mike Barratt, says that these first, second, and third generation Proxima B colonists will have to be proficient in English and Russian languages. There’s the very first hurdle: American and Russian relations. The next hurdle is selecting the choice explorers, the choice pioneers, and then the choice colonists. Almost all astrophysicists and botanists explain that these initial generations will be critical to colonizing any New Earth exoplanet and sustaining life.
How many intergalactic human travelers will be needed to start life on Proxima B? The answer to that question becomes merely genetic and biological. If there is not enough genetic variation among the first generations of Proxima B crews, their odds of surviving the hazards of interstellar space and a new planet are drastically reduced. Does this mean we must hand pick our BEST human travelers with the BEST genetic and biological qualities? In doing so does this pose a moral bias, an unnatural selection of “better humans” over lesser, disadvantaged humans?
Population geneticist, Dr. Brandie Smith, states that in order for the human species to have a decent chance of survival and sustained life on an alien New Earth planet, they must be among a large, random selection of a highly variedgenetic human population. The issue in this selection process is that humans do not know which genes and DNA to select for colonizing an alien planet, its environment and climate, and its resources which need to be used and consumed. Human specimens seen as “the best” here on Earth may not be suitable for a largely unknown exoplanet 4.2 light years away with completely different environmental factors and forces. Hence, the first generations to Proxima B must be in the upper hundreds or thousands to achieve genetic diversity. Protecting their bodies in the hostile environs of deep space will also be paramount. Radiation exposure is a continual, nemesising threat to deep space travelers along with extreme temperatures and very long spells of zero gravity.
Ethnic and genetic diversity is a must for human colonists to survive on alien exoplanets
At the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, every American astronaut returning from a long stay in the ISS is studied extensively for many months for the effects of zero gravity and any radiation exposure on the human body. In order to counter the negative effects of weightlessness on the human body, ISS crews are required to exercise a minimum of 2.5 hours daily—jogging, lifting, and pushing the cardiovascular system to safe levels so that muscle and bone mass loss are minimized. But even this regular routine is not enough when they return to Earth.
Landing on a distant planet after some 20-years in interstellar travel in their weakened, fragile condition, Proxima B colonists would struggle immensely to construct anything, let alone a new human civilization. ISS astronauts and cosmonauts who have been in zero gravity over 100–200 days return to Earth with the physical coordination and balance of a young 2-3 year old toddler. It takes at least 5-months for them to recover to 85% to 90% of their normal adult physiology; 6-8 months to return to 100% functionality.
Supplies to Last During Travel & On A New Earth
Food and life support systems would also have to safely last the long duration in deep space travel. That is an enormous engineering and supply nightmare, even for just 40-50 travelers, let alone 1,000+ astronauts and cosmonauts. As mentioned earlier, prolonged radiation exposure to human DNA leads to lethal cancers and birth defects to eventual Proxima B babies. How do human space travelers avoid deadly radiation and pack enough supplies, for 1,000+ space-farers, for 20–23 years in hostile interstellar travel?
Dutch pharmacologist Robert Henning, who has worked closely with the European Space Agency for the last several years, believes he has found the answer to deep space human hibernation that would save on the massive volume of food and supplies (and weight), and also protect human astronauts and cosmonauts from lethal radiation exposure: hydrogen sulfide.
Like the marmot, the arctic ground squirrel, the brown bear, and the dwarf lemur, these mammals and many more all hibernate to survive months of frigid winter conditions. This cuts back on their energy consumption during months of severe food scarcity. The breathing slows, as well as the heartbeat, and the metabolic rate all reduce by as much as 98%. Needed oxygen during non-winter months is replaced by hydrogen sulfide. Henning admits that H2S is not as efficient as oxygen, but he uses a similar chemical to put human cells into hibernation. What’s more exceptional is that when Henning exposes these hibernating human cells to lethal doses of radiation the DNA is unchanged, undamaged. His compound can safeguard the Proxima B crews from crippling and deadly cancerous radiation. Two more exceptional benefits of deep space hibernation are 1) the significant reduction of psychological stressors of long-term isolation in confined quarters and 2) mitigating the aging process of conscious travel over extreme distances.
However, new solutions to unknown complicated problems are rarely failproof over repeated attempts or journeys. There are and will be, hopefully minimal, unexpected consequences. Yet, historically with any explorations into unchartered, potentially hazardous frontiers, when was “failproof” guaranteed?
Robert Henning also acknowledges that even though he has the chemical compound to put human deep space travelers into hibernation, he does not have a solution to bringing them out of it and when to do so. NASA and the ESA have yet to devise a reliable solution either. However, there has been recent studies and findings by astrobiologists and biomedical engineers utilizing a wearable ultrasound transducer. From Associate Professor Hong Chen and research associate Yaoheng (Mack) Yang, both at Washington University St. Louis’ (MO) School of Engineering and School of Medicine respectively, describe their non-invasive technique:
“We developed an automatic closed-loop feedback controller to achieve long-duration and stable ultrasound-induced hypothermia and hypometabolism by controlling of the ultrasound output,” Chen said. “The closed-loop feedback controller set the desired body temperature to be lower than 34C [93.2F], which was previously reported as critical for natural torpor in mice. This feedback-controlled UIH kept the mouse body temperature at 32.95C [91.31F] for about 24 hours and recovered to normal temperature after ultrasound was off.”
Although we predict that Proxima B will have similar Earth-like conditions such as a breathable atmosphere, rocky planet (minerals and other natural resources), liquid water both on the surface and underground, slightly more gravitational pull or weight due to its mass, the exoplanet will not be identical to Earth. Proxima B will have many unknown challenges for long-term survival there.
What if Proxima B does not have an atmosphere—oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur—to support human habitation or in bulk—nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium as must have elements, then calcium, magnesium, and sulfur as secondary elements—to grow healthy plants? These seven elements are critical to human and vegetation to promote and sustain life. If there are none of these elements or very little of them in the atmosphere, then what are the alternatives?
In Oracle, Arizona, at Biosphere 2, a totally self-contained, University of Arizona research lab facility to quantify the devastation and consequences of human-caused Climate Change on Earth as well as what might be possible to grow on distant exoplanets, they may have some answers. Here in enclosed domes scientists experiment and ask What can be done on/in an unsuitable, non-Earth hostile atmosphere? Since 1986 they have been compiling results of their totally sealed environment—from Earth’s currently poor, deteriorating conditions—to determine what could be constructed, maintained, and expanded on a planet like Proxima B.
Biosphere 2 in Oracle, AZ
Under the seven glass biodomes are an ocean/sea, a mangrove wetland, a tropical rainforest, a Savannah grassland, and a fog desert. These recreated ecosystems demand an enormous amount of engineering and heavy manmade materials for their proper climates and long-term survival. Obviously, the colossal scale to make and support these biome ecosystems would be impossible to transport 4.2 light years away, or further, in an interstellar spaceship with very limited cargo space and 1,000+ crewmembers. Ah, but there is a highly industrious, foraging, building insect species here on Earth that just might be the initial solution to this monumental exoplanet challenge.
At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, senior technology engineer Rob Mueller has developed a probable solution to large scale exoplanet biome construction: swarmies. Or another description would be swarming ants.
Mueller’s team at NASA have developed stand-alone, robotic ant-like, foraging hunters in the form of small 4-wheeled rovers, hundreds and hundreds of them. These swarmies carry lifting-claws and mineral sensors to excavate necessary resources to mine then build a basic first-stage colony for later arriving space crews. Once building materials have been identified by the swarmies their digital white pebbles and bread-crumb trail (Hansel & Gretel) is transmitted to the excavating machines called RASSOR’s. These larger mining machines collect the exoplanet’s natural resources (e.g. regolith) to be converted into bricks, mortar, rebar, polymer rope, many materials that can be used to build early stage biomes, living quarters, supply warehouses, et al.
The NASA foraging Swarmie by Rob Mueller’s team
NASA’s excavating machine RASSOR
Scale comparison of RASSOR to humans; Rob Mueller far left
Mueller’s team have also developed a fully automated, stand-alone production/assembly line for our own Moon, Mars, and Proxima B when these raw materials are brought by the RASSOR’s for final manufacturing. By utilizing the mineral resources already present on the exoplanets, costs in weight, fuel, building supplies and materials for intergalactic space travel-colonization to Proxima B and beyond is drastically cut and minimized. Shipping all of these cargos from Earth or even our Moon would be prohibitive and unrealistic.
The ideas and imaginations of going to and building another human, animal, and plant-sustained civilization on a New Earth are no longer fantasies of science-fiction. These are not just achievable, they are now obtainable. But we are quickly running out of time, “time” to save some humans and remnants of this deteriorating, dying planet caused by human activity and many decades of lethargic negligence. Our survival is in the stars, not here.
If We Don’t Outlaw Climate Change Pollutants
For the next 10–50 years the human race, as a whole, MUST act and act aggressively right away. If not as a collective species, then at minimum every single 1st-world and stable 2nd-world nation must act as one! The bad health and condition of our planet is much, much worse than previously forecasted in the 1970’s, 80’s, or 90’s.
In addition to our fast shrinking polar icecaps, melting glaciers, warming oceans, more extreme weather events, and unstable atmosphere—to name only five frequently occurring events—one example of the fast decaying health of Earth is currently close to home for me: the Gulf of Mexico.
Since at least 2018 the Mississippi River Watershed has been washing enormous amounts of man-made nutrients into the Gulf of Mexico, particularly high amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. These exorbitant amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus and other chemicals come from increased heavy rains and melting snow over lawns, farmlands, sewage treatment plants, chemical refineries, and other sources into all the Mississippi River’s tributaries, then into the Mississippi and finally into the Gulf of Mexico.
When these man-made nutrient pollutants empty into the Gulf, they trigger algae blooms that choke off oxygen in water making it very difficult, if not impossible, for marine life to survive. The impact has a negative domino effect on other ecosystems and industries. Read this report from The Nature Conservancy for more details on these severe impacts.
“NOAA is forecasting an above-average summer “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico covering approximately 5,827 square miles — an area roughly the size of Connecticut. The dead zone, or hypoxic area, is an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life. It occurs every summer and is primarily a result of excess nutrient pollution from human activities in cities and farm areas throughout the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed. The average dead zone measurement is 5,205 square miles over the 37-year period of record.”
Examine this 37-year data collection of the Gulf’s Dead Zone Hypoxia Area below. Then imagine the 2024 forecast (5,827 sq miles) in the first image and at the far right, second image:
And the killed fish in bottom image are just one species of marine life
Humans, people of Earth, it is way beyond time to halt being indifferent, apathetic, self-arrogant or intentionally ignorant of what we have been doing to our one and only planet for over 50-years, technically though since 1800 and the Industrial Revolution.
Here is a short quiz: List everything humans have done the last two centuries to curb, to slow, to stop consuming/using Climate Change pollutants. List everything even in the last century or half century. What significant actions or deterrents have we, our governments, our corporations, and privately at home done that has slowed catastrophic, extinction causing climate events? Did you use two hands? One hand to name them all? Have all the well-known extreme weather events and consequences of them, e.g. hurricanes, typhoons, flooding, droughts, bigger tornadoes, animal and plant extinctions, extreme temperatures, famine, plagues, pandemics, etc., have they decreased or reversed the last 100- or even 50-years?
It does not take a genius or even an intelligent person to fully realize and admit that what humans have been doing daily the last two centuries, especially since the end of World War II, and continue to not do… is nowhere near enough. And denying or going about business as usual, day in and day out as if nothing is happening or has happened… is NOT working. In fact, the planet is much, much worse than it was in 1760, 1830, 1945, 1990, or even 2000. Wake up world, or your habitat, your own kitchen and pantry, your very existence will soon be completely destroyed. Stop the negligence and outlaw climate change pollutants. Now.
Then, get on our collective horses and giddy up, and find fast a New Earth. At this current rate the clock is at 11:54pm and will not stop ticking until 12:01am. The end of Earth. Is there honestly another alternative? Can we happy(?) boiling frogs get ourselves out of the saucepan we keep inflaming hotter and hotter?
Precursor — I am still working on the blog-drafts Conclusion: A New U.S. Constitution and Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion – Part III (the Marcion part). However, this news here was just far too critical to ignore and not write about. Our country is on a very, very dangerous path and the consequences must be fully realized.
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There are five (5), maybe six (6), U.S. Supreme Court Justices that have literally lost their minds and abandoned the core foundations of our sacred Charters of Freedom, the precedents, and what it means contextually to live and govern a nation by laws, not personal opinions or beliefs. Who are the “rogue” federal justices? They are from most radical (MAGA puppets) first, to least conservative at the end:
Samuel A. Alito – appointed under George W. Bush’s administration.
Clarence Thomas – appointed under George H.W. Bush’s administration.
Neil Gorsuch – appointed under Trump’s administration.
Amy Coney Barrett – appointed under Trump’s administration.
Brett Kavanaugh – appointed under Trump’s administration.
John Roberts – the least radical, appointed under George H.W. Bush’s administration.
Chief Justice Roberts’ Supreme Court, October 2022
The other three justices which are not ultra Conservative or extreme radical are Ketanji Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, the most liberal according to Axios. What is the obvious indication that these five justices (six?) have completely lost their way and forsaken their Constitutional vows? Read this…
On Thursday, April 25th, 2024, a Trump lawyer argued to the Supreme Court justices that “the president could assassinate a political rival and be immune from prosecution.” But the most shocking, appalling part of this brazen claim is that the five (six?) MAGA Supreme Court justicesagreed with him! 😲
Assassinations of political rivals or enemies today happen in countries like Russia (Vladimir Putin& Alexei Navalny), Venezuela (Nicolás Maduro), Saudi Arabia (Mohammed bin Salman), Syria (Bashar al-Assad), or China, if one speaks out publicly against Xi Jinping and his communist government, you disappear in prison for life. But this isn’t supposed to happen in the United States. Our Founding Fathers clearly designed our nation to be ruled and governed by the law, not anarchy, authoritarianism, or societal trends or ideologies.
Furthermore, when the U.S. declared its independence to Great Britain in 1776 then drafted and ratified its Constitution in 1788, it was with the full intention of moving away from the kings, rulers, and despots of unstable colonial Europe.
In America, the rule of law is king.
— Thomas paine, a core founding father
Left to right: Pol Pot, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mao Zedong, and Kim Il-Sung
When I was a 4th thru 8th grade History-Social Studies teacher in 2010–2014, I often did a role-playing activity for my 8th graders called “Rule of Law or Rule of Man.” All my students would receive a Post-It note with words or phrases such as:
Public Safety
Dissent
Dictator
Executive Branch
Constitution
Liberty
Anarchy
Consensus
Freedom
Inalienable Rights
Fairness
Protest
Protection
Lawyer
Mob
Gang
Court
Prison
Responsibility
Legislative Branch
Violence
Hedonism
Democracy
Equality
Abuse
Separation of Powers
Selfishness
Inequality
Checks & Balances
Judicial Branch
Independent Judiciary
Best Interest of Country
Best Interest of One Person
After giving each student about 5-minutes to consider what their Post-It note says, then have them put their Post-It note in the correct column of the Big Chart which is divided in two: Rule of Law on the left; Rule of Man on the right.
Once all students have placed their note in one of the columns—it’s possible that some notes can be in either column, hence ‘on the line’—then ask the 8th-graders to make a consensus classroom definition of the Rule of Law and the Rule of Man. Next would be a set of discussion questions. For example:
When and where did our system of law originate and how?
How do laws today affect each of us daily?
What functions do laws serve in our society?
Be sure to discuss at least nine sub-topics of this question.
Are there flaws in our system of law? How are they resolved?
What role does our government’s Separation of Powers play in ensuring adherence to the Rule of Law?
Why is an Independent Judiciary fundamental to the Rule of Law?
It has been said for over 235 years that based on our Constitution, we are “a nation of laws, not people.” What does that mean?
Why is it so critically important to be well educated about our Founding documents and Founding Fathers like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?
Why is it critically important all Americans, especially our elected officials, follow the Rule of Law?
These are just a sampling of the important questions I would’ve asked my 8th-grade students. I would also have my students role-play in groups of 3-to-6 students per group assigning one of them to be the group Director. Following are a sample of the role-playing scenarios students would play:
Scenario #1 — “Brown vs Board of Education,” Little Rock, Arkansas. This case involved the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Scenario #2 — “Mapp vs Ohio,” Cleveland, Ohio. This case involved seized evidence without a legal search warrant was deemed inadmissible in state courts according to the Fourth Amendment.
Scenario #3 — “Gideon vs Wainwright,” Panama City, Florida. This case involved the Circuit Court judge denying Clarence Gideon his right to a state attorney to represent him when he couldn’t afford one himself, according to the Sixth Amendment.
And here is the real gut-punch scenario for the 8th-grade students:
Scenario #4 — This scenario is based on the Watergate scandal. The Constitution states that an Executive (like the U.S. President) who puts himself/herself above the law and deliberately abuses his or her powers of office may be impeached and even sent to prison. President Richard Nixon obstructed legal proceedings into the scandal by refusing to comply to the special prosecutor’s demands for Nixon’s wire-tapping tapes. Nixon resigned from office before he could be convicted. SCOTUS determined that Executive Privilege was not and is not limitless.
From this above 8th-grade classroom activity you might have deduced that the Separation of Powers was specifically designed by the Core Founding Fathers to protect against one office, one person, one branch of government seizing total or near-total, authoritarian power. Even 8th-graders, and 9th-graders to 12th-graders grasp and understand these basic Constitutional principles. They all know what a bully is like in the school yard and if not stopped what will eventually happen.
Yet, there is a sizable U.S. contingent within our state and federal governments as well as in the Supreme Court and within the general public who fail to comprehend, protect, and enforce this core Constitutional precept against bullies! Their deliberant naïvety is appalling as well as deeply disturbing. This November Americans might well be adding another man to the above image of history’s most infamous dictators: Donald J. Trump.
Some food for thought and debate…
Should this Trump lawyer’s and the supporting MAGA Supreme Court Justices’ logic somehow prevail and win out for a President’s total immunity to assassinate, should President Joe Biden consider assassinating Donald Trump? After all, you can’t have it both ways or apply the law when it suits you best and disregard it when it doesn’t. Why shouldn’t Biden entertain the idea of erasing Trump while he is the sitting President? Or why not imprison Trump in some remote Siberian location just as Vladimir Putin, Nicolás Maduro, Mohammed bin Salman, Bashar al-Assad, and Xi Jinping all do with regularity? If it is legal for Trump to do it, then it follows that Biden can do it.
What has Trump stated publicly and explicitly he will do if put back into the White House? Here are just three Project 2025 action plans, out of a litany of others, which he and MAGA Republicans promise to execute beginning in January 2025:
Incite violence against anyone, including political opponents, he deems a threat to his ambitions. Trump hasn’t just verbalized this intent, he has actually done it. Just last month Trump posted on his social media platform a video of President Biden hog-tied in the back of a pickup truck, bound and gagged with what appears to be a bullet-hole in his head. Regular threats such as these against the POTUS is in fact a crime.
Completely overhaul and dismantle civil service positions to favor his political allies that will loyally do his biddings. Within Project 2025 there is already a documented plan to replace thousands of agency employees with his own loyal sycophants, then undo hundreds of environmental protections and reduce even more civil rights for Americans.
Turn the FBI and other law enforcement agencies into his personal police state and imprison—just like Putin did with Alexei Navalny—all political or social opponents he deems a threat to himself. These are Trump’s words verbatim, “If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business.”
Anyone with a quality, fair and well-rounded education of American history and American government must admit that the above rhetoric and promises made by Trump 2024 and his MAGA cult members/minions, including 5-6 Supreme Court Justices, flies in the face of everything this nation was founded on by our six core Founding Fathers and the Charters of Freedom they drafted and the states ratified.
I cannot stress enough nor vehemently enough just how monumental this November will be. Not just for the future of the United States, but also the world. Mark my words right now, if the Orange Orangutan Baby gets back into the Oval Office, that isthe beginning of the end of this democratic republic from which we may never recover.
This post is merely a bulletin, a progress report and a reminder, for myself, and my followers patiently expecting the last installments of two blog-series I have yet to finish. They are:
Conclusion: A New U.S. Constitution
Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion – Part III (the Marcion part)
There are several other drafts pending and waiting to be finished, but it seems they will have to wait longer to be completed and published.
As many of you know I am the full-time/overtime caretaker of my mom 7-days and nights a week. She suffers from severe dementia which has now progressed into Early Alzheimer’s Disease. Her condition has been noticeably progressing since at least 2017, but has really advanced the last 18-months. She now requires more than one person (me) to care for her. I am no longer able to care for her as one person. I’ve been a one-man show since August of 2021 with very few and limited breaks so this is not only required for her, but more so myself.
Come this June or July—that’s the time-frame we are shooting for—Mom will be admitted into an Assisted Living Memory Care facility. You might imagine what all has to be done to 1) find the best Assisted Living Memory Care facility, 2) move out of her current Senior Living apartment and lots of furniture moved into storage, 3) getting all the legal paperwork sorted out to move her into an Assisted Living Memory Care facility, 4) the Long-term Care insurance policy claim initiated, which has been done, 5) her late husband’s Veteran’s Benefits Assistance initiated, 6) get Durable Power of Attorney completed, and 7) finally get myself completely moved back up (again) to Dallas, Texas after all tasks for Mom have been completed. Then 8) find employment in the Dallas metroplex that pays enough to live on and hopefully (fingers crossed 🤞) with a little safety net rainy day fund. The latter is not as easy as it once was 25-35 years ago. Wages in Texas have not kept up with “inflation” or the cost of living per zip code.
In other words, my next 10 or 12 weeks are going to be quite busy, to say the least. I will do what I can for my blogging, but I can make no promises. I do appreciate all of your patience and understanding. At some point in late July or early August I will be back into Dwain’s full-swing and living his own life once more. It is so needed and cannot come soon enough for me. 🙂
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
In this part two I want to examine (reexamine?) the reliability or unreliability of Paul’s epistles and facts hidden in the Greek New Testament as well as other contemporary sources of the time about Paul. I will also examine Paul’s thirdepistle to the Corinthians and the forgeries within it done in his name by later Greek Church Fathers and their copyists.
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The Eccentric Yet Dubious Apostle Paul
Labelling Paul as dubious is quite the understatement if one knows the various extant accounts of him available outside the popular Greek New Testament. From what we know, however, in his epistles and the book of Acts is that he was loved and hated, welcomed and shunned, provocative and a pestilence. There is even the chance he never existed as one man, but was a reference class as Dr. Richard Carrier places him. Carrier states that Paul’s six authentic letters are “far more probable hypothesis (for more on this point see How Do We Know the Apostle Paul Wrote His Epistles in the 50s A.D.?). And that makes Paul far better attested than Jesus: because we have some things written by Paul himself! That’s a serious issue of reliability of whether Paul actually understood and knew Jesus simply from an epileptic vision on the road to Damascus or from resurrection appearances after Jesus’ execution and burial.
Epilepsy and Paul
Another problematic account of Paul was his medical health issues of ectasia and exstatic seizures and its form(s) of disease classified as the “Sacred Disease” or focal epilepsy. This disease disrupts one’s daily life in many significant ways from learning, to bodily dysfunctions, to hyper-sensations such as hallucinations (visual, hearing, and taste), mood swings, to communication, speaking and cognitive functions. It isn’t hard to conclude that with all those “disruptions” in a person’s life causes all sorts of positive and negative social interactions and relationships, especially around ancient people who have little to no understanding of the disease and its manifestations, privately or publicly. And as mentioned earlier, this disease in the 1st century CE most surely caused eccentricity and dubious behavior and speech in the eyes of other Jews and Gentiles. There’s another reliability issue.
Unfounded Claims of Jewish Lineage
In the Greek New Testament Paul claims he was born of Jewish parents in the Roman Province of Cilicia in its capital Tarsus. During his life there Cilicia was heavily Hellenized going as far back as 333 BCE when Alexander conquered Anatolia. As I covered in my 2018 series Saul the Apostate, this claim of Jewish heritage from the tribe of Benjamin is a major snag and mess.
The Gate of Cleopatra, or the Sea Gate and Roman road in modern day Tarsus, Turkey.
First, nowhere in Jewish Rabbinical history is there a tribal list or ancestry of Benjamin in existence in Cilicia or Tarsus at that time, not even rumors of it. Second, it is claimed in Acts 22:3 that Paul’s rabbinic studies were under Gamaliel in Jerusalem. Yet, none of his ascribed writings and arguments in the Greek New Testament are Gamaliel or rabbinic in nature. Most historical scholars of Late Second Temple Judaism and Zugot-Tannaitic Rabbinical literature agree with this falsehood. Yet another problem of Paul’s reliability.
Paul’s Hellenic Studies and Education
On a positive inference of Paul’s eccentric exuberance for public or church preaching, his infatuation with mysteries and the Spirit of God through tongues, supernatural powers, sacraments, and fatalism (mood symptom) can be directly traced to the Gnostic lore of Alexandria and the Corpus Hermeticum, specifically the Poimandres, heavy in Greek mythology and later Hellenism. Probably not so coincidental was his education and exposure in the Hillel school. There Paul would have learned classic Hellenistic literature, ethics, and philosophy (Stoicism) and these influences do indeed reveal themselves in all his ascribed letters, especially from the Hellenistic Book of Wisdom and other Apocrypha, as well as Philo of Alexandria who is the father of harmonizing Greek philosophy with the Jewish Torah; both are transparent in Paul’s writings.
Paul’s Roman Citizenship & Anti-Semitism
Interesting enough, Paul’s background and study of Hellenistic philosophy, literature, and ethics would have suited him well to becoming a Roman citizen, later saved by a Roman centurion at the Temple amongst a serious dispute and angry Jewish mob (Acts 21:27-36), and as a result becomes a hunter-prosecutor of early annoying Christians to the Roman Empire (Acts 22:22–23:11) all while despised by Homeland Jews for his attacks on them and apostacy of Judaism.
Evidence of Paul’s Herodian Lineage & Unions
This is the most intriguing inferences and connections of Paul’s dubious reliability from the Greek canonical New Testament that is veiled, hidden inside his Epistles and Acts. There is also internal and extraneous sources of him belonging to Herodian-Jews, not Pharisaic-Jews and these sources combined and understood as a whole picture reveal a plausible conclusion he was likely/probably a Hellenic “Herodian Christos” evangelist not a Jesus evangelist. Where do we find these sources?
Alluding to and probably referencing terminology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSSs) of Qumran we find almost identical terms used in Paul’s letters to the Galatian, Corinthian, and Roman Herodian-Christians. The DSSs frequently use terms like the Enemy, the Liar or Spouter of Lies, Man of Lying, Comedian of Lying (i.e. epileptic?), and some others. They strongly pointed to the adversary of “The Righteous Teacher” within the Judean “The Way” Movement of Jesus’ disciples and followers. Paul refers to them repeatedly in his letters in Gal. 1:20, 2 Corinthians 11:31, and Romans 9:1 (to name just three) that he was not “a Liar” or he “does not lie.” This explicitly implies that his groups/churches in those three cities had been told that Saul of Tarsus deceives and maligns the truth and the faith.
Dead Sea Scrolls today and the Pesher Habakkuk scroll written c. 2,000 years ago about the “Wicked Priest” and “the Spouter of Lies” as well as “the Enemy.”
Furthermore, “The Enemy” terminology is also strong and prevalent in the Pseudo-Clementines. For example, in Homilies the apparent Epistle of Peter to James the brother in Jerusalem, it states:
For some from among the Gentiles have rejected my legal preaching, attaching themselves to certain lawless and trifling preaching of the man who is my enemy. […]
[The Gentile Enemies]transform my words by certain various interpretations, in order to the dissolution of the law. […]
…the law of God which was spoken by Moses, and was borne witness to by our Lord… for thus he spoke: “The heavens and the earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” (quoting Matt. 5:18)
Dr. Bart Ehrman describes the significance of this Epistle of Peter to James as a Palestinian counter-balance against the Hellenic canonical NT and Acts of the Apostles. He writes:
This book provides the counter-view to that found in the New Testament book of Acts, where Paul and Peter are thought to be completely on the same side and simpatico on every major issue. Not according to this short letter. Here Peter and James are the heroes of the faith, and Paul is the great enemy.
— Bart Ehrman Blog, “Another Forgery in the Name of Peter, April 2013, accessed Oct. 11, 2018
I cover more extensively the overall, hateful opinions of Paul by 1st century Homeland Jews and in their DSSs in my fourth part of Saul the Apostate. And by the way, Herodian Jews did indeed receive Roman citizenry. Ironically, Paul himself openly supports this method of Roman-Herodian citizenship:
Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my kinsman.
— Romans 16:10-11
Be sure to read closely Dr. Robert Eisenman’s extensive work on Paul’s Herodian bloodline and unions in my Part IV. They are quite compelling. With these sources it is no stretch to conclude that Paul’s Christ-cult and theology Christology was easily embraced by Hellenic Pagans/Gentiles because it represented very little of what Jesus’ Tannaitic, Torah-loving teachings and Sectarian reforms.
On a final note about Paul’s probable Herodian connections, the question must be asked, What would be the best alternative approach—centuries-later in the eyes and minds of the Hellenic Patristic Fathers—to a failed Messiah, who never returns, and the related Messianic OT prophecies hence also failed? Be sure to read Dr. James Tabor’s answers to this question.
Reliability & the Author(s) of Acts
The book of Acts is generally regarded by scholars to be a two-part compilation sometimes labelled Luke–Acts. Both works were addressed to a man named Theophilus, an obscure friend of Luke and by unsubstantiated conjecture, Paul’s lawyer. Nevertheless, the name Theophilus as the recipient, appears in both Luke’s Gospel and in Acts which implies Luke would be the author. That’s the traditional Greek-church theory.
But the timespan of 5–35 years (possibly 40-yrs) between writings of the two volumes—Luke in c. 80-110 CE and Acts in c. 90-120 CE—suggests that Acts was probably written well after Luke. And since both works’ authorship are anonymous, i.e. no explicit signature of the author, opens the debate that Acts had more than one author. The latter would also explain nicely the many contradictions between Luke and Acts, as well as those between Paul’s epistles and Acts. In my opinion and research, the wide differences of composition time-frames and author anonymity of Luke–Acts makes a good case that Acts had more than one author, or source, resulting in many inconsistencies and irreconcilable blunders.
What are the most glaring, damaging fallacies and inconsistencies of the book of Acts portrayal of Paul and Paul’s description of himself in his letters?
Apostles performing Acts of miracles and evangelizing Gentiles and Jews alike — Image from pereprava.org
Many biblical scholars like John Crossan, Clare Rothschild, Gregory Sterling, Thomas Brodie, perhaps Richard Carrier, and Bart Ehrman are all in agreement that in specific historical details Acts is unreliable. But as far as general portrayals of Paul the book of Acts is more accurate. But does that make Acts a historical narrative? No. However, it does make Acts a theological drama and sensationalized story. In that arena I am in the same boat or posture as Richard Carrier: if a narrative isn’t completely factual, then it must be classified as an inspired-by-actual-events legend, but not an irrefutable factual transcript. Big difference.
If one needs Acts to be a reliable history, and not revisionist history (a.k.a. “bullshit”), one needs to “leave out” all the evidence that it repeatedly contradicts the eyewitness testimony of Paul, and in precisely the ways that suit its author’s agendas, and that it mimics known tropes and features distinctive of fiction and propaganda, and conspicuously omits all the actual markers of reliable histories.
Carrier goes on with his sharp criticism of the author(s) of Acts stating, “That people [of the 1st and 2nd century CE] routinely tried to pass off lies as genuine history was a major problem regularly complained of at the time.” He cites three different sources of these complaints, T.J. Luce, “Ancient Views on the Causes of Bias in Historical Writing,” Lucian’s “How to Write History,” and Plutarch’s “On the Malice of Herodotus.” Then Carrier lays it on thick by stating there are over 20 other “Acts” that even most all Orthodox Christians agree are bogus.
Then Carrier goes even further stating that Christians and their self-proclaimed, self-perceived impunity to bend laws of nature as God-initiated “miracles” and rewriting, re-visioning actual historical events for believers afforded Christians and their scribes the license to freely doctor up stories/Acts that suited their own agenda and lure, recruit Gentiles into the new Pauline Christology.
Additionally, Acts contains some serious historical fallacies, four that are glaring. The first fallacy is the Roman Cohorts/troops stationed supposedly in Caesarea c. 37 CE. In Acts 10:1 the “Italian regiment” would be the Cohors II Italica Civium Romanorum, or an Italian Auxiliary Unit based out of Syria. The problem with this specific unit and Acts’ account of it is that its presence in Caesarea or Judea is confirmed to be no earlier than 69 CE, thirty-two years later.
A second fallacy (of many) is the event of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 put next to Galatians 2. Examine the following image table:
Paul and Barnabas are appointed by Antioch church (v. 2). Meeting involves the church, the apostles, and the elders (v.4, 6). No report. Includes the Apostolic Decree (v , 29). Gal. 2. Paul goes up (with Barnabas and Titus) by revelation (v. 2). Meeting is private, before those of repute (v.2). Includes an agreement on division of labor (v. 9). Mentions a request and agreement to remember the poor (v. 10). Those of repute added nothing to me (v.6).
Once again this shows compellingly, in my knowledgeable opinion, that Acts was written noticeably later by more than one author and authors who naïvely did not have the Gospel of Luke in front of them, making their work in Acts highly unreliable.
A third fallacy or problem is James’, the brother of Jesus, speech in Jerusalem (Acts 15:16-18) where he quotes literally from the GreekSeptuagint speaking Greek. But James’ audience would’ve only been the Council members who spoke Aramaic or Mishnaic Hebrew amongst each other. Why on Earth would James speak to them in Greek? Because he would not; that would’ve been completely unnecessary, unless Acts 15 is a later retro-report than the actual speech the Acts’ author(s) haphazardly and naïvely penned.
Finally, the fourth fallacy or problem of Acts’ reliability is the Egyptian and the assassins/terrorists called Sicarii of 1st century Judea (prior to 70 CE) and the narrative in Acts 21:38. By confusing this Egyptian with Paul the author(s) of Acts demonstrates that they used Josephus’ as a prior source and completely mistook that “The Egyptian” led them… which is wholly false.
To conclude this portion, I am in agreement with biblical scholars like Bart Ehrman and critics like Richard Carrier that as a whole the book of Acts is mostly unreliable, if not completely unreliable. It does easily give convenient historical facts about events of 1st century CE to lend itself as valid, reliable to readers about events in Judea, Jerusalem, and its Roman rule, however, it cannot be trusted on the specific details and verifiable, confirmed external facts of the time that we do possess today.
Paul’s “Third” Epistle & Letter to the Laodiceans? What?
There are two letters (falsely) attributed to Paul called 3rd Corinthians and another called Laodiceans. They are noted in Acts 8: 9-24 and in the Acts of Paul, a pseudepigraphal apocryphal work neither of which are in the present day NT canon.
Third Corinthians is a forgery written by Orthodox Christian Fathers to oppose circulating forgeries during the 3rd century CE to support their own seven separate Nicene Councils’ final theologies. Marcion of Sinope became the very first major heretic of the Greco-Roman Catholic Church and our present Orthodox Christian Churches, Protestant ones included.
There were apparently Pauline letters about Marcion of Sinope circulating around c. 135 CE in Rome. Sadly, none of them exist today because extreme 2nd–4th century orthodox Christians destroyed and burned them. However, as luck would have it we do have letters forged in Paul’s name by Greek Church Fathers which seem to oppose Marcion. And they wrote forgeries to oppose him and his “heretical” theology in the name of Paul. Yes, the second and third generation Church Fathers fabricated and invented their own Pauline forgeries to fight Marcion. Bart Ehrman explains:
It was quite common for “orthodox” Christians (that is, Christians who accepted the theological views that eventually became widely accepted throughout Christianity) to charge “heretics” (those who taught “false teachings”) with forging documents in the names of the apostles in order to support their views. […]
The Gospel of Peter, for example, was charged with being heretical, as teaching a docetic view of Jesus. But orthodox Christians forged documents of their own. We have far more of this kind of forgery, since orthodox writings were more likely to be preserved for posterity, even if they were not actually written by their alleged authors.
Two different theologians had gone to Corinth during Paul’s missions, one named Simon (the Magician) and the other Cleobius. Both were preaching a very different gospel than Paul’s. The Corinthian Christians wanted Paul to come in person to whip the ones who had gone astray from Simon’s and Cleobius’ teachings. Their teachings were essentially:
Do not petition the Old Testament prophets
God is “not Almighty,” not omnipotent
No resurrection of the flesh/dead will happen
Earth was not created by God, but by angels
Christos did not come here in the flesh as a man
Christos was not born from Mary
Much of these theological doctrines sound like Marcion’s teachings. Consequently, followers of Marcion rejected an afterlife “in the flesh” at the end of time. This also meant that Christos could not have been born and had human flesh. Since the Old Testament did not belong in the canonical New Testament, disregarding the OT prophets was fine, they were no longer needed. Imagine the impact of these teachings to traditional Judeo-Christians, even Paul’s Corinthians.
But there are discrepancies above with the followers—in the forged 3rd Corinthians that is—to what Maricon actually taught. Marcion in fact did teach that Earth was created by the OT God. Hence, it was an apparent wayward group of Corinthians that deviated from traditional Judeo-Christian creationism, not Marcion, as the Greco-Roman Church Fathers purported in their forged letter of 3rd Corinthians. However, this group of Corinthians had similar theological ideas with Marcion, but they were not identical. It seems the 2nd century Church Fathers like Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Justin Martyr, got it wrong in making their forged epistle in the name of Paul.
The phony 3rd letter to the Corinthians was a denunciation aimed at the rising movement of Gnostic Christianity and docetism in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. In this “response letter” the early Church Fathers, not Paul, underscored several doctrines about the real nature of Christos as opposed to Marcion’s and the Gnostics’ version. One particular doctrine that 3rd Corinthians addresses is the importance of the flesh. No, not pornography—although that would be a nice respite from this crazy religion—they mean (the early Greek Church Fathers) actual flesh and bone and blood in order to make Christos’ Incarnation theologically workable.
Assaulting the Gnostics’ beliefs, the forger(s) chastise any who proclaim that heaven, Earth, and all within them was not God’s creation are labelled heretics. In attempting to mimic Paul the forger(s) slip up and show their papyrus caper. Making the flesh one of the primary focal points caught Bart Ehrman’s attention:
This emphasis on the “flesh” is very interesting, but also a bit ironic. One recent study of 3 Corinthians has shown that the forger[s], who was intent on opposing the false teachings of the heretics, does so by teaching ideas about the flesh that are contrary to what the real, historical Paul taught.[2] Paul himself certainly believed that God had created this world, and that at the end of time he would redeem it. Paul, like most Jews and Christians in his day, thought that at the end of this age there would be a bodily resurrection. That is to say, that humans would face judgment, either reward or punishment, in their own bodies that had been raised from the dead (see for example 1 Corinthians 15). But Paul did not call the body “the flesh.” On the contrary “the flesh” meant something completely different for Paul. It meant that part of human nature that is controlled by sin and that is alienated from God (see for example Romans 8:1-9). For Paul, the “flesh” needed to be overcome, since it was controlled by sin. The human body would be raised from the dead, but the flesh had to die.
This somewhat technical understanding of the term flesh came to be lost in later orthodox Christianity, when theologians began thinking that flesh and body were the same thing. And that has happened here in 3 Corinthians. Unlike Paul, this [forgery] emphasizes the importance of flesh as a creation of God that will be raised. In other words, this is an instance in which a forger claiming to be Paul represents a point of view that is contrary to Paul’s, even though he is trying to correct, in Paul’s name, teachings that he thinks are false.
Another forged “letter” by early Hellenic Church Fathers done in the name of Paul is the one to the Laodiceans. According to many biblical scholars this fake letter is the epitome of stale and lacking in theme and intent. In fact, nine-tenths of the letter is just a repeat of Philippians. The opening line is from Galatians 1:1 so it shows no substance and no pop, no inspiration. Adolf von Harnack says, “[The letter,] it is with regard to content and form the most worthless document that has come down to us from Christian antiquity.“
Ruins of ancient Laodicea, a city 10.5 miles northwest of Colossae, Asia Minor or modern day Turkey
The mystery about a letter or letters to the Laodiceans is that only one exists. It is the letter found in the Latin Vulgate, but it is remarkably short and claims to be written by Paul. Any letter to the Laodiceans from Marcion does not exist, only Tertullian writes about it attacking the Marcionites for using a revised version of Ephesians. The 4th–5th century Epiphanius of Salamis also references a Laodicean letter, but he merely quotes straight from Ephesians 4:5. Nonetheless, the quagmire of confusion was only made much worse by the early Greco-Roman Orthodox Church Fathers. At the very least, this paints a dubious picture on their reputation and integrity.
But here’s the rub. Forgeries were rampant during the Latin Middle Ages both in the Orthodox Roman Church—the ancestor of today’s Protestant Churches—and possibly too, we can’t know with certainty, from the Marcionites, all trying to plagiarize and imponerePaul’s letters. And whether it comes down to an age of coincidental loss of history or to an age of ruthless hunter-eradicators, it is not coincidence that the only surviving records of papyrus and manuscripts somehow all belong to the victorious Greco-Roman Orthodox Church and its 2nd–4th century Hellenic Fathers. Think about it.
In my last and final Part III of Paul, Acts, Forgeries & Marcion, I will explore and examine a bit further the very first major heretic and threat of the early 1st century Roman Orthodox Church, Marcion, and why he was such an “apparent” danger.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
I have zero expectation that anything I ever say will end someone’s belief in their God. Not my goal or purpose. That alone belongs to the individual. ~ Zoe
'Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it' - Terry Pratchett
The Professor's Convatorium 