Famous music producer Phil Spector – the genius who brought us Let It Be, River Deep Mountain High, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’, Unchained Melody, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies’ Man, The Ramones Rock ‘n’ Roll High School – has been found guilty of second-degree murder.
Footage of his first day in jail has been leaked to G’Day World:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgZyibqv3g&hl=en&fs=1]
Tara Hunt, author of the new book “The Whuffie Factor”, chats with me about whuffie – what it is, what we do with it, and how it changes the game.
Follow Tara on Twitter or her blog and read about the book here.
If you want to join me in celebrating
Vanini Day, then join the club.
If you want to listen to some of my other podcasts on the history of Jesus, see this page.
And finally, please support TPN’s April drive! We need your support!
If you want to keep TPN on the air, please show your support. If just the listeners of this show contributed $20 a month, I could fund TPN indefinitely! Is the information and entertainment you get from TPN worth a bottle of cheap wine?
|
When I asked that question on Twitter today, I had a few people tell me “Wodewick” or “Woger”. Oh and in typical Christian fashion, I was also called “an asshole” by @Griffmiester for asking the question.
But I learned something interesting today, another twist in the New Testament that I wasn’t previously aware of.
Most versions of the NT say that the man that Pilate released (it was apparently a custom for the the praefectus or governor of Judaea to commute one prisoner’s death sentence by popular acclaim) was a criminal called Barabbas.
For example, in the New International Version of the NT, in Matthew 27:16 it reads:
At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
HOWEVER…
If we look instead at the Contemporary English Version, the same passage reads:
At that time a well-known terrorist named Jesus Barabbas was in jail. So when the crowd came together, Pilate asked them, “Which prisoner do you want me to set free? Do you want Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
Apparently some of the oldest versions of the NT, including the Syriac Sinaiticus, have the name of the prisoner as “Yeshua bar Abbas” but the “Yeshua” was dropped from later versions – yet another example of early Christian authorities editing the manuscripts to suit their agenda.
In Amaraic (and in Latin), “bar Abbas” translates as “Son of the Father”.
So the crowd was given a choice of “Jesus, Son Of The Father” or “Jesus, who is called The Messiah”. Don’t they sound like the same person to you?
What was Yeshua bar Abbas’ crime? In the different gospels, he is referred to in a variety of ways: a “notorious prisoner”, a “bandit”, an “insurrectionist” and a “murderer”.
When Pilate asked the crowd which prisoner he should release, they said “bar Abbas!” (The Son of the Father!).
What do you think? Confusing?
I’ve been blocked from commenting on a Christian blog. Was I being a troll? Was I being offensive? No, actually it was the opposite.
Some guy called Nick Norelli writes a blog called “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth –
Study to show thyself approved unto God… (2 Tim. 2:15)”. Apparently Nick is only interested in study if it agrees with his point of view though. On April 6, he wrote a blog post called “Out of Touch with Reality“. Guess who is out of touch with reality? That’s right – me.
Nick wrote a blog post attacking my intelligence. “Mr. Reilly shows himself to be woefully out of touch with reality.” It wasn’t bad enough that he got his argument wrong, claiming that I had, in another discussion on another site (which, by the way, was a very civil debate on both sides) claimed that “all scholars” agreed with my position on the historicity of Jesus, something I had not done.
So I left a comment on Nick post defending myself.
That lead to a discussion with some of the folks who read Nick’s blog and I believe the discussion was civil and honest. True that some of Nick’s readers, like Nick himself, are very dismissive of anyone who disagrees with their position. Instead of debating facts or refuting my position by providing evidence, they prefer to say things like:
“… his arguments reflect a slanted type of scholarship that doesn’t accurately represent the data.”
“… your doubt that Jesus even existed renders you unfit for me to engage in such matters.” (That’s the great Nick himself speaking.)
“… you just don’t know what you’re talking about.” (That’s Nick again.)
“I’m not even willing to discuss your arguments with you let alone debate them.” (Nick, again.)
So, as you can see, typical Christian avoidance and insults. Instead of debating facts, they would rather insult your intelligence, your knowledge or, as Nick did, just end up blocking you from the discussion.
I’d like to remind you again that HE started it by writing a blog post insulting my mental state (“out of touch with reality”).