CHALLENGE:
Here's a string of numbers. You want to convert them into a different string of numbers. Here's how:
If a number is followed by a 1 then subtract 1 from that number and write it down.
If a number is followed by a 2 then add 1 to that number and write it down.
If a number is followed by a 3 then leave the number as it is and write it down.
If a number is followed by a 4 ignore the number and leave a blank.
If a number is followed by a 5 ignore it and write down 9 instead.
If a number is followed by a 6 then subtract 2 from it and write it down.
If a number is followed by a 7 then add 2 to it.
If a number is followed by an 8 then add 1 to the last number you wrote down.
If a number is followed by a 9 then ignore that number and write down 3 instead.
If a number is followed by a 0 then ignore it and write down 1 instead.
The numbers wrap, so if you have a 0 and have to subtract 2 from that, write down an 8.
Example: 01234567890 would be converted to
922_938931
52569145374504546504504188456957
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
__ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Now circle every 4rth number (or blank). Each number represents a colour. Find an object with the circled colours to find your next clue.
0 is Grey 6 is Pink
1 is White 7 is Orange
2 is Blue 8 is Brown
3 is Green 9 is Purple
4 is Yellow Blank is Red
5 is Black
Example: for 12_456 the circled number would be 4 and the object would have the colour Yellow in it.
Now take the new numbers you got and change them into letters:
1 is M or N or T 6 is W or G or B
2 is C or B or P 7 is N or L or C
3 is R or T or F 8 is E or Y or S
4 is W or O or H 9 is O or I or A
5 is C or E or R
Good luck!
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Great Fudges in Religion
One thing I've noticed about religious people is that they love quoting from their Holy Books but they seem blissfully ignorant of what is actually in them. Maybe they've never heard the inconvenient passages in church or Bible Classes. Maybe they've never read them. Or maybe they are given a kind of auto-suggestion, whereby they are told what a passage is supposed to mean to stop them from reading what it actually says. Either way, religion is full of FUDGES. And it isn't the Holy Books themselves that are guilty of tricking you- it is the people who teach you about them that do that. So for heavens sake- if some passage is pointed out to you, read it straight, without an explanation first and make sure you read at least a page around it so you've got it in context. Then think about what it is saying, and THEN, only THEN, go ahead and listen to the explanation. Maybe the explanation will match, maybe it won't or maybe the explanation tries to slide you away from what it actually says. You need to keep your eyes wide open or you too will be programmed like they are.
Of course who cares about the passages that are obscure and not important- the bits where the angels come and sleep with human females, or the guy who physically wins a wrestling match with God. Or an Angel of God. These are just quirks, but the great Fudges, they are the big ones.
For instance, read Mark 13:
.........................................................................
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
5Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation'[a]standing where it[b] does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ[c]!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24"But in those days, following that distress,
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'[d]
26"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
28"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
...............................................................................................
In short, this covers Jesus predicting when his second coming would be and what would happen immediately previous to that. Everyone knows about the “wars and rumors of war” but how many people read the bit that says he'd come back in his own generation? The Christians of course slide you right into the next passages that says:
32"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
But look at it this way. If I had predicted the Messiah would come back in July (don't know the date, don't know the time) but I'm positive it would be July 2008, then I would be wrong .But Jesus' prediction is 2000 years off and counting so any prediction I made would be closer than the prediction he made, yet I would be considered the false prophet and HE wouldn't!, This is a HUGE Fudge!
It isn't just Christianity of course. Some Jews believe their Patriarchs were perfectly righteous in everything they did. But look at King David:
..............................................................................................
2 Samuel 10
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then [a] she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
2 Samuel 11
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, [a] the son born to you will die."
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died.
.....................................................................................................
OK that's pretty cut and dried. He sinned, he said he'd sinned, God said he'd sinned and he got punished, but did not die because he was forgiven.
So how could anyone consider David righteous and perfect? Well, here's a passage from the Zahor:
1. Prologue : 14. The night of the bride
Verse 132. King David, after what happened to him with Batsheva, was very fearful. Because at that time, Dumah ascended to the Holy One, blessed be He, stood before Him, and said, O Master of the universe, in the Torah it says of "the man that commits adultery with another man's wife [that]...the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Vayikra 20:10). Furthermore, it is written, "Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife to defile yourself with her" (Ibid.18:20). So what is to become of David, who has profaned the Holy Covenant by desecrating his Brit (genital organ) by committing incest? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "David is righteous! And the Holy Covenant remains intact, because it is known to Me that Bat-Sheva was assigned to him since the day the world was created.
Now THAT is an impressive FUDGE!
Of course who cares about the passages that are obscure and not important- the bits where the angels come and sleep with human females, or the guy who physically wins a wrestling match with God. Or an Angel of God. These are just quirks, but the great Fudges, they are the big ones.
For instance, read Mark 13:
.........................................................................
3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
5Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9"You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
12"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14"When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation'[a]standing where it[b] does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again. 20If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ[c]!' or, 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. 22For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. 23So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
24"But in those days, following that distress,
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'[d]
26"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
28"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
...............................................................................................
In short, this covers Jesus predicting when his second coming would be and what would happen immediately previous to that. Everyone knows about the “wars and rumors of war” but how many people read the bit that says he'd come back in his own generation? The Christians of course slide you right into the next passages that says:
32"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
But look at it this way. If I had predicted the Messiah would come back in July (don't know the date, don't know the time) but I'm positive it would be July 2008, then I would be wrong .But Jesus' prediction is 2000 years off and counting so any prediction I made would be closer than the prediction he made, yet I would be considered the false prophet and HE wouldn't!, This is a HUGE Fudge!
It isn't just Christianity of course. Some Jews believe their Patriarchs were perfectly righteous in everything they did. But look at King David:
..............................................................................................
2 Samuel 10
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then [a] she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die."
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.
2 Samuel 11
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "
13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, [a] the son born to you will die."
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died.
.....................................................................................................
OK that's pretty cut and dried. He sinned, he said he'd sinned, God said he'd sinned and he got punished, but did not die because he was forgiven.
So how could anyone consider David righteous and perfect? Well, here's a passage from the Zahor:
1. Prologue : 14. The night of the bride
Verse 132. King David, after what happened to him with Batsheva, was very fearful. Because at that time, Dumah ascended to the Holy One, blessed be He, stood before Him, and said, O Master of the universe, in the Torah it says of "the man that commits adultery with another man's wife [that]...the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Vayikra 20:10). Furthermore, it is written, "Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife to defile yourself with her" (Ibid.18:20). So what is to become of David, who has profaned the Holy Covenant by desecrating his Brit (genital organ) by committing incest? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "David is righteous! And the Holy Covenant remains intact, because it is known to Me that Bat-Sheva was assigned to him since the day the world was created.
Now THAT is an impressive FUDGE!
Monday, August 04, 2008
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