Cognition, recognition...

With more than 30 percent of the Bible market, the NIV has loyal following. When translators introduced a language update of the NIV (the TNIV), ass-backwards "Americans sounded the alarm."

First, translations are - by no means - certain. A word-for-word translation has limited value because while languages change, the speakers of those languages recycle old words to fit new meaning (thereby erasing recognition - or cognitive equivalence). Translation of the cognitive equivalents (e.g. thought-for-thought) is -at best- a patchwork of approximations because no one today is certain just WHAT the ancients were thinking or to what they might have been alluding. Also, parallels (cypher) have been lost more often than not. Add that puns and wordplay were often employed by the pre-standup comic element of the genre [of scriptural writers].

Bible translation differences clearly point out how modern words are 'best estimate' selected to translate or illuminate the metaphor in the ancient scripture.

Let me add that the same word-for-word and thought-for-thought problem exists for Buddhist Scriptures (including the more recent - comparatively - writing of Dogen)! Furthermore, more recent examples are available.

The debate itself is informative of how little we know - or can know. It also explains the generation-to-generation language gap.

So, my advice to those who wish to endlessly argue over minutia: "Shut the f*ck up!"

Besides, it's not creation that is being described in Genesis 1, it is only a sunrise (over the Gulf of Aden to the east of Ethiopia)! The spirit (e.g. breath) of god was carried by a bird - the BA - fluttering over the ocean at dawn.

Ignorant or free?

Thomas Jefferson once wrote:
"I have sworn upon an altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. A nation cannot be both ignorant and free."

The Peale portrait (1791) is here:

Ignorance is the cause of much suffering.

Oh, I know, desire (or craving) are the cause of suffering. Craving POWER, craving wealth, craving recognition - in short, being a paranoid republican.

Why are Buddhists happier?

Because they CAN be.

Why are most republicans miserable?

Because they are ignorant.

And in their ignorance, they can never be free. Pity the ignorant, pity the republican.

If you really believe...

Then serve god... (how?)

(serve god) Pizza!

You can even BURN THE BACON which, despite it's lack of kosherness, may please the nostrils of your particular god(s).

Multiple Names of God.

A monotheistic God evolved from the polytheistic nature (of gods) because the Gods had many names and titles for all of their works (e.g. storm, sea, sun, rain, death, seperation). Therefore, the Gods who were judges or the abortionist wagers of wars...

Some concepts of God are worth noting because they capture some ancient psychological truth.

The Egyptian speaker of truth (Toth) created everything from sound.

The Norse Balder was crucified, died, and was freed from Hel.

Trinities:

» Christianity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

» Romans (Archaic Triad). The Archaic triad was Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. Jupiter (papa), Juno (the gate keeper), Minerva (mother) (father, son, mother of son).

» Greeks (Capitoline Triad). After 500 BC, the Romans modified the Greek gods Zeus (Jupiter), Athena (Minerva) and...

» Hindu (Vedas). Agni (the sun, god of fire), Vayu (god of air), Surya (god of spirit, breath of life, or ghost - manifested in the birth water).

» Hindu (Puranas). Vishnu exists in three forms: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destroyer).

» Norse. Odin (the all-father), Freja (Athena), Balder.

Consider: the god of the toilet, the god of the dump, and the god of the flush. Why make arbitrary limits? Who ordained YOU to limit god(s)?

Estimating the number of atheists is rather complex (e.g. "there is no simple answer). Some adults who describe themselves as atheists also believe in God (Pew Research Center). And some people who identify with religions (e.g., are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, etc.) do not believe in God.

I have no concerns whatsoever either way. The real question is: "Do you believe in Pizza? (I do not.)

The universe could be merely a hologram - nothing more

The universe could be merely a projected hologram.

The hologram could be a projection of mind.

The mind could be merely a projection of consciousness.

And consciousness could be merely a universe that is self-aware.

The top of the three COBE images is the background radiation - 3° Kelvin.

The center of the three COBE images shows the warped spin in the temperature of the universe - suggesting that the axis of spin folds back on itself (in a dimension that we can not observe).

The bottom of the three COBE images shows the granularity that suggests matter (e.g. concentrations of temperature).

But is COULD be illusionary.

"In the teachings of Buddha (e.g. Gautama Shakyamuni- as there are many many Buddhas) we have a concept, corresponding to that of maya in Hinduism. This is the called sanyatta which is sanskrit and translates as 'emptiness' in english. This concept describes how all the objects around us and all material things exist only as an appearances and behind that appearance is emptiness. That is, they don't really exist and therefore it is only consciousness that exists. So physical objects and the material world exist only as projections of our conscious state. Conscious states themselves being manifestations of the one God or in Buddhist parlance 'the Void'. This original meaning is sometimes misinterpreted by modern day Buddhists to mean that things are only empty of value. i.e. that the things we perceive as having value, lose their value for us if we can make ourselves see things differently. However, an ancient legend describes how when Buddha gave a sermon about sanyatta, many of the listeners suddenly had heart attacks. This story should not be taken literally. It was created to show that sanyatta is a shocking meta-physical assertion about the nature of reality not merely some statement about the relative value of things. This true interpretation of sanyatta or emptiness is kept alive today mainly in some of the Mahayana strands of Buddhism and also by Vajrayana Buddhist sects from Tibet. Also, the fact that Buddhism is derived from Hinduism supports the case that sanyatta and maya are interchangeable concepts. That is they both talk about the illusory nature of reality. "

So, not only are you all gods, you are all popes!

And that consciousness is singular.

god(s) bless amerika

"God Bless America" was written by the same atheist composer who composed “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.”

“God Bless America” has roots in Tin Pan Alley. Irving Berlin originally wrote the song in 1918 as the finale to an all-soldier revue called Yip, Yip, Yaphank, but he ultimately decided not to include it, storing it in his trunk of discarded songs.

When Irving Berlin rediscovered his old song in 1938, he had been looking for a “peace song” as a response to the escalating conflict in Europe. He made changes to it and gave it to radio star Kate Smith to perform on her radio show on the eve of the first official celebration of Armistice Day—a holiday originally conceived to commemorate world peace and honor veterans of the Great War. In announcing the song’s premiere on her radio show, Kate Smith declared, “As I stand before the microphone and sing… I’ll be praying with every breath I draw that we shall never have another war.”

It was boycotted by the Ku Klux Klan because Irving Berlin was a Jewish immigrant (born Israel Baline, the son of a Jewish cantor who fled persecution in Europe). Some questioned his right to evoke God (Jesus) and to call the United States his “home sweet home.” In 1940, the song was boycotted by the KKK and the Nazi-affiliated German American Bund.

“God Bless America” was added to the seventh inning stretch after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Since 1940, it was played at every Brooklyn Dodgers home game. In 1966, the Chicago White Sox briefly replaced the national anthem with “God Bless America,” a song the team felt was easier for fans to sing, though Irving Berlin himself urged the team to return to the national anthem.

It appeared in the film “This is the Army” (1943), starring Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan the first politician to intertwine [or perhaps confuse] politics and religion and he made copious use of the phrase “God Bless America” at campaign rallies and presidential events.

“God Bless America” has a commercial side, with royalties collected for any professional performance. Irving Berlin, in 1940, created the God Bless America Fund which donates the royalties to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (in the greater New York City area). The song will remain under copyright until the year 2034.

God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song, music scholar Sheryl Kaskowitz

see also: http://ffrf.org/legacy/fttoday/2004/may/?ft=barker