Burning Questions

Posted on November 18, 2008 by kellyzdude

It seems to keep coming up recently, and both sides seem to know all the answers. Having not studied this in any detail, and owing to my impatience of wanting an answer now, I turned to a friend to ask his well-studied theological opinion on several subjects covered by biblical Old Testament, but in particular homosexuality.

At one of the Universities here recently there was a showing of a documentary, I believe, regarding Christian families with homosexual children and one reviewer caught a lot of insult for arguing that it was against the bible. What she got seems to be not so much because she disagreed, but the way in which she did so – citing about 10 passages of scripture (of which 4 mentioned sexual immorality, several referring to prostitution, only 3 mentioned homosexuality directly), and also making claims with no sources regarding how homosexual behavior leads to other things (increased AIDs chances, other STI/STD’s, other behavioral issues such as lust and violence).

My wife and I talked about it, and her question was similar to mine – yes, it says in Leviticus that homosexuality is wrong, but it also says we shouldn’t drink blood (IE, don’t get a medium/rare steak.)

For me, the jury is still out until I’ve had a chance to fully consider the passages that are referred to, however I’m still strongly leaning towards the “it’s a sin” side.

Nov 17 23:54:53 <zEkE> i have a theological question, lol
Nov 17 23:55:13 <intricatic> lol
Nov 17 23:55:14 <intricatic> ok
Nov 17 23:55:15 <intricatic> shoot
Nov 17 23:55:19 <zEkE> Leviticus.
Nov 17 23:55:24 <zEkE> and the rest of those
Nov 17 23:55:28 <intricatic> mmhmm
Nov 17 23:55:31 <zEkE> do they still apply, and why?
Nov 17 23:55:53 <intricatic> the Law still applies, because it’s a statement of God’s requirements for man (how man can reach salvation on his own)
Nov 17 23:56:57 <zEkE> because people quote it all the time as why Homosexuality is wrong, and others quote other parts that aren’t followed as why it is invalid and no longer needs to be followed
Nov 17 23:57:03 <intricatic> sacrificial and dietary laws were meant for two purposes: the sacrificial laws were to atone for any breach of the moral law, and the dietary laws were meant to keep Israel refined outside of the cultures that surrounded them – the moral law shows the external indications of sin, which the law represents (do not lie, do not kill, do not etc…)
Nov 17 23:57:27 <intricatic> when a person says they’re saved, what does that statement mean?
Nov 17 23:57:56 <intricatic> i like asking questions to answer questions, lol
Nov 17 23:58:00 <zEkE> lol
Nov 17 23:58:50 <zEkE> my answer….would be that someone has asked forgiveness and turned from their sinful ways, and continues to do so
Nov 17 23:59:20 <zEkE> I guess that in turn generates the question, of what is defined as sinful
Nov 17 23:59:25 <intricatic> that’d be a good answer – man’s inability to keep the moral law of God prevents man from finding salvation on their own, and you can also say that the entire OT is pointing definitely towards Christ
Nov 18 00:00:09 <intricatic> the sacrificial laws, even the dietary laws, point to Christ – the moral laws point to how Christ lived, the Exodus is the perfect image of the process of salvation
Nov 18 00:00:25 <zEkE> hmmmm
Nov 18 00:01:14 <intricatic> and when you talk about the Exodus, you talk about people being burned alive by the consuming fire of God, people eating poisoned pheasant that God sent them as a punishment for desiring to go back to Egypt, and other things that might not be fun to apply today
Nov 18 00:01:39 <zEkE> indeed
Nov 18 00:01:55 <intricatic> but you also talk about the Promised Land, and the manna from Heaven given to the people wandering around the desert, and the miracles performed for them
Nov 18 00:02:25 <intricatic> but the Law is the basis for salvation – we’re saved because we’re not good enough on our own to make it to the Promised Land
Nov 18 00:02:37 <intricatic> we need manna 😛
Nov 18 00:03:06 <zEkE> hmmmm
Nov 18 00:03:07 <intricatic> our bread from Heaven – Communion represents Christ’s body and Christ’s blood, which also points back to the manna from Heaven
Nov 18 00:03:14 <zEkE> ooo
Nov 18 00:03:22 <intricatic> which sustained Israel in the desert for 40 years
Nov 18 00:03:59 <intricatic> the water of life – the water drawn from the rock, the rock is Christ, the water is His blood
Nov 18 00:04:38 <zEkE> mmhmm
Nov 18 00:04:51 <intricatic> but when people say homosexuality is wrong, they’re saying much the same as the idea that stealing or murder is wrong…. it is, but it’s no worse than any other sin
Nov 18 00:05:01 <zEkE> yeah
Nov 18 00:05:11 <intricatic> and everybody sins
Nov 18 00:05:19 <intricatic> that’s why we need manna, lol
Nov 18 00:05:39 <intricatic> we’d probably die without some kind of sustenance for faith
Nov 18 00:06:00 <zEkE> the difference in many ways is whether the sinner is choosing to avoid the ‘fact’ that what they do is wrong, or if they accept it as sin, ask forgiveness and turn from it
Nov 18 00:06:04 <zEkE> to me at least
Nov 18 00:06:12 <intricatic> yeah, that’s basically it
Nov 18 00:06:26 <intricatic> but Jesus addressed the very issue when He talked about eunuchs
Nov 18 00:06:44 <intricatic> he said that some eunuchs chose to be that way, some were made that way by men, and others did so for the Kingdom of God
Nov 18 00:07:41 <intricatic> His disciples said it’d be better not to marry because of how intensely He taught about marriage, so He told them that some people don’t get married because they chose not to, others because they were castrated, and still others for God’s Kingdom
Nov 18 00:08:04 <intricatic> and that’s just as true today as it was then
Nov 18 00:09:14 <intricatic> but the sinner who choses to avoid his sin, and the one who acknowledges it and asks for forgiveness is the difference from the men who relied on the manna in the desert, and the ones who wanted pheasant
Nov 18 00:09:47 <zEkE> mmmm
Nov 18 00:10:20 <zEkE> what messed up my view (slighly at least) was when i picked up the bible in church the other day, and we opened it to a random page, and pointed to a random point on the page
Nov 18 00:10:25 <zEkE> happened to be luke 17
Nov 18 00:10:39 <zEkE> southern baptist church…KJV..
Nov 18 00:10:47 <zEkE> vs 34: I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Nov 18 00:10:49 <intricatic> lol that’s always fun
Nov 18 00:10:51 <zEkE> thought nothing of it
Nov 18 00:11:03 <zEkE> two men, they were sexist, they meant two people
Nov 18 00:11:28 <zEkE> but 35 refers to females: Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Nov 18 00:11:40 <intricatic> lol
Nov 18 00:11:50 <intricatic> that is interesting
Nov 18 00:12:03 <intricatic> i’ll have to run through the language to get a good context – i never noticed that before
Nov 18 00:12:27 <zEkE> lead me back to wondering as to whether a practicing homosexual, by King James Version no less…
Nov 18 00:12:43 <zEkE> thats mostly why i’m asking you about it, because I know you can look at it at that level
Nov 18 00:13:08 <intricatic> it might have been something about how the Jewish people lived back then – it was a lot different than it is now, but i’m not sure
Nov 18 00:13:34 <zEkE> like the ‘women must not speak in church’ and the whole covering when praying, not covering when praying etc?
Nov 18 00:14:00 <intricatic> well, that, but the Jewish people were living in the near East and it was a totally different world than what we’d be used to
Nov 18 00:14:06 <zEkE> it’s true
Nov 18 00:15:17 <intricatic> i usually take stuff like that with a grain of salt until i know more about what the Greek says, or what the specifics are – it’s pretty clear what the passage as a whole is getting at, but that is an oddity
Nov 18 00:15:29 <zEkE> yeah
Nov 18 00:16:20 <intricatic> people like to point to David and Jonathan to prove homosexuality, and that one always makes me laugh… the people in Israel weren’t afraid to have two men show eachother affection like we are in the west
Nov 18 00:16:45 <intricatic> we have this weird connotation to it because of the whole homosexual culture, lol
Nov 18 00:16:57 <zEkE> indeed! just because they kissed doesn’t mean much more beyond them being friends
Nov 18 00:17:17 <zEkE> for us it’s normal for girls to hug when greeting, doesn’t make them lesbians
Nov 18 00:17:27 <intricatic> well, it was also because Jonathan seems to have undressed in front of David LOL
Nov 18 00:17:32 <zEkE> ahahaha
Nov 18 00:18:07 <intricatic> but that was actually kind of a normal thing, to show you were following someone (like a disciple, sort of) — Elijah took off his belt and threw it at Elisha to signal he’d be the next prophet
Nov 18 00:18:19 <zEkE> hmmm
Nov 18 00:19:00 <intricatic> totally different world – you can usually figure out what’s going on from the context, but there will always be specifics that cause a double-take, lol
Nov 18 00:19:26 <zEkE> lol yeah
Nov 18 00:20:47 <intricatic> i’ll pass it by my pastor friend, he can basically speak Greek fluently, lol.. he’ll probably be able to offer some insight
Nov 18 00:22:07 <zEkE> cool
Nov 18 00:23:06 <intricatic> might be talking about servants, too – they often slept in the same room, and shared beds
Nov 18 00:23:25 <zEkE> ooo
Nov 18 00:23:43 <zEkE> further symbolism, perhaps… or maybe i’m reading too much into it
Nov 18 00:24:52 <intricatic> i dunno, it might actually be prophetic and tie into end-time prophecy, but i’m not inclined to speculate, lol
Nov 18 00:24:57 <zEkE> lol
Nov 18 00:24:59 <zEkE> fair enough
Nov 18 00:25:03 <intricatic> like: http://apocalyptician.blogtownhall.com/?tag=Lepalma%20Island
Nov 18 00:25:15 <intricatic> now that’s just off the wall
Nov 18 00:25:16 <intricatic> lol
Nov 18 00:25:34 <intricatic> “Two women grinding = earthquakes!” uuhhh…
Nov 18 00:26:29 <zEkE> lol
Nov 18 00:32:42 <intricatic> there are a lot of interesting little quirks like that in scripture – i love the OT though, lol
Nov 18 00:33:09 <zEkE> lol yeah
Nov 18 00:34:27 <zEkE> found a page on stumble the other day, that has a bunch of quick links to various stories, old and new testament
Nov 18 00:34:39 <intricatic> cool 😀
Nov 18 00:34:50 <intricatic> i usually just use biblegateway.com, lol.. i’m old fashioned
Nov 18 00:34:57 <zEkE> yeah, me too
Nov 18 00:35:03 <zEkE> it links to BGW pages
Nov 18 00:35:10 <intricatic> well, not old old fashioned, but you know what i mean – they didn’t have no biblegateway.com 20 years ago
Nov 18 00:35:16 <zEkE> lol nope
Nov 18 00:35:28 <intricatic> BGW?
Nov 18 00:35:33 <zEkE> biblegateway, sorry
Nov 18 00:35:34 <zEkE> lol
Nov 18 00:35:42 <intricatic> ohh, lol right
Nov 18 00:36:06 <intricatic> you want an interesting one, the story of Jacob is probably the only story in the entire OT that makes no sense at all, imho
Nov 18 00:36:14 <zEkE> haha yeah
Nov 18 00:36:29 <intricatic> i mean, you have this spoiled jerk who’s rude and manipulative, and he gets God’s favor? o.O
Nov 18 00:36:43 <intricatic> yeah, that makes sense…
Nov 18 00:37:07 <zEkE> and Job is the opposite…..he did everything right and loses everything
Nov 18 00:37:12 <intricatic> yeah
Nov 18 00:37:32 <intricatic> Job is one thing – God likes to test people’s faith, but Jacob is like the absolute opposite of all the characters in the OT
Nov 18 00:38:22 <zEkE> yeah
Nov 18 00:38:25 <intricatic> it’s like God was looking at Jacob and Essau and thought “Which one would baffle the most people, hmm…”
Nov 18 00:39:00 <zEkE> lol yep
Nov 18 00:39:30 <intricatic> but it does make a good picture of Grace, lol
Nov 18 00:39:53 <intricatic> “God loves you, even when you wrestle with Him demanding your birthright” O.O yikes
Nov 18 00:40:20 <zEkE> hahaha yep

Why I Love Satire and IRC

Posted on November 4, 2008 by kellyzdude

Recently I was involved in a purely satire-based discussion which spawned from a serious discussion on IRC. I feel it is self explanatory, so let me just blog the log..

[00:26:36] <MyMaynor> lol thats okay…. theres plenty of time to talk to new people.. right now i wanna ask your opinion about something…
[00:26:55] <zEkE_> sure
[00:27:04] <intricatic> hiya MyMaynor
[00:27:06] <MyMaynor> Im sure you’ve read revelations and somewhat know a lil about the end of day.
[00:27:16] <MyMaynor> hello intricatic you can join in
[00:27:18] <zEkE_> a little
[00:27:27] <zEkE_> intricatic is probably better at this than I 😛
[00:27:50] <MyMaynor> so am i being crazy when i trully believe that obama is the antichrist…
[00:28:12] <zEkE_> intricatic? lol
[00:28:19] <MyMaynor> like not like just throwing it out there. i feel he fits the description and we’re so close
[00:28:27] <intricatic> i think the antichrist, in terms of each generation’s assumptions about what the antichrist is, becomes a spectre for political puppetry
[00:28:28] <MyMaynor> everything has come to pass
[00:29:08] <intricatic> it’s also variable based on what part of the world you live in, and how horrible your government is, i’m sure o.o
[00:30:01] <intricatic> i could just as easily say that some super-charismatic leader in Russia who’s able to whip the public into a nationalistic frenzy, much like the communists of past ages, could be a better candidate for the antichrist
[00:30:38] <intricatic> but then i love to argue, so don’t mind me, haha
[00:31:06] <zEkE_> lol
[00:31:41] <intricatic> but seriously – have you read anything about Putin’s strategy for political approval? o.o
[00:32:03] <MyMaynor> well no im not basing it on how horrible the government is…. or anything like that… not that i just picked someone and decided that he should be him…. im saying he can’t put his hand on our bible… he asks for a Korean one… but hes running for president of the US… doesn’t look at our flag to say the pledge of allegance
[00:32:09] <MyMaynor> no i’ve never heard of it
[00:32:26] <MyMaynor> why
[00:32:28] <MyMaynor> ??
[00:32:31] <intricatic> even Satan knows scripture – i’m sure he can touch a bible very easily
[00:32:51] <zEkE_> my personal view is pretty much…who cares? if he is, we’ll find out soon enough…
[00:33:55] <MyMaynor> lol you’re totally right . both of ya….. om gosh i get crazy with it but i kknow i shouldn’t even care. it will all come to pass when he’s ready. so
[00:33:56] <MyMaynor> lol
[00:33:59] <intricatic> Putin is using this strategy of playing off of the people’s perception of the former USSR as a “golden age” for Russia, because of the economic turmoil caused by the revocation of their mutually invested, government-sponsored retirement programs (when the USSR collapsed, they lost everything), to whip them into a total frenzy
[00:34:01] <MyMaynor> i guess i need to suck it up
[00:34:52] <intricatic> but he’s also using the Czars and the warm feelings people have of that era to build a base in the people’s collective memory 😛
[00:35:39] <intricatic> but all the while, it looks like he’s moving closer and closer to reintegrating Russia to it’s “former glory”, in terms of nationalized industries and totalitarian rule
[00:36:11] <MyMaynor> ohhhh glory. lol and?
[00:36:26] <intricatic> and, well, mostly i think he’s just power-hungry and really frightening, lol
[00:36:38] <MyMaynor> yes sir….
[00:36:52] <MyMaynor> see i don’t like to here stuff like this cuz it scares me
[00:37:14] <intricatic> ad hominem satire time: and his first name is Vladimir… that’s got to add at least five points on the “pure evil” scale
[00:37:30] <zEkE_> lol
[00:38:02] <zEkE_> come on now, noone likes to be generalised
[00:38:32] <intricatic> generalization is fun though… all vladimirs are evil, just like all people named Elvis will die from eating too much chicken o.o
[00:39:32] <intricatic> and because i had a bad experience with a cat once, all cats are mean
[00:40:06] <intricatic> seriously… they’re like little demons with deceptive cuteness o.o
[00:40:11] <zEkE_> just like everyone from the middle east is intent on killing Americans, small town mayors are well qualified to be vice president, and everyone who reads the bible and goes to church is saved and will go to heaven
[00:40:23] <intricatic> exactly!
[00:40:35] <intricatic> silly middle-easterners… i bet they’re all suicide bombers, too
[00:40:44] <zEkE_> Wait, wasn’t Jesus from the middle east??
[00:40:49] <zEkE_> man
[00:40:49] <MyMaynor> lol ya’ll r funny
[00:40:54] <intricatic> hush! you’ll foil my satire!
[00:40:57] <zEkE_> our whole religion is based on him
[00:41:05] <intricatic> lol
[00:41:14] <zEkE_> that makes us anti-american via the transitive property!
[00:41:33] <intricatic> i actually love Hebrew history – the Hebrew language is actually so much more interesting than Greek 😀 it’s underrated in terms of popular theology
[00:41:39] <intricatic> 😮
[00:41:45] <intricatic> i r anti-american? o.o
[00:41:47] <zEkE_> yes
[00:41:52] <zEkE_> so long as you are Christian
[00:41:59] <intricatic> well, i have been called unpatriotic at least four times this week, so far
[00:42:05] <zEkE_> because you follow the teachings of a middle-eastern born man
[00:42:11] <intricatic> how terrible o.o
[00:42:16] <zEkE_> who is by his birthplace anti-american
[00:42:19] <zEkE_> 😛
[00:43:07] <intricatic> this is a fine illustration in satire of why i can’t say all middle-easterners are evil, lol
[00:43:16] <intricatic> besides guilt-by-association being a logical fallacy, of course
[00:43:51] <zEkE_> so anyone who says that the US is a Christian nation, by the above satirical explanation, is anti america

Dear USCIS, You Suck, From Twiddle.

Posted on October 25, 2008 by kellyzdude

As mentioned previously I’m a New Zealand Citizen, have lived in NZ since birth, moving in April so as to get married, live and work in the United States. Now, I understand that in a country this big, some things just move slowly. But anyone who claims that getting married in order to gain green cards or citizenship is the easy route, I would disagree strongly (even to the point where it is annoying that people believe this is the case).

Following all the rules, I arrived in April. Kelly and I were married in late May, we visited the USCIS office in Washington DC (as advised on the website that we should) – after waiting an hour or so, were told that we needed to mail our paperwork to Chicago. Frustrated, we drove home, rechecked everything another 3 times and sent as instructed.

Our paperwork was received on July 2nd, and processing began. We were requested to provide extra information, which was sent and received on August 14th, and we were also requested to visit Alexandria, VA, to provide fingerprints.

This is all fine, this is as expected. I have been monitoring our case online, however, as well as watching the case processing times, and am growing disappointed. The case processing time for the National Benefits Center (where our case is) shows three months from point of reception. By my calculations, 3 months from July 2nd is October 2nd, allowing 2-3 days either way. Today is the 25th October, and still nothing has been heard. The other application, the information received in August, says there will be an update or decision (in writing) within 60 days. August 14th + 60 days = October 14th, give or take a few days. Again, no communication has been received.

“Call them and see what’s happening??” I hear you ask! Well, I did. After navigating through their (fairly well designed) computerized phone system I was able to hear the same case status information as is provided online. Asked the phone system to let me speak to a customer services rep, and it said they will only take complaints or update requests if the case status is either more than 30 days beyond the processing date and hasn’t been updated in the last 60 days. I guess I’ll have to wait another couple of weeks.

Grow the Hell Up, Dude.

Posted on October 15, 2008 by kellyzdude

so [censored], why don’t you talk more? I mean I can understand living with your parents, heck if I could do that without giving up my life I would.
be a lot easier
have my mom cook all my microwave dinners for me, spend more money on stuff I want.
games, guns and etc.
put more money into my car
buy top of the line computer equipment as soon as it came out
are you just that offended by me? or us?
do you have psychological disorders?
erectile dysfunction?
your just going to ignore me aren’t you?
act like I haven’t said anything.
Ok [censored], heres some stuff on me you can use. I’ve been arrested three times in the past 2 years on driving related charges.
i’m a recovering alcoholic that has a hard time putting down the bottle.
I’ve done some of the dumbest stuff in the history of dumb in my life.
i have a hard time paying my debts, and I still am paying off debts from like, years ago.
I’m just sayin man, be real.

I don’t agree with everything that comes across IRC. I think if you’re deeply offended by someone you hardly know, typing words into a keyboard from 1000 miles away, you have personal problems that you need to get dealt with. I also think that when you’re typing those words you need to remember that there are real people reading them. At the same time, being honest is important in any relationship, online or not.

This is not about offending people, this is about being a whiny little bitch. Personally, I think the dude this was aimed at has had it coming for a while. He is afraid of girls, and ignores anything he doesn’t wanna hear – often attacking people by suggesting they die, often by his amazing gun-shooting-skillz.

If this matches you, I have some advice – firstly, get a life. If you spend all your time online chatting, maybe you need to get out more. Stop complaining that all the girls you like are getting boyfriends when you don’t bother to talk to them or let them know you’re interested. Secondly, if you’re offended by things that people say, consider why they said them. Try responding respectfully – “I disagree with your statement because … ” – not “You have a big mouth. Shut up.” Third, show some level of intelligence. We don’t like you, mostly because we know you’re smart but all you can do is try and prove otherwise – to the point where we almost believe you. Grow up. In this case, the dude is in his late 20’s. Get over yourself.

That is all. My rant is done.

Danger! Danger! Lights and Sirens!

Posted on October 12, 2008 by kellyzdude

EDIT: This was found this morning: http://www.rocktownweekly.com/news_details.php?AID=32235&CHID=1 – We’d suspected he’d gone to 259 to try and go for the West Virginia border, but he didn’t make it that far.

So tonight, after watching American Carol (funny movie with an interesting message, btw..), and visiting CiCi’s pizza (and not eating much), and socialising with my in-laws, Kel and I dropped by the apartment to grab some things before coming up to Broadway for the night.

That was all well and good, got the laptop and some clothes, etc. Anyway, we were leaving our street, and turning right onto Mount Clinton Pike, and a black SUV with blue lights flashing comes past towards VA-42 at speed. We’re just thinking “Wow…thats weird…”, and turn to follow a little, and hear lots of sirens coming at us from the opposite direction. There was a white Bronco came up Mt Clinton with a large amount of smoke coming out.. followed by approximately 8 police cars of various descriptions. We were nearly hit by the first SUV as it U-turned on Mt Clinton to join the chase.

We carried on toward 42, where a further 4 police vehicles were encountered – a black SUV which took the right-turn at speed (crossed the center line in front of us), a cop with lights off sitting in a parking lot, a state cop and a city cop with crossed the tracks and turned onto 42-North (later U-turned to go south and up Mt Clinton Pike as well).

We continued driving, expected it had moved away from us. Anyhow, arriving in Broadway, about 15 mins later, 2 cop cars were sitting at the South entrance to Broadway on VA-42 conversing, and about 4-5 minutes after passing them (and parking up, discussing what had happened with Kelly’s parents and brother who were a couple of minutes ahead of us) we heard the chase come back through Broadway heading North – this time vehicles sounding in much worse condition.

I’ll be watching Google News a lot, as well as keeping an eye on the news sites (CNN as well as more local places), but if anyone has any idea what was going on, it would be interesting to know! There is speculation it was drug related, and there are reports within the last 24 hours of drug busts made this week, but whether this is related or another matter entirely remains to be seen.

Selling the Jawbone

Posted on August 30, 2008 by kellyzdude

Two weeks ago the Sunday School class looked at the story in Judges 15 I believe, where Samson kills a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. Last week we put together an infomercial to sell or market the jawbone. Using the jawbone of a deer, belonging to my father-in-law, we unscriptedly performed in order to create what we disrespectfully call, Ass Bone.

Lies in the Media

Posted on August 23, 2008 by kellyzdude

So this morning I came across another rant-topic and this is aimed particularly at Christian broadcasters, but also at the media in general.

Lies within the media are probably the biggest reason why few people pay attention and why those who do are so misled or uninformed about the reality of the world today.

The case in point is the story told on a Christian Radio station this morning: A child goes to school for the first time and coming home after their first day the parent asks the child what they learnt. The child replies “I learnt that there is no way to prove that Jesus ever existed!”

There are several problems with this story, allow me to outline them.

Firstly, let us look at the first day of school logically. Elementary school is primarily for learning the basic subjects – English, Math, etc. Theological debates or discussions typically wouldn’t occur until at least Middle School, or more likely High School.

Even then, and this becomes the second point, they cannot be initiated by a teacher. The teacher may prompt, but cannot explicitly begin a discussion. The teacher also cannot teach their personal beliefs as fact. If it isn’t in the curriculum, it isn’t being taught. And if it is it should be being reported to the appropriate authority, and not reported on by the media.

This has been a trend for the longest time and it’s not just within the media, it’s by word of mouth also. Here are 3 simple ways to check if what you’ve heard is true:

Look at it logically. If you add 2 and 2 and get 5 while you’re looking at the statement, there is something wrong.
Research it. Whether online, in the library, or discussing with others who know or have experience, find out more about things rather than just mindlessly repeating stories in a chinese-whispers fashion.
Ask the person who told you what proof they have. If a person is just passing on a story, there is every possibility that it is not 100% true.

In the case of the story above, it is possible that aspects of it are true, but if mis-told down the line then it becomes what it is today. Consider a High School student on the last day, happening on a theological debate where the comment arises – that it is possible Jesus was not a real person. The student comes home and tells mom and dad. The parents tell the story to a few people that the student was taught Jesus wasn’t real. Keep this going down the grapevine and it only takes a few steps with mis-tellings, incorrect recallings of the story etc and it becomes a 5 year old going to Elementary being taught as fact on the first day.

It seems silly but if you’ve ever played “Chinese Whispers,” or even just observed people in groups, you’ll realize it translates into reality dangerously closely. Next time you receive a “Hey check this out” email, go and take a look at Snopes website, an amazing resource for finding out if the rumor being spread is true, false, a combination or was unverifiable. A good 90% of emails I receive like this are either blatantly false, or are mostly false merely with enough elements of truth to be believable.

Here are some common examples, particularly related to the religious group:

As you can see from the written evidence these are all lies, and from a little research and/or thinking it can be proven in quite simple terms that the claim is false.

My plea to the Christian community, to the media, stop mindlessly passing on stories, stop making up stories that could be taken as fact, in all seriousness it just makes us look bad that so many are so gullible, and makes the truth look that much less truthful.

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