This one starts off easy, but the archaic grammar slowed me down for a bit even though I knew it was KJV.

Ah, Petrosianic, you are so very, very comical!

For your being a person who *claims* to be ignoring me, you sure do worry your little 'ol self about me a whole lot!

You are totally mis-guided of course, and totally clueless about me; but, also, very comical!


Chess Fan

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33791672/ns/technology_and_science-science?GT1=43001

A very interesting article about an archaelogical dig in the Sahara. There is a story in Herodotus about a Persian army of 50,000 men vanishing in a violent sandstorm. This story tells of a dig that shows that the story may not be invention.

Worthwhile reading regarding the reliability of ancient sources.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26972493/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Another interesting article: a cup dedicated to "Christ the Magician." Ken, nice clear photo of the Greek inscription.

In this week's edition of the Rapture Ready website's weekly newsletter, "Nearing Midnight", the major article that caught my interest among the two short articles that were contained in this newsletter, (titled: "The Teflon Religion Strikes Again"), gives a short commentary on last week's terrorist attack upon, and the very evil and cold-blooded murdering of, 13 soldiers at the Fort Hood, Texas army base.

So, without further explanation, here is the November 9th, 2009 edition of: -- "Nearing Midnight."


Chess Fan

Hmmm, what do I hope to accomplish? Guess I have a tilting at windmills sort of complex thingy going on. Every 6 weeks or so I talk myself into believing that I can get through this time because for some unspecified reason that I can never remember this time will be different.

Then I remember the futility, quit, and go do other things for 6 more weeks.

Two fantastic articles, Ed. I esp liked that Persian army one. There's a fictional novel waiting to be written about that item.

The engraved pottery will have to be studied in more detail too. Christ means Messiah so it may refer to another Messiah if dating does put it firmly in BC time. I'll try to remember to keep an eye on sciencedaily.com in their archaeology section.

Glad you liked them Ken. I'll keep an eye out myself.

Sorry for the delay, Ed, but I was playing chess all weekend. Two points in response:

1) Maybe God being omniscient means that he knows all that can possibly happen but not that he knows in advance what everyone's choices will be. This view, often called Open Theism, explains some Bible passages that pose problems for the traditional 'God foresees everything' doctrine. See the second article I've linked to for a bunch of Bible references.

2) Is it fair to blame God for the consequences of people's choices, even if he did know in advance what those choices would be? I'm not sure, but I do see your point.

Greg Boyd has written books and articles about these issues, for example this article about why there is evil in the world and this one which gives an outline of the Open Theism idea that I mentioned above.

And here is the Wikipedia article about Open Theism. I'm sure you'll be able to find other, more scholarly, material if you want to dig deeper.

Indeed, many thanks Ken! Our lecturer in my theology course has often been referring to the Hebrew (we're looking at creation and worship in the Old Testament at the moment) and it always throws up some fascinating insights. I'm really looking forward to getting started on the New Testament and digging in to the Greek!