Saturday 31 August 2013

Being religious has benefits even in this life

Kenneth Gilmore
Kenneth Gilmore27 augustus 14:37
We've heard the claim 'religion poisons everything' ad nauseum. Turns out that being religious has benefits even in this life. Via David Bailey at Science Meets Religion:

A 1999 study, which involved a nine-year follow-up analysis of 21,000 American adults, found that religious attendance of at least once per week resulted in seven additional years of life expectancy. What’s more, this effect mostly remained in place even after adjusting for various social factors and health behaviors [Hummer1999].

A 1997 study of 5286 weekly church attendees in Alameda County, California found that these persons were 25% less likely to die than infrequent church attendees. These results were attributed in part to better health practices, expanded social involvement, exercising more, and remaining married longer [Strawbridge1997].

In a 1998 study of 1931 elderly adults (55 years and older), weekly church attendees experienced the lowest rates of mortality in the study group, while non-attendees experienced the highest rates. This study also showed that volunteer work in addition to church attendance contributed to even longer life expectancy [Oman1998].

A 1999 study of 4000 seniors (64 years and older) found that the death hazard was 46% lower for frequent church attendees, compared with infrequent church attendees. As noted in other studies, frequent church attendees were physically healthier, had better social support, and displayed a set of healthier lifestyle behaviors [Koenig1999].
English: Ogden Utah Temple of The Church of Je...
Ogden Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A 2004 study comparing Utah residents who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) with those who are not LDS confirmed, not surprisingly, that the LDS members had much lower rates of tobacco, alcohol and drug usage than the non-LDS group, since these substances are strongly discouraged by the Church. The study found that life expectancy was 77.3 years for LDS males versus 70.0 years for non-LDS males, and 82.2 years for LDS females versus 76.4 for non-LDS females. Interestingly, however, the study noted that differences in rates of tobacco use explains only about 1.5 years of the 7.3 year gap for males, and only 1.2 years of the 5.8 year gap for females. The author suggests that this additional gap may be due to better overall physical health, better social support and other lifestyle practices [Merrill2004].

In an April 2013 New York Times column, Stanford scholar Tanya M. Luhrmann summarized some of these results, and then added her own observations. In evangelical churches she has studied as an anthropologist, she found that people really do look out for one another, showing up with dinner when friends are sick, or simply talking with them when they are unhappy. They are relatively more generous, often in private contributions, when others are in need. She mentioned that when one member of an evangelical group cried at needing a $1500 dental procedure, yet had no money, her friends, many of whom were students with very limited funds, covered the cost by anonymous donations [Luhrmann2013].

Source: http://www.sciencemeetsreligion.org/blog/2013/04/are-there-benefits-to-religious-belief-and-participation/

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Economy of Galilee in the time of Jesus

Neil Godfrey looks at the great wealth and large estates in the time of Jesus and writes that the presence of large estates in Lower Galilee is crucial for understanding the society in the early decades of the first century because their existence implies exploitation and dispossession of the small farmers and laborers. If they did not exist then we can infer “most peasants still lived on their own land and controlled their own economic destiny.”
English: This is a map of first century Iudaea...
First century Iudaea Province (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the discussions on the economy of Galilee in the time of Jesus, the presence or absence of large land-estates must play a significant role. Based on a reading of the parables attributed to Jesus, one could conclude that there were many estates of significantly large size and that they contributed to the economic conditions of Galilee causing loss of land and a growing rural proletariat. (From the abstract to “Did Large Estates Exist in Lower Galilee in the First Half of the First Century CE?” by David A. Fiensy, published in Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 10 (2012) 133-153)
Continue reading:

The Rich-Poor Divide Not So Extreme in Jesus’ Day



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Is it “Wrong” to Believe that the Earth is a Sphere?

A response by CC Walker to a brother who believed that based on his reading of the Bible, it was wrong to believe in a spherical Earth. Bro,.

 Walker's response:

Is it “Wrong” to Believe that the Earth is a Sphere?

WE have received the following letter:—
To the Editor of The Christadelphian.

Modern Astronomers and the Dots in the Heavens
Dear Brother Walker.—Referring to your brief eulogium on Sir Robert Ball’s speculation as to the “dots in the heavens” (The Christadelphian, July, page 316), I shall be glad if you will condescend to reply to the following queries through the columns of The Christadelphian.
Terrestrial globe named
Terrestrial globe named "Erdapfel" produced by Martin Behaim. Considered to be one of the oldest globes ever made. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Seeing that the veracity and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures are denied by many on the basis of the revolving globe-earth theory, even to the extent of rejecting the ascension of Jesus into the heaven of heavens as a “geometrical impossibility.” the matter surely cannot be set aside as of no importance, and beyond the province of a magazine devoted to the defence of Biblical teaching and the overthrow of pagan and papal dogmas.

The globe-earth theory is essentially pagan in its origin, and no amount of ingenuity has yet succeeded in harmonizing it with the cosmogony of the Bible.
It is supposed that the theory was first introduced into Europe by Pythagoras, in the sixth century b.c., and he was a rank pagan. It was afterwards adopted by Plato, and latterly modified to its present form by Aristarchus of Samos, “who went to the length of ranking our green world as a planet revolving yearly round the sun.” Through Copernicus and Galileo the theory has acquired a distinct Romish taint.

We may blame the author of “Lead Kindly Light” for following the glimmer of Rome’s magic lantern, instead of bringing his mental difficulties to be solved in the light of the word of God; but what about those who allow themselves to be led by the vapourings of scientific theorists while pondering over the plainly worded inspired narrative of creation? . . .
There may not be much danger of a brother being led astray by the perusal of modern rationalistic literature, for in that case he is prepared to antagonize the fallacies of modern thought, but morsels of error, in the form of “scientific” tit-bits, daintily wrapped up within the covers of a Biblical magazine, devoted to the defence and advocacy of Scripture doctrine, may not give rise to suspicion that there is anything wrong. The wrong is there all the same, and its effects become manifest when he who has swallowed the morsel finds, as the logical outcome of an adopted bastard theory, that the Bible and modern science are at variance, and verbal inspiration a farce. . . .

The late Prof. Woodhouse, of Cambridge University, once wrote, in reference to the globe-earth theory—“We shall never arrive at a time when we shall be able to pronounce it absolutely proved to be true. The nature of the subject excludes such a possibility” (Astronomy, Vol. 1, p. 13).
The “great astronomer,” Sir Robert Ball — wherein does his greatness lie? Certainly not in his discovery or advocacy of scientific truth. He is an evolutionist of the first order, and a pronounced anti-creationist. He is just the type of unbeliever that so-called modern science is producing; the old Scripture - revering type of astronomers, such as Ferguson, Woodhouse, and Herschell, is fast dying out as the natural effect of an anti-Scriptural theory.

But here I must submit my queries:—

1.—Is it not a fact that the Bible teaches that there are but two great lights and but one sun?
Medieval depiction of a spherical earth with d...
Medieval depiction of a spherical earth with different seasons at the same time (from the book "Liber Divinorum Operum"). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2.—Is it not a pure speculation, unsupported by any natural fact, the theory that the “dots in the heavens” are great suns?
3.—Is it not a fact that the enormously extravagant distances and magnitudes of the so-called “dots” have for their bases, the unproved assumption that the earth is a revolving globe, speeding through space at 68,000 miles an hour, and with an orbit of 190 millions of miles?
4.—Is it not a fact, as Prof. Robert Main, of Greenwich, candidly affirmed, that the theories “respecting the distances of the fixed stars and other cosmical problems” are based upon the “refined speculations of modern astronomy?”
5.—Is it not the teaching of Scripture that the earth, that is, the dry land, is a stationary body, founded upon the seas, and established upon the floods, and with its foundations in the deep?
6.—Is it not the plain testimony of Moses that sun, moon, and stars, were made and set in the heavens on the fourth day of Creation week?

Believing, as I do, with you, that it is “necessary to bring everything to the test of the Word of God,” I present these questions in all good faith for your serious consideration.

Faithfully yours, in the pursuit and defence of all divine truth,
T. Griffiths.

Remarks in Reply

We would not discuss this matter were it not that our brother does himself and others an injustice in proclaiming the well settled belief of so many of his brethren a “wrong” and “bastard theory” and so forth; and quite unfaithful to the Word of God.
This is not the case at all. Speaking for ourselves: before we learned “the truth” we were quite well convinced of the spherical figure of the earth from perfectly candid study of natural phenomena, and of navigation, which certainly “works” on the spherical basis. And we have found nothing in the Scriptures to unsettle this conviction in the least. Quite the contrary. In fact, the “enormous distances and magnitudes” which appear to be a stumbling block to our brother, are to us only the fitting suggestions of the Infinite and Eternal. And this is the impression of many of the brethren, as it was of the late Dr. Thomas and brother Roberts.

Though we thus believe, we are in no way responsible for the denials of ignorance and unbelief. To us, the mention of “geometrical impossibility” as an objection to the ascent of Jesus into heaven, is merely an indication of the objector’s lack of true understanding alike of The Acts of the Apostles, and of natural phenomena.

Admitted that “the globe-earth theory” is of “pagan” origin, it is not therefore untrue. Much natural truth is of “pagan” discovery. We do not reject it on that account; and as to Galileo and the “Romish taint,” we have always understood that the whole weight of Papal authority was thrown against “the globe-earth theory,” which it has since been compelled to accept as true.
Orlando-Ferguson-flat-earth-map
Orlando-Ferguson-flat-earth-map (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Newman’s “religious difficulties,” which he solved by surrender to Rome, were not like natural phenomena which can be put to the tests of observation and measurement. It is scarcely right to allude to the result of scientific observation and measurement, obtained through centuries of patient labour, as “the vapouring of scientific theorists.” In these days of the discovery of the North and South Poles, and of record-breaking travel round the world, we can surely be permitted to hold to the belief in a spherical earth, without throwing ourselves open to a charge of unfaithfulness to the Bible.

With regard to the remarks of Professor Woodhouse, we are inclined to think a great many of his brother professors would have differed from his conclusion. It would largely depend upon just what he meant by “absolutely proved;” and as he is dead we cannot ask him.
So far as we understand, the prevailing type of “Scripture-revering Astronomers” is that of believers in the spherical earth. Indeed, we know of no “astronomy” apart from such a belief. But as to our brother’s queries:—

Answer 1.—No; the Bible does not absolutely limit the number of “great lights” to two; nor does it affirm that there is absolutely only one sun in the universe. It tells us that this is so with reference to the earth (which is obvious enough to the most elementary observation), but it also tells us that God made “the stars also,” without telling us what the stars are. Later, an apostle speaks of “one star differing from another star in glory,” without defining the extent of the “glory” of any. Modern astronomy reveals very great “glory” among the stars, and though, of necessity, largely speculative, is far from being the profanity that some well-meaning souls imagine it to be.

Answer 2.—No; there are “natural facts” underlying the “speculation.” Such are the ascertained velocity of light, the eclipses of Jupiter’s moons, the fact that the best telescopes will not resolve the stars into discs as in the case of the planets; the fact of the existence of the planet Neptune as simultaneously discovered by Adams and Le Verrier; the facts of parallax and spectrum analysis. “Natural facts” are the essence of modern astronomy.

Answer 3.—Without committing ourselves exactly to the figures named, we may say that what our brother calls an “unproved assumption” is with us a well-settled conviction, for reasons which may be found in any good work on astronomy, Sir Robert Ball’s “Story of the Heavens,” for example.

Answer 4.—No doubt Professor Main meant to qualify results and figures by his remark—not principles. These are too well established to admit of doubt by any Greenwich professor. With very small parallaxes distances are, of course, correspondingly indefinite. This appears to be all that Prof. Main wished to emphasise in his remark, the context on which we do not know.

Answer 5.—It is certainly written: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods” (Psa. 24:1, 2). It is also written: “He stretched out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing” (Job 26:7). We do not find the passages at all irreconcilable, or even difficult; and we do not believe that the burden of either of them is mainly (if at all) the figure of the earth; but rather the majesty of the Creator.

Answer 6.—Moses’ testimony is not so “plain” that it cannot be misinterpreted or misunderstood. He speaks of “the heaven and the earth” as being in existence “in the beginning;” and therefore it does not seem to be inadmissible to suppose that “the host of heaven” was likewise then in existence. Moses’ testimony was given to Israel in what might be called the infancy of the world, when men did not know the extent of the earth, let alone that of the sun, moon, and stars. And, as we believe, it was given (by God through Moses), not so much to instruct Israel in cosmogony in detail, as to impress upon them the idea that The Most High God is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 14:22). And this against the claims of the gods of the nations, as was abundantly proved in Israel’s history. As to “the fourth day,” we do not know of any “day” in the literal sense apart from the sun and its motion. And, therefore, if the “days” of Genesis 1. are to be taken as literal days, we feel bound to admit the sun as the origin of the “light,” and “evening and morning” that were the characteristics of “the first day.” How can you have “evening and morning” without the sun? We must settle up “the plain testimony” of verse 5 with that of verses 14–19. As we said before (The Chri tadelphion, 1910, p. 269), “If we understand Moses as saying that the sun came into existence on ‘the fourth day,’ we make him contradict himself; we make him present us with day and night, evening and morning, without the sun upon which these things depend.”

Under these circumstances we prefer another interpretation, holding always in reserve the thought that presently Moses will be on the scene again, and that we may then, perhaps, be permitted to hear the divine interpretation of the divine utterances of so long ago.—Ed.

Walker C.C. "Is it 'Wrong' to believe that the Earth is a Sphere?“ The Christadelphian (1913) 50:346-348

Contemporary reactions:

Dan Gaitanis
As someone who enjoys this kind of thing, I found this really interesting--but I dont really get what the debate is here--the Bible isnt a book of Astronomy, meaning we dont need to go to the Bible to figure out the composition of the universe. God created it and its awesome, but to say we have to search scripture to try our faith about the universe?
Why not just look at the night sky and be amazed? And take a telescope to see even more stars than you can see without it. A few nights ago I (finally) found Neptune in my telescope, and it amazed me as to how it was discovered in an even smaller scope than mine--it looked like a tiny, very faint, slightly blue, ball, about the size of a period.

As for the stars and sun and moon being literally created on the 4th day, I dont buy that--I think they were already there--it doesnt make sense that the Andromeda Galaxy (2 Million light years away) can be seen from earth with the naked eye, when,if the stars were created only 6000 years ago, we wouldn't see the light from Andromeda for another 1,994,000 years.

There was a time when folks' interpretation of scripture led them to deny evidence for a round earth, or for the earth going around the sun. Today we believe those things, and the Bible verses that have a flat earth at the center of the universe are not only not a problem for us--they're completely invisible. We can't even spot those verse when we read them.

It may be that today, our interpretation of the Bible still forces us to deny other evidence for other things. There are plenty of Bible believers (inside and outside Christadelphia) who deny the evidence for an old earth, for example. Because they sincerely believe that their interpretation of the Bible is the only one, and that interpretation tells them they must choose between God and the evidence.

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 the first generation of Christadelphians:

"The inconsistency spoken of between nature and scripture, arises not from antagoni
sm, but from the misinterpretations of both. It is man’s interpretation of the one set against man’s interpretations of the other. It is not nature versus scripture, but false science against true theology, or false theology against scientific fact. Some scientific men, we believe, view the Scriptures through the distorted medium of “confessions of faith” and doubt them, and theologians view science and call it false, because it does not take to their turn-pike road"

“The Christadelphian: Volume 1” (Birmingham: Christadelphian Magazine & Publishing Association, 2001), 93–94.

When we conflate our own interpretation of the Bible with its original meaning, and denounce science because it clashes with that uninspired, fallible reading, we're making the same mistake that brother WDJ (quoted above) warned against.

In the original post, we have an example of a sincere brother who took the Bible literally in a consistent way, and felt compelled to denounce the idea that the earth was spherical. Brother Walker not only accepted as reliable the science of the day, but warned against the extremes of literalism:

"This is not the case at all. Speaking for ourselves: before we learned “the truth” we were quite well convinced of the spherical figure of the earth from perfectly candid study of natural phenomena, and of navigation, which certainly “works” on the spherical basis."

The Earth seen from Apollo 17.
The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
"Admitted that “the globe-earth theory” is of “pagan” origin, it is not therefore untrue. Much natural truth is of “pagan” discovery. We do not reject it on that account; "
"Moses’ testimony is not so “plain” that it cannot be misinterpreted or misunderstood. He speaks of “the heaven and the earth” as being in existence “in the beginning;” and therefore it does not seem to be inadmissible to suppose that “the host of heaven” was likewise then in existence. Moses’ testimony was given to Israel in what might be called the infancy of the world, when men did not know the extent of the earth, let alone that of the sun, moon, and stars. And, as we believe, it was given (by God through Moses), not so much to instruct Israel in cosmogony in detail, as to impress upon them the idea that The Most High God is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 14:22). And this against the claims of the gods of the nations, as was abundantly proved in Israel’s history."

The relevance of this 100 year old correspondence to contemporary Bible-science difficulties hardly needs emphasis.

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Canaanite cult ritual stone unearthed

Kenneth Gilmore
Kenneth Gilmore 29 augustus 14:59
Via the Jewish Press website:

"An archaeological discovery in the Tel Rechesh excavations at the Tabor River Reserve in northern Israel: a joint archaeological expedition, which included researchers from the University of Tenri, Japan, and the Institute of Archaeology of Galilee Kinneret Academic College, have unearthed a Canaanite cult ritual stone. The excavations in this area have been going on for six years now. The same excavations also revealed large parts of a Jewish farmhouse dating back to the Second Temple. Researchers were able to establish that this was a place of Jewish dwellers based on typical stone tools, oil lamps and coins minted in the city of Tiberias. “The diggers received a big surprise,” said Chairman of the Institute of Archaeology of Galilee Kinneret Academic College Dr. Mrdechai Avi’am. “In the ruins of the second floor of the farmhouse, they discovered a Canaanite cult statue, similar to a statue that stood in the sanctuary of a temple which is yet to be located.”
English: The Second Jewish Temple. Model in th...
The Second Jewish Temple. Model in the Israel Museum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/canaanite-altar-discovered-in-northern-israel/2013/08/28/
Canaanite Altar Discovered in Northern Israel Jewish Press Staff
www.jewishpress.com
Researchers were able to establish that this was later a place of Jewish dwellers.
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Cosmogony

Book of Genesis, Hainanese Bible.
Book of Genesis, Hainanese Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Cosmogony: the study of the origin and development of the universe or of a particular system in the universe, such as the solar system + a theory of such an origin or evolution.

One hundred years ago, CC Walker wrote, in response to a correspondent who believed that a literal reading of the Bible obliged a believer to reject the idea of a spherical earth:

'Moses’ testimony was given to Israel in what might be called the infancy of the world, when men did not know the extent of the earth, let alone that of the sun, moon, and stars. And, as we believe, it was given (by God through Moses), not so much to instruct Israel in cosmogony in detail, as to impress upon them the idea that The Most High God is the Possessor of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 14:22)."

CC Walker's comment that Genesis was written not to instruct Israel about cosmology in detail, but to teach them that God - and not the surrounding deities - was creator looks positively prescient when we look at what contemporary OT scholarship is saying about the creation narratives. Take the time to look at John Walton's presentation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY4nKNrEZaI
Genesis 1 in Ancient Eyes - John Walton
www.youtube.com

the audio gets much better around 13 minutes in download the ppt presentation (6mb) here... http://m...
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