為咗應節, Biblical Archaeology Society 出咗本免費o既電子書. 我自己仲未有時間睇, 但係見有幾篇文章都係由出名學者寫o既, 有閱讀價值. 望落似係俾一般讀者睇, 應該人人都會睇得明.
http://www.bib-arch.org/e-books/pdf/christmas.pdf
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
耶路撒冷裹屍布
今日見到有個相當有趣o既考古發現. Shimon Gibson 喺耶路撒冷發現到一塊來自與耶穌同期o既裹屍布. 最有趣o既係, 呢塊裹屍布同 Shroud of Turin 好多唔同o既地方. 首先, 編織o既方法唔同. 其次, 同 Shroud of Turin 唔同, 呢塊新發現o既裹屍布唔係一塊布, 而係有一塊分開o既包頭布.
點解 Shroud of Turin 同呢塊同耶穌同期o既裹屍布咁唔同? Hmmmm...
=======================================
Burial cloth found in Jerusalem cave casts doubt on authenticity of Turin Shroud
By Matthew Kalman
Last updated at 1:08 AM on 16th December 2009
Archaeologists have discovered the first known burial shroud in Jerusalem from the time of Christ's crucifixion - and say it casts serious doubt on the claimed authenticity of the Turin Shroud.
Ancient shrouds from the period have been found before in the Holy Land, but never in Jerusalem.
Researchers say the weave and design of the shroud discovered in a burial cave near Jerusalem's Old City are completely different to the Turin Shroud.
Radiocarbon tests and artefacts found in the cave prove almost beyond doubt that it was from the same time of Christ's death.It was made with a simple two-way weave - not the twill weave used on the Turin Shroud, which textile experts say was introduced more than 1,000 years after Christ lived.
And instead of being a single sheet like the famous item in Turin, the Jerusalem shroud is made up of several sections, with a separate piece for the head.
......http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1236161/First-burial-shroud-carbon-dated-time-Christs-crucifixion-caves-near-Jerusalem.html
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Graduate Studies in Biblical Studies = Bungee Jump without the Cord
Man, why didn't I read these when I was 22?
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846
http://chronicle.com/article/Just-Don-t-Go-Part-2/44786
As a current graduate student in biblical studies, I must testify to the validity of this person's warnings. What he wrote is so painfully true and accurately describes my situation now. I'm not so desperate that I need to hang myself in the near future, but it is very very very true that I don't see an academic future for myself AT ALL.
http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846
http://chronicle.com/article/Just-Don-t-Go-Part-2/44786
As a current graduate student in biblical studies, I must testify to the validity of this person's warnings. What he wrote is so painfully true and accurately describes my situation now. I'm not so desperate that I need to hang myself in the near future, but it is very very very true that I don't see an academic future for myself AT ALL.
Friday, November 13, 2009
A ridiculously lame sermon
In the past two weeks, I've been going to a church called Newbern Alliance which is somewhat close to where I live in Vancouver. I've tried both the English and the Chinese services, the former definitely seems better. Everybody was so long-winded in the Chinese service that I attended: the guys who led the singing said there's no need to say much because the songs' lyrics are so well written, and then he gave a speech on the song... But the worst was during the communion. The guy who administered the communion gave a 15-min SERMON on the purpose of communion right after the official lengthy sermon.
In any case, so I decided to go to the English service. And last week, at the English service, I chanced upon one of the most ridiculous sermons I ever heard, an experience totally worth recording.
The speaker's speech had a title, something along the line of "spiritual inputs & outputs". He began with Matthew 12 and James 3, saying that we gotta watch our tongues, which is the "output". But that'd be too simple, so he went on to say that we also got to manage our "input", so we'll have the right "output". He encouraged us to throw away our DVDs, video games, and music CDs, which might pollute our pure mind, just as a drop of cyanide can poison an entire cup of water. He then cited Job 6.24: "Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred." According to this guy, Job found out that the reason why he suffered so much was because of what he had said; he didn't watch his tongue, so he lost his family and properties. So how shall we watch our tongues? He suggested that we shall not utter expressions such as: "unbelievable", "break a leg", and "it blew my mind". These are exaggerations that we don't mean. If we speak unreal things in the morning, our prayers at night will have no chance of being realized, or so he suggested.
Now, this sermon errs in so many points that it is difficult to criticize in a systematic manner, but I'll try. First, his two key passages, Matt 12 and James 3, do condemn the practice of bad-mouthing (output), but they don't talk about the inputs at all. Matt 12 relates bad fruits to bad trees, but it says nothing of what inputs the tree has received to become bad in the first place! So one of the 2 main points that he's making isn't even talked about in the biblical passages that he focused on. The other support for his point about inputs is the cyanide analogy. But whenever someone appeals to analogy as an argument, we should see a red flag. While it sounds reasonable, we have to question what is cyanide in water to do with DVDs in our life? I can argue in the same manner in the opposite direction: just as a chicken dropped into the Pacific Ocean won't turn the ocean into chicken soup, DVDs won't have much effect to our spiritual life. There, analogies don't make conclusive arguments.
His interpretation of Job 6 is even worse. It says: "Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred." Job isn't saying he suffered because he spoke to much, and now he shall shut the hell up. It says it right there in this passage, he has no idea why he suffered at all, that's why he challenges God to "show me how I have erred". If God can tell him even just one thing he had done wrong, he'll shut up; otherwise he'll keep whining. And this speaker turned this passage around to say the exact opposite. Man, this is just bad exegesis.
The applications of these teachings are equally lame. Regarding the inputs, I have already said that his teachings find no basis in the 3 main passages that he cited. Regarding the outputs, although Matt 12 and James 3 do talk about controlling tongues, I'm pretty sure they do not mean to say that it is wrong to say "unbelievable" or "mind-blowing". They're talking about curses, blaspheming against the holy spirit; they're not forbidding the use of figures of speech and rhetorics. In fact, the bible itself does that all the time. When it describes God as a man with hands, or a heart, it isn't being untruthful to its readers. Any sane person will recognize the use of anthropomorphism in such descriptions. Why not?
Well, all in all, this sermon was so unbelievably lame that it is mind-blowing.
In any case, so I decided to go to the English service. And last week, at the English service, I chanced upon one of the most ridiculous sermons I ever heard, an experience totally worth recording.
The speaker's speech had a title, something along the line of "spiritual inputs & outputs". He began with Matthew 12 and James 3, saying that we gotta watch our tongues, which is the "output". But that'd be too simple, so he went on to say that we also got to manage our "input", so we'll have the right "output". He encouraged us to throw away our DVDs, video games, and music CDs, which might pollute our pure mind, just as a drop of cyanide can poison an entire cup of water. He then cited Job 6.24: "Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred." According to this guy, Job found out that the reason why he suffered so much was because of what he had said; he didn't watch his tongue, so he lost his family and properties. So how shall we watch our tongues? He suggested that we shall not utter expressions such as: "unbelievable", "break a leg", and "it blew my mind". These are exaggerations that we don't mean. If we speak unreal things in the morning, our prayers at night will have no chance of being realized, or so he suggested.
Now, this sermon errs in so many points that it is difficult to criticize in a systematic manner, but I'll try. First, his two key passages, Matt 12 and James 3, do condemn the practice of bad-mouthing (output), but they don't talk about the inputs at all. Matt 12 relates bad fruits to bad trees, but it says nothing of what inputs the tree has received to become bad in the first place! So one of the 2 main points that he's making isn't even talked about in the biblical passages that he focused on. The other support for his point about inputs is the cyanide analogy. But whenever someone appeals to analogy as an argument, we should see a red flag. While it sounds reasonable, we have to question what is cyanide in water to do with DVDs in our life? I can argue in the same manner in the opposite direction: just as a chicken dropped into the Pacific Ocean won't turn the ocean into chicken soup, DVDs won't have much effect to our spiritual life. There, analogies don't make conclusive arguments.
His interpretation of Job 6 is even worse. It says: "Teach me, and I will be silent; And show me how I have erred." Job isn't saying he suffered because he spoke to much, and now he shall shut the hell up. It says it right there in this passage, he has no idea why he suffered at all, that's why he challenges God to "show me how I have erred". If God can tell him even just one thing he had done wrong, he'll shut up; otherwise he'll keep whining. And this speaker turned this passage around to say the exact opposite. Man, this is just bad exegesis.
The applications of these teachings are equally lame. Regarding the inputs, I have already said that his teachings find no basis in the 3 main passages that he cited. Regarding the outputs, although Matt 12 and James 3 do talk about controlling tongues, I'm pretty sure they do not mean to say that it is wrong to say "unbelievable" or "mind-blowing". They're talking about curses, blaspheming against the holy spirit; they're not forbidding the use of figures of speech and rhetorics. In fact, the bible itself does that all the time. When it describes God as a man with hands, or a heart, it isn't being untruthful to its readers. Any sane person will recognize the use of anthropomorphism in such descriptions. Why not?
Well, all in all, this sermon was so unbelievably lame that it is mind-blowing.
Monday, November 2, 2009
教會執事殺情婦?
=======================================
教會執事涉殺聾啞情婦
(星島)2009年11月3日 星期二 05:30
被公認為性情溫和、樂於助人的虔誠教會執事，與同為聾啞的已婚女教友發生婚外情，女教友疑苦苦相纏要求執事離婚，執事不勝其煩下涉以刀捅殺女教友。事發三日後，執事哭著向教會牧師和盤托出殺人一事，並到警署寫下自首信。執事被控一項謀殺罪，案件昨於高院開審。
記者：何鳳儀
現年四十七歲的被告葉啟明，昨於高院否認一項於去年九月十三日謀殺女子吳桂芳（三十九歲）罪名。被告指自己當時精神失常，承認誤殺罪，但不獲控方接納。
控方開案陳辭指，被告與死者年幼時相識於聾人學校，八九年在九龍城衙前圍道香港聾人基督教會相聚，被告為教會執事，而靠綜援維生的死者也熱心教會事務，二人各家室子女，但暗地裏發展親密關係。死者丈夫昨供稱，他視性情溫和的被告為普通朋友，被告曾替他修理濾水器及搬家具。
牧師面前哭著懺悔
死者丈夫梁偉光昨供稱，事發當日早上十一時，他帶兩名兒子到父母西區寓所，妻子原答應一同晚飯，但未有現身；晚上十時他返到沙田 新翠村新明樓寓所，赫見妻子躺於血泊中，毫無動靜，遂立即傳真通知被告、父親及教會傳道人鄺志雄，鄺趕到現場助他報警。救護員到場後證實吳已死亡，驗屍報告指死因是胸口被刀捅傷。
控方指出，與被告相識近十年的教會牧師高偉光，於同月十六日應被告妻子通知到其寓所會面，被告一見高即哭起來懺悔，承認自己用刀捅死吳桂芳，指死者要求他離婚及娶她。被告同日到警署，在警誡下寫下：「我要自首，因我是殺吳桂芳。」被告及後在錄影會面中表示他早於事發前兩日對死者動殺機，並於當日買兇刀及新衣。
......
=======================================
呢條友根本就冇誠心認罪, 話自己係精神失常誤殺.
教會執事涉殺聾啞情婦
(星島)2009年11月3日 星期二 05:30
被公認為性情溫和、樂於助人的虔誠教會執事，與同為聾啞的已婚女教友發生婚外情，女教友疑苦苦相纏要求執事離婚，執事不勝其煩下涉以刀捅殺女教友。事發三日後，執事哭著向教會牧師和盤托出殺人一事，並到警署寫下自首信。執事被控一項謀殺罪，案件昨於高院開審。
記者：何鳳儀
現年四十七歲的被告葉啟明，昨於高院否認一項於去年九月十三日謀殺女子吳桂芳（三十九歲）罪名。被告指自己當時精神失常，承認誤殺罪，但不獲控方接納。
控方開案陳辭指，被告與死者年幼時相識於聾人學校，八九年在九龍城衙前圍道香港聾人基督教會相聚，被告為教會執事，而靠綜援維生的死者也熱心教會事務，二人各家室子女，但暗地裏發展親密關係。死者丈夫昨供稱，他視性情溫和的被告為普通朋友，被告曾替他修理濾水器及搬家具。
牧師面前哭著懺悔
死者丈夫梁偉光昨供稱，事發當日早上十一時，他帶兩名兒子到父母西區寓所，妻子原答應一同晚飯，但未有現身；晚上十時他返到沙田 新翠村新明樓寓所，赫見妻子躺於血泊中，毫無動靜，遂立即傳真通知被告、父親及教會傳道人鄺志雄，鄺趕到現場助他報警。救護員到場後證實吳已死亡，驗屍報告指死因是胸口被刀捅傷。
控方指出，與被告相識近十年的教會牧師高偉光，於同月十六日應被告妻子通知到其寓所會面，被告一見高即哭起來懺悔，承認自己用刀捅死吳桂芳，指死者要求他離婚及娶她。被告同日到警署，在警誡下寫下：「我要自首，因我是殺吳桂芳。」被告及後在錄影會面中表示他早於事發前兩日對死者動殺機，並於當日買兇刀及新衣。
......
=======================================
呢條友根本就冇誠心認罪, 話自己係精神失常誤殺.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Hope = crap
Yes, I'm now in Vancouver. Last night I watched Shawshank Redemption with my old bean. The movie is pretty fun to watch, entertaining from start to finish. It's got a few famous lines that people repeat, such as "hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and a good thing never dies," and "hope is a dangerous thing."
I don't feel that hope is a good thing, but neither do I think it dangerous. I just feel that hope is crap, meaningless. I don't think it is a big loss at all if I just die tonight. It might be pretty cool to eventually graduate from the stupid program or get to play Final Fantasy XIX or whatever, but to endure all the hardships and boredom most hours of most days of my life just to enjoy for that little bit is so not worthwhile. It is kinda like eating a crab: all that hard work just to eat that little meat is a good waste of time and effort.
Perhaps I should find a job that is ridiculously life-threatening but not physically demanding (is there even such a job?), since I get the strong feeling that I might just meet the same end as young Werther did, though for vastly different reasons.
I don't feel that hope is a good thing, but neither do I think it dangerous. I just feel that hope is crap, meaningless. I don't think it is a big loss at all if I just die tonight. It might be pretty cool to eventually graduate from the stupid program or get to play Final Fantasy XIX or whatever, but to endure all the hardships and boredom most hours of most days of my life just to enjoy for that little bit is so not worthwhile. It is kinda like eating a crab: all that hard work just to eat that little meat is a good waste of time and effort.
Perhaps I should find a job that is ridiculously life-threatening but not physically demanding (is there even such a job?), since I get the strong feeling that I might just meet the same end as young Werther did, though for vastly different reasons.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
新玩具
首先, 臨走都仲買到平o既新書. 今次真係真正o既"最後"一次.
Copper Scroll Studies
Price: $7.99
Original Price: $75.00
The Gospels in Context: Social and Political History in the Synoptic Tradition
Price: $8.99
Original Price: $85.00
Johannine Eclesiology
Price: $12.99
Original Price: $129
The Rhetoric of Characterization of God, Jesus, and Jesus' Disciples in the Gospel of Mark
Price: $15.99
Original Price: $159
The Text-Critical Study of the Epistle of Jude
Price: $18.99
Original Price: $185
The Anointed and His People: Messianic Expectations from the Maccabees to Bar Kochba
Price: $16.99
Original Price: $169
Thomas at the Crossroads
Price: $9.99
Original Price: $99
In Search of Paul
Price: $2.99
Original Price: $35
而早幾日車完阿媽去機場, 同妹仔去咗 p-mall, 周圍行時見到有個出前一丁 look o既 pillow, 妹仔非常鍾意.
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