Larry Kuperman

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part VI in Religion JoeUser Forums

Gideon, thank you!!!! I did discuss the Gnostics earlier and will discuss the Rise of Islam in the next article. But by the time that Council of Nicea ends, the Catholic Church was the Official religion of the Empire, the books of the Gnostics had been burnt and the Gnostics themselves had gone underground. Islam was 200 years away. The pagans were rapidly being converted. For all intents and purposes, the Catholic Church was supreme. Which m

A Brief History of Western Religions- Part VI in Religion JoeUser Forums

We have seen how, after Nicea, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. But what about the Jews? In 70 AD, after a bitter rebellion, the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. The rebellion lasted from 66 AD to 73 AD. According to both Tacitus and Josephus 1.1 million Jews died and 97,000 were sold into slavery. (Personally, I think t

Why Do I Write This Stuff? in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I have been writing a series of articles on religion and history. The response has been more favorable than I would have imagined. I haven't offended anybody.....yet! Which is good, because, although I am careful, religion is a touchy subject. But I will tell you that I have put a LOT of work into this. Why? Well, I am teaching a 7th Grade class that deals w

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part IV in Religion JoeUser Forums

Pam, the Catholic Encyclodedia defines martyr as "The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation. It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching." forefather1, when you say <TABLE cellpadding=8 width=

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part V in Religion JoeUser Forums

WiseFawn, thank you very much.

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part V in Religion JoeUser Forums

why not focus on things like theories and philo.'s of Religions.? Why not focus on things like the history of Hmmm, it seems that you admonished me not

A Brief History of Western Religions- Part V in Religion JoeUser Forums

"Render unto Caesar....." In 325 AD, a council of bishops was convened at Nicea, in Turkey. The decisions of that council would effect the future of religion in the West for centuries to come. Constantine had become Emperor in 323 AD, after defeating the Emperor Licinius in battle. Constantine would end the persecutions against the Christians

Traces of Explosive Found in Russian Plane Crash in Current Events JoeUser Forums

Russian Intelligence has confirmed that traces of explosive were found in the wreckage of one of the two planes that crashed Tuesday. Two Russian passenger planes that had departed from Moscow's Domodedova Airport crashed within minutes of each other. At least 89 people died in the crashes. Terrorism was suspected, of course, but could not be confirmed ini

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part IV in Religion JoeUser Forums

Oops! I forgot to say "The Apostle Thomas was also called Didymus which in the Greek means Twin or Double." You can actually view the papyrus shred of the Gospel of Thomas at: http://reluctant-messenger.com/gospel-of-thomas.htm

A Brief History of Western Religions- Part IV in Religion JoeUser Forums

"These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke, and which the twin (Didymos) Judas Thomas wrote down (recorded.)" These are the opening words of the Gospel of Thomas, first discovered in the 1890's and also included in the documents that comprise the collection known as the Gnostic Gospels. It begins in the desert. It always begins

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part III in Religion JoeUser Forums

How did this ever get to be a featured article? By the way, i am so glad to see that someone would go through the bother and suffer the meager reward (in the eyes of others) to bring such a series of posts into the JU fold. I give you my applause. Marco, the reward is far from meager! I wish y

Reply to A Brief History of Western Religions- Part III in Religion JoeUser Forums

Andrew, thank you for your comments. I am really glad that you posted. Have you had a chance to read my first two posts? Respectfully, I disagree with some of what you have said and I think that I have provided reasons. Christianity actively sought conversions, Judaism at best reluctantly accepted converts. From the death of Jesus to 313 AD, Christianity went f

A Brief History of Western Religions- Part III in Religion JoeUser Forums

We have seen how Christianity emerged from Judaism. But how similiar are the two religions? Here is a quick comparison: Judaism Tribal religion, believing that the Jewish people are “Chosen” by God. Before 70 AD, Judaism was centered around Jerusalem and the Temple. Although there are some conversions, Judaism is passe

A Brief History of Western Religions- Part II in Religion JoeUser Forums

In Part I, I discussed how Judaism is a tribal religion. That is to say that it elevates one people above all others. It was an effective force in uniting twelve tribes into one people, distinguishing them from others by circumcision and the Ten Commandments and by the laws of kashruth or kosher eating, by establishing common tradition and more. It enabled the Jewish

A Brief History of Western Religions- Preface and Part I in Religion JoeUser Forums

This is the first of a series of articles that are largely intended for the JCS (Jewish Cultural Society) 7th Grade Class and is an overview. The general orientation is secular, that is that I espouse a "real world" view focusing on recorded events rather than traditional comparisons of belief systems. I feel that it is important to give this disclaimer at t

Reply to Islam's 5 Pillars : Rape, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, and Hate in Politics JoeUser Forums

Good reasearch, almost an article of it's own right there. Thank you, I will probably post such an article in the near future. BTW, and please don't take this as a plug, but I have several articles on my blog that I spent a lot of time researching, some dealing with anti-Semiticism. I am just hesitant t

Reply to Islam's 5 Pillars : Rape, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, and Hate in Politics JoeUser Forums

Islam is, since it's inception, anti-Jewish. Proof? The Prophet Mohammed had 800 Jews beheaded at Medina, after they surrendered and threw themselves on his mercy. From the Quran, which says: ""And He made you heirs of their lands, their houses and their goods, and of a land which ye had not frequented before, And Allah has power over all things." (33:27) See http://www.yahoodi.com/peace/muhammad.html What crime had they commited to b

Reply to Swift Boat Vet Now Reveals the TRUTH in Blogging JoeUser Forums

A link to John Kerry's Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Comittee: http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/JohnKerryTestimony.html As BakerStreet pointed out, he DID talk about the war crimes that he and other veterans saw happen in Vietnam. But where exactly is the problem there? If, as a member of the US military, you observe criminal acts, you are supposed to report them. In fact, your sworn oath obligates you to report them.<

Reply to Swift Boat Vet Now Reveals the TRUTH in Blogging JoeUser Forums

Thank you for posting this. The whole Swift Boat thing calls to mind a line from "A Man For All Seasons" that goes something like: "And when we die and you go to Heaven for doing what your conscience dictates and I go to Hell for NOT doing what my conscience dictates, will you join me....for fellowship?"

Reply to Islam - global monster or global scapegoat? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Greetings! Interesting topic. The analogy is one that occurs to many people; I blogged on this myself, not too long ago. Arabs and Jews are both Semetic peoples; both claim descent from the Patriarch Abraham; Muslims and Jews are both "The People of The Book." We both say Shalom/Salaam. But where the analogy falls down is the seeming inability of moderate Muslims to condemn the criminal actions of the radical minority. Muslims behead

Reply to The Worst Part of Team USA Basketball. in Sports & Leisure JoeUser Forums

Hey, Gideon. Glad to see some sports related articles here. (Even if this one is kind of political.) Olympic basketball has lost it's cachet. Jordan, Barkely, et al were the real Dream Team. This team boasts but two superstars- Duncan and Iverson. The leagues other top players were just not motivated. But then....why should they be? A CNN poll showed that 67% percent of respondents couldn't care less about the Olympics. I would inclu

Reply to Iran Warns of Pre-Emptive Strike in International JoeUser Forums

Would it be a fair restatement of the Iranian position to say: "If we feel that you are threatening our means of producing nuclear weapons, we will attack you first with conventional weapons?" What peaceful use could Iran have for the nuclear reactor? Oil-rich Iran can't reasonably say that they are looking for alternative energy sources. The purpose of the reactor is to develop nuclear weapons capability, in a country that is obviously hostil

Reply to RealNetworks Targets Apple-Battle Looms in Consumer Issues JoeUser Forums

does microsoft still have an interest in real? As far as I can determine, Real sued Microsoft in December of 2003 (see http://www.microsoftmonitor.com/archives/002021.html) and the relationship has been at best lukewarm since. The suit was for $1 billion and was over Microsoft's bundling of Windo

RealNetworks Targets Apple-Battle Looms in Consumer Issues JoeUser Forums

RealNetworks, developer of the RealPlayer technology, has announced that it will offer songs from its on-line music store for half the price of Apple and that the songs will be playable on Apple's iPod devices. Real will use a new technology called Harmony to make the songs playable on the iPod, eliminating one of Apple's advantages. And that technology has r

Reply to CursorXP: alternative view. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Thanks for writing this. CursorXP is one of my favorites, too, and doesn't receive enough credit. Some of the cursors are highly functional, others are just gorgeous. (And some I don't care for, but to each their own!) My default cursor is Gear, the one that was used in the movie The Recruit. I return to it over and over. What do you use?