From all quarters the call is to never let another assassination attempt happen, this is the big lie! Our government is hiding the truth and the lack of accountability and responsibility is going to ensure that another attempt is inevitable.
Will it happen again? Of course not they say, we are the government.
G. Goslaw
Landers, CA
Given the multiple Gods that live within the pages of the Hebrew Bible, as in Genesis 1: 26; 2:18; 3:22; 10: 6-7 and many others, what are we to make of this understanding of the reality of God? Shall we remain ignorant because this kind of God talk makes us uncomfortable? Shall we get angry at those who have the courage to point out our intellectual immaturity Biblewise? Shall we desperately retreat to the Christian doctrine of the multiplicity (Trinity) of God understandings? Worse yet, shall we just throw out the Bible?
One is free
to handle the Bible however one may choose.
As a God believer and a Bible believer, I can only give my opinion even
though my opinion has not been solicited and does not count for much. Gmirkin has defended most adequately the
opinion that the Bible was edited 270 BC, at Alexandria, Egypt. There is no
other way to explain the obvious Greek philosophical influences on the text of
the Hebrew Bible. That being said, is this new soup more or less
creditable?
Whether Hebrew tradition
or Plato’s philosophy, they both are stories told in Sunday school. Stories told to prepare the child for the
complexities of living in this crazy yet beautiful world. Both of their motives are righteous
but they both are merely camouflage. The
stories hide the ultimate question, the question that no one can answered to
date. The question, how can a good God
create an evil world? Why do the good seem to die young?
I dare you
to take a storiless, grown up, shot at that one.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Who is this guy, Russel E. Gmirkin? A Hebrew and Greek researcher without advanced degrees? A historical theologian without church affiliations? A researcher living in Oregon and working out of the public library? Yet the most scholarly presentation out there to date (2022).
The supposedly great minds of religion have struggled for 2000 years to give the Bible historical context without success. All of their combined wisdom has only produced doctrinal stagnation. Why Russel E. Gmirkin? Why should he now appear?
Maybe, it is
time. He is the Einstein of the Bible. So profoundly simple it is genius. Is anyone listening?
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
Who left the rooftop unguarded with a clear line of fire to the podium? From the FBI director’s testimony, the shooter was a nut looking to be immortalized by killing any available newsworthy target. That may be the motivation of the shooter but someone also may have tipped him off as to the planned unguarded rooftop.
Again, who
had responsibility for the rooftop? Who
failed or cooperated with the shooter’s craziness? Either way, that person or persons must be publicly
identified and investigated. The Secret Service knows and they owe it to former
President Trump and the people to be transparent.
Without this accountability, plausible deniability
can only go so far.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Never again Mr. President Trump, never again trust the Biden, Harris puppets of the radical left to play fair. They will kill you and/or your family to prevent your return to the White House. The Secrete Service Director was sending you a message in her testimony, no answers and no rules apply to us, there is no theory of justice that will stop us, we are the government!
Mr.
President, please go to Plan B. Hire your own security for the family, hide
them away from these monsters and use security that answers to you for all events.
You can figure this out. Regrettably, this is no longer the America we once
knew, until this battle is won, that America is deceased.
The Biden/
Harris puppets of the radical left will stop at nothing to control our America
and you are correct, you are in their way.
Now there is no honor in America, just deadly politics. It is time to stop being nice, keep speaking
the truth, tell us how we can help. You are our hero and it is
not fair to put this on your shoulders but there it is. You alone, no other man,
no other politician has the guts to prevail against them.
God be with
you!
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
Regardless of how the inquisition of Secrete Service Director Cheatle on Monday unfolds she and the Biden administration will continue to stonewall. Regardless of the questions asked, she will still have her job and we will be further burdened with her incompetence. The really bad news is that there may have been more to the assassination attempt than just extreme incompetence.
Was the assassination
attempt a Democratic plot to kill President Trump? Ms. Director, please answer, yes or no? Why not? Put her answer on the record but she
and every agency of the federal government will never be transparent. After all, we are only Republicans. The truth is that we will never know until the
Democrats are defeated in November. The plot will then thicken and be exposed,
if there was such an evil deed.
In the meantime, President Trump needs an unofficial security force. Old line Secrete Service agents or civilian companies must be hired to protect the former president from all threats, inside and outside the government. Could there be some volunteers? Some of us fear that the Butler screwup, on so many levels, will not be the last.
G. Goslaw
Landers, CA
Theism as the belief in a God who interrupts this world to change outcomes is a no go. However, our world, as created in the primordial past, does have an undetectable God Code that seems to influence outcomes. The God Code is a long-term influencer that picks and chooses as if it is the blowing wind without a beginning or an end.
Did God direct
President Trump to turn his head at the precise moment to avoid the assassins
bullet? Was the miss just luck? These
questions can only be answered rationally as time marches on. But in the
meantime, through the eyes of faith, somehow, God was present in that miss!
The why is
yet to unfold.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
John Shelby Spong, “The Future of the Christian Tradition”, as given to the Jesus Seminar, (2006), p. 45.
“I want to
be a follower of Jesus. How do I accomplish that? It is not by conversion
activity or missionary enterprises, I assure you. I wish the church would get (out*) of the
conversion business. That business is, well intentioned but base born. It is, no matter how sophisticated its adherents
try to make it, finally nothing but an attempt to impose a religious tradition
thought to be superior, on those who are themselves as well as their beliefs
judged to be inferior.” (*This word is absent in text?)
Matthew 23: 15 (TNIV). Woe 2 of 7 that Jesus dumped on the church of his day.
“Woe
to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single
convert, and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you
are.”
Conversion to
any religion, as in Christianity, is not about a discussion (love or respect) among equals, it is
only a surrender to a bully tradition. gg
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Jesus .....
St. Matthew
10: 29 – 31.
29. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
(die) outside your Father’s care. 30. And even the vary hairs of your head are all
numbered. 31. So don’t be afraid; you
are worth more than many sparrows. (TNIV)
Life is a God given creative process that defeats death by turning death into an eternity creative process where individualism melts into the unity of God. All of life is gifted by the creator with these two creative processes, before and after death. All of us, to include the good, the bad and the ugly.
Before death we are free to choose, life or death. We are free to choose an unlimited focus in this world or by accepting the creative certainty of death (faith), we begin to experience the unity of an awaiting eternity. It is by choosing the eternal that all of our lives come into God focus giving our daily lives meaning regardless of our circumstances or religion. Our lives and the lives of others will then be treasured as a part of the approaching unity of God.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
The modus operandi of my youth was to be nothing like my father. However, as I have aged, be it heredity or environment, I have become increasingly aware of the father within me, that pigheaded and solitary soul. The headwork is different but I am just as stubborn and I put up high or higher walls of self-defense. Are these deficits not sin against the children and God?
God, please
forgive me. Kids, now responsible adults,
your father asks your forgiveness. Hopefully,
as a family, we can minimize our deficiencies into the future through this forgiving. There is life power in God centered forgiveness.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Back in the day our understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures was quite elementary. The Documentary Hypothesis, form criticism (internal) and literary criticism (external), were discussed but deemed radical by most mainstream and almost all conservative theologians. Since I have been out of the loop for forty years and looking for new challenges, I bought a book, yes, again.
The book: “Berossus
and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus”, Russell E. Gmirkin, T & T Clark
International. NY (2006).
Quoting from page one: “This book proposes a
new theory regarding the date and circumstances of the composition of the
Pentateuch. The central thesis of this book is that the Hebrew Pentateuch was
composed in its entirety about 273 to 272 BCE by Jewish scholars at Alexandria that
later traditions credited with the Septuagint translation of the Pentateuch
into Greek.”
“The late
date of the Pentateuch, as demonstrated by literary dependance on Berossus and
Manetho, has two important consequences: the definitive overthrow of the
chronological framework of the Documentary Hypothesis, and a third century BCE
or later date for other portions of the Hebrew Bible that show literary
dependence on the Pentateuch.”
Zowee! If
Moses wrote the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, Moses just got another 500
years older. Reviewing, my study Bible says these books were written by Moses
around 1400 BCE, within his lifetime.
The Documentary hypothesis says they were written around 700 BCE, by
whomever, the Gmirken hypothesis dates the writing in either 273 and 272 BCE by
Hebrew scholars and religionists commissioned by a political authority to
produce a Hebrew history.
If a
gathering of 80 or so Hebrew scholars and religious types put together what we
now know as the Hebrew Bible, there must be a variety of God understandings
shared in the Hebrew Bible. This much is a fact. Some of these understandings were pulled from religious oral Hebrew history traditions and some from the surrounding cultures
of 273 BCE so as to tell a good story. This, then, is a theory that seems to
fit.
Why does
such a theory meet resistance within the conservative factions of Christianity? Just guessing but could it be that such a
Biblical history puts the understanding of a Cosmic Disciplinarian God of St.
Augustine and Martin Luther into question? What is this tree of good and
evil? Moses speak or Greek mythology? Everything is but a theory, anyway.
G. Goslaw
Landers, CA.
…..
America since the Korean War has had national leadership in disguise. The disguise of competent Joe is nothing new. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address, warned America of the power of the military industrial complex. No one was listening. Presidents of every administration, political animals of every station and flavor, have howled when the military industrial complex has barked. Republican presidents funded military buildups only to see both Republican and Democrat presidents deplete the military by starting wars all over the world. Our political system is a cash cow for the military industrial complex.
Every soldier
and civilian killed or wounded in this game of war has been betrayed by our political
powers that be, the wars have won the people of America nothing, they all have been
a waste, costing us blood and a looming national bankruptcy. The history is
rather consistent, Vietnam War (1955-1975), the Cold War (1947-19990), Persian Gulf
War (1991), War in Iraq (2003-2011), War in Afghanistan (2001-2014), and the
War in Ukraine (2021 to the present).
The military
industrial complex is at war with President Trump who was bucking the system by
bringing peace to the people. The crazy unprecedented
abuse heaped upon President Trump is not only a democrat conspiracy but the
will of the military industrial complex. Some of us fear for President Trump
because killing presidents is not beyond the purview of these people. The Secrete Service is no safety guarantee,
after all, they work for the government.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
The Study Bible has been a boom for the reader in search of spiritual authenticity. A concordance, an explanation of language differences and the meaning of old terminologies are explained along with their theological significance. These resources are readily available right alongside the text. The problem is that like all books, the study Bible is written for a particular market and a lack of honesty cannot be avoided.
“Today’s New
International Study Bible”, Revised edition 2006, published by Zondervan gives us
an introduction to each book, the author and dating. On page 2, under the
heading of Authorship and Dating of Genesis, the following statement is shared. “Historically, Jews and Christians alike have
held that Moses was the author/compiler of the first five books of the OT.” The study Bible also fixes the peoples wandering
in the desert (1446 to 1406 B.C.) as the “most likely” dating for the writing of
all five books.
The next
paragraph rightfully acknowledges another theory on the authorship of Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. According to this theory, there are four
differing sources visible in the text of these books. Four sources could mean four authors. Four
sources could mean four separate oral traditions. This theory was named the
Documentary Hypothesis and advanced by a book written in 1965 by J. Wellhausen.
This theory dated the writing or compilation of most of the Pentateuch in the
range of 850 -750 B.C., at least 700 years after the death of Moses.
The TNIV
study Bible quickly dismisses this theory with a market friendly response using
words like claimed, presumed, and allegedly. As the last word the conversation stops with
the following statement.
“However,
this view is not supported by conclusive evidence, and intensive archaeological and
literary research has tended to undercut many of the arguments used to
challenge Mosaic authorship.”
The TNIV editors must be democrats. This summary of their opposition to any criticism of Mosaic authorship is a deceptive word salad. Are they telling us that Mosaic authorship is a fact? Some of us would like to judge for ourselves whether there is conclusive evidence for that supposed fact. There is no archaeological or literary research outside the very few Bible references, that supports the Moses theory. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Many years (1980)
have passed since I cared about such matters.
Being led to check it out, I googled the Documentary Hypothesis and found
that nothing is as it was portrayed forty-five years ago but nothing has really
changed. The bottom line is that any understanding about the author or authors
of the Pentateuch is still open to question, all opinions are still theories
and communicating that fact to the reader is the only honest alternative.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
The clearest God voice I have ever experienced is the gift and naming of my adopted son, Zachary. The voice was not an audible voice but the divine voice of unfolding circumstances. Karen and I were first blessed with Kristin, our adopted newborn baby girl. We named her Kristin with a “K” because K’s ran in Karen’s birth family.
The presence
of Kristin seemed to cement us together as a family but we also shared a hope
for a son. Boys are not a priority but
they are just a little bit special, sorry ladies, call such an attitude generational
sin on my part. Anyway, we got on the
list at an adoption agency in Kansas City, Kansas. Though we were on the list we were told it
would be a long wait, newborn baby boys were in high demand.
Not being
swayed by the bad news, we began planning for the soon to arrive male child, ask
and you shall receive. The planning
included a conversation about a name.
For a year we batted around names as a family, “Glen Jr.” was a no go, I
was not a “Glen” fan. For some deep psychological
reason, the name Glen was and is a bit effeminate. Every month we would assume to speak of the
boy among us with a different name, just to test how it would sound.
After many
months and many names, the name Zachary was the runaway winner. Our lives now revolved around the arrival of
our son Zachary. Two years into the
wait, the adoption agency called. Karen
took the call and her reaction was not the expected excitement so I relaxed. Putting the agency on hold, Karen shared with
me that the agency was placing a boy but he was not a newborn, being about a
year old. The agency was almost apologetic for putting this placement before us.
We politely told the agency that we preferred to wait for a newborn.
Despite this
decision the agency kept the conversation going. All of the sudden Karen got
her excitable self. What’s going
on? Karen looked at me and said Zachary
has come home! The birth mother had
named her boy Zachary, a name the agency said we could change.
No way, we considered Zachary a God placement, for indeed, Zachary had come home! Go figure, I am still trying to know why us? Why should we be so blessed? Some would say, all things considered, after 4o years of history, God must have made a mistake? Is not God about undeserved gifts?
I prefer to believe that God has a yet unfolding ulterior motive.
G.Goslaw
Landers, CA
“The word ‘God’ is not about something more than we are, it is about all that we are. ‘God’ is about understanding the final dimension of our life; it is about a humanity that has been opened to divinity. It is about stepping into eternity while still walking in time. It is about the experience that Paul Tillich called ‘The Eternal Now’. It is about entering humanity so deeply that we taste eternity and experience what we have traditionally called heaven.”
John Shelby
Spong, “Beyond Theism but not beyond God”, as given to us in the Jesus Seminar, “The
Future of the Christian Tradition”. (2007), P. 44.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
“There is no true church, no true religion, no infallible Pope, no inerrant Bible. All of these are the spiritual constructs of frightened, dependent, childlike people of the past, but they have become impediments to maturity, and to human development. They cannot be a part of the Christianity of the twenty-first century.”
John Shelby Spong, “Beyond Theism but not beyond God”, as given to us in the Jesus Seminar, “The Future of the Christian Tradition”, (2007), p. 38.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
…. of the
status quo!
"The sciences
alone, it seems, have had to drag the churches and synagogues kicking and
screaming into the twenty first century."
Robert W. Funk, “An Enlightened Faith for an Enlightened Age”, as given to us in the Jesus Seminar, “The Future of the Christian Tradition”, p.25.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Some of us have never been accused of being without imagination. Rather than an insult, this accusation is a compliment for without imagination there is no life, one is already dead. This is the fate or future of traditional doctrinal Christianity.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
The moment has arrived. That one allusive moment that would shape every other day. Some people call it destiny, that one allusive moment that was always just around the next corner but until now, had failed to appear. After all these years, after almost a lifetime, much to my surprise, this moment was just waiting to pounce. Could this moment have appeared at a more appropriate moment? Maybe, maybe not.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca
Being right is its own reward. However, since there is no one to pat me on the back, I shall have to do the honors. Following the defeat of President Trump in 2020, I posted a warning, fasten your seat belts, the crazies are now running our lives. No one was listening.
However, the
last four years have proved me right. Biden
was only the face of the new administration, traditional democrat politics was
dead, the real winner was the radical left crazy progressive politicians who
are still taking their marching orders from Barack Obama, our former president who
cowardly makes decisions for us hiding behind the blank face of grand paw Joe.
Am I a
political prophet, no way, I was only stating the obvious, most of the country
had tunnel vision or they were parties to the deception. The media was and is the
devil in sheep’s clothing by only reporting what they were told to report. Journalism is no longer a profession.
Maybe, sleepy
time is over. For the sake of our Constitutional Republic, for the sake of our children’s
future, may all we citizens join together as Americans. If it happens, that
will be a wonder to watch!
Maybe then I
can stop cussing at the TV.
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca