Shall we condemn her?

"There exists no culture in which adultery is unknown, no cultural device or code that extinguishes philandering." Helen Fisher

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- There is a very interesting incident in our history about a woman arrested for committing adultery.
Although the woman in this account was caught in an act of sin, Saints and Scoundrels of the Bible narrates that she was "most definitely an innocent party in the Pharisees' attempt to trap Jesus with his own words."
This sinful woman came face-to-face with the Messiah, it adds.
One day while Jesus was teaching the crowds in the temple courts, "teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery" (John 8:3 NIV).
Saints and Scoundrel of the Bible narrates: But these men who seemed so concerned about the law were disregarding it themselves--they had arrested only one of the guilty parties, and adultery takes two people.

HIRE

They brought only the woman to Jesus, suggesting that she had been hired into the relationship for the sole purpose of trapping her partners.
"They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone su ch woman. Now what do you say?" (8:35).
In their eyes, Jesus could have no right answer. If he said, "Stone her," then they could report him to the Roman authorities, who didn't allow Jews to carry out executions.
If Jesus said they should let her go, then he would be guilty of violating the law of Moses.
While the woman stood by, fully expecting death to come quickly, Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground with his finger.

CLOSE

The Bible dosen't tell us what he wrote, or if the woman was close enough to read it.
He may have been listing the sins of the accusers, assumes the book co-authored by Linda Chaffee Taylor, Carol Chaffee Fielding, and Drenda Thomas Richards.
Regardless of the message, they kept questioning Jesus until he stood up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7).
Evidently, continues the book, the older men in the group were more aware of their sins than the younger men.

CONFUSION

As they slipped quietly away, one by one, the older ones first, the woman's sense of dread must have changed to confusion.
She had been so close to death--what would happen to her now?
Then the Master turned to her and asked, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
"No one, sir," she said.
"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin (8:10-11).
With those words the woman received forgiveness. Jesus did not condone her sin but, rather, told her to change her ways, to turn over a new leaf.

Charlie Judeo

"God will never give you anything you can't handle, so don't stress." Kelly Clarkson

By Alex P. Vidal

HILLSBOROUGH, New Jersey -- On the eve of the Paris-based Charlie Hebdo massacre first anniversary, Charlie Judeo crossed my mind.
Charlie Judeo is the gatekeeper, inspector, and elevator operator of a synagogue in Upper Manhattan, New York City I recently "housecleaned" for five hours.
The place was a Jewish congregation, a worship community equivalent to a chapel for the Christian faithful.
While waiting for the assembly to conclude at 10 o'clock in the morning, I sat outside the synagogue and the old man Charlie Judeo engaged me in a brief but thought-provoking conversation when he saw the cross pendant on my necklace:
CJ: "You're a Christian, aren't you?"
APV: "Yes sir, I am."
CJ: "You believe in Jesus (Christ) as a Messiah?
APV (Digging from my Christian Living memory lane, I hesitantly replied): "We, Christians, believe Jesus Christ was a Prophet yes, a Messiah."

SUPERNATURAL

CJ: "Man, Jesus could not be a Prophet or Messiah because he possessed supernatural qualities and was a product of a virgin birth."
APV: "Please elaborate."
CJ: "Jesus could not have possibly fulfilled the messianic requirement of being descended on his father’s side from King David. A Messiah is born of human parents and must possess physical attributes."
Charlie Judeo is a dyed-in-the-wool Hebrew believer, thus I relinquished any attempt to engage him in a debate over faith, which I thought was unnecessary.
I came to operate a dust pan, a sweeper, a rag and a vacuum cleaner; wash the plates, glasses, cauldrons and other kitchen utensils and collect garbage, not to join the Holy Bible versus Torah slugfest.
The steely admonition and religious lecture had to be interrupted. 
I needed to hit the ground running; the assembly was over and it's past 10 o'clock.

CHECK

A good and pleasant person, Charlie Judeo entered the synagogue to check the progress of my work after two hours.
A garbage collector beat him to the draw by 15 minutes. 
"Where is the garbage?" Charlie Judeo demanded.
"The collector had taken it away," I retorted.
"OK," Charlie Judeo snapped back, his moustache gyrating. 
Three o'clock in the afternoon. Time to go.
Charlie Judeo was waiting outside the synagogue. 
The old man escorted me to the building exit and bade goodbye, half-smiling.
"Thank you, Charlie Judeo. Hope to see you again soon," I quipped, waving my right hand. 

Isaac Asimov’s Guide To The Bible

"That God cannot lie, is no advantage to your argument, because it is no proof that priests can not, or that the Bible does not." THOMAS PAINE

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- This is one of a kind book about the Holy Bible. 
Written by a biochemist from the University of Boston, the book supports critical thinking, and the author did not take his analysis as gospel anymore than the Hebrew and Greek scriptures.
Because he was a Jew, Isaac Asimov’s (born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov) commentaries and observations of the bible are from a Jewish point of view, modified by his science fiction background and thinking.

KING JAMES

Asimov brings us through the books of the Bible in King James Version order, explaining the historical and geographical setting of each one and the political and historical influences that affected it.
He went further as providing biographical information about the main characters. In essence Asimov seems to consider the bible as one of the most important history books ever written, and treats it as such.
What is so extraordinary about the book is it is just purely information and no commentary. 

If we want to know what's really going on as well as what's happened before this book to the Old and New Testament includes biblical verse, footnotes, references and subject indexes.
We should not miss this book.

Questions for Pope Francis on myths about Christianity

“The Bible should be taught, but emphatically not as reality. It is fiction, myth, poetry, anything but reality. As such it needs to be taught because it underlies so much of our literature and our culture.” Richard Dawkins

By Alex P. Vidal

IF we get a chance to have a tete-a-tete with Pope Francis in a no-holds-barred discussion during his visit in the Philippines from January 15 to 19, we would be asking him the following myths about Christianity:

1. Christians force their morality on others.

-According to this myth, Christians are judgmental and act as society’s moral watchdogs. And they try to censor everything from the arts to sex education.

2. Christians suppress women.

-According to this myth, the church through the ages has stifled the voice and gifts of women and has treated women as second-class beings.

3. Christians caused the ecological crisis.

-According to this myth, the Christian religion is alienated from the natural world. The Bible says to subdue the earth, and Western Christian culture took that as a license to exploit nature.

4. Christians are anti-scientific.

-According to this myth, the church has historically suppressed learning in general and scientific inquiry in particular. Christians even promote pseudoscience by trying to force science to fit a literal interpretation of the Bible.

5. Christians have done terrible things in the name of Christ.

-This myth cited the wrongs that have been done in the name of Christianity—everything from the Crusades to televangelist scandals.

DESTROY

6. Christian missionaries destroy native cultures.

-According to this myth, Christian missionaries force indigenous peoples to give up their unique culture. Christians don’t respect the spiritual value in native customs and religions.

7. Christians are arrogant.

-According to this myth, all religions teach basically the same thing, but Christians insist their religion is the only one that’s right. They arrogantly claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. That may be true for Christians, but it isn’t true for everybody.

Freelance writers Dale and Sandy Larsen of Duluth, Minnesota, ask if Christianity is defensible amid these myths.

“Isn’t it a backward religion based on primitive ideas that have no place in today’s world? Isn’t the Bible hopelessly out of date? And yet Christians insist on forcing their morality on other people!” they intone.

“And worst of all, isn’t Christianity the cause of so much pain and suffering in the world—from destroying native cultures to suppressing women to causing the ecological crisis?

“How can anyone take seriously a religion that is promoted by sleazy televangelists and that once sponsored the Crusade?

QUESTIONS

“These are honest questions that deserve straightforward answers. Separating the beliefs and actions of some Christians from our Christianity can be difficult. We need to go below the surface, see how these problems developed historically and go back to the Bible for the full story.”

They believe that there is "element of truth" in the above-mentioned myths.

"Some Christians are arrogant. Some Christians have made their faith into an exclusive club. But God's forgiveness always reaches out to be inclusive, touching everyone who acknowledges need and and responds in faith to his mercy," the conclude. "Anyone who has been hurt by Christians' arrogance will need to summon extra courage and open-mindedness in order to take another serious look at Christianity."

We must examine our heart. Are we willing not only to look at Christian faith but to find it true and begin to live by it?

Let's examine the heart of Christian belief. 

Let's examine the credibility of Christianity.    

How sex got a bad reputation

“Love is something far more than desire for sexual intercourse; it is the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives.” Bertrand Russell

By Alex P. Vidal

IS sex dirty?

Sex for procreation good.

For health good also?

Sexual behavior is often judged by clergymen whose qualifications include their solemn renunciation of sexual intercourse.

“Tragically,” protests Dr. David Reuben in Beyond the Birds and Trees, “those who undertake to control our sexual destinies are often sexually sick themselves. The decency league dedicated to abridging sexual behavior—except on their terms—are simply trying to deprive others of the reasonable use of their sexual orgasms.”

Reuben adds: “Every one of us has made that seven-inch journey through the penis into the vagina to meet the other half of our future protoplasm, and has then settled in the uterus for the 280-day wait. There is no reason now to be ashamed of how we traveled and where we grew—there is no more suitable place.”

In Any Woman Can, Reuben, 81, a psychiatrist and sex expert who now lives in California, says sex started with the crocodile.

“This scaly cold-blooded distant relative of man was the first animal to develop a penis. Before then, life was much simpler. All the earth’s inhabitants had about the same type of sexual equipment and used it about the same way.”

This was how Reuben explained further:

The male and female simply backed up to each other, wiggled their sexual equipment into contact, and oozed primitive sperm into contact with primitive eggs.

There wasn’t much to see, hardly anything to feel, and in many species if a couple turned on like this once a year, it was sufficient. Twice a year was oversexed and many animals copulated only once in a lifetime.

VISIBLE

For one thing penis was visible. Secondly, it revolutionized sex by fitting inside the female body. In those days there was no such thing as a vagina. The female sexual equipment was a cloaca consisting of a common channel for urine, feces, and semi-annual eggs. (Things have improved a lot for women since then.)

Obviously, the crocodile penis too has undergone major design modifications as it was handed down over the years to homo sapiens. From the evolutionary point of view the modern American male sports the latest in phallic equipment. But problem still remained.

Men equipped with this wonderful organ quickly developed a lively interest in the female sexual apparatus, by then improved and expanded into a closely-coupled vagina, labia, and clitoris.

Like the crocodiles before them men and women discovered that combining their sexual resources resulted in immense pleasure for both contributors.

For the next 50,000 years all went well. Sex was a normal psychological function as routine as swimming had been to the crocodile and as essential and enjoyable as eating was to early man. Then came the Dark Ages.

About 400 A.D. Western civilization abruptly lurched in a different direction. Suddenly sex was out and guilt was in.

As some long-forgotten genius in the field of medieval motivational psychology discovered, men and women are unbelievably responsive to the liking up of sex and guilt.

From that moment on, the fate of society (and most of its members) was sealed. The most efficient means of controlling human behavior had been put into effect: focus on an activity which everybody must engage in—sex; select its most joyable aspect—copulation; finally provide the threat of severe and relentless punishment for its enjoyment.

As the machinery of sexual repression creaked into action, the power and influence of those in control grew enormously. There were, to be sure, a few hitches at first but all resistance finally yielded to the crushing force of sexual repression.

PROBLEMS

One of the major early problems was that the moralists actually underestimated the potential of their new weapon to change the destiny of the Western world.

Apparently the original idea was to make sex only a minor transgression. However all levels of society almost immediately succumbed to the irresistible urge to feel guilty about perfectly normal sexual feelings. In effect this was the “new morality,” Dark Ages version.

In some ways a most frightening form. Sex rapidly became an emotional commodity to be consumed under the strictest prohibitions, if at all.

Like the famous insurance policy that pays off is the insured is killed by a cable car on the Fourth of July while carrying an Easter bunny, sexual relations came to be allowed only under the most rigid restrictions.

According to these forerunners of our modern moral guardians, sex was to be limited to married couples in bed, in the dark, fully clothed, ideally involving an important man and a frigid woman with just enough sperm dripping onto the lady’s private parts to bring on a joyless impregnation.

That was another challenge for the moral reformers. Since it sets a liberal tone toward sex, a major hatchet job was in order.

The Good Book was extensively distorted and misinterpreted to make it appear to endorse sexual repression.

Genesis was reinterpreted to make Adam and Eve seem like sinners who were evicted from the Garden of Eden for daring to engage in sexual intercourse.

SANITIZED

Later versions were further sanitized and Adam’s penis was replaced by the ever-present serpent hovering greedily around Eve’s pubic fig leaf.

The sexual purifiers smugly ignored reality: if God had not intended His first man and woman to copulate He would simply have molded their mortal clay a bit differently and left them nothing to work with.

Some of the changes were downright silly. In the Revised Version of the Bible of 1881, the word “whore” was changed to “harlot” and the term, “whoremonger” was replaced by “fornicator.” No exact figures are available to the number of souls saved by these semantic gymnastics.

The Bible was only the beginning. After emasculating this once lusty and vital Scripture, every other possible work of man, artistic and literary, were purged and distorted to eliminate any mention of rational human sexuality.

Fifteen hundred years ago the single most enduring principle of Western society was forged: SEX IS BAD.

From that moment to the present, hundreds of millions of innocent people have been brainwashed into believing a silly bit nonsense: sex is synonymous with sin.

Regrettably, no force on earth has been able to turn back the emotional calendar and the misconception goes on, constantly reinforced.

For more than a dozen centuries every persuasive force available has been harnessed to desexualize the most highly-sexed animal this planet has ever known—the human being. Their message is always the same and always untrue: sex, except under nearly impossible circumstances, is wicked.

One of the real tragedies of recent times is the attempted corruption of the human body. A small group of moral crusaders, working with that fevered devotion seen only in the mentally deranged, has been trying to convince everyone that the perfectly synchronized beautifully designed, elegantly planned mechanisms of their bodies are nasty, filthy, and horrid.

That psychological masterpiece which makes human reproduction unique has been distorted by those who should know better into a curse and a sickness.

MENSTRUATION

In reality menstruation signifies perfect health. The ounce or two of blood that is passed each month is the banner of a normal reproductive system. If blood is unclean, imagine what the moral crusaders can make of a nosebleed.

When it comes to sexual intercourse, the guerrilla fighters for purity bring on their big guns. Their favorite word is “dirty”—and they are wrong again.

By every test, sexual intercourse is probably the purest and daintiest activity that a man and woman can engage in, aside from being the most enjoyable.

The genitals themselves are normally free of harmful bacteria, the secretions are perfectly sterile, and the penis and vagina were obviously designed to be brought together in their own inimitable style.

By contrast, the throat of every person, including the anti-sex orators, is crammed with a dozen varieties of lethal bacteria.

These include the bugs that cause diphtheria, gonorrhea, strep throat, and rheumatic fever. If they want to start a crusade, it should probably begin in their own noses and mouths.

Actually the sexual reformers are on the wrong track. If they really hope to make men and women afraid of themselves, they might devote their attention to other organ systems.

Breathing offers a good opportunity. We take in good clean air and pervert it into bad breath! Only a few cynical mouthwash salesmen have jumped on that one, but there is plenty of room for moral education about how the body ruins God-given oxygen.

Sweating is another good area. Fifty thousand years ago human beings used their noses as much as their eyes. They could identify a stranger by his smell and could distinguish approaching animals and men by their specific odors.

The need for that talent has diminished somewhat but the human aroma still clings to man. It is now known as “body odor” and must be eliminated at all costs.

A human who smells like a human is headed for social and occupational disaster. In order to be accepted by the rest of his race, his breath must reek of carbolic acid, his armpits give off the scent of gardenias, and his skin exude hexachlorophene.

A few years ago chlorophyll tablets were developed to expunge once and for all every trace of human smells. (As a tribute to man’s sanity, they were tried and quickly discarded by all except fugitives wishing to avoid the bloodhounds.)

FRONTIER

Perhaps the last frontier for those reformers who want to protect us against ourselves is the digestive system. If they really concentrated they might be able to spoil the pleasure of eating for a hundred million or so fellow citizens. All they would need to do would be to explain, “When you take that beautiful food, provided for you by Heaven’s bounty, and put it into your body, it is attacked by filthy chemicals and changed into a green stinking mass. Do you know what that food finally becomes? Do you know what it is turned into?”

The lecture would have to stop at this point because the devoted moralists couldn’t say the word.

Every organ, every secretion, every cell of the human body was put there by nature, by the Creator, for a purpose.

The respiratory system, the digestive system, the sweat glands, all have a vital function in the preservation of the body. The sexual organs are no exception. For the past few hundred years, not more than a fleeting moment in the history of mankind, a strange collection of misguided do-gooders and moralizing misfits have tried to make us forget how we all arrived in this world. They miss the point. Ever since the beginning of the human race, sexual intercourse has been the most noble and wholesome of all man’s activities.

In spite of the shrill protests of those self-appointed moral guardians, nothing is going to change that.

Every woman, married or not, deserves the freedom to enjoy the ultimate expression of her sexual potential. With knowledge and determination and courage, that achievement is within her grasp.

Did Pericles, Julius Caesar also maintain ‘ghost employees’?

“When I saw corruption, I was forced to find truth on my own. I couldn't swallow the hypocrisy.” Barry White

By Alex P. Vidal

IF prostitution is the oldest profession, the issue of “ghost employees” could be the oldest form of graft and corruption among government officials.

Before Jesus Christ was born, history tells us there were already prostituted women and men. 

There were whores of antiquity providing sexual favors in exchange of money, goods and even food.

Before Christianity flourished, corruption was already prevalent in the Roman Empire.

Predecessors of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) already rolled down their curtains on the Romans. 

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" Matthew (22:21).

Imperial taxes were probably stolen by a one-man dictator in a regime that did not have the media to conduct the check and balance.

The hiring of “ghost employees” probably began even before civil service became an official edict in government.

Was the practice of hiring “ghost employees” by corrupt government officials already rampant during the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome?

Did Athene's Pericles and the emperors of Rome hire "ghost employees" like their modern counterparts?

TURMOIL

In every graft and corruption turmoil or swapping of graft and corruption charges, the hiring of “ghost employees” would almost always surface.

Rhoderick Paulete, among other comedians and showbiz characters who joined the government, was indicted for allegedly pocketing at least P100,000 a month representing the salaries of his “ghost employees” during his term as councilor of Quezon City.

City hall and capitol are the favorite employment centers of “ghosts” or non-existing workers.

Corrupt mayors, vice mayors, governors, vice governors and members of the city and provincial legislatures make a pile from this nefarious scheme, aside from their kickbacks in various projects.

There is a saying that if you want to make a quick money in government hire “ghost employees.”

In this method, everybody is reportedly happy. As long as nobody will rat against the group, and as long as everyone’s lips are sealed.    

When government officials wash their dirty linens in public, they swap charges ranging from receiving regular payola from illegal activities, anomalies in overtime and cash advances, and hiring “ghost employees.”

 -o0o-

POLITICS has destroyed relationships.

Your friends today are your enemies tomorrow and vice versa.

Board Member Manny Gallar and Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones used to be political allies.

Both were loyal supporters of Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. except in the 2013 elections when Malones turned his back from Defensor to support former Iloilo fourth district Rep. Ferjenel Biron who lost to Defensor.

Like a father to a prodigal son, Defensor “reunited” with Malones after the elections.

Gallar, who was vanquished by Malones in the previous elections for board member in the third district of Iloilo, avenged the setback last year by edging Malones’ son.

Since then, their relationship has developed from bad to worse.

Malones rapped Gallar for allegedly maintaining “ghost employees” and questioned his other sources of income.

SALARY

Malones, a prominent figure in the local printing industry, believed that Gallar could not have bought a house and lot, a car and sent his children to private schools on a salary of P40,000 a month.

Their word war was actually the offshoot of the administrative complaints for oppression, misconduct in office, dishonesty and abuse of authority, among others, that Malones faces in the Provincial Board for dismissing Elsa Maternal as the town’s assistant human resource management officer in 2002.

Malones suspected that Gallar was trying to influence his peers to decide against the mayor’s favor.

The board member from Cabatuan, Iloilo denied Malones’ charges and did not wish to further engage the mayor in a verbal shootout related to the issue of “ghost employees.”

On September 9, the Iloilo Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) will render a verdict whether to suspend Malones.