Comments for www.freethoughtperspective.net

Comment on THE MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF MODERN PHYSICS by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:29:36 +0000

OOPS!
The Julian year is precisely 365.25 days. What makes the Gregorian calendar more accurate is that it has three less leap years every 400 years. The reason Orthodox Christianity stubbornly refuses to accept the corrected calendar is that it was invented by a pope.

Comment on THE MYTHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF MODERN PHYSICS by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:29:42 +0000

Addendum: 2,700 years after Thales, the 365-day year has not reached the followers of the Arabian cameldriver, whose calendar year still has 360 days. Muslim months such as Ramadan, and real-world seasons such as summer, begin five days earlier each year. Similarly, the 365.25-day year has still not reached Eastern Orthodox Christians, whose Julian-calendar December 25 is now 13 days later than the Gregorian-calendar December 25.

Comment on THE NIGHTMARE WORLD OF JACK T. CHICK by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:50:12 +0000

One minor correction. Mr Van Eck buys into the religious propaganda that there are 2 billion Christians. The true figure is between 1 billion and 1.2 billion. And since the media keep parroting the propaganda that there are 1.5 billion Muslims: the true figure is 1.0 billion. The figures are inflated by understating the number of nontheists, now up to 2.3 billion.

Comment on Barack Obama: godphuqt prostitute, or typical lying politician (tautology)? William Harwood by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:54:42 +0000

Far from eliminating Dubya ShicklBush’s discrimination against the 36 percent of Americans who are nontheists, Mr Obama is expanding it, in blatant defiance of the First Amendment. And he refuses to face the reality that the Republicanazis would rather fuck the American people than cooperate with any of Obama’s attempts to help them.
Other than that, I admire the man, and expect history to do likewise.

Comment on Barack Obama: godphuqt prostitute, or typical lying politician (tautology)? William Harwood by Zachary Evans

Zachary Evans — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:58:59 +0000

i could readily say that Barack Obama will be one of the greatest US Presidents*;;

Comment on AN OPEN LETTER TO A CLERGYMAN by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:22:36 +0000

“The world is filled with evil. Therefore there is an omnipotent, benevolent god watching over and protecting us.”
That is a paraphrase of something a godphuqt incurable really wrote. (I am not making this up.)
It is no wonder the quantity and quality of falsifying evidence published by Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and Stenger have not cured humankind of the god delusion, when harcore believers are capable of such black-is-white doublethink.

Comment on Van Impe’s Big Mistake by Stephen Van Eck

Stephen Van Eck — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:25:16 +0000

Van Impe keeps repeating old, discredited Hal Lindsey stuff. He even embellishes it by claiming that Gog, Magog, Meschech, and Tubal in Ezekiel are all cities in Russia (they’re not), and that the word “rosh” in context with these other terms refers to Russia. “Rosh” is Hebrew for “head”, and even the King James Version translates it as “prince”. When Ezekiel refers to an attack on Israel from the North, Assyria and Asia Minor were the furthest north in the awareness of the ancient Israelites. They had no idea of Russia at all. Contrary to wild exegetes, the OT never refers to people and places that the Israelites had no knowledge of.

Comment on ERRORS IN AN ERRORLESS BIBLE? by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:29:50 +0000

Among biblical errors, Dr Mattill might have included the fourteen passages that could be nonfiction if and only if the earth is flat:

Genesis 1:6-8; Deuteronomy 30:4; Job 9:6, 22:14, 26:11; Psalm 75:3, 103:12; 1 Sam 2:8; Isa 13:5, 40:21-22; Dan 4:10-11; Matthew 4:8; Rev 7:1, 20:8.

Comment on Decoding the Language of God: Can a Scientist Really be a Believer? by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:26:58 +0000

You make some interesting points. If you have not already, you should read //God, Jesus and the Bible: The Origin and Evolution of Religion// (World Audience, 2009).

Comment on Decoding the Language of God: Can a Scientist Really be a Believer? by White Crow

White Crow — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:13:41 +0000

There is no question regarding the source of many of the tall tales in the Old Testament as it was originally written when the Jews were being held in slavery in what is modern day Iraq. They simply modified and exaggerated the stories taken from the Sumerian history – omitting some, editing others and attributing them to some divine source. But, I have found a couple sources that explain things in the New Testament as well.

The author mentions various discrepancies in the resurrection stories. I have also found a more ancient source for the story of the Road to Emmasum. It would have come from Herodotus, Chapter 4, paragraph 14 where the “Tale of Arimaspians” is a story of the disappearance of Aristeas of Proconnesus. It seems like pretty accurate plagiarism to me, even going down to ascending to sit at the right hand of Apollo.

The second, which ties in with the author’s medical background, are the Testimonies of Asclepius. (Edelstein’s work commission by the AMA) Taken from the Greek, in translation 438 there is a composite of the “healing the blind man with spittle” story. The two paragraphs overlap with one the blind man visiting a statue of Asclepius; the other mixing alter ashes with wine. I would refer you to this book of translations of all the tales told of miracles and healing attributed to Asclepius. At one time there was a choice on whether to make Jesus a healing god, one to would have emulated the stories of Asclepius, including raising from the dead. But, that would have entailed continuation of miracles so outside of a few references, it was dropped as part of the Jesus myth. One of the first acts of the Emperor Constatine was to tear down all the Asclepius dream temples as there were too many similaries between the stories. After that, Asclepius disappeared from being a miracle god although Hippocraties was from the long line of Asclepiads (18 generations later) referred he to Asclepius and his two daughters in the oath.

These are sources that are little mentioned in the various arguments about the bible. I don’t see these two references mentioned but I wanted to draw them to your attention.

Comment on SCRUTINIZING STEPHEN’S SPEECH by Stephen Van Eck

Stephen Van Eck — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:29:34 +0000

There may have been a person such as Stephen, but the account of his trial and lynching show too much sign of being consciously based on Scriptural antecedents, a common practice as Randel Helms details in “Gospel Fictions”.

Comment on SCRUTINIZING STEPHEN’S SPEECH by sailor1031

sailor1031 — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:55:16 +0000

with regard to circumcision it is important to remember that these people were all desert nomads. If you have spent any time in a desert you will know that water is scarce and sand gets everywhere…..circumcision was a primitive hygiene practice that has been unnecessary since the romans invented the bath. It has NO other significance.

Comment on THE SHROUD OF TURIN by sailor1031

sailor1031 — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:16:00 +0000

If one reads the gospels, which are after all the inerrant word of dog, one finds that the corpse of yeshue bar yussef was, in fact, wrapped in two separate pieces of cloth…….neither large enough to cover the whole corpse.

my problem with this obvious forgery is most simple – in art class where we told to put the eyes? At the halfway between the top (skull) and bottom (point of the jaw). Now look at the forgery again – where are the eyes? Is this a real head or one painted by an artist at a time when they didn’t know about the rules for realistic portrait painting. This misplacement of the eyes was a common (i can’t say universal although i believe that) error. For reference look at any of the byzantine paintings – same error!!

Comment on Contradiction, Confusion, Cruelty, Crowing by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:00:38 +0000

BG: and your qualifications for disputing Dr Mattill are ????

Comment on Contradiction, Confusion, Cruelty, Crowing by BG

BG — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:11:51 +0000

You point assumes a particular interpretation of Hebrews and the sacrificial system of the Israelites that is faulty, though one that is unfortunately believed by many modern Christians (though not more ancient ones).

Comment on SCRUTINIZING STEPHEN’S SPEECH by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:38:05 +0000

We have to keep in mind that Dr Mattill’s method of rebutting biblical myths is to treat them AS IF they were nonfiction, and then follow that assumption to the absurdities to which it leads.
My take on Stephen is that there WAS a historical person behind the tale. He was Paul’s successor as Head Christian, and made the appalling misjudgment of traveling to Jerusalem after Paul’s death and preaching Paul’s gentile religion in the temple, and predictably paid the foreseeable price. The anonymous author of Luke/Acts moved Stephen backward in time for the purpose of explaining Paul’s early behaviour.

Comment on SCRUTINIZING STEPHEN’S SPEECH by Stephen Van Eck

Stephen Van Eck — Mon, 31 May 2010 14:04:40 +0000

Hyam Maccoby in his fascinating book, “The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity” did a whole chapter on Stephen. It is his conclusion that it’s a fictional tale, and he bases this on how closely his trial and “execution” mirrors that of Jesus.

I was named after this Stephen, and I am not the least bit miffed that the character is a fool.

Comment on Van Impe’s Big Mistake by Stephen Van Eck

Stephen Van Eck — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:20:31 +0000

On their April 25th show, the Van Impes ignorantly presented what are known as “The Maxims of Abraham Lincoln”. When I first came across these, I found them to be suspiciously anachronistic, so I looked into them. It turned out that they were written by an American Fascist organization in the 1940′s to lend Lincoln’s prestige to their arguments against “Socialism” (which to them meant “anything else besides Fascism”.) These quotes have been bouncing around in right-wing circles for decades, and I discredit them whenever I come across them. I’ve written and emailed Van Impe about his latest error– let’s see if he’s decent enough to retract them, or if he’s content to be a slob.

On an interesting side note, current GOP Chairman Michael Steele recited these bogus maxims at the Republican National Convention in 2004. He apparently is one of those Rightists who got the message that they’re spurious, but that didn’t stop him from repeating them anyway. He just dropped the erroneous attribution to Lincoln. Their fraudulent and Fascist origin? Not a problem!

Comment on Tea Baggers Feasting on the Absurdities of Right Wing Propaganda by Tea Baggers Feasting on the Absurdities of Right Wing Propaganda …

Tea Baggers Feasting on the Absurdities of Right Wing Propaganda … — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:03:33 +0000

[...] suppressed, and an illegal war, (Iraq) was instigated on the basis of lies and propaganda? …Continue Cancel [...]

Comment on Joseph Ratzinazi: History’s Ultimate Lying, Swindling, Mass-Murdering and Self-Deluding Champion by Dr William Harwood

Dr William Harwood — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:06:21 +0000

My alternate-reality novel, **The Fall and Rise of the House of Hippo** (World Audience, 2009), contains a chapter, “Karol Polski,” that many will see as having a discernible resemblance to a person from this reality.