There have been many things which Scientists have taught and believed which were later overturned when more information came to light and understanding of the universe increased, but it didn't stop them then and doesn't stop them now from 'believing' that they are totally right and that everyone else is wrong. (Ever counted up how many times they discovered the 'Evolutionary Missing Link' only to discover later they were wrong?) After the earth blows up they are going to go around saying 'I told you so! - I told you so!'. Of course if it doesn't end they will walk around disappointed and depressed, looking for a reason as to why 'the end' was postponed. (They'll probably determine that those rotten greenhouse gasses blocked out the sun's radiation and ruined their prophetic utterances).
At the end of August 2011 I moved from Inner Mongolia to Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province China and when I got to Suzhou I put my computer in for repairs at the SuZhou Computer Repair Service (No.456 West GanJiang Rd. U-town. - 3rd Floor - Mr. Kang Yongjun Tel: 18915436805) and now I can watch movies again.
Armed with a workable computer I began to buy videos, one of which was the movie 2012. What an thrilling movie! I actually only bought it because so many Chinese students have in the past asked me if the world is really coming to an end in 2012. Oh My!
As we all know (an expression I do not let my students use in their essays), the movie claims that the Mayans calculated that the world will end in December 2012 - a good feat considering that they didn't use our calendar.
I did a little background checking about this movie and was surprised to discover that coupled with the 'Mayan thing' there are a whole host of 'theories' (and conspiracy theories) related to this mythical 2012 event. Such theories involved things like government cover-ups related to all manner of things including extraterrestrials; a planned invasion from space; the revealing of anti-christ (who has apparently - as of last year - assumed human form) and of course the return of the original Christ.
Well as we all know (I should stop writing that), conspiracy theorists and religious persons live their lives wrapped up in 'faith' issues. Thank God most of us choose to rely on the cold hard facts of science.(F'nt 1.)
How's that last statement for an inherently self-contradictory point of view?
For the life of me I have never been able to figure out why it is that people who 'BELIEVE' in Science, can't see that those who make the scientific discoveries are actually people of 'FAITH'. That's right! F-A-I-T-H! You see it takes faith to formulate, pursue and prove a theory. It takes faith to experiment and experiment until you 'prove' that your 'idiotic' idea is true or your invention really works. It has been men and women of 'faith' who have brought us all the technological and scientific benefits that we enjoy in this - we are all just one big happy family - 21st Century life.
Now a good example of 'faith' can be found in the recent news I came across, of discoveries in Egypt. It seems that a French led team has finally uncovered the underwater remains of Cleopatra's palace off the coast of Alexandria. These guys just knew (had faith) that they would eventually find the place, and they did.
While I was reading about that and searching for more information, I came across articles about three other recent 'discoveries' which I found fascinating. This is what I found:
1. Contrary to previous scientific belief, there is life at the bottom of the Dead Sea. 2. Contrary to previous scientific belief, the planet Mercury is not a burnt out cinder. 3. Contrary to previous scientific belief, the Mayans did live in the uplands of the Amazon jungle and had much much larger societies and populations than previously thought.
The common thread in these 'National Geographic' articles, was that scientists have now discovered that they were wrong. Oh My God! Can you believe that? Scientists who rely solely on facts are sometimes wrong? Isn't that inherently some sort of contradiciton? How can the 'facts' be wrong?
Well of course the facts aren't wrong at all. What's wrong is that scientists draw erroneous conclusions because - as it turns out all too often - they haven't discovered everything yet.
There have been many things which Scientists have taught and believed which were later overturned when more information came to light and understanding of the universe increased, but it didn't stop them then and doesn't stop them now from 'believing' that they are totally right and that everyone else is wrong. (Ever counted up how many times they discovered the 'Evolutionary Missing Link' only to discover later they were wrong?)
But you know, it is not just the scientists whose 'rationality' trumps 'faith'. There are lots of people out there who 'decry' the stupidity of 'religionists' and their 'faith' in God. 'There is no God' they say, 'there is only human endeavour'. And so it is that they proceed on their way 'believing' that what they 'believe' is the answer to all problems in the universe. (Political Correctness to name just one belief! Cultural Marxism to name a second! Carbon Emission tax to name another!)
There are those who don't believe in God, because they 'know' in their hearts that extraterrestrials built the pyramids (all S-G 7 fans know that) and gave the Ancient Mayans the understanding about the 'expirary date' of the Earth, and after the earth blows up they are going to go around saying 'I told you so! - I told you so!'.
Of course if it doesn't end they will walk around disappointed and depressed, looking for a reason as to why 'the end' was postponed. (They'll probably determine that those rotten greenhouse gasses blocked out the sun's radiation and ruined their prophetic utterances).
In 2010, one 'man of faith' predicted the end of the world for May 21st, 2011 and then had to put it off until this month - October 21, 2011. And of course, now there is this comet coming (October 16th, 2011 during the Feast of Tabernacles) which is cheering the hearts of many doomsdayers who are praying to be proven right in their predictions for the date of the end of the world.
It use to be that it was only the religious nuts who had dibs on 'the end is nigh'(F'nt 2.), but today the concept is everywhere and preached by anyone and everyone who thinks that they know more than everyone else.
I remember reading a few decades ago that scientists and others predicted that by the year 2000 there would only be 1 square meter of space on this planet for each and every human living here, that the air would be unbreathable, that there would be no food to eat and that we were all d-o-o-m-e-d! Ooops! They got that wrong! We're still here and even here in China there is still plenty of space to move.
I can understand why religionists like to weigh in on 'doomsday' theories - they at least have prophetic writings to work with. Doomsday for them means freedom from the devil and a return to God, but I sometimes wonder what it is that inspires those who don't believe in God, to forecast the end of the world. And I think I have it figured out!
I think that the doomsdays all have one thing in common! They hate their lives!
I mean why be so eager to see the end come? And even if you believe it's going to happen three weeks from this coming Wednesday, what's the point in running around telling everyone? I mean really! What can they do about it? It's not like the end will be put off if they repent or anything.
So Come on guys! Have a little faith! Tomorrow is always a new day! Things will probably get better! Your lives might take a turn for the better. Your boss might give you a raise; you might win the lottery; meet the woman of your dreams; have your best friend run off with your wife (but leave the dog and the kids), and the government might reduce your taxes.
Then again there might be a nuclear war caused by rogue terrorists; deadly greenhouse gasses might wipe out half the population of the earth; deadly solar radiation might shrivel up the planet; a rogue comet might knock the earth on its butt and shift the North Pole to Hawaii; some brand new diseases might render all males impotent; aliens might arrive and do unspeakable experiments on us or maybe just suck out our bone marrow.
These of course are just some possible 'negative' scenarios but as long as you don't put any 'faith' in them, then you have nothing to worry about!
So cheer up guys! Stop all this negativity! Stop scaring all those Chinese students of mine and all other youngsters for that matter, with all this doomsday crap!
Get a life! Be happy! Be positive! And remember that old saying:
Why can't such people get it through their heads that real science is about finding out the facts, and no scientist worth his salt, would conjure up disaster scenarios, just for the sake of scaring us out of our wits, or worse, simply so that they can get more and more grant money to keep themselves employed.
"The end is nigh, the end is nigh!" is the constant refrain. Well, if like me you don't trust what scientists tell you (after all, they get paid good money to study monkeys for years so they can discover why monkeys have flat faces), then be of good cheer, for as this report from TCS Daily reports: The End Is Not Nigh?
It was decided that unshod horses would not be allowed to be used in commercial ventures. People couldn't ride horses for a living; salesman couldn't load goods onto their horses; and horses could no longer pull carts. While it all seemed quite logical and humane, the unforeseen consequence of the law was that the supply of goods into and out of the town began to dwindle, until in the end, business after business went bankrupt. As time went by the whole city went bust until the only ones left were those who could not afford to move, and one of these was our blacksmith. One day, considering that since the council itself was now gone, the blacksmith decided to restart his business.
When excavating workers discovered the original Royal road and archaeological viewing platforms have been set up from both above and beside the original road. No charge! You can go down the ramp and clearly see the road and the accompanying signs/ The Chaotian Gate - During the Zhizheng Reign of Yuan Dynasty it was renamed to Gongbei Tower. It was destroyed in the 10th year (1474) of Chenghua Reign Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the next year. The building was destroyed again in early Qing Dynasty and rebuilt in the 25th year (1686) of the Kangxi Reign Qing Dynasty. It is known as Drum Tower.
Politically Correct activists fight many different causes but their bottom line strategy is to demonstrate that their opponents are "GUILTY" - guilty of anything and everything one can quickly think of so as to disempower those same opponents. Reaction formation generally speaking is accusing others of those things of which you yourself are guilty BUT which you find inexcusable within yourself. It’s rather like being a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One part of the character lives in the righteous, non discriminatory respectable world of PC but underneath there is a guilty secret that one doesn't want to let escape. It would ruin their image. And so they point the fingers of hatred at those guilty of the same thing - because in fact they "loath themselves".
Having stated that the Governor is one of the very first elected officials to take this action and that there is no play book to show him what to do next, the American Policy Center is calling on citizens to sign a 'Letter of Thanks' to Governor Bentley: If you care about protecting our Constitution and our way of live from attacks by the United Nations, then you must stand with Governor Bentley by signing and returning you "Letter of Thanks for Opposing United Nations' Agenda 21". The newsletter warns however that if Governor Bentley is left to fight alone, then he is probably doomed to be destroyed by the very powerful UN/Agenda 21 forces.
The original command to anoint Jehu as king over Israel (not Judah) was given to Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings 19:15-17 in which he is commanded to anoint Hazael as King over Syria (in place of BenHadad) and Jehu over Israel in place of Ahab's son Jehoram. And there is a promise from God that those who escape from Hazael will be slain by Jehu and those who escape Jehu will be slain by Elisha. But even though the Scripture talks about killing the King of Israel's heirs (the house of Ahab), no where does it say that anyone is to kill the King of Judah "Ahaziah", who was either Ahab's grandson, nephew or son-in-law. (2 Kings 8:18 makes his mother to be the daughter of Omri and therefore sister of Ahab and so he was Ahab's nephew, while verse 26 states that his mother was Ahab's daughter therefore he was Ahab's grandson but verse 27 refers to him as son-in-law).
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
General formula for Biblical Data conversion:
The formula for constructing the artificial calendar was:
'X' times 364 equals 'Y' days'Y' days divided by 336 equals 'Z' artificial years.Values are:'X' = any given number of 'real/solar' years364 = perceived days in the sectarian calendar'Y' = number of days calculated336 = number of days in an artificial year'Z' = artificial years = 1.083'X' and represents the original number of the converted years plus 8%.To reverse the process by hand:'Z' years times 336 equals 'Y' divided by 364 equals the Number of 'X' years converted.
To see how effective this method is, SEE:Appendix 5:Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Israelite History from 936 to 586 BCE:
The Principle of Linear Causality
The King's Calendar is a very simple approach to Biblical Chronology. It substitutes a value of 336 days for every year listed in Scripture. As far as the Divided Kingdom is concerned, when you use this 336 day year value, the synchronisms actually work. To see how effective this method is, SEE:Appendix 5: Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Israelite History from 936 to 586 BCE
Because it is a mathematical system, the King's Calendar must abide by certain mathematical rules, the most important of which, is that if you change any date for any day, month, or year every other day, month, or year is effected and must also change. It's like a 'domino effect'. Chronological references cannot be 'forced' to fit, and nor can they simply be ignored or 'compressed' as is the usual case with historians and archaeologists.
If any King's Calendar chronological determination disagrees with anything in the history books, it must argue the case as to why the history books are wrong, or why the evidence for an assertion is untrustworthy. If the King's Calendar successfully defends its' position, then the history books cannot be treated as definitive, and if the King's Calendar is 'proven' wrong, then every other chronological reference it provides is also wrong.
Because of this, the King's Calendar Chronological Reconstruction of Israel's history is unique, in that its' methodology can be scientifically (mathematically) tested and demonstrated to be either true or false. Its' chronological predictions are able to be 'proved' or 'disproved'.
Rules of Evidence Series at Kingscalendar.
Part 1. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 2. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 3. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology Part 4. The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology
