On This Day, November 30, 1215 AD 4th Council of the Lateran concluded

The 4th Council of the Lateran ended on this day (November 30) in 1215 AD.

This was the Council that officially declared that the wafer literally changes into the flesh of Jesus during holy communion. (Canon 1)

Canon 3 was the biggie for Christians. It gave them the OK to kill heretics without fear of punishment: Catholics who have girded themselves with the cross for the extermination of the heretics, shall enjoy the indulgences and privileges granted to those who go in defence of the Holy Land.

And there were finacial rewards for the church as well: As to the property of the condemned, if they are laymen, let it be confiscated; if clerics, let it be applied to the churches from which they received revenues.

In later years the Dominican Order used Canon 3 to their advantage by digging up corpses; finding them guilty of heresy, and then confiscating all the property belonging to the heirs of the heretic. (Good old days!)

Canon 53 noted that some Christians used creative bookkeeping methods in order to avoid paying their tithes and the Council declared that the practice should stop immediately.

It was also noted (in Canon 54) that some businessmen were calculating tithe payments based on after tax profits. The Council declared that in future all tithes had to be based on gross income before tax.

In Canon 68 it was pointed out that Jews  and  Muslims (Saracens) wore the same clothes as real people, and sometimes good Christian men were accidentally tricked into having sex with non-Christian women. It was decided to stop the horror by forcing Jews and Muslims to wear distinctive clothing so that no accidents would occur in the future. (A similar edict was issued by another European dictator about 700 years later.)

They were thinkers though - the bishops at the 4th Council. They foresaw a problem when Christians would be wearing their mourning clothes (mourning the death of Jesus at Easter time) while the uppity Jews and Muslims would be poncing around town in their very distinctive clothing - so it was ordered that all Jews and Muslims had to remain indoors throughout the Easter period.

In Canon 69 it was declared that Jews could not hold hold public office. If a Jew was appointed to public office then the person who appointed him was to be prosecuted.

Oh yes, one other thing, the 4th Council of the Lateran set the date for the beginning of the Fifth Crusade: June 1st, 1217 AD.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lateran4.asp

Cricket: Not Always Played By Gentlemen

In cricket the bowler hurls a ball towards the batsman who tries to fend it off with a wooden bat. Some batsmen are pretty good and they can keep the score ticking over for hours on end, so the organisers came up with a little trick to inject some excitement into the game. They invented the 'bouncer'. They decided that every now and then the bowler could forget about the gentlemanly aspects of the game and aim the ball directly at the batsman's head. The ploy was designed to frighten the batsman and put him off his stroke, or cause him an injury which forced him to stop playing and hand over to the next batsman.

A few days ago Sean Abbott used the bouncer against Phillip Hughes who got hit on the head and instantly fell to the ground. He never got up again and died two days later.

All NSW and South Australian players are receiving counselling and psychological support in the wake of the delivery. The Australian Cricketers' Association said it was monitoring Abbott...closely. It was reported Abbott was struggling ...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2851800/

Abbott is running around, all distraught and apologetic, but the fact remains that he deliberately aimed the ball at his victim's head - and he did so in the hope that it would cause either fear or injury. The 'bouncer' was designed to do exactly that. It serves no other purpose - and Abbott did not hesitate to use it. 

Christian Apologetics Are Useless

Consider this situation: The members of a Christian youth club (more than forty of them) are lined up on the street, waiting to get into a Christian rock concert when an old man waddles past. The kids are in a cheeky mood, so they start teasing the senior citizen; calling him "old baldy" and telling to "piss off out of it."

How should such rudeness be punished? A jolly good telling-off from mum and dad perhaps? Or grounded for a week? Something along those lines ought to be enough to make them see the error of their ways. There shouldn't be any need to go any farther than that.

So let's see how the situation is treated in the bible:

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

2 Kings 2:23-24 (King James Version)

Well blow me down! No telling-off, and no grounding for a week. The omnibenevolent God of love goes straight into maniacal-despot-mode and has the boys torn to pieces by wild animals!



Let's see how the Christian apologists explain that:

 Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible - John Haley
Andover 1874 (pages 270-271)
(pages 268-269 in the 1992 Whittaker House edition)

1. In the person of Elisha, God himself, whose servant the prophet was, was most wantonly and wickedly insulted.
2. The word "nearim," rendered "children" in Kings, may, as a late rationalistic commentator admits, denote a "youth nearly twenty years old." Gesenius says precisely the same; adding that it is also applied to "common soldiers," just as we in English style them, the "boys," the "boys in blue," etc.
   Fuerst gives among other definitions, a person who is twenty years of age, a youth, a young prophet; generally a servant of any kind, a shepherd, a young warrior. The same combination of words as above, "naar qaton," is applied to Solomon after he began to reign at some twenty years of age. Krummacher and Cassel translate the expression in the text, "young people." Hence the theory that these young scoffers were really "little children" at their play is untenable. They were old enough, and depraved enough, to merit the terrible fat which overtook them.
3. Elisha did not slay the young reprobates, nor did he cause the bears to come forth. God sent them. The same Being who sometimes cuts off wild, wicked youth by disease or accident, in the present instance punished sinful parents by the violent death of their reprobate children. Prof. Rawlinson suggests that a signal example may have been greatly needed at this time to check the growth of irrelgion; and that, as above intimated, the wicked parents were punished by deprivation of off-spring. 

Let's go through the apology point-by-point:
(My comments in red)

Haley says that Elijah “was most wantonly and wickedly insulted”
They called him “old baldy”. Rude perhaps, but not “wicked”.

The word interpreted as “children” may actually refer to a “youth nearly twenty years old.”
Or it may refer to “children”.

It might even mean “common soldiers."
Or it may not.

“Hence the theory that these young scoffers were really ‘little children’ at their play is untenable.
It becomes “untenable” only when you ignore what the bible actually says.

“They were old enough, and depraved enough to merit the terrible fate which over took them.”
Their age has nothing to do with it. Calling someone “old baldy” is not depraved (and it does not deserve a cruel and unusual punishment).

“Elijah did not slay the young reprobates, nor did he cause the bears to come forth. God sent them.”
Haley is implying that it would be wrong for Elijah to slay the children, but it’s an OK crime if God does it!

In his infinite wisdom, God “sometimes cuts off wild, wicked youth by disease or accident.”
Here Haley implies that we shouldn’t question god’s wisdom in this matter, because his wisdom is infinite and ours is not. In fact, it’s not really a crime if god does it – so there!"

He “punished sinful parents by the violent death of their reprobate children.” 
Here Haley is contradicting Deuteronomy 24:16, which states that "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers."

An “example may have been greatly needed at this time to check the growth of irreligion (and) the wicked parents were punished by deprivation of their offspring.” 
Here Haley is contradicting Ezekiel 18:20, which states that “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father and the father will not bear the guilt of the son.”

More recently Gleason Archer  offered exactly the same apology: 

Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties - Gleason Archer

Zondervan 1982 (pages 204-205)

The young men who mocked Elisha because he was bald were cursed, and forty-two of them were killed by two she-bears (2 Kings 2:23-24). How could a man of God curse people for such a mild personal offense?

A careful study of this incident in context shows that it was far more serious than a "mild personal offense." It was a situation of serious public danger, quite as grave as the large youth gangs that roam the ghetto sections of our modern American cities. If these young hoodlums were ranging about in packs of fifty or more, derisive towards respectable adults and ready to mock even a well-known man of God, there is no telling what violence they might have inflicted on the citizenry of the religious center of the kingdom of Israel (as Bethel was), had they been allowed to continue their riotous course. Perhaps it was for this reason that God saw fit to put forty-two of them to death in this spectacular fashion (there is no evidence that Elisha himself, in imposing a curse, prayed for this specific mode of punishment), in order to strike terror into other youth gangs that were infesting the city and to make them realize that neither Yahweh Himself nor any of His anointed prophets were to be threatened or treated with contempt.

Certainly from that time on, the whole Israelite community became convinced that Elisha was a true prophet and that he bore an authoritative word from God. Even the ungodly king Jehoram son of Ahab treated him with great deference and respect (see 2 Kings 3:11-13) after this had taken place.

And you'll find more of the same at these apologetic websites:

http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=1147

http://carm.org/why-did-god-kill-42-lads-merely-saying-elisha-was-bald

http://www.ukapologetics.net/07/elishah1.htm

http://reformedanswers.org/answer.asp/file/40636

http://www.gotquestions.org/Elisha-baldhead.html

http://trivialdevotion.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/elisha-and-killer-bears.html

http://www.icr.org/bible/2Kings/2/23-24

http://www.evidenceunseen.com/bible-difficulties-2/ot-difficulties/1-samuel-2-chronicles/2-kings-223-24-mauled-42-boys-for-saying-baldy/

https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/elisha-little-children-and-the-bears/

By the way, if you accept any of these Christian Apologetics, then you are, indeed, a completely brainwashed Christian with an horribly flawed moral code. Imagine if your little brother saw a policeman on the street; called him "old baldy", and the policeman pulled his gun and fired a shot into the boy's head. If you accept this Christian Apologetic then you must also accept that the policeman is an honorable man and your little brother deserved his fate! Like I said - your moral code is completely flawed (because normal people are not so callous).

Matthew Boos (Christian Youth Pastor)

Here's a video of a nice young Christian youth pastor (Matthew Boos) encouraging parents to send their young children to a church camp he was organising at the time:

But he's a bit of a scallywag, our Matthew. He's not even slightly interested in teaching Christianity to young children. All he wants to do is get twelve year old girls to show him their bosoms and let him take pictures of them.

Boos, of St. Louis Park, admitted to using his job working with youth at River Valley Church, which has five different campuses across the Twin Cities, to start online conversations with underage girls ... The investigation started in January when a mother of a girl in Polk County who is under 15 discovered explicit messages ... Boos had spoken to and requested pictures from girls as young as 12 years old ... Boos is currently on leave from his job as a youth pastor at River Valley Church in Savage, where he has worked for three years.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3382261.shtml

The situation has got so bad these days that the term "youth pastor" is almost synonymous with the term "kiddy fiddler". Go to Google NEWS and search for "Youth Pastor". No matter which day you do it, you will find at least one story about a youth pastor raping a child before you get to the bottom of the page. Most days there will be four or five (or more) stories on the first page of search results.

Here's today's list:

If You Think Atheists Are Idiots

If you think atheists are idiots then I've got a story for you...

When I woke up today, I went straight to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. It's usually an automatic procedure: Water in the jug; switch jug on; sugar into cup; coffee into cup, etcetera, etcetera. Same thing every day. But not this time. This time everything happened as automatically as usual but with quite unexpected results. My coffee was lumpy!

Apparently I had entered into 'zombie mode' and, without even realising it, I had gone to the cupboard, selected a sachet of cat food, opened it up, and squeezed the meat and gravy into my coffee cup!

At which point I came-to and said to myself, "You're an idiot."

Evangelist From The Age Of Eight

Here's a nice young man. John Balyo, ex-host of "Your Family Friendly Morning Show" broadcast by Christian radio station, WCSG:

The website containing this information was 

deleted long ago but it has been archived here

Anyway, let me bring you up to date regarding the life of this wonderful Christian who has been evangelizing children for the last 27 years.

March 2014
He was embarked on a great journey; walking with god (see above)

April 2014
He got married

May 2014
He paid an 11 year old boy to suck him off

June 2014
He was arrested for child rape

July 2014
His wife divorced him

November 2014
He was sentenced to a minimum 25 years jail without parole

By the way, during the police investigation it was discovered that this lovely Christian evangelizer also had a secret little bondage kit containing things like handcuffs, rope, duct tape, and zip ties! I guess he was worried that his victims might put up a fight so he needed this equipment in order to get them subdued before they had a chance to fight back - you know how feisty those eleven-year-olds can be.

Included in the bondage kit there were several other items which indicate just how depraved this Christian had become: newspaper cuttings about missing children and obituaries about children who had died!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/11

And when you read the Huffington Post story (link above) scroll down to the comments section and read what Rick Acree had to say:

I sometimes wonder if these "evangelists" are actual believers. To me they are simply grifters preying upon the gullibility of their marks.

In the first sentence he tries to absolve Christianity from any bad publicity by suggesting that John Baylo was not a real believer, and in the second sentence he tries to blame the victim whom he regards as nothing more than a gullible mark! Amazingly Rick Acree has received eleven thumbs-up for those outrageous statements!

Edit:
One more thumbs up since I posted the link - now twelve altogether.

A few days later
Now 18 thumbs up

Faith Healers

ALBANY, Ore. — An Albany couple has been convicted of manslaughter in the faith-healing death of their 12-year-old daughter who had diabetes.
http://www.oregonlive.com

I notice that mummy wears glasses. It's OK for her to use medical science to solve her little problems - but the child was only twelve and not strong enough to argue, so mummy took the opportunity to sit back on her fat arse and enjoy all the drama as she watched her daughter die a slow and painful death!

Some will say the parents' faith was misguided but they nevertheless loved their daughter and hoped that she would recover. I have a different opinion. I think the parents are egotistical bastards who took sadistic pleasure in the knowledge that they had the power to decide if their daughter lived or died.

But it's even worse than that because, if their daughter had recovered, the parents really wouldn't have had a story to tell. They were probably hoping and praying that she would die, because that enabled them to strut into church on the following Sunday and boast about the strength of their faith: "Look at us everybody. We let our daughter die rather than stop believing in the healing power of Jesus. Aren't we wonderful? Aren't the rest of you so very ordinary?"

Christians - Get Back In The Closet

A Christian named Michael Brown wrote:

secularism has been waging war against religion for centuries
http://www.christianpost.com

An atheist calling himself TerryFirma responded to Brown's article with these words:

I’m not aware of any atheists who are interested in waging war on religious faith. Most of us, I’ll bet, are quite happy, if not adamant, to preserve the right to believe and speak as one sees fit for everyone, believer or agnostic. As long as the faithful keep their religion out of the public square — that is, out of our public schools, and away from the business of a neutral government – we should all get along relatively well.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/11/04

Michael Brown interpreted those words as:

An Atheist Tells Me to Keep My Faith in the Closet

http://www.charismanews.com

Funny that he should think an atheist is telling him to keep his faith in the closet when the only person telling him to do so is none other than his very own Jesus Christ!

when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 

(Matthew 6:6 KJV)

Regressing To Childhood

Frederick Douglass

I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels…We have man-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of the week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity…We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babes sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! All for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slave auctioneer’s bell and the church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals of the slave-trade go hand in hand together.

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in 1838

You Won't Believe What Happened Next

This appeared on the Facebook page of a Christian named Isaiah Marin:

OH YEAH I LOOOOOOOOOOVE GOD! No one can stop me! NO ONE! Bhahahahahahahahahahahahbaahah! YYESS! I AM FREE FROM MY MORTAL COILS! I am free from the ways of the world! HALLEUIAH ALLEILUYAHH! Praise the Lord God YAHWEH! PRAISE JESUS!!!!!!! PRAISE JESUS!!! PRAISE JESUS! THANK THE LORD! Thank you lord thank you so much God you are so good to me it hurts good!!!! AAAAAAAAAHH THANK YOU!

What do you think happened next? 

Isaiah Marin, brave little soldier in the army of the Lord, discovered that his brother's roommate was not a Christian - so he cut his head off!

Details here:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/