{"id":16814,"date":"2022-05-16T07:35:31","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T11:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kyroot.com\/?page_id=16814"},"modified":"2022-06-06T07:32:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T11:32:49","slug":"3751-2800","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kyroot.com\/?page_id=16814","title":{"rendered":"3751-3800"},"content":{"rendered":"

(3751) Matthew\u2019s genealogy<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some reason, the author of the Gospel of Matthew thought it important to present a genealogy of Jesus that tied him back to the ancestral line of Abraham. In so doing, he made several blunders and failed to hide his agenda. In the end, the list of names has no remote connection to reality. The following was taken from:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Deal with Matthew\u2019s Genealogy?<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>For most Christians who read the Bible casually or devotionally, Matthew\u2019s genealogy \u2014 the very first chapter of the New Testament \u2014 is one of the dullest passages in all of Scripture. It was a tremendously important passage for the author and his audience, however; and for me, it is an incredibly fascinating window into the author\u2019s methods and who he thought Jesus was. It also contains numerous puzzles \u2014 some more easily solved than others. What\u2019s so interesting about this long list of\u00a0begats<\/em>? Read on and find out more than you probably ever wanted to know.<\/p>\n

Matthew\u2019s Gospel opens with a suggestive statement. In the Jerusalem Bible, it reads simply:<\/p>\n

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.<\/p>\n

While this is an adequate translation, the Greek suggests something more:<\/p>\n

\u0392\u1f77\u03b2\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u1f73\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2<\/strong>\u00a0\u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c5\u1f31\u03bf\u1fe6 \u0394\u03b1\u03c5\u1f76\u03b4 \u03c5\u1f31\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f08\u03b2\u03c1\u03b1\u1f71\u03bc.
\nA book of the generations of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.<\/em><\/p>\n

This seems to be an allusion to the opening chapters of Genesis (according to the Greek Septuagint):<\/p>\n

Gen 2:4: \u0391\u1f51\u0301\u03c4\u03b7 \u03b7\u0314\u00a0\u03b2\u03b9\u0301\u03b2\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u0301\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2<\/strong>\u00a0\u03bf\u03c5\u0313\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u0342 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u0300 \u03b3\u03b7\u0342\u03c2\u2026
\nThis is the book of the generations of heaven and earth\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Gen 5:1: \u0391\u1f51\u0301\u03c4\u03b7 \u03b7\u0314\u00a0\u03b2\u03b9\u0301\u03b2\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b5\u0301\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2<\/strong>\u00a0\u03b1\u0313\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u0301\u03c0\u03c9\u03bd\u2026
\nThis is the book of the generations of mankind\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Could it be that Matthew is introducing his work as a new Pentateuch? Some exegetes have observed that his Gospel seems to be arranged around five key sermons, creating a five-part work reminiscent of the Torah, which the author holds in high regard.<\/p>\n

Then, after presenting a genealogy of Jesus, Matthew explains the strategy he has used to create his genealogy:<\/p>\n

The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.<\/p>\n

The history of the Israelites, then, spans six \u201cweeks\u201d of generations (a familiar idea to anyone who has read Daniel) to be followed by the Sabbath week \u2014 the messianic age inaugurated by Jesus.<\/p>\n

That this should be understood symbolically is quite clear. It is not historically plausible for a time span of almost two millennia to consist of only 42 generations <\/b>\u2014 actually 41, since Matthew\u2019s third set of 14 only has 13 names. Theologians who, over the centuries, have treated this genealogy as a factual historical report and striven to account for the discrepancies with Luke\u2019s genealogy have simply missed the forest for the trees. Determining who the real father of Joseph was (Matthew\u2019s Jacob or Luke\u2019s Heli) is the least of our problems if we try understanding it literally.<\/p>\n

Making 41 generations cover 2000+ years only works if you accept the fantasy that people used to live for hundreds of years in biblical times. Even if you assume a 30-year separation of generations, which is a big stretch because we know that the average lifespan during those times was not much more than that (and that genealogies track the first born male child which usually would occur in the age bracket of 15-20), this would imply about 70 generations at least. This and other reasons merit a complete dismissal of this deceptive attempt to tie Jesus to Jewish <\/a>patriarchy.<\/p>\n

(3752) Christianity\u2019s escape hatches<\/strong><\/p>\n

Christianity has become so malleable that trying to pin it down is like wrestling with a greased pig. It does not establish itself in any particular way, but rather tries to appeal to everyone in whatever way best suits their needs and desires. In the following it is revealed how a scripture previously seen as being literal is now just a metaphor:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/medium.com\/excommunications\/christianitys-frequent-use-of-the-reset-button-7926d4290c3d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2026and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven\u2019s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.<\/p>\n

-Jesus in Matthew 19:12<\/p>\n

In 1985, a 35 year-old Australian virgin spent his free time in study of the Bible. Ashamed of masturbating, he slit open his scrotum, removed his own testicles, and flushed them down the toilet.<\/p>\n

Christians and non-believers alike may dismiss this as a mental health issue rather than a religious one, though this is what the Bible verse he used as motivation suggests as a reasonable alternative to lust. The following verse does not explain that this is wildly unhealthy behavior. It simply moves on to the next subject.<\/p>\n

What healthy explanation is there for mentioning self-castration for the Kingdom of Heaven without immediately following it with a rebuke of this behavior and a divine mandate to seek the care of a mental health professional?<\/p>\n

The truth is, distinguishing between going by the book and exhibiting mental illness can be difficult when that book is the Bible.<\/p>\n

When I wrote the title to this article I had the original Nintendo in mind. Anyone born in the 1980\u2019s will remember madly pressing the reset button on their game and pulling the cartridge out to blow on it when it did not work.<\/p>\n

This is decidedly Christian in nature.<\/p>\n

There are the common escape hatches for verses like these. Perhaps the most popular is to decide that a verse that was understood as literal for 18 centuries is now only metaphorical. The switch can go the other way as well.<\/p>\n

When this fails to make a passage acceptable in a new age or culture, there are always the seemingly endless ways to kindly interpret what is read.<\/p>\n

The Second Reformation Christian has abandoned the chore of making verses fit the modern world entirely by having their faith untethered to the Bible in any meaningful way. They accept the bits they like and discard the rest, or they buy a version of the English Bible that agrees with them. Mostly, they believe that God\u2019s voice is spoken neither through the Catholic\u2019s pope nor the Protestant\u2019s Bible, but through each individual\u2019s emotions, which that individual then translates as they see fit.<\/p>\n

Christianity is made to fit every Christian. There are tens of thousands of Christian denominations, depending where you want to draw the lines between them. There are scores of different versions of the Bible in English. More than this, you will find variations of important beliefs not only within a single denomination, but within a single church building on a Sunday morning, or Saturday if they hold the seventh day as the Sabbath.<\/p>\n

You can choose your Bible, choose your denomination, and then create your own variation of Christianity within your church \u2014 all while believing some unbroken line of belief exists between you and Paul, who authored more of the New Testament than Jesus.<\/p>\n

This plasticity is in the DNA of Christianity. It is the reason the Catholic Church was born as bishops believed some orthodoxy must be created to control the wildfire of personal interpretation. While they mostly kept the lid on the jar for a dozen centuries, the faith\u2019s true nature exploded out of that jar in the Reformation.<\/p>\n

Christianity thrives because it can become whatever the believer wants it to be. A lifetime of research could not produce an exhaustive list of all of the variations and resets throughout Christian history \u2014 both the large and historical along with the individual\u2019s.<\/p>\n

If it was a true religion, Christianity would stand as an impregnable truth, a rock rather than shifting sand. Christianity is too nebulous to represent the ultimate reality of the <\/a>universe.<\/p>\n

(3753) Atheists use higher order brain circuits<\/strong><\/p>\n

A recent scientific study revealed that people who don\u2019t believe in religion have brains that use higher-order cortical brain areas than do believers. This seems to suggest the religious belief is somewhat outside of personal control. The following was taken from:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/your-brain-food\/202205\/the-brains-believers-and-non-believers-work-differently<\/a><\/p>\n

Atheism and agnosticism are becoming increasingly popular as church attendance declines.<\/p>\n