Saturday

The bible is a poor moral standard

Chrisians wish to place a man-made fallible bible as their moral standard and enforce that arbitrary standard on all other human beings.

The bible itself never states that it should be the moral standard for Christians and never states that the whole bible is "God's Word". All such pronouncements are man-made dogmas.

The bible is full of contradictions and errors and is thus a very poor moral standard.

The choice of the bible as a moral standard is arbitrary. Jesus never states that some bible to be complied after his death is a moral standard to be followed for all time. Some of the moral standards within the bible are evil by today's legal standards. For example, slavery is condoned in both Old and New Testamnents. 

Moral standards within the bible have also changed over time. In Old Testament times was permissable to have mulitple wives and concubines. The New Testament states that one shoud only have one wife and no concubines.

Punishments for breaking the moral code in the bible have also changed. In the Old Testament many of the punishment for breaking a moral code was death - Leviticus 20:9, Exodus 21:17.

Genocide an mass murder of children is condoned in the bible in Genesis 6:5-9; Deuteronomy 7:1-2; Joshua 6:21; Joshua 10:40-41,

Joshua 8:24 - City of Ai
Joshua 10:26 - Joshua murdered five defenseless kings of the Amorites in cold blood.
Joshua 10:28 - City of Makkedah
Joshua 10:29 - City of Libnah
Joshua 10:31 - City of Lachish
Joshua 10:33 - City of Gezer "...Joshua smote him and his people until he had left him none remaining."
Joshua 10:34 - City of Elgon "They left none remaining."
Joshua 10:37 - City of Hebron
Joshua 10:38 - City of Debir
Numbers 21:2-3 - City of Hormah
Numbers 21:33-35: Land of Bashan "...they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land."
Deuteronomy 2:21-24: The Ammonite, Horim, and Avim people.
Deuteronomy 2:26-35 - Land of Heshbon "...we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain."
Judges 4:16 - City of Sisera

The bible condones the murder of children.

The near ritual murder involving Isaac in Genesis 22:1-18.
Mass murder of the first-born of Egypt in Exodus 7:3; Exodus 7:13-14; Exodus 12:29-30:
Mass murder of 42 little children in 2 Kings 2:23-24.
Executing a whole family for the sins of the father in Joshua 7:20-25.
Mass murder of the Midianite children in Numbers 31:1-18.
Mass murder of Babylonian babies in Psalms 137:8-9.

I would suggest that the bible should be the very last choice as a moral standard as it is so unethical and inmmoral in multiple parts of its texts. The bible condones slavery, polygamy, concubinage, death penalty for trivial crimes, genocide and mass murder of children. Such standards are not objective but entirely subjective and man-made.

Monday

AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS LIVING IN POVERTY

Far more is spent by ordinary Aussies on football, cricket and beer than art. The arts inspire people to think and question. Art takes time to produce. Art is a real job. The public is largely uneducated in art. Art education of the general public should also be included in any budget. Art is a national treasure and should be subsidised by the state.

Most of the artists that I know (over all forms of art) are currently struggling due to the economic climate brought about by the greed of those in the finance industry who have "steady jobs".

One only has to look at our greatest Australian artists and the poverty that they live(d) in. Famous Aussie muscician Billy Thorpe almost went bankrupot several times. Famous Aussie actress Naomi Hazelhurst had to survive on the dole. Famous Aussie poet Henry Lawson lived in poverty and the handouts of friends. Famous Aboriginal Aussie painter Albert Namatjira lived in poverty.

We would have had no art whatsoever from artists if they had to hold down a "steady job" while creating their art. Australia would have been impoversihed had that happened. In ancient Greece work / " a steady job" was for the lower uneducated classes. Art and philospohy was what people of intellect and culture engaged in. Ancient Greece changed the world. All a "steady job" does is produce mindless products to be consumed. No thought, no culture, no change.

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From http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/may2004/art-m07.shtml

Thousands of Australian artists living in poverty

... the overwhelming majority of artists are living in dire poverty.

Financial problems and time constraints are identified as the major factors inhibiting the development of an artist’s career. Limited work opportunities, poor financial return and lack of access to funding or financial support forces artists to take on other paid work, thus making it difficult for them to sustain their creative work.

The survey found that most artists were unable to work full-time in their chosen profession. ...

Most artists’ incomes were too low to support their basic needs. The survey showed that while a tiny minority of artists were high earners, the majority lived far below the poverty line. Based on figures from the 2000-2001 financial year, half the artists surveyed earned less that $7,300 before tax from their creative endeavours and half earned less than $30,000 from all other income sources.

...

there has been no long-term increase in artists’ earnings over the past 15 years—a period when all other occupations have shown an increase in real terms.

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From http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/the-poverty-trap-ensnaring-creative-australians/2010/02/19/1266082355060.html

The poverty trap ensnaring creative Australians

A decade after a report revealed the poor financial outlook for artists and performers, little has changed ...

The latest census data suggests things might have become worse for the nation’s artists. ...

There are financial lifelines for lucky artists: public funds are available through community and government grants. The Australia Council is in the first year of awarding start-up grants of up to $10,000 for about 40 student artists under the annual scheme ArtStart.

But Australia makes no specific social provision for artists; Denmark, by contrast, grants select artists a stipend for the rest of their lives.

The lives of many artists are a juggle of casual jobs, commissions, auditions, grants, studio time, unpaid work, short-term contracts and teaching positions. Performers complain of being asked to work without pay or for less than minimum wages.

In ‘‘times of empty bank accounts’’ the Sydney actor, who won acclaim as the lead in Bad Boy Bubby, has been a spot welder, a mail sorter, an online journalist, a university tutor and an unsuccessful french polisher. ...

‘‘If Australians could value artists, these people helping to build and describe stories of us, in the way they value footballers and their careers, then surely they deserve more than an income of $14,000 a year.

Sunday

SLAVERY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT TIMES OF JESUS


Some Christians seem to think that slavery meant that the slaves were merely "servants" and similar to modern day employees. The logical conclusion is that people must have been lining up to be come a slave "Oh, chose me! I want to be your slave! I have all the qualifications that you want."

Historian Robin Lane Fox in "Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World" (Penguin:2006) disagrees. This is what he states about slavery during the time period of Jesus and the early Christian church: ....

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Paul's short letter to Philemon nowhere suggested that there was a Christian duty to free a slave, even a Christian slave. p. 295

Christian leaders did nothing to disturb [slavery]. When Christian slaves in an Asian church community began to propose their freedom should be bought from community funds, Ignatius of Antioch advised firmly against the suggestion. ... Christian leaders began from a principle of the equality of man, yet argued that worldly differences should continue undisturbed. The greater slavery was to man's passions. p. 296

... the accepted attitudes of some Christian leaders is not in doubt. It's priorities are not those of a faith concerned to free slaves from their masters, or to urge masters to let them be released. p. 297

Christian masters were not specially encouraged to set a slave free. ... Many masters required slaves to buy their freedom or to leave a child in their place, so that a younger slave could be bought or acuired on release of an older, wasting asset.  p. 298

Not until the fourth century [CE] and the rise of monastic communities do we find clear hints of Chrisian attempts to better a slave's position. p.299

Among Romans, the most acceptable homosexuality was an act conducted by citizens on slaves and foreigners. [Not punishable by law] ... Before marriage a young man could also turn to prostitutes or slaves. p. 342

As men of all ages slept with their slaves, natural children were a widespread fact of life. p. 343

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Further more the treatment of slaves in Jesus' time was dreadful, immoral and unethical yet neither Jesus nor Paul ever stated any thing against it.

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The master's power over the slave was called (dominica potestas), and it was absolute. Torture, degradation, unwarranted punishment, and even killing a slave when he was old or sick, in the eyes of the law, slaves were property who could not legally hold property, make contracts, or marry, and could testify in court only under torture. The death of his master did not free a slave.

From http://www.classicsunveiled.com/romel/html/slavery.html

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... Up to the days of Augustus, a marriage between a slave needed not be recognized by its master and enjoyed no protection in law. The children of such a couple would be born as slaves. A slave who ran away would face branding or possibly even death. The treatment of slaves was totally in the hands of the owner, and usually varied according to their abilities.

...

Roman law regarded slaves as mere chattels. They were subject to the will of their masters, against which they enjoyed no protection. Punishments inflicted upon slaves were merciless. Hard labour, whippings, branding, breaking of the joints or bones, branding of the forehead with letters denoting the slave as a runaway, liar or thief (FUG, KAL, FUR) and crucifixion were all punishments which were inflicted upon slaves. So too, being thrown to the wild beasts in the circuses or even being burnt alive in a cloak soaked in pitch.

...

the Roman view of slaves was one of contempt. Slaves were people one looked down upon. Kindness toward them was rare, even seen as a sign of weakness. ...

from http://www.roman-empire.net/society/society.html

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... There were several ways you could become a slave in Rome. Some became slaves because they could not pay back the money they had borrowed. The government would also take people into slavery if they could not pay their taxes. There were also many cases of poor people selling their children as slaves to richer neighbours.

... Roman generals in their campaigns abroad sent back thousands of captured soldiers to be sold as slaves.

...

Slave traders would follow the Roman army abroad on their campaigns. After a battle they would buy the defeated soldiers and their families, and then arrange for them to be sent back to Rome and the other major settlements in the empire.

...

It was common practice to have them in work-teams of ten slaves. Branded on the forehead, chained together and guarded by a foreman carrying a whip, there was little chance of escape.

Slaves who did manage to run away were guilty of theft (they had stolen their master's property), and if caught they would suffer terrible tortures as a means of frightening other slaves.

...

After Emperor Constantine became converted to Christianity, the life of slaves improved slightly. For example, a law was passed in AD 319 that made it illegal to kill slaves. Owners of slaves were also forced to stop branding their slaves on the face and instead had to put their mark on the hands and legs.

However, Christianity did not bring an end to slavery. Christians argued that Jesus never criticised slavery in his sermons. The Church not only refrained from attacking the system of slavery but continued to use large numbers of slaves to work monastery lands.

from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ROMslaves.htm

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The bible does not tell the full story about slavery. They were not merely "servants" having a nice safe work evironment.

Tuesday

What about the symbolism of the Bible?

"What about the symbolism of the Bible? ... The Biblical image of the universe simply won't do any more neither will the Biblical notion of a race of God, which all others are meant to serve ... nor again, the idea of a code of laws delivered from on high and to be valid for all time. The social problems of the world today are not those of a corner of the old Levant, sixth century B.C. Societies ...are not static; nor can the laws of one serve another. ... Thus we know -- whether we dare to say so or not -- that our clergies have no more right to claim unassailable authority for their moral law than for their science. And even, finally, in their intimate role of giving spiritual advice, the clergy have now been overtaken by the scientific psychiatrists -- and indeed to such a degree that many clergymen are themselves turning to psychologists to be taught how best to serve their pastoral function. The magic of their own traditional symbols works no longer to heal but only to confuse.... in our own beautiful world, not only have our public religious symbols lost their claim to authority and passed away, but the ways of life they once supported have also disappeared" - Joseph Campbell, "Myths To Live By" (Penguin Compass, 1972) pp. 130 -131

Wednesday

GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY



"God: The Ultimate Biography" (Ebury Press: 1987) by "Holy Ghost writer Jeremy Pascal." (obviously a God inspired prophet) - GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY!

I quote from pages 7 - 12:

"I should have thought that this is the one autobiography that needs no introduction. .. the fact that in a galaxy as yet undiscovered by Homo Sapiens another of my books - God On Gardening - has outsold even the Bible. .... Although the Bible has done very well in it is only a biography and an unauthorised one at that. I DIDN'T EVEN WRITE IT. ... With such a large team of authors, inaccuracies are bound to creep in and I will correct them in the course of this definitive, work. ... I've decided it was time to write My version of the facts, just to put the record straight, correct the errors and cover some omissions, not least the matter of the Eleven Commandments ...

God.

The Author of all creation."

God personally wrote it as is proven by the verses from GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY above.

This also proves that God did not write the bible as God states on page 10 above in GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY" I didn't even write it [The bible]."

PROOF that "God: The Ultimate Biography" is GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

1. The amazing care that was required in copying GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY, according to Ebury Press.

2. Textual critics have thousands upon thousands of printed copies of GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY to research and compare.

3. No passages in GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY are even questionable.

4. Textual critics find the all copies of GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY in 100% agreement.

5. The autographs of GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY are extant and held by Ebury Press. Jeremy Pascal inspected them.

6. If we have good copies of GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY, we have a divine message.

7. GOD'S INERRANT AUTOBIOGRAPHY has sufficient internal claims that it is God's word, true, it will not pass away, God breathed, the work of the Holy Spirit superintending the writing process of God as the only author.

Tuesday

Excerpts from my poetry book "Original Copy"



My poetry book "Original Copy" was first published April, 1997.  Named because you can never have an original copy. Books were signed with an "Original Copy" stamp.

Cover Design: Steve James (Genesis Art P/L)

Illustrations: Lyn Francis & Bea Jones

Photographs: Alex Stravopolous

Copyright © Mark Tindall 1997.

ISBN 0 646 31585 4

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For Bev. - In celebration of 21 years. I love you.

Badger (Dr Brett Tindall). - Your user friendliness led to a mortality experience but you tolerated my Vogon poetry.

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From the back cover blurb ..........

I first met Mark Tindall in 1992 at the poetry readings around Newcastle. His work stood out. it was clear, outward looking and comprehensible. refreshingly non-narcissistic. And as a result - popular.

Diverse in style and theme - from searching satire, indignant invective and biting irony, to the tenderly lyrical, this collection is a true reflection of Mark's poetry, his philosophy, and his world view.

Whether one poses an individual spiritual solution to the crisis of humanity or a social political remedy, or both - ORIGINAL COPY offers stimulating, entertaining reading.

GEOFFREY LENNIE Poet

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GIBBO (Matthew 23)

G'day Gibbo!
I'd like to have a little chat
your most irreverent Reverendship
if you'll take the time
to step down from your pious pulpit
and remove your coat of many deceptions
as black as your blood

I've visited your whitewashed sanctuary
built to protect endangered species
of bigots, hypocrites and Pharisees

I sat in your pews
bored to death
with Jesus by my side
dressed in casual gear

we were placed up the back
so we wouldn't spoil the well dressed flock
of sheep without a shepherd
baaing and following each other
in respectable bland fashion

as you sang a dirge of hymns
written by dead people
for people dead inside
Jesus yawned, closed His eyes
and fell asleep

as you began pontificating to the masses
at the start of your dreary sermon
Jesus began snoring

as you said
"Let Jeeeeee-sus intayalife!"
Jesus woke with a start
gathering His whip in His hand
but He promptly fell asleep again
your sing-song voice
lulling us all with its
rising and falling
rising and falling
lying and boring Him to death
with sanctimonious drivel

the dribble ran down
your yellow teeth and chubby cheeks
to your turkey neck below

your fat-filled gut
shook beneath your robes
as you began your repetitious marathon prayers

I glimpsed at your
reptilian hands that strike to shake
as the congregation escapes outside

you hide your slime
by dressing in
platitudes of middle-class niceness

while maggots
are eating your rotting soul inside

Jesus and I left
one visit to your hell-hole was enough

we talked outside
with the sons and daughters of Cain
about truth, life, love
the rainbow above

we sang and danced
we drank red wine
we ran through forests
swam through streams
we laughed aloud
we hugged and kissed

Gibbo
little man
you were never missed

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WHEN DAY IS DYING

when day is dying, i walk down streets to the beat of a faltering heart / kicking cans down gutters strewn with used products of factory foulness / i carry baggage of long hours worked / the hurts, the smells, the hell of silenced thought / the fight for freedoms fought in vain / my fellow workers
tamed and maimed by management power plays that stifle life and harm wife and kids who cry in the growing dusk and dust of leaden sky / i lift my eyes to horizons filled with the ills of cars and houses crammed and studded with tv antenna spears and fears of the dark age descending / thousands weave
through the mouse maze dazed at the labouring of drowsy traffic noise / plodding home through the red roof patchwork quilt with false guilt and worn out lives / striving against wastage of mind / winding down hope / doped by the lies of the leading blind / dismayed by the slave trade carried out in offices of steel and glass and fast talking sales pitch money making robbers of time / the church steeple sits in the shadows of the towers of babel waiting for armageddon / a smaller war has been and gone

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THE LAKE OF LOVE

The willows fall,
The water waves circles to sands
As we smile
In earthen shadows on the shore,
Casting our lines upon
The lake of love.

The rippling filling
Of breath on breath of wind
Murmurs within our tree-trunk hearts

And I feel

I've touched you

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FROM BOX TO BOX TO BOX

From box to box to box
Boxed in, walled up, covered over
Confined to restrictive structures
Jailed for life from birth

From box to box to box
I journey every day
In a box I sleep and wake
And travel in a box on wheels
Past boxes on a road
To a box where I work
Making boxes for the boxed

From box to box to box
Back in a box to my box
At the end of a working day
And eat and sleep
In that boxed in box again

From box to box to box
A never ending cycle
A dreaded treadmill pox
Till the last box
Is buried in the ground

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THIS GENERATION

This generation has
no compassion in the fashion of a saint
for the hopeless poor and jobless
eating crumbs at Lazarus' gate

There is
no screaming in the street
no protest on their feet
no affection for the loveless
no offence at the stench
no wholeness of soul
no questioning fictitious facts
no learning from the past
no yearning for the Kingdom coming

This generation hungers for the food of fools
and laughter in the wings
from happy idiots watching a ship being built
in the suburbs during the Deep Dark Age
of the Godless Beast

This generation sobs quietly
in a corner of a room
as night darkens day
wallowing in their own dirt
buying time and trading it on the black market

This generation sells souls for a pittance
and has no heart nor guts
just heels that tread on necks
just feet working treadmills that go nowhere
just might and weight of force

This generation rots in the dark
guaranteeing despair for their
children's children's children
till Kingdom come

This generation chants i me mine
blocking out the sun and reddening the moon
crumbling this rock to specks of dust
tunnelling to hide their heads from light

This generation chokes
on garbage fed to the brain
as light filters through a slit in the sky

This generation butchers the poor
hanging them from meat hooks in public view
shoeless, jobless, penniless

Wealth buys health and power
but for all
a future without a future
life without living

This generation
crawls and does not walk
sits and does not stand
exists but does not live
they are dying all their lives
in the brave new world of 1984
a tyrants' heaven and workers' hell

They created an age
where shallow shadows search
for water in a desert
for answers where there are none
travelling across the heavens
but leaving their hearts alone

This generation's kingdom is divided
it falls with Icarus to the ground

A useless thing
a company toy

It emits
not a sound, a ripple or a squeak