Jesus died, and stayed dead?

I believe you've heard by now. Jesus wasn't resurrected. A documentary presenting the evidence, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," will premiere on the Discovery Channel on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary comes from executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici. Jesus of Nazareth's real tomb has been allegedly found. Nope it's not at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, as has been widely acknowledged as the three day resting place of the hotly debated Savior of mankind, no no, it's at Talpiot, pictured --->

Not only that,

"Scholars know that from 30 B.C. to 70 A.D., many people in Jerusalem would first wrap bodies in shrouds after death. The bodies were then placed in carved rock tombs, where they decomposed for a year before the bones were placed in an ossuary.

Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus." Link

So, basically, Dan Brown....WAS RIGHT...and wrong, at the same time. Dan thought Jesus had a beautiful girl, but here we see Jesus named his kid, Judah. I bet he was a hellion, that Judah.

Heh, seriously though, this actually made me pause a bit when I first heard about it. If it were to actually present some serious evidence, that went far beyond speculation and assumption, it would be a nuclear bomb to a vast amount of believers. I would have changed my tune about James Cameron, that faith stealing bastard. I liked his Abyss, and his tragic Titanic, even his Aliens, but to do this to baby Jesus? Like I said, bastard.

But, and it's a big but, apparently, the evidence and claims presented, are actually, wait for it...wait for it, unsubstantiated. In fact, the discovery of the tomb, didn't happen recently, this isn't new at all, it happened in 1980. That's nearly thirty years ago. It's actually old news. Not good news like the good ole word Gospel means. And this DNA evidence they're revealing, it proves those in the tomb were related. And the coincidence of all the names? It's like finding a tomb of a family from New York thousands of years from now, all with the names Mike, Jennifer, and their son Joe. Jesus, or Joshua, Mary, Judah, all were very trendy to name kids back in the day. As far as experts who've heard of the new documentary,

In 1996, when the BBC aired a short documentary on the same subject, archaeologists challenged the claims. Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said. Link

And even further,

Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem who was interviewed in the documentary, said the film's hypothesis holds little weight.

"I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."

"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 _ 10 being completely possible _ it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."

Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun."

So basically, this evidence equates to a theory that it's possible that Jesus of Nazareth and his family was buried there. Much like how it just might be possible that a man, who had been prophesied for thousands of years to come, lived, died, and came to life again. Look what's come of that singular event? The very tide of history, culture, and belief was changed. Millions upon millions of believers hence, and more to come. I may be biased, I pretty much sip the Jesus kool aid unfettered, but I believe the evidence is on the divine Jesus' side.

What Old Spice really means

I love this ad.

She's not real

Link to source

Can you believe that? This was totally computer generated. It's a rendering of SongHyeKyo, a Korean actress. I can't help but wonder if I'm scared/worried we're reaching this level of imitation, or if I welcome what we do to replicate ourselves visually in entertainment mediums like movies. I tend to be more worried than welcoming of such a thing. Our outlook on reality is already getting skewed by fashion retouching on the covers of mags. Speaking of covers, here's a cover of the actual actress rendered above:

Barack Obama FTW!

I officially endorse Barack Obama after reading his recent book Audacity of Hope Suffice to say I wish all political candidates wrote a book in the same format as Mr. Obama. From his political philosophy within much of the relevant issues today, to his history, and the history of modern American politics, to his fervent respect of Lincoln, to his grapple with overcoming what we all fear politicians become in office. I listened to the audio book, in which he narrates. It was good to hear the inflections in his voice. Got a good feel for him now. Much of my skepticism of Barack Obama was gone by the time I finished, I came away impressed. Not only does his biggest concerns mirror my own, but he comes off as, what's the word, uh, yeah, intelligent, and above all genuine.

I'd recommend either the book or the audio book if you're interested in finding out what he's all about. Good read/listen.

I am seriously having second thoughts about buying a diamond engagement ring one of these days. I stumbled on this article and it put something I've now become more and more familiar with in such a way that it made me make a decision. There is a corrupt world behind those sparkly diamonds we buy to show our highest affections, and I'm not going to support it. My future wife will get something a far more unique. The article makes a very compelling argument for doing away with a long standing American tradition.

You need to read this: The greatest story ever sold is a fantasy covered in blood.

Brother Waite

I was walking down a hall at the U institute and saw Brother Peterson. He's a teacher there, and he's the father of one of my companions. So we have a bit of a connection, and we often talk about stuff, and I saw him and he motioned me over and asked if I'd heard Brother Waite passed away. I blinked and then my eyes widened. The news kinda of hit me, it came outta nowhere like that dang raptor in Jurrasic Park. Sideways. Brother Waite. Gone? I was shocked. The cancer got him. He was a great man, and I thought I'd share why, as my own little way of honoring his life as I knew it, back in the day in Longview Washington.

The first time I met him, was when I'd been transfered from Battleground. I'd seen him before. He's unmistakable. You can't miss him. He dyes his hair jet black, obviously to cover the fact that he'd been going grey for years. But on that transfer day, it was the first time I'd gottent to ride in the famous OPM (Oregon Portland Mission) taxi. That was Brother Waite's car. You can see it from the picture below, the license plate reflected the glare of the flash, but he literally put OPM TAXI on his license plate. It reflected who he was, and how he lived his life.

He was a different breed. A man whose wife had died years ago, with his kids all grown up and out on their own, he needed to find something to direct his full attention. It just so happened that his attention was directed completely on the missionaries serviving in his area. His life was thier mission. And when I came into the area, my mission was his. Inside the OPM TAXI was at least a hundred Elder tags, anywhere they could be placed, of Elders who had served in the area over the years. Mine's there somewhere among them.

My immediate perception of the man was a bit dubious. He's a very peculiar sort. His demeanor was very open, by the time you'd rode in his car a couple times, you'd have known his life story, his career (he sold Forever Young products which he claimed to have healed multiple Elders with), where all his kids are, their names, and where he lived. He had me fill out a little info page in his massive binder, which was filled to the brim with missionaries contact information. Ya see, what he did was drive us everywhere we needed to go. When we needed to be to an appointment to teach, and couldn't find anyone to help, Brother Waite would be there without fail. He often helped Elders get to places far out of his area. Bishops would often tell him ease up, but nothing could stop the man from helping what he termed his "sons".

He'd made trips to Utah periodically and Elder's would give him things to bring home to thier famlies. When I got home back in 2001, during those trips, he'd come and stop at my house and see how I was doing. He constantly bought "his sons" lunch and I can't imagine the amount of money he'd spent on us, from driving to food, to who knows, but the amount of service he racked up to those who had given up two years to serve was remarkable. He outpaced us. And all knew him, even if they didn't serve in his area.

He was a man who knew the very meaning of service and love. His countless drives to bring Elders to places they needed to be, to people they needed to speak with, goes down as possibly something that is immeasurable now, but beyond, who knows just how far those small acts went for so many who heard the truth. Those deeds are counted and measured though, and he'll be honored immeasurably, in a way that he fully deserves.

So this goes out to Brother Waite personally, your pain is gone now, I'm glad. Your absence will leave a massive hole that will remind hundreds and I hope thousands of what just one man can do. I respect you more than many, and I look forward to seeing you again. Thank you for showing me the very meaning of Matthew 16:25.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

Brother Waite, me and the OPM TAXI

How to show how silly war is: A Calvin and Hobbes comic

Solar POWAH!

See that? That's the Sun. The sun is big stuff. It could kick my butt, well not kick, burn, but it's also gonna burn some other butts. I'll get to that in a minute. Ya see, ever since I saw An Inconvenient Truth I've been reading more and more about renewable energy, and finding ways I can become a little more effecient instead of wasteful. I like the world. It's one big beautiful place.


And I'm a little worried about how we treat it as a whole. There's a ton of things we can do to make a small bit of difference. If more and more people do something small, the culmination will become big. For instance, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR light bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.

There's absolutely no reason not to change some of our habits. Our energy needs are shifting, we've got our dependance on oil, and it's a commodity that we're, I suspect, in Iraq for. There's a plethora of money involved. Corporations making billions on oil. But we're learning more and more about the changes our planet is undergoing and nations, corporations and people are beginning to change to meet the responsibility to reverse some of the effects we've started.

I've had many talks now with friends and coworkers, read a ton of articles about what we can do. Cars are a big factor. Hybrid cars are becoming more prominent. But right now, they their effeciency is offset by their larger price tag. It negates their appeal for me. We ALL need to be buying more effecient light bulbs. Like these Another upcoming energy source is one I've heard about becoming more and more prominent. Solar Energy. Check out this article. Cheap Solar energy is poised to undercut oil and gas by half in about 10 years. By five, (when I plan to finally build a house) solar power will be fully able to compete with gas directly. It's expensive right now, it'll cost about $15,000 to install panels to power a home. But states are offering homeowners grants now who want to shift to solar, so there's a change to cut costs. Wired has a good article on solar power if you're interested, HERE.

I plan to be a good little earth citizen and be smart about the energy I consume. It's not much, but I hope more and more people educate themselves on what they can do about the emerging rising stakes in the place we all call home.

More info:

EPA's page on basic info about global warming
Wired: The Next Green Revolution

Munch on all that folks. It's good for ya!

Plug

Check it out folks.

Kelly at A Yoga Coffee Outlook is giving away a Zune MP3 Player

Go here: www.yogacoffeeoutlook.com