This work is an update of the American Standard Version of 1901. Corrections were made to reflect the findings discovered in the newer editions of the Critical Greek Texts. This is a Unitarian version of the ASV. Most other Bibles reflect a Trinitarian theology, which is a belief that was alien to the early church. Read more at https://usvbible.blogspot.com
1 Now when Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold,
astrologers(a) from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
2 "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we saw his
star in the east, and are come to pay homage(b) to
him."
"The
voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ye ready the way of
Jehovah(a), Make his paths straight(b).'"
"The Bible has now been pretty well rescued from the control of clerics and theologians and restored to the common people, where it belongs."~Edgar J. Goodspeed
"Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." (see Darby & Bullinger). "Thou shalt not tempt - To expose myself to any danger naturally destructive, with the vain presumption that God will protect and defend me from the ruinous consequences of my imprudent conduct, is to tempt God." Adam Clarke
This day in History: On this day in 1962, Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "The Twist" to be impure and banned it from all Catholic schools.
"Calling the song and accompanying dance impure, and saying it lacked a proper sense of decorum and good taste, Bishop Burke prohibited all Catholics from performing the dance. This action earned Bishop Burke the dubious nickname 'Bishop Buzzkill' in 1962." Source
Also, in 1952, the Catholic Church denounced the holiday song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”.
In 1957, Cardinal Stritch of the Catholic archdiocese in Chicago, prohibited all Rock 'n' Roll music from their schools, fearing that "Its rhythms encourage young people to behave in a hedonistic manner".
In 1978, "Billy Joel's 'Only the Good Die Young' was banned in Boston and New Jersey after several religious groups deemed the lyrics anti-Catholic." Source
This Day in History: Author and philosopher Albert Camus died in a car crash on this day in 1960, on a straight country road with an unused train ticket in his pocket. How absurd.
Camus wrote that there "is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy." He told a sad & poignant story of a building manager who had killed himself because he had lost his daughter five years before, which greatly changed him and that the experience had “undermined” him. According to Camus "A more exact word cannot be imagined. Beginning to think is beginning to be undermined."
Though he once was a Communist, he dropped that ideology in favor of freedom.
"Because he was not a partisan in the Cold War between the U.S./NATO and the U.S.S.R, Albert Camus was an oddball. As a result, he was criticized by the right, left, and center. His allegiance was to truth, not ideologies. He opposed state murder, terrorism, and warfare from all quarters. An artistic anarchist with a passionate spiritual hunger, an austere and moral Don Juan, this sensual man of conscience and honor earned his reputation by a lifelong literary meditation on death in all its guises: disease (he was constantly threatened by tuberculosis), murder, suicide, capital punishment, war, etc.; deaths both 'happy' and absurd, sudden and slow. His enemy was always injustice and those powerful ones who thought they had the right to make others suffer and die for their perverted purposes. An artist compelled by history to enter the political arena, he spoke out in defense of the poor, oppressed, and powerless. Among his enemies were liberal imperialism and Soviet Marxism, abstract ideologies used to enslave and murder people around the world." Edward Curtin
Some quotes from Camus:
"The real passion of the twentieth century is servitude."
"It is a kind of spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money."
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
"Political utopias justified in advance any enterprises whatever."
"The welfare of the people…has always been the alibi of tyrants…giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience."
"The tyrannies of today…no longer admit of silence or neutrality…I am against."
"The only conception of freedom I can have is that of the prisoner or the individual in the midst of the state. The only one I know is freedom of thought and action."
"Absolute domination by the law does not represent liberty, but without law there is no freedom."
"Freedom is not a gift received from the State."
"Freedom is not a reward or a decoration…It’s a long distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting."
"Freedom is nothing else but a chance to get better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse."
"Liberty ultimately seems to me, for societies and for individuals…the supreme good that governs all others."
"Is it possible…to reject injustice without ceasing to acclaim the nature of man and the beauty of the world? Our answer is yes."
"We have to live and let live in order to create what we are."
"The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom."
"Without giving up anything on the plane of justice, yield nothing on the plane of freedom."
"More and more, when faced with the world of men, the only reaction is one of individualism. Man alone is an end unto himself."
This day in history: British writer, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian, C.S. Lewis, was born on this day in 1898.
In a much-cited passage from Mere Christianity, Lewis challenged the view that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. He argued that Jesus made several implicit claims to divinity, which would logically exclude that claim.
The argument relies on the assumption that Jesus claimed to be God, something that most biblical scholars and historians of the period do not believe to be true. A frequent criticism is that Lewis's trilemma depends on the veracity of the scriptural accounts of Jesus's statements and miracles. The trilemma rests on the interpretation of New Testament authors' depiction of the life of Jesus; a widespread objection is that the statements by Jesus recorded in the Gospels are being misinterpreted, and do not constitute claims to divinity. According to the biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman, it is historically inaccurate that Jesus called himself God, so Lewis's premise of accepting that very claim is problematic. Ehrman stated that it is a mere legend that the historical Jesus called himself God, and that this was unknown to Lewis since he never was a professional Bible scholar.
In Honest to God, John A. T. Robinson, then Bishop of Woolwich, criticizes Lewis's approach, questioning the idea that Jesus intended to claim divinity: "It is, indeed, an open question whether Jesus claimed to be Son of God, let alone God". John Hick, writing in 1993, argued that this "once popular form of apologetic" was ruled out by changes in New Testament studies, citing "broad agreement" that scholars do not today support the view that Jesus claimed to be God, quoting as examples Michael Ramsey (1980), C. F. D. Moule (1977), James Dunn (1980), Brian Hebblethwaite (1985), and David Brown (1985). Larry Hurtado, who argues that the followers of Jesus within a very short period developed an exceedingly high level of devotional reverence to Jesus, at the same time says that there is no evidence that Jesus himself demanded or received such cultic reverence. According to Gerd Lüdemann, the broad consensus among modern New Testament scholars is that the proclamation of the divinity of Jesus was a development within the earliest Christian communities.
According to Clement of Alexandria, an early church father, Jesus was born on November 17, 3 B.C.
Theories concerning the exact month when Jesus was born have been and still are a topic of scholarly debate.
Here are some theories:
Dr. Colin Nicholl believes that Jesus was born on October 20, 6 B.C.,, based on the idea that the star that led the magi to Bethlehem was a comet.
Dr. Michael Heiser believes that Jesus was born on September 11, 3 B.C., based on astronomical software and his calculation of King Herod's death in 1 B.C.
"The month of Jesus' birth has...been a point of debate, with one theory suggesting that the Star of Bethlehem may have been Venus and Jupiter coming together to form a bright light in the sky, a rare event that occured in June of 2 B.C. Another possibility is a similar conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, which occurred in October of 7 B.C." Live Science
"The Qur'an, which is the source of Islamic tradition tells the story of Mary and the birth of Jesus (known in Islam as Messenger of God) most prominently in Chapter 19. According to verse 19:25, during labor Mary was told to shake a palm tree so that ripe dates would fall off. This description, combined with the ripening period of dates places the birth of Jesus somewhere between June and October, with later times being more likely due to dates falling off easily. In the hadith compilation Tuhaf al-Uqul, the sixth imam, Jafar As Sadiq says the following when approached about the birth of Jesus during Christmas: "They have lied. Rather, it was in the middle of June. The day and night become even [equal] in the middle of March". This statement of his does not literally mean it was on 15 June but it is in reference to a day near the spring equinox." Wikipedia
Google's AI gives this response: "The exact month of Jesus' birth is unknown, but there are several theories:
September
One calculation suggests that Jesus was born in Tishri, which is around mid to late September. This calculation is based on the conception of John the Baptist in Sivan (June), and then counting forward nine months for Mary's pregnancy.
December 25
Some historians believe that Jesus was born on December 25 because they thought that righteous men died on their birthdates. However, the Bible does not mention December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth.
Between 6 B.C. and 4 B.C.
Some scholars believe that Jesus was born between these years based on the biblical story of King Herod the Great.
Other theories include:
November 18, based on the oldest written records
Some other month, as no one knows for sure
The celebration of Christmas on December 25 is not based on the historical date of Jesus' birth.
Some say that Jesus' birth took place between June and October based on the description in the Bible of Mary shaking a palm tree to get ripe dates during labor.
Some believe that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which took place from October 6–13 in 4 BC."
"Ian Paul is a writer who has discussed the possibility that Jesus was born in September:
When was Jesus born?
According to one calculation, Jesus was born in September, around the middle of the month. This calculation is based on the idea that John was conceived around the beginning of June, and then adding the six months between John and Jesus, and the nine months of Mary's gestation.
Why September?
If Jesus was born in September, it would have been close to the time of Succoth, a major pilgrim feast that commemorates the time Israel lived in tents in the wilderness. It would also have been plausible for shepherds to be outdoors in September, as the weather is usually mild at that time of year." Google's AI
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) does not have an official position on the exact date of Jesus' birth. However, many Mormons have long believed that Jesus was born on April 6, 1 BC, based on a 1915 book by Elder James E. Talmage. Talmage's book, Jesus the Christ, interpreted a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants as a revelation of Jesus' birth date.
This Day In History: Jack the Ripper murdered Mary Jane Kelly on this day in 1888, becoming his final victim in the Whitechapel murders.
At the time of Kelly's death, she was approximately 25 years old, working as a prostitute and living in relative poverty.
The canonical five Ripper victims are Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
There have been many theories as to who the Jack the Ripper might have been, including Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, Prince Albert Victor, son of Edward VII and grandson of Queen Victoria, British artist Walter Sickert, a German sailor named Carl Feigenbaum who was executed for murdering a New York woman in 1894, and Whitechapel mortuary attendant Robert Mann.
Some believe that Jack the Ripper was an American. Richard Mansfield, an American actor working on the London stage was one such suspect. Mansfield was performing in the London production of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in 1888 during the time that Jack the Ripper was murdering women in London. One frightened theatre-goer wrote to the police accusing Mansfield of the murders because he could not believe that any actor could make so convincing a stage transformation from a gentleman into a mad killer without being homicidal.
American serial killer H.H. Holmes has also been accused to being Jack the Ripper, and the timeline of his killings certainly makes that seem possible, and Holmes' great-great-grandson, Jeff Mudgett, certainly believes so, and he wrote the book Bloodstains to prove it.
Others actually believe that Theosophist Madame Helena Blavatsky may have been the killer. Even Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle faced scrutiny as the possible JTR.
Others, like Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed it might have been a woman, a Jill the Ripper, possibly a midwife. "The idea was that a midwife would be the only type of woman capable of killing in such a gory way. Rumors that Mary Kelly was pregnant at the time of her death fed into the theory, due to a midwife’s easy access to other women’s homes. No one would look twice at a midwife with blood on her clothing, and moreover she could slip away from her crime scenes unnoticed the way the Ripper was notorious for doing."~Emily Rose
Jack the Ripper is featured in hundreds of works of fiction and works which straddle the boundaries between fact and fiction, including the Ripper letters and a hoax diary: The Diary of Jack the Ripper. The Ripper appears in novels, short stories, poems, comic books, games, songs, plays, operas, television programmes, and films. More than 100 non-fiction works deal exclusively with the Jack the Ripper murders, making it one of the most written-about true-crime subjects. The term "Ripperology" was coined by Colin Wilson in the 1970s to describe the study of the case by professionals and amateurs.
Today in history: On this day (October 27) in 312, Emperor Constantine claimed to have had a vision of a cross in the sky and heard the words "in this sign, you will conquer". This vision is said to have led to Constantine's conversion to Christianity and his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312.
Just how Christian was Constantine?
History is full of myths, tales in where we make mere men as gods and heroes. Molehills of moments blown into mountains of false memories. How many of us truly know that George Washington did not really cut down the cherry tree, or that Helen Keller was a communist, that the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims didn't happen as told, that Martin Luther was an anti-Semite and John Calvin a murderer? We paint our heroes with the broad stroke of perfection, and the same goes for Constantine the Great, the first "Christian" Emperor. Some books will have you believe that Constantine was used by God, and that he was a "Saint."
Constantine, after his conversion to Christianity, was still a Sun Worshipper who killed his Son and had his wife drowned.
"To pass for a Christian would, indeed, have been a great presumption on his part. Not long after the Council of Nicaea he suddenly had Crispus, his excellent Son by his first marriage and a pupil of Lactantius, put to death at Pola in Istria (326), and soon thereafter he had his wife Fausta, daughter of Maximian, drowned in her bath." [The Age of Constantine the Great, pp.283,284, Burckhardt]
"In modern-day terms, Constantine could hardly be considered much of a Christian. As an example, he never relinquished his title Pontifex Maximus. This was the title given to him as the head of the state pagan cult, which was either Mithraism or Sol Invictus, two distinct but similar religions. In addition, the coinage of his reign continued to depict the Sun God [Sol Invictus]. Finally, it is reported that he personally murdered one of his own sons, had his second wife drowned, had his nephew and brother-in-law killed after he had guaranteed safe passage, etc. However, during all of this he sponsored Christianity because it had been useful to him in winning a decisive battle."
"Some things have been established with reasonable certainty: Constantine was no intellectual giant; he took himself very seriously with regard to what he considered his mission to promote Christianity; and lacking more than one of the Christian virtues, he was on occasion cruel, ruthless, and even inhumane." Encyclopedia Americana 2000
"Constantine was a hot-blooded man. He was wise to avoid being baptized while there were still so many sins of passion that he might yet commit." [Rubenstein, p. 49]
"Although Constantine attributed his success to the divine message that he believed he had read in the skies before the battle at the Milvian Bridge in 312, he could not officially--and privately, it seems, did not-abandon paganism at once." Encyclopedia Americana 2000
"However, until his preparations for his final campaign by 323, he did not abandon his allegiance to the Sun god, even though he regarded himself as a servant of the Christian God... Constantine's public image remained - the Sun god was the emperor's 'companion.' The liberation of Rome was attributed to the Sun on a medallion struck at the time." The Rise of Christianity, W.H.C. Frend, p.484
It is evident from the above that Constantine was no godly man in a Christian sense. This has been borne out by the violence that erupted at the time during the Nicene Controversy. The pro-Trinitarian side of the issue was led by Athanasius, "a future saint and uninhibited faction fighter, had his opponents excommunicated and anathematized, beaten and intimidated, kidnapped, imprisoned, and exiled to distant provinces." He "possessed a power independent of the emperor which he built up and perpetuated by violence. That was both the strength and the weakness of his position. Like a modern gangster, he evoked widespread mistrust, proclaimed total innocence - and especially succeeded in evading conviction on specific charges." [When Jesus Became God, Rubenstein, pp. 6, 107]
"Constantine was a Christian of a very peculiar type, a type that would hardly be recognized as Christian at all today." Constantine the Great by Michael Grant
