Steven T. Byington (and his Bible) on This Day in History

This day in history: Steven T. Byington died on this day in 1957. Byington was a Christian Anarchist and a Bible translator. The Watchtower society bought the rights to his Bible in 1972. The book "So Many Versions" remarks on the association below: 

"While this translation is completely independent from the NWT, we made a comparison of the two. Since it is published by the Jehovah's Witnesses, we were especially interested in those passages where the characteristic biases of the NWT [New World Translation] were evident. In the BLE [Bible in Living English], "Jehovah" is used in the OT but is not found in the NT. The word "God" is capitalized when referring to Jesus Christ, e.g., in John 1:1; 1:18; 6:45; 10:33. Where the NWT added the article "the" in brackets in Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1 and "other" in Colossians 1:16, 17, this translation does not, so that Jesus Christ can be identified with God in these passages. Furthermore, by its punctuation in Romans 9:5 it has clearly identified Christ as God: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom in the way of flesh comes the Christ, he who is over everything, God blessed forever-Amen!"
The designation "Holy Spirit" is capitalized, contrary to the NWT, and the words "cross" and "crucify" are used instead of "torture stake" and "impale." The only apparent reason for the Witnesses' publishing this translation is the translator's use of "Jehovah" for God's name in the OT, unless they also want to tone down the idiosyncrasies of their own translation." So Many Versions by Sakae Kubo and Walter F. Specht

Reply: Much of the above is over-stated. I fail to see where Christ is identified as God at Romans 9:5, and a clear understanding of the other Scriptures listed and its context removes any divinity from Christ, specifically at John 1:18: "Nobody ever has seen God; an Only Born God, he who is in the Father's bosom, he gave the account of him." A God that is "born" is definitely held as separate from that God that cannot be seen.

Consider also other Scriptures that waters down the deity of Christ:

"I will be what I will be" Ex 3:14
"God is your throne forever" Psalm 45:6
"Jehovah framed me first in line" Prov 8:22
"his origin being from of old, from ancient days." Micah 5:2
"they will look at the one they stabbed to death" Zech 12:10
Acts 20:28 footnote points to "the Lord's church"
"let all God's angels do him reverence" Heb 1:6
"God is your throne forever and ever." Heb 1:8
"firstborn of all creation" Col 1:15
"did not regard equality with God a prize" Php 2:6
"the beginning of God's creation" Rev 3:14

Byington had high sights set for his Bible in his Translator's Preface:

"It is customary for the preface of a new translation of the Bible to say that this translation is to be used only for certain limited purposes, and for most purposes the old version, or a conservative revision of it, should still be preferred. I say the contrary: I sincerely recommend that my translation be used in preference to the old for all purposes, under all circumstances where mine is available. I do not say, observe, that mine is better than any other that can or will be made; neither do I say that it is probable that mine will become everybody's Bible. What I have more right to expect, and what I am bound to be content with, is that when a Bible is made which shall be everybody's Bible, my work will have contributed part of the material which will go into it; what I am here recommending is that when a choice is to be made between mine and the old version, and a version better than either is not available, mine be chosen rather than the old."

It also ranked more accurate than the New American Standard Bible according to Colwell's apparatus:
See http://newworldtranslation.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-new-world-translation-is-best-new.html

Byington's Bible also has some very interesting renderings and makes for a pleasant read:

"The Scriptures say that God 'has put eternity into our minds.'
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)

"wild parties," Galatians 5:19-21

"Foolishness is bliss to a brainless man, but an intelligent man will
go straight." Proverbs 15:21

"A man's ignorance muddles his affairs and he flies out against
Jehovah." (Proverbs 19:3)

"I did not flinch from . . . teaching you publicly and from house to
house."-ACTS 20:20

"So I would have younger ones marry, bear children, keep house, not
give the opponent any opening toward abusive talk."-1 Timothy 5:11-
14, Byington.

"Then I will turn the lips of all the peoples clean, that they may
all call on Jehovah's name and cooperate in his service." Zeph 3:9

"There is no thumbing your nose at God." Gal 6:7, 8

"Jehovah will exterminate slippery lips, tongues that make great propositions" Psalm 12:3

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The Disappearance of Rudolf Diesel on This Day in History

 

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This day in history: Rudolf Diesel mysteriously disappeared on this day in 1913.

Rudolf Diesel was the Elon Musk of his time, a popular person who invented an efficient new engine that revolutionized transportation and industry. He was also a distinguished connoisseur of the arts and a social theorist.

From wikipedia: On the evening of 29 September 1913, Diesel boarded the Great Eastern Railway steamer SS Dresden in Antwerp on his way to a meeting of the Consolidated Diesel Manufacturing company in London. He took dinner on board the ship and then retired to his cabin at about 10 p.m., leaving word to be called the next morning at 6:15 a.m., but he was never seen alive again. In the morning his cabin was empty and his bed had not been slept in, although his nightshirt was neatly laid out and his watch had been left where it could be seen from the bed. His hat and neatly folded overcoat were discovered beneath the afterdeck railing.

Shortly after Diesel's disappearance, his wife Martha opened a bag that her husband had given to her just before his ill-fated voyage, with directions that it should not be opened until the following week. She discovered 20,000 German marks in cash (US$120,000 today) and financial statements indicating that their bank accounts were virtually empty. In a diary Diesel brought with him on the ship, for the date 29 September 1913, a cross was drawn, possibly indicating death.

Ten days after he was last seen, the crew of the Dutch pilot boat Coertsen came upon the corpse of a man floating in the Eastern Scheldt. The body was in such an advanced state of decomposition that it was unrecognizable, and they did not retain it aboard because of heavy weather. Instead, the crew retrieved personal items (pill case, wallet, I.D. card, pocketknife, eyeglass case) from the clothing of the dead man, and returned the body to the sea. On 13 October, these items were identified by Rudolf's son, Eugen Diesel, as belonging to his father.

There are various theories to explain Diesel's death. Some, such as Diesel's biographers Grosser (1978) and Sittauer (1978) have argued that he died by suicide. Another line of thought suggests that he was murdered, given his refusal to grant the German forces the exclusive rights to using his invention; indeed, Diesel had boarded Dresden with the intent of meeting with representatives of the Royal Navy to discuss the possibility of powering British submarines by diesel engine. Another theory is that his apparent death was a ruse staged by the British government to cover his defection to the British cause, and that he then went to Canada, worked for the Vickers shipyard in Montreal and was responsible for a sudden acceleration in its ability to produce a successful Diesel engine for submarines. Given the limited evidence at hand, his disappearance and death remain unsolved.

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A Prime Minister Eaten by His Own People on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Dutch statesman Johan de Witt was born on this day in 1625. However, de Witt is better known for his manner of death.

During 1672, which the Dutch refer to as the Rampjaar (disaster year), France and England declared war on the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War. De Witt was severely wounded by a knife-wielding assassin on 21 June. He resigned as Grand Pensionary on 4 August, but this was not enough for his enemies. His brother Cornelis was arrested on trumped-up charges of treason. He was tortured (as was usual under Roman-Dutch law, which required a confession before a conviction was possible) but refused to confess. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to exile. When his brother went over to the jail (which was only a few steps from his house) to help him get started on his journey, both were attacked by members of The Hague's civic militia. The brothers were shot and then left to the mob. Their naked, mutilated bodies were strung up on the nearby public gibbet, while the Orangist mob ate their roasted livers in a cannibalistic frenzy. 

In Western Christianity, regicide was far more common prior to 1200/1300. Historian Sverre Bagge* counts 20 cases of regicide between 1200 and 1800, which means that 6% of monarchs were killed by their subjects. He counts 94 cases of regicide between 600 and 1200, which means that 21.8% of monarchs were killed by their subjects.

[*The Decline of Regicide and the Rise of European Monarchy from the Carolingians to the Early Modern Period]

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Werewolves of London on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Warren Zevon died on this day in 2003. Zevon is best known for his hit "Werewolves of London" It was released in 1978 and made it to #21 on the US Billboard Top 40. 

It was the only single of Zevon's career. 

BBC Radio 2 listeners rated it as having the best opening line in a song: "I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand".

Zevon later said of the song, "I don't know why that became such a hit. We didn't think it was suitable to be played on the radio. It didn't become an albatross. It's better that I bring something to mind than nothing. There are times when I prefer that it was "Bridge Over Troubled Water", but I don't think bad about the song. I still think it's funny." He also described "Werewolves of London" as a novelty song, "[but] not a novelty the way, say, Steve Martin's "King Tut" is a novelty."

The song had a resurgence in popularity in 1986 due to its use in a scene in The Color of Money, where Tom Cruise dances and lip-syncs to the song in a scene in which Cruise "displayed the depths of his talents at the billiards game of 9-ball."

After Zevon's death in 2003, Jackson Browne stated that he interpreted the song as describing an upper-class English womanizer: "It's about a really well-dressed, ladies' man, a werewolf preying on little old ladies. In a way it's the Victorian nightmare, the gigolo thing."

There are other songs about Werewolves, notably, Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran, Little Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs, I Was a Teenage Werewolf by the Cramps, and my favorite: Werewolf by the Five Man Electrical Band.

Warren Zevon died of mesothelioma on September 7, 2003, aged 56, at his home in Los Angeles. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles. 

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A Crocodile on an Airplane on This Day in History

 

We've all heard of Snakes on a Plane, but what about a crocodile.

This day in history: On this day in 2010, 20 passengers and crew of a Let L-410 Turbolet were killed in a crash resulting from an escaped crocodile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

According to the sole survivor of the crash, the animal was smuggled aboard by a passenger but escaped mid-flight. 

"An unnamed passenger had hidden the crocodile in a large duffel bag with the intent of selling the reptile, according to the Telegraph. The animal escaped as the plane approached its destination." Source

Panicked passengers surged forward, unbalancing the plane and causing a loss of control. The crocodile survived the crash, but was promptly killed by a blow from a machete.

"Congo’s domestic air service consists mainly of badly maintained Soviet-era aircraft with a dismal safety history, according to media reports. Air crashes are common in the Central African country." Source

In 2022 only 43 accidents occurred out of 27.7 million flights, resulting in the deaths of 158 people. Most air accidents take place in Africa, South America and the Middle East. Source

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The Mall of America on This Day in History

 

This day in history: The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opened on this day in 1992. At the time it was the largest shopping mall in the United States.

At the time, the West Edmonton Mall was considered the largest mall in the world.

According to Geeks for Geeks, the largest shopping malls in the world now are:

1. New South China Mall in Dongguan, China

2. Golden Resources Mall in Beijing, China

3. Central World in Bangkok, Thailand

4. SM Mall of Asia in Manila, Philippines

5. Dubai Mall in Dubai, UAE

6. West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada

7. SM Megamall in Manila, Philippines

8. Istanbul Cevahir in Istanbul, Turkey

9. Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

10. Siam Paragon in Bangkok, Thailand

I have looked at several lists and the Mall of America is not included in the top 10 on any of them. However, it has come to my attention that the Mall of America has expanded to 5.6 million square feet, and that the West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is actually 5.3 million square feet which would put them in 3rd and 4th place.

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The League of Nations New World Order on This Day in History

 

This day in history: Denmark left the League of Nations on this day in 1940.

The League of Nations was the first worldwide intergovernmental organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.

During the 20th century, political figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Winston Churchill used the term "new world order" to refer to a new period of history characterized by a dramatic change in world political thought and in the global balance of power after World War I and World War II. The years between the two world wars saw opportunities to implement idealistic proposals for global governance by collective efforts to address worldwide problems that go beyond the capacity of individual nation-states to resolve, while nevertheless respecting the right of nations to self-determination. 

"Such collective initiatives manifested in the formation of intergovernmental organizations such as the League of Nations in 1920, the United Nations (UN) in 1945, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, along with international regimes such as the Bretton Woods system and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), implemented to maintain a cooperative balance of power and facilitate reconciliation between nations to prevent the prospect of another global conflict. These cosmopolitan efforts to instill liberal internationalism were regularly criticized and opposed by American paleoconservative business nationalists from the 1930s on." Wikipedia

All of these globalist efforts have failed.

Globalist experiments such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations have wasted billions, perhaps trillions of dollars and have utterly failed to improve the world in the least. 

The UN has failed to maintain peace and has been marred by corruption and controversy.

In the book Snakes in Suits, a study of psychopaths in the workplace, Babiak and Hare write that corruption appears to be endemic at the UN:

There are few organizations in the Western world that could survive with the allegations of mismanagement, scandal, and corruption that permeate the United Nations. For many delegates, officials, and employees, particularly those from developing nations, the UN is little more than an enormous watering hole.

Concerned about its shabby image, the UN recently developed a multiple-choice "ethics quiz" for its employees. The "correct" answers were obvious to everyone [Is it all right to steal from your employer? (A) Yes, (B) No, (C) Only if you don't get caught].

The quiz was not designed to determine the ethical sense of UN employees or to weed out the ethically inept but to raise their level of integrity. How taking a transparent test could improve integrity is unclear. There has been no mention of how management and other officials did on the test.

It's past time for all of these globalist organizations to join the League of Nations in the trash bin of history.

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