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The parallels between Mithraism and Christianity are, for the most part, overblown. When you read stuff like this you should always ask, What is the source for this claim? For instance, where is it written that Mithras was born on Dec 25? There is at least one clear case where Christian beliefs...

The Jesus Seminar boasts some of the most brilliant New Testament scholars living today. The Five Gospels gives a good impression of what "liberal" scholars think are probably the most authentic words of Jesus. If you want to understand the reasoning behind the decisions made there, check out...

The Standard Model describes the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions in a single theory. The odd force out is gravity. All of these theories are 4-dimensional (3 space dimensions plus time.)

Greetings, Gnostradamus! (Great username, BTW) I agree w/Abrahamic faiths as derived from Mesopotamia - see, for example, F. Cross,Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. But Greco-Roman faiths, Hindu faiths? I'm not so sure. Do you have any evidence?

Sounds like you've got a good start... go to!

Yes, there's a lot of disinformation about Mithras, and some of it is on the linked page. ? Since there are no texts of Mithraism extant, how would anyone know this? Maybe it refers to the birth from the rock? Hardly a parallel. I'm not sure who the "followers" are suposed to be. There is a...

Hi, ND and welcome! Your points 1 & 2 sound like what I've heard Unitarians say - have you ever looked into that? You also might check out the Quakers. (Easier than starting a new religion!) I'm curious about #3 - why do you believe in reincarnation?

It's not fantasy, it's a misuse of the extra-canonical writings like the Gospel of Mary from Nag Hammadi, where Peter says to Mary, "Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women." There's another one that says something like "Jesus loved Mary and used to kiss her on the...

Long enough to reach the ground? Er,... no, that was legs, wasn't it?

I'm no Greek geek but I read somewhere that Philo makes the distinction between "god" and "the god": the latter can only mean the one true god, the former refers to any of the (fictitious, for Philo) other gods, daimons, etc.

I read the book and saw most of the PBS version. I think Brian Greene has done as good a job as can be done in bringing these complex ideas to the general public. I used to work in a string-theory related area, so I have an advantage when I read him over most people. My main complaint is that...

It's no longer speculation, it's well-established fact. A particle and its antiparticle (electron and positron, for example) can collide and release "pure energy" in the form of photons. The energy of the photons adds up precisely to the mc^2 predicted by Einstein. (Actually, twice that amount...

Exactly right, aburaees (and welcome to you and to JustPlay). Jude not only quotes from Enoch, it names it, too. One thing is certain, that Enoch was NOT written by the person of that name who is mentioned in Genesis. There is no indication that anyone had ever heard of the book before about...

I think the Apocrypha are fascinating, for a variety of reasons. 1. OT apocrypha help fill in the gaps between the protestant OT and the very different thinking of the NT. 2. NT apocrypha show what a tremendous variety of viewpoints there was in early Xianity. 3. Historical interest: how...

I highly recommend Jonathan Weiner's The Beak of the Finch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067973337X/104-9401610-9294304?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance He shows that year-to-year variation in the finches of Galapagos is much greater than the rate required by the fossil record. The real...

Q as defined by scholars is the hypothetical document from which Matthew and Luke drew many of their sayings and stories that did not come from Mark. Kloppenborg (The Formation of Q) thinks that the Q we can reconstruct is essentially complete. Even if he is wrong about this (and unless someone...

Good question. Have you ever asked the same question about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? As far as date, there is a wide divergence of opinions. Some scholars think it is from around 150 AD and is basically a collection of quotes of the canonical gospels plus extra stuff. Others would date...

THis issue was dealt with in The Straight Dope a wile ago: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990507.html The bottom line is that there's no good reason to associate vampire legends and porphyria. (For one, drinking blood would have no effect on the disease, nor do porphyria victims crave blood.)

Quahom, I appreciate your detailed response, and I'm sorry I don't have time to respond in as much detail. However, I'd like to make a few points about your post. As I said, I have no problem if you want to interpret all this as reflecting the Trinity. I don't see how you can claim it as proof...

This is true of everyone who posts on these boards, including yourself, Faithfulservant. No, it's not my "opinion" that the word "hypostasis" doesn't appear in the NT, it's fact. If you know otherwise, please tell me what ancient manuscript the word appears in and what's your source for that...