Attack on Kozlowski.org continuing from US, China, Turkey, etc.

Mother’s Day

Ann Jarvis - September 30, 1832 – May 9, 1905 (promoting peace, to improve health and sanitary condition)

Anna Jarvis - May 1, 1864 – November 24, 1948 (Founder of Mother's Day)

Milton Freedman - Free to Choose

I’m not an anarchist – word used with old meaning

Pencil analogy – How a pencil is made video

Faber Castell – How a Pencil is made

“Never Give Up” – heart

Attack on Kozlowski.org continuing from US, China, Turkey, etc.

Mother’s Day

Ann Jarvis - September 30, 1832 – May 9, 1905 (promoting peace, to improve health and sanitary condition)

Anna Jarvis - May 1, 1864 – November 24, 1948 (Founder of Mother's Day)

Milton Freedman - Free to Choose

I’m not an anarchist – word used with old meaning

Pencil analogy – How a pencil is made video

Faber Castell – How a Pencil is made

“Never Give Up” – heart

Greetings,

While ShofarNexus is my focus, it is also the technical foundation of the ShofarBook project. In recent dialogs on the ShofarBook project, it seemed clear some clarification is needed as to the maturing objectives. This is not addressing the communications security issues at this point.

The world can be divided into four groups, the atheist, the Christian, the Muslim, and others. For the moment, what actually defines each group is not addressed. Two of these groups, the Christian and the Muslim, have a reference, the Bible or the Quran. Both documents describe themselves as sourced from God and the truth.

We have four possibilities. They are both false, both true, or only one true. If they conflict in what they claim, then the idea of both being true is ruled out.

Consider the following verses from the Bible (ESV):

Matthew 27:50 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”

Mark 15:37 “And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.”

Luke 23:46 “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.”

John 19:30 “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Consider also the ayah from the Quran:

4:157 “and said, ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God.’ (They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition: they certainly did not kill him”

We have four verses from the Gospels that directly state Jesus died on the cross. The ayah from the Quran states Jesus did not die. There appears to be a direct conflict. Either there has to be an explanation why both can be true, such as an incorrect understanding of what was written, or one of the infallible texts is simply untrue.

There is also the possibility that both texts are untrue and this would be consistent with the atheist or many of the other groups.

A fundamental goal of ShofarBook, at least in my mind, is to set before the reader both texts clearly and without distortion. Perhaps offer tools such as dictionaries, internal cross references, or pronunciation help. Then give some form of cross references between the books, as the example above, to allow the reader to see similarities or conflicts and be able to fairly examine the source material directly, rather than have an authority or commentary give them a probably biased conclusion.

The Bible and Quran are obvious choices as that is the somewhat claimed reference for roughly half of the world’s population. This can be expanded to include the Talmud which was written between the time of the Gospels and Mohammad, or the Book of Mormon, which is far more recent.

The fundamental objective is to place before the reader the texts in raw form and tools to easily examine the texts in depth individually or in relation to each other. If one or more of the texts are truly from God, then let the texts speak for themselves, and not impose a specific dogma on the reader.

While the Bible and Quran are the obvious initial documents, perhaps as well as the Talmud and Book of Mormon, the project could be expanded to include texts from Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and others.

While ideas for the project have been toyed with for years, there are also some clumsy but functional tools that can be demonstrated. For example an important verse for this project is 2nd Timothy 3:16 which can be found at: http://kozlowski.org/_Book,Bible,ESV,2Ti+3. Then there is one of my favorite words in Greek: http://kozlowski.org/_Book,Greek,Strong+4837, to mutually encourage (sumparakaleō ● συμπαρακαλέω).

Another important aspect is that this is not a tool to divide, but rather to facilitate those who have different foundations the option to gain an understanding of others’ positions. Those who want to hate those who are different all the tools they need. Those who want to understand or perhaps love others might find this useful.

What is needed to see this come to reality is someone to drive the project. If that person’s objective is to impose their beliefs on others, then they don’t understand the project. However, if they have a particular belief and a trust that what they believe in is true, then the idea of putting their belief on the playing field with others should be an attractive way to demonstrate the truth of their foundation.

Who is that person?