Pashtun Descent from Israel?

There is a persistent legend that the Islamic Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan and Pakistan is descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel.  Actual historical research on the subject began in the 19th Century.  No definitive proofs of the theory have ever been found but there are vague hints throughout history: the Rig Veda (before 1200 BCE) mentions the Paktha tribe; Herodotus (ca. 450 BCE) mentions the Pashtuns as the Paktyaki.   There is no mention of an Israelite connection before the Islamic conquest of the area.

Modern Jews are descended from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah.  Other people who claim Israelite descent:

1. Samaritans: aka: Bene-Yisrael (Children of Israel), Shamerim (Observant Ones). Descendants of the Biblical Samaritan tribe, cousins of the Israelites.  Modern Samaritans still live in the same place as their fathers, speak Arabic, and pray in Hebrew.  They recognize only the Pentateuch as Scripture.

2. Saccans: A Central Asian ethic group.

3. House of Israel: This group in Ghana claims Israelite descent.

4. Efik Tribe: This Nigerian tribe traditionally claims to have migrated from Palestine to the Sahara to the Sudan and, finally, to Nigeria.

4. Bene Ephraim: A Telugu speaking group in Southeast India.

6. Bene Menashe: The group in Northeast India claims descent from Manasseh.  A Rabbinical court in Jerusalem has accepted the claim.

7. Falasha: aka. Beta Israel, Buda, Tebiban, Habashim.  This Ethiopian group is recognized as legitimate by the majority of world Jewry.  They claim descent from Menelik, son of David and the Queen of Sheba.

8. Beit Avraham: aka: Falasha Mura.  This Christian group broke from the Falasha.

9. Bnai' Ephraim: This group in Southwest Nigeria claims to be Jewish.  They speak a mixture of Yoruba, Arabic, and Aramaic.  They say they originated as Jews expelled from Morocco about 1492. 

10. Mizoram:  This primarily Christian group in Hindustan numbers about 800,000.  They claim descent from Manasseh.

11. Black Jews of Rusape, Zimbabwe.

12. Dimonas/Black Hebrews: This is a polygamous vegan African-American sect.  They are not recognized by the State of Israel.

13. Lemba Tribe: This predominately Christian African tribe shows DNA linkage to the ancient Israelites.  This means that they share genetic material with modern Jews.

14. Cimmerians: This Indo-European/Iranian/Thracian group was a nomadic equestrian tribe in central Asia.  Herodotus said that they arrived from Russia and the Ukraine in the 7th or 6th centuries BCE.  They were expelled by the Scythians.

15. Igbo Tribe:  This Nigerian tribe numbers about 30,000,000.  They say they came to Nigeria about 740 CE from Syria, Portugal, and Libya and claim descent from the tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Zebulon, and Judah.

16. British Israelites:  Followers of this belief claim that Britain, the United States, and other English speaking peoples are descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.  One such group is the Worldwide Church of God.

17. Mormons:  Traditional Mormon doctrine claims that the American Indians and Polynesian peoples are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Gene Robinson Quotation

"I believe the Bible to be the word of God, but not the words of God."  Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopalian bishop.

Send Posts to Social Networking Sites

From time to time I will announce and explain features on this blog. Readers can now share individual blog posts from this blog to their social networking sites. Just under the post are five boxes: "M" for e-mail; "B" for Blogger; "t" for Twitter; "f" for Facebook; and an "earth" symbol for Google Buzz. If you think that any of the posts might be useful or interesting to others, feel free to send them to your social networking site. Because of copyright issues, please indicate that the blog is http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/


The readership for this blog is growing and, of course, I would like to grow it even larger.  In the past week there have been visitors to this blog from the United States, Canada, Slovenia, Thailand, Israel, India, Sri Lanka, and Luxembourg.  I invite everyone to become daily or weekly readers and to feel free to comment and/or suggest topics.

Another Light Bulb Joke

How many Odinists does it take to change a light bulb?

One.  He grabs and light bulb and drinks ale until the room starts to spin.  

Philip Gully Quotes

"Someday, I hope to find the perfect church.  I suspect when I do, they won't let me join."

"I do enjoy dismantling settled beliefs, not for the sake of wanton destruction, but for the sake of building something more helpful and beautiful in their place."

"... I can't respond to every hand written letter, especially those containing multiple Bible verses pointing out my theological inadequacies."

These quotations are from Philip Gulley, author of If the Church Were Christian.  Rediscovering the Values of Jesus (2010).  Starting soon, I will begin a chapter by chapter response to Gulley's important book.  I said important, not correct.  This book is a clear statement of one of the "other gospels " masquerading as Christianity. 

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:6-8

Each article will be posted as I finish writing the response to each chapter and, so, the posts will not be concurrent.

Sanankaskuja

"Sanankaskuja" is a Finnish word meaning in English, "jokes related to God's word."  The website, http://Sanankaskuja.blogspot.com/, features scriptural quotations in Finnish and English accompanied by delightful humorous Christian-themed cartoons. 

When

When the azaleas bloom suddenly in pastel colors in the spring,

When the nightly cricket symphony becomes an almost palpable presence, 

When the yellow pollen puffs clouds of dust into the morning air,

I think of God and rejoice.

What Does It Mean?: Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."  Matthew 13:10-13.

Many modern theologians make a major point about the fact that Jesus never came out and simply declared, "I am God."  They speak of the Incarnational Mystery and wonder if Jesus thought of Himself as God.  Two points:

1. The rabbis and religious Jews who heard Jesus speak knew exactly what He was saying but thought that he was speaking blasphemy.  “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”  John 10:33

2. Jesus used parables to teach.  The simple stories made His meaning easy to understand for even the most literal of His followers.  The parables also served a second purpose: to conceal.

In Matthew 13:10-13, the disciples asked Jesus about this.  The parables made no sense to those not equipped to understand them.  It is like us being immersed continually in showers of television and radio signals but hearing and seeing nothing because we don't have an internal receiver;  we are not physiologically equipped to perceive the information.

Without the Holy Spirit, the message of the parables makes no sense to those who don't belong to Jesus.  Jesus' motive for this is simple to see:  He wanted followers by faith, not by sight.  “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”  John 20:29

In Constantine (2005), a secular horror/action film, a cancer-ridden detective named John Constantine is desperately trying to impress God by hunting and killing demons.  He tells the angel Gabriel, "I believe."  The angel replies, "No, you know.  There's a difference."

Religious Humor: Proverbs 26:17

"He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears."  Proverbs 26:17

The Proverbs are part of the Hebrew Wisdom Literature.  The point made here is good advice presented in a humorous way which makes the wisdom point easier to remember.   The humor comes from the exaggerated, almost slapstick image, of a man who has grabbed a dog's ears in anger and then realizes he has more trouble than he started with.  Very Mr. Bean. The image is enhanced when you realize that dogs in most of the ancient Middle East were not domesticated.  They ran in wild packs scavenging for food.

This is not referring to intervening in obviously deadly or dangerous situations such as a rape or an assault.  It also is not counseling one to intentionally not see an illegal or unethical situation.  The image is one of an argument or a legal dispute into which one has not been "invited."

We all know people who have to "fix" every situation and who hop right in, sometimes forcefully.  They think that if everyone would just be "reasonable" it could all be solved and they are sure they know the reasonable solution.  When they inevitably are accused of taking sides in the argument they may end up angering everyone involved, including themselves.  The Hebrew words translated as "meddleth" (meddling, interfering, etc) are "mit abber" " מִתְעַבֵּר" meaning to "become furious."  If you don't know what is going on, don't just foolishly run in and make it worse.

 

ScriptureText.com

A very useful site is http://scripturetext.com/ which goes verse by verse, presenting several English translations, followed by several versions of Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and other languages. There are numerous grammatical search tools on the site so each word can be parsed out. Not passed out, parsed out. Look it up.

Wandering for Forty Years

"My ancestors wandered lost in the wilderness for forty years because even in biblical times, men would not stop to ask for directions."  Elayne Boosler

Jewish Festivals

"One of my Jewish colleagues explains that all jewish festivals reflect the same theree-part pattern: they tried to kill us, we survived, now let's eat!"  Kristin Swenson in Bible Babel (2010)

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Robert Barker: (d. 1645, England) Printer to King James I of England.  In 1631, Barker and Martin Lucas released a reprint of the King James Version which was deemed to be of very poor quality and came to be known as The Wicked Bible because Exodus 20:14 said “Thou shalt commit adultery.”  Barker and Lucas were fined 300 Pounds Sterling and their printer’s licenses were revoked. Only eleven copies are known to survive.

William James O’Reilly: (b. 1949, New York, USA) Television host, author, columnist, political commentator.

Robert I Estienne: (b. 1503, France- d. 1559, aka: Robertus Stephanus) A printer and classical scholar, Estienne was a Catholic convert to Evangelical Protestantism.  He is the first person known to have printed the Bible with numbered verses.  He also published many of John Calvins’s writings.

Clay Morgan Shepherd (b. 1941, North Carolina, USA) NASCAR Sprint Cup race car driver, lay Christian minister.  

Caster Semenya: (b. 1991, South Africa) Female track and field athlete (800 meters) whose gender became a source of contention in 2009 after her dominant performance at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.  The International Association of Athletics Federation has cleared her to continue to compete as a female.  She and her family are members of the Zion Christian Church in South Africa.

Bible Printer's Errors: The He Bible

Proofreading is very important.  Sometimes one word changes the entire meaning of a passage.    The following is an example to prove the point.  

The He Bible was a King James version printing which was pulled and destroyed because one word was incorrect.

What it should have said:

“Also he said, Bring the vail that [thou hast] upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six [measures] of barley, and laid [it] on her: and she went into the city. “ Ruth 3:15

What it said:

“Also he said, Bring the vail that [thou hast] upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six [measures] of barley, and laid [it] on her: and he went into the city. “ Ruth 3:15

Humor in the Bible

The Bible speaks to every aspect of human life, including humor. Part of our problem in seeing humorous elements in the Bible is because we are reading it in translation. Oftentimes, humor is one of the hardest things to translate.

One of my coworkers, a man from Gujarat State in India, will tell me a joke and burst out giggling before he can deliver the punchline. Often, my response is "Huh?"

All languages, even those from the same language group (ie. Indo-European, Semitic, Uralic, Uto-Aztecan, Muskogean, Slavic, etc.) are structured differently from all others. As similar as English and German are, there are still things which can be easily expressed in one language but which are totally obscure in the other. For languages with entirely different ancestries the phenomenon is amplified.

Koine Greek (the popular "people's Greek" of the New Testament, as opposed to the classical literary Attic Greek, is concerned more with types of action (ongoing, conditional, intended, completed, etc) than with what English speakers understand as tense (past, present, and future).

Ancient Hebrew, a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family, is based on three-consonant root words (and a few two and four letter ones). The roots are made into nouns, adjectives, and verbs by adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes. The word, "Hebrew," is derived from "YBR," "to cross over." As one could guess, humor in Hebrew texts would be expressed very differently than in English.

In my ongoing series of posts on religious humor (see the Labels list below and look for the lightbulb jokes) I will begin including humorous scriptural verses stating their literary type and explaining why the verse is considered to be humorous, which does not always mean Young Frankenstein type roll on the floor laughing out loud funny. That's not its purpose.

A sentence on the Jews for Jesus website states it well: "The purpose of the Bible is not to entertain, but to instruct and so its subtle humor serves a purpose - to show people what ought to be in comparison to what exists." http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/17_08/04

The humor in the Bible is expressed in several ways, which include insults, parables, riddles, puns, crude humor, subversive wit, sarcasm, irony, parallels and contrasts, and hyperbole. The humor is never there just for its own sake; it always serves a purpose. It makes you think.

God's Will for Your Life

"It is easy to use the phrase "God's will for my life" as an excuse for inaction or even disobedience. It's much less demanding to think about God's will for your future than it is to ask Him what He wants you to do in the next ten minutes. It's safer to commit to following Him someday instead of this day."
Francis Chan, Forgotten God

Book Comment: Stuff Christians Like

Stuff Christians Like, by advertising copywriter Jonathan Acuff, is an inside job. It really should be titled Stuff That Makes Christians Laugh. You will chuckle, and occasionally guffaw, at every page.

The book, presented as a collection of short one or two page essays is genuinely hilarious. Each essay starts out silly, then you realize a touch of sarcasm has shown up, and then you feel the knife blade slip between your ribs when you realize that he's talking about you.

Assumption

Today, August 15, is the day of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. The feast was first celebrated in the 6th Century as the feast of the Dormition (Falling Asleep) and was defined as an article of faith and a day of obligation by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in his encyclical, Munificentissimus Deus. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Communion.

The dogma of the Assumption says that at her death, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was assumed body and soul directly into Heaven, with no need to wait on the Resurrection. Since she was God's privileged Ark, the mother of God, and is held to have been utterly sinless, and since the corruption of the grave is a punishment for original sin, she could not have decayed in the ground.

The Roman Catholic Church cites as scriptural basis for this doctrine the following verses: 2 Kings 1:11, Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5, John 14:3, Psalm 132:8, and Revelation 12:1-5. An interesting point to Protestants is that Mary's death is not mentioned in the Bible at all. Many of the references which Catholics say speak of Mary are interpreted by Protestants as references to the Church or to Israel.

Protestants do not accept the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary and do not believe that there is any scriptural basis for doing so. We believe that this doctrine is a logical sequela of the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, both of which we believe to be unscriptural. We believe that all three come from a very forced, convoluted, "twisty-turny" interpretation of scripture used to justify non-blblical man-made doctrines. This is eisogesis (forcing ideas from outside into the Bible) instead of exogesis (deriving doctrines from and consistent with the totality of scripture).

For further reading:
"The Biblical Basis for Praying to Mary and for Catholic Teachings on Mary," http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/Articles/the_bible_on_the_blessed_virgin_Mary.pdf

Jesus Didn't Come To ...

"...when Jesus died on the cross he didn't do so because he wanted to "shift my paradigm." He didn't come to help me "realize my full potential" and "unpack my baggage." Or "overcome my hang-ups." Or "recalenderize my Q1."
Jonathan Acuff in Stuff Christians Like, p.60.

Show Your Faith

The political race for governor, and numerous other political positions, in Alabama is about to get hot and heavy. In an article in The Birmingham News, Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple Emanuel in Birmingham decries the tendency of the local politicians to "out-Jesus" one another. Here in the Bible Belt, that can be important.

Miller's criticism reflects the tension between "talk" and "do." He uses the Christians in Muslim Bangladesh as an example of Christians who are "doing."

"I wish our politicians would act on their Christian faith. Christians are a blessing to the world. ... do what Jesus would do if Jesus were in office. ... Put away the rhetoric. Don't talk for Jesus. Instead, be like Jesus. Serve like Jesus. Show us your faith."

Miller, Jonathan, "Politicians should act like Jesus," The Birmingham News, 8 Aug 2010, pp. 2F, 4F.

Names in the Bible: Amos

Amos: Hebrew for "burden bearer." Amos, a herdsman, was one of the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. Amos declared that God is the God of all the nations of the Earth, not just the God of the Israelites and that Israel, as God's Chosen People, has special responsibilities before God, not just on a corporate level, but each individual. Amos opposed ceremonial compliance without individual holiness.

Book Comment: The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible

Ruth Hurmence Green (1915 - 1981) is apparently something of a "saint" (atheists please excuse me) to the Freedom From Religion Foundation who published her books, The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible (1979) and The Book of Ruth (1981). The 1999 cover of her book looks like a brown Bible; it even has "Holy Bible" centered, in large letters, on the front. The Foundation says she "debunked the Bible as no one has done since Thomas Paine."

Ruth read her BIble cover to cover, verse by verse, and she really hated Christianity. She picks out every seeming inconsistency, every hard passage, and every major Christian doctrine and tries to grind them up into sausage.

The only thing about which I almost agree with her is one statement she makes about the Trinity. She believed that the doctrine of the Trinity was cooked up to maintain Christianity's monotheism. I don't believe that it was "cooked up." It was a hard fought controversy for many years as Christians tried to come to a consensus on what they actually thought about the three divine Persons they knew and the monotheistic God of their Jewish heritage. I believe that the doctrine of the Trinity is the only explanation which can account for all the statements made about God and by God in the BIble.

I am presently collecting materials for a book I intend to write about some of the more profound, and even shocking, implications of the doctrine of the Trinity. The doctrine resolves many seeming contradictions and problems in the Bible.

Mount or Plain?

Some see a major discrepancy in the fact that the Lord’s Prayer appears in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–7:29) but not in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-7:1). What’s the problem? These are probably two different events. Jesus didn’t have to (and probably didn’t) say exactly the same time every time He spoke.

"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:" Matthew 5:1

"And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; " Luke 6:17

B.H.O. Birthday

Today is the birthday of United States President Barack Hussein Obama, born 4 August 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. We should all pray for him that he will be led in his decisions by the Holy Spirit.

Book Comment: No Applause - Just Throw Money

The title of this book is from a famous quip by the Vaudevillian jazz dancer Joe Frisco, "No applause, folks, just throw money." The same named book is a fascinating and sometimes humorous historical accounting of the birth, meteoric surge, and dwindling of Vaudeville, the precursor of the modern radio, theater, television, and film industries as well as such regional phenomena as Branson, Missouri, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the many shows at night clubs and amusement parks around the country. At its height, some of the Vaudeville performers were making as much as $4000 per week, equal in modern dollars to about $40,000.

What does this have to do with Christianity? Actually, quite a lot. The author, Trav S.D. (Travis Stewart) believes that the early assessments of entertainers, traveling showmen, actors and actresses, etc. were accurate. Many were thieves, shysters, and prostitutes. He sides with the entertainers.

Trav S.D.'s assessment of Christianity is at best skeptical and, at times, hostile. He opposes what he understands to be prudery and close-mindedness while detailing how Vaudeville left behind its raunchy, sometimes racist, roots to become squeaky-clean and family friendly even as, behind the scenes, politics and dirty tricks raged. He shows how the organizations and networks developed for the live stage shows formed the basis of the modern entertainment industry.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian. Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions. This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Maxine A. Phillips: (d. 17 May, 2010, age 92, Alabama.) Immunohematologist (Blood Banking). She was on a team sent by the United States government to China to teach Blood banking techniques to physicians and laboratory personnel. Baptist.

Kenia Tilus: (b. 2004, Haiti – d. 2010) Victim of the massive 2010 Haiti earthquake.

George Richard Tiller: (b. 1941, Kansas – d. 2009; aka: “Tiller the Baby Killer”) Lutheran. Tiller was a provider of late-term abortions and was assassinated in church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder.

Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli: (1810, Massachusetts – d. 1850; aka: Margaret Fuller) Unitarian feminist, transcendentalist, journalist. She was the first female full-time book reviewer in journalism. She thought that social reform was more important than individual improvement.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov: (b. 1870, Russia – d. 1924; aka: Vladimir Lenin) Raised in a Russian Orthodox home, Lenin became a Communist politician and the leader of the Russian Revolution.

Quitting Christianity

On 28 July 2010, novelist Anne Rice posted this on her Facebook page, "In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen." She made her decision because she says she refuses to be opposed to homosexuality, feminism, and artificial birth control.

Rice was raised as a Roman Catholic but left the church as an adult. She is best known as a writer of gothic and vampire-themed novels, especially Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned. In 2008, she released her memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, about her return to Roman Catholicism. She apparently is not renouncing Jesus but organized religion.

Worldwide Forgiveness Day

Today is Worldwide Forgiveness Day, sponsored by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, a 501 (c)3 non-profit tax exempt charity. Their mission is "to evoke the healing spirit of Forgiveness worldwide," and to teach and certify thousands of Forgiveness Life Skill Teachers. They quote Dr. Gerald Jampolsky, "Forgiveness is the greatest healer of them all." That's a whole lot of forgiveness.

http://www.forgivenessday.org

This is an interfaith organization and they seem to go out of their way to not mention Jesus or Christianity though they do mention other faiths. The whole thing seems to be "feel-goodism," based on the idea that if we would all just be good and forgive one another, everything would be all right. This is thin and filmy with no underlying power to sustain it, based only on good intentions.

Christians are commanded to forgive without limits (Luke 17:4). Unforgiveness is one of the most horrible of sins (Matthew 18:34-35; Luke 15:28-30). Christians are to forgive because God has forgiven us. We are to be like God who sought out the offender (us) to redeem him.