Writer Mark Twain rejected Christianity?

(Famous People's Religion) The Bible is pure fiction: Mark Twain's dark religion satire: Letters from the Earth points out many Judeo-Christian flaws, inconsistencies, and contradictions.

• American writer Mark Twain rejected Christianity?
• Mark Twain, religion, and God (naturalist view vs. theology): "Why does God not relieve suffering?"

Letters from the Earth

Letters from the Earth (Wikipedia)

This is one of the works by Mark Twain published after his passing. These essays were kept secret, having been written by Twain. They may have ruined his career. As it was, he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters.

It consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. Twain penned a series of letters from the point of view of a dejected bad angel on Earth.

The title story consists of letters written by the Archangel [Lucifer] Satan to Archangels Gabriel and Michael about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of mankind's religions.

Letters from the Earth

By analyzing the idea of heaven and God that is widely accepted by those who believe in both, Twain is able to take the silliness that is present and study it with the common sense that is absent. It is not an attack but rather a careful dissection.

Other short stories in the book include a bedtime tale about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man.

Twain's writings in Letters from the Earth find him at a quizzical and questioning state, and readers are all the better for it.

Billie Eilish + 14 'evil' Christian celebrities

Billie Eilish, who lives in LA (Mt. Washington), will release her new album this week at a free listening party at Kia Forum. She'll be there in disguise to see how the crowd reacts with Finneas and parents before world tour starts.

• Tickets go on sale May 3, 2024. Pre-sales in select markets April 30-May 1, including early access for American Express card members. Pre-sale access does not guarantee tickets

Wow, they really hate [my] God

Good work, you won't be saved by good works

Mike (Joyful Exile) May 2024: Commentary on and clips from John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, Christian Bale, Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Baldwin, Evil Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Heather MacDonald, Beyonce, Billie Eilish, Demi Lovato, Brett Cooper, Chris Evans, Ricky Gervais, Jack Black, Kathy Griffin, and Yvonne Orji.

God don't make no junk...except

Hi, I’m Mike, a deacon, a husband, a father of three (so far), a software engineer, and an exile who makes videos, builds apps, and creates content to communicate biblical truth to a world that won't listen. [Why won't you listen to me!?!]

Would you consider joining me in my mission by [giving me money for my God or by] simply subscribing and watching these videos until the end, to help the algorithm recommend biblical truth to more people?

Is he mocking us, Phineas? - Yeah, Pirate.

Thank you from the bottom of my [God's wallet and] heart. Let’s BATTLE [and KILL the unbelievers and infidels] for God’s glory and kingdom together.

Patreon (to help with the cost of editing) - joyfulexile. Website (to learn more about me and my projects) - https://joyfulexile.com. [And repent, you stupid SOB sinners and bow thy knee to my God!]

The world wouldn't be the same without Billie Eilish (C.S.)

Unhappy with Mike? Know God

How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali 

This paperback from 1953 by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood is a classic translation with 4.7 out of 5 stars after 533 ratings.

This is a major work on the practice of yoga (union) and meditation. Through these ancient sayings (aphorisms), readers learn how to control the mind and achieve inner peace.

Although these methods were taught over 2,000 years ago, they are as alive and effective as they have ever been.

This translation draws from the inspired commentary of both Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. (Routledge Library)

Spirituality without a grouchy God?

Wait, is this "yoga"? Look, Larry David has no balance. No, this is not Ashtanga Yoga.

.

O, Great Yogi, teach me to know myself.

Protestantism was smart to reject the Holy Roman Imperial Church and their Godman. But what did they set up in His place, the angry God of the Bible, the compassionate Virgin Mary, the "begotten" son? Judging from modern American fundamentalists and evangelicals, it's all Yeshua (Buddhist Saint Issa) all the time.

The reason it was good to reject Rome's Holy See and the oldest corporation in the world (Vatican, Inc. under CEO Francis) was because the Church wanted to be the go between our experience of the divine. Is an intermediary priest necessary to connect with our natural potential for divinity?

Catholic priests, Brahmin priests, and other priests get in the way. It's one thing to advise like an imam or rabbi, but to act as a necessary ingredient in the process robs us of our potential for direct contact with angels, saviors, and celestial beings.

This is what yoga allows, yoga being "union" with spirit (breath, prana, holy spirit, neuma) and "God" (a brahma, a "Supreme Being" or "Supremo" like Great Brahma) or "GOD" (Brahman, the "ultimate reality behind the 'Illusion' that is Maya").

Mara seduces, distracts us, keeping us negligent, trapped.

With all these sexy singers and all those pop idol stage acts that look more like stripper reviews at clubs out by the airport, isn't a devil (a mara like Mara Devaputra) using pop music to mislead many. In Buddhism, the "devil" isn't evil, trying to get everyone into hell. He is a Cupid, Eros, Kamadeva, trying to keep everyone trapped in the Sensual Sphere (kama loka).

There are heavens in the Sensual Sphere but much better heavens beyond that in the Fine Material Sphere (rupa loka) and even more subtle worlds above that known as the Immaterial Sphere (arupa loka).

The human plane, animals, demons, nature fairies, ogres, gnomes, reptilians, ghosts, hellions, and devils are all in the Sensual Sphere. Those heavens, places of incredible lifespans, glory, rest, creativity, tremendous pleasures, and more subtle pleasures than sensuality are not permanent. They are no solution to the problem of rebirth and suffering.

The solution can be found here and now in this very world, the human plane being the lowest of planes still considered good and fortunate places to be reborn. For it is here that we are able to store up much merit, much beneficial and profitable good karma.

In lower worlds, there is no chance to do so because it's gritty and all concerned with surviving and suffering. In higher worlds, sadly, there is a chance but one is too distracted, to absorbed in pleasant sensations and experiences.

Here there is such a mix of both that we can't stay too distracted, and yet it is not constant suffering. We are not safe on solid ground, nor are we are drowning in the sea. As humans, we're right on the shore in the surf, tumbling between the two. So it's a good place to get to know our divinity, our angelic (devic) potential, our ability to be reborn in heaven, and even that rare possibility of awakening here and now.

• Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard Hit Me Soft; Mike (The Exile); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

UN: Israel's action "points to a genocide"

Jerusalem Post, 11/18/23; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

UN says Israeli action in Gaza "points to a genocide"

It'd be a pity if something happened to the UN

According to the report, half of all civilian infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed as a result of Israel’s [revenge attacks in the form of a cowardly] bombing campaign.

[Why a bombing campaign? To annihilate as many Palestinians as possible because they are either Hamas or supporters of Hamas, which makes them Hamas, which is ISIS, which is terror, which makes this a War on Terrorism, which makes it OK and legal...and moral].

A UN press release from November 16, 2023, has called for the international community to exert maximum pressure on Israel to end the fighting in Gaza and stated that the situation in the [Gaza] Strip points “to a genocide in the making.”

Quoting from a team of experts assembled to produce the report they state, “Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza. We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire.

These are legal definitions of Israel's violations

“We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments [here's looking at you, U.S.] for Israel's strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilize to prevent genocide.”

According to the report, half of all civilian infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed [with thousands of children buried in the rubble, but they're not really 'innocent' because they would grow up to be guilty of being Arab and Palestinian on our land] as a result of Israel’s bombing campaign aimed to oust the Hamas terrorist group from power and ultimately destroy them.

People gather in front of the United Nations Headquarters in Jerusalem demanding for action to be taken to return the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, in Jerusalem November 13, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD).

Israel has been occupying Gaza, UN says

The report also stated the U.N.'s estimation that Israel has functioned as an occupying power, even within the Gaza Strip:

“Israel remains the occupying power in the occupied Palestinian territory, which also includes the Gaza Strip, and therefore cannot wage a war against the population under its belligerent occupation,” the U.N. said.

The press release concluded with a series of demands made by the experts, chiefly an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip but including the release of Palestinian prisoners and the invitation of UN forces into the West Bank and Gaza. More

• Israel’s ludicrous PROPAGANDA wins over the only audience that counts (The Nation)

Who are you going to believe, our propaganda or theirs?

Listen to our military (IDF) for better coverage!

What, you're going to believe the Jerusalem Post, that antisemitic blood libel rag [because you have to be an antisemite to print anything critical of Israel] on par with the anti-Jewish ravings of the New York Times? The ONLY dependably Zionist Jewish pro-Israel news comes from Knesset-approved IDF communications, which is why the State of Israel needs a Mossad Times, Shin Bet Tribune, or Netanyahu Post. The U.N., that biased organization that has always hated the Jewish race just for being Jewish and wanting to get all Jews killed off the face of the planet, who would believe anything a duly organized international agency would play fair with the Jews? *Irony*

• PROOF that this genocide will be OK with the international community once they see the tunnels that justify our bombing hospitals, ambulances, beheading babies (with precision guided missiles shot from jets going 600 MPH not knives), and exterminating vermin and women and children and elderly civilians: IDF says it located more Hamas terror tunnels, uncovers info on Gaza hostages
• Thunberg interrupted at climate march for pro-Palestinian stance - The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
• Jewish Voice for Peace (jvp.org)

FINEPRINT

It wasn't all Jews: notinournamemovement.org (jewishvoiceforpeace.org)

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Related Tags Gaza United Nations West Bank ceasefire STAY INFORMED. As [Israel's illegal] war against Hamas unfolds, the Jerusalem Post's unwavering newsroom remains committed to covering Israel's most profound crisis. Sign up for newsletter to get real-time news and in-depth analysis from its top reporters. Subscribe now.

EDITORIAL: Incoming Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Avi Mayer Editor's Notes: Why we'll win By AVI MAYER My Word: Stand up and be counted By LIAT COLLINS Defining victory will determine the Gaza war’s future - opinion By YAAKOV KATZYisrael Medad Storming Haifa's Maccabi Hall: Zionist infighting in pre-state Israel By YISRAEL MEDAD Itamar Marcus Hamas is seen as representative of the Palestinians - opinion By ITAMAR MARCUS Zina Rakhamilova The horrors of Kfar Aza fail to be comprehended - opinion By ZINA RAKHAMILOVA

Most Read: 1. Shifa Hospital anticlimax: 200 Hamas forces evaporate into thin air? - analysis Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023.

2. Candace Owens tweets 'Christ is king' in tiff with Ben Shapiro Conservative talk show host Candace Owens speaks during at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 25, 2022.

3. Israel at war: What happened on day 41? Soldiers of Israel's army move from the border with Gaza, as seen from Southern Israel November 16, 2023

4. Pay with the 'blood of Christians': TikTok users share agreement with Bin Laden's letter The Arabic-language television station al-Jazeera said November 12, 2002 that Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, shown in Afghanistan in this May 26, 1998 file photo, has hailed recent anti-Western attacks in Bali, Kuwait and Yemen, and last month's hostage-taking in Moscow. The television said b

5. With mapping robots and blast gel, Israel wages war on Hamas tunnels A Palestinian fighter of the Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), seen inside a military tunnel in Beit Hanun, in the Gaza Strip. May 18, 2022.

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The "end is near" for Israel: Turkey

Brendan Cole, Newsweek/MSN, 11/16/23; S. Auberon, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I love you, Turkey! Go, Becky Lee Tepe!

PM Netanyahu is a ghoul, but no one can say so.

Turkish president addresses a speech during his party's group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara on Nov. 15, 2023.

A video of Turkish Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pronounced \reg-it tie-yip err-doo-wan\) from it condemns Israel for its military abuses in the Gaza Strip (Palestine). It further suggests that Israel's downfall is imminent. The video has gone viral.

Israel is reacting angrily to comments by Pres. Erdogan that it is a "terror state" that had committed "war crimes" in its revenge attacks against Hamas and the millions of Palestinian people who are not part of Hamas or the Al-Qassam Brigades.

• Fact Check: Did Israel build tunnels under Al-Shifa hospital?
• Did Israel find tunnel under Al-Shifa hospital? What video shows

Otzi of Anatolia was also amazing.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas after its October 7th [retaliatory] attacks [after years of oppression, occupation, and countless human rights abuses] on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken captive [to trade for thousands of Palestinian hostages and political prisoners, many of them children, taken by Israel], according to the Associated Press.

Since then, Israel has enforced a strict blockade [siege, apartheid occupation, and slow genocide] of Gaza, and conducted an aerial bombing and armored ground offensive Palestinian authorities say has killed around 11,200 people, according to the AP.

Ahead of a visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Pres. Erdogan said on Wednesday that Israel's military campaign included "the most treacherous attacks in human history" with "unlimited support from the West [particularly the CIA and the United States' Pentagon and military-industrial complex]."

"Israel, you possess atomic bombs, nuclear bombs, and you threaten with [them]," he said in the clip, according to its [imperfect] subtitles. "We know all of this: the end is near for you." More

COMMENTARY

Rarely does the Earth agree on anything.

It strikes a chord and resonates with sentiments around the world, particularly with those formerly blindly supporting Israel, Jews, and Zionists as the ultimate victims. Now it is clear they are provoking hatred and engaged in genocide all while still crying foul and claiming to be the victims in all this. As one wit noted, I never met a victim with all those weapons killing without restraint those people it claims is victimizing them (Bassem Youssef).

It's not okay to be gay (video)

Dev, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; ViceMag.tumblr.com (facebook)

Even after it's leader died recently, the family-run Westboro Baptist Church is still causing trouble. This past weekend a group from the church, protected by L.A. County Sheriff's deputies, was out at the West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade Fest with harsh and offensive signs. Who are these Christian crusaders?

But I'm a Yankee doodle "dandy"!

VICE follows the story of the Westboro Baptist Church as families split and children are "brainwashed" into picketing the funerals of dead American soldiers fighting for a doomed gay nation and bashing homosexuals at every turn.

During that time, VICE interviewed more than a dozen members of the reviled group, including some of the only members not related by blood, the Drains. They welcomed VICE into their homes and gave them access to 17 years of home video footage. In return, VICE produced an unbiased look into the lives of one of America's most despised Christian fundamentalist organizations.

• Watch PART 2
• VICE.com  (full video catalog)
• VIDEO: How to Sell Drugs (Fringes)
• Los Angeles loves festivals
• Gay marriage, pandakas, and kinnars
• There are no gays in China 

Israel condemned for war crimes (PBS)

Israel carries on in spite of condemnation of its atrocities and threatens to protect guilty parties from prosecution (PBS)

• Turning Trash into Cash