Perhaps there is a god

A town full of crazy people in Louisanna got fed up with having their telephone exchange be “666″ because of the link between this sequence of numbers and the devil. So they got their exchanged changed to 749. This is very funny.

7:49 is the Bible verse from ~~Luke~~ Johnthat says “But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed.” in reference to the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were the crazy people in the bible … the fundamentalists … who Jesus warns about, because, well, their multitude knoweth’d not the law and were accursed.

This came up again more recently in the Democratic debate, when Tim Russert asked the question of each candidate “what is your favorite Bible verse.” Biden mentioned Luke 7, not by chapter and verse but quite clearly. “Beware the Pharisees” he said, to Tim Russert, who in turn misinterpreted Biden’s meaning and made a fool of himself.

Comments

#1 Frank Oswalt
December 30, 2007

Someone ought to warn the folks around Grand Rapids, MI — their area code is the real number of the beast, as opposed to a scribal error…
#2 natural cynic
December 30, 2007

This particular verse shows a total lack of correspondance with the reality of life in Judea during the early first century CE. The pharisees were the ones most likely to know the Mosaic Law, since they were the interpreters who applied it to daily life and religiouly [literally] studied it for the application to daily life. The scholarly tradition often associated with Judaism comes from the pharisaic ideals that were incorporated into rabbinic Judaism following the destruction of the Herodian Temple. The pharisees are often given a bad rap in the New Testament – ironic because Jesus would probably have been considered a pharisee of the school of Hillel. I would bet that many of the anti-pharisaic verses in the NT were redactions by the growing anti-Judaic sentiment among Christians during or after the end of the first century CE.
#3 mweirick
December 30, 2007

Sorry, Greg, but that verse that you quote is not from Luke. I suggest you check the Gospel according to John. As to the quote by Sen. Biden, that most likely was a reference to Matthew 16.

By the way, these things are very easy to check these days with all of the on-line Biblical references.
#4 greg laden
December 30, 2007

Mweirick: You are correct, it is John, not Luke. Yes, thanks for letting me know about the Internet, I’ll have to check on that, sounds useful.
#5 BobbyEarle
December 30, 2007

You know, Greg, that Mweirick guy is right. That interweb dealy is very handy.

I just looked up the word “troll”.
#6 greg laden
December 30, 2007

Bobby, I’m sure M was just being helpful. I do not want to get my bible verses fucked up, or I could possibly go to hell. That’s what the nuns told me, anyway….

(Seriously, mw, I do appreciate the correction on the verse)
#7 BobbyEarle
December 31, 2007

You are right, Greg. I take back my smart ass comment.

After seeing this sort of thing from the fundies over and over again, it starts me thinking that the only way to mentally cope is to immediately to into sarcasm mode.

Must. Control. Myself.