Was Jesus Christ A Palestinian?

The whole area during the time of Jesus and the Roman occupation was deemed “Jewish territory”, but did the inevitable expansion of the state of Israel inevitably engendered a so-called “Palestinian Jesus”?

By: Ringo Bones

Most Biblical scholars blame the 1967 Arab-Israeli War – aka the Six Day War – and the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – aka the Yom Kippur War – and the resulting inevitable territorial expansion of the state of Israel for the rise of the so-called “Palestinian Jesus”. But was Jesus Christ actually a Palestinian citizen?

Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, given the present geopolitical situation of the region, this places Jesus’ hometown in the northern territory of Palestine. While some more conservative scholars say that a Palestinian Jesus is nothing more than a part of a larger milieu of the ongoing cultural appropriation of the history of Jesus. The same conservative “palaver” was also aimed at the so-called Gay Jesus series at Netflix. While some conservative scholars just conclude that Palestinian Jesus is nothing more than an anti-Semitic retelling of the Messiah.

But given that the last high-profile Jesus movie was accused as being too anti-Semitic – i.e. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ – which inevitably became a runaway blockbuster success back in 2004, does this mean that accusing Palestinian Jesus as anti-Semitic is rather an intellectually moot point? Maybe Jesus Christ was a lot of things to a lot of people and he said a lot of things to a lot of people while evangelicize the people of a Roman Empire occupied Galilee.

Is It Possible To Celebrate an Environmentally Friendly Christmas?

Given that carbon neutral home heating methods are yet to be invented for colder climes, are their ways to lower our carbon footprint while celebrating the Yuletide Season?

By: Ringo Bones

Given the deadlock in this year’s UN COP 25 negotiations and scores of climate change denying heads-of-state had been recently elected into office, it seems that keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum when celebrating this Holiday season has become a necessity just to keep our planet livable for the next generation. Having an environmentally conscious Christmas is probably what Greta Thunberg wished for Santa this year and we can do our part too.

Using plastic disposable utensils during Christmas dinner is not only tacky it is also uglier in the landfill and puts more pressure on our fragile environment. Using natural biodegradable Christmas décor also helps in a big way and if you can keep a tree alive as a Christmas tree for a number of years, this too will put a big dent on your carbon footprint this Yuletide Season. And carbon offsetting when you come home for the Holidays – especially if your workplace requires you to take a plane ride to be home for Christmas.

Gifts should be dictated by quality and not quantity. Some of your well-heeled gift recipients this Holiday Season will probably appreciate donating to charity in their behalf given that you are probably be too poor to buy them a Learjet powered by sustainably produced jet fuel. And while eating meat can drastically increase your carbon footprint, choosing to eat one only during special occasions at least would reduce it to a manageable level.

Was Jesus Christ Gay?

Even though the relationship between the LGBT community and the Church has been “less than ideal” throughout the centuries, is there any truth to the so-called “Biblical Evidence” that Jesus was gay?

By: Ringo Bones 

Even though a majority of Christians around the world view the idea of Jesus Christ had a so-called romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene is the stuff of fiction that doesn’t have any Biblical evidence whatsoever, Biblical scholars have recently noted, although all of them are still reluctant of admit, that evidence of Jesus’ homosexuality was actually written down on the Holy Bible. But is there sufficient evidence for this beyond a reasonable doubt?

Given that the historically accurate Jesus Christ was likely to be akin to that of a Hebrew rabbi, since 2,000 years ago, there are no laws forbidding rabbis from marrying and having a family. Jesus being an unmarried rabbi until his crucifixion is unusual indeed. And given that the gospels clearly states that Jesus Christ had loved John the Apostle in a “special way”, the speculation that Jesus might be gay is now sounding more plausible. And during his crucifixion, only three women and one man of his closest inner circle were present at his side. That man was John the Apostle.

The man now known as St. John the Apostle clearly had a unique place in the affection of Jesus. In all classic depictions of The Last Supper – a favorite subject in Christian art, John is next to Jesus, very often is head is resting on Jesus’ breast. As Jesus lay dying on the cross, Jesus asked John to look after his mother and then asked John’s mother to “accept John as her son” – implying that John’s mother has not  ,until that time, fully accepted the homosexuality of her son John or the ongoing homosexual relationship between John the Apostle and Jesus Christ. If you ask me, the gospel-based evidence of Jesus’ homosexuality is more compelling than that of 19^th Century Washington D.C. socialite Virginia Woodburry Fox’s diaries describing Abraham Lincoln’s secret homosexual tryst. 

Did Jesus Christ Spend The Rest Of His Days In Japan?

Assuming that the accounts of him surviving his crucifixion are true, did Jesus Christ live out the rest of his days in some remote hamlet in Japan?

By: Ringo Bones 

Although unsubstantiated tales of Jesus Christ surviving the crucifixion and living out the rest of his days in either the South of France and / or present-day Austria are the most popular, tales about Jesus living out the rest of his days in some remote mountain hamlet in Northern Japan – though relatively unknown – seems to have gained scholarly credibility in recent years. The tales of the so-called “Japanese Jesus” or “Ninja Jesus” turning mountain spring water directly into sake have nonetheless had its adherents, although of it becoming into the next popular Japanese Anime series and / or Hollywood blockbuster seems unlikely, evidence pointing to the existence of the so-called Japanese Jesus seems to hard to ignore.

The legend goes that on the flat top of a steep hill in a distant corner of Northern Japan lies the tomb of an itinerant shepherd who two millennia ago, settled down there to grow garlic. He fell in love with a farmer’s daughter named Miyuko and fathered three kids and died at a ripe old age of 106. In the mountain hamlet of Shingo, he’s remembered by the name Daitenku Taro Jurai – the rest of the world knows him as Jesus Christ. 

A bucolic backwater with only one Christian resident – an elderly man named Toshiko Sato, who was 77 years old when Smithsonian Magazine contributor Franz Lidz last visited him during the spring of 2012 – and no Christian church within 30 miles, the remote Japanese hamlet of Shingo nevertheless bills itself as Kirisuto no Sato (Christ’s Hometown). Every year 20,000 or so pilgrims and pagans visit the site, which is maintained by a nearby yogurt factory. Some visitors shell-out the 100-yen entrance fee at the Legend of Christ Museum – a trove of religious relics that sells everything from Jesus coasters to coffee mugs. Some participate in the so-called Springtime Christian Festival, which is a mash-up of multidenominational rites in which kimono-clad women dance around the twin graves and chant a three-line litany in an unknown language. The ceremony, designed to console the spirit of Jesus, has been staged by the local tourism bureau since 1964. 

If all of this were supported by historical facts, then the so-called “Japanese Jesus” site could be one of the safest of the so-called “Holy-Land Tour” destinations tours given that Jerusalem has been hard to get into by the casual “Jesus Tourist” since the establishment of the State of the Israel and the resulting conflict with the local Palestinians. And the recent Syrian Civil War has since denied access to the other Syrian holy sites frequented by Jesus and his disciples during their heyday not to mention Turkish holy-land sites are getting increasing hard to get to by the casual “Jesus Tourist”, it seems that the remote Japanese hamlet of Shingo is the safest holy-land tour destination at present.

Did Jesus Christ Spend Time In A Shaolin Temple In Mainland China?

A number of abstracts were published back in the mid to late 1980s on the subject but is there any proof that Jesus Christ spent time in a Shaolin Temple in Mainland China during his so-called “lost years”?

By: Ringo Bones

Though a number of seemly credible evidence did suggest that Jesus Christ – or more precisely Saint Essa – as he is more commonly known in this region, show that he may have spent time touring across India in search of enlightenment during his so-called “Lost Years”, bits of evidence were also discovered revealing that Jesus Christ did spent time in a Shaolin Temple – not only to learn some martial arts like Kung Fu, Qi Gong, etc., but also the requisite skills to purportedly survive a violent Roman Empire era crucifixion. But are such evidence really credible or to be taken with a grain of salt so to speak.

When Mainland China started to open up to western tourism – i.e. around the time when the pop group Wham (George Michael and company) – were allowed to perform in their arenas, various articles – including pictures – started being published in the Sunday supplements of major newspapers as “archeology” news. Although this has since died down after the notorious Tiananmen Square Massacre incident of June 4, 1989, many have since wondered if Jesus Christ really did spent time in a Mainland Chinese Shaolin Temple. After all, it is a martial arts movie that writes itself whether in the hands of Hollywood or Hong Kong movie producers – i.e. Shaolin Jesus / Kung Fu Jesus.

Even though it has been downplayed during the airing of the series back in the mid 1970s, scriptwriters did manage to “suggest” that the particular Shaolin Temple in the TV series Kung Fu that stars David Carradine was also visited by Jesus Christ during his so-called “Lost Years”. Maybe the subject needs to be investigated further given that the Beijing government has since become friendlier to western tourism.

Did Jesus Christ Went To Kashmir?

Professional historians might have laughed at the notion years ago but is there growing and credible evidence that Jesus not only went there but was also buried in Kashmir, India?

By: Ringo Bones 

Maybe “touristy Jesus Freaks” should blame the Israeli government’s ongoing tensions with the Palestinians for making their prime Israeli Jesus tourism sites in Jerusalem about as difficult to visit to the casual tourist as Moscow is during the early 1980s. And the ongoing conflict in Syria due to the so-called Islamic State also placed some Jesus tourism sites in Syria now out of reach of the casual tourist. Given these problems, are there other “alternative Jesus tourist sites out there”? Maybe, Jesus tourists should check out a rumored Jesus Christ tomb in Kashmir, India. 

In the backstreets of downtown Srinagar is an old building known as the Rozabal shrine. It is part of the city where the Indian security forces are on regular patrol, or peering out from behind check-posts made of sandbags. The security situation has recently improved in this Indian administered part of Kashmir and thus the tourism has returned once again in what is more famously known as the Venice of the East. But recent Lonely Planet travel catalogues has listed Rozabal Shrine as the actual tomb of Jesus Christ. 

Officially, Rozabal Shrine is the burial site of Youza Asaph, a medieval Muslim preacher – but a growing number of people believe that it is in fact the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. Since the 1980s, many “New Age Christians”, like the US based Christian sect known as the Church Universal and Triumphant, believe that Jesus survived the crucifixion almost 2,000 Easters ago, and went to live out his days in Kashmir. The rumor that Rozabal Shrine might have something to do with Jesus of Nazareth lends credence in Islam, in which Jesus is the penultimate prophet and a minority tradition adopted by the controversial Muslim Ahmadiyya sect, that Rozabal does contain the grave of Jesus Christ.

Should There Be A Fixed Date For Easter Sunday?

Given that it is one of the most important holidays of the year and all of Christendom, should there be a fixed date on when should Easter Sunday should be observed on the calendar?

By: Ringo Bones 

It must have been very awkward back in 2014 when Easter fell on the 20^th of April which made for a very awkward Easter Sunday celebration. Not only because April 20 have been set aside for the celebration of 420 – i.e. the global movement for the legalization of marijuana not only for medical use but also for recreational use as well and there had been recently unearthed evidences that Jesus Christ used marijuana, but also because April 20 his Adolf Hitler’s birthday which gave a whole new meaning of the “comical euphemism” - Jesus Hitler Christ. Thankfully to the relief of more “conservative Christians” plans are in motion to set aside a fixed date for Easter Sunday and it is safe to bet that it will not be one of “awkward days” between the months of March and April. 

The current Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had been in talk with various leaders of the different Christian sects around the world and the preliminary agreement of the talks suggests that most of them are in favor of a fixed date for Easter Sunday. The only group opposed to the proposal of a fixed date for Easter Sunday was the top brass of the Coptic Orthodox Church. But according to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the final decision to establish a fixed date for Easter Sunday will probably happen 5 to 10 years from now. But why is it that the celebration of Easter Sunday doesn’t have a fixed date? 

During the early days of the Christian church prior to the reign of Pope Victor I (189 – 198 AD), the Western Churches, as a rule, kept Easter on the first day of the week in the beginning of Springtime, while many of the Eastern Churches conforming to the Jewish rule of celebrating Passover, observed Easter on the 14^th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. Through the energetic efforts of Pope Victor I, the latter practice gradually disappeared. But another problem came to the fore: granted that Easter was to be kept on Sunday, how was that Sunday to be determined? 

The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD paved the way fro the final settlement by ruling that Easter is to be observed by all on the same Sunday, that this must be the Sunday following the 14^th day of the paschal moon, and that moon was to be accounted whose 14^th day followed the vernal equinox. Because of the differences in the systems of chronology followed in various places, however, the decrees of Nicaea did not immediately remove all difficulties nor win universal acceptance. The Gregorian correction by Pope Gregory XIII of the Julian calendar then in use in 1582, moreover, introduced still further discrepancies. 

Throughout Western, Christendom the corrected calendar is now universally accepted and Easter is solemnized on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox as first suggested by an English monk named Venerable Bede back in the year 700, with the result that the earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest is April 25. In the East, however, the calendar has not been bought into accord with the Gregorian reform and thus their observance of Easter seldom coincides with the Western date. In recent years, laudable endeavors have been made to fix the date of Easter, but definite results are still awaited. Let’s just hope that the current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby succeeds and his name will be immortalized together with the Venerable Bede. 

Does Christmas Lights Slow Down Your Wi-Fi’s Speed?

Though there are a number of probable reasons from an electrical and electronic engineers’ perspective, but can Christmas lights actually slow down your home Wi-Fi’s speed?

By: Ringo Bones 

At the time of writing, America’s right-leaning Evangelicals has yet to call this latest study as a conspiracy by the telecommunications industry to launch a “war against Christmas”, but a lot of people find it disconcerting that the most de rigueur indicator of the Yuletide Season – Christmas lights or as the Brits call them fairy lights – can actually slow down the speed of your home Wi-Fi. Worse still, quite a number of us now use broadband technology to stay connected with our loved ones through the internet and the Yuletide Season is one of the peak seasons of the year for such activities and a Wi-Fi slowdown is the last thing we need. 

In a recent research study results released by watchdog Ofcom, Christmas tree lights    / fairy lights can actually slow down your Wi-Fi’s data transfer speed and the results were in conjunction with the new app that they recently released that can check the “health” of your home broadband. The app samples Wi-Fi’s wireless signals to see if the data is flowing uninterrupted from routers to smart-phones and tablets. The app is released alongside research results, which suggests Wi-Fi in six million homes and offices participating in the Ofcom study were not running as fast as it should. 

According to the study, what causes the slowdown is the interference caused by the solid state power supplies used in modern electronics that are not transformer isolated from mains which forms the power supplies of most modern LED based Christmas lights / fairy lights that also power the electronics that makes them blink and the “singing chip”. Radio frequency emissions from baby monitors and microwave ovens can also significantly slow down Wi-Fi data transfer speeds said Ofcom in a statement.