So, according to the wiki there are actually 14 or 15 different commandments listed in the Bible. They’re listed twice, and they say slightly different things in each place, particularly concerning the Sabbath.
Different Christian sects group the commandments together differently, combining them arbitrarily here and there to bring the number down to the official “10”. Some branches of Christianity regard one of the commandments merely as a preface.
And then there’s the Evangelicals:
‘Modern Evangelicalism, under the influence of dispensationalism, commonly denies that the commandments have any abiding validity as a requirement binding upon Christians [..]’
Oh, also, in the proper historical context, “Thou shall not steal” actually means “Thou shall not kidnap”.
Because everyone knows that the wisest people of all are those that stop counting when they run out of fingers. Good effort, fellas. 🙂
‘A convent in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior’s authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.
Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had “clearly lost their religious vocation” and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said.’
‘Six Catholic nuns have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday.
The Rev. J. Gaston Hebert, the diocese administrator, said he notified the nuns of the decision Tuesday night after they refused to recant the teachings of the Community of the Lady of All Nations, also known as the Army of Mary.
The Vatican has declared all members of the Army of Mary excommunicated. Hebert said the excommunication was the first in the diocese’s 165-year history.
“It is a painfully historic moment for this church,” Hebert said.’
‘The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.
Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio claimed some anti-retroviral drugs were also infected “in order to finish quickly the African people”.
The Catholic Church formally opposes any use of condoms, advising fidelity within marriage or sexual abstinence.
Aids activists have been angered by the remarks, one calling them “nonsense”.’
A list of hundreds of hoaxes that have been perpetrated throughout history.
‘De’Andre June told police he woke up Wednesday morning to find the charred outline of a cross burned in the lawn of his home. June now is accused of burning the cross in the lawn himself.
The 47-year-old Anoka man was charged Friday with falsely reporting a crime. He also is charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process stemming from an altercation when police arrested him Thursday afternoon on a felony warrant from Hennepin County in connection with a financial fraud case. [..]
“Inmates from the Anoka County Jail saw the news story on TV and recognized Mr. June,” said Capt. Phil Johanson of the Anoka Police Department. “(They) said that when he was in jail with them last week, he had made comments that he was going to do something like this to get sympathy from the community and the church for financial gains and otherwise.”‘
‘A monumental Bible rumoured to have been written with the help of the Devil has been returned to Prague for the first time in 350 years.
The 13th century Codex Gigas, which is 3ft long and weighs 165lb, is thought to be the biggest book in the world and is known as The Devil’s Bible due to a supposed satanic bargain made by its author.
It was looted by Swedish soldiers from Prague castle at the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648 and taken to Stockholm, where it is the prize exhibit at the Royal Library.
But until now Swedish authorities have refused to lend it to the Czech Republic, which regards the Bible as stolen property, for fear they would not get it back.
The priceless manuscript is housed in a vault-like room behind bullet-proof glass.’
‘A bargain shopper made a gruesome discovery after going to an auction in Maiden.
Shannon Whisnant found a human foot inside a cooker he bought at an auction. Police say Mini Warehouse Rentals held the auction because the man renting the storage unit didn’t pay.
Police discovered that man had his foot amputated in 2004 after a plane crash, and he kept it in the cooker that was sold on Tuesday.
Whisnant said he hasn’t decided what to do with the cooker.
Police say you can legally keep amputated body parts as long as it’s for religious purposes.’
‘The Church of Scientology has been granted access to a confidential psychiatric report tendered as evidence in the trial of a Sydney woman accused of murdering her family earlier this year.
The 25-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was diagnosed with a psychotic illness last year but allegedly discouraged by her parents from taking her prescribed medication because of their Scientology beliefs. [..]
Cyrus Brooks, community relations officer for the church, said it had sought access to the document after media coverage linking Scientology to the alleged murders, although access was granted on condition that the church not release the report to the media.
Despite this, Mr Brooks has emailed excerpts from the report to journalists to “correct” their reporting of the case.’
Followup to Scientology ‘stopped accused killer getting help’.
‘A 20-year-old Bridgeport man has been charged with endangering the welfare of teenage males with whom he worked at New Hope Academy.
According to the criminal complaint, Steven Kidd II is alleged to have inhaled, or “huffed” a can of Axe Body Spray with the teenage clients in August.
Mr. Kidd also allegedly performed carotid massages known as “space monkeys,” during which the teenagers were choked until they passed out.
State police on Monday charged him with endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Mr. Kidd, who no longer works at the school, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 31 before Magisterial District Judge Russell Shurtleff.
The academy is a residential treatment center for troubled teens, in which Biblical teachings and therapy are used in treatment.
“We never had an issue like this,” said the Rev. James Lowans, who oversees 13 students and 10 staff at the academy.’
‘A man said he had a heart-to-heart conversation with an armed burglar over a cup of coffee after he found him stealing his belongings from his home on Sept. 11.
Steve Swanson said he found a man, who police suspect is Armando Hernandez, stealing items from his home in the 300 block of Terra Alta.
“I said, ‘What are you doing here?'” Swanson said. “He said, ‘I’m taking your stuff and it’s too bad you showed up.'”
Swanson said Hernandez was carrying a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, but he didn’t panic.
“I said, ‘You don’t want to do this. First of all, if you harm me or kill me, I’m just going to go to heaven. You’re going to go to prison forever,'” Swanson said.
Swanson said he gave the burglar all the money in his wallet and offered to listen to his problems over breakfast.’
‘A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.
Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.
“I’m just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master’s degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job,” Bitterman said.’
‘Bavaria’s most glamorous politician — a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber — has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.
Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcycle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) — sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) — in a vote next week.
She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark.
“The basic approach is wrong … many marriages last just because people believe they are safe,” she told reporters. “My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years.”‘
‘A Rromanian priest charged with crucifying a nun he believed was possessed by the devil has had his 14-year prison sentence cut by half by an appeal court.
The court in the central town of Alba-Iulia also reduced from eight years to six the jail term imposed on one of four nuns found guilty of being accomplices to the exorism-turned-murder, while maintaing a five-year sentence for the other three.
The murdered nun, 23-year-old Irina Cornici of the Saint Trinity of Tanacu monastery in northeastern Romania, died after being gagged, chained to a cross and left without food or water for days.’
Followup to Priest jailed for exorcism death.
‘The Roman Catholic bishop of Ibiza has demanded that a collage depicting the late Pope John Paul II being sodomised be removed from an exhibit held at a former church on the Spanish holiday island.
The work is one of three collages by Ivo Hendriks that are part of a showcase of art by 15 Dutch artists with ties to Ibiza made over the last 50 years that opened on September 7 and is due to run until the end of the month.
The other two collages also depict religious figures in homosexual positions.
Bishop Vicente Juan Segura said the works “offended Catholic sentiment” and he called for their “immediate and urgent withdrawal”.’
‘In a provocative article, an Italian medical professor argues that Pope John Paul II didn’t just simply slip away as his weakness and illness overtook him in April 2005. Intensive care specialist Dr. Lina Pavanelli has concluded that the ailing Pope’s April 2 death was caused by what the Catholic Church itself would consider euthanasia. She bases this conclusion on her medical expertise and her own observations of the ailing pontiff on television, as well as press reports and a subsequent book by John Paul’s personal physician. The failure to insert a feeding tube into the patient until just a few days before he died accelerated John Paul’s death, Pavanelli concludes. Moreover, Pavanelli says she believes that the Pope’s doctors dutifully explained the situation to him, and thus she surmises that it was the pontiff himself who likely refused the feeding tube after he’d been twice rushed to the hospital in February and March. Catholics are enjoined to pursue all means to prolong life.’
‘A military watchdog organization filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and a US Army major, on behalf of an Army soldier stationed in Iraq. The suit charges the Pentagon with widespread constitutional violations by allegedly trying to force the soldier to embrace evangelical Christianity and then retaliating against him when he refused. [..]
“Immediately after plaintiff made it known he would decline to join hands and pray, he was confronted, in the presence of other military personnel, by the senior ranking … staff sergeant who asked plaintiff why he did not want to pray, whereupon plaintiff explained because he is an atheist,” says the lawsuit, a copy of which was provided to Truthout. “The staff sergeant asked plaintiff what an atheist is and plaintiff responded it meant that he (plaintiff) did not believe in God. This response caused the staff sergeant to tell plaintiff that he would have to sit elsewhere for the Thanksgiving dinner. Nonetheless, plaintiff sat at the table in silence and finished his meal.”‘
‘Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers has decided to go straight to the top in an effort to stop natural disasters from befalling the world.
Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon, KPTM Fox 42 reported.
The suit asks for a “permanent injunction ordering Defendant to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats.” [..]
Chambers also cites that the, “defendant directly and proximately has caused, inter alia, fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornados, pestilential plagues…”
Chambers says he isn’t suing God because he has any kind of beef with the deity. He says the suit is to fight possible laws restricting the filing of frivolous lawsuits. Chambers tells KPTM FOX 42 News that his lawsuit is in response to bills brought forth by other state senators to try and stop lawsuits from being filed.’
Apparently the mormon men are on a Mission.
‘Madonna and Britney Spears have been targeted as the spreaders of “Satanic culture”.
The aggressive comments were launched by spokesman and senior leader of Palestinian terror group The Popular Resistance Committees, a group based in the Gaza Strip and responsible for the increase in shootings and bombings in the region.
Muhammad Abdel-Al is quoted in new book ‘Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land Jihadists Reveal their Global Plans – to a Jew!’ attacks the two pop stars, labelling them “prostitutes”.
Abdel-Al rants, “If I meet these whores I will have the honour – I repeat, I will have the honour – to be the first one to cut the heads off Madonna and Britney Spears if they will keep spreading their satanic culture against Islam.”‘
‘Israeli police say they have broken up a gang of neo-Nazis who are accused of carrying out attacks on foreigners, gay people and religious Jews.
The eight suspects, aged 16-21, are all Israeli citizens from the former Soviet Union. They were arrested a month ago, but the news only emerged on Saturday.
Police say searches of their homes yielded Nazi uniforms, portraits of Adolf Hitler, knives, guns and TNT.’
‘Alcoholics Anonymous, the renowned 12-step program that directs problem drinkers to seek help from a higher power, says it’s not a religion and is open to nonbelievers. But it has enough religious overtones that a parolee can’t be ordered to attend its meetings as a condition of staying out of prison, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
In fact, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the constitutional dividing line between church and state in such cases is so clear that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through rehabilitation at Alcoholics Anonymous or an affiliated program for drug addicts.’
‘The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a long-awaited apology today for the massacre of an immigrant wagon train by local church members 150 years ago in southwestern Utah.
Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve read the church’s statement on assignment from the church’s governing First Presidency during a memorial ceremony at the grave site of some of the massacre victims at Mountain Meadows, about 35 miles northwest of St. George. The statement also places blame for the Sept. 11, 1857, massacre on the local church leaders at the time and church members who followed their orders to murder some 120 unarmed men, women and children.’
‘A man cut off his own penis and threw it in a toilet ‘so he would stop sinning’.
The 30-year-old was recovering in the Hospital Clinico Universitario in Salamanca in western Spain.
Doctors said his condition was ‘stable’ and he was not in danger of losing his life. [..]
The newspaper said it was not known if the man’s penis could be sewn back.
There was also a suggestion he may be suffering from psychological problems.’
‘Marry Our Daughter is an introduction service assisting those following the Biblical tradition of arranging marriages for their daughters.
Those who wish to list their Daughters with our site should click on SIGN UP OUR DAUGHTER on our main page for a form to fill out.
Those who wish to propose to a specific Daughter should click on the PROPOSE button on the Daughter’s INFO CARD.’
‘Officials at Nepal’s state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.
Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.
The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal’s only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.
“The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights,” said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.’
‘A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.
Scientology said it would fight the criminal charges recommended by investigating prosecutor Jean-Claude Van Espen, who said that up to 12 unidentified people should face charges.
Van Espen’s probe also concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman at the Federal Prosecutors Office.
“They also face charges of being … a criminal organization,” Pellens said in a telephone interview.’
‘The passengers on board the Vatican’s first flight to Lourdes may have been pilgrims in search of spiritual healing, but they still had to obey anti-terrorism rules, it has emerged, after several of them had their holy water confiscated.
The Vatican’s new service, a Boeing 737 painted in yellow-and-white papal livery, took off from Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Monday, serving swordfish canapes to 148 pilgrims reclining on headrests stamped with the message: “I search for your face, oh Lord”.
While the outward journey was smooth, turbulence struck on the return when anti-terror rules were strictly applied by the French police.
No bottles containing more than 100ml of liquid were allowed on board unless checked in, meaning passengers were forced give up the holy water they had just collected at Lourdes.
Many hoped to ferry the water back to sick relatives.
Instead, dozens of plastic containers in the shape of the Madonna were left at security, while one man decided to drink all of his.’
‘ANGRY Catholics have pledged to hold candlelit vigils outside Channel Ten headquarters whenever the steamy new show Californication is on air.
The first vigil was overnight, with more than 30 people praying away their concerns about the louche new dramedy billed as “the filthiest show on television”.
“It’s a spiritual battle,” said Father John Fongemie, who led last night’s demonstration outside the Pyrmont building.
“We’re concerned with the programming that’s being shown on channel Ten, which is crassly immoral, and which casts the Catholic church in a bad light.”
Ronan Reilly, 16, said he was shocked by a clip he saw on the internet of the show’s star David Duchovny having “sexual relations” with a nun inside a church.’
