Vinnie

Okay, i have several sections up now:

The first three supplementary articles are up as well as sectons 1-A through 1-I.

My critique of meier's discussion can be found in there as well as my new critique of Bernard muller's paper on Thomas.

I have not spell-checked it all yt or even linked everything that needs to be linked yet but the content of all the sections is petty much ther with the possible exception of section 1-H which might undergo revision soon.

http://www.acfaith.com/gthomasq.html

Vinnie

Vinnie

I probably won't ever finish this series after this point. I have almost 100 pages of text total up on Thomas right now but I simply have no more interest in reconstructing Christian origins, texts, characters and so on.

Vinnie

Bernard Muller

Yes Vinnie, according to your lay-out on GThomas & Q, it seems to me your were going into a huge swamp.

What made you change your mind?

Best regards, Bernard

Vinnie

Yes, it was a swamp. 100 pages is enough for me. Even If I suceed in demonstrating with 200 pages of text that Thomas is probably independent so what? I realized that I honestly don't care anymore. I started out studying Christian origins and the HJ as a conservative Christian. It kind of just carried over I guess all these days despite my rejection of orthodox Christianity and the like. The law of habit I guess. Maybe I didn't want to admit I spent thousands of hours of the last five years of my life studying and defending what I now see as complete and utter BS.

I don't find there to be any valid purpose to it anymore. The whole business is too hypothetical to me as well. There is no payoff for the legwork. Nothing good to learn, nothing good that will benefit humanity and so on. I feel my time will be better spent elsewhere. More info can be obtained in the new thread I created on why "reonstructing the HJ is stupid" (x3).

Further, I have found much better and more entertaining things to do with my time.


Vinnie

Peter Kirby

Vinnie, let me share with you my reason for research: sharing the information with a community of friends who can hear my story and tell me theirs. If I were simply a scientist thrown into the bowels of the uni library, without any way to express the results, it would indeed be worthless. What I like is to get the e-mail, "I have got to say that this web site is absolutely awesome. Thanks." I could do the same if I were studying the Atlantis myth, King Arthur, or Beowulf--we like to know how we got where we are, even if it doesn't help us very much to get where we should be going.

I think your work on Thomas is great!

best,
Peter Kirby

Doctor X

Vinnie:

This may seem like a hijack, but bear with me.

Martial arts books tend to be pathetic--how the hell can you learn a physical discipline with books? Try learning to ski from a book. The pictures are usually useless and misleading. The people who write them are usually in search of money and often do not know what they are doing. I have one that was published--and is still in print--35+ years ago!

The author wrote it just after receiving his shodan--first degree black belt--he is now a ninth degree and is very embarassed by it. The reason, I tell him, it is still in print is because you can see a beginner's perspective to an art.

You cannot learn from it.

So . . . yes . . . most martial arts books are a waste. Add in crapolla like "chi" and "Secret Touches of Death" that, for some reason, professional boxers and special forces around the world never heard of, and it is a waste.

However, I have one good book. Toshiro Obata--and if you watch ANY modern film involving the Japanese you will find him as an extra--is an expert on Iai-jutsu. This is, specifically, the art of cutting from the draw. Some fans may recognize Iai-do--which is a slow form and worthless from a martial standpoint.

Obata teachers the really thing--even test cutting--and, I must admit--produced some very good books.

My reason for blathering like this is his introduction to one of his books. He asks, out loud, why the hell anyone would want to learn his art. Face it, he notes, despite Hollywood and Highlander NO ONE is going to be walking down the street with a samurai sword! Forget substituting an umbrella . . . unless you are a Bulgarian assassin. . . .

He lists some pat answers--discipline, exercise--but then stresses a very important point:

There is a certain satisfaction gained at becoming good at something.

Thus, [ZZZzzzZZZZzzzzZZZzz.--Ed.] Vinnie be satisfied that you have become an expert at Thomas. You have learned things and done things most people will not learn.



--J.D.

Soul Invictus

Vinnie,

There's always a reward in dispelling misconceptions, don't you think. I just was looking for more info on Thomas in my recent thread here . I see you can be my reference for questions. There's bound to be more interested parties that come into knowledge of information later, after you've completed your duty, so the impact you can make on others is limitless.

Ted Hoffman

Vinnie,

I must say I am impressed at the amount of work you set out to do and did manage to do - concerning GThomas that is.

I am very impressed.

But I am more interested in your disillusionment. It seems to me that your initial motive and driving force that compelled you to undertake such a massive project was to defend something you believed in. And now that your research has exposed, half-way through, that what you believed in to be utter BS, there is no point continuing with it. Secondly, it could be the case that you have found that it (what you believed in) is not even defensible because there is no material to defend it with.

I will hazard a guess and say that what you believed in, and set out to defend was existence of a HJ. And you have found that the idea of a HJ is utter bullshit and even if you didnt believe it is BS, there is no way to demonstrate with a decent level of certainty that a HJ existed.

Is that the case?

If that is the case, are you then a historical agnostist or a JMyther?
You are now facing the truth and are struggling with what you have discovered and its in conflict with what you expected. After a while, things will clear, the cards will fall and you will decide.

So, what are these interesting things if I may ask?

Ted Hoffman

Vinnie,

Now that you have passed the first test, and the assumptions that undergirded your path to what you believed was the truth have collapsed, you now must move on to the next level.

Defend the idea that God exists. Or find out/examine the reasons one would believe a supernatural being exists.

That, my friend, would be an even more interesting journey. Epiphanic realizations will not stop you midway in your journey but will instead inexorably propel you towards the blinding but nevertheless ecstatic level of truth and realization:

Atheism.

Its the ultimate.

Vorkosigan

Bingo. The volume of mail I get on my Taiwan website is huge and so encouraging. And I have met so many fascinating people who have stayed with me, become my friends.

In fact, I think I'll go do some updating right now....

Vorkosigan