#and it was written by a British priest and poet

[i-like-old-things]

Ngl I’m kinda happy I enjoy reading historical documents cuz when they add those ancient excerpts I can understand what they’re saying pretty easily

[proudhinduforever]

Sanatani Saints

Part 3

Shri Samartha Ramdas

We will look into the life of Shri Samartha Ramdas who was a prominent Sanatani saint, poet, and spiritual leader in Maharashtra.

Early Life and Renunciation:

Shri Ramdas or previously Narayan was born into a Marathi Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin family to Suryajipant and Ranubai Thosar. His father was thought to have been a devotee of the Vedic deity, Surya. Ramdas had an elder brother named Gangadhar. His father died when Narayan was only seven years of age. He turned into a sadhaka after the demise of his father and would often be noticed to be engrossed in thoughts about the divine.

As per legend, Narayan fled his wedding ceremony in Asangao near Jamb, at age 12, upon hearing a pandit (Hindu priest) chant the word 'Saawadhaana!' (Beware!) during a customary Hindu wedding ritual. He is believed to have walked over 200 km along the banks of Godavari river to Panchavati, a Hindu pilgrimage town near Nashik. He later moved to Taakli near Nashik at the confluence of Godavari and Nandini river. At Taakli, he spent the next twelve years as an ascetic in complete devotion to Rama. During this period, he adhered to a rigorous daily routine and devoted most of his time to meditation, worship and exercise. As per legend, he once blessed a widow lady of a long married life, without knowing that her husband has just died. It is said that he was able to give life back to the dead body of her husband and this act of miracle made him very famous in Nashik. He is thought to have attained enlightenment at the age of 24. He adopted the name Ramdas around this period. He later had an idol of Hanuman made from cowdung installed at Taakli.

His contribution to Freedom movement and literary works:

Unlike the saints subscribing to Warkari tradition, Ramdas is not considered to embrace pacifism. His writings include strong expressions encouraging militant means to counter the barbaric Islamic invaders. He endorsed significance of physical strength and knowledge towards individual development. He expressed his admiration for warriors and highlighted their role in safeguarding the society. He was of the opinion that saints must not withdraw from society but instead actively engage towards social and moral transformation. He aimed to resuscitate the Hindu culture after its disintegration over several centuries owing to consistent foreign occupation. He also called for unity among the Marathas to preserve and promote the local culture. Samartha Ramdas Swami served an inspiration for a number of Indian thinkers, historians and social reformers such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Keshav Hedgewar, Vishwanath Rajwade ,Ramchandra Ranade, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Tilak derived inspiration from Ramdas when devising aggressive strategies to counter the British colonial rule. Ramdas had a profound influence on Keshav Hedgewar, the founder of Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He is also recognized for his role as a Guru to the Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj, inspiring him with principles of governance, spirituality, and valor.

Below are some of his notable literary works:

Manache Shlok (co-written by Kalyan Swami)

Dasbodh

Shree Maruti Stotra

Aatmaaram

11-Laghu Kavita

Shadripu Nirupan

Maan Panchak

Chaturthmaan

Raamayan (Marathi-Teeka)

His Teachings:

Ramdas was an exponent of Bhakti Yoga or the path of devotion. According to him, total devotion to Rama brings about spiritual evolution. His definition of "Bhakti" was in accordance with the philosophy of Advait Vedant. In Chapter 4 of his literary work Dasbodh, he describes Nice levels of devotion / communion - starting from listening / comprehending (श्रवण) to Surrender of oneself or being One with Self (आत्मनिवेदन) - the later being the core tenet of Advait Vedant - where the sense of separate "I" dissolves into non-duality. He encouraged the participation of women in religious work and offered them positions of authority.

Ramdas Swami is a revered spiritual figure in Maharashtra and remains relevant to contemporary society in Maharashtra.

🙏🙏 jai jai Raghuveera Samartha 🙏🙏

[blindrapture]

wubba-lubba-dubliners

I'm feeling forlorn and wistful, so I'm gonna talk about James Joyce. Tonight I'll talk about Dubliners.

Dubliners was Joyce's first book. ...besides Chamber Music, which was poetry. I'd say Dubliners was his first novel but it was a collection of short stories. So it wasn't his first novel, nor was it his first book. It wasn't even the book that he wrote first, as first he wrote Stephen Hero before throwing it in a fire and rewriting it later as A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Dubliners is traditionally accepted as his "first one," whatever you want to call it. Because Joyce's poetry doesn't count, and neither does his stageplay. Traditional criticism overlooks those. I think the poetry is delightful, and Exiles is a heady mind-game of a play. It's tradition to just focus on Dubliners and the three "novels" because they're all staggering masterpieces. Like, unequivocably so. Even as someone who likes the other stuff, I can't deny how his capital-b Books overshadow them for good reason.

Anyway. Dubliners. Written by 1905, published in 1914, the publication history is a long story and spawned a scathing satirical poem called "Gas from a Burner." I'm not here to talk about that either. Dubliners was written at a time of rising Irish nationalism, where folks were antsy for independence from the British Empire, and so their poets were antsy for national glory. They wanted the great Irish artist to rise up and represent their country in shining flattering terms.

Joyce absolutely wanted to write books representing his home country. But he absolutely did not want to lie about it. He empathized with the nationalists as his fellow countrymen, but he saw no nobility in the Great Irish Novel being silver-tongued. Instead, he saw it, the country needed a looking-glass, and the world needed to accept his people as they were. This would be a trend in all his books.

And don't let the looming shadow of Ulysses and the Wake scare you off; Dubliners is Joyce's most accessible work, written in the plainest English you could ask for, with clear narratives and rich characters. It is also, y'know, short stories, so it's easy to recommend.

At the same time, while you can easily eat these 15 stories in single sittings, as tasty snacks... uh, don't expect to feel sunshiney and uplifted by the end. These are stories of people trapped in social paralysis, in the capital city of a close British colony. No fantasy, no ghosts, no state secrets, no hidden messages, but a lot of careful symbolism of the realistic variety.

It is a sobering read. Can be rather refreshing, frankly.

Let me talk, loosely, about the stories. (Loosely because I haven't reread all of them that recently.)

There are 15, and they are arranged in a specific order, though this is not specified in the text itself. We start with stories about childhood and progress in age until we reach stories about full-grown adults in public life.

CHILDHOOD:

1: "The Sisters" A boy learns of the death of an old priest he had befriended. It is not simply a sad moment, but it is not simply a relief either.

2: "An Encounter" A boy skips school with his friend, hoping to go on a Wild West Adventure, only to meet a creepy old man in a park.

3: "Araby" A boy seeks to impress a girl by getting her a present from an enchanting bazaar. It does not meet his expectations.

ADOLESCENCE:

4: "Eveline" Eveline is overwhelmed by her abusive father and seeks to elope with her boyfriend to Argentina. But her promise to her dying mother leaves her paralyzed in the face of leaving her familiar life behind.

5: "After the Race" Jimmy Doyle feels proud as he represents his home in an international car race. His pride falls flat as he loses money in a wealthy card game.

6: "Two Gallants" Lenehan wants a little more from his life of drinking and poverty. He meets up with Corley, who plans to scam a housemaid. (Lenehan shows up again in Ulysses.)

7: "The Boarding House" Polly Mooney's mother runs a boarding house. When a nervous guest expresses interest in Polly, her mother takes calculated advantage of the situation to commit him to marriage. (That guest, Bob Doran, shows up again in Ulysses.)

MATURITY:

8: "A Little Cloud" Little Chandler wants more from his life, he wants to quit his desk job and become a poet. When his old friend Ignatius Gallaher comes home from glitzy London where he's a successful journalist, Chandler sees the difference in their lives, then comes home mad at his wife and child.

9: "Counterparts" Farrington is abused by his boss. Farrington goes home and beats his son.

10: "Clay" Maria... lives a lonely life, socially consigned a common one.

11: "A Painful Case" Mr. Duffy lives a predictable life, just as he likes it. He meets a lonely married woman, Mrs. Sinico, who wants more from him than he can accept, so they stop seeing each other. A few years later, he reads in the paper that she has died, and he wonders if this might be his fault. (Mrs. Sinico is mentioned in Ulysses.)

PUBLIC LIFE:

12: "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" Political canvassers chill together on election day, their dialogue marked with infighting, alcohol, and nostalgia for the bygone days of Charles Parnell.

13: "A Mother" Mr. Holohan wants to stage a tour of shows of traditional Irish celebration. Mrs. Kearney's daughter is a talented pianist and Irish speaker, so she's booked. Nobody turns up to the shows, so Mr. Holohan must cancel the tour. Mrs. Kearney tries to insist he must still pay up. (Holohan shows up in Ulysses.)

14: "Grace" Tom Kernan, once a successful businessman, has turned to drink in tragic form. His friends try to build him back up, bringing him to a religious retreat. The retreat talks of God in capitalist terms, and it rings hollow. (Tom Kernan and his friends show up in Ulysses.)

15: "The Dead" Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta turn up at an annual fancy Christmas party. Gabriel has mild embarrassment through the night as his national leanings are called into question, and his wife seems to be growing distant from him. The truth is, Gretta has been thinking of a boy she once loved, who died for her long ago. Gabriel gets some perspective on his life and the book ends somberly. (Gabriel Conroy is mentioned in Ulysses.)

.....yeah, they're not cheerful reads. (they make my heart cry.) But they're also not meant to depress you; they are beautiful and filled with profound illustrations of a society. The stories are narrow portraits of moments in these characters' lives, often moments of the characters themselves realizing their own paralysis, so the possibility of change is still open! And the writing... god, I can't gush enough about the sheer quality of the compositions. You have to see it to believe it.

And you can see it. Joyce's works are in the public domain. :3 Here's Dubliners in full.

And, like. One of these days, before I finish my Ulysses project even, I'd like to... do Sonic Hamlet Dubliners first. Maybe. :33

okay I'm done. I can easily say more. sometime I will. but my forlorn mood is abated and I talked about Dubliners. now I want to taper off and read more.

[wellntruly]

You possibly might or might not know, but in case you don't - there's a new (premiered this year) movie about Siegfried Sassoon called "Benediction". I haven't watched it and have no idea whether it's good. But it exists, so I thought you need to know.

Sincere apologies for the delay, I am actually still in the midst of a weeklong series of overnight guests, both family and friends, who all actually just invited themselves over. Left to my own choices I would not have in fact been looking for guests to come stay just yet at the place I only moved into about 1 month ago and am still in the deeply time-consuming and not yet fully unpacked process of trying to get set up, much less for eight consecutive days,

BUT BELIEVE YOU ME, have I still been keeping tabs on Benediction through all this!!

Because it had its world premiere at TIFF just at the start of this past selfsame week, so you are far from alone in having not seen it yet; no one has, only those who attended the festival in Toronto or are an accredited film journalist who was granted virtual screening access. We also, as far as I can tell, do not yet have a distributor outside of the UK market, much less release dates, and the possibility that this might be one of those movies that waits a year after festival premieres à la First Cow in 2019 seizes my heart.

Because Benediction, for anyone who is unaware, is a new work written & directed by the sad gay British filmmaker Terence Davies, who quietly ruined my life back in circa 2013 with the post-war Britain affair drama The Deep Blue Sea. Now he has turned his sights on sad gay shellshocked First World War poets Siegfried Sassoon & company, Noted Interest Of the Blog, and from what I have cautiously, delicately picked up from tweets and review headlines from a handful of trusted sad gay film critics, it is: sad and gay!

Also I've saved this for last but Sassoon's kind psychologist at Craiglockhart, Dr. Rivers, whom you will know well if you've read Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, is played in this film titled Benediction by sad gay The Exorcist priest and love of my life Ben Daniels, something so overwhelming to consider that I can't really, I just have this wrapped up in some soft wool and stored in a safe nook in my ribcage.

And that's where we're at re: Benediction, presently!

[skonnaris]

Famous historical figures

A list of famous people throughout history. These famous historical figures are chosen from a range of different cultures and countries. They include famous spiritual figures, politicians and writers who have helped to shape human history.

BCE

Sri Ramachandra (c. 5114 BCE) Rama was a model king of Ayodhya who lived according to the dharma. He went to Sri Lanka to fight Ravana who had captured his wife, Sita. Rama is considered an incarnation of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.

Sri Krishna (c. BCE) – Spiritual Teacher of Hinduism. Sri Krishna gave many discourses to his disciple Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. These discourses were written down in the Bhagavad Gita.

Ramses II (1303 BCE – 1213 BCE) – Ramses or Ramesses was the third Egyptian Pharaoh, ruling between 1279 BC – 1213 BC. Ramses the Great consolidated Egyptian power, through military conquest and extensive building.

Homer (8th Century BC) Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Two classics of Greek literature. His writings form a significant influence on Western literature.

Cyrus the Great (600 – 530 BC) was the founder of the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire. Cyrus conquered the empires of Media, Lydia and Babylonia, creating the first multi-ethnic state which at its peak accounted for around 40% of the global population.

Lord Buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha was born a prince in northern India. He gave up the comforts of the palace to seek enlightenment. After attaining Nirvana, he spent the remainder of his years teaching.

Confucius (551 – 479 BC) – Chinese politician, statesman, teacher and philosopher. His writings on justice, life and society became the prevailing teachings of the Chinese state and developed into Confucianism.

Socrates (469 BC–399 BC) – Greek philosopher. Socrates developed the ‘Socratic’ method of self-enquiry. He had a significant influence on his disciples, such as Plato and contributed to the development of Western philosophy and political thought.

Plato (424 – 348 BC) – Greek philosopher. A student of Socrates, Plato founded the Academy in Athens – one of the earliest seats of learning. His writings, such as ‘The Republic’ form a basis of early Western philosophy. He also wrote on religion, politics and mathematics.

Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) – Greek philosopher and teacher of Alexander the Great. Aristotle was a student of Plato, but he branched out into empirical research into the physical sciences. His philosophy of metaphysics had an important influence on Western thought.

Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BC) – King of Macedonia. He established an Empire stretching from Greece to the Himalayas. He was a supreme military commander and helped diffuse Greek culture throughout Asia and northern Africa.

Archimedes (287 B.C – 212) Mathematician, scientist and inventor. Archimedes made many contributions to mathematics. He explained many scientific principles, such as levers and invented several contraptions, such as the Archimedes screw.

Ashoka (c 269 BCE to 232 BCE) – One of the greatest Indian rulers. Ashoka the Great ruled from 269 BC to 232 BC he embraced Buddhism after a bloody battle and became known for his philanthropism, and adherence to the principles of non-violence, love, truth and tolerance.

Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BC) As military commander, Caesar conquered Gaul and England extending the Roman Empire to its furthest limits. Used his military strength to become Emperor (dictator) of Rome from 49 BC, until his assassination in 44BC.

Augustus Caesar  (63 BC-AD 14) – First Emperor of Rome. Caesar (born Octavian) was one the most influential leaders in world history, setting the tone for the Roman Empire and left a profound legacy on Western civilisation.

Cleopatra (69 -30 BC) The last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Cleopatra sought to defend Egypt from the expanding Roman Empire. In doing so, she formed relationships with two of Rome’s most powerful leaders Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar.

AD

Jesus of Nazareth (c.5BC – 30AD), Jesus of Nazareth, was a spiritual teacher, and the central figure of Christianity. By Christians, he is considered to be the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament.

St Paul (5 – AD 67) – Christian missionary. St Paul was Jewish and a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity. His writings and teachings did much to define and help the spread of Christianity.

Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180) – Roman Emperor and philosopher. He is considered the last of the five good Emperors. His Meditations are a classic account of Stoic philosophy.

Emperor Constantine (272 – 337) First Roman Emperor to embrace Christianity. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which clarified the Nicene Creed of Christianity.

Muhammad (570 – 632) Prophet of Islam. Muhammad received revelations which form the verses of the Qur’an. His new religion unified Arabia under the new Muslim religion.

Attila the Hun (5th Century) Ruler of the Huns who swept across Europe in the Fifth Century. He attacked provinces within the Roman Empire and was Rome’s most feared opponent.

Charlemagne (742 – 814) – King of Franks and Emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne unified Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. He provided protection for the Pope in Rome.

Genghis Kahn (1162 – 1227) – Leader of the Mongol Empire stretching from China to Europe. Genghis Khan was a fierce nomadic warrior who united the Mongol tribes before conquering Asia and Europe.

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) – The first Queen of France. Eleanor influenced the politics of western Europe through her alliances and her sons Richard and John – who became Kings of England.

Saladin (1138 – 1193) – Leader of the Arabs during the Crusades. He unified Muslim provinces and provided effective military opposition to the Christian crusades.

Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) Influential Roman Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.

Marco Polo (1254 – 1324) Venetian traveller and explorer who made ground-breaking journeys to Asia and China, helping to open up the Far East to Europe.

Johann Gutenberg (1395 – 1468) – German inventor of the printing press. Gutenberg’s invention of movable type started a printing revolution which was influential in the Reformation.

Joan of Arc – (1412-1431) – French saint. Jean d’Arc was a young peasant girl who inspired the Dauphin of France to renew the fight against the English. She led French forces into battle.

Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) – Italian explorer who landed in America. He wasn’t the first to land in America, but his voyages were influential in opening up the new continent to Europe.

Leonardo da Vinci ( 1452 – 1519) – Italian scientist, artist, and polymath. Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. His scientific investigations covered all branches of human knowledge.

Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539) Indian spiritual teacher who founded the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak was the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus. He travelled widely disseminating a spiritual teaching of God in everyone.

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) – A key figure in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther opposed papal indulgences and the power of the Pope, sparking off the Protestant Reformation.

Babur (1483 – 1531) – Founder of the Moghul Empire on the Indian subcontinent. A descendant of Genghis Khan, he brought a Persian influence to India.

William Tyndale (1494 – 1536) – A key figure in the Protestant Reformation. Tyndale translated the Bible into English. It’s wide dissemination changed English society. He was executed for heresy.

Akbar (1542 – 1605) – Moghul Emperor who consolidated and expanded the Moghul Empire. Akbar also was a supporter of the arts, culture and noted for his religious tolerance.

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618) – English explorer who made several journeys to the Americas, including a search for the lost ‘Eldorado.’

Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642) – Astronomer and physicist. Galileo developed the modern telescope and, challenging the teachings of the church, helped to prove the earth revolved around the sun.

William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) English poet and playwright. Shakespeare’s plays, such as Hamlet, Macbeth and Othello have strongly influenced English literature and Western civilisation.

Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) Dubbed the father of modern philosophy, Descartes was influential in a new rationalist movement, which sought to question basic presumptions with reason.

Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658) – British Parliamentarian. Cromwell led his new model army in defeating King Charles I and creating a new model of government.

Voltaire (1694 – 1778) – French philosopher. Voltaire’s biting satire helped to create dissent in the lead up to the French revolution.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) – English mathematician and scientist. Newton laid the foundations of modern physics, with his laws of motion and gravity. He made extensive scientific investigations.

Eighteenth Century

Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796) – Russian Queen during the Eighteenth Century. During her reign, Russia was revitalised becoming a major European power. She also began reforms to help the poor.

George Washington (1732 – 1799) – 1st President of US. George Washington led the American forces of independence and became the first elected President.

Tom Paine (1737- 1809) English-American author and philosopher. Paine wrote‘Common Sense‘ (1776) and the Rights of Man (1791), which supported principles of the American and French revolutions.

Thomas Jefferson (1743- 1826) 3rd President of US. Author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson passed laws on religious tolerance in his state of Virginia and founded the University of Virginia.

Mozart (1756 – 1791) – Austrian Music composer. Mozart’s compositions ranged from waltzes to Requiem. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.

Nineteenth Century

William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) – British MP and campaigner against slavery. Wilberforce was a key figure in influencing British public opinion and helping to abolish slavery in 1833.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) – French military and political leader. Napoleon made France a major European power and meant his Napoleonic code was widely disseminated across Europe.

Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) – Liberator of Latin American countries. Bolivar was responsible for the liberation of Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) 16th President of US. Lincoln led the northern Union forces during the civil war to protect the Union of the US. During the civil war, Lincoln also promised to end slavery.

Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) – Developed theory of evolution. His book ‘The Origin of Species’ (1859) laid the framework for evolutionary biology and changed many people’s view of life on the planet.

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) Principle Marxist philosopher. Author of Das Kapitaland The Communist Manifesto. (with F.Engels) Marx believed that Capitalist society would be overthrown by Communist revolution.

Queen Victoria (1819 – 1901) – Queen of Great Britain during the Nineteenth Century. She oversaw the industrial revolution and the growth of the British Empire.

Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) – French chemist and Biologist. Pasteur developed many vaccines, such as for rabies and anthrax. He also developed the process of pasteurisation, making milk safer.

Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) – Russian writer and philosopher. Tolstoy wrote the epic ‘War and Peace’ Tolstoy was also a social activist – advocating non-violence and greater equality in society.

Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) – Inventor and businessman. Edison developed the electric light bulb and formed a company to make electricity available to ordinary homes.

Twentieth Century

Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) – Irish writer. Wilde’s plays included biting social satire. He was noted for his wit and charm. However, after a sensational trial, he was sent to jail for homosexuality.

Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) – President of US during WWI. Towards the end of the war, Wilson developed his 14 points for a fair peace, which included forming a League of Nations.

Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) – Indian nationalist and politician. Gandhi believed in non-violent resistance to British rule. He sought to help the ‘untouchable’ caste and also reconcile Hindu and Muslims.

V. Lenin (1870-1924) – Born in Ulyanovsk, Russia. Lenin was the leader of Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution in 1917. Lenin became the first leader of the Soviet Union influencing the direction of the new Communist state.

The Wright Brothers (Orville, 1871 – 1948) – developed the first powered aircraft. In 1901, they made the first successful powered air flight, ushering in a new era of air flight.

Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War. Churchill played a key role in strengthening British resolve in the dark days of 1940.

Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) – West German Chancellor post world war II. Adenauer had been an anti-nazi before the war. He played a key role in reintegrating West Germany into world affairs.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) – German / American physicist. Einstein made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of relativity. Einstein was also a noted humanitarian and peace activist.

Ataturk (1881-1938) – founder of the Turkish Republic. From the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Ataturk forged a modern secular Turkish republic.

A Little History of the World

A Little History of the World: Illustrated Edition at Amazon – by E. H. Gombrich

John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) Influential economist. Keynes developed a new field of macroeconomics in response to the great depression of the 1930s.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) US President (1932-1945) Roosevelt led the US through its most turbulent time of the great depression and World War II.

Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) Dictator of Nazi Germany. Hitler sought to conquer Europe and Russia, starting World War Two. Also responsible for the Holocaust, in which Jews and other ‘non-Aryans’ were killed.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) – First Indian Prime Minister. Nehru came to power in 1947 and ruled until his death in 1964. He forged a modern democratic India, not aligned to either US or the Soviet Union.

Dwight Eisenhower (1890 – 1969) – Supreme Allied Commander during the Normandy landings of World War II. Eisenhower also became President from 1953-1961.

Charles de Gaulle (1890- 1970) French politician. De Gaulle became leader of the ‘Free French’ after the fall of France in 1940. Became President after the war, writing the constitution of the 5th Republic.

Chairman Mao (1893 – 1976) Mao led the Chinese Communist party to power during the long march and fight against the nationalists. Mao ruled through the ‘cultural revolution’ until his death in 1976.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997) – Catholic nun from Albania who went to India to serve the poor. Became a symbol of charity and humanitarian sacrifice. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) – US President 1961-1963. J. F.Kennedy helped to avert nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. He also began to support the civil rights movement before his assassination in Dallas, November 1963.

Nelson Mandela (1918 – ) The first President of democratic South Africa in 1994. Mandela was imprisoned by the apartheid regime for 27 years, but on his release helped to heal the wounds of apartheid through forgiveness and reconciliation.

Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) – Polish Pope from 1978-2005. Pope John Paul is credited with bringing together different religions and playing a role at the end of Communism in Eastern Europe.

Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – ) British Queen from 1952. The second longest serving monarch in history, Elizabeth saw six decades of social and political change.

Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968) Martin Luther King was a powerful leader of the non-violent civil rights movement. His 1963 speech ‘I have a dream’ being a pinnacle moment.

14th Dalai Lama (1938 – ) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama was forced into exile by the invading Chinese. He is a leading figure for non-violence and spirituality.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of the Soviet Union. Oversaw transition from Communism in Eastern Europe to democracy. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Muhammad Ali (1942- ) American boxer. Muhammad Ali had his boxing license removed for refusal to fight in Vietnam. He became a leading figure in the civil rights movement.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Famous historical people”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 18/12/2013. Published  1 March 2018. Last updated 7 July 2019

[rabbitcruiser]

Valentine's Day 

 Valentine's Day originated as a Western Christian feast day honoring an early Saint named Valentine. It is still an official feast in some denominations, although the day was removed from the Catholic General Roman Calendar because not much information was known about the Saint. The day is now also a cultural and commercial holiday centered around romance and love. It is celebrated in many places around the globe, although it is not a public holiday. Symbols associated with the day are the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of a winged Cupid.’s  

There was actually not just one Saint Valentine, but three. The first and most noteworthy was Saint Valentine of Rome. He was a priest in Rome, was martyred in 269 CE, and was added to the calendar of saints in 496, by Pope Galesius. Legend has it that Valentine was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to get married, and for ministering to and assisting Christians who had been persecuted under the Roman Empire. It also is said that he cut hearts from parchment and gave them to persecuted Christians and soldiers, to remind them of their vows and God's love. Another legend says that during his imprisonment he healed the blind daughter of his jailer, and sent her a letter before his execution, signing it as "Your Valentine." Saint Valentine is buried on the Via Flaminia.

A second Saint Valentine was Valentine of Terni; he was a bishop of Terni, which was called Interamna at the time. He is believed to have been martyred in 273 CE, under the persecutions of Emperor Aurelian. He also was buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different area than the Valentine of Rome. A third Valentine is mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia. He was martyred in Africa along with others, but that is all that is known of him.

The day first became associated with romantic love because of the fourteenth century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote Parlement of Foules in 1382, to commemorate the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia. When the words of the poem are modernized, they can be read as, "For this was on St. Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." The first time Valentine's Day is mentioned as an annual day for love is in the Charter of the Court of Love from 1400. Believed to be written by Charles VI of France, it notes festivities on Valentine's Day attended by members of the royal court, including a feast, love related song and poetry competitions, jousting, and dancing.

The giving of "valentines" began shortly thereafter. The earliest written valentine dates to 1415, and the earliest surviving English valentines date to 1477, and are part of the Paston Letters. By the eighteenth century, lovers were giving each other flowers, confectionaries, and valentines in the form of greeting cards. Valentines were so popular by the early nineteenth century that they were made in factories. Fancier valentines were made of lace and ribbons. Sixty thousand valentines were sent by the post of Britain in 1835. In 1840, postal rates were lowered and postage stamps were created, and in 1841, there were 400,000 valentines mailed. More began being sent by mail, but they became less personal. At this time cards began being exchanged anonymously as well. In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created boxes of chocolates in the shape of hearts for Valentines Day—called Fancy Boxes—leading to the association of boxes of chocolates with the day.

Valentine's Day cards were first mass produced in the United States in 1847. By the second half of the twentieth century, various other types of gifts were given, such as jewelry. In the United States, 190 million valentines are sent each year. Besides being exchanged between lovers, about half are given to others, usually to children. If school-made valentines are counted, a billion valentines are exchanged each year, and more are given to teachers than anyone else. In the age of the internet, more and more e-cards are being sent. 

How to Observe

Celebrate the day by giving valentines to your loved ones. You could buy some from the store, as is the norm, but writing them by hand will give them more meaning. If you have a significant other, make plans to spend the day with them. Do some of your favorite things together, or try something new. If you are single, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate the day. No matter if you are single or not, there are some films and songs perfectly meant for the day that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Source

[libidomechanica]

“To feed that seems”

To feed that seems to bursting of  lonely lost his forgot  if thou would cleave thee from land. Cauld, as to  deface that had not, though doorways  of all. There is not to bring hounds  him go; ring out, ring already 

boon. My idle she cannot swerved to 

him sword, to music  out of the bound. Since sweet that once her  blessing, and all the Deluge  or poet. our British friends  and ere yet the moment in  thine— Love And so I spare it chides doth  far and with thou would awake.  but sharpend eaves stuck in the though along, 

to sink my head, a hand and 

levels to annul that cries, confusion  with a symbols wherein  did spight ungatherines John. 

But soft Form that he half prevailing  all the changd to be  written wood, and I rose infected;  but her way my darling, charlie,  hes my darling, pondering Incarnations  for ever had thankfull partaker of  the broke and cannon on  the first Ismail, anchored on th at a distance and prove were full  alchemy, to proved since we held that loves?  All the pawnshop window pocket  and forward       in silence, believe me, on  shall weed-hidden from lovely like the  canker Loves Crowne, rather, praying  lips were blowing fresh, with any  that that breaks his parting joy. Im  half prevailing, except where  hope that you used Kinnaird quit, and weave the 

phantom chant in a  hand in the friends heart hath not soft-

luring me quick in the  ring, and nature think, and taken into  its own leaves; while I,  the birds perchant, to all the  past together until, from high, and  one obeys, perhaps to be not 

a Step nor sleep was is 

overtake, or where long-abandond deer,  oer cradle she frost will seek her  voyce sound betrays        an edge       dry out the cold  climate and shade; thou madest  Life did me once it was passion  hath its proper stumps and up the  herself in the crowne, in  the wave in roaring incense  from orb to orphan, and friendship,  you did they either 

come a better the sea-born Venus,  save that self must converse submission  shadowd himself an hour and 

left by men-slugs and silence; the 

other, who would have that kills me and gone  before; ye shall we again.  When themselves in other  throaty humming air; till short fever 

waken unavailing yield all my grief of all  these is made the flies may like  a children, husband is her quiver shrunk 

to all that vision, or  buried when I confession swelling made  them till I may, but loved Chick Lorimer.  Of the worst cause, thought, stands around,  to sex. Did every 

part of everything; when,  as fair, the wind went to  see her earth wisdom Daily in  the horizons verge of lies; who 

market, when her as 

we might a thirst— so Arab desert  sky? It sinks, priest, as I h

[ippnoida]

JLF announces first list of speakers for 2023 edition

Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) will be back in the ink city in 2023. Teamwork Arts, the Festival producer, announced the dates for its 16th edition, setting them between 19 – 23 January 2023 at Hotel Clarks, Amer, Jaipur. The annual Jaipur Literature Festival will be as always bringing its magnificent line-up and a sumptuous feast of ideas to the pink city. The festival will continue to remain committed to its core values – to serve as a democratic, non-aligned platform ensuring inclusivity and freedom of speech. The past 15 years have seen the iconic Festival transform into a global literary phenomenon having hosted nearly 5000 speakers and artists reaching out to over 200 million people globally. Hybrid versions of the festival have enabled book-lovers from across continents to access it.

In 2023, the literary extravaganza will showcase a plethora of themes and writers curated specially for its loyal community of audiences from across the world, offering an immersive experience of literature, discourse, musical performances, art installations, merchandise, local cuisine and more. The festival will offer a representation of all Indian national languages and multiple foreign languages with sessions spread across 5 venues with over 250 speakers.

The first list of 25 speakers includes winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah; noted Sahitya Akademi awardee, Hindi poet, translator and writer of Aienasaaz, Anamika; acclaimed author of the recent Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World, Anthony Sattin; DSC Prize shortlisted and the prestigious Gratiaen Prize nominated Sri Lankan author Ashok Ferrey; one of India’s highest-selling English fiction writers Ashwin Sanghi; gifted Naga writer Avinuo Kire whose latest novel is Where the Cobbled Path Leads; the first mixed-race woman author to win the Booker Prize for her Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo; the two-time Booker Prize shortlisted Chigozie Obioma; translator of the International Booker winner novel Ret Samadhi/Tomb of Sand, Daisy Rockwell; celebrated Indian actress, director and writer Deepti Naval.

The list continues with Booker Prize winning British novelist Howard Jacobson; Mumbai-based poet, novelist, short story writer, translator & well-known journalist Jerry Pinto; author of the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award longlisted book Intimacies, Katie Kitamura; distinguished mathematics professor and author of The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math, Manil Suri; Prize-winning author of the bestselling books The Written World and The Language of Thieves, Martin Puchner; Turkish-American author, academic, and literary critic Merve Emre; 2022 Booker Prize shortlisted author of Glory, NoViolet Bulawayo; Indian writer, blogger and translator Rana Safvi; Booker-nominated American-Canadian author, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki.

The Festival will also feature  author of the bestselling Empireland: How Imperialism Has Been Shaped Modern Britain which inspired Channel 4’s Empire State of Mind, Sathnam Sanghera; Booker-shortlisted author of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka; winner of the 2019 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar Award, Tanuj Solanki; author of the New York Times Editors’ Choice book The Immortal King Rao, Vauhini Vara; American historian and academic Vincent Brown; well-known Indian journalist who became the youngest editor in the history of Indian journalism Vir Sanghvi.

Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher, and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, ”As we prepare to welcome book-lovers to Jaipur in January, we are delighted to share some of the stellar names who will be joining us. From Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah to debut novelist Avinuo Kire, from International Booker Prize Winner Daisy Rockwell to the startlingly original Vauhini Vara, from Sahitya Akademi awardee Anamika to mathematician Manil Suri, from Chigozie Obioma, twice shortlisted for the Booker, to Shehan Karunatilaka, who is on this year’s list, this is a menu of delights for readers of all literary appetites and persuasions. And this is just a taster of the delights to come.”

William Dalrymple, writer, historian and co-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “This year we are proud to present a galaxy of some of the greatest writers on the planet – a fabulous array of Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer, Sahitya Academy, Women's Prize and Baillie Gifford award winners, laureates and medallists.” “This year we have so much to offer that I believe it to be the most cerebral, intellectually-stimulating and high-powered we've ever fielded. We import some of the world's most admired novelists, including Abdulrazak Gurnah, Bernadine Evaristo, Ruth Ozeki, Shehan Karunatilaka, NoViolet Bulawayo and Katie Kitamura as well as arguably the world's greatest authority on the history of slavery, Vincent Brown. Among the international authors appearing this year we present writers of genius as brilliant as Harvard critical polymath Martin Puchner and his Oxford and Yale counterpart, Merve Emre.  We deeply delve into areas of world literature we have so far failed to explore; look in detail at the turmoil in the Ukraine, Russia and Iran; we explore a vast range of subjects from Neanderthals to Leonardo da Vinci; from the agonies of Partition to the Right to Sex. It’s an incredible line up- absolutely not to be missed,” Dalrymple added.

Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts, who produce the Jaipur Literature Festival, said, “The Jaipur Literature Festival will feature some of the greatest minds of the contemporary world including Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, Booker Prize nominees and winners including Bernardine Evaristo, Howard Jacobson, Chigozie Obioma, NoViolet Bulawayo and celebrated Indian authors Ashwin Sanghi, Deepti Naval, Jerry Pinto and many more. This year will also focus on celebrating languages with a program concentrated on Indian and world literature.”

The Festival will include its B2B arm, Jaipur BookMark (JBM), now in its 10th edition. JBM will continue to bring together a wide range of publishers, literary agents, writers, translators, translation agencies and booksellers from across the world and give them an opportunity to meet, talk business and listen to major global industry players.

The Jaipur Literature Festival sets literary conversations and dialog against a cultural backdrop promoting India’s traditional heritage including curated art installations, cultural evenings and the Jaipur Music Stage, which runs parallel to the Festival.

Registration and access to the online edition of the festival will be free and open to all. Registration to the on-ground edition of the festival will be available from Rs 200 per day. Attendees can also purchase Friends of the Festival Packages, which offer a special experience of the Festival and take them on a compelling cultural journey.

In addition to enjoying the literary sessions, audiences will also get to savor the festival’s signature morning and evening music sessions with performances by leading artistes and virtuosos. The signature handmade and artisanal festival merchandise and books by participating authors will be available both at the Festival Bazaar, the Festival Bookstore and online on the Jaipur Literature Festival’s official website.

[surejaya]

Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story

Download : Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story More Book at: Zaqist Book

Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story by Sally Read

A beautifully written story about a British poet's conversion from staunch atheism to devout Catholicism, all in the space of nine electric months. In Spring of 2010 Sally Read was heralded as one of the bright young writers of the British poetry scene. Feminist, atheist and deeply anti-Catholic, she was writing a book about women's reproduction and sexuality when, during her research, she spoke with a Catholic priest. That mysterious encounter led Sally on a dramatic journey of spiritual quest and discovery which ended up at the Vatican itself, where she was received into the Catholic Church in December of that year. This story of her conversion is one that, unsurprisingly, has the vivid flavor and beauty of poetry. Read relates her encounters with the Father, the Spirit and then the Son, exactly in the way they were given to her--timely, revelatory and compelling. These transforming events throw new light onto the experiences of her past--her father's death, her work as a psychiatric nurse, her life as a single woman in London, as a mother and as a writer. She reveals how she developed a close intimacy with the new love that erupted into her life, Christ himself, and how she comes to accept and embrace a doctrine she had previously rejected as bigoted and stifling. Read confronts head on the burning question for God that every true Christian harbors: -What do you want me to do?- In an age of increasing secularism, and in the wake of disillusionment with the Catholic Church following disclosures of abuse, the book takes us to the core of what the Church is all about: Christ and the yearning to be near him. Read's book captures the ecstasy of first knowing God's love and charts how it changes us. It takes the massive energy that was given her during those nine initial months of conversion and crystallizes it so others can taste it. It is a testimony to the powerhouse of Christianity: love and the life-changing encounter with Christ.

Download : Night's Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion Story More Book at: Zaqist Book

[weirdstuff-blog]

That Was the Year That Was – 1930

Monarch – George V

Prime Minister – Ramsay MacDonald (Labour)

1930–1935 – unemployment averages more than 18% in Britain.

Amy Johnson makes the first solo flight from England to Australia by a woman, flying from Croydon to Darwin in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth.

British airship R100 sets out for a successful 78-hour passage to Canada

After the 7 successful trial flights and flights checking the outer cover ripple effect, the decision was made for a transatlantic flight or long distance proving flight by one of the two new airships. As the R101 had been put back in Shed Number 1 for further changes to the design to increase the disposable lift, the R100 was tasked with a trip to Canada, successfully crossing the Atlantic to Montreal to the newly erected mast.

The ship slipped the moorings from the Cardington mast at 02.48am on the morning of 29th July 1930. The ship flew over the Atlantic and headed down the Newfoundland coast to Montreal, arriving on 1st August at 05.37am, after a voyage of some 78 hours and 49 minutes; a journey of 3,364 miles.

The transatlantic passage was smooth but the airship ran into difficulties over the St Lawrence valley on a couple of occasions. Near l’Ile aux Coudres, the R.100 was buffeted by shifting winds like never before. A number of very large tears appeared on three fins and the engines had to be stopped for eight hours so that repairs could be made. The people of Quebec City, forty thousand or more, cheered and waved as the airship slowly flew overhead.

A second incident occurred closer to Montreal as the R.100 flew through storm clouds, and very strong updrafts caused more damage to the fabric of the fins.

Temporary repairs were made in flight and then the cover was replaced at the mast at Montreal.

Upon its arrival, Montreal simply went wild; there were dozens of VIPs on hand,and a huge crowd. Companies used the visit to advertize everything from beerto cigarettes; there were signs everywhere, not to mention special R.100 songs,in both English and French. The forty-six–by–nine-metre sign erected by the SunLife Insurance Company was by far the biggest.

Two dozen aircraft transported sightseers by the hundreds. According to some estimates, more than one million people came to see the R.100 at St Hubert; three thousand actually had a chance to tour the airship, many of them “borrowing” souvenirs along the way. The visit may have been a rare pleasure, but the half-metre gap between the airship’s gangway and the tower’s platform gave quite a scare to many visitors.

The crew were deemed heroes for this voyage.

The crew enjoyed banquets and receptions in their honour. There were banquets too, ten or so in all, in Montreal and Toronto, where Burney and Air Ministry representatives extolled the virtues of airship travel, and greater Imperial co-operation. The two sides did not always see eye to eye; the British officials promoted the Air Ministry’s ideas, while Burney put forward his own.

All offers of help by the U.S. Navy were politely but decisively turned down by the federal authorities; this was, after all, Canada’s day. New fabric panels for the damaged fins were prepared by Canadian Vickers, which also did some interior repair work.

It was seen that this trip would be the start of many crossings and the start of commercial operations. On 13th August 1930 the R100 was required to go on a "local" flight where it was received excitedly by all the towns she crossed over. Flights over southern Ontario, Quebec and the Eastern Townships had been planned from the start, but had to be postponed and modified due to the damage to the fins.

Following the completion of the R101, the R100 followed closely on, being an innovative and modern ship when compared to its counterparts at the time. The daring decision to move way from the more traditional Zeppelin design lines was shown in the more oval, streamlined and aerodynamic shape of both the R100 and R101. It was as early as 1921 during the Imperial conference when A.H. Ashbolt London Agent-General for Tasmania, proposed an Imperial Air Company. The idea being that a subsidy for mails carried and a proposed passenger service to connect London to South Africa, and across to Australia and New Zealand.

This plan later was adapted as part of the 1924 Imperial Air Communications Scheme.In 1923, Barnes Wallis, and Sir Dennison Burney both visited the Zeppelin Company in Friedericshafen to see if agreement could be met in a commercial operation between the Zeppelin Company and the Vickers Company. This plan was later not followed up on. It was after much deliberation and further discussing that in1924, a contract between the Burney-Vickers Group was completed on 1st November 1924.

The decision had been made that separate organisations would construct two ships. One would be built by the Royal Airship Works and the other by a commercial contractor. The contract for the R100 had been awarded to Vickers, who were regarded as one of the best airship constructors, considering their history with lighter than air craft. A new subsidiary of Vickers, the Airship Guarantee Company, was set up purely for the construction of the ship. It was felt by the government that having two prototypes built would lead to twice the level of innovation over traditional lines. Both the R100 and R101 teams were the first to build airships in a more aerodynamic form than the traditional Zeppelin designs.

British designers had always tried to improve the aerodynamic shape to aid efficiency compared to other contemporary ships, the R 80 being the case in point, being the most aerodynamic ship constructed to date.

Not much was written about the R100 following her retirement to the shed in August of 1930 and the crash of the R101. However, recent research made by AHT member Brian Harrison uncovered some very interesting facts regarding the final days of the ship.

The R100 was put back in the hangar on 17th August 1930, and the crew switched their attention to the R101 for the next long trip. It was noted of the poor condion the R100 was, on return from the trip from Canada. The outer cover was in a poor condtion, and liable to split, as had occurred over the St Lawrence River, on the outward journey. Considering the cover was starting to come to the end of it’s life, a refit was in discussion, and more expense required. It had been decided that after the refit and repairs that a return flight to Canada to be prepared for in early 1931.

At this stage of the Imperial Airship scheme, there was only a small group of trained officers to cover both ships. However with the R102 in the planning stage more crews would be required and training was underway. This was abandoned when the destruction of the R101 in October 1930 led to the decision to halt all future flights.

The R100 was deflated on 11th December 1930 and "hung" in the shed. The outer covers were still under inspection but it was seen to be deteriorating in places. After the R101 inquiry, Parliament then had to discuss where the future lay for the R100.

Some of the original re-design ideas had been started in August of 1930. Documents and plans show that progress was being made in making changes to the R100, to again alow more lift. One of the main ideas was to remove the upper deck of the passenger accommodation, remove the upper deck wooden flooring and wood pannelling, then having some of the accommodation moved to an extended external cabing behind the control car. With some of the weight saving, plus allowing the gasbag to be enlarged above the passenger accommodation, this would gain an extra 9.25 tons. in lift.

It was hoped that by placing some of the car externally to the ship, then this may have given more room in the gasbag which was immediatly above the passenger accommodation. This would have also allowed more disposable lift suitable for more commercial operations. By removing the large passenger areas and reviewing the use of the R100, it was seen that the new class of ship, the R102 class be deemed more suitable for carrying the large number of passengers as orignally planned in the R100 and R101.

It was also planned that the R102 was also to have some of the passenger accommodation protude from below the main hull, and so this could have been seen as early concepts for part of the planned external smoking lounge for the R102. The passenger capacity of the R102 was deemed to be a realistic 50 passengers and so the potential reduction in cabin numbers and configuration on the revised R100 would have been realistic in line with the plans as discovered.

Deaths

19 January – Frank P. Ramsey, mathematician (born 1903)

2 March – D. H. Lawrence, writer (born 1885)

19 March – Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1848)

21 April – Robert Bridges, poet (born 1844)

25 May – Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1848)

7 July – Arthur Conan Doyle, author (born 1859)

21 August – Aston Webb, architect (born 1849)

29 August – William Archibald Spooner, scholar, Anglican priest and metathesist (born 1844)

4 November – Evelyn Colyer, tennis player (born 1902)

27 November – Johnny Tyldesley, cricketer (born 1873)

1930 UK news and events

The British dirigible R101, at the time the world’s largest airship, crashes in France while on a flight from Cardington, Bedfordshire, England, to Karachi in British India. Forty-eight of the 54 people on board are killed, including Royal Air Force Air Vice Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker; the Irish aviator and athlete Herbert Carmichael Irwin, who was the captain of R101; the noted British airship pilot and engineer George Herbert Scott; and British Secretary of State for Air Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson.

Autumn 1930 – The Royal Air Force rededicates No. 443 Flight of the Fleet Air Arm as the first British catapult flight of aircraft assigned to operate from battleship and cruiser catapults.

The Surrey Aero Club inaugurates recreational flights from Gatwick Race Course (now London Gatwick Airport).

Housing Act provides government subsidy for slum clearance, and construction of further new council houses as replacements.

New offices for Crawford’s Advertising Agency at 233 High Holborn, London, designed by Frederick Etchells with Herbert A. Welch, are Britain’s earliest significant example of the International Style in architecture.

Start of local authorities’ assisted wiring scheme to encourage people to connect their homes to the public electricity supply.

Poor Prisoners’ Defence Act provides for limited extension of legal aid.

Rosemary Bank is discovered approximately 120 km west of Scotland by survey vessel HMS Rosemary.

Philco produces the first of its "Baby grand" designs of radio of which it will sell two million.

16 January – On speed trials, the British airship R100 reaches 81 mph (130 km/h), making her the fastest airship in the world.

1 February – The Times publishes its first crossword.

10 February – The Air Union Farman F.63bis Goliath F-FHMY suffers a tailplane structural failure during a flight from Paris-Le Bourget Airport outside Paris to Croydon Airport in London with six people on board. The pilot tries to land at the Pagehurst Emergency Landing Ground in Marden, Kent, England, but the plane stalls and crashes at Marden. Two passengers die, and the other two passengers and both crew members suffer injuries.

March – fitness organisation the Women’s League of Health and Beauty set up by Mary Bagot Stack; by 1939 it will have over 100,000 members.

1 April – Poor law unions and workhouses abolished under the Local Government Act 1929, responsibility for public assistance transferring to local authorities and workhouses becoming hospitals or public assistance institutions under their control.

9 April – Flying his de Havilland DH.60 Moth Miss India, Man Mohan Singh becomes the first Indian to fly (solo) from England to British India, landing at RAF Drigh Road, Karachi one month and one day after departing from Croydon Airport.

10 April – The English aviator and ornithologist Mary Russell, Duchess of Bedford, and her personal pilot C. D. Barnard make a record-breaking flight in the Fokker F.VII Spider (G-EBTS) of 9,000 miles (14,493 km) from Lympne Airport in Lympne, England, to Cape Town, South Africa, in 100 flying hours over 10 days.

18 April – a BBC news reporter live on the radio announces “there is no news today.” For the first and last time in history.

22 April – the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.

30 April – first section of the 132kV AC National Grid, the Central Scotland Electricity Scheme, is switched on in Edinburgh.

5 May – an explosion on the eleventh floor of Bibby’s oil cake mill in Liverpool leaves five dead and almost one hundred injured.

5–24 May – Yorkshire-born Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (11,000 miles to landing at Darwin).

28 May – the BBC Symphony Orchestra is formed as a permanent full-scale ensemble under the directorship of Adrian Boult. It gives its first concert on 22 October at the Queen’s Hall, London.

5 July – the Seventh Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops opens. This conference condones the use of birth control in limited circumstances, a move away from the Christian views on contraception expressed by the Sixth Conference a decade earlier.

10 July – Mental Treatment Act 1930 provides for free voluntary treatment for psychiatric conditions and for psychiatric outpatient clinics, replaces the term "asylum" with "mental hospital" and reorganises the Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency.

14 July – transmission by the BBC of the first experimental television play, The Man With the Flower in His Mouth.

29 July – British airship R100 sets out for a successful 78-hour passage to Canada.

7 August – two million people are unemployed.

16 August – the first British Empire Games are held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

29 August – remaining inhabitants of the island of St Kilda, Scotland, are voluntarily evacuated to the mainland.

24 September – first performance of Noël Coward’s comedy Private Lives at the Phoenix Theatre (London) featuring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence and Laurence Olivier in the cast.

1 October – 14 miners are killed in an explosion in a coal pit near Cannock, Staffordshire.

End of Weihaiwei under British rule as it is returned to China.

5 October – British airship R101 crashes in France en route to India on its maiden voyage.

6–10 October – annual Labour Party Conference (at Llandudno), the first chaired by a woman, Susan Lawrence, M.P. Oswald Mosley unsuccessfully attempts to persuade it to adopt the ‘Mosley Memorandum’ on tackling unemployment.

20 October – the "Passfield white paper" demands restrictions on Jewish immigration into Mandatory Palestine.

12 November – first Round Table Conference on the future status of India opens in London.

25 November – Cecil George Paine, a pathologist at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, achieves the first recorded cure (of an eye infection) using penicillin.

December – Youth Hostels Association opens its first hostel, at Pennant Hall near Llanrwst in North Wales.

20 December – R v Betts and Ridley: a landmark case in English criminal law which establishes that to be convicted of a crime, it is not necessary for an accessory actually to be present when the offence is carried out.

24 December – in London, inventor Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrates his device to project pictures to the clouds.

Sport

FIFA World Cup

The inaugural World Cup is held in Uruguay and is won by the host nation as Uruguay defeats Argentina 4–2 in the final. England

The Football League – Sheffield Wednesday 60 points, Derby County 50, Manchester City 47, Aston Villa 47, Leeds United 46, Blackburn Rovers 45

FA Cup final – Arsenal 2–0 Huddersfield Town at Empire Stadium, Wembley, London

Cricket County Championship – Lancashire

Horse racing Champion Hurdle – Brown Tony Cheltenham Gold Cup – Easter Hero Grand National – Shaun Goilin 1,000 Guineas Stakes – Fair Isle 2,000 Guineas Stakes – Diolite The Derby – Blenheim The Oaks – Rose of England St. Leger Stakes – Singapore

Posted by brizzle born and bred on 2019-01-30 10:53:33

Tagged: , UK , British , Britain , United-Kingdom , 1930 , That Was the Year That Was – 1930 , 1930 UK news headlines

The post That Was the Year That Was – 1930 appeared first on Good Info.

[globalworship]

All Saints Day: “in our hands the strength of thousands”

‘All Saints Day’ by British poet/theologian Christopher Villiers

Saints sung in statues, singing still, To guide us from the jagged rocks, On which we fall by our self-will, When we won’t be our Shepherd’s flocks. God is our Father: brothers near And sisters too — seen and unseen, Pray for us all to have no fear Of what the Judgement Day might mean. Some saints are known to God alone, And others praised throughout the earth, All by God’s grace did well-atone, And open hearts to blessings’ birth. The Church is our true family That stretches beyond earthly graves, If only we had sense to see, Our friends stand by the King who saves.

© Christopher Villiers https://medium.com/@hopenlifepress/all-saints-day-by-catholic-theologian-christopher-villiers-54b7aa1fca21

I’m delighted to report that Christopher’s books are in print! Sonnets from the Spirit is a collection of 52 icons in poetry on major episodes from Sacred Scripture, written according to the ancient practice of midrash, by my friend and award-winning, British theologian and poet Christopher Villiers. http://www.hopeandlifepress.com/sonnets-from-the-spirit.htmlhttp://www.amazon.com/Sonnets-Spirit-Christopher-Villiers/dp/0692594639

His second book of poetry, ‘Petals of Vision,’ was published in 2017. https://www.amazon.com/Petals-Vision-Christopher-Villiers/dp/0997792868/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

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Art: The Trumpet Shall Sound by Ira Thomas (@CatholicWorldArt.com)

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"All of the places of our lives are sanctuaries; some of them just happen to have steeples. And all of the people in our lives are saints; it is just that some of them have day jobs and most will never have feast days named for them." �— Robert Benson in Between the Dreaming and the Coming True: The Road Home to God

via Fr. Philip Chircop http://www.philipchircop.com/post/167010317267/all-saints-heres-one-quotation-to-walk-with

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Ten Women Saints Whose Stories You Should Know

http://englewoodreview.org/ten-women-saints-whose-stories-you-should-know/

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Eight Righteous Women, an Orthodox Icon

(Sts. Photini, Melania the Roman, Eudocia of Samaria, Pelagia, Macrina, Mary of Egypt, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Mesopotamia) http://www.archangelsbooks.com/proddetail.asp?prod=HTM-A113

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‘Handmaidens of the Lord,’ an Orthodox Icon by Plaskon Koory

Read about the 14 women in this icon at http://images.ancientfaith.com/afp/Handmaidens_explanation.pdf

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How can we respond to all the outrages inflicted upon women saints in Bible stories and in our lives? Here is a powerful, biblically-based service. "We Remember: A Ceremony to Lament and Honor Women." https://itistrish.com/2016/11/30/we-remember-a-ceremony-to-lament-and-honor-women/

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Perpetua is martyred in AD 203, in Carthage (modern Tunisia) https://www.plough.com/en/topics/faith/witness/perpetua

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As you celebrate All Saints today, consider this nugget of wisdom from Benedictine sister, Joan Chittister:

“For centuries the church has confronted the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we really often mean to say is ‘icon,’ 'star,’ 'hero,’ ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness that they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human. They give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves.” �— Joan Chittister in A Passion for Life: Fragments of the Face of God (Orbis Books, 2014) page ix

Looking back at your life, where and in whom, have you seen “fragments of the face of God”?

via Fr. Philip Chircop http://www.philipchircop.com/post/167013656347/possibilities-of-greatness-as-you-celebrate-all

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Prayer by Jan Richardson

God of the generations, when we set our hands to labor, thinking we work alone, remind us that we carry on our lips the words of prophets, in our veins the blood of martyrs, in our eyes the mystics’ visions, in our hands the strength of thousands.

From Jan’s book In Wisdom’s Path: Discovering the Sacred in Every Season.

http://paintedprayerbook.com/2011/10/29/inspired-on-the-feast-of-all-saints/

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What is All Saints Day? by Anglican priest Fr. Greg Goebel http://anglicanpastor.com/what-is-all-saints-day/

All baptized believers are a part of the People of God – a spiritual family that goes back to the beginning. This helps us know who we are, and shows us that we belong. We have a whole history that provides us with wisdom, passed on through God’s working though and in his people. It also points us to our future reunion, giving us hope that our longing for eternal fellowship will be satisfied someday.

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Read more of Christine Sine’s thoughts on ways to mark All Saints Day at http://godspacelight.com/2015/10/30/all-saints-day-a-prayer-for-the-week/

[dienhoathanglong]

Valentine’s Day occurs every February 14. Across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and where did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of Valentine’s Day, from the ancient Roman ritual of Lupercalia that welcomed spring to the card-giving customs of Victorian England.

The Legend of St. Valentine

The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Still others insist that it was Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailor’s daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories all emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and–most importantly–romantic figure. By the middle ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.Origins of Valentine’s Day: A Pagan Festival in February

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial–which probably occurred around A.D. 270–others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat’s hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Valentine’s Day: A Day of Romance

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christuianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”–at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance. The English poet Geofrey Chaucer  was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules,” writing, ““For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.”

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, though written Valentine’s didn’t begin to appear until after 1400. The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of. (The greeting is now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.) Several years later, it is believed that King Henry V hired a writer named John Lydgate to compose a valentine note to Catherine of Valois.Typical Valentine’s Day Greetings

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began selling the first mass-produced valentines in America. Howland, known as the “Mother of the Valentine,” made elaborate creations with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as “scrap.” Today, according to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated 145 million Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year (more cards are sent at Christmas). Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all valentines.

[poweredinpeace]

“When God shows us love he has no motives for gain or evil, nor protecting himself. We, however, are full of all manner of motives and that is why its

November 07, 2019

“When God shows us love he has no motives for gain or evil, nor protecting himself. We, however, are full of all manner of motives and that is why its so hard for us to show God's love. Moreover, that is why God's grace is the purist form of God's love towards us so we understand God is love!”

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.

2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

2 Peter 1:2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

1 Peter 4:10 As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

Hebrews 13:9 Don't be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.

Facts: The story behind the hymn "Amazing Grace" Written almost two and a half centuries ago in 1772, the words for "Amazing Grace" were borne from the heart, mind and experiences of the Englishman John Newton. Knowing the story of John Newton and the journey he went through before writing the hymn will help to understand the depth of his words and his gratefulness for God's truly amazing grace.

Having lived through a rather unfortunate and troubled childhood (his mother passed away when he was just six years old), Newton spent years fighting against authority, going so far as trying to desert the Royal Navy in his twenties. Later, abandoned by his crew in West Africa, he was forced to be a servant to a slave trader but was eventually rescued. On the return voyage to England, a severe storm hit and almost sank the ship, prompting Newton to begin his spiritual conversion as he cried out to God to save them from the storm.

Upon his return, however, Newton became a slave ship master, a profession in which he served for several years. Bringing slaves from Africa to England over multiple trips, he admitted to sometimes treating the slaves abhorrently. In 1754, after becoming violently ill on a sea voyage, Newton abandoned the slave trade, and seafaring, altogether, wholeheartedly devoting his life to God's service.

He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1764 and became quite popular as a preacher and hymn writer, penning some 280 hymns, among them the great "Amazing Grace," which first appeared in the Olney Hymns, printed by Newton and poet/fellow writer William Cowper. It was later set to the popular tune NEW BRITAIN in 1835 by William Walker.

In later years, Newton fought alongside William Wilberforce, leader of the parliamentary campaign to abolish the African slave trade. He described the horrors of the slave trade in a tract he wrote supporting the campaign and lived to see the British passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807. Facts by OCP Blog

poweredinpeace.com

[rabbitcruiser]

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day originated as a Western Christian feast day honoring an early Saint named Valentine. It is still an official feast in some denominations, although the day was removed from the Catholic General Roman Calendar because not much information was known about the Saint. The day is now also a cultural and commercial holiday centered around romance and love. It is celebrated in many places around the globe, although it is not a public holiday. Symbols associated with the day are the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of a winged Cupid.’s  

There was actually not just one Saint Valentine, but three. The first and most noteworthy was Saint Valentine of Rome. He was a priest in Rome, was martyred in 269 CE, and was added to the calendar of saints in 496, by Pope Galesius. Legend has it that Valentine was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to get married, and for ministering to and assisting Christians who had been persecuted under the Roman Empire. It also is said that he cut hearts from parchment and gave them to persecuted Christians and soldiers, to remind them of their vows and God’s love. Another legend says that during his imprisonment he healed the blind daughter of his jailer, and sent her a letter before his execution, signing it as “Your Valentine.” Saint Valentine is buried on the Via Flaminia.

A second Saint Valentine was Valentine of Terni; he was a bishop of Terni, which was called Interamna at the time. He is believed to have been martyred in 273 CE, under the persecutions of Emperor Aurelian. He also was buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different area than the Valentine of Rome. A third Valentine is mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia. He was martyred in Africa along with others, but that is all that is known of him.

The day first became associated with romantic love because of the fourteenth century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote Parlement of Foules in 1382, to commemorate the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia. When the words of the poem are modernized, they can be read as, “For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.” The first time Valentine’s Day is mentioned as an annual day for love is in the Charter of the Court of Love from 1400. Believed to be written by Charles VI of France, it notes festivities on Valentine’s Day attended by members of the royal court, including a feast, love related song and poetry competitions, jousting, and dancing.

The giving of “valentines” began shortly thereafter. The earliest written valentine dates to 1415, and the earliest surviving English valentines date to 1477, and are part of the Paston Letters. By the eighteenth century, lovers were giving each other flowers, confectionaries, and valentines in the form of greeting cards. Valentines were so popular by the early nineteenth century that they were made in factories. Fancier valentines were made of lace and ribbons. Sixty thousand valentines were sent by the post of Britain in 1835. In 1840, postal rates were lowered and postage stamps were created, and in 1841, there were 400,000 valentines mailed. More began being sent by mail, but they became less personal. At this time cards began being exchanged anonymously as well. In 1868, the British chocolate company Cadbury created boxes of chocolates in the shape of hearts for Valentines Day—called Fancy Boxes—leading to the association of boxes of chocolates with the day.

Valentine’s Day cards were first mass produced in the United States in 1847. By the second half of the twentieth century, various other types of gifts were given, such as jewelry. In the United States, 190 million valentines are sent each year. Besides being exchanged between lovers, about half are given to others, usually to children. If school-made valentines are counted, a billion valentines are exchanged each year, and more are given to teachers than anyone else. In the age of the internet, more and more e-cards are being sent.

How to Observe

Celebrate the day by giving valentines to your loved ones. You could buy some from the store, as is the norm, but writing them by hand will give them more meaning. If you have a significant other, make plans to spend the day with them. Do some of your favorite things together, or try something new. If you are single, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate the day. No matter if you are single or not, there are some films and songs perfectly meant for the day that can be enjoyed by everyone. 

Source

[iamastrongchristian-blog]

Read Your Bible: Twenty-Nine Reasons Why the Bible Is Superior to Every Other Book

Most people do not understand the uniqueness and superiority of this great book.  It is a book like no other book.  If someone asks you for the meaning of the word unique, you might as well say it means “Bible”.  Unique in the dictionary is defined as: the one and only.  It also means: to be different from all others, having no like or equal.

1. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN THE FACT THAT IT IS THE MOST RELIABLE HISTORIC DOCUMENT OF ALL TIME.   When we do not have the original historical document, we must establish how reliable the copies are.  This is done in two ways: I. The more identical manuscript copies of the original we have, the more sure we are that the copies reflect what is in the original document. II. The shorter the time interval between the copy and the original, the more sure we are that the copy reflects what is in the original.

“There are more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.  Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions (MSS) and we have more than 24,000 manuscripts copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today.” “No other document even begins to approach such numbers and attestation.  In comparison, the book “Iliad” by Homer is second to the Bible and it has only 643 manuscripts that still survive.  The first complete preserved text of Homer dates from the 13th century.” John Warwick Montgomery says that “To be sceptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.” Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, who was the director and principal librarian of the British Museum says, “…besides number, the manuscripts of the New Testament differ from those of the classical authors, and this time the difference is clear gain.  In no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the book and the date of the earliest extant manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament.  The books of the New Testament were written in the latter part of the first century; the earliest extant manuscripts (trifling scraps excepted) are of the fourth century - say from 250 to 300 years later.” “This may sound a considerable interval, but it is nothing to that which parts most of the great classical authors from their earliest manuscripts.  We believe that we have in all essentials an accurate text of the seven extant plays of Sophocles; yet the earliest substantial manuscript upon which it is based was written more than 1400 years after the poet’s death.”

Kenyon continues in The Bible and Archaeology: “The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed.  Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”

2.  THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR TO OTHER BOOKS BECAUSE ARCHAEOLOGY HAS CONSTANTLY CONFIRMED ITS HISTORICAL ACCURACY AND VALIDITY. “Nelson Glueck, the renowned Jewish archaeologist, wrote: “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”  He continued his assertion of “the almost incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible, and particularly so when it is fortified by archaeological fact.” William F. Albright, known for his reputation as one of the great archaeologists, states: “There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition.”

Albright adds: “The excessive scepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited.  Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history.”

3. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS UNITY AND CONTINUITY. Over forty authors wrote sixty-six books over a period of 1,500 years.  Many never saw the writings of the others and yet there is no contradiction between any two of them. It is very unlikely, if not impossible, to collect any group of books of any other forty men on any subject and find that they agree, as it is with the Bible.

Nine Facts about the Unity and Continuity of the Bible

1. The Bible was written over a 1,500 years span. 

2. The Bible was written over 40 generations. 

3. The Bible was written by over 40 authors from every walk of life: 

§ Moses, a political leader, trained in the universities of  Egypt § Peter, a fisherman § Amos, a herdsman § Joshua, a military general § Nehemiah, a cupbearer § Daniel, a prime minister § Luke, a doctor § Solomon, a king § Matthew, a tax collector § Paul, a rabbi 4. The Bible was written in different places:

§ Moses in the wilderness § Jeremiah in a dungeon § Daniel on a hillside and in a palace § Paul, inside prison walls § Luke, while travelling § John, on the isle of Patmos § Others in the rigors of a military campaign

5. The Bible was written at different times:

§ David in times of war § Solomon in times of peace 6. The Bible was written during different moods:

§ Some writing from the heights of joy and others writing from depths of sorrow and despair 7. The Bible was written on three continents:

§ Asia, Africa and Europe 8. The Bible was written in three languages:

§ Hebrew: The language of the Old Testament.  It was called “the language of Judah” in 2 Kings 18:26-28 and in Isaiah 19:18, “the language of Canaan” § Aramaic: This was the “common language” of the Near East until the time of   Alexander the Great (6th century BC - 4th century BC) § Greek: The New Testament language.  This was the international language at the time of Christ 9. The Bible includes in its subject matter hundreds of controversial subjects.  A controversial subject is one, which creates opposing opinion when mentioned or discussed. 

 Biblical authors spoke on hundreds of controversial subjects with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. The result is one unfolding story: “God’s redemption of man!” 

What F.F. Bruce said about the Bible “Any part of the human body can only be properly explained in reference to the whole body.  And any part of the Bible can only be properly explained in reference to the whole Bible.” “The Bible, at first sight, appears to be a collection of literature - mainly Jewish.  If we inquire into the circumstance under which the various Biblical documents were written, we find that they were written at intervals over a space of nearly 1400 years.”

“The writers wrote in various lands, from Italy in the west to Mesopotamia and possibly Persia in the east.” “The writers themselves were a heterogeneous number of people, not only separated from each other by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles, but also belonging to the most diverse walks of life.  In their ranks we have kings, herdsmen, soldiers, legislators, fishermen, statesmen, courtiers, priests and prophets, a tent-making Rabbi and a Gentile physician, not to speak of others of whom we know nothing apart from the writings they have left us.” “The writings themselves belong to a great variety of literary types.  They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, and sanitary), religious poetry, didactic treatises, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, personal memoirs and diaries.”

4. THE BIBLE IS MORE DISTINCTIVE THAN EVERY OTHER BOOK EVER PUBLISHED.   The Bible is superior to other books in its origin, formation, doctrines, principles, claims, moral tone, histories, prophecies, revelation, literature, present redemption and eternal benefits.

5. UNLIKE OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED, THE BIBLE HAS A VAST INFLUENCE IN THIS WORLD.   The Bible has blessed millions of people of every generation.  The Bible has contributed to the creation of the greatest civilizations on earth.  It has given man the highest hope and destiny.

6. THE WISEST MOST GODLY AND HONEST MEN IN THIS WORLD ACKNOWLEDGE THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD.  

Only infidels and ungodly people reject the Bible. 7. UNLIKE MANY OTHER BOOKS, THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN BY HONEST AND GODLY MEN.  

This is because it condemns all sin and records the sins and faults of its writers as well as others.  This is something evil men would not do.  Even good men would not do this unless they were inspired to do so to help others. 8. THE BIBLE MEETS ALL THE NEEDS OF MANKIND.  

All man’s present and eternal needs are met by the Bible.

9. THE BIBLE HAS BEEN PRESERVED THROUGH THE AGES.  

Whole kingdoms and religions have sought in vain to destroy it.  God has made the Bible indestructible and victorious. 10. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR TO OTHER BOOKS BECAUSE THE HEAVENLY AND ETERNAL CHARACTER OF ITS CONTENTS PROVE IT TO BE OF GOD.

11. THE PREACHING OF THE BIBLE CHANGES THE LIVES OF PEOPLE.   The response of humanity to this great book shows that it is of a supernatural and superior nature.

12. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS INFINITE DEPTHS AND LOFTY IDEALS.

13. THE BIBLE STANDS OUT IN SUPREMACY BY THE UNBELIEVABLE NUMBER OF PROPHECIES THAT IT CONTAINS.   About three thousand three hundred prophecies have been fulfilled.  Predictions made hundreds and even thousands of years earlier have been fulfilled.  Not one detail has failed yet.  About 2,908 verses are being fulfilled or will be fulfilled.

14. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS MIRACULOUS NATURE.   Hundreds of miracles are recorded in the scriptures.  Miracles happen daily among those who pray and claim Bible promises.

15. THE BIBLE IS ALONE IN ITS FLAWLESSNESS.   The Bible is scientifically and historically correct.  No one man has found the Bible at fault in any of its many hundreds of statements of history, astronomy, botany, geology, geography or any other branch of learning.

16. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS ADAPTABILITY.   The Bible is always up to date on every subject.  It can be applied to the lives of people who live in Africa, Asia, Europe or America.  It was useful to people who lived a thousand years ago and it is still relevant to the people who live in the twenty first century.

17. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS MORAL AND SPIRITUAL POWER.   It meets perfectly every spiritual and moral need of man.

18. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS DOCTRINES.   The doctrines of the Bible surpass all human ideas or principles of relationships, religion and culture.

19. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR BECAUSE IT CLAIMS TO BE THE WORD OF GOD.   Over three thousand eight hundred times, Bible writers claimed that God spoke what they wrote.  In other words, the Bible itself claims to be the Word of God.

20. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN SECULAR HISTORY. Many pagan, Jewish and Christian writers confirm the facts of the Bible.  They actually quote the Bible as being genuine, authentic and inspired of God.

21. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS WORLDWIDE CIRCULATION.  

Most authors have their books circulated within communities.  You will be surprised to find that many authors who are very popular are not known at all in other parts of the world.  Not so with the Bible! ”The Bible has been read by more people and published in more languages than any other book.  There have been more copies produced of its entirety and more portions and selections than any other book in history. Some will argue that in a designated month or year more of a certain book was sold.  However, over all there is absolutely no book that reaches or even begins to compare to the circulation of the Scriptures.”

What HY Pickering said about the Bible

Hy Pickering said that about 30 years ago, for the British and Foreign Bible Society to meet its demands, it had to publish: “One copy every three seconds day and night, 22 copies every minute day and night, 1,369 copies every hour day and night, 32,876 copies every day in the year.” It is deeply interesting to know that this amazing number of Bibles was dispatched to various parts of the world in 4,583 cases weighing 490 tons!

22. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS WORLDWIDE TRANSLATIONS. The Bible was one of the first major books translated (Septuagint: Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, ca 250 BC).  It has been translated and retranslated and paraphrased more than any other book in existence. Encyclopaedia Britannica says, “By 1966 the whole Bible had appeared… in 240 languages and dialects… one or more whole books of the Bible in 739 additional ones, a total publication of 1,280 languages.” Three thousand Bible translators between 1950-1960 were at work translating the Scriptures. The Bible factually stands unique (“one of a kind; alone in its class”) in its translation.

23. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS CONTINUED EXISTENCE THROUGH THE YEARS. Being written on material that perishes, having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, did not diminish its style, correctness or existence.  The Bible, compared with other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any 10 pieces of classical literature combined. What John Warwick Montgomery said about the Bible “To be sceptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament.” What John Lea said about the Bible John Lea in The Greatest Book in the World compared the Bible with Shakespeare’s writings.  He had this to say: “It seems strange that the text of Shakespeare, which has been in existence less than two hundred and eight years, should be far more uncertain and corrupt than that of the New Testament, now over eighteen centuries old, during  nearly fifteen of which it existed only in manuscript. …With perhaps a dozen or twenty exceptions, the text of every verse in the New Testament may be said to be so far settled by general consent of scholars, that any dispute as to its readings must relate rather to the interpretation of the words than to any doubts respecting the words themselves.  But in everyone of Shakespeare’s thirty seven plays there are probably a hundred readings still in dispute, a large portion of which materially affects the meaning of the passages in which they occur.”

24.  THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS ABILITY TO SURVIVE PERSECUTION. What Sidney Collett said about the Bible Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778, said that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history.  But what has happened?  Voltaire has passed into history, while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes. Concerning the boast of Voltaire on the extinction of Christianity and the Bible in 100 years, Geisler and Nix point out that “only fifty years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles.” What an irony of history! In AD 303, Diocletian issued an edict (Cambridge History of the Bible, Cambridge University Press, 1963) to stop Christians from worshipping and to destroy their Scriptures. “…An imperial letter was everywhere promulgated, ordering the razing of the churches to the ground and the destruction by fire of the Scriptures, and proclaiming that those who held high positions would lose all civil rights while those in households, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty.” The historic irony of the above edict to destroy the Bible is that Eusebius records an edict given 25 years later by Constantine, the emperor of Diocletian, that 50 copies of the Scriptures should be prepared at the expense of the government.

25. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS ABILITY TO ENDURE CRITICISM. What H.L. Hastings said about the Bible H.L. Hastings has forcibly illustrated the unique way the Bible has withstood the attacks of infidels and sceptics. “Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock.  Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt. When the French monarch proposed the persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, “Sire, the church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers.”  So the hammers of infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures. If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago.  Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still lives.” What Bernard Ramm said about the Bible “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read.  But somehow the corpse never stays put. No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified.  What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles letters of classical or modern times has been the subject to such a mass attack as the Bible?  With such venom and scepticism?  With such thoroughness and erudition?  Upon every chapter, line and tenet? The Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions.”

26.  THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN THE NATURE OF ITS PROPHECIES.   Wilbur Smith who compiled a personal library of 25,000 volumes writes: “It is the only volume ever produced by man, or a group of men in which is to be found a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, to Israel, to all the peoples of the earth, to certain cities, and to the coming of One who was to be the Messiah; The ancient world had many different devices for determining the future, known as divination, but not in the entire gamut of Greek and Latin literature, even though they use the words prophet and prophecy, can we find any real specific prophecy of a great historic event to come in the distant future, nor any prophecy of a Saviour to arise in the human race. “Mohammedanism cannot point to any prophecies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth.  Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their appearance.” 27. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS HONESTY. The Bible deals very frankly with the sins of its characters.  Read the biographies today, and see how they try to cover up, overlook or ignore the shady side of people.  Take the great literary geniuses; most are painted as saints.  The Bible does not do it that way.  It simply tells it like it is.

28. THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR IN ITS INFLUENCE ON SURROUNDING LITERATURE. What Cleland B. McAfee said about the Bible Cleland B. McAfee writes in The Greatest English Classic: ”If every Bible in any considerable city were destroyed, the Book could be restored in all its essential parts from the quotations on the shelves of the city public library.  There are works, covering almost all the great literary writers, devoted especially to showing how much the Bible has influenced them.” What Kenneth Scott Latourette Said about Jesus Kenneth Scott Latourette, former Yale historian, says: “It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history and presumably, of the baffling mystery of His being that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many peoples and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount.” A professor once remarked:  “If you are an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has drawn more attention than any other, if you are searching for the truth!” 

29.  THE BIBLE IS SUPERIOR BECAUSE IT HAS SET UNUSUAL RECORDS. i. The Bible is the first religious book to be taken into outer space. ii. It is also one of the (if not the) most expensive books. Gutenberg’s Latin Vulgate Bible sold for over $100,000.  The Russians sold the Codex Sinaiticus (an early copy of the Bible) to England for $510,000. iii. The longest telegram in the world was the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament sent from New York to Chicago.

by Dag Heward-Mills

[everydaynuggets-blog]

Why the Bible Is Superior to Every Other Book

Most people do not understand the uniqueness and superiority of this great book. It is a book like no other book. If someone asks you for the meaning of the word unique, you might as well say it means "Bible". Unique in the dictionary is defined as: the one and only. It also means: to be different from all others, having no like or equal.

Twenty-Nine Reasons Why the Bible Is Superior to Every Other Book on Earth

1. The Bible is superior in the fact that it is the most reliable historic document of all time.

When we do not have the original historical document, we must establish how reliable the copies are. This is done in two ways:

i. The more identical manuscript copies of the original we have, the more sure we are that the copies reflect what is in the original document.

ii. The shorter the time interval between the copy and the original, the more sure we are that the copy reflects what is in the original.

"There are more than 5,300 known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and at least 9,300 other early versions (MSS) and we have more than 24,000 manuscripts copies of portions of the New Testament in existence today."

"No other document of antiquity even begins to approach such numbers and attestation. In comparison, the book Iliad by Homer is second with only 643 manuscripts that still survive. The first complete preserved text of Homer dates from the 13th century."

John Warwick Montgomery says that "to be sceptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament."

Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, who was the director and principal librarian of the British Museum and second to none in authority for issuing statements about MSS, says, "…besides number, the manuscripts of the New Testament differ from those of the classical authors, and this time the difference is clear gain. In no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the book and the date of the earliest extant manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament. The books of the New Testament were written in the latter part of the first century; the earliest extant manuscripts (trifling scraps excepted) are of the fourth century - say from 250 to 300 years later."

"This may sound a considerable interval, but it is nothing to that which parts most of the great classical authors from their earliest manuscripts. We believe that we have in all essentials an accurate text of the seven extant plays of Sophocles; yet the earliest substantial manuscript upon which it is based was written more than 1400 years after the poet's death."

Kenyon continues in The Bible and Archaeology: "The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."

2. The Bible is superior to other books because archaeology has constantly confirmed its historical accuracy and validity.

"Nelson Glueck, the renowned Jewish archaeologist, wrote: "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference." He continued his assertion of "the almost incredibly accurate historical memory of the Bible, and particularly so when it is fortified by archaeological fact."

William F. Albright, known for his reputation as one of the great archaeologists, states: "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition."

Albright adds: "The excessive scepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history."

3. The Bible is superior in its unity and continuity. Over forty authors wrote sixty-six books over a period of 1,500 years. Many never saw the writings of the others and yet there is no contradiction between any two of them.

Collect any group of books of any other forty men on any subject and see if they agree.

Nine Facts about the Unity and Continuity of the Bible

a. The Bible was written over a 1,500 years span.

b. The Bible was written over 40 generations.

c. The Bible was written by over 40 authors from every walk of life:

§ Moses, a political leader, trained in the universities of Egypt

§ Peter, a fisherman

§ Amos, a herdsman

§ Joshua, a military general

§ Nehemiah, a cupbearer

§ Daniel, a prime minister

§ Luke, a doctor

§ Solomon, a king

§ Matthew, a tax collector

§ Paul, a rabbi

d. The Bible was written in different places:

§ Moses in the wilderness

§ Jeremiah in a dungeon

§ Daniel on a hillside and in a palace

§ Paul, inside prison walls

§ Luke, while travelling

§ Others in the rigors of a military campaign.

e. The Bible was written at different times:

§ David in times of war

§ Solomon in times of peace

f. The Bible was written during different moods:

§ Some writing from the heights of joy and others writing from depths of sorrow and despair. g. The Bible was written on three continents:

§ Asia, Africa and Europe

h. The Bible was written in three languages:

§ Hebrew: The language of the Old Testament. It was called "the language of Judah" in 2 Kings 18:26-28 and in Isaiah 19:18, "the language of Canaan".

§ Aramaic: This was the "common language" of the Near East until the time of Alexander the Great (6th century BC - 4th century BC).

§ Greek: The New Testament language. This was the international language at the time of Christ.

i. The Bible includes in its subject matter hundreds of controversial subjects. A controversial subject is one, which creates opposing opinions when mentioned or discussed. Biblical authors spoke on hundreds of controversial subjects with harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. The result is one unfolding story: "God's redemption of man!"

What F.F. Bruce Said about the Bible

"Any part of the human body can only be properly explained in reference to the whole body. And any part of the Bible can only be properly explained in reference to the whole Bible."

"The Bible, at first sight, appears to be a collection of literature - mainly Jewish. If we inquire into the circumstance under which the various Biblical documents were written, we find that they were written at intervals over a space of nearly 1400 years."

"The writers wrote in various lands, from Italy in the west to Mesopotamia and possibly Persia in the east."

"The writers themselves were a heterogeneous number of people, not only separated from each other by hundreds of years and hundreds of miles, but also belonging to the most diverse walks of life. In their ranks we have kings, herdsmen, soldiers, legislators, fishermen, statesmen, courtiers, priests and prophets, a tent-making Rabbi and a Gentile physician, not to speak of others of whom we know nothing apart from the writings they have left us."

"The writings themselves belong to a great variety of literary types. They include history, law (civil, criminal, ethical, ritual, and sanitary), religious poetry, didactic treatises, lyric poetry, parable and allegory, biography, personal correspondence, personal memoirs and diaries."

4. The Bible is more distinctive than every other book ever published. The Bible is superior to other books in its origin, formation, doctrines, principles, claims, moral tone, histories, prophecies, revelation, literature, present redemption and eternal benefits.

5. Unlike other books published, the Bible has a vast influence in this world. The Bible has blessed millions of people of every generation. The Bible has contributed to the creation of the greatest civilizations on earth. It has given man the highest hope and destiny.

6. The wisest most godly and honest men in this world acknowledge the Bible as the Word of God. Only infidels and ungodly people reject the Bible.

7. Unlike many other books, the Bible was written by honest and godly men. This is because it condemns all sin and records the sins and faults of its writers as well as others. This is something evil men would not do. Even good men would not do this unless they were inspired to do so to help others.

8. The Bible meets all the needs of mankind. All man's present and eternal needs are met by the Bible.

9. The Bible has been preserved through the ages. Whole kingdoms and religions have sought in vain to destroy it. God has made the Bible indestructible and victorious.

10. The Bible is superior to other books because the heavenly and eternal character of its contents prove it to be of God.

11. The preaching of the Bible changes the lives of people. The response of humanity to this great book shows that it is of a supernatural and superior nature.

12. The Bible is superior in its infinite depths and lofty ideals.

13. The Bible stands out in supremacy by the unbelievable number of prophecies that it contains. About three thousand three hundred prophecies have been fulfilled. Predictions made hundreds and even thousands of years earlier have been fulfilled. Not one detail has failed yet. About 2,908 verses are being fulfilled or will be fulfilled.

14. The Bible is superior in its miraculous nature. Hundreds of miracles are recorded in the scriptures.

Miracles happen daily among those who pray and claim Bible promises.

15. The Bible is alone in its flawlessness. The Bible is scientifically and historically correct. No one man has found the Bible at fault in any of its many hundreds of statements of history, astronomy, botany, geology, geography or any other branch of learning.

16. The Bible is superior in its adaptability. The Bible is always up to date on every subject. It can be applied to the lives of people who live in Africa, Asia, Europe or America. It was useful to people who lived a thousand years ago and it is still relevant to the people who live in the twenty first century.

17. The Bible is superior in its moral and spiritual power. It meets perfectly every spiritual and moral need of man.

18. The Bible is superior in its doctrines. The doctrines of the Bible surpass all human ideas or principles of relationships, religion and culture.

19. The Bible is superior because it claims to be the Word of God. Over three thousand eight hundred times, Bible writers claimed that God spoke what they wrote. In other words, the Bible itself claims to be the Word of God.

20. The Bible is superior in secular history. Many pagan, Jewish and Christian writers confirm the facts of the Bible. They actually quote the Bible as being genuine, authentic and inspired of God.

21. The Bible is superior in its worldwide circulation. Most authors have their books circulated within communities. You will be surprised to find that many authors who are very popular are not known at all in other parts of the world. Not so with the Bible!

23"The Bible has been read by more people and published in more languages than any other book. There have been more copies produced of its entirety and more portions and selections than any other book in history.

Some will argue that in a designated month or year more of a certain book was sold. However, over all there is absolutely no book that reaches or even begins to compare to the circulation of the Scriptures."

What HY Pickering said about the Bible

Hy Pickering said that about 30 years ago, for the British and Foreign Bible Society to meet its demands, it had to publish:

One copy every three seconds day and night, 22 copies every minute day and night, 1,369 copies every hour day and night, 32,876 copies every day in the year.

It is deeply interesting to know that this amazing number of Bibles was dispatched to various parts of the world in 4,583 cases weighing 490 tons!23

22. The Bible is superior in its worldwide translations.

The Bible was one of the first major books translated (Septuagint: Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, ca 250 BC). It has been translated and retranslated and paraphrased more than any other book in existence.

Encyclopaedia Britannica says "by 1966 the whole Bible had appeared… in 240 languages and dialects… one or more whole books of the Bible in 739 additional ones, a total publication of 1,280 languages."

Three thousand Bible translators between 1950-1960 were at work translating the Scriptures.

The Bible factually stands unique ("one of a kind; alone in its class") in its translation.

The Bible is superior in its continued existence through the years.

Being written on material that perishes, having to be copied and recopied for hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press, did not diminish its style, correctness or existence. The Bible, compared with other ancient writings, has more manuscript evidence than any 10 pieces of classical literature combined.

What John Warwick Montgomery Said about the Bible

"To be sceptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament."

What John Lea Said about the Bible

John Lea in The Greatest Book in the World compared the Bible with Shakespeare's writings. He had this to say:

"It seems strange that the text of Shakespeare, which has been in existence less than two hundred and eight years, should be far more uncertain and corrupt than that of the New Testament, now over eighteen centuries old, during nearly fifteen of which it existed only in manuscript.

With perhaps a dozen or twenty exceptions, the text of every verse in the New Testament may be said to be so far settled by general consent of scholars, that any dispute as to its readings must relate rather to the interpretation of the words than to any doubts respecting the words themselves. But in everyone of Shakespeare's thirty seven plays there are probably a hundred readings still in dispute, a large portion of which materially affects the meaning of the passages in which they occur."

24. The Bible is superior in its ability to survive persecution.

What Sidney Collett Said about the Bible:

Voltaire, the noted French infidel who died in 1778, said that in one hundred years from his time Christianity would be swept from existence and passed into history. But what has happened? Voltaire has passed into history, while the circulation of the Bible continues to increase in almost all parts of the world, carrying blessing wherever it goes.

Concerning the boast of Voltaire on the extinction of Christianity and the Bible in 100 years, Geisler and Nix point out that "only fifty years after his death the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to produce stacks of Bibles." What An irony of history!

In AD 303, Diocletian issued an edict (Cambridge History of the Bible, Cambridge University Press, 1963) to stop Christians from worshipping and to destroy their Scriptures.

"…An imperial letter was everywhere promulgated, ordering the razing of the churches to the ground and the destruction by fire of the Scriptures, and proclaiming that those who held high positions would lose all civil rights while those in households, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, would be deprived of their liberty."

The historic irony of the above edict to destroy the Bible is that Eusebius records the edict given 25 years later by Constantine, the emperor of Diocletian, that 50 copies of the Scriptures should be prepared at the expense of the government. 

25. The Bible is superior in its ability to endure criticism.

What H.L. Hastings Said about the Bible

H.L. Hastings has forcibly illustrated the unique way the Bible has withstood the attacks of infidels and sceptics.

"Infidels for eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid as a rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before.

Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt.

When the French monarch proposed the persecution of the Christians in his dominion, an old statesman and warrior said to him, "Sire, the church of God is an anvil that has worn out many hammers." So the hammers of infidels have been pecking away at this book for ages, but the hammers are worn out, and the anvil still endures.

If this book had not been the book of God, men would have destroyed it long ago. Emperors and popes, kings and priests, princes and rulers have all tried their hand at it; they die and the book still lives."

What Bernard Ramm Said about the Bible

"A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put. No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified. What book on philosophy or religion or psychology or belles letters of classical or modern times has been the subject to such a mass attack as the Bible? With such venom and scepticism? With such thoroughness and erudition? Upon every chapter, line and tenet?

The Bible is still loved by millions, read by millions, and studied by millions."

26. The Bible is superior in the nature of its prophecies.

Wilbur Smith who compiled a personal library of 25,000 volumes writes:

"It is the only volume ever produced by man, or a group of men in which is to be found a large body of prophecies relating to individual nations, to Israel, to all the peoples of the earth, to certain cities, and to the coming of One who was to be the Messiah;

The ancient world had many different devices for determining the future, known as divination, but not in the entire gamut of Greek and Latin literature, even though they use the words prophet and prophecy, can we find any real specific prophecy of a great historic event to come in the distant future, nor any prophecy of a Saviour to arise in the human race.

"Mohammedanism cannot point to any prophecies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth. Neither can the founders of any cult in this country rightly identify any ancient text specifically foretelling their appearance." 

27. The Bible is superior in its honesty. The Bible deals very frankly with the sins of its characters. Read the biographies today, and see how they try to cover up, overlook or ignore the shady side of people. Take the great literary geniuses; most are painted as saints. The Bible does not do it that way. It simply tells it like it is.

28. The Bible is superior in its influence on surrounding literature.

What Cleland B. McAfee Said about the Bible

Cleland B. McAfee writes in The Greatest English Classic:

29"If every Bible in any considerable city were destroyed, the Book could be restored in all its essential parts from the quotations on the shelves of the city public library. There are works, covering almost all the great literary writers, devoted especially to showing how much the Bible has influenced them."

What Kenneth Scott Latourette Said about Jesus

Kenneth Scott Latourette, former Yale historian, says:

"It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history and presumably, of the baffling mystery of His being that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many peoples and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount."

A professor once remarked: "If you are an intelligent person, you will read the one book that has drawn mo 29. The Bible is superior because it has set unusual records.

i. The Bible is the first religious book to be taken into outer space.

ii. It is also one of the (if not the) most expensive books.

Gutenberg's Latin Vulgate Bible sold for over $100,000. The Russians sold the Codex Sinaiticus (an early copy of the Bible) to England for $510,000.

ii The longest telegram in the world was the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament sent from New York to Chicago.

by Dag Heward-Mills