The Bibliographic Society (B.S.) announced today the discovery of a previously unknown manuscript dating to the first century C.E.\u00a0 This spectacular find, hidden under a bushel in the Qumran caves, appears to be a record of an interview between a local journalist named Simon Bar Khoba and a person identified tantalizingly only as “the Nazarene.”\u00a0 I’m reproducing a portion here that has already been deciphered and translated:<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 It’s said that you refuse to sign the Jerusalem Declaration.\u00a0 My readers would like to know why.<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting the authorities for me; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 But surely you agree that the Roman law is inconsistent with God’s law! Isn’t it our duty as God’s people to change this?<\/p>\n
TN: \u00a0 Put your sword back in its place. All who draw the sword will die by the sword.<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 Who said anything about a sword? I’m talking politics! We need to take back our nation!<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 Um… I guess. So go ahead, call out the angels and let’s transform this culture!<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 You have heard that it was said, \u2018Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.\u2019 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 That hardly seems practical or fair. Our culture is in the grip of great darkness. It’s our responsibility to confront the darkness and show our leaders their errors. If we rebel against the government, it is an act of love, not retribution.<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 You have heard that it was said, \u2018Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\u2019 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.<\/p>\n
SBK: \u00a0 So we’re supposed to tolerate the scorn of these reprobates who over-tax us, over-spend on social programs, and all the while indulge in every kind of debauchery? Personally, I’m putting them on notice: I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore. Are you with us or against us?<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 This is astonishing, if I may say so. We need to show these people we mean business, that we’re organized and unified. The Jerusalem Declaration lays out our core principles, a plan by which we can begin rightly ordering this society. What do you offer instead?<\/p>\n
TN:\u00a0 Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 No, no and a thousand times, no! The Temple can’t be destroyed, it’s the key to our restoration!<\/p>\n
TN: \u00a0 Behold, I am making all things new!<\/p>\n
SBK:\u00a0 You can’t be serious.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At this point, the manuscript becomes illegible. Hopefully, the BS will be able to decipher more of it soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bibliographic Society (B.S.) announced today the discovery of a previously unknown manuscript dating to the first century C.E.\u00a0 This spectacular find, hidden under a bushel in the Qumran caves, appears to be a record of an interview between a local journalist named Simon Bar Khoba and a person identified tantalizingly only as “the Nazarene.”\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epistemology","category-humor","category-law-and-policy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p824rZ-gu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidopderbeck.com\/tgdarkly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}