Robittybob1

But they weren't dead when they took the heart, they may have been brain dead and on the respirator. The heart tissue was always alive AFAIK. It is when and before they turn off the respirator that they take the organs isn't it? But if someone is dead with ebola that blood could be used to make a serum or plasma but not much else. In industry they do use blood from dead animals for pharmaceutical use, but not for transfusions AFAIK. No sorry, they do take blood from cattle at abattoirs to treat other cattle suffering from Theileriosis (which causes an anemia). So that is from healthy animals moments after they have been stunned so in a way they are really still "alive".

Well that is of course possible, but what would happen if someone could rediscover faith? Just a little bit of faith was supposed to go a long way. I spent time looking for it, I heard of the odd miracle had happened etc but I never got to see it myself, not an instantaneous healing miracle anyhow. I haven't written it off as fantasy yet.

I wouldn't want to use the blood of a "newly dead person" - no way!

So do you think the Christians are just following a "charismatic apocalyptic preacher"? No, there was something much more extraordinary going on. OK it is extremely difficult to get into that space but somehow Jesus did it. It is the difference between atheism and theism. If you can believe you have to go the whole hog. Imagine believing that the way forward is via a crucifixion. It would be like the ISIS hostages saying to their captors "please cut my throat". Jesus could have put up a decent defense in front of Pontius Pilate. Nah, he just stood there like a lamb to the slaughter. Why would anyone do that?

Can they culture the cells that are producing the antibodies? (possibly Lymphocytes and culture them). Like do transfusions of immunocompetent cells. What are the cells that produce antibodies against Ebola? Can they be specifically isolated and even encouraged to multiply in cell culture? It seems to be B Cells. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_cell

I don't claim to have been abducted by aliens, do you? I know, I went through a period when I thought "I was going to be abducted by aliens" and I took evasive action. It is a bit hard to recollect all the events but there were 3 times, twice when other people reported UFO activity in my vicinity and once I was on my own, but each time I went into "hiding", so I didn't actually see anything myself, close up, but I could hear it when I was in the tunnel, and it affected the TV reception another time, and I did see lights at a distance on a third time (I'm not sure what it was). One time I buried myself in a tunnel and remained there to the point where I was dying from the lack of oxygen, I only got out of that just in time as my muscles were going into spasms and my mind was flashing on and off (a pulsating feeling) and I still had to clear the entrance in this state. I struggle to remember the order of all three "abduction escapes", but since then (1991) I have had no further problems. It seems possible that people believe they are abducted, and I'm glad to have missed out on that experience. It was odd that the search for truth was complicated by this alien aspect. Are the ones who experience alien abductions also those who are seeking truth? Is there some correlation? I haven't heard of it, have you? The final aspect of Christ's ascension into heaven sounds a bit "alien abduction like" too, with a cloud coming and taking him off the mountain top. Not much is ever said about that today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RybZpoEza5s Nothing about the Jesus story is easy.

Are you saying you believe these stories of alien abductions? There is no point in telling me how many thousands attest to alien abductions unless you accept their word as factual. If there was nothing in the historical record for jesus being a twin I wasn't going to believe the story but to my surprise there was. The Bible is a collection of books it isn't just one book. Listen to or read Erhman "Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth" and you might change your mind. How many alien abduction stories are about 2000 years old? So how can you compare one to the other?

I don't recall my views ever being called "dogmatic". In fact I'll have to consult the Google dictionary to even see what that means! Dogmatic : expressing personal opinions or beliefs as if they are certainly correct and cannot be doubted (merriam webster dictionary) Well yes it became like dealing with a set of simultaneous equations to solve the Jesus story and one was left with only the "one" set of numbers that solved them completely. If you call the answers to a simultaneous equation problem "dogmatic answers" I will live with the criticism. That felt like a stealthful attempt of an alien trying to abduct the thread. Yes if there was as much evidence for alien abduction as there is for Jesus being a "real person" you would be a believer.

I like your little red friend! it might have been around 4 hours into the Audiobook.

There is a full AudioBook here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7SPkzwnNg I'm listening to it but dozing off, now and then. Struck a section where Erhman is arguing that Jesus and Judas Thomas were actual twins. Did you note that section Eise?

Let us know if you can get a second blog for I couldn't tell that the blog "Engineering the future" was part of SFN.

I would love to see you do this. It sounds like a blog on SFN but I'm a bit new here to give advice.

This Dyneslines blog deals with the issue of the twinship of Jesus: http://dyneslines.blogspot.co.nz/2008/02/jesus-twin.html In the case of Mary I think we should say both were divine. For if the first born was to be called Jesus what determines which of the two babies, that are twins, comes out first to get the birthright. Was it a 50:50 chance that the real Jesus became the Son of God or did the non real Jesus beat his bother through the birth canal? If you name your babies before they are born did you name them correctly? I have not been given any answer to this issue yet. That is a reasonable view of the Bible as a whole but in every aspect I have looked into of the history of Jesus it seemed to hold out as long as he was born in 17 BC and died in 31 AD. he was therefore twelve when he returned from Egypt. http://www.christianity.com/god/jesus-christ/life-on-earth/myths-of-the-resurrection-11571385.html?p=3 That explanation was a bit of a laugh!

It is a bit weird the references are listed in Google but I can't find them in the threads! I seem to be the only one who points the finger toward John (the beloved disciple) being Jesus' twin brother. I have been through a lot of Google results pages and still suprised that no one has picked up on this idea.

drought not draught -

So what colour was it to your naked eye? I assume it was green. What light mixes to form green, is it red and yellow? With monitors (RGB) "Red and green mixes to form yellow". I'm interested but I'm not an expert in this topic.

I'm surprised no one has asked if there was any proof in the historical records if Jesus was a twin? Twins seem to have their own human condition. A sentence in a book on the Gospel of Thomas written by Elaine Pagels was my first clue that there was something in it, she wrote something like; "Does this mean Jesus had a twin brother as this ancient text implies". More references were found in the book "Thomas the Contender". Even in the Christian scriptures is the hidden mystery of why Jesus' brother Jude (Thomas Judas Didymis) was called the "Twin"? Judas might have looked like Jesus, so was he Jesus's twin brother or just a brother? I wrote to Elaine Pagels but she couldn't relate to Jesus actually having a twin brother. "Thomas the Contender" http://gnosis.org/naghamm/bookt.html To me it seemed to say even thought they call you "the twin" (of Jesus) you are my brother. That phrase is on the internet too today, but remember my research was in the days of nothing but library interloan. http://www.csec.org/index.php/archives/23-member-archives/355-elaine-pagels-program-3608

Wouldn't you do something like that if you could discover 'truth'. It was important to me, for sure. I refused to work till I found out what was the truth. OK as I said my family were worried about me, but after a couple of years I did go back to work.

Is that a compliment or a curse? As I said it took me years to come to these conclusions. 1991 - 2001

From the Deeds of Augustus http://www.unrv.com/government/deedsaugustus.php Could this short fall in the taxes have been the initiator of that taxation recorded in the NT? When was that? Citation please? The thing that still mystifies me, if my theory is right that Jesus and John were twins, was it just pot luck which of the two would become the Christ? Luke 1:35 The "Holy one" is the firstborn of the womb.

Thanks

I wouldn't call 2000 plus years quick. With the internet we have better access to the records than ever before.

If Jesus was born in 17 BC and died in 31 AD he was 47-48 years of Age and this fits with the writings of Irenaeus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Detection_and_Overthrow_of_the_So-Called_Gnosis#Main_arguments So I take that as confirmation that John remained among the elders during the times of Trajan, and that Jesus was between 40 - 50 when he was crucified. So there was plenty of time for John to get to 120 years of age if he was also born in 17 BC. Do you think Judea had a census in that 17 BC? I think there was some evidence they did, but it was such a long time ago that I did my study, I wonder if I can find it again? Augustus Caesar had fairly good records of what he got up to. All from Wikipedia. So neither of those reigns clash with the birth of Jesus in 17 BC.

Does anyone think they can really make sense of this? The Unreliable Birth Story of Jesus

Read the problem incorrectly the width was reduced by 3 So it should be 2w and 3(L-2) and they must add up to 30 I think you haven't drawn the problem on a bit of paper. If you had you would notice that you have taken away some squares twice. Show me the workings of your maths please. You seem to have the right answer but how do you go from "[math](L-2)(W-3) = 2W^2-30[/math]" to the answer? .