Monday 7 December 1998

Pic of the day: Me holding up weird book for the jeering masses to see.
Let me tell you peeples, this books may have a sort of religious name, but it's right there along with the "aliens killed John F Kennedy" style of sensation book. Given the abysmal level of knowledge that common citizens have about the New Testament and the societies in which it was written, there is probably no way Random Reader can smell the difference between this and a serious work. Given that 4 million Americans believe they have been abducted by UFOs, there must needs be a great market for a book claiming that Jesus was brought back to life by Simon Magus, who just happened to be buried alive in the same grave. (My apologies to those readers who were actually abducted by aliens.)
(For what it's worth, I find Simon Magus [also known sometimes as Simon Magnus] to be one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible. Not that I'm taking his stance, but I certainly can relate to him. I get one of those "it could have been me" when I read about him.)
Oh, and for those with bad or no picture, the book is called "The Book that Jesus Wrote, Johns Gospel" by Barbara Thiering. Dr Barbara Thiering was a member of the University of Sydney's School of Divinity for 22 years. I suspect that their method of divining needs a serious upgrade. The author, by the way, comes across as a quite sympathetic person.

Cold crisp day today. I got another of these hurts under my left eye. Some local infection, perhaps in the roots of an old tooth. No fever though.

Visit the Diary Farm for the diaries I've put out to pasture until they buy the farm:
November 1998