The Bible: oppression of women, for slaves to be obedient to their masters, or those which insist that children who are rebellious should be put to death, that women who are accused of witchcraft should be executed, that homosexuals should

[skep...@aol.com]

Bob Avakian on Tim Tebow. “Since for many years now, he has
prominently promoted fundamentalist Christianity—including by
literally wearing references to Biblical verses on his face during
football games when he was a prominent “star” in college—I was
thinking it might be a good idea to send Tim Tebow some quotes from
the Bible that he should promote and popularize—ones that get to the
essence of what the Bible is about—like the passages in the bible that
call for the oppression of women, for slaves to be obedient to their
masters, or those which insist that children who are rebellious should
be put to death, that women who are accused of witchcraft should be
executed, that homosexuals should be executed, that women who are not
virgins when they get married should be executed in the town square,
the people who practice religions that are opposed to the supposed one
true God should be slaughtered, with the women raped and the heads of
the babies bashed in. Or the Biblical verses in which Jesus thinks
that epilepsy is caused by demon possession instead of understanding
it scientifically, which is pretty piss-poor for the son of god, if
you think about it."

[skep...@aol.com]

The NFL is corrupt, the Broncos are having games given to them and the
Raiders are getting fucked. The NFL is corrupt:

Bob Avakian goes on to say: "Now, to turn to Tim Tebow. Since, for

many years now, he has prominently promoted fundamentalist Christianity
—including by literally wearing references to Biblical verses on his
face during football games when he was a prominent "star" in college—I
was thinking it might be a good idea to send Tim Tebow some quotes
from the Bible that he should promote and popularize—ones that get to

the essence of what the Bible is about—like the passages in the Bible

that call for the oppression of women, for slaves to be obedient to
their masters, or those which insist that children who are rebellious
should be put to death, that women who are accused of witchcraft
should be executed, that homosexuals should be executed, that women
who are not virgins when they get married should be executed in the

town square, that people who practice religions that are opposed to

the supposed one true God should be slaughtered, with the women raped

and the heads of babies bashed in. Or the Biblical verses in which

Jesus thinks that epilepsy is caused by demon possession instead of
understanding it scientifically, which is pretty piss-poor for the son

of god, if you think about it. And on and on. I think there are a
number of verses like this that I would like to forward to Tim Tebow,
along with a copy of Away With All Gods!, to provide him an
opportunity to get a true understanding of what the Bible really
represents, and have a chance to get up off of all of this reactionary
shit and stop spreading a bunch of Dark Ages mentality and morality,
when there's already far too much of it in the world. Whether Tebow
himself can be moved in this way, I can't say for sure—it certainly
doesn't seem very likely—but in any case it is important that a real
understanding of what the Bible actually represents, and all the very
real horrors it promotes and indeed insists upon, be brought to light.
12
But as for Tim Tebow and the "tuck rule," let's get into this subject
this way. It's clear that "somebody up there" likes Tim Tebow. I'm not
referring to a non-existent god, and I'm not referring just to
somebody in the ownership and management of the Denver Broncos, for
which Tebow plays. I think of a comment by Michael Cooper when he
played for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team in the NBA back in
the early 1980s: During one of the championship series that they
seemed to have in those times as an annual spectacle, between the Los
Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, when the Lakers lineup was
announced, right before the start of the first game, instead of doing
the traditional "high-five," the Lakers players did a "low-
five" (slapping hands down low instead of up high). And I guess for
the people in the NBA offices it was something like what Richard Pryor
once described, in terms of the reaction of certain white people upon
seeing Black people doing something that those white people didn't
understand—whenever Black people get together and are doing something
like that, Pryor observed, these white people say, "Hey, there's a
whole bunch of 'em, what are they doing, what's going on here, what
are they up to, are they plotting and conspiring?" So, it seems the
NBA executive office had a similar reaction: "Uh-oh, what's this thing
they're doing? We just got used to the high-five, now they're down
'low-fiving' like that—is this some kind of dangerous thing they're
doing here?" So, according to Michael Cooper, the Lakers players were
told that they could no longer do this low-five. And when asked who
told them that, Cooper answered: "somebody higher than the team and
lower than god." So when I say "somebody up there likes Tim Tebow,"
I'm thinking of somebody "higher than the team and lower than (a non-
existent) god."

And the reason I say that is because it's clear that Tebow has, at
this point at least, inconsistent and mediocre skills, to be
charitable, as a professional NFL (National Football League)
quarterback. Yet he has led all these "miracle" comebacks toward the
end of games, where his team has not been doing anything all game long
on offense but then suddenly comes from behind, and wins right at the
end, or ties the game up at the end of the fourth quarter and sends it
into overtime, where they, once again, miraculously pull out a win.
Somehow, in these situations the defense of the other team suddenly
forgets how to play defense. Somehow, for example, the defensive
backs, who are supposed to "cover" the offensive players ("pass
receivers") who are trying to get "open" to catch a pass—somehow those
defensive players forget how to "cover" the receivers, leaving them
wide open to catch passes from Tebow, who is anything but an accurate
passer, on any consistent basis, and has a hard time completing passes
to his "receivers" unless they are wide open.

The point is that there seems to be some sort of program involved here—
once again, beyond just the team and beyond just Tim Tebow and the
circle around him and his agents. Marketing Tebow commercially is
certainly part of this, but beyond being part of a marketing strategy,
this promotion of Tim Tebow is serving an ideological purpose. It's
serving the purpose of projecting the kind of reactionary Dark Ages
religious fundamentalism that Tebow represents and insists upon
spewing forth and imposing on everybody—it's a matter of giving that a
lot of free rein and wide expression. Having Tebow come out as a
"winner" on the football field—and particularly having him pull out
"miracle comeback wins" at the end of games—is crucial in order to
give Tebow credence, to make him more effective, in spreading his
reactionary religious fundamentalist viewpoint (after all, this is
America—and nobody will listen for long to a "loser"). In fact, a
recent survey indicated that nearly half of the people polled in this
survey believed that intervention by god had something to do with
these "miracle comeback wins" that Tebow has been credited with
producing (and even if a survey of this kind might involve an
unusually high percentage of people who are Tebow fans and religious
fanatics themselves, it still reveals something about what is "up"
with this whole promotion of Tebow).

So, it seems clear that forces "higher than the team and lower than (a
non-existent) god" feel that this is not only good for marketing, but
it's important ideologically to spread this religious fundamentalism
through a major cultural figure, a sports icon that they've worked to
create in Tim Tebow. The reasons for this should be obvious if you
think about it: Here you have a crisis in society, upheaval in
society, resistance mounting, deep questions starting to be grappled
with more broadly about the whole way of things and the whole
direction of society—and one of the main means through which powerful
sections of the ruling class see for cohering the society and holding
it together on a reactionary basis is precisely the spread of
religious fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism in particular. And
that's why we've seen such a flowering, if you will—which is really a
misnomer since this is something really putrid, but let's just call it
a flowering—of religious fundamentalism in such a major way over the
past several decades in the U.S., and once again intensely so in
recent years.

It's not that there weren't already people who adhere to
fundamentalist religious views. Even without encouragement from "on
high" (among the ruling circles of society), there would be this
phenomenon of religious fundamentalism in this society, given that
this kind of religious viewpoint has been promoted since the beginning
of this country. You can think of things like the Scopes trial (the
trial of a teacher in Tennessee in the 1920s, who was charged with
violating a law in that state which prohibited the teaching of
evolution) and the ways in which reactionaries have tried to prevent
people from learning about evolution, right up to today. That is just
one sharp example of what I am referring to. But the point is, in more
recent decades—and now, once again, in a sharp way in recent years—
there has been a concentrated effort, by powerful and influential
people, to cohere this kind of religious fundamentalist belief into an
ideological and political force, and to exert and magnify its
influence in society in that way. Scattered and dispersed as just a
bunch of individuals, such a phenomenon would have far less influence.
But as a more cohered and organized force, which is given powerful
backing and financial resources—as this Christian fundamentalism is in
the U.S.—it becomes a whole other phenomenon with much more major
impact.

So into this fits Tim Tebow. Now I follow sports as closely as I can,
and it's very interesting: Tebow played a few games as quarterback for
the Denver Broncos last year but he was beaten out for the starting
position during "training camp" before this season began. Yet a clamor
was raised and a campaign orchestrated to have Tebow become the
starting quarterback for the Broncos. And when the Broncos were doing
poorly at the beginning of this season, the guy who beat Tebow out as
the starting quarterback, Kyle Orton, was dumped, demoted, and Tebow
took over as quarterback (and then Orton was eventually let go and
ended up with another team). But in any case, they brought Tebow in,
and he started having these "miracle" wins, which I referred to
earlier.

Now, listening to all this, some people might say: "Are you really
trying to tell me that there's some kind of conspiracy, that what
happens in a football game is not determined on the field by what the
players and what the coaches do, but somehow something else is going on
—is this another conspiracy theory of how there are powerful forces
that are manipulating things?" Well, yes. It is definitely the case
that this happens in sports, particularly (though not only)
professional sports, and there are very good reasons to believe that
this is what's happening here, with Tim Tebow.

As I said, I follow sports as closely as I can, including football,
and I noted that shortly after Tebow became the starting quarterback
for the Denver Broncos this season, they were trounced by another
team, the Detroit Lions. And, to use the metaphor commonly employed in
"football parlance"—a very revealing metaphor—Tebow was "sacked" many
times by the Lions' defense (this means that when he went back to pass
the ball, the opposing team broke through and tackled him behind the
line of scrimmage before he could throw the ball). And they
intercepted a Tebow pass (meaning that, instead of the pass being
caught by the "receiver" on his team, to which Tebow was trying to
throw the ball, a defensive player on the other team caught the ball
instead), leading to serious setbacks for the Broncos. The Lions
routed the Broncos, and Tebow looked miserably poor as a quarterback
on a professional football team. But on top of that, it seems that on
a number of occasions when these defensive players from the other team
would "sack" Tebow, they would then mockingly do a version of
"Tebowing"—which has become a widely promoted phenomenon—referring to
the fact that Tebow will be seen on the sidelines bowing in prayer
during the course of, or at the end of, a game. So these Detroit Lions
defensive players would come in and tackle Tebow for a loss, and then
they would do a mocking version of Tebowing. And it seems very clear
that this was deemed highly undesirable, and unacceptable, by those
powers "higher than the team and lower than (a non-existent) god." It
was after this game with the Detroit Lions that the Broncos suddenly
went on a whole string of "miracle comeback wins," helped along by
defensive players on the opposing teams who somehow suddenly forgot
how to play defense. (As I recall, there was one game, before they
were demolished by the Detroit Lions, where the Tebow-led Broncos came
back to win in overtime, but it was after the game with the Lions that
the Broncos went on a string of "miracle" comebacks.)

Again, it seems pretty clear that "somebody up there" didn't like the
fact that not only was Tebow being shown up to be not that good, but
that "Tebowing"—which was being promoted as a mass phenomenon—was
being mocked. Couldn't have that. So, all of a sudden, Tebow and the
Broncos went on this string of "miracle" comebacks. No more mocking of
Tebow and "Tebowing."

Now, again, some people might say: "Oh c'mon now, this is just another
conspiracy theory. You really think powerful people care that much
about things like football?" Yes, they do. Because football is an
important part of the cultural realm, and it has mass influence in
this society. The Super Bowl (the national championship of American
professional football) is a major event, for example—watched by
literally hundreds of millions of people, if not more, around the
world, as well as in the U.S. And football certainly does have a major
influence, particularly on guys and "guy culture"—which is not a
healthy culture—it's a male chauvinist culture, for short, which
incorporates the celebration of violence, real as well as ritualized
violence. I'll leave for another time a whole discourse about football
and violence—that's another story. As I said, I do follow football and
I have to admit that I like a lot of the athleticism involved. There
is a beauty to that. But there are definitely things about the culture
surrounding football, including the culture of violence that's an
integral part of it, that is very negative.

Returning more directly to Tebow, for those people who say, "this
couldn't be happening that way, there couldn't be that kind of
conspiracy"—I have two words for you: "tuck rule."

What does this refer to? Back in the National Football League playoffs
that followed the 2001 season—note well, 2001—the Oakland Raiders were
involved in a playoff game. The Raiders, by the way, are the
designated team to be penalized and dumped on by the hierarchy of the
rest of the NFL.13 The Raiders were playing the—now, pay attention—New
England PATRIOTS. That is worth repeating: the New England PATRIOTS.
And this was in the playoffs after the two thousand and one season—
2001, the year of the 9/11 attacks.

The Raiders-Patriots playoff game in 2001 was a close game, hotly
contested in the snow in Boston. It came down to the final few
minutes, with the Raiders leading by 3 points. The much vaunted
Patriot quarterback, Tom Brady, went back to pass... he was rushed and
tackled by an Oakland Raider defender... he dropped the ball (what's
called a "fumble" in football)... and the Oakland Raiders fell on the
ball—recovering the fumble and thereby getting the ball back. All they
would have to do then was to "run out the clock" (keep possession of
the ball while time ran out), and they would win the game, advancing
in the playoffs, and eliminating from the playoffs—the playoffs
following the 9/11 events in 2001—the New England PATRIOTS.

But wait a minute. The play is being "reviewed upstairs." This is how
things are done in the final 2 minutes of an NFL game: officials
sitting somewhere above the field have the responsibility for
reviewing plays, on a TV monitor, showing the play from different
angles. They look at the play to make sure that the "call" by the
officials down on the field (for example, whether a player "fumbled"
the ball) is correct. But, in this case, "upstairs" refers not just
literally to the officials sitting up in a booth above the field who
are responsible for reviewing plays in the final 2 minutes of the
game. "Upstairs" here also refers—to paraphrase Michael Cooper—to
people "higher than the game and lower than (a non-existent) god." In
this case, first of all, it wasn't even clear why there was a "review"—
since, even in the final two minutes in an NFL game, plays are
reviewed only if there is a legitimate question about whether the
"call" by the officials on the field was correct. And in this
instance, there didn't seem to be any doubt—it was very clear that
there was a fumble and it was recovered by the Oakland Raiders. So,
why was an obvious fumble even being reviewed in the first place?
Brady was tackled while standing up, the ball dropped out of his
hands, it was recovered by the Raiders—what's to review? Second of
all, the review took a very long time—much longer than normal—and then
all of a sudden it's announced by the referee on the field, getting
the word from "upstairs," that, lo and behold, what you thought was a
fumble wasn't a fumble after all. Wait a minute: We saw him being
tackled, and he dropped the ball. How could that not be a fumble? He
wasn't moving his arm forward to throw the ball, so it couldn't have
been an attempt to pass—he was just holding the ball—it had to be a
fumble. What do you mean no fumble?

Well, some obscure part of the rule book, called the "tuck rule," was
invoked. Here we're going to get into some fine points of the
mechanics of football, but it's important, so stay with it. What they
invoked, in overturning the ruling of a fumble, and giving the ball
back to New England, was that there's a rule that says: If the
quarterback brings forward his arm to start to pass the ball, and then
decides not to pass it, but doesn't bring the ball all the way back to
his chest (doesn't "tuck the ball in"), then, while his arm is still
extended somewhat, holding the ball, that constitutes part of throwing
a forward pass, and therefore if the ball is knocked out of his hand
in that situation, it's not a fumble. Bullshit!

Bullshit on two levels. First of all, that's an impossible rule to
have, or to apply, because it would mean that every time a quarterback
started to throw the ball, if he didn't see anybody to throw it to,
and he was worried about being tackled and fumbling, he'd just have to
hold the ball out like this (in front of him) and never bring it back
to his chest, and then if they tackle him and he fumbles, you invoke
the "tuck rule." Never happens. You can look at miles and miles of
film and video of professional football and you can see quarterbacks
holding the ball out like that, and then losing it, or having it
knocked loose, and it's called a fumble, as it should be.

But what happened in this case? Note this well. Not only did they
conjure up and invoke this "tuck rule" but, even if you strictly
applied this ridiculous rule (which is never applied and never
invoked) the truth is—and you can see it clearly by watching the
replay or looking at the still pictures of this play involving Tom
Brady—that he, in fact, had brought the ball all the way back to his
chest ("tucked it in") in exactly the position it's supposed to be in,
in order for it to be ruled a fumble. So, on two levels, this was
outrageous bullshit. First of all, they dug around and came up with
this ridiculous "tuck rule," which never gets applied in any other
circumstance. That's why it took so long reviewing the play "upstairs"—
they had to go dig around for an obscure rule. Second of all, even
according to this ridiculous rule, it was still a fumble. And yet the
ball was given back to New England. Then New England moved down the
field and kicked a 3-point field goal, sending the game into overtime,
and the PATRIOTS ended up winning the game in overtime.

And then what happened? This may be familiar to people who have lived
through the experience of "weapons of mass destruction" that didn't
exist in Iraq, but which every significant official of the Bush regime
insisted did exist. In that case—in the invasion and occupation of Iraq
—they said: Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, that's why
we have to go in there."

[TRUTH AGAINST THE WORLD]

-------- " Methods of Persuasion of a Moral Order are not an Effective Weapon against those who Despise The Truth " ~ ADOLPH HITLER

[Stan]

Hi

When evaluating God or Jesus power, somebody shoud try to increase the peace
of Jesus using up-to-date methodologies;
For the moment, this gospel sample must be used
21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of
man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
17 For he
received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a
voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased:
Jesus Christ:
;
For the moment, Before evaluating God and Jesus security, it should be better to evaluate the
shield of Jesus using up-to-date methodologies;
would you mind showing how to deploy the god management?

Jesus saves