Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Jesus declares War: As King, To an undefeated Enemy, Precisely on Palm Sunday
The Books of Maccabees, found in the Apocrypha, vividly recounts the warfare waged by the Maccabees (Maccabeus) family against the Greek Seleucids. The Seleucids were trying to impose Greek pagan religion upon the Jews of Jerusalem in 168 BCE. Most of the historical information about this war comes from the First Book of Maccabees (1 Maccabees).…
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Jesus’ Mission in the Raising of Lazarus
Stan Lee (1922-2018) became world-renowned through the Marvel Comics Superheroes that he created. Born and raised in a Manhattan Jewish household, in his youth, he was influenced by action heroes of his day. Stan Lee worked with fellow Jewish talents Jack Kirby (1917-1994) and Joe Simon (1913-2011). These three men created most of the superhero…
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Jesus Teaches Contrarian Investing
Perhaps the most common stereotype people make about Jews regards money. Rumors, wild conspiracy theories, and slander have falsely been directed at Jews side-by-side with sinister associations of wealth and power. For example, this cartoon depicting Lord Rothschild appeared on an 1898 cover of the French magazine Le Rire. It shows him with devilish hands, and a…
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Living Water by the Dead Sea
The Biblical land of Israel straddles the world’s largest mirage, giving an illusion of life where there is none. This has forced her inhabitants to lead out in the human quest for that indispensable and life-giving substance – water. It also provides an enlightening backdrop for some of the wisdom, wildest hopes, and extravagant promises…
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The A-Z Avatar from Beyond our Universe
Sergey Brin, son of Jewish Russian immigrants to the US, and Larry Page, whose mother is Jewish, co-founded Google together in 1998. In 2015, Google reorganized, placing itself under its newly created parent company ‘Alphabet’. Alphabet has grown from a company valued at $23 Billion when it went public in 2004 to a value of…
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Insight about your Psyche
Psychology comes from two Greek words. The ‘–ology’ comes from λόγος (logos = word, study of), and ‘Psych’ comes from ψυχή (psuché = soul, life). Hence, psychology is the study of our souls or our minds, emotions, behavior, and intellect. Psychology as an academic study took hold in the nineteenth century. One of the most well-known…
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The Puzzle of the Psalm 22 Prophecy
A few years ago a work colleague, J, wandered to my desk. J was smart and educated – and definitely not a follower of the gospel. But he was somewhat curious about the gospel so we had some warm and open conversations between us. He had never really looked at the Bible so I had…
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The Branch: Sprouting Exactly in time to be … ‘cut off’
We have been exploring the Branch theme in the Old Testament prophets. We saw that Jeremiah in 600 BCE continued the theme (which Isaiah began 150 years earlier) and declared that this Branch would be a King. Then, Zechariah followed predicting that the name of this Branch would be Jesus. Additionally, he foresaw that the Branch would uniquely combine the roles of King…
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The Kingdom of God: Many are Invited but…
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was born into a family of Jewish scholars. His paternal grandfather served as rabbi until his death. His mother came from a long line of rabbis originally stemming from a Talmudic college in Italy. However, Marx’s father, influenced by Voltaire, ensured that Karl received his education in a school dominated by liberal…
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