Speak It out

My personality test result

2007-07-28T15:34:00.000+05:30

Took a Personality test at similarminds.com this is my result

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)

The truth Behind the Gospel Of Judas

2006-04-22T19:15:00.000+05:30

A lot is being said these days about the Gospel of Judas, and the believer is perplexed at the new revelations that come each day. In this article I’ll try to clarify the doubts about this Gospel of Judas.

After the Death of Jesus, his followers started to spread Christianity among people. The popularity of Christianity, spread very fast and the Romans who were ruling at that time, began to persecute the followers. In spite of these persecutions, these early Christians met in groups at homes of the followers and conducted prayers and helped each other. Now we must realize that there was no bible at this time and stories of Jesus and his works were passed on from word of mouth. Various versions of the works of Jesus were passed on among different groups and many of these were written down. Now by the end of the 2nd century and beginning of the 3rd there existed almost 30 gospels. Some of the famous Gospels being The gospel of Mary, Gospel of Thomas etc. Its has to be understood that although these Gospels carry the names of the followers of Jesus viz. Mary, Thomas etc, they were not written by them but were written later by various authors. Similarly historians don’t attribute the authorship of the four Gospels i.e. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to them. This is because Early Christians tended to link the gospels with one of the 12 apostles. These gospels were probably written by some one, close to the disciples or some close friends of Jesus. Now with so many Gospels circulating it was difficult for the followers to follow any single Gospel. Another problem that arose was, many of these gospels were written by Gnostics. Before we proceed it is better we know something about these Gnostics.
Gnostics were followers of Gnosticism, a esoteric religious movement that flourished during the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. and presented a major challenge to Christianity. Most Gnostic sects professed Christianity, but their beliefs sharply diverged from those of the majority of Christians in the early church. The term Gnosticism is derived from the Greek word gnosis (“revealed knowledge”). To its adherents, Gnosticism promised a secret knowledge of the divine realm.
Although most Gnostics considered themselves Christians, some sects assimilated only minor Christian elements into a body of non-Christian Gnostic texts. The Christian Gnostics refused to identify the God of the New Testament, the father of Jesus, with the God of the Old Testament, and they developed an unorthodox interpretation of Jesus' ministry. The Gnostics wrote apocryphal Gospels (such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary) to substantiate their claim that the risen Jesus told his disciples the true, Gnostic interpretation of his teachings: Christ, the divine spirit, inhabited the body of the man Jesus and did not die on the cross but ascended to the divine realm from which he had come. The Gnostics thus rejected the atoning suffering and death of Christ and the resurrection of the body. They also rejected other literal and traditional interpretations of the Gospels.
Now Coming back to the early Christians , There was a lot of confusion as to the exact scriptures that had to be followed and a lot of Christians were being persecuted and were dying for the Lord. During this period came a very eminent figure among the early Christians and his name was Irenaeus. Today called as St Irenaeus. Iranaeus was the Bishop of Lyon and was held in high esteem by the church. Irenaeus was Against the Gnostics, as he believed they corrupted the church. He wrote many books against the Gnostics and was responsible for destroying many of the Gnostic work.
Now Irenaeus understood that the faithful had no proper text to follow and many of them were being killed by persecution and were dying without knowing the reason for their death. So Irenaeus Chose four gospels, of the many that were circulating that time and asked the faithful to follow them. These were Matthew, Mark Luke and John. The gospels we follow today. No one knows why he selected four, but the books he chose were easy to understand and written in simple language.
The famous dead sea scrolls, which were found near Nag Hammadi In Egypt, are all writings of these Gnostics. The Gospel of Judas has been confirmed to have originated from the same time as the Nag Hammadi scrolls and the writings are in similar style as the Nag Hammadi writings. Since the gospel of Judas was first discovered in an area close to Nag Hammadi, the people who worked on the restoration of the gospel of Judas believe that it may have been written by the same sect that wrote the Dead sea scrolls.
Now many of the works of these Gnostics had been called Heresy by the early church and destroyed and banned. The writings that have been discovered recently like the Dead sea scrolls and The gospel of Judas are a few surviving remnants of the works that escaped destruction. For us as believers there is no truth in what these works say. They are merely writings of a extinct sect. Historically they are important as they give some information about the people who lived during those times. Remember the Gnostics exist no more, but the church still lives on and continues to grow.
The Gospel Of Judas: The work it self was discovered in Egypt in the late 70’s and was stolen from an antique dealer. No one knew the significance of the work then. The dealer got back the work and kept it in a Vault in New York because he did not get the expected price for the work. It was recently purchased by a team, that was looking for this work and they had it restored and translated.
The work itself says little about historic Jesus, and speaks through Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Since the Gnostics did not believe in the suffering of Jesus, the work does not contain any of it and ends after Jesus is betrayed. In the work Jesus tells Judas that he will receive the secrets of heaven, and will know much more than what others will know. This is what exactly the Gnostics believed in. They thought that the divine knowledge was given to them. And finally the work that is found was written in the 3rd century and is a copy of a earlier work. So it was written nearly 300 years after the death of Jesus, compare that with the Gospel of Mark which was written around AD 70.

In the bible, we have been given enough information about the life and work of Jesus. The four Gospels are from trusted sources and have enough in them to make us Good children of God. We do not need to go to these questionable sources and create doubts in our minds. People turn to all types of gimmicks to make money. Please do not be misled by them.
I have written this article from whatever sources I had with me, if you have more information or have any doubts please write to me

Unusual Habit of the Monkey on the Avocado Tree.

2006-02-25T17:27:00.000+05:30

Unusual Habit of the Monkey on the Avocado Tree.

Before I begin I have to confess that the heading has nothing to do with the text to follow. I just put it because I liked it. You can generate and put your own heading to it. What I would like to share with you is, the results of my successful experiments, which I have been secretly carrying out in the underground bunkers, long abandoned by Hiter and later occupied and abandoned by a maniac, who used to love pulling his nose hair. One thing I can assure you is after reading the results of the experiment you will definitely feel better and more cheerful.The Experiment was specially designed by me and is actually a series of 3 experiments.The first one was called "Nosled" and is actually my name spelt backwards. It consists of Mixing one part of Plutonium laced nitric acid, with one cup of tea (and once I even mixed coffee, by mistake.) and boiling it with Picric acid. The second one called "Sixela" is my second name spelt in reverse. Consists of brewing a hippopotamus soup, using sunlight, a spoon of salt and amalgamated Cyanide. The third one is nameless and consists of placing some froth of cappuccino coffee, over a slice of ham and trying to guess, weather the cappuccino froth tastes like ham or the ham tastes like cappuccino froth. These experiments were conducted in strictly controlled environment and gave the following impressive results.
1. At least 5 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way. (The result was actually 15.4 here. Since there cant be 0.4 person, and since I like whole numbers , this is a approximate on the lower side)
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you. (This came from the hippopotamus experiment)
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, someone thinks about you before they go to sleep. (The value of this is directly proportional to the number of dogs you own)
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. If not for you, someone may not be living.
8. You are special and unique.9. Someone that you don't even know exists, loves you.
10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it. (This was proved when I accidentally used coffee instead of tea in the Nosled experiment.
11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won't get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.(This was proved when I was awaiting for the plutonium to make the plutonium laced nitric acid.)
13. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.
15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great. A Minute they say it takes to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

Disclaimer: They say 79% of the statistics are false (which itself is a statistic). The above figures are 100% true, since they are not statistics, but results of a experiment conducted under ISO 14000 standards.(Ok pal… now I guess that the experiment is done, time to do the paper work)

Wierd Day

2006-02-08T23:21:00.000+05:30

Dear Carbon based bipedal humanoids,
Weird things happen in life, and weirder things also happen in life. This incident happened to me a few days back and I would like to share it with you. I was on my way to my company’s office, situated on the 85th floor, of a dilapidated new building.
Now there were three ways, in which I could reach my office on the 85th floor. Use the stairs, which I though will be little too harsh on my legs, the second alternative was to climb the building using the sewage pipe, which comes from the toilet of my office all the way down from the 85th floor or Use the elevator. Since I had eliminated the first alternative, I was left with two choices, for which I could have very well used a toss to decide. But I decide to make a random choice and decided to use the elevator, which at that time seemed to a perfectly logical choice. Because had I used the sewage pipe to climb the building, then once I had reached the 85th floor of the building I would have to enter the office through the toilet and if by sheer coincidence if someone were to be using the toilet, then I would have to climb all the way down, wait for a while and climb back again and hope he or she had finished doing whatever he or she was doing. So now as I told you before elevator was the only choice left and I decided to take it.
I entered the elevator and pressed no 85 on the neatly arranged numerical panel and waited. Guess what happened? Well nothing, which is what happened. Well to be a little precise, nothing happened. I decide to press the keys again and that’s what I did and guess what happened? Nothing, the same result, nothing happened. My second action was not a very logical step, but a sensible one I guess. As I was wondering what to do next, I heard a voice, it said “Hello Delson “ I looked around, wondering where the voice came from. I replied back saying, “ Hello, to whomsoever it may concern.” The Voice repeated, “this is the elevator speaking!” I was a little taken aback. I had heard of a speaking bicycle and a speaking crow, but never a speaking elevator! It then continued, “ What can I do for you?” So I asked, “ what can you do for me?” The elevator replied, “ I can take you up or take you down.” So I replied back “ Ok, take me up” the elevator said “or down”. I said “at the moment you take me up, you can take me down later” The elevator replied “ Think again, Ill tell you of all the possibilities you can enjoy if you decide to go down.” I was a little irritated as you are right now, reading this entire inconsequential conversation-taking place between the elevator and me, but I must continue. I replied back to the elevator “ Look Mister…” the elevator interrupted me “.. miss”. I said “what?” The elevator replied back, “ I am not mister I am miss”. I said “ ok miss, I am not interested in your possibilities, please take me up to the 85th floor, that is what I am interested in.” The elevator replied back, “well, see to be truthful with you, I cannot take you to the 85th floor.” “Why?” I enquired. The elevator replied, “ Because then I’ll have to pass through the 42nd floor.” Well what’s wrong, with 42nd floor? ” I asked. “Don’t you know about 42, the elevator replied back in a surprised tone?” I said “ No”. “Don’t you know about deep thought she asked?” To which I again said “ No and what’s happened to 42?” I asked. The elevator then started with its long story “ See, far far away, in the deep uncharted space of the universe, long long time ago, a race of super intelligent creatures, decided to build a computer. The computer could calculate in one-second what all the earth’s computers, put together, will take one million years to do. The computer named deep thought was built to calculate once and for all the ‘question to the ultimate answer of life, universe and everything’. The computer worked for seven and a half million years, during which the, super intelligent creatures anxiously waited for the answer and few of them mostly philosophers protested. Because they thought they would have no work to do once the ‘question to the ultimate answer of life, universe and everything’ was answered. After a wait of seven and a half million years, the computer finally had the answer for the ‘question to the ultimate answer of life, universe and everything’ the creatures eagerly awaited the answer, and the computer announced it “ The answer for the question to the ultimate answer of life, universe and everything is Forty two.” The creatures that had waited for seven and a half million years for the answer were shocked by the “ Forty two”.” So the elevator continued, “ forty two is the ultimate answer of life and hence I can’t pass that floor.” In one more last ditch attempt to persuade the elevator I asked, “ Okay, since you cant go up to the 85th floor can you go there sideways?” The elevator after a brief thought said “ Looks like I’ll have to finally tell you the truth.” “What truth I asked?” The elevator replied “ See, you by asking me to go sideways, have put me in a catch-22 situation, I have to tell you the truth now. I cannot go to the 85th floor because I am afraid of heights!” “What kind of elevator is afraid of heights?” I asked. “See the company that built me, programmed me to get scared of heights from this day onwards, so that the building will have to be fixed with a new elevator. So I am just following my program,” said the elevator. Well, I had no reply for this unusual program, but just kept pondering over the meaning of my existence here. I replied the elevator “ So guess then I’ll have to go to the 85th floor by the sewage line?” The elevator replied back “ No you can use the second option” “ The stairs!” I shot back. “ No, I mean the third option, you can use the next door lift.” Replied back the elevator. “You mean the next elevator?” I said. “ Well its not a elevator, it’s a lift” the elevator replied back. I said, “ So it’s the same thing I guess.” “ No, I was built in the U.S. so I am the elevator, that was built in U.K. so it has to be the lift” It replied. “ Okay” I said, overburdened with another useless piece of information. I stepped out of the elevator and as I was just about to move away, I remembered something and asked the elevator “So is that lift a Mister or a Miss?” “Mrs.” It replied back. “ Okay “ I said “ But it goes only up to the 84th floor, I want to go to the 85th floor.” The elevator replied back “ Well you can do three things then, either persuade Mrs. Lift to take you to the 85th floor or go to the 84th floor and take the stairs or the sewage pipe from there.” The second option I felt was a good idea, because I never like the idea of sewage pipe from the beginning.” I thanked the elevator and stepped into Mrs. Lift. Mrs. Lift too had a keyboard panel similar to the elevator. I lifted my hand and pressed 84, waited and guess what happened. “ Nothing.”

There are a lot of things in this world that defy logic...I always hate such things

2005-12-02T19:58:00.000+05:30

Today man has Discovered all the elements that exist ,in nature. Many of these elements, have been subjected to various tortures of heat , pressure and all other chemical procedures ,to make useful compounds. These compounds are further manipulated , in all possible ways to create more complex molecules , and the cycle goes on. A very classical example is that of Carbon and hydrogen. When carbon and hydrogen bond together we call them as hydrocarbons .The simplest of these is methane which has four atoms of hydrogen and one carbon atom . Many variations of these carbon -hydrogen combination are found in nature, and have been present for millions of years. But today man ,with his ingenious ideas, has created many new variations of these hydrogen and oxygen combination, to create new compounds .If this was not enough new elements have been added to the hydrocarbon bond to concoct fantastic new compounds , which can defy anyone’s wildest imaginations . New compounds thus created have either been useful to man or useless to him or harmful to him, some compounds are both useful and harmful, while others are useless and harmful. Today we cannot imagine a life without these compounds .One of a classic example for such a compound is the humble plastic. Just look around you and mentally remove all the things that are made of or contain plastics, and think you life without it. Impossible...? Very much so. But plastics are nothing but a bunch of carbon and hydrogen atoms arranged by man to suit his need. Thus manipulation of these hydrocarbons continue and has become a routine research operation. Some of these compounds have damaged our environment also .Plastic for example is a ecological nightmare , burning of petroleum has spewed tons of toxic gases into the atmosphere, the very air that we breath has been polluted. The list keeps growing as new mutants of these hydrocarbons are designed. But we keep using these compounds and keep making new variants of them, unabated. Since it has made our lives easy we try to forget the inconvenience caused and get along.But there are another set of elements ,whose compounds, have given sleepless less nights to many people from politicians to philosophers , from the scientist to the lay man. A compound made up of carbon ,nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen , or more specifically the DNA ,a group of molecules that have been present on this earth (and may be even outside), for millions of years. Today man has learnt to manipulate this molecule just like the hydrocarbons .Removing a molecule for here and putting it there , adding a new molecule or removeing one, various such permutations are been tried out today. But the people who were mum when the hydrocarbon was being manipulated , are today raising a hue and cry for a bunch of carbon ,nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. They are worried of Transgenic plants and animals , cloning ,DNA splicing and anything that has to do with the alteration of these molecules. The amazing thing is the same alterations have been done to hydrocarbons and other molecules for scores of years , without a din. As I mentioned earlier the hydrocarbons have no doubt manipulated our environment, but we have been able to control it ,and will be able to control it better if we reduce our greed. Why cant the same apply for the bunch of amino acids which form the DNA . Now you will think I am talking from a chemists view point , what about the philosophical view?. Well the only other thing that caused more harm to earth than philosophy is the meteor that struck earth and destroyed the dinosaurs .Without philosophy there would not have been religion , nations ,casts , sects etc . We all would have been a bunch of molecules held together in a very special way. No Osamas or Saddams no Bush or Musharrafs only Homo-sapiens .How nice would that have been. Anyway since we have all these and some more equally bright individuals ,we have to live with them and that is certainly a adventure.