The title comes from “13 reasons why,” a teen drama web television series developed for Netflix, so I am obliged to write all thirteen. Since I have this superior bound, for the sake of intellectual honesty, I admit that some reasons would be like scambling while I will throw a few good ones.
The most important reason resides on the general ground, either you already know the answer and you’re looking for confirmation (probably the most common cases) or you are ignorant and seek genuine information.
In the first case, I feel you should stop bothering Dr. Bart Ehrman since probably you need more a counselor than a New Testament scholar, while in the other case there’s no way that a complex answer could be provided to you, given the small-time and space reserved in the post box.
Some insights can be provided to you, at most.
Is that enough for you? If yes then I can give you the bad news, it’s not so for Bart. From his very words: “I want to continue to provide high-level intellectual content for the blog since that’s why you joined!”, so the main activity is unidirectional, it comes from the source and arrives at you. It’s like a waterfall and unless you’re a salmon, you ought to be in the streams down below.
And he continues: “All in all, the blog obviously takes a lot of my time. I try to keep my blog activity to about an hour a day[…] So, the deal is that I’m putting in something like 300-350 hours a year on the blog. […] if you calculate a full work-week as 40 hours, […] that means that I am spending eight or nine weeks of my year on the blog. That’s eight or nine weeks that I could be doing something else: research, writing, working out, reading novels, going to films, listening to music, walking my dog, thinking deep thoughts, watching football… So is it worth it? Well, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.”
It’s what I called the “one-hour problem“.
The notch of the matter is time, as Bart’s posts are published less and less every week (see from the starting of the Blog), reposts, guest posts, pop quizzes, and mail reviews could suffice the one-hour problem but not your questions.
The questions will grow with the number of users, and most probably more near Christmas when everyone feels either a better man or a smart one.
So here is some doctors’ note: you should not ask questions but instead, just post irrelevant comments. But I am sure you already know how to do that.
So the first two reasons are the “one-hour” problem and the general problem (there’s no way to reduce a complex system into a less complex one without loss of information.)
The third one has to deal with Machiavelli, that in the Principe, cap. XVIII, says: “nelle azioni di tutti gli uomini, e massime de’ Principi… si guarda al fine… I mezzi saranno sempre iudicati onorevoli e da ciascuno lodati.” or in brief: “the end justifies the means.“
Bart says: “Let me conclude just by thanking everyone for supporting the blog and the charities that it is designed to help. I very much appreciate all the active, and passive, participation.”
So you’re the end of a long thread that started someplace and in which you’re marginally involved. The least you can do to achieve the main goal of the blog is to create little stir and reaction while you go down.
Since either a question or an innocent comment will do, they are equivalent in the face of the final goal, I’ll suggest going with the last one since it will create fewer out-of-time problems.
The fourth reason comes handy since Bart says also: “What can I do to make it more attractive (the members’ main interest) so that even more will join at an even faster pace so that it raises even more money for charity (my main interest?)
Make your comments to this post. I won’t be able to respond to them all. And I won’t be able to implement them all. “
If some comments are posted and aren’t questions, then it follows that they don’t need any interaction with anyone and could be discarded easily.
You have done your charity job and relieved Bart from a lot of inconclusive gibberish.
The fifth reason lies in what I call moral narcissism.
You don’t want to be right for the sake of truth, you want to be praised for your rightness.
The problem is that to validate your thoughts you need a moral authority, in this case, Bart Ehrman.
Teachers who gain moral authority exercise a huge influence on others. They carry people to the other side of the river.
In Buddhism, the Heart Sūtra concludes with the mantra “gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi svāhā”, meaning “Let’s go, let’s go, everyone to the other shore, the shore of awakening.”
The problem with this grandiose scheme is that after every high comes a substantial low. The payback is generally of practical order and typically religious dreams come in. For example, a person who believes that he had a great response to his question and he had figure out the truth about Jesus Christ, he might also experience that a senior secret service agent from the Vatican is spying on him.
So before posting a question check with your insurance company to see if mental health services are covered and, if so, how you may obtain these benefits.
The sixth reason is more directed to a sub-set of people: Muslims.
Bart affirmed five years ago: “I am not a scholar of the Qur’an or Islam, and I would prefer sticking to topics that are within my realm of expertise,” but always the question comes up again: why not study the Qur’an, admit it true, and convert to Islam?
Now the answer is clear: “So let me squelch this rumor and so that the answer is absolutely not. I am about as likely to become a Muslim as I am to join the Hari Krishnas or to become a Jainist or an orthodox Jew or… pick your religious preference. From where I sit now, the likelihood of any of the above is somewhere close to, or below, zero.”
So, Muslims should stop questioning about it. And since they pretend to have invented the number zero (really?! even the Egyptians had a symbol for zero in accounting texts) they should be happy to keep up with it.
For reference:
** you do not have permission to see this link **
** you do not have permission to see this link **
7th:
Don’t ask, since even Gorgias thousands of years ago explained with a reductio ad absurdum that:
- Nothing is;
- Even if something were, it would not be knowable;
- Even if something were knowable, it would not be speakable to others.
8th:
Don’t ask since “history face” is a form of theatrical make-up used predominantly by non-historian performers to represent a caricature of history scholars. A category already filled with buffoonery and self-parody.
9th:
Don’t ask since the Earth two years ago exploded. And people started to wander in a sideral anisotropic Space on fragments of rock. Of course, nobody remembers that. You think that everybody would remember that. But, no. Maybe they are too busy holding onto their fragments.
10th:
Asking is like uttering a word. A voice that goes along with freedom. It is something that each one of us already has. There is no need for Bart to come and give it to you. The moment someone permits you, it is no longer your voice.
11th:
The eleventh is one of the most convincing and definitive reasons you have, probably, ever read in the past decades against questioning. Unfortunately, the content is so strong that it is not publishable. Do you want to read it? Ask me about it.
12th:
The “The American Journal of Medicine” reveals that questions are useful in hospitals, for example, to substitute anesthesia for small surgical operations. The patient gets so lost in his inner discourse that he doesn’t feel pain. But the others in the room.
13th:
A lovely question can make you lift a mountain. But a pretty girl can make you buy it.
With whom of the two would you go?
So, here they are, all thirteen.
A la fin de l’envoi, je touche.
I’m a muslim and I can tell you that Islam is not the monotheistic religion that they have made it sound like.
Here is some info as to the origins of Islam. There are other proofs as well.
t=3s
Please do not even think about converting to Islam. Unless you like to follow the polytheistic religion of bedouins. 🙂
BDEhrman
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