Understanding the 1993 Waco Tragedy: A One Hour Tutorial

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Thirty years ago…Some of my readers remember, others were not old enough, but heard from parents, and some not even born–like many of my students in their 20s. I asked an undergrad class of 70 last year–Who has heard of Waco, the Branch Davidians, or David Koresh? Five hands went up, but none knew much about it. The rest had no reference point with any of these three key terms.

My parents remembered FDR’s death, Pearl Harbor, and D-Day. I remember the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and Robert Kennedy, Viet Nam, and the 1960s. Waco was 1993. But even September 11, 2001 is becoming too long ago for our college age kids.

That I was even so closely involved in the Waco confrontation with the BATF/FBI is a story in itself. My field is ancient apocalyptic  ideas, not new religious movements–but in this case the overlap and “fit” between understanding Waco and ancient constructs was rather tight. See my article, “Patterns of the End: Textual Weaving from Qumran to Waco,” which you can download and read free of charge.

So whether you remember April 19, 1993 or not, here it is In One Hour–the good, bad, and ugly of it all…This is one of the tightest summaries the whole Waco story that I have done over the years–from origins of the Branch Davidians in the 1930s to the disastrous end at Mt Carmel after the 51 Day siege in Waco, TX in 1993 (Feb 28-April 19).

Two World Views…

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I surely understand existential alienation, as I think we all surely do unless we have “fallen” for a comforting illusion as per Herrs Freud and Nietzsche—but the love of life for me is best captured by Frost in “Birches,” and that chilling line…”The earth’s the right place for love, I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.” And yes, I too have climbed those birches, but always swung back down on the good earth…

That the Hebrew Bible has little to NOTHING about life after death or the immortal soul or resurrection or the age-to-come, other than the kind of visions of the future imagined by the Prophet Isaiah (see chapters 2:1-4 and 65:17-25), which remain very much “in and of” this world. This outlook sets it apart as an odd set of documents for the late Persian, early Hellenistic world of gnostic like dualism that so pervades late 2nd Temple Judaism and the neo-Platonic ideas that were merged with Christianity in the 2nd through 4th centuries–culminating in Augustine’s City of God.

Message A: Our purpose is to find forgiveness of sins through repentance and faith in the incarnated God—made Christ—who gave his life for our sins so we can go to heaven when we die, unworthy as we are…leaving behind this dark world of sin and death for eternal life with God…

Message B: World gone Wrong (thanking Dylan here)…very much our Home and only Home, where we totally “belong,” but who will take up the Abrahamic call to model the Way of truth, love, and justice for all nations—and thus advance things toward  “fixing” the mess we have made—and thus advancing things toward a “completing” of the potential of emergent creation—sentient moral creatures who echo and reflect the character of the Creator—in Hebrew terms: Merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and righteousness? Those who hear that call are “not far from the Kingdom of God,” but are as mortal as a fallen leaf.

But what about death–and afterlife? One shouts out. Is that not the main question?

May the “secret things” remain with the Force of all Forces, the “Ground of our Being,” as we get on with the business of life itself–full enough of wonder to satisfy anyone with insight and imagination.

The False Promise of ChatGTP

jdtabor

If you have fallen or partly fallen for all the AI nonsense that ChatGTP has generated in the popular media, about computers taking over, controlling us, or in any way exhibiting the human capacities of our linguistic programming, Chomsky set things straight in clear language and straight talk. As one of the smartest computer guys I know puts it, hyperbole, but you get the point, ChatGTP is as “dumb” as this keyboard. Input, output. Nothing conscious or even near so. I think Robert Kuhn (Closer to Truth) agrees. We are not even close to understanding or explaining the human mind…or any mind for that matter…think about our dogs and cats whom we know so well. They are NOT machines on any level:

Noam Chomsky: NY Times–The False Promise of ChatGPT

https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-body-to-understand-the-world-why-chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-dont-know-what-theyre-saying-201280

The False Promise of ChatGTP Consciousness…

jdtabor

If you have fallen or partly fallen for all the AI nonsense that ChatGTP has generated in the popular media, about computers taking over, controlling us, or in any way exhibiting the human capacities of our linguistic programming, Chomsky set things straight in clear language and straight talk. As one of the smartest computer guys I know puts it, hyperbole, but you get the point, ChatGTP is as “dumb” as this keyboard. Input, output. Nothing conscious or even near so. I think Robert Kuhn (Closer to Truth) agrees. We are not even close to understanding or explaining the human mind…or any mind for that matter…think about our dogs and cats whom we know so well. They are NOT machines on any level:

Noam Chomsky: NY Times–The False Promise of ChatGPT

 

How and Why the Gospels of Matthew and Luke Destroy their Source Mark

jdtabor

In this short video I show that the whole idea of “Harmonizing” our four New Testament Gospels is a mistaken idea in the first place. In fact, Mark, the earliest Gospel written was viewed and strongly deficient by Matthew, who used 90% of it, as well as Luke who used 80%. But the question is–how did they “USE” Mark. I am convinced, and I give a few examples in this video and much more in the Mark course now available to the public, that they basically OVERWROTE Mark–much like one might do to alter a painting–and in the process essentially destroyed it as it came from its creator/author.

New Closer to Truth Web Site–The Best Thing out There!

jdtabor

Dr. Robert L Kuhn’s newly designed Closer to Truth web site is truly stunningly done. Rich content, endless fascination…I know of nothing on the internet that compares. You can subscribe for free. Program content is also available on Youtube and via major Podcasts. If you are mainly interested in the “Big Questions” as I am, this is the BEST thing out there. Check it out.

Click on Image for 45s Introduction to the newly Designed Site

I am also very pleased to note my own contributor page has been wholly reorganized with videos I did not even remember I had done with Dr. Kuhn over the years, links to my books, and an updated Bio. Check it out here–a good place to start in diving into Closer to Truth!

James Tabor

 

Lady Chatterley’s Lover…

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We watched “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” the new version, on Netflix. It was stunningly well done, acting, script, cinematography–just beautiful beyond words–but I need to re-read Lawrence to say how close to his literal story it was. But clearly the spirit is there, and the D. H. dichotomies of the flesh and the mind, human tenderness and oppression, sexual freedom and societal duty, passionate sensuality and obligation, flight and fear, escape and resignation.

John Dominic Crossan–Don’t Miss this Interview!

jdtabor

Over the decades I have heard dozens of interviews with John Crossan, listened to his lectures, read his books, and spent time together in Jerusalem in 2007 with him and his wife Sarah, in endless conversation, visiting some of the “off the beaten tourist paths” places with Shimon Gibson. He and I have our differences on getting at the “historical Jesus,” but we agree on far more than we disagree, and I am happy to stand in his shadow and continue to listen and learn from him.

I just finished listening for the second time (!) to his recent two hour free-ranging interview with Youtube host Derek Lambert of Mythvision Podcast–which includes an hour of Q & A from viewers–really great questions. I have never heard him better–a wonderful combination of his personal experience, his latest insights on Jesus and early Christianity, but also deep dives into his broader theological, philosophical, and scientific outlook on our lives and history on planet earth at the wonderful age of 88, with his characteristic graciousness to all, sprinkled with his Irish wit and charm! Pure delight. Don’t miss it.

What really stood out for me, beyond the many excellent historical points about Jesus and earliest Christianity in its Roman contexts, were his existential perspectives about the process of “Evolution”–which I would equate to my own understanding of what has been called “Process Theism,” as per Whitehead and Hartshorne. Terms like God, Atheism, Theism, Theodicy, Eschatology–easily fail in common usage to reflect much precision of meaning, skewered as they are by . But all in all, Crossan’s vision of “Reality” as both transcendent and distributively “just”–in the way he lays things out, I find profoundly moving.

I usually try to chose categories for Blog posts from a topical “drop down” menu, but for this one I come up with a thick cluster: Death, Future, God, Historical Jesus, Horrors of History, La Condition Humanine, Philosophical Musings, Religion and History, the Bible, the Earth, Time…as I said, “wide-ranging”!

Here is the link–I hope you benefit from the accumulative scholarship and life wisdom of “Dom,” as I have:

Time Travel: Why We Humans Are So Fascinated by the Ancient Past

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In this informal presentation I relates our very human attachment to “old things,” to which we attach emotion and meaning–including some of my own personal experiences–and how that is connected broadly to “archaeology”–that is, the scientific exploration of the human material past. Our imagination connects us to the past–places, artifacts, and historical records that all correlate together in a kind of “Time Travel” experience–much like the hit series “Outlander” which millions have binged through.