Posted on 03/15/2021 3:41:16 PM PDT by OneVike
What is so interesting about today, March 15, in Christian history?
Now I agree this is a bit of a stretch, but in the scheme of things it does makes some sense. If for no other reason than to bring it up for discussion. They say that the more you know the more you do not know, so here is a tidbit to consider.
Today is "The Ides of March",which is the fateful day in 44 B.C. when Julius Caesar was assassinated. Why is it interesting to note?
Well, the man who succeeded Caesar is Emperor Augustus who brought peace and stability to Rome after Julius Caesar was assassinated known as the Pax Romana.
"Pax Romana,", or Roman peace, which was a time in the Roman Empire that lasted from about 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. It was said that an old women could ride a mule with a bag of gold from Jerusalem to Spain and not get attacked due to the fear of Romes retribution on those disrupting the stability of the Empire.
Augustus is also the man who ordered the census that was the first of its kind in Rome, but it took a few years for the Jews to be counted because they appealed to Rome due to the law of Moses that said thou shalt not count the people. You may remember Kings David getting into trouble for counting the people in 2 Samuel 24. Well, the Jews did not succeed in stopping the census, and eventually had to be counted. This caused Joseph to bring his pregnant wife, Mary, to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.
If the Jews had not appealed the census to Caesar and the Roman Senate, the census would have been much earlier and the prophecy of the Messiah being born there would not have been fulfilled.
So in 8 BC, Quirinius was made governor of Syria by Augustus, and after the ruling from Rome that the Jews had to be counted. Rome ordered Quirinius to finally count the Jews which coincided with the time that Mary was pregnant with Jesus.
So this day is somewhat important to the history of Christianity because it was on this day that Caesar was assassinated on the Senate floor in Rome, which ultimately set things up so our savior would be born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy of the Prophet Mica.
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands for Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting." Micah 5:2
That’s actually interesting. Never thought about it.
Not much of a stretch either.
Except if you believe in God’s sovereignty, and that everything works according to his will (Isa 55:11), then you will realize that the desires and failures of man will not exasperate God’s plans. Christ would still be born “in the fullness of time” Gal 4:4 according to the will of God.
Interesting bit of history.
True, but I look at it that God needed business minded man, instead of a warrior type to run Rome, so He moved things to get Julius out of the way, because He knew Augustus would do what He wanted, A good economy, free trade, and thus a need for Empire wide census’s to take place for Rome to make money.
So I do give the Glory to God, He works in mysterious ways.
I just posted this on a George Spencer-Brown “Laws of Form” discussion group. https://groups.io/g/lawsofform/topic/81129299?p=Created,,,20,1,0,0
Seems apropos, Greatest Story ever Told.
James,
Thank you for the links to the GSB lectures. This was the first time I had heard his voice and it confirmed to me that he was chosen for this particular time. It also confirms my sense that the “motive” of the Creator of the Universe (CotU) is to create a living story, a moving picture show in which He is the Author, Producer, and Director and we are the actors. (Since we are made in the image of the CotU, everyone wants to write a novel, play or movie!) As actors, we are complicated computing entities made up of a large, but finite number of computing elements.
The simplest of this in operation of various enzymes that read strands of DNA or RNA to produce various organic molecules, e.g. proteins. This is as close to a Turing Machine as it gets. Remember that Turing showed that his machine could compute anything that was computable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine
In his 1948 essay, “Intelligent Machinery”, Turing wrote that his machine consisted of:
...an unlimited memory capacity obtained in the form of an infinite tape marked out into squares, on each of which a symbol could be printed. At any moment there is one symbol in the machine; it is called the scanned symbol. The machine can alter the scanned symbol, and its behavior is in part determined by that symbol, but the symbols on the tape elsewhere do not affect the behavior of the machine. However, the tape can be moved back and forth through the machine, this being one of the elementary operations of the machine. Any symbol on the tape may therefore eventually have an innings.[18]
— Turing 1948, p. 3[19]
The enzyme acts as the finite-state machine (FSM) and the DNA/RNA acts as the program part of the Turing Tape. The FMS machine has a memory of its previous states, and recognizes the current symbol. As “time” progresses, the Turing Machine moves and does it’s thing. It remembers where it has been, knows where it is “now”, but, usually, doesn’t “know” what will be next. Sound familiar?
The other thing that I want to point out about “time” is the script is laid out “before” it is acted. Even if there are “rewrites” that result from the “actors” ad-libbing something not in the script, the author still prepares the new script before it is acted. The Turing Tape exists before the FSM begins to operate upon it. Similarly, the “arc of history” was laid down from the beginning. I have yet to find any evidence that the Hebrew Script(ures) are not the script for this cycle of history. Therefore, one can gain an understanding of what is “in the future” from reading them in a holographic manner.
Experience shows that some people can gain independent access to the Turing Tape, or the Script, directly. If the access is to things that have already happened, we say they have a “eidetic memory”. There was a Scientific American article about this in the 60’s where if two panels of 10,000 random dots were superimposed by crossing your eyes, a recognizable 3d symbol “popped out”. I know from experience that our brains can process the information from our two eyes to do this. The person with eidetic memory could look at one of the panels, “remember” it, then, some time later, look at the other panel and superimpose the remembered panel to identify the symbol. That was the article that first suggested to me that our “brain” was like a radio receiver.
On the other hand, if the person is granted access to the “coming attractions” part of the Tape/Script, then we call them a prophet, seer, or clairvoyant. GBS touched on this as well when he talked about the young girl who knew things before they happened, but had that capability socialized out of her.
Luckily for us, the Script is firmly under the control of the CotU! “The End was determined from the Beginning” is not just a slogan, it is the Way of Life! For a delightful examination of what might happen if people took control of the “Script”, I recommend The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov.
The assassination of Julius Caesar led to the civil war between first Mark Anthony and the Conspirators, then between Octavian and Anthony. Octavian became Augustus Caesar, succeeded by his heir Tiberius. The taxation and census followed, after the delay mentioned above. What followed then was the Uprising, and then the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., and the Diaspora. So many events followed the Ides of March of 44 B.C.
FIFY
And this has what to do with the Ides of March?
In layman’s terms yes
Good timing.
Has to do with the “arc of History”. The Greatest Story ever Told was planned from the beginning.
OK. I read it again.
I now understand what your getting at.
Interesting if God was the scripted director of the universe. I guess.
Yet, we have freewill, and thus God works with actors who are ad libbing you would say.
This was the first thing I thought about when I saw the title of the article.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emQWAjqKfpQ
Can you incorporate the phenomenon of remote viewing into this 'tape' explanation?
No thanks!
No, the saying is .... the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.
And “they” is Aristotle.
I do find it interesting when God uses His enemies to do His will... without Augustus requiring the census, there would have no reason for eight months pregnant Mary and husband Joseph to travel 90 miles from Nazareth the Bethlehem to fulfill Micah 5:2.
BTW: Bethlehem was where the Temple lambs for sacrifice were raised... after birth they were swaddled to keep them from injuring themselves... as to insure they were “without blemish.” As per Exodus 12:5.
Jesus the Lamb without sin (blemish).
Any salad can be a Caesar salad if you stab it enough...
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