So, what is it about the great Volunteer State of Tennessee anyway... the land where evolution is suspect and activist judges like Lu Ann Ballew decide what name you can give your kid. This story's a lulu...

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

 Author's program note. The folks in Newport, Tennessee, (7,242 residents at  the time of the 2000 census) are hoping against hope that the old adage  about the only bad ink being no ink is true... because their fair metropolis  is today the butt of every joke, of sarcasms too nasty and ribald to be printed  here, and of enough raised eye-brows to keep barbers worldwide busy as  bees for as long as they live.

 Welcome to Newport.

 Newport is the kind of place where the movers and shakers gather at their  favorite greasy spoon after a long week-end of over eating and epic belches  and belt loosening to complain about the injustice that nobody but them knows  the virtues of their civic home, sweet home... if only the world and his brother  would drop by they'd see for themselves why this dogpatch of 5.4 square miles  is a little bit of heaven.

 Well, the Solons of Newport have now got their fervent wish... and as a result  are hiding out under verandas, in attics which are hot as a pistol in August, and  in some of the most beautiful and verdant acreage on God's green earth,  secret places where the connoisseurs of back yard hootch can so easily find  the white lightning, the liquid fortitude, the raw satisfaction that goes down like  silk and enlivens even the oldest bones; that was until just the other day their sole  claim to fame... but no longer.

 Now, thanks to a pair of squabbling parents who never met a subject on which  they agreed.... a ramrod stiff magistrate whose uptight rectitude and rock ribbed  certainties have made even her most avid supporters cringe with embarrassment...  and a bouncing baby boy of just seven months with a smile that just won't quit,  the Chamber of Commerce got its wish: the great wide world now most assuredly  knows Newport... and the truth of this old saw, "Beware of what you ask for, for  you may get it."

 The music. "Running Moonshine on Highway Nine."

 My, my have I ever found a great tune to accompany this article. It's a wisp  of a song titled "Running Moonshine on Highway Nine". You can find it in any  search engine and when you do, turn it right on and crank up the toe-tappin'  melody.

 It's a corker of a tune about the bold, fast-moving boys of Appalachia, the smooth  talkin', smooth drinkin' sons of the Great Smoky Mountains, kings of the blue  highways and the back roads that take you to nirvana, oblivion, and a headache  that reminds you the next morning just how good a time you had the night before,  and your race with the law; "out of the woods comes a cop named Jackson and  he tries to steal my action".... but to no avail.

 No flat footed ossifer can ever touch these boys, young, cocky, crazy jive-talking,  petal pushin' gods of the great ribbon of highway where the 'shine moves like  greased lightning and goes down like fire; the law nothing more than an  inconvenience, brushed off with cool nonchalance... just the way child support  magistrate Lu Ann Ballew handled her now famous (for all the wrong reasons)  case in Cocke County Chancery Court.

 The facts, stipulated, not in dispute.

 Jaleesa McCullough went to court because she and her husband just couldn't  agree on whose surname their now 7-month-old baby Messiah should get.  To end an argument that had lost its savor, they sought succor from the law,  which turned out to be magistrate Ballew.

 They expected Ballew to find a way to settle the matter through arbitration,  flipping a coin, pulling the solution out of a hat, or maybe using the well-known  slicing technique applied by King Solomon himself. But Ballew didn't do this;  instead when she saw the name of that sweet baby boy Messiah, she knew as  a Christian that wasn't right; that it was an outrage; that she had to do something  about it.

 And so magistrate Ballew, charged by the State of Tennessee to protect and  defend the Constitution of the United States promptly took action that outraged  that Constitution and defiled the rights of the bickering Martins. The Constitution  was explicit, the First Amendment clear: "Congress shall make no law respecting  an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

 Knowing this as we suppose Ballew did, she nonetheless first thought, then acted  thus:

 Messiah is a religious name earned by only one person, "that one person is  Jesus Christ" and that she must heed the higher authority, affronting her oath,  her mission, and the great Constitution from which her authority derives.

 Then she rendered judgement: that the boy Messiah could not have the name  his parents gave him, a name already held by hundreds of other boys; further,  that having expunged the name given by his parents, she, not they, would provide  his new legal name, Martin, thereby well and truly trampling on the parents, who  were now the victims of a magistrate who may have meant well but delivered  insult, controversy, not to mention a decision with absolutely no basis  in law,  precedent, logic, or natural right.

 It short it was nothing more than an ignorant, uninformed, intrusive judicial  authority imposing her prejudice on people who sought the benign assistance  of the court but instead were hurt, pained, disrespected and offended by it.  Thus was a writhing, wiggling, glistening, slithering can of worms opened.

 If not Messiah, what about Jesus?

 Once the judge rendered judgement, once the McCulloughs left the courtroom  chagrined and dismayed, once the media was alerted to this startling  failure to adhere to the Constitution and so render truth, not religious bias,  the Associated Press was on the case and the sharp questions began.

 Your honor, do you believe "Jesus" qualifies as a "suitable" name? Knowing  there were legions of honorable men and all-American boys of that name, the  magistrate took refuge in silence.

 And what of Mary, Marie, Maria, all named for the Virgin? And what of Joseph,  Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the plethora of other names, all Biblical? All  used by millions?

 The magistrate was now unavailable for further questions. She had gone to  ground, silent, anxious, worried, her very judicial appointment now in jeopardy,  because she interjected the affairs of God into the rights of citizens.

 The matter will, of course, be appealed; both McCulloughs agree on this if nothing  else. The magistrate, having erred so greatly, will be overruled and cold  shouldered even by those who concur with her outrageous position.  Tennessseans, you see, like winners and that magistrate Ballew most  assuredly is not.

 As for the citizens of Newport, they should stick to 'shine. There their skills are  unequalled and their product sublime.


About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is the author of over a dozen print books, several ebooks and over one thousand online articles both fiction and non-fiction. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.

An accomplished Master gives you the secret to becoming an Internet millionaire... the most important article you'll ever read about making money on line.

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. It is Christmas Day, the most important day in the Christian calendar into which I was born nearly 66 years ago. As such I shall spend a happy portion of this special day with beloved family and friends. But some time, important time, I shall do that which has made me rich and will make me richer still. I shall, that is, tend my business by promoting it, for this is as necessary on this blessed day as on any other day.

Where this will take place.

Want to get rich? Then create for yourself a space dedicated to one thing and one thing only, a space where the focus is exclusively and solely on getting rich, where NOTHING else is ever allowed, tolerated, or accepted. I call this place the "space capsule", and I want to give you a brief but mind-altering tour.

Some 30 years ago, when I was just starting the business which has made me a multi-millionaire I saw this space late one Friday afternoon. It was exactly what I'd been looking for for months; it was big enough to suit but not to overwhelm, perfectly located across the street from Harvard Law School and the storied Harvard Yard. In short it was the perfect location for who I am, where I should be and what I must do.

Thus I purchased it on the following Monday and long ago erased the mortgage, paid for in part by payments (and tax deductions) from my home-based business therein situated. Since purchase, its value has appreciated by over 1000% and is not done appreciating yet. I recommend such a wise purchase for you, too; that is if you plan to get old and well-heeled. You do, don't you?

The decoration of such a place.

Remember the line from the old English nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Six pence", the line which directs you to the King's office, the counting house where he delighted to while away a lazy afternoon counting his money? This sapient sovereign knows something about money that you have so far disregarded or never knew: the making of fortunes is expedited by being surrounded by and seeing as many manifestations of your wealth as possible. In other words, if you've got it, flaunt it.

But, you wail, you have no manifestations of wealth, nothing to flaunt, hardly even an idea of what you'd like to flaunt, even if you could. No problem. Take a dollar out of your impecunious wallet and staple it to a piece of paper. Then post it where you can see it every day. That dollar, that single dollar, is the single step that begins the thousand mile journey to wealth.

Then regularly add to your gallery of wealth objects. Post copies of bounteous bank statements, or receipts that show you are polishing off your mortgage, each payment another step to your goal.

In due course, you'll be posting evidence of much greater wealth and of the process that produces it. Thus, in my office, hub of my "space capsule", I am surrounded by things of consequence, including a dozen Old Masters, masterpieces painted before 1800. Each one, and all the other treasures in this room, are tangible, beautiful evidence of successful promotions, of prospects identified, offers made, offers accepted, money in the bank. Each is tangible evidence of your success... which is constantly "in your face" to remind you of what you must still do to advance further and faster.

Make sure everything you need is at hand and readily available.

As I write it is 1:36 a.m. Eastern time. It is a night of howling winds and driven snow. I needed extra padding against the gelid temperatures and the cold distractions playing themselves outside my window. This is where planning comes in. Write down everything you're going to need to do your significant and necessary work. Then make sure you have it readily available and in sufficient quantity. When you are supposed to be marketing, you shouldn't be wasting precious time trying to discover just where you left your bunny slippers.

The crucial mantra.

It is now time to "psych yourself up", to put your brain in the proper state and condition so it can do its essential work. You need a "mantra."

In Hinduism, a mantra is a sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.

Here is the mantra I have written for you:

Promote!

When you are ready... promote./ When you are not... promote. When it rains... promote/ when it's dry... promote. When you're rich... promote./ when you're not ... promote. When you feel like it... promote./ When you don't... promote!

The great thing about a mantra is that is can easily be customized for you. Thus,

"When my kids are screaming... promote/ When they're not... promote!" Get it?

Mantras are designed to put yourself in the place you need to be, your subconscious mind ready to take you there.

Your "power song."

Music is good for more, much more, than soothing the savage beast. It can give you the essential beat you must have to feel bright, energetic, motivated, a power player about to astonish the world with deeds of derring-do, or at least achieve today's promotion quota. (You do have one, don't you?).

Here's a good tune to get you up and active, alert, dauntless, ready to roll. It's "High Hopes"; published in 1959, popularized by Frank Sinatra, it helped elect John F. Kennedy President of the United States. High hopes, indeed. You'll find it in any search engine. Here is its most famous stanza:

"Once there was a silly old ram/ Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam/ No one could make that ram, scram/ He kept butting that dam/... Just remember that ram/Oops there goes a billion kilowatt dam."

Set the day's objective.

If your goal is wealth, and if not why not, now's the moment to play the numbers game.

If you're marketing on line (you are, aren't you?) you need to set FOUR numbers: the number of ads you need to email; the number of clicks from those ads; the number of prospects (at Worldprofit.com we call them "associates") from those clicks, and finally the number of sales and dollars therefrom. These 4 numbers are crucial and must be set and reached DAILY, Christmas or not.

Now just do it!

It is now just 4:26 a.m. Eastern.. The winds have died down a bit but it's snowing harder. It's damp, cold, dark outside the Space Capsule. I don't really want to be here but my Power Song is working its magic and, like the oldest war horse, I feel the sap rising. It's going to be a great day, a day I make money. "Oops there goes another problem kerplop." The mantra is working its magic... again. Yes, it's going to be another fine day for making money. 

 About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com

Did he or didn't he? Thoughts on whether Jesus married or not.

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. I am writing today where I write every day; from my eyrie hard-by the Cambridge, Massachusetts Common, across the street from Harvard University, my alma mater whose motto -- "Veritas" ("Truth") -- is everywhere apparent.

It is important, particularly for this article, that you understand something of the history of this venerable place, the city of Cambridge itself, its designated mission, what the Puritans aimed for, and whether they achieved it.

The first settlers to Massachusetts (arriving November 11, 1620) underwent the greatest possible travail and difficulty. They endured their acute miseries, even welcomed them, because they insisted upon their view of God and their direct and personal relationship with Him.

In their new land, there would be no bishops, no cardinals, no fathers Holy or otherwise ... just a man, his Bible, his vision of God, and no overweening, dictating authority. On this basis they divided their new home into two parts; Boston was designated the administrative, governmental and commercial headquarters. Cambridge (then called Newe Towne, until 1638) was designated the theological center, including schools; most importantly the most celebrated educational establishment ever created, Harvard.

From its very first moment, it was clear that Cambridge and Rome would be the axes of two fundamentally different views of God and how men should regard, worship, and honor Him. Each side spoke well of the other when necessary, but each regarded the other as capable of any outrage. How could it be otherwise when one claimed infallibility and the other believed no man and therefore no human institution was infallible, a state reserved for God Himself.

From time to time the tensions, always latent, flared. My brilliant classmate Professor John Boswell (1947-1994), though a zealous convert to Roman Catholicism, was one who rocked the boat in one seminal study after another on the Church, its long, early acceptance of openly gay priests and same sex marriage.

Discerning people knew at once with the publication in 1980 of "Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality" that here was a clear, new, lucid, learned voice on some of Rome's greatest problems. His National Book Award in 1981 was just the first of a cascade of honors. His tragic death from complications of AIDS was a huge setback for tolerance and a way out of Rome's Gordian Knots. It was rumored then and after that the Roman Catholic Curia breathed a sigh of relief at his death, sotto voce claiming it was God's will. So the Vatican acknowledged Boswell's importance and the Veritas that was always his objective. 

Now Harvard offers Rome Professor Karen L. King and the now celebrated text suggesting that Jesus was married... his wife being (a) Mary but as yet unclear which one; (there are three mentioned in the Bible). Even the possibility that the Son of God was married has generated a tsunami of controversy, learned (and not so learned) commentary, and knee-jerk reactions of every kind. 

Now it is time for me to weigh in, on the principle that fools rush in where angels fear to tread, a phrase written by English poet Alexander Pope in 1709. It became the title of a well-known 1940 song, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, music by Rube Bloom. Bing Crosby, himself a fervent Roman Catholic, added it to his string of hits. You'll find it in any search engine. I like the sultry version by Mildred Bailey.

Recognized scholars confirm the document is genuine.

The two essential questions: is the document authentic? And is what it reports about Jesus and his wife accurate, thereby proving the case for what would then be the most important marriage in all history?

As for the authenticity of this inelegant document, smaller than a business card, written in a coarse hand with a pen well worn and past its prime, one recognized scholar after another has been sought out by Professor King. Tellingly each and every authority who has seen and scrutinized the actual document has endorsed its authenticity; as the actual thing it purports to be. Exhaustive testing and analysis by the world's leading experts have failed to produce a single dubious element, feature, or aspect. In short, there is not a single "red flag" to be had, although there are still plenty of doubters.

Professor King, historian of the early Christian church, did her work well, and shrewdly. By her outreach to her peers, she kept her worldwide colleagues in the loop, giving them no grounds for criticism. She shared what she had.... and in the process covered herself, too, in case later analysis yielded doubts not present now. Should such a day ever dawn, Professor King would not be the only one with egg on her face. It would be generously shared with every poobah in the field.

Is the text accurate?

Thus King cleverly dispensed with the lesser query, getting comfortable shared responsibility while ensuring her name would be forever linked to this epochal matter. Now she must go to a far more difficult and controversial place, for the truly essential question is: "Is the message history, true, or merely tittle-tattle in the Coptic language?" And here, to date, there is not only no agreement in general, but little desire to stray beyond the verities of papyrus and pen. And so it's time for this fool to rush in...

Fate? Accident of history? Conspiracy?

Why is there so much hubbub in the world, both amongst theologians and historians and people on the street concerned about their immortal souls and the Good News that is Jesus, regarding this text specifically and the subject generally? It is because for hundreds of years all manner of people have speculated on the man called Jesus and every aspect of his world-altering career.

Every aspect of his known life matters to us, and so both believers and non-believers alike have made it a point to study and master "The Greatest Story Ever Told"... a story that rivets our attention not least because it so closely touches the matter of our souls and our eternal place in the firmament.

Thus in studying the story of Jesus, we study, too, what may happen to us, individually and species. And because the matter is so significant, we must approach each new development as the greatest of lawyers would have done... with minute scrutiny, wariness, doubt and dubitation; the matter is too significant for us all to warrant any other approach.

Advocates for Jesus' marriage must ask and answer such piercing questions as these:

1) Is it likely that such a crucial event as his marriage would be found and solely communicated to us in just one document, and that unclearly written in an ungrammatical and uneducated hand?

2) Is it likely that the marriage of Our Saviour would be treated as silently and unheralded as to appear in but one text?

3) Why are the Prophets predicting the advent of Jesus universally quiet on the matter of the help-mate who would partly share his life and lighten his excruciating load?

4) Given the fact that such a spouse presumably out lived Jesus, why is there no document proved and incontrovertible that mentions her in any of the stringent activities and customs of her Jewish widowhood?

5) Why is there no document, authenticated or not, that mentions seeing, visiting, embracing or listening to this spouse, even being given by her any of Jesus' effects, each of which would have immediately become the holiest of artifacts?

6) And what of the Pharisees and of the Romans? They had each been apprehensive of Jesus when alive and so might well have monitored his widow and any cult of her husband, which she might well have been expected to bolster and grow.

Why is none of this and the thousand related queries not mentioned in the texts and documents which constitute the Bible and related texts? A good sleuth must be forced to conclude they are not there because there was no wife, no help-mate, no spouse, thereby proving yet again how much the Son of Man forfeited for us. And yet....

Where the definitive answer probably resides and three dates.

There has been, so far, a huge hole in the debate, and I suspect that within this hole is the solution to the married Jesus conundrum. This hole is the most lavish, ostentatious, and palatial library ever created, suitable for the men on whom God built his Church. This place is the Vatican Library and it is here, amongst its 75,000 codices and over 1.1 million printed works, that the likely answer is to be found. Yet neither Karen King nor any of the many publications and media sources following this story have even mentioned this absolutely vital resource and its importance for elucidating the matter at hand.

Did Professor King seek to get access to either the general collection or the all-important Secret Archives? If so, why has she not said so, reporting what she may have seen or was not allowed to see? Or did she fail to ask for admission, thereby leaving an enormous gap in her research? For make no mistake about it: the most likely place to find what will solve the matter is amidst the documents of those who have the greatest vested interest. All roads lead to Rome as they have from the days of the Caesars, and to the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana.

476, 1202,1475.

Three dates are significant to the work of any Biblical scholar, theologian or historian in hot pursuit of Veritas. 476 is when the Roman empire of the West finally fell. Thereafter the greatest library of the world and repository of Church documents was to be found not in Rome but in the Eastern empire, in Byzantium -- until April 13, 1204 when during the Fourth Crusade the Christian crusaders sacked the greatest of Christian cities, dispersing its riches, including the riches of its great library; carrying back to Rome masses of crucial Church history. From this emerged in 1475 the library of the Holy See. And it is likely there, Professor King, you will find the answer to the matter at hand, an answer one way or the other, for as Mildred Bailey at her loveliest sang, "Though I see the danger there/ If there's a chance for me /Then I don't care."  
 About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com
 

'Give me that old time religion,' implores the Pope as the world ponders the possibility and importance of a married Jesus. Wow!

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. When was the last time, you saw a major secular publication give a banner headline to the latest development in Biblical studies? You probably can't think of that time... which is why the front-page coverage in The Boston Globe of Wednesday, September 19, 2012 (and following) is so important, epochal, for on this day the possibility of a married Jesus made a quantum leap, moving beyond mere speculation (as in Dan Brown's 2003 run-away best seller "The Da Vinci Code") to something plausible, conceivable, even likely.  "I ,Jesus, take thee...."

Revolution on a scrap of fourth-century Egyptian papyrus.

It's a tiny little thing, smaller than a business card but it packs the wallop of a punch to the solar plexus for the Bishop of Rome and his Catholic Church. Here are the exact words discovered and minutely scrutinized by Bible scholars under the leadership of Harvard University Professor Karen L. King, historian of the early Christian church.

1) "not (to) me. My mother gave to me life... 2) The disciples said  to Jesus, 3) deny. Mary is worthy of it. 4) ... Jesus said to them, 'My wife... 5) ... she will be able to be my disciple... 6)  As for me, I dwell with her in order to"... 7) (an image).

"The Gospel of Jesus's wife."

The text is crude, scrawled in a Coptic hand. King provocatively calls her potentially seismic find, a translation from a Greek text written two centuries earlier, "The Gospel of Jesus's wife."

The most important woman in history.

As King points out,"The entire question about whether Jesus was married or not first arose only 150 years after Jesus died in the context of Christians discussing... whether Christians should marry or remain celibate." In other words, this discussion, with the implication Jesus was married, took place as close to the actual events of Jesus's life as any of the major early Christian texts. This increases its importance and similarly the importance of the woman who would be, if proven, the most important woman in human history; the woman selected by the Son of God to be his lawfully wedded wife, Mrs. Jesus.

This likely woman is known to history as Mary Magdalene or Mary of Magdala, and the reasonable likelihood is that she is the "Mary" referenced in the text as Jesus's wife. After all, she was one of Jesus's most celebrated disciples and the most important female disciple in Jesus's movement. He had cured her of a serious illness described as "seven demons". It is known she became one of his close friends. But was there more?

Consider the ways in which this Mary is referred to in the Bible...
Item: She remained at the cross of crucifixion alone after all the male disciples had fled. Is this the act of a dear friend, or loving spouse?

Item: She was present at his burial. Is this the act of a dear friend, or loving spouse?

Item: She was the first person to see Jesus after his Resurrection. Is this the act of a dear friend, or loving spouse?

Conservatives, defenders of the status quo, must argue for friendship and loyalty; progressives, now bolstered by the suggestive new evidence, will argue for more, much more, thereby positioning Mary, possibly wife of Our Saviour, as the most important woman in human history, a woman we long to know better and in copious detail.

An e-mail brought the Good News.

A man unknown to Professor King wrote to her as an expert in the field. The man wanted to know whether she could help him translate the text. He told King he had an inkling that it might say something about Jesus being married. Perhaps the good professor could assist? King looked at the document and her heart beat faster. If it was authentic it would immediately rank with the most important early Christian texts, from the days when the verities of the gospel were being discussed and determined. "If"...

The owner quizzed.

Being a professor, investigator, researcher means emulating such great sleuths as Sherlock Holmes, Lord Peter Wimsey or Miss Jane Marple. Thus, Professor King. understanding how gleeful and smug her opponents would be if she erred, moved carefully. Check, recheck, check again. The man who brought this find to her attention was, it seems to me, of little help. He knew what its previous owner had told him about the text in question being about Jesus and his wife, but he knew (or would say) nothing more... except for one thing: he wanted to sell the document to Harvard as part of a collection of Greek, Coptic, and Arabic papyri. Recent worldwide publicity about this text could only increase its value and desirability. Harvard remains silent on the matter.

King, wanting the informed opinion of her colleagues worldwide, systematically sought them out; starting with the doyan of such experts, Roger Bagnall, director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and professor of ancient  history at New York University, who helped King authenticate the papyrus.

Most but not all thought this messy, inelegant text, written in thick, badly controlled strokes, by someone with a very poor pen, was authentic. Importantly, every single expert who actually saw the artifact deemed it real; the doubters only saw low-resolution images, murky and  unclear.

The experts who did not see and would not share: the Vatican library.
King took her dog and pony show to Rome, to the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum for the International Association for Coptic Studies' Coptic Conference. But though she and the document were at that moment just across the street from the Vatican library, its great doors were not open for Professor King.

Yet where is the greatest number of such biblical texts likely to be found? 
These celibate guardians, in charge of access and more usually denial, will follow Professor King's researches with the greatest possible interest. But, as what she is about challenges the millennial usages of Rome, their enthusiastic and practical assistance especially if they know (as well they might) Professor King is on the right track, will never be forthcoming. Never.

Probably not that Mary.

Meanwhile, King and her adherents operate in an environment of enthusiasm and doubt, happiness and the greatest caution, even unto who "Mary" might be. Mary Magdalene, says Professor King, is unlikely to be the "Mary"  identified in her text as the wife of Jesus. That would be another Mary, as yet unidentified. She has her reasons, but I suspect "Occam's razor" works here: "other things being equal, a simpler explanation is better than a more complex one."

And so the wheels of academic research grind slowly, oh so slowly; the more slowly because the great doors of the Vatican's palatial library remain closed to anyone seeking anything even remotely inimical to the doctrine and practices of Mother Church, for whom truth is not always or even mainly its invariable objective; unlike Harvard, whose motto is "Veritas", Truth; its researchers have no special interests to protect or axes to grind.

Thus I give you the music for this article, a tune for which the Vatican has most assuredly developed a penchant, "Give Me That Old Time Religion," written in 1873 and included in a list of Jubilee songs, perfect for camp meetings. Find it in any search engine and belt out one of its new lyrics, "If it was good for Pius XII, it's good enough for me..."

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol <a href="http://WorkingAtHome101.com">http://WorkingAtHome101.com</a>.

Profanity! Don't use it in Middleborough, Massachusetts -- or else!

Author's program note. It's easy to sympathize with the good citizens of Middleborough, Massachusetts. Like all of us, they are assaulted -- and I'm talking about every single day -- with one expletive most assuredly not deleted after another.

Men, women, and (to our residual dismay) even children let loose these days with a string of oaths which would once have made a sailor blush. In fact, the very first word of a toddler today is likely to be a word starting with "f" that isn't "father." 

Mrs. Smythe, age 80, stubs her toe at the mall. One sharp unladylike expletive ensues.

Bobby Jones, union member, drops a hammer on his left foot. A string of expletives, too many to count but the air stays blue for hours after.

Richie Westover watches "his" girl kissing his arch rival and nemesis. He opens his mouth to react... and it isn't Shakespeare that comes out...

But you get the picture.

A substantial, and growing, number of the words we hear (and worse use) every single day are words which would once have sent grannie for the lye soap and grandpa to his wide belt for 10 of the best. "Assume the position, buster."

Citizens said, "We're mad as (deleted) and we're not going to take it any more"... especially from.... teen-agers, the worst offenders.

Centre Street, Middleborough ground zero.

Did you ever see the acclaimed Broadway musical "The Most Happy Fella" (1956) with its popular song, "Standing on the Corner (Watching All the Girls Go By")? Or listen to Mungo Jerry sing about the summertime, when you've "got women, you've got women on your mind" (1970)... or watch the iconic footage of "American Graffiti (1973) which elevated cruising main street to an art form?

If so, I don't have to tell you what the hormone-poppin' adolescents were doing on Centre Street...we've all been there, done that. It's as American as blueberry pie and as old as the hills. The behavior by the enfants terribles of Middleborough is raucous, obstreperous, rude, crude, vulgar to a degree... each outrageous antic accompanied by language which was once (and not so very long ago either) unprintable... something good boys and girls might know, but could only be used upon the greatest provocation.

Action, not just talk.

Police chief (since 2009) Bruce D. Gates had a bright idea, part of a set of tools to cope with the problem, namely to decriminalize an existing unenforced by-law against profane language in public. Decriminalization effectively revived the by-law, giving police power to hand out $20 tickets to offenders without worrying about bringing a criminal case to court.

Middleborough's exasperated town meeting overwhelmingly endorsed this idea, 183-50. The citizens applauded their action; Chief Gates was lauded, the recipient of plaudits, perhaps even a raise. All was well. Everything was in place for an assault on the miscreants whose egregious words constituted a constant assault on civility and suitable speech. Only one thing had been forgotten: The First Amendment of the Constitution of the Great Republic. Thus,

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the people peaceably to assemble, or to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

About the First Amendment, what Middleborough forgot, or, worse, never knew.

Passage of the Constitution, the first ever written on this Earth, was impeded because it conspicuously failed to enumerate the rights of citizens. Many reasonable people were unwilling to proceed until they knew. There followed arguably the most important and urgent work of the Founding Fathers... making clear what citizenship meant, its rights and responsibilities.

Thus, immediately after freedom of religion, these audacious visionaries put freedom of speech, its adamant importance made clear by its positioning in the very first amendment.

Now, here's the great irony of this matter. Middleborough was founded in 1661, well before the inauguration of the Great Republic itself. Its citizens were amongst the chary who insisted upon the clear enumeration of  their rights. It is because of such citizens that 13 disconnected royal colonies became 13 united states, the ultimate power for progressive change on Earth.

To protect these sacred rights the righteous citizens of Middleborough left home and hearth, bled and died on battle fields domestic and universal... and willingly gave, gave, and gave still more of their treasure. They believed in what they had wrought and went to all lengths to defend and strengthen it.

But all this was forgotten this early June evening when citizens abridged not just the rights of foul-mouthed, anti-social adolescents... but their own rights, too. At the request of the police authorities (hardly pace setters in the defence of rights) they gave away a portion of what their very ancestors worked so hard and diligently to gain and keep. And there was hardly a peep of opposition, much less comprehension.

Of course, since this story broke the police have bent over backwards to limit how and when their new powers will be used. Will they be used against that sweet lady and good neighbor Mrs. Smythe? The police say no, but the law is unclear. Perhaps the police could use it, but Chief Gates says they won't. Quite frankly that isn't good enough. I prefer the tested wisdom of the Founding Fathers to the self-serving policies of any police authority. Where were the citizens of Middleborough when the need was pressing to say this?

And what of all the other oaths, the ones by people like Bobby Jones and Richie Westover? Who will determine what oaths deserve the $20 ticket... and which ones, in which situations do not? Who will decide... and who will monitor the monitors? Here, again, I prefer the position of the Founding Fathers. They did not say this speech will be free... and this speech (especially if made by teen-agers) will not. They said, unequivocally, that "Congress shall make NO law...  abridging the freedom of speech."  And that includes  Middleborough....

I do not expect Chief Gates to understand this. After all, it's his baby. He wants to clear the streets of profanity, because no one wants to listen (in his infelicitous phrase) to that  "baloney". It's a line that demonstrates how little he understands the issue at hand. None of us, including me, likes that baloney, the license to mangle our language, be vulgar, uncouth, bothersome, disturbing, distressing. I am as one with the Chief on this.

However, the First Amendment trumps our momentary unease at language which is generally unacceptable. Its preservation intact is, therefore, the objective; for this vigilance is eternally necessary, whatever the Chief says.

As for the foul-mouthed teen-agers in question, let's put Michael Jackson's 1987 triumph "Bad" to work helping. They are, and we all know and see it every single day, arrogant, thoughtless, obstinate, spoilers of so many hours. This is all true, but telling them that a million times only make things worse. Rather, we need to find better outlets for that stupendous energy.

What about dance..... where their prowess is unmistakable, a joy to watch, impossible to emulate? We could help them be good by allowing them to dance "Bad", insinuating our objective through these lyrics.

"I'm telling you Just watch your mouth I know your game What you're about."

It's certainly worth a try... and compromises no one's Constitutional rights. Chief Gates take note.

(Now go find "Bad" in any search engine. It's impossible to pontificate while listening. You'll be too busy gyrating and being just plain awesome).    

 About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Incc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today.

Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol  http://WorkingAtHome101.com