TED Community » Gail .

More About Me

I'm passionate about

I'm passionate about learning.

An idea worth spreading

TAKE BACK YOUR MIND

People don't know that I'm good at

Anything that I set my mind to

Comments

• TEDCred score: +85.20 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: How can we consider the bible credible?

  Mar 27 2013: If changed texts aren’t part of christianity, how is it that?
  
  Jesus said, judge not. Christianity says - judge everyone. Be fruit pickers.
  
  Jesus said "fear not evil". Christianity says - fear evil.
  
  Jesus said “resist not evil”. Christianity says - turn away from it.
  
  Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is WITHIN YOU. Christianity says it's OUTSIDE of you and it is where christians go later
  
  Jesus said do NOT pray in churches. Christians pray in churches.
  
  Jesus said do NOT pray in public. Christians pray in public.
  
  Jesus said that even the most spiritually bankrupt (ignorantn/corrupt/evil) are of the kingdom of heaven. Christianity says they're of the kingdom of Satan.
  
  Jesus said to love your enemies and do good to those who do not love you. Christianity says to correct them, chastise them, or even go to war against them when leaders whom God has placed over you tell you to.
  
  Jesus said to give unto Caesar that which is Ceasar’s, and give unto God that which is God’s. Christianity says to give unto God that which is Caesar’s (fear) and give unto Caesar that which is god’s (love/allegiance).
  
  Jesus said to swear no oaths. Christianity swear’s oaths – whether as a Pledge of Allegiance or the oath of service/office/witness/jury duty, etc.
  
  Jesus said to love others as yourself, for as you do to others, including the least of those among you, you do to God (thus redefining God. Christianity says to debase yourself before those whom God has placed over you – thus to debase God
  
  Jesus said you are powerful creatures – gods in your own right. What you ask for WILL be given if you will only believe it, you'll see it. Christianity says you are powerless.
  
  Jesus told you how to use your innate power for your own protection and wellbeing. Christianity says that those who use it are evil.
  
  Jesus said that YOU are the light of the world. Christianity says that Jesus is.
  
  Short list, but I think you get the point.

• A reply on Conversation: How can we consider the bible credible?

  Mar 27 2013: I too thought that the Bible spoke truth, until the day came when I wondered why my church rarely spoke of Jesus' teachings, but always relied on Paul and the Old Testament texts. I started studying the teachings of Jesus as a way to be a better Christian. I came away so shocked that I couldn't be a Christian any more. How could a church lie like that? Why?????
  
  Someone in this thread asked for more information, so I went on-line to get it. There I found that Christians are flooding the internet with Christian versions of Koine Greek to English dictionaries in order to support their contentions. They are using words that weren't even in existence in the 17th century when the KJV came out or in the 15th century when the Gutenberg Press was invented, or the 16th century Reformation. In short, they are lying.
  
  I had a friend who has a PhD in Theology from Brown. Literacy in ancient Aramaic and Koine Greek (the Bible's language) was required, and as one of his courses, he was required to translate one of the gospels into English. He too was horrified by all of the lies, stopped being a Christian, became an atheist, and he tried, for a time, to make the lies known and the beauty of a message understood. But he learned that those who do not want to see truth will not see it - which, of course, is what Jesus said (paraphrased).
  
  I no longer have access to the old dictionary. My friend is dead. The book gone. But to continue:
  
  Luke 17:21 - Jesus says that the kingdom of God is within you. That means it's here now. He said this to the Pharisees - so the kingdom of God was within them too, which is consistent with the first Beatitude where he said "Blessed (one-with/of/walking-with holiness) are the poor in spirit (spiritually ignorant) for theirs is the kingdom of heaven/God. You say the Pharisees were Jesus' enemies, but Jesus said to love your enemies & do good to those who would harm you. He had no enemies.
  
  The original texts say that heaven is WITHIN
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: How can we consider the bible credible?

  Mar 27 2013: Yes, they do - BUT the original texts show her as being a maiden - an unmarried female. Unmarried females are either virgins or not. Surely you know that. The original texts do not make reference to the condition of her hymen. Still, Mary's "virginity" is an essential tenet of Christianity. This was a "change" - not a translation error. Why didn't King James use the word maiden if that's how she was described?
  
  Jesus wasn't anti-women, as the gospels show. When he gave his "Sermon on the Mount", women weren't separated out from the rest of the hoard by a barrier, as was required in synagogues when rabbis spoke. What would the multitude have used to erect such a barrier before Jesus was allowed to speak? How long would it have taken them?
  
  The change from maiden or unmarried woman to "virgin" was done to manipulate you.
  
  So believe as you will, but that doesn't change the "facts".

• A comment on Conversation: Does religion cause the placebo effect?

  Mar 27 2013: Belief in the non-existent God, and that which quantum physics demonstrates is highly improbable (IF there is a god, it bears no resemblance to the God of Abraham), is a choice. Unless one was raised in a family of atheists, atheism is not a choice. It's a realization.
  
  This said, Christianity has a track record that is opposite of all that it says it stands for. Is that mayhem and cruelty a placebo effect that you can live with? You could call it a placebo effect. You could also call it denial or delusion. Whatever works for you works for you. But as soon as you use your "placebo effect" to turn against all who are different than you (as is happening in the USA), and a religion of love and peace becomes a religion of abuse and tyranny, then it's time for eyes to open and behaviors to be seen for what they are.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Are governments interested in keeping us 'dumb'?

  Mar 27 2013: Edward Long hit the nail on the head.
  
  In the USA, students - in their compulsory state-sponsored schools - are taught provable outright lies about their own nation's history as well as how their government is supposed to work. This makes it impossible for the people to fix what is broken, while they beg to be victimized.
  
  In addition to the overt lies, there are the covert lies - in the form of censorship - where information that all should know is not mentioned. America was supposed to be a country that is "of, by, and for the people" and those skills essential to running such a government are not in the curriculum.
  
  Furthermore, because the pot-smoking hippies of the 60s and 70s refused to be drafted and objected loudly to an unfair and unjust war - forcing the War in Viet Nam to come to an end in spite of the fact that the government wanted it - pot (a non-addictive drug that makes you loving and sleepy) is now a Schedule I drug - listed as more dangerous than meth, cocaine, and other drugs that actually make people violent.
  
  There has been a considerable "dumbing down" in America, and as a result, we are now a nation of functionally uneducated sheeple. All who want to keep a people oppressed deny education. The people have become the enemy of the state.
  
  If people knew how much they don't know, and how they are being used, they would be sick - and no human being who knows what government is doing to them would be able to respect it.

• A reply on Conversation: How can we consider the bible credible?

  Mar 26 2013: Oops. Thanks for reminding me. ;-)

• A reply on Conversation: What is your opinion on the New Teaching Manifesto? Can it be implemented in a school/college?

  Mar 26 2013: I highly encourage you to watch the following TED video - the winner of the 2013 TED prize. When you are done, please go to the next link to download the toolkit.
  
  I will send you an email detailing how I (inadvertently) taught EQ skills to a group of 8-10 year olds. I will do that through the email address listed in your web post.
  
  http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud.html
  http://www.ted.com/pages/prizewinner_sugata_mitra
  
  Hope this helps.

• A reply on Conversation: Why do people find it so hard to admit their wrong? And how can we improve upon this? (If this is the case)

  Mar 26 2013: Saying things with confidence even though you don't know much about the subject is not viewed as a positive, as soon as people figure out that's what you're doing. Then it's a negative. That is something that low EQ people do.
  
  People with high EQs control their emotions, rather than allow themselves to be controlled by them. That doesn't involve will-power. It involves self-respect.

• A reply on Conversation: What is your opinion on the New Teaching Manifesto? Can it be implemented in a school/college?

  Mar 26 2013: It would help you if you would reply to the questioner (that opens a box under the comment where you can reply) rather than go to the big open box that does not send me an e-mail telling me that you have replied.
  
  But to answer your question. I loved the introduction. I was getting excited until I saw the implementation. At that point, my mind filled with awareness of all that you are NOT teaching - which, by the way, is an essential life skill (seeing or hearing what is not being shown or said).

• A comment on Conversation: Can we use the SOLE concept without using a cloud environment? Are computers necessary to create a SOLE?

  Mar 26 2013: I must be missing something in your question. Why would you want that? This being asked, all of learning doesn't have to be in the cloud. Growing a garden is best done outside. But as we are a culture that has lost its connection with the land, and has completely connected with money (a piece of paper with imagined value attached), those schools that have started gardens do so to reduce the cost of school lunches.
  
  As soon as you take the Internet away, absent an exhaustive library and interactive museums in the school, you put limits on the SOLE and when you do that, you damage the soul (ego) of the children by sending a message of distrust that the children carry with them - often for the rest of their lives. The consequences of that show up in our cultures shortcomings.
  
  I wonder if you want more flexibility or if you want more power and control over young minds. What flexibility do you want? It would be helpful if you could edit your question to address that.
  
  As for adults, the Internet has completely changed my life. I have access to information that I never imagined existed. I am passionate about learning and no subject is off-limits. I never learned that in school. In school, I learned to fear learning. In school I learned that I was inadequate. Now I KNOW I'm not. My computer is on all day. When I have a question, I look for an answer on the Internet. (I used to go to my Encyclopedia, but the Internet is more complete and many sites come with relevant forums - making education interactive.
  
  Word is spreading though. Thanks to the Internet, I'm meeting many others who have the same passion for learning that I have.
  
  Your question causes me to ask if YOU are using the Internet to its fullest capacity. Are you an educator who is not passionate about learning and only passionate about teaching? If so, look at what you are teaching. Please. If not, then would you explain the parts that you don't address in your question?
  
  Thanks