So, was the title catchy enough? Time to get back to my more... philosophical (?) posts now. Aren't all my posts though? Nevermind that.
Now, not everyone who will read this has been married. But something we all must realize is that no matter who you marry... you marry your relative. Whether it's your cousin or a stranger from across the globe. There are multiple ways to look at this and explain this, multiple ways to ponder this concept, so I will choose to look at it through the Bible. What else can you expect?
So, Day 6. There were two people. One male, and one female. 6,000 years later, you have over 7 billion people. That's quite the family there! But looking back, I noticed something interesting. In those early days, not only was it acceptable to marry close relatives, but common. As a matter of fact, there were at least two major times in history (creation and the flood) where it was not only common and acceptable to marry close relatives, but necessary as well.
This is a very interesting thought, considering Moses was told by God that close relatives couldn't marry, yet God made two major instances where that was absolutely vital. Now this seems very strange, a contradiction even. Well, what better reason to ponder the subject?
Everything looks different when you consider genetics. If Adam and Eve are our ultimate ancestors, that means all of the genetic material and variability for all of mankind was built into them. Also, since creation was originally "very good", there would be no faults in their DNA. We also now know that information is lost from generation to generation, and errors build up in the DNA.
A simple example I heard is two dogs, each with a gene for long hair and short hair, mate. They produce some puppies with both genes, but some with only long hair genes and others with only short hair genes. The puppies with only one type of gene have lost information and variability.
This is the same thing that happens when humans reproduce. And when you add in the mistakes and genetic diseases, then when two people with similar (imperfect) DNA reproduce, those mistakes compound on each other. However, early in history, with improved health and perfect DNA, these mistakes at first would be nonexistent, and later come about much more slowly.
It would take so long for these mistakes to manifest themself in a dangerous form, that for thousands of years we could intermarry with no problems. And when you look at the timing of things, it makes sense as well. Moses was told that close relatives couldn't marry about 2,000 years (I believe) after the flood. That's a long time for mistakes to build upon each other. When you consider the fact that intermarriage was allowed, and even made necessary, by God early on, and the effects of the fall on genetics, it actually seems to indicate that marrying a cousin or sibling isn't actually wrong morally. At least that's what I get out of it.
But, of course, times have changed. Now it is dangerous for close relatives to reproduce, because of what could happen to the kids. But before these mistakes existed, what reason would there be to keep close relatives from marrying? When we read the Bible, it seems God simply wants marriage to be between one man and one woman (although He also allowed multiple wives for a time... need to ponder that as well), what difference does it make how closely they are related? Assuming no genetics mistakes, of course.
My conclusion after pondering this issue? Well, we all marry our relatives anyway, what difference does it make how closely they're related to us? So I guess that means... incest isn't actually wrong (on a moral level). At least that's what I get out of it. That was really weird to say...
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Little steps
I'm gonna be honest. The only reason I'm writing anything right now is because it's part of a checklist I made for myself. Taking little steps to increase discipline. The idea is to make a list of daily things that I try to get done everyday to help improve myself (originally just for physical health, but I added some additional things). Some of the items include at least 1 high fat meal, reading my bible, or writing in something (such as this blog). I will admit, working on a checklist everyday makes me have to up the ante a bit.
I got this idea from Matt Marshall of Tried and True Fitness. This is all for a competition he's hosting, and I am trying to get in shape by midnight of March 31st to try and win. To do so, I must take little steps which build on each other. Similar to my last post, "Lessons from Minecraft (et al)".
This is the information for the contest I am entering: http://www.triedandtruefitness.com/contest/
And taking these little steps of organizing my time by even writing on this blog will help me achieve my goals.
So for now, wish me luck! And maybe you should consider taking a few small steps to improve yourself as well.
I got this idea from Matt Marshall of Tried and True Fitness. This is all for a competition he's hosting, and I am trying to get in shape by midnight of March 31st to try and win. To do so, I must take little steps which build on each other. Similar to my last post, "Lessons from Minecraft (et al)".
This is the information for the contest I am entering: http://www.triedandtruefitness.com/contest/
And taking these little steps of organizing my time by even writing on this blog will help me achieve my goals.
 | ||||||||||||
| This is the specific picture I am trying to build myself after, at this point |
So for now, wish me luck! And maybe you should consider taking a few small steps to improve yourself as well.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
School Assignment, still read it though
I had needed to do an assignment for a class, and I liked what I did since it related to subjects I enjoy discussing, so I decided to share it here. Tell me what you think (the assignment was to make a list comparing some contradictions between creation and evolution and then discuss some of them in greater detail):
Contradiction | Creation | Evolution |
Sun and Earth | Earth created first | Sun came first |
Origin of Death | Death came after sin as punishment | Death is permanent |
Origin of Man | Created in God's image on day 6 | Evolved from ape-like ancestor |
Original form of Earth | Earth started as water | Earth started as molten rock |
Noah's Flood | Is a historical event which explains fossils and much more | Is an impossible myth that contradicts with "evidence" for an old earth |
Origin of Life | Life came from the living God (life came from life, does NOT contradict science) | Life evolved from a non-living primordial soup millions of years ago (This contradicts an observable law of science) |
Origin of Matter | An all powerful ever existing God created all matter and energy | All matter and energy arose spontaneously (different theories have different answers) |
DNA | An all knowing intelligent God created the complex coding seen in DNA | Information came about without an intelligent creator (contradicts science, information must come from intelligence) |
Evolving | Everything reproduces after it's kind within it's genetic information, or even lose information which is more of devolution | One kind of animal can change into another, which requires addition of information which is impossible without intelligence |
Miracles | The very core of Creation relies on an all powerful God who created everything supernaturally | Evolution relies on there being no god and uses only natural processes, there can be no miracles or anything supernatural |
Man's Specialness | Being in the image of the Creator, man has dominion over the earth and is above all the rest of Creation, and has an eternal soul | Man is just an animal and is no more special than anything else. When man dies they die just like an animal. |
Logic and Reasoning | Logic was made to follow universal laws of order by an All Knowing God of Order | Our minds evolved randomly and are controlled by chemical processes that arose from random chance, therefore we cannot trust our own mind's wisdom |
Key contradiction 1: The order of creation (and original form of earth)
I chose to only mention the sun and earth for this, so that is what I put in the table. In reality there are many more aspects of this I could have discussed.
The evolutionary theory requires that dense gases and matter gathered around to form the sun billions of years before a ball of molten rock would form to eventually become the earth. Stars came first to evolutionists, and that included the sun. All other celestial bodies, such as planets and the earth, formed billions of years after. Another conflict that is underneath this is the fact that evolution says the earth started as fire (for simplicity’s sake), the Bible says it started as water.
Now on the other hand, Biblical creation clearly states that the earth came before the sun and stars, as well as the moon (which evolution claims formed closer to the time of earth than the sun). When the earth was formed, it began as water and land came afterward (Genesis 1:2, 6-10). It wasn’t until two days after the earth was formed that we see the creation of the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 1:14-18).
This isn’t even getting into other aspects of the order of creation that evolution gets wrong; there is birds and fish created on the same day (Gen. 1:20) vs fish evolving into land and then sea creatures, plants being created before the sun (Gen 1: 11-12, 14-18) vs evolving billions of years afterwards, man and dinosaurs created on the same day (Gen 1: 24-30) vs man evolving millions of years afterwards, etc. But I chose to mention just the sun and earth in the above table.
Key contradiction 2: The Supernatural vs the natural (and several other points)
One of the sharpest contrasts between creation and evolution is the fact that creation requires there be miracles and supernatural beings, while evolution strictly forbids it. This, I believe, is where the science for evolution falls apart, right at step one. Since evolution requires only natural processes (that follow the natural laws of physics), there is no reasonable explanation for the origin of all matter and energy, now why to explain how life came about, no way to explain logic, and no way to explain pretty much anything. Their problem is there is no way for something to come from nothing, and that is what they need to explain their world view. Where did everything we see today come from?
Creation, on the other hand, has a reasonable answer for this. Since creation relies on the supernatural, which by definition supersedes the natural (and it’s laws of physics), it is very easy to explain the origin of everything. It goes something like this, “In the beginning God created…” (Gen 1:1). Right there we have our answer; an all powerful, all knowing supernatural being, which is above nature and it’s laws (and which actually created those laws), is the one responsible for everything we see today. A more detailed answer to this problem may be found in John 1:1-5
“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Words was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it”
“God created everything. . . and nothing was created except through him”, that makes our answer pretty easy. Provided God had the power to do so (which of course He did) and was telling the truth when He wrote this down (and of course, He was), then creation has no problem answering this.
Key contradiction 3: Man
The final point I will discuss is the conflict between Man’s place in creation. When we compare the worldviews, we see two drastically different opinions. On one side we have creation which says Man was created in the image of the Creator Himself (Genesis 1: 27), and was also created perfect to live forever with the Almighty, and later turned away from the Creator and had to live with death and suffering (Genesis 3); while on the other side we have evolution, which says man evolved from an animal and his life has no meaning, when he dies he dies and there is nothing left, that he is no more important than an ant or a leaf. There is a drastic contradiction between these two beliefs, isn’t there?
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Rewriting Genesis
In these days, many Christians are compromising their beliefs to fit into the world. One way they are doing this is by trying to fit evolution into the Bible. One of the ways they are doing this is "You're stupid for limiting God, He could have used evolution if He wanted to!" However, what they fail to see, is that the Creator TOLD us that He did not use evolution. The creation account is clearly written. If you wanted to write Genesis in such a way that it is obvious the Almighty created everything about 6,000 years ago, in 6 literal 24 hour days, you would leave it just the way it is. On the other hand, if you wanted to write Genesis in such a way that it is obvious the Almighty used evolution and millions of years, it would need to be entirely rewritten. So, I will show you a post I made on another forum recently, where I did just that:
In the video we watched for this week it was mentioned that to clearly state that creation took place in 6 literal, 24 hour days you would write it just the way it is. However, to clearly state that God used long periods of time to create everything you would need to rewrite not only Genesis, but the entire Bible. I decided what it would be like to rewrite just the first chapter (roughly). Tell me what you all think.
"In the beginning, God created nothing. There was no earth yet, and everything was rather boring and empty, so God said 'Let there be light' and nothing exploded and started expanding over billions of years to form the universe. And God saw that this huge, powerful and random explosion that created all light and matter in the universe was good. Since there was no earth and sun yet, He couldn't name the difference between day and night, so He sat around for a few billion years."
"God was bored again and decided to shake things up, so He took some of the random matter expanding through space and directed it to form into the earth over billions of years before creating the sun. Suddenly bored of a giant ball of rocks and lava, He decided to make turn it all into water over billions of years, and He then separated some of the water from the rest with an expanse in the sky. Seeing this work He had done over billions of years, and the earth floating there for no apparent reason, He called it good."
"Bored with just a big ball of water and a bunch of random fire and junk floating through space, He decided to make plants. So over millions of years, he made some of the minerals floating in the mud across the face of the earth and had it evolve into plants. After about the first day, He realized that the plants early ancestors wouldn't even be able to survive without the sun... and that caused a dilema. However, He saw this as very good."
"After having created the plants, God decided it would be a good time to create the sun. [from this point onwards I am adding to what I wrote in the post] After waiting millions of years for the plants to form, while supernaturally holding them together, He finally had some of the swirling gas in space create the giant reactor hanging in the sky now. While doing this, He also caused some floating rocks to start crashing together and form the moon. He would later use these two floating objects, the sun and moon, to signify the difference between night and day. After supernaturally causing the plants to survive for millions of years without the light of the sun, they finally got a break. Looking upon the millions of years of rotting plant matter, horrible weather conditions, and cosmic explosions, He saw it as good."
For this rewrite, I tried to keep the order that we see written in the Bible and explain those through natural processes. As you see, it doesn't work. The Bible says the earth came before the sun, evolution REQUIRES that the sun came first. Evolution also requires only natural processes and no guidance from God. As you can see, in that couldn't happen. Now you either have a choice in this matter, believe what the Bible says as it was written, or believe one of man's constantly changing opinions on the matter. The two don't fit together.
In the video we watched for this week it was mentioned that to clearly state that creation took place in 6 literal, 24 hour days you would write it just the way it is. However, to clearly state that God used long periods of time to create everything you would need to rewrite not only Genesis, but the entire Bible. I decided what it would be like to rewrite just the first chapter (roughly). Tell me what you all think.
"In the beginning, God created nothing. There was no earth yet, and everything was rather boring and empty, so God said 'Let there be light' and nothing exploded and started expanding over billions of years to form the universe. And God saw that this huge, powerful and random explosion that created all light and matter in the universe was good. Since there was no earth and sun yet, He couldn't name the difference between day and night, so He sat around for a few billion years."
"God was bored again and decided to shake things up, so He took some of the random matter expanding through space and directed it to form into the earth over billions of years before creating the sun. Suddenly bored of a giant ball of rocks and lava, He decided to make turn it all into water over billions of years, and He then separated some of the water from the rest with an expanse in the sky. Seeing this work He had done over billions of years, and the earth floating there for no apparent reason, He called it good."
"Bored with just a big ball of water and a bunch of random fire and junk floating through space, He decided to make plants. So over millions of years, he made some of the minerals floating in the mud across the face of the earth and had it evolve into plants. After about the first day, He realized that the plants early ancestors wouldn't even be able to survive without the sun... and that caused a dilema. However, He saw this as very good."
"After having created the plants, God decided it would be a good time to create the sun. [from this point onwards I am adding to what I wrote in the post] After waiting millions of years for the plants to form, while supernaturally holding them together, He finally had some of the swirling gas in space create the giant reactor hanging in the sky now. While doing this, He also caused some floating rocks to start crashing together and form the moon. He would later use these two floating objects, the sun and moon, to signify the difference between night and day. After supernaturally causing the plants to survive for millions of years without the light of the sun, they finally got a break. Looking upon the millions of years of rotting plant matter, horrible weather conditions, and cosmic explosions, He saw it as good."
For this rewrite, I tried to keep the order that we see written in the Bible and explain those through natural processes. As you see, it doesn't work. The Bible says the earth came before the sun, evolution REQUIRES that the sun came first. Evolution also requires only natural processes and no guidance from God. As you can see, in that couldn't happen. Now you either have a choice in this matter, believe what the Bible says as it was written, or believe one of man's constantly changing opinions on the matter. The two don't fit together.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Questions to ponder
So the name of this blog is "De' Tinker's Thoughts" which is slang (or whatever the term is) for "The Thinker's Thoughts". And since I'm De' Tinker, it naturally implies I do some thinking. I have many posts already on here about my thoughts on matters. But this post will be different. I will simply ask you some of the questions I've been asking myself, and see what kind of answer you have; or just let you continue to think about them. I will also have a couple of statements in here, please tell me your response to those as well.
The borrower is slave to the lender. And America is called the "Land of the Free". So why is America over 14 trillion dollars in debt?
Why is it that someone who kills a pregnant woman can be convicted of double murder, but if that same woman has an abortion she was just exercising her rights over her body and did not commit murder?
Evolutionists say that they don't allow religion to effect science. Science, real science, the type of science that allowed us to walk on the moon, go to the bottom of the sea (parts of it), fly around the world in a single day, and so much more, is all observable and repeatable. Evolution involves something in the past that can't be repeated or observed, but instead have faith in their beliefs of the past. Does that sound like a religion to you?
Many Christians put so much effort into the latest health fads or whatever the worlds says is the right way to become healthy. Why do they try to use man's methods to achieve a God given potential for health? Why not use the Creator's methods to achieve the potential for health He gave us?
People who don't believe in a higher authority often talk about morals. Without a higher authority, there is no absolute for morals. So why do they punish people for what they believe to be wrong?
Why can kids no longer play games like tag or hide and seek (amongst many others)? These were staple games amongst kids when I was younger. Are they really "unsafe", or have the kids and their parents just become to soft?
In Evolution, it is said there's a chance for anything to happen given enough time and chance. I have come to realize that Time and Chance are the chief gods of Evolution. The third being, Imagination.
There is a multi-million (probably billion) dollar industry in health and fitness. They try to sell you all these fancy equipments, meals, and routines. However, it doesn't matter how fancy, simple, cheap, expensive, complicated, well thought out, easy, hard, etc your routine/diet/or whatever is. If you don't do you or use it, it just plain sucks. It's even worse when you use it/do it and it sets you back.
Why is it that decades before steroids people were setting verifiable strength records that have gone unbroken today with all of our "knew knowledge" in techniques and technology today? Some of these even being from the late 1800's.
If the Old Testament takes up over three quarters of the Bible, why do so many people talk about it less then one fourth of the time?
If mankind truly started out dumb and has gotten smarter, as atheists and evolutionists like to believe, then why have we found batteries several thousand years old? Or temples designed to have their own natural air conditioning requiring no power or maintenance for several millennium? Or pyramids that are thousands of years old yet built in such an advanced way that we couldn't repeat it today?
Why in America is it okay to question the government but not Darwin, when in many other countries you can question Darwin but not the government?
Why does America believe that teaching people to rely on the government will make them more productive and boost the economy?
Why is it people used to care for each other, help the sick, and feed the poor because they wanted to help, and now that the government is in charge of all that, no one helps (for the most part)?
The majority of people's food comes from some kind of grain (I won't even talk about all the processing). However, our digestion system isn't designed to digest grains and such, nor I body to process it. Our digestive tract is of more a medium length, suited more towards meat or ideally fruit (and vegetables). Our teeth range from blunt molars to sharp canines. We are omnivores, and are best suited for a majority fruit diet. I wonder why people are fat these days...
When America was founded, it was believed that the more kids you had the better off financially you would be. Why has that belief been reversed? Why do people assume that the more kids you have means the less money you will get?
In a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson was the famous quote "separation of church and state". What people don't realize is that it is often misquoted. In context, Jefferson was saying that the Constitution had built that wall of separation by saying that the government could not declare an official religion, therefore protecting people's right to freedom of religion. People now use the quote to get prayer out of schools.
The only type of person who is completely safe to pick on (the list is building) is a Christian adult white heterosexual male with no deformities or mental problems. If you choose to pick on anyone else, you are either a racist, sexist, bully, heartless, homophobic, non tolerant, or are discriminating in some other way. Why is this?
Praying in schools has been banned in schools and the workplace because it is considered unconstitutional and offensive, yet it is still just fine to curse in those same places? Cursing is offensive, but still part of our right to free speech all the same as praying.
It is taught these days that fat is bad. However, it is also taught that without fat we would die. How is this?
It is considered conventional wisdom or whatever that eating raw meat is bad (and will kill you). Show me a lion, bear, ape, shark, eagle, maggot, or any number of other animals that get sick from eating raw meat.
That's all for now, I may write another post like this sometime or write posts about one of these questions/statements. Please tell me your thoughts on these, even if you pick one and say a quick one sentence reply (I would like a lot more though).
The borrower is slave to the lender. And America is called the "Land of the Free". So why is America over 14 trillion dollars in debt?
Why is it that someone who kills a pregnant woman can be convicted of double murder, but if that same woman has an abortion she was just exercising her rights over her body and did not commit murder?
Evolutionists say that they don't allow religion to effect science. Science, real science, the type of science that allowed us to walk on the moon, go to the bottom of the sea (parts of it), fly around the world in a single day, and so much more, is all observable and repeatable. Evolution involves something in the past that can't be repeated or observed, but instead have faith in their beliefs of the past. Does that sound like a religion to you?
Many Christians put so much effort into the latest health fads or whatever the worlds says is the right way to become healthy. Why do they try to use man's methods to achieve a God given potential for health? Why not use the Creator's methods to achieve the potential for health He gave us?
People who don't believe in a higher authority often talk about morals. Without a higher authority, there is no absolute for morals. So why do they punish people for what they believe to be wrong?
Why can kids no longer play games like tag or hide and seek (amongst many others)? These were staple games amongst kids when I was younger. Are they really "unsafe", or have the kids and their parents just become to soft?
In Evolution, it is said there's a chance for anything to happen given enough time and chance. I have come to realize that Time and Chance are the chief gods of Evolution. The third being, Imagination.
There is a multi-million (probably billion) dollar industry in health and fitness. They try to sell you all these fancy equipments, meals, and routines. However, it doesn't matter how fancy, simple, cheap, expensive, complicated, well thought out, easy, hard, etc your routine/diet/or whatever is. If you don't do you or use it, it just plain sucks. It's even worse when you use it/do it and it sets you back.
Why is it that decades before steroids people were setting verifiable strength records that have gone unbroken today with all of our "knew knowledge" in techniques and technology today? Some of these even being from the late 1800's.
If the Old Testament takes up over three quarters of the Bible, why do so many people talk about it less then one fourth of the time?
If mankind truly started out dumb and has gotten smarter, as atheists and evolutionists like to believe, then why have we found batteries several thousand years old? Or temples designed to have their own natural air conditioning requiring no power or maintenance for several millennium? Or pyramids that are thousands of years old yet built in such an advanced way that we couldn't repeat it today?
Why in America is it okay to question the government but not Darwin, when in many other countries you can question Darwin but not the government?
Why does America believe that teaching people to rely on the government will make them more productive and boost the economy?
Why is it people used to care for each other, help the sick, and feed the poor because they wanted to help, and now that the government is in charge of all that, no one helps (for the most part)?
The majority of people's food comes from some kind of grain (I won't even talk about all the processing). However, our digestion system isn't designed to digest grains and such, nor I body to process it. Our digestive tract is of more a medium length, suited more towards meat or ideally fruit (and vegetables). Our teeth range from blunt molars to sharp canines. We are omnivores, and are best suited for a majority fruit diet. I wonder why people are fat these days...
When America was founded, it was believed that the more kids you had the better off financially you would be. Why has that belief been reversed? Why do people assume that the more kids you have means the less money you will get?
In a letter penned by Thomas Jefferson was the famous quote "separation of church and state". What people don't realize is that it is often misquoted. In context, Jefferson was saying that the Constitution had built that wall of separation by saying that the government could not declare an official religion, therefore protecting people's right to freedom of religion. People now use the quote to get prayer out of schools.
The only type of person who is completely safe to pick on (the list is building) is a Christian adult white heterosexual male with no deformities or mental problems. If you choose to pick on anyone else, you are either a racist, sexist, bully, heartless, homophobic, non tolerant, or are discriminating in some other way. Why is this?
Praying in schools has been banned in schools and the workplace because it is considered unconstitutional and offensive, yet it is still just fine to curse in those same places? Cursing is offensive, but still part of our right to free speech all the same as praying.
It is taught these days that fat is bad. However, it is also taught that without fat we would die. How is this?
It is considered conventional wisdom or whatever that eating raw meat is bad (and will kill you). Show me a lion, bear, ape, shark, eagle, maggot, or any number of other animals that get sick from eating raw meat.
That's all for now, I may write another post like this sometime or write posts about one of these questions/statements. Please tell me your thoughts on these, even if you pick one and say a quick one sentence reply (I would like a lot more though).
Monday, August 15, 2011
"He is blameless"
I've been doing some reading in Job recently. There are two main thoughts and perspectives I have on it, this is one. This one is about Job himself. The Almighty Himself said of Job "He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless - a man of compete integrity." When The All Knowing Himself says that of you, it really means something.
Why did The Almighty say this of him? Because Job sought the Lord with all his heart. He had complete and utter faith, to an extent I can't even understand; though I would like to emulate it. I would just hope that I can avoid the great trials Job went though... but without those I would never know if I was that faithful. Scary thought...
At first, Job shows what seems to be the faith that anyone can show. He is very rich and famous, so the Devil says (paraphrased) "of course he has such great faith! Look at all of his blessings". That is why I have faith right now too, because I have blessings. This easy time is drawing me closer to the Creator, in preperation for the trials I know are ahead. However, Christianity today seems to promise only these blessings. It does not prepare anyone with the faith required when the blessings are taken away, and curses rain down upon us.
I hear estimates that Job was around 60-70 years old in the beginning of the story. He was known worldwide (literally, all around the globe) as a very rich, wise, and Godly man. No one could find fault with him. Then the trials came.
I don't want to repeat the entire story here because I'm talking about my views on the story, if you don't know the story go read it. It's in the book called "Job". Almost directly in the middle of the Bible.
Long story short, The Almighty tells The Enemy that the only thing he cannot do is kill Job. That was the one thing requirement in the final phase of Job's testing. Job had already lost his riches, his family, his friends, everything. Even a few "friends" of his who had traveled from locations possibly all over the world to meet with him, weren't all that encouraging. They insisted that he had done something wrong and this was punishment. Yet, The All Knowing called him blameless. They did not know this, but we do.
Job's former friends and even wife had told him to curse the Lord and die. Job refused. It got to the point that Job was stratching the boils covering his entire body with broken pottery. He had a terrible sickness and was lying in ashes with no one to help him. He was even being told that this was because of his sin. Yet he knew otherwise.
Think about it. The Almighty told The Devil that the one and only thing he could not do to Job was kill him. Satan took full advantage of that as well. I can hardly wrap my mind around that. Most of us, including me, complain when we are low on money, or food, or have someone cursing God, or something else like that. With Job, The Enemy could do anything he wanted, except kill him. I can't just stop reiterating this! As I said, it just blows my mind! Not that this happened to Job, but what Job did inspite of this. Or, I should say, what he didn't do. The Enemy was simply trying to make Job curse The Lord one single time. Even when he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to torture Job, he couldn't break him.
Oh, one other interesting twist. Most Christians today know that whatever hardship they go through will be rewarded with the gift of Heaven once they die. Job didn't know that. He thought that when you died, you died and that's it. Or at least that seems to be how he understood it. Yet, when he was suffering the worst that the Enemy could throw at him, he simply trusted the Almighty. A simple, child like faith. I can't comprehend it! He did not know why this was happening, when it would end, or what would happen next. He thought that the Lord had turned away from him, he believed that it was The Lord Himself tormenting him! Yet he did not break.
Job would have considered it worth to simply die from all this torture in faithful service to the Creator, even though he didn't know that he would live in perfect Paradise with Him. Job would rather go through all of this torment, trial and pain while staying faithful to the Lord and then simply cease existing when he died, then he would to reject his Creator.
I am having a hard time finding a way to put enough emphasis on this. Job did not know why his children were dead, riches stolen or destroyed, why his wife left him, or why the Creator had seemed to reject him. He did not know that the Almighty was allowing the Enemy to test him. He did not know that if he died he would get to live with the Creator. He did not know that when the trials were done, he would be given twice of everything he had before. He just simply wanted to die and cease to exist to get away from all this pain without reward, and cursing the Lord was not an option.
I have run out of words for now. I can't even remember if I explained my original point. This is just something that has been boggling my mind.
Why did The Almighty say this of him? Because Job sought the Lord with all his heart. He had complete and utter faith, to an extent I can't even understand; though I would like to emulate it. I would just hope that I can avoid the great trials Job went though... but without those I would never know if I was that faithful. Scary thought...
At first, Job shows what seems to be the faith that anyone can show. He is very rich and famous, so the Devil says (paraphrased) "of course he has such great faith! Look at all of his blessings". That is why I have faith right now too, because I have blessings. This easy time is drawing me closer to the Creator, in preperation for the trials I know are ahead. However, Christianity today seems to promise only these blessings. It does not prepare anyone with the faith required when the blessings are taken away, and curses rain down upon us.
I hear estimates that Job was around 60-70 years old in the beginning of the story. He was known worldwide (literally, all around the globe) as a very rich, wise, and Godly man. No one could find fault with him. Then the trials came.
I don't want to repeat the entire story here because I'm talking about my views on the story, if you don't know the story go read it. It's in the book called "Job". Almost directly in the middle of the Bible.
Long story short, The Almighty tells The Enemy that the only thing he cannot do is kill Job. That was the one thing requirement in the final phase of Job's testing. Job had already lost his riches, his family, his friends, everything. Even a few "friends" of his who had traveled from locations possibly all over the world to meet with him, weren't all that encouraging. They insisted that he had done something wrong and this was punishment. Yet, The All Knowing called him blameless. They did not know this, but we do.
Job's former friends and even wife had told him to curse the Lord and die. Job refused. It got to the point that Job was stratching the boils covering his entire body with broken pottery. He had a terrible sickness and was lying in ashes with no one to help him. He was even being told that this was because of his sin. Yet he knew otherwise.
Think about it. The Almighty told The Devil that the one and only thing he could not do to Job was kill him. Satan took full advantage of that as well. I can hardly wrap my mind around that. Most of us, including me, complain when we are low on money, or food, or have someone cursing God, or something else like that. With Job, The Enemy could do anything he wanted, except kill him. I can't just stop reiterating this! As I said, it just blows my mind! Not that this happened to Job, but what Job did inspite of this. Or, I should say, what he didn't do. The Enemy was simply trying to make Job curse The Lord one single time. Even when he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to torture Job, he couldn't break him.
Oh, one other interesting twist. Most Christians today know that whatever hardship they go through will be rewarded with the gift of Heaven once they die. Job didn't know that. He thought that when you died, you died and that's it. Or at least that seems to be how he understood it. Yet, when he was suffering the worst that the Enemy could throw at him, he simply trusted the Almighty. A simple, child like faith. I can't comprehend it! He did not know why this was happening, when it would end, or what would happen next. He thought that the Lord had turned away from him, he believed that it was The Lord Himself tormenting him! Yet he did not break.
Job would have considered it worth to simply die from all this torture in faithful service to the Creator, even though he didn't know that he would live in perfect Paradise with Him. Job would rather go through all of this torment, trial and pain while staying faithful to the Lord and then simply cease existing when he died, then he would to reject his Creator.
I am having a hard time finding a way to put enough emphasis on this. Job did not know why his children were dead, riches stolen or destroyed, why his wife left him, or why the Creator had seemed to reject him. He did not know that the Almighty was allowing the Enemy to test him. He did not know that if he died he would get to live with the Creator. He did not know that when the trials were done, he would be given twice of everything he had before. He just simply wanted to die and cease to exist to get away from all this pain without reward, and cursing the Lord was not an option.
I have run out of words for now. I can't even remember if I explained my original point. This is just something that has been boggling my mind.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Adolf Hitler, A Miracle To Mankind
To be honest, I'm hoping this post stirs up a little bit of controversy. I do rather enjoy having debates about my views, as it gives me a great oppurtunity to refine my arguments and hopefully teach someone something.
Anyway, to the actual reason of this post. There are many discussions (some of which I've actually started) about who defines morals without God, and other similar things. What's right and wrong without the Bible? If God doesn't say it's wrong, then who does? We can't trust the Bible and it's morals, it's changed to much. I think you get the point. It comes in many shapes and forms, but it all centers on morals in a world without the Almighty.
So now, let us pretend for a moment that there is no All Powerfull and All Knowing Creator above us all right now. Then the only other commonly accepted solution is evolution. And according to that, Hitler is one of the greatest things that happened to mankind, and someone we should all strive to be like. If there is no God, the Hitler is one of the greatest role models.
Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look.
The theory of Evolution is all about survival of the fittest, right? Well, purging the species of the weak would certainly guarentee less competetion for the strong, therefore keeping the entire species stronger. If you take out all the old, sick, deformed, ect. the species as a whole is "improved". What did Hitler do?
If evolution is the answer, then anyone who furthers the cause of the species should be seen as a hero. So then why do we see Hitler as a villian? Probably... because ever since man breathed his first breath right and wrong was defined by the Creator in his heart. Only later did the pagans think of things like evolution or a pantheon of gods and goddesses to replace the one true God.
As the Creator of everything, the Almighty has the right to declare right and wrong. And all of us, as part of creation, are obligated to obey His laws. However, He did give us the option to choose otherwise, a right we did not and do not deserve. Also, as the Absolute Authority, He is the only one can can declare an absolute moral principle. So if He says murder is wrong, then it's wrong, not matter what we think. If He says (as He told the Jews before Christ) that the punishment for adultery was being stoned to death, then we have no authority to say this is unjust or to extreme a punishment.
However, if you remove this absolute authority, then we decide for ourselves. So if one person says he believes murder is wrong, I can just kill him and move on with my life. I have no reason not to, especially if I am a fitter part of the species. Then I would simply be doing my job as the superior being! This is also what Hitler and many other people thoughout history have done. So if there is no God, who says they were wrong? If you remove God and the Bible, then simple logic dictates that they should be commended.
Think about it. They (being Hitler and the Nazi's) killed thousands of weaker people who were sick, old, deformed, or otherwise "inferior" subjects. They did experiments on these subjects which helped further science. They used weapons and tactics that allowed them beat back their "inferior" enemies. They weeded out the weak to allow for the stonger members of the species to continue without the weak gene pool. All those left wounded, sick and dying all around Europe, or even the world, were all a good thing because with them out of the way the species would be improved.
Now if you look at this same scenerio with the morals cleary defined by the Creator, you can see that what Hitler did was dispicable. When you look at it through the Almighty's high moral standards, I can't even describe how horrible the things Hitler did were. I wouldn't know where to begin! And since America was founded on Chistrian principles, and Christianity (or at least Judiasm) was such a major part in the history of the rest of the world (considering it was the same Creator for the entire world and all of mankind), it is no wonder we see Hitler as such a horrible man!
Oh, but there's more. If we take the Creator and the Bible out of the picture, hospitals should be closed. So should orphanages. And so should so many other things that we consider "good". Because if it's survival of the fittest, then these things are merely allowing the weak to water down the gene pool and drain the resources of the strong! So those people starving in Africa that I hear so many people talk about, if evolution is the answer, we should let them starve. After all, if they can't take care of themselves, why should we do it for them?
But once again, if you look at it through the morals defined in the Bible, we know that things are far different. All these people, no matter how weak or strong, are made in the image of the perfect Creator. Each of these people would be loved to an unimaginable extent, and allowing them to die without care would be a pretty bad thing.
I could go on for awhile with examples from either side, but the final decision is up to in your mind. Who defines moral absolutes? Us or the Creator? Was Adolf Hitler a curse... or a blessing?
Anyway, to the actual reason of this post. There are many discussions (some of which I've actually started) about who defines morals without God, and other similar things. What's right and wrong without the Bible? If God doesn't say it's wrong, then who does? We can't trust the Bible and it's morals, it's changed to much. I think you get the point. It comes in many shapes and forms, but it all centers on morals in a world without the Almighty.
So now, let us pretend for a moment that there is no All Powerfull and All Knowing Creator above us all right now. Then the only other commonly accepted solution is evolution. And according to that, Hitler is one of the greatest things that happened to mankind, and someone we should all strive to be like. If there is no God, the Hitler is one of the greatest role models.
Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look.
The theory of Evolution is all about survival of the fittest, right? Well, purging the species of the weak would certainly guarentee less competetion for the strong, therefore keeping the entire species stronger. If you take out all the old, sick, deformed, ect. the species as a whole is "improved". What did Hitler do?
If evolution is the answer, then anyone who furthers the cause of the species should be seen as a hero. So then why do we see Hitler as a villian? Probably... because ever since man breathed his first breath right and wrong was defined by the Creator in his heart. Only later did the pagans think of things like evolution or a pantheon of gods and goddesses to replace the one true God.
As the Creator of everything, the Almighty has the right to declare right and wrong. And all of us, as part of creation, are obligated to obey His laws. However, He did give us the option to choose otherwise, a right we did not and do not deserve. Also, as the Absolute Authority, He is the only one can can declare an absolute moral principle. So if He says murder is wrong, then it's wrong, not matter what we think. If He says (as He told the Jews before Christ) that the punishment for adultery was being stoned to death, then we have no authority to say this is unjust or to extreme a punishment.
However, if you remove this absolute authority, then we decide for ourselves. So if one person says he believes murder is wrong, I can just kill him and move on with my life. I have no reason not to, especially if I am a fitter part of the species. Then I would simply be doing my job as the superior being! This is also what Hitler and many other people thoughout history have done. So if there is no God, who says they were wrong? If you remove God and the Bible, then simple logic dictates that they should be commended.
Think about it. They (being Hitler and the Nazi's) killed thousands of weaker people who were sick, old, deformed, or otherwise "inferior" subjects. They did experiments on these subjects which helped further science. They used weapons and tactics that allowed them beat back their "inferior" enemies. They weeded out the weak to allow for the stonger members of the species to continue without the weak gene pool. All those left wounded, sick and dying all around Europe, or even the world, were all a good thing because with them out of the way the species would be improved.
Now if you look at this same scenerio with the morals cleary defined by the Creator, you can see that what Hitler did was dispicable. When you look at it through the Almighty's high moral standards, I can't even describe how horrible the things Hitler did were. I wouldn't know where to begin! And since America was founded on Chistrian principles, and Christianity (or at least Judiasm) was such a major part in the history of the rest of the world (considering it was the same Creator for the entire world and all of mankind), it is no wonder we see Hitler as such a horrible man!
Oh, but there's more. If we take the Creator and the Bible out of the picture, hospitals should be closed. So should orphanages. And so should so many other things that we consider "good". Because if it's survival of the fittest, then these things are merely allowing the weak to water down the gene pool and drain the resources of the strong! So those people starving in Africa that I hear so many people talk about, if evolution is the answer, we should let them starve. After all, if they can't take care of themselves, why should we do it for them?
But once again, if you look at it through the morals defined in the Bible, we know that things are far different. All these people, no matter how weak or strong, are made in the image of the perfect Creator. Each of these people would be loved to an unimaginable extent, and allowing them to die without care would be a pretty bad thing.
I could go on for awhile with examples from either side, but the final decision is up to in your mind. Who defines moral absolutes? Us or the Creator? Was Adolf Hitler a curse... or a blessing?
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