I am sure many of you have heard about the popular online game Minecraft. The game is made out of block graphics and allows the player to take advantage of their imagination (and lack of realistic physics in game). It is a very addictive game... but fortunately I was only absorbed in it for about three days (then Skyrim came, and examples from that can also be used for this post).
What has all this got to do with anything I would want to talk about? Why am I even mentioning this? Well, I noticed something very interesting while playing. Nothing happens at once. The biggest castle, the deepest underground city, the most elaborate maze, none of it is created at once. Sounds obvious? Well, yeah, it is. But there is a significance to this. When you play in "survival" mode on this game, you start with nothing and have to gather all your materials and make all your tools. And step 1 is punching trees to get wood (fortunately that's not a life lesson).
Everything is built gradually. I have had multiple games building a big project: a giant keep, a tree forest, a large wall village, etc. It always works with me starting with a little hut, hunting some animals, and mining a few basic materials. I gather enough materials for a local farm, start mining deeper, get more materials, explore more, and so one. No major, immediate changes. But then suddenly, I will realize I have the resources to start building a bigger, better house. So I may lay a foundation, then go back and farm some more, then mine some more, come back and build a bit, etc.
If I stand back after several hours of playing and compare what I have done to what it all looked like when I started, there is a major difference. But that difference came through little bits here and there. It reminded me that real life works that same way.
You don't graduate high school in one day. You go there for years, day after day. You don't notice any immediate changes, but when you stop and look back, you see a difference.
When you train, you don't go from a scrawny kid (or fat kid) to a Greek Statue overnight. It takes years of dedication. Doing workouts that improve your body little by little, and eating a diet that improves you bit by bit. Then one day you look back, and realize you have a six pack, or lost 20lbs, or whatever.
And of course the old saying, Rome wasn't built in a day. It was built over centuries. And as what happens to me in Minecraft, it is never finished. There is always a little more I can do. We should live life the same way. Don't expect major, overnight changes. They happen, but work towards the gradual, steady progression in life. I will be trying to live as such myself. Always remember to continue doing these little things (exercising, studying, writing, etc.), because although I may not notice an immediate difference, over time they will add up. This applies for negative things to. If you eat a large pizza every day it adds up over time.
So just remember, take it steady. This is my lesson from Minecraft, and many other games.
Showing posts with label Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The "Fiction" in "Science Fiction"
I had a few things in mind that I wanted to write about, on completely unrelated topics, but the most recent reading I had done immediately prior to writing this is what I decided to write on. Makes sense, write?
Okay, now what was I reading? Alright, strictly speaking the last article I read before this was about looking for the effects of the Curse in space. But beyond that, the main stuff I've been reading for the last several hours has been on things like aliens, Nephilim, science fiction, ancient technology, genetics of humans, and other things relating to all that.
Explaining the Nephilim and aliens, a friend of mine asked me to write out the back story for a game he's working on. The game is about a battle between humans and aliens in space. He wanted the aliens to attack, and he wanted the humans to have super soldiers. Simple enough, I decided; so I began writing this elaborate (that might be an overstatement, but I did go into good detail) history going back thousands of years.
However, almost immediately I noticed a problem. I wanted my story to be used as possible explanations for UFO sightings for all of human history; but in order to do that, the alien race would have had to have been around before the humans. That means I would have to make this story happen in a universe that existed for more than 6,000-10,000 years. Since this is a sub-creation of mine, I can make whatever laws and history I want, but the fact that I had to change the history of our universe to make it fit with what I needed in this story was a very unique learning experience for me.
I ended up adopting and evolutionary like history for that universe in my sub-creation for this game. How else could aliens evolve on another planet and begin exploring earth while the first civilizations were springing forth? Making a history for that universe that required an old earth and no God of the Bible was very strange for me, but I had to remember that I was making a SUB-CREATION, within the confines of my own mind.
The really strange part was in order for any of this story to be true, I had to write it out while arbitrarily defying the laws of observable science that we see in reality. The aliens? They had to evolve from non-life, and that non-living matter had to come from nothing. Same thing with the humans of earth. Now of course, matter coming from nothing and life coming from non-life are both impossible. But, this IS science fiction I'm writing, so what does it matter!
And I already arbitrarily defied the laws of physics in order to make the universe and life in that sub-creation, why stop there? I allowed both that aliens and humans to eventually overcome the "speed of light barrier". Actually, the aliens did so on at least three occasions. During earth's history, the aliens had several civil wars, the biggest of which set them back centuries in technology, meaning they had to rediscover faster then light travel. It was these set backs that allowed the humans to eventually catch up to the aliens and fight on equal ground, even though the aliens originally had faster then light travel approximately 10,000 years before that time.
Another thing I came to realize while creating this sub-creation, this science fiction universe, was that any absolutes were defined by me (as the writer). At the insistence of my friend, I may arbitrarily change any of those absolutes in order to make the physics and history of that universe fit with what he needs for his game. But of all the absolutes I can define, they obviously include things like physics (in which I already decided life can and needs to come from non-life and faster than life travel is possible), but I am also the only one who can define any moral absolutes in that universe.
In our universe, as it was created by an All Powerful God, He defines all absolutes. That means the laws of physics, mathematics, logic, reason, morals, etc. In this universe I created, this sub-creation, this story, as the creator it is my responsibility to define these absolutes. And obviously, any reasonable story needs absolutes. Why is that? Because we live in a universe that has these absolutes. Also, the most reasonable absolutes in any story are the ones that coincide with the absolutes of reality. That is why, for instance, made gravity operate the same. Without many of these fundamental absolutes, we cannot even comprehend reality, so I therefore borrow much of what I observe here in reality and use it as a foundation for anything I create.
For all these same reasons, a story like mine (requiring an evolutionary worldview) could not be the answer to our reality. The reason my world holds together is because I hold it together in my mind, despite all the inconsistencies that the science in my sub-creation would have to deal with. However, evolution as the origin story for reality requires there be no greater being holding it together; it offers no reason for absolutes like physics, reason, or morals. Even in the evolutionary universe of my sub-creation, I am still an intelligent being holding it together using logic and reason derived from a reality that contains these absolutes.
My whole point about all this? Evolution works great as a plot device; a way of explaining things that are directly against the laws of science. How else could I have aliens? So in the end, evolution makes great science fiction. However, it doesn't make good science. The only universes that molecules-to-man evolution exists in is those that we create in our minds. In reality, it defies the absolutes we observe.
I'm really excited to see what comes of my friends game, but it is also very reassuring that I live in a universe that has absolutes that aren't arbitrarily defied or changed; a universe created by an All Powerful, All Knowing Creator. In this universe, in reality, there are no extra-terrestials, no old earth, no big bang, just logic, reason and science. Knowledge, and the God of Knowledge, the one who knows everything.
He made a universe with a more intriguing history and future then anything I could hope to write.
Okay, now what was I reading? Alright, strictly speaking the last article I read before this was about looking for the effects of the Curse in space. But beyond that, the main stuff I've been reading for the last several hours has been on things like aliens, Nephilim, science fiction, ancient technology, genetics of humans, and other things relating to all that.
Explaining the Nephilim and aliens, a friend of mine asked me to write out the back story for a game he's working on. The game is about a battle between humans and aliens in space. He wanted the aliens to attack, and he wanted the humans to have super soldiers. Simple enough, I decided; so I began writing this elaborate (that might be an overstatement, but I did go into good detail) history going back thousands of years.
However, almost immediately I noticed a problem. I wanted my story to be used as possible explanations for UFO sightings for all of human history; but in order to do that, the alien race would have had to have been around before the humans. That means I would have to make this story happen in a universe that existed for more than 6,000-10,000 years. Since this is a sub-creation of mine, I can make whatever laws and history I want, but the fact that I had to change the history of our universe to make it fit with what I needed in this story was a very unique learning experience for me.
I ended up adopting and evolutionary like history for that universe in my sub-creation for this game. How else could aliens evolve on another planet and begin exploring earth while the first civilizations were springing forth? Making a history for that universe that required an old earth and no God of the Bible was very strange for me, but I had to remember that I was making a SUB-CREATION, within the confines of my own mind.
The really strange part was in order for any of this story to be true, I had to write it out while arbitrarily defying the laws of observable science that we see in reality. The aliens? They had to evolve from non-life, and that non-living matter had to come from nothing. Same thing with the humans of earth. Now of course, matter coming from nothing and life coming from non-life are both impossible. But, this IS science fiction I'm writing, so what does it matter!
And I already arbitrarily defied the laws of physics in order to make the universe and life in that sub-creation, why stop there? I allowed both that aliens and humans to eventually overcome the "speed of light barrier". Actually, the aliens did so on at least three occasions. During earth's history, the aliens had several civil wars, the biggest of which set them back centuries in technology, meaning they had to rediscover faster then light travel. It was these set backs that allowed the humans to eventually catch up to the aliens and fight on equal ground, even though the aliens originally had faster then light travel approximately 10,000 years before that time.
Another thing I came to realize while creating this sub-creation, this science fiction universe, was that any absolutes were defined by me (as the writer). At the insistence of my friend, I may arbitrarily change any of those absolutes in order to make the physics and history of that universe fit with what he needs for his game. But of all the absolutes I can define, they obviously include things like physics (in which I already decided life can and needs to come from non-life and faster than life travel is possible), but I am also the only one who can define any moral absolutes in that universe.
In our universe, as it was created by an All Powerful God, He defines all absolutes. That means the laws of physics, mathematics, logic, reason, morals, etc. In this universe I created, this sub-creation, this story, as the creator it is my responsibility to define these absolutes. And obviously, any reasonable story needs absolutes. Why is that? Because we live in a universe that has these absolutes. Also, the most reasonable absolutes in any story are the ones that coincide with the absolutes of reality. That is why, for instance, made gravity operate the same. Without many of these fundamental absolutes, we cannot even comprehend reality, so I therefore borrow much of what I observe here in reality and use it as a foundation for anything I create.
For all these same reasons, a story like mine (requiring an evolutionary worldview) could not be the answer to our reality. The reason my world holds together is because I hold it together in my mind, despite all the inconsistencies that the science in my sub-creation would have to deal with. However, evolution as the origin story for reality requires there be no greater being holding it together; it offers no reason for absolutes like physics, reason, or morals. Even in the evolutionary universe of my sub-creation, I am still an intelligent being holding it together using logic and reason derived from a reality that contains these absolutes.
My whole point about all this? Evolution works great as a plot device; a way of explaining things that are directly against the laws of science. How else could I have aliens? So in the end, evolution makes great science fiction. However, it doesn't make good science. The only universes that molecules-to-man evolution exists in is those that we create in our minds. In reality, it defies the absolutes we observe.
I'm really excited to see what comes of my friends game, but it is also very reassuring that I live in a universe that has absolutes that aren't arbitrarily defied or changed; a universe created by an All Powerful, All Knowing Creator. In this universe, in reality, there are no extra-terrestials, no old earth, no big bang, just logic, reason and science. Knowledge, and the God of Knowledge, the one who knows everything.
He made a universe with a more intriguing history and future then anything I could hope to write.
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).
Sunday, July 10, 2011
My Warning
This post will be a little less about my thoughts on things, and more about my experiences. It will also serve as a warning. I will tell you a bit more about me here. And about some troubles I went through.
If you have read my blog at all it should hopefully be very obvious that I am a Christian. However, it is only recently that I have felt so strongly about being a Christian (I'm talking about in the last few months before writing this). The reason is because most of the message I had heard all my life, about Jesus Christ dying for my sins, had been watered down so much. I would hear it repeated again and again that He died for my sins, but without the background behind any of this being explained, it all seemed very unimportant (for lack of a better word) to me. Yes, I knew what everyone said was true, but it carried very little meaning.
Whenever I went to church or heard someone read from or quote the Bible, it was almost always out of the New Testament and from many of the same passages. The meaning behind these passages and even the entire New Testament was never properly explained to me. What do I mean by properly? I will get to that shortly.
I did study the Old Testament, and I also knew most of the Bible stories as well (or better than) other kids. However, it was treated as something to talk about and "learn" from on Sunday's or neat little stories to tell kids before bed. Oh boy, have my perspectives on those stories changed!
This is where my warning comes into play. Many, if not most of all Christians, are doing this. They are making these stories, these very valuable and historically true and scientifically accurate stories, seem only as children's tales. They are also making the Old Testament unpropotionately weak. And worse yet, the biggest problem I had to overcome, was the fact that othe Christians were unknowingly downplaying the Almighty's power. That is part of the reason I myself rarely use the terms "God" or "Jesus", is because they were the only terms I heard most of my life, and they have lost meaning to me. As hard as that is to admit, it is true. So instead, I choose to use other names for our Creator.
Now what I mean by downplaying the Almighty's power is the fact that it is not mentioned enough, and when it is, not emphasized enough. Yes, I know that in church miracles are spoken of all the time! Jesus rising up from the dead, turning water into wine, feeding thousands with almost nothing, and several others. The problem is, at least it was for me, is that no one put nearly enough empasis on any of these. The sermon would always lead into how He loves us and died for us, and all that. Since I already knew that and had heard it dozens of times (and had already accepted Him), it was difficult for these to have lots of meaning for me.
There were the periodic sermons that would spark an interest when someone really went into the power of the All Powerful, but it didn't happen enough. And I hardly remember at all anyone making the "children's tales" in the Bible seem as they truly were, miraculous examples of the power and might of the Lord of Heaven's Armies!
This doesn't make any sense at all! When you look at the Bible, first off you notice it starts in the Old Testament. Also, it starts by showing the Almighty's power! What happens first in the Bible? Creation. Everything from nothing, because of a supernatural act on the part of the Creator. In the Old Testament (which is far larger then the New Testament), you see example after example of the Almighty's power and justice. You also see some of His love for us and some glimpses at His mercy. His love and mercy are shown most in the New Testament, through the Messiah. However, that is after thousands of years of history and well over half of the Bible. Everything else, all these examples of His undeniable power, lead up to this.
So why all my life did people ignore everything leading up to the ultimate example of love and mercy in Christ? After all, the All Knowing didn't. Why then do we?
Well I can tell you this, it kept me a weak Christian. So please to not make the same mistake. Do not ignore the power of the Almighty! Speak of it first and foremost, and those who listen will always hear. Heed my warning, maybe others will be saved years of learning as I have.
Now, everything really hit me all at once just a few months ago. I was on vacation and was reading some books, one in particular was a commentary on the book of Job. Unlike other commentaries talking about the faith of Job and such, this commentary showed how the book of Job was "one of the most historically and scientifically accurate records of the ancient world". It focused more on the power, wisdom and knowledge of the God of Job. That was the biggest turn-a-round points for me. I devoured that book! Then I devoured the actual book of Job, rereading large portions several times. I had never read the Bible so passionately.
Within weeks of each other, event after event occured which made me more passionate about the Bible and my Christianity than ever before. I even began studying the Bible to help me better write my own books! In a period of several weeks, I felt more fear than I ever had before. And by fear, I mean fear of the Lord. I caught glimpse after glimpse of just how powerful He was. One example may be found in the first chapter of Genesis. During the creation account, it is said that "He [God] created the stars also". With that little sentence, the Almighty describes Himself creating most of the universe! Our little planet earth, which is so small it should hardly be given any thought in the Milkyway Galaxy, and that one galaxy out of so many hundreds of billions of others that it shouldn't be given any thought; this little planet was deemed so much more important than the rest of creation that the rest of the entire universe was pretty much described as "He created the stars also"!
I still have not fully grasped the signifigance of that one sentence, but the more I understand it the greater it is! The fact that He would create so much, yet choose this one little speck in the corner of the universe as the location where those who He made in His own image reside, is just astounding. This fear of Lord has put things into better perspective for me. There are times where anything beyond the moment doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I have, how long I'll live, where I'll go when I die, or even if I'm a "good person". There are times where I am simply frozen in sheer awe at His power. Those are the best times of worship I have ever had. Where I am simply overwhelmed with the knowledge of how insignifigant I am, in terms of power. Compared to the universe and all that the Creator controls, I seem as nothing!
Now, I am still studying farther and have more and more revalations of His power since these events. I mainly study the Old Testament, to learn the history and signifigance of the New Testament. Reading of the miracles and power surrounding those such as Noah, or Abraham, Jacob, and others has been a great experience for me. And for once, I read these stories not as children's stories, but as HIStory. Some days I still struggle to actually pick up my Bible, but when I do pick it up, it is with great enthusiasm.
Overall my warning is to make sure that things to not repeat. Christianity once seemed almost boring for me. Everything in the New Testament was dull. Now that I am studying the Old Testament and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is constantly giving new life to the New Testament.
Also, my hope and prayer for eveyone who ever reads this is that they will also one day be able to experience what I am experiencing. This closeness, understanding and fear of their Creator. Not fear of retaliation or harm, but a fear composed of awe and wonder at something so much greater than ourselves! That is what Christianity is about! The most powerful being to ever exist, who created the universe and defined the laws of physics, who caused time to begin and to one day end, who can wipe out everything that exists with a mere thought; Christianity is about this All Powerful Creator wanting to know us. To know me...
If you have read my blog at all it should hopefully be very obvious that I am a Christian. However, it is only recently that I have felt so strongly about being a Christian (I'm talking about in the last few months before writing this). The reason is because most of the message I had heard all my life, about Jesus Christ dying for my sins, had been watered down so much. I would hear it repeated again and again that He died for my sins, but without the background behind any of this being explained, it all seemed very unimportant (for lack of a better word) to me. Yes, I knew what everyone said was true, but it carried very little meaning.
Whenever I went to church or heard someone read from or quote the Bible, it was almost always out of the New Testament and from many of the same passages. The meaning behind these passages and even the entire New Testament was never properly explained to me. What do I mean by properly? I will get to that shortly.
I did study the Old Testament, and I also knew most of the Bible stories as well (or better than) other kids. However, it was treated as something to talk about and "learn" from on Sunday's or neat little stories to tell kids before bed. Oh boy, have my perspectives on those stories changed!
This is where my warning comes into play. Many, if not most of all Christians, are doing this. They are making these stories, these very valuable and historically true and scientifically accurate stories, seem only as children's tales. They are also making the Old Testament unpropotionately weak. And worse yet, the biggest problem I had to overcome, was the fact that othe Christians were unknowingly downplaying the Almighty's power. That is part of the reason I myself rarely use the terms "God" or "Jesus", is because they were the only terms I heard most of my life, and they have lost meaning to me. As hard as that is to admit, it is true. So instead, I choose to use other names for our Creator.
Now what I mean by downplaying the Almighty's power is the fact that it is not mentioned enough, and when it is, not emphasized enough. Yes, I know that in church miracles are spoken of all the time! Jesus rising up from the dead, turning water into wine, feeding thousands with almost nothing, and several others. The problem is, at least it was for me, is that no one put nearly enough empasis on any of these. The sermon would always lead into how He loves us and died for us, and all that. Since I already knew that and had heard it dozens of times (and had already accepted Him), it was difficult for these to have lots of meaning for me.
There were the periodic sermons that would spark an interest when someone really went into the power of the All Powerful, but it didn't happen enough. And I hardly remember at all anyone making the "children's tales" in the Bible seem as they truly were, miraculous examples of the power and might of the Lord of Heaven's Armies!
This doesn't make any sense at all! When you look at the Bible, first off you notice it starts in the Old Testament. Also, it starts by showing the Almighty's power! What happens first in the Bible? Creation. Everything from nothing, because of a supernatural act on the part of the Creator. In the Old Testament (which is far larger then the New Testament), you see example after example of the Almighty's power and justice. You also see some of His love for us and some glimpses at His mercy. His love and mercy are shown most in the New Testament, through the Messiah. However, that is after thousands of years of history and well over half of the Bible. Everything else, all these examples of His undeniable power, lead up to this.
So why all my life did people ignore everything leading up to the ultimate example of love and mercy in Christ? After all, the All Knowing didn't. Why then do we?
Well I can tell you this, it kept me a weak Christian. So please to not make the same mistake. Do not ignore the power of the Almighty! Speak of it first and foremost, and those who listen will always hear. Heed my warning, maybe others will be saved years of learning as I have.
Now, everything really hit me all at once just a few months ago. I was on vacation and was reading some books, one in particular was a commentary on the book of Job. Unlike other commentaries talking about the faith of Job and such, this commentary showed how the book of Job was "one of the most historically and scientifically accurate records of the ancient world". It focused more on the power, wisdom and knowledge of the God of Job. That was the biggest turn-a-round points for me. I devoured that book! Then I devoured the actual book of Job, rereading large portions several times. I had never read the Bible so passionately.
Within weeks of each other, event after event occured which made me more passionate about the Bible and my Christianity than ever before. I even began studying the Bible to help me better write my own books! In a period of several weeks, I felt more fear than I ever had before. And by fear, I mean fear of the Lord. I caught glimpse after glimpse of just how powerful He was. One example may be found in the first chapter of Genesis. During the creation account, it is said that "He [God] created the stars also". With that little sentence, the Almighty describes Himself creating most of the universe! Our little planet earth, which is so small it should hardly be given any thought in the Milkyway Galaxy, and that one galaxy out of so many hundreds of billions of others that it shouldn't be given any thought; this little planet was deemed so much more important than the rest of creation that the rest of the entire universe was pretty much described as "He created the stars also"!
I still have not fully grasped the signifigance of that one sentence, but the more I understand it the greater it is! The fact that He would create so much, yet choose this one little speck in the corner of the universe as the location where those who He made in His own image reside, is just astounding. This fear of Lord has put things into better perspective for me. There are times where anything beyond the moment doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what I have, how long I'll live, where I'll go when I die, or even if I'm a "good person". There are times where I am simply frozen in sheer awe at His power. Those are the best times of worship I have ever had. Where I am simply overwhelmed with the knowledge of how insignifigant I am, in terms of power. Compared to the universe and all that the Creator controls, I seem as nothing!
Now, I am still studying farther and have more and more revalations of His power since these events. I mainly study the Old Testament, to learn the history and signifigance of the New Testament. Reading of the miracles and power surrounding those such as Noah, or Abraham, Jacob, and others has been a great experience for me. And for once, I read these stories not as children's stories, but as HIStory. Some days I still struggle to actually pick up my Bible, but when I do pick it up, it is with great enthusiasm.
Overall my warning is to make sure that things to not repeat. Christianity once seemed almost boring for me. Everything in the New Testament was dull. Now that I am studying the Old Testament and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is constantly giving new life to the New Testament.
Also, my hope and prayer for eveyone who ever reads this is that they will also one day be able to experience what I am experiencing. This closeness, understanding and fear of their Creator. Not fear of retaliation or harm, but a fear composed of awe and wonder at something so much greater than ourselves! That is what Christianity is about! The most powerful being to ever exist, who created the universe and defined the laws of physics, who caused time to begin and to one day end, who can wipe out everything that exists with a mere thought; Christianity is about this All Powerful Creator wanting to know us. To know me...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Theology of Books
I am not sure the name of this post is the most accurate description, but it's what I came up with. This post is about something I came to realize about both how man made stories work and how the real world works in relation to the Creator. I have a few points and revalations here, not sure how many I will get to. I will simply type them as they come to mind.
My first one, which I believe I understand the best, is how the Almighty can be outside of our time. Now, just the name alone should tell you how, but I mean I understand on a more intimate level, I suppose. By that I mean I understand it on a level deeper than words. Hard to explain, but if you understand something on that deep of level, you know what I mean.
To explain it, I need to explain to you how I came to understand all of these principles or whatever. I am writing a couple of books. I have been using the analogy of myself as a writer over the worlds in my books to relate to how the Creator is over this world (and everything else).
My first big revalation, as I remember, was how He is outside of our time. I don't know if you have ever written a book or script or anything, but as you write it, you are outside the time of the world inside that book or story. That is how it is with my books. I know the end and the begining. I know what will happen to my characters long before they do. I can experience their future or past as if it were my present. The entire lifetime of one of my characters can seem as a moment to me. It is the same with us and the Creator of this universe. If anyone would like a deeper explanation, just ask. I could make a whole post about it if I pushed it.
One of my next revalations was how things like miracles and other strange things could work in stories. If you are accustomed to thinking from a perspective with no higher power, such as athiests and others try to do, you believe you must do everything on your own. Same thing with stories. At first, I was writing it as though there were no higher power. But, the way I was writing made that impossible. I was writing it through the eyes of one of the characters, but about things that he was not there to experience. Or in same cases, possibly no one was there to experience. I tried to come up with scenarios that would explain how he could write about these things that he wasn't there to experience. In some cases, the very things that happened in other's minds. How could my characters know the secret thoughts of another? Or know what they felt? Or know what an animal did when no one was around? Simple; me, as the creator of that world, would tell him.
As the creator of that world, I am have power that none of them understand. I want the entire world to turn into a hotdog? All I must do is imagine it, and all of the mountains, oceans, forests and so one will all be one large hotdog. I want a character to just barely survive a battle? He will. Just as I say it will be. I want an asteroid storm? It will happen. It is similar to how the Creator of this world works, except on a much larger scale. Imagine how weak a thought in your head is compared to you. You have control over your imagination, if you want something to happen in there, it does. It is even more so with the Almighty and his creation. And me, as a writer, am just living out a smaller version of what He does. I am, after all, created in His image.
This concept is based off something I read in one of C.S. Lewis's books. He called it "sub-creation". That is a more... philosphical term, for lack of a better word, than imagination is. His theory was since we were made in the image of the Creator, and obviously the Creator loved to create, we should too. Others of his period (and all times in history of that) thought it ungodly to make our own worlds in our minds. Lewis believed just the opposite! By making our own sub-creations, we are merely praising the Lord once again! I don't recall him putting it that way, that was me, but you should hopefully get my point. Our sub-creations aren't offensive to the Lord, unless we make them so, they are actually what He planned for us to do! At least that is what I believe.
I will make my last point here. It is a revalation I made about how anything we do, such as doing our boring, everyday job, or just about anything else that doesn't seem like worship in church, could still be praising the Creator. I realized this, just like everything else here, because of my "sub-creations" and relating to the real creation and it's Creator. Everything that happens in my made up worlds, good or bad, is a testament to my imagination. There is a mighty storm, it is a testament of my power over the world of my imagination. A young soldier who is mocked in the military yet keeps his morals strong? A testament to the power of what I created in that world. This can be applied to everything in my sub-creations. Even if it is something evil, it still shows my power over my creation.
Same thing in the real world. A man is mocked for his faith? It is a testament to what the Almighty has made, such strong faith. There is a mighty storm killing millions? Yet another testament to the Almighty. An insane tyrant murdering or enslaving thousands and causing many great evils? Still, a testament to the Lord. That tyrant will be punished as he deserves, but it is still a testament of the Lord's power. And everytime something in my sub-creations testafies to my power over it, I am testafying to the Lord his power. For without me, nothing in my sub-creation could happen; it wouldn't even exist. Without the Creator of all that we see here, I would not even exist.
I have more I could add. I will likely make another post in the future. If you liked what you read here, comment and let me know. I can make another post. Ask questions, share this, stuff like that; please. I want to know what people think of my ponderings.
My first one, which I believe I understand the best, is how the Almighty can be outside of our time. Now, just the name alone should tell you how, but I mean I understand on a more intimate level, I suppose. By that I mean I understand it on a level deeper than words. Hard to explain, but if you understand something on that deep of level, you know what I mean.
To explain it, I need to explain to you how I came to understand all of these principles or whatever. I am writing a couple of books. I have been using the analogy of myself as a writer over the worlds in my books to relate to how the Creator is over this world (and everything else).
My first big revalation, as I remember, was how He is outside of our time. I don't know if you have ever written a book or script or anything, but as you write it, you are outside the time of the world inside that book or story. That is how it is with my books. I know the end and the begining. I know what will happen to my characters long before they do. I can experience their future or past as if it were my present. The entire lifetime of one of my characters can seem as a moment to me. It is the same with us and the Creator of this universe. If anyone would like a deeper explanation, just ask. I could make a whole post about it if I pushed it.
One of my next revalations was how things like miracles and other strange things could work in stories. If you are accustomed to thinking from a perspective with no higher power, such as athiests and others try to do, you believe you must do everything on your own. Same thing with stories. At first, I was writing it as though there were no higher power. But, the way I was writing made that impossible. I was writing it through the eyes of one of the characters, but about things that he was not there to experience. Or in same cases, possibly no one was there to experience. I tried to come up with scenarios that would explain how he could write about these things that he wasn't there to experience. In some cases, the very things that happened in other's minds. How could my characters know the secret thoughts of another? Or know what they felt? Or know what an animal did when no one was around? Simple; me, as the creator of that world, would tell him.
As the creator of that world, I am have power that none of them understand. I want the entire world to turn into a hotdog? All I must do is imagine it, and all of the mountains, oceans, forests and so one will all be one large hotdog. I want a character to just barely survive a battle? He will. Just as I say it will be. I want an asteroid storm? It will happen. It is similar to how the Creator of this world works, except on a much larger scale. Imagine how weak a thought in your head is compared to you. You have control over your imagination, if you want something to happen in there, it does. It is even more so with the Almighty and his creation. And me, as a writer, am just living out a smaller version of what He does. I am, after all, created in His image.
This concept is based off something I read in one of C.S. Lewis's books. He called it "sub-creation". That is a more... philosphical term, for lack of a better word, than imagination is. His theory was since we were made in the image of the Creator, and obviously the Creator loved to create, we should too. Others of his period (and all times in history of that) thought it ungodly to make our own worlds in our minds. Lewis believed just the opposite! By making our own sub-creations, we are merely praising the Lord once again! I don't recall him putting it that way, that was me, but you should hopefully get my point. Our sub-creations aren't offensive to the Lord, unless we make them so, they are actually what He planned for us to do! At least that is what I believe.
I will make my last point here. It is a revalation I made about how anything we do, such as doing our boring, everyday job, or just about anything else that doesn't seem like worship in church, could still be praising the Creator. I realized this, just like everything else here, because of my "sub-creations" and relating to the real creation and it's Creator. Everything that happens in my made up worlds, good or bad, is a testament to my imagination. There is a mighty storm, it is a testament of my power over the world of my imagination. A young soldier who is mocked in the military yet keeps his morals strong? A testament to the power of what I created in that world. This can be applied to everything in my sub-creations. Even if it is something evil, it still shows my power over my creation.
Same thing in the real world. A man is mocked for his faith? It is a testament to what the Almighty has made, such strong faith. There is a mighty storm killing millions? Yet another testament to the Almighty. An insane tyrant murdering or enslaving thousands and causing many great evils? Still, a testament to the Lord. That tyrant will be punished as he deserves, but it is still a testament of the Lord's power. And everytime something in my sub-creations testafies to my power over it, I am testafying to the Lord his power. For without me, nothing in my sub-creation could happen; it wouldn't even exist. Without the Creator of all that we see here, I would not even exist.
I have more I could add. I will likely make another post in the future. If you liked what you read here, comment and let me know. I can make another post. Ask questions, share this, stuff like that; please. I want to know what people think of my ponderings.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Damascus Steel
Once again talking about ancient technology, here are some of my old thoughts (along with a few new ones) on the steel of legend. This steel, according to these legends, was strong enough to cut through solid stone and remain sharp enough to cut falling silk. Of course, these legends could just be a major exaggeration, but if man really was as smart in the past as I believe, I wouldn't put it past them.
Here is a picture of our "modern" damascus steel:
Pretty unique look, isn't it? This is pretty much how it is believed to have looked. Of course, I believe we have lost the special techniques they would have used to make it so strong in the past. And if you think that story is a little far fetched, here's another, more recent story I heard.
I got to meet an actual knife maker. It was a hobby for him, but now he makes a pretty good profit out of it. Enough of a profit to make knives out of armor grade metal. He once even made a knife, put it in a clamp, and shot it three times with a .50 calibre bullet. The knife was a bit roughed up, but otherwise just fine.
If I lived in ancient history, and was rich enough to afford a damascus blade, I would like one of this type of design:
2100 and 2103 are my favorites of those in the picture, I think. But a damascus sword like this would be pretty amazing thing to have. Imagine it, a sword so sharp I could drop a cloth on it and the cloth would be sliced right through. Then of course, the blade would be incredibly tough and dull very slowly. I could easily cut a man in half and not even have to worry about sharpening the blade!
Yes, I do like to imagine a bit sometimes. You must remember though, it isn't really all to far of a stretch for ancient man to make weapons like this if you think about it.
Okay, so this short post was about the boy inside me. We all have to have a little fun, don't we?
Here is a picture of our "modern" damascus steel:
Pretty unique look, isn't it? This is pretty much how it is believed to have looked. Of course, I believe we have lost the special techniques they would have used to make it so strong in the past. And if you think that story is a little far fetched, here's another, more recent story I heard.
I got to meet an actual knife maker. It was a hobby for him, but now he makes a pretty good profit out of it. Enough of a profit to make knives out of armor grade metal. He once even made a knife, put it in a clamp, and shot it three times with a .50 calibre bullet. The knife was a bit roughed up, but otherwise just fine.
If I lived in ancient history, and was rich enough to afford a damascus blade, I would like one of this type of design:
Yes, I do like to imagine a bit sometimes. You must remember though, it isn't really all to far of a stretch for ancient man to make weapons like this if you think about it.
Okay, so this short post was about the boy inside me. We all have to have a little fun, don't we?
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
In The Beginning... Part 2
In this next section of my "In the beginning" theme, I will talk about ancient man more specifically.
Most of the information I used in making my theories can be found in three books, which I have either read recently or am currently reading. These books are:
The Puzzle of Ancient Man: Evidence for Advanced Technology in Past Civilizations
, Donald E. Chittick
The Remarkable Record of Job
, Henry M. Morris
And finally, the Bible. Written by the Author of everything else in existence.
As I said, it was from reading these books that I drew most, if not all, of these conclusions.
Now based off my first section on "In the beginning", it's been established that the Creator made everything perfect in the beginning; and since then things have degenerated. So let me ask you this, when you hear the words "ancient man", what comes to mind? If it happens to be "cave men", or anything like it, I'm not surprised. That's the image that ideas like evolution has given us. You see, evolution, just like many pagan religions of the past, teaches that man has grown better with time. So naturally, they would want you to think that man in the past was less "evolved" than we are today.
However, if when you imagined something far different when you heard the words "ancient man", such as advanced civilizations with electricity, computers, radio, flying machines, precision cutting tools, anti gravity technology, ect. Then you are considered foolish, stupid, ignorant and likely considered an outcast of some sort from the more "scientific" community and such. Just like me.
If you believe the Bible as I do, you should believe that the Creator made everything "very good". When an Almighty, All Knowing Creator makes something "very good", you better bet that thing is impressive! So if He made man and the rest of creation "very good", why would He make us less than we are today? I already, in part 1, discussed how we were likely much taller and healthier in the past. I believe we could reach heights of over 30 feet in the past. That really isn't so unbelievable when you look at the difference in our ages then and now. On average, before the flood, people seemed to live at least 10 times longer. Is it really so hard to believe they grew to be 5 or 6 times as tall?
Also, if the Almighty made their strength, health, age and height (amongst many other things) so extreme compared to today, why not their intelligence? I hear that the average person uses between 5 and 10% of their mental capacity. Why could that not have been better in the past? Imagine with me, once more, about the world in the beginning. Their world is rich with vegetation everywhere you look. The air is thick and invigorating, and everything is very, very close to how it was before the fall. You are standing in a world only a few centuries old, lets say, 400 years to be precise. You are currently 250 years old, and still considered young. Your however many greats-grandfather, Adam, is just days younger than the earth. He was originally made perfect. How much would both Adam and yourself know? You can use your entire mind all at once, you have lived hundreds of years, you were given all the knowledge you need by the Creator, and you are in nearly perfect health. This is what it was like in the beginning. At least, that's how I see it.
Oh yes, and at this point we would all speak one language as well. This is a very important point that I may speak on more some day.
It is believed, if I remember right, that the flood happened 1645 years after creation. I know it was less than 1700 years for sure, according to our estimations based off the accounts given in the Bible. With man, and the rest of creation, in a state so similar to that of the pre-fall world, we could have increased both population and technology very quickly. It is likely that pre-flood man had technology we can't even imagine, as well as population possibly several billion above our current population today.
Here is actually a site I looked at recently that outlines what I'm talking about: http://ldolphin.org/popul.html
And the specific chart I'm using for now:
This site is what helped me form my theory, which is me really agreeing with them, about how the pre-flood world could have had such extreme numbers. The person who put that together, and made the calculation, believes this to be a low estimate.
Since their minds would also have been much stronger, and they more recently had their knowledge from the Lord, people likely had much better technology. And even if you were to disregard all this, they lived for hundreds of years! Imagine what they could learn and teach in that time.
I nearly forgot. Just to show that I don't get all my opinions just from listening to people who agree with me, I also began forming these very opinions from this series that contradicts my beliefs: That is the first part of several. It's called Ancient Aliens.
It was really enjoyable to watch. All I had to do was ignore their conclusions, look at the evidence they provided, and come to my own conclusions. And since my view was based off something very simple and logical (also true), I could come to conclusions quickly and easily. The opinions of those who made the videos, however, seemed a little shaky.
My conclusions were based off the fact that man was created very intelligent, far more so then we are today. As a matter of fact, when the pyramids were first discovered by our "modern" civilisations in the late 1800's I believe, the pyramids, even after thousands of years of decay, were so precisely built that we did not have the technology to measure just how precisely they were built. It is believed that those very minute imperfections didn't even exist when the pyramids were made, and were in fact from so much decay. I can't remember the specifics of all this, but what I'm talking about may be found in the chapter discussion Egyptian technology in "The Puzzle of Ancient Man".
Because man was so much more intelligent in the past, it shouldn't be a surprise then when we see these old pieces of architecture that we couldn't even build today. Or see evidence for technology we can't understand, or even imagine. If the Creator was All Knowing, and made us in His image, why wouldn't he make us so smart? So when we hear that ancient man might have had some sort of anti gravity or gravity manipulating technology, should we be so quick to doubt it? Or just say it was "slave labor"? No, not if you believe in an All Powerful, All Knowing, All Existing Creator as I do.
That is all for now. I'm taking it easy for today. Going to focus on my music now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzQvd6AnZrY
Most of the information I used in making my theories can be found in three books, which I have either read recently or am currently reading. These books are:
The Puzzle of Ancient Man: Evidence for Advanced Technology in Past Civilizations
, Donald E. Chittick
The Remarkable Record of Job
, Henry M. Morris
And finally, the Bible. Written by the Author of everything else in existence.
As I said, it was from reading these books that I drew most, if not all, of these conclusions.
Now based off my first section on "In the beginning", it's been established that the Creator made everything perfect in the beginning; and since then things have degenerated. So let me ask you this, when you hear the words "ancient man", what comes to mind? If it happens to be "cave men", or anything like it, I'm not surprised. That's the image that ideas like evolution has given us. You see, evolution, just like many pagan religions of the past, teaches that man has grown better with time. So naturally, they would want you to think that man in the past was less "evolved" than we are today.
However, if when you imagined something far different when you heard the words "ancient man", such as advanced civilizations with electricity, computers, radio, flying machines, precision cutting tools, anti gravity technology, ect. Then you are considered foolish, stupid, ignorant and likely considered an outcast of some sort from the more "scientific" community and such. Just like me.
If you believe the Bible as I do, you should believe that the Creator made everything "very good". When an Almighty, All Knowing Creator makes something "very good", you better bet that thing is impressive! So if He made man and the rest of creation "very good", why would He make us less than we are today? I already, in part 1, discussed how we were likely much taller and healthier in the past. I believe we could reach heights of over 30 feet in the past. That really isn't so unbelievable when you look at the difference in our ages then and now. On average, before the flood, people seemed to live at least 10 times longer. Is it really so hard to believe they grew to be 5 or 6 times as tall?
Also, if the Almighty made their strength, health, age and height (amongst many other things) so extreme compared to today, why not their intelligence? I hear that the average person uses between 5 and 10% of their mental capacity. Why could that not have been better in the past? Imagine with me, once more, about the world in the beginning. Their world is rich with vegetation everywhere you look. The air is thick and invigorating, and everything is very, very close to how it was before the fall. You are standing in a world only a few centuries old, lets say, 400 years to be precise. You are currently 250 years old, and still considered young. Your however many greats-grandfather, Adam, is just days younger than the earth. He was originally made perfect. How much would both Adam and yourself know? You can use your entire mind all at once, you have lived hundreds of years, you were given all the knowledge you need by the Creator, and you are in nearly perfect health. This is what it was like in the beginning. At least, that's how I see it.
Oh yes, and at this point we would all speak one language as well. This is a very important point that I may speak on more some day.
It is believed, if I remember right, that the flood happened 1645 years after creation. I know it was less than 1700 years for sure, according to our estimations based off the accounts given in the Bible. With man, and the rest of creation, in a state so similar to that of the pre-fall world, we could have increased both population and technology very quickly. It is likely that pre-flood man had technology we can't even imagine, as well as population possibly several billion above our current population today.
Here is actually a site I looked at recently that outlines what I'm talking about: http://ldolphin.org/popul.html
And the specific chart I'm using for now:This site is what helped me form my theory, which is me really agreeing with them, about how the pre-flood world could have had such extreme numbers. The person who put that together, and made the calculation, believes this to be a low estimate.
Since their minds would also have been much stronger, and they more recently had their knowledge from the Lord, people likely had much better technology. And even if you were to disregard all this, they lived for hundreds of years! Imagine what they could learn and teach in that time.
I nearly forgot. Just to show that I don't get all my opinions just from listening to people who agree with me, I also began forming these very opinions from this series that contradicts my beliefs: That is the first part of several. It's called Ancient Aliens.
It was really enjoyable to watch. All I had to do was ignore their conclusions, look at the evidence they provided, and come to my own conclusions. And since my view was based off something very simple and logical (also true), I could come to conclusions quickly and easily. The opinions of those who made the videos, however, seemed a little shaky.
My conclusions were based off the fact that man was created very intelligent, far more so then we are today. As a matter of fact, when the pyramids were first discovered by our "modern" civilisations in the late 1800's I believe, the pyramids, even after thousands of years of decay, were so precisely built that we did not have the technology to measure just how precisely they were built. It is believed that those very minute imperfections didn't even exist when the pyramids were made, and were in fact from so much decay. I can't remember the specifics of all this, but what I'm talking about may be found in the chapter discussion Egyptian technology in "The Puzzle of Ancient Man".
Because man was so much more intelligent in the past, it shouldn't be a surprise then when we see these old pieces of architecture that we couldn't even build today. Or see evidence for technology we can't understand, or even imagine. If the Creator was All Knowing, and made us in His image, why wouldn't he make us so smart? So when we hear that ancient man might have had some sort of anti gravity or gravity manipulating technology, should we be so quick to doubt it? Or just say it was "slave labor"? No, not if you believe in an All Powerful, All Knowing, All Existing Creator as I do.
That is all for now. I'm taking it easy for today. Going to focus on my music now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzQvd6AnZrY
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