Nothing is Evil

I recently implemented something new. On Facebook I started a group called "

De' Tinker's Thoughts: Facebook Discussion Group", and asked the few members I had which post title they wanted me to write on. Well, the vote is in! So here I go...

Nothing is evil. How could that be? Don't we live in an evil world? Isn't evil all around us? What about the wars, the starvation, the lies, etc?

There is more to the saying then that. Maybe this makes more sense: Nothing was evil in it's original created form; or, nothing was created evil.

Whatever it is, it us us humans who make it evil or commit evil actions. Guns aren't evil, they are just a tool. Yet we use them for evil purposes. Eating meat isn't evil, yet we torture animals unnecessarily to get that meat or we intentionally provide low quality meat for people to eat. Even technology! Technology isn't evil, but as with the gun example, it can be used for evil purposes.

For instance, weather control technology. Some of you may not even believe we have the technology to effect the weather on any noteworthy scale. That's fine if you don't believe, it's up to you. Technology like that doesn't sound evil, does it? Well, it's not, whatever you were thinking. However, evidence suggests that this type of technology is responsible for multiple natural disasters and will also be used for a mass deception in the (near) future, with the intent of setting up a One World Government.

That brings me to another point, a Wold Government. Is that evil? Well, the idea itself isn't. However, the methods used to achieve such a government and the reason for that government are. The Almighty confused the languages of man at the tower of Babel when they created a One World Government, with the intention of being their own god. Mankind has always had that goal in mind, and is trying once again to create a modern "Tower of Babel" situation.

Getting away from the "conspiracy theories", here's another example: sex. These days I hear jokes about how Christianity means "if it's fun, stop doing it". In part this joke is talking about this very issue. The original purpose of sex was for pleasure between one man and one woman and to populate the earth. However, we have perverted it from it's original purpose, making most instances evil. Once again, it's not the idea that's evil, but what we do with it. That is why there is rape, adultery, homosexuality, etc. They have perverted the original purpose, in a similar way as was done with technology.

Since everything was originally "very good", any evil must have come afterwards. And of course, any object itself can't be evil anyway, just as an animal or idea can't. We are the ones that cursed creation through our actions, and we pervert and corrupt all of these things.

Of course other issues, such as killing and murder, are a little harder to explain. According to what I hear (to lazy to look it up myself), in the original Hebrew the same word is used for "murder" as is used for "kill". That means the commandment "thou shall not murder" could just as accurately be translated to "thou shall not kill". So does that mean killing isn't evil? Well... as I said, it's a little harder to explain, and I may be wrong on this one.

It is said that death will be the last enemy to be defeated. Also, in original creation there was no death. However, upon further investigation of science, you realized that destruction was both possible and necessary before the Fall. You see, there is a fine balance in creation. Destruction and creation. We can't even see without this balance! As light comes into our eyes, it destroys certain chemicals. When these chemicals break down, it sends an electrical signal to the brain, telling us what we see.

Before the Fall, things were probably balanced differently. Balanced in such a way that there was no net decay, meaning that things could not die of age; or die at all. However, as I said, things changed. So the act of killing also upsets the balance, but adding lots of net decay. This is against God's original plan, for He wanted no death. But we now live in a fallen world, where death not only is possible but happens every minute.

I have not fully answered the problem though, is killing evil? Digging a little deeper, we find Jesus said that even if you are angry with someone in your heart, you committed murder against them (in your own heart). So based off all this, it seems it is really a matter of the heart. Even God commanded the killing of thousands (men, woman, children, even babies). The people that were killed were of a corrupt heart, and this was a punishment. But when we kill someone ourselves, we have no power, right or authority to give them that punishment; except in the case of government (which I will get to in a moment).

An individual on his own does not have this authority by default, but circumstances can present them self, such as getting attacked and taking a life defending yourself. Although you may not have been given the authority to "punish" this person, per se, you were fulfilling a God given instinct of self defense. Things are different when someone is causing you trouble and you hire someone to "silence" them. That is a heart problem right there. Also since man is created in God's image, he also is set apart and special from the rest of creation. Doing something evil towards another human is far different than it is from an animal or plant.

However, governments have been given certain authority from above to make and enforce laws, including the death penalty. This amount of authority has been given to them, to take a life, so it is up to the governments to respect these privileges. No matter how powerful a government becomes, they still answer to a greater power. It is the same for all of us, we each answer to something greater than ourself. In the case of killing and murder, it is a hard concept to clearly understand. You've just seen some of how I think it through.

Ultimately, death and killing isn't part of the plan, but is happening now. We must live with that. But as long as our heart is following God, our actions will lead us away from these evil acts (although we are still fallible humans). This means that it is possible to kill someone and not sin. It is the heart, the intent, that God looks at. This isn't to justify those who fought in the Crusades for "the glory of God", or any other similar circumstances. I merely mean that He will reveal His will if we listen, and there is example after example in the Old Testament where killing was part of that.

The simple answer? No. Killing is not evil (oh boy, is that weird to say!). It is our heart that is evil, and often times we kill because of our evil heart. The origin of evil also has an evil beginning, the Fall and Satan. But death also began there as well, but death is not evil. It is just a balance of nature that is not part of God's ultimate plan. There will come a time where he gives creation it's proper balance, then death and killing will be impossible.

There are many other examples, but this will suffice for now. This post is plenty long. However, I will soon be writing another post talking more about this issue.

The Simple Life

So in America today, it is Thanksgiving. People are eating a huge amount of food (and probably getting drunk) while watching the game on big screen tv's, having big family get togethers, and following the tradition of cooking turkey and other various foods, even if no one really like's 'em.

Well I decided to make a short little post about what I am truly thankful for. It's not the food, not the traditions and customs, not even anything specific.

I am just thankful that every night when I go to bed, I can honestly say to myself "today was a good day" no matter what happened. I am thankful that I am contented with the life I have been blessed with. I am thankful for my simple life.

May you be thankful for each day as well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

Alpha Male of '91

So what movies came out in 1991? Okay, I don't know all the answers to that one; but I do have one movie in particular in mind. That movie is the Beauty and the beast. Looking back on it, I noticed something very interesting.

Did you know that in that movie it is revealed how to become "roughly the size of a barge"? The main villain of the film, Gaston, is a bit of a selfish jerk who wants Belle. However, he is also a very big and strong man, who knows a little trick about size and strength that is often ignored today.

I know, I know, it's just a cartoon. But there are real people who got real results by using the same strategy that Gaston used in the film. I embedded a clip below. Can you find Gaston's "secret"?



Okay, here's a hint. Around the mid point of the film, Gaston states that as a lad, he ate 4 dozen eggs (48) every morning, but now eats 5 dozen eggs (60). It is because of this that, as Gaston puts it, he is "roughly the size of a barge". Now this may all seem a little unrealistic, but hold on just one more minute.

Vince Gironda, known as the "Iron Guru", was a famous bodybuilder who's knowledge was so valued (and controversial) that even the famous bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger came to him for training advice. Why do I mention this? Because Gironda advised eating up to 3 dozen eggs a day. He believed that this many quality eggs a day could actually have similar effects to the anabolic steroid, Dianabol. Interestingly enough, Dianabol was one of the steroids Arnold used to become so large.

And in the video, Gaston ate up to 60 eggs a day. Notice how big he was? Gaston was an image of the alpha male in 1991. And honestly, he's a better image then most I see today. True, he was a selfish jerk, but he built a strong, healthy body through safe, natural means. If people were to pick up on that aspect of Gaston these days, things would be a little better.

Story of the 5th

So this is another school project I did. Since I already did all the work, I decided to post it. This particular project was to listen to Ludvig van Beethoven's 5th symphony...

...and write about what the piece means to me, what I feel/think/see/etc. when I listen to it. I only did the first movement, since I did not want to go into this kind of detail for the rest of 'em.

So, here it is:

The initial beats are lighting and thunder, which start a down pour upon a wounded man lying upon a battlefield filled with corpses. After the rain begins, he has flash backs about everything that brought him to this point. The following “creeping” feeling of the orchestra is the man remembering the events coming together for the war he is now in. The bridge begins the memory of the events which brought the redcoats to the very steps of the man’s plantation; ending with pistol aimed at his face and all his property burning.

Beginning on theme one, the man remembers even farther back, before the ball, when he took his wife to a ball. The sounds of the violins are the man remembering slowly dancing in a beautiful hall before the war. When things pick up to the happier, faster paced tune, he is remembering more and more of the fast paced, carefree dance. Not long after those events though, the man begins to cycle through other events that lead to where he is now. As the Exposition repeats, he goes through a similar cycle of memories; from the events leading to the war, the burning of his plantation and killing of part of his family, to the times before the war.

The near confusion in the Development is the man being swarmed with different memories. From his anger that made him join the war, to those happy times before the war. His memory jumped from dances, to tired marching, to happy evenings with his family, to confused battles. Memories of pain, hunger, happiness, and sadness seem to attack him at once.

The Recapitulation is the very passionately angry memories of the man seeing the destruction of his plantation. With the quiet and slow oboe solo, the man remembers crying as he held his wife’s lifeless corpse in his arms, as the soldiers marched off with all his possessions burning.

The following crescendo for the bridge is the memory of sadness turning into anger and hate for the man. He remembers setting his wife’s body down, standing up and watching as the redcoats marched away. With the trumpet blasts the man is brought once again to the memories before the war; including the last dance he had. He had brought his whole family to an extravagant ball as one final time to have carefree fun before the fighting began. His memories begin once again with the slow, blissful dancing as he sees his wife smiling face. Memories of the dance speeding up and becoming more intense come along with the crescendo of the music, until he is spinning quickly and carefree with his wife in his arms, with his sons and daughters surrounding him all dancing carefree as well.

With the Coda comes conflicting memories of that final dance and this last battle; the joy of his family, and the hate of his enemy. Images of his smiling wife and his smoking rifle flooded his mind. Memories come harder and faster, making the emotions in the man boil as he lay on the battlefield. Finally, as the orchestra switches to the darker tune, the man is left with just the memories of his hate. Marching, firing, reloading, watching as enemy soldiers fell, and the blood of allied soldiers splattered his face and clothes.

Memories slow down, but become more focused as he sees the soldier that killed his wife and family and ordered the burning of the plantation. The music builds and intensifies as the two fight towards each other, and a few longing memories appear to the man. The following deep, powerful notes known from theme one are the man and the soldier meeting on the field of combat. They fight hard, the man burning with anger and hate. Combat ends with the soldier firing his pistol and the man stabbing him with a bayonet in time with the powerful closing notes. Along with the sudden ending comes the man suddenly falling into unconsciousness, having remembered all the events that brought him to this point.