Uplifting Spiritual Comment of the Day
Every blog post is like casting out the fishing line. Most of the time you fling it out there and reel back an empty hook. But sometimes a tasty thought leaps out of the stream back at you.
A great comment From my post yesterday asking, “If Happiness Isn’t the Key to Life Then What Is?”
4. Leatherneck
I was thinking about this subject yesterday, and thinking about current events in the world. It has been reported over 9,000 people have been murdered in Syria by their government, and in Afganistan floods have killed over 20 people.
In 1989 when the plane over Lockerbi, Scotland was blown up, there were body parts that landed on top of houses. I was on active duty then in Scotland about an hour drive north. Any of us can be killed, or murdered today, and it will not be long before we are forgotten.
There is only one thing that matters in this time, and space. Our relationship with that which created us, and died for us. I know a lot of people do not believe in a G-d that created everything, but without it, life has no meaning.
Evolution is a lie to mislead, and those who do not believe in a G-d, or believe they are their own god, will worship the creation in one way, or another. It could be sex, or the land they grow fruit trees on. In any case, we are not just animals that can do whatever feels good as the New Age claims.
We are loved. Just as we may love our children, or dogs. We were loved so much, that which created us lived among us, was perfect, was murdered for our sins, and rose from the dead to hold the keys of heaven, and hell.
What I was told as a child is correct. I have seeked G-d, and G-d has answered. It is my hope others will read this, and seek that which created them. You will never be perfect in this life, but you will find happiness. You will find a meaning to life.
Emphasis added.
And just to throw in a clarifier so as not to sidetrack discussion: The statement “evolution is a lie to mislead” is not a statement to provoke (the very boring) creationists vs Darwinists debate regarding the chemical-biological-spiritual mechanisms through which life came to exist on planet earth. Rather, it’s to reject the conclusion of some evolutionists that human life is equal in value to animal life.
No it’s not, it’s saying God mislead us by putting dinosaurs prints in Texas that lead to nowhere.
He lost me at “evolution is a lie”. That is not the same as your gloss on that statement. I believe in God and Christ, but I wouldn’t spend 2 minutes listening to the “wisdom” of someone who can’t handle science.
I think I know where your going with this and I agree. Correct me if I’m wrong, but are you making the case that there are multiple interpretations on the origins of life and all of them fall under the creationist umbrella? If so, I agree. The earth is billions of years old but God is still the originator of the Big Bang?
I’m saying that when a mutation occurs it is an unpredictable chance event, yet something chooses how the wave function collapses. I’m saying that the supernatural aspect of God must appear to be random (anything which is not random, we can figure out the rule, and we would call this “figuring out” a scientific investigation of nature – or the natural aspect of God). Every single mutation in the evolution of life on Earth could have been chosen by God with the end of producing humanity, but since we cannot figure out a rule for how the wave function will collapse (i.e. it is random within a given probability distribution), we cannot tell by scientific investigation whether or not a loving God is involved. This is as it is supposed to be. We are supposed to believe in God by faith, not by scientific proof.
ALL life is sacred. Doesn’t matter whether two legs or four, furred, feathered or scaled; every life has a precious, ordained purpose and we ignore this at our peril.
As the old saying goes, he who is the wiser in any relationship has more responsibility.
As long as we all realize that the purpose of many a four-legged life is to provide other lives with cheeseburgers…
I agree with both Joan and heather.
Yes all life is precious. Nothing exists outside of the divine will. Each according to its place in the physical world we know.
In traditional Judaism there is a blessing specific to the type of food we consume. So before eating an animal, fruit, or grain we need to recognize what we are doing and why. We need to understand that we eat and celebrate that. At the same time we need to understand that this is not a given, it is our task and we are thankful for the dew and rain, the sun and clouds, the animals and plants, all of this happens because we have been given these gifts with the understanding that we must be responsible stewards of this particular planet.
We have been gifted with these amazing brains. That is no accident. I do not know exactly what Leatheneck (I like his posts) or Dave Swindle mean about Evolution. I do know that Evolution is a fact. You can see natural selection in a Petrie dish. We can understand it on the level of molecular biology now. We use it to feed ourselves with agricultural technology and breeding of animals for specific purposes. We can even do it on a molecular level now.
We humans cannot think of ourselves as apart from nature or G-d’s plan. That is the error made by the environmentalists.
“That is no accident. I do not know exactly what Leatheneck (I like his posts) or Dave Swindle mean about Evolution. I do know that Evolution is a fact. You can see natural selection in a Petrie dish. We can understand it on the level of molecular biology now. We use it to feed ourselves with agricultural technology and breeding of animals for specific purposes. We can even do it on a molecular level now.”
That human beings evolved from single-celled organisms and chimps is a scientific fact with plenty of evidence to back it up. (That said, I don’t see much point in arguing with those whose theology prevents them from accepting this fact.)
But it’s the interpretation of the evolutionary facts that matter. Those who respond to evolution by coming to the conclusion that human and non-human life are of equal value are the ones we need to worry about.
Allow me to respond to you and Dave both. You say, “You can see natural selection in a Petrie dish.” You see adaptation in a petrie dish. All life has the ability, to some extent, to adapt to changing environments. The bacterium is not becoming algae or something else. To accept Evolution as fact you must demonstrate conclusively that life can make cross-species jumps, and that it has been done billions of times and that it continues to do this. You should be able to demonstrate this in the rock record and be able to find billions of intermediary species littering the ground. What we see instead are inexplicable “blooms” of life appearing in the rock record without the required intermediary species or requisite time. Reference the Precambrian explosion.
What is incontrovertable, in my opinion, is the age of the earth. Clearly it is billions of years old. With this in mind there is no conflict between creationism and science.
Disclaimer: I’m a linguist not a biologist. Please extend grace if I get the terminology wrong.
“To accept Evolution as fact you must demonstrate conclusively that life can make cross-species jumps, and that it has been done billions of times and that it continues to do this.”
Science doesn’t demonstrate anything conclusively.
“Science doesn’t demonstrate anything conclusively”
Yet this is what macro-Evolutionists are doing when they dismiss any other theory.
Guess what leatherneck? Life has NO meaning ;and if there is a g-d, he doesn’t give a good g-damn about the evolved higher apes he created,except as an interesting creature to torture with delusions of ontological meaning,while giving them the lie with a reality too absurd and vicious to bear.The great irony and proof of the absurdity of the cosmos, is that the more scientifically intelligent we become, the more we discover its essential nihilism, and therefore the ultimate pointlessness of our knowledge.Is man a mistake of god? or god a mistake of man , as Nietzsche said? Man is a mistake of evolved bio chemistry: too intelligent vain, and fearful of meaninglessness, to avoid participating in some ideology of higher purpose, which almost always involves slaughtering his fellow illusionists for its validation. A murderously pathetic ape is man: a homicidal biped in a bumper car cosmos!
Now stop projecting!
Seriously, do you make this judgement from a morally superior vantage, or do you include yourself in this assessment? If you feel it is the former, others would probably beg to differ. If the latter, perhaps you are not morally fit to make this judgement.
YKW: Moral superiority is another one of those ontological/psychological aids indispensable to liberals, progressives,communists, puritans,moslems christers;in short: for those responsible for having made human history a tale of endless massacre and disaster.As for projecting,don’t “project” your judgments about fitness towards me;it will only confirm my belief about the psychological indispensability of self righteousness to the self deluded.
So you are morally superior yourself? Yes or no.
You’re right! And man is even worse than that! Wouldn’t it be great if there was something/someone outside our time and space, someone who could save us from ourselves? hmmm…..
You’re stealing my fire!
I was going to tell him that Christianity tells us we are all sinners – so we are not fit to judge, but Christ also tells us specifically not to judge.
Many apologies! Cheers!
So you agree with me then,that there is nothing out there above mankind?
lol! Certainly not. And my “psychosis” (per your comment below) is no worse than your nihilist “psychosis” –and maybe better. At least I can place thoughts and behaviors into a moral context without condemning or destroying anyone.
Moral superiority what’s that? An excuse to condemn and destroy human beings based judging them according to the tenets of the latest successful religious or political psychosis. As to Christianity,it has no right to judge anyone, except those who accept its increasingly impotent fantasies.
You are the one who judged when you said “Man is a mistake of evolved bio chemistry [sic]“. It is why I asked the question, which you keep dodging.
Never mind.
So making an observation grounded on evolutionary biology and history is “judging”? Now that’s an interesting reversal;It’s usually the Religious lunatics judging the thoughtful( Think Galileo))I do believe that I am making observations based on science and history as opposed to the vaporous revelations of fantasists and christic(sic.) charlatans .If you consider that judgment, then guilty as charged_or to put it in a language even a christer can understand:mea culpa! Judge away! You can now issue a fatwa , or call the inquisition!
Yes, “man is a mistake”, which you said, is a judgement, not an observation.
DCANNER My “psychosis”,unlike traditional religious and political psychopathologies, has never needed validation through inquisitions, burnings at the stake,massacres and death camps.If your religious beliefs rule out the above atrocities,that’s commendablet;however,your’re still living a fantasy.The realization that there is no G-D, as your pious colleague calls the nonentity,is empowering. As Nietzsche said,without G-D everything is now possible!
Well, I can see that we have no basis on which to communicate about anything worthwhile. I’m guessing that you don’t really want to have a dialogue about religion and just want to sterotype and offend. Your tie-in to Nietzsche is entirely predictable– his followers always seem to be among the most unpleasant to talk to.
YKW: If you had bothered to read my prior comment, you would have seen that I included communism in my list of virulent religions,nor am I singling out the US as particularly evil;actually the US,thanks to its people and constitution,(which the current Castro wannabe is trying to subvert),is a bastion of sanity and freedom in a world dominated by ideological/religious insanity.As for the Salem witch hunters not acting in a christian way,you couldn’t be more wrong:the history of Christianity(and Islam)is a litany of persecution, intolerance and murder.Let’s recall:The persecution of pagans, and the destruction of their temples;the Albigensian mass murders;the inquisition;the religious wars in Europe,culminating in the apocalyptic slaughter of the 30 years war; I could go on, but you get the point.Nor are the crimes only physical:The calvinist doctrine of predestination is simply a form of theological sadism.No YKW, burning witches;is indeed a very christian activity,and unfortunately not the worst; as Nietzsche said:” There was only one Christian,nd he died on the cross”.
These things are not Christianity, because they are not what Christ preached.
You seem to think that you can convict a philosophy based on what some people do who profess to follow that philosophy. I gave the example of Salem witch burnings as a reason to convict America precisely because it was ridiculous. These witch burners (actually hangers) were every bit as American as they were Christian. It is exactly the same logic to convict America based on what these Americans did as it is to convict Christianity based on what these Christians did.
If you want to convict Christianity and justly, then you would have to show how murdering people follows from what Christ taught. It won’t be possible because Christ taught the opposite of murder. He taught love. In the example were a sin according to the old law was punishable by death, Christ said, “Let he who is without sin throw the first rock”. He said to the sinner, “go and sin no more”.
Charlatans and people seeking power will assume any respectable mantle and try to use it for their advantage. The Christian Church was captured by the Roman state under Constantine and put to his use, and it has been mixed up with people seeking power and riches ever since. That does not make Christianity, which is what Christ taught, false or bad.
We have sexual predators playing out their pedophilac fantasies as coaches in many sports teams (and yes, these people who are not following Christ, have presented themselves as Christian leaders too). It does not follow that coaching youth teams is an evil activity (just as it does not follow that sincere worship of Christ is an evil activity).
Do the many charlatans in science prove that science is a false activity?
You have judged all mankind and spoken hatefully of Christians. Do you think people like Hitler and his henchmen, or any other practitioners of mass evil just went to it without engaging in an orgy of hate talk first. Oh, you will kill no one, but maybe someone else will carom off your hate speech and decide to kill a Christian or two, just the way the pure talk of the NBC and other networks and of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton has ended in people being killed “for Trayvon”.
If you pick a category, here “Christian” and observe that some Christians are evil, you cannot logically generalize that to “all Christians are evil”. That’s Aristotelian logic, which we have used successfully for over 2,000 years. Some A is B does not imply all A is B. But this is what you do.
Wait a minute! Some people were tried as witches and executed by Americans in Salem, Massachusetts. This proves that there is something wrong with America. At least it does if the logic you are using is correct. That some people professing Christianity did bad things does not prove that there is something wrong with Christianity. Maybe they were not acting in a Christian way. Atheists killed a lot of people in the last century too, you know. Ever here of the Gulag Archipelago?
YKW Please see my reply above, I misplaced it.
YKW ” You have judged all mankind and spoken hatefully of christians &etc..”.Look who is projecting and judging now! I don’t hate people who practice christianity -as opposed to those who use Christ to abuse and condemn others ie:the organized” mainstream” and charlatan churches such as Al Sharpton’s;and no, it’s not just” some christians” who have engaged in persecutions: historically it’s been a majority who either committed or abetted Jihads by their silence.A few individuals such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer died for Christian ideals,unfortunately, such individuals are exceptional. I like how you turn my reasoned critiques into”hate” speech:very PC,or should I say very inquisitorial of you. Maybe you should learn Farsi and become an Iranian mullah;you’ll feel happy in Iran where criticizing Islam is hate speech and earns you a beheading.You are right about the Christ: he neither preached hatred nor violence;but his followers did;that’s why I said that there was only one Chritian, and he died on the cross (Nietzsche). The Roman state did not”capture” the church,the church enthusiastically sold its holyness to Constantine in exchange for the secular power it needed to suppress Paganism,it gave to Caesar the things that were God’s in exchange for a share of Caesar’s power,compromising itself forever.Pedophiliacs? Are youy for real? the catholic church in the US is going broke paying compensation for the hundreds of altar boys its priets have molested.
You said, “Man is a mistake of evolved bio chemistry”.
My “inquisition” begins with that. You are not fit to make that judgement (neither is anyone else).
You think there is not something seriously wrong with that? Try substituting in “Jews” (which is included in “man”) and see what you get. Your statement becomes “Jews are a mistake of evolved bio chemistry”. Right out of Goebbels propaganda. You have just expanded it to all mankind.
That’s hate.
I note in passing that Goebbels was inspired by your beloved Nietzsche.
You can make statements like “Man is a mistake of evolved bio chemistry”, but you can’t walk away from as if you are not responsible for them. That statement is yours.
Atheists killed more people, and they have killed a higher percentage of the population in a few decades of the last century than Christians did in 2000 years. Being communists did not make them “not atheists”. The atheist to Christian ratio in Stalin’s genocide was very high.
Whereas, of course, you are personally ready to lay down your life for “atheist ideals” whatever they are (communism if you were in the Soviet Union).