“Think amongst yaselves”

Every now and then these questions come up:

“If God knows the future, then do we have free will?”

“Do you generally have “free will” in your daily life?”

“Do you believe in destiny or fate?”

“Since science states we are just atoms bouncing off each other, weren’t our actions/thoughts, decisions set in motion long ago?”

Not much commentary at the moment,  just some random thoughts and links I may be adding to later:

Determinism

Determinism – Catholic encyclopedia

Fatalism

“Determinism is not Fatalism”

Free Will

Free Will – Christianity

Compatabilism and Incompatabism

Predestination

Causality

Nothing shocking here, but a good refresher on the topic. Below is the article:

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What are my Standards of Right and Wrong? by Joe Sturz

People often comment on the great degradation of standards in our country and it is no wonder. Just look at the attack on the unchangeableness of God’s standards from the left called relativism (There are no absolutes, all is relative, especially morals). Also the attack from the right that if you uphold the Old Testament legal system (God’s Law Library in Exodus and Deuteronomy) as being relevant today you are often accused of being a legalist. And certain well meaning Christians will say “I am not under law but under grace.”(Romans 6:15). Implying that the OT laws do not apply to the church age.

In one sense these Christian friends are scripturally right. Jesus was sent by the Father, the Law Giver, to fulfill the law for us as our Law Keeper and Law Victim and substitute. (Isaiah 53:8; Romans 4:25; Galatians 3:13). This means that we the Law breakers would not be condemned to everlasting punishment for our Law breaking if we repented and trusted in Christ for our Salvation (Romans 8:1). We are saved through the merits of Christ’s perfect Law Keeping life and the payment in full of the penalty due our sins by His Substitutionary death on the cross in our place for those that accept Him.(Romans 8:4; 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 4:4-7).

However there is more to it than that. Once we are truly forgiven of the penalty of death for our sins, then we are out from under the damnation of the accusing of our Law trespasses (Romans 8:1), now we love God’s Law as the only sure guide to what His will is for our daily lives. This is now our standard to measure our progress in growth in grace. (Matthew 5:17-28). Some will say, “Well, my guide is the law of love Jesus gave in the NT.” (Mark 12:29-31). But this law of love is only a heart summary of the Ten Commandments and their civil penalties enumerated in the OT and does not do away with these laws but show how they are really to be obeyed. (Matthew 5:17-28).

How do I love God with all my heart soul, mind and body? By putting Him first in my life in all areas, doing away with idols (God substitutes), respecting His Name, and giving Him one/seventh of my time, the Christian Sabbath. How do I love my neighbor? By respecting his authority and life, not stealing from him nor cheating or lying about him, or greedily desiring what belongs to him. These are the concrete ways I have of loving God and my neighbor. Separate them and deny their relevance and you have vague feelings and impressions to go by as to what are our standards of right and wrong which some have called, “Sloppy Agape!” How can I repent of sin in my life unless I know what law of God I have broken and the guilt my conscience is accusing me of?

As a Christian, it is vital that I love and respect the absolute and unchanging standards of God’s OT Laws as operating in our world today. My sure guide to God’s will for my life, not to earn my Salvation (which is free through Christ’s merits), but to show me my duties in my daily walk with Him and the progress I am making in my growing discipleship.

“…there is nothing to stop people mistreating pet tarantulas or lobsters kept in restaurant aquariums..”

As usual, animal cruelty law advocates will avoid this issue. This is the primary issue that makes or breaks their case in promoting laws that provide safety to only the animals they just happen to ”like”.

US citizens’ tax dollars are spent tying up the court system attempting to police all of the animal cruelty in the US. I thought all people were “inherently good”, right? No, let’s spend hard earned tax dollars and the time/energy of everyone involved to force Michael Vick to conform to the hypocrisy. Yes, he is a sick SOB, and I would enjoy seeing the same acts performed on him, but what would be my reasoning? What would it be based on? Shouldn’t the same principles be applied to all citizens and equal protection for all animals (not just the one’s we think are “cute”?)

Here in the US a citizen can get 4 yrs of jail time for animal cruelty and 2 yrs or less for killing a human being with a car while drunk. Does that make sense? A lobster can’t feel pain, right? You read their minds? Do you still support your local restaurants that boil them to death?

All of this helps to prove that the US is heading in a direction of a full-fledged police state. The way to achieve this is continually putting law after law on the books that can never be fully or even partially enforced. This ultimately leads to police and government working hand-in-hand to cherry-pick the citizens (victims) they “feel” like convicting (for political purposes, show of power, to set examples, etc..) by being able to choose from innumerable unenforced laws. Which ultimately gives the police/government unchecked and dictatorship-like power over the people.

But I digress. Back to the topic at hand, the UK is practically going nuts on the issue and I guess eventually it will be considered cruel there and in the US to even eat meat at all. Here is the article:

Now even spiders, squid and lobsters could have rights 

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

People could be prosecuted for being cruel to pet spiders, octopuses and restaurant lobsters under animal welfare plans being considered by the Government.

The Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is investigating whether invertebrates – the family of animals that includes insects, spiders and molluscs – should get the same protection under the law enjoyed by dogs, cats and horses if they are kept in captivity.

Ministers are under pressure from animal campaigners, who argue that some invertebrates are capable of feeling pain.

The move follows the introduction of the Animal Welfare Act in April, which made people legally liable for the basic welfare of animalsin their care and introduced new fines of up to £20,000.

Despite claims that some higher invertebrates, such as octopuses, can feel pain, the law covers only creatures with a backbone such as mammals, reptiles, birds and fish.

While it is illegal to mistreat a goldfish, there is nothing to stop people mistreating pet tarantulas or lobsters kept in restaurant aquariums.

Although proposals to widen the range of animals protected by law appeared to have been thrown out last year when the Act was drawn up, Defra has been consulting with scientists, animal rights campaigners and lawyers since November over how animal welfare could be improved in the future.

The results of the consultation were published this week. The report says: ‘The proposal to include only vertebrate animals in the scope of the strategy was met with a mixed reception.’

It said ‘a significant minority’ of those consulted believed some of the more sophisticated invertebrates should be included in animal welfare laws.

Octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, lobsters, crayfish, prawns, shrimps and crabs were among the animals that generated concern.

Octopuses – which can be taught to make their way through mazes and open screw-top jars – are already protected under animal experiment laws, but have no such protection outside the laboratory.

Defra officials will draw up their final Animal Welfare Delivery Strategy over the summer based on the findings.

Any extension of the laws could mean restaurant owners being prosecuted for mistreating lobsters or crabs on their menu.

While they would still be able to boil the crustaceans alive to kill them, they would have to make sure they are kept in clean, warm uncrowded tanks up to that point.

Similarly, while little boys will not be punished for pulling the legs off a back-garden spider, people with pet tarantulas will have to ensure they are kept warm and well-fed.

The RSPCA called on the Government to extend the welfare laws to include all sentient animals.

‘We are firmly of the view that cephalopods – octopus, squid and cuttlefish – which are invertebrates, are capable of feeling pain, as there is widespread scientific consensus on this point,’ a spokesman said.

‘The RSPCA works on the principle that if an animal is capable of suffering it should receive protection.’

A spokesman for Defra said invertebrates would not get protection in law unless the Animal Welfare Act was changed.

‘There are no plans to change the Act in relation to invertebrates,’ a spokesman said.

‘The Government did not include these because there was not sufficient evidence that cephalopods – squid and octopus – or crustaceans – prawns and lobsters – feel pain or suffering.’

Under the Animal Welfare Act, owners of non-farm animals must ensure they have a proper diet, are housed properly, have the ability to express normal behaviour, and are protected from pain, injury and disease.

 Update: “…Miller directed viewers to another news network’s Web site for further coverage. “ So basically on top of everything else, she wasn’t even aware of which network she was on. Here is a video interview of Miller: ABCNEWS Video Interview . Although she is flat-out lying about not being able to hear Holly (she wasn’t used to satellite delay and admitted to that and “hearing” Holly), it is still interesting to see the aftermath (I know……..schadenfreude.)

I saw the extremely laughable interview by Merry Miller of Holly Hunter via AP, and it reminded me of Chris Farley’s SNL character. See if you can spot the similarities……….haha!

And while we are on a Farley kick, might as well watch these prime cuts:

Patrick Swayze and Farley auditioning for the Chippendales:

I would enjoy being this type of motivational speaker!

This is actually Nancy Kerrigan skating with Farley:

“..state supported churches are banal, PC, and empty.”

SEE-DUBYA had a great post on Hot Air. It primarily referenced this article in the WSJ “In Europe, God Is (Not) Dead.” Here are a few snippets (but you should read the whole post and the article):

“The state supported churches are banal, PC, and empty; they need not compete for parishioners because the state supports them no matter how wacky their ideas, how tepid their sermons, or how empty their church.”

“Consider the scene on a recent Sunday at Stockholm’s Hedvig Eleonara Church, a parish of the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran institution that until 2000 was an official organ of the Swedish state. Fewer than 40 people, nearly all elderly, gathered in pews beneath a magnificent 18th-century dome. Seven were church employees. The church seats over 1,000. Hedvig Eleonara has three full-time salaried priests and gets over $2 million each year though a state levy. Annika Sandström, head of its governing board, says she doesn’t believe in God and took the post “on the one condition that no one expects me to go each Sunday.” The church scrapped Sunday school last fall because only five children attended.”

“What struck me about this piece was that I had just finished reading almost the same argument by Lawrence Henry in the American Spectator Online–about subsidized versus unsubsidized talk radio in the United States. AM talk is competitive, and it’s brash, vibrant and entertaining as the talent struggles–and succeeds–to attract listeners. Meanwhile subsidized radio (ahem NPR ahem) is very professionally produced, but it is also bookish, snobbish, and trending toward irrelevant. If the state-sponsored churches of Sweden lack butts in their pews, the subsidized talkers of NPR lack ears on their frequency. But like the sinecures of the Swedish priesthood, NPR doesn’t care if you listen or not. They get paid either way.”

“..let me add one last note on Sweden and religion. Although several sources claim their suicide rate isn’t quite as elevated as Americans like to claim it is, there was an increase as the welfare state took hold.”

“..the fall in religiosity in Sweden was indeed associated with a rise in the suicide rates of the young.”

“The finding is a bit problematic, because the study couldn’t completely disentangle a simultaneous breakdown in the institution of marriage in Sweden, which may have been a contributing factor as well. But to whatever degree broken homes or a loss in religiosity were driving a rise in youth suicide, it stands as a rebuke to statist socialism and the abandonment of traditional institutions in the name of progress.”

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 From the Comments Section:

An interesting take by “jihadwatcher”:

 To think that Swedes were outraged by something so un-PC. It’s not enough to make me go to IKEA today. If Christianity has a resurgence in Europe, it is not because of any religious dogma. Europe is beyond that. However, today, Christianity is rightly associated with the only force that can stand up to islamic hegemony and stand for some kind of decency when secularism seems to equal debauchery.

So a vote for Christianity, such as this outcry not to take the Bibles out of the hotel chain, is not a cry for religious dogma. It is a protest against the secular-islamic juggernaut and their allied PC agents that even some Swedes can see is undermining and destroying their culture.

What guys like Hitchens don’t understand, is that today Christianity for most Christians is not about religion at all. It is about western culture. And now that western culture is under attack by both the secular left and the islamists, Christianity becomes of interest because we all have a stake in its survival, whether we be Christians or Jews or atheists. Where ever Christianity has been removed, Marxism or despotism has replaced it. There is not one nation on earth that is non-Christian that any liberal atheist would want to live in. Not because they want to go to church, but because the values of modern Christian societies parallel their values.

So while it may be intellectually satisfying to be an atheist, to reject religion categorically, simply because religious institutions can be dogmatic and religious people not very nice, if we all do that and reject Christianity out of the same principle, and purge it from our western society, we will inadvertantly pull the foundations of our liberal, free, and prosperous society from underneath us. What will replace it will not be to our liking. It is one thing for an individual to reject Christianity as an intellectual exercise. But for a society to reject it, would be a disaster.

jihadwatcher on July 14, 2007 at 9:31 AM

Another good one by “Texas Mike”:

I believe it was Augustine who said, “In every man there is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill.” That vacuum is man’s human spirit. People want to worship God in some way the world over, even in the most primitive areas, because in man’s deepest part there is an empty human spirit. It is no surprise to me there is a hunger in Europe to know God in a more intimate, subjective way.

Jesus said, “God is seeking true worshippers who worship in spirit and truth.” There is a lot of so-called “worship” in every part of the world of God because man has an innate need and desire to know and worship God. Apes and chimps have no desire to worship God because they do not have a spirit.

However, there is a true worship which results from man having his soul (mind, will, emotion,) redeemed and his spirit regenerated by God’s Spirit through Christ’s redeeming work on the Cross. To try to please God by our efforts and work apart from Christ is substandard and falls short of the glory of God. God told Isaiah the prophet mans’ good works are as menstruous (filthy) rags to God.

When people in Europe begin to see and experience the true liberation and freedom Christ gives through the Spirit they get excited and share this with their friends and family. Unfortunately, the tired old state run churches have veered off from their core product which had made them vibrant and relevant hundreds of years ago.

Texas Mike on July 14, 2007 at 12:33 PM

“From the smallest particle to the largest galactic formations, a web of circuitry connects and unifies all of nature, organizing galaxies, energizing stars, giving birth to planets and, on our own world, controlling weather and animating biological organisms. There are no isolated islands in space.”

The new movie “Thunderbolts Of The Gods” will blow your mind, if you are into this kind of thing. If you watch it, you’ll lose an hour of your life, but you can really impress your geeky friends later, and it will stretch your brain a little more than “Deal or No Deal” and the like. Plus it is so much fun to see one science attempt to debunk another science, which in turn leads to much voyeuristic fun of watching more debates (arguments) in this arena.

I’m sure the New Age crowd will jump on this like white-on-rice as soon as they get wind of it. I can almost see a new book now by one of the meta-physical-self-help-gurus……..”The Electric Self: A Oneness With All Matter”, and other such connections.

“The most merciful thing in the world … is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents… The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but someday the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality… That we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” – H. P. Lovecraft

I won’t pretend to understand much or any of this, but this is the gist of it from someone who isn’t a scientist, not using a spell-checker/google and is less than a layman on the topic:

1. A lot of the things you have heard about such as black holes, the expanding universe, dark matter/energy, and even the Big Bang Theory, may not even exist and all are based on gravitational models (Einstein, etc..)

2. Mythology, ancient drawing, and such can be connected and are being used in this movie (and for current electro-astrophysics research) as snapshots of various electrical formations at that time. There is much more about ancient drawings and such, that I really didn’t get this time around, maybe on another viewing?

3. Plasma is a conduit for electricity universe and makes up 90-something percent of the universe. Therefore, gravity is not holding together the universe as many fields of science believe. I’ve been saying this for years! Why didn’t anyone listen? (just kidding..)

4. Stars are basically balls of electricity, which would account for all of the unexplained phenomena that mainstream “university” science typically dismisses as something that will be figured out later or currently has only theories to explain. For me personally, this part seemed to explain the Electric Universe premise most clearly in how it unifies/explains/debunks a lot of the current science.

5. Comets are primarily electrical and when the one discussed in the movie hit a planet, it sent so much energy/electricity that it knocked out the satellites ability to record the event. Massive amounts of light and energy exploded everywhere.

6. This Electric Universe stuff pretty much unifies and explains most things thus far unexplained?  I guess so, or at least that is what I think they are saying.

For an intelligent explanation, go here: The Electric Universe. To start, click “synopsis” and then “Electric Universe” to get a good overview. Then you will be on your way as you click through the other ones and realize you’ve wasted another hour of your life.

I assume “Thunderbolts” is the primary movie and TOTG is the shorter version? Here is what they say: “THUNDERBOLTS is designed to prepare the viewer for the work of David Talbott and Wallace Thornhill, now being presented in the monograph series THUNDERBOLTS OF THE GODS.” It seems that we movie clips at the website won’t work on my media player, but I assume they will reveal more of the full movie?

Then check out this website! Bible DifficultiesIt is a very good place to find a particular passage or idea you have a question about. At the very least it gives a good starting point for more discussion and research. Lots of information and historical data are at this website.

I’ve always thought that knowing the history of writing of the New Testament was interesting and sometimes necessary knowledge in certain situations.

Please leave a comment or link if you find something interesting on the website. 

Also, here is the Bible online for more quick referencing/reading.

 Let’s discuss!

Many of you know me as a “movie fanatic” so I thought I would start some interesting lists for discussion. For me personally, there is something special about each of the movies in the list below that could be meaningful/thought-inspiring to others, or at the very least be good conversational topics. Most of these movies are typically loved/hated, understood/misunderstood, highly reviewed/negatively reviewed, controversial/ignored, etc… Most of the themes are sometimes uninteresting/disturbing to some and exciting/mind-blowing to others.

I realize that some of you may be “way beyond” these topics/themes/issues and/or “where I am” on them and/or have “been there, done that.” If so, then maybe you can teach me something after viewing them?

At the moment I don’t have the time to give reasons for listing these movies, or even mini-reviews, but I will be discussing and writing about each of them in the comments section below over time. And it will be fun to discuss the movies with all of you in the comments section also. Oh, and if you dislike a movie listed, please discuss (so I can sell you on the reason you should agree with me….hehe…)

Also, this list will most certainly have additions added later (since I’m sure I have forgotten many great ones) and still have many movies to see. And I will add your recommendations by request.

Movies That Stretch The Mind (in no particular order):
1. The Fountain
2. Primer 
3. The Prisoner TV Series (17 Episodes)
4. The X-Files (only select episodes)
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Being John Malkovich 
7. Memento
8. The Matrix
9. Vanilla Sky
10. Magnolia
11. The Butterfly Effect
12. “Aeon Flux” TV Series (16 episodes)
13. The Corporation
14. Apocalypse Now
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Dogville
17. Eyes Wide Shut
18. Secretary
19. The Five Obstructions
20. Minority Report
21. Artificial Intelligence: AI
22. Amelie
23. Schultze Gets The Blues
24. Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary

BEWARE: The comments section may contain SPOILERS, so just glance over the comments on movies you haven’t seen yet.

         Am I the last to know this?      

“The content of the Declaration of Independence was not entirely original. In addition to borrowing from his own writing, Jefferson relied on other declarations and pamphlets of the time, includingVirginia‘s Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason, and a 1774 pamphlet by Pennsylvanian James Wilson. All of these men drew liberally from the writings of philosopher John Locke. The Declaration’s second paragraph, however, crystallized perfectly not only what had been accomplished over months of indecision and war, but what yet remained to be done:We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”Wikipedia :“John Locke, after whom the character John Locke is named, was a famous social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. He mostly subscribed to the theory of tabula rasa, (the title of the third episode of the first season, featuring Kate). Also, the TV Locke’s father is named Anthony Cooper, named for Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the real-world John Locke’s political mentor and patron. The real Locke believed that, in the state of nature, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administer the laws. This philosophy is paralleled by the character of Locke, who embraces both nature and the need for organization among the survivors. Further, the flashback in which Locke donates his kidney to his father mirrors the historical relationship between the philosopher John Locke and Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper, whose life was saved by Locke when the latter persuaded Ashley-Cooper to undergo an operation to remove a cyst on his liver.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “Much of Locke’s work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. For the individual, Locke wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wants us to proportion assent to propositions to the evidence for them. On the level of institutions it becomes important to distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for the uses of force by these institutions. The positive side of Locke’s anti-authoritarianism is that he believes that using reason to try to grasp the truth, and determining the legitimate functions of institutions will optimize human flourishing for the individual and society both in respect to its material and spiritual welfare. This in turn, amounts to following natural law and the fulfillment of the divine purpose for humanity. Locke’s monumental An Essay Concerning Human Understanding concerns itself with determining the limits of human understanding in respect to God, the self, natural kinds and artifacts, as well as a variety of different kinds of ideas. It thus tells us in some detail what one can legitimately claim to know and what one cannot.”   

“In the neurosciences, practitioners and researchers occasionally come across the curious malady of anosognosia. Caused by certain types of damage to the right side of the brain, anosognosia leaves people paralyzed on the left side of their body. But more than that, when doctors place a cup in front of such patients and ask them to pick it up with their left hand, patients not only fail to comply but also fail to understand why. When asked to explain their failure, such patients might state that they are tired, that they did not hear the doctor’s instructions, or that they did not feel like responding–but never that they are suffering from paralysis. In essence, anosognosia not only causes paralysis, but also the inability to realize that one is paralyzed.

In this article, we proposed a psychological analogue to anosognosia. We argued that incompetence, like anosognosia, not only causes poor performance but also the inability to recognize that one’s performance is poor.”

Although I somewhat enjoy being unaware of my incompetence, I still enjoy torturing myself with this study. 

Highlights:

“People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.”

“Thus far, we have shown that people who lack the knowledge or wisdom to perform well are often unaware of this fact. We attribute this lack of awareness to a deficit in metacognitive skill. That is, the same incompetence that leads them to make wrong choices also deprives them of the savvy necessary to recognize competence, be it their own or anyone else’s.”“It thus appears that extremely competent individuals suffer a burden as well. Although they perform competently, they fail to realize that their proficiency is not necessarily shared by their peers.”“We do not mean to imply that people are always unaware of their incompetence. We doubt whether many of our readers would dare take on Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one, challenge Eric Clapton with a session of dueling guitars, or enter into a friendly wager on the golf course with Tiger Woods. Nor do we mean to imply that the metacognitive failings of the incompetent are the only reason people overestimate their abilities relative to their peers.”“Although our emphasis has been on the miscalibration of incompetent individuals, along the way we discovered that highly competent individuals also show some systematic bias in their self appraisals. Across the four sets of studies, participants in the top quartile tended to underestimate their ability and test performance relative to their peers, Z s = - 5.66 and - 4.77, respectively, p s < .0001. What accounts for this underestimation? Here, too, the regression effect seems a likely candidate: Just as extremely low performances are likely to be associated with slightly higher perceptions of performance, so too are extremely high performances likely to be associated with slightly lower perceptions of performance.”“ It suggested that one way to make people recognize their incompetence is to make them competent. Once we taught bottom-quartile participants how to solve Wason selection tasks correctly, they also gained the metacognitive skills to recognize the previous error of their ways. Of course, and herein lies the paradox, once they gained the metacognitive skills to recognize their own incompetence, they were no longer incompetent.”