Many people in this world who walk around thinking they are free, yes, even empowered, are actually the ones who are sitting in jail, the ones who are on death row, the ones who are enslaved. It is very easy to identify those who are really imprisoned from those who are not.
The more that one does not believe the truth, whether in religious or secular matters, the more one is actually in jail, on death row and enslaved.
There are those who tell lies and bear false witness, and those who believe and/or obey the lies and false witness. They are equally in jail, on death row and enslaved. Equally, there are those who don't lie but refuse to believe the truth. Unfortunately they too are equally in jail, on death row and enslaved. This applies to both God's truth and day to day worldly matters. I will give you simple examples so that you understand.
Suppose that there is a well known food toxin, something like salmonella, and there are three categories of people who react to that knowledge. Those who tell lies say it is not harmful, and thus no safe food handling measures must be taken. Those who believe and obey the lies therefore pass on the effect of that lie by not handling food safely and cleanly that others consume. Those who know salmonella is dangerous but refuse to think that it can happen to them allow this to continue and thus put themselves and others at risk.
All three of those types of people are in "jail" because they are imprisoned by erroneous actions (or refusals to do good) and thus limit their options for dealing with the situation. It is an apt criminal parallel because their refusals, whichever of the three types, endanger not only themselves but others, via their distortion of truth, denial of truth, or refusal to serve the truth! They are on "death row" because, just to stick with the example, there is a risk to life and health that they are refusing to deal with and thus it will eventually catch up with them, and in the case of a pandemic (just to use the example let's pretend a salmonella pandemic is possible), they and everyone else sit on death row, awaiting that pandemic. They are also enslaved because they are in service to the lie, rather than freed by the truth. The truth expands legitimate options and actions, while lies only cut one down to the chains of the lie's one option, which is inaction on behalf of one's self or others and, if one is part of the lying and enabling, "spreading the chains" for others to wear.
Here is the problem. I had given you just one example, an analogy, (since most do not actually dispute the problem of salmonella in theory, but MANY willfully do not follow hygiene and other protective practices on behalf of others). Put aside the analogy, now, and think of how MANY LIES every single person on earth is now subjected to collectively, in total, on a daily basis. One cannot even tell the originating liar from the enabling liar or the victim of lying because the entire fabric of truth in society and individual honor, morality and conduct has broken down and become in service to power, ego and money drivers. Children are on the third generation of being raised by more fiction than truth, in the home, in schools, on the street and via media "entertainment." Remember, it's not just an outright lie that is the problem, but withholding of actual quality education of truth and discernment that is the almost larger problem.
Back to the salmonella example. How can a child believe or not believe the risk and also the safety precautions if they have not the background education? Think of the list of things that a child must understand in order to do something like wash their hands and be careful not to eat tainted food. They have to understand what "dirt" (germs) is, they have to understand how dirt gets on or in them, they have to understand what being sick or well is, they have to understand that it is not something to immobilize them with fear about but that they can be safe, they have to understand how to clean with soap and water, and they have to understand timing (washing before one gets dirty is not helpful, for example).
So imagine a child that is told, and believes, that salmonella is dangerous and they need to avoid bad food plus wash their hands and for the sake of making a silly extreme point to illuminate what I mean, assume the child's been raised in isolation, not having any education nor have parents raised them with the list of necessary knowledge given above. What is a child to do with hearing "salmonella is dangerous?" Think someone named "Sally Nelly" is dangerous? Think that the salmon fish is dangerous? If the child does not understand you are speaking of dirt/germs, what they are, where it comes from, how it gets to them, how to solve the problem, and when/how to wash, they cannot do anything meaningful with a truth spoken to them at all!
That, friends, is the problem. We have a world that starts children out with cartoons and video games, and nothing about reality of life, and by reality I don't mean code words for the bad parts of life, but I mean all the goodness of how life actually exists. When you do not raise your children, and when you gain money or power through lack of service to truth, you not only enslave yourself and others, especially children, but you are all in jail and you are all on death row.
Even if you do not promote all that is so misleading in our culture, by taking up airspace with crap you are crowding out the opportunities and the motivation for people, especially young people, to learn what is really important and to be liberated by the genuine freedom of truth.
Here's another example. Suppose that a certain local political seat is always filled by people who meet in secret and decide who that candidate will be and fix the election so their person always win. Do those hypocrites go home and tell their children that they can "dream big" and maybe be President one day? They smirk as teachers, both enablers and well meaning ones, teach kids in school about the political process and try to "inspire" the kids, yet they know full well if one of those kids grows up and tries to run for office they are not on the preordained predetermined "win" list. The same with being famous, being made a "star," of "making a difference in the world." If young people don't even know the facts of the world, and how it operates, and how to choose from truthful options and choices in action, how can they "dream big" when they don't really understand the choices and the realities? Society pushes the predetermined winners, pretending it can happen to "anyone." Then for the one it happens to, fine, (except when they find out they now have obligations to the rainmakers), but what about the ninety-nine others out of a hundred who wasted their time, talents, their heart, and their love, to pursuing a dream that was never actually an option to them? If they knew the truth they could have actually done something else, far more satisfying.
Many people in society push "follow your dreams" and "give it your all," knowing that they will "award" that prize to one or two of their predetermined chosen, while letting those who believe this at large wither on the vine. Meanwhile people could have been doing what they have always done, which is to grow up in a truthful and well educated (though not of course pure or unblemished) society where they can always be aiming themselves at valid and authentic targets, instead of manipulated illusionary crap. Crap that enriches the bank accounts and egos of those who are on top of the total life lie pyramids.
Friends, and I call you that, even toward those who have persecuted me, stop thinking that I'm the one being controlled, limited, manipulated and in "jail." It is you all who are in that place, you all who are in jail, on death row, and enslaved. The more you believe the lying crap that is out there everywhere, the more you will lose your pursuit of genuine happiness in life, the more your life is likely to be foreshortened (and those you care about) and the more you have to consider that you may be on the path to eternal death, first as the living social slaves that you are, and after death, to the place where disbelievers and those who did not honestly serve God, in eternal exile from goodness and in torment. I really don't wish that on anyone, but I'm cheering both Darwin and God onward on this one, if you keep asking for it, that's what you are going to keep getting in life and in death.
Showing posts with label lying and false witness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lying and false witness. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Do not be delusional about reality
I'm almost embarrassed to think some people are mislead enough (and/or plain stupid) to believe this delusion that I'm about to refute, but here goes anyways.
News flash:
If someone had died and gone to hell as punishment by God for their disbelief in him and/or their sins, that is a forever situation, period. Here's the part I can't believe my ears about that some of you believe. If you make a movie about that person and "write a different ending," where he or she "doesn't go to hell, or gets out, or there's an 'alternate reality'" that person is still damned and in hell, "incredible DUH." You can write all the movies, games, people play acting "alternate realities," or "Ground Hog Day (the movie)" or whatever all you want and the only thing you are doing is wasting oxygen on the earth and layering sin upon sin for YOURSELF.
The whole point about God is that nothing that human beings can do or will do or can even think of doing changes God and the reality that he has created one iota. Period.
Like I said, I'm embarrassed I have to explain that to certain people, but the truth is the truth. Try reality out sometime, it might actually save your life and your soul.
News flash:
If someone had died and gone to hell as punishment by God for their disbelief in him and/or their sins, that is a forever situation, period. Here's the part I can't believe my ears about that some of you believe. If you make a movie about that person and "write a different ending," where he or she "doesn't go to hell, or gets out, or there's an 'alternate reality'" that person is still damned and in hell, "incredible DUH." You can write all the movies, games, people play acting "alternate realities," or "Ground Hog Day (the movie)" or whatever all you want and the only thing you are doing is wasting oxygen on the earth and layering sin upon sin for YOURSELF.
The whole point about God is that nothing that human beings can do or will do or can even think of doing changes God and the reality that he has created one iota. Period.
Like I said, I'm embarrassed I have to explain that to certain people, but the truth is the truth. Try reality out sometime, it might actually save your life and your soul.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
End of Times or "These Times": analogy
I've thought of an analogy, using popular culture, to explain with accuracy these current times. Many people incorrectly believe that they are in and, heaven forbid, actual "enlightened" participants in the End of Times. If you read the Bible you would realize that this is such a huge "duh" that there is no way that even a fraction of the tribulations that will fall on humanity are even beginning to come to pass. It's quite plain that people will know when the End of Times is coming because you'd have to be dead not to notice the scale, magnitude and severity of the testing of the faithful and the chastisement of living sinners.
However, I totally understand the rest of the people's honest concern that there are very disconcerting events taking place that call to mind the End of Times. That is the difference and that is God's intention. You are hearing "warning shots," urging people to repent and lead good lives, not to buckle down and be even more "bad" so you can "bring on" the End of Times. The End comes when God wills it, not according to your misplaced or genuinely fearful thoughts and imaginings.
So here is the analogy. Think of these times as "sampling" of the End of Times. Sampling is a musical term, most often used in rap music, when snippets of previously recorded songs or music is used to insert into new material. So these times are just like normal times have been historically except that people have fallen dreadfully away from the purity of faith in the one God as they have been contaminated by many false prophets and idols, both religious and secular. This is why Jesus mentions most particularly that there will be continual rumors and false prophets, but to believe neither.
However, unlike what deists and others "believe," God is an activist God. He allows humans to exercise their free will, including whether to believe in him or not, and thus be saved, or not. God will and does, as both the Bible and Qur'an explain, administer earthly chastisement on occasion. He does so when he feels that humans are bringing on their own heads not only the consequences of their own disobedience, but dragging the children and others down with them. God then, according to his own Wisdom and All Knowing, will administer chastisement, or simply allow self induced negative consequences (God dries up grace, will not respond to prayers, etc if he must harden his heart). In other words, where he might have intervened to help a situation, he lets the human choice self induced "chips fall where they may."
So you are right to be uneasy that this is a sort of prelude time, but it is wrong to assume that anything humanity has experienced is anything that will be like the genuine tribulations. Just read the Bible and stop whining that every tragedy sounds anything at all like the real thing. However, be aware that because of the many false prophets and many rumors, humanity is going through a hardening of the heart phase that is resulting in many chastisements, kind of a "mini" or "sampling" of the tribulations. That ought to make you want to repent and convert your hearts back to the one true God, purely, rather than continually defying him or, worse, asking for him to "bring it on" because "you'll be saved and raptured." Not so much.
Remember that Jesus himself stated that he does not know when the End of Times will come, and that only God knows. Who are you then to interpret any of the minor sufferings of humanity (compared to the actual tribulations) as being "that time," when Jesus himself did not know? Really now, get a grip and some humility.
However, you are alert to recognize that those who filled your ears with such stuff are fulfilling the two warning signs that Jesus did advise would occur beforehand, rumors and false prophets. Remember, humanity could very well go through centuries of rumors and false prophets. God does not work in humanity's idea of "soon."
I do not understand how people can just sit there and be eager for more misery and suffering. How is that exercising Christian charity of "love of neighbor," as Jesus ordered? When God smites and chastises, or allows a "sampling" of the tribulations, or allows humans to suffer the consequences of their own falls and bad decisions, why do you think he would want you to do even more of the same, rather than stop, ponder, repent and convert? I mean, "DUH." It's like some people think that if the "End of Times" is soon, then charity goes out the window and everyone "gets what they deserve." Amen, brother, but what they deserve will be severe judgment upon one's individual death, when one's life is over and oops, the End of Times did not occur, but you allowed festering rumor and false prophecy and evil and sins and missed opportunities to just roll along and pile up on the backs of others.
So yes, heed the times, as Jesus said, and pay attention to the signs, the signs of rumors and false prophets, but do not follow them, knuckleheads. When God chastises or allows sorrow or evil to befall, especially when it is human self inflicted, its because he wants you to CHANGE, repent and mend your ways and return to him, not keep beating a dead horse, mocking God, and disobeying him in any or all things.
However, I totally understand the rest of the people's honest concern that there are very disconcerting events taking place that call to mind the End of Times. That is the difference and that is God's intention. You are hearing "warning shots," urging people to repent and lead good lives, not to buckle down and be even more "bad" so you can "bring on" the End of Times. The End comes when God wills it, not according to your misplaced or genuinely fearful thoughts and imaginings.
So here is the analogy. Think of these times as "sampling" of the End of Times. Sampling is a musical term, most often used in rap music, when snippets of previously recorded songs or music is used to insert into new material. So these times are just like normal times have been historically except that people have fallen dreadfully away from the purity of faith in the one God as they have been contaminated by many false prophets and idols, both religious and secular. This is why Jesus mentions most particularly that there will be continual rumors and false prophets, but to believe neither.
However, unlike what deists and others "believe," God is an activist God. He allows humans to exercise their free will, including whether to believe in him or not, and thus be saved, or not. God will and does, as both the Bible and Qur'an explain, administer earthly chastisement on occasion. He does so when he feels that humans are bringing on their own heads not only the consequences of their own disobedience, but dragging the children and others down with them. God then, according to his own Wisdom and All Knowing, will administer chastisement, or simply allow self induced negative consequences (God dries up grace, will not respond to prayers, etc if he must harden his heart). In other words, where he might have intervened to help a situation, he lets the human choice self induced "chips fall where they may."
So you are right to be uneasy that this is a sort of prelude time, but it is wrong to assume that anything humanity has experienced is anything that will be like the genuine tribulations. Just read the Bible and stop whining that every tragedy sounds anything at all like the real thing. However, be aware that because of the many false prophets and many rumors, humanity is going through a hardening of the heart phase that is resulting in many chastisements, kind of a "mini" or "sampling" of the tribulations. That ought to make you want to repent and convert your hearts back to the one true God, purely, rather than continually defying him or, worse, asking for him to "bring it on" because "you'll be saved and raptured." Not so much.
Remember that Jesus himself stated that he does not know when the End of Times will come, and that only God knows. Who are you then to interpret any of the minor sufferings of humanity (compared to the actual tribulations) as being "that time," when Jesus himself did not know? Really now, get a grip and some humility.
However, you are alert to recognize that those who filled your ears with such stuff are fulfilling the two warning signs that Jesus did advise would occur beforehand, rumors and false prophets. Remember, humanity could very well go through centuries of rumors and false prophets. God does not work in humanity's idea of "soon."
I do not understand how people can just sit there and be eager for more misery and suffering. How is that exercising Christian charity of "love of neighbor," as Jesus ordered? When God smites and chastises, or allows a "sampling" of the tribulations, or allows humans to suffer the consequences of their own falls and bad decisions, why do you think he would want you to do even more of the same, rather than stop, ponder, repent and convert? I mean, "DUH." It's like some people think that if the "End of Times" is soon, then charity goes out the window and everyone "gets what they deserve." Amen, brother, but what they deserve will be severe judgment upon one's individual death, when one's life is over and oops, the End of Times did not occur, but you allowed festering rumor and false prophecy and evil and sins and missed opportunities to just roll along and pile up on the backs of others.
So yes, heed the times, as Jesus said, and pay attention to the signs, the signs of rumors and false prophets, but do not follow them, knuckleheads. When God chastises or allows sorrow or evil to befall, especially when it is human self inflicted, its because he wants you to CHANGE, repent and mend your ways and return to him, not keep beating a dead horse, mocking God, and disobeying him in any or all things.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Understanding God, in His own words
Zacharia 8:14-17
Thus says the Lord of hosts: As I determined to harm you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I did not relent, so again in these days I have determined to favor Jerusalem and the house of Juda; do not fear!
These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another; let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates, and let none of you plot evil against another in his heart, nor love a false oath. For all these things I hate, says the Lord.
Commentary:
First, especially for you young people (greetings again), let me explain to you that we know exactly the year when God spoke these words to the prophet Zacharia. This happened in 518 BC. We know this because Zacharia documented during what year of the reign of an actual king that we all know about through archaeology that he received this part of a particular group of messages directly from God. So you can think about how 2527 years ago God spoke these (and other) actual words to Zacharia!
I continue to point these facts out wherever I can so that you can continue to tell the difference between cultural myths and sets of beliefs that do not have cross reference to actual geology and history that we can verify, compared to the Bible and the Qur'an where actual words and deeds are spoken and conducted and written down by real people who really lived and who were witness to actual secular historical events in real places, in addition to being witnesses to the faith history (relationship with God). So Zacharia would have heard these words directly from God just over five hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ and, as we see from the arithmetic, 2527 years ago from today in this year of 2009 AD.
I selected this passage to make commentary regarding because I happened to open up to it as I was waiting for Sunday School to begin at the non-Catholic church I attend (in order to be cross pollinating between my Catholic faith and other faiths). Even if I am the only person to do so (and I hope that I am not the only one), I am determined to at least set the example of demonstrating that one can (and should) hold one's own faith, but respect and even delight in other denominations as they worship the same God. So I'm the resident guest Catholic LOL.
I thought this would be a helpful passage to look at for several reasons. It provides, using His own words, insight into God's will and his "viewpoint," for lack of a better word. People always say they want to better understand God. Do they? If so, they need only read (flinching where necessary) what God actually says. Here's some commentary and help in understanding God in this particular passage. The context is that God is dictating to Zacharia what he should tell the Israelites, the Jewish people, during their time of trouble. (They got in trouble with God quite a bit, being like all humans, easily tempted astray, and then reaping the consequences of their bad decisions and loss of faith in God).
1. First, God confirms and reminds his people that, yes, historically their fathers (ancestors) had provoked God, and as a consequence he was wrathful with them.
Now, is wrath the same as anger? Not really, though the words are used interchangeably in some places. However, God helps the reader to recall the definition of wrath when he reminds them that he is much provoked before becoming wrathful. Wrath is justifiable anger. Human anger may be justifiable, or it may be for no good reason at all. We all know people who are appropriately anger (what is traditionally called "righteous anger") and others who are filled with anger at themselves, at others, and the world, for no good reason. God is never angry without a perfect reason. Not just a "good reason," but a perfect reason. That's why it is often called wrath, because people bring the angry consequences of their actions down upon themselves from God.
Now, why do I say that God always has not only "good reason" but "perfect reason" to be wrathful? You need two pieces of knowledge to understand why. The first is that you must know, as we've discussed before, that God is all knowing. He knows not only all that was, all that is going on "now," and also all that will be in the future, but he also knows all the, to use the fantasy term, "alternate futures" that would happen if things go "differently." So God knows what people will do if he is wrathful on a particular occasion compared to what will happen in the future if he is not wrathful. So the second piece of knowledge you need is to have faith and trust God. God never decides to do something that makes the future worse. This is a very hard thing for short-lived human beings to understand. God knows that, which is why he is never mysterious about why he is wrathful on any given occasion. He doesn't want people to wonder why God's mad at them. God wants them to know why and better yet, he wants them to stop doing what is making him so mad. That is because God knows that a worse outcome, a far worse series of consequences, will result from human beings' bad behavior and sinfulness. You must have understanding and faith that when God is wrathful, he is nipping in the bud something far worse that will happen if humans continue unchecked in that course of action.
2. So here you can see God explain that in the past he has been wrathful when provoked, but on this occasion he "has determined to favor" (not be wrathful), despite the provocations! Now, when God "decides" or "determines" something, it's not like he had to sit around and think about it. He's just putting it in human terms so that you all can understand him better. He is letting you know that he had two options (to take wrathful action or not) and which he will be doing. As I've explained, God knows all, absolutely everything that ever was, and he knows in advance all that will be and all that could have been. God knows all of the future, including, of course, what he will do in response to human actions. He basically just "waits" for humans who, through their free will and their existence in the universe where there is sequential real time that ticks away, to reach a point where God is predetermined to take action, or not. God lives beyond time but interfaces with humans in a time based context. Thus God is explaining that even though the bad behavior of his faithful people merits wrathful response, he is not going to respond on this occasion with wrath!
3. Now, having said that, God immediately lets the people, through Zacharia, know that it does not mean that what people are doing is "OK" or is "forgiven." God decides not to be wrathful, but that does not mean that God is giving permission for the behavior to continue; far from it! He then lists the things that are really making him wrathful.
4. God says to "Speak the truth to one another." That means the people, his faithful and supposedly believing pious people, are NOT speaking the truth to one another. In other words, the people are filled with day to day lies and, at the very least, omission of truth.
5. God says to "Let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates." What does God mean? First, understand that the word "judgment" in Biblical times does not mean courtroom type of legal judging, but it is a word that means any sort of action or decision making. So the fact that God says that there must now be honesty and peace in the judgments means that there is now a lack of honesty and a lack of peace in the actions and decision makings by the people. That is quite a mess. Why does God say "at your gates?" He means these are civil and commercial and personal failings, since gates represent the day to day secular coming and going of people and their matters. God is making clear that the lying and the lack of honesty and peace is not taking place in the temple or the synagogues, but in the public and private squares, among and between people in their day to day activities. (I'm not saying bad things were not happening there too, but I'm just explaining the four problems that God is listing here that of themselves would merit his wrath had he determined to do so).
6. God says "And let none of you plot evil against another in his heart." Notice that God is condemning only fulfilled evil actions; he is condemning the very seeds of thinking of evil actions and mean spirited thoughts and emotional impulses! God sees into all human beings continually, and he is stating that there are many who have evil notions, ideas, emotions and thoughts directed at fellow human beings. I have continually highlighted to you in previous blog postings that scripture teaches that thoughts and wishes that are evil and unjust are individual sins, whether one then follows up on the thought or wish with a deed against another person or not!
7. God says "Nor love a false oath." What does that mean? God is saying that apparently people are not just making false oaths (which means either telling lies or making promises based on false pretenses), but worse, people are admiring those who are making false oaths! So you have people who are making false oaths surrounded by even more people who admire them for doing so. This is why God is saying not to "love a false oath," since he means, to put it in modern terminology, that people are admiring and emulating the ones who are actually committing those sins.
8. God says, "For all these things I hate." The scripture repeatedly, and Jesus demonstrated in the flesh, that God hates sin. God does not say he hates those people; he hates "all these things," which are the sins. The problem is that when certain people (and sadly there are many like that in each generation) become covered with sin and invest their lives in it, the hatred of sin that God has will inevitably fall with wrath upon the person, who had had ample chance to repent and convert their life but has not. God is stating here that these are things that he hates. It is stark warning that he hates things that too many people, then and now, think are "white lies" or "small sins" or "the cost of doing business." They think God hates just the "big sins" of murder, idolatry and so forth. This is a stark reminder, as God makes here an "intervention," that he hates what too many people take for granted then and today.
I hope that this has been enlightening and helping you to understand that God does wish to be understood, to tell humans what they must do for their own well being (as God sees the future and knows the consequences of bad behavior that humans will pull down upon their own heads as the results of their own free choice of actions), and that God gives very fair and clear warning when wrath and smiting by God is likely to occur, and that it is only his mercy, not merit, that spares people to give them another chance at repentance and correction.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: As I determined to harm you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord of hosts, and I did not relent, so again in these days I have determined to favor Jerusalem and the house of Juda; do not fear!
These are the things you should do: Speak the truth to one another; let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates, and let none of you plot evil against another in his heart, nor love a false oath. For all these things I hate, says the Lord.
Commentary:
First, especially for you young people (greetings again), let me explain to you that we know exactly the year when God spoke these words to the prophet Zacharia. This happened in 518 BC. We know this because Zacharia documented during what year of the reign of an actual king that we all know about through archaeology that he received this part of a particular group of messages directly from God. So you can think about how 2527 years ago God spoke these (and other) actual words to Zacharia!
I continue to point these facts out wherever I can so that you can continue to tell the difference between cultural myths and sets of beliefs that do not have cross reference to actual geology and history that we can verify, compared to the Bible and the Qur'an where actual words and deeds are spoken and conducted and written down by real people who really lived and who were witness to actual secular historical events in real places, in addition to being witnesses to the faith history (relationship with God). So Zacharia would have heard these words directly from God just over five hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ and, as we see from the arithmetic, 2527 years ago from today in this year of 2009 AD.
I selected this passage to make commentary regarding because I happened to open up to it as I was waiting for Sunday School to begin at the non-Catholic church I attend (in order to be cross pollinating between my Catholic faith and other faiths). Even if I am the only person to do so (and I hope that I am not the only one), I am determined to at least set the example of demonstrating that one can (and should) hold one's own faith, but respect and even delight in other denominations as they worship the same God. So I'm the resident guest Catholic LOL.
I thought this would be a helpful passage to look at for several reasons. It provides, using His own words, insight into God's will and his "viewpoint," for lack of a better word. People always say they want to better understand God. Do they? If so, they need only read (flinching where necessary) what God actually says. Here's some commentary and help in understanding God in this particular passage. The context is that God is dictating to Zacharia what he should tell the Israelites, the Jewish people, during their time of trouble. (They got in trouble with God quite a bit, being like all humans, easily tempted astray, and then reaping the consequences of their bad decisions and loss of faith in God).
1. First, God confirms and reminds his people that, yes, historically their fathers (ancestors) had provoked God, and as a consequence he was wrathful with them.
Now, is wrath the same as anger? Not really, though the words are used interchangeably in some places. However, God helps the reader to recall the definition of wrath when he reminds them that he is much provoked before becoming wrathful. Wrath is justifiable anger. Human anger may be justifiable, or it may be for no good reason at all. We all know people who are appropriately anger (what is traditionally called "righteous anger") and others who are filled with anger at themselves, at others, and the world, for no good reason. God is never angry without a perfect reason. Not just a "good reason," but a perfect reason. That's why it is often called wrath, because people bring the angry consequences of their actions down upon themselves from God.
Now, why do I say that God always has not only "good reason" but "perfect reason" to be wrathful? You need two pieces of knowledge to understand why. The first is that you must know, as we've discussed before, that God is all knowing. He knows not only all that was, all that is going on "now," and also all that will be in the future, but he also knows all the, to use the fantasy term, "alternate futures" that would happen if things go "differently." So God knows what people will do if he is wrathful on a particular occasion compared to what will happen in the future if he is not wrathful. So the second piece of knowledge you need is to have faith and trust God. God never decides to do something that makes the future worse. This is a very hard thing for short-lived human beings to understand. God knows that, which is why he is never mysterious about why he is wrathful on any given occasion. He doesn't want people to wonder why God's mad at them. God wants them to know why and better yet, he wants them to stop doing what is making him so mad. That is because God knows that a worse outcome, a far worse series of consequences, will result from human beings' bad behavior and sinfulness. You must have understanding and faith that when God is wrathful, he is nipping in the bud something far worse that will happen if humans continue unchecked in that course of action.
2. So here you can see God explain that in the past he has been wrathful when provoked, but on this occasion he "has determined to favor" (not be wrathful), despite the provocations! Now, when God "decides" or "determines" something, it's not like he had to sit around and think about it. He's just putting it in human terms so that you all can understand him better. He is letting you know that he had two options (to take wrathful action or not) and which he will be doing. As I've explained, God knows all, absolutely everything that ever was, and he knows in advance all that will be and all that could have been. God knows all of the future, including, of course, what he will do in response to human actions. He basically just "waits" for humans who, through their free will and their existence in the universe where there is sequential real time that ticks away, to reach a point where God is predetermined to take action, or not. God lives beyond time but interfaces with humans in a time based context. Thus God is explaining that even though the bad behavior of his faithful people merits wrathful response, he is not going to respond on this occasion with wrath!
3. Now, having said that, God immediately lets the people, through Zacharia, know that it does not mean that what people are doing is "OK" or is "forgiven." God decides not to be wrathful, but that does not mean that God is giving permission for the behavior to continue; far from it! He then lists the things that are really making him wrathful.
4. God says to "Speak the truth to one another." That means the people, his faithful and supposedly believing pious people, are NOT speaking the truth to one another. In other words, the people are filled with day to day lies and, at the very least, omission of truth.
5. God says to "Let there be honesty and peace in the judgments at your gates." What does God mean? First, understand that the word "judgment" in Biblical times does not mean courtroom type of legal judging, but it is a word that means any sort of action or decision making. So the fact that God says that there must now be honesty and peace in the judgments means that there is now a lack of honesty and a lack of peace in the actions and decision makings by the people. That is quite a mess. Why does God say "at your gates?" He means these are civil and commercial and personal failings, since gates represent the day to day secular coming and going of people and their matters. God is making clear that the lying and the lack of honesty and peace is not taking place in the temple or the synagogues, but in the public and private squares, among and between people in their day to day activities. (I'm not saying bad things were not happening there too, but I'm just explaining the four problems that God is listing here that of themselves would merit his wrath had he determined to do so).
6. God says "And let none of you plot evil against another in his heart." Notice that God is condemning only fulfilled evil actions; he is condemning the very seeds of thinking of evil actions and mean spirited thoughts and emotional impulses! God sees into all human beings continually, and he is stating that there are many who have evil notions, ideas, emotions and thoughts directed at fellow human beings. I have continually highlighted to you in previous blog postings that scripture teaches that thoughts and wishes that are evil and unjust are individual sins, whether one then follows up on the thought or wish with a deed against another person or not!
7. God says "Nor love a false oath." What does that mean? God is saying that apparently people are not just making false oaths (which means either telling lies or making promises based on false pretenses), but worse, people are admiring those who are making false oaths! So you have people who are making false oaths surrounded by even more people who admire them for doing so. This is why God is saying not to "love a false oath," since he means, to put it in modern terminology, that people are admiring and emulating the ones who are actually committing those sins.
8. God says, "For all these things I hate." The scripture repeatedly, and Jesus demonstrated in the flesh, that God hates sin. God does not say he hates those people; he hates "all these things," which are the sins. The problem is that when certain people (and sadly there are many like that in each generation) become covered with sin and invest their lives in it, the hatred of sin that God has will inevitably fall with wrath upon the person, who had had ample chance to repent and convert their life but has not. God is stating here that these are things that he hates. It is stark warning that he hates things that too many people, then and now, think are "white lies" or "small sins" or "the cost of doing business." They think God hates just the "big sins" of murder, idolatry and so forth. This is a stark reminder, as God makes here an "intervention," that he hates what too many people take for granted then and today.
I hope that this has been enlightening and helping you to understand that God does wish to be understood, to tell humans what they must do for their own well being (as God sees the future and knows the consequences of bad behavior that humans will pull down upon their own heads as the results of their own free choice of actions), and that God gives very fair and clear warning when wrath and smiting by God is likely to occur, and that it is only his mercy, not merit, that spares people to give them another chance at repentance and correction.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Urgent warning about secret languages/scripts
I’m going to interrupt the discussion I have underway regarding confession and so forth because I thought of a GREAT analogy to explain to you a great danger in modern society. This is especially for you, young readers, because it is essential that you understand the trouble inherent with a way of life that you were all born into and assume, wrongly, that it is beneficial and good.
The way of life that you easily use and could indeed say has molded your personalities and spirituality, and not for good, is the use of acronyms, code words, secret languages, and slang with double and “symbolic” meanings. I am going to explain to you why this is totally harmful to you and to humanity in general. Now, I’m not trying to be a hypocrite or alarm you, since I of course use acronyms such as LOL and others that come from computer or phone language. But because I have a foot in both the old/traditional world and the new/messed up world, I can explain to you the problems so you can recognize them.
I’ve explained to you that human bodies exist as they do today because of both biological processes (such as evolution, natural section, survival of the fittest, and the marvelous complexity of life organisms) and spiritual processes (being created in God’s image, being given the conditions on this beautiful earth that allow life, and the ability to know and understand God on his terms). So the bodies that you have, as humans, are suited for the reality of life. Remember, more than ninety nine percent of the time humans existed they did not know how to read or write! Your bodies and your minds, which house your soul as its temple, became optimized simply by living, just living… not through technology, writing or speech. Modern capabilities such as communications have not done one iota to provide better bodies, minds or spirits. Modern capabilities, such as when humans started to speak and write, are benefits only in the collective (the group) because it gives what is called a “survival advantage.” In other words, families and other groups by speaking with each other can survive better.
Now, here is the problem. Let’s start with the analogy using, let’s say in Africa, a deer and a lion.
Deer, like humans, came into marvelous being without speech and writing or technology. The same is true of lions. Thus when a lion starts to stalk a deer in order to hunt it for food, each one, the lion and the deer, are using bodies and minds that exist and are optimized for survival and thriving without any technology or communications. Deer “know” they are potential prey, and they tend to be alert when grazing or at rest. Lions “know” that deer “know” they are prey, so lions know that they have to sneak up on deer or else the deer will run away. For millions of years this relationship has not only worked well, but thrived, with each population becoming healthier and healthier until as much as the earth can sustain of them exists. They thus become kind of their “optimal” condition.
Now, when the deer is grazing it is not wasting “thought time” thinking about lions or other stalkers. It is able to graze or rest and at the same time be alert. Lions also do not have to remind each other using communications to “be quiet” and “sneak up” on deer. They have both the instinct of their species, and they also learned from their parents and other herd or pride members when they were young. So it’s not like one deer has to keep reminding itself to “watch out for predators,” while one lion has to keep reminding the dummy in the pride to not try to walk up to a deer, but to use stealth and sneaky stalking instead. Animals arrive in a natural and REALISTIC harmonious state with each other and the environment.
What if we waved a magic wand and now imagined that deer and lions had these great “gifts” of human types of communication, but only for the stalking/being stalked circumstances? In other words, each animal does not naturally know its own role and responsibilities, but has to use speech and deliberate cues among each other.
Natural scenario: Lion stalks a herd of deer. Deer sees the lion at some point and run. Lion catches one deer that is unable to flee as fast as the others.
Unnatural scenario: Lion stalks a herd of deer, but he needs to hear in his earpiece coaching from other lions about whether to be fast or slow, stalk to the left or to the right. The old lion nags into the earpiece of the stalking lion that he should “be totally quiet” and “avoid walking through branches that might snap and give him away.” However, the brashest of the lions is also speaking into the earpiece of the stalking lion, “Don’t listen to that old coot. Go through the snapping branches but just be fast about it and you’ll catch one.” Odds are the lion will be so confused that he never succeeds in concentrating on what used to be natural to him. Eventually the lions would die out as the gift of “communications” in stalking destroys their natural and seamless integration with reality.
Now, I have been concerned about the unnatural and artificial means of communications that humans have adopted for a long time. I can actually tell you my “Oh, oh” moment, when I got REALLY worried about this problem for the first time. You can even look up on the Internet what year this was (I’m not online as I’m writing this so I’ll just tell you what to search for). It was when I started reading articles about this new “craze” in a “secret language” that English Cockneys, such as taxi drivers, were using. It’s called Cockney rhyming slang. The way that it works is that instead of saying what they mean, they say words that if you do kind of a inner “word association” process to make a link to another word or phrase, and then substitute rhymes of those words, you can figure out what he or she is saying. It made my head hurt when I first read examples, and the decades have not changed my distaste for that trend. Part of the culture is that there is kind of a smirking smugness at having a secret language that is intellectually challenging being used by people who are often dismissed by society as being “lower class.” In other words, the people pushing Cockney slang often had a subversive political chip on the shoulder kind of agenda.
Now, so you young people can better understand this, it was not a short hand for convenience as are texting acronyms. For example, the acronym BRB means “be right back,” a realistic real action that is written quickly using the first letters of each of the three words. I have no quarrel at all with acronyms, even as your spiritual mother who may not be up to date with every acronym, LOL. They are simply quick ways to state real things and it is parents’ responsibilities to learn the lingo of their kids and modern youth. I’m not a hand wringer that using texting acronyms will cause modern youth to read less of the dusty gems of English literature, LOL. But now let me show you how BRB could be changed into either the Cockney rhyming slang, the forefather of the secret languages that I worry about, or an agenda filled cult tool. First, let’s pretend we are doing smug Cockney rhyming slang. I’m going to figure this out as I’m typing it so you can see the process, and thus the danger.
The first word in “be right back” is “be.” Here’s one way to represent the word “be.” You think to yourself that “be” sounds like “bee.” Bees are associated with honey. Honey rhymes with “funny” so you start your “be right back” phrase with the word “funny.” The second word, “right” can mean quickness, as in the phrase “be right back,” but “right” also means direction (to go toward the right) or politics (conservative), or even degree of correctness (to be accurate about something). Suppose that you are a leftist and hate the right wing of politics. If the conservatives were in power, especially if a woman was the figurehead, you might think of the “right” (politics) as being a “bitch.” “Bitch” rhymes with ditch so you substitute “ditch” for the word “right.” You pat yourself on the back a bit how clever you are and how you got “a dig” (pun) in on your imagined enemy, the “right,” even though politics has nothing to do with the expression “be right back.” The third word, “back,” means to return, since the phrase “be right back” means “I will return soon.” However, the word “back” can also mean the reverse side of the body, where the front is the chest and the other side is the “back.” For example the buttocks are also called in English the “backside.” So perhaps you decide to use the word “rump” to invoke the word “back.” You then think of a word that rhymes with “rump” so you might use the word “dump” or “bump.” You’d probably not use “bump” since it starts with the same letter as the word you are replacing, “back,” and that is not clever enough, so you pick “dump.” Thus in your secret language, instead of saying “be right back” you say to your equally clever friend “funny ditch dump.”
You watched me actually think of this example as I typed. So now we look at “funny ditch dump” for the first time as the oh-so-smartass secret language substitute for “be right back.” Fans of this type of secret language would receive special glee from “funny ditch dump” because notice the irony. Without my planning this I’ve come up with a phrase that actually implies the opposite of what you were actually meaning to say. Does a “funny ditch dump” sound like someone planning to BRB? You can giggle when texting your friend who shares your nutty and damaging secret language “FDD” which stands for “funny ditch dump,” which sounds like you are laughing while dumping your text friend in a ditch while at the same time meaning that you will be right back.
When I first read about Cockney rhyming slang I was immediately alarmed on behalf of humanity, seriously. I realized that this thirst for secretive elitist cleverness was corrosive, like acid, on reality and on human mental and emotional connectivity with reality. And I was correct, even more than I had guessed I would be, for there are now millions of people who speak, perform daily task “scripts,” and who have programmed, without realizing it, their own minds to have totally unreal wiring.
So the lion is now stalking the deer. He hears in his earpiece the old lion shout “fee fade ram!” The stalking lion stops dead in his tracks thinking “What?!” He starts to try to decode. What rhymes with “fee?” Is it “he” or “brie?” If he decides the “correct one,” “he,” what word association is with “he?” Is it maybe “she?” What rhymes with “fade?” Is the correct rhyme “jade” or “made?” If it is “made” what does “made” mean in association with? Fortunately the lion watches a lot of TV detective shows and realizes that to be “made” means that a person being followed by someone else has recognized that he is being followed. A follower who reports back to his handlers that his quarry has recognized that he is being followed states “I’ve been made.” So what does “ram” rhyme with? He goes nuts trying to figure out and never does. Needless to say the deer herd is now long gone. When he goes hungry back to the other lions, they berate him for not figuring out their rhyming slang fast enough. Sure, he got the “she made” part but he never figured out what rhymed with ram. The old lion then admits it was a rhyme followed by an association, not an association followed by a rhyme. They were trying to say “she sees you,” referring to the deer he was stalking. “You” was replaced by “ram” because “you” rhymes with “ewe” and the old lion was born under the sign of Aries so of course he put a little self congratulatory “insider’s joke” by linking you-ewe-ram.
Do you notice that no one freaking cares about actually catching the meal that they need to survive?
This is what millions of people, as best as I can tell from my observation (which is pretty thorough) are doing, as yes that many seem to subscribe to cult beliefs and activities that include such highly symbolic, with often reverse meaning and plenty of weird agenda, secret lingo.
They not only add weird layers to what they are trying to say, but they exercise the “unreal” circuitry of the brain, rather than the reality based circuitry. Whenever they hear individual words or phrases in their secret language they no longer have the original content and meaning of any of the plain words, but they also have infested, like with cobwebs, using weird agenda the simple thing that they were trying to say, presumably, in the first place.
For those of you who are not part of this mess, understand that those who use this weird form of acting out and “communications” have filled much of modern media (TV, films, music) with such secret language, messages and phraseology. I have found that many of them grind to a halt in speech when I talk to them as they are, like the lion with the earpiece stalking the would be deer meal, trying to “decode” what I am “really” saying. Um, but I’m just saying what I am saying. They have reprogrammed their own minds to lose all survival instinct because they no longer actually seamlessly process reality: word=what it really means + word=what it really means + word=what it really means resulting in sentence or phrase=what it really means. Over the years I have routinely knocked people I’ve spoken too off of their scripts and secret language because they actually are flustered trying to have a simple exchange of straightforward reality based sentences. I watch them as their eyes flicker and they look away when they wonder if I meant something other than “Nice day today, isn’t it?” And even if they decide I really mean that I think it is a nice day today, they struggle to use some of their secretive agenda driven symbolic “language” to reply. It would be funny if it was not so awful and so lonely. Part of what I hope to do is to teach people to speak simple words that mean simply what they mean to each other again. It’s pathetic and dangerous when I say “nice” day and they are thinking, “she must mean the spice girls” or, rather, to rhyme and word associate the “spice boys.”
I’ve talked about the dangers to mentality, biology and emotions of these secret languages and their warped agendas. You can also infer that the spirit of the authentic human being is damaged by this. As spiritual director I also have to discuss sin with you. Secret languages are a violation of the Commandment that prohibits false witness. Each use of a secret language is an commission of this sin of false witness. Repent and convert before it is too late to even pick up the pieces, the scraps, of what remains of what humanity should and could have been. Young people: if you don’t do it, fix these problems and reclaim your humanity, no one will.
The way of life that you easily use and could indeed say has molded your personalities and spirituality, and not for good, is the use of acronyms, code words, secret languages, and slang with double and “symbolic” meanings. I am going to explain to you why this is totally harmful to you and to humanity in general. Now, I’m not trying to be a hypocrite or alarm you, since I of course use acronyms such as LOL and others that come from computer or phone language. But because I have a foot in both the old/traditional world and the new/messed up world, I can explain to you the problems so you can recognize them.
I’ve explained to you that human bodies exist as they do today because of both biological processes (such as evolution, natural section, survival of the fittest, and the marvelous complexity of life organisms) and spiritual processes (being created in God’s image, being given the conditions on this beautiful earth that allow life, and the ability to know and understand God on his terms). So the bodies that you have, as humans, are suited for the reality of life. Remember, more than ninety nine percent of the time humans existed they did not know how to read or write! Your bodies and your minds, which house your soul as its temple, became optimized simply by living, just living… not through technology, writing or speech. Modern capabilities such as communications have not done one iota to provide better bodies, minds or spirits. Modern capabilities, such as when humans started to speak and write, are benefits only in the collective (the group) because it gives what is called a “survival advantage.” In other words, families and other groups by speaking with each other can survive better.
Now, here is the problem. Let’s start with the analogy using, let’s say in Africa, a deer and a lion.
Deer, like humans, came into marvelous being without speech and writing or technology. The same is true of lions. Thus when a lion starts to stalk a deer in order to hunt it for food, each one, the lion and the deer, are using bodies and minds that exist and are optimized for survival and thriving without any technology or communications. Deer “know” they are potential prey, and they tend to be alert when grazing or at rest. Lions “know” that deer “know” they are prey, so lions know that they have to sneak up on deer or else the deer will run away. For millions of years this relationship has not only worked well, but thrived, with each population becoming healthier and healthier until as much as the earth can sustain of them exists. They thus become kind of their “optimal” condition.
Now, when the deer is grazing it is not wasting “thought time” thinking about lions or other stalkers. It is able to graze or rest and at the same time be alert. Lions also do not have to remind each other using communications to “be quiet” and “sneak up” on deer. They have both the instinct of their species, and they also learned from their parents and other herd or pride members when they were young. So it’s not like one deer has to keep reminding itself to “watch out for predators,” while one lion has to keep reminding the dummy in the pride to not try to walk up to a deer, but to use stealth and sneaky stalking instead. Animals arrive in a natural and REALISTIC harmonious state with each other and the environment.
What if we waved a magic wand and now imagined that deer and lions had these great “gifts” of human types of communication, but only for the stalking/being stalked circumstances? In other words, each animal does not naturally know its own role and responsibilities, but has to use speech and deliberate cues among each other.
Natural scenario: Lion stalks a herd of deer. Deer sees the lion at some point and run. Lion catches one deer that is unable to flee as fast as the others.
Unnatural scenario: Lion stalks a herd of deer, but he needs to hear in his earpiece coaching from other lions about whether to be fast or slow, stalk to the left or to the right. The old lion nags into the earpiece of the stalking lion that he should “be totally quiet” and “avoid walking through branches that might snap and give him away.” However, the brashest of the lions is also speaking into the earpiece of the stalking lion, “Don’t listen to that old coot. Go through the snapping branches but just be fast about it and you’ll catch one.” Odds are the lion will be so confused that he never succeeds in concentrating on what used to be natural to him. Eventually the lions would die out as the gift of “communications” in stalking destroys their natural and seamless integration with reality.
Now, I have been concerned about the unnatural and artificial means of communications that humans have adopted for a long time. I can actually tell you my “Oh, oh” moment, when I got REALLY worried about this problem for the first time. You can even look up on the Internet what year this was (I’m not online as I’m writing this so I’ll just tell you what to search for). It was when I started reading articles about this new “craze” in a “secret language” that English Cockneys, such as taxi drivers, were using. It’s called Cockney rhyming slang. The way that it works is that instead of saying what they mean, they say words that if you do kind of a inner “word association” process to make a link to another word or phrase, and then substitute rhymes of those words, you can figure out what he or she is saying. It made my head hurt when I first read examples, and the decades have not changed my distaste for that trend. Part of the culture is that there is kind of a smirking smugness at having a secret language that is intellectually challenging being used by people who are often dismissed by society as being “lower class.” In other words, the people pushing Cockney slang often had a subversive political chip on the shoulder kind of agenda.
Now, so you young people can better understand this, it was not a short hand for convenience as are texting acronyms. For example, the acronym BRB means “be right back,” a realistic real action that is written quickly using the first letters of each of the three words. I have no quarrel at all with acronyms, even as your spiritual mother who may not be up to date with every acronym, LOL. They are simply quick ways to state real things and it is parents’ responsibilities to learn the lingo of their kids and modern youth. I’m not a hand wringer that using texting acronyms will cause modern youth to read less of the dusty gems of English literature, LOL. But now let me show you how BRB could be changed into either the Cockney rhyming slang, the forefather of the secret languages that I worry about, or an agenda filled cult tool. First, let’s pretend we are doing smug Cockney rhyming slang. I’m going to figure this out as I’m typing it so you can see the process, and thus the danger.
The first word in “be right back” is “be.” Here’s one way to represent the word “be.” You think to yourself that “be” sounds like “bee.” Bees are associated with honey. Honey rhymes with “funny” so you start your “be right back” phrase with the word “funny.” The second word, “right” can mean quickness, as in the phrase “be right back,” but “right” also means direction (to go toward the right) or politics (conservative), or even degree of correctness (to be accurate about something). Suppose that you are a leftist and hate the right wing of politics. If the conservatives were in power, especially if a woman was the figurehead, you might think of the “right” (politics) as being a “bitch.” “Bitch” rhymes with ditch so you substitute “ditch” for the word “right.” You pat yourself on the back a bit how clever you are and how you got “a dig” (pun) in on your imagined enemy, the “right,” even though politics has nothing to do with the expression “be right back.” The third word, “back,” means to return, since the phrase “be right back” means “I will return soon.” However, the word “back” can also mean the reverse side of the body, where the front is the chest and the other side is the “back.” For example the buttocks are also called in English the “backside.” So perhaps you decide to use the word “rump” to invoke the word “back.” You then think of a word that rhymes with “rump” so you might use the word “dump” or “bump.” You’d probably not use “bump” since it starts with the same letter as the word you are replacing, “back,” and that is not clever enough, so you pick “dump.” Thus in your secret language, instead of saying “be right back” you say to your equally clever friend “funny ditch dump.”
You watched me actually think of this example as I typed. So now we look at “funny ditch dump” for the first time as the oh-so-smartass secret language substitute for “be right back.” Fans of this type of secret language would receive special glee from “funny ditch dump” because notice the irony. Without my planning this I’ve come up with a phrase that actually implies the opposite of what you were actually meaning to say. Does a “funny ditch dump” sound like someone planning to BRB? You can giggle when texting your friend who shares your nutty and damaging secret language “FDD” which stands for “funny ditch dump,” which sounds like you are laughing while dumping your text friend in a ditch while at the same time meaning that you will be right back.
When I first read about Cockney rhyming slang I was immediately alarmed on behalf of humanity, seriously. I realized that this thirst for secretive elitist cleverness was corrosive, like acid, on reality and on human mental and emotional connectivity with reality. And I was correct, even more than I had guessed I would be, for there are now millions of people who speak, perform daily task “scripts,” and who have programmed, without realizing it, their own minds to have totally unreal wiring.
So the lion is now stalking the deer. He hears in his earpiece the old lion shout “fee fade ram!” The stalking lion stops dead in his tracks thinking “What?!” He starts to try to decode. What rhymes with “fee?” Is it “he” or “brie?” If he decides the “correct one,” “he,” what word association is with “he?” Is it maybe “she?” What rhymes with “fade?” Is the correct rhyme “jade” or “made?” If it is “made” what does “made” mean in association with? Fortunately the lion watches a lot of TV detective shows and realizes that to be “made” means that a person being followed by someone else has recognized that he is being followed. A follower who reports back to his handlers that his quarry has recognized that he is being followed states “I’ve been made.” So what does “ram” rhyme with? He goes nuts trying to figure out and never does. Needless to say the deer herd is now long gone. When he goes hungry back to the other lions, they berate him for not figuring out their rhyming slang fast enough. Sure, he got the “she made” part but he never figured out what rhymed with ram. The old lion then admits it was a rhyme followed by an association, not an association followed by a rhyme. They were trying to say “she sees you,” referring to the deer he was stalking. “You” was replaced by “ram” because “you” rhymes with “ewe” and the old lion was born under the sign of Aries so of course he put a little self congratulatory “insider’s joke” by linking you-ewe-ram.
Do you notice that no one freaking cares about actually catching the meal that they need to survive?
This is what millions of people, as best as I can tell from my observation (which is pretty thorough) are doing, as yes that many seem to subscribe to cult beliefs and activities that include such highly symbolic, with often reverse meaning and plenty of weird agenda, secret lingo.
They not only add weird layers to what they are trying to say, but they exercise the “unreal” circuitry of the brain, rather than the reality based circuitry. Whenever they hear individual words or phrases in their secret language they no longer have the original content and meaning of any of the plain words, but they also have infested, like with cobwebs, using weird agenda the simple thing that they were trying to say, presumably, in the first place.
For those of you who are not part of this mess, understand that those who use this weird form of acting out and “communications” have filled much of modern media (TV, films, music) with such secret language, messages and phraseology. I have found that many of them grind to a halt in speech when I talk to them as they are, like the lion with the earpiece stalking the would be deer meal, trying to “decode” what I am “really” saying. Um, but I’m just saying what I am saying. They have reprogrammed their own minds to lose all survival instinct because they no longer actually seamlessly process reality: word=what it really means + word=what it really means + word=what it really means resulting in sentence or phrase=what it really means. Over the years I have routinely knocked people I’ve spoken too off of their scripts and secret language because they actually are flustered trying to have a simple exchange of straightforward reality based sentences. I watch them as their eyes flicker and they look away when they wonder if I meant something other than “Nice day today, isn’t it?” And even if they decide I really mean that I think it is a nice day today, they struggle to use some of their secretive agenda driven symbolic “language” to reply. It would be funny if it was not so awful and so lonely. Part of what I hope to do is to teach people to speak simple words that mean simply what they mean to each other again. It’s pathetic and dangerous when I say “nice” day and they are thinking, “she must mean the spice girls” or, rather, to rhyme and word associate the “spice boys.”
I’ve talked about the dangers to mentality, biology and emotions of these secret languages and their warped agendas. You can also infer that the spirit of the authentic human being is damaged by this. As spiritual director I also have to discuss sin with you. Secret languages are a violation of the Commandment that prohibits false witness. Each use of a secret language is an commission of this sin of false witness. Repent and convert before it is too late to even pick up the pieces, the scraps, of what remains of what humanity should and could have been. Young people: if you don’t do it, fix these problems and reclaim your humanity, no one will.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A collection of thoughts/reflections today
Here is a collection of thoughts for today and the past few days.
1. In Revelation (the Book of the Apocalypse) it reads (when describing the heavenly Jerusalem) “And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass” (Revelation 21:21).
Imagine how beautiful heavenly gold is, where it flows purely under spiritual feet. Now think about how the people who most loved gold will never see it again after death, for they, unrepentant and unsanctified by God’s forgiveness and grace, are in hell.
This is an example of where one reads a fact in the Bible (that St John observed that in heaven Jerusalem has a street of gold, and how there is no temple or sun “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23) and can then, on further meditation regarding that passage, can extract wisdom. By thinking about the irony and futility of sin, where those who loved gold the most on earth will not see the street of gold in heaven, one better understand the truth of all that scriptures contains and how the truth of salvation history has continuing urgent applicability throughout all time.
2. My opinion about the election unrest in Iran is that the problem in Iran, which I am surely concerned about and disappointed about, is, nonetheless, a temptation to the arrogant and self righteous in the western world.
Consider Iran a mini-case study in not only diplomacy but also in faith and reasoning and also morality (and sin). Ironically I am not referring to the sin of oppression, which is apparently occurring during the protests (always be careful to have the complete facts before jumping to conclusion. Facts involve collecting both the truth of what is happening and also putting it in reasonable proportion and context). I am referring to the sin of hubris, egoism and arrogant self righteousness. Who is the United States, France or any other country to criticize a country that is a theocracy, just because those countries “don’t believe” in either state religion or that specific religion?
A theocracy does not function the same way as a republic or a theoretical democracy, I mean, duh, think about it. The entire structure of not only the government but all decision making is based on entirely different criterion in a theocracy than in a republic or a theoretical democracy. It’s hilarious that in the television series “Star Trek” a generation of liberal mush heads grew up admiring its godless but “moral” “non interference in alien cultures” stance, yet these liberals (and self described conservatives) can’t wait to criticize and interfere in an earth based reality based genuine different culture. If aliens were presented on “Star Trek” wearing the hijab, burqua or other conservative female garb the popcorn eating viewers would be applauding the noble Enterprise crew’s “non interference.”
Turn off the TV fantasy and get real about respecting other people’s culture and religion. Also, as another example of thinking out of the box (but being reality based), I have heard that Neda, the woman who appears to have been tragically killed in a protest in Iran, was at the protest with her father. That may or may not be true as facts are, as I warned above, sketchy. Parents, I have to ask you, do you think that taking a child who still is young and has life ahead of him or her, even if they are “mature” and in their twenties, to a protest where there is life threatening danger is a good idea? That is not a decision that I would have made. I would not go to a protest or other danger if a younger member of my family insisted on going with me.
Part of being a parent (or a mature adult of any form) is to look at the long view, the big picture, and help younger people make mature decisions accordingly. Also, are things going so well in the United States? Are things going so well in France? Are western countries in possession of such perfection that they can devote an unprecedented amount of ink and TV time about Iran’s election and theocracy?
3. I find I have to remind people yet again of the following:
In heaven: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new. ‘ And he said unto me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful’” (Revelation 21:4-5).
Think about this: if God erases all death, sorrow, crying and pain, what do you think happens to the people who cause death, sorrow, crying and pain in others? Read onward just a few passages further.
In hell: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
Notice the categories of people that God himself lists as being cast into hell for all eternity, the “second death” that occurs after their body dies and each person is judged by God. Do you notice that it is not only the unbelievers in God, but also the “fearful” who are sent to hell? Those who “fear” to serve God in their lives have to be genuinely concerned about meriting hell for their lackluster and tainted faith. Also notice that it not “whores” but “whoremongers” who need to fear hell. A whoremonger is someone who promotes whorish behavior. As Jesus demonstrated repeatedly, whores are forgiven, but whoremongers are not. Think about the filth of modern society and understand how many millions of whoremongers exist in society today. How about the abominable? I was in a church service this Sunday and someone flashed an obscene gesture in my direction. Um, have people gotten so stupid that they do not realize that personal beefs, playacting, and obscenity and disrespect is not only sinful and bad to do, but when it is in a house of God (no matter the denomination, for all exist in theory ‘in his name’) that this is an abomination? Call me an ass or whatever on the street and it is a sin and boorish behavior (and probably based on idolatrous beliefs) but if you do the same thing in a house of God, it is an abomination, and risks being unforgiven and being cast into hell upon death.
And, finally, notice that “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” I’ve written extensively how “liars,” being those who disobey the Commandment against false witness, includes not only flat out lies but also all forms of misrepresenting of information, whether about a person or a business. Withholding information is not a way “around” lying but is part of false witness. Friends, this modern society is entirely comprised of liars. You need to shudder in fear at how generations are being taught falsehood and to live entirely within falsehood, raising their children to be unable to tell the difference and who, in fact, raise “acting out a part” and being “poseurs” to a high art of lying. All, unrepentant and unforgiven, will be cast into hell after being judged by God, and in the scripture you have been warned by St. John’s witness of God’s own words in heaven.
4. I have one continuing ongoing regret and sorrow, which will delight those who enjoy knowing about my pain. I regret that I ever had the level of affection for humans that I have been among. Whether love, friendship or adoptive parenthood, I regret the depth of my love and affection because they did not want nor deserve it-not because I am so great, but because they have all believed so little in God. It is one thing to love someone who needs help with their faith, or who have not received the word of God into their lives and hearts. It is another thing to have affection toward those who manipulate both my affection but also their faith (such as it is) or who are idolaters who secretly worship pagan non-existent gods and who decay genuine glorification of the real God. I am actually ashamed at how much I have loved certain people, only to find how filthy they have been toward God, in their minds and in their theoretical hearts. I can’t even think of family, friends, ex-loves without being ashamed that I loved people who care so little for God, and who cover up such dark and disgusting beliefs.
5. Wow, I am glad that even though it was for bad reasons (going broke and the sadness of my family and so called friends decay) that I gave up golf and sold my golf clubs. Enough said.
6. Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.
1. In Revelation (the Book of the Apocalypse) it reads (when describing the heavenly Jerusalem) “And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass” (Revelation 21:21).
Imagine how beautiful heavenly gold is, where it flows purely under spiritual feet. Now think about how the people who most loved gold will never see it again after death, for they, unrepentant and unsanctified by God’s forgiveness and grace, are in hell.
This is an example of where one reads a fact in the Bible (that St John observed that in heaven Jerusalem has a street of gold, and how there is no temple or sun “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23) and can then, on further meditation regarding that passage, can extract wisdom. By thinking about the irony and futility of sin, where those who loved gold the most on earth will not see the street of gold in heaven, one better understand the truth of all that scriptures contains and how the truth of salvation history has continuing urgent applicability throughout all time.
2. My opinion about the election unrest in Iran is that the problem in Iran, which I am surely concerned about and disappointed about, is, nonetheless, a temptation to the arrogant and self righteous in the western world.
Consider Iran a mini-case study in not only diplomacy but also in faith and reasoning and also morality (and sin). Ironically I am not referring to the sin of oppression, which is apparently occurring during the protests (always be careful to have the complete facts before jumping to conclusion. Facts involve collecting both the truth of what is happening and also putting it in reasonable proportion and context). I am referring to the sin of hubris, egoism and arrogant self righteousness. Who is the United States, France or any other country to criticize a country that is a theocracy, just because those countries “don’t believe” in either state religion or that specific religion?
A theocracy does not function the same way as a republic or a theoretical democracy, I mean, duh, think about it. The entire structure of not only the government but all decision making is based on entirely different criterion in a theocracy than in a republic or a theoretical democracy. It’s hilarious that in the television series “Star Trek” a generation of liberal mush heads grew up admiring its godless but “moral” “non interference in alien cultures” stance, yet these liberals (and self described conservatives) can’t wait to criticize and interfere in an earth based reality based genuine different culture. If aliens were presented on “Star Trek” wearing the hijab, burqua or other conservative female garb the popcorn eating viewers would be applauding the noble Enterprise crew’s “non interference.”
Turn off the TV fantasy and get real about respecting other people’s culture and religion. Also, as another example of thinking out of the box (but being reality based), I have heard that Neda, the woman who appears to have been tragically killed in a protest in Iran, was at the protest with her father. That may or may not be true as facts are, as I warned above, sketchy. Parents, I have to ask you, do you think that taking a child who still is young and has life ahead of him or her, even if they are “mature” and in their twenties, to a protest where there is life threatening danger is a good idea? That is not a decision that I would have made. I would not go to a protest or other danger if a younger member of my family insisted on going with me.
Part of being a parent (or a mature adult of any form) is to look at the long view, the big picture, and help younger people make mature decisions accordingly. Also, are things going so well in the United States? Are things going so well in France? Are western countries in possession of such perfection that they can devote an unprecedented amount of ink and TV time about Iran’s election and theocracy?
3. I find I have to remind people yet again of the following:
In heaven: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new. ‘ And he said unto me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful’” (Revelation 21:4-5).
Think about this: if God erases all death, sorrow, crying and pain, what do you think happens to the people who cause death, sorrow, crying and pain in others? Read onward just a few passages further.
In hell: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
Notice the categories of people that God himself lists as being cast into hell for all eternity, the “second death” that occurs after their body dies and each person is judged by God. Do you notice that it is not only the unbelievers in God, but also the “fearful” who are sent to hell? Those who “fear” to serve God in their lives have to be genuinely concerned about meriting hell for their lackluster and tainted faith. Also notice that it not “whores” but “whoremongers” who need to fear hell. A whoremonger is someone who promotes whorish behavior. As Jesus demonstrated repeatedly, whores are forgiven, but whoremongers are not. Think about the filth of modern society and understand how many millions of whoremongers exist in society today. How about the abominable? I was in a church service this Sunday and someone flashed an obscene gesture in my direction. Um, have people gotten so stupid that they do not realize that personal beefs, playacting, and obscenity and disrespect is not only sinful and bad to do, but when it is in a house of God (no matter the denomination, for all exist in theory ‘in his name’) that this is an abomination? Call me an ass or whatever on the street and it is a sin and boorish behavior (and probably based on idolatrous beliefs) but if you do the same thing in a house of God, it is an abomination, and risks being unforgiven and being cast into hell upon death.
And, finally, notice that “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” I’ve written extensively how “liars,” being those who disobey the Commandment against false witness, includes not only flat out lies but also all forms of misrepresenting of information, whether about a person or a business. Withholding information is not a way “around” lying but is part of false witness. Friends, this modern society is entirely comprised of liars. You need to shudder in fear at how generations are being taught falsehood and to live entirely within falsehood, raising their children to be unable to tell the difference and who, in fact, raise “acting out a part” and being “poseurs” to a high art of lying. All, unrepentant and unforgiven, will be cast into hell after being judged by God, and in the scripture you have been warned by St. John’s witness of God’s own words in heaven.
4. I have one continuing ongoing regret and sorrow, which will delight those who enjoy knowing about my pain. I regret that I ever had the level of affection for humans that I have been among. Whether love, friendship or adoptive parenthood, I regret the depth of my love and affection because they did not want nor deserve it-not because I am so great, but because they have all believed so little in God. It is one thing to love someone who needs help with their faith, or who have not received the word of God into their lives and hearts. It is another thing to have affection toward those who manipulate both my affection but also their faith (such as it is) or who are idolaters who secretly worship pagan non-existent gods and who decay genuine glorification of the real God. I am actually ashamed at how much I have loved certain people, only to find how filthy they have been toward God, in their minds and in their theoretical hearts. I can’t even think of family, friends, ex-loves without being ashamed that I loved people who care so little for God, and who cover up such dark and disgusting beliefs.
5. Wow, I am glad that even though it was for bad reasons (going broke and the sadness of my family and so called friends decay) that I gave up golf and sold my golf clubs. Enough said.
6. Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.
Friday, January 9, 2009
At last! Vatican to smack down Mary peddlers
Better late than never. It is far, far late but this is essential to cleansing the Church and restoring piety and sanity. As I said, as much as I dearly loved Pope John Paul II the pseudo Mary manipulators had him wrapped around their dirty fingers.
Hurrah for Pope Benedict XVI! Now I hope this report is accurate and that this comes to fruition soon. Hell is filling up quickly with those who have peddled the Mother of Jesus for their own perverse self gratifications.
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-translation-of-petrus-article.html
Hurrah for Pope Benedict XVI! Now I hope this report is accurate and that this comes to fruition soon. Hell is filling up quickly with those who have peddled the Mother of Jesus for their own perverse self gratifications.
http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-translation-of-petrus-article.html
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Why I don't post my email or allow comments
I've heard that some people wonder why. The reason that I don't allow comments is that when I do, alien believing "rapture" freaks promptly post their garbage. That doesn't fly with me for long!
Obviously my not posting an email address so that readers or potential new friends could ask me questions is related to the first problem. But more fundamentally, here is why. Virtually every email I've received from strangers to acquaintances and even to my "friends" and family are "tests" of me. They are usually a combination of genuine curiosity about the subject, but ruined by a hidden agenda of trying to "catch me out" in some way. Now, I love teaching and I love good conversation, but years of that abuse has ruined it for me too.
They think that it is "OK" to do (not recognizing that it is bearing false witness, as I've explained in previous postings, to conceal or manipulate your identity, or to have undisclosed information about me held "up one's sleeve.") They think it's OK to dissemble and lie because they usually include a "typo" in the email. Among cultists a "typo" is a deliberate "error" placed in the communication, so they think that lets them off the hook of lying or prevaricating within that email, since one "typo" "covers all" and is "fair warning." It doesn't let them off the hook, with neither me or God, and it totally bores me, their lack of grace and sincerity. This, by the way, is one reason I despise $cientology and $cientologists, and only pray that more will realize that everyone who follows them follows Hubbard straight into hell and I'm not joking or exaggerating.
In fact, entire decades of my life (and yours) have been wasted by people who approach me to "ask me" for "guidance," but they are "asking me" about a topic that they already have "secret information about me" regarding, and thus hope to catch me in hypocrisy, sin or lying. I mean, these people will steal millions of dollars from the poor, but hunt down a child who stole popcorn or a candy bar from a store when she or he was poor. (I hung out with a few kids when I was young, who helped themselves and showed me the ropes. I was caught with a handful of "liberated popcorn" by the store owner. To this day the cultists run around gushing I loooooooove popcorn!) They think they are getting a morally superior laugh over me, but I just pity them and their sin. Except they are not such great sources for mercy giving, since they just looooooooooooooooove abortions, lying, blaspheming, and "making a killing" in the stock market by scamming the chumps and charging usury. Well, I hope they just looooooooooooove hell! LOL LOL LOL.
Having said that, if anyone is really interested in emailing me, my email is not too hard to discover, just ask one of about million cultists who know who I am, my social security number, my blood type, the location of all of my birthmarks and scars (they ought to know the scars, as they with their own hands placed them there and photographed me in the hospital), who I've loved and "how far did we go," and, of course, all my addresses, phone numbers, emails and "how to get a message to me."
Obviously my not posting an email address so that readers or potential new friends could ask me questions is related to the first problem. But more fundamentally, here is why. Virtually every email I've received from strangers to acquaintances and even to my "friends" and family are "tests" of me. They are usually a combination of genuine curiosity about the subject, but ruined by a hidden agenda of trying to "catch me out" in some way. Now, I love teaching and I love good conversation, but years of that abuse has ruined it for me too.
They think that it is "OK" to do (not recognizing that it is bearing false witness, as I've explained in previous postings, to conceal or manipulate your identity, or to have undisclosed information about me held "up one's sleeve.") They think it's OK to dissemble and lie because they usually include a "typo" in the email. Among cultists a "typo" is a deliberate "error" placed in the communication, so they think that lets them off the hook of lying or prevaricating within that email, since one "typo" "covers all" and is "fair warning." It doesn't let them off the hook, with neither me or God, and it totally bores me, their lack of grace and sincerity. This, by the way, is one reason I despise $cientology and $cientologists, and only pray that more will realize that everyone who follows them follows Hubbard straight into hell and I'm not joking or exaggerating.
In fact, entire decades of my life (and yours) have been wasted by people who approach me to "ask me" for "guidance," but they are "asking me" about a topic that they already have "secret information about me" regarding, and thus hope to catch me in hypocrisy, sin or lying. I mean, these people will steal millions of dollars from the poor, but hunt down a child who stole popcorn or a candy bar from a store when she or he was poor. (I hung out with a few kids when I was young, who helped themselves and showed me the ropes. I was caught with a handful of "liberated popcorn" by the store owner. To this day the cultists run around gushing I loooooooove popcorn!) They think they are getting a morally superior laugh over me, but I just pity them and their sin. Except they are not such great sources for mercy giving, since they just looooooooooooooooove abortions, lying, blaspheming, and "making a killing" in the stock market by scamming the chumps and charging usury. Well, I hope they just looooooooooooove hell! LOL LOL LOL.
Having said that, if anyone is really interested in emailing me, my email is not too hard to discover, just ask one of about million cultists who know who I am, my social security number, my blood type, the location of all of my birthmarks and scars (they ought to know the scars, as they with their own hands placed them there and photographed me in the hospital), who I've loved and "how far did we go," and, of course, all my addresses, phone numbers, emails and "how to get a message to me."
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Great essay about dangers of gossip and lies
There's mystery and controversy surrounding the probable suicide of a young Persian Jewish girl in CA at her friend's apartment. A lot of accusations are flying on message boards and so forth while the investigation continues, I guess. I'm not up on all the issues but one message board had a link to this great opinion essay by a Jewish scholar to attempt to stop the incredibly hateful and destructive "discourse." I highly recommend reading it because it touches on all of the things I have warned about regarding false accusations, lying, malicious gossip, slander, stalking and so forth, all from the ancient and unique Jewish perspective, which of course Christianity has its roots in also (as does Islam by sharing the same patriarchal fathers and prophets).
http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/a_persian_tragedy_20080611/
snip from a comment to this article by "The Web Guy":
Judaism is intensely aware of the power of speech and of the harm that can be done through speech. The rabbis note that the universe itself was created through speech. Of the 43 sins enumerated in the Al Chet confession recited on Yom Kippur, 11 are sins committed through speech. The Talmud tells that the tongue is an instrument so dangerous that it must be kept hidden from view, behind two protective walls (the mouth and teeth) to prevent its misuse. The harm done by speech is even worse than the harm done by stealing or by cheating someone financially, because amends can be made for monetary harms, but the harm done by speech can never be repaired. For this reason, some sources indicate that there is no forgiveness for lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech).
http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/a_persian_tragedy_20080611/
snip from a comment to this article by "The Web Guy":
Judaism is intensely aware of the power of speech and of the harm that can be done through speech. The rabbis note that the universe itself was created through speech. Of the 43 sins enumerated in the Al Chet confession recited on Yom Kippur, 11 are sins committed through speech. The Talmud tells that the tongue is an instrument so dangerous that it must be kept hidden from view, behind two protective walls (the mouth and teeth) to prevent its misuse. The harm done by speech is even worse than the harm done by stealing or by cheating someone financially, because amends can be made for monetary harms, but the harm done by speech can never be repaired. For this reason, some sources indicate that there is no forgiveness for lashon ha-ra (disparaging speech).
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