I was locking the door on a hockey rink, the big swining zamboni door, I was sliding metal beams into braces, and it was tough. I loved the look and feel of the bars: insanely strong and not at all brittle. You'd need a car going at least 20 before you bent these guys.
it occurred to me that somewhere in the old testament (OT) god said "I will strengthen your gates, oh jerusalem." and things like that, right? Just general "I will protect you."
go research some of those old gates. massive things. beautiful, epic. (close to the way I use the word 'epic' wistfully, but not quite). god protects us like THAT.
AWESOME!
this puts a whole new spin on "a mighty fortress is our God"
boom! set in stone, rock solid. insanely dense leaden wall towering over your head as gods foot steps in front of you. you are enclosed, warm on your sides, by his fortress (his foot is the huge wall - remember God is big) HA! he says. you shall not touch my children.
jehovah-jireh, God will provide (does anyone know the name for "god protector?"
looking for names, I found and skimmed this site http://www.jesuswalk.com/names-god/7_stronghold.htm
God is your keeper. hm? pause a little on that one.
know that god is your fortress as you sit in quiet time.
when you walk about, know that he is a fortress of freedom walking ever before you and making straight paths, like a gift and diadem for your brow, a signet ring and a mark of his favor.
go in peace and filled with the will of God!
30 July 2010
25 July 2010
existence
Summary: "A) emotion, will, and especially information are starting points, B) existence/truth is fulfillment, C) god upholds our existence - he created you, D) credido ergo sum is slightly wrong, E) Jean-paul sarte was a sophist."
Let me tell you the most important things to take away from this post.
A/D) three things: decisions/will, emotions/perceptions/intentions, and logic/information. these three are integral to existence.
B) seek the truth with a passion. and God is truth, so seek him above all else.
C/E) god CREATED you, your raw conscious existence. God is smarter than you, shut up.
A) the starting point
You are utterly lost and confused, at the end of all things, the edge of sanity (maybe you are using Descartes's method of doubt?). what is your reaction? "help me! I'm lost! tell me what is true so that I can cling to it!
3 things you need here at the ultimate depression:
1) you need help - Jesus Christ, - emotion
2) you must decide to seek truth - will (though we would argue that God gives you the desire for truth),
3) the primary thing you need is truth (besides a savior). - facts
We will focus on the last one, but mention the first two now and then. The last one, 3), demonstrates the primacy of truth and fact. In order to do anything, we need to know what to do. Before we can form opinions, before we feel normal emotions, we need to know the environment around us. There are emotions of confusion, emotions of seeking the truth, but notice how those emotions are intertwined with fact - the search for truth.
Note also that these three, emotions, will, and truth are sometimes considered the three main components of a human. the reason, heart, and will.
B) existence/truth is fufillment
Now, what is truth? Reality, facts about the world, existence, being. Right? Here at the end of all things we search for what is out there, truth, and that is a very great thing. Possibly our greatest joy in heaven will be learning more and more about God (intertwined with feeling and living out that knowledge). Fellowship with other people is learning who they are, feeling and using that information. In less weighty areas, see that we have only to see a vast army, a black horde marching somewhere, to feel emotion. It is the existence, the power, the might of the army that is special. Even during battles, it is the way troops move against each other, the way the machine carries out its tasks that excites us, not how the machine changes. So we see that our greatest emotions stem from existences, from truth.
C) god upholds our existence
refer to the material argument for the existence of God in "Time, space, material, and infinity"
when we subdivide matter more and more, we see many levels of particles. the atom, electrons within atoms, gluons within electrons, quarks, etc. Scientists have identified at least 30 layers of particles. now as we keep going down, we will either go for infinity, which demands God, or we will stop at some particle (for instance the electron) which does what it does and we have no idea why. we can't subdivide it, it just floats around in space and repels other particles for no reason. this also demands God.
I favor the latter option, but either way, God is neccessary for the existence of matter. He upholds our existence. One person wondered "what if we were just a thought in Gods head?". We ARE just a thought. He upholds us by his will.
Now, that is just matter. Whether God upholds our spiritual components, or our raw existence itself, I have no idea. It would be cool though.
Just food for thought: in what sense are we 'given' existence if there was no 'us' for existence to be given to? Or another way: when god created your human, why did you inhabit it?
Look, God didn't just give you a body, he didn't just give you a soul and a mind. He CREATED you. Raw, living, bare consciousness. YOU! Praise the lord of heaven he created you!
D) 'credido ergo sum' is slighly wrong.
the famous philosopher descartes is probably less famous that the sentence he wrote "credido ergo sum" which means "I think, therefore I am".
I would alter this a little. How about, "I perceive, therefore I am." For a person is not just made up of thoughts, but memory too. However, the very act of perceiving requires thinking/processing. You see something and you must immediately attach meaning to it, or else the perception will vanish. You must translate the real world into your own head. Now, I'm NOT saying that "you see one thing, I see another, and let's tolerate each other." But the things you see must be added to your body of knowledge inside your head.
I could add emotion into the picture by remembering a recent post of mine, which held that perceptions and emotion are roughly the same.
So, all three components: emotion, will, and fact, all come together in existence, perhaps. You perceive and translate into emotion/thought-fact. You must immediately decide what to do with it (will) and integrate it into your body of thought (logic/facts).
E) jean-paul sarte was a sophist.
Jean paul sarte was an existential (humans can change themselves) philosopher. sophism is the belief that you are the only being in existence. sarte is most famous for his statement (and essay behind it) that "Existence precedes essence." Basically he said that 'man must first show up on the scene, and then define himself'. He pointed out that other objects in the universe don't think, and so they don't define themselves, which makes humans unique in that they define themselves. Hence - humans can change themselves - and sarte is an existentialist.
Sartes problem is confusing essence/definition with thought. I can think that I am a purple gorilla, but that changes nothing in the real world. In the same way, the fact that humans can think about themselves has nothing to do with who they really are.
Let me tell you the most important things to take away from this post.
A/D) three things: decisions/will, emotions/perceptions/intentions, and logic/information. these three are integral to existence.
B) seek the truth with a passion. and God is truth, so seek him above all else.
C/E) god CREATED you, your raw conscious existence. God is smarter than you, shut up.
A) the starting point
You are utterly lost and confused, at the end of all things, the edge of sanity (maybe you are using Descartes's method of doubt?). what is your reaction? "help me! I'm lost! tell me what is true so that I can cling to it!
3 things you need here at the ultimate depression:
1) you need help - Jesus Christ, - emotion
2) you must decide to seek truth - will (though we would argue that God gives you the desire for truth),
3) the primary thing you need is truth (besides a savior). - facts
We will focus on the last one, but mention the first two now and then. The last one, 3), demonstrates the primacy of truth and fact. In order to do anything, we need to know what to do. Before we can form opinions, before we feel normal emotions, we need to know the environment around us. There are emotions of confusion, emotions of seeking the truth, but notice how those emotions are intertwined with fact - the search for truth.
Note also that these three, emotions, will, and truth are sometimes considered the three main components of a human. the reason, heart, and will.
B) existence/truth is fufillment
Now, what is truth? Reality, facts about the world, existence, being. Right? Here at the end of all things we search for what is out there, truth, and that is a very great thing. Possibly our greatest joy in heaven will be learning more and more about God (intertwined with feeling and living out that knowledge). Fellowship with other people is learning who they are, feeling and using that information. In less weighty areas, see that we have only to see a vast army, a black horde marching somewhere, to feel emotion. It is the existence, the power, the might of the army that is special. Even during battles, it is the way troops move against each other, the way the machine carries out its tasks that excites us, not how the machine changes. So we see that our greatest emotions stem from existences, from truth.
C) god upholds our existence
refer to the material argument for the existence of God in "Time, space, material, and infinity"
when we subdivide matter more and more, we see many levels of particles. the atom, electrons within atoms, gluons within electrons, quarks, etc. Scientists have identified at least 30 layers of particles. now as we keep going down, we will either go for infinity, which demands God, or we will stop at some particle (for instance the electron) which does what it does and we have no idea why. we can't subdivide it, it just floats around in space and repels other particles for no reason. this also demands God.
I favor the latter option, but either way, God is neccessary for the existence of matter. He upholds our existence. One person wondered "what if we were just a thought in Gods head?". We ARE just a thought. He upholds us by his will.
Now, that is just matter. Whether God upholds our spiritual components, or our raw existence itself, I have no idea. It would be cool though.
Just food for thought: in what sense are we 'given' existence if there was no 'us' for existence to be given to? Or another way: when god created your human, why did you inhabit it?
Look, God didn't just give you a body, he didn't just give you a soul and a mind. He CREATED you. Raw, living, bare consciousness. YOU! Praise the lord of heaven he created you!
D) 'credido ergo sum' is slighly wrong.
the famous philosopher descartes is probably less famous that the sentence he wrote "credido ergo sum" which means "I think, therefore I am".
I would alter this a little. How about, "I perceive, therefore I am." For a person is not just made up of thoughts, but memory too. However, the very act of perceiving requires thinking/processing. You see something and you must immediately attach meaning to it, or else the perception will vanish. You must translate the real world into your own head. Now, I'm NOT saying that "you see one thing, I see another, and let's tolerate each other." But the things you see must be added to your body of knowledge inside your head.
I could add emotion into the picture by remembering a recent post of mine, which held that perceptions and emotion are roughly the same.
So, all three components: emotion, will, and fact, all come together in existence, perhaps. You perceive and translate into emotion/thought-fact. You must immediately decide what to do with it (will) and integrate it into your body of thought (logic/facts).
E) jean-paul sarte was a sophist.
Jean paul sarte was an existential (humans can change themselves) philosopher. sophism is the belief that you are the only being in existence. sarte is most famous for his statement (and essay behind it) that "Existence precedes essence." Basically he said that 'man must first show up on the scene, and then define himself'. He pointed out that other objects in the universe don't think, and so they don't define themselves, which makes humans unique in that they define themselves. Hence - humans can change themselves - and sarte is an existentialist.
Sartes problem is confusing essence/definition with thought. I can think that I am a purple gorilla, but that changes nothing in the real world. In the same way, the fact that humans can think about themselves has nothing to do with who they really are.
24 July 2010
faith in action - believing
Summary: "1) act in obedience, you don't have to want to obey. 2) true faith will produce works. 3) do something in order to believe it. 4) find what is true and DO it"
1) Question: if I (or you) do something for God, do you necessarily believe in it?
Now, before you say 'no', think a little. You're not singing blandly in church because everyone wants you to, you're giving $200 to a christian ministry because you think that is correct to do.
Ha! I just figured this out.
There is a difference between believing something and wanting it. For instance I can step out in faith and give money even though I don't want to, but I think it's correct. I can follow the leading of the Holy Spirit even though I think I'm probably just imagining the Holy Spirit and I am going to look dumb.
Get it?
DO the things that are correct, the things God tells you. You know that you believe God because you obey him. Don't act because people want you to, don't act because it will advance you into a powerful position in the church. Do it because. Do it for God. Don't do it out of sheer willpower, though the decision might feel a lot like sheer willpower. submit to the Lord of creation.
2) by the way, on the topic of faith and works. the standard solution is that true faith will produce works. therefore, "faith without works is dead." in that sentence, faith and works aren't separate. faith - the type of faith that is without works - that type of faith is dead.
3) there is a difference between academically saying that something is true, for instance that God will protect you at all times, and between actually believing it, by stepping out in faith to where you could get seriously hurt if God didn't help you out.
The difference is between pure knowledge, pure data and a body of thought, and between the emotional side of it. On the one hand, don't believe something (data) and not apply it (emotion), on the other, don't do something that randomly pops into your head without confirming that God is behind it. If the holy spirit nudges you to do something, you probably only risk looking stupid, so the data side is ok, apply your knowledge and use emotion - do what you think the holy spirit said.
if it's something more risky, I suppose you need confirmation. talk to friends, look for real-world things that make the action easier, pray a TON, etc.
4) Ecclesiastes 11:13 (the end of the book) "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
Find what is true in the bible, and then go DO it.
1) Question: if I (or you) do something for God, do you necessarily believe in it?
Now, before you say 'no', think a little. You're not singing blandly in church because everyone wants you to, you're giving $200 to a christian ministry because you think that is correct to do.
Ha! I just figured this out.
There is a difference between believing something and wanting it. For instance I can step out in faith and give money even though I don't want to, but I think it's correct. I can follow the leading of the Holy Spirit even though I think I'm probably just imagining the Holy Spirit and I am going to look dumb.
Get it?
DO the things that are correct, the things God tells you. You know that you believe God because you obey him. Don't act because people want you to, don't act because it will advance you into a powerful position in the church. Do it because. Do it for God. Don't do it out of sheer willpower, though the decision might feel a lot like sheer willpower. submit to the Lord of creation.
2) by the way, on the topic of faith and works. the standard solution is that true faith will produce works. therefore, "faith without works is dead." in that sentence, faith and works aren't separate. faith - the type of faith that is without works - that type of faith is dead.
3) there is a difference between academically saying that something is true, for instance that God will protect you at all times, and between actually believing it, by stepping out in faith to where you could get seriously hurt if God didn't help you out.
The difference is between pure knowledge, pure data and a body of thought, and between the emotional side of it. On the one hand, don't believe something (data) and not apply it (emotion), on the other, don't do something that randomly pops into your head without confirming that God is behind it. If the holy spirit nudges you to do something, you probably only risk looking stupid, so the data side is ok, apply your knowledge and use emotion - do what you think the holy spirit said.
if it's something more risky, I suppose you need confirmation. talk to friends, look for real-world things that make the action easier, pray a TON, etc.
4) Ecclesiastes 11:13 (the end of the book) "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
Find what is true in the bible, and then go DO it.
22 July 2010
joyous word strings
Let us describe being with God...
Blazing inferno all consuming vanquished keeling over screaming fire-breathing bloody awesome; water peace deep movement subtle subconcious pass-out edge-of-the-knife rushing waterfall churning bubbling colorful kaleidoscope color swirling ribbons spinning dancing streets-of-gold flying-like-an-eagle diving plummeting strain-of-muscle jumping leaping blood-rush-from-head twist-of-bone and cartilage; blazing warm light stillness on-your-knees face-uplifted hands-in-a-cross out-to-the-side subdued quiet living breathing eyes-straining-in-sockets hands trembling body quivering earth shaking god thundering glorious gracious happy wonder pouring leaping smiling diving swirling peace euphoria...
Blazing inferno all consuming vanquished keeling over screaming fire-breathing bloody awesome; water peace deep movement subtle subconcious pass-out edge-of-the-knife rushing waterfall churning bubbling colorful kaleidoscope color swirling ribbons spinning dancing streets-of-gold flying-like-an-eagle diving plummeting strain-of-muscle jumping leaping blood-rush-from-head twist-of-bone and cartilage; blazing warm light stillness on-your-knees face-uplifted hands-in-a-cross out-to-the-side subdued quiet living breathing eyes-straining-in-sockets hands trembling body quivering earth shaking god thundering glorious gracious happy wonder pouring leaping smiling diving swirling peace euphoria...
summary of epic
This is a summary/story of the universe from the 'epic' perspective.
God make the world because he way happy and overflowing with joy. He made the universe for us to explore and enjoy, he made it as a reflection and glorification of himself. He created the world and all of history in order to write an epic story about a weak and rebelliously lost civilization, one which is still infinitely valuable and dear. This civilization (and the nature around it) is saved by heroism and great sacrifice, through emotional pain on both sides, by the conquering of death. An epic battle rages and will be won. The civilization and nature are brought to full fruit, it is saved. Heaven will come to earth (or earth will be made into heaven) where we will run with resurrected bodies like we dream of. (don't think 'beyond our wildest dreams', think 'exactly like our wildest dreams'). Run and fight and climb like you can imagine in adventure video games. Zion will be 1,400 miles high so that it would take you 11 hours to free-fall down its sides. We will have work in heaven, but we'll enjoy it. Great projects... 12 gates, a huge river of life, 12 crops. The light of God will be everywhere and so intense we won't need a sun.
Think avatar. Use your imagination.
Look, heaven is going to be better than we can imagine, right? So imagine huge things! I don't want to live in a crummy place forever! Push the limit!
God make the world because he way happy and overflowing with joy. He made the universe for us to explore and enjoy, he made it as a reflection and glorification of himself. He created the world and all of history in order to write an epic story about a weak and rebelliously lost civilization, one which is still infinitely valuable and dear. This civilization (and the nature around it) is saved by heroism and great sacrifice, through emotional pain on both sides, by the conquering of death. An epic battle rages and will be won. The civilization and nature are brought to full fruit, it is saved. Heaven will come to earth (or earth will be made into heaven) where we will run with resurrected bodies like we dream of. (don't think 'beyond our wildest dreams', think 'exactly like our wildest dreams'). Run and fight and climb like you can imagine in adventure video games. Zion will be 1,400 miles high so that it would take you 11 hours to free-fall down its sides. We will have work in heaven, but we'll enjoy it. Great projects... 12 gates, a huge river of life, 12 crops. The light of God will be everywhere and so intense we won't need a sun.
Think avatar. Use your imagination.
Look, heaven is going to be better than we can imagine, right? So imagine huge things! I don't want to live in a crummy place forever! Push the limit!
values and psyche change
Values:
Values normally means goals, and things are good or bad if they help or hur the goal. Human happiness is the generally accepted goal nowadays. With God, good or bad signify how much an action is in accord with a reality, the reality of Gods existence.
Psyche:
Just know that God is changing the way you think, and he's changing it for his glory.
Values normally means goals, and things are good or bad if they help or hur the goal. Human happiness is the generally accepted goal nowadays. With God, good or bad signify how much an action is in accord with a reality, the reality of Gods existence.
Psyche:
Just know that God is changing the way you think, and he's changing it for his glory.
20 July 2010
heart, mind, will and emo/dat
Summary: "The will, mind, and heart of a human could be likened to the time, space, and material model. Emotions /heart are objects/material, logic/mind is their relationships/space, and will/goals is change/time."
A very good friend of mind models the human this way (although I bet she'd say I shouldn't shove humans into a box). There are two inputs: the emotions/heart, and the mind/logic/reason. The will, the real decision maker of the human, takes both inputs to make a decision.
Now, I think that model puts emotions and logic on the same level, as two sides of one coin, as equal but opposite, neither better, and the best option is a healthy balance between the two. (or, for some personalities, they have it a little lopsided).
I'm going to throw that relationship away. What if emotions are much more like perceptions, like the way humans take in the world? What if all 'objects' in the human brain are emotional? Material, stuff.
Now logic could be the way emotions/objects relate to each other. Granted I have been reminded again and again that emotions lack causal relationships to each other, and just spawn out of nowhere, but I think that's referring to a different sort of emotion.
Then what is left? The decision-maker, the will, I compare to time/change/goal/purpose.
Summarize: emotions are stuff, logic is the way stuff relates to each other, and will is how that all changes.
Ok, I hope you understand that model. Now let's dig into what this means for emo/dat.
Data information just refers to the raw scientific facts in the universe. If emotion is the way the mind stores ideas, then really ... they're much of the same thing. Data is just the facts in the real world, while emotions are facts inside the brain. Our most previous definition of emo/dat: "Emotion is a large amount of data reviewed by the mind." This matches almost directly with our new idea of emotion and data.
This might explain why I get super excited when I create a huge theory idea: the idea inside my head is an emotion, and when that idea is large, the emotion is large. Especially when that theory deals with things like God, huge concepts, the result is huge emotion.
P.S. 1# This all, by the way, assumes that the heart/mind/will model of the human is close to the truth.
P.S. 2# There are at least 3 types of emotion, don't think I'm shoving all emotion into a logical construct.
A very good friend of mind models the human this way (although I bet she'd say I shouldn't shove humans into a box). There are two inputs: the emotions/heart, and the mind/logic/reason. The will, the real decision maker of the human, takes both inputs to make a decision.
Now, I think that model puts emotions and logic on the same level, as two sides of one coin, as equal but opposite, neither better, and the best option is a healthy balance between the two. (or, for some personalities, they have it a little lopsided).
I'm going to throw that relationship away. What if emotions are much more like perceptions, like the way humans take in the world? What if all 'objects' in the human brain are emotional? Material, stuff.
Now logic could be the way emotions/objects relate to each other. Granted I have been reminded again and again that emotions lack causal relationships to each other, and just spawn out of nowhere, but I think that's referring to a different sort of emotion.
Then what is left? The decision-maker, the will, I compare to time/change/goal/purpose.
Summarize: emotions are stuff, logic is the way stuff relates to each other, and will is how that all changes.
Ok, I hope you understand that model. Now let's dig into what this means for emo/dat.
Data information just refers to the raw scientific facts in the universe. If emotion is the way the mind stores ideas, then really ... they're much of the same thing. Data is just the facts in the real world, while emotions are facts inside the brain. Our most previous definition of emo/dat: "Emotion is a large amount of data reviewed by the mind." This matches almost directly with our new idea of emotion and data.
This might explain why I get super excited when I create a huge theory idea: the idea inside my head is an emotion, and when that idea is large, the emotion is large. Especially when that theory deals with things like God, huge concepts, the result is huge emotion.
P.S. 1# This all, by the way, assumes that the heart/mind/will model of the human is close to the truth.
P.S. 2# There are at least 3 types of emotion, don't think I'm shoving all emotion into a logical construct.
why did God make the world
Summary: "God made the world because he was happy."
Why did God make the world? A friend of mine said that there were many theories on that subject. I should ask about them. But here's my take.
First of all, the question is enlightening. If we figure out why God made the world, we know why we exist, how we should look at the world, what is most important about it, etc.
Now, why on earth would God make the world? He doesn't need to be glorified, he doesn't need to be happier...I suppose it might be boring, but I doubt it. He exists out of time, he doesn't have the time to get bored.
There is no need to make the world - at all. Nothing. There is also no reachable goal for which to make the world. To glorify God, yes, but we only give God a finite quantity of glory, so what's the point? You follow me?
I think God was just happy.
Existence was already beautiful, but what the heck? Why not make more?
This sort of makes emotion superior to everything else. Hm. I'll just stop here on that thought.
I wonder if God will be satisfied with just making one world. But I suppose we will live forever in heaven. Would we feel cheated if he made more worlds? I don't know. There are multiple people on earth...
Why did God make the world? A friend of mine said that there were many theories on that subject. I should ask about them. But here's my take.
First of all, the question is enlightening. If we figure out why God made the world, we know why we exist, how we should look at the world, what is most important about it, etc.
Now, why on earth would God make the world? He doesn't need to be glorified, he doesn't need to be happier...I suppose it might be boring, but I doubt it. He exists out of time, he doesn't have the time to get bored.
There is no need to make the world - at all. Nothing. There is also no reachable goal for which to make the world. To glorify God, yes, but we only give God a finite quantity of glory, so what's the point? You follow me?
I think God was just happy.
Existence was already beautiful, but what the heck? Why not make more?
This sort of makes emotion superior to everything else. Hm. I'll just stop here on that thought.
I wonder if God will be satisfied with just making one world. But I suppose we will live forever in heaven. Would we feel cheated if he made more worlds? I don't know. There are multiple people on earth...
universe container + definition of good
Summary: "Everything that can be known (the universe) comes from God, there is no good/evil framework outside of God. Good comes from God."
Previously I have thought of God as the largest thing in the universe. A supreme infinite potentate who made all things. He sits inside the universe. Maybe, even, he is the absolute, the summary, the epitome of the universe.
No.
He is the universe.
Not that I'm going native American or anything. The plants and rocks are not Gods in any way. But first and foremost there is God. He has no container. There is no universe in which he sits. There is God. Period. Everything in the universe, all the angels and demons, all material we see in the galaxies, all the physical laws, good and evil, emotions, thoughts of any sort, everything comes from him.
This means that we can't say "God is good." as if we could describe God by saying "oh, he's made out of good things", as if good can exist independently of God. No, rather than saying "God is good" we instead say "Good is God." We look at good, and because it comes from God (in a sense it is God in that it is a reflection of him, an evidence of his work) and with that we get an idea of who God is.
Got it?
There wasn't a definition of good before God came along. We can't look at good, as the perfect model without error, something we think we can figure out on our own, and say "oh, that's what God must be like."
God is not good. Good is God.
Previously I have thought of God as the largest thing in the universe. A supreme infinite potentate who made all things. He sits inside the universe. Maybe, even, he is the absolute, the summary, the epitome of the universe.
No.
He is the universe.
Not that I'm going native American or anything. The plants and rocks are not Gods in any way. But first and foremost there is God. He has no container. There is no universe in which he sits. There is God. Period. Everything in the universe, all the angels and demons, all material we see in the galaxies, all the physical laws, good and evil, emotions, thoughts of any sort, everything comes from him.
This means that we can't say "God is good." as if we could describe God by saying "oh, he's made out of good things", as if good can exist independently of God. No, rather than saying "God is good" we instead say "Good is God." We look at good, and because it comes from God (in a sense it is God in that it is a reflection of him, an evidence of his work) and with that we get an idea of who God is.
Got it?
There wasn't a definition of good before God came along. We can't look at good, as the perfect model without error, something we think we can figure out on our own, and say "oh, that's what God must be like."
God is not good. Good is God.
16 July 2010
4 short ideas
2 Timothy 3:9-13. Persecution is the mark 'clear to everyone' that we are Christians.
Just sayin'
Acts 18:9-10 "I have many people in this city." This is an encouragement for all evangelists. Predestined. Not your problem. Speak his word, that's it. Enjoy yourself if God plans out surprises.
[no text] Can God, who is infinite, make something that is infinite? mathematically inf+inf=inf. so does inf=inf-inf? Not necessarily, because you must first use this step (-inf) inf+inf=inf (-inf), and we don't know if inf-inf = 0, in fact, the next step says inf-inf=inf.
Suppose that God makes a spatially infinite universe, wouldn't that force indefinitely large beings to exist somewhere? Anyway.
What is the most important quality of a human being? No human is more valuable than another, but what qualities are most identifying, will best predict their actions? Maybe you can't predict actions either, but there still ought to be something. If you were to summarize a given human in a very short sentence, what would you say?
Just sayin'
Acts 18:9-10 "I have many people in this city." This is an encouragement for all evangelists. Predestined. Not your problem. Speak his word, that's it. Enjoy yourself if God plans out surprises.
[no text] Can God, who is infinite, make something that is infinite? mathematically inf+inf=inf. so does inf=inf-inf? Not necessarily, because you must first use this step (-inf) inf+inf=inf (-inf), and we don't know if inf-inf = 0, in fact, the next step says inf-inf=inf.
Suppose that God makes a spatially infinite universe, wouldn't that force indefinitely large beings to exist somewhere? Anyway.
What is the most important quality of a human being? No human is more valuable than another, but what qualities are most identifying, will best predict their actions? Maybe you can't predict actions either, but there still ought to be something. If you were to summarize a given human in a very short sentence, what would you say?
emo pic: god awesome
this is a list of small word pictures I have created or I found in the bible
he touches the mountains and they smoke
ignites the atmosphere (it explodes)
the surface of the earth soil bubbles
every blade of grass and living thing swells at his presence
the mountains melt like wax
the voice of the lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare
he thunders over the mighty waters
he shakes the desert of Kadesh
the lord is a strong tower, a might fortress
he sits enthroned over time and space
he possesses the heart of man
the lord god of hosts
the sea boils
emperor of the stars
he who paints the mountains with trees
he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers
"where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?"
"have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges, and shake the wicked out of it?"
"can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook, or tie down his tongue with a rope?"
"I AM"
also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal
ok, now get this. this God dropped down to earth to say hello...and then he died for us.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
he touches the mountains and they smoke
ignites the atmosphere (it explodes)
the surface of the earth soil bubbles
every blade of grass and living thing swells at his presence
the mountains melt like wax
the voice of the lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare
he thunders over the mighty waters
he shakes the desert of Kadesh
the lord is a strong tower, a might fortress
he sits enthroned over time and space
he possesses the heart of man
the lord god of hosts
the sea boils
emperor of the stars
he who paints the mountains with trees
he sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers
"where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?"
"have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges, and shake the wicked out of it?"
"can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook, or tie down his tongue with a rope?"
"I AM"
also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal
ok, now get this. this God dropped down to earth to say hello...and then he died for us.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
emo pic: kneeling in the rain
this emo picture is not scary like the previous one. this is clinging to god as a person, when all the world fails and all his promises seem to fail. I got these emotions while listening to KTIS "stand in the rain" and "if you want me to" (I will walk through the valley/fire/darkness if you want me to). oh, and one more picture, being slain by the undeserving of Christs death
you can be down on one knee is a sort of crouched position (not with your back, with your legs), but that might be because I'm a speedskater, and I'm used to awkward positions with my legs. equally relevant is sitting on your shins and with your butt on your ankles (ankles bent sideways so you don't crush them), down on both knees. upper body relatively erect and leaned forward a little bit (say 10 degrees). back arched a little bit (arched like a gymnastic bridge, but very little-remember you're almost erect).
let's see, background. dark, not black. you're on a large flat surface which is pale and gray but fades away quickly. the landscape is largely drowned out by heavy rain. words I could use to describe the rain, like humid, warm or lukewarm, conglomerated into larger drops, dasani blue color, they all kind of give the wrong impression. try to take them as a whole.
here's the more important stuff. these aspects change from one end to another. let's start with the desperate one. hands up high, elbows slightly bent, palms facing outward. you're crying with your mouth open in anguish and stretched flesh, groping at the air like at a fabric wall that you're trying to grab on to, fingers spread loosely but gropingly tense, you're struggling to breathe due to the emotion, maybe a little like asthma but not hot in your throat. heaving violently but with small motion. the air is very warm and humid, but don't think of a summer day, it's raining.
now it changes. palms face more inward. close your mouth. straighten your arms and your fingers. point arms straight up to heaven. still crying, but you're crying a little cold drizzle (so is the outside weather.) it's much easier to breathe. eyes closed now. you're just giving it all up.
now for being killed (sort of). you stand in front of the cross, not really looking at it. there's a deep purple and black sky, the cross has black and red streaks and tints. you're not paying attention. you're at work in the office, you think everything is going fine. BAM! christ is slaughtered and dragged and cut open and stretched out like an animal carcass right in front of you. he did it for you, he did it because he loves you.
instantly you keel over crying. 'why? why?' topple onto the floor, fetal position and clutching your chest. writhing on the ground. it seems so undeserved. why would God so selflessly give you such an impossible gift? why did he kill himself for you?
I'll just leave you there.
you can be down on one knee is a sort of crouched position (not with your back, with your legs), but that might be because I'm a speedskater, and I'm used to awkward positions with my legs. equally relevant is sitting on your shins and with your butt on your ankles (ankles bent sideways so you don't crush them), down on both knees. upper body relatively erect and leaned forward a little bit (say 10 degrees). back arched a little bit (arched like a gymnastic bridge, but very little-remember you're almost erect).
let's see, background. dark, not black. you're on a large flat surface which is pale and gray but fades away quickly. the landscape is largely drowned out by heavy rain. words I could use to describe the rain, like humid, warm or lukewarm, conglomerated into larger drops, dasani blue color, they all kind of give the wrong impression. try to take them as a whole.
here's the more important stuff. these aspects change from one end to another. let's start with the desperate one. hands up high, elbows slightly bent, palms facing outward. you're crying with your mouth open in anguish and stretched flesh, groping at the air like at a fabric wall that you're trying to grab on to, fingers spread loosely but gropingly tense, you're struggling to breathe due to the emotion, maybe a little like asthma but not hot in your throat. heaving violently but with small motion. the air is very warm and humid, but don't think of a summer day, it's raining.
now it changes. palms face more inward. close your mouth. straighten your arms and your fingers. point arms straight up to heaven. still crying, but you're crying a little cold drizzle (so is the outside weather.) it's much easier to breathe. eyes closed now. you're just giving it all up.
now for being killed (sort of). you stand in front of the cross, not really looking at it. there's a deep purple and black sky, the cross has black and red streaks and tints. you're not paying attention. you're at work in the office, you think everything is going fine. BAM! christ is slaughtered and dragged and cut open and stretched out like an animal carcass right in front of you. he did it for you, he did it because he loves you.
instantly you keel over crying. 'why? why?' topple onto the floor, fetal position and clutching your chest. writhing on the ground. it seems so undeserved. why would God so selflessly give you such an impossible gift? why did he kill himself for you?
I'll just leave you there.
emo pic: white fire ghost
this is a picture of a human totally filled with the holy spirit, or god. okay, this picture is kind of scary, but cool at the same time. just beware. I didn't fabricate this from logic, this came from my emotions.
chest skin fabric is strong and rough like Kevlar or fiberglass fabric, ribs are titanium steel cage. there are no guts, just the outer shell of chest. emanating from the center of the chest is a intensely pressurized gush of light turquoise water. think of the chest as a water hose. it stretches and groans as it tries to contain the gush. this gush ignores the shoulders and head. it passes through them like they were shredded surfaces of tissue and dissipates in the air above.
from this point, think of the white witch from the new Narnia movies, but modify it a little. the face is ghostly white but maybe grayish too. the skin of the scalp is certainly a dead white. hair is about 1.5 feet long, thin, with a hairline far back on the skull, and the hair is snow white.
both eyes are like blazing coals. there are .5 inch cavities around the edges of the eyes that show an inferno within the skull. remember that water is gushing upwards from the chest still, but it doesn't interefere too much with the rest.
the outside of the chest might be burnished bronze, though looking at the person from a distance, the chest is dark and gray with dirty metal. the legs and arms are largely nonexistent.
if I let myself be influenced by some biblical passages from revelations and daniel, we could add some things. the legs are bronze, maybe with clay and iron and stuff. there could be a double-edged sword coming from the mouth. there already was light coming from behind the figure, but we could reaffirm that. arms are still nowhere to be felt or seen.
chest skin fabric is strong and rough like Kevlar or fiberglass fabric, ribs are titanium steel cage. there are no guts, just the outer shell of chest. emanating from the center of the chest is a intensely pressurized gush of light turquoise water. think of the chest as a water hose. it stretches and groans as it tries to contain the gush. this gush ignores the shoulders and head. it passes through them like they were shredded surfaces of tissue and dissipates in the air above.
from this point, think of the white witch from the new Narnia movies, but modify it a little. the face is ghostly white but maybe grayish too. the skin of the scalp is certainly a dead white. hair is about 1.5 feet long, thin, with a hairline far back on the skull, and the hair is snow white.
both eyes are like blazing coals. there are .5 inch cavities around the edges of the eyes that show an inferno within the skull. remember that water is gushing upwards from the chest still, but it doesn't interefere too much with the rest.
the outside of the chest might be burnished bronze, though looking at the person from a distance, the chest is dark and gray with dirty metal. the legs and arms are largely nonexistent.
if I let myself be influenced by some biblical passages from revelations and daniel, we could add some things. the legs are bronze, maybe with clay and iron and stuff. there could be a double-edged sword coming from the mouth. there already was light coming from behind the figure, but we could reaffirm that. arms are still nowhere to be felt or seen.
13 July 2010
experienced joy vs. happiness
These are emotional word pictures that explain joy and happiness, and contrast them a little.
Joy:
Joy is a slow strong cold river of liquid burning silver beind your eyes. Joy is inhaling deeply from your chest and lightly tensed muscles in your forearms and wrists.
Joy stays with you for a long time, it makes you giddy and happy yet fully cognitive and clear late into the night, it makes you prance at spontaneous moments throughout the day.
Joy is a deep-seated river, a calm, a quiet passion, a security, a knowledge. Joy makes you smile uncontrollably, it makes you giggle quietly.
Happiness: (pleasure?)
Happiness makes you tired, exhale, rest, grin. After a lot of it you are satisfied and finished. You no longer want it. It is a gift. It is instantaneous satisfaction. It is auxiliary, unexpected, not the main point, a special something on the side. It is when things work out wonderfully.
Happiness makes you laugh and chuckle and grin and giggle sharply.
By the way, the fact that joy is experienced (and is independent of situation) means that you can feel positive emotion while being flogged. HA!
Joy:
Joy is a slow strong cold river of liquid burning silver beind your eyes. Joy is inhaling deeply from your chest and lightly tensed muscles in your forearms and wrists.
Joy stays with you for a long time, it makes you giddy and happy yet fully cognitive and clear late into the night, it makes you prance at spontaneous moments throughout the day.
Joy is a deep-seated river, a calm, a quiet passion, a security, a knowledge. Joy makes you smile uncontrollably, it makes you giggle quietly.
Happiness: (pleasure?)
Happiness makes you tired, exhale, rest, grin. After a lot of it you are satisfied and finished. You no longer want it. It is a gift. It is instantaneous satisfaction. It is auxiliary, unexpected, not the main point, a special something on the side. It is when things work out wonderfully.
Happiness makes you laugh and chuckle and grin and giggle sharply.
By the way, the fact that joy is experienced (and is independent of situation) means that you can feel positive emotion while being flogged. HA!
12 July 2010
testimony
the most concrete evidence that I have for God's existence is his actions in my life.
my logic may be all screwy, I may know nothing, I may be an emotional wreck (well, not right now), all may fall to pieces. But I know that some insane things have happened in my life, primarily centered around the topic of God. Common sense dictates that God moves in my life.
ontological and cosmological arguments are limited by our perceptions and science, probablility regarding evolution, design arguments, and galactic happenstance might be just chance, the whole realm of theology and how the human mind works might be (and probably is) entirely different from how any of us understand things, all those psychological analysis of Jesus and his disciples could be skewed by bad historical documents (however improbable that is).
But the largest concentrations of emotion and logistical chaos usually accompany the term 'God', so we can draw a correlation between mayhem occuring and Gods mention. This means what? God MOVES.
Not to mention that all those other arguments are logically sound and vicious as rotweilers - but all the universe screaming Gods glory is nothing compared to God himself moving in the heart of man.
God is good, no? HA!
I love God.
my logic may be all screwy, I may know nothing, I may be an emotional wreck (well, not right now), all may fall to pieces. But I know that some insane things have happened in my life, primarily centered around the topic of God. Common sense dictates that God moves in my life.
ontological and cosmological arguments are limited by our perceptions and science, probablility regarding evolution, design arguments, and galactic happenstance might be just chance, the whole realm of theology and how the human mind works might be (and probably is) entirely different from how any of us understand things, all those psychological analysis of Jesus and his disciples could be skewed by bad historical documents (however improbable that is).
But the largest concentrations of emotion and logistical chaos usually accompany the term 'God', so we can draw a correlation between mayhem occuring and Gods mention. This means what? God MOVES.
Not to mention that all those other arguments are logically sound and vicious as rotweilers - but all the universe screaming Gods glory is nothing compared to God himself moving in the heart of man.
God is good, no? HA!
I love God.
motivation for evolution
Summary: "animals have no self-interest in leaving descendants, evolution works, but not for the happiness of its members"
Survival of the fittest, right? A species continues if it leaves descendants, and in order to do that, the animals have to not be killed off, right?
That's obvious, that makes sense. The species we see now are the ones that left offspring and tend to do that.
But why do animals (human in particular) have an interest in reproduction as they live? I mean, we die, and then what? We might only care to have children if we want a nice nursing home.
You might want to leave a legacy, make a difference in the world, raise the next generation, continue the domination of makind over other species, but why would you want any of that? You'll die eventually, and then you won't care will you?
I would be talking to an evolutionary scientist (I'll admit I'm being a little harsh and naive, but I love this idea). I would say "What do you care if our species survives? Why do we reproduce? What motivation do we have? Why should we/you obey our/your evolutionary drive? You only have this drive because you wouldn't be here without it. Why pass it on? What do you care if you reproduce?"
Then I had this thought (which is untrue but funny): what if, once a species becomes advanced enough, it realizes that it doesn't care what happens after its generation is gone, so it doesn't bother to reproduce, leaving the next intelligent species to muddle its way to that conclusion on its own? is this why it's taken the world billions of years to produce intelligent life?
Note that we humans are nearly taking this idea to heart. We advocate not overpopulating the earth, many couples have abortions because they don't want to bother with children. Only-child families are quite common nowadays (well, I hope not).
Oh by the way, guess what sort of people are keeping the population up? Big families, right? Who do these people tend to be? Inner city poor a lot of the time, crazy homeschool families, right wing farms, mormons, rednecks, etc. Hmm... No liberals mentioned anywhere. Sort of a rag-tag assortment of loonies. (I include myself)
Let me see, survival of the fittest...
Survival of the fittest, right? A species continues if it leaves descendants, and in order to do that, the animals have to not be killed off, right?
That's obvious, that makes sense. The species we see now are the ones that left offspring and tend to do that.
But why do animals (human in particular) have an interest in reproduction as they live? I mean, we die, and then what? We might only care to have children if we want a nice nursing home.
You might want to leave a legacy, make a difference in the world, raise the next generation, continue the domination of makind over other species, but why would you want any of that? You'll die eventually, and then you won't care will you?
I would be talking to an evolutionary scientist (I'll admit I'm being a little harsh and naive, but I love this idea). I would say "What do you care if our species survives? Why do we reproduce? What motivation do we have? Why should we/you obey our/your evolutionary drive? You only have this drive because you wouldn't be here without it. Why pass it on? What do you care if you reproduce?"
Then I had this thought (which is untrue but funny): what if, once a species becomes advanced enough, it realizes that it doesn't care what happens after its generation is gone, so it doesn't bother to reproduce, leaving the next intelligent species to muddle its way to that conclusion on its own? is this why it's taken the world billions of years to produce intelligent life?
Note that we humans are nearly taking this idea to heart. We advocate not overpopulating the earth, many couples have abortions because they don't want to bother with children. Only-child families are quite common nowadays (well, I hope not).
Oh by the way, guess what sort of people are keeping the population up? Big families, right? Who do these people tend to be? Inner city poor a lot of the time, crazy homeschool families, right wing farms, mormons, rednecks, etc. Hmm... No liberals mentioned anywhere. Sort of a rag-tag assortment of loonies. (I include myself)
Let me see, survival of the fittest...
navigating confusion
Summary: "If you find yourself confused and going nowhere, try reminding yourself of big truths, composing a list of questions, and find definitions."
This theory depends heavily on a previous one "up/down decisions" from Jun 20-27
The main example in this theory is my confusion about the elements of the human mind, specifically regarding emotion, logic, goals, etc.
I see the gigantic realm of information, principles, truth, etc as a huge pryamid. There is raw data on the bottom, where you directly see truth, and there are big summaries, guiding principles, and the most important facts on the top. It's a pryamid because a few principles 'sit ontop' of larger amounts of information which they describe. In the realm of science, we could say that raw data = an apple falls when you let it go, a rock falls when you let it go, etc so principle: = all objects fall when you drop them.
Or with a more abstract topic: humans contain memory, principles, goals, abilities, etc. All these things are not related to eachother very strongly. The bigger idea is this: humans are arrays of widely varying properties and assets.
So when we might find ourselves confused about a certain idea, we're talking about a part of the pyramid. We can try to understand it in one of two ways, either from the top, or from the bottom.
Top down:
Remind yourself of all the biggest principles that you know. Primarily for me, because I am confused about theology and perception issues, I remind myself that God exists, that he is bigger, stronger, smarter, more holy, etc than me, anyone else, and the entire world. He has a plan for the universe and for me, he loves me more than I can imagine, he created the world, etc.
With your focus up on top, less important issues (like the properties of the human emotional system) come into greater clarity. Reminding myself of God, I remember why he created humans, and then I see how he might have made humans to fufill his purposes.
In the case of human emotional systems, God made humans to enjoy and glorify him. So humans should be able to know with logic that he exists, but a stronger element is our experience of him. Logic is a little more of an attachement to enjoying God, like music and relationships, rather than the primary thing.
I have still used logic to find this principle, I still use logic to reduplicate evidence that God exists, I still use logic to find some dashingly amazing things about God, but 'higher up' on the pryamid is enjoying God.
Bottom up:
If you're trying to find a principle or a piece of evidence, you can also look at things 'below' that principle, and average/summarize them to find your answer. Most of the time you don't know for certain every element that goes into the single answer you're looking for, neither will you know if some of the possible elements don't fit at all, but exploring possibilites should help.
If I want to find a summary of the human system, I could look at what elements might be included in the human system. Let's try the main categories within a human. Normally people use three thing like soul, mind, and body for instance. But there are many other terms too. Let's list some:
will, mind, body, brain, spirit, emotions, heart, imagination, concious, subconcious, id, soul, reason, charachter, ...
Many of these could be synonyms, but we list them all anyway because this is a non-linear, non-logical, general approach.
Instead of just possible options, you can also use the raw information from your perceptions. For instance I thought: what causes me to do most everyday things? how do I think when experiencing emotion? and honestly, I didn't come up with much clear reasoning. This tells me that there is a huge subconcious archive of learned reactions and principles that I don't see everyday. Plus I bet there's some near-concious super general logical reasoning that I could probably flesh-out if I wanted to, but I wouldn't bother.
Find definitions:
The key to understanding concepts rarely lies in computational bulk, large spatial models, big linear time sequences, or anything like that. If you find properties like 'who created this?' or 'what is it made of?' or 'what was this made for?', things make much more sense. For instance, when I was trying to understand emotion, I asked questions like:
what causes emotions? what are they made of? how should we use them? what is their purpose? are there multiple categories of emotions (like spontaneous versus developed)? how are they expressed?
Do not try to understand something using only a few angles. I would call these angles 'dimensions'. So, here are some dimensions to look at ideas with:
categories - look at the terms used in an idea and see if some are synonyms, if some are more specific types while others are general labels.
causality - what causes these things?
purpose - why was it created?
material - what is a term made of? is it spoken word? is it an idea in the head only? is it an emotion? is it a decision?
direct object - who or what is this directed towards? who is it meant to govern?
Just keep asking questions, keep your mind cold and open. If it's going nowhere, remind yourself of truh, ask questions, and look for purpose.
This theory depends heavily on a previous one "up/down decisions" from Jun 20-27
The main example in this theory is my confusion about the elements of the human mind, specifically regarding emotion, logic, goals, etc.
I see the gigantic realm of information, principles, truth, etc as a huge pryamid. There is raw data on the bottom, where you directly see truth, and there are big summaries, guiding principles, and the most important facts on the top. It's a pryamid because a few principles 'sit ontop' of larger amounts of information which they describe. In the realm of science, we could say that raw data = an apple falls when you let it go, a rock falls when you let it go, etc so principle: = all objects fall when you drop them.
Or with a more abstract topic: humans contain memory, principles, goals, abilities, etc. All these things are not related to eachother very strongly. The bigger idea is this: humans are arrays of widely varying properties and assets.
So when we might find ourselves confused about a certain idea, we're talking about a part of the pyramid. We can try to understand it in one of two ways, either from the top, or from the bottom.
Top down:
Remind yourself of all the biggest principles that you know. Primarily for me, because I am confused about theology and perception issues, I remind myself that God exists, that he is bigger, stronger, smarter, more holy, etc than me, anyone else, and the entire world. He has a plan for the universe and for me, he loves me more than I can imagine, he created the world, etc.
With your focus up on top, less important issues (like the properties of the human emotional system) come into greater clarity. Reminding myself of God, I remember why he created humans, and then I see how he might have made humans to fufill his purposes.
In the case of human emotional systems, God made humans to enjoy and glorify him. So humans should be able to know with logic that he exists, but a stronger element is our experience of him. Logic is a little more of an attachement to enjoying God, like music and relationships, rather than the primary thing.
I have still used logic to find this principle, I still use logic to reduplicate evidence that God exists, I still use logic to find some dashingly amazing things about God, but 'higher up' on the pryamid is enjoying God.
Bottom up:
If you're trying to find a principle or a piece of evidence, you can also look at things 'below' that principle, and average/summarize them to find your answer. Most of the time you don't know for certain every element that goes into the single answer you're looking for, neither will you know if some of the possible elements don't fit at all, but exploring possibilites should help.
If I want to find a summary of the human system, I could look at what elements might be included in the human system. Let's try the main categories within a human. Normally people use three thing like soul, mind, and body for instance. But there are many other terms too. Let's list some:
will, mind, body, brain, spirit, emotions, heart, imagination, concious, subconcious, id, soul, reason, charachter, ...
Many of these could be synonyms, but we list them all anyway because this is a non-linear, non-logical, general approach.
Instead of just possible options, you can also use the raw information from your perceptions. For instance I thought: what causes me to do most everyday things? how do I think when experiencing emotion? and honestly, I didn't come up with much clear reasoning. This tells me that there is a huge subconcious archive of learned reactions and principles that I don't see everyday. Plus I bet there's some near-concious super general logical reasoning that I could probably flesh-out if I wanted to, but I wouldn't bother.
Find definitions:
The key to understanding concepts rarely lies in computational bulk, large spatial models, big linear time sequences, or anything like that. If you find properties like 'who created this?' or 'what is it made of?' or 'what was this made for?', things make much more sense. For instance, when I was trying to understand emotion, I asked questions like:
what causes emotions? what are they made of? how should we use them? what is their purpose? are there multiple categories of emotions (like spontaneous versus developed)? how are they expressed?
Do not try to understand something using only a few angles. I would call these angles 'dimensions'. So, here are some dimensions to look at ideas with:
categories - look at the terms used in an idea and see if some are synonyms, if some are more specific types while others are general labels.
causality - what causes these things?
purpose - why was it created?
material - what is a term made of? is it spoken word? is it an idea in the head only? is it an emotion? is it a decision?
direct object - who or what is this directed towards? who is it meant to govern?
Just keep asking questions, keep your mind cold and open. If it's going nowhere, remind yourself of truh, ask questions, and look for purpose.
08 July 2010
emotional system
Summary: "the realm of emotion may be autonomous from, yet interactive with, the realm of information"
[by the way, I might change 'emo/dat' to 'emo/inf' because the term information is less confusing]
Recent thoughts about trust in a God who's bigger than us, the spontanaeity of human emotions, exploring the world - gods gift to us, and other things has led me to give emotion a little more space in the theory of emo/dat.
Currently, emo/dat is like this "emotion is caused by the review in the mind of large amounts of data"
However, in this model we have labeled the cause of emotion, but not its essence. Perhaps emotion is much more autonomous. The emotion you feel is a 'commentary' on the data you are thinking about. It's like another person inside your head, what we might call your heart, or your will, which looks at what you're thinking and says to you 'I like that' or 'that's appalling', and you feel emotion.
There may also be causal/logical relationships between certain emotions, spontaneous actions of your heart which cause spontaneous emotionsl, etc. These causal relationships may not be like the logic of the scientific world. The main property of emotions, in fact, might be the lack of causality. Many conflicting emotions might exist at the same time (but they aren't conflicting because they don't interact with eachother much).
There are several other interesting properties of this idea which I have forgotten, but I may remember them later.
Now for an interesting implication: God converting us.
Previously I had thought of God changing what we like and don't like, changing our will, essentially. There was also the idea where God opens our eyes to the truth, the amazing offer of Jesus Christ. At the moment I don't see how those two ideas related to eachother, but anyway, here's the new model:
God convinces our heart, like a conversation. In the realm of information you might convince me that diamond is harder than steel by talking to me and presenting information. In the same way, God convinces our heart by giving us emotional 'evidence' of his existence and how amazing he is.
I am very tired and hungry right now, so I fear I am not up to par cognitively. I might come back later when I can think straight.
[by the way, I might change 'emo/dat' to 'emo/inf' because the term information is less confusing]
Recent thoughts about trust in a God who's bigger than us, the spontanaeity of human emotions, exploring the world - gods gift to us, and other things has led me to give emotion a little more space in the theory of emo/dat.
Currently, emo/dat is like this "emotion is caused by the review in the mind of large amounts of data"
However, in this model we have labeled the cause of emotion, but not its essence. Perhaps emotion is much more autonomous. The emotion you feel is a 'commentary' on the data you are thinking about. It's like another person inside your head, what we might call your heart, or your will, which looks at what you're thinking and says to you 'I like that' or 'that's appalling', and you feel emotion.
There may also be causal/logical relationships between certain emotions, spontaneous actions of your heart which cause spontaneous emotionsl, etc. These causal relationships may not be like the logic of the scientific world. The main property of emotions, in fact, might be the lack of causality. Many conflicting emotions might exist at the same time (but they aren't conflicting because they don't interact with eachother much).
There are several other interesting properties of this idea which I have forgotten, but I may remember them later.
Now for an interesting implication: God converting us.
Previously I had thought of God changing what we like and don't like, changing our will, essentially. There was also the idea where God opens our eyes to the truth, the amazing offer of Jesus Christ. At the moment I don't see how those two ideas related to eachother, but anyway, here's the new model:
God convinces our heart, like a conversation. In the realm of information you might convince me that diamond is harder than steel by talking to me and presenting information. In the same way, God convinces our heart by giving us emotional 'evidence' of his existence and how amazing he is.
I am very tired and hungry right now, so I fear I am not up to par cognitively. I might come back later when I can think straight.
"I am the universe."
Summary: "God is the universe in the sense that it is one of the ways that he represents himself to us."
There is this song on KTIS that I heard (it's been around awhile) which has the line "I am the universe. I am in every heart. I am where you are. The Lord of Lords, the king of kings. The holy lamb, above all things."
The first phrase "I am the universe" just pounced on me and stirred me up pretty well.
But then, of course, I had to pick it apart.
God, by the way, is NOT limited to the universe. There is no Native American mother nature or great spirit that is the earth.
However, God created the universe, and I think he created it as an image of himself to us, something for us to explore and enjoy. In heaven, of course, we get the real thing YEAH! But for now, we have to suffice with the world to explore, and his Holy Spirit inside of us.
So God can say "I am the universe." Because the universe is what he has chosen to represent himself to us, one of the ways he shows himself to us. The universe is his reflection in a pool, designed for us to see.
There is this song on KTIS that I heard (it's been around awhile) which has the line "I am the universe. I am in every heart. I am where you are. The Lord of Lords, the king of kings. The holy lamb, above all things."
The first phrase "I am the universe" just pounced on me and stirred me up pretty well.
But then, of course, I had to pick it apart.
God, by the way, is NOT limited to the universe. There is no Native American mother nature or great spirit that is the earth.
However, God created the universe, and I think he created it as an image of himself to us, something for us to explore and enjoy. In heaven, of course, we get the real thing YEAH! But for now, we have to suffice with the world to explore, and his Holy Spirit inside of us.
So God can say "I am the universe." Because the universe is what he has chosen to represent himself to us, one of the ways he shows himself to us. The universe is his reflection in a pool, designed for us to see.
07 July 2010
god is bigger - trust
summary: "We can't know or understand everything, so don't try to be important by knowing everything, we have to trust God."
God is big, yes? Infinite.
Bigger than we can comprehend or describe (although I love trying) so naturally he will be surprising and we will have to change and learn.
The world is big too, yes? (note that God created the world as a gift to us for our exploration)
We humans are limited in many ways. We have only seen a few billion light years out into space, and there's no guessing how big the universe really is. And on the other end of the spectrum, scientists have identified many levels of particles beyond the atom, electron, gluons, quarks, etc. Hm? How many levels? 30. Yup, you heard that right. We humans are surrounded by vast unknown, and it's pretty scary, to be honest.
But it gets worse.
We can't even figure ourselves out. Perception, psychology, sophism, anger management, relationships, etc. We go to war all the time, we disagree about government types, we can't get along... AHHHH! Even our perceptual abilities are severely limited. I can only see maybe 6 dimensions, [3 spatial, 1 time, 1 material, 1 eletricity or something] not the 11 to 14 that string theories talk about. Not to mention any goverened spiritual dimensions.
So what can we do? Nothing by ourselves. '
We're running around the surface of the earth without a clue as to what's out there.
Good news though: we have God to trust in.
In fact, our main motivation to trust him shouldn't be this fear of the unknown, of our helplessness (I don't think). Think about it, what are we afraid of? The biggness of the world, right? If we understand it, we kind of conquer it. This is one of the ways we humans try to conquer the world on our own.
But guess what? God made the world!!!
Trust him for heavens sakes! This thing we are afraid of, something bigger created the world. And that thing is relationional, it's romantic, it's perfect and infinite...GOD!
He has things planned out, he loves you and has a plan for you. Get in touch with this amazing God!
Stop floudering around, thrasing about trying to conquer the world. Trust!
Again, our main motivation should not be our helplessness, it should be the amazing solidarity and knowledge of God. Don't just run away from what is useless, because how will you know where to run to? Aim towards the positive solution.
Please note that unlike my other posts, I have a queasy feeling in my stomach while writing this. Maybe from extreme hunger, who knows. But anyway, this post did not flow very well. Perhaps I will get on track and rewrite it for the third time.
God is big, yes? Infinite.
Bigger than we can comprehend or describe (although I love trying) so naturally he will be surprising and we will have to change and learn.
The world is big too, yes? (note that God created the world as a gift to us for our exploration)
We humans are limited in many ways. We have only seen a few billion light years out into space, and there's no guessing how big the universe really is. And on the other end of the spectrum, scientists have identified many levels of particles beyond the atom, electron, gluons, quarks, etc. Hm? How many levels? 30. Yup, you heard that right. We humans are surrounded by vast unknown, and it's pretty scary, to be honest.
But it gets worse.
We can't even figure ourselves out. Perception, psychology, sophism, anger management, relationships, etc. We go to war all the time, we disagree about government types, we can't get along... AHHHH! Even our perceptual abilities are severely limited. I can only see maybe 6 dimensions, [3 spatial, 1 time, 1 material, 1 eletricity or something] not the 11 to 14 that string theories talk about. Not to mention any goverened spiritual dimensions.
So what can we do? Nothing by ourselves. '
We're running around the surface of the earth without a clue as to what's out there.
Good news though: we have God to trust in.
In fact, our main motivation to trust him shouldn't be this fear of the unknown, of our helplessness (I don't think). Think about it, what are we afraid of? The biggness of the world, right? If we understand it, we kind of conquer it. This is one of the ways we humans try to conquer the world on our own.
But guess what? God made the world!!!
Trust him for heavens sakes! This thing we are afraid of, something bigger created the world. And that thing is relationional, it's romantic, it's perfect and infinite...GOD!
He has things planned out, he loves you and has a plan for you. Get in touch with this amazing God!
Stop floudering around, thrasing about trying to conquer the world. Trust!
Again, our main motivation should not be our helplessness, it should be the amazing solidarity and knowledge of God. Don't just run away from what is useless, because how will you know where to run to? Aim towards the positive solution.
Please note that unlike my other posts, I have a queasy feeling in my stomach while writing this. Maybe from extreme hunger, who knows. But anyway, this post did not flow very well. Perhaps I will get on track and rewrite it for the third time.
evil and Gods will
abstract (summary): "evil is the absence of God, so he has the ability to cause it by leaving someplace"
This will be a high-tension controversial theory and I'd like to resolve into something more certain if possible. If bible verses and other thoughts come into your head as you read, I would love to hear them.
Evil is not directly opposed to God, as if we could pick up evil and throw it at him. When God comes in contact with evil, there is no battle (naturally). Evil is only the absence of God, like dark is the absence of light. So when God moves into a dark corner...he lights it up - no questions asked, no battle.
So now regarding the presence of evil and God's absolute soverign will. Everything that happens is part of God's plan, right? But what about evil? Does he make us do evil sometimes?
James 1:13-14 "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is temted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed."
Exodus 10:20 "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go."
Hm. I don't have an acceptable solution to this yet.
Here's one 'solution' which is not really satisfactory. Could God create evil by simply leaving someplace? For instance, could he retract his gracious hand of sanity from Pharaoh's heart, causing him to have a hard heart? This unfortunately makes God very closely connected with evil. Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated!
More texts: Romans 9 in general.
Romans 1:24,26 "Therefore [because people had rejected God] he gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity the degrading of their bodies with one another." "26Because of this God gave them over to sinful lusts..."
By the way, this close connction of God with evil would seem to lessen his aversion to it. (meaning, why does he punish us for sinning?) Good point. The justice aspect of God is kind of left out. But the emotional part stays. God is still jealous for us, and he still gets ticked off when we leave him. In this way the primary motivation to avoid sinning is not justice, it is Gods love.
Hm, this might be a good thing, eh? But I still don't like it much.
Hopefully there will be more about this soon.
This will be a high-tension controversial theory and I'd like to resolve into something more certain if possible. If bible verses and other thoughts come into your head as you read, I would love to hear them.
Evil is not directly opposed to God, as if we could pick up evil and throw it at him. When God comes in contact with evil, there is no battle (naturally). Evil is only the absence of God, like dark is the absence of light. So when God moves into a dark corner...he lights it up - no questions asked, no battle.
So now regarding the presence of evil and God's absolute soverign will. Everything that happens is part of God's plan, right? But what about evil? Does he make us do evil sometimes?
James 1:13-14 "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is temted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed."
Exodus 10:20 "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go."
Hm. I don't have an acceptable solution to this yet.
Here's one 'solution' which is not really satisfactory. Could God create evil by simply leaving someplace? For instance, could he retract his gracious hand of sanity from Pharaoh's heart, causing him to have a hard heart? This unfortunately makes God very closely connected with evil. Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated!
More texts: Romans 9 in general.
Romans 1:24,26 "Therefore [because people had rejected God] he gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity the degrading of their bodies with one another." "26Because of this God gave them over to sinful lusts..."
By the way, this close connction of God with evil would seem to lessen his aversion to it. (meaning, why does he punish us for sinning?) Good point. The justice aspect of God is kind of left out. But the emotional part stays. God is still jealous for us, and he still gets ticked off when we leave him. In this way the primary motivation to avoid sinning is not justice, it is Gods love.
Hm, this might be a good thing, eh? But I still don't like it much.
Hopefully there will be more about this soon.
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