Category: Religion

The Reality War

 

The ancient War between reality and fantasy continues…

As James Lindsay points out, science is “by definition anti-Gnostic,” because – if practiced as intended – it seeks to describe nature as it is through empirical reason. That is, science observes evidence in the physical world, and only then bases its theoretical conclusions – its Knowledge – on those observations of reality. After which we can then use it to achieve some relative progress by “better according our lives with reality as it is and thus doing better in reality.”

In contrast, Lindsay identifies “the general madness of the world at the present” as resulting from the “parasitic bugbear” of Gnosticism, and specifically what he categorizes as “Scientific Gnosticism.” What makes Scientific Gnosticism different from science is that it inverts the above process: it puts the conclusions of Theory (its Gnosis) ahead of empirical observation of the world.…

…And if the world does not accord with Theory, then the world is wrong, and it “must seek to call truths things which are not.”

Source: The Reality War

 

Mystery of Noah’s Ark Solved!

Very interesting. Looks like something got mistranslated over the millenia…

“The measurements—300 cubits, 50 cubits, and 30 cubits—must be in the text of Genesis for a reason. But no one has been able to come up with a shape based on the Biblical dimensions that does not seem intuitively wrong.

“This would be a trivial question if it were not linked to a greater puzzle with profound theological and ethical implications. In the Torah, the strange word tevah is used only twice: once to describe Noah’s Ark, and once to describe the fragile container made out of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was placed in the Nile before Pharaoh’s daughter found him. It has long been a mystery why the same word would be used for the wicker basket that rescued Moses and the vessel that rescued the ancestors of all present-day human beings and animals.

“Until now. I have finally solved the mystery of the shape of Noah’s Ark—and discovered why it matters.”

Interesting theory. I’ll wait for further proof. Like some future Thor Heyerdahl building a replica and sailing it around with a bunch of animals for forty days.

Source: Mystery of Noah’s Ark Solved!

 

On The Feast of Stephen…

Good King Wenceslaus went out
On the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.

O.K., Christians of the world: Church history for one hundred. When is the Feast of Stephen and to whom does it refer? (Pause for hemming and hawing.)

It’s December 26, the day after Christmas, when the death of the church’s first martyr, Stephen, is traditionally commemorated. Trivial, yes, but most Christians can’t give me the correct answer.

Source: The Feast of Stephen: Christmas Traditions: – John Loeffler – Koinonia House

For over 60 years I did not know this. The reference to the “feast of Stephen” in the carol was lost on me. Therefore I didn’t really understand the carol. Proof (to me) that Western culture and traditions have not been passed down to the younger generations. We are seeing the results of this now. Ignorance is causing societal chaos.

Today is traditionally the “Second Day of Christmas” in the Western church, or St. Stephen’s Day, aka the “Feast of Stephen”, as referenced in the carol “Good King Wenceslas.”
Stephen was the first Christian martyr as recorded in Acts 7:
58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Acts 7:1-57 is basically Stephen bearing his testimony of the risen Christ, which is what enraged the crowd.

Pope says Christians should never seek to convert unbelievers, anyone who proselytizes “is not a disciple of Jesus”

Anti-Christ in the Vatican

In a dialogue with Catholic high school students in Rome this weekend, Pope Francis responded to a question about how to deal with atheists and people of other faiths by saying that Christians should never proselytize — and any who do are not truly Christians.

  • “If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus.”

  • “The Church does not grow by proselytism.”

Pretty sure it is supposed to grow that way. Has the Pope ever read the New Testament? One of the risen Christ’s last orders was…

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Source: Pope says Christians should never seek to convert unbelievers, anyone who proselytizes “is not a disciple of Jesus”

German Bishops Pronounce Homosexuality ‘Normal’ and ‘Unchangeable’

Both the homosexual and heterosexual orientation “belong to the normal forms of a sexual predisposition that cannot and should not be changed by any specific socialization,” the Dec. 5 communiqué stated.

The bishops embraced the findings of a study group on sexual morality chaired by Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch, which will form a starting point for the “Synodal Way of the Church” in Germany to rethink Catholic teachings and praxis for the present day.

I’ve said for years that the Catholic church has a homosexual problem—homosexuals infest its clergy—so of course they support this anti-Christian perversion.

Note that they are ‘rethinking’ Catholic teachings… not waiting for a new revelation from God… who they don’t believe in anyway.

This is why the punishment for homosexuality is so severe in the Scriptures. Any ‘tolerance’ of it leads to this.

Source: German Bishops Pronounce Homosexuality ‘Normal’ and ‘Unchangeable’

The Democratic Cold War on Christianity Heating Up

Any public person, group, company or church that identifies as Christian will be forced to take a stand on the question of whether or not they celebrate the LGBTQ lifestyle regardless of whether they want to or not, even if they barely care about the issue.  That’s the plan.  Because the Bible presents a clear position that is counter to the prevailing culture, it is an easy avenue of attack.  The hate on this issue is one-sided.  Christian theology teaches to love the sinner while hating the sin.  Anti-Christian leftists practice hating the Christian while celebrating the sin.  Christian unwillingness to celebrate the sin is the offense that cannot be overlooked.

Source: The Democratic Cold War on Christianity Heating Up

Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks to the Law School

So the Founders decided to take a gamble. They called it a great experiment.

They would leave “the People” broad liberty, limit the coercive power of the government, and place their trust in self-discipline and the virtue of the American people.

In the words of Madison, “We have staked our future on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves…”

This is really what was meant by “self-government.” It did not mean primarily the mechanics by which we select a representative legislative body. It referred to the capacity of each individual to restrain and govern themselves.

But what was the source of this internal controlling power? In a free republic, those restraints could not be handed down from above by philosopher kings.

Instead, social order must flow up from the people themselves – freely obeying the dictates of inwardly-possessed and commonly-shared moral values. And to control willful human beings, with an infinite capacity to rationalize, those moral values must rest on authority independent of men’s will – they must flow from a transcendent Supreme Being.

In short, in the Framers’ view, free government was only suitable and sustainable for a religious people – a people who recognized that there was a transcendent moral order antecedent to both the state and man-made law and who had the discipline to control themselves according to those enduring principles.

Source: Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks to the Law School