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  1. Re:The Answer summed up: on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    You're conflating two kinds of law: human law can be broken, laws of nature can't.

    In any case, the serious suggestion that the existence of natural laws proves the existence of a god or gods is a classical example of what amounts to a pun in English (and French and German, and dates back to Latin) that has historically been viewed as a valid argument for an ultimate creator and law-giver. It's easy to argue in this case that a bug in the language has had a strong influence on the concepts and beliefs of at least some speakers of that language.

    And the existence of explanations like the above is a counter-argument that, with a bit of thought, people can understand and resist this sort of trick, counteracting the strong Sapir-Whorf hypothesis in at least one case.

    I am in no way trying to prove there is a God, because that cannot be done in any language or human endeavor. Like a jury, you can only consider evidence. There is never any proof except perhaps in mathematics.

    There is solid evidence of all human laws are 1st formulated in human minds. It is logical that this evidence can be extended to the existence of laws of nature originating in the mind of God. Like a jury, you can accept and believe the evidence, or you can refuse to. When someone violates a law of nature, the consequences are usually instantaneous. God's moral laws are different in this respect. Humans can seemingly with impunity violate God's moral laws, often for a whole lifetime, and seem to get away with it. This is because God has chosen to not give us human beings a direct instantaneous glimpse into what happens after physical death.

    For this information, we have to depend on what God has revealed in the Bible. We have to believe this information, because we cannot independently verify it. We have to believe that the 40 different authors that wrote the 66 books of the Bible were truthful and reliable. If you choose not to believe these writings, they nevertheless apply to you. In these writings it is recorded that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that comes judgment”. I don't think that you disbelieve the 1st part of the sentence about dying, but you may disbelieve the 2nd part about judgment. You may freely choose to disbelieve the 2nd part, but after you die, you will find out whether it was true or not. Unfortunately for you, it will be too late then. While you are still here on Earth, you can escape this judgment, if you believe that Jesus Christ suffered the judgment for you on the cross.

  2. Re:Too much magic woo-ism .. on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    I regret to inform you that the why of "creation" doesn't involve humans and when we've exausted this planets resources, there'll be no-one left to wonder why ...

    Since you could not possibly have verified this statement independently, it is a statement of faith. If someone tells you their likes or dislikes, there is no way to independently determine whether these are true or not. If you trust such a person, then you are likely to believe them. If they have lied to you before and you don't trust them, you will probably not believe them. God has never lied to me and the things in the Bible are true, because I believe that God and the writers he commissioned to write down his thoughts are reliable and truthful.

  3. Re:Citation? on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    In either case, you have to believe whether in alien abductions or in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You cannot independently, scientifically verify either one. Juries have to believe what they are presented with in court. There is no proof. Your only choice is to believe that the men who wrote the Bible correctly reported on what they saw and heard, even if what they report it goes against human experience. You can choose to believe or disbelieve, that is all.

  4. Re:The Answer summed up: on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    There are 2 kinds of laws. You mentioned the law of gravity. Humans have no choice about that. There is an immediate built-in punishment for those that flout this natural law given by God. Punishment for murder, theft or of the moral laws of God is not always immediate, but just a certain. Sometimes violators get away with it for a whole lifetime. This causes the rest of us to think that they have gotten away Scot free forever. No one can repeal the law of cause and effect, no matter how long the delay may take. Murderers, thieves, liars and other violators of divine law will be punished even if the punishment is not instant, such as it is for most natural laws. My main point was that all laws, whether human or natural, arise either in human minds or in God's mind respectively.

  5. Re:The Answer summed up: on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    Obviously the laws of nature existed long before any human being. I am saying that the mind of God, being far superior to any human mind, came up with the laws of nature. Laws can only come from a mind. Human laws come from humans and natural laws, from the maker of nature, namely God in whose mind they all originated. Only a mind providing information together with energy can create order out of chaos.

  6. Re:The Answer summed up: on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    "The supernatural is completely unknowable,..."

    I agree with you and so is the existence of God unknowable. However, my dislike of liver and the fact that I love my wife and family is also unknowable, unless I reveal that fact to you. Even then, there is no way that you can check this out scientifically, but you simply have to believe me or not. So the existence of God and what he is like can only come to us by revelation we have to believe or not. You can choose whether to believe me concerning my aversion to liver. Similarly you also can choose to believe whatever God tells you. God has left a written record of his dealings with man in a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors over about 1500 years. This collection of books is commonly known as the Bible. Again, you have to believe or disbelieve that these men heard from God and correctly transmitted the information that God wanted to pass on through them. You have to choose to believe or disbelieve. It is not that you can verify everything you are told or read. I happen to choose to believe what has been written down in the biblical records and you don't. That's all.

  7. Re:Ah, a question no ONE can answer. on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    "Chaos and Order. The Universe is both Order and Chaos..."

    Chaos and order can only exist because there is this thing we call “time”. All actions in this universe are bounded by a finite amount of time. Whether we call these actions “chaos” or “order” is immaterial. If you can tell what time is, only then can you define chaos and order.

    The beginning of the collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors, commonly known as the Bible begins with this majestic sentence:

    Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

    Here we are told that the God who created everything first made time (beginning), then space (heavens) and then matter–energy (Earth). So before there was time there was neither chaos nor order.

    If you are walking on a beach somewhere and find a magnificently constructed watch, you can take that watch part and determine its construction and function in intimate detail as to HOW it works. What you never can do however is determine WHY it exists unless you find the watchmaker and he decides to REVEAL the answer to that question to you.

    I wrote an essay earlier this year on the “why” question that is the topic on this forum. You can download it from here if you wish:

    http://www.waterfreeclean.com/forms/why-of-creation.pdf

  8. Re:Citation? on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 0

    Is that a faith-based fact?

    Which brings us back to the point: why ask a religious authority about reality? There's an infinite variety of faith-based "facts".

    If someone tells you they like sliced tomatoes and sour pickles with their ice cream, you only have 2 choices. You can believe them or disbelieve them. There is no way for you to verify whether they indeed have those preferences. They have revealed this information to you, but there is no way to scientifically verify whether this revelation is correct or not. Therefore, what they have revealed to you is a faith-based fact.

    The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by 40 different authors. A repeated phrase therein is, “thus says the Lord God...”, or “God said...”. All those different writers are either wrong, self-deluded, or God did indeed speak to them. There is no way to verify this, except to choose to believe or choose to disbelieve what these different authors repeated hundreds of times.

    In the end, it is not nearly as important WHAT you believe, rather than WHOM you believe. Do you believe modern atheistic writers and skeptics, or do you believe that God has expressed himself in these ancient written records that have endured thousands of years? The Bible is filled with “faith-based facts”.

  9. Re:The Answer summed up: on Book Review: Why Does the World Exist? · · Score: 1

    In all our human experience, laws can only come from legislatures, from humans with minds. No human laws have ever arisen apart from human minds. Is it logical to postulate that all the complex laws of nature came from something other than a mind? The question is whose mind? The vast majority of people on earth believe in some kind of God that created things. Only a small minority of people believe that we are here by chance.

  10. Re:Wireless has congestion on The Danger In Exempting Wireless From Net Neutrality · · Score: 1

    Data is a commodity that can be measured, just like electricity gas and water. Why not meter the data and charge users accordingly, rather than a flat rate for everybody? Have a certain number of data units available at various levels of monthly cost. Any user that exceeds that amount gets charged more. Why should a grandma or grandpa who only use the Internet to get their e-mail and occasionally use a browser to surf for some information pay the same as someone who downloads gigabytes of video or other data, such as operating systems and huge software files. Any given type of data should have the same priorities of service. Why should someone who only wants to get their e-mail or surf the net be waiting in line for someone who downloads massive files or watches data intensive high definition videos? Users of large amounts of data should pay more. On my electric bill, if I use more than a certain number of kilowatt hours, I pay a higher rate for the excess electricity. Data, even if it doesn't cost more per unit can be priced the same way, to discourage data hogs. Grandma users don't need enormous bandwidth, like video and games require, so why are we asking such users to subsidize the high, expensive bandwidth requirements for users, who use the Internet in ways that it was never designed for in the first place.

  11. Re:Stockholm Syndrome on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    Thanks, that was a good reply. It seems that your definition of “good” and mine are a little bit different. To me, “good” means perfect. Only God is perfect, according to Jesus. Since Jesus is God in human form, he will be able to rule righteously according to his schedule. I am looking forward to that day. May it be sooner rather than later. Life on earth will be wonderful. Jesus is not going to solve all our problems, but will tell us what we must do to solve them for ourselves. Like a good father, God will never do for his kids what he knows they can and must do for themselves.

    The mystery of evil has been debated endlessly by theologians and philosophers. Its exact origin, as to how it arose within Lucifer will probably be unknown until we can personally ask God. From our time perspective we have a lot of questions right now, but as the apostle Paul points out in the chapter of love in 1st Corinthians 13, we will know as we are known.

  12. Re:Stockholm Syndrome on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    So in your mind then, good and evil are just words that have no meaning or concepts behind them?

  13. Re:For me, eternal life only if... on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    Why wouldn't I replace parts as the technology becomes available?

    There is no God, and raw milk kills people. Remember shit flow down hill.

    "The question that is not answered by scientists is this: How did all this information for the construction of living things originate?"
    You don't understand what information is in this context. If you had you wouldn't be asking such a stupid question.
    But you bury you head in the sand and keep asking question about things you know nothing about, because the world needs more selfish idiots~

    You can replace parts for a while, but eventually you will reach a point, just like an old car, where this will no longer work. On an old car, after the engine fails, the transmission breaks down, the body is rusted out and the wheels fall off, you no longer will have a working car. In the end, entropy wins, whether over an old car or your dying body. The solution is a new car. In the Bible, God promises for those people who BELIEVE it, a new eternal body that is not subject to entropy.

    People have been eating raw honey and drinking raw milk for millennia, long before Louis Pasteur existed. In many places in the world today people still do that and suffer no harm.

  14. Re:Ex-military, current paranoid schizophrenic on Judge Orders Release of Ex-Marine Detained Over Facebook Posts · · Score: 1

    I appreciate your sincerity, but none of this is evidence of God in the scientific sense. I wouldn't attempt to dissuade you from your faith, but the Bible is made up of words written on a page by man. God doesn't pick up a pen, it doesn't leave fingerprints. An article of faith isn't objective evidence - in fact, faith is belief without evidence. That is simply the definition. With evidence, faith is not required. They are distinct, separate, non-intersecting concepts in unrelated fields.

    Which is fine! One can be proud of one's faith, celebrate it. The unknowable is fascinating and compelling. But don't try to make it into something it isn't. Claiming articles of faith as evidence (it seems to me) is an insult to faith.

    Evidence, whether scientific or not has to be believed. Evidence need not be only “scientific”, but can take many other forms as well, such as historical evidence.

    If someone gave you the next 5 winning Powerball combinations for the next 5 draws, you would have to believe them and fill out the tickets each time. If you did not believe that person and did nothing about it, you would likely be kicking yourself for disbelieving the predictions, when those numbers did indeed come up on every single one of the 5 draws and you would have won the Powerball lottery 5 times in a row. Of course, you would likely be accused of cheating somehow by fellow disbelievers If that prediction actually were fulfilled exactly.

    In the Bible, God has predicted history in advance, both the past history of the world and also the future as well as your own future. Some of these predictions are far more improbable than my Powerball example. If you do not believe what Jesus Christ said about your future, you will have an eternity of regret to look forward to.

  15. Re:For me, eternal life only if... on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    Entropy affects everything in this universe, including the Sun and life itself. Life, by the addition of energy and importantly also information, works against the natural entropy of the universe, but only for a limited amount of time. Any living thing, including human beings, contains an immense amount of information which directs the energy necessary for life processes including reproduction. The question that is not answered by scientists is this: How did all this information for the construction of living things originate?

    Energy without information is destructive. A mixture of gasoline and air exploding only causes destruction unless it is harnessed in an engine designed by human beings. Design engineers worked many long hours to impart information to a piece of steel and other materials, to build an engine that can then harness energy in a nondestructive manner. This information ultimately comes from the minds of the engineers. All information ultimately comes from a mind. In the case of human designs, it comes from human minds. In the case of life and living things, this information comes from God the Creator.

  16. Re:Stockholm Syndrome on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    I wonder where you get the idea that Lucifer is a messenger of God. In the Bible, Lucifer now called Satan, is Gods adversary. When 2 messengers purporting to come from God say the opposite, which one are you going to believe? Moses, a messenger from God was told that murder is evil and wrong. Satan by contrast, is called a murderer and liar from the beginning. The King that is going to rule in righteousness over the whole earth is named Jesus. You can read about it in Psalm 2 among other places in the Bible where this is foretold. He will have complete unfettered authority over the whole world. Jerusalem will be the capital city of planet Earth. Jesus is God and human simultaneously and is all good only. He will rule with absolute power and absolute integrity and absolute justice.

  17. Re:Ex-military, current paranoid schizophrenic on Judge Orders Release of Ex-Marine Detained Over Facebook Posts · · Score: 1

    God, the Creator of time and space, he alone possesses the ability to tell us everything that happens throughout all time. God demonstrates the authenticity of his word, the Bible, by writing history before it happens. Thousands of years ago, in the Old Testament, God predicted that the Jewish people would be scattered all over the earth, when they refuse to believe him and thus obey his commands. This scattering of the Jewish people and the desolation of their land came true in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem and Jewish temple were destroyed by the Romans. The final scattering of the Jews took place in 135 A.D. after the Jews that were left rebelled against the Roman government again. They were enjoined from returning to the land of Israel on pain of death. The land itself was renamed Palestine.

    God also predicted that in the final days of man under human governments, the Jews would return to their land and become a nation once again. This took place on May 14, 1948 when the state of Israel was born. God further prophesied that the city of Jerusalem would be a bone of contention and a rock of offense for ALL nations. All these predictions were made centuries before the time of Christ or Mohammed. What other city on earth do you know of, where a zoning change and the building of a few apartments threatens peace in the entire Middle East and perhaps the whole world?

    Damascus is one of the oldest cities on earth. It is over 5000 years old. Yet, God through his prophet Isaiah tells us that Damascus, the capital of Syria, will be destroyed and not be an inhabited city again. This is yet future to us, but given the present unrest in Syria could well happen in the very near future. Enter “Samson Option” into Google to learn how this will happen by the hand of Israel. I could go on and on with more scriptural evidence, because there are literally hundreds of prophecies made by God through his prophets. I hope this is enough evidence for you right for now.

  18. Re:For me, eternal life only if... on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    Eternal youth is only possible if you can come up with a body that is not subject to entropy. Some living things, such as redwood trees get incredibly old, but even they eventually die. There is one person, who did overcome entropy and death, if you believe the resurrection accounts of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible. Of course for most people, these accounts are nothing but a fanciful story that couldn't possibly be true. For those that take these accounts has something that really took place in history, they have hope and the promise that is made, that those who believe will also someday receive a body to live in, which is not subject to Entropy and death.

  19. Re:Stockholm Syndrome on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 0

    "Having that much power in one person is very perilous to those around him...."

    Having such power concentrated in one person is only perilous if that person is evil. A person who is ONLY good, such as Jesus Christ, will be a good King who will rule with uprightness and integrity. Unfortunately, there are no people on earth who are not a mixture of good and evil. Therefore none of us is fit to be a king with absolute power.

  20. Re:I plan to live forever, of course on How Long Do You Want To Live? · · Score: 1

    So you want Hell on earth? Hell is where sinful, selfish people live forever. Death is the only thing that separates the earth from Hell. Living forever or even many centuries would only be worthwhile in a world where evil did not exist. Death is necessary in the world such as ours where good and evil coexist together.

  21. Re:Ex-military, current paranoid schizophrenic on Judge Orders Release of Ex-Marine Detained Over Facebook Posts · · Score: 1

    Nothing is ever “proved” in any human endeavor, except perhaps mathematical proofs. Evidences no matter how much or how numerous, can only be either believed or disbelieved. There is plenty of evidence that God does indeed exist, but that does not prove he does. Either way, you either have to believe the evidence or disbelieve. There is no proof. There are people today who will refuse to believe that any human being ever stood on the moon or that the Holocaust ever happened, despite all of the evidence.

  22. Re:Ex-military, current paranoid schizophrenic on Judge Orders Release of Ex-Marine Detained Over Facebook Posts · · Score: 1

    Prove that He doesn't.

  23. Re:It's even worse on Booted From Airplane For Wearing Anti-TSA T-shirt · · Score: 1

    "In this case the TSA and Delta are the ones that behaved badly..."
    That is certainly true, but the captains of ships and airplanes have the legal right to deny anyone entry onto their aircraft for any reason or no reason at all. The captain's decision may be questioned as to its wisdom, but in the end he/she has the final word.

  24. Re: on How Technology Might Avert an Apocalypse · · Score: 1

    "I think the date of the end of this world is set in stone..."

    God has definitely a date on which he is going to end human existence at the level at which we have known it. People who have chosen not to believe in the creator God as revealed to us in the holy Bible have good reason to be uncertain and afraid. Because of Jesus, God is indeed willing and able to forgive us ignorant human beings, just for the asking.

    The last book of the Bible, is the book of Revelation. This word was derived from the original Greek from which we have derived the word apocalypse. It simply means to reveal or uncover something. All throughout this holy book, the Bible, we have God writing history in advance. There are accurate descriptions of the scattering of the Jewish people throughout the nations and the gathering of them in the final days. The modern state of Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. It was predicted that this would happen. (Isaiah 66:8)

    The next item of God's agenda that we shall see, is the destruction of Damascus. You can read about it in context in Isaiah 17. Damascus is one of the oldest cities on earth. It has never been destroyed, but it will be. The present civil war in Syria will eventually get Israel involved. The whole world will be incensed at Israel, to the point that ALL Jews will be cast out and repatriated to Israel.

    Ezekiel 39:28 Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave NONE of them remaining among the nations anymore.

  25. Re:US on Ask Slashdot: What's the Best Place To Relocate? · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Debt is measured in dollars. Germany and other countries all over the planet have canceled all debt and all bank accounts by simply changing this thing that people call money. There is no country on earth that uses real money i.e. gold or some other item of value. Fiat money wears out, whether that is negative (debt) or assets in bank accounts, which in either case these days are only numbers in computer registers somewhere. In ancient Israel in biblical times, their economy was essentially reset every 49 years. All debt had to be forgiven and any properties mortgaged, went back to their original owners. This was a planned, foreseeable reset, after which everyone started over. In our modern economies there are also resets, such as experienced by many countries, such as Germany and others. The problem is that these resets are not planned, but happen haphazardly. That makes the results much more traumatic for the average person. Fiat money, such as is used in all world economies is based on faith. When people lose their faith that particular kind of money is no longer accepted by most of them for trading, people resort to exchanging items of value, using them as money. In Germany after World War II, coffee beans and cigarettes were used as money, because people no longer trusted the old Hitler money. The US dollar is only as strong as the faith that people have in it. When that faith evaporates, other media of exchange will be used until a new form of government regulated money is issued. Most likely, very soon, there will be a world currency replacing the various forms of national money used today.