Philosophy And Commentary

2011-11-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Technology has presented us a false sense of intellect and makes us think that luxuries are actually necessities. - Cobalt TiNor

2011-11-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

I understand that some really want to mean it, but too many do really act like this.

Edges Of The Mask

2011-11-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

“Give me enough time and truth, and I may just find the edges of the mask for any optimistic person.”

—	Cobalt TiNor

2011-11-07T21:21:00.001-05:00

You can play worship music and raise your hands all that you want but you cannot worship the deity that you do not know.

Cranberry juice

2011-11-07T13:57:00.001-05:00

The weakest Cranberry juice I've ever had in my life

Q & A: 06/22/11

2011-06-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

Q & A: 06/22/11
Andrew Hasell aka Cobalt TiNor
June 22, 2011
#Opinion #Evolution #Morals #Absolute Right/Wrong #Rene Descartes #5 Senses #Mind/Body/Soul #Charles Darwin #Survival Instinct #Struggle Of Existence #Viracocha #God
[I broke up the text of the questioner to respond to the points raised in what I believe is a more fluid manner; something easier to follow along with]

Questioner: Hi there,
Cobalt T: Hey *******,
Questioner: Just been debating with someone who is not a standard atheist/agnostic -- he believes everything is possible. I started by asking his views on morals and he declined to share his views but instead play Devil's advocate and simply argue against Absolute Morals.
Cobalt T: I would question how he would argue “everything is possible” without exception but then make an exception after the fact for “absolute morals”. If “everything is possible” then we can be alive and dead at the same moment, or awake and asleep at the same instant; or any one of infinite contradictions at any given time. Either there are absolute morals or everything we know is wrong and “everything is possible”.
Cobalt T: At base level I would say morals are the determination of “right” and “wrong”, but if there are no absolute morals (no absolute right and wrong) then nothing that is said or done can ever be proven or disproven; nothing can ever be truth or lie; nothing would ever be worth arguing because it would be all subjective, to each his own. The very fact that he would bother to argue is pointless and goes against his supposed belief system.
Questioner: We reached a dead end because he wasn't happy about the necessary jump about assuming the validity or existence of sense data. He wanted to stick only with "I exist at this exact instant" as this was the only known thing (á la Descartes)
Questioner: You might have some thoughts as you're reading Descartes at the moment about this. I said it was a practical and necessary jump; a foundation that has to be built but cannot be properly founded. In this case the foundation is that "sense-data exists and is accurate for the sense of survival". (i.e. not a dream or an elaborate joke)
Cobalt T: I actually finished Descartes “Meditations” sometime last month lol I’m just getting around to completing and posting my notes and thoughts from the reading. But you caught me at a good time, because I’m still in the process.
Cobalt T: As far as Descartes is concerned once you acknowledge that you exist (because it impossible not to acknowledge) then you may want to say that you can’t trust your senses because they have deceived you. The thing is, though you can classify yourself as a thinking thing you cannot escape the fact that without your senses your mind cannot conceive anything. Descartes says that we can’t truly even acknowledge we exist without acknowledging the sensations that we have, also that it is easier to know what is outside your body through sensations than it is to know yourself without the physical. Even if you were to say that you were simply asleep and that this is all in our mind or all in a dream
Cobalt T: “it must be admitted that the things we see while asleep are like certain familiar images, which can be painted only as copies of things that are real. Therefore at least these general things – eyes, head, hands, the whole body – exist as real things rather than imaginary things.” – Descartes.
Cobalt T: “Nor should I have even the slightest doubt about their truth if, having called upon all my senses, my memory and my understanding to examine them, I get no report from any of them which conflicts with the others.” - Descartes
Questioner: The other issue I hit was whether or not morals can be explained by the individual wanting to protect themselves (i.e. I don't want to die, so I don't kill people. I don't want to feel pain, so I don't inflict pain) and an individual wanting to protect their tribe or pack (i.e. I want my genes to continue so I protect those close to me) and morality is simply an extension of this. I would argue it doesn't cover everything. I don't seem to have any evidence, though, but I know there must be some because I know most atheists are very troubled by this and never seem to use evolution as the basis of morals.
Cobalt T: Personally I have also read Charles Darwin’s “Origin Of Species” and his take on the process we call evolution. To me the process Darwin describes seems like an act of God. Darwin by the way in that book actually spoke very little about anything in the way of God, but what little he did say, was actually in favor of some creator; a God. But I digress, to come back to the matter at hand and my personal thoughts, how can there be a random process in nature that decides what is “right” and what is “wrong” if there is nothing guiding that process and if there are no “absolute morals”. Why would life and the “survival instinct” be dictated as “right” especially if all “life” was is an evolutionary struggle to overcome death? What dictates that life is right and death is wrong?
Cobalt T: Charles Darwin also leads us to believe that “survival” is not at all costs, but that it is actually a “struggle for existence” which is based on a balance, not sheer will to live. Darwin says things like
Cobalt T: “Every being, which during its natural lifetime produces several eggs or seeds, must suffer destruction during some period of its life, and during some season or occasional year; otherwise, on the principle of geometrical increase, its numbers would quickly become so inordinately great that no country could support the product. Hence, as more individuals are produced than can possibly survive, there must in every case be a struggle for existence, either one individual with another of the same species, or with the individual of a distinct species, or with the physical condition of life.” – Charles Darwin
Cobalt T: So therefore, even with evolution there is something that dictates “right” and “wrong” there is something that governs us and tells us that life is supposed to be better than death, and it is not simply a human thing but something all living beings have subscribed to. As Descartes puts it Cobalt T: “Have I some power by which I can bring it about that I, who exist at present, will still exist a short time in the future? Since I am only a thinking thing or, at least, I am discussing only those features of that part of me which is specifically a thinking thing, if I had such a power I would undoubtedly be aware of it. But I do not experience any such power, and therefore I know very evidently that I depend on some being which is distinct from me.” – Descartes
Cobalt T: All things considered, everybody has an idea of right and wrong; truth and lies. There is no way anyone can truly say differently, it’s like being able to deny that they themselves exist, I believe the term would be circular rhetoric. Also because of absolutes, I believe everybody also has an idea of God, now our ideas differ because more often than not we want to put human traits and characteristics on that idea. But whether we believe in the Christian God, we call ourselves God, or we call it Mother Nature, or Evolution, or Buddha, or Elohim, or Allah, or Viracocha, or Zuess, every human seems to have some concept of God.

An Elderly Moment

2011-06-07T10:30:00.001-04:00

Cobalt TiNor

June 6, 2011 Monday

#Wealth #Retirement #Cultural Differences #Sociology

As I was running an errand one particular morning I wound up in Fairfield and I stopped by a McDonald's which I don't do often. Inside I hear a lady calling numbers and being Fairfield there has been a trend in some of the richer communities to turn their fast food establishment into a mock diner. Allowing customers to order at the counter, find a seat, and have the food brought to them when it's ready. I am sure they have adjusted their prices in order to hire more man power and certain places only seem to do it at certain times of day as well. Come to think of it, that is kind of beside the point.

As I sat there eating my breakfast sandwich, I realized this lady was calling out numbers too fast for it to be order numbers and upon more scrutiny I realized they were bingo numbers. That doesn't strike me so much as odd but what does is the fact that these elderly folk chose McDonald's of all places to get together. I have known elderly folk to gather at Dunkin Donuts, at Starbucks, or Duchess (a local Connecticut fast food chain) but not McDonald's. Dunkin Donuts makes sense because of their coffee, Star Bucks makes sense because of their service, Duchess makes sense because of their fresh food and menu selection. But McDonald's is known for low prices, French fries, and faux ice cream products.

Naturally, when I see this group of elderly folk gathered at McDonald's I automatically wonder if it’s a result of the economic struggle right now. In the richer upper class neighborhood, are their retirement plans not stretching as much as they thought? Then I think about it more, and I realized the so-called minorities do not gather like this, from what I have seen. The times I see a group of elderly Black or Spanish folk gathered, it’s typically family. But white people, they typically seem to make arbitrary friends in their old age just so that they have a social aspect in life. Forgive me if I borrow part of my perception from the fictional movies that we are bombarded with throughout life.

I can't help but wonder, it seems like people with money (primarily white people) seem to send their parents away to nursing homes and elderly communities because their careers are too important for them to look after their parents themselves. The so-called minorities have to either take care of their elderly, leave them to fend for themselves, or in some cases the elderly are the ones tending after the younger generation. But yet I know that if and when the so-called minorities have money they will more than likely do the same thing as the richer folk. Why? Because when you’re "keeping up with the Joneses" you don't question whether or not the Joneses actions are right or wrong, you simply mimic them like a senseless computer.

Humans seem to have an innate need for other humans, I’m assuming in evolutionary terms it would be said “humans are social creatures”. For some reason it seems like we get tired of striving for what we want and we rebel against what could be an integral part of our nature. We turn around and say that we want to be alone, we devise all these schemes to keep ourselves from loving people, from getting close to people, from being fond of people, and we try to focus on the things that don’t matter, that don’t help. But as always that’s just my two cents.

After We've Done Our Part....

2011-05-15T20:30:00.003-04:00

I stayed late after work today recently for a slim opportunity that can possibly help me advance in the company I work for. Now I rather be out of this company and in something better but you do the best with what you have, right? You do your part and God is supposed to do his.

So, I take the bus to and from work and I already knew the bus I normally take (which goes right by my job) doesn't run as late as I would need it. I would have to follow my established weekend pattern and walk down the hill to catch another bus, which takes almost three times as long to get to the bus terminal. At which time I have to wait for the bus to get to my house. No problem, whatever, it's normal, I am so rarely in a comfort zone, it makes no difference to me.

I signed up for two tests when I only expected to be able do one. I was only partially paying attention to the time, cause I have plenty; last bus I wanted to catch was 8pm or so and that gave me three hours. I get a perfect score on one and 88 on the second with a good chance one of the answers is incorrect and my grade would probably be bumped up to a 92. I needed about two hours for the test, and it could of taken up to an hour and a half each. I finished in about an hour an thirty minutes; I look at my phone, I quickly debated, can I make this bus.

I say to myself

"it's not happening...., but maybe I'm wrong"

so I walk anyways, fast paced. I look at my phone again, and say to myself

"this bus can be earlier than it normally is. I've never caught it this late. How long does it take to get from one side of the hill to this side? I might not make it. I probably won't make it, it's gonna suck if I see it pass while I am not even fifty yards away. If I have any chance, I better do what I never do for a bus... and run"

I adjust my book-bag and start running for endurance, not speed, I push past my inclinations to stop, eventually I reach my limit again, I stop running and I walk fast paced again, trying to regain my breath, thinking

"that's it"

I keep walking, but I'm thinking

"if there's any chance at all for me to catch this bus, I have to run!"

I tighten my belt, I grab my backpack by the straps and I run harder, pushing my limits again and once more after that. I look at my cell phone again, I'm making better time than I thought, so I keep running,

"my chances are good, typically the bus is on the other side of the hill right now"

I keep running, the bus stop was in sight. Not even a minute later as I was pulling back from running stride and tapering into a walk I look ahead, I stop;

"is that what I think it is?"

I look again and yes... it's the bus. It looks like the bus slowed down a bit as they crossed the intersection and kept going. I wondered, if I kept running would the bus driver have seen me and waited? Probably not. Did the bus actually hesitate as it crossed the intersection, probably not. So I walked on to a restaurant to wait for the next hour.

Needless to say I am pretty much doing my part. As I sat in that restaurant, I thought

"would things have been different if I prayed as I ran down the hill?"

Probably not.

Why do I say that? Because from all my years of experience situations like that have constantly gone south of pleasant, regardless of my prayers. Would God have put more people on the bus route to have more stops and give me more time? If so, what about their free will? Either they needed the bus or they didn't. Would God then instead put a bunch of angels on the street to pose as passengers? He could but why?

It's more likely I would've had to pray in advance that God would help coordinate things, but still free will comes into play. I wasn't mad about missing the bus and what would it matter anyways? If anything I guess it was on my shoulders to pray or plan in advance. I didn't. But if I did, would things have gone differently? From my experiences, having prayed and better planned most of the time, my answer is still "probably not".
This is the story of my life. God can change it but has not. This is one of the many reasons I have to wonder if we have God wrong.

Introduction To Philosophy

2011-03-21T19:00:00.001-04:00

Introduction To Philosophy

January 2011
Philosophy, Theology, Life

So I finished reading a book which is basically an introduction to philosophy and I was kind of at a loss for words. I realized that me joking about being a philosopher is truer than I really thought.

I have more interest now in some of the common philosophers I've heard over the years but I think I have an interest more in some of the philosophers I have not heard of until this book. I have also realized that like the people who adopt a philosophy even the philosophers themselves are not as unbiased as they could be and much less than should be.

I have seen one major flaw in the theories presented to be that they seem to strictly deal with the philosophers present day and age almost exclusively. In order to truly find a philosophy worth completely believing in, for me it must withstand years, decades, millenniums, and epochs. It is fine to say at such a point in time the social climate was (this) and in order to change it (this) is what I believe needs to happen. But when that social climate changes what then of your philosophy? What then of your religion?

We cannot tell the future but we can attempt to use the past as a gauge to some degree. Regardless of our best and most valiant efforts no one man will probably ever recognize (not create) a philosophy that encompasses and deals with all of humanity. What we seek to do which is explain and define everything, can simply not be done by mankind, it has to be a God.

Time, space, and language are barriers. The very fact that at any given moment there are literally over 6 billion on earth is a great barrier. Now think of generations passed and multiply that and take the knowledge that all of mankind has different takes on the same circumstances. The picture is not big, that is an extreme understatement. The picture is unfathomable to the human mind, probably regardless of what untapped abilities we hold.

Purpose Is Love Pt 2

2011-03-19T19:00:00.001-04:00

Purpose Is Love Pt 2

Feburary 16th, 2011
#Love, #BookOfMatthew, #Commandments, #God, #Life, #Suffering

I would rather have nothing to share with someone than everything to share with no one. Things are meaningless. I think man resorts to things when he cannot achieve satisfaction with the only thing in life worth having.

• When you even have 1000 wives like Solomon and can hardly find one women you deem worthy, what's wrong?
• When you "bone" groupies every night and you’re still not satisfied, what's wrong?
• When you've set Guinness world records which are still not broken, but you still feel unsatisfied, what's wrong?
• When you've gotten awards and achievements, recognition and praise but you still can't say you've reached your peak, what's wrong?

Now even Mother Theresa, I truly respect her and commend her for the lifelong sacrifice she made, but at least she acknowledged that she was still unsatisfied unlike most people. She made an awesome contribution to this world and she compensated for the lack of love for so many others, but she lacked love herself. All the love she poured out and she did not receive that same love back. I don't think everyone needs to follow that example, because Mother Theresa's lifestyle was one of compensation for the lack of love shown in the world. If everyone was to love as they should we wouldn't need compensation for any lack of love.

I used to think that I could be like that just pressing through and loving people regardless and doing things for the benefit of us all regardless of my situation or emotions. I don't know if I want to anymore. What motivation do I have to get to that point and then even in that position, it's constant problems, constant pain no satisfaction. Who has to try for constant pain? You don’t have to look for pain; pain looks for you, some of us have the option of avoiding it, others do not. What is life for if not love? It’s certainly not for the accumulation of things in my experience; and if you would say doing God’s will maybe you need to read the bible again.

Let me help you out a little bit…

Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV)

The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Thoughts On Man's Search For Meaning Page 31

2011-03-17T19:00:00.000-04:00

Thoughts On Man's Search For Meaning Page 31

Viktor Frankl mentioned that the prisoners dreamt and thought of food, not for the sake of food but because it made them think of a time when their sub-human existence would be over. I couldn't help but think, is the prevalence of fast food and horribly inadequate supermarkets like Food Basics or Food Bazaar attempts to keep people from feeling sub-human though they are? Or is it simply a coincidence?

I have noticed over the last few years that certain food makes you feel a certain way. Even today there are studies that show that some foods are better for certain things than others. For instance one day I watched this show called Dr. Oz which the doctor was stating that eating fruits with high water content would keep your caloric intake low and at the same time give you a feeling of fullness. On one hand fast food seems to leave you discontent until you are physically full, it could like I've suggested that fast food is empty calories. It seems like our bodies are looking for certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to function properly or better. Your body will probably try to make changes in order accommodate the lack of nutrients but it can only accommodate but so much.

When I say inadequate supermarkets I don't mean that they don't have enough products but the problem is their standard of quality. Vegetables in a ghetto supermarket seem to be highly bruised and under-ripened. The sizes are often smaller as well from my experiences. The ghetto supermarkets also of course cater to thrift and poverty so therefore they stock products which tend to be artificial, frozen, or pumped full of preservatives to have a long shelf life. You will find more "ring dings" and "ho-hos", "oatmeal cream pies" and "twinkles" in a supermarket in Bridgeport than you would in Fairfield. Now some would blame parenting styles but ultimately would you give your child nothing or would you spend $3 dollars on something you can stretch out for a week?

Then I have to wonder though, Viktor Frankl talks about the lack of food contributing to a feeling of sub-humanity but animals are not really known for going hungry. Maybe pets, when their owners are struggling financially or have forgotten to feed them but even pets have been known to scavenge in an empty household. Maybe Frankl meant "inhuman", like a machine that you only have to do the bare minimum, change the oil every few months, depending on the expense and complexity of the machine you'd replace it rather than fix it. Either way does a lack of food make you feel less than human? I don't know if I can agree.

My youth was immersed in days or weeks of hunger, and I never thought of myself as sub human. I've heard people speak of third world starving children as though they were treated as dogs but I've never heard the child or the starving adult say that. At the heart of my inquiry though I think it's debatable. If it makes people feel inhuman I guess it's depending on the person, I would say under the German regime that they were treated like mules regardless if they were fed or not. So I don't think the inhumanity is due to the lack of nourishment, and therefore I don't believe that it is purposeful either, at least in that time in history, as far as nowadays we would have to reevaluate the situations and everything.

Contradictions Of The Bible Pt 5

2011-03-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Contradictions Of The Bible Pt 5

(“Should We Be Good In Secret Or Privately?”)

Cobalt Tinor

March 10, 2011

#BookOfMatthew, #Philanthropy, #God, #Contradictions, #Pride/Conceit

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

In Matthew 5:16 (NIV) Jesus says to us that you don't light a candle and hide it under a bowl and that a town on a hill cannot be hidden, therefore we should do our good deeds for all to see and people will glorify God. But in the very next chapter; in Matthew 6:3-4 (NIV) we see Jesus quoted as saying in giving to the needy "do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing" because God is going to reward you, your intent should not be for man to know and congratulate you nor reward you.

I have always hated the spotlight, I have never liked the attention of a crowd of people, and I have never felt good because of doing good, I have done good because it is what I believe to be right. For these reasons I have always lived by Matthew 6:3-4, that scripture has always resonated with what was already in my heart.

With that being said I have to pit these two verses against each other. I believe that these two verses contradict each other, because one says good things should be done in public to bring glory to God and the other says giving to the needy should be done in private.

1. Now the first possibility is that giving to the needy, while it is a good deed, is for some reason a unique situation and Matthew 6 is a later defined exception to the rule. If the reason for the exception was a possible issue of pride I would have to question why Jesus would believe that other good deeds would not bring a sense of pride when done in public. Beyond that, maybe in biblical days people seeing good deeds would be inclined to praise God for what another person had chosen to do. In these days and time, a good deed would not often be attributed to God or to anything beyond the person; it is more likely to be thought of as a surreptitiously manipulative act. Manipulation is much more common now a day than genuine goodness, at least that’s what it seems.

2. The second possibility is that Jesus just doesn't consider giving to the needy to be an act of good, or at least not good enough. If giving to the needy is not an act of good, then what exactly could be categorized as a good deed? If giving to the needy is too secular an act, that actually rules out quite a bit of things and I'm inclined to think of some of the religious nuts I know personally, and say that the only good deeds are saving souls. To that I must say it is an idea which lacks sense and good judgment, because you never know when you will save a soul and it is likely not to happen in a way that you would facilitate. People are complex and if you could accurately foretell when you could save a person’s soul there may be fewer missionaries. If you know you aren’t the one to save the soul would you still contribute your part so that the soul can get saved later?

3. A third possibility is of course the one I'm proposing here, that giving to the needy is a good act and there is no significant difference to prompt an exception from other kinds of good deeds. Chances are when writing down this history there was some kind of error, a flawed memory, an altered perspective, or whatever the case. Because giving to the needy (Matthew 25:31-46), taking care of widows and the fatherless (Exodus 22:21-23), loving our neighbors (Matthew 22:34-40), these all seem to go hand in hand. When Jesus did miracles there are multiple instances where he told the person on the receiving end to shut their mouth and either go do something or go and stop sinning. [Matthew 9:27-34, Matthew 8:1-4, Matthew 12:15-17, etc] It seems more likely that God would not want us to put our good works on display but at the same time a light is going to shine. I don't think God is saying to put a bowl on that candle but in the same way you would shield a candle from the wind or attempt to focus the light and not wake up everyone in your house the same way you might go about your good deeds; a balance between hiding and parading. I'd be inclined to say like Nike just do it, if you can do it in secrecy why not but it's not detrimental and just keep in mind that it's not about mankind rewarding you.

4. A fourth option is that Jesus merely forgot and contradicted himself. We are but humans and Jesus was a human was he not? If Jesus was more than human than we would expect to see other instances of superhuman abilities. We wouldn't really expect him to bleed on the cross or be sorrowful to the point of death, at bare minimum we would expect something simple like an above average or infallible memory. The other argument may be that he is divine, and instead of seeing a contradiction that we must acknowledge there are greater powers at work here and though we don't understand it, that we must allow our faith to activate and believe that God has just not given us the revelation to explain this seeming contradiction.

5. It could be Jesus merely adjusted his philosophy as time went on or as he got more insight from the father. While it is well known that Jesus often went off to solitary places to pray and commune with God we have no real indication that this is an instance where those experiences yielded a change that quickly. It is fully possible, because no one writing down these pages of the bible would have known, but what I do find odd is that as an author you don't see the contradiction yourself. It is only a mere 35 verses between the two; you're looking at most about 45 sentences. If you can't see a contradiction in your own writing within that short of a time frame or period then I am inclined to think you just don't want to see it.

Ultimately there are two major views on contradictions of the bible and I believe they are both wrong because they are basically extremes.

· The first viewpoint is that, this is the bible, it comes supernaturally to us and it is infallible, so those who hold this view often wouldn't even bother to read through this type of writing lest they corrupt their mind and bring crushing doubt to their entire life. Exaggerated maybe but that is how they act and as they say actions seem to speak louder than words.

· The opposite side is that yes this is a contradiction and like all contradictions (bible-related anyways) it must be completely abandoned; there is no good to be found here, and you must toss out the baby with the bath-water. But to fail to see good when bad exists is the best recipe for a future annihilation of humanity, because no matter how good we are, or how good we get, ultimately we could be the universes ugliest blemish and worst mistake.

In case you can’t guess, the first stance is the religious fanatical stance and the second is the atheistic stance.

Let’s Have A Toast (Shoutouts)

2011-02-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

Let’s Have A Toast (Shoutouts)

"I'm so gifted at finding what I don't like the most, so I think it's time for us to have a toast" – Kanye West

SHOUT OUT to all those people too busy with money and success to care about others
SHOUT OUT to all those people more interested in award shows and drama sitcoms than other people.
SHOUT OUT to all the people more worried about their future than the future of the world.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who love life's distractions over true life.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who believe in nothing because they see conspiracy theories in everything.
SHOUT OUT to all the people so naive that they allow religion (not God) to brainwash them.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who shout "Jesus!" from the rooftops but live in the basement next door to Satan.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who say a God doesn't exist because religion has lied to them.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who push a product with no care to how it affects people’s health.
SHOUT OUT to all the people who say love doesn't exist because their hearts been broken too many times.
SHOUT OUT to the heart-breakers who can't be honest and just say "can I hit that?"
SHOUT OUT to all the religious leaders leading people to a collection plate instead of God.

"Runaway from me baby! runaway as fast as you can!" – Kanye West

All That Power!

2011-01-03T15:53:00.000-05:00

All That Power!

January 3^rd, 2011

#music #money #Pride/Conceit #philanthropy #life

If you want to rob and steal it's become so easy, you got people wearing $300 on their ears pumping music. If you want to rob and steal it's become so easy, people are texting away on $200. If you want to rob and steal it's become so easy, people got their legs wrapped in $180. If you want to rob and steal it's become so easy, some people have $300 cushioning every step. We talk about recession and everything but people are spending more and more for expensive versions of simple necessities. Who was it Floyd Mayweather who had a diamond encrusted iPod classic? What was it worth $300,000 or something crazy?

I’m sorry, but as far as I’m concerned these celebrities that thank God for their “success” and wealth have God wrong. God didn’t enable you with that wealth and opportunity in order to live in a mansion and drive cars the same price as other people’s homes. Okay yeah some celebrities and rich people do a little philanthropy, which may or may not be God, that’s simple reasoning. I mean I don’t know if tax write offs are that good to encourage people to give, but you must get to a point where you have so much money, what else do you have to do? You get to a place where you could start burning money to heat your home, why not give it away? That’s common sense, that’s not necessarily always love or a higher power although it can be.

I think Kanye West said it well, although he was speaking more on power than wealth. On his song “Power” his second verse, he states

Now I embody every characteristic of the egotistic

‘He knows, he's so f---ing gifted’
I just needed time alone, with my own thoughts
Got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own vault
My childlike creativity, purity and honesty
Is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts
Reality is catchin' up with me
Takin' my inner child, I'm fighting for it, custody
With these responsibilities that they entrusted me
As I look down at my diamond encrusted piece
Thinkin' no one man should have all that power
The clock's tickin', I just count the hours
Stop trippin', I'm trippin' off the power
'Til then, fuck that, the world's ours

I mean, he says a lot right there alone. I don’t know what Kanye’s motivation was for getting into the recording industry was whether it was money or to push his art to the forefront. Either way somewhere along the way Kanye realized that with all the money and celebrity status we became powerful through either money or straight influence. He realizes no one should be in that type of position and I agree, I think that is straight from God. No people or even singular people should have that much power, and Kanye is by no means the most powerful.

Even on the remix Jay-Z states

But once the world numbs you, you'll feel like it's only one you
Now you got the power to do anything you want to
Until you ask yourself, "Is this what it's all come to?"
Lookin' at life through sunglasses and a sunroof
But do you have the power to get out from up under you

And proceeds to say

In search of the truth, even if it goes through Taylor Swift
Tell her this

Though Kanye has this important revelation he says “grown thoughts” are crowding out his “childlike creativy, purity, and honesty”. He realizes he only has 15 minutes of fame and the time is counting down, so until his time is up “f--- that, the world’s ours” he says. Inner struggle exposed. Truth laid bare. In the end, all that goes with the power, despite all the negative consequences, he would still rather take pride in the power, and enjoy as best he can. Now is any mega-church pastor this honest? Can anyone really say that celebrity status is of God or beneficial? Even without the celebrity status, can we honestly say that the wealth and riches are ever used to the benefit of others as much as it should be? Once again I must commend Warren Buffett, because he doesn’t have to do what he does, but if no one else appreciates it I appreciate it.

Servants Or Sons & Daughters?

2010-12-31T11:16:00.005-05:00

Servants Or Sons & Daughters?

“Dogs will eat those belonging to Baasha who die in the city, and birds will feed on those who die in the country.” – God in 1 Kings 16:4 (NIV)

The more I re-read the bible and especially the Old Testament, the more I see the inconsistencies with things said. This one verse alone here along with my belief that God has it all in control prompted me to think again. Why would God primarily use people to “take out” other people, creating a sense of superiority, especially if those people killing are not people who believe in God?

God can use animals to kill people like mentioned here in 1 Kings 16:4 (NIV). God could use nature like we’ve the myth of God striking down people with lightning bolts; although it probably hasn’t happened, God can do it. God used the pillar of smoke and fire for the Israelites in the wilderness. God could open the ground to swallow people up; he could use volcanoes; he could use Tornadoes; strong winds; hurricanes; tsunamis; God can use anything he wants.

If God wants a relationship with us I don’t think we would be his servants. The angels are servants, the angels don’t have relationship. I’m pretty sure that slave-owners did not call slaves friends, or family. Even Abe Lincoln and those who were humane to their slaves, they may have had a cordial or even a nice relationship, but still no equal status.

Could God or anyone else for that matter be fair and just if there are levels, titles, and people who are more important or more loved? Good and evil should really be the only distinction. Actions I guess would be primary and then intention would also have to be taken into account. But this argument of Jews, or Israel, or America, all of that is moot, it matters not.

So if we’re supposed to have relationship we would probably not be in servitude to kill or judge others. Not to mention, self defense is one thing but killing someone because God says so, that should be God, the angels, or nature’s job. Our hands should not be handling God’s dirty work if we’re supposed to be dying to our old selves and cleaning ourselves up to be fit for God’s presence.

Thoughts From Proverbs 27:12 (NIV)

2010-12-29T10:42:00.001-05:00

Thoughts From Proverbs 27:12

Proverbs 27:12 (NIV)

¹² The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

=======================================

It’s funny, a lot of people I know would have you keep doing something over and over, year after year without any fruit; any benefit; except supposed promises. If someone promised you a meal and 4 years goes by, would you believe them? If someone promised to pay you back and 3 years went by, would you loan them anymore money? A big phrase going around with people is that insanity is defined by doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I’m still curious as to how we Christians got to thinking we can take any promise in the bible and apply it to our lives.

If two men make an agreement in the next room, you over hear it and you do the deed, do you think that you’re going to reap the benefits? When you go into a store and see items misplaced, do you think that placing those items back correctly is going to get you a paycheck at the end of the week? You wouldn’t even get a thank you in most cases. I’m not saying that God is no better than man but, we don’t have all the information.

Some promises are kind of life principles and therefore general and universal, others are specific to that one person at that one point in time. Who are we to claim a blessing or reward for something that we were never a part of? All of the promises in the bible are for us? What about Simeon (mentioned in Luke 2:22-35) who was promised to see the Messiah/Christ before he passed away? My point is let us not assume that all things in the bible are for us to take as our own. The bible has a lot in it, let us stop seeing what we want to see in the bible or taking a person’s thoughts about the bible as though it’s truth in the bible.

The Chronic 2010

2010-12-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

I have never really known much about marijuana to judge whether or not it is considered a sin against God. I do know that in my lifetime most churches that have spoken on it have had a stance on it that it is wrong; that it is an abomination. I have heard and leaned towards the church stance because I knew no better, but I did not form an opinion or a judgment of my own; I had no information to go on.

I have a friend who used to be not only a smoker but a dealer, and talking with him has exposed me to alternate points of view that differ from the church. His opinions did not quite make me hop off the fence and choose a side but they seemed very valid, as I know him to be truthful and I know him to in most cases be objective as opposed to being biased. He has put away his days with marijuana as a part of obedience to the church who says it’s wrong as opposed to American society which has outlawed it. If it was to become legal, he says he would start smoking again. After watching quite a few shows on the History channel and National Geographic channel, I don’t blame him. The stances and viewpoints my friend has put forth to me have been backed up separately from experts and medical professionals.

First of all, there have been no documented instances of death from marijuana that I could find, not from overdose or otherwise. I have heard no evidence that weed/marijuana is addictive, rather I have heard that people are habitual consumers. There are no weed rehabilitation programs that I have ever heard about, no weed dependency or anything similar. “Weed heads” (people who excessively smoke) seem to be people who simply do not practice self-control; they simply vastly prefer being under the influence of weed than without it.

From the information I’ve heard and gathered, smoking any type of thing is not the healthiest activity. People who are heavy smokers do tend to get lung infections, inflammation, and in some cases lung cancer. Even with lung cancer the risk seems to be negligible especially when compared to cigarettes, which are addictive and do more often than not cause lung cancer, emphysema, and other diseases.

I don’t see the big deal with legalizing marijuana, not just for medicinal purposes but for everyday general uses as well. As it is most people in political office were probably part of the hippie, Woodstock, free love era; if they didn’t partake in marijuana they know someone who has. What horror stories are there from marijuana? Besides for people thinking of marijuana as a gateway drug, where is the reasoning behind marijuana’s outlaw and immoral status?

I have said for at least a year now that “prohibition leads to inflammation” and if legalized I don’t really see a influx of “potheads” happening. I would predict that it would either level out or it may even by chance decrease in consumption. Either way I am for legalizing weed at this point. Like smoking cigarettes or any other legal substance, marijuana should be limited to the outdoors or personal domains but should nonetheless be permitted.

Why not gain tax off of the sales? Why not eliminate half of some counties prison population? Why not actually give cops more resources to deal with things like murder or theft? Why not focus on issues which actually threaten people’s lives? Why continue to throw primarily black men in prison for years over such a ridiculous offense. On a side note I wouldn’t be surprised if the illegal status of weed is to keep minorities bound or even just to keep money flowing into police departments around the country. Without marijuana are some police departments out of a job? Is that the real issue? And what is the immoral argument?

Breakdown Of Major WORLD Religions

2010-12-12T20:37:00.004-05:00

WORLD Religions
Christians 33.32%
(of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%)
Muslims 21.01%
Hindus 13.26%
other religions 11.78%
non-religious 11.77%
Buddhists 5.84%
atheists 2.32%
Sikhs 0.35%
Jews 0.23%
Baha’is 0.12%
(2007 est.) — Central Intelligence Agency (a.k.a. the C.I.A.)

This goes without saying, but any and every study I would say has a margin of error, and I know the CIA never called me asking my religion.

Comparison Vs Standards

2010-12-03T09:59:00.000-05:00

I’ve heard many times that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others, but I just started to think if you don’t compare to others then where are standards coming from? God hasn’t made too many things very plain.
To be quite honest God hasn’t set any plain things down. We don’t have a surviving copy of the 10 commandments that God supposedly wrote with his own fingers on Mt. Sinai. While I believe it existed, with faith, we still don’t have that to factually fall back on. Even if we had the actual tablets, then we would still subject them to the scientific standards that we have today. We would have to determine whether or not Moses could have created those tablets himself. Did he have the time? Did he have the tools? Could the carvings be created with the tools that existed at that time? Were the carvings truly supernatural?

A lot of miracles are not considered miracles once explained. The same way with magic, magicians keep the tricks of the trade as hidden and unknown as possible because knowing how the trick works there is no more significance to it. No one cares about it anymore. No one will go and pay money to see something they can explain and understand. Even if we don’t understand something, we don’t typically place any value on understanding it we simply want to reap the benefits of it. We simply want to capitalize on it or be productive with it.

When I was working at Dunkin Donuts, our franchisee had just started putting in the touch screen registers. At first when I was a normal counter person I did not like them because I was focusing on the lack of speed they had compared to the manual registers. When I became a manager and had to have the repair guy come in a couple times we got to talking. Simple curiosity and talking with the repair guy let me know the full potential held within the computerized system. Once I knew the potential, I started to appreciate them but I was still unsatisfied because we didn’t use them to half of their ability.

The standard had not changed, it was still the goal to get the customer in and out as fast as possible. The equipment changed, the capabilities had also changed, but the enhanced capabilities hindered us from reaching the standard set before. By comparison the standard could not be upheld, so I wound up setting new standards.

Where do our standards of wealth come from? Our standard of success? Our standard of Christianity? If it’s true that we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to anyone why are all standards set by someone else’s abilities? It’s like a job, they set up competitions in order to have you reach a higher goal, because you want the prize at the end of the competition you fall for it. If you were giving 100% all the time that competition wouldn’t make a difference for you. But obviously most people don’t give 100%, at least unless they want something.

When it’s all said and done, our standards come from what other people set. I believe standards should be set different ways for different things. When it comes to sports, a standard should be by a form of general census or physical ability and conditioning. Customer Service for instance I think should be set arbitrarily, but when you set things arbitrarily you also have to take into account ability, so when I say arbitrarily I do not mean without reason or constraint. You also have to be willing to change the standard if the standard is unlikely to be reached. Never set the exception as the standard.

Time Does Not Exist

2010-12-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

Time does not exist the way we act as though it does. Time is not a static. Time is something man created to keep track of points in our existence. If we stop keeping time it becomes irrelevant. Though we have these fancy clocks that can automatically set themselves, that does not mean time is constant. These clocks read from a highly specialized clock such as is found on www.time.gov/. Your cell phones read the time from your cell phone provider. Your cable box reads the time from your cable provider.

Time means nothing, it is simply a measure than mankind has created. Let’s think… why is it that animals do not have time, watches, clocks, or calendars and they still operate year after year with no issues? I’m sure dogs aren’t barking to each other saying “yo dog! Remember to wake up at 7ish, that’s when the mailman comes.” There ain’t a pair of orangutans in the forest making plans like “2 weeks from now I’m gonna come back to this tree when this banana is ripe” No! Time is a measure we use which truly has no value, but people place immense value on it. It’s just like that useless rock; gold.

I’m not saying that time has no purpose and that you need to erase time from your thoughts, but I am saying that time does not effect anything; things are effected because of our perception of time. We base so many things on time, but time does not change anything, even perception. We may say that only time will tell, but time will not tell us anything. With the passage of time things will inevitable change because very little in life stays the same.

I have heard of a lot of physicist and or scientists creating these theories and explaining things in the universe that effect time but that’s impossible. Some other scientist or researchers have actually proven my stance that your perception of time can change but time doesn’t. Why? Time is not static although we make every effort to make it static.

Time does not exist as we believe it does. We try to make time static, but we fight against ourselves like usual it seems. Let’s think of time zones. Why do we have time zones? It seems like we have time zones to keep peoples perception of time static. So that everyone when they wake up can say “it’s 7 o’clock”. Another possible reason is simply because countries could not agree and all wanted to embrace the concept of time but didn’t want to agree with a consistent time. Regardless of the reason, it seems to be idiocy. I say stop basing life or scientific theories on time. Time is a construct of the human mind, not of nature or of God.

Are We Really Giving Thanks?

2010-11-26T10:03:00.001-05:00

Are We Really Giving Thanks?

Turkey day

Turkey coma day

The big gobble gobble

T-Day

There are a few nicknames that “Thanksgiving” goes by; and a few different traditions that people follow, and yet primarily two things dominate this holiday. For some it’s food and football. For some it’s food and giving thanks. There may be other things out there but those are the main focuses, I can think of.

I have a dislike-hate relationship with all holidays and this one in particular. One thing I don’t like is how most families (but my family in particular) do not have any concept of “enough” when it comes to preparing food for thanksgiving. Year after year I tell them about it, but of course it doesn’t make a difference. I was thinking of how would a little kid from a third world country feel seeing us celebrate Thanksgiving. There are a couple different scenarios but my first thought is anger. The food we prepare for one day could probably feed a small village for the day or more.

One other thought and feeling I have is that, I don’t even like leftovers (never have; never will), I’ve learned to eat leftovers strictly out of necessity but I do everything possible to prevent it. So hauling all this food back home with no purpose and no motivation, bugs me, because I know the vast majority of it will spoil and go to waste. I, as usual, will probably go hungry for the most part until these leftovers are finish. I’ll eat here and there but I’m not going to sit there and dare cook a meal with all these leftovers here.

Another reason why I’m not thrilled for the holiday is that I see a lot of the “I’m thankful for…” statuses and sayings on Facebook and other social mediums. If you were really thankful for something you may not say it every day but you would express it. The same way if you love a woman, Valentine’s Day should not be the day of showing her what you don’t show her the rest of the year. That is hypocrisy. I mean for some people, that is genuine, but if you only reflect on what you’re thankful for once a year then you must be taking a lot of things for granted.

One thing I have always wondered also is how can you sit here and be thankful knowing many other people don’t have much to be thankful for? You have tons to eat on Thanksgiving and there are many who don’t have much to eat on a normal basis. I’m not suggesting that we be some super homeless food givers but you can’t just think about yourself. Think about the big picture. I say be thankful that you have enough AND that you give. Don’t be thankful that you have enough, be thankful that you have helped someone else who doesn’t have enough to have more

Thoughts On 2 Samuel 10:1-18

2010-11-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

Thoughts On 2 Samuel 10:1-18

November 13^th, 2010

Tags: #Book Of 2 Samuel #God

2 Samuel 10:1-7 (NIV)

¹ In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. ² David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.

⁵ When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, “Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back.”

⁶ When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.

⁷ On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men.

Verse 1-7 are yet another example of not just having good counsel around you, but not simply believing anything because it come from a certain persons mouth. If an enemy had told Hunan (King of the Ammonites) that King David’s men were spies, he probably wouldn’t believe the enemy, he would want proof if anything. But his trusted men, he requires no proof from? To me all trusted means is that I don’t have to immediately have proof because you have time and again proven to be trust worthy, truthful, and reliable. Nonetheless now you have these two kings risking thousands of lives and health, for a misconception; a lie, pride!

2 Samuel 10:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers.^[a] He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there.

40,700 people lost a life because of a lie. 2 Samuel 10:12 (NIV) says “The Lord will do what is good in his sight” and I’m sure that it wasn’t good in God’s sight for even one person to die over a lie or misconception. But yet staunch bible thumpers will undoubtedly support these verses as absolute truth.

Is It Really A Disease?

2010-11-13T20:53:00.001-05:00

Is It Really A Disease?

November 13^th, 2010

#Depression #Suicide #News #Aids #HBV #CDC

An article found at http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/depression/2010-10-20-depression21_ST_N.htm researchers have for a while suggested that depression is a brain disorder and simply adjusting certain chemicals in the brain will resolve it, and now they are suggesting that it’s a lack of a certain protein. It seems people are constantly seeking to say and prove that depression is something that shouldn’t exist. They are constantly setting out to make us think that there is no reason to be depressed. Why is that?

If I remember correctly 1 in 5 people are depressed and 1 in 15 is severely depressed. Can you call something that widespread a disease? If 1 out of 5 people had AIDS would we still call it a disease? ‎More than 6 Billion people are alive in the world at any one moment, and http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm states aids has gripped about 35 million in 2008, which is only 10% of the amount of people in the United States. Depression is 1 in 5 or maybe it was 1 in 10, you’re still looking at about 600 million people depressed. What if 600 million people couldn't breathe without respirators? Would it still be a disease?

I wondered what the most widespread disease in the world is and some websites like http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903696.html claim 2 Billion people have the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), which would be one in 3 people. I've only come across one person that I know of, that has had the HBVirus it my 27 years. I'm very skeptical of that statistic; If 1 in 3 had the HBVirus, how would you call that a disease? How would you not categorize that as a simple part of life? Why not call it part of the human condition? More people would have the HBVirus than people who have 6 digits on any limb. More people would have the HBVirus than people who have perfect health.

I still don’t exactly know what the most prominent disease is, but searching more I came across http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HBV/HBVfaq.htm#a4. I knew 2 Billion was pure malarkey, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states for "chronic" HBVirus there are 1.4 million. I didn't really see a stat for non-chronic HBVirus, but I'd take a stab in the dark and say no more than 4-5x the amount so 8-10 million. Maybe! Still, 400,000,000 (400 million) for severe depression compared to 10 million for the HBVirus, it’s an overwhelming gap.

You know what let's ... look up some depression stats, let's assume USA depression stats were bloated right? Thing is when you look at http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsDepression/ I guess we can blow that out of the water... even CDC says "other depression" as well as "major depression" average about 1 in 10, at least for the USA... hmmm well there we go for the most part. ::::shrugs shoulders::::: what can you say? Take it how you wanna take it. And this is a period of time that statistics have also shown people in the world are more hopeful and optimistic than ever before... That's a stark contradiction or there were a whole lot of people riding the fence before and now people are actually taking sides. Then again, it takes that hope, and that optimism for those 1 in 10 not to become severely depressed and for all of them not to commit suicide, doesn’t it?

Thoughts on The Origin Of Species (pg 426)

2010-11-10T20:27:00.006-05:00

Thoughts on The Origin Of Species (pg 426)

November 10^th, 2010

#Darwin #Evolution #NaturalSelection #God #Truth #BookOfGenesis

So I read a phrase on page 426 where Darwin remarked on an archetype of a class. Saying…

”If we suppose that the ancient progenitor, the archetype as it may be called, of all mammals, had its limbs constructed on the existing general pattern, for whatever purpose they served, we can at once perceive the plain signification of the homologous construction of the limbs throughout the whole class.”

It sounds in other places that Darwin doesn’t believe in one origin of a species much less of life. Yet an archetype of a class would seem to point in the direction of belief in a common source for many different species.

Darwin then goes on to talk about how many different animals have the same bones even if they are shorter or longer or adapted for their particular way of life. He seems to believe that this must indicate as well a common origin for vastly different creatures. I would assume that leads to connecting all life somehow the further back you travel. I think for those that reject an idea of God, this may be one of those reasons why. The majority belief seems to be that God created every animal separate and unique from each other, but if I remember correctly Genesis explicitly lumps creatures of the air together, separate from the creatures of the sea, both of which are separate from the land dwelling creatures. (Genesis 1:20-25)

So if it is true that bone structure and the view of God’s creation do separate people from belief in God, then is the separation in the creation of 3 types of creatures (land, air, water) good enough to help restore your faith? Even if the 3 types of creatures don’t quite satisfy your separation of creation, there is still no guarantee or even a place in the bible I can think of that says that all creatures were made distinctly. The bible clearly says humans were created separately, but even if we were not, we can attribute that flaw in scripture to Moses. You don’t throw out the baby with the bath-water, you don’t divorce a wife because she can’t cook, you don’t discard a meal because the biscuits soggy. In other words you don’t eliminate the bible because of some flaws; lest you eliminate everything, because nothing in life is perfect. Even Darwin constantly says things like “As the evidence appears to me conclusive…”

From this part in his book (page 426), as of yet I can’t quite see a disbelief in God, in Darwin; although I definitely see a difference of opinion from other Christians/Believers. But if 2010 is any indication of history as a whole then it’s safe to say that his differences in opinion were assumed to be disbelief.

I am now blogging on Tumblr

2010-11-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

I am now blogging on Tumblr, all my new posts will be at http://cobalttinor.tumblr.com/.
Google is taking way to long to update thier "blogger".
The small changes are too little, too late.
If and when I remember I may post something new here until I can migrate everything over to Tumblr.

A Little More On Suicide

2010-11-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

A Little More On Suicide

November 6^th, 2010

#Suicide #God #Sin #book of matthew #Book Of Job #Book Of Philippians

I read this article from a gty.org article “Can One Who Commits Suicide Be Saved?” that a fellow blogger quoted, I like it but I dislike it at the same time.

I would agree that suicide is not the unforgivable sin, that is mentioned in Matthew 12:31 (NIV) which states “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” So, that’s kind of obvious but, another thing I have to question is where in the bible does it list suicide as a sin? I would also disagree with the insinuation that lack of hope or purpose is the ONLY reasons to commit suicide, but I haven’t officially done a study and I’m sure that author has not as well.

In my 20-odd years I have only come across a select few passages that talk about anything similar to suicide. First and foremost would be Job, who has many different references like… Job 3:11 (NIV) “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” and Job 10:18 (NIV) “Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.” but when it was all said and done looked favorable upon Job as noticed in Job 42:12 (NIV) “The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.”

Then you have Paul, a person who people hold more as Christ than they do Jesus… but none the less, Paul says in Philippians 1:21-25 (NIV) “21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” but even Paul doesn’t say that suicide is a sin; he goes on to say “24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith”

This article I believe is partially true, but it’s a just a little preposterous to say that you need to check yourself about calling yourself a “Christian”. I mean technically Jesus committed suicide, by lying down and dying. He didn’t fight; he didn’t resist; Jesus simply pleaded with God, in Matthew 26:39 (NIV) “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Do I embrace or advocate suicide, absolutely not. But I cannot condemn suicide either, if I was a different man, I would’ve done it many years ago.

Thoughts On 1 Chronicles 13:10

2010-11-04T19:50:00.001-04:00

Thoughts On 1 Chronicles 13:10

November 4^th, 2010

Tags: #BookOf1Chronicles #God #Truth, #Contradictions

1 Chronicles 13:7-10 (NIV)

⁷ They moved the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. ⁸ David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets. ⁹ When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. “The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. “

I have a hard time truly believing this is God, once again. Again I must say it’s not about doubting God, but more and more I have to wonder… Have we gotten God wrong? Why would God strike a man dead simply for reaching out and trying to keep the Ark of the Covenant from falling?

Someone had to build the Ark, so hands were laid on it. The scripture says that the Ark was in a cart pulled by oxen basically, and it doesn’t say the Ark was floating around on its own like some scientists hypothesize. We have to assume that someone put it on the cart don’t we?

When the Ark was stolen, I’m sure they wouldn’t have revered it like King David and the Israelites. Didn’t they have to touch it to steal it?

I mean all these people touching it yet Uzzah is the one who dies from good intentions. I highly doubt that is God. That is so petty; so pointless.

Is Belief In God Something To Be Proud Of?

2010-11-02T17:03:00.001-04:00

Is Belief In God Something To Be Proud Of?

November 2^nd, 2010

#God #Pride/Conceit #BookOf2Chronicles #BookOfJob #BookOf2Corinthians #BookOfDaniel #BookOfJames #BookOfIsaiah #BookOfGalatians

A person asked a question once, that I sought to explain pretty briefly. The question was “Is believing in God something to be proud of?” They furthered their question with this statement…

I see people all the time bragging about how they believe in God and that they are not ashamed and every time, I just want to ask them “So what?” For me I feel like it is harder to not believe in God because people automatically think I am a bad person when they hear this. I don’t make it a well known fact that I don’t believe in God because I don’t like the reaction I get. If I were to start a Facebook group saying “God does not exist and I am proud to know this.” I would probably get more hate mail than supporters.

Another question…

When the rumor was going around that one of the victims from the Columbine shootings was killed because she believed in God it really got people going. She was talked about by everyone because she stood up for what she believed… What if it was the other way around though? What if she did not believe in God but the shooter did, so she was shot for not believing. Would she still be talked about for standing up for what she believed?

I just want to be clear that I am not trying to be hateful, this is just something I have been thinking about.

My response is as follows….

I believe that whatever you believe in, you should not be ashamed of your belief, but as to whether or not you should be proud, that is the question. Merriam-Webster.com shows that there is a healthy form of pride and an unhealthy form of pride. The Bible itself has the two forms of pride, healthy and unhealthy.

Unhealthy pride is found in many places. I believe 2 Chronicles 26:16 (NIV) is where “pride comes before the fall” concept came from, because that exact wording is not found in the bible. We also have Isaiah 13:11 (NIV), Daniel 5:20 (NIV), Job 33:17 (NIV) as a few good examples.

The healthy pride is kind of alluded to in Jeremiah 48:29 (NIV), and clearly marked in 2 Corinthians 8:24 (NIV), Galatians 6:4 (NIV), and James 1:10 (NIV).

I think that Christians have become ashamed because of the many things that atheist like to point out, such as the Salem Witch Hunts, the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi’s, etc all of who claim to be Christians or believe in the bible. So understandably most want to distance themselves from those violent acts. But ultimately again whatever it is that you believe in, you should not be ashamed of and should therefore have a healthy pride, not a conceit or vanity, but a humble, reasonable, self-respect, or pride.

Alternate Lifestyles

2010-10-30T16:43:00.000-04:00

Alternate Lifestyles

October 30^th, 2010

#God #Homosexuality #Book of Genesis #Book Of Judges #Book Of Romans

I’ve never been politically correct, but my intention is not to offend anyways. I know that when talking about gay, homosexual, queer, bisexual, transgender, alternate lifestyles, or whichever title you prefer, people may get their feelings hurt, hate, or vocally disagree.

First of all, like I always told my mother I am not my brother’s keeper, I care for and love people but my decisions and opinions do not override your freewill. There are a lot of things I don’t agree with, and have my own opinions about, but I think I’m pretty good about never trying to force anybody into anything. So though people may still get offended or not understand that; I am not here to judge or condemn.

For those Bible thumpers, the bible is accurately and boldly against anything besides for male-female relationships. There are a handful of places, off the top of my head I can remember. Genesis 19 (NIV) the story of Lot and the two angels where Lot would rather give up his two virgin daughters to be raped and abused than to give up the angels. Then there is the oddly similar story in Judges 19 (NIV), of the man who went to his father-in-laws house to get his concubine back, who wound up giving her up to be raped and abused instead of going out himself as requested. Then in the New Testament there is Romans 1:18-32 (NIV) that talks about men unnaturally getting inflamed with lust for other men, and women the same, and they received in them the due penalty for sin. So the bible is pretty solid, and if you equate the bible 100% with God then that’s what you believe.

Other people view the bible a little bit like me, but with more contempt, and I would point out for those people, that the aforementioned scriptures were not attributed to God directly. They seem to speak of, or point to, an unwritten and unknown law which I have never heard of or come across in the bible.

My stance is that while those scriptures may not be attributed God’s lips, I think they are indicative of God’s stance. I partly believe this because of the congruity between Old & New Testament. I partly believe because similar to that phrase (which I hate); God did make Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve or Anna & Eve. I also partially draw from biology and nature in my stance. With everything going on, these alternate lifestyles ultimately have no natural way of reproduction. As far as I know every creature in existence has a way to create offspring. As far as I’ve heard even the frog has the ability to naturally change gender in order to facilitate the continuation of the species.

Either way, I used to see homosexuality as some ugly sin blotting the earth because of how other Christians spoke of it but now, while I still disagree with it, it’s just like any other sin. We all commit sin, and the thought is that no sin is worse than another, and if that’s true I can’t condemn them for their sin. I never thought I would have a friend who wasn’t heterosexual but I now have unexpectedly have a friend and like any other friend I have, try to pick that friends brain as much as possible. Alternate lifestyles are still pretty iffy and not quite understood, yet it’s being pushed on the populace to embrace it. I say first let’s understand it.

Bridgeport: City Of Dreams

2010-10-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

Bridgeport: City Of Dreams

October 28^th, 2010

Tags: #Bridgeport #Connecticut #USA

Most people who live in Bridgeport, CT (that I’ve heard voice an opinion) want to get out. They want to make some good money and move somewhere with less blight; less violence; less black people; less music blaring; less people, and the list goes on and on. I, on the other hand, while I’ve never loved Bpt (Bridgeport) have never been anywhere else I would deem better enough for me to want to move.

I think one common thing with Bridgeport residents is that they think once they get out of here and they go to the city (New York) or to the suburbs (like Greenwich) or wherever that they will be satisfied. I have also seen people who moved to Bridgeport from various parts of New York and within 2 years have packed up and left. I can’t help but wonder if they thought they’d be getting away from the “hood” and realized that it was just a different “hood”. Like Mr. Rogers used to say, “Won’t you be my neighbor?”

I thought of this because people’s tendencies seem to be to escape and replace as opposed to repair. Bridgeport is not a great place to live but it’s not horrible either. I have heard of people talk so highly about these exotic destinations like Jamaica, Cancun, and other places. While people want to vacation there, why have I never heard of anyone wanting to move there? People must know that everything has pros and cons. Chicago, Manhattan, Atlanta, DC, Charlotte, everywhere has its pitfalls.

I’ve always been a firm believer in making things better, or bringing things back to their former glory, or better. In Bridgeport’s case it would probably be the first; making it better, because it’s past from what I hear isn’t that great either. So why don’t you help make your city into your “city of dreams”. Stop running from your problems. Stop focusing on just your strength OR just your weakness, look at the big picture. Things will never get better unless we make things better. Even Jesus said in Matthew 16:19 (NIV) and Matthew 18:18 (NIV) that what we bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven. Your city of dreams probably does not exist right now. Either you will have to make it, or more likely you will have to help create the next best thing; everyone’s city of dreams (not just yours).

It’s Just A Thought

2010-10-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

It’s Just A Thought

October 23^rd, 2010

Tags: #Suicide #Life #Hurt

There’s been a lot on the news about suicide recently ironically. I feel like I’ve never looked forward to a day in my life. I mean realistically speaking there have been a few days here and there, nothing to live for I guess you could say. And it makes me think of a lot of things. For instance, this phrase that Tupac quoted, “if you can’t find something to live for you best find something to die for”. I have agreed with the phrase in the past but I don’t know if I still do.

I think more of the phrase that I started saying in June 2010, “I don’t know why God gives hope to the hopeless”. What is there to live for when it seems all there is, is pain. I so hate the way the world is, and feel like it won’t change; not that it can’t change but that it won’t. And the more I talk with people, the more I’m convinced.

So all this leads me (as i would think anyone) to thoughts of depression and suicide. I think depression is the most widespread condition on earth and as far as a diagnosis, the least recognized. But to be fair, nothing will ever be completely diagnosed for a few different reasons. I don’t think that you have to be crazy to be suicidal; I think everyone knows that this life sucks but goes on living anyways. They tell themselves any lie they have to so that they can motivate themselves and press through, but I look at peoples thoughts and beliefs and I can’t help but see big gaping holes in those beliefs. Statistics say differently, studies say there is about 1 in 10 who has depression and less who have clinical/severe depression.

Some or most say life is a blessing but I can’t call something a blessing when 95% of the time it has brought me nothing but pain and struggles. I look around and I see everyone with the same hurts and struggles, the only difference is the attitude and their financial standings. When I see people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, I don’t see happy satisfied individuals, so why am I going to strive for that? Satisfied to me is just like in a relationship. If you are satisfied with the love you receive from that one person you would not go around flirting, sleeping around, and everything else. You would be satisfied and would not want more. But even Warren Buffet, neither building and amassing a fortune nor giving it away has truly satisfied. What could be more?

When I lay my head down to sleep, I don’t really care if I wake up. I plan for tomorrow because when I wake up as always, I want to be able to do as best I can with the day. Why complain about something without trying to make it better. Unless you plan on killing yourself you better set everything up so you can make it to work or school or whatever it is that you have to do. If you don’t plan to kill yourself and you don’t plan for tomorrow then you only set yourself up for more hate and loathing. A friend of mine said that a lot of suicides cases supposedly have frantic last minute attempts of these people trying to save them self. I can see that being truthful, because many people seem to have issues with committing to anything. People seem most loyal to money over anything it seems.

So even if most change their minds, I’ve never been a flip-flopper. I’m not suicidal although I could be, and I say in response to Gnarls Barkley no you’re not “crazy”, but “just a thought” doesn’t have to become an action. I’ve felt the way I do for about 20 years, so you never know how much you can withstand. But I won’t be the one telling you “just do it!”, or “life’s not that bad” or “there’s always somebody who has it worse than you”. No not at all, because if I hate life the way it is and I had it worse like someone else, that just may be the last straw on the camel’s back for me. Love is the only reason I can find so far to keep going, but we’ll see as life goes on.

Purpose? It’s Love!

2010-10-21T15:30:00.000-04:00

Purpose? It’s Love!

October 21^st, 2010

Tags: #Love #Life #BookOfEcclesiastes #God #BookOfMatthew

I’ve read Ecclesiastes. I’ve read most of the bible and pretty well understand it. I’ve gotten to know the average Joe on a few occasions. I’ve always been an observer of the world. I’ve sought to understand those who have gotten it wrong as well as those who have seemed to get close to the mark. Going through this world and all these experiences and thoughts I’ve been through, I’ve come to one prominent thought and possible conclusion; there is nothing worth anything in life except for love.

It is not only a feeling, but it also seems very logical that loved ones matter most in the world; that love is what makes the world go around. Without love what would happen? Who would work a job? Who would seek to swindle? Who would seek to please the members of their body? You have to love someone. You have to love either yourself, or a combination of you and others.

I understand it may be hard to love yourself; it may be hard to love your parents or close friends and family. I understand that situations are not the same for all of us either. But I think once we are devoid of love we become the most vicious monsters ever imaginable. We are typically insatiable, without love we are probably no different than when we are not using sense and intelligence.

I believe that God is love, and that is the overriding theme of God, not just in the bible but in practical everyday experiences. I have read stories in the bible that portray his love in favoritism, and attribute actions to God that were (as far as I see) flagrantly personal; not God-like. God is not about selective prospering, or selective blessing, for that matter he is not a selective punisher either. God does not punish a believer who knows better, while at the same time allow a sinful man’s ego to be stroked with his continual success. God does not tell us to be always truthful and then proceed to wrap a truth inside a layer of lies.

Love is not meant to be selective. Matthew 22:34-40 (NIV) doesn’t propose you love God and just those around you, NO! Remember they had no neighborhoods like we have now. For them a city was basically a land island. Love is a broad paintbrush on a vast and expansive canvas, meant to cover all, not just your family and your “lover”.