Mopac

Alex Jones an authoritarian? An intolerant progressive? I don't buy that.

Can you blame the guy for selling brain crank pills and water filters to stay afloat? Who cares if he's crazy? Everytime I watch the political activism on tv that they call "news", I see crazy, and indeed psychopathic people. 

These people are all lying. Not only are they all lying, but it's hard for me to believe that they aren't aware that they are lying. 

So far I'm still getting...

"I don't like what he's saying"

And/or

"I'm threatened by him"

What happens when you die? Your body goes away. Like another log chucked on the fire.

Your ideas, your artwork, everything you've ever put your heart and soul in... they will one day be forgotten, chucked away like a log in the fire.

See, you are offended, but it is true. Your life is a vapor, and if you put your faith in these fabrications of your mind and other transient things...

If you were to take yourself now, and see the fate of what you put your faith in, you would see the hell. What do you think pharaoh thinks about the state of his corpse? The fact that is hung up in a museum for everyone to point at and wonder. How nothing else is remembered but fragments of culture and a fragile mostly rotten corpse?

So will be your fate if you place your faith in that which is not eternally true. 

And this isn't something you need to read any holy book to see, it is the evident truth.

So you can discount what I'm saying because you think you know better, or you can get humble before you get humbled.

You aren't God, and no amount of your vain imagining will ever overthrow The Truth. The Truth reigns supreme.

The people who point the finger around the most and say, "racism" look the most racist to me.

So oddly enough, even though it might look like you are doing that, I agree with you, and that is why I think that way.

Colorism is stupid. 

I look at all the 24/7 Trump "news" networks, and I can't help but think that something is very wrong.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the whole country was blindsided by something serious because everyone is too busy looking at Trump.

It's really fetishistic 

Why is it a good thing that Alex Jones is not allowed on twitter?

Because you don't liike what he says?

Because you feel threatened by what he says?

See, you are actually wrong. I don't believe what I want to believe. I don't believe in things arbitrarily.

My belief in The Truth is something that goes beyond belief in what that looks like to me, in fact, the main difference here is that my beliefs are fundamentally based around the idea that I am wrong. I am wrong, so my faith is not in myself. Surely, to a certain extent it is, because I trust in my own reasoning and observations more so than the reasonings and observations of others, but that is not where my faith is.

Your faith is in your understanding. Your faith is in knowingism, or is gnostic in nature. My faith is not a gnostic faith, because my faith is not in my own understanding, but The Truth. Not my understanding of The Truth. Not someone elses understanding of The Truth, but The Truth.

So what that means is that my faith has to do with the relationship I have with The Truth. What do I do? I purge myself of the things that get in the way of being completely honest and sincere. One of those things is faith in your own understanding. This comes from pride, and even if you are smarter than everyone else around you, your understanding is still wrong.

You care about an afterlife, but you don't realize that all of your preparation for it is going to let you down, because all of that goes to hell, and I can tell you this with certainty.

Meanwhile, I don't care in the slightest about an afterlife, but I still know that no matter what happens, The Truth is eternal, and even if a truth dies, The The Truth will always be. I am secure because my faith is fundamentally about accepting reality. The natural result of that is that I am at peace with whatever happens. It is a peace that surpasses all circumstance, a peace that surpasses all understanding.

And the only reason I am telling you any of this is because I don't want you to suffer. I want you to come to knowledge of The Truth.

DDO has been terrible for the last...what, 5 years?

Do registrations even work on that site anymore?

When I say The Truth I mean Ultimate Reality, not what you think The Truth or Ultimate Reality is.

So it seems to me that because you are unsure, you are believing things that you want to believe. Am I mistaken about this?

The Truth is eternal. Therefore, goodness is abiding in The Truth, and everything else follows from that, including charity towards my fellows.

I don't worry about an afterlife, because my faith is in The Truth, not myself or the transient future of this world. Yet, there is nothing more heroic than for the sake of Truth laying your life down for others. 

Truth and Love are The Way, and this is what is good.

The Ultimate Reality is God

The The Truth is what sets you free.

Believe The Truth. Abide in The Truth.

"though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."

How does this radically go at odds with what is commonly called charity in today's world?

μη πλανασθε αδελφοι μου αγαπητοι
πασα δοσις αγαθη και παν δωρημα τελειον ανωθεν εστιν καταβαινον απο του πατρος των φωτων παρ ω ουκ ενι παραλλαγη η τροπης αποσκιασμα
βουληθεις απεκυησεν ημας λογω αληθειας εις το ειναι ημας απαρχην τινα των αυτου κτισματων
ωστε αδελφοι μου αγαπητοι εστω πας ανθρωπος ταχυς εις το ακουσαι βραδυς εις το λαλησαι βραδυς εις οργην
οργη γαρ ανδρος δικαιοσυνην θεου ου κατεργαζεται
διο αποθεμενοι πασαν ρυπαριαν και περισσειαν κακιας εν πραυτητι δεξασθε τον εμφυτον λογον τον δυναμενον σωσαι τας ψυχας υμων

It aids in their thinking somehow prolly. Makes them more lifelike and less robotic.

It'll somehow drive their algorithms or something.

Robots

It'll be like the movie the matrix, except people will just build the machines around themselves rather than the machines violently taking over.

The machines keep the people around not because we are batteries that give them electricity, but because we make really good random number generators.

If something "was" true, it by definition is not eternally true.

Certainly God is The Ultimate Reality, and that is what the word means. Simply knowing this there are many things that can be known about God from what is implied by this name.... but lets look at the definition you don't see as true...

"the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe"

Being - the quality or state of having existence 

Perfect - being entirely without fault or defect

Power - ability to act or produce an effect 

Wisdom - accumulated philosophic or scientific learning or ability to discern inner qualities and relationships

Good - well-founded, cogent or true

The Ultimate Reality is certainly all of these things, and it is undeniable that The Ultimate Reality is worshipped as the creator and ruler of the universe.

People are talking about contracts, and all I can think of is...

These are non issues for people who don't have sex outside of marriage.

Next we should talk about the legal implications of venereal disease transmission. 

All these mental gymnastics that surround doing things the wrong way, but the solution is so very easy....

... shun sexual immorality.

I showed your post to my spouse because I found it very difficult to understand.

The interpretation I was given is that you are more interested in hearing what the best explanations for these scriptures are from the people who are supposed to know than what people on this forum think.

Is that right? Because I don't know.

Yet we all die, so doesn't your personal development count for nothing?

If thats it, then what?

If your faith is in The Truth, and you abide in The Truth., you at least know without a doubt that The Truth survives death.

I don't believe that omniscience implies nonexistence, and I don't really see how that follows.

I also don't see how omnipresence implies nonexistence.

I also don't see how what you call your higher self isn't a created being.

It seems to me that you are actually denying God and putting yourself, or what you call your higher self, what I would call your soul, in the place of God.

That is not very charitable of you.

Yet you have offended others who have overlooked your offense. You were once even so weak that you couldn't crawl across a room, and God kept you alive and fed you. The One who formed you in the womb, gives you the air you breathe, the food you eat, the clothing you wear... God does all of these things.

Your very life is in the hands of God, and when it has so been ordained, your flesh will return to the dust from whence it came. You did nothing to earn your life, and everything you have in life is a grace from God. You could have been born anywhere else in the world and at any time, but you were born where you were born, at the time you were born.

Your own efforts have very little to do with where you are now compared to the weight of the entire universe pressing down to make your experience possible.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."

I didn't say that people shouldn't be forgiven. I said that no one is entitled to be forgiven.

Yet God has forgiven us, and as such this is our example, that we forgive others.

As I said before, evil is not to be loved. Those who love The Truth do not love evil. Those who love The Truth do not make evil the identity of evil doers. An evil doer can repent from their wickedness.

This has always been what the faith was truly about.

It seems to me that you are confusing gods with God. Note the first definition has "capitalized" at the start of it.

But it might be that I don't understand your questions, so if you could help me in that regard, I will do the best I can.

No one is entitled to charity, if that was the case it wouldn't be charity.

Let usbsay that the law of the land says that the penalty for murder is death. A murderer deserves death. That is what they deserve. If they get anything other than death, it is a charity. Life in prison would be charity towards a murderer.

If a man steals, and the penalty for theft is that they get their hand chopped off... if they are allowed to keep their hand, they have been shown charity.

" that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."

And

"For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy"

I believe it was certainly predestination.

If it is reality that the universe is a hologram, reality still exists.

You do not need to know The Ultimate Reality to know that it exists.

It amazes me more people don't use this argument, because it is not a new argument. This is an argument that is thousands of years old. I think apologists should abandon their overly complicated and academic arguments in favor of this one along with a spirit of charity. They would find more pagans and atheists abandoning their superstitions.

It's not that these academic arguments are all bad, it's simply that they aren't simple enough. The argument I'm using is not only easy ti understand,  but it is irrefutable. It seems like most of the atheists on this forum have already admitted that God exists, even though they refuse to acknowledge God as God. 

Of course, scriptures make it plain that people will do this when they worship the creature rather than the creator. The atheists are blind to the fact that not only is God absolutely and without question sovereign over their life, but in their hearts they are bowing down to false gods all the time. The atheist is an idol worshipper in denial. If they were to honestly look at the things that give their life meaning and value, they would see clearly.

So what are the gods of the atheist or the pagan? What is it that motivates and gives life meaning to you? Money? Videogames? Movies? Food? Family? Nation? Drugs? Yourself? When these things are shown preference to The Truth, or The Truth is always seen in relation to these values, they are gods or idols to the one who is controlled by them.

So it isn't my hope that the unbeliever has to suffer any longer or be condemned to suffer in the future. It is my desire that they throw aside their useless idols, abandon their superstition, and come to a sincere relationship with The Truth in order that they be saved from this world of vanity that they live in and find true everlasting peace in God. It is my desire that they use the knowledge they've gained by recognizing The Truth as God in order to be beacons of light in a world of darkness.

Spread the good news. The Truth is God. The Truth sets you free. The Truth is Salvation.

Evil should certainly not be loved. It isn't loving evil to be charitable towards someone who might be throwed off.

I'm not quite sure qhat you mean by your higher self. Can you explain a little bit more about what you mean by this?

How can you say that you are eternally "behind the wheel" when there is an entire universe of causality pressing down on you?

Bless those who curse you, pray for those who despitefully use you.

When Jesus was crucified, he said, "forgive them, they know not what they do"

But truly, does anyone deserve love? That is why it is called charity.

It is certainly not meaningless to believe that The Truth exists.

Making the distinction between "reality" and "ultimate reality" is not an attempt at guile, but clarification.

 I addressed this issue in post 11. 

The point of identifying God is to make clear what relationship with God means. If your relationship with God is LOVING THE TRUTH, all good things come from that. 

That is the standard, and there are certain obvious effects that follow from The Truth being The God you love with everything. It will make you. 

Your aversion as an example, will keep you ignorant and predispose you to stubbornly rejecting things you don't understand. This doesn't come from a love of The Truth, it comes from pride in one's own understanding.

The Truth is greater than your understanding, so you think it is meaningless, not realizing that loving The Truth is beneficial towards making you a more rational person with a greater depth of understanding.

On the contrary, most bible studies are done by people who aren't trying to throw the whole thing out.

So if you would like to give your interpretations or thoughts on the above scriptures, you are welcome. 

The point is that this is the command of Jesus, that we love eachother and show charity.

The subject matter of this bible study will be the command of Jesus. I ask that if you are wanting to participate, that you are respectful to the subject matter. This will not be a topic to debate the reality of God, validity of the bible, or Christianity. You don't have to be a Christian to take part, just be respectful and open minded.

So to get things going, here are some relevent passages. Give us your thoughts, opinions, application tips, etc. Lets see if we can stay on task.

"This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

---

"Charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."

 ---

"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

---

"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."

---

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

---

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

You think that 1(a) is ludicrous, but that doesn't mean it is. There is certainly a superstitious interpretation of that definition, but there is also a proper interpretation that is sound theology. 

But now...

Supreme Reality

Ultimate Reality

Supreme Being

The Truth

Means the same thing.

An example of a reality would be that Donald Trump is Zthe president of The United States. This is true. Before he was president, this was not true. After he leaves office, it will not be true. So a reality is a contingent existence. It is true in a context.

To contrast, The Supreme Reality is eternally true, always true, and the foundation for any truths.

A reality may become unreality.. or a truth may die, but The Truth does not die with a truth's death.

So really, the adjective is for precision.

But no, it is a ludicrous thing to deny God, and it also isn't helpful. More useful would be debating about the nature of God rather than debate God's existence. God obviously exists.

And there are many different traditions that believe different things about God.

So better than throwing out God and adopting the foolish position of denying reality, use that skeptical mind to embrace God and debate for the sake of truth, edification, and removing of superstition.

Believing God exists. Does not imply that you believe anything other than The Truth exists. Believing that God exists doesn't imply that you accept Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Tge Pope, Brahman or any of that stuff. How can you believe what you don't know? How can you believe what doesn't make sense to you? How can you believe something you can't have faith in?

At the same time, someone who truly loves The Truth knows that it isnwiser to say, "I don't know" than to lean on one's own understanding.

Those are three of my favorite words. I don't know.

But I am certain of one thing, and that is that God exists, and everyone should be certain of this as well, and they can be too, if they believe that The Truth is God.

And if you disbelieve God because you love The Truth, here is the good news... Your doubts are actually motivated by a love of God.

And that is the freaky turn around that I pray many of the atheists here who truly do believe God without knowing it come to realize.

You don't have a debate, you deny that The Truth exists 

You have adopted a failed position not worthy of serious consideration.

So yes, it is my hope that you see the futility of denying The Truth, and come to your senses. 

"It is the truth that The Truth doesn't exist! The Truth is a lie!" - effectively your position.

"Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

No, but I'd wager that they probably got their name the same way I got mine.

I think the dictionary definition I posted clears things up pretty good.

I do this for several reasons.

The first is that according to the instructions on how to use the dictionary, something followed by a colon and an "as" are examples are not essential to the definition.

The second is that people are too superstitious about what the words mean here, so it would add further confusion. As an example, people to think of a "being" as some type of anthropomorphic entity rather than qhat the word actually means... Existence. Also, people tend to see "good" as something that conforms to their own personal aesthetics or idea of what is right rather than what it actually means... True.

So why? To make the argument I am using simpler and easier to understand. It has nothing to do with guile of any sort. It is actually quite the opposite, my intention here is to demystify and educate, not deceive and confuse.

People are very confused about this subject, and the proof of this is that people actually deny that God exists, which is a ludicrous position to take.

I don't call The Ultimate Reality a god, I call it God.

And I am not making an innovation. This has always been the accepted meaning in theology.

The best example of this is St Augustine because I don't think there is a single work of his that does not explicitely state that God is The Truth, and that is what God means.

Absolute Reality... Truth... this is God. St Augustine is the best example because he is easily one of the most influential theologians and philosophers in the Christian tradition, and as I said, there isn't a work of his where he doesn't explicitely make clear that the identity of God is The Truth.

But I figured this out before I ever read the works of theologians simply from deeply and seriously studying the bible on my own. At the same time, even before I was a believer, The Truth was the most important thing to me. I cared about that more than anything.

Well, God answered my prayers through revelation, and because I don't see anyone who seems competent at debating the subject, I have found a niche.

I do not have a preoccupation with unbelievers or anything, I am very involved in my church, and so most of the teaching I do is for those people. However, it isnout of love that I desire all to come to the knowledge of God. For this reason, I must spray the seed of Truth all over the place, hoping that it may find fertile soil.

But I am detached enough to not take myself as some savior of the world or something. I do charity work, and people who take themselves as being something usually become cynical and jaded when they don't see their efforts yielding the results they'd like to see. I am serene. I am not the one who saves, God is.

Source is Merriam-Webster

Full Definition

Atheism towards God is absolutely foolish and there can be no serious debate that this is not a self defeating and stupid position. Atheism towards gods? Well, a King can be defied and overthrown. The value of a person or thing can be questioned. A being or an object believed to have more than natural attributes can be disbelieved.

So these little g gods have no real permanence or lasting authority. Their distinguishing characteristic is that they are created.

Capital G God is true and authoritative no matter what anyone thinks, is eternal, and NOT created.

You cannot make statements concerning truth while simultaneously denying The Truth existing.

You undermine your own assertions.

You build your house on sand.

The position I am holding is not new, it's thousands of years old. Theology has always recognized this as being God.

You don't really understand this stuff as well as you might think, otherwise you wouldn't say silly things like "unless it can do miracles, it is not a god".

Firstly, I am talking about The God, not just a god or gods. Secondly, performing miracles is not what makes God.

But that aside, how can you look around you and not see miracles? Being alive is a miracle. Even if we weren't surrounded by all this amazing technology, which is pretty miraculous, the intricacy of nature is miraculous.

So what is so hard about believing these words that The Truth is God? This should be a relief. A weight off your shoulders. What better news is there? Now. Instead of debating an inherently stupid position like, "The Truth is a lie!", you can actually debate with people's superstitions without denying God.

Monotheists have been doing this for thousands of years, which is why there isn't an atheist argument that hadn't already been used by monotheists long before.

Atheism towards The One True God is not a rational position. Atheism towards false gods? Well, Christians were called atheists back during the time of The Roman Empire! 

But no, their is One God that is abominably superstitious to deny, and that God is The Supreme And Ultimate Reality.

There is no argument against this God that isn't self defeating. 

You are the one arguing with the dictionary. Not me.

"with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The Truth Is whether or not you choose to accept it.