10 years ago someone said to me, “These days you may not even know your next door neighbor, but you exchange emails with your buddy in South Africa twice a week.” I looked out the window at the house next to mine – barely knew the neighbors – and yes I was sitting there sending emails to someone in some far-off country.
Every week I get on conference calls and say hi to everyone and barely think twice about the fact that I’ve got 17 people from Texas, four from Perth, one from Amsterdam, one in Alaska, one in Lebanon.
Ever heard Thomas Friedman’s “McDonalds theory of world peace”? He observes that with only one exception, no two countries with a McDonalds have ever gone to war with each other.
Can you imagine, say, the US going to war with Australia? Think of all the emails the senators and congressmen would get: “Hey, stop trying to kill my customers! And by the way, here’s a list of 115 blogs from people who are trapped in the Siege of Sydney right now!”
The world is truly a strange and wonderful place. Just before I went on a trip, I loaded the first season of The Dukes of Hazzard on my video iPod so my 10 year old son would have something to watch while we trucked down Interstate 80.
That TV show ran in 1979 – the year that *I* was 10 years old. I said to Laura, “Who would’ve thought that 25 years later you’d be able to download an entire season of the Dukes of Hazzard onto a device that’s half the size of a pack of cigarettes, and our kids would watch it in the car with headphones and a 2″ screen?” We shake our heads in amazement.
OK, so what does all this have to do with spirituality?
Equality and technology… They have everything to do with spirituality.
Let’s start with equality.
The United States Declaration of Independence makes a world-shattering declaration that transformed the modern world:
“We hold these things to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
In his book “Democracy in America” (1835) Alexis de Tocqueville carefully traces this statement and its idea of equality backward through history and lands at Galatians 3:28, the words of St. Paul:
“In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free. All are equal in Christ Jesus.”
Before Paul said this, no one had ever made such a bold and sweeping statement. No one. Not the Jews or Babylonians, not the Egyptians, not the Greeks, not the Chinese. The concept of equality came first from Paul.
This idea got planted in western civilization and began to grow and develop, little by little dismantling slave trade, sowing the seeds for democracy and spurring technological and political progress. Tocqueville says that from 1100 AD to the present, every major development led to more equality, not less. The Magna Carta. The invention of the horseshoe. The invention of the gun and the post office and the printing press and democracy.
If you live in a democracy and you’re thankful for the ability to vote, if you’re thankful that people generally consider you and themselves to be just as good as anybody else, then thank Paul. And his Rabbi, Jesus.
Because – despite what the Declaration says – equality really is NOT self evident. At least it wasn’t to any of the ancient world prior to 2000 years ago. On the surface, we’re all different. Some are stronger. Some are smarter. Some have more money. Some are politically connected. Some are more savvy.
And some people get the scraps.
You have no principle to guide you but winners and losers. Which, divorced from any overriding sense of equality or individual dignity, is a cruel master.
But when Paul said this, he was declaring that there is an underlying *spiritual* reality, that yours and my true identity doesn’t come from accomplishments or money or power but from our Heavenly Father. That once we know that true identity we’re no longer slaves to money and power and accomplishments and the ‘natural’ order of things.
If you’re thankful that Western Civilization today considers all people to be intrinsically equal, be thankful that a young couple in Bethlehem gave birth to a baby who was to become the most loved, most hated, most argued about, most written about, most influential person in the history of the world. One who taught that the greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. One in whom there is no male or female, no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free.
So then how about technology?
Science itself is, at its core, a presumption of discoverable underlying order. A belief, an assumption (which cannot be proven in advance, by the way) that when an apple falls from a tree it does so because of some law of nature that caused it to do so. That there was a string of cause and effect that can be traced back to explain why this happened.
The apple did not fall from the tree because, say, Zeus was having a snit with Apollo and that’s why there was the lightning storm which is why there was a wind that caused the apple to swing back and forth and fall from the tree…. no, it happened for rational discoverable reasons. That God made a world which could operate consistently on its own without Him constantly making corrections from the outside.
So far as I can tell, the inspiration for this belief first came from Wisdom of Solomon 11:21:
“Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.”
(The Protestants omitted that book, but our Catholic friends thankfully left it in.)
If a scientist does not presume that there is a rational reason for what he is about to investigate, there is nothing for him to investigate at all. Belief in rationality comes from belief in a rational God. A God who wants us to discover His universe. For whom such discovery is an act of worship.
If you read the history of science over the last 500 years, the only reason science succeeded in the West – after getting started but failing in Greece, Rome, China, Egypt and in the Arab world – is that Christian theology understood God to have created the universe to operate according to fixed discoverable laws. Theology made that prediction, then people had a philosophical basis for having a scientific method.
In his fascinating book “The Victory of Reason” historian Rodney Stark further explains that the forward march of technology began after the fall of the Roman Empire and has marched steadily forward ever since. Equality implied that slavery was wrong, so people had to develop technology in order to free their slaves and still get the work done.
So… part of the inspiration for inventions like water wheels was a belief in dignity and freedom and the rights of the individual.
Technology is supposed to empower people, not enslave them. Because, as Paul said, in Christ, all are equal.
If you trace these ideas back through history, equality and technology and even iPods and Democracy have everything to do with our very beliefs about the universe and about God. And yes, even Jesus.
Case in point: it’s politically incorrect to say “Merry Christmas” cuz it’s too religious. Instead you get a tepid, watered down “Happy Holidays.”
It’s because Christ is offensive. When a guy smashes his thumb with a hammer, he doesn’t say “Krishna” or “Buddha,” he says Jesus Christ. Because that’s the most loaded, most powerful word in the English language.
There’s no name you can invoke that’s more powerful than the Son of God.
~~~
Do you know what the most important invention in the history of the world was?
It wasn’t the computer. And it sure wasn’t the light bulb or the telephone. (Or even the electronic voting machine.)
It was the printing press.
In 1445, Johannes Gutenberg invented the world’s first movable type printing press. He didn’t know it, but he was unleashing a revolution that continues to this day. Even the mighty Internet in the 21st century is just an extension of Gutenberg’s original, revolutionary machine.
The first book he printed was the Bible. And that led to controversy, too, because Luther translated it into German, the people’s language, instead of Latin, the lingo of the religious elite.
Suddenly, ordinary folks could not only afford a copy, but they could read it for themselves instead of getting some guy’s slanted interpretation. Soon the cat was out of the bag–there were copies scattered all over Europe.
It’s no coincidence that the scientific enlightenment and industrial revolution began in earnest within 50 years of this. Not that it wasn’t already underway (it had already gathered considerable momentum) but now that ordinary folks had access to knowledge and the freedom to pursue it, the possibilities were limitless.
The printing press took the handcuffs off of knowledge and spirituality, and the world has never been the same. Equal access to knowledge empowered people everywhere, and it was only natural that the Renaissance, and in time, democracy too would follow.
Every year at Christmas we celebrate the person who inspired these revolutions. Jesus’ teachings were radical and scandalous. He claimed to be the Son of God. He said he would rise from the dead, and according to the historical accounts, he did. He stepped into the world and split time in half: BC and AD. And his words still resonate throughout the earth today.
Still rolls the stone from the grave.
In the spirit of what Jesus taught us, I hope that you’ll use our 21st century printing press, the Internet, to not enslave but empower individuals. To bring more equality, to make the world a better place for your fellow man.
Thanks for reading.
Perry Marshall
Hello Perry:
What are your views on being homosexual and also being Christian? I have done a lot of bad in my life, and learning from a very early age that homosexuality will send you to hell, I just do not know. I am gay and try to lead a Chrisitan life. I try to follow God’s commandments and fail just like any other human being. I ask for forgiveness everyday.
I also try to ask God to forgive my being gay. I have real problems with it a lot of times, and I just do not know what to do or believe at this point.
Hope you will answer.
Steven
Steven,
Some Christians have made homosexuality into some kind of unforgivable sin. Some very appalling things have happened recently in the public spotlight. I am ashamed that people are so unkind to homosexuals.
When the woman was caught in adultery, Jesus said “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” I see any form of promiscuity, whether homosexual or heterosexual, as falling in the same category.
I think the first step to healing is to know that Jesus does not condemn you or cast harsh judgment on you.
God can heal you in the ways that you want to heal. One ministry that has helped me greatly is http://www.bethelsozo.com. There are a number of churches across the world that offer this ministry and I encourage you to seek one out.
Perry,
I agree that homosexuality, kleptomania prostitution, etc. are not unforgivable sins. But at the same time, they are abnormal and anti-social habits in people, which are like diseases to be eliminated from all societies, because they are not beneficial to man in anyway; and I am sure is not in God’s plan for a healthy man.
We should love the sinner and try to save him from his sins, but for that, we need not necessarily accept his sins as virtue, instead, we should hate sins and diseases.
Just like Jesus cured Mary Magdelene of promiscuity, we should try to cure our brethren of homosexuality and similar other aberrations. Today, there is a general tendency to celebrate homosexuality, and it has become fashionable and trendy to become a homosexual, especially since many celebrities, film stars, pop singers, etc. openly confess that they are homosexuals, and their millions of fans spread out world over (because of widespread internet access and other means)ape their heroes.This disease is spreading like a wildfire or virile virus infection. Because of man’s new perverse behaviours, population in many parts of the world are dwindling, instead of multiplying as God commanded.
“Judge not lest ye be judged”
“you see a stick in another’s eye but do not see the log in your own”
The world is obviously overpopulated, this (homosexuality)could be a divine intervention to prevent us from breeding ourselves out of existence. Just like cancer cells that have lost the intelligence to stop dividing, some humans have very selfish ideas about the importance of their personal genetic information. Racial superiority…hm… there is only one true disease in the world and that is the belief in the reality of the ego, or separate self.
As for Judgement of other people, please try to practice what you preach.
If you extend your analysis of homosexuality to cancer, war, pestilence and famine, you could argue that they are all divine interventions, and we should pray to God to shower more of them more often on mankind, to prevent us from breeding ourselves out of existence.
Isn’t it all so blindingly obvious that it shouldn’t have to be pointed out!
With almost limitless mutations possible, the evolutionary process can be expected to produce individuals with characteristics of an exceedingly complex gradation – in a myriad of aspects – eg – – –
Brilliant to Thick / Jovial to Morose / Benign to Sadistic / Hetero to Homo / ad inf.
Religions provide a very accessible dump for the perceived guilt generated by the various indiscretions to which ALL humans MUST, in some respect, be victim. The evolution of Life CANNOT be fault-free. We all learn as we live.
Forgiveness from on high is a concept that is plainly LUDICROUS in the extreme!
Do not kid thyself – No one is or ever will be, immaculate!
Those gifted with conscience & a degree of ‘normalcy’ just have to bear with the ill-starred & scallywags that abound; amongst the latter, religious ‘CON MEN’, enjoying a very comfortable living with their pretentious & ‘Divine’ prognostications!
DO MUTATIONS REALLY PLAY AN IMPORTANT BEHAVIOR.?
Nucleic acids are the carriers of the genetic code.
The code controls the chemical reactions called life. Life is a multitude of reactions
that can’t occur at normal cell temperatures because of the high levels of energy
necessary. The genetic code regulate these reactions through catalysts called enzymes. Enzymes
make it possible for life to occur and to be sustained at cell temperatures. An enzyme is only one
specific for one chemical reaction . A specific enzyme for each chemical reaction.
Basically the genetic code is software that regulates chemical reactions that produces hardware .
This software not only produces the hardware but also controls it. The central nervous system
included .
Life begins with and needs nucleic acids. For early life to have started and to have been
sustainable, large amounts of nucleic acids had to be produced very rapidly. . Large amounts of
energy were required . So much energy that if it was released all at once, the chemical building
blocks would have been destroyed. A catalyst that helped the reactions to occur at lower
temperatures was necessary. Vast amounts of the chemicals that act as building blocks had to exist
in close contact with the catalyst . If it occurred spontaneously is had to be in an area were the
solvent ( water) was free of any movement that would displace the chemicals. ( It happened out
in nature, not in a laboratory )
New genetic traits require new enzymes, specific for new chemical reactions. Mutations usually
only effect one amino acid in the protein . The formation of a new gene and a new genetic trait is
much more than just a simple mutation..
Remember DNA regulate the process in the following way:
DNA -mRNA-tRNA-amino acid ribosome(rRNA) proteins ( mostly enzymes).
The development of the human brain required the development of quite a few hardware structures
and the simultaneous development of different software programs to handle all the input this
remarkable super chip receives and processes Software drivers for its cameras (eyes) microphones
(ears), speakers ( the voice system with all its muscles) etc.
The manner in which this remarkable organ handle all the input leads to behavior. But behavior is
a choice. Emotions and behavior is controllable . The brain has an inherent ability to decide what it
is going to do and how it is going react . FREE CHOICE DO EXIST.
My view is that morality , ethics integrity etc depend on choices. Ill-starred & scallywags
can change for the better. .
The basic question that divide theists and atheists is : How is it possible that a code that control
and regulate such a multitude of chemical reactions so precisely developed without
preprogramming?
Johan
Quote of Johan – The manner in which this remarkable organ handles all the input leads to behavior. But behavior is a choice. Emotions and behavior are controllable . The brain has an inherent ability to decide what it is going to do and how it is going to react . FREE CHOICES DO EXIST.
My view is that morality , ethics integrity etc depend on choices. Ill-starred & scallywags
can change for the better. .
The basic question that divide theists and atheists is : How is it possible that a code that controls and regulates such a multitude of chemical reactions so precisely developed without preprogramming?
Johan
*******************************
Johan – Suffice to say, you are merely describing in detail. the workings of evolution; a slow & steady process that has made & sustained life in changing circumstances.
No need at all to evoke the utility of airy-fairy Creators in order to understand our existence & performance. It’s quite certain that, as products of the creation process, we’ll NEVER know the absolute complexity, or indeed simplicity of it all.
The degree of uncertainty at levels of extremely low energy means that there is no such thing as nothing, an absolute vacuum. If time exists, some form of energy – mass – must be present. I’m talking as though I know something about the subject but it’s really only the mind giving rise to thoughts utilising our researched knowledge & logical capabililty.
Must now be well recognized that our minds can produce any bizarre thought ‘imaginable’. Transcendent thoughts have to be analyzed & kept in check. We must use everyday communal logic in order to get by.
Our consciousness comes from oblivion. Life is indeed a DIY business until eventually our consciousness ends up in that same location.
All Gods were born of fear & apprehension of the future. For a few of us, they are but crutches to help us along!
Hello again
I think the first step to healing is to realise that homosexuality is natural. It is (usually)not a choice as much as hunger is not a choice. Tests show that homosexuality is mainly genetic in origin and exists in the same proportion in all societies, secular, religious, rich and poor. If Jesus wanted to teach equality, he might have had a (openly) gay disciple or a female disciple for that matter, or six of each, and banned slavery, instead of just saying that they are equal. What would the world look like now, if he had done that. 2000 years on and we still cannot recognise that homosexuality is (usually) not a choice,(usually) not a sin and seldom if ever changed by praying, preaching or any other method.
“I am gay and try to lead a Christian life. I try to follow God’s commandments and fail just like any other human being. I ask for forgiveness everyday.”
Jesus does not condemn you. Perry doesn’t either. The Bible seems to, and the churches do. Lets accept that it’s natural and unique. I cannot answer for the Bible.
Martin L – Why can’t all of Humanity take in what is so glaringly obvious.
Please excuse the similarity with previous posts. A naked appraisal does not get thro to those tangled in a religious shroud & needs to unfold the veils of silly mythology.
With almost limitless mutations possible, the evolutionary process can be expected to produce individuals with characteristics of an exceedingly complex gradation – in a myriad of aspects – eg – – –
Brilliant to Thick / Jovial to Morose / Benign to Sadistic / Hetero to Homo / ad inf.
Religions provide a very accessible dump for the perceived guilt generated by the various indiscretions to which all humans must, in some respect, be victim. The evolution of Life cannot be fault-free. We all learn as we live.
Forgiveness from on high is a concept that is absolutely ridiculous!
Man-made religious thoughts, initially engendered by ignorance & fear of the unknown, should long ago have been recognized as just that. Communal Common Sense is the basis of Mankind’s development & since the beginning, it has been our only means of progress. Trouble arises when the minds of some of our leaders are distorted by power, religiosity etc & sanity goes out of the window. Ritual unreality should have no place in the World of today.
Those gifted with conscience & a degree of ‘normalcy’ just have to bear with the ill-starred & scallywags that abound; amongst the latter, religious Con-Men, enjoying a very comfortable living with their pretentious & ‘Divine’ prognostications!
The above cannot be emphasized enough. It obviously needs to be repeated. The thought of an Almighty One keeping a check on all of our misdemeanours, trifling or serious, is just plain crazy. Our consciousness is limited in time & needs to be channelled in an analytical sensible fashion. Transcendent thoughts are just that! The fact is that this Creation will never be fully understood by Mankind but the mind is eternally curious.
The Universe is indeed a wondrous creation. Fanatical ‘beliefs’ are not needed to enhance it.
Hi Martin
I quote from your last posting:-
‘ Tests show that homosexuality is mainly genetic in origin and exists in the same proportion in all societies, secular, religious, rich and poor.
This is typical of the unsubstantiated verbage served up to try and make homosexual behaviour normal.
Where is the evidence that TESTS have been done in ‘ALL SOCIETIES,SECULAR,RELIGIOUS, RICH AND POOR?’
What tests were done? Who authorised them? How were they conducted and what sort of proportion were tested? Were they medical tests? opinion gatherers? done by independent unprejudiced authorities? Our ethical actions are ALWAYS a choice though our actions will be biased by our natures and human nature is prone to sinning against Gods standards. Regardless of people who have homosexual tendencies (or promiscuous heterosexual tendencies) our ACTIONS in dealing with temptation are always a choice. As many people can tell you all sins can be affected by the power of prayer, the enlightment of God’s commands and the obedience to Biblical teaching with the help of the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in the heart. Like all sins homosexual behavious is forgivable because of Jesus but repentance and forgiveness are a process so we should not continue in sinful practices.
Trevor Macey
Martin Ward,
thanks, but blaming “homo sapiens” is rather futile. If we are all guilty, no-one is. And if a Supreme Principle of goodness made us all, why did s/he include evil?
Jesus Christ did not have a ‘church’ or hierarchy of priests. He didn’t urge us to attack or burn ‘heretics’. He didn’t sexually abuse or harm children, or defend those who did. He damned them utterly.
Christ was not a patriotic troops-blesser either. “Blessed are the peacemakers”. The idea of a ‘just war’ was an invention of religion. OGT
It seems the one great issue all who write here overlook. Namely the Lord Jesus Christ claimed to be God and all who follow Him know and accept that He alone is the creator.
No other religion has anyone who has made such a claim..There is only one true Christian and it is defined by Jesus Himself. These are my disciples, “those who hear my word and do it ” And again by Yahushua (Jesus) “I AM the way, the life and the truth, no one comes to the Father but by me”
Like it or lump it punters you who reject Yahushua will be caste into a lake of fire.
Old Git Tom.
“Jesus Christ did not have a ‘church’ or hierarchy of priests. He didn’t urge us to attack or burn ‘heretics’. He didn’t sexually abuse or harm children, or defend those who did. He damned them utterly”.
I echo your sentiments and that was the essence of my post.
Hi Perry,
I have been receiving your emails for some months now, and I find them very interesting, but not only: They have anwered a lot of my questions on evolution, creation and God. I am a mechanical engineer, graduated 1974, studied chemistry, physics, mathematics, thermodynamics, fluids, etc etc. and have been working all my life in a God-blessed, economically and historically rich (even though resourcesless), little island in the centre of the Mediterranean, an island that has seen three thousand years of written or traceable history and 10 K years of stone buildings that are the oldest in the world and an enigma to archeologists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%A6a%C4%A1ar_Qim
I have always been fascinated by life on this planet, what/Who caused it. If it came through chance or by intelligence. I always came to the same conclusion, namely: intelligence cannot be the result of chance. Stupidity cannot produce life. Only intelligence can give life to a collection of elements and chemical compounds and I always came to the other conclusion, namely, that science will one day prove all this. I believe in science because it is a perfection on its own. It is based on immutable laws that no man, politician, journalist or scientist can bend, stretch or twist. If I try to break the law of gravity by walking off a cliff I would surely die. If I fly on an aeroplane its becuase fluid dynamics obey perfect laws. If I add a particular number to another particular number I would always get the same and right result, no matter how many times I carry out the addition, because mathematics is a perfect science. This was all created during the first billionths of a second of the big bang. It was an explosion of immense energy. Before that nothing existed, not matter, not space nor time. I cannot comprehend what this means. A nothingness. Can a nothingness exist? Can it create a universe? How can a universe fill a nothingness? How can one fill with matter something which does not exist? But it has, resulting in the universe that we can see and measure and which includes the planet that contains carbon-based life, you, me and all the rest.
What triggered this reply e-mail was your mentioning of Paul of Tarsus and his declaration of equality. I have read and heard the gospels many a time, the acts of the apostles etc etc, but I never realised the importance of Paul’s declaration until you metioned it. IT IS JUST FANTASTIC. And for us Maltese it is even more so. In the year 60, Paul was shipwrecked here, he spoke semitic because he came from Tarsus in Syria and the Maltese of that time were descendants of what is today Lebanon. They were also Roman citizens as Paul was too. So the affinity was automatic. They understood each other and he cured the sick including the local governor, Publius, and preached Jesus. He stayed here for the 3 months of winter before heading on towards Rome. We Maltese have been Christians since that time, with, some historians say, a break of a few centuries during the dark ages.
Then Malta was ‘ liberated’ by Charlemagne’s forces and the rest is history. However, these days, we are being inundated with political correctness, atheism, with young upstarts declaring even that today’s progress is not a result of 2000 years of Christianity, but in spite of it. Then I challenge them to carry out a thought experiment: Remove from Europe everything that was done, built or carried out by or due to Christianity and see what remains. Of course the answer is that nothing remains. THEN THEY SHUT UP. They quote evolutionary theory, Darwin, science etc and declare that whoever believes in a creator is a dimwit. This de-Christianisation is happening fast as has occured in the rest of Europe and the prospects don’t look good at all. The EU has approved a constitution which has refused to include a clause which states that Europe has its roots in Christianity. All this, I believe, has implications:
One: That God will not let Europe be Godless.-He is filling it with Muslims who go their ‘church’ every Friday. (Today, more European muslims attend their mosques on Fridays, then Christians attend church on Sundays)
Two: He is letting Europe destroy its own economy.
Three: A new Europe will emerge, soon.
Why am I predicting this: Because it is, theistically, the logical conclusion.
Way back in the 60’s when I was just a teenager, I had predicted the rise of a person who, from within the echelons of power, would change Russia and end the cold war and the nuclear threat. Why: Becuase the other option was nuclear armageddon and/or total global communist domination. And God would never let that happen. So the only option was an internal collapse of the Soviet Union.
I also believe that all this de-Christianisation attack will soon end too. It will be a surprise for many like the fall of the Berlin wall was.
Thanks for your emails,
Albert
Thank you brother Perry I am deeply pleased by your journal which you send me every time. It is a wonderful revelation you get from Paul’s message to Galatians. It is true that Equality of men is first introduced by Paul that every person is equal in Christ, the Creator of the Universe,the Son of the Most High God. Praise the Lord.
Thank you Perry, God bless you and the works of your hand.
darwin senjaya.
Very wise words my friend. Since none of us know the real answer in the ‘cut and dried’ empirical sense, why don’t we open our minds and hearts to all the religions and each other’s beliefs. In spite of all the sick and distorted interpretations and self interest views the world’s great religions basically teach the same thing. There is a book named ‘The parallel Teachings of Jesus and the Buddha’. One taught there is a God and he was the son of God. The other taught there is no God and we are a refuge unto ourselves for who else can be our refuge? Yet many of their teachings are parallel. Maybe that tells us something.
I don’t think the Buddha meant to say there is no God, he didn’t speak about God at all, one way or the other. I would say he was agnostic. He didn’t worry about the beginning or end of the universe either, figured it was a moot point since all we really know or can say anything about is this moment. That’s all he said; only this moment is real. Even though I can read what was said in the past, I’m reading it now and making my interpretation now.
The true nature of the Self is not attached to specific personal perceptions, thoughts, or stuff(body). What he discovered in meditation can be discovered by anyone, that “I” am beyond mental activity and everything is connected at that level. Nothing is really separate from anything else and even “I” would hesitate to call that “God” but it may be if we can realize Creator, Creating, and Created are all one Thing (Nothing).
The Paradox of true Realization is always lost on the deluded.
Just received this update email from,,Author: Praven, Comment to Mr.Perry,
On this issue,I must side with Praveen as it is written.
I was born and brought up reasonably strict Catholic. It took me 59 years to realize that, ALL denominations cant be GOD”S Church such as claimed.
The Catholic church has made un-excusable blunders in its existence, up to this day.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=windswept+house+malachi+martin&aq=1&aqi=g9&aql=&oq=Windswept+House&gs_rfai=CCQcZH5Q3TIiTLoXyzASyxoD_CwAAAKoEBU_Qc6MN
Though I realized many years before, it took me a long time and education to realize the example given by most in the clergy was contrary to REPUBLICAN CIVILITY !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_virtue
and christian ethics.amongst others…
http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=802
I firmly believe in The GOD of Creation,being “SPIRITUAL” is now my claim.
Without getting into all the details of past denomination, cults and what ever turns people on to argue,fight, wars etc.
I found much descension,etc. not what my education taught !
We all are born into a family. What their belief is what we inherit and learn to respect till for what ever reason and study we come to what we think is “THE TRUTH” !
As I researched into several other denominations,Seventh Day Adventist,Church of Christ, Nazarene,Baptist,Methodist,and others,I found as Praveen explained,”That we are all family”.
Amongst families, there are good and bad members as Adam and Eve experienced with their 2 sons. And ,YES,it seems that there are some people that are inclined to evil more than others,as history and up to now our days we are exposed to.
I personally find a big reason for evil behavior is “being exposed to such life style, as a result,the abuse and brutality impose on those people will change minds.
Of course,ignorance and naivety is the most influencial exposure….
Martin Ward, Old Git,Bill Davison, ALL have good points…
I personally try to live and treat people the way I wish to be treated..
But,it does not guarantee that I will be treated as such,,in fact, my own,3 out of 4 children have gone the way of the Video ” Scavenger Hunt 1979″
http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/scavenger_hunt.htm
Such events makes one wonder what goes on in people’s minds,especially when they where brought up to have christian ethics. ?????
I cant blame all decendants of other families for the behavior of others,,,for, they are the final results of What “THEY DECIDED TO BE” after they emancipated,which we all do…
I respect others for their convictions,,I dont have to subscribe to it..
Martin Ward,
sorry! I missed your gist.
A great source of error for many of the religious is to misread ‘Word of God’ for ‘All the Words of God’. If God exists, s/he can only transmit as much knowledge as human beings can understand. This implies a dynamic, two-way relationship, as with student & teacher. It is then not a one-off transmission of the sum total of divine wisdom. That is as unlikely as teaching quantum physics to first-year infants. OGT
@neutral_observer :you said it all ;beautifully
Hi Perry,
As always, a good and thought provoking write up – this time on on The Dance of Equality…
However, this time you have made an overly bold statement (dare I say even a mistake). You stated ‘…only reason science succeeded in the West – after getting started but failing in Greece, Rome, China, Egypt and in the Arab world’. Science itself has been built up over time and all the above contributed to it. For instance Copernicus’s great ‘discovery’ that the earth spun around the Sun was based on astronomical data and hypotheses of Tycho Brahe along with original data from Arab astronomers. You can’t say Science has succeeded because its an ongoing process – its not a done deal & journey has not yet ended. Also success is subjective here. Currently the West is pioneering most advances in Science. In time to come this may change. You could have used the word ‘succeeding’!
I tried to send this to you on coffeehousetheology but got bumped off. Hence I’m here.
Thanx Perry for your mails. These are in fact too tough and muddled to digest!!
There are so many issues in the worlds religions that are incompatible with the rational mind.
I asked you a simple question – Did Adam and Eve start it all or was it the primordial soup?
In reply I receive all this long long rhetoric! Forgive me for being blunt.
Yet another ‘Why did the Creator have to rest after creating this world in six days”? Is he still resting?
To me the Creator who created this small dot in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way out of Trillions of galaxies must be still at work – creating New Worlds and sending new Messiahs in distant worlds in distant galaxies in an ever expanding Universe. To me thats the the POWER of the creator which we lesser mortals will never be able to fathom.
My brain gets numbed when I lie on my back and watch the stars in the night sky – its simply mind boggling.
I was born into a Muslim family way back in 1943 and brought up by broad minded enlightened parents. I went to a Catholic Missionary School run by Nuns. I still remember the love and affection they showered on us kids.
I have come a long way since then and have studied the Quran, the Bible, Judaism, Hindu, Greek & Roman Mythologies and found goodness in all religions. My favourite book was and continues to be Carl Sagan’s Cosmos! I’m a Free thinker now!
Nice to have corresponded with you. Just think it over again that the Creator is busy creating New Worlds some may be far superior than ours and must have been led by creatures more intelligent than men and women that we perceive on this pale blue dot!!
Regards & God Bless
Iqbal Samad Khan
My book says the creator is still resting. There is no “evening and morning” on the 7th day.
The basic difference between, chistian/Islamic religion and Hindu Dharma.
Christian/Islamic try to impress the god in order to enter heaven but Hindus seek and try to understand god in any form or way.
Christian/Islamic believe god can be reached through only one way and Hindus believe though god is one but many ways lead to god.
There are many Hindus who worship Mohhemmad and Jejus along with their dieties, but help me find a simgle example where any christian or islamic is worshiping anything outside their (so called misleading) sacred texts.
Jai Bharat!
Hi Perry,
Once again thank you for sharing your God given time,talent & treasure. Yes in did there is an interplay, interrelatedness between this three facets of our human existence (equality,technology & spirituality)The very core of our being that which is our spirituality(as made in the very image & likeness of God,that which we got our dignity) compels us towards an advocacy of equality.By what through the utilization of our inherent gift of rationality,intellect,& will making use of technology for the common good and continues to do so,through enovations,through an awakening of our awareness of God’s Manifestation (Theophany/Christophany)within our self & outside of our self.
the precious people did not work violence it’s other,i means he resfected some one…also help of future of humanity.
Perry,
a proposition: human believers pray, scientists look for deepest truths. The two activities are the same? Eg., (I’m not Moslem)the Koran says, “The scholar’s ink is more precious than the martyr’s blood”.
I don’t think Richard Dawkins would agree! What do you/others think? OGT
I don’t know if I completely agree but I like the sentiment.
Prayer is no more than a physical expression of hope, a plea.
When all else has failed, when scientific research has hit a brick wall, despair get’s a hold.
When in despair, the urge to look skywards takes over.
All pretty futile. Transcendental thoughts are of the mind only.
Bill D
At least a Hindu will agree with you. Many Hindu scientists have deep faith in God, and don’t see any contradiction there. According to us, all your pursuits to know the truth take you nearer to the ultimate Truth – The God!
There are many approaches, but only one God! You have to go according to your own nature and inclination. No two human beings are same, so there is no one recipe that suits all.
(Sorry, Perry, I know you won’t agree!)
Equality and technology… They have everything to do with spirituality.
Humanity is a multi dimensional, interconnected, interdependent, multifunctional organism. In this structure everyone has his own function. From this point of view everybody are equal. Everyone has something to do. And everyone will be judged at the end. Mighty Lion, trapped in a net, was released by a tiny mouse. Everyone is indispensable at a proper time in a proper place.
There is another story about internal organs arguing who is the most important in the organism. Brain, Heart, Liver, Lungs and est. all competing and debating with each other. Eventually they will hear a very shy sound. “I am the One the most important One.” Everybody started to trace the sound and discovered, that the one with the claim was…… Anus(Sorry!). They ridiculed him. So in response Anus told that he will close just for three days. First day-party in the honour of chosen leader. Second day-the filling of discomfort started to build up. Third day- nearly suffocated everybody will accept Anus to be the One on the condition that he will start functioning again. But imagine Anokraty. I think the most important is to metamorphose our human relationships and stop “erase and ravine” and stop profiting and calling things “a Master pies” after “painter” is dead and can`t defend his rights and est. and est. In general all this are very delicate issues. All Aristos, Demos and Ohlos are indispensable stratums of the society.
And technology! I think it comes from a desire to be served and increase ones own might basically. Every nation participated in enriching Collective Bank of achievements of Humanity. And every nation has a new look at old staff of others or has a new application twists. Take for example Japan – one of the leading countries in modern technologies. China created paper. India and Arabs – mathematics and medicine. After Crusades Europe was introduced to perfumes, soap, manuscripts….
Technology is a GOLEM . In Jewish tradition, the golem is most widely known as an artificial creature created by magic, often to serve its creator. Some nations has crafty minds. Famous Damask steel sward – it was the discovery of Middle East. All our achievements are consequence of electrical energy use. We discovered techniques of electricity extraction from Nature. We don’t write any more on clay tablets. So no electricity no modern civilization. We will be back to a stone age, may be something even more devastating. Because first steps of a baby it is a promise for the future, but the smell of decaying cadaver this is something else.
But…… there is a Recycling in Nature! It take a lot of time again and again.
And if there would not be sole in things we do, all our achievements will be just useless carcasses, there will be no life at all. Dead bodies and deserted objects get decomposed and utilized .
Dear Perry,
Thank you for perseveringly sending interesting information on Religion and Science and the latest discoveries and findings together with the impact on our lives. These are very helpful to me as a Graduate School Teacher. I can share these with my graduate students who are also teachers in different public schools. I look forward to more of these helpful, interesting information. May God continue to bless you and your work.
Rosie
Dear Perry,
The more information you give on Religion and Science and History, the more ideas and reflections come to me, which are very helpful, Thank you again and may you continue this beautiful work you are doing.
He doesn’t have a begining and he wont end, he’s unpositioned, that means
he’s no where, that means he’s not good nor bad, a fair example that even
the space consists of darkness and light, atoms consists of +ve and -ve
charges, good and bad people, happiness and sadness, can’t you see that
everything repulses here! how about neutrality? even the neclues has a
neutron that is equal to zero, god is then neutral, he’s not some one who
wants to, we made religions throught the evolution of philosophy, why are
christians, muslims, jews so selfish about that they are the ”chosen
ones” and each one of them wants to fight the other, to conquer and gain
more power, if god is really some one who wants to then he should be too
smart to make only one religion and not to creat the ”devil” so that we
would worship him peacefully since the time he created adam, and the funny
thing is that we’re fighting for stories just happened 2 thousand years
ago, mankind was founnd millions of years ago, isn’t that weird! why now,
what took him so long, the answer is that we did all that because there’s
no such thing known as him, we did that because its the smartest way and
idea to brain wash millions of people throught many decades, and here war
comes! what about the parallel universes, 58% of physicists believe in
that, does that mean that they are living in a dream!, well thats much
logical than fairy tales that has no logic, there is a difference between
parallel universes and multi-verses, parallel universes are like those
‘finite circles’ and they are in an infinte space, if we put a circle
around all that we find that there should be another bigger circle outside
which is known as the multi-verse, till we reach to the quantum multi-
verse, where infinte number of probabilities are happening in the same and
different laws of nature, that shows how ”god”is quantum and how we are
limited to just understand 3 dimensions plus time, what about the other
many dimensions..can’t we see how infinite is that, the much we zoom out
everything the much we find bigger things, and the much we zoom in
everything we find that its the reflection of the bigger thing but in a
smaller stuff, just like the example of our solar system that looks like
the atom, have you heared about the nano atom, how much small is that, and
the much you zoom in you’ll find that there are much and much smaller
things inside each other, and this wont end, its just like – minus
infinity and + infinity, this whole diversity is god itself, and this is timeless.Your soul is timeless and quantum, because before
your soul was stuck in your biological body you used to know everything,
let me explain the soul in a simple scientific way, its a flow of energy
that consist of millions of atoms and this logically came from our
magnetic and cosmic radiations, the electrons in your body can reach a
distance of 30 kilometers, which explains the dreams and the 6th sense
becuase of the interaction of your electrons with many different electrons
of people and creations that is known as the soul, when we die this flow
of energy that was in our body will remain, but the whole dimensions will
differ, its massless that means it continues moving in an endless time,
that means you still exist but in a different dimesion now, that means
your soul was found before your birth and it has no begining. To me heaven
is not a place that we can chill and relax, heaven is knowledge and
finding the ultimate state of mind, to reach that we must tune ourselves
just like the guitar and listen to our wonderful notes, when we combine
our mental, physical, emotional, social, spiritual, we descover our 100%
potentiality, every thing has a certain tuning to look unique, and hell is
when we can’t reach that, because we are meant to do bad stuff,but why
should you be good becuase religions says that you should be good, like
don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie etc..well as a human being if i tuned
myself then i don’t need a religion that advices me, then im good but
religion wont accept my good things because i dont believe in religion!
then i go to hell! why?!! im good..if i believe in a one god but in a god
who’s not good nor bad, then i got hell~! hmm..well i’ve read this whole
website and every single detail with its comments, i found that there are
things that you guys should be updated to, why don’t you look up to
different point of views for all who are christians, jews, and muslims,
like buddah adn hindusim or those people who used to take the peyote
cactus in the native america, what about the pharoas and the pyramids, what about the masons! and why are they hiding many things, what if they did all that from the begining, what if they wrote the 3 religions to conquer and control everything in a very relaxing way, do you believe that
scientists till now didn’t descover how pyramids are done!! what about the
UFO’s do you believe all that crap! well scientists can now build a plane
that looks exactly like what we see in hollywood movies, and here they’ll
force us to believe that this came from another planet, but actually they
made that, we’ll be like wow! the masons were right about their hollywood
movies, but the thing is that they’re just giving us what scientists
descovered from 25 years ago, so that we’ll be always in a shock, you
don’t know maybe someday NASA will say aliens are attacking our planet so
for all countries if you want us to protect you then be with us, from here
everything will be under control, so i conclude here that its we who are
creating all that, so now our mission is to jump from level zero to level one, were we can control the weather and the natural disasters throught nano bio technology, then to level 2 where we can control our magnetic field and let the earth travel to different places without any damages in our planet, this is now heaven and hell is when we can’t do that because of wars and religions, thats why if we tried to be neutral and free our mind from all that historical mess, im sure we can reach to level 2 and reach to the heavens :]
take this little relation that i came up with: Throught darkness i absorb light, throught light i find my ways, throught ways i make possibilites, throught possibilites i reach infinty which is ‘god’.
and read more about cosmology, it may help for you to imagine:
1-http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/crazy.html
2-http://space.mit.edu/home/tegmark/PDF/multiverse_sciam.pdf
Hello Perry and my friends in Christ Jesus.
Have any of you ever seen the video; “Americas Godly Heritage?”
It explains how the Holy Ghost works within us. “Emmanuel”
God bless you all in everything “Good” you endeavor through Jesus the Christ our Lord and God.
I apologize my friends, it seems that I was remiss in not inserting the complete name of the movie, I will paste the information sources as URL addresses in my attempt to clear this up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJJnF2hiPhI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PEqmpGK9k&feature=related
There are 6 parts to the above URL
Lord willing these will work.
Thank You Lord Jesus!
Dear Perry,
I like to read all series of your articles which I subscribed to. There are many interesting parts within your articles. I was born and grown up in Christian way but I don’t agree with all christian interpretation of the Bible. Bible is not a scientific disccusion or an academic document. Bible do mention phenomenons without describing its processes. In general Bible is a spiritual book which suppose to be interpreted into spiritual meaning.
Galatians 3:28, the words of St. Paul: “In Christ there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free. All are equal in Christ Jesus.”
I think this is not literally talking about the human’s live on earth. I would understand this statement in spiritual meaning about soul and spirit. In spiritual world it is true no men no women no races. Soul has no gender as Soul has no races.
Thus, it is just your (and also other christian follower) interpretation to St. Paul’s words which meant for in spiritual live, and bring it to the present live on earth.
Then you come to conclusion that “no one had ever made such a bold and sweeping statement”.
To me, it was not a bold or brave or inventional statement… It was just made for a different purpose and meaning.
Although I am raised in christian beliefs but I have my own way understanding the Bible. I believe in reincarnation that when people die, the soul will not literally go to haven right away. The soul’s purification is done by its reborn cycle. Soul has no gender until it has reborned in to a new human’s live either a men or a woman.
IF “This idea got planted in western civilization and began to grow and develop…” just because western civilization is dominated by christian believer. This is not a sign of the TRUTH of GOD. It is just a majority and minority consequences.
Quote:
“The apple did not fall from the tree because, say, Zeus was having a snit with Apollo and that’s why there was the lightning storm which is why there was a wind that caused the apple to swing back and forth and fall from the tree…. no, it happened for rational discoverable reasons. That God made a world which could operate consistently on its own without Him constantly making corrections from the outside.”
Unquote.
I am glad that you write the above statement in your article…
This is tell us that GOD is not watching and answering every single prayer which have so much different interests in it. So why bothering with prayers? God has make everything as such could operate consistently. I don’t think God is listening to prayers and interfere any single rules that He has made to make this world “self running”.
“That there was a string of cause and effect that can be traced back to explain why things happened.”
Everythings happen for a reason….
So why christians do prayers? Is it only a psychologic and suggestive behavior to overcome fear and hopeless feeling ? then prayer become a practice to praise the God and complain and ask for help from God? I then believe that all religions come from this substantial humans’ need for help reason.
Why every religions’ follower think that their belief is the only truth? So the others are wrong?
I think there must be something wrong with all these religions. There must be ONLY ONE TRUTH that finally revealed…. And this truth would only be discovered if you stop thinking that one religion (which is yours) is the ONLY truth. Think Out Of The Box.
Perry, I am seeking for the TRUTH but the ONLY TRUTH…. Your comment and thoughs would be much appreciated.
Sincerelly,
Benny Harlindong
Benny,
If our job as Christians is to bring heaven to earth – “on earth as it is in heaven” as Jesus said, then Paul’s statement about equality isn’t about “by and by in the sky” it’s about now.
The Bible does not teach reincarnation.
Our modern idea of equality came from Christianity. The fact that it’s now the dominant view in the west is very much secondary to that point.
When you observe that the universe operates according to laws, the conclusion that God is not listening to or answering prayers does not logically follow.
God does answer prayers, see http://www.coffeehousetheology.com/miracles
You said:
Why every religions’ follower think that their belief is the only truth? So the others are wrong?
I think there must be something wrong with all these religions. There must be ONLY ONE TRUTH that finally revealed…. And this truth would only be discovered if you stop thinking that one religion (which is yours) is the ONLY truth. Think Out Of The Box.
Let’s suppose you discover THE ONLY ONE TRUTH. Will you believe the others are wrong?