what is a blog you say? well its sort of an "online diary" type thing where you can post up stuff that everyone can read... its an easy way for others to know what you're upto.. without them having to ask.... hahahah... how's that for laziness?... anyhoo... here it is:
oh wow, finally, finally i find this verse ive been looking for...(aka the "their blood is upon your hands" verse)
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.'
7 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for [a] his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.
youve heard of the blue man group, but blue people actually exist.. some due to genes like the fugate family, and others.. well.. just watch this video about Paul Karason and find out what happened to him to make him blue.. dabadee dabadai..
and how about these guys here, if you were an evolutionist "scientist" and found their skulls in the desert, what could you conclude about the "species"? hint: remember all those "artist renderings" youve seen before...
dont you love how evolutionists can turn anything into a proof of evolution? and dont you love how people eat it up without really questioning it much? well, heres a little bit of light as to where all those "hominid ancestors" of "our species" really come from.. sort of makes you sigh and nod your head..
The Sunday Times in the UK reported yesterday on an upcoming paper that claims that the ever-fascinating Homo floresiensis (a k a the Hobbit) is not a new species, as previously reported. Instead, it was a human with a genetic defect called microcephaly that gave it a small head.
how many of the "ancestors" of human beings were just merely deformed humans? but, ah well, if you control "science", you can make it say whatever you want, i guess..
back from eurotrip! ie, HOME!!! heres a game for you to waste some time while you wait for the eurotrip posts, and find out how much you know about geography.. traveler IQ game.. i got 187,877pts at level 6 on my first try..
we are back from the main portion of our eurotrip!! i will be updating the blog with everything we did/experienced (as is possible) so do not fret! we will be going back home in a week.. woohoo!
To: (well, obviously me)
From: SENATE COMMITTEE
Subject: CONTRACT/INHERITANCE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATION & FINANCE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMPLEX
THREE ARM ZONE
P.BOX.141 LONDON, UK
Attn
This is to officialy inform you that we have verified your
CONTRACT/INHERITANCE
payment of US$5,500,000, and we appropriation and finance have arranged your
payment to be paid with an atm card
in regard to an order from QUEEN ELIZABETH UNITED KINGDOM, an ATM card which
you will use to withdraw your money from any ATM Machine in any part of the
world have been approved for you.
To receive your ATM card of $5.5 million us dollars contact Williams Smith on
this email: williams-smith01@live.comTel: 009447045727603 or 009447045727601
with the following:
1.Full Name
2. Address
3. Phone
4.Your age
5.Occupation
Regards,
Susana Chow.
sahhh-weeet! it seems like i finally receive my $5.5million US dollars inheritance from the queen's death herself on behalf of Williams Smith!! niiice! thanks Susana Chow!! woohoo!! and how practical, in an atm card!! good thing i still know my full name, address phone, age, and occupation (bum) since the queen (whose inheritance i'm receiving, courtesy of the aforementioned mr smith) doesnt already know these things.. i wonder if i should fill it in like this:
hey, i never said we couldnt be friends, not sure why you would even suggest otherwise..
youd have an easier job trying to "convince" me that my parents do not exist, by the way.. since all i can assert is that i exist, but not who/where i come from
why do you want physical observable scientific evidence of God, if you dont care to listen to it when i do offer it? this is a ridiculous request.. i laid out an air-tight, extensive, simple proof, that even a 5 year old could understand, and yet you rejected it (without addressing any of its points), talking about "the elite" and other such unrelated nonsense, and you quoted a movie thats been shown to have no regard for fact, and posted a list of "contradictions" and didnt bother to investigate the answer to ANY of them.. thats not scientific method, thats religion. just accept it already.
atheism is a most ardent religion including illogical dogmatic beliefs: everything came from nothing, self-creation of information, self-creation of the universe (claim about the cosmos), greater amount of information through a destructive process; including the ultimate, uncorroboratible dogmatic "there is no God" (this is a supernatural claim by the way, or else how could you claim this as true without having omniscience yourself).. you dont even allow for the possiblity.. if you did, youd say youre agnostic.. NOT atheist..
you even have clergy, and clerical attire: "scientists" in white lab coats; even a pope: dawkins!
scripture: darwin's "On the origin of species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life" and anything by dawkins, hitchins.. et al
by the way, if you were truly and honestly interested in knowing if God exists, you would already have at least admitted deism.. instead of feigning openness, acknowledge that from nothing comes more nothing, and without God, you dont exist.. whatever the process you want to believe he chose to use, but your existence requires intelligence and power behind it.. not random, unguided powerless chance
DNA Proves Creation
Lee Strobel explains briefly how DNA and the human genome reveal God's clear instructions for His creation.
Did you know that in a letter to Asa Gray, a Harvard professor, Charles Darwin himself wrote:
''I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science.''
He speculated future discoveries might confirm his theory, yet they have only proved it false.
Skeptics: Can you think of one example of a mutation that has caused a true increase in genetic complexity? Evolution would require billions of them. Can you name just one?
'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in
or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'
The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten
years and I'll giv e you back the other ten?'
So God agreed.
On the second day, God created the monkey and said:
'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give
you a twenty-year life span.'
The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twent y years? That's a pretty long
time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'
And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said:
'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer
under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family.
For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'
The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty
years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'
And God agreed again.
On the fourth day, God created man and said:
'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you
twenty years.'
But man said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty,
the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten
the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'
'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'
So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy
ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our
family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the
grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and
bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it
as a public service.
usher in the era of collapsible videos!! (videos that dont immediately appear until you click the "view video" button which then makes it appear below.. this is so that your browser doesnt get stuck when it loads the blog.. as mine tends to do.. )
a really great video about the passage of time.. (not actually evolution at all..)
"Das Rad" (or, "The Wheel")
An animated short about the evolution of man through the perspective of two rocks on a hillside. The movie is in German with English subtitles.
i told a friend, who is now apparently a pantheist (in high school i thought he was a christian.. but then again i thought i was one too.. so there you have it), i could prove not only that God exists, but that He must exist.. and that pantheism doesnt work.. he said go ahead, so i sent him this:
well its pretty short, so i can do it all here.. so funny, i wasnt a christian in high school.. and now look.. heh.. anyhooze, its not an argument for deism, its an argument for the existence of a single eternal infinite personal (as in "having personality") God.. k, well here goes:
time is regressively finite, you cannot go infinitely into the past because to reach "now" there must have been a finite number of events or else we would never be "now". therefore there must have been a first event, and that event requires matter. the law of non-self creation, or "ex nihilo nihil fit" ("from nothing comes more nothing") there must be an agent outside of the limits of space and time, ie infinite and eternal, with the ability to create that is responsible for that first event. this is who/what we define as "God".. so not only does God exist, God MUST exist, due to the existence of everything around us. the question is more a matter of who/what we think this agent is.
pantheism doesnt work because everything cannot be God, since that would limit God to being bound by the limits of creation.. ie, space and time, and by definition and requirement God cannot be. therefore while creation comes from God, creation cannot be God.
deism actually doesnt work either, but is the safest bail out for those who wish to reject the existence of the god of any of the monotheistic religions. it doesnt work because it states that God "wound up" creation like a clock, and then let it go off on its own without intervention. this doesnt work due to many reasons, such as chaos theory, newtons second law of thermodynamics (entropy).. its funny, even evolution would require a capable guiding/controlling intelligent entity(or entities).. but forget evo for now (im a 6-day creationist, though not a 24-hour day, since a day in the bible is not limited to 24hours)
polytheism doesnt work either unless its multiple persons in a single God, due to the definition and requirement once again of God being infinite.. so it once again falls upon who you understand God to be.. so for example the doctrine of trinity (which is probably the most unexplainable one christianity has to offer) is viable, due to there being only one God, though manifested in 3 persons (the bible doesnt talk about one God in 3 manifestations, but 3 distinct persons within a single God) but if we were to have multiple gods, then which is the infinite one? which is the creator? and if any are "mortal", they no longer are infinite or eternal.. and hence fall out of the definition of God.. so it must only be one..
as for the personal part of God, ie, that He must be a personal God, can be argued due to the fact that creation required design (creativity) and therefore intelligence.. and intelligence and creativity require some form of personality ("personalness") this due to the decisions involved in creating creation the way it turned out, and it cant be claimed to have been random, since if it was, then that would rule out the infiniteness (in this case as manifested in omnipotence, or at least the ability to create).
so we have an infinite eternal personal God with the ability to create, and who is separate from His creation.. this leaves us with some form of monotheism.. such as the abrahamic faiths (islam, judaism, christianity)
and then it becomes a matter of seeking out which god it is that God is.. if indeed God is personal, it would be natural to see or expect some form of interaction with creation (other than maintaining it, ie keeping it from destroying itself for example) and thats where revelation kicks in.. of course, thats a bit trickier since thats where the logical and drier part of the proof ends and faith begins.. if God has chosen to reveal Himself, then how? well people who claim to receive messages from God are referred to as "prophets" and the bible says that the sign of a prophet is one of 100% inerrancy when speaking on behalf of God.. which means that we can go through the process of elimination to find which prophet or group of prophets seem to exhibit inerrancy.. which means that the catholic church, jehovas witnesses and mormons as well as a bunch of other fringe groups are out for example.
not sure what prophecies islam deals with, but for sure it defines itself as the opposite of christianity by explicitly stating that "allah did not beget a son nor was he begotten" so we can eliminate one by proving the other.. in Jesus alone (one quick google shows that) 360+ prophecies found in the old testament were fulfilled, of which 109 could have been fulfilled only by Jesus. so therefore, given the historicity of the person of Jesus, that proves in one fell swoop that the God revealed in the old testament is the true God, and we can therefore accept the new testament as fulfillment and therefore truth (unless we can find that errancy in either part.. which to this day i have yet to find) and that therefore eliminates islam.
on a personal note, however, i can tell you i have seen the bible proved to be true in my life through my faith (ie trust) in what is there written, and how dramatically my life has changed since that day i made the decision to give my life to Him who gave His life for me. remember how i used to graffiti all my notebooks with "life sucks", my self destructive manic depression, and all manner of other problems i exhibited? well, that stuff is now nowhere to be seen.. i enjoy life like crazy, no matter the circumstance (i have stories there too) and i can truly divide my life in half on that day in september 2001, when i decided to repent from my sins and accept that i was a sinner, and received that forgiveness through Jesus' atoning death on the cross. you see, the bible says the only thing that separates us from God is sin, the bad things we do. while in that state, God does not hear us, and we cannot have a relationship with Him. its only when those sins are paid in full that we can
wow .. holey, i guess it was a bit longer than i thought.. in any case, ask [bahb] too, in high school he was an atheist.. and some time after graduation he too accepted Christ.. and he's a solid christian too.. not a lot of people knew in high school all the problems i was going through.. trying to kill myself since the age of 10.. its nuts.. but the whole time, all i was lacking was God to enter my life and start cleaning up the mess id made of it.. anyways, let me know what you think
having only originally aimed to prove God exists and must exist, i ended up giving significant weight to the judeo-christian God (not sure if it is to be considered a full proof at the exclusion of other faiths, since i didnt really consider other monotheistic faiths.. let me do a quick search on what those are and post it in a bit.. ) cool eh?
warning, the following movie about the "religion of peace" contains some very very graphic images, be aware its not fiction, and be aware that it is all to be found inn the quran, the muslim "holy book", and the mouths of the most prominent muslim leaders fitna the movie
please join with me in prayer for the people enslaved by this religion of death, hate and fear. pray that they may desert the hate of the quran and trade it for the love of Jesus, who gave His life out of love for us, and who puts that love in our hearts that we may love even those who hate us, even those who wish our death and destruction, even those who would do these things to us.. pray that we may see the peace of our Lord reign in these people.. that they may turn away from their sins, their hate, and especially, their hate of God. in the name of Jesus, i ask these things. AMEN.
I disagree with most of what you've stated, and all of the quotes make this loving god sound unbelievably petty, and not so forgiving after all...but thanks for taking the effort to make your point.
to which i then replied:
well, imagine if you were in His position.. and everyone that passes by you, spits on you and insults you, and rejects all your good advice that would prevent them a LOT of trouble (even death and hurting others) they never care about you, or do what pleases you.. THEN, when they get in trouble, they come and ask you to get them out of trouble.. no matter how much love you have for them, until they change (which is what got them in there in the first place) you are really not doing them a favor by "getting them out of this one".. and to be honest, if it was me, and this was the case, id have a hard time NOT ignoring them.. id probably just want to lash out at them all.. and yet, because God is loving, He doesnt, and still gives us that chance to change.. but He's not going to "answer" our prayers until we sort our relationship with Him once and for all..
does that help/ make it more clear?
my answer to the question "What good is prayer, really? Don't you think the people who died in the holocaust, died praying - but what good did prayer do them?"
this answer might get rated down, but here goes..
prayer in and of itself is not much, good, except as mentioned above (or below) as a placebo.. it gives people peace, and allows trust to settle where there was despair.
the problem with prayer, is that prayer is invocation of a higher entity/deity for intervention, or just plain communication. the question then becomes, "who are you praying to?" if i pray to the air, that will have no effect. if i pray to a deity that doesnt exist, that will have no effect. if i pray against the will of an existing deity, that will have no effect.
as a christian, i pray to the God of the bible, that same God that says He is love, but the same God that in the hebrew Scriptures (aka the old testament, aka the tanach) says that God does not hear the prayers of those who sin against Him.. this is echoed in the new testament in John 9:31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him." since you mention the holocaust, ill limit myself to quoting from the old testament, which is what jews consider the word of God.
Isaiah 59:1-2 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
unless we repent from our sins (ie, turn away, or decide to stop sinning) and are forgiven of these sins, we might as well be praying to the wall.. since God does not hear them (ie, He ignores these prayers)
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
the book of isaiah (written 740 years before Jesus was even born), by the way, is one of the most prominent in its promise of a redeemer, the messiah (in greek: "christos"). as a matter of fact, a reading of even just isaiah 53 will leave little doubt as to who it could be talking to, but nevertheless:
Isaiah 65:12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you will all bend down for the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me."
God's own people, He says, rejected Him, and chose what did not please Him, not just one or two, but:
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
the "him" here is in reference to the messiah. the "we" is ALL of us.. not just the jews, we ALL rejected Him. the Lord, in other words, God, (rendered YHWH in the original hebrew, usually pronounced yahweh, or jehovah) placed upon this messiah the sins of us all.. this couldnt be just any ordinary human..
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
this child to be born, this messiah, would have the title of Mighty God, and Everlasting Father.. titles that can only be attributed to God Himself, nobody else
Isaiah 42:8 "I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
however, He warns
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
we do not have unlimited time to turn away from those bad things we do, and accept that redemption for our sins that he offers through that messiah who carried our sins. we must seek while we can, while He is knocking on our door.. ONCE we do, ONCE we seek the real, living God, ONCE we repent and have our iniquities beared by that promised messiah who came, THEN He will begin hearing our prayers
of course, obviously He will not be "answering" any prayers that go against His will (and that includes logic).. a great many prayers might go "unanswered" because having that mean teacher die of a heartattack or getting a sweet new ferrari are just NOT in God's will.. and a lot is just having patience, that God does things in His time, and we just have to trust Him, since He knows best, and loves us infinitely enough to pay for our sins while we were still spitting in His face..
well, i was working on my own calculations of this, but heres a pretty good article that spells it out nicely:
Now for the important question. How many rape pregnancies are there? The answer is that, according to statistical reporting, there are no more than one or two pregnancies resultant from every 1,000 forcible rapes.
But, does it make sense? Let's look, using the figure of 200,000 rapes each year.
Of the 200,000 women who were forcibly raped, one-third were either too old or too young to get pregnant. That leaves 133,000 at risk for pregnancy.
A woman is capable of being fertilized only
3 days (perhaps 5) out of a 30-day month. Multiply our figure of 133,000 by three tenths. Three days out of 30 is one out of ten, divide 133 by ten and we have 13,300 women remaining. If we use five days out of 30 it is one out of six. Divide one hundred and thirty three thousand by six and we have 22,166 remaining.
One-fourth of all women in the United States of childbearing age have been sterilized, so the remaining three-fourths come out to 10,000 (or 15,000).
Only half of assailants penetrate her body and/or deposit sperm in her vagina,1 so let's cut the remaining figures in half. This gives us numbers of 5,000 (or 7,500).
Fifteen percent of men are sterile, that drops that figure to 4,250 (or 6,375).
Fifteen percent of non-surgically sterilized women are naturally sterile. That reduces the number to 3,600 (or 5,400).
Another fifteen percent are on the pill and/or already pregnant. That reduces the number to 3,070 (or 4,600).
Now factor in the fact that it takes 5-10 months for the average couple to achieve a pregnancy. Use the smaller figure of 5 months to be conservative and divide the avove figures by 5. The number drops to 600 (or 920).
In an average population, the miscarriage
rate is about 15 percent. In this case we have incredible emotional trauma. Her body is upset. Even if she conceives, the miscarriage rate will be higher than in a more normal pregnancy. If 20 percent of raped women miscarry, the figure drops to 450 (or 740).
Finally, factor in what is certainly one of the most important reasons why a rape victim rarely gets pregnant, and that's physical trauma. Every woman is aware that stress and emotional factors can alter her menstrual cycle. To get and stay pregnant a woman's body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain that is easily influenced by emotions. There's no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation,
fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy. So what further percentage reduction in pregnancy will this cause? No one knows, but this factor certainly cuts this last figure by at least 50 percent and probably more. If we use the 50 percent figure, we have a final figure of 225 (or 370) women pregnant each year. These numbers closely match the 200 that have been documented in clinical studies.
simply awesome, im doing some research on an abortion post im about to post, and i ran into this article: is it a life or a choice?
We hear a lot about "pro-choice" on the evening news and sound bites from politicians. We, too, want to avoid "legislating values and claiming there are moral absolutes."
Ethics is a personal choice, not a political or religious concern. That's why we've established "Planned Bank Robbery." Now, we personally don't approve of bank robbery, but we don't want to inflict our morals on anyone else either.
It must be a personal decision of each individual.
Education is the key since our studies reveal that 99 percent of senior high teens know that banks are robbed. But it is shocking the number of teens who don't know how banks are robbed. Or even how to load a .357 magnum, drive a get-away car, or demand, "Give me all of your unmarked, non-sequentially-ordered twenty-dollar bills." Young people need to know the wide range of career options available to them.
And we're also concerned that a lot of young people are robbing banks without proper protection. Personal injury and irresponsibility are much greater crimes than actually knocking over the First National. At Planned Bank Robbery we don't approve of unauthorized withdrawals. But we do want to offer--free of charge--bullet-proof vests, ski masks, and if necessary a get-away car. This is the compassionate thing to do!
And young people who need some extra cash from their local 7-Eleven shouldn't have to get their parent's permission to obtain this protection. If that were the case, hundreds more teens would be needlessly injured by narrow-minded parents who are trying to inflict their morality on their children.
Again, let me emphasize that Planned Bank Robbery does not condone or encourage grand larceny. We only want to stress it is a personal decision. We're "pro-choice"!
If you have a bruise, a muscle sprain, an inflammatory disease or if you take iron supplements, exceeding 100 mg per day of vitamin C may be damaging to your body, according to a study by University of Florida researchers.
That's because all of those conditions produce free iron, which reacts negatively with vitamin C in much the same way that the iron on bicycles and fences reacts with water and oxygen.
But when inflammation occurs -- as it does in muscular injuries and a variety of diseases such as Alzheimer's, arthritis and cardiovascular disease -- the body releases more free iron, which is highly reactive to outside elements -- in this case, vitamin C and NAC. Indeed, the researchers showed that there were increases in free iron following this type of exercise.
“Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in fact, religious.”
“I’m not an atheist. I don’t think I can call myself a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.”
his response when asked "You accept the historical existence of Jesus?"
“Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”
however, before you run off to celebrate that einstein was a christian (or even a religious jew), he wasnt:
“I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.”
note to self: strategies for war, politics, and pretty much anything else:
Alinski devised and proved thirteen tactical rules for use against opponents vastly superior in power and wealth ...
1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. Never go outside the experience of your people.
3. Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.
4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8. Keep the pressure on.
9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. Major premise for tactics is development of operations that will maintain constant pressure upon the opposition.
11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.
The real action is in the enemy's reaction. The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength. Tactics, like life, require that you move with the action."
Alinski was hated and defamed by powerful enemies, proof that his tactics worked. His simple formula for success ...
"It has been pointed out to me that no rational adult would make a business decision based on what they knew when they were 14. You wouldn't decide who to marry based on what you knew about love and relationships when you were 14. But lots of us seem satisfied to dismiss religion based on what we learned at 14, and I was one of those that stupid."
In his book On Message, Life Dynamics' Mark Crutcher sums it up best: "The image of abortion workers having to dodge a hail of automatic weapon fire just to get from their car to the clinic door is utter nonsense." Crutcher notes that in the years 1993 and 1994, the worst period of violence in pro-life history in which five abortionists and clinic workers were killed, more farmers and twice as many hairdressers were murdered on the job. (The total number of murders that have occurred since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973 is seven.)
"Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, it's never been more important to protect a woman's right to choose. Last year, the Supreme Court decided by a vote of 5-4 to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, and in doing so undermined an important principle of Roe v. Wade: that we must always protect women's health. With one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, we could be looking at a majority hostile to a women's fundamental right to choose for the first time since Roe v. Wade. The next president may be asked to nominate that Supreme Court justice. That is what is at stake in this election.
"Throughout my career, I've been a consistent and strong supporter of reproductive justice, and have consistently had a 100% pro-choice rating with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
"When South Dakota passed a law banning all abortions in a direct effort to have Roe overruled, I was the only candidate for President to raise money to help the citizens of South Dakota repeal that law. When anti-choice protesters blocked the opening of an Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic in a community where affordable health care is in short supply, I was the only candidate for President who spoke out against it. And I will continue to defend this right by passing the Freedom of Choice Act as president.
indeed, that is what is at stake.. 1.3 more million deaths per year at the hands of moloch-worshipping barack obamanation that causes desolation.. one lady comments:
It's like "reproductive health." You'd think that if a healthy woman, and a healthy man, get together in a healthy way, and have a healthy baby, that would be reproductive health, right?
But what it means to the Left, is that a healthy woman, carrying a healthy baby, goes into the abortion clinic. The woman comes out empty and weeping, with the baby--- or what's left of it --- coming out in clots.
If that's reproductive health, then strip-mining is mountain health, whale-hunting is oceanic health, and clubbing and skinning makes for a healthier seal pup.
How did we do this? Basically, we "recorded" the "sounds" an infrared remote makes on a PC and then put them on an iPod as songs. Adding a special sound-to-IR converter then turns those sounds back to IR and allows you to use your iPod as a remote control. As an added bonus, it works up to 100 feet. It's a slick all-in-one unit and we're never going back to 6 remotes ever again.
dont worry, i havent forgotten you.. heres a bit of whats been going down, i started fasting on the first of the month, and was planning to go on until i possibly could, then i decided i would just fast till friday, since saturday i would have a lot of walking to do, and sunday im preaching.. so i need to be on all 8 cylinders.. then today i was just feeling too weak, and my head hurt, and since fasting isnt supposed to be at the detriment of our health, i decided to break fast at noon, having a bit of juice.. followed by a bit of chicken.. then i ate some more.. so now im feeling great! :D and thats all!
question:What is your theory regarding origins of the universe? (Not species here people. Matter and energy.)
my answer:
well, time is regressively finite, there cannot have been an infinite amount of time leading to "now", if there was, we'd never reach now, therefore, while the universe can possibly be infinite, it cannot be eternal. if time is regressively finite, then there must have been a first event, and for that first event, there needed to be matter, and that matter cannot have created itself, due to ex nihilo nihil fit, the law of non self-creation. therefore there must have been an infinite, eternal entity outside of space and time with the ability to create to have created everything. this is who/what we define as God.
God created everything, energy, matter, people, the universe.. etc
now, WHO God is is a different question, and most of us do not know because we have rejected Him by sinning (doing bad things). but when Jesus paid for those sins completely by dying for them on the cross, He enabled us to know Him, through faith in Him, and accepting His forgiveness through repentance (turning away from our sins..) so now we can know not just where we all come from, but we can know Him who created us all.. personally
for all you pseudo-carpenters, diy'ers and basically anyone who hates having a million cables flying around all over the place in your workspace.. Declutter Your Desk by Van Mardian
This is the 'belief in belief' argument. Whether God exists or not is irrelevant, because even if God does not exist, its their belief that drives them to think that there are consequences.
Sometimes this backfires as the bloke who killed the Amish school girls. This murderer expressed anger at God because his newborn baby, Elise, had died nine years ago.
Atheist are never angry with god because they don't believe there's anything there to be angry with.
and my response:
hi, i agree wholeheartedly with the first part of your message, in that its not the belief in God that does anything, the bible itself says that "even the demons believe" so obviously just believing means absolutely nothing.. what i was mainly referring to, is the belief in the consequences of those actions.. ie, that guy probably didnt think there were consequences (or didnt actually think what these were) to what he went on to do.. believing in God didnt affect that.
also, who you believe God to be affects those actions too. for example, if you reject the biblical notion that God is fair, and loving, then you will find yourself accusing God of being unfair (or unloving, or both), when you dont know the whole story (which we cant, since we are limited humans) so you will be grief-ridden as this man was. he was quicker to judge God than his own self, which the bible says that since we have all sinned, we are all destined to hell (since the wages of sin is death.. ie, eternal separation from God.. ie, hell), but BECAUSE God is fair, He cant just overlook the bad things we do.. however, because He is also loving and wants to have that personal relationship with us, He established a way to be fair and loving at the same time. and that is by Jesus' sacrifice, which is where Jesus paid for all our sins past present and future, by going to hell Himself (due to our sins, not His own, since He was sinless, since He is God) so that we do not have to end up in hell (separation from God, who the bible says is from whom all good and perfect things come) but the only way to accept this salvation from hell, is through faith in Him, and what He did, and by repenting, which means to turn away from the bad things that we do, making the decision to stop sinning.. obviously, those people you see on tv asking for people's money for salvation or healing or whatever are preying on the ignorant, since the bible does not approve of either (and actually mentions these scammers, and that we should beware of them) and obviously people doing these bad things without remorse, have not repented, and are not christians.
the second part i dont agree with. if theres one thing i have noticed in (at least the great majority of) atheists is exactly the opposite, there is a great great anger and grief against God for one reason or another.. the typical phrase "if God is love (or exists), then WHY..." insert your grievance of choice there. this is an expression of disagreement with some life occurrence or the general state of it, and the discrepancy as to who they define God to be and what they expect of Him.
to be completely honest, i dont believe in atheists, i dont believe that anyone truly can say "there is no God" they can only reject Him.. much like an angry father could say "you are not my son"..
i dont expect you to agree tho, dont worry, but this is the observable trend.
joelie's reply to February 13's blog post, i felt it necessary to post up:
Reply to Blog entry:
I'd give up my life for the chance to save a possible 20, whether they are believers or non-believers. Jesus did that for all man kind and as far as my understanding goes, we as Christ followers should do the same. I would gladly give my life up for another creation of God (Human Being). I'm actually really tired of this world and what it has to offer. Matthew 16:25: "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
and my answer to "Would you countenance the severe torture of one human being, if there was a small chance that it could save 20 lives?"
i think this question is a bit more complex than the answers given so far.
one issue that has not been touched on yet, is whether the victim is willing. might sound strange at first, but this reminded me of a story i once heard about a little girl whose sister had some illness or condition that would kill her and required a blood transfusion, and her sister was a perfect match, so they asked her if she would want to give her blood to her sister. so she seemed a bit shaken about it, but she agreed. then she asked "all of it?"
she was willing to do this for her sister..
sometimes saving peoples lives takes sacrifice.
then we get to the next point that wasnt explored, is this severe torture something the person will get over? ie, is the damage permanent? im assuming it is, but again.. if it wasnt, and it means saving lives, then its a different story.
then the final point.. which i think is what the real issue of the question is about: what is the value of one human life?? and why is the torture of one life valued more over the lives of 20 more? however, then theres always the "what if its me whos suffering the torture?" and then theres also the "who are the 20 lives being saved? do i really want them saved?"
i guess the answer to the question depends directly upon the value we give to human life.
but to be completely honest, the world has shown us that our own personal comfort is waaay more important than any other human life, whether it be those in a land far away from ours, or our own wombs..
my answer to the question: "If people got what they "deserved" wouldn't we all be in Hell?"
yep, the bible says "for ALL have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.." (romans 3:23) we are all guilty, and our just deserved is to die, and spend eternity separated from God (ie, in hell) but thats not what God created us for.. He created us to show us His love, and "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (romans 5:8) so that He could have that fellowship (spending time ) with us.. imagine.. the reason why we can avoid hell in the first place, despite God being a fair and just God and therefore requiring to punish transgressions of the law, is that the punishment was taken up completely by Jesus, and He offers it to whoever accepts it, through faith (ie, trusting in Him, that He did this), by means of repentance (ie, changing your ways from bad to good.. in other words.. making the decision to stop sinning, to stop doing those bad things)
if nobody pays for your sins, then its up to you to do so.. and "the wages of sin is death" (romans 6:23) ie, eternal separation from God.. who we know is from whom all good and perfect things come (james 1:17).. so we can expect nothing good in hell..
tinesters was telling me this story that happened to her.. i call it: "tales from the planned parenthood crypt" (all names were replaced in square brackets to protect the identities of those involved)
(14:31:12) insaner: you know how people go nuts over the whole over-population thing?
(14:31:17) tinesters: yeah
(14:31:56) insaner: well i saw this video on youtube where the guy basically calculated that all 6 billion people on earth could comfortably fit within texas having 124 yards of space before running into the next person
(14:32:04) insaner: imagine
(14:32:24) tinesters: haha. that's comforting. I would like at last two more kids. thank GOD! I don't live in China:)
(14:32:45) insaner: yeah seriously
(14:33:09) tinesters: i cannot imagine having to live with the restriction of knowing i can only have one kid, and basta
(14:34:27) insaner: yeah, there was a story about this lady whos baby was actually KILLED because she was not "allowed" to have it
(14:34:54) tinesters: did i ever tell you what happened to me when i was expecting [my second child]?
(14:35:09) tinesters: our 2nd
(14:35:17) insaner: nop
[...]
(14:35:43) tinesters: well, this is the story. your gonna love it (not).
[...]
(14:37:24) tinesters: well, we're happy and blessed but by no means rich. so when i was expecting [our second child] we didn't have healthcare, surprise surprise.
(14:38:05) tinesters: so i had to apply for medicaid.
(14:38:25) insaner: hmm.. not sure what that is
(14:38:50) tinesters: wellfare healthcare. state health care for poor people
(14:39:06) insaner: oh ok
(14:39:47) tinesters: the application process is daunting at best. you have to fill out several forms and verify witha third party that you are really pregnant
(14:40:33) tinesters: so when i was abt 8-9 weeks i went to planned parenthood, because no doctor in town would see me because i had no healthcare. talking about catch 22
(14:40:53) insaner: uh oh
(14:41:01) insaner: planned parenthood?? whyyyy?
(14:41:19) tinesters: it was the only place that would take me and formally test me for pregnancy
(14:41:29) insaner: oh man
(14:41:42) insaner: thats nuts
(14:42:01) tinesters: no doctor would take me w/o insurance
(14:42:05) tinesters: no appointments
(14:42:20) tinesters: so i went and [my husband] and [my first child] came with me just in case
(14:42:41) tinesters: the nurse there was like my age so 22 23 at the time
(14:43:53) tinesters: we were all in the waiting room when she came out and said: can you come into the back room with me please. your results are here.
(14:44:28) tinesters: so i went into a small room, she asked me to have a seat and in a very lowwwww whisper and like with pity she said: the result.. gasp...is positive!!!
(14:44:40) tinesters: i said: I KNOW!! Thank you!!! I'm about 8 weeks if i'm right.
(14:44:55) insaner: geeeeeze
(14:45:20) tinesters: she looked at me in disbelief and said: well, no according to our calculations you are at best 2 weeks.
(14:45:25) tinesters: what would you like to do about it????
(14:45:40) tinesters: I went; What do you MEAN? do about it?
(14:45:59) tinesters: I want to have a baby, that's what I'm going to do about it.
(14:46:28) tinesters: and i know you are wrong, i'm at least 8 weeks.
(14:46:30) insaner: holey
(14:46:57) insaner: knock of 4 weeks, make it easier on the poor girl who is sadly pregnant
(14:47:00) insaner: off
(14:47:00) tinesters: well, she says, there is still time to do something about it if you decide. Can HE come in ???
(14:47:10) tinesters: I went: He? Oh, my husband?
(14:47:11) insaner: holey wow!
(14:47:16) tinesters: She goes: Yeah, can he know?
(14:47:30) insaner: this is like tales from the crypt or something
(14:47:34) tinesters: at this point i just shook my head
(14:47:57) tinesters: i was so frustrated i can't tell you i wanted to cry!
(14:48:27) tinesters: Well, [my husband] came in and she again was all worried and acted all like we needed to be pitied
(14:48:50) tinesters: she sat down again and said: well the result is positive. [my husband] says: I know:) Big grin. the lady about dies.
(14:49:07) insaner: hahaha
(14:49:13) insaner: ugh liberals
(14:49:32) tinesters: and guess what she says: well i just wanted to let you know that there is still time to do something about it..
(14:49:32) insaner: "poor people shouldnt be having babies!"
(14:50:02) insaner: man, thats coercion!! conspiracy to commit murder!
(14:50:43) tinesters: I was speechless to be honest, i felt like i was in nazi germany or something
(14:51:18) insaner: actually, in nazi germany they gave prizes to the women who had most babies.. so this is worse!
(14:51:27) tinesters: well, it's not just poor, it was my age
(14:51:34) insaner: (if they were white germans)
(14:51:40) tinesters: you're right, didn't they have breeding camps
(14:52:42) insaner: hmm.. dont know, but for sure they had that prize.. usually for around 8 kids
(14:53:28) tinesters: egh.
(14:54:34) insaner: yeah
(14:54:43) insaner: so howd the story end?
(14:55:17) tinesters: seeing some parents how they are abusive to their kids, i can see why the thought would form that there are people less fit for parenthood than others
(14:55:43) tinesters: but i think that this was really a form of discrimination
(14:55:44) insaner: yeah, but that doesnt mean we should kill those babies
(14:56:00) tinesters: exactly, give them up for adoption
(14:56:11) insaner: btw, do you mind if i post this conversation (with identities changed) on my site?
(14:56:25) tinesters: insaner?
(14:56:28) tinesters: .com
(14:56:38) insaner: yep
(14:56:44) tinesters: sure go ahead
quick! what do you call someone who murders 1.3million humans PER YEAR? a liberal! thanks roe vs wade.. couldnt have done it without ya! 50million and counting!
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."
You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22
and the prosperity gospel:
People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
firstly, im not sure where you pulled the 6000 years from, but lets run with that (its more like 10,000).. however, the only thing creationists claim (as far as im concerned) is that that is the age of /life/ on earth (by method of genealogical age calculations).. how old the earth is is not literally stated in the bible. (how long is a day if the definition of day is "one rotation of earth about its axis" if there is no earth to rotate? and how about any changes to the speed of this rotation? and of course we are ignoring the fact that the hebrew word for "day" has different contexts to which it applies meaning more than just that rotation of earth.. sometimes meaning "era")
second:
how again is it that we know these stars are millions of light years away? how do you measure that distance? obviously we cant pull a measuring tape from here to there, and for us to reliably know how far something is in space we could bounce light off the surface, wait for the light to return.. (or "become visible") and divide by two and that would give us a rough estimate.. of course, this means that it would take 2 million years for us to know that some object (that would not drown out the light we were trying to bounce in the first place, as would be the case with a star) is 1 million light years away.. hmm.. doesnt work since the life span of a human isnt that long.. so lets say the most useful measurement obtainable using this method is below the thousands of light years.. of course, this method is silly for this purpose.
the other main method is called parallax, same concept behind opening one eye while closing the other and measuring the shift when you switch eyes while staring at some close object.. this method of course is only reliable to, surprize surprize, a couple thousand light years..
then you have to factor in the universe's expansion (and how fast is this occurring?), the fact that the speed of light isnt reliably measurable etc.. so, it comes to no real challenge of thinking the earth is really that young and what people have "guessed" to be the distance of these stars..
also remember that the bible is not a scientific text, and makes no attempt to be so, hence using what is called "phenomenological language".. the weatherman does so every day when he tells you what time the sun is going to "set" and "rise".
theres also the verses that make time frames a bit different such as saying that to God a 1,000 years is like a day (psalms 90:4, a psalm written by the same author as of genesis) which mean that we are not limited to 24-hour days in which creation can occur
ah yes, good ole dawkins.. atheist, lunatic, "scientist" and of course, out-of-context-quoter:
Dawkins goes on to quote several founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, who made statement against the religion of their time. John Adams is quoted as saying, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." However here is the complete quote in an April 19, 1817, letter to Thomas Jefferson:
"Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion at all!!!' But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean hell."
In quoting John Adams out-of-context, Dawkins has made it seem that Adams said exactly opposite of what he really intended. No wonder he left out the part where Adams said the world would be "hell" "without religion." Adams directly refuted Dawkins' major premise of the book - that religion is the great evil in the world - and affirmed the opposite - that religion keeps the world from becoming completely evil. In fact, John Adams said some things about Christianity that Dawkins probably won't be quoting any time soon such as, "The Christian religion, in its primitive purity and simplicity, I have entertained for more than sixty years. It is the religion of reason, equity, and love; it is the religion of the head and the heart."6
A few years ago, some bored researchers decided to plot the importance of religion in people's lives vs. IQ from several countries throughout the world.1 The results are quite impressive
[...]
However, if you look at the raw data, some of the countries are quite wealthy, while others are quite poor. Obviously, in those countries that are poor, there is little chance for higher education, and IQ scores are bound to suffer as a result. So, I looked up the gross domestic product per capita (GDP) on the CIA's World Factbook website, and plotted those values compared to IQ.
[...]
Since the slopes of the two curves are virtually identical, one would be hard pressed to claim that one factor or another was actually responsible for the prevalence of religion around the world.
very very interesting indeed.. be sure to check the link to see the graph..
man, this guy is just soo awesome. heres a really really interesting and biblically based explanation as to why islam is from satan, why the muslim "messiah" is actually the prophesied anti-christ, and how "666" is actually the name of allah!! (seriously! watch this thing!) Satan's Anti-Christ 666 : Islam
Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, "But we knew nothing about this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
Proverbs 24:11-12
lets stop these babies from being murdered. please. their blood is on all our hands!
"sir, i would like to change my opinion".. well, after hitting basically the first site looking for stuff on barack obama, i have changed my position from "obama '08" (pronounced "oh bama oh eight") to: "obama NO 8".. for the reason that this guy is just a wish washy baby killer like the rest of thems libs.. (liberals):
"Number one, whenever we define a previable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we're really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a – child, a 9-month-old – child that was delivered to term.
[...]
I mean, it – it would essentially bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an anti-abortion statute. For that purpose, I think it would probably be found unconstitutional."
Obama's 10 reasons for supporting infanticide.. thanks a lot obama, thanks for letting me know that you are just like the rest of them.. no spine, no value for human life, only politics.. you think the US is in a terrible state now because perhaps a couple thousand people willing to give their lives for freedom, have done exactly that.. willingly. but yet, hundreds of thousands (correction its actually 1.3 million) of innocent, unwilling human beings are murdered per year.. LEGALLY!!!! and for what reason? for the sins of their parents. and ever since roe vs wade (1973) some 50 million human beings have been murdered!! what do you call that, again? genocide? nop.. more like
obama, you, sir, are a friggin hypocrite. yeah, funny how your slogan is "change".. and you just sound like "more of the same crap, but a little bit worse"
