Oedipus Rex: Are Fate and Free Will Mutually Exclusive?
September 6, 2009
***I am not always the best at keeping things in a straight line, but I have done my best here. These are my thoughts today when I was thinking about fate, destiny, action, and free will. I am not an authoritarian on anything, but this is rather the truth as I see it and what I believe God has shown me.***This is something I wrote in one of my FB notes***
The paradox that is presented by foreknowledge and free will is one that would seem to be a nice contradiction to the idea of prophecy and free will or an All Knowing God and free will. Determinism vs. free will seems to always take into account that because something CAN be, it SHOULD be. For example, if God said to me that I was going die in a car accident on Tuesday, my human nature would tell me to avoid getting into a car on Tuesday. More than that, I could even take it a step further and opt not to leave the house at all on Tuesday. After all, I could be in a car accident where a car hits me as I am walking down the road right? Yet even if either or other alternatives are good alternatives that may prevent the foretold death, does it mean I should take those routes?
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Conspiring Mind
May 21, 2009
I could be a conspiracy theorist. I think too much. I analyze too much. And I could convince an Eskimo that he not only needs a refrigerator, but a deep freezer to go with it. I can believe. I can make others believe.
No, I’m not saying I have any power over anyone. Other than the power of manipulation. Not manipulation in the ill sense of the word; just in the sense that if I want you to believe my point or in the very least leave thinking I may be right, I can.
Christianity = Suicide?
April 1, 2009
Now before any religious buffoons come and attack me, please read the post. I am a firm believer in God and the Bible; this is just something I was mulling over in the car and as this is my blog, I have the right to say what I please.
I have been through hard times where I thought the only choice I had was to take my life and I tried. I did. I did not succeed, but the peculiar thing about it was the doctors said there were no meds in my system. Despite the completely empty bottle and my very lethargic state, the doctors could not find any trace of the meds in my system. It was from then on that I thought for sure that God wanted better for me. Read more
Loving God [Part 1]
September 12, 2008
God is often referred to as a loving God. Atheists and Agnostics alike often like to use this ideal against the Christian community. They stipulate that if our God is so loving, how can He allow for pain and suffering? How can He allow babies to die or be killed. How can He allow women to be raped and abused? How can He allow others not to love? Moreover, it is not just that He is a loving God, it is that He is Omnipotent; therefore, God should be able to stop this.
Dissenters say that because the world as we know contradicts a loving, all-powerful God, that God cannot exist. After all, He would do something, right? Loving us means protecting us, right?
Let’s examine each argument fully for a minute. Read more
Tags: God, Atheists, Agnostics, allow, Omnipotent
Abort! Abort! Abort!
May 21, 2008
With the upcoming presidential elections being more of a horse and pony show than a political agenda, I sat down to think about what America has become. When we moved in on the Native Americans and took over their land, we sought freedom from a monarchy that we had no say in posting. We did not know really that this was our intent though; it seemed to develop over time. Initially we were just good with gaining more land, riches, and glory. Soon settling in the British colonies was not enough; we wanted better.
The constitution was formed with the intent “to form a more perfect Union…” and to establish a creed for the United States of America. What is often used (or misused in many cases) in debates is the first amendment: Read more
Tags: constitution
Why I Shouldn’t Be A Christian
March 6, 2008
I was surfing the net and came across an article written by a mother about her son’s revelation that he was gay. She speaks of what her own feelings on homosexuality were before going through this ‘trial’ with her son. When I started to read it, I wanted to stop immediately. But rather than close myself off like she was presenting herself as doing, I continued to read. It was not getting any better.
She tells of when she read the note from her son that she had to call him and talk to him. She says that she made reference to Romans 8:38-39 where the Bible explicitly tells us that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. STOP!
There is nothing.
Now wait a minute. Is it not the Christian advocate that dooms a homosexual to hell for loving another of the same sex? Is it not the Christian advocate that says that God does not love that homosexual? Yet the Bible poses a different stance? The Bible is saying that my God loves me no matter what!?!?! “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” I would think that the all-knowing and all-powerful God would first know what He is talking about, but second have the power to still love me. Do you doubt His power? Cause I don’t.
Sure, God may not condone their actions (again, another debate for another post), but nor does he condone the actions of any sinner. And that is what we all are: sinners.
Back to the story. She goes on to say that she tried to tell her son that he needed to renounce this lifestyle. She did some investigative work and apparently found an organization of ex-homosexuals who had essentially come back to God. Hoping her son would jump on the opportunity to be reformed, she presented him with her newfound knowledge. He told her that he did not feel trapped, and moreover that he was born gay. To which she writes of her sorrow over his deception. STOP!
Does not the Bible teach that we are all sinners at birth? Therefore if we are born sinners and to be gay is a sin, how is it wrong to say that some were born gay? Born with this sin (again, a debate for another post) that is homosexuality?
Back to the scared sinner. She goes on to tell about these wounded souls that her son brings home from time to time; whether or not she is convinced that they have turned gay because of the scars they hide or wear is not apparent, and I do not want to make assumptions, but the direction was there.
I was abused as a child. My mother would beat us with whatever she could get her hands on the quickest. If it was the vacuum chord or the stainless steel spatula, she did not care so long as it was readily available. Yet, my sister got the real brunt of the abuse. My mother knew it would hurt me so much more than any beating ever could– to see her hit my sister and me not being able to do anything about it. She beat my sister once with this belt that was made of crushed jewels. It had no protective covering over it so even the slightest touch might prick you. I wanted to lunge at my mother that night.
So why is it that my sister has two beautiful kids and is about to marry the man whom she thinks is the world? She was horribly abused, but didn’t seem to turn gay. But the Christian advocate wants a homosexual to turn away love? The very love that they seek out themselves but can embrace because they get it from the opposite sex?
There is wonderful read by Bertrand Russell called Why I Am Not a Christian. Every time I read it, I leave with something new. While it is not really relevant to the topic of homosexuality, it does address ‘the church’ and ‘religion’ as he sees it and more. I could never denounce God and will make a post in the future about my thoughts on this particular read, but I believe that Christian advocates are a great reason why I should not be a Christian. It is just a shame that I know the truth far too well not to not be one.
Tags: homosexuality, Bible, God, Christian, Christian advocate
At Arms With An Atheist
March 6, 2008
A friend of mine is an atheist. I actually have several friends that are atheist, but I do not treat them any differently than my Christian friends. Nor do I treat them differently from my agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, and Wiccan friends. My best friends always seem to be agnostic; I do not know what attracts me to them or them to me, but we always seem to be closer than their Christian counterparts.
No, I am not a different person around my different friends, but I am more open with some over others. Yes, they happen to be my non-Christian friends 99.9% of the times, but it is not because of their religious beliefs at all. It is because of who they are. Most non-Christians are more free thinkers, independent, and care-free. I like this personality because it means I can be 100% me.
See, while I am a Christian and adhere to the teachings of the Bible as best as an imperfect human can, I do not conform to organized religion too well. I actually believe the Bible when it tells me not to judge my brother. I listen when Christ teaches me to eat with the sinners (after all, I being a sinner myself should not hold myself above them). I try to follow in His ways when he showed me how to be servants of man.
Yet I missed the part when God told me to picket my neighbor’s house for committing a sin that I do not approve of. I must have fell asleep in Sunday school when my teacher was handing out the how-to booklets on judging. I forgot to take notes when my Pastor taught us how to hide our own sins while condemning our brothers. And I know I missed the part in the Bible that tells me I need to say ten Hail Marys for every sin I committed against my body….
But I believe in God. At times I hate that I have the knowledge of who He is because it is very true that ignorance is bliss. At least being ignorant to the word, I could join the world in their stupidity. Don’t get me wrong; I can do everything I want to do now. Sure, it is not always pleasing to my Maker, and I will have to repent for my sins, but I do it. No, I do not do these things with the guarantee that my sins will be forgiven; please do not misread me there. I do them because I am an impulsive person: I act and then I think. I talk to God often and apologize, but it does not stop me from having my fun. I am like any other person: I want to have fun.
This one particular friend who sparked me to write this post tried to figure out why me of all people would believe in this God that the Christian community promotes. But I tried to get her to understand that my God is not their God. Yes, He is a father figure and yes, He is a ‘he’, but only because that is what the Bible represents him to me to be. He could be asexual, but He definitely has ‘male’ in Him. Why? Because Jesus was male. And Jesus was God as the Son. The Bible says that God presented Jesus to us as His son. So while it could be that God as a female mother presented Jesus as her son to us, I believe because Jesus was God personified, God is male. Or in the very least, asexual. But I prefer to think of Him as male. Oh…and He’s not white…He’s Hispanic…lol…just kidding….I don’t picture His race…that’s just my God.
Bottom line is that I believe in the Bible. I believe what it says so therefore I believe in God. But I believe in the Bible because it makes sense. It just makes sense. I can look around and see that this earth is too ‘perfect’ not to be divinely created. To say we are all a huge coincidence is what makes no sense to me! I mean to have a Maker makes more sense than coincidence in my opinion! For every cause, there is another cause; but there has to be an ultimate uncaused. The first domino but yet more because see, in order for that domino to fall, it has to be pushed. But to restrict an infinite God to a finite reasoning? I just cannot do it. So when my friend asked me to explain God essentially, I paled in comparison to Him. I just do not have the absolute truth and knowledge that He has to be able to explain Him.
The Bible says that even those who have not heard the word or been taught know that He is. That has to stand for something. That someone in a third world country who does not even know the Bible let alone organized religion just knows that there is a Divine Creator is awesome. Comparing in previous posts, man’s nature to God’s word, I cannot help believe that the Bible was divinely inspired. I asked my friend who is a manager for a small company to think of something for me: if the owner told her to create a new set of rules for which the office has to follow (herself included) or be terminated, would she write such rules as ‘no smoke breaks’ or ‘no talking to your neighbors’? Rules that she herself could not follow? She scoffed of course not; that would go against her nature–who she is (which is what she was trying to tell me religion does in forcing us to believe in this God figure, but I was trying to tell her that point was moot with the fact that my God is not the God of organized religion). To which I said: EXACTLY! So why would man write a book that tells him he must go against his nature in order to reach eternal happiness (or heaven…but that’s a debate for another post =P)?
I had a great conversation with my friend. I loved it because there was no raised voices, no judging, no name-calling, no negative vibes at all. It was pure conversation, purely intellectual, and just plain real. I cannot stand a Christian that tries to shove Christianity down another person’s throat, and I cannot stand an atheist who thinks that just because I am talking about God and the Bible, I am trying to conform them. After all, if they can state their opinions on God and the Bible, why can’t I?
I like for my faith to be tested; it reassures me that I truly believe. And I like intellectual discussion because it does get me to think. And as we already know, I like to think.
