I was talking with a friend recently and they asked my opinion whether I believed there would be anything beneficial gained from doing an anger management counselling course… because they are going through life angry.
Taking this course was to be an act of ‘self-help’ because they wanted to overcome their anger and ‘find peace’.
Having done an anger management course myself many years ago I said that I benefitted from it, and that she probably would too.
It was then that she confided in me what was the chief source of her anger… a shocking, callous act of double betrayal… Infidelity.
I believe this took place along while ago, yet she has been carrying this stone in her heart for a long time.
She’s had enough and is now looking for a way to unburden herself from the deep anger and hurt: explaining to me that talking with her son he said to her “…I hope you find peace Mum…”
She replied… “I’ll never forget this… I’ll never forgive it, and when I die I won’t be at peace…”
The way she expressed this… that she would carry this grievance to her grave caused me to stop in my tracks (mentally speaking) for she was talking about *very heavy* moral realities.
I could see the pain she was still feeling… and burden of carrying this conviction of having been grievously wronged.
Now after hearing the sordid story, and seeing my friend does not like what her bitterness is doing to her life… I shared with her my Christian perspective hoping that might provide a pathway whereby she might find peace.
This conversation is the reason I have written this Blogpost.
It is the Christian perspective on Forgiveness.
Before I lay out the central principles, let me state that what happened was wrong, and she is justified in feeling hurt and betrayed. Trust was broken, and so it is easy to see why on these facts some might say she would be fully justified in taking her anger to her grave… yet what does this anger achieve?
It does nothing to solve the hurt… in fact carrying this perpetually only adds pain and misery upon herself.
Carrying anger and unforgiveness is a form of self-torture!
The issue is… can any valid reasons be found to forgive the wrong she has suffered?
Is there any way my friend can put down this heavy weight and enjoy the future free from anger and hurt…and at the appointed time… go to her rest with peace in her heart?
I began to share my Christian perspective on forgiveness…
Forgiveness is a fundamental tenet of Christianity as it lies at the heart of Our relationship to God.
The Bible tells us We are sinful and fallen beings in jeopardy of God’s judgement for our evils.
“There is none righteous, no not one.”
Romans 3vs10
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”
Romans 3vs23
This is one of the primary facts we must admit *about ourselves* if we are to any hope of ending our separation from God… *We ourselves* are sinful, imperfect and have committed evils against God, and our fellow man.
Never be so self deluded into assuming our own sins we’ve committed against others as being ‘Far less wicked’ than any sins we have suffered from others.
Satan laughing spreads his wings!
How then… given this is true about ourselves… how can we possible stand in self-righteous Judgement of others?
We can’t.
Jesus said ‘that by the same measures we use to Judge and condemn others… God shall use to judge us our selves!
So that by coldly judging others… in fact we condemn ourselves for we are guilty of the same kind of things… ie we are not perfect… we have committed evils we ought to answer for… even if they are not identical to evils we have personally suffered at the hands of others.
We have done despicable things and hurt others too.
Realising our own imperfection, and our own guilt…. from this we discover *our own need for God’s forgiveness*… and the forgiveness of others we have wronged.
We must never forget that we ourselves actually deserve to face Divine judgement. We have all stolen things that don’t belong to us… We have all told lies and deceived others… we (adults) have all committed various types of sexual immorality, for many of us that includes Adultery… yet in spite of all this Evil on our own part, The incredible message of the Bible is that God has loves us and want’s to forgive us all!
We can escape the just judgement of the Almighty… Why? How? Because God is not merely a Righteous Judge. He is also a Loving Father… and full of Mercy and grace!
The Christian Gospel tells us that… “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son [Jesus] that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life…”
John 3vs16
The Apostle Paul say’s “God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…”
Romans 5vs8
Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, so justice has been served in Gods eyes… as far as our sins are concerned. He settled our debt to God. He’s already satisfied God’s justice!
Jesus was sinnless… yet he died for My sins… he died for your sins… he died for everyone’s sins whosoever will look to his cross in faith.
When Christ rose from the dead, this testified to his victory over sin and death.
So believing this good news, I now have faith that when I die I shall not face judgement for my many evils. They have been paid in full by Jesus. and my loving heavenly Father [God] did all this so he could forgiven me!
” For by grace are ye saved, through faith. and that not of yourselves [our own faithfulness and righteousness] *it is the gift of Gift of God*.
Not of works lest any man should boast…”
Ephesians 2vs8,9.
“Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved…”
Romans 10vs13
So many people do not understand who the Lord God of the Bible is! They think he is a nasty Cold vicious Judging God, when in truth he is Love and full of grace!
Don’t let Satan deceive you about the true nature of the God of the Bible.
Receive God’s gift of grace and have assurance of God’s forgiveness for our wicked deeds. Believe the gospel and you shall be forgiven.
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…”
Titus 3vs5
And having received to forgiveness of God… by pure grace… how then can we remain unforgiving of others whom have wronged us?
Remember what Christ said to his disciples when he taught them to pray…
“Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us,
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Amen.”
Matthew 6vs9- 14
Now it is important to know that under our gospel given to us via our Apostle Paul that our salvation is a free gift and not dependent upon us ‘forgiving others’ as Jesus taught his Jewish disciples, for we Christians live today in a different part of God’s plan, and are under a different gospel to the one Jesus offered to Israel… yet reading Jesus words we can still clearly appreciate the hypocrisy that is involved when believers who hope for the forgiveness of God for our trespasses yet we ourselves are not prepared to forgive others whom have trespassed against us!
Who pretends to have lived a sinless life?
Who among us have not learned terrible lesions the hard way?
Who has not in the past done things which today they deep regret and had they opportunity to turn back time… they would not repeat those grave errors?
Who among us have not repented in our hearts for our wicked deeds?
Who among us could stand were we to be held to account for every great evil we ourselves have committed?
Who among us does not need forgiveness and a second chance to be better people?
Knowing the grace and mercy of God toward us ought to fill us with wonder thanksgiving, and humility.
To anyone who wrongs us we ought to say “We are fortunate that Jesus has paid for all the evils you and I have committed, and has provided a way for us to be forgiven by God… therefore for his sake and the great mercy he has shown me, I likewise forgive you for I cannot remain hard of heart in the face of God’s grace and mercy towards myself.
Trust in the Lord and the Salvation of his Cross, and you too can be forgiven by God for your sins.
Thus it is knowing the richness of God’s grace towards ourselves, we ought to be able to find the High Path… the better way to live… to chose to be like our Good and loving and wise Heavenly Father… Like Jesus Christ himself.
Become a vessel of Grace!
This is the will of God.
Now I hope in considering these Christian truths than my friend will appreciate why she ought to unburden herself from harbouring unforgiveness… Jettison That cold hard stone in your heart!
Free yourself… rest in the peace of God Almighty.
I will finish with Christ’s most famous of sayings when the Pharisees brought before him a woman caught in adultery to test him saying the Law of Moses says she should be stoned to death!
But What sayest thou?
Jesus said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone…”
John 8.
King James Bible.
Amazing Grace!
How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind but now I see.
And let us never forget the chaos and hurt our evil deeds cause to God, and our fellow man…
I have watched a fair chunk of both Rogan and Peterson materials… and have enjoyed a great portion of it all. I believe they both make very valuable and insightful contributions in the realm of thought…yet I am not a sycophant. I give praise when I believe praise is due, yet I will also call out BS when I see it.
Please watch the video below.
Man has been defined as ‘The worshipping Animal’.
The title of this video is misleading in that the question is only relevant if it pertains to Moses and the Bible rather than a generalised ‘Origin of the Religious sense in humanity’ because we have solid evidence that some Pagan religions are born of or at least make use of psychedelics as mystical practices.
But should a person then believe this is a sound explanation for what is written in the bible?
That is the question I want to address… the rest is moot IMO because it is non-contentious.
Drug taking is a fact of human history.
I don’t buy this sort of ‘Rationalist’ speculation of apostate Jewish scholars who deny their own faith (Rogan’s opening statement was that some Rabbis had claimed Moses was trippin).
I would never deny these are questions worth discussing… they clearly are worth it… I don’t have a problem with the questions… I just find Rogan and Peterson’s conclusions… or lack thereof disappointing.
I guess these guys are still wandering in the wilderness.
It is true that many people have equated psychedelic’s trips to having a religious experience complete with meeting spirit beings.
Indisputably some Psychonauts looking for meaning in life believe they have ‘found’ something real in the psychedelic experience that transcends this material universe (consciousness itself is fundamentally transcendental) . Scientists and psychologists are beginning to appreciate that going on a trip can even bring peace of mind to the terminally ill… alleviating some from the fear of death.
They experience an opening door to greater realities.
Joe Rogan himself talks a lot about this.
In my youth I experienced this very thing too.
I was already a Christian and yet magic mushrooms were mind expanding.
Modern science is today catching up to the many beneficial and therapeutic qualities of Psilocybin.
Contrary to long held phobias and prejudices Magic Mushrooms can be good for the brain and the spirit.
Caveat: Beware! Psilocybin Magic mushroom are currently illegal in New Zealand, and if you ingest a poisonous look-alike that could be a fatal mistake.
Prohibition Sux!
One day this will change, and as is the case now in Canada, you will be able to buy safe tripping mushroom’s from the shop.
I recently had a surprising conversation with a old friend who had always been hard of heart when it came to discussion of religion, yet had recently had what she described as a religious experience from a psychedelic trip.
This experience completely shifted her opinion about transcendent reality.
Such experiences may help people to escape the box of materialism yet it is still a long journey to the way, the truth, and the life.
I am hoping my now more open minded friend will look further afield contemplate the bigger questions for which the Bible alone has the Truth.
Her spiritual pilgrimage has only just begun.
I pray God sends her knowledgeable servants to help guide her to the truth.
We all must see the light of truth to be saved. It is one thing for me to know this (I’m alright Jack!), the problem I have is that most of the people I care about are closed off to the possibility that they are lost sinners who need Christ.
Still I must try to reach anyone who is not hard of heart.
Back to Rogan and Peterson. What grinds my gears about these two guys in particular is despite being well aware of a massive corpus of piece-meal facts that are scattered across a broad spectrum of subjects guys like Rogan and Peterson fail to think holistically and refuse to draw the most obvious conclusion about ‘the religion’ of the Bible… from a totality of what is known… that it is based upon *Real events*…. *Empirical facts*.’That is the most obvious conclusion that best fits all the hard corroborating evidence.
Instead they choose to be vain in their imaginations and flog their favorite hobby horses. Rogan likes to attribute stuff to tripping. and Peterson enjoys fabricating overly sophisticated psychological bents that make the great men of the past look like Psyche patients.
This is a well understood penchant of ‘specialists’… their tunnel vision that can only interpret reality through their narrow lens of ‘training’… exposing their bents.
Gullible people mistake their own wild ‘rationalisations’ as being valid excuses for doubting the veracity of the Bible when in reality they are feeble and fail to explain the known facts.
Doctor heal thyself!
I assert the simple truth is that the great famous men of the Bible… Moses, etc had real experiences with God Almighty. Ie The Bible is literally true.
On a psychological level we can appreciate why human beings don’t want to face the simple truth…. because it would call an end to their pet delusions… an existential crisis….
But if you admit to yourself the bible speaks of real events … the moral implications will demand you change you whole outlook on life… and call you to prostrate yourself before the Almighty.
And above all things mans pride and his desire to be his own God prevents him from acknowledging his subjection to the Divine Authority.
What is appealing to people like Rogan about the psychedelic experience is that he can make it mean whatever he wants to believe.
Sinful lost human beings are alien to the truth. They are opposed to it. many will choose to believe almost anything rather than the truth. They cannot bear it.
In this way Human beings are the children of the Devil. This is not freedom but slavery to a lie. This will damn your soul.
As a Christin it is my duty to both God and my fellow man to witness for the Gospel.
Be honest to yourself. Believe the scriptures. The truth will make you free. Look to the Cross of Christ and his resurrection… there our salvation is found… for free.
Space in this post has not allowed me to lay out all the evidence that ought to compel reasonable people into accepting the historical validity of the scriptures.
Please do not be too disappointed about this short fall.
I am aware of it, yet anyone who thinks my failure to provide such a detailed exposition makes my contention a hollow claim is not a reasonable person.
The subject is massive. and involves virtually every branch of knowledge… and this is my main contention against the proposition Rogan and Peterson are making in the featured video. It is naïve.
I will provide links to where an investigation of the facts can be started….
IMO the greatest hurdle for an entrenched Atheist materialist that prevents them from being able to grasp the validity of the Bible is their *Ideological Blindness*… an intellectual incapacity to be able to contemplate for even a moment that Spiritual realities might really exist… and that the Biblical miracles actually happened.
I am not seeking to belittle anyone… I’m pointing out the massive paradigm shift required to be able to honestly consider the alternative view.
I know this from my own prior atheist experience. I know how the Materialist mindset is utterly consumed by weak rationalisations that are fabricated to maintain the Atheist cognitive dissonance.
It is an addictive habit of the mind that most atheists mistake for intelligence and reason.
It is folly!
Materialism is founded upon the archaic and childish delusions of Scientism… a belief that empirical science can (and does)explain everything.
This is an untenable position in 2023.
“Seek and ye shall find.”
The first step to seeking the light must be an opening of the mind.
A large portion of my work published on Eternal Vigilance Blog is laying out the case for Christianity and Biblical faith. I am not a great writer, yet the hundreds of posts I have done on a broad spectrum of issues form my testimony as to why I believe the Bible is true. Thus I point to them as an archive of evidence to support my claims I am making today. Anyone with a seeking heart might do worse than to spend some time following links I post below.
A final word…
When I dabbled in psychedelics I never met any spirit beings, yet as I said above I was a wayward Christian.
I wonder if that kept them at bay?
I do not encourage anyone to take drugs, and posit the long held warning that Christians have historically associated ‘Phamikea’ with Sorcery and Witchcraft… which is understandable given the Pagan usage of psychedelics.
The Bible instead promotes the Sober mind.
And if the assertions of the Christians are correct in these matters, the spirit beings encountered while tripping could be dangerous Demons pretending to be Angels of light… and I suspect that is the case.
Before I was a Christian, in my late Teens I did have an experience… It is called ‘Entity Attack syndrome’… historically called Incubus/ Succubus encounter, yet modern rationalists call it ‘Sleep paralysis’ … my account of that can be found here…
The following argument has been in my mind for decades… ever since I was converted from Atheism to Bible believing Christianity.
I am not a trained academic or Logician myself, Yet have attempted to solicit dialogue on my conjectures from several ‘Trained academics’ yet so far have had no response.
Thus I have never received any Rebuttal that might dissuade me from my conclusion… simple Atheist assertions that ‘God does not exist… or Satan does not exist’ are not arguments but groundless (and in my opinion erroneous) claims, and this post will attempt to prove the idea that even if I cant say Satan’s existence today is knowable… that at one point back in history of all reality… his existence was a certainty.
The following is an expanded form of my assertion, just to lay down the framework/ context of my contentions plainly.
That I say Satan’s existence is a Logical necessity is based upon the Title Jesus Christ called Satan… “The Father of Lies”… ie Satan *invented Lies* and deception… or at least he was the first *to actually lie*… and this brings up the principle of non-materialist *Free will*.
Christ calls himself… The Way… *The Truth* and the life and the Bible says that *all things were created by him and for him*, and many Infidels who cannot get past their notions of Determinism therefore argue that ‘if the God exists… then *God himself* is responsible even for Satan’s lies… because God made Satan, yet as I have already said they are unable to accept any notion of any created being having autonomous free-will that may differ from the ultimate will of God himself.
Yet the concept of Free will is fundamental to Christian Morality… It permeates the whole Bible from the very Beginning when God commanded Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit, and it is what makes us *morally culpable* for our own actions while exonerating God for giving us the Liberty to make choices … for good or ill.
“…And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2)
The Fallen Angel Satan entered the garden and deceived Eve… Adam then chose to disobey the commandment of God Almighty and ate of the Forbidden fruit… and then tried to blame God for what happened by saying “… And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Gen 3vs 12)
Yet God was not responsible for Adams choice to mistrust and disobey God… even though God did create *the possibility* for Adam to so choose… It was Adam who was the free will moral Agent who made the choice and that is why Adam was morally culpable… and God without blame.
God is completely within his right to so order his creations of both the Angels and Humanity with the *potential to sin against him*… Not making us *mere robots*… but True *Children* whose love and ongoing obedience to his Divine rule is not something imposed upon us by our nature… but something *real* and special… and moral… none the less this requires having so ordered things that *the potential to rebel against God* was an inescapable necessity to the dynamic of being able to freely submit to his Sovereignty.
So Like the temptation of Mt Everest in the distance calling vain Men to their doom… trying and Conquer its peak… so to Did God create *the potential for Evil*… for Rebellion… yet that was only as a counterpoise for Freewill love and submission.. not because he *wanted* anyone to rebel… yet still to have *Loving Children* rather than Robots… God Deemed this risk to be worth it… and their would be few honest people who would prefer to be like Ants… wholey driven by their instincts and physical drives, than to be as they are… with Freewill to determine their own lives and activities… Taking credit for their own virtues and successes.
Now I have laid out the groundwork, I can address the main point of which the Title of this post… God Created The Highest Heaven… God Created The Holy Angels and that was When Satan was ‘Lucifer’… the highest Angel in that Order of beings.
I have already explained that God created them with Freewill and gave them the scope to exercise this essential component of their being for which they were created.
An unknown length of ‘time’ passes, and then God Created ‘the Heavens and the Earth'(yet not Mankind)…. and it was sometime after this that Lucifer became jealous of God… and desired to be worshiped… and that is when Evil grew in his ‘heart’ and he chose to Rebel against God.
This is when Satan decided to start telling lies… To corrupt many of his fellow angels into following him instead of God Almighty.
So While the *potential to tell lies* had always existed in counterpoise to being able to tell the truth…. Satan was the first Being to *ever exercise* that potential… he became ‘The father of Lies’.
and it is here that I now posit my Logical challenge… We exist in a reality in which *Telling lies* is a fundamental fact of Human existence… liars exist… Down here on Earth Lies are a currency as often traded in as the truth, which of necessity raises the question… who… in the entire existence of all reality… was the first being to ever tell a lie?
We know that because lies exist today that somewhere someone back in eternity past *must have been the first Lying being*… and it is this Being The Bible calls *Satan*… the Father of Lies.
Satan is therefore a Logical necessity!
And Satan is the Being responsible for Bringing All Evils into the world… even though We as Freewill moral agents are responsible for our own choices to follow Satan’s lies rather than trust in God Almighty.
This is a fundamental Dynamic to our existence!
Change my mind!
Satan Laughing… spreads his wings.
Some Atheists may say… “The father of Lies must have been a human being”… I admit that this ‘Idea’ is worth contemplating… yet when you consider that there is virtual universal consensus on the conjecture that the Human race has not existed for very long… and that even the Earth has not existed for ever… and that Most Atheists also harbour Ideas that we are probably not the only intelligent beings in the universe ( that this is a belief for which they dont have any more *Physical evidence* for such alien beings than I do for Satan seems to escape them… they base their conjectures on no more firm unproven rationale than I do for mine)… yet still does not their own conjectures make the notion that ‘the father of lies’ must have been a Human being uncertain?
Could not *another being* that pre-dates Humanity have told the first lie? (He would then be Satan!)
And then Atheists have an even greater problem… *How lies*… or even *telling the truth*… can even be concepts… if we exist in a Purely Materialistic Reality in which everything is inextricably locked into a chain of physical causation right back to the big bang?
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
Dispensationalist.
King James Bible believer.
Anthony McClean, Portia McPhail, Anthony Mulder, Tara Gregory, Huan (Tom) Hsu, Natasha Bray, and Floyd Fernandes drowned in the Mangatepopo Gorge. (Stuff)
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the river tragedy that took the lives of 6 Elim Christian School students and their teacher Anthony McClean.
Such a terrible event, Yet from the first time I herd the story of Anthony’s heroic exploit I have been overwhelmed and affected by a sense of awe at his humanity and sense of Christian duty that he demonstrated on this fateful day, and though 6 others lost their lives this blogpost is my personal tribute to him in particular… as an exemplar of character and the sort of loving soul that every parent desires in a tutor of their children.
When the River surged trapping the group in a dire situation, Anthony was faced with a Great moral Dilemma… abandon his pupils and Save himself… or… strive to save a physically disabled student cerebral palsy sufferer Tom Hsu, 16, by tying him to his own back and to risk his own life for their sake.
Visualizing this in my mind, I am transported in time and space to witnessing this act of heroism first hand…and I am overcome.
His heroism cost him his life… they died together… yet ten years later the example he set still moves and inspires me and thousands of other New Zealanders.
It ranks in the highest order of Noble deeds… Christ-like… who said “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends…” John15vs13.
His action is the equal of any Teacher who has in such moments of fate… given their lives for their students, and I am reminded of such stories we often read about when there is a US school massacre… the teachers who put themselves between the killers and their Pupils… May God Bless and Keep them all.
This is the spirit of Altruism… the voluntary self sacrifice of personal benefits… out of love…for the sake of others.
True Heroism is not about personal glory, and is impossible for the person who puts their own life as the highest value.
This is taking the Vocation of teaching to its Highest end… placing the life of your students ahead of your own.
Read quote and close training session.
Teachers like Anthony McClean demonstrate the *Real virtue* of the vocation… Teaching was never about High wages and Fame… and all about being able to fulfill your personal desire to serve others… The opportunity and privilege to instill wisdom and values in the youth under your care… to empower them to take care of themselves, raise happy and healthy families, and to live great and fulfilling lives.
And the best teachers teach the most important lessons of character… by example… living (and dying) by the values they expound.
Teachers who dont have this quality may be technically smart… yet can never be *Great*… and when any troubles arise… even minor troubles… they will put their own interests ahead of your children.
What parent can have confidence in a Selfish teacher to look after their child, and instill values?
Anthony Mulder was one of the Students who lost his life that day… yet not before performing selfless deeds of heroism!
He positioned himself in the torrent and helped his fellow students to get across.
” Kish Proctor and Sarah Brooks, two of the survivors from the canyoning group, said Ant was an inspiration for his selfless, loving nature and steadfast belief in God.
Fellow Elim youth leader and Pakuranga College student Jessica Hancock described him as a “humble, patient, peaceful, generous and loving guy who has changed so many lives”.
Speaking after the memorial service, Ant’s friends said healing moments had been time spent in his bedroom and talking about the good times they shared with him.
Kish said Ant was voted group leader while at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoors Pursuits Centre because he was a seasoned tramper and led by example.
“He stood in the middle of the current and helped all of us across it,” he said.”
Let us Remember this Tragic Day… esp the Deeds of these Two Heroes.
Lets us take inspiration from their selfless actions in the Darkest of hours and endeavour to emulate them in our own lives.
And as Christians… we live in the hope of the Gospel.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
While pondering and contemplating and meditating today, it occurred to me that one of the greatest ‘stumbling blocks’ to confessing faith in the Christian Gospel is the absolutely erroneous assumption by the average bible rejecting lost soul that is the idea that the God of the Bible hates them…because they are sinners… and wants to send them to damnation.
This is a very powerful misrepresentation of the truth!
The Truth is the exact opposite… God Loves them *despite the fact* that they are sinners…and *does not want* them to be Damned!
That is why He sent Christ.
I have been wanting to do a Blogpost on Objective Truths vs Subjective whims for a long time, yet like so many super important topics… I have procrastinated out of fear of not doing these subjects justice.
Esp in relation to my Belief in the Objective reality of Hell… despite not liking the doctrine at all… and wishing it were not true.
I esp want to talk about how a keynote of a Subjective whimsical thinker is that they refuse to believe in anything they find repugnant… esp if admitting ‘their’ possibility will have implications for themselves that they do not want to deal with.
Fear and loathing.
They are like the Ostrich who seeks to hide from any scary reality by putting their heads in a hole in the ground.
There are *many unpleasant realities* and any rational Cosmology/ belief system must be strong enough to encompass these dark truths.
‘The Problem of Evil’ ‘Theodicy’ being one of the greatest of all Theological/ philosophical topics that challenges the faith of many in Divine Providence and goodness, and many think the Doctrine of hell is likewise a fatal proof against the Goodness of the Lord God of the Bible.
Tonight after work I came across the ‘Meme/post’ (At Top) by one Matthew Joseph on a Facebook Group I belong to called ‘Psychedelics and Philosophy’, and as you can see the question Matt put forward perfectly dovetails with these topics, and without saying too much in this introduction… I hope that intelligent readers will be able to follow my rationale as it flows in the dialogue… despite the fact that during the ‘debate’ comments get inserted in.
It is a raw ‘real world’ conversation… not a fabricated dialogue designed by a clever writer to display their philosophical eloquence… its a battle of words between two antagonists… a bible hater vs myself… a King Jame Bible believer.
I will however just make a few quick points before I post the dialogue.
1. From what I have already said above you can see what motive I had for entering on a discussion of the question posed by Matt. It was not as he says… that I was ‘assuming’ some sort of personal attack, but that my initial comment (which is important because I maintain it’s position throughout the whole dialogue and my later comments are all in context of it) was a sincere attempt to draw attention to ‘Why some people believe heinous things’.. and that it is far more dangerous to assume that all heinous things ought to be automatically and subjectively disbelieved.
2. I admit to making some bold assumptions from the get go… as to why Matt may have posted this question… assumptions founded upon years dialogue, study, etc… and from the reaction that swiftly followed my original comment It becomes clear that my assumptions were perfectly correct.
Matt *Is precisely the sort of person I suspected*… yet still it was not my original intention to get into a bun fight… though once the first bun was thrown at me… I was more than ready to retaliate in kind!
3. With these things in mind I hope by the time any reader traverses this dialogue that they will see that Matts final assertion my arguments are all ‘Non sequitur’ is simply another denial of the fact that I was on point the whole time…
My ongoing comments must be taken *In context* of his comments… He fails to appreciate how he himself fills in the sequence of my reasoning… justifies my progressive assumptions, and makes full vindication of my original comment.
Thus I assert it was Matt who started the petty nastiness… Matt immediately responded in a derogatory manner… debasing the conversation by calling me a ‘Jack ass’… hoping to shut me down… not because he could rebut me… but because he did not like my original moot defending belief in the Bible and hell.
I assert that Matt said almost nothing that equates to a rational argument, and that at all points he displayed the Subjectivity of a God hating sinner… a lost soul who does not want to contemplate the possibility of facing Divine judgement and hell, and in fact he has nothing of substance to offer on the topic of belief.
He only wants to believe things that are non-threatening… non-challenging to his modus opperandi… and esp dont lay moral weights upon his back.
Matt is a Hater of The God of the Bible… and thinks Christians are Freaks.
Atheists like to make their own rules.
Even though their world view is ultimately nihilistic… morally sterile and devoid of value they still like to think of themselves as ‘Good people’…and that they are the ‘defenders of truth’, etc.. so they claim to sit on the Lofty Ground and pour righteous indignation down upon the religious.
It’s all Absurd and inconsistent hypocrisy with their own professed beliefs… yet very necessary for their self delusion.
Matt asserts that I went for his throat from the get go.
Yet still He has given me his permission to include his name and though one of his friends jumps in… he says little of substance and I have left his name in there too.
The whole dialogue is Screen shots… verbatim… Pettiness and all.
I assume only 3 mad people will read it in full… yet I intend to use this conversation in the future debates and discussions.
Now the debate is over, and I dont hold any ill feelings, and it is not my intention to use this blog post in malice against him, and in fact I offer an Olive branch to him and will post him the link to this blogpost and have already invited him to make critisisms and defend himself in the comments.
I hope that he will re-consider my arguments.
I dont want him to go to hell.
I dont want *anyone* to go to hell!
Yet I wont deny its objective reality because it was taught by Christ and is in the Divine Revelation… The King James Bible.
One of my most heavy burdens is watching as my friends and family…one by one… enter eternity Rubbishing Christ and assuming Hell and Judgement are not awaiting them.
It breaks my heart when they make it clear that they do not even wish to discuss this topic with me.
That Hell is real is why Christ gave his life on the Cross!
And To prevent people going to hell is not achieved by denying it’s existence… but by preaching the gospel of Gods Grace!
Preaching The Cross.
Matt will not know that I was once an Militant Atheist myself… so I appreciate how *alien* the spiritual truths of the Bible appear to the Natural man… the Materialist.
It has been argued by atheists that Jesus was immoral because he preached about hell, and that to their thinking eternal damnation in torment is too horrific an idea to be expounded by any Good person.
I admit it is a truly horrific proposition and I understand why even many Christians today try to do God a favour by denying the doctrine of hell… saying it is false teaching… bad interpretation, etc.
They want to removed hell because of the obstacle to faith it represents.. and they wish to escape the burden of arguing that God is moral to eternally Damn sinners … that is a hard thing to sell!
, yet I Choose to trust the Bible, and I argue that irrespective of my personal feelings… that *If hell is an objective reality* then I must Trust that God is Righteous in all his judgments, and that it would be immoral for Christ *not to preach about it*… not to warn sinners they were in danger… and it would be immoral for me to go along with the charade that hell does not exist!
Christians who are swayed against the doctrine of hell because of the difficulties it presents are infact involved in a form of Idol making.
They seek to make an Image of God more pleasing to their subjective desires and vain ideas rather than worshiping the God of the Bible… as he has revealed himself to truly be… including his holiness and abhorrence of sin and evil…
Look at all the vile evil in the world!
Look at the wickedness and perversion of humanity!
With one breath Atheist point at Wars and Tyranny… all the suffering of the weak at the hands of the strong, and accuse God of not caring about evil… yet with their next breath they condemn the Doctrine of Divine judgement!
They say The God of the Bible is outrageously Jealous and angry and that his judgments are too harsh!
Am I the only one who sees the contradiction and hypocrisy of the infidels?
Richard Dawkins pandered to the seething rage of millions of Atheists against God and his judgement, and instead of boldly standing on the scriptures and counter-striking with the Doctrine of the Love, Grace, and mercy of God… many Christians Retreated in the face of such an onslaught… just as they have shamefully done on so many issues vital issues like accepting ‘Evolution’… like accepting that Rationalist position on the Scriptures as merely a human construct full of Myths, and Superstitions.
And when they have removed Hell from their beliefs… they also have removed the greatest moral burden and impetus to preach the Gospel of Salvation to the lost!
God’s Judgement is evidence of the *Moral weight* and *Value* and Meaning he places upon Human life and action.
God takes our existence and activities very seriously!
God has managed to show his mighty wisdom and Both Judge and show mercy!
Remember that God himself is not willing that any should perish, and that he commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners , Christ died for us.
Those that end up in Damnation *choose their fate*… by rejecting Christ and the mercy of God.
So here it is…. “Let he that hath an ear to hear… let them hear”.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Update: After posting the link to this post to Matt and his friends, he responded with more vitriol and personal insults displaying he is completely incapable of being rational on this topic.
And his friends weighed in too and it is telling that in more that 70 comments that were made… at no point did any of them actually address the content of my argument… and focused on pouring out guile on me personally.
They even wheel in some guy they think is a Philosophical ‘Heavy weight’… yet he proceeds to act as ‘amateur hour’ as the rest!
‘Tim is a Maniac’
‘Tim’s post is too long’
‘Tims writing is shit’… etc etc.
These are the whole tenor of my detractors ‘arguments’ against me… quite pathetic… very telling about their personal spiritual condition.
Of course ‘indifferent’ dialogues of noble and pure thinkers are Myth.
Fantasies invented by philosophers… In the real world most contentious Dialogues are full of ugliness, and so this dialogue fits in well with ‘Keeping it real’.
Anyway here is the discussion … and I will have to add some more of the later comments… I do know it’s ‘quite long’ in today’s short ‘attention span’ culture, yet I think the subject is worth taking time to ponder.
This subject is in the very first rank of importance.
In writing this I hope to be able to communicate with both Believers and Unbelievers… which is difficult because the two extremes favour different approaches… one tends to run away when bible verses are deployed… assuming they are about to subjected to a nutty Bible bashing, yet the other tends to think that unless a post has a bible verse every second line that the post is some sort of Satanic plot!
Yet as has become my style, I will speak in plain ‘Natural’ terms as much as possible yet will stitch in scripture as I deem appropriate.
I believe this topic has value both as a means by which both Unbelievers and believers may gain important insights.
The whole theme is very much one of the most essential aspects of the proper relationship of any thoughtful person to the Almighty.
I will talk about how to deal with ‘struggles and issues’ in believing in Gods good character in due course, yet first I must present the basics of why Faith in his good character is essential.
There are many many vitally important reasons why it is *Faith* that puts us in the right relationship with God, and why he has made it the key to our relationship with himself.
One of the most interesting.. and telling facts is that *Faith in Gods Good Character* has always been… and always will be essential… even after/when we are in his very presence and have walked and talked with him simply because of our Limited capacity for knowledge… and his Infinite Divinity.
There will never be a time when we have full understanding of all things about the Almighty, and thus even though we may have a massive understanding… and countless proofs of his Good character… there will always exist a gap between what we know of him… and his full Glory… and thus Faith will always be needed to bridge this gap.
Then for the well versed and philosophically minded it is also understood that ultimately… all our knowledge… even scientific knowledge rests upon unproven assumptions that are accepted by faith!
At the very heart of the History of the Philosophy of science was the foundational ‘articles of faith’ that came directly from monotheism and is why Theists were responsible for the birth of modern science and why they occupy the Chief seats and hold the chief honours for virtually every branch of modern science… as the Founders.
Primarily the impetus to scientific discovery and secular explanations was born of the belief in a single Creator of everything who made the universe and ordered it according to Divine plans that may be rationally understood, and that the universe functions via Fixed Divinely established Laws… that Man may investigate and understand… because these laws are themselves rational and a testament to the truth and rationality of God Almighty.
Facts like this are not open to debate as they stand as Empirical reality… facts of the history of the philosophy of science… rather than on mere hypothetical intellectual ideology and bias.
One of the greatest delusions people like Hitchens, Dawkins, or Tyson have foisted onto the gullible atheist sheeple is the notion that the advance of Science has been synonymous with the advance of atheism… and the discrediting of faith in the Bible.
So far-be-it from being true that Christian faith… is as Atheists present the idea … as being a ploy to suck in the gullible to abdicate their minds and blindly swallow the delusions of religion… these atheists are displaying an abject ignorance of the dynamics and logic that underpins the Christian call to faith.
That *some False Prophets and priests may plot that way is not a justification to say *All Faith is Irrational and for fools*… and in fact to be an Atheist requires a heck of a lot of faith!
Atheists like Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris display both rank ignorance and patent dishonesty when they fail to acknowledge the debt science owes to Theistic cosmology.. yet of course their entire arguments fall over if they were to admit the truth!
They prefer to sell books like ‘The God delusion’… ‘God is not Great…how religion poisons everything’ etc etc.
And millions of chumps who hunger for any reason not to believe the bible swallow their Atheist delusions by the ship load.
Most of these people have blinders over their eyes and hands over their ears… they cannot be reached via reason… and in fact Spiritual truths are completely alien to them.
This being so any reader who has even reached this paragraph in my post and is honestly contemplating what I am saying… has hope!… as their hearts are not as hard as impregnable stone.. and they are more open to Objective discourse.
The Bible’s call to faith is not only Philosophically profound, it is also beautifully exemplified in its explanations as to how and why the world is the way it is…warts and all.
That Faith has always been… and always will be essential is shown to be true by the Fall of Lucifer… who was not like us in that we have never seen God…. He not only existed, came and went from the very presence of God… he also held the most exalted place in the hierarchy God had established In Heaven… and on the original Pre-Adamite Earth.
Lucifer had it all…. except the worship that was due to God alone.
It was the dark seed of Pride in Lucifer that caused him to feel he was worthy of greater honor than what he received that caused him to hate God… ie he began to question the goodness of God’s character.
Satan Seethed with envy… and was overcome with a delusion that God was treating him unjustly.
And Lucifer began to tell them (The Angels) lies.. and so under the weight of his Cunning…it was a naive lack of faith that allowed him to deceive many of the Angels into rebellion against God… and as Satan later on… also deceive Adam and Eve into disbelieving Gods word.
… yet I will mitigate the fall of the angels and of Adam and Eve in this one sense… ‘They were like Children in their innocence’… apart from the wiles of The Devil… the father of Lies…these matters might never have entered into their minds before Lucifer sowed his own mis-trust in the goodness of God’s character into their hearts… like a disease.
Yet still had they maintained faith in the goodness of God, Satan would never have been able to cause them to sin….
That Trust in God’s Good character and his right to be Lawgiver and Judge is clearly seen in the test and singular law that God gave to Adam with respect to the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Adam (and Eve) were free to enjoy the fruits of the Garden except the one in the midst which God deemed to be prohibited… and it is a prima facie demonstration of how Satan works.
Genesis 3 King James Version (KJV)
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
From the above we see that Satan was able to sow distrust in Eve about God’s Good character by suggesting God was deceitfully withholding good things from them and had lied to them!
Satan said “Ye shall not surely die…” in direct contradiction to Gods word… and instead of trusting in God Good character and right to make binding laws upon them… she was decieved by this ruse… and fell into sin.
^ in those few words we find why Faith between Conscious Moral Free agents and our Creator is essential… even when unlike today… Humans and Angels dont have to have faith in God’s existence because they experienced him empirically!
They walked at talked with him!
In those few words we also find the key modus opperandi of Satan!
If he can get you to question the Good character of God Almighty and get you to think that God’s word cannot be trusted… Satan has you exactly where he wants you… and in such a condition of accusation against God… Against his word… and against his right to be Moral Lawgiver and Judge… it is impossible for you to please God!
You have switched rolls!
You now claim to be the Judge of the Almighty!
You now think *you can decide* whether or not you will be subject to his Laws and Authority!
You doubt the truthfulness of his word.
And that Satan is now ‘the God of this fallen world’ is demonstrated every day by the perverse Global phenomena of Mankind in their arrogance asserting that The Lord is Unjust… that his judgments are unfair and tyrannical… and that Mankind ought to be allowed to write their own rules… if any!
And there is plenty of Material for the children of Satan to continue to employ to ensure the next generations perpetually believe the God of the bible is a moral monster!
And it is Godless Humanity that have turned this world into a cesspool of filth and violence!
The Height of Human vanity, depravity, and delusion knows no bounds!
I will add links to this post that will some degree expand on many of the monumental points that I have touched upon above only briefly, yet without making this post extremely long I wish to tie in all this with some personal dilemmas I myself wrestle with… and how … knowing the dynamics of faith … I choose to deal with them.
The philosophical and explanatory power of the Book of Genesis is so Gigantic as to be a fingerprint of divine truth!
When contemplated with a sober mind it is not surprising that this text has remained one of the Greatest philosophical/theistic texts of all time!
Not only does it enunciate with clarity the origin of the Universe and humanity, but of equal importance it explains one of the great challenges to faith in the goodness of God’s character… the existence of Evil… and what we today describe as ‘Natural calamities’.
These are things that Satan, and his children constantly use as wedges… as darts … to fire at the innocent and unlearned… and the foolish and rebellious… to undermine any faith they might entertain that God is Good and just.
These accusations require their own rebuttals and The bible contains sufficient facts and demonstrations That God is Holy, Just, and Loving, etc… none the less it cannot be denied that there are things not only in reality but especially within the scriptures that even bible believers like myself *Dont like*… and these test my faith… yet I do not do what so many so-called Christians do… and that is deny the validity of these scriptures… and come with sophisticated excuses why they should not be believed!
The last century saw a massive falling away from bible believing faith… a sad and unnecessary retreat in the face a relentless rationalist onslaught.
Many Christians were deceived into believing the theory of evolution was a scientific fact that conclusively disproved the story of Adam and Eve.
Many were fooled by sophisticated arguments that the God of the Old testament was Cruel and unjust… these people succumbed to the wiles of the devil and instead of clinging to the scriptures and trusting in Gods Goodness and supreme Justice… they caved in and abandoned the very core of their faith.
Had they held fast to their faith… they would not have had to endure long before the evidence would mount up that evolution was a false hypothesis, and that the very complexity of the cell and DNA discovered by the advance of genetics would utterly vindicate the story of Adam and Eve and of Intelligent design. (though of course atheists still refuse to abandon their superstitions and sadly many Christians also have not returned to faith in the book of Genesis as they in fact still have not accepted that a Good God could judge the world by flood)
Now I would never suggest that the question of the existence of Evil and of Natural calamities should never be contemplated!
I believe such questions to be very important… yet we must take extreme care with how we walk on this treacherous soil!
There are great snares and pitfalls that await the stumbling fool.
Satan appears as an Angel of Light!
He and his minions will always present pseudo-moral arguments in accusation of Gods word and contend that believers are guilty of accepting atrocities.
Such as is common with Rationalists who assert the story of Noah’s flood is not only a myth… but also as being a clear demonstration that the God of the bible if he were real… would be a monster!
And falling for these sorts of vacuous… yet powerful delusions has caused untold millions to abandon faith in the Book of Genesis… the very foundation-stone of Gods word!
And I will not deny that the story of the Flood is chilling to the bone!
I will not deny that it would be very satisfying to think that this story is just a fable invented via superstitious and manipulative Priest-craft… and to thereby self-vindicate simply writing the whole business off with the waive of the hand… and then to mock those who cling to these scriptures as Cretins.
And thus thinking we have strong enough science… and moral arguments to subdue *any reasonable debate* We can proudly declare ourselves liberated from Tyranny and myth!
And there is no shortage of Rationalist material… even from so-called ‘Christians’ who argue the Book of genesis is not to be trusted… that it is just allegorical, etc… even though that is not how Jesus or Paul our Apostle saw the Book.
They were Bible believers!
They Knew God was Holy, and just in his judgement, and that his word is trustworthy!
Abraham lived Post Noahs flood… there was probably plenty of empirical evidence for the Flood all about him and when God called him to leave Ur and go to a land in which he would show him… and that God would bless him and make his children innumerable… Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness… saith Paul
Yet still!
Knowing all these things does not fully take away many things that I struggle with… things that I still dont like… things I know are true… yet wish were not.
Yet I accept that Reality and Moral truth are not Subject to my will, and that there are many Objective truths and realities that do not require my assent.
I know that any person who cannot accept the possibility of such objective realities … and still not trust in the Good character of God … but deem anything they dont like as proof that Either The God of the bible does not exist… or that if he does… then he is Not loving and good… to be the height of vanity and self delusion!
These people are the very definition of subjectivists … the very height of Ego-mania… in that they think they… in their ignorance and folly… can stand in judgement of the Almighty!
They have fallen into Satan’s trap.
And the greatest proof of this can be easily found when you investigate what ground it is upon which they base their own moral authority!
Any cursory examination of their moral foundations reveals their feet firmly ensnared in a swamp!
Ie They have no higher moral ground upon which they can justly claim to stand in moral Judgement of the character of God!
And when I read the scriptures I find that most.. if not all the objective realities and Biblical truths that I dont like are also things that God himself has expressed great sadness… such as the Righteous judgement of the lost in eternal torment… and in particular of many of my own friends and family whom I love and sympathize with!
and it is when contemplating this that I begin to understand the terrible burden that is God’s alone to bear.
Who among us would desire to Judge the deeds of humanity with Absolute justice?
None of us are even worthy to throw a stone at an adulterer.
Such Judgments can only be done without hypocrisy by an absolutely Holy Judge.
Yet still who would deny that Evil cannot be allowed to go unpunished?
Indeed another of the great deceptions of Satan and his minions has been the accusation that God seems to allow so much wickedness to prevail… and go unpunished.
Here we expose another gigantic hypocrisy and contradiction in the Atheists contentions against The Lord.
With One hand they curse him for letting the destruction and misery upon the innocent of Sin go unpunished, yet on the other they Curse God for executing Judgement and justice upon the wicked!
Though I would dearly love to believe in the Heresy of *Universal salvation* …. or that the Damned will simply be annihilated… etc etc… I know that this is not the true doctrine of the scriptures… and it is out of the knowledge that Judgement is coming for the lost… for their wickedness… esp the wickedness of rejecting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross… that I busy myself with trying to share the Gospel of the grace of God, and attempt to win souls to faith in the trustworthiness of the Bible as a Divinely inspired and preserved Revelation from God to us.
This entire post has been written in the hope that even a few souls might grasp the truth… and share it with their friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
I am painfully aware that I am a very unworthy vessel of these truths… and that many of my own character faults and evils do not reflect well on Christ or the Gospel… nonetheless I dare not remain silent… my time is short… and my burden is heavy with Fear for the lost… esp for My Friends, neighbors, and loved ones.
I also have no doubt that some of my interpretations and assumptions are still cloaked in ignorance… and I look forward to the day that God himself dispels many of my fears with his light.
Even though I know the gospel truth… That Christ has taken away my sins upon his cross…I still fear my own evils and worry about standing before the Holy and Almighty God… the righteous Judge of the wicked!
All I can do is trust in the gospel truth… and rest in my faith in Gods Mercy and grace is sufficient for a wretch like me!
When I am confronted by challenging moral criticisms or supposed scientific ‘facts’ that are presented as ‘proof’ the Bible is in error for which i have no immediate counter-argument, I have learned to rest in my faith and to search out an answer… and in the 30+ years that I have been a Bible believe *Never* has any such challenge ever proven to undo my rational belief in the scriptures.
Most Often it is not long before the supposed ‘Evidence’ against the Bible is exposed as vacuous… sometimes it may take years before I discover the answer and yet sometimes the criticism is found to be valid yet in these cases they expose an error in my own thinking… and actually help me to discover greater truths that were there all along in the Bible… yet may have been buried under some false doctrine I had picked up along the way!
It is always wonderful when I learn new, and deeper truths as they tend to increase the harmony of the scriptures and dissolve cloudy areas that needed exposing to the light of truth.
So it is that the Christian and Bible believer has nothing to fear from giving skeptical arguments a fair hearing.
For me this has been an ongoing process that has strengthened my trust in the scriptures and made me wiser.
^Not anonymous! Its Proverbs 3vs5,6!
That is in essence the Ultimate position of Faith for the humble soul who knows the limits of his own wisdom yet understands the Truth… that the bible is to be believed… for valid reasons.
I know that I dont know everything, and that I must trust in God in respect to my struggles… and to hold tight to his word no matter what storms of controversy I must face.
I do know God Almighty is Holy, Just, Loving, and good, and that as God he must judge sin… and yet out of love has provided a way for the humble who admit their own sin to be forgiven and saved… by pure grace.
“For God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners…. Christ died for us”
“And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.
“Faith is the power of an optimistic possibility thinker whereas Doubt is the power of a pessimistic impossibility thinker”
Robert H Sheuller.
The Greatness of the Bible in its explanatory and Value instilling powers is truly Mind-blowing!
Esp when compared to the inescapable nihilism which is what atheism offers!
Faith must overcome skepticism.
Compassion must be stronger than Hatred.
Hope must be greater than despair.
Trust in Gods Word and Good character must overcome the wiles of the Devil.
We have Jesus Christ…and the Gospel of the grace of Grace of God.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
King James Bible believer.
Dispensationalist.
The Meme Below was posted by an Atheist named ‘Christopher’ to a Facebook group I belong to, and because it really is definitive of the Level upon which Atheism/ infidelity in general functions I feel my response is worthy of being Blogged… esp because these topics keep popping up time and time again… so like a Cake I have prepared earlier for the Cooking show… I like to have my enlargements ready for when they are needed… and blog posts work best for this.
2017 resolution: I am going to put more effort into Blogging this stuff… even if they are just a single paragraph.
Tim Wikiriwhi to Christopher….
Christopher is King of tripping over pebbles… Its his thing… He enjoys it.
He cannot understand that these pebbles exist for the sake of giving the ‘Christophers’ of the world something to to reveal their inner nature…. a hell bent need to come up with ‘Rationalisations’ to stand in accusation of the Christian God…. so that they can tell themselves their rebellion is some sort of ‘wise and principled stand’…. (even though Atheism renders every act of humanity Nill… neither good or evil).
So God as Luke correctly states… God is God… and He sets the standards for what is right and wrong… *not the Christophers of this world* (who in fact have Zero as their standard)…. and he (God Almighty) in this special case is seen exercising his Sovereignty… and its this Sovereignty… this Right to Judge… that Christopher hates the most about the Judeo-Christian God.
Thus Stated: God Judges *All Sin*.
Onan Sinned.
God Judged him.
The End.
Now for 5 cents let me add that I myself practice ‘Onanism’ as a form of Birth control *all the time*… yet By Gods Grace I am still here… Which Proves that God Sovereignty *also* includes his Divine right to be merciful and show grace…. yet of course ‘The Christophers’ of this world are not interested in hearing about *The Gracious God*… as that does not feed their childish Hate and rebellion…
Today was a day of Bad weather and mixed emotions.
I was proud to ride with a group of conscientious Bikers who took time off work and braved the wind and rain to ride for Justice for Moko… a Beautiful three year old boy who endured horrendous treatment at the hands of Adults whom were entrusted with his care… and was robbed of his life.
Today, all through the country Kiwis gathered outside their local courthouses as this is the Day his Killers are to be sentenced for their unspeakable wickedness.
I ask myself what further proof of Humanity’s pitiful and morally lost condition, and alienation from God could possibly be demanded from unbelievers …. as evidenced by such unconscionable crimes as this…. committed against the most innocent????
Sufficient is the Evil thereof!
8:30 First meeting point. Cock and Bull Pub. Pukete.
Second meeting point. Hillcrest.
Moko was failed at all points… by everyone… except his sister who did everything she could to raise the alarm… yet nobody rescued Moko.
He has become yet another victim of New Zealand shameful record of Child abuse and murder… and worse still… his murderers were allowed to ‘plea bargain for themselves a lesser sentence of Manslaughter instead of Murder!
So The Life value of this precious child, and his suffering and murder, was mitigated… de-valued…. and semi-excused!
*And this travesty… this outrage… is one of the main reasons We Bikers decided to Ride… and join the many other New Zealanders who think that this is just not good enough!
Though The evils and responsibility of Child abuse rest with the abusers… and you cannot blame their upbringing, the government, or any other single cause… Justice and deterrence demands that the Rights of Children receive the full weight of the Law and justice system behind them, so that these Monsters think twice… before committing their crimes… and when they do… they must receive full recompense for their Abominable Crimes against the most vulnerable members of our society.
Many would prefer to see these Vile perpetrators hung from a lamp post… yet without recourse to such Medieval punishments… we should at least expect the courts to deliver a sentence of Life without parole.
As one of the Speakers at the Rally whom herself was the victim of a horrendous sexual attack… “No sentence is adequate/ enough”.
Ride Organiser: Shaun Ewok Bryan.
He did a top job of stepping up to organise this ride for Moko in the Hamilton region.
He organised the Patches.
He also spoke to a TV crew outside the Hamilton courthouse about the Bike Run.
Full credit to him!
How New Zealand society is to reduce the incidents of such absolutely shocking crimes is not easy to determine… there are so many factors involved, yet if I was to single out some points of importance for me to would be *Personal ethics* and how our society’s P.C ‘pandering to victimism’… and rejection of what we might call ‘Old school Christian values’, in favour of Liberal de-valuation of the Traditional Family values… the importance of Fathers, the normalizing of Single parent families, Having children out of wedlock… The Socialist Government encroachments, via welfareism, The evils of the lies of Maori as victims of colonisation… even heavy Taxation, and trade regulations …etc etc… all corrode the soul out of our people… create excuses… make life harder than it needs to be… and esp robs people of an inner moral compass.
Too many people today hold to a nihilistic, amoral, ‘It’s all about me’ mentality.
New Zealand needs to stop running to Nanny State and calling for more Rules and regulations, and instead seek a moral re-awakening in *personal ethics and responsibility*.
No doubt many readers will thumb their noses at this notion… yet I believe it 100%.
This cant happen over night… and it will never happen… unless people take a long hard look at where our society is heading in this ‘post-Christian era’.
Do people *hate Christian values more than they desire to fix the monstrous social evils that manifest themselves in such things as Child abuse, Filling Jails, Ever expanding Government Tyranny?
Why is it that *Today’s generation* are thought less fit to handle the same liberties older generations took for granted?
We are witnessing an atrophy in personal responsibility, and an over-reliance on Government… yet Government cannot Save the children from abuse.
*Only a revival of Strong personal ethics* can hope to ensure Children are safe around their custodians.
That’s my 10 cents worth… my start to the dialogue….I’m open to hearing other opinions… this is a conversation our country needs to have.
Great show of New Zealand Bikers!
If there is one thing I regret is not taking more time to meet many of you.
And if I was to add anything else to this list I would add that there are Far too many people in the know… who collude with the abusers… because they seek to hide the shame that they fear will come upon them and their families if they speak up.
*This is a far greater shame!*
The Abuse Needs to be exposed to the light of Day!
The Children whom suffer desperately need someone to speak up for them and rescue them from such horrific treatment… before they too are Crushed… or murdered!
If you know of abuse… yet say nothing… do nothing… then *you are a accomplice* *You are failing the abused children*.
And that is inexcusable.
How can anyone who knows that children are in danger, and suffer… yet does nothing sleep at night????
Child abuse must be reported.
And if there is no time for the Police to arrive… Step between the Child and their abuser!
You may never face a Human Judge for your Inaction… yet like the scum whom Murdered Moko…. one day you will stand before God Almighty and he will judge you for your sins.
*Nobody escapes the justice of Almighty God.*
My Sign. Photo from Labour MP Sue Moroney’s facebook, who turned up in support for the Vigil, and spoke on the Labour party perspective of the current Legal climate under the National government.
“Dreadful weather today, but these awesome people came out to stand up against violence to children and the unbearable rate of murder in NZ. I spoke at this “Justice for Moko” rally where I told those gathered that we should not accept that our children’s rights can be bargained away.”
From >here.
Moko is free now… Safe in the arms of Jesus.
I believe this.
And he will look down on today’s rallies that occurred across our nation and will no doubt smile upon everyone who weathered this Wintry day in Tribute to him.
We are all so sorry that we could not save him from these Minions of Satan… yet we can now make sure we do everything we can to reduce the incidence of child abuse in New Zealand.
Let us not forget Moko.
Amen.
Tim Wikiriwhi
New Zealand Biker.
Christian Libertarian.
^Must watch
For those impatient or always in a rush… or for those who cant stomach ‘Old style church services’ (you have my sympathy).. go to the beginning of his sermon @ 16:00
Dont let the ‘USA! USA!’ lead you to blocking your ears… give his a chance to explain….
Dr Schuller preached a rendition of the this message for America’s 200th anniversary.
It is One of the greatest Christian messages ever on American Freedom. by Dr Robert Schuller… Yet America is failing to heed his prophetic warning. Departing from the way of God is why your freedom is diminishing .
A huge 10-story high flag hangs from the rafters of the famed Crystal Cathedral on Sunday, May 26, 1996 in Garden Grove, Calif. The towering ensign was unfurled during an early morning service as part of the Memorial Day activities. (AP Photo/Bob Riha Jr.)
