What’s Up? 4 Non Blondes.
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
And I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means
And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What’s going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what’s going on?
ooh, ooh ooh
and I try, oh my god do I try
I try all the time, in this institution
And I pray, oh my god do I pray
I pray every single day
For a revolution
And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I am feeling a little peculiar
And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream at the top of my lungs
What’s going on?
And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what’s going on?
Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
One alternative to the atheist amoral world view (see part 1) in which the moral question regarding suffering and death of children is written off as ignorance….. is that there really are objective standards of ‘ought-ness’ in the universe… and that having feelings of injustice are not silly delusions… not mere evolutionary expedients… but valid. Ie that such feelings are an awareness that some experiences and realities ‘ought not to be thus.’
If we accept this second view to be correct, immediately we must ask then how are we to know what is truly moral and what is not?
What is the standard by which we may rightly judge events, actions, and cultures as being Good or Evil… how do we escape mere subjectivity and cultural relativism?
And what about ‘Natural evils’ like floods and disease and distinct issues from Man made evils?
It is this second type of question which most people struggle with, and it raises the prospect that though indeed God may exist yet still he may not be Good at all!
Was the universe created by a malevolent being?
Is God a capricious tyrant?
I want to focus on this second line of questioning today. I will only touch on the Human factor in respect to evil in the world…‘why does God allow men to commit evil actions?’… by simply saying we are freewill moral agents and that as such we are free to live good lives or to be evil… and yet inspite of the apparant ‘licence’ we have to commit evil that I believe that one day we shall give an account… justice will prevail.
Does ‘Shit happen’ because God is not Good?
Aztec Human sacrifice to apease the Gods.
The Aztecs believed The Gods were in fact blood thirsty monsters!
They believed that if they did not satisfy their demand for Blood by plentiful human sacrifices that the Gods themselves would sleight their thirst by visiting them with Natural calamities… famine, Earthquakes, disease, etc.
This is their explanation for why ‘evil shit happens’… Satan is god!
That is a horrible thing to contemplate… and believe!
It actually vindicates monstrously barbaric behavior!
The Aztecs used to prey on their neighbors and feed them to the God’s.
There is a rationale here: either slay people to appease the Blood thirsty Gods… or suffer Plagues, pestilence, and disaster!
Some atheists will argue that this sort of barbarism is representative of religion in general. Ie Absurd superstitions which inspire Evil actions. And while I have already discussed the paucity of the atheist position, I confess that if I thought that Aztec-type rationale and practice definitively represents all religion… I would have never have forsaken Atheism! I could not worship such Monsters!
While I know that belief in a cold and indifferent universe cannot put moral restraints upon Human depravity, tyranny, and barbarism, I also know it does not expressly encourage it! Nor does it postulate a malevolent universe as does the Religion of Mexico.
Important Note: The Idea of Blood sacrifice is a common theme amoung the religions of mankind.
It is very possible this is evidence of an acient common origin from which many Deviations and dark perversions have occured as mankind has spread out around the Globe… drifting into darkness.
This Anthropolocical rationale fits in well with the Bible story.
Thus an original knowledge of Noahs animal sacrifice on Ararat… which pleased God… has been perverted into the abominable Human sacrifice of the Aztecs… and Their Blood thirsty Gods.
I will now argue that such a narrow description of Religion by Atheists as being a universal Evil… is one-eyed and naive. I hope that I can present an alternative description of God and alternative explanation for why Natural calamities fall upon the innocent, the Just, and the unjust alike.
Sinner or Saint? A Victim of the Eruption of Versuvius.
There was a lot of sin and vice at Pompeii, yet this was true of many other cities too.
Why was Pompeii destroyed? Man, woman, and child?
First, before I get into the main argument as I find in the Bible, I want to say that It is not at all easy to isolate and distinguish what may be deemed to be Natural calamities, from the actions and responsibilities of Man.
Many of the ‘Natural disasters’ which befall us, and have caused Men to blaspheme and shake their fists at heaven, are actually a consequence of human ignorance and error.
Eg. Was It God’s fault that Men Built Pompey at the foot of Versuvius?
Was it God’s fault That the CTV Building collapsed in Christchurch killing hundreds of people… or is the chief blame to be place upon human error and bad design?
Even with things like plagues, floods, and diseases, mankind must take some responsibility for his own foolishness, unsanitary conditions and practices.
How many children suffer and die of Famine simply because of the Lust for political power?
When we realize this, blaming God for a huge percentage of the suffering and death of children, and ‘good people’ is misdirected indignation… He is being unjustly accused.
In the light of such reasoning, is it possible that God is neither indifferent or malicious?
Now we are getting to the Nitty gritty!
What makes many people refuse to believe in a Good God is this final kind of rationale… The apparent indifference of God. In spite of all human folly, and wickedness… ultimately Does not the fact that God allows the good and innocent to suffer still make him responsible for it all?
Why does he not intervene?
To avoid stretching this question out to far I will present the Christian answer to the problem of evil in the world in part 3. I hope to do it with economy, and so I am sure there will no doubt be questions that remain… yet hopefully they will fall within the framework of what I present in the next post.
Why, in this world of ours, do millions of Innocent children suffer and die?
This is a very important and perplexing question.
Without writing a book I would like to touch on a few points.
It is difficult to discuss this subject in a manor which will bring solace to those immediately in the Pangs of grief.
I have in the past made the great mistake of attempting to comfort people whom are grieving, or have been the victims of serious evils with long winded explanations.
That is foolish!
The best thing to do at such times is to simply share their grief with them, and let them know you care.
Only when they are ready to discuss the ‘Why does shit happen?’ question should we deliver our thoughts and beliefs.
I put forward the argument that we are faced with a set of Options from which we *must choose*.
I warn that because Evil is Evil, that even though we may pick the scenario which appears the best, the most rational, we cannot expect to be ‘filled with happiness’. I say we may be able to understand and even find serenity, yet still wish things were different… that evil did not exist.
So why does evil shit happen to good and innocent people and children?
The Atheist will tell you Religion is bullshit!
Ie that The existance of evil clearly proves that no Good God exists.
Many Atheists will say Children die simply because we live (objectively speaking) in an Amoral, Cold and indifferent universe (in which the ‘survival of the fittest’ is said to dictate who lives and who dies).
They say that in such a universe child mortality is not a moral question, but simply a cold hard fact of reality. (Richard Dawkins will tell you ‘Why Questions’ are silly questions!)
They argue that the idea of justice is a silly human/ subjective notion and as such is culturally relative… no one view triumphs as objectively true.
They argue that though we may sympathize with those who grieve the loss of a child as a legitimate cause for sorrow, yet still they maintain that any feelings we may entertain that such deaths constitute an objective moral outrage… are merely childish delusions.
There is no ‘ought’ or ‘ought not’ in a purely materialist reality.
They say everything that happens… from the formation of the Planets and stars, to the tears which flow from a mothers eye are all inescapably determined by the Laws of physics… and only a fool can believe things ought to be different than they are.
I am no doctor, yet the unspoken psychology which underpins the Atheist ‘faith’ interests me.
I think in many cases, the Cold ‘realism’ atheists claim to possess is actually self delusion.
I say many who put forward the above argument are lying, and cant actually live by their own tenets.
Why would I say such a thing?
I say because very often Atheism is accompanied by a deep hatred of Theism.
Why, I ask, do Atheists on one hand claim Philosophical indifference, while on the other they clearly harbor a passionate hatred against the idea of God?
If you think about it,… according to their own world view… they have no right to such passions. They ought to have serenely surrendered to indifferent, cold unalterable reality!
They have no basis for petty indignation!
Thus it is my contention that their vehemence betrays the fact that they harbor a sense of injustice at the way our world operates, esp when it comes to the suffering and death of children… and this rears itself in hatred towards God, and those whom claim to believe ‘God is Good’.
When Christians like me express faith in a Good God, rabid atheists often betray their acute awareness of objective morality and sense of injustice when they Hatefully retort “How Can you believe in a Good God when there is so much horror and Evil in the world!!! (Its more of an exclamation than a question)
They have let the cat out of the bag!
I say their innate knowledge of good and evil and sense of injustice.. is One of their pet unspoken psychological reasons for choosing Atheism.
Few will admit this… not even to themselves.
They will attempt a justification for their hatred of religion by such arguments as “Religion is the cause of War, and barbaric superstitions… They may quote Voltaire…“Believing Absurdities leads to the commission of atrocities”… yet insodoing they… by their own reasoning are merely expressing their own subjective morality! Ie by denying Objective morality they have no legitimate moral ground to condemn *any Barbaric practices* as they have rendered all morality to mere opinion… and thus by their reckoning their opinions in realty hold no more weight than the Satanist whom thinks raping and sacrificing children is ok.
By atheist logic reality is indifferent to questions of morality.
Thus I argue while it is not impossible for an atheist to be a good, caring, and humane person, it is impossible for a ‘good person’ to live consistently with atheism… they will find themselves appealing to an Objective morality everyday. Thus Atheists like Dawkins are deluding themselves.
If the Atheists are correct. The question is answered, and there is little more to say. Life is brutish and short. You don’t like it? Tuff! *Harden up!* Better to be a hammer than a nail!
‘Honest atheist’ Nobel prize winner Bertrand Russell quote:
“Even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and the whole temper of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins—all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.”
The alternative to the atheist amoral world view in which the moral question regarding suffering and death of children is written off as ignorance is that there really are objective standards of ‘ought-ness’ in the universe… and that having feelings of injustice are not silly delusions… not mere evolutionary expedients… but valid. Ie that such feelings are an awareness that some experiences and realities ‘ought not to be thus.’
If we accept this second view to be correct, immediately we must ask then how are we to know what is truly moral and what is not?
What is the standard by which we may rightly judge events, actions, and cultures as being Good or Evil… how do we escape mere subjectivity and cultural relativism?
Ought we to be governed by our sentiments?
And what about ‘Natural evils’ like floods and disease and distinct issues from Man made evils?
I will give you my veiws on this in (part 2,3)
Dishonest Atheists Ayn Rand and Richard Dawkins whom pretend Atheism is not Objectively Amoral and nihilistic. These AntiChrists decieve Millions of souls!
“Blind Leaders of the Blind and both shall fall into the ditch”.
Tim Wikiriwhi 23-6-12
Read more…. >>>>> Part 2… <<<<<
Plus Links to more posts (below) ....
Car Crash
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” St Paul. (Gal5vs1)
Once upon a time… before I became a Christian , I was a Teenage Nihilistic Atheist who worshipped Jim Morison.
Its dangerous for young men to idolise such lost souls… By the age of 28 Jim was Dead!
I was Lawless, yet not free. I was a slave to ignorance.
Thankfully I was saved by Jesus Christ!
Now that I have the bible as my guide I am wiser, and in a better position to understand all the delusions, all the anger, all the carnality such Dark idols are expressing.
I have been saved from being carried away into oblivion by the Riptide that such pop cultural perspectives exert upon the Lost masses.
Though I now acknowledge Moral reality… I have been set free.
Some people believe Christianity is morally oppressive and hypocritical, and that to become a Christian requires a person to become a fraud…’to pretend to be something they are not …and then they begin to site all the heinous examples of so-called pious Christians whom are found guilty of committing vile crimes…as if these sorts of examples are definitive of Christianity.
I must sympathize with them, not that their definition of Christianity is actually true. Its not. Nonetheless their acusations still hold true for a great majority of hypocrites and bigots whom claim to be Christians.
Still if that was the whole truth, and Christianity really was as these critics describe it…I would never have become a Christian as I despise phony’s, hypocrites, and Bigotry.
^Fake!^ Yet whats a Real Christian supposed to look like?
In reality Christianity is about being honest, both to yourself, and to others…for truths sake, yet to appreciate this one must firstly be of pure heart…ie be able to be objective in your judgments about your self and the world around you.
To investigate the truth, and be able to apprehend Christianity is trustworthy is to overcome the great deception which is at the heart of the mass delusions of our age.
Under Gods grace I can live honestly as myself, not as a phony card board cut out of a fanatic. I can be Libertarian in political outlook. I can admit that I really like the metal band Tool. If ever asked if I think a calendar girl is ‘hot stuff’, I don’t have to pretend otherwise.
This is how I describe the true Christian pilgrimage.
Christianity is about living under grace in honesty and not faking a bogus self righteousness. I can do this because I’m saved by grace, not by my own righteousness or works.
I am secure in Christ whom hath made me free.
I now know who/what I am, and what is really going on in the world, and why.
I now swim against the flow… being guided by my newly awakened Conscience…as a self reliant individual.
Sadly this is not a popular thing to do… but it is the right and wise thing to do.
Tool’s Maynard James Keenan.
My knowledge of the gospel truth hath made me free from enslavement to delusion which those whom don’t know Christ are susceptible. From my Christian vantage point I can appreciate the genius of many Nihilistic artists of our day and understand how they came to perceive the world as they do, yet I do not blindly and trance like Idolize such Masters of carnal reality as Maynard James Keenan, or Jim Morrison as I once was prone to do. I can objectively consider them, I clap at their cunning and performance, yet choose rather to follow the values of Paul (the Apostle of the Gospel of grace), rather than those of these crooner peacock sons of fallen Adam.
Maynard may be a musical genius…yet he is utterly depraved. He revels in depravity, and he intentionally encourages others to join with him in rebellion to Christian values. He does it with such Diabolical art and cunning. Its impossible for me not to appreciate his artistic genius, but beware his hedonistic worldview.
Because of the godless philosophies of our age it is easy to see why so many are beguiled by Him, not having the light of the word of God to keep them from going astray. Fools choose to hide themselves from moral reality.
False gospels that base salvation upon self righteousness, keeping the Law, and Good works, always lead to pretentious hypocrisy. Christians whom have been deluded into thinking Christianity is about legalistic obedience fall into this evil habit to hide their own true selves and keep up the facade of piety. They often cry out in displays of moral indignation…seeking to impose their Moral legalism upon others via the law. This is the sort of religion Maynard and Jim rebelled against. I rebel against that too! I’m keeping it real under Gods grace.
^^^^My rendition of a 21st century Christian.
My Testimony is a refutation of the Stereotypical notion of what Christianity is supposed to represent.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John8vs32)
What words can sooth such agony as suffered by the parents and families of ‘Two-year-old Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes [who] were among the 13 children killed in the fire which broke out in the Villaggio Mall in Doha.’ ???
They express their Loss… “Never Happy again”
Though the pain I feel upon hearing of such tragic yet distant events cannot be compared with that of their kin, Tragic news like this kills me. I die a little every day.
We read that among the causes were, gross human errors, malfunctions, and callousness, yet ultimately people wonder why God Almighty allows such horrific things to happen to innocent children?
As a Christian I know why. The Bible has the answer, yet today I simply wish to pray to the Lord, that he reaches out to the Kiwi Parents of these beautiful children, and the others whom lost loved ones in this tragedy… that he does not allow their hearts to become hardened and hateful, that he takes pity upon them, and has mercy upon them, and draws them near unto himself, that they might find peace and hope in his presence.
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RETURN O LORD!
Here we have some Anti-American Propaganda.
There is no way we can know if this poor child was in fact killed by an American drone strike. There is every chance that this is a despicable lie designed to stir up hated of America and support for terrorism… none the less *an Innocent Child lies Dead.*
Looking at such a shocking reality… and the story that has been attached to it is a test of ones convictions.
Let me state that I don’t buy into the argument that they are selling.
Let me state that it is possible to hate War, yet still support America’s combat forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
…yet still it is easy to apprehend the futility of it all!
The magnitude of Mankinds Foolishness and evil.
Just how Far We have lost our way!
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3vs19)
The Bible teaches us that the very first Man born of Fallen Adam… in jealousy… murdered his own brother!
(Gen 4vs8)
And that as Mankind Multiplied upon the Earth so too did violence.
(Gen 6vs1-5)
This Propaganda Photo teaches us one very important thing.
That the Bibles claim that Mankind is a corrupt and fallen race of beings is absolutely true! It is validated every single day!
Evolution is a Joke!
Mankind is *not evolving*… not becoming less like beasts at all.
Looking at this photo I ask this question:
In such a world as ours… filled with violence and Evil, who has the right to be happy?
Some people will say… “Nothing really matters”…. “Everybody dies”…. “There is no point in worrying about the way things are”… “You cant do anything about it”… “So just switch off and enjoy the few short moments you have”…
They say this because thats the best answer they can muster.
They say this because if they admit to themselves they really care… they will go insane…
For Me that’s no answer!
For Me that’s utterly tragic!
I simply don’t know how people can go through life with that kind of view of reality!
It’s Amoral.
It’s nihilistic.
It’s shallow and Hopeless!
It is the answer of a Lost soul!
I am so grateful to have found the Hope that is in Christ!
I don’t have write off all the evils I see about me as nothing.
I don’t have to look at that picture and not believe things ought to be different.
And I can do something about it!
The Christian answer to that question is that in a world such as this we ought to appreciate Everyday that our nearest and dearest remain safe and well… and Praise the Lord with thanks giving for his blessed Providence. And in those terrible days that must surely come upon us mortals, that our Loved ones are taken from us, let us be thankful unto the Lord for the relationship we enjoyed upon this rock in space…and the time we had to share and enjoy… and that all is not in vain! We Christians have that blessed hope of being reunited with our loved ones in heaven!
This hope rests in the power of Christs Resurection.
Let us be busy preaching The Gospel which alone can bring salvation to mankind, one individual at a time.
Let us Celebrate with those whom celebrate, and shed tears with those who cry… and most of all let us live by faith and Hope that is in Christ our Lord.
We know the sad truth that only a minority of lost souls will receive the free gift of Salvation, thus let us pray that Christ returns swiftly.
We know that until that day dawns, that we shall need to take up arms and defend ourselves from evil powers and principalities, and spiritual wickedness in high places.. and that tragically innocent little children will suffer the most.
Let us spread the Light of Libertarianism, of Tollerance, of Equality before the Law, of Voluntary Charity, and Association.
I have hopes that my Baby boy, and grandchildren live long and happly lives, yet would I wish the Lord to tarry… while millions of innocent children suffer? No!
I pray for the swift return of Christ!
Return O Lord! Prince of Peace and righteousness!
We Human beings cannot Rule ourselves.
We have utterly ruined the world.
Our Children lay dead from our violence and hatred.
Mankind has rejected your Light!
Return Quickly O Lord.
And give us the courage to boldly preach your Gospel of Grace with what time remains.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
“For God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.
