Category Archives: Keep it Metal!

Work is as work does

Capitalism is “freedom from” (negative liberty) applied to economics.

Capitalism is what gives us “freedom to” (positive liberty).

I’ve been maxing out on capitalism the last couple of weeks. šŸ™‚

But I’ve been feeling like the title of this 1970 Deep Purple classic the last couple of days. šŸ™

Give me Capitalism or give me Death! šŸ˜€

Bumper Stickers of Yesteryear: #1

Why Are We Waiting?

Support Transmission Gully   The Evening Post

I spotted this bumper sticker on the way to work today. (The driver and the vehicle were also looking a bit the worse for yesteryear, which is why I noticed them.)

Mature readers from Wellington might like to try to remember the year that Wellington’s morning paper The Dominion and Wellington’s evening paper The Evening Post merged to become today’s metropolitan daily The Dominion Post.

preferred-route

Transmission Gully. What’s it good for?

Mainly for getting Peter Dunne re-elected, that’s what.

But now it’s the end of the line.

Higher Values than Wealth or Self Interest

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The Bible does not glorify poverty as so many infidels insist, or say that the poor are always virtuious, and the rich always crooked.
Scriptures like this mean that Money and self interest ought not to be our highest values.
“For *the Love* of money is the root of all Evil.”
St Paul.

mon

“Every Man has his Price”.
Unspeakible evils have been committed for the sake of Filthy Lucre.

.. indeed even Christ was betrayed for 40 pieces of silver.

Important Caveat: while some money isn’t exactly ‘clean’…Some money is much much ‘filthier’ than others!
If we were to scrutinise each and every industry of humanity… almost none would be found to be absolutely squeeky clean!
As a Libertarian I respect an Individual’s right to choose their own religion, and to make honest money, even if the means are less than virtuous eg I respect the right of a person to make money selling books on atheism, and Evolution…though I think they are making money out of the ignorance, and folly of their fellow man.
I regret that they are lost souls, and that one day… unless they see the light… they will stand before God and answer why they chose to Capitalize from the market of infidelity.
That is filthy lucre and yet because in involves no theft or extortion, it is still ‘legitimate’ cash and Christian Libertarians like myself can tolerate that.
Likewise with Prostitution, Porn, Alcohol, etc.
The truth is I have far more respect for prostitutes, than I do for Devious and unscrupulous woman whom prey on some drunken chump to get pregnant so that they may claim the DPB! (Domestic Purposes benefit) My rationale being that Prostitutes actually ‘work’ for their money, and they dont force anyone to hire/pay them, whereas the DPB ‘Breeders’ use illegitimate children as a means of income extorted by force from hard working Tax slaves…by Gangster socialist governments… That sort of money is the filthiest of the lot!

There is a massive difference between someone who prostitutes themselves to feed themselves and their kids, than someone who does it simple because they are too lazy… or too proud to accept menial, servile… yet righteous employment… and there is always high hidden spiritual cost involved.
Thankfully God is rich in mercy and grace.

The Lord knows I am no Holy man, and that I must confess to having dirty hands… yet still though I would be sad if my daughter was a Hooker, in truth I personally have nothing at all against ‘working girls’, (or publicans)… I drink plenty myself, and I have had some as very close friends who ran Brothels, and as a Libertarian activist I have defended their rights.
I am sad for them too… though they are not my daughters… I still care about their spiritual well being, and believe they are selling themselves ‘cheep’.
I would much rather see them in employment which did not involve them selling their bodies… yet this is what this post is all about!
It’s about having values higher than easy loot or wealth.
What price do you put on your integrity…. your soul… your friendships… your body…???

Yet here’s My dilemma….I would far rather my Daughter prostitute herself than to mug an old lady for her purse!
And I am sure God see’s things this way too!
One is a Vise, the other is *a Crime*.
While vise is voluntary…*A crime involves force or fraud upon another person*
Likewise Though I dont like Cigarettes, I would still rather work in Cigarette factory to earn an honnest dollar to pay my bills and feed my family…. than to be a Bank robber.

Ultimately I pray for the souls Criminals, Prostitutes, and Peddlers of vise.
I pray they see the light and not only are spiritually redeemed by Christ, but Redeem themselves from selling themselves out… for ‘easy’ money.
I respect the Babe who Strips Friday and Saturday nights to pay her bills and feed her kids and thereby aviods sullying herself with the ‘filthy lucre of Government extortion’ going on the Dole, yet I respect more the beautiful woman who instead chooses to work longer hours at a Cafe for much lower pay Rather than prostitute herself… for the sake of ideals she values more than easy money… for the sake of her own higher self value, and saving herself for her Man.

Poster child for Atheism…Hannibal Lecter.

atheism-nihilism
^^^^ YEAH RIGHT!
Many Modern Atheists are Pompous White horse Riding ‘Moralists’!
They are Religious Zealot’s on a Righteous Crusade, fighting the ‘Evils’ of Religion, and vigously propagating and defending their Faith.
They often get extremely vicious against declarations of Faith in the Christian God, which led one Blogger to inquire…

” I mean, if you truly believe there is no God, why get all worked up over what a bunch of delusional Christians think?”… Valley Girl Appologist.

Pondering upon a post on Richard Goode’s Face book page discussing this Atheist Mentality in respect to why many of them are so militantly Anti-Christ, and so strongly desire to deny God’s existence… I made the following comment…
“There is a psychological reason Richard, They Hide from God in the Dark so as to delude themselves they can do as they please, and yet Pesky Christians keep reminding them that there is a God, and that He sets the Moral Laws… not them, and that one day they will stand before him and answer for their sins. *This is a message they HATE* … to the very pit of their self deluded souls! They simply donā€™t want to know about God *End of story*

Which Solicited the following response from ‘Atheist Greg’
……… “GARBAGE!”

^^^ Now Greg has expressed an opinion, not a counter argument.
It is no doubt a very common ‘opinion’ among Atheists, yet I donā€™t think my position as stated above can be so easily dismissed.
šŸ˜€
Atheist Greg has actually provided me with further opportunity to discourse the arguments for the Theistic vindication for Objective Morality vs Atheist Nihilism, and the origin of Mans innate sense of Good and evil.
Here I employ the basic argument used by the Late great C S Lewis.

nill

My Reply…

If You Greg, and your kin, are nothing more than ‘Space Algae’, well *then* my arguement would be ‘Garbage’, yet you are a Conscious Moral being with a sence of Good and Evil, and you appeal to the ‘Moral law’ governing human actions every day… eg when you get a bill in the mail which overcharges you, you immediately feel a pang of ā€˜injusticeā€™ā€¦ and experience emotions of sorrow, and angerā€¦. And begin to make self righteous determinations to see justice is restored. Now this sense of injustice at ‘wrong’ is more than simply being upset that an agreement was broken (social compact)ā€¦ie that a mere human convention was violated, It is a sense that *A Real Moral absoluteā€¦ binding on all humanity has been broken* and that you are within your right to seek justice for your injury.
You are in fact appealing to an objective Moral absolute… a ‘higher Law’ which you implicitly believe underpins all ‘conventional’ human agreements as moral duties/ obligations to fulfil.

Thus I say that You Greg do not/ cannot live as a human being consistently with your claim that the universe is nihilistic/ A moral, or that Mankind is merely ā€˜Space Algaeā€™.
To do so you would have to loose all sense of moral duty. You would have say to yourself that a person steeling your carā€¦ was not doing anything wrongā€¦ that even saying the car is ā€˜mineā€™ is a moral irrelevanceā€¦ the universe caring nothing for your claims to ownership.
And you certainly have no basis to think that when a school bus full of children plunges over a cliff that any ā€˜cosmic injusticeā€™ has occurredā€¦ no basis to shake your fist at heavenā€¦ the only reason you would do that is if deep within you believe in Moral absolutes, and know that Children *donā€™t deserve* to die, and that you are angry at God for allowing this sort of thing to happen.

The-Silence-of-the-Lambs

The people who come the closest to the embodiment of Atheism are the Tyrants, Mass murderers, and Serial killersā€¦The Hitlerā€™s, the Ted Bundiesā€¦ the Hannibal Lecters… The Sociopaths and Megalomaniacs who… like Wild beasts devour and enslave their fellow human beings *as if they are mere Space Algae* .
These are the Atheist ‘Realists’, who live under the conviction that all Morality and Lawā€™s of society are merely Human conventionsā€¦and that there is no Real ā€˜Higher moral Lawā€™ than their own Will.
They are God’s unto themselves.
Thus unless you (Atheist Greg) are prepared to accept that these Killers are absolutely right, and are prepared to drop any sense of Moral consciousness you have, I say
ā€˜Garbage!ā€™ā€¦ to you!
I say deep within you know there is a real Higher Moral Lawā€¦ you know that you are a Moral beingā€¦ and these things all point to the notion of *Universal Justice*ā€¦ God will judge!

…and as I was saying Atheists hate this Knowledge and seek to hide themselves from it.
They despise Christians for their ‘Pesky declarations’ which puts a tourch light on them…reminding them of their flight from Reality and their knowledge of the Truth.

Thus We witness the Ironic spectacle of Atheists who insist they are Moral, yet deny all Moral Obligation! They are ‘moral’ in their own eyes, and ‘holy’/without sin according to their own standards.
*How Convenient!* šŸ™‚

What Basis is left for Morality if God… the Divine Lawgiver is Obliterated?
Atheist Materialists in the 1800s admitted that Materialism was the end for objective morality, yet the Modern atheist is not so bold, nor so rigorous as to where their premises ultimately lead, and instead pretend that their Atheism makes them *more moral than theists!* and they attempt to utilize Historic atrocities committed in God’s name as evidence that ‘religion is evil’… forgetting they have no ‘higher ground’ upon which to stand to make any such moral judgments, and that in doing so they are applying standards which are not theirs to use!
Such a one eyed approach which only looks at particular negative historic events does not succeed in knocking all religion off it’s perch, or by default add one ounce of objective moral reality to Atheism.
While defending God’s Divine right to execute judgments upon Mankind, Christians themselves are just as rigorous as any atheist in their condemnation of atrocities like 911, or the Salem witch trials…committed in God’s name.

I attended a Debate in Auckland a Few years ago between Matthew Flannagan and Prof Bradley on the topic ‘Is God the source of morality’ in which Dr Flannagan presented the God Command Moral theory, and the atheist Prof Bradley made the statement that he believed that because God does not exist that therefore he cant be the source of morality.
Instead he argued morality can only be founded upon ‘sentiment’!!!
Now ‘sentiment’ is an absolutely pathetic, subjective, and culturally relative foundation without any authority to impose Moral obligations! (and I criticised him for it at question time!)
This is really the subject fit for another Blog post, yet what is interesting about the modern Atheist is that they cannot bear the reality that their belief system is definitively Amoral and De-humanising.
To avoid this they attempt to change the game as to what morality really is.

See this debate Here:

Important End Note:
The Genesis story of the Fall of Mankind into sin declares that we were transformed from a child-like innocence into a ‘Knowledge of Good and Evil’, and It is this inner knowledge of Good and Evil which makes all mankind, in all times and places, accountable and Guilty before God and deserving of Judgment because they all have a knowledge of their own moral responsibilities. Thus I am saying that the Savage whom tortures his neighbor to death *knows he is committing Evil*… even if he has never herd of Jesus Christ. And God will Judge him for it. So too with the Atheist who does not believe Jesus Rose from the dead. This denial does not negate the Atheists own knowledge of sin, and guilt for his immoral actions for which God will hold him accountable.
Thus contrary to what Many atheists assert: The Bible does not deny Atheists cant have any sense of Moralityā€¦ it insists that everyone does!
What We Christians say is that the Atheist position cannot justify their moralityā€¦. That Atheism itself is Amoral, and that it leads to mere cultural relativism, and social arbitrary law.
When Atheists claim to be moral, they a contradicting themselves.
Tim Wikiriwhi
King James Bible Believer, Dispensationalist, Libertarian, Christian.

Read More…

Hiding in the Darkā€¦.

The Valley Girl Apologist…The Illogically Hostile Side of Atheism.

ā€œKeep things in the shallow endā€¦ because I just didnā€™t want to knowā€¦ā€

Atheists are Religious fanatics

Hell is for the Self Righteous, Heaven is for Sinners.

Materialism renders Man Nought. Meaning-less, Value-less, Right-less

Sir Bob Jones. Prophet of Nihilism. Advocate of Jackboot Civilisation. Pillar of Savage Society.

Ye shall have their carcases in abomination

3boysoysterstout

Oyster stout? WUT is the world coming to?!

TASTING NOTES

This silky-smooth stout contains select malt and hops to produce a beer that is rich and complex. It contains Bluff oysters and has a slightly smoky flavour.

Contains Bluff oysters?! A “slightly smoky flavour”?! No wonder, this ungodly beer is a burnt offering to Baal! It’s an abomination! It goes directly against God’s word as clearly spelled out in Leviticus 11:9-12.

These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.

And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

I have previously warned of the addition of foodstuffs to beer. Beer is water, malt and hops ONLY. Chocolate and coconut were but thin ends of the wedge. And now, alas, it’s come to this.

No doubt, my Dispensationalist co-blogger will tell me that these dietary strictures do not apply in the present Age. I am unmoved.


Who are you?

054 Derek Parfit

At tomorrow night’s meeting of the New Inklings, the paper for discussion is Derek Parfit’s classic Personal Identity, first published in The Philosophical Review in 1971.

Here’s a teaser from Wikipedia.

Parfit uses many examples seemingly inspired by Star Trek and other science fiction, such as the teletransporter, to explore our intuitions about our identity. He is a reductionist, believing that since there is no adequate criterion of personal identity, people do not exist apart from their components. Parfit argues that reality can be fully described impersonally; there need not be a determinate answer to the question “Will I continue to exist?” We could know all the facts about a person’s continued existence and not be able to say whether the person has survived. He concludes that we are mistaken in assuming that personal identity is what matters; what matters is rather Relation R: psychological connectedness (namely, of memory and character) and continuity (overlapping chains of strong connectedness).

On Parfit’s account, individuals are nothing more than brains and bodies, but identity cannot be reduced to either. Parfit concedes that his theories rarely conflict with rival Reductionist theories in everyday life, and that the two are only brought to blows by the introduction of extraordinary examples. However, he defends the use of such examples because they seem to arouse genuine and strong feelings in many of us. Identity is not as determinate as we often suppose it is, but instead such determinacy arises mainly from the way we talk. People exist in the same way that nations or clubs exist.

A key Parfitian question is: given the choice of surviving without psychological continuity and connectedness (Relation R) or dying but preserving R through the future existence of someone else, which would you choose?

Parfit described the loss of the conception of a separate self as liberating:

My life seemed like a glass tunnel, through which I was moving faster every year, and at the end of which there was darkness… [However] When I changed my view, the walls of my glass tunnel disappeared. I now live in the open air. There is still a difference between my life and the lives of other people. But the difference is less. Other people are closer. I am less concerned about the rest of my own life, and more concerned about the lives of others.

Needless to say, I’m with Parfit on this one. His view is both liberating and … dare I say it, Christian.
(Or, at least, conducive to a Christian way of life.) (But with some startling implications for some Christian views of salvation.)

chaospet-identity

Here’s the Parfitian question again.

Given the choice of

(1) surviving without psychological continuity and connectedness (Relation R), or
(2) dying but preserving R through the future existence of someone else,

which would you choose? (Hint: what matters is Relation R.)

Related links: What are you? | Are you lego or logos? | Swallowed up by life | God vs. AI