Above Dr William lane Craig expounds a rationalist approach to ascertaining the trustworthiness of the Bible.
This requires the texts to be treated like any other historical document to which scholars apply certain tests.
Watch the clip above to appreciate that process.
I however pointed out that as a Bible believing Christian I do not consider the Bible to be ‘just another ancient text but a special case in which it has been divinely inspired and preserved… This provoked a debate with a rationalist who took me to task for my position.
Below is the dialogue that followed. It includes several instances in which Grok AI was called to mediate and weigh the validity of each of our positions as the conversation progressed.
It’s an important subject and the conversation is worth reading and preserving… as I justify the legitimacy of trusting the scriptures in the face of supposed Rationalist critique which seeks to destroy the Christians confidence in the Bible.
“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again.
I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting.
Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance… That pure chance could be so generous and so kind… That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time… That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful… The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday.
I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”
― Ann Druyan
…………..
My commentary…
These words (above) very much remind me of my beloved Uncle who passed away in recent years.
He was a committed atheist who believed life was ultimately meaningless and that death was the end.
I can be certain he never entertained any hope or expectation of ever seeing his beloved wife (my fabulous Aunty) ever again.
How tragic and empty.
They did not *know* they would never see each other again… that was simply an article of their faith… and what a hollow faith it is… devoid of meaning… devoid of hope… foolish even… given so many of us know the truth of the Bible.
The time of Sagan was tragically dominated by the delusions of scientism and materialism… both have been overthrown… yet sadly so many millions still cling to them because they cannot fathom or bear the alternative paradigm. They are Aliens to God… Aliens to the truth… They prefer the darkness of Nihilism.
I know this because I was once one myself… a militant atheist trapped in the delusions of materialism… despite the fact that it’s foundations have been utterly overthrown.
The Ultimate death nail being the fact that the Laws of physics have been proven to be contingent, temporal, and strictly limited… not absolute as was once believe as the foundation stone of Materialism. That has been Blown to pieces. I tell my Children that even though I shall die… I will see them again, as we have that Divine promise in the Gospel and the historic fact of the resurrection of Christ.
Christianity is a superior faith in every way over the paucity and delusions of Atheist materialism.
*******
Retort 1….
My reply…
Nihilism. Yes. For it follows from Godless materialism.
You don’t have to take my ‘whacky’ ‘crack pot’ theistic word for it.
No less than Nobel prize winner for Philosophy Atheist Bertrand Russell deems it so!
I myself had a wonderful and intelligent Atheist Uncle… I do not hesitate to say he was a good man. Kind, and charitable, yet he would be the first to admit that atheism has no foundation for morals.
I loved him very much and had many conversations attempting to sway him to realise his errors… He would no be moved.
He simply chose to be kind… displaying many atheists cannot bear to live consistently with their own professed world view, but instead mimic Christian values… as if morality really is objectively true. This evidences the inner conflict such atheists face… for intuitively we sense moral laws… yet they cannot be reconciled as objectively valid from Atheist premises. Instead they are often given ‘Darwinian Attributes’… ie that moral sentiments ’embed themselves’ biologically… not because they are *moral laws* in the Christian sense… but because they serve beneficial genetic survival properties…. so such rationalisms…
This is the tragedy of the delusions of Materialism… for such souls pass into eternity not accepting or admitting their own sinful fallen moral condition and need for Christ.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarian.
King James Bible believer.
Below this ‘introduction’ is Large portion/excerpt from the Wikipedia Website on what is being called ‘The Third Man Factor’.
It contains quite a few historical accounts of Explorers and other people who when in dire situations experienced ‘A guiding presence’ that helped them survive perilous trials.
This includes one of the Greatest explorers of all time Ernest Shackleton. His exploits were truly epic to the degree of defying human limits of endurance.
That this phenomena is *a real thing* is not in dispute as it has been reported many times.
The reason I’m posting this to Eternal Vigilance Blog is because I wish to discuss what you people (and myself) think this phenomena really is?
Is it (A) a real spiritual encounter with benevolent spirit beings?
Or (B) just a quirky psychological delusion brought on by stress… ie ‘a coping mechanism’ of the mind?
Or (C) something else?
Read the Wiki excerpt below… take in all the details… then ask yourself how this is best explained.
Why did you arrive at your conclusion?
My intention is to expose our *personal prejudices, and aversions* and how they affect our interpretation of facts.
Are we truly open minded and objective thinkers or are we twisted souls with blinders on… that prevent us from being able to perceive the truth?
My contention is most atheists go through life with blinders on… preventing them from seeing truth and severely limiting their understanding of realty.
I have experienced this myself. I have also experienced the scales falling from my eyes.
With few exceptions most *Atheists* will without hesitation jump towards the ‘Secular so-called scientific explanation’ of this phenomena… not because it best fits the facts presented, but on the basis of their own atheist preconceptions they bring with them on this investigation… their rock solid certainty that spirits don’t exist… therefore that explanation can’t be true.
So they assume this must be a psychological phenomena… because that’s the only naturalistic explanation.
Yet this is not ‘practicing science’. This is applying personal belief to the situation… that is all.
The only reason you (atheist) find that a satisfying explanation is because it saves you confronting the uncomfortable probability that these are in fact recorded human encounters with real spirit beings.
*That is too extreme a proposition for most Atheists to give any credence.*
Why?
Because to entertain that possibility challenges their entire world view!
It breaches their fundamental tenets… No Ghosts allowed!
This is why I’m presenting this recorded phenomena here today to expose how our preconceptions limit our ability to think objectively about the world about us.
Ghosts may indeed exist! Yet if you have a mental block against that possibility… no amount of evidence will convince you otherwise. You are impervious to it all.
Every account of people claiming to have seen Ghosts you must write off as delusional… without any evidence! That is your default setting.
Let me introduce a second very commonly recorded phenomena…. Nocturnal ‘Entity Attacks’.
Millions of people throughout history have experienced being attacked in bed at night by malevolent spirit beings.
I was once an atheist teenager who experienced this myself… it was terrifying… I have recorded my experience here… yet when I talked with people about it I was told “Oh that’s when you wake up at night but your body is still asleep’.
‘Scientists’ have even given it a secular name ‘Sleep paralysis’.
When I herd this explanation… being an atheist… I accepted it because it seemed to me that ‘Science had investigated this and knew what it was…. besides… It can’t have been a real spirit attack… because spirits don’t exist!
Relieved by this knowledge… Science has an explanation… I went on with my life. (though I never forgot the experience! Too Freaky!)
Several years later…. after (much to my own surprise) I had become a Christian I contemplated my experiences (x2) and realised just how easily fooled I was into thinking that Entity attack was *not a real spiritual experience, but some sort of psychological delusion.
When I thought about the experience itself… and having put aside my Atheist spectacles I realised that by far the most compelling explanation was that what I experienced was real… esp when you read the many many accounts of others who have experienced it too.
It is then that you realise the so-called ‘scientific explanation’ was a load of bollocks!
Not science at all… just atheist presuppositions dressed up as ‘science’… ie the Blinders that keep fools believing there are no Spirits, No Ghosts, Not Miracles…. and no God.
In truth recorded history is cram packed with accounts of spiritual experiences!
The greatest of these being the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That really happened, yet you can’t see any of these facts if you have your atheist blinders on.
You will swallow any ‘rationalist drivel’… any so-called ‘secularisation of events’… rather than believe supernatural or spiritual realities exist and happen and have been recorded in history proper.
What is patently obvious to me now is how hollow and vacuous and absurd 99% of the Atheist rationalizations are about Reality!
They profess to know everything when in fact they know nothing.
They are lost and confounded by their own follies.
IMO one of the greatest… most sophisticated of pseudo-scientific myths believed by atheists today is the Theory of Evolution.
Let’s leave that for another time.
It is difficult to break the strong delusion that ‘science has answered the question about what Entity attacks really are’ as the rationales provided are powerful… yet I can assert with certainty that the arguments presented by so-called ‘sleep experts’… are not valid science.
One way to do this however is to ask these experts… or atheists… what circumstances… or proofs would they accept would invalidate, or disprove their belief these phenomena are just psychological but are in fact real?
Philosopher of Science Karl Popper said one of the essential attributes that distinguishes true science from pseudo-science is the principle of falsifiability.
For an idea/proposition to have scientific validity you must be able to define mechanisms that should they be proven… *falsifies the proposition*`.
This is a safety mechanism to guard against ‘Scientism’ and pseudo-science.
This being so… under what conditions would an atheist accept ‘these visitations’ are not mere hallucinations?
One might say… what about bite marks? Or Claw marks? Does not an absence of any physical evidence prove these things are hallucinations?
No… for 2 reasons.
1. For if these things are spiritual/ incorporeal entities… expecting them to leave ‘physical evidence’ has no basis. It’s just a whim.
And secondly… and more importantly… *reports of physical evidence has been reported!* These would indicate that whatever these beings are… they are capable of physical harm!
A recent account like this was from no one less than the Famous TV presenter Tucker Clarlson… who experienced a physical spiritual attack that left marks on his Body.
Yet what did sceptics say? They said he had injured himself while he was asleep! Or he had been attacked by one of his dogs!
So you see… Atheists will *always* come up with some *rationalisation* why they reject the possibility these entities are real.
Not even physical evidence will convince them.
This shows that the atheist premise that these entity attacks are mere psychological events… is not True science… but pseudo-science because there are no conditions by which their assumptions and rationisations can be falsified. They continue to rationalise away all evidence… they simply refuse to believe these attacks can be real.
I myself suspect what Sleep experts call ‘Sleep paralysis’ and what History describes as ‘Entity attacks’ are actually two completely different phenomena, yet they share some common attributes… If so-called ‘sleep paralysis’ is a thing at all.
IMO It’s more likely a complete pseudo-scientific fabrication whose only purpose is to discredit ‘Entity attacks’ as valid spiritual experiences… after all so-called ‘sleep experts’ have to have *some explanation* for what is going on… because something is definitely going on!
With this in mind please now read the Wikipedia excerpt I have posted below.
Make up your own minds about it… yet just remember there are two perspectives presented below.
1. is the so-called scientists and psychologists who have deemed these experiences to be nothing more that a ‘ psychological coping mechanism’
And 2. The perspective of the people who experienced the phenomena themselves… and are convinced they encountered benevolent spirit beings that helped them in their hour of need.
When I read their accounts… I fall into Camp 2 because I think it’s absurd to think Adults invent ‘imaginary friends’ and that these delusions know what to do… which direction they should take, etc etc. IMO those are definitive traits of an entity who knows the way.
What a mind-popping experience it is for any atheist to realise Spirit beings possibly do exist!
That is the beginning of the scales falling from your eyes…
In a society where belief in God and Ghosts is frowned upon as ‘delusional’, it takes great courage to swim against the current of popular materialism.
Some people simply don’t have the moral courage to follow their own convictions choosing instead to sheepishly go along with the crowd.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Please read the Wiki Excerpt below…
Third man factor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The third man factor or third man syndrome refers to the reported situations where an unseen presence, such as a spirit, provides comfort or support during traumatic experiences.
History
Sir Ernest Shackleton, in his 1919 book South, described his belief that an incorporeal companion joined him and his men during the final leg of his 1914–1917 Antarctic expedition, which became stranded in pack ice for more than two years and endured immense hardships in the attempt to reach safety. Shackleton wrote, “during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.”[1] His admission resulted in other survivors of extreme hardship coming forward and sharing similar experiences.
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
— But who is that on the other side of you?
T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land Wikisource has information on “The Waste Land”
Lines 359 through 365 of T. S. Eliot’s 1922 modernist poem The Waste Land were inspired by Shackleton’s experience, as stated by the author in the notes included with the work. It is the reference to “the third” in this poem that has given this phenomenon its name (when it could occur to even a single person in danger).
In recent years, well-known adventurers like climber Reinhold Messner and polar explorers Peter Hillary and Ann Bancroft have reported experiencing the phenomenon. One study of cases involving adventurers reported that the largest group involved climbers, with solo sailors and shipwreck survivors being the second most common group, followed by polar explorers.[2] A similar experience was documented by mountain climber Joe Simpson in his 1988 book Touching the Void, which recounts his near-death experience in the Peruvian Andes. Simpson describes “a voice” which encouraged him and directed him as he crawled back to base camp after suffering a horrible leg injury high on Siula Grande and falling off a cliff and into a crevasse. Some journalists have related this to the concept of a guardian angel or imaginary friend.
Scientific explanations consider the phenomenon a coping mechanism or an example of bicameral mentality.
[3] The concept was popularized by a 2009 book by John G. Geiger, The Third Man Factor, which documents scores of examples.
The idea that there are aliens out there is pure Atheist Evolutionary Myth. The reality is *Life cannot spontaneously generate* Mic Drop. We know this because There is no such thing as a ‘simple cell’… Cells are super-complex… that is why blind nature cannot make life…. Mic Drop. Which is also why The Firmi paradox is a death blow to Atheist evolution and why Brian is bothered by this truth.
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian.
Dispensationalist.
Transcript:
“There’s a thing called the Fermi- Paradox… and the paradox is… if we hadn’t seen anything… lets assume we haven’t seen any evidence of anything… That’s a paradox. We now know.
We didn’t when Firmi first posed it. by the way.
We now know there’s so many planets out there… so let’s say trillions of planets in the Milky way. The Milky ways been there for over 13 billion years. Pretty much the age of the Universe. So If there’s no one else out there, then the question is why?
Because there’s been so much Time and so many places for civilisations to become Space faring civilisations. We are very close to becoming a multi planetary civilisation. And once you have become a Multi planetary and multi Stellar civilisation, and you become that you’re immortal basically.
So the question is… the paradox is why does it appear nobody has done that.
So the first thing to say is…. I would not be surprised if a UFO landed here now in the parking lot. I’d actually not only would I not be surprised, I’d be relieved.
This is good. It would be a weight off my shoulders. because I’m worried [Joe Rogan: that we are the only ones… that’s a terrifying scenario] … and we are going to make a mess of it.
Brian Cox on Joe Rogan.
**********
There is a God.
He Created this Universe and Us.
We fell into evil and that is why he separated himself from us.
Yet he loves us and has provided a way for us to be forgiven and cleansed from Sin.
By believing the Gospel and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Christ died on the cross for our sins.
He was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day in victory over sin and death.
Whosoever believes the gospel and calls upon the name of Christ… shall be saved from eternal damnation and instead will live forevermore in God’s loving presence.
Some may recognise my comment reply (above) is based on dialogue from a Hollywood movie about Men who went to Mars.
Now If the Earth looked *like Mars*… just a bleak desert with rocks strewn all over … a world like that I could believe could be explicable by the blind forces of Physics and the process of Time… *Yet Look at our Earth!!!* You have to be ideologically brainwashed to think *Our Earth* is explicable in those terms!
There’s a glaring fundamental difference between Earth and all the other bodies we see in Space!
Earth in fact is proof enough of the existence of God Almighty. It stands as a refutation of Atheist Materialism.
There are no Values on Mars… no meaning… no purpose… no truth… no love…. how different is Earth!
Yet Atheists try to sterilize Earth of all these and render our lives as empty and meaningless as Mars.
Like the miracle of life Atheists have to say Truth, Love and Justice are just illusory constructs that have no objective validity… because that is what is at the heart of atheism… a black emptiness… a void.
This meme (above) popped up on my Twitter feed today.
I was not sure if the person who posted it was seriously asking this question, or was just trolling those of us who believe in Special creation and reject Evolution.
It matters not, for irrespective of the motive for making this post I took the opportunity to throw in my personal opinion about Evolution as being pseudo-science…
This quickly solicited a response that inferred the Evolution hypothesis could be falsified…
I was able to rebut this assertion with little fuss on my part.
Did my accurate rebuttal phase my antagonist in any way? No.
He simply repeated his original claim. So I expanded my original rebuttal.
Unflinching, he continued to spiel unsubstantiated evolutionary jargon as if it was science…adding he thought Darwin’s ignorance of genetics to be ‘irrelevant’!
It’s far from ‘irrelevant’ for it was only in the vacuum of ignorance about genetics that Darwin’s bunk ideas were able to take hold of the imagination.
He then tried to justify evolution by suggesting that getting new genes was not necessary for evolution (below)!!
I immediately pointed out the error of his contention, and that in fact this was more evidence against evolution…
Mutations do not result in new Genes. There has never been a new creature discovered via Mutation. Even Darwin recognised Mutation as having massive negative impacts on the fitness of Species. The math is so far against the claim that mutations are an evolutionary force as to render the postulate utterly delusional.
Evolutionists clutch at such straws notwithstanding.
Like a stuck record… and he even admitted such (saying for the third time) he repeated what he had already repeated… but also threw in some Ad Hominem attacks on my personal intelligence and learning! That’s what these people do!
This is a signature characteristic of an indoctrinated mind. When confronted with cogent arguments that are completely at variance with what they themselves have been led to believe. Instead of taking time to cognate the plausibility of what they have been proffered, instead they start to assume this line of reasoning can only come from ignorance of what they have assume to be unquestionable truths.!
At this point the poor fellow started to implode… denying his original proposition!
Realising nothing I marshalled would penetrate the stone walls of his fortified mind I felt best to draw this thread to a close… yet not without firing the obligatory parting volley!
Yet not to be bested he fired his own… not realising he again shot himself in the foot by re-asserting the notion that *Evolution would be falsifiable* *if only there were no variations*! This is a falacy of circular reasoning…
“Evolution could be falsified if we found no variations, yet because we find variations Evolution cant be falsified!”
When he said “For the third time: evolution is the change in heritable characteristics in populations of organisms…” The sneak snuck in quite a significant modification to his original contention.
At least he was trying another more nuanced approach. Yet alas thereby he sinks his own ship…
Most of you will be familiar with how Social media debates play out. They do not always flow in a linear fashion from point A to Z as it is possible to read, and re-read the debate and randomly throw in commentary as and when we feel moved to do so. This means the debate can ‘jump about’.
In this Blog article I have done my best to present the argument fairly, yet as a matter of course I have juxtaposed the screen shots in a way that best suits my argument. not in real linear time. I do not mean to disadvantage my antagonist by not declaring this home advantage I have…
Ultimately if this guy wanted to be both honest and maintain his integrity, After I had shown him how variations are explicable without any evolution, he simply ought to have retracted his original claim that Evolution could be falsified via the means of *no variation*. That is patently false. Not only that yet he set up a standard that could not be falsified… as variation is a fact.
If Evolutionists want to defend their Mythical tale as an actual scientific theory they will have to find a better argument for it’s falsifiability.
So my Premise stands… Evolution is Pseudoscience because it is unfalsifiable.
I’d be happy to accept any challenges to this Granite solid proposition.
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Christian Libertarianism.
Update:
I informed ‘Fortune’ that I had turned our debate into a Blog article and that if he did not think I represented him faily that he should write a retort in the comments (below) and that I would let it stand as his right of reply. this was his response…
Ask yourself why is it necessary to cast slurs on a person’s character simply because they rigorously oppose something you hold to be true?
Is it not possible to disagree yet remain civil?
This is a requisite IMO for a free and enlightened society.
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…
Further thoughts that continue on from Part 1 here.
Science is no escape from the human condition… that gospel purported by many…is false.
Though we may increase in mastery over nature…certainty will always escape us… thus science is a pragmatic pursuit, not a source of absolute knowledge.
With every new answer comes new questions.
We will always rely on axioms and presuppositions… we cannot escape the need for faith… which underpins what we think we know… even the things we are most sure about….
I guess my original post could have been called… ‘Beware of Scientism’.
History shows you can ‘prove’ almost anything by fiddling with numbers.
It must be understood that not even math escapes the human condition… I know many people will be loosing their lunch over my impertinence… yet with time I hope to explain the many ways math can be corrupted.
When reading about various types of weird ‘inferred postulates’ like Dark Matter, The Big Bang, etc we always find two camps of thought.
Simpletons who think the said phenomena are rock solid facts and proceed to treat them as such in all their forthcoming activities… and others who have the intellectual depth and integrity to admit these cherished theories are full of holes… and proceed with caution in any further speculations that could follow.
It depends on which article you read as to whether or not you are encouraged to accept such phenomena are real … or to remain skeptical.
It is particularly scary when the political class pick up on certain theories… because they suit their political agendas… and begin to compel whole populations into accepting them as indisputable… and then using usurpatious powers proceed to embed them in Laws and institutions… Pouring Tax billions into the pockets of scientists who just so happen to produce politically correct ‘findings’… while critics are deplatformed and thrown out of Seats of learning… and making it nearly a crime to question ‘the official line’.
Science has died.
The Balance has been skewed.
What we are left with is Pure Pseudo science… very much like the Social Darwinism of the Nazis which Sub-humanised the Jews.
What is funny is that so many people naively assume such shocking corruption is not going on today!
The truth is there are many factors that can corrupt science… Money and political agendas being two biggies… and anywhere the State is pouring money into ‘research’… it becomes highly dubious.
Another funny yet erroneous stereotype that was born of the Materialist religion of ‘Scientism’ is the image of Doctors and scientists in white lab coats with thick reading glasses… and expressionless demeanor.
The psychological impact of this upon gullible minds is the impression that scientists are not only way smarter than other mortals… but esp that they embody a ‘Spock-like’ power of Objectivity… that all their utterances are devoid of personal prejudices… all this is designed to get the gullible to trust them.
Their white overcoats serve the very same purpose as the priestly gab of any religious cult!
The truth is the exact opposite.
You would struggle to find in any other area of life a more opinionated, conceited, biased, Vain, Greedy, unprincipled, and obstinate bunch of human beings than you find in science departments!
Pseudo-science are myths dressed up in Scientific Gab/ jargon.
Is it any wonder why there are so many pseudo-scientific ideas that hold sway among the masses???
When false postulates and theories are accepted as fact whole magnificent edifices are constructed upon these corrupt foundations.
Entire lifetimes, and reputations, and industries can be wasted building ‘White Elephants’… and strong vested interests assemble to carry on the lies… because the longer the sham continues… the bigger the mess when it topples… and people fear facing the ugly truth… and paying the price of correction.
The lies become so embedded that it seems like madness to question them…. Cognitive dissonance becomes the norm… an incapacity to acknowledge uncomfortable novel truths.
Progress has always had to battle with entrenched Mass-held delusions. What is funny/sad is so many Moderns only apply this precept in their warped conception that Science has always struggled against religion… a very inaccurate and simplistic apprehension of history… utterly failing to guard themselves against all the other personal bents that can prevent them from grasping new and challenging evidences.
esp their own modern post-Christian quazi-religious bents.
I ask people if they dare to entertain any controversial propositions that are at variance with the mainstream?
For it is a signal of an independent mind to walk it’s own path and have the courage to diverge at certain points from the herd.
The herd has been trained to pour derision and hate upon anyone who steps out of line and does not submit to the ‘orthodoxy’ of their times.
It may amaze people that I am talking about *The scientific community*… not some religious sect.
Understand that the scientific community is as prone to Backwards, erroneous dogma as any other Human endeavor is.
What is essential then is to write a code of ethics of which the scientific method is just one aspect of what entails the correct mental processes that are conducive to the scientific enterprise.
. to guard ourselves from slipping into a mire of our own subjectivity… eg with the interpretation of evidence.
Ultimately all we can do is acknowledge the human factor will always be lurking about… like a madman.
