Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
Winston Churchill, Speech in the House of Commons, 1947
There’s an entry under ‘Theft’ in Ian Heydon’s Samoa A-Z.
It is wise not to leave valuables or even items of clothing unattended on a beach or in a fale. Samoans can have a different view to ownership of property and things can ‘go missing’. Use your resort safe or ask your host for the best place to keep things safe. I have no personal experience of this and feel totally safe in Samoa but commonsense should tell you that an expensive beach towel could be inviting to someone who doesn’t own one.
Samoans? They’re born to steal.
Apparently, it’s the same in Tonga.
Theft happens – not normally through malice but simply because the concept of individual ownership of material goods is not totally accepted. So, don’t leave valuables unattended, including clothing and shoes. If your towel ‘goes missing’ overnight, it’s simply because someone had need of a towel! Just use common sense and don’t leave things open to temptation.
You’re safe from “theft” in Fiji, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. But is it really theft in Samoa (or Tonga) if it’s not really your beach towel in the first place? If someone needs “your” beach towel more than you do, shouldn’t they have it?
Anyway, in Samoa it’s not just a hypothetical beach towel that’s “gone missing”.
It’s an entire day!
“If you do not find me reclining beneath the Plane trees.
Look for me in the Garden of Contemplation.”
Tim Wikiriwhi.
Summer camping is a time I plant my arse in a cozy Beach chair and meditate.
I write my thoughts into a journal. I like to speak from Introspection, and personal experience.
Here is one from this last mission….
I sneak off into the bush and hug trees…but does it still count if nobody sees you?
You don’t have to wear a Greenpeace Tee-shirt or Camp out in City squares to be an Environmentalist.
So much of the Environmental extremism of today is merely a fashion statement…more of a social club than anything else.
People want to Look Green. They think this gives them the higher moral Plateau, from which to pour down their Communist vomit upon Freedom, consumerism, and industry.
I reach this conclusion because of the disconnect many people have between their ‘profession of concern’ from their ‘actions of disregard’.
Socialist Greens are in the habit of pointing out motes in eyes of others rather than focusing upon the beams in their own.
The fact that we now have a generation of youth whom have been thoroughly indoctrinated via a bombardment of Green Propaganda and yet they still leave their Beer bottles and chip packets behind them like a trail of dung.
They sure do like to consume their share of Booze and junk food!
Is this simply the rebelliousness of youth?
Does the incessant bombardment of Greenism actually counter-productive and provoke a negative response?
Whatever is going on inside their heads it obvious that theory and practice are separate things.
Now my Wife Joy, my son Roman, and I have just got back from camping in the Coromandal. We do a lot of Camping in the summer, and we employ one very simple Libertarian scruple …
*Always leave the place in a better condition that when we arrived*
This is a Voluntary virtue, which we impose upon ourselves, and we Police ourselves.
We don’t need a sign to tell us ‘Don’t litter’.
We don’t need the threat of DOC staff hiding in the bushes to motivate us to Camp in an environmentally friendly manor.
Why? Because we have assimilated this ethic into to our self-esteme… and take pride in not only keeping our waste in control, but also in picking up rubbish (esp broken glass) that we find lying about, so that when we depart…the site is cleaner, safer… and we can have self-respect.
This is how Humans ought to function… not via oppressive tyranny, but by Ethical Self- Government.
This is an example of Libertarianism in action.
Laws are written for the sake of Cretans and Barbarians.
Truly civilized people don’t function on such a base knuckle scrapping level.
Libertarianism is founded upon the fact that Ethics in action spring from the Heart…the Soul…not the threat of punishment.
An enlightened society is a society with few Laws, but peopled with individuals of strong personal ethics.
A barbarous society has many Laws emanation from a Draconian State, and is peopled with mindless Zombies.
Libertarianism is about growing the former. Socialism is about manufacturing the latter.
Hence when there is no one from the government watching over their shoulders, Socialist youths revert to Barbarism. They have been raised to need Nanny.
As a Christian, that little Libertarian Scruple ‘Leave the place in a better condition than when you arrived’… is a simple, yet beautiful rule that ought to be applied to one’s entire life.
Simplistically speaking there are two sorts of Human beings in the world.
Life affirmers vs The Degenerates.
Independent Self-governors vs The Domesticated beasts.
We ought to voluntarily Live as an Agent of virtue, rather than as Agents of decay.
Only a Savages thinks of Liberty as License.
The Enlightened Man considers liberty the domain for practicing his personal discipline.
In a free society, It may be lawful to be a rude, selfish, arse hole whom reviles in depravity…and there will always be those whom choose to live this way… and I must confess to have done my share of that, yet I have grown up. I have learned by my many crimes and mistakes. I repent. I have learned the Redeeming truth, that A leopard can change its spots! You can re-invent yourself and become a better person. You can become the sort of person you wish to be….the reward for which is Self esteeme… and when you finally go to your grave you will * Leave the place in better condition than when you arrived* …and many will say “Oh how sad it is that Tim has Gone! We have lost a good man, we have lost our best helper, we have lost our strong example, our encourager, …etc”
Is not that a Legacy of a life well lived?
Will anyone think like that about us when we die?
I guess that depends on how successufully we embody the Ideal.
I guess the one virtue the Young have is time to get wise.
Riverglen camp. 6km down Tapu rd from the Coroglen Pub. Coromandal Peninsula.
Tentsites + Cabins.
Posted by Tim Wikiriwhi on Wednesday, September 1, 2010
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth : That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly .” (Mat6vs1-4)
Litter is yet another evidence of Mans Fallen Nature, and need of God.
[Cross-posted to SOLO.]
‘The game’s going on rather better now,’ [Alice] said, by way of keeping up the conversation a little.
”Tis so,’ said the Duchess: ‘and the moral of that is — “Oh, ’tis love, ’tis love, that makes the world go round!”‘
‘Somebody said,’ Alice whispered, ‘that it’s done by everybody minding their own business!’
‘Ah, well! It means much the same thing,’ said the Duchess …
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
… “For Christ sent me not to Baptize, but to preach the Gospel:…” (1Cor1vs17)
Paul clearly teaches that he was not sent to baptize.
Now compare this with Christs commission to Peter and Co…
“Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned…” (Mark 16vs15,16).
We see this is also recorded in Matthew “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost…” (Matt 28vs19)
Thus Christ *Did send Peter to Baptize!*
This distinction between Paul and Peter ought to be enough to show you God had different Commissions for each of them…
In Luke 24 vs 46-49 Peter is told to “Begin at Jerusalem and to ‘tarry’ there until they recieve the ‘Power from on high’.”… and in the first chapters of the Book of Acts , having been taught by the risen christ 40 days ‘The things pretaining to the kingdom’ (1vs3) We find Peter obediently Staring his ministry in jeruselem, preaching to the Jews ‘That it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day, and that repentance, and the remission of sins sould be preached in all nations…(compare Luke24vs46,47 to Acts 2 esp14-47)
Note in this chapter The Death of Christ on the cross is not preached as a glorious attonement for sins, but as a terrible act of sin and rebellion against God! (read Acts2vs22-23 KJV)
“Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”
Note that He preaches the Cross and resurrection of Christ …not as salvation but as prophetic evidence the Christ is Lord… and that By his resurrection they stand in Judgment of God…and God would render the Enemies of Christ ‘his footstool’
“Let all of the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (Acts2vs36
“What shall we do?”… cry those Jews whom were pricked in their hearts by peters Preaching of Condemnation?
“Repent and be baptized every one of you for the remission of Sins” (vs 38)
“Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (vs40)
Then the believers sold all their possessions and had all things common. (vs44,45)
(They did this in expectation of Christ eminent return and setting up of his kingdom)
And We find Peter again Preaching The Cross *as Murder…not salvation* in Acts 3vs 13-18 …and most importantly in vs 19,20 he says “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began.”
Note that Peter is tell Israel to repent of their Evil rejection of their messiah…Christ.
Note that Peter does not preach that Salvation occurred by the work of Christ on the cross, but would occur at a future time.
And if you read the rest of the Passage of Acts 3 you will see that Peter is specifically preaching to the Jews in respect to the Covenant God had with their fathers.
When you put all this together you realize that Christ Sent Peter to Re-offer the kingdom to Israel using the Death , Burial, and resurrection of Christ as evidence that Jesus was indeed the REAL DEAL , and that after they had repented and received their messiah the disciples were to spread out throughout the world and preach the gospel of the kingdom for a witness unto all Nations (Mat24vs13,14…) Then the end would Come with the Return of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of lords, destroying the antichrist and the enemies of Israel…. And that those whom had not received the mark of the Beast, those whom had endured unto the end…they would be saved… the rest would be thrown into the Winepress of the Wrath of God. (Rev19, Rev 14vs 18-20)
Then Christ will establish his millennial kingdom in Israel. (Rev20vs4)
Yet The Jews rejected the preaching of Peter… and his commission did not get passed the first stage… Did not go out into all the Earth….. thus the end did not come (Mat24vs13,14). Instead a great persecution of the disciples sprang up and though Peter continued in Jerusalem, many were scatted into the regions about yet preached to Jew only. (Acts 8vs1, Acts 11vs19).
And because Israel failed to repent, the Kingdom of Christ was postponed and the Nation of Israel was reserved unto Judgment. Thus began 2000 years of persecution and slavery for the Jews. “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles, untill the times of the gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke24vs24)
And it is during this dispensation of the Judgment of Israel, that god raised up Paul to Preach Free Salvation to the gentiles. It Is to Paul The God reveals the secret mystery that was previously hidden…that the Death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was the divine atonement for the sins of Mankind.
It was to Paul that God sent to preach this Gospel of salvation…without works. (Eph2vs8,9)… thus with Paul’s Gospel the act of Baptism is not necessary. When we believe the Gospel we receive the righteousness of Christ (Pil3vs9, Rom5)…and he took upon himself our sins.
When Christ was Baptized…we were Baptized…we receive his righteousness.
“Christ’s Baptism by John” is part of the series of sacred paintings made by Woonbo Kim Ki-chang. / Courtesy of Heaven’s Door Gallery
I have got to leave off here as I’m off to see my Family for xmas. I post this Sunday message a day early. It is by no means exhaustive yet I am out of time. I hope it at least show you that Paul’s commission was different to Peters commission, that Paul’s view of the Cross was very different to Peters…. Paul Loves the Cross! Peter preached it as murder. I hope you see the difference between The Gospel of the un-circumcision (No Works…not a part of the Covenant of Circumcision), fro Peters Gospel of the Circumcision (The preaching Of Christ as King of the Jews). (Gal 1vs11,12, 2vs7,8)
Ask yourselves why those Christians whom deny the truth of Dispensationalism do not today sell all their possessions and have all things Common…as the followers of Peters Preaching did in the early Book of Acts?
They are hypocrites! ( I will be putting a message about this dispensational aspect soon.)
Anias and Sapphira struck Dead for trying to decieve the Apostles regarding selling all their posessions and laying the money at the Apostles feet. (Acts 4vs32-37, 5vs1-12)
May The Lord Bless those of you with the eyes to see and ears to hear this message.
Tim Wikiriwhi Libertarian Dispensationalist Christian…Sinner saved by Gods Grace.
Praise the Lord for his mercy unto me.
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism
Atheism is not a religion. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in a god or gods. The term ‘religion’ can properly be applied only to belief systems which include a belief in the supernatural.
Objectivism is explicitly atheistic … but wait! Implicitly, Objectivists believe in a supernatural realm! It’s a cornerstone of the Objectivist philosophy! Surprise, surprise! Objectivism is not, after all, a naturalistic worldview.
Rand wrote an essay called The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made. In it, she says
Any natural phenomenon, i.e., any event which occurs without human participation, is the metaphysically given, and could not have occurred differently or failed to occur; any phenomenon involving human action is the man-made, and could have been different.
In other words, phenomena involving human action are not natural phenomena. They’re supernatural phenomena! Why? Because Man is a supernatural being! Why is Man a supernatural being? Because He has a supernatural power! And what is Man’s supernatural power? It is the ability to exercise something called libertarian free will.
Unfortunately, Objectivists are at a complete loss to explain how this works, to explain how it is even possible, or to explain how the notion of free will even makes sense according to the atheistic, materialistic worldview to which they profess to subscribe. Nonetheless, Objectivists are adamant that Man possesses free will.
Libertarian free will is a supernatural capacity. One who exercises it is a supernatural being.
Objectivism is a religion, but Objectivists worship Man, not God.
[Cross-posted to SOLO.]
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams wrote
Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!”
Positive Atheism tells us
This was not his reasoned opinion. Although John Adams often felt an urge to advocate atheism as a popular world view (because of the sheer abuses perpetrated by religious charlatans), he was of the firm and reasoned opinion (basically undisputed in his day) that religion is essential to the goal of keeping the masses in line.
Clearly, as Adams used the term, ‘atheism’ means “no religion”.
Jefferson famously said that
religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God
What of those who have no God? They have no religion. Jefferson also said
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual.
Atheism is the belief that there is no God. It implies non-belief that there is a God. Atheism, as understood by Jefferson, is not a religious belief.
John Lennon wrote a song in which he famously asks us to
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for todayImagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
By religion, Lennon means belief systems which include beliefs in the supernatural—God, Heaven, Hell, etc. His view is that we’d be better off in a world in which there was no God, i.e., one in which atheism was true. In such a world there would be “no religion” and “all the people living life in peace.”
Atheism, as understood by Lennon, is not a religion.
Once every 5 years, New Zealand citizens are required to participate in a census. One of the questions seeks to elicit the respondent’s “religious affiliation”. According to Wikipedia,
In the 2006 Census, 55.6 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians, while another 34.7 percent indicated that they had no religion
That’s right, there is a box to tick labeled ‘No religion’. There are no boxes to tick labeled ‘Atheist’ or ‘Humanist’ or ‘Objectivist’. There’s not even a box labeled ‘Jedi’.
Atheism, as understood by Statistics New Zealand, is not a religion.
Wikipedia’s has an entry titled Irreligion in New Zealand.
Irreligion —the absence of religious belief or affiliation— is an increasing trend in New Zealand. Although New Zealand has no established religion, Christianity has been the majority religious affiliation since European settlement in the 19th century. The trend toward irreligion may indicate increasing secularisation as well as a rise in non-institutional spiritual belief.
Atheism, as understood by (some) Wikipedia authors, is not a religion. It’s an irreligion!
The meaning (or meanings) of a word is determined by the conventions governing its use. What those conventions are is determined by the facts of usage. (See examples above.)
It is not conventional to call atheism a religion.
It is conventional to rebuke those who do. 😉