Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The highest pitch I can hera is 10Khz
You can't remember my teens |
But you can just about hear some of these tones that those youngsters are on about so you're feeling moderately smug. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 10kHz |
| Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear! |
Monday, July 27, 2009
Politics Explained
FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.
PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.
CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
LIBERTARIAN/ANARCHO-CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.
PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.
CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.
DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
LIBERTARIAN/ANARCHO-CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein
* "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
* "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
* "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
* "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
* "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
* "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
* "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
* "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
* "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
* "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
* "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
* "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
* "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
* "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
* "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
* "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
* "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
* "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
* "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
* "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
* "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
* "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
* "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
* "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
* "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
* "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
* "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
* "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
* "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
* "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
* "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
* "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
* "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
* "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
* "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
* "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
* "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
* "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
* "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
* "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
* "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
* "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
* "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
* "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
* "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
* "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
* "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
* "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
* "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
* "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
* "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
* "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
* "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
* "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
* "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
* "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)
* "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
* "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."
* "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details."
* "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
* "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
* "The only real valuable thing is intuition."
* "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."
* "I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice."
* "God is subtle but he is not malicious."
* "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."
* "I never think of the future. It comes soon enough."
* "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."
* "Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing."
* "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
* "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
* "Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds."
* "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
* "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
* "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it."
* "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
* "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
* "God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically."
* "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking."
* "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."
* "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."
* "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible."
* "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
* "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."
* "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."
* "Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater."
* "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity."
* "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
* "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
* "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
* "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
* "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
* "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."
* "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."
* "Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves."
* "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!"
* "No, this trick won't work...How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
* "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
* "Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever."
* "The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking...the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker."
* "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
* "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
* "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
* "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."
* "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."
* "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."
* "One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."
* "...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."
* "He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
* "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
* "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)
Refuting relativism
Relativism is the philosophical position that all points of view are equally valid and that all truth is relative to the individual. But, if we look further, we see that this proposition is not logical. In fact, it is self-refuting.
1. All truth is relative.
1. If all truth is relative, then the statement "All truth is relative" would be absolutely true. If it is absolutely true, then not all things are relative and the statement that "All truth is relative" is false.
2. There are no absolute truths.
1. The statement "There are no absolute truths" is an absolute statement which is supposed to be true. Therefore, it is an absolute truth and "There are no absolute truths" is false.
2. If there are no absolute truths, then you cannot believe anything absolutely at all, including that there are no absolute truths. Therefore, nothing could be really true for you - including relativism.
3. What is true for you is not true for me.
1. If what is true for me is that relativism is false, then is it true that relativism is false?
1. If you say no, then what is true for me is not true and relativism is false.
2. If you say yes, then relativism is false.
1. If you say that it is true only for me that relativism is false, then
1. I am believing something other than relativism; namely, that relativism is false. If that is true, then how can relativism be true?
2. am I believing a premise that is true or false or neither?
1. If it is true for me that relativism is false, then relativism (within me) holds the position that relativism is false. This is self-contradictory.
2. If it is false for me that relativism is false, then relativism isn't true because what is true for me is not said to be true for me.
3. If you say it is neither true or false, then relativism isn't true since it states that all views are equally valid; and by not being at least true, relativism is shown to be wrong.
2. If I believe that relativism is false, and if it is true only for me that it is false, then you must admit that it is absolutely true that I am believing that relativism false.
1. If you admit that it is absolutely true that I am believing relativism is false, then relativism is defeated since you admit there is something absolutely true.
3. If I am believing in something other than relativism that is true, then there is something other than relativism that is true - even if it is only for me.
1. If there is something other than relativism that is true, then relativism is false.
4. No one can know anything for sure.
1. If that is true, then we can know that we cannot know anything for sure, which is self-defeating.
5. That is your reality, not mine.
1. Is my reality really real?
2. If my reality is different than yours, how can my reality contradict your reality? If yours and mine are equally real, how can two opposite realities that exclude each other really exist at the same time?
6. We all perceive what we want.
1. How do you know that statement is true?
2. If we all perceive what we want, then what are you wanting to perceive?
1. If you say you want to perceive truth, how do you know if you are not deceived?
2. Simply desiring truth is no proof you have it.
7. You may not use logic to refute relativism.
1. Why not?
2. Can you give me a logical reason why logic cannot be used?
3. If you use relativism to refute logic, then on what basis is relativism (that nothing is absolutely true) able to refute logic which is based upon truth.
4. If you use relativism to refute logic, then relativism has lost its relative status since it is used to absolutely refute the truth of something else.
8. We are only perceiving different aspects of the same reality.
1. If our perceptions are contradictory, can either perception be trusted?
2. Is truth self-contradictory?
1. If it were, then it wouldn't be true because it would be self-refuting. If something is self-refuting, then it isn't true.
3. If it is true that we are perceiving different aspects of the same reality, then am I believing something that is false since I believe that your reality is not true? How then could they be the same reality?
4. If you are saying that it is merely my perception that is not true, then relativism is refuted.
1. If I am believing something that is false, then relativism is not true since it holds that all views are equally valid.
5. If my reality is that your reality is false, then both cannot be true. If both are not true, then one of us (or both) is in error.
1. If one or both of us is in error, then relativism is not true.
9. Relativism itself is excluded from the critique that it is absolute and self-refuting.
1. On what basis do you simply exclude relativism from the critique of logic?
1. Is this an arbitrary act? If so, does it justify your position?
2. If it is not arbitrary, what criteria did you use to exclude it?
2. To exclude itself from the start is an admission of the logical problems inherent in its system of thought.
Recommended Books
1. All truth is relative.
1. If all truth is relative, then the statement "All truth is relative" would be absolutely true. If it is absolutely true, then not all things are relative and the statement that "All truth is relative" is false.
2. There are no absolute truths.
1. The statement "There are no absolute truths" is an absolute statement which is supposed to be true. Therefore, it is an absolute truth and "There are no absolute truths" is false.
2. If there are no absolute truths, then you cannot believe anything absolutely at all, including that there are no absolute truths. Therefore, nothing could be really true for you - including relativism.
3. What is true for you is not true for me.
1. If what is true for me is that relativism is false, then is it true that relativism is false?
1. If you say no, then what is true for me is not true and relativism is false.
2. If you say yes, then relativism is false.
1. If you say that it is true only for me that relativism is false, then
1. I am believing something other than relativism; namely, that relativism is false. If that is true, then how can relativism be true?
2. am I believing a premise that is true or false or neither?
1. If it is true for me that relativism is false, then relativism (within me) holds the position that relativism is false. This is self-contradictory.
2. If it is false for me that relativism is false, then relativism isn't true because what is true for me is not said to be true for me.
3. If you say it is neither true or false, then relativism isn't true since it states that all views are equally valid; and by not being at least true, relativism is shown to be wrong.
2. If I believe that relativism is false, and if it is true only for me that it is false, then you must admit that it is absolutely true that I am believing that relativism false.
1. If you admit that it is absolutely true that I am believing relativism is false, then relativism is defeated since you admit there is something absolutely true.
3. If I am believing in something other than relativism that is true, then there is something other than relativism that is true - even if it is only for me.
1. If there is something other than relativism that is true, then relativism is false.
4. No one can know anything for sure.
1. If that is true, then we can know that we cannot know anything for sure, which is self-defeating.
5. That is your reality, not mine.
1. Is my reality really real?
2. If my reality is different than yours, how can my reality contradict your reality? If yours and mine are equally real, how can two opposite realities that exclude each other really exist at the same time?
6. We all perceive what we want.
1. How do you know that statement is true?
2. If we all perceive what we want, then what are you wanting to perceive?
1. If you say you want to perceive truth, how do you know if you are not deceived?
2. Simply desiring truth is no proof you have it.
7. You may not use logic to refute relativism.
1. Why not?
2. Can you give me a logical reason why logic cannot be used?
3. If you use relativism to refute logic, then on what basis is relativism (that nothing is absolutely true) able to refute logic which is based upon truth.
4. If you use relativism to refute logic, then relativism has lost its relative status since it is used to absolutely refute the truth of something else.
8. We are only perceiving different aspects of the same reality.
1. If our perceptions are contradictory, can either perception be trusted?
2. Is truth self-contradictory?
1. If it were, then it wouldn't be true because it would be self-refuting. If something is self-refuting, then it isn't true.
3. If it is true that we are perceiving different aspects of the same reality, then am I believing something that is false since I believe that your reality is not true? How then could they be the same reality?
4. If you are saying that it is merely my perception that is not true, then relativism is refuted.
1. If I am believing something that is false, then relativism is not true since it holds that all views are equally valid.
5. If my reality is that your reality is false, then both cannot be true. If both are not true, then one of us (or both) is in error.
1. If one or both of us is in error, then relativism is not true.
9. Relativism itself is excluded from the critique that it is absolute and self-refuting.
1. On what basis do you simply exclude relativism from the critique of logic?
1. Is this an arbitrary act? If so, does it justify your position?
2. If it is not arbitrary, what criteria did you use to exclude it?
2. To exclude itself from the start is an admission of the logical problems inherent in its system of thought.
Recommended Books
Saturday, July 18, 2009
World Builder
A strange man uses holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves. This is a short by filmmaker Bruce Branit known also as the co-creator of 405.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
United Breaks Gguitars
I was so happy when I heard about this guy today, because I had nothing but bad luck with United. I used them for 3 times only, the first and 2nd time they lost my luggage and broke a baby stroller, the 3rd time there was a theft from my luggage and they refused to reimburse me for the loss. Thanks God for people like this artist. There is a justice in this world. I hope United goes out of business soon.
His guitar was broken and united shoveled him around for 9 months and refused to pay him for the damage. Once he posted this video on Youtube it had instantly over 3 million hits and the company Taylor Guitars offered him two free guitars for free advertising because their sales went up, and the United Airlines also called him and offered $12,000 repair costs and the same amount in flight vouchers but he refused to accept it. Cool guy. I love him.
His guitar was broken and united shoveled him around for 9 months and refused to pay him for the damage. Once he posted this video on Youtube it had instantly over 3 million hits and the company Taylor Guitars offered him two free guitars for free advertising because their sales went up, and the United Airlines also called him and offered $12,000 repair costs and the same amount in flight vouchers but he refused to accept it. Cool guy. I love him.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The providence of God is a two edged sword
“…And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. (Romans 8:28)
If you are not numbered among those who are called according to God’s purpose… If you do not love God and are actively working against the purposes of God, don’t dare take refuge in this verse, because the providence of God is a double edged sword. God’s providence includes His government and God’s execution of His government, includes execution of His justice and in His justice He will punish unrepentant sinners, which is a very scary thought.
People who do not love God, the supposed good things which they received from God’s hand during their lifetime, will actually work against them. One of the most fundamental sins of the human heart is the sin of ingratitude. Paul, tells us in the first chapter of Romans, that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against the ungodly. He tells us that this wrath is not revealed against innocence or against righteousness, but, ungodliness which characterizes in: “..nor did they honor God, nor were they thankful..” The most frequent offense that we commit against God, is our stubborn refusal to honor him as God.
According to Paul, God has made His existence and His divine attributes clearly evident to us, yet in our fallen deprived nature we resist that knowledge and we end up refusing to honor God in our mind.
We all know how it feels to sacrifice something very costly to you for someone, or go extra mile for that person and they show absolutely no regard or appreciation whatsoever for it, display no gratitude, and you realize how offensive that is to you. That is offensive to God too. The scripture tells us that every good and perfect gift which we have ever received in this world, comes to us from God, everything.
We take credit for our personal achievements, without realizing that every skill we have, every talent and ability, were bestowed upon us by our Creator. You insult Him by calling your success either a matter of your own skill or talent, or even worse, a matter of luck.
Every time God is gracious to us, can become an occasion for the increase of our sin, if we refuse to acknowledge when we receive a gift that it comes from God and refuse to express gratitude to God for it.
In light of this passage (Romans 8:28) any bad thing that happens to you in your life is ultimately a good thing, but, there is another side to this, another face on this coin.. If you do not love God, then every good thing, that has ever happened to you is ultimately a bad thing, because it is working now towards your destruction, because, through God’s goodness you have hardened your heart and increased your hostility toward Him, and with every gift that He gives you, your guilt is multiplied, as long as you refuse to be grateful.
So, in simple terms, what this text is teaching us, that for those who love God there is no such thing ‘ultimately’ as a tragedy and for those who despise God, there is no such thing ‘ultimately’ as a blessing.
If you don’t love God, your blessing will be your curse and if you do love Him your curse will be your blessing. There aren’t any other alternatives.
If you are not numbered among those who are called according to God’s purpose… If you do not love God and are actively working against the purposes of God, don’t dare take refuge in this verse, because the providence of God is a double edged sword. God’s providence includes His government and God’s execution of His government, includes execution of His justice and in His justice He will punish unrepentant sinners, which is a very scary thought.
People who do not love God, the supposed good things which they received from God’s hand during their lifetime, will actually work against them. One of the most fundamental sins of the human heart is the sin of ingratitude. Paul, tells us in the first chapter of Romans, that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against the ungodly. He tells us that this wrath is not revealed against innocence or against righteousness, but, ungodliness which characterizes in: “..nor did they honor God, nor were they thankful..” The most frequent offense that we commit against God, is our stubborn refusal to honor him as God.
According to Paul, God has made His existence and His divine attributes clearly evident to us, yet in our fallen deprived nature we resist that knowledge and we end up refusing to honor God in our mind.
We all know how it feels to sacrifice something very costly to you for someone, or go extra mile for that person and they show absolutely no regard or appreciation whatsoever for it, display no gratitude, and you realize how offensive that is to you. That is offensive to God too. The scripture tells us that every good and perfect gift which we have ever received in this world, comes to us from God, everything.
We take credit for our personal achievements, without realizing that every skill we have, every talent and ability, were bestowed upon us by our Creator. You insult Him by calling your success either a matter of your own skill or talent, or even worse, a matter of luck.
Every time God is gracious to us, can become an occasion for the increase of our sin, if we refuse to acknowledge when we receive a gift that it comes from God and refuse to express gratitude to God for it.
In light of this passage (Romans 8:28) any bad thing that happens to you in your life is ultimately a good thing, but, there is another side to this, another face on this coin.. If you do not love God, then every good thing, that has ever happened to you is ultimately a bad thing, because it is working now towards your destruction, because, through God’s goodness you have hardened your heart and increased your hostility toward Him, and with every gift that He gives you, your guilt is multiplied, as long as you refuse to be grateful.
So, in simple terms, what this text is teaching us, that for those who love God there is no such thing ‘ultimately’ as a tragedy and for those who despise God, there is no such thing ‘ultimately’ as a blessing.
If you don’t love God, your blessing will be your curse and if you do love Him your curse will be your blessing. There aren’t any other alternatives.
Brine Flies
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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