Heidegger and the Question of Being

Looking at Martin Heidegger’s ideas and his question about being, and

What is “goodness”? What is “truth”? What is “justice”?

To remember

• According to the blogger:

Philosophy = literally any time when we ask a question that doesn’t necessarily have a right answer.

• asking questions about being & existence = most urgent task for each of us.

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Preceding

Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

Existence in the non-existent and non-existence in the existence

Our existence, the world showing up for us and holding up a mirror

There is no human being on earth capable of declaring with certitude who he is.

ELI5 Philosophy

Philosophy is really hard to understand, let’s get that straight. Yet while there are countless YouTube videos, textbooks, and podcasts dedicated to making hard things easy to understand, I’ve yet to find philosophy content on the internet that I actually like and is meant for everyday people. While I don’t have a formal training in philosophy, I thought I’d take a shot at explaining some of the most compelling philosophical ideas I’ve encountered. In the first installment of this series, I take on Heidegger.

“What is water?”

The most interesting observation Heidegger ever made, and what planted the seed for the rest of his philosophy, was that of the question of being. It triggered a shift in worldview for philosophers, in precisely the same way the shocked fish asks “What is water?” in David Foster Wallace’s (DFW) famous commencement speech. DFW used the anecdote to encourage us to reconsider our…

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Truth is not a Philosophical discussion

For many Truth is something very difficult.

Many prefer to wallow in human wishful thinking or imaginings. The biblical truth frightens most people, especially that there is an elusive invisible God who knows everything and is able to do everything. With that, many prefer to take on other gods whereby the Nazarene may claim to have the most worshippers among the false gods. Many who call themselves Christians do not want to accept his words or those of his heavenly Father that he is the son of man and the beloved son of the one true God. Lots of people have made him into their god and live by the many false teachings of human beings instead by living according to the Biblical Truth.

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Next

Realisation is earth shattering

BUDDHA IN THE MUD is a blog - a living book based on the Dzogchen teachings. Our teacher is life, and life is karma. In this way, Dzogchen is practical - no bells and whistles required.

TRUTH IS NOT A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION

Truth is not a philosophical discussion. Philosophy is for those who don’t know or don’t want to know, as knowing means our view of life will totally change. In discovering absolute truth, we realise what is important and what isn’t, and we can’t go back to being carried away with whatever others do or say. Speculation creates doubt.

When we verify absolute truth, we can no longer cause harm to others. The cause of terror in the world starts with an subtle idea, as in Animal Farm – “Two legs bad, four legs good”, and then, “Four legs good, two legs better”.

Truth is direct experience, before words or feelings are used to describe it. It is the spontaneous cool/raw experience of consciousness. Pure consciousness is our starting point; it’s the moment when a surgeon opens up a body to see what’s going on…

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My Father’s Philosophy of ‘Oerfoarmen’

Hoe dikwijls hebben wij in het Nederlands het niet over oerdingen, oervormen enz. en gaan wij zelfs op zoek naar dat oergebeuren of die oervormen?
Ook willen sommigen het oerwezen in zichzelf ontdekken.

Foundation Operation X for languages, cultures and perspectives

Written by Dyami Millarson

Oerfoarm is a Frisian word that is integral to my father’s artistic philosophy. Its Dutch equivalent is oervorm. Oerfoarm/oervorm may be translated as primal form and the plural of this Frisian/Dutch word is oerfoarmen/oervormen. This English translation is only an approximation. The first element oer- is always hard to render in English because it evokes a certain primordial feeling and it conveys a certain sense of authenticity and may imply a return to an original state of being. The prefix oer- is cognate with German ur-, which has been adopted into English due to rendition problems of the concept expressed in this affix. Therefore, it may be more accurate to render oerfoarmen/oervormen into English as ur-forms.

The oer-concept (or ur-concept if you will) is vital for understanding my father’s artistic philosophy. Oer- may not only be a prefixed element in Frisian/Dutch, but it may also be…

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Philosophy revealing relationship between the language that we use and our perception of what is real

”One of the things that the study of philosophy reveals is the profound relationship between the language that we use and our perception of what is real.

We don’t have to look too deeply into philosophy before we begin to realize that our knowledge about anything is constructed in language and is always found in the form of sentences in our heads.
Without language it seems that we cannot have knowledge about anything.

~ Jeff Carreira”

 

Find also to read: Seeing Through Sentences in Your Head

No storm can last forever.

Purplerays

No storm can last forever. It will never rain 365 days consecutively.
Keep in mind that trouble comes to pass, not to stay. Don’t worry!
No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever.

~ Iyanla Vanzant

Text & image source: Iyanla Vanzant https://www.facebook.com/DrIyanlaVanzant/

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Do you really know what you say you believe in?

In this world lots of people (not to say the majority) is caught up by human teachings. Be them atheists, christians or people to other religions, they mostly prefer to hold on human teachings and philosophies.

When they encounter people who believe the Biblical Truth, they often are so afraid of them and their teaching they want to avenge them and want to make sure others would not listen to those followers of the Bible.

Today’s Guestspeaker has tried in many articles to expose the truth behind our assumptions and belief systems that were created and pushed upon man for centuries.
He writes correctly:

“Every single one of our traditions has a beginning and most of the time those beginnings have nothing to do with the True God or his Son.”

By a lot of people who call themselves Christian we can clearly see that they do not follow the biblical Truth bu are caught up in the false human doctrines, like the one of the Trinity. We also can see that those who quote Scripture to people directly from the Bible that goes against the church theories they are considered to be a heretic even though they aren’t even using their own words.

Scripture directly from Christ own words in

John 20:17.

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

show over and over again that Christ wanted his followers to know that he had a God and in his opinion that God was the Father for him and for us all.

It is that heavenly Father of Jesus Christ Who should be our Only One True God. It are His Words which we should show to the world and spread the gospel news of the coming Kingdom of God, where Jesus as the authorised one from God shall be king and be mediator between God and man.

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Read also

1. Human & Biblical teachings
2. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
3. God’s forgotten Word 6 Lost Lawbook 5 Heretics
4. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
5. A participation in the body of ChristDo Christadelphians belong to Protestantism

Thechurch

While sitting talking to a friend something came up that I knew but I didn’t know how far it reached until today. The trinity concept that really is doctrine but not explained in churches to the membership for one reason or another is even misunderstood by those that refuse it. Above is a clear outline of the trinity doctrine( this is one the oldest shields of the trinity). Now don’t freak out if you don’t recognize it as a explanation taught to you, most don’t. The reason why is because down through the years the concept of the trinity has became a source of attacks so much that even the original followers have tried to step away from it in their attempt to explain it to others so much that its become forgotten even to their own believers. Most people will tell you the example of water, ice, and steam…

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Solve the Right Problem

To remember

• Define problem right = you’re halfway to a solution.
• Define problem wrong = you’ll probably never solve it => You’ll waste all your time looking for a solution that doesn’t exist.
• Flip side of defining the problem wrong = what computer programmers call GIGO: “Garbage in, garbage out.” >>> If assumptions are wrong = if your logic is flawless =your conclusions will be wrong.
• social problems < base assumptions on optimism rather than realism => go straight from errors in their premises to errors in their conclusions.
• When you start with incorrect information but make mistakes in thinking, then you might get the correct answer just by blind luck. (it does happen)
• Why are the great monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – chronically unable to fulfill their own self-professed goal of creating individuals infused with moral sensitivity and societies governed by the highest ethical standards? = seems to define problem incorrectly, based on an incorrect assumption about what religion can accomplish.
• Judaism taught world about universal moral law under God, improving societies and people from ancient times to the present day.
• Christianity added emphasis on individual conscience + individual rights, helping to develop Western ideals of freedom and personal dignity.
• Islam = great improvement on earlier practices in the region where it developed, giving at least some rights to women + , in the medieval era, fostering a high civilization to which Jews contributed.
• << cannot do = make all individuals + societies ethical all the time, + can’t do it because it’s impossible.
• => limitation imposed by human nature, + fact people are not all alike
• problem > message must be simple, clear, consistent, + realistic + achievable + allow occasional failures, providing a way to recover from them and get back on the right track.
• solution = to talk to majority in the middle

The Thousand-Year View

My latest blog post for The Jewish Journal:

Define the problem right, and you’re halfway to a solution.

Define the problem wrong, and you’ll probably never solve it. You’ll waste all your time looking for a solution that doesn’t exist. That applies in every area of life, such as religion, relationships, science, and social problems. The best movie mystery of 2008 turned on mis-identifying the problem to be solved.

The flip side of defining the problem wrong is what computer programmers call GIGO: “Garbage in, garbage out.” If your assumptions are wrong, then even if your logic is flawless, your conclusions will be wrong. Garbage in, garbage out.

Ironically, it’s the best and brightest people who are most susceptible to GIGO errors when they think about social problems.

Their kind hearts make them want to believe the most optimistic things, so they often base their assumptions on optimism rather…

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O, little voice within…

Purplerays

♡ O, little voice within….
Guide me on….

We shall both
grow stronger

if I but listen….♡

~ Ellis Felker ~

image: tumblr photography
Text & photo source: “Soul Healing Mystic’s Light” https://www.facebook.com/Soul-Healing-Mystics-Light-1437542323150756/?fref=photo

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To find ways of Godly understanding

Chad Graham of Onetheology.com is not affiliated with any religious organization, denomination, or church. He thinks

pastors have a responsibility, just as doctors and mechanics do, to become experts in their field for the benefit of society and the expansion of the kingdom of God. {Pulpit Authority}

In his article Pulpit Authority he looks at our world where people try to find specialists in different fields. For him it seems theology, doctrine, or philosophy are essential parts of a church community. It looks like a church cannot exist for him without such leaders who have gone to colleges where they were trained to become specialists in theology, doctrine, and/or philosophy.

He also gives the impression that people are not able to get authority without such an education. Though he forgets for the Word of God, they should not so much receive their education from man but more from God Himself. It seems that a lot of religious leaders, pastors and priests exclude God Himself from the educational field. Too many forget that it is the Word of God as given to mankind in the Holy Scriptures which can educate and edify man. Real knowledge about the True God can come straight ahead from the Bible itself. We do not need lots of theological works to give us an idea about Whom God is and what He has done. All is written down in the Bible. That Book of books is sufficient enough. though we do agree other books may help further to give more insight or to make the way of understanding shorter.

Also when we have several believers it is best that they do come together at regular times. We may not forget one of the tasks Jesus had given his followers was to come together, to  assemble or to gather with like minded, at regular intervals. The followers of Christ had to become part of the Body of Christ and should find unity in that body (the Church). Organising such a system or community demands work and organisation itself. Wherefore certain people can take charge to organise those meetings and to make the arrangements to keep that community of believers alive. Pastors or elders may well be the persons to do such a thing.

Pastors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Church needs pastors and leaders who wield their pulpit with authority. {Pulpit Authority}

writes Chad Graham, who also finds that

We need pastors who see their lack of knowledge and work hard to remedy it. {Pulpit Authority}

For him it looks like everything in the church-community turns around a or the Sunday service.

Next Sunday is right around the corner and congregations will show up to hear their beloved pastor deliver his sermon—with authority. {Pulpit Authority}

He does know that reason is not necessary for, or is even opposed to, faith.

However, this position will be showed to be false and the enterprise of apologetics shown to be biblical and worthwhile through the survey of the theological justification for it. {Is Apologetics Biblical?}

It is not because the Elohim frequently throughout the Old Testament got His prophets use rational arguments and verifiable evidence to justify their beliefs in God, that today we do need people to show up arguments ,by having full proof of they being educated by a college enabling them to reason about those matters.  Those prophets in the past, not all, went to a high school (universities did not exist yet). God also used non-educated people to go out and to throw out the fishnet for man. Jesus his disciples were not all doctors in medicine like Luke, or doctors in philosophy, nor where the apostles or preachers learned scholars like Paul, but were also ordinary labourers, men and women who used their hands to earn their living.

The writer seems to overlook what he himself quotes:

God, speaking through His prophet Isaiah, said,

“’Come now, and let us reason together’” (Isaiah 1:18). {Is Apologetics Biblical?}

Clearly it was the Most High who invited man to reason with Him. Together they had to plan things. Today it is not different. We too, ourselves have to reason with God. We ourselves have to go into conversation with God. We do not need priests any more, other than the high priest Jeshua (Jesus Christ).

The Supreme Being was,

and is, not opposed to reason when it comes to God, the truth, and the Bible. It is even possible that the account in Genesis 1 of creation was written as an apologetic against the mythical creation stories of other cultures in the Near East. {Is Apologetics Biblical?}

As written already in earlier writings, each individual is created in the image of God and has some inner feeling to look for his own being and for that Divine Creator Who made it possible to be, without Him “The I am Who Is the Being” there is no life possible. Chad Graham knows what we all should come to know, that

The stars, oceans, mountains, and planets were not gods nor were they controlled by gods. Rather, the one true God, Yahweh, brought those things, and everything, into existence and continues to sustain them in their existence. This latter element is a testament to the fact that God exists and has a plan and purpose for creation. {Is Apologetics Biblical?}

“The Old Testament does not often dwell on why we need to do apologetics, but rather it simply sets out its apologias for those with eyes to see. {Philip Johnson, Apologetics, Mission, and New Religious Movements: A Holistic Approach. electronic edition (Salt Lake City, UT: Sacred Tribes Academic Press, 2010), 125-26.}

It is handy and best to have some one to encourage people in the community of faith to engage in spiritual warfare and intellectually struggle for religious truth. But it surely do not all have to be people who had a university degree in theology. It is not to have much knowledge about the different gods and about different human theories about those gods and forms of worshipping. We do need people leading a congregation who have sufficient knowledge and belief in and about the Only One True God, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. Other gods are not really of any importance. Scriptural knowledge must lead in the forefront and not a knowledge about all sorts of human fantasies and human writings around godheads.

From the evidence in the Old and New Testaments, the examples of Jesus and His apostles, and God’s character in wanting Himself to be made known, there is much theological justification for Christian apologetics. Thus, fideism and any other argument against apologetics fall flat. Rather, it is shown to be a duty of the Christian to “contend for the faith” and “give a defense.” And it is also shown to be useful in evangelism since many biblical accounts record people being saved after hearing a reasoned account of the gospel. {Is Apologetics Biblical?}

That reasonable account of the gospel is best given by some one who truly believes and lives according to that faith in the gospel, being the Word of God. We can find many priests and pastors who earn their living by ‘holding church’, but do not really belief in God and some even not in Jesus (the son of God). Also we may find lots of priests and pastors who are as weak as any other man, also elders, who are not able to live up to the faith, Christ and God requires from godly man. The last few years lots of scandals came in the news and many priests, pastors and so called educated theologians became defiled by atrocious things they had done. Church can do without them. Church can better use people who really belief in what they preach and do what they demand from others to do.

In the world of theology we can find lots of different writings bringing words against each other, words for sure which could potentially spark a lot of controversy, but worse, also lots of words which could bring people further away from Biblical truth.

Some theologians do know and

oftentimes think what seminary enrollment would look like if they pose a picture of Dr. King dead on a balcony on their fliers. What if they made a banner of Bonhoeffer hanging from the gallows? What if they Really showed what happened to Paul, Peter, James, and our Lord? What would enrollment look like if they showed us what would happen if we truly allowed our academics to be the impetus for our actions?

They know exactly what would happen.

That’s why our brochures are filled kids playing ping-pong. {The Subversive Scholar: The Danger of Being a Theologian in the 21st Century}

Theology without spirituality is a sterile academic exercise. Lots of countries do have universities offering courses in theology, where more time is spend on human writings about philosophy and theology than on the study of the Holy Scriptures themselves. The spiritual factor is often missed out and mostly the courses are given from the only point of view to be taken, that of the own denomination. As such in Belgium most Christian universities are Roman Catholic and offer theology to form people thinking the Roman Catholic way. In Leuven there is also an opening for protestant thinking, but also there only one way or protestantism is allowed to be the backbone to succeed end of year tests.

Street pastors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is not so much the words of human beings we do have to study, but we should make sure that we come to know what is written in the Bible, God’s infallible Word and take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Elohim commanded to God’s people. If we want to belong to God’s people we should live up to it and love the Adonai, Almighty God and worship Him as our only One God, walking in all His ways, keeping His commandments. It is not required from any person to be a follower of any other man than Christ Jesus. He is the cornerstone of the church and not a theologian or some one who can proof that he has received a degree in theological studies. We have to follow Christ Jesus and to hold fast to his heavenly Father, Jehovah God. We do not have to serve churches of man, but be part of the Body of Christ serving the only One Eternal God with all our heart and with all our soul.

We should remember Joshua who gave the departing ones from Egypt a word of exhortation,

Jos 22:5 RNKJV  But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of YHWH charged you, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

The writer of etsop95.wordpress.com remarks

You will note in this word from Joshua two important ideas. First, the Israelites were to pay attention to the Lord and do exactly what He said. Second, they were to have their motivation (love) properly in place. This is the idea behind what some people disparagingly call “pattern theology.” Those who do so speak about that which the Lord set in place! {The Pattern}

When people do find God and decide to become baptised, receiving a “new birth”, we and theologians may not forget that it is the work of God and not of us, elder or theologians

since one can’t “join” the family of God (a work of man, presumably), it is a work of God when one is “born” into the family of God. {The New Birth (2)}

Portrait of a pastor at the age of 35. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Too many people stay in the tradition of their family and keep to the faith-group they were born into, though they may not believe or not practice their views. Real faith should come from own choices being made by adult thinking and wise decision.

It is not the result of parental descent, of one’s own willpower, or by “any of man’s religious creeds, systems, or ceremonies.” The new birth is of God; it is a miracle and only God can perform it. {The New Birth (2)}

It is by allowing the Power of God come into our body that our soul (our being) can be transformed. It is the individual who has to make the right decision and allowing God to work in him or her. Only then a spiritual birth, not a miraculous one, can take place.

Nothing in nature has been suspended for one to be “born again.” {The New Birth (2)}

It is when one hears God, and is prepared to do what He wants form His creation that one can become whitewashed and be baptised by the Spirit. Those receiving the Spirit of God than can take up the tasks Jesus has given his disciples and go out to the world, to others, so that they too may find God and convert to the true faith.

Without the foundation in place the strength of a local congregation is only perceived (imagined), not real. {Strength in the Local Church}

It is not necessary by an education institute that we shall come to the God of gods. All Christians should recognise that it is Jesus is who is the way. The Bible tells us even more, that he is the truth, and he is the life. Not the theologians are going to be able to give us life.

Thus, if anyone would know of truth, if anyone would know the way, if anyone would enjoy life, then one must go through Jesus.{Strength in the Local Church}

Furthermore, Jesus said,

“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)

We should believe what Jesus says and not so much what theologians say, certainly not when in contradict with what Jesus says. so, when we go to a church where things are preached which contradict Bible sayings we should sincerely reconsider what we want to do and where we want to stay. Do we want to follow human doctrines or Biblical doctrines?

We should look at those theologians and question their thoughts and remember what some students could say about their college

With so many of our finest finishing up at denominational institutions, however, breathing the air of seminaries and schools of theology and salivating at the feet of theologians, we’ve lost our mettle against the idea of theology. {Harding University, twice}

As members of the Body of Christ we never may forget that in the church “educated” men also make mistakes.

There are numerous instances when you have two highly degreed men on the opposite sides of an issue. Some do not have an understanding of the implications of certain “facts” that they read. For example, if someone says

“Scholars believe that Mark was written before the other gospels.”

Would we question that? Is it even important? Some may teach that Mark was written first and have no other implication in mind; however, there is a large group of religious scholars that do not respect the inspiration of the Bible and the dates of the completion of the gospel is one of their places of attack.{Systematic Theology, Rex A. Turner, Sr.}

Too often in theology the focus is not on the subject we as members of the Body of Christ should worry about. It does not matter when and by whom a certain book is written. We do need to know the content and where to look for. The order in which the gospels were written is not the issue per se. What matters most is what is written between the lines and not a Pharisaical theological explanation and historical facts. Historical facts may help to place everything and to see the truth of it, but are not the main issue.

G.C. Berkouwer said:

“We live in a time when even theology is exploding with new and revolutionary problems. There is a danger that the serious student will be so impressed by all the problems in theology that he will circle all certainties by a ring of questions. When this happens, an inverse Pharisaism sets in. The doubting student says:

I thank thee, Lord, that I am not as certain as those naïve people. Let Luther say it again: Spiritus Sactus non est scepticus. Indeed, the Spirit is not a skeptic.” {Bales: certainty is not Pharisaism}

Example of appendix from New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures, study edition (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the ecclesia, our Christian community, house church or church-hall or other church-building, we can come together, meeting with brothers and sisters in Christ, having elders, pastors or priest, non-educated and educated people, all together in humbleness wanting to share the same gospel. In that gathered community, the parish, it is not so much the teaching of a theologian, but the teaching of the Spirit which will unsettle false positions and false attitudes,

but it unsettles them by means of truth and not by means of relativism.  {Bales: certainty is not Pharisaism}

It are all members of the ecclesia who have to work together and to share ideas together, not one thinking the other better or worse to give gospel messages. All should follow the task given by Jesus to explain to the lost who the people of God are and why we have to make the right choice to be distinct from the false religions that exist, including those that call themselves Christians but are not, fail to do their duty of proclaiming the gospel of Christ or the gospel of salvation and of the Kingdom of God.

We do not have to have a special platform or pulpit and especially trained people as the only speakers in our community. All people do have to have their ‘input.’ all have to make an effort to help each other to grow in the faith. All have to help the ecclesia to grow and have to make sure that the Body of Christ can continue to grow.

Lets make work of it!

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Preceding articles:

Living in the Wilderness

Getting out of the dark corners of this world

An uncovering book to explore

May we have doubts

Passover and Liberation Theology

Daring to speak in multicultural environment

In Defense of the truth

Looking for a shepherd for the sheep and goats

It takes years to learn

Believe today and now!

When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation

What’s inside matters..

Not making yourselves abominable

Where are the female writers

Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach

What Should I Preach ?

Preaching Christ Is Not Enough

How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian

Perishable non theologians daring to go out to preach

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Further reading

1. The gods or mighty ones
2. Jehovah God Almighty – greater than all gods
3. People Seeking for God 6 Strategy
4. God giving signs and producing wonders
5. Elohim, Mar-Yah showing His wonders
6. Necessity of a revelation of creation 12 Words assembled for wisdom and instruction
7. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
8. Being Religious and Spiritual 8 Spiritual, Mystic and not or well religious
9. Church has to grow through witness, not by proselytism
10. Which Christian sect is the only true Christian church?
11. Not everyone in the churches of Christ are “ungodly”
12. Looking for True Spirituality 1 Intro
13. Why think there is a God (4): And the Rest …
14. The Presence of God
15. By temptations, by signs, and by wonders we can see the Works of God
16. Bible, best Book of books to get to know the truth
17. The importance of Reading the Scriptures
18. Bible God’s Word – to edify
19. Looking for wisdom not departing from God’s Word
20. Bible in the first place #3/3
21. The holy spirit will bring back to your minds all the things told
22. True God giving His Word for getting wisdom
23. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
24. Eternal Word that tells everything
25. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
26. We should use the Bible every day
27. Feed Your Faith Daily
28. God’s wrath and sanctification
29. Bible containing scientific information
30. The mythical conflict of science and Scripture (2)
31. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
32. Atonement And Fellowship 1/8
33. How Many were Bought
34. Genuine Christians content with going through motions of ritualistic religion
35. Approachers of ideas around gods, philosophers and theologians
36. An anarchistic reading of the Bible—(1) Approaching the Bible
37. An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2)—Creation and what follows
38. Van Til’s An Introduction To Systematic Theology
39. Van Til interacting with Bavinck and Calvin on Natural Theology
40. Christianity without the Trinity
41. Position of the Bible researcher
42. Missional hermeneutics 1/5
43. Missional hermeneutics 5/5
44. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
45. Christendom Astray The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
46. Catholicism, Anabaptism and Crisis of Christianity
47. Some one or something to fear #3 Cases, folks and outing
48. Theology without spirituality sterile academic exercise
49. Myth 12: The Hyper-Grace Gospel Makes People Lazy
50. Pulpit reserved for the pastor
51. May the Lord direct your hearts to …
52. Victory in rebirth
53. Rebirth and belonging to a church
54. Parish, local church community – Parochie, plaatselijke kerkgemeenschap
55. Intentions of an Ecclesia
56. Congregate, to gather, to meet
57. Meeting – Vergadering
58. Contribution – Contributie, bijdrage
59. Faith is a pipeline
60. Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
61. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #17 Sorts of prayers
62. Being Missional
63. Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church
64. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
65. No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation
66. Politics and power first priority #2
67. Denominationalism exists because?
68. Belonging to or being judged by
69. Writers needed to preach to non-believers
70. Good or bad preacher
71. What Should I Preach ?
72. Determined To Stick With Truth
73. Oratory Style
74. 2013 Lifestyle, religiously and spiritualy

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Continued reading:

• Would You Speak?
• The Pattern
• The Setting of the Mind
• There are no members of the church
• Systematic Theology, Rex A. Turner, Sr.
• How to be sure your baptism is valid
• April 19 Poem: Together We Become
• Preaching the kingdom, would Paul have spoken of the church?
• Losing the kingdom of God
• A Mistake in Interpretation
• A Word To The Wise

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Not following the tradition of man

Looking for having success we can follow different paths. To come to the most positive way to get somewhere we best look into the very Old book of books, the bible where we can find a lot of advice, better than that of man of today.

The first of the Epistles to the Colossians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with Christ.” (Colossians 2:8 KJ21)

The apostle Paul tells the Colossians,

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition …” (Letter to the Colossians 2:8);

telling them that

“they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23).

What is of value?

It is by

“holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19).

And how does this happen?

By reading the word of God; it provides essential spiritual nourishment that we need every day. But it is not so much a case of trying to stop ourselves doing things that our human nature inclines us toward thinking and doing, but rather trying to occupy our thoughts to a greater degree with spiritual things. The result will be that we will be less and less inclined to indulge in fleshly thoughts and activities, but will grow “with a growth that is from God” as we appreciate his word to an ever greater degree.

Reading the Word of God we can come to get to know the Works of God, His Plan, how He has chosen Himself a people and how we too can become partakers of the promise God made in the Garden of Eden. There a positive message was given to those who had broken the relationship with God. The Creator saw the faults of the 1° Adam and took care that there would come a 2° Adam to save all people. But it would be up to the people themselves to accept or to ignore the Good News of the Saviour.

The promised one was the son of God, the Nazarene Jeshua (Jesus Christ). Under his blessing a person can come “in the light of Christ” and can get a positive mind. To come to more knowledge and mature in faith and spirit the person has to open his mind  in such a way that Christ can come in him or her. The one who got to know Christ wants to build a relationship with him and with his followers.

Central to our relationship with God is “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). “Him we proclaim”, writes Paul, “that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

How is your maturity developing? Absorbing the true sense of the divine word is a foundation for this. May we all increase day by day in the “knowledge of God” and become “mature in Christ” so his way of thinking becomes more and more our way of thinking.

Such a right way of thinking shall also create a right way of living and having us taking on the right attitude for living and for having good relationships with others and to become successful in our life. We also can see that like at the beginning of the world the 1° Adam rejected the right of God to be the Master in the world, we do find lots of people who take such an adversary attitude against the Creator as well. They mostly bring lots of negative elements against those who believe in the Creator. They also shall try to do everything to get those believers a negative feeling.

From Scriptures we learn that we should not envy others, but we also come to see how the world develops and which position human beings are going to take in it and how we are set to chose. We also have to make up our choice to whom we want to belong.

Note in the dramatic account of Paul’s experience of shipwreck on the way to Rome in Acts 27 that Paul says

“the God I worship”

and then significantly adds,

“to whom I belong.”

Do we view our God in that way?

Those who are baptised commit their lives into the service of God and of Jesus Christ His son. In the same way, the people of Israel under Moses entered into a covenant with God. Moses told them,

“For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6 ASV)

Sadly, most of the people in the generations that followed failed to have the sense of belonging to God possessed by those entering the promised land. If we make no commitment to belong to God, then we belong to the world – a world which is facing an awesome shipwreck!

Isaiah has a vision of our days; it describes a time when the kingdoms of men come to an end and “the lofty pride of man shall be humbled” (Isaiah 2:11). It is a message against “every high tower” (Isaiah 2:15) and never have buildings been built higher than today. Later Isaiah sees in vision:

We should be conscious that there shall come a day thta we shall not have to face the day of man but the day of the Adonai, divine Creator Who shall bind up the wounds of His people and shall heal the bruise caused by the blow they received from other man. at that day those who did not want to know of the Name of the Most High shall have to hear that Holy Name of the Adonai, the Most High Lord the elohim Hashem Jehovah. At that day those who did not want to know of Him shall hear and see from afar, his anger burning, in thick rising smoke. they than should know it is too late to avoid His lips full to the brim with fury, His tongue a consuming fire. His breath shall race over them like a tornado or like a racing torrent that rises up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and put a bridle in the peoples’ mouths to lead them astray. Shall you be ready and shall your song be like one that is sung on a night when a holy feast is kept, and will your heart be happy, as if walking to the sound of the flute, to the mountain of Jehovah, the Adonai, to the rock of Isra’el?

“24 the oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. 25 And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks [and] streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27  Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire; 28 and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reacheth even unto the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causeth to err [shall be] in the jaws of the peoples. 29 Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.” (Isaiah 30:24-29 ASV)

Those who do not know God’s word will indeed be terrified. But those who know God’s word, although their faith will be tested – as “man is humbled and each one is brought low” (Isaiah 2:9) – they will then rejoice in the total wonder of those days. Will you be there? You make the answer now!

Therefore it is important that you make the right choice and take the positive route. Not getting afraid of man around you, making you shy and withdrawn, or getting you down even to become depressed, but standing strong not getting intimidated by man, but believing and trusting in the Hand which is much more Powerful than any human person, remembering:

“The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.” (Isaiah 2:11 ASV)

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Additional reading:

1. What is life?
2. Greatest single cause of atheism
3. Do not be afraid. Good news because a Saviour has been born
4. Fear not tomorrow. God is already there
5. When discouraged facing opposition
6. Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother
7. Relationship with God (articles)
8. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
9. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
10. True riches
11. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word
12. Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) by Chris Tomlin (video)
13. 8 fears caused by the fear of Man
14. Fearing the right person
15. Anxiety is the gap between the now and the later
16. God become master of our passions
17. Power in the life of certain
18. Being sure of their deliverance

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  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
• Does Paul Condemn Philosophy? (pastorbrianchilton.wordpress.com)
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  Paul uses a form of philosophical apologetics to demonstrate that empty arguments and bad philosophy does not represent the truth. If one places his or her faith in any system that leads one away from the truth, that person will slowly erode into a system of erroneous trust and hedonistic living. That is not to say that one may not have elements of truth, but holding elements of truth does not necessitate that one holds full truth. A little bit of error can lead down a pathway of huge problems.
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  If we call ourselves Christians, are we not followers of Christ, and what does that mean? Do we spend time knowing God’s word so we can discern what is a deceit or what is truth?
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  How about using fear as a reason to not do things right. How about following your heart? Keeping yourself so busy you do not have time to study. How about liking certain philosophies even if they are secular, but we spend a lot of time trying to make it work with Christianity because it is more modern.
• Colossians 2:2-15 (olgatodd.wordpress.com) > Colossians 2:2-15
  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
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  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

• Moving Through Time: Timeline of Religion (pcr.wpengine.com)
  Since the beginning of time, mankind has formed beliefs of the unexplainable and unknowable. Over thousands of years, these beliefs became traditional, customary, and institutionalized within regional societies. People continue to express an interest in spiritual matters from all corners around the world. Everybody has pondered the meaning of life, what happens after we die, what existed before us, and whether any other life exists in the universe. Mankind may never know concrete answers regarding the spiritual. In fact, humans may destroy the planet before we can discover the remaining life in unexplored regions. Nevertheless, we continue to seek spiritual enlightenment and a connection with our Creator.

When you think you have nothing to say or to show

Internet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We spoke already about the magnitude of material that can get in front of our eyes to read. The internet may offer lots of interesting but also less or not interesting material. It all depends on what you might like or on what you find interesting, or not. What you might not think to be interesting lots of others may find very interesting. That’s one of the beauties of the internet; it helps connect people with similar interests who might otherwise never find one another.

On this platform we would love to find different people with different interests, but with some connection between all those fields of interests. We would love to find people who do not mind sharing their pen to bring something what might interest our readers or gets to the point which we would like to have internet visitors to have a look at.

As not everything published on the internet is a precious pearl of wisdom that shines a light on eternal truths, on this site we also know we are not able to present all beautiful pearls. But we do hope we can find some hidden treasures and to show little beauties. It does not all have to be masterpieces or very high literature pieces. Just some poems or scribbles, little interesting notes, from some one somewhere in the world, which might be interesting for an other eye somewhere else on this earth.

Some stuff presented here may be very serious or wanting to tackle some serious subject. But life does not have to be all that serious. We would like to put things in perspective, present dreams and hopes, but also look at our universe from the bright site of life.

Lots of people go to the internet for entertainment and are just looking for some fun, or something offbeat, and that’s fine; we can turn to the internet for entertainment as often as we do for education.

It’s okay to write something niche-y. It’s okay to write something light, or to post a photo or two. It’s okay to rant, and it’s also okay to celebrate. No matter what you have to put out there, there’s someone online ready to receive it.

Those who are not sure yet if they can contribute to this site, should not worry if they are interested in trying to create a nicer world for those around him or her. You live, so you are, and you have something that moves you and touches you.  On this site we are mainly interested in things that can touch people, in matters which can concern many, in matters of which many should take consideration, like what we are doing with our environment, what we do with this world, where we want to go in this world.

Just write. Don’t worry about a larger narrative. Don’t worry about engaging readers. Don’t even worry about your spelling. Just write — start describing and experience or sharing an opinion. You can edit or reshape later.

If you doubt you have something to tell, or when you think you could have something to tell but do not know how to start. Do not worry. A cohesive story might start to emerge as you write. Articulating your thoughts might lead to a lightbulb moment that takes you in another direction. You might just tell a good story, no larger point attached. Start writing, and don’t think about publishing. Just get your fingers moving.

And if you do not want to write as such, you do not have to think you can not contribute. Perhaps you like reading more. That’s very fine. But when you like reading more, for sure you shall be able to encounter interesting bits to read. So why keeping them all for yourself? Why not sharing those articles you like, with us? Why would you not reblog a good article. Here we offer you a place to do so.

You read blogs because you’re drawn to the personalities behind them, and that’s why others read your blog. If you publish something that’s a real reflection of you — whether it’s an in-depth analysis of a political issue or a series of haiku about your bicycle — your fans will read and like it. Give yourself some credit — people like you, they really do.

Others are also curious of what you might think or how you might feel. We are living on this earth with so many different people, that it is interesting to get to know how they think and how they act and react. Many may think there are many differences, but they would be surprised how much similarity there might be.

When you think you have nothing to say or to show, start believing more in yourself and not only trust yourself, but also trust those who want to hear from you and who want to read what is on your mind.

In case you are interested in social or environmental issues, relationships and peace-movements, our way of living, cultural affairs, the way we look at things, beautiful nature, language, pictures, than you are at the right address. Here you can find a place where you may ad your thoughts.

Let us hear from you.

see text (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Cosmina Craciunescu looks on Positivism

Positivism and its developments in Europe

Positivism is a philosophy of science based on the view that information derived from sensory experience, logical and mathematical treatments, being the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge, stating that only in science there is a valid knowledge or truth.

Positivism is an older quarrel between philosophy and poetry later being described as a middle way between the humanities and the sciences. It was laid out by Plato , and it states that the only authentic knowledge is the one that allows for positive verification and assumes that valid knowledge exists only in science.

Auguste Comte (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Among the most important Enlightenment thinkers, we can refer to Auguste Comte, who was a French philosopher and sociologist. He followed the creation of a positivist philosophy, and embraced the concept of the evolution of the modern society and of the people through time. The idea of progress was central to Comte’s new science, called sociology, which will eventually lead to the historical consideration of every science.

The positivist phase requires a complete understanding of the universe and the world around us and states that the society should never know if it is in this positivist phase.

As for scientific positivism, it was considered one of the most influential ideologies of progress in the early modern period and had a powerful impact in Europe during the course of 19th Century. It took form in France and had a great impact over other European movements.
The contemporary positivism actually meant the use of scientific methods to uncover the laws according to which both physical and human events occur, while sociology would tend to synthesize all knowledge in order to make a better society.
Positivism is a way of understanding based on science, (Auguste Comte) in which people do not rely on the faith in God, rather on the science behind humanity.

Moritz Schlick, the founding father of logical positivism and the Vienna Circle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, is a school of philosophy that combines empiricism, the idea that the observational evidence is indispensable for the knowledge of the world, along with a version of rationalism, being the idea that our knowledge includes a component that is not derived from observation.
Logical positivism developed in a group of discussions called the First Vienna Circle that was organized after the end of the First World War. Some of the important names that tried to support this movement were Hans Reichenbach, Otto Neurath and Rudolph Carnap. The main idea that was supported by them was called synthetic a priori propositions – meaning that the rejection of metaphysics had no meaning, without actually being wrong. In the end, this project did not seem to last for too long.

Stephen Hawking is a recent high profile advocate of positivism, regarding the physical sciences. In his work, called The Universe in a Nutshell , –

English: NASA StarChild image of Stephen Hawking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

– “…a scientific theory is a mathematical model that describes and codifies the observations we make. A good theory should describe a large range of phenomena on the basis of a few simple postulates and will make definite predictions that can be tested…if one takes the positivist position, as I do, one cannot say what time actually is. All one can do is to describe what has been found to be a very good mathematical model for time and say what predictions it makes…”

Through the Vienna Circle, the positivist movement emerged in Europe in the late 1920s. The members of the Vienna Circle had a great antipathy toward the German speculative philosophy and toward sweeping metaphysical theories that had flourished on the continent all throughout the 20th Century.
An interesting aspect of the positivist movement was that the positivists regarded women as being superior to men. Comte praised women as being the vehicles of feelings over reason, of morality over politics .

 Positivism in the Frame of International Relations

In international relations, positivism has been the dominant epistemological point of view. In the theory of the International Relations, positivism tends to create knowledge that is being supported by four foundational assumptions.
The first one is that methodologies that apply in the scientific world can be assumed to perform the same in the non-scientific world. This is referred to as the unity of science .
The second assumption would constitute the fact that there is a clear delineation between values and facts , as well as the belief that facts remain neutral between various theories.
The third assumption is that both the natural and the social environments have regularities that can be uncovered by theories, being the same kind of process that is used when a scientist approaches the natural world, also being used in the context of the social research.
Positivism has a major role to play in international relations theory. It is considered to be one of the explicit alternatives among many, but rather as the implicit Gold Standard which stands against all values that were known before this particular time, along with all of the approaches that were evaluated in the past decades.
International theory underpins and informs international practice even if there is a lengthy lag between the major theories all the way to their absorption in the social, political and economic life.
In the context of international relations, positivism is regarded by scientists in different manners. Based on the works of John Locke and David Hume , the central premise of positivism is that science must be based on a Phenomenalist Nominalism expressing the notion that only statements about a particular phenomena which can be directly experiences can count as knowledge, and that any statements that do not refer to independent atomized objects cannot be granted the status of justified knowledge.

 – Cosmina Craciunescu

  Continue reading: Social Constructivism and Positivism in the Context of International Relations

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  Peirce’s point seems to be that Positivism fails to live up to its own standards because if we suppose the gold standard for knowledge is “direct observation”, how can we be sure that our observation was really and not seemingly direct? To verify that our observation was direct, we need a direct observation that our observation was direct. Thus, Positivism will either lead to an infinite regress or bottom out at a direct observation that we haven’t directly observed is a direct observation.
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