The Intellectual Puddle

     I've never thought of myself as "old" or even considered that my youth was as long ago as it now seems. I always laughed at the old timers when they said "Back in my day..." But increasingly I am seeing what they meant. I speak now of society's inability to rationally, logically, coherently think.

     Case in point, politics. The front runners of each of the two major parties are inexcusably unfit to Commander In Chief.

     On the one hand we have Donald Trump. A man so prone to lie and exaggerate it's a wonder he can string a single sentence together. His ever shifting positions reflect his inability to do anything outside the popular feeling of the day. Yet he has a groundswell of followers who take every word he says as gospel truth, and if you disagree, you are attacked, shunned and threatened until you stop speaking or climb on board the crazy train.

     On the other hand, we have Hillary Clinton. A sociopath if ever there was one. A woman so devoid of foundations she was willing to threaten and silence rape victims to ensure her husband's political future. Which we now see was simply her stepping stone to her ultimate grab for power. Utterly devoid of empathy, she sacrificed four men in Benghazi and then, on national TV, under oath, in front of all of America, had the gall to shout "what difference does it make?"

     We see the droves of the willingly uninformed, the almost zombie like following and shallowness of thought, that has led society to this point. I've often said, the bulk of people these days are three miles wide but only a half inch deep in their thinking.

     Emotionalism has replaced rational thought. Where ad hominems, appeals to emotion, or authority are the rule rather than the exception. I remember growing up being challenged regularly on my assertions, yet now when I challenge others to prove their assertions, I'm simply labeled, and ignored. Our society has become too afraid of deep thinking, too afraid that by looking closely, they may be proven wrong, or worse, proven to longer be the center of the universe. The greatest generation of the 30's and 40's has given way to the "me me me" generation of this new millennium.

     How much deep thought does it take to realize that condoning and celebrating with things as transgenderism, a known mental disorder, is not the best thing? Instead we are called "transphobic" because we care enough about this incredibly tiny minority of people to recognize they need help, and to want to help them. Instead we create new "genders" ignoring what science knows and explains. That we are a sexually dimorphic species. There is no third or fourth or fifth options.

     I'm afraid we're witnessing the end of society as we know it. We've become intellectually afraid to speak the truth, and it won't be long before those who make us that way silence any dissenting opinion, permanently. I pray God brings a sweeping change, because without His divine intervention, there is no hope.

Is This The Best We Can Do?

     I originally started this blog as an addition to my ministry on G+ and YouTube, but occasionally one comes across something so insane, so ridiculous, that they must discuss it. Today I found such a situation.
     Earlier today, a brother in Christ posted a link to an article claiming that “climate change” was causing the earth to tip. ( http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-is-tipping-because-of-climate-change1/ ) Ludicrous as that sounds, it’s only the beginning.
     Then later the same day, I find out there’s going to be a debate on “climate change” involving everyone’s favorite (psuedo)science guy, Bill Nye. Now after the Creation/Evolution debate he had with Ken Hamm, surely they found a true intellectual heavyweight to tackle this subject right? Someone with a background in climate science? Perhaps a degree in one scientific field or another? A weather man at the very least? No such luck. No instead, handling the opposing side, the one denying the pseudo-science that is anthropogenic global warming, is none other than failed Vice Presidential candidate and Donald Trump schill, Sarah Palin. Perhaps she’ll bring up how it’s still so cold in her home state of Alaska? One could only hope that she will come prepared with at least the latest satellite data showing that the earth hasn’t been warning for around 19 years now. ( http://www.climatedepot.com/2015/11/04/no-global-warming-at-all-for-18-years-9-months-a-new-record-the-pause-lengthens-again-just-in-time-for-un-summit-in-paris/ ) However, her current political ravings and choice of Presidential candidate, don’t give me much confidence in her discernment or her depth of thought.
     And the final straw on the insanity of the day was this piece I stumbled across, wherein there are calls for those who do not agree with global warming, should be charged as criminals. Because the Gestapo style cultism of AGW cannot abide dissent! ( http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/17/scientists-ask-obama-to-prosecute-global-warming-skeptics/ ) These “scientists “ go so far as to demand that President Obama use the RICO statutes, the ones meant to go after organized crime, to silence dissenters as “dangerous”, and have them jailed! As if denying a scientific hypothesis(one not overly well documented to be even remotely a result of human activity, let alone a crisis) was on par with being a drug king pin or mobster! We're talking about a hypothesis based solely on the idea that the temperature of the earth right now is optimal for the planet, yet the largest numbers of the most diverse populations of species on record, existed back when the earth was a tropical oven! This is what happens when a worldview or ideological stance is challenged, and it can’t stand up to scrutiny. It’s most devout followers try to silence the opposing view with laws, jail time, and intimidation, yet they wish to use the laws meant for mobsters on those who disagree, whilst perpetuating the stereotypical mobster role. “Those are awfully nice rights you’ve got there. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to them….”

My Conversion Story

     I was recently on the Bible Thumping Wingnut Sunday hangout and podcast (just listened in, didn't engage at all) and listened as Tim's guest, a gentleman named Larry, gave his testimony. To say I was surprised would be an understatement in that it mirrored my own so closely for a time!
  This got me thinking, as some in the chat asked me about my own story, and rather than continuously repeat myself, I thought I'd share with all of you.
     I was raised in a very Roman Catholic family. The vast bulk is still Roman Catholic. My father was in the Air Force, and shortly after my birth, we were moved to Keflavík Iceland. My earliest memory is from there. As I grew up, my parents would take me to church with them, and while I was still relatively young, I tried hard to be a part. This didn't last. I got nothing from the service, it seemed all pageantry and pomp, all flash and no substance. It quickly became a chore, rather than a pleasure, to sit there for what seemed an eternity on a Sunday morning.
     As I got into high school, my parents stopped making me go. High school was a difficult time, often bullied, unable to fit in. However, it wasn't until I began learning about evolution, that I finally gave up any pretence of their being a God. Aside from someone to blame when things went wrong.
     I met the woman who would become my wife as a senior in high school. We were friends, and through a series of unflattering circumstances on my part, began dating. After a few weeks, she invited me to go to church with her one Sunday night. I had nothing better to do, so decided at the very least, I'd be able to hang out with her for an extra couple of hours. It was a decision that set me on the path I currently travel, and I know was ordained by God.
     I remember, standing as people sang around me, but not knowing the words, just keeping my mouth shut. Then, the pastor began to preach. His first words weren't about his golf game (a very commonplace event when I attended Mass) but the word of God. Then he unpacked them, explained them, showed how they worked and what they meant in our day to day lives. I was dumbstruck. It was as if the words in the Bible in front of me, the one from the back of the pew, suddenly made sense. Before when I'd read the Bible (one given me by my grandmother) it was gibberish. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Now suddenly, it came to me like I'd known it all along!
     I didn't jump up right there and yell "Hallelujah!" at the top of my lungs, and it was still some time before it registered what was happening to me, but nevertheless, it did happen.
     Today, I stand here, 16 years a Christian, 13 years married to that same woman who took me to church, and still growing in my faith. I still stumble, I still sin, but by the grace of God, putting a good woman in my life, I've been saved from the pits of hell.
     Now it's your turn. Do you know what it took me almost 18 years to find out? That God the Son, came to this earth and humbled himself to the point of becoming flesh, to live a perfect and sinless life, to die upon a cross to bear our sins, and to rise again 3 days later. That in that we can find true peace with God. That He loves us so much, that He would take a punishment for us, because as the Bible States, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." That "all", is universal. Every person has sinned, myself chief among them. So don't believe the lie of Satan that you're not good enough for God to love, because believe me, He does. When you put your faith in Jesus, God sees  His eternal son, He sees us as His adopted child, not the sinner. Jesus's sacrifice has taken that away, and now God sees you as clean! So if you wish to know more, let me know, find a solid Bible believing church, do whatever it takes, but don't let this pass! God bless you!

The Ignorance of Anti-Theists

     Johnathan Swift once famously wrote: “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it” wrote This was altered through time and later attributed to Mark Twain as saying: “A lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes.”  Regardless of which you prefer, the idea behind it is as true now as it was then. The idea that someone can spout a half-truth, or an outright lie in no time flat, and it takes a good deal longer to correct. Such is what happened recently on G+. Another YouTuber (who is irrelevant to this article so shall remain unnamed) was called out for poor scholarship and discernment, and urged to focus on his strengths of which is countering Muslim claims. In the midst of this, in the comments section, one particular Anti-Theist (who will be referred to from here on as AT) began making such remarks as to remind me of the late great Swift. I engaged with AT, in an effort to help them see their error. Instead, they doubled down. After a number of exchanges, I was forced to withdraw for a time. This wasn’t good enough for AT who continued to bomb the comments with replies and mentions of yours truly. So much so that I was forced to respond in an effort to stop them. I’ve decided to answer a number of his assertions and accusations here, where I am able to once again, give truth a ride. AT's comments are in bold and italics:

+Metal Minister not really they got laws of mose s down.

Kill gays check.
Kill non believers check.
Control women check.
Slavery check.
Pro rapist marrying their victim.
Both blame victim of rape.

     Oh boy. Who hasn’t heard this one a million times? First, a bit of context. The idea of stoning homosexuals was a law designed to 1) stop the spread of infectious diseases, 2) stop the spread of rampant sin and idolatry (most of the pagan God’s of the time were sexual in nature) and 3) to keep the Israelites separate from the gentiles around them. There is much, much more obviously, but considering the comment was made purely as an appeal to emotion (logical fallacy) it doesn’t warrant much more here. If one would like to dig more deeply, here’s a good resource: https://carm.org/why-do-christians-not-obey-old-testaments-commands-to-kill-homosexuals

     Now, the “kill non-believers” remark is what brought us here to begin with. AT cited Deuteronomy 13:6-10 as claiming this. However what they failed to understand (which will be obvious by the end of this) is that passage is dealing with people trying to pull the Israelites away from God to false gods. In other words, into idolatry, not simply killing people because they don’t adhere to the same religion. I’ll expand a bit in the next section.

+Metal Minister lol more assertion without anything backing it.

+Metal Minister there was no trail mentioned in the verse.  You are adding shit to the law.

     Now, setting aside the vulgarity, what AT is responding to is my quotation of Matthew Henry’s commentary of the verses in question which states: “Thou shalt surely kill him. By this law the persons enticed were bound to the seducer, and to give evidence against him before the proper judges…” So as we can see, it wasn’t a matter of people simply gathering up stones and throwing them at people, it was a matter settled by judges. This was obviously not good enough for AT (hence the cussing)  who seems to believe that because it doesn’t state it outright in that one passage they cherry picked, that the judges and trial weren’t part of it. This is where the context comes into play. One cannot simply take a single passage from the Old Testament law and say that because it isn’t explicitly laid out every time, that it doesn’t pertain to that instance. When one is dealing with the Old Testament, one must realize they aren’t exhaustive, they’re exemplifications.
     Now, let me quickly link to a couple of things so that you can follow up with this and the issue of rape at a later time. Both have been beaten to death, so I won’t waste the time here going over them again. http://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-bh6mj-5d4416  Bible Atrocities 2.1 https://youtu.be/mFIUK_V6BfQ

+Metal Minister yet nothing in that verse mentioned worship of idols, other gods yes, but no idols.  Which there is a law already for idolatry in the 10 comandments.

     I added this part to prove a point. Idolatry IS the worship of a false god! It’s placing a god above Yaweh! This is throughout the Bible. Anyone remember the Israelites and the golden calf from Exodus? They did what? That’s right, bowed down and worshipped the idol as a god! Trying to split hairs and say things like “idolatry doesn’t mean only worshipping a false god” is disingenuous at best. The entire point of calling something idolatry is that it places that idol above God, it defacto makes it a god!

+Metal Minister I didn't ask question.  So I don't need to seek an aswer.  I made a statement.

You still have not shown how I taken it out of context.

Which is what you are doing by changing it to mean idolatry vs trying to get people to worship other .

Idolatry isn't only pertain to other god's. 

So you are the one taking it out of context.

     As I just explained, AT was attempting to invoke the splitting hairs or logic chopping, logical fallacy. (https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/120/Logic_Chopping)  As to their comment about not needing to seek an answer, is that they made the statement about Jesus fulfilling the law, to which I asked (as a matter of hoping AT would seek the answer) “Which law did Jesus fulfill?” I was attempting to show them that the punishments for those laws no longer pertain in this life, as Jesus took the punishment for them. They still have eternal ramifications, but no longer apply here. As for the definition of idolatry, Romans 1:21-25 sums it up swimmingly! You’re wrong AT, you’re just wrong.

"+Metal Minister pro tip of the day.  Don't start an agrument that you will not justify your claims at all

     I’d say I’ve justified my claims rather well AT, it’s you who’ve not justified what they stated, only thrown out assertions.

+Metal Minister how does idolatry equal to human sacrifice.

It doesn't.  Idolatry is just worship idols.  Nothing about human sacrifice.

     Here I had mentioned that part of the reason that God so hates idolatry, and even more so during the times of the Old Testament, was that many of these idolatrous religions practiced human/child sacrifices. Such as the cult of Molech, the Canaanites, there are verses in number in the Bible mentioning these acts such as Deuteronomy 18:10, 2 Kings 3:27, 2 Kings 16:3, 2 Chronicles 28:3 and so on. This was not a small or isolated problem in the world of the ancient Israelites! There was a good deal more than this, but as time is short and this article is running very long, I will wrap this up here.
     Unfortunately, things have gotten bad enough that AT actually began stalking my G+, commenting on another post in an effort to get me to block them, so they could claim “victory “. This is a common anti-theist tactic. Badger and attack until the other person gets fed up and blocks you. I’ve seen it enough that, a small part of me thinks I may be being a little cynical, the majority of me says I’m correct. As of the end of this article, I’ve yet to block AT, though if things persist, it may be inevitable. This is the exact reason I remind fellow Christians of Ephesians 6:11-12, to put on the full armor of God. Remember, if He is for us, who can stand against us? God bless!

(For full context of the discussion: https://plus.google.com/101966781319840582394/posts/YJqwD9UEGkX)

*UPDATE*

     In response to my requesting that AT cease commenting on my other posts, he responded with the following:

+Metal Minister learn to change your settings.

     So apparently the response to a request to break contact is “change your settings” after denying that the reason for the repeated contact is to incite being blocked. More hypocrisy, more deceit, more trolling. What settings? Should I be forced to keep all of my posts private so a single anti-theist will stop harassing me? No, it’s time to grow up!