Hmm, Anon beat me to it.
First of all, I want to thank you for the kind words of encouragement. What happened was my wife has Hashimoto Disease. It has to do with Thyroid anti-bodies which in turn triggered a really powerful flare-up of Rheumatoid Arthritis. She was virtually bed ridden with pain and extreme fatigue.
Running a blog while taking care of five little kids and the household on my own was just not an option. I thought that blogging had come to an end.
However many weeks it’s been later, Wendy is somewhat improved. She is on Prednisone and pain meds (hopefully neither for too long) which have given back some mobility and energy to her.
I’ve decided to blog again but no longer almost exclusively about atheism. For that reason (most people would associate this blog wih atheism) I’ve started a different blog “Thesauros” which is Greek for "Storehouse of information / wisdom."
It can be found at thesauros-store.blogspot.com
Again, thank you for your encouragement.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Misquote!
One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is, “The love of money is A root of MANY kinds of evil.” I think you know how it usually goes. Another line, not from the Bible but misquoted nevertheless is, “Power TENDS to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord Acton. I think you know how this one is usually presented as well.
People sometimes take that (mis) quote and use it as a means of suggesting that there is something wrong with power itself. Actually, Jesus talks more about the problem of power when it’s NOT used at all as opposed to power that is used improperly.
We live in a moral universe and that means, “Knowledge carries responsibility.” As Edmund Burke has said, Evil triumphs because good men and women refuse to do what’s needed.
On the other hand, when good men and women take action, other people who wish to be left alone in their support of evil, or in their lack of effort to stop evil, or to even accept that evil exists - these other people accuse those men and women of attempting to establish a theocracy. Those same people, who live on the periphery of reality say silly things like, “You can’t legislate morality.” Well, the fact is, we can and do legislate morality all the time. What else are we doing with laws like, Don’t steal, Don’t kill, Don’t drink alcohol before driving, Don’t have sex with little girls and boys, if not legislating morality?
I suppose because of my own childhood issues, and those of our children the topic of the sex trade, human trafficking and abuse in general catch my attention. In my mind, not doing anything about the sexualization of our children is just as evil as any potential power wielding of a corrupt theocracy. I mean, if you don’t care about what’s happening to our children, just exactly what DO you care about? You don’t need to answer that. I know the answer. The answer is, you care about yourself and your own selfish desires.
According to National Geographic, in the world TODAY there are 27 million slaves, real slaves. That’s more slaves than were taken from Africa during four hundred years of the North American slave trade.
Many millions of these slaves are working in the sex trade.
Many millions of THOSE are children.
Some are girls under five years of age, most 9 to 13.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1957160,00.html?cnn=yes&hpt=T2
There are places in the world today where children are openly sold for what amounts to rape - and that takes place in broad daylight with the permission and protection of the local police.
World leaders know about this.
Social organisations know about this.
You know about this.
Out of a fear that if we tell others what to do, others might tell us what to do, those who “live in the world” wind up doing nothing at all. They call it tolerance; a highly valued trait in today’s world of sin and let sin. May God have mercy when it comes time for us to answer for our do-nothing attitude.
We cannot allow those who wish to live by selective or relative morality to dictate to the rest of us that we should just ignore the plight of these souls. Atheists and the like say that what takes place between consenting adults should stay between consenting adults. This, with the full knowledge that most adults in the sex trade began their journey of sexualization as children which, as I’ve said before dictates that the very concept of consent as an adult is a farce. Only the profoundly ignorant believe these people have any real choice. In fact studies show conclusively that as a fact of the sex trade those who most want to remain in the trade or who want to return after having made an attempt to leave the trade are those who have been most abused (began the youngest, sold / put to work by their “caregivers,” who have been in the trade for a very long time) who are least able to make such a decision.
Consenting adult - “Oh, I think I’ll quit working as a prostitute and become a fashion designer or the CEO of some company, or maybe work as a nurse.” Ya. Right.
If power tends to corrupt, it is only because all people ARE corrupt. We are corrupt in our sins of commission and omission.
People sometimes take that (mis) quote and use it as a means of suggesting that there is something wrong with power itself. Actually, Jesus talks more about the problem of power when it’s NOT used at all as opposed to power that is used improperly.
We live in a moral universe and that means, “Knowledge carries responsibility.” As Edmund Burke has said, Evil triumphs because good men and women refuse to do what’s needed.
On the other hand, when good men and women take action, other people who wish to be left alone in their support of evil, or in their lack of effort to stop evil, or to even accept that evil exists - these other people accuse those men and women of attempting to establish a theocracy. Those same people, who live on the periphery of reality say silly things like, “You can’t legislate morality.” Well, the fact is, we can and do legislate morality all the time. What else are we doing with laws like, Don’t steal, Don’t kill, Don’t drink alcohol before driving, Don’t have sex with little girls and boys, if not legislating morality?
I suppose because of my own childhood issues, and those of our children the topic of the sex trade, human trafficking and abuse in general catch my attention. In my mind, not doing anything about the sexualization of our children is just as evil as any potential power wielding of a corrupt theocracy. I mean, if you don’t care about what’s happening to our children, just exactly what DO you care about? You don’t need to answer that. I know the answer. The answer is, you care about yourself and your own selfish desires.
According to National Geographic, in the world TODAY there are 27 million slaves, real slaves. That’s more slaves than were taken from Africa during four hundred years of the North American slave trade.
Many millions of these slaves are working in the sex trade.
Many millions of THOSE are children.
Some are girls under five years of age, most 9 to 13.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1957160,00.html?cnn=yes&hpt=T2
There are places in the world today where children are openly sold for what amounts to rape - and that takes place in broad daylight with the permission and protection of the local police.
World leaders know about this.
Social organisations know about this.
You know about this.
Out of a fear that if we tell others what to do, others might tell us what to do, those who “live in the world” wind up doing nothing at all. They call it tolerance; a highly valued trait in today’s world of sin and let sin. May God have mercy when it comes time for us to answer for our do-nothing attitude.
We cannot allow those who wish to live by selective or relative morality to dictate to the rest of us that we should just ignore the plight of these souls. Atheists and the like say that what takes place between consenting adults should stay between consenting adults. This, with the full knowledge that most adults in the sex trade began their journey of sexualization as children which, as I’ve said before dictates that the very concept of consent as an adult is a farce. Only the profoundly ignorant believe these people have any real choice. In fact studies show conclusively that as a fact of the sex trade those who most want to remain in the trade or who want to return after having made an attempt to leave the trade are those who have been most abused (began the youngest, sold / put to work by their “caregivers,” who have been in the trade for a very long time) who are least able to make such a decision.
Consenting adult - “Oh, I think I’ll quit working as a prostitute and become a fashion designer or the CEO of some company, or maybe work as a nurse.” Ya. Right.
If power tends to corrupt, it is only because all people ARE corrupt. We are corrupt in our sins of commission and omission.
Believing in and adhering to the objective morals, values and obligations of the Christian paradigm protects us from believing lies like “Anything that feels so good can’t be wrong.”
Many a marriage has been torn apart and millions of children’s lives have been irrevocably damaged by men and women believing that the “love” they feel for someone other than their partner can’t be wrong because it feels so right.
Ignoring the objective morals, values and obligations with which we are born leaves us defenceless to argue against what we feel.
But that’s relativism for you.
Many a marriage has been torn apart and millions of children’s lives have been irrevocably damaged by men and women believing that the “love” they feel for someone other than their partner can’t be wrong because it feels so right.
Ignoring the objective morals, values and obligations with which we are born leaves us defenceless to argue against what we feel.
But that’s relativism for you.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Good Without God
Have you ever met someone who doesn’t believe in God who sees h/herself as NOT being a good person?
No, of course not.
And you never will.
When we invent our own moral system of right and wrong, we always invent a system that ensures that “we” pass.
This fact alone give us a glimpse of how inherently corrupt and evil we actually are.
No, of course not.
And you never will.
When we invent our own moral system of right and wrong, we always invent a system that ensures that “we” pass.
This fact alone give us a glimpse of how inherently corrupt and evil we actually are.
Islamic Bloggers
Saw this blog, written from the perspective of a Muslim view of the world.
Admittedly we in the West give Muslims a lot of material to criticise. Like atheists (I get to say that A LOT when writing about Islam and those who follow it), Muslim extremists see all crimes and exploitation as coming from Christians. One comment on this blog was:
"We here at this blog give you news from all of the holy spirit guided christian activity"
Mmm, not exactly, Galatians 5:22,23 gives you as clear a description that is possible to give of Holy Spirit guided activities.
Verses 19 - 21 give a description of thoughts and behaviours that are in opposition to the Holy Spirit.
Like atheists, followers of Islam take the latter and say it is the former.
Like atheists, biased, bigoted and stupid people believe them.
Admittedly we in the West give Muslims a lot of material to criticise. Like atheists (I get to say that A LOT when writing about Islam and those who follow it), Muslim extremists see all crimes and exploitation as coming from Christians. One comment on this blog was:
"We here at this blog give you news from all of the holy spirit guided christian activity"
Mmm, not exactly, Galatians 5:22,23 gives you as clear a description that is possible to give of Holy Spirit guided activities.
Verses 19 - 21 give a description of thoughts and behaviours that are in opposition to the Holy Spirit.
Like atheists, followers of Islam take the latter and say it is the former.
Like atheists, biased, bigoted and stupid people believe them.
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