I couldn't take the time to listen through both of these, and the generic YouTube ads I receive -- because I block their trackers -- are horribly obnoxious, but I did locate this PDF of Old Paths, and I read portions of it selectively. It is indeed a difficult path found by few.
Thanks for the pdf link! And yes, the YT ads are unbearable, but thankfully I haven't seen one in years since installing the uBlock Origin ad-blocker browser extension which eliminates 100% of the YT ads for me on Chrome. Thanks for reminding me to include a link!
Sin is rebellion against God and the failure in fulfilling God's will and purposes.
Sin alienates us from God. It causes a division and a blockage from entering into fellowship and intimacy with Him.
A holy set apart God cannot commune nor communicate nor be in a companionship with someone whom is unholy. Whom is wallowing in the mire of habitual wilful sinning. Yes God invites and calls, draws sinful people to him initially as they are, he loves them but he doesn't leave them there embroiled lost in that sinful state. To invite them into His house & enter into close intimacy of intense fellowship with Him, he begins a clean up operation and sets the captives whom are bound to lifestyle of sinning free.
It isn't God's heart that needs to be changed, we don't change Him to come to our terms & conditions but rather, it is our old carnal sinful nature that needs to be changed overhauled & radically transformed. To make peace with our very maker Creator God.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:8-10
Only through Jesus Christ can we be drawn, repent, be forgiven, redeemed transformed and restored, and make our peace with our very Creator maker God, our father in heaven.
Yes, that is the essence of the problem. But if you wanted to explain the "sin problem" to an online passerby not versed in the scriptures or affirming their authority, how would you go about it? Where would you start?
The particular approach that I took here was motivated by the prevalent theme found among many Substack authors that there is no one else that can save us but ourselves, and that we need to try ever harder until we succeed. To me this is a recipe for disaster, and the disaster is growing all around us (birth pangs?), but to many it is just common sense to pursue this dead-end course.
The underlying assumption is that we appeared here by accident, out of nothing, and that science has established that as a fact. How something can arise from nothing is not considered. I contend that everything around us, and in us, has been carefully designed and engineered, and that each thing works in a very specific way according to its design. When we try to make things do what they are not designed to do, they break. And we should be seeking to discover what we were designed to do and getting to it, rather than trying to shape creation according to our desires and making an awful mess of things along the way.
Now which makes more sense? That, or that "nothing" produced everything, accidentally. To me, that choice is a no-brainer. But we were designed to do things with with creation, things that enhance it, but not according to this destructive path that we follow. The solution to our problems is to seek and follow the path for which we were created.
I can't make people see this, but if they only hear from others that think like they do, and no one regularly speaks truth into the conversation (part of what we are designed to do), where does that leave them? Trying harder? There's a time limit on that.
Meanwhile, among those that should know better, claiming to be "saved", where are those that engage the culture here online, saying what needs to be said, in plain language? There are some. And there are others engaging their neighbors and other people they know or meet. And then there are those watching TV or whatever, immersed in the culture most of the time. I also engage some from that latter group, biblically, but person-to-person, not online.
Also it's engaging with peoole and asking them questions isn't it, remaining open and curious. I just ask people do you know what sin actually is? But you see the person had to recognise a need in themselves, they have to be hungering and thirsting to be filled, hungering and thirsting for righteousness ultimately God's rightouesness and sighing and crying at what is happening in their cities, towns villages own communities, families & lives and over the whole earth.
And yes your analogy is a good one. I used that about male to female wires and input and output especially if electronic devices etc like a mobile phone will not be able to charge and how when in electronic devices the basics of biology is used to make things work and connect. And yet sadly many deny that there is male or female. It's crazy.
And only Jesus saves. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.
Sin: transgressing God's commandments engraved in the conscience/soul of every human being at conception.
Atheists and agnostics would start to find answers in peer-reviewed Near Death Experiences. Consciousness, intelligence, will, are all spiritual properties of the spiritual immortal soul. How do we know that? some of the blind from birth see in colors for the first time when they are brain dead (no electricity, no activity, no bloodflow, no oxygen) and also no heartbeat and no breathing. The same happens with some of the deaf: they listen for the first time to conversations around or if they go up, even celestial music!
“there are characteristic features that are commonly observed in NDEs. These characteristics include a perception of seeing and hearing apart from the physical body, passing into or through a tunnel, encountering a mystical light, intense and generally positive emotions, a review of part or all of their prior life experiences, encountering deceased loved ones, and a choice to return to their earthly life.”
"God is love" says the Bible, the Word of God (1 John 4:7-12) Do you believe in love? then you believe in God. How do you prove love to yourself? If you prove love, you prove God! There’s no love without God, the source of all true love. He’s not only the love of my life, He’s the life of my love!
Jesus said “I’m... the life.” (John 14:16)
“God gives life to everything.” (1 Timothy 6, 13)
Do you believe in life? You prove life, you prove God, eternal life, source of all life:
That is where you should start your journey of discovery, but first pray: "God, life of my love, if you exist, please show me the way to find the bliss of knowing You"
or even better:
Think this with your heart: “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, I consecrate my heart to your Heart. Please send me the Holy Spirit so I can see Truth and have the courage to convert and follow Him wherever He leads”
Mathematical proof of God’s mind
Who could have imagined that mathematical images could be so beautiful?:
I've researched NDEs in the past, and that may well have helped during that non-believing phase of my life. I abandoned many of my beliefs for many years, but I continued to recognize the presence of evil, beyond the human kind, in this world. I'm sure that helped!
Having been raised with no religion - lots of love and Ethics, but no religion - the word "sin" has interested Me greatly. As I studied many religions, seeing gems of truth in mountains of dogma in them all, it occurred to Me that "sin" is the breaking of the three Laws of Ethics, those Laws that are the foundation of common law. We would have virtually no social problems if We all kept those Laws.
Of course, money motivates the breaking of them all the time...
The three Laws of Ethics (Natural Law expressed as the three things not to do):
1. Do not willfully and without fully informed consent hurt or kill the flesh of anOther
2. Do not willfully and without fully informed consent take or damage anything that does not belong to You alone
3. Do not willfully defraud anOther (which can only happen without fully informed consent)
I do not judge Others based on anything but whether They choose Their behavior Ethically or not. Lineage, religion, affiliation are irrelevant to Me, as long as One chooses Ethical behavior. I may not like Their personality and avoid Them, but as long as They're not breaking the Laws, I will not attack Them.
Many things Jesus said were adapted from other sources. Sources that in that time were part of the cultural context. He offered familiar quotations, or variations upon them, which most people read today having no idea of that context.
I mentioned this one because of the direction of thinking that it illustrates. It is a different direction than that promoted by the culture, and that relates to what some people today call the "sin problem".
Scholars are aware of these sources, and can readily identify them. There are many things that are known but not commonly taught.
You refer to "'estabished' religions." I have in the past referred to it as "organized religion", and expressed a certain preference for "disorganized religion" instead. This is not against scripture itself, but against some aspects of what I now would call the institutionalized churches -- the same idea, I think, as "established". The more I study them, the more problems I find, although even among some of the worst of them I do see some good, at least in the "Christian" world (which I have studied more than the other religious domains).
I've read some interesting commentary about the word "Christian", suggesting that it was coined by Romans to refer to what they saw as a problem movement. The Greek word (Χριστιανός) looks as though it could have been imported from Latin. But the trouble-makers seem to have "owned" the word. 1 Peter:4:16 -- "but if anyone suffers as a a Christian, he is not to be ashamed", as if shame had been attached to the word. But oh what the movement became in the centuries that followed. Unrecognizable.
absolutely. several churches I visited teach things that would appal Jesus terribly. The biblical book I prefer is Thomas and that did not make it to the Bible. Overall I mostly read the tao TE ching
Yes, and this is a recurring theme in the New Testament Epistles so it is not quite a new phenomenon. I once encountered a commentator advocating for appalling things that dissed the book of Jude as "insignificant". "Faith once delivered" indeed, harrumph! I don't think he was comprehending what he read there very well.
I have read the Gospel of Thomas, along with a goodly portion of the rest of the Nag Hammadi translations. The Tao Te Ching rings a bell from somewhere too, but I didn't find answers there either. Also the Book of Enoch, quoted by Jude, although not the Testament of Moses also quoted by Jude (these things get to be expensive after a while!). These works, however, offer a different kind of reading experience from that of canonical scripture.
The others were interesting to read, and to read about, and I thought I might be on to something for quite a while, but in the end I returned to the scriptures I had been brought up with, letting them speak, to begin to find answers to the problems I was facing in life.
I didn't particularly want to do that, and it required a number of years of changing attitudes, but those scriptures are what have my attention now. I encourage people to study and apply what they are drawn to, but also to notice what results from that. Does it bring the world into focus? Is it time to rethink things? For a personal change of course?
Your journey is yours. Do what you will do, but do pay attention to what transpires as you go.
I prefer the Asian version... Do not do unto Others that which You would not want Others to do unto You. I mean, if someOne likes to be whipped, the "Do unto Others..." suggests One should whip Others. Also, the Asian version does not demand One do anything, whereas the One We see mostly implies One must do something.
I hadn't thought about those folks, not that I am unfamiliar. The direct reference, however, is commonly understood to be to Lev. 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD." It needs to be something in "the law and the prophets" as would have been understood by Matthew's original audience.
This is a command to "do something" as active pushback against culturally-induced behavior that yields so many problems. I understand it as embodying the notion of envisioning your neighbor as another flawed human being like yourself, and proceeding from there. This is NOT what our present culture preaches.
Well, I stand under the three Laws of Ethics and practice the Betterment Ethic. And My only measure of Others is whether They choose Their behavior Ethically (within the three Laws). Irrespective of lineage, religion, or affiliation. I may not like the personality of someOne, and choose to avoid Them, but judgement rest on the three Laws.
When We all are doing that, We will have a vastly better planet.
I think that is quite possible. I'm not sure that our present western cultural trends could be much worse. But in this post I was trying to make sense of the term "sin problem", commonly used within the evangelical church. Did I make any headway there?
It's difficult for Me to say precisely - maybe I'm getting bogged down on the religious element. But I'd give higher probability You did well than that You did not... LOL! Sorry. Very hot here and no AC. So My brain is a bit fried.
Sick, yes, but from what cause? I know of a case where a form of parental abuse led to a child engaging in such activities. I haven't studied the matter beyond that, but I know from personal experience that parents may sometimes treat their children in ways that children should never be treated, and this can induce serious problems in the children.
I seem to be severely overloaded at the moment, but I'll offer a question and some remarks. Where do natural laws originate? (Understanding that I have not yet taken a close look at your blog, just an overview.)
I have also studied a range of religions, not a broad range but inclusive of the major ones. I see what appears to be much effort by humanity to improve itself, and we sure need improving. I don't see that these efforts have been effective.
I see instead a natural law operating where things always corrupt, degrading from higher order to lower order over time, unavoidably. In this view, higher order is possible, but it must be introduced from outside our own existence.
Natural Law is derived from what no One would say would be okay to be done to Themselves.
Those three Laws define the things that if You asked anyOne if They would be okay having them done to Them, to a One They will say "No!" Given this, We can say they are universal, Natural Law.
I have looked long and hard for anything that does not fall into these categories that All will say "no" to. Everything else, it would seem, is a matter of taste.
And I suggest that Humanity is not in need of changes within. Having been homeless for 20 years, at the mercy of Others, I can say with surety that Most want to help. They care. And They do what They can. But money stands in the way, most of the time. They cannot afford much or anything at all.
We need to remove the system that promotes primary (genetic) psychopaths to power, which has two components, either of which alone will promote Them and combined is devastating. The first is money systems. In the few societies that emerged in abundance, where all They needed was there for the taking, no money arose.
The caring Ones took care of things, the People were happy, loving, playful, giving, creative, and doing things They loved to do for the social currencies - the thanks, appreciation, reciprocation, honor, lauds, fame, love, and such that They received. When problems arose, They moved to solve them the best way, not the cheapest or most profitable - or left to fester because there was no money.
And the psychopaths learned to choose Their behavior Ethically or be cast out (or killed).
These societies fell when the "western world" came in, usurped Their land and forces energy account practices on Them.
Our society emerged from scarcity, where all hands were needed to get needed things done. And thus We began accounting for the energy We each add into the community/system to ensure no "skaters" - Ones who took but did not give. First We accounted for the energy in trade/barter, and when that became problematic, representational things. Today, though We have abundance, money motives create artificial scarcity, and keep the psychopaths at the top - for psychopaths LUST after power over Others, and so will do literally anything, Ethical or unEthical, to get and keep the most.
And the psychopaths maintain the accounting for Our energy added. They hide and suppress all technologies offering free energy, because free energy makes accounting for Our energy pointless. And the tool that accounts for it is the only tool to power They have - it buys all the rest They use, the things and the People.
Once We have free energy flowing, it will be about 10 years before money is gone...
The second psychopath-promoting institution is the legal/governmental system. It too offers power over Others and so the psychopaths will be drawn to it. I do not consent to it, standing sovereign under the three Laws of Ethics. And I aim for enough of Us doing the same such that that system falls to the wayside.
Without those systems that promote the primary psychopaths to power over Us, secondary (conditioned) psychopathy will not emerge. In societies run by primary psychopaths, People learn to shut off Their caring, compassion, love, and empathy for Others so as to "succeed," survive, and/or cope. And thus We see the mess We see today, which might lead One to think that Humanity is just psychopathic.
Two excellent sermons on sin and repentance from J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZUF-6z7Z2w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFuKLCUJz80&t
I couldn't take the time to listen through both of these, and the generic YouTube ads I receive -- because I block their trackers -- are horribly obnoxious, but I did locate this PDF of Old Paths, and I read portions of it selectively. It is indeed a difficult path found by few.
https://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/old-paths-ryle.pdf
Thanks for the pdf link! And yes, the YT ads are unbearable, but thankfully I haven't seen one in years since installing the uBlock Origin ad-blocker browser extension which eliminates 100% of the YT ads for me on Chrome. Thanks for reminding me to include a link!
https://ublockorigin.com/
https://open.substack.com/pub/hephzibah78/p/the-power-of-the-blood?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3ltefe
Sin is rebellion against God and the failure in fulfilling God's will and purposes.
Sin alienates us from God. It causes a division and a blockage from entering into fellowship and intimacy with Him.
A holy set apart God cannot commune nor communicate nor be in a companionship with someone whom is unholy. Whom is wallowing in the mire of habitual wilful sinning. Yes God invites and calls, draws sinful people to him initially as they are, he loves them but he doesn't leave them there embroiled lost in that sinful state. To invite them into His house & enter into close intimacy of intense fellowship with Him, he begins a clean up operation and sets the captives whom are bound to lifestyle of sinning free.
It isn't God's heart that needs to be changed, we don't change Him to come to our terms & conditions but rather, it is our old carnal sinful nature that needs to be changed overhauled & radically transformed. To make peace with our very maker Creator God.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:8-10
Only through Jesus Christ can we be drawn, repent, be forgiven, redeemed transformed and restored, and make our peace with our very Creator maker God, our father in heaven.
Yes, that is the essence of the problem. But if you wanted to explain the "sin problem" to an online passerby not versed in the scriptures or affirming their authority, how would you go about it? Where would you start?
The particular approach that I took here was motivated by the prevalent theme found among many Substack authors that there is no one else that can save us but ourselves, and that we need to try ever harder until we succeed. To me this is a recipe for disaster, and the disaster is growing all around us (birth pangs?), but to many it is just common sense to pursue this dead-end course.
The underlying assumption is that we appeared here by accident, out of nothing, and that science has established that as a fact. How something can arise from nothing is not considered. I contend that everything around us, and in us, has been carefully designed and engineered, and that each thing works in a very specific way according to its design. When we try to make things do what they are not designed to do, they break. And we should be seeking to discover what we were designed to do and getting to it, rather than trying to shape creation according to our desires and making an awful mess of things along the way.
Now which makes more sense? That, or that "nothing" produced everything, accidentally. To me, that choice is a no-brainer. But we were designed to do things with with creation, things that enhance it, but not according to this destructive path that we follow. The solution to our problems is to seek and follow the path for which we were created.
I can't make people see this, but if they only hear from others that think like they do, and no one regularly speaks truth into the conversation (part of what we are designed to do), where does that leave them? Trying harder? There's a time limit on that.
Meanwhile, among those that should know better, claiming to be "saved", where are those that engage the culture here online, saying what needs to be said, in plain language? There are some. And there are others engaging their neighbors and other people they know or meet. And then there are those watching TV or whatever, immersed in the culture most of the time. I also engage some from that latter group, biblically, but person-to-person, not online.
Also it's engaging with peoole and asking them questions isn't it, remaining open and curious. I just ask people do you know what sin actually is? But you see the person had to recognise a need in themselves, they have to be hungering and thirsting to be filled, hungering and thirsting for righteousness ultimately God's rightouesness and sighing and crying at what is happening in their cities, towns villages own communities, families & lives and over the whole earth.
And yes your analogy is a good one. I used that about male to female wires and input and output especially if electronic devices etc like a mobile phone will not be able to charge and how when in electronic devices the basics of biology is used to make things work and connect. And yet sadly many deny that there is male or female. It's crazy.
Jesus stated No one is able to come to Me unless the Father, the one having sent Me, draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. John 6:44
A simple answer is sin is evil. Most can relate to that.
And only Jesus saves. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.
Sin: transgressing God's commandments engraved in the conscience/soul of every human being at conception.
Atheists and agnostics would start to find answers in peer-reviewed Near Death Experiences. Consciousness, intelligence, will, are all spiritual properties of the spiritual immortal soul. How do we know that? some of the blind from birth see in colors for the first time when they are brain dead (no electricity, no activity, no bloodflow, no oxygen) and also no heartbeat and no breathing. The same happens with some of the deaf: they listen for the first time to conversations around or if they go up, even celestial music!
“there are characteristic features that are commonly observed in NDEs. These characteristics include a perception of seeing and hearing apart from the physical body, passing into or through a tunnel, encountering a mystical light, intense and generally positive emotions, a review of part or all of their prior life experiences, encountering deceased loved ones, and a choice to return to their earthly life.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6172100/
5 peer reviewed experiences (among dozens):
https://www.magiscenter.com/blog/credible-near-death-experience-stories
Struck by lighting and came back from near-death to tell us about how we will be Judged:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx5gCAmR4Ss
"God is love" says the Bible, the Word of God (1 John 4:7-12) Do you believe in love? then you believe in God. How do you prove love to yourself? If you prove love, you prove God! There’s no love without God, the source of all true love. He’s not only the love of my life, He’s the life of my love!
Jesus said “I’m... the life.” (John 14:16)
“God gives life to everything.” (1 Timothy 6, 13)
Do you believe in life? You prove life, you prove God, eternal life, source of all life:
https://www.openbible.info/topics/god_is_life
That is where you should start your journey of discovery, but first pray: "God, life of my love, if you exist, please show me the way to find the bliss of knowing You"
or even better:
Think this with your heart: “Jesus, if you are the Son of God, I consecrate my heart to your Heart. Please send me the Holy Spirit so I can see Truth and have the courage to convert and follow Him wherever He leads”
Mathematical proof of God’s mind
Who could have imagined that mathematical images could be so beautiful?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlD2rcm971U
Movie Review: After Death
https://www.catholic365.com/article/32264/movie-review-after-death.html
Scientific proof of God and the soul:
http://www.catholic365.com/article/26227/scientific-proof-of-god-and-the-immortal-soul.html
Scientific proof of religion
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-really-happens-after-we-die/answers/46502105
What do you believe comes after death (Science backs religion)?
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-believe-comes-after-death/answer/Federico-A-Nazar
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-really-happens-after-we-die/answers/46502105
Which Christian denomination is more Biblical?
https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-true-Christianity-Protestantism-or-Catholicism/answer/Federico-A-Nazar
lifesaving articles, like the cure for cancer and dengue, at:
https://ScientificProgress.substack.com
Thank you.
I've researched NDEs in the past, and that may well have helped during that non-believing phase of my life. I abandoned many of my beliefs for many years, but I continued to recognize the presence of evil, beyond the human kind, in this world. I'm sure that helped!
Having been raised with no religion - lots of love and Ethics, but no religion - the word "sin" has interested Me greatly. As I studied many religions, seeing gems of truth in mountains of dogma in them all, it occurred to Me that "sin" is the breaking of the three Laws of Ethics, those Laws that are the foundation of common law. We would have virtually no social problems if We all kept those Laws.
Of course, money motivates the breaking of them all the time...
The three Laws of Ethics (Natural Law expressed as the three things not to do):
1. Do not willfully and without fully informed consent hurt or kill the flesh of anOther
2. Do not willfully and without fully informed consent take or damage anything that does not belong to You alone
3. Do not willfully defraud anOther (which can only happen without fully informed consent)
I do not judge Others based on anything but whether They choose Their behavior Ethically or not. Lineage, religion, affiliation are irrelevant to Me, as long as One chooses Ethical behavior. I may not like Their personality and avoid Them, but as long as They're not breaking the Laws, I will not attack Them.
the golden rule, existing before christianity, before 'estabished' religions. I like that better than sin, which has a Christian, Catholic, undertone.
Many things Jesus said were adapted from other sources. Sources that in that time were part of the cultural context. He offered familiar quotations, or variations upon them, which most people read today having no idea of that context.
I mentioned this one because of the direction of thinking that it illustrates. It is a different direction than that promoted by the culture, and that relates to what some people today call the "sin problem".
Scholars are aware of these sources, and can readily identify them. There are many things that are known but not commonly taught.
You refer to "'estabished' religions." I have in the past referred to it as "organized religion", and expressed a certain preference for "disorganized religion" instead. This is not against scripture itself, but against some aspects of what I now would call the institutionalized churches -- the same idea, I think, as "established". The more I study them, the more problems I find, although even among some of the worst of them I do see some good, at least in the "Christian" world (which I have studied more than the other religious domains).
I've read some interesting commentary about the word "Christian", suggesting that it was coined by Romans to refer to what they saw as a problem movement. The Greek word (Χριστιανός) looks as though it could have been imported from Latin. But the trouble-makers seem to have "owned" the word. 1 Peter:4:16 -- "but if anyone suffers as a a Christian, he is not to be ashamed", as if shame had been attached to the word. But oh what the movement became in the centuries that followed. Unrecognizable.
absolutely. several churches I visited teach things that would appal Jesus terribly. The biblical book I prefer is Thomas and that did not make it to the Bible. Overall I mostly read the tao TE ching
Yes, and this is a recurring theme in the New Testament Epistles so it is not quite a new phenomenon. I once encountered a commentator advocating for appalling things that dissed the book of Jude as "insignificant". "Faith once delivered" indeed, harrumph! I don't think he was comprehending what he read there very well.
I have read the Gospel of Thomas, along with a goodly portion of the rest of the Nag Hammadi translations. The Tao Te Ching rings a bell from somewhere too, but I didn't find answers there either. Also the Book of Enoch, quoted by Jude, although not the Testament of Moses also quoted by Jude (these things get to be expensive after a while!). These works, however, offer a different kind of reading experience from that of canonical scripture.
The others were interesting to read, and to read about, and I thought I might be on to something for quite a while, but in the end I returned to the scriptures I had been brought up with, letting them speak, to begin to find answers to the problems I was facing in life.
I didn't particularly want to do that, and it required a number of years of changing attitudes, but those scriptures are what have my attention now. I encourage people to study and apply what they are drawn to, but also to notice what results from that. Does it bring the world into focus? Is it time to rethink things? For a personal change of course?
Your journey is yours. Do what you will do, but do pay attention to what transpires as you go.
I prefer the Asian version... Do not do unto Others that which You would not want Others to do unto You. I mean, if someOne likes to be whipped, the "Do unto Others..." suggests One should whip Others. Also, the Asian version does not demand One do anything, whereas the One We see mostly implies One must do something.
I hadn't thought about those folks, not that I am unfamiliar. The direct reference, however, is commonly understood to be to Lev. 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD." It needs to be something in "the law and the prophets" as would have been understood by Matthew's original audience.
This is a command to "do something" as active pushback against culturally-induced behavior that yields so many problems. I understand it as embodying the notion of envisioning your neighbor as another flawed human being like yourself, and proceeding from there. This is NOT what our present culture preaches.
Well, I stand under the three Laws of Ethics and practice the Betterment Ethic. And My only measure of Others is whether They choose Their behavior Ethically (within the three Laws). Irrespective of lineage, religion, or affiliation. I may not like the personality of someOne, and choose to avoid Them, but judgement rest on the three Laws.
When We all are doing that, We will have a vastly better planet.
I think that is quite possible. I'm not sure that our present western cultural trends could be much worse. But in this post I was trying to make sense of the term "sin problem", commonly used within the evangelical church. Did I make any headway there?
It's difficult for Me to say precisely - maybe I'm getting bogged down on the religious element. But I'd give higher probability You did well than that You did not... LOL! Sorry. Very hot here and no AC. So My brain is a bit fried.
the ones that want to be whipped can be considered rather sick people I would think ") but yes, I see your point
Sick, yes, but from what cause? I know of a case where a form of parental abuse led to a child engaging in such activities. I haven't studied the matter beyond that, but I know from personal experience that parents may sometimes treat their children in ways that children should never be treated, and this can induce serious problems in the children.
Well, indeed the Ones who love to be whipped are masochists, Pretty sick, indeed. Haha!
See my above reply -- https://clearmiddle.substack.com/p/sin-problem/comment/62107490
Sorry, it's hot and I am unable to get AC, so My mind is a mess. Doing anything like that is unEthical. Children CANNOT give FULLY INFORMED consent.
I seem to be severely overloaded at the moment, but I'll offer a question and some remarks. Where do natural laws originate? (Understanding that I have not yet taken a close look at your blog, just an overview.)
I have also studied a range of religions, not a broad range but inclusive of the major ones. I see what appears to be much effort by humanity to improve itself, and we sure need improving. I don't see that these efforts have been effective.
I see instead a natural law operating where things always corrupt, degrading from higher order to lower order over time, unavoidably. In this view, higher order is possible, but it must be introduced from outside our own existence.
Natural Law is derived from what no One would say would be okay to be done to Themselves.
Those three Laws define the things that if You asked anyOne if They would be okay having them done to Them, to a One They will say "No!" Given this, We can say they are universal, Natural Law.
I have looked long and hard for anything that does not fall into these categories that All will say "no" to. Everything else, it would seem, is a matter of taste.
And I suggest that Humanity is not in need of changes within. Having been homeless for 20 years, at the mercy of Others, I can say with surety that Most want to help. They care. And They do what They can. But money stands in the way, most of the time. They cannot afford much or anything at all.
We need to remove the system that promotes primary (genetic) psychopaths to power, which has two components, either of which alone will promote Them and combined is devastating. The first is money systems. In the few societies that emerged in abundance, where all They needed was there for the taking, no money arose.
The caring Ones took care of things, the People were happy, loving, playful, giving, creative, and doing things They loved to do for the social currencies - the thanks, appreciation, reciprocation, honor, lauds, fame, love, and such that They received. When problems arose, They moved to solve them the best way, not the cheapest or most profitable - or left to fester because there was no money.
And the psychopaths learned to choose Their behavior Ethically or be cast out (or killed).
These societies fell when the "western world" came in, usurped Their land and forces energy account practices on Them.
Our society emerged from scarcity, where all hands were needed to get needed things done. And thus We began accounting for the energy We each add into the community/system to ensure no "skaters" - Ones who took but did not give. First We accounted for the energy in trade/barter, and when that became problematic, representational things. Today, though We have abundance, money motives create artificial scarcity, and keep the psychopaths at the top - for psychopaths LUST after power over Others, and so will do literally anything, Ethical or unEthical, to get and keep the most.
And the psychopaths maintain the accounting for Our energy added. They hide and suppress all technologies offering free energy, because free energy makes accounting for Our energy pointless. And the tool that accounts for it is the only tool to power They have - it buys all the rest They use, the things and the People.
Once We have free energy flowing, it will be about 10 years before money is gone...
The second psychopath-promoting institution is the legal/governmental system. It too offers power over Others and so the psychopaths will be drawn to it. I do not consent to it, standing sovereign under the three Laws of Ethics. And I aim for enough of Us doing the same such that that system falls to the wayside.
Without those systems that promote the primary psychopaths to power over Us, secondary (conditioned) psychopathy will not emerge. In societies run by primary psychopaths, People learn to shut off Their caring, compassion, love, and empathy for Others so as to "succeed," survive, and/or cope. And thus We see the mess We see today, which might lead One to think that Humanity is just psychopathic.
In nature, We surely are not.
Why Does Money Promote Psychopaths? (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/why-does-money-promote-psychopaths
I look forward to Your response when Your time allows.