My Philosophical Take on Religion and *et cetera*

In the past year or so, I have experienced a big "growth spurt" in my philosophies. One of these is that the Bible is of very important revelance for everyone. It is not all about religion, per se. It has more to do with thousands of years of accumulated wisdom and morality. Being a computer scientist/futurist, I have seen that if something is "open source" and it has an opportunity to be scrunitized untold times over by all peoples from all over the world, it is gonna be top notch. Take Microsoft Windows and compare it to Linux. Microsoft products have an inherent predisposition to crash at the most inopportunte time. Linux, the operating system, never crashes. Literally. Why? There are a finite number of people - programmers - developing Windows, a tightly closed group of people, so say, 1,000 minds work together. With Linux, it is continuously refined by millions of people from all over the world discriminiating neither their social skills nor nationality. There is bound to be that one bright fellow who finds a deeply embedded bug. In addition, Linux is continuously evolving, so its source code dynamically updates as it improves with time. Microsoft products are built upon each other. DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 98, and so on. XP finally started from scratch (I think). So, you have here buildings being built upon each other, regardless of a potential lurking time bomb deeply embedded into its framework (the Y2K bug). With transparency, you see everything, so therefore, able to fix everything. Hmm, that can be said for governments and so on!

I just thought of additional analogies drawn from the Microsoft vs Linux comparsion. Just anyone is probably able to use Windows, with minimal training. But, Windows is predisposed to crash, and it takes varying computer acumen to resolve the problem, but generally you can get away with a lot bumps and scrapes. With Linux, if you know nothing about computers, you are outta the ballgame. you HAVE to know what "cp -v mv/usr/sh/bin" in Linux's language means in order to effectively use it. Anyone who KNOWS computers should be able to learn how to use Linux, but not always. It is like religion. You cannot really judge religious people on their views unless you are able to "jump in the box" and engage in a complete rhetorical debate with that person. If that person is not able to effectively debate their beliefs, that means that person has not fully utilized his or her knowledge. So, a Windows user could really whip a Linux user. It is harder to learn Linux, but the benefits pay off. It is like if you were able to single-handedly change your Geo Metro's wimpy engine for a NASCAR stock car V12 engine in five seconds, but you gotta know the password, which is an advanced trigonometric equation. Learn trigonometry. Otherwise, you gotta hire a mechanic to do it for you.

I believe that the Bible meets the same standards I just applied towards Microsoft and Linux. It is something to be beckoned with, as long as you see through the inkprint and read deep between the lines.. However, keep this in mind, someone writing a fictional story about a hero and his magic carpet does not necessarily try to say that the magic flying carpet is REAL, but the morality conveyed in the story is.

On the other hand, what seems like magic in the Bible and other lore IS reality today. We got flying machines, remote viewers (TV and webcams), laser-cutting technology, microwave ovens, radar, satellites, the ability to go to Mars and beyond. In the eyes of the relatively contemporary 19th century fellow, we are a world of magic. If our civilization is utterly destroyed, like what happened to many other great civilizations, a dark age will follow, knowledge will fade and stories of today's technology turned into the mythology of the future.

This one specifically shows that the Bible *is supposed* to encourage the preservation of knowledge, not suppression. Unfortunately, most religions today, in varying extents, loathe "advanced knowledge."

"For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction-because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi," says the LORD Almighty. 9 "So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law." Malachi 2:7-9

"You are young in soul, every one of you. For therein you possess not a single belief that is ancient and derived from old tradition, nor yet one science that is hoary with age. And this is the cause thereof: There have been, and there will be, many and diverse destructions of mankind, of which the greatest are by fire and water, and lesser ones by countless other means. For in truth the story that is told in your country as well as ours, how once upon a time. Phaethon, son of Helios, yoked his father's chariot and, because he was unable to drive it along the course taken by his father burnt up all that was upon the earth, and himself perished by a thunderbolt - that story, as it is told, has the fashion of a legend, but the truth of it lies in the occurrence of a shift of the bodies in the heavens which move round the earth and a destruction of the things on the earth by fierce fire, which recurs at long intervals." -from Timaeus by Plato; the text is about a conversation that took place between Solon, a Greek, and an Egyptian priest, who tells how the movement of bodies in the heavens leads to the destruction of the earth at long intervals and how all knowledge is lost at these times. (click for more passages)

Think of it this way: If Edmond Halley never discovered his comet, no one would expect that it would come with a regularity of 76 years. In fact, he never actually SAW the comet himself! Based on previous observations of hitherto-thought-to-be separate comets, he surmised that these comets were but one comet, and predicted that it would come. He died before it came, but the comet indeed came, and it was then named Halley's Comet.

Now, suppose: the ancients knew about something: maybe a comet that has a 4,000-year orbit, or a certain alignment or cycle of something, the sun, the planets, that occurs at that interval, causing worldwide destruction-

If it actually happens again, we will have to find a way to WARN the civilization FOUR THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW. How would we do it? Carve it into stone, probably. That is what the ancients did. We would probably add to the Bible, a second book of Revelations, if you will, that says that the world is destined to be destroyed in the year 6006, whether they like it or not. That is what the ancients were trying to tell us in the Torah, the Pyramid, Mayan megaliths, Stonehenge, and so on.

Interesting: Plato writes that man has faced c ountless destructions by fire and water. That makes me think of the fact that the cycical characterstics of comets or the sun may be the cause of the destruction caused by fire, and the regularity of Earth's ice ages sandwiched between periods of global warming may be the cause of the melting of the ice caps, global rain/flooding, subsequent warming then thousands of years of cooling. Maybe it is possible that the "magic" that appears throughout the Bible is really the advanced, but lost, technology of former civilizations.

Read the book A Shory History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson! Do it, and you will understand like I do.

Liberty

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." -2 Corinthians 3:17

That is why I have no objection of the mention of God in our government- our Founding Fathers specifically attributed the gift to liberty to God. I agree. It makes sense. Men create laws. That means men can cancel these laws. If we make freedom a law, we can just as easily remove it. Now, if we say that God gave us freedom, we can never deny that we are free, we can never nullify our freedom unless we kick God out of this country. I, for one, do not condone that. Allah would fill the space, back to square one for the fervent secularists.

"And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." -1 Corinthians 7:13-14

Wow! This verse essenially says that if the husband or the wife is "unsaved," but the other IS saved, then the unsaved mate is essentially saved too. Otherwise, their children would not be considered God's children. What a powerful verse!

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth." -1 Timothy 4:1-3

Hmm, interesting. This verse is referring to some point in the future, essentially a prophesy. I can't help it but feel like these verses is referring to the current times. Vegeterianism is rampant today, and I do not have anything against people who do not eat meat. I like meat, but I do not like some certain foods, so that is their whole right.However, I thhink that vegeterianism is relatively new- sure, there have been vegeterians ever since Day 1, but there's really many today. The verse that says "they" forbid people to marry- really strikes me in regard to gay marriage maybe it is in regard that it is hypotirical that we forbid gays to marry- but I really dont know, because I have always seen the Bible refer to "marriage" with a man and a woman... but no specific law that forbids 2 males to marry. There's SOME verses that say that a man can't sleep with other men like a man would sleep with a woman, so... That is probably why this is a bitterly argued-over aspect of our society. Is the problem in the wordings of the translations? I don't know.

Ezekiel 11

"Each of the four cherubim had a wheel beside him, and the wheels sparkled like chrysolite. 10All four wheels looked the same; each wheel had a second wheel turning crosswise within it. 11The cherubim could move forward in any of the four directions they faced, without turning as they moved. They went straight in the direction in which their heads were turned, never turning aside. 12Both the cherubim and the wheels were covered with eyes. The cherubim had eyes all over their bodies, including their hands, their backs, and their wings. 13I heard someone refer to the wheels as "the whirling wheels." 14Each of the four cherubim had four faces--the first was the face of an ox,[1] the second was a human face, the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.
15Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the same living beings I had seen beside the Kebar River. 16When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved with them. When they rose into the air, the wheels stayed beside them, going with them as they flew. 17When the cherubim stood still, the wheels also stopped, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.
18Then the glory of the LORD moved from the door of the Temple and hovered above the cherubim. 19And as I watched, the cherubim flew with their wheels to the east gate of the LORD's Temple. And the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them."

Here's one passage that struck me that essentially says that history is cyclical in nature. That is one of the common threads running amongst the divergent beliefs of the ancient peoples. (Another one that comes to mind is the fact that the main religions of this world have their Messiah. Jews- still waiting for theirs- Christians- Jesus, Muslims- Mahdi, Buddhists- Buddha.)

Amos 9

Israel to Be Destroyed

1 I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

"Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
none will escape.
2 Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, [1]
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
there I will command the sword to slay them.
I will fix my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good." [Hitler and Islamists immediately come to mind]

5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn-
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt-
6 he who builds his lofty palace [2] in the heavens
and sets its foundation [3] on the earth,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land-
the LORD is his name.

7 "Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites [4] ?"
declares the LORD .
"Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor [5]
and the Arameans from Kir?

8 "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth-
yet I will not totally destroy
the house of Jacob,"
declares the LORD .
9 "For I will give the command,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword,
all those who say,
'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'

Israel's Restoration
11 "In that day I will restore
David's fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places,
restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name, [6] "
declares the LORD , who will do these things.

13 "The days are coming," declares the LORD ,

"when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
14 I will bring back my exiled [7] people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,"

says the LORD your God.

Another one seems Talibanesque. sometimes I think there's no fundamental difference between what the Jews and Muslims are supposed to do in terms of dress, beards, etc.

"... there shall no razor come upon his head."

I Samuel 1:11

I found this one interesting because it closely parallels one of Leonardo da Vinci's quotes:

"It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath." Leviticus 23:32

"Every now and then go away, even briefly, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power." -Leonardo da Vinci

This one, come to your own interpretations, with this in mind: Esau was a bastard son of Isaac, bore by an Egyptian(!) concubine, who descendants became the Arabs, while Jacob was Isaac's legitimate son, and his descendants became the Jews. Isaac picked Jacob to be his heir, depsite the fact that Esau was the first-born, legally entitled to be the heir. Esau never forgave Jacob, moved to the Arabian Peninsula, becoming blood enemies.

The animosity between the Arabs and Jews is basically a 4,000 year old family conflict.

Malachi 1
1 An oracle: The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi. [1]

Jacob Loved, Esau Hated
2 "I have loved you," says the LORD .
"But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'
"Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."
4 Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins."
But this is what the LORD Almighty says: "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the LORD . 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'Great is the LORD -even beyond the borders of Israel!'

"Thou Daniel, Seal up these
Prophecies and shut up the
Words of this book, until The
Time of The End, When Travel
And Knowledge have
greatly Increased
(Dan:12:4)

"Watch and be ready
For your Lord shall come
in a day or hour that you
do not expect."
(Matt:24:44)