Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 11, 2024 9:26:44 GMT -8
Thus Dennis Prager rolling his eyes frequently over the modern notion that "people are basically good."
There is a RedState article this morning about a woke Aussie break dancer. I'll spare you the pain and won't link to it. Near the end, Becca Lower writes, "It is never about excelling at something; it's about being seen as special."
You'll no doubt see the male/female split in that remark. (A chick wrote that. Good for her.) Men, by and large, enforce standards of excellence. Women just want everyone to feel "special."
Thus enforcing standards (at least traditional, sane standards) has been recast as mean, intolerant, toxically masculine, and not "inclusive." This is all woman-talk, their natural instincts (not always bad) infected by Marxism. Let it all hang out. Everyone is special.
Well, that means that no one can be un-special. That is to say, nothing, no matter how bizarre or perverted, should not be "celebrated" as special. And that's precisely where we are.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 11, 2024 12:13:35 GMT -8
There is nothing so common as human beings. There are, after all, something like 8 billion occupying the planet today. I have no idea how many came before. Nothing special about the race, per se.
In the aggregate, we are pretty much the same. It is only when looked at in smaller groups, particularly as individuals, do we note much difference. Difference is not the same as "special." As a crude metaphor let's look at clover. Even though the vast majority of clover is of the three-leaved variety, each may have slight differences between them. Size, exact shape, blemishes, etc. Only the very rare four-leaved clover is special.
A basic device of Marxism, for which feminism is one of the most effective tools, is to create dissatisfaction and fear within the minds of people. We don't have enough money. We are too short, we are too tall. We are ugly. Someone is smarter than I am. The weather is changing. Biology is unfair, but it can be overcome if we wish hard enough. Men are evil.
This constant bombardment of negativity has created dissatisfaction and inferiority complexes which would otherwise not exist. Of course, for those so inflicted, a way must be found to allow them to overcome their inferiority, their constant dissatisfaction. To be normal is not enough. They must be "Special." Thus females, abused since childhood by schools, the media...basically by all our institutions, are conditioned to have low self-esteem and are programed to look for ways compensate for this. Thus the constant nonsense which we are subjected to by neurotic females and their enablers.
As everyone knows, we cannot all be special, else none of us are. The word loses all meaning. The Marxists also understand this. Their goal is for the total loss of the individual's ability to discern between excellence and not only mediocrity, but between excellence and complete failure. Metaphorically speaking, the Marxists want the people unable to tell the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad. The Marxists will tell us which to eat at any given time and the true believers will do so smiling not aware of which is which.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 11, 2024 13:04:42 GMT -8
I have no trouble reading it as history. As a record of humanity, it is quite believable. But I am trying to read it as the divine word of God and find the reading difficult.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 11, 2024 17:28:19 GMT -8
All governments, with the mass media as their lackeys, try to keep people afraid, insecure and confused. Here is the solution for believers.
What then shall we say to all this? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Yet amid all these things we are more that conqueror and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
For I am persuaded beyond doubt that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers
Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
Someone who truly believes this cannot be defeated.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 9:02:06 GMT -8
Men too, of course. But I grab your point.
Let me try to frame the question: I understand that we are beings at least partially living in a material world.
Thus we have concerns of status, ego, power, etc. We must particularly emphasize "special" in this current materialist structure because it is inherently atheistic (and, of course, thoroughly dialectically materialist). We are, according to this philosophy, no more than who we say we are. And we (almost all of us) say we are "victims" in one form or another. Politics 101. I need not lecture you. But this is certainly good politics for the Left and the Democrat Party. Keep everyone upset. Tell them they are victims. And in a materialist/atheist culture, there is no other possible way do judge oneself or one's life than what one has (ego, power, money) or how other people think of us (fame, Facebook "likes," etc.).
Now, having given a nod to the materialist realities (we must all eat, sleep, clothe ourselves...well, some of us...and find shelter), we can move on. There are real-world implications to power, whether political, social, or economic. We do not live in a vacuum away from these elements.
However, leave it to the Police to perhaps get to the heart of it.
The problem with Islam isn't just that it's militaristic, antisemitic, totalitarian, intolerant, and evil. It's that it poses as a religion but is completely and totally immersed in power. (Catholicism has similar problems but does not sin as great in the other areas). Any honest searcher is thus absconded by this bad and ugly doctrine becoming mere tribal materialist kooks who serve, if only unwittingly, the bad intent of others.
But we humans are indeed spirits in the material world. We are both. Both aspects must be addressed or we turn into mental basket cases...as much of the Western world is doing right now. As you pointed out, in Britain they are trying to give pregnancy tests to men. This "cracking up" isn't theoretical. It is happening.
We can question the purpose of male and female. But we are cracking up if we deny it exists. And the same with Almighty God and the immaterial or supernatural aspects of reality. We didn't spring from nothing. There isn't all of this magnificent order for no reason at all. We don't feel things and love things because a "gene" tells us to do so. There is more, much more, going on than the mere material.
And when we reduce our lives to only the material we become hollow shells prone to kookdom. And the evidence is all around us today.
Yep.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 9:40:25 GMT -8
Implanted in my mind is how something happens today – something perhaps even caught on video – and the newsmakers are telling us the next day (if not that same very evening) that it didn't happen or something else happened. Remember the Secret Service or Homeland Security kook who said it was "shrapnel," not a bullet, that hit Trump?
So I take history with a grain of salt, especially history interwoven with religion, especially when it is ancient. More modern history is likely more dependable. There's little reason to doubt the existence of Napoleon. But the parting of the Red Sea?
But, your point is taken in regards to reading for the Divine Word of God Almighty. Given that God does seem to work in mysterious ways, religious texts, in my opinion, need to be read as a confluence between God's inspiration and man's agenda. Where one leaves off and the other begins is always a good question.
I do not doubt at all that God can implant ideas and inspiration into people. That does seem, from our limited perspective, how this all works. Thus we can look at the Bible as possible or probable utterances or interpretations of events by people as inspired by God. Or they could just the opinion of man. Of course, the Bible itself is a mix of things. History. Moral lessons. Supposed miracles. Etc.
I don't however believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, nor is there any particular reason to assume this is so. That would take the human equation out of it. We might call the Bible the inerrant Word of God because we are looking for certainty in an uncertain world. That is understandable. But the world itself seems to be governed more by Mysterious Ways.
If we were writing a chapter of the New Testament today, what would we say about our times? Or would we just be repeating what is already in the Bible somewhere? We might comment on the return of pagan cults, such as the Cult of Global Warming. We might talk of the return of Baʿal and the sacrifice of so many children to abortion.
But few, if any, of the sins are new ones. We're left to pray that God can restore us, even if the world itself may be beyond redemption, at least in the short term.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 13:06:37 GMT -8
I am not sure exactly what Prager means. The idea of being "a light to the nations" is first mentioned in Isaiah and is referring specifically to Isaiah. I believe many Christians read the verse as a portend of the coming Christ.
The only possible indication that the LORD is universalizing standards outside the tribe is the oft-repeated injunction for the Israelites to treat "the alien" among you the same way you would another Israelite. I suppose that is an improvement of sorts, but I find nothing about it revolutionary. If one reads the history of the area, places such as Sumer willingly absorbed foreigners, particularly those who brought skills.
As I continue reading through the Old Testament, I am now beginning Samuel, one sees how the Israelites very often treat each other like shit. They almost exterminate Ephraim, based on Ephraim not punishing some who took part in a scene like something out of Sodom and Gomorrah. They fight over land and other things. One thing that I take out of my reading so far, is that the only time that the "Israelites" were actually united was when they left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness.
Once they hit the promised land, the tribal aspect of the people came out. The divisions were certainly helped by the way Joshua divided the land. Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan. Judah and Benjamin settled in the south. The only tribe which appears to have been mixed among the others is Levi. How could anyone unite a "nation" made up of distinct tribes separated from each other?
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 13:14:03 GMT -8
If it is, there would appear to be something lost in translation. And I am not talking about the translations from Hebrew to other languages.
I would also add "man's comprehension." It has been my experience that "man" has difficulty understanding things which he is not thoroughly grounded in. How could anyone truly understand what God is telling them?
It would seem to me that the top positions of men like Moses and Joshua are due to their "utter unquestioning belief and trust in the LORD." So far, I have seen nothing approaching anything approaching metaphysics. Up to now, God is more like a very strict and vengeful parent trying to raise a three or four year old. "Don't ask me why I tell you to do something. Just do it or else." And the "or else" is no idle threat. The paddle is brought out often and extensively used.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 13:32:46 GMT -8
I remember when the video came out. I was living in Japan. I didn't think much of Madonna then, and my opinion of her has not improved.
Cyndi Lauper was popular at the same time and something of the anti-Madonna. I preferred Lauper and later met her ex-manager. He told me that, like many female singers who become successful, she thought she could handle everything concerning her career. Time has shown she couldn't. I recall an article written sometime around then in either Time or Newsweek comparing the two singers. The upshot was that the writer thought Madonna a passing fancy with much less talent and that Lauper had a long successful career ahead of her. Or something to that effect. So much for the predictive powers of journalists.
I find it somewhat amusing that the great materialists such as one constantly runs into today, believe that creation sprang from nothing without any non-material/supernatural impetus. I find this type of thinking completely irrational. One doesn't have to be a Christian or Jew or Muslim to understand that there is some force which we do not understand, which is beyond our physical and reasoning powers. That the force that created the universe, whatever it is, theology or not involved, would be by definition God.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 14:38:01 GMT -8
Here's the gist of it from Prager: "What is moral and immoral transcends personal or societal opinion." I'll leave it to you or Dennis to site where in the Torah it says this. But that is Dennis' summing-up. In another article, where he summarizes Judaism, he states: To learn more, I guess we'd have to ask him. But I'm going to assume he knows a lot more about this stuff than I do.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 14:43:14 GMT -8
I don't imagine we can expect the Jews of back then to have their shit together any more than they do now. But it always struck me as odd that during certain periods they supposedly directly witnessed God's miracles (which usually saved their bacon, if you will) and yet five minutes later they'd be worshiping a golden idol...or the Democrat Party. Same thing. God must have a sense of humor.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 15:57:50 GMT -8
That's cool that you met her manager. Madonna was a very manufactured and marketed entity. Some online place estimates Lauper's net worth at 50 million. She didn't do too bad. And she's a long supporter of the Alphabet People rights, so she's got that going for her.
I wouldn't sleep with Madonna even if I had three layers of protection. You don't know where she's been. Actually...in some cases we do. It's not pretty.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 12, 2024 16:07:14 GMT -8
Condense down all our conversations about atheist fundamentalists. There is something going on with them and they don't simply disbelieve in God. They hate the very idea.
Why? I think in many cases it's just programming. In other's it's just following what they see as the hip ideas of the cultural elite.
But when it comes down to it, I think the real reason is that God is in competition with their bare little souls because these bare little souls long to be the Supermensch.
Don't believe in this conception of God or that conception? That is no reason to get anyone's panties in a bunch. But the atheists (particularly the men) bunch them up fast. The idea of God places limits on them. And we all have experienced how these atheists (and their libertarian brethren) believe they are a moral universe and authority unto themselves.
So, I do agree with what you're saying. They hold an irrational position. Most of the atheist arguments have nothing to do with what is probable or reasonable. It has to do with ego.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 16:25:01 GMT -8
I was thinking the exact same thing while I wrote the post. We go back to the "Little Monsters" that we discussed many years back.  |
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 16:32:03 GMT -8
No she didn't. I would revel in such failure.
Her ex-manager told me that the year she hit it big (1983 or 1984) she made something like US$7 million. So I knew she wasn't hurting. Like many artists who make a lot of money, it would seem she assumed that since she made a lot of money, she was smart business wise. I met him in the late 1980s. As I recall, he had been a VP at CBS Records before he was Lauper's manager.
He was in Hongkong trying to do some business with friends whose family was worth a lot more than $50 million.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 16:46:05 GMT -8
I feel the same. As regards such types, I think it very unlikely that Trump ever slept with Stormy Daniels. People who know him have made very clear that it is very unlikely as he is a germ-a-phobe and didn't go out with just anyone. In fact, Daniels gave a sworn deposition that she didn't sleep with Trump, but that didn't stop the silly law suit going forward.
I am sure your recall the saying "I wouldn't screw her with your @*+%."
I think it was Alexandra Kollontai who said to Lenin and his wife something to the effect that "having sex with someone was no more important that having a drink of water." To which old Vladimir retorted, "Yes, but who would want to drink from a dirty glass." Or something like that.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 12, 2024 17:57:07 GMT -8
I saw nothing in the Torah to support this. Perhaps Prager is referring to various passages which say that others peoples would see that the LORD is the true God through the success of the Israelites in leaving Egypt and conquering the Promised Land.
I would have to read Prager's reasoning to determine exactly what he means and what he bases his claims on.
Perhaps it is arrogant of me, but I am not so humble as to simply take Prager's word on this or that religious point. Particularly when I have just read the Pentateuch from beginning to end and cannot find any specific confirmation of his claim.
I saw very little of what we would now call theology. I did see a lot of Thou shalt not do this, and Thou shalt do that. Few of these Shalts had to do with what is generally called religious belief today. Most had to do with personal hygiene, civil conduct and ritual. Ritual sacrifice had a lot to do with things. I understand that historically ritual has been the major part of most religions, but that does not answer how what we now call the Judeo-Christian ethic came about.
I also find Prager's conflation of Israelite and Jew to be stretching things. The words, Jew and Judaism were never mentioned in the Torah. They have still not been mentioned and I am up to Samuel. In fact, the present day Jews are the descendants of only a small part of the Israelites. Till now, God has said he will make the Israelites his chosen people. I am not splitting hairs like some Talmudic scholar here.
I believe most would say that the Jews only became Jews after the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Babylonia conquered the Southern Kingdom some 100+ years later. As we have discussed before, the Babylonian Talmud was instrumental to the development of the Jewish People. Today's Jews would be the descendants of Judah and Benjamin who were exposed to other religions, ideas for a hundred or so years while in Babylonian captivity. What they brought back to Jerusalem would seem to be something different from what they arrived with. But I am still trying to discern the facts as presented in the Old Testament.
It is generally agreed that the Samaritans are remnants of the Northern Kingdom. Their Torah is different in a number of places and the Dead Sea Scrolls would seem to indicate that the Samaritan Torah is historically more correct that that of present-day Judaism.
I intend to continue reading the Old Testament until I reach the final word. I will no doubt, discover many things I did not know, but I won't able to put everything together in my mind until then.
Their is noting new in saying that the Jews had their greatest influence on the world mainly through their contribution to Christianity. Not only in the early days of the Church. Judaism had a great revival of sorts due to the Reformation. It was and still is the Protestant Churches than revived the study of the Old Testament in the world. The Protestants poured over every word and punctuation mark it. I am only half joking when I say that many a fundamentalist Christian is Jewish without knowing it. |
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 13, 2024 7:11:26 GMT -8
When I Googled her name, the first entry was how to get tickets to her 2024 tour. So I guess she's still going strong. She's playing in the old Seattle Center Arena (aka the ridiculously-name "Climate Pledge Arena") December 1. Tickets look like they are around $44.00, so it's not a premium price. And yet she's certainly a cut or two above playing the county fair.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 13, 2024 10:48:12 GMT -8
We need to get on a three-way conference call with Prager. We've got lots of questions. I saw that service advertised on his website once but don't remember the cost. I had emailed an inquiry and got no response. I figure me, you, and Pat could do that. It would certainly be an interesting experience.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 13, 2024 11:50:37 GMT -8
That could be interesting, but I would want to finish reading the Old Testament first.
I have finished 1 Samuel. It seems to me that, so far, the Israelites do not believe the the LORD is the one-and-only God. They are not monotheists. They go along with God when he seems to have the winning hand. When he helps them crush their enemies, but once things loosen up, they start searching for other Gods who may also help them and not be so demanding. Even David had a household god in his home.
To this point, places such as Shiloh and Hebron are often mentioned. Jerusalem is rarely mentioned and then only in passing. I get hints of it becoming important starting in 1 Samuel.
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