Lettuce Brain - Cranial Workouts for Thinkers

Good analysis. Hamlet was indeed an interesting c...

2009-12-03T04:01:32.969-07:00

Good analysis. Hamlet was indeed an interesting character, perhaps one of my favourites in the works of Shakespeare.

Hmm... Pascals Wager. I'll try to remember that.

2009-07-23T11:12:56.008-06:00

Hmm... Pascals Wager. I'll try to remember that.

@Kendall @Nathan The odds theory was from Pascal (...

2009-07-23T02:48:46.300-06:00

@Kendall @Nathan The odds theory was from Pascal (sp) and is called "Pascals Wager". If you that there was a god and it turned out there was one I don't know how happy he would be about your motives. :) Also, you're chances are reduced because who knows if you'll guess the right god.

To quote SouthPark: [bunch of people end up in hell]"Hey, what are we doing here?" "Oooo, I'm sorry, the right answer was Mormonism, the Mormons had it right." :)

Of course that is based soley on Pascals Wager, not any of the other evidence that might exist.

Carolyn... the bible doesn't say to abandon people...

2009-07-22T17:06:58.298-06:00

Carolyn... the bible doesn't say to abandon people who 'fall away' from the faith. It says to abandon people who call them self 'brother' and indulge in every kind of sin. Instead it says to 'treat them like an unbeliever'... which means to show them the love of Christ and share with them the 'truth' of Christ in hopes that they will return to the faith. NOWHERE does the bible say to abandon people who fall away. Look it up. All the passages that speak of 'kicking people out of fellowship' and 'giving them over to Satan' refer to one who SAYS he believes. If Kevin has said that he no longer believes then he doesn't fall into this category... Look it up. Your clearly not in line with what the bible says.

P.S. Kyon... Thank you for the advice!! It works wonders!

Before I begin, let me say this. You asked me to r...

2009-07-22T14:48:00.678-06:00

Before I begin, let me say this. You asked me to read to the end, and I did. I ask the same courtesy of you. What I have to say to you may hurt you as much as what you had to say hurt me, but please, please read to the end.

Kevin, you and I have spent so many years in the same places, being loved by the same people, and being taught the same things that I have grown as accustomed to your presence as I have to my own brother's. Talking and listening to you has led me to truly enjoy you as a brother. I have loved you as such for years and feel as if my heart has been ripped out of my chest and trampled because of what this note says. For this reason, be warned that I will approach you in real love, not in the hypocritical pish-posh that so often passes for love in the secular world (aka "love and tolerance")- such hypocrisy disgusts me. If I now become your enemy for telling you the truth, so be it. I would rather tell you the truth and have you hate me forever than watch you die in silence, or, worse, "tolerance." You will have to forgive me for the harshness in my tone, but what you have written in this note is sheer folly. There are certainly errors in this "logic," but I will not waste my time by pointing out every single one here. (Note: paragraphs 7 and 12 (I think - I'm no better at numbers than you are) contain quite a few, for example. You're smart. See if you can find them.) I can tell you quite honestly that if our positions were reversed, it would be pride driving me to such thoughts, and pride has a tendency to have a big mouth and small ears - such an endeavor would probably only encourage you to try to use "logic" to get around them, which I will submit to you is the very essence of folly. You are one man, Kevin. You are intelligent, but you are only as intelligent as one man. If you would like to challenge the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth to a battle of the wits, remember that you are finite and He is not. I have encountered all of the questions you have raised, and found that He always has an answer.

I have rambled on too long already. Let me get to the point. You doubt that God exists. I cannot "show" you God, Kevin, to prove to you that He exists. He can rend the Heavens and reveal Himself - His very, actual, physical presence - to you just fine without my help. He's done it before. But is that something you really want Him to do? Think about all that you have learned of God, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the Bible - and seriously question if you would like to meet that God, right now, face to face.

I won't lie to you Kevin, losing your friendship is not something I would choose nor is it something I am hoping for. In fact it would bitterly wound me. However, the Pauline epistles give some very clear guidelines for how a believer is to treat one who has fallen away. This I will follow in the hopes and prayers that God will work mightily in your heart. I will not remain friends with you. I am sure that you think this is cruel and judgmental on my part. I am sure that many of our friends will think the same, but I cannot act according to what they think, but what the Bible says. Understand that hatred, anger and judgment have absolutely no part in that decision (it's okay - I don't expect you to believe me now, but I pray you will believe me soon). I do not hate you, I am not angry with you (at ALL), and I do not condemn you - on the contrary, I do what I do in the hopes that you will be saved, not condemned. I will simply not sit here and tell you that this is okay so that you feel better about the decision that you have made. I will not be an accomplice to your suicide. I will hand your flesh over to Satan, in hopes that through it your soul will be saved. My dear brother, I love you too much to accept your decision to destroy yourself. Repent. Please!

In Christ's eternal love,
Carolyn

Humm..... So I come to an impass. What am I too s...

2009-07-22T12:14:47.519-06:00

Humm..... So I come to an impass. What am I too say about the whole thing? If I call myself a follower of Christ and His Father than I must be compelled to speak,

Religion and constructed mindsets are a degenerative construct of men who need to have a concrete definition for the things we can not explain. THis is where the physical world cannot help.---Why do the electrons of an atom not collapse to the protons?-- The search for truth on a physical plane can never produce an answer. The truth is one thing and one thing alone, that is a life in pursuit of Christ and a relationship with our Father. There is no belief that can match this nor evidence that can dissuade a person, except when someone wants to create a world view of his own. So my footsteps behind Jesus compels me to say that there is no search for truth there is only Christ and only He is truth.

If I call myself your friend then I am to speak like this,

You and I are very similar. We both grew up in non christian military homes where we were forced to go to church because it was the "right" thing to do. This was a living hell for me and something I would never like to do again, but it allowed the words of God to be written on my heart, so that when time came I knew what truth was. Knowing and feeling are very different. There are times I "feel" saved but more often then not I "know" I am saved. It was not feeling that kept Christ on the cross but his knowledge that His death is the only way to truth and back to a relationship with God. So what makes us so different?? You are easily one of the smartest men I know but what do you do with that knowledge? If you do not live your life in pursuit of God then what are you going to use your talents for? All the great men of history used their talents for God and are remembered for their contributions to the world. Washington, Constantine, C.S. Lewis, Luther etc...

So tell me what are you planning to do with your abilities, and who are you planing to futher enrich this world for??

Have fun man I wait to hear from you>

yeah, Kendall, that squigly line is precious!

2009-07-22T02:35:24.207-06:00

yeah, Kendall, that squigly line is precious!

What? no paste function? What's up with that? I ...

2009-07-21T14:29:40.247-06:00

What? no paste function? What's up with that? I just typed my whole response in Word. I'll e-mail you my response. For anybody else reading, the bottom line of my comments was that Kevin's summary is spot on. Keep searching for the truth and you will find it, besides there isn't anything you can do to separate you from the love of God.

Kevin, you're not my friend, you're my brother!
Kyon

PS for Kendall... Right click, click "Check Spelling". Works wonders...

Kevin.... You rock. Many people feel that its hard...

2009-07-21T13:44:16.848-06:00

Kevin.... You rock. Many people feel that its hard to be a Christian in a room of athiests... but I think its even harder to be an athiest in a room of Christians. What you've done by writing this is a hard thing to do. I don't know if it means anything to you, but I'm proud of you. You've got guts. As far as your logic and reasoning goes... well... its really well thought out. Its very similar to the kind of questions I've been asking.

Ultimately I must wonder, whats the difference? Between the Moral Atheist and the Christian... where is the line? What is truely different about the Christian other than the belief that there is a difference? I'm not going to bore you with MORE reason to not believe. Your a smart guy. If the truth is that there IS a God and this God is indeed the Christian God then the evidence must support this. If thats not the truth... then life seems kinda bleak. But even if the truth is bleak, its still the truth. I for one want to live like a better person if there is no God. If all we have is ourselves and life is what WE make it out to be, then its time to start practicing much of what Christians preach. Its time to start loving people unconditionally. Its time to stop judging people. Its time to start making this world a better place...

I want to take a paragraph to respond to the 'playing the odds' theory that Nathan mentioned. Although the logic makes sence I do believe that it falls through. If there is NO god and I spend my life pursuing one then I've not just 'played the best odd' but I've waisted my entire life. I've pursued a lie all the days of my life. I've told people that they would go to hell. I've cried tears and fought with a deity that is non-existant. I've spent all my days wishing people were different. I've spent all my days longing for my death so I could be with a god that isn't there. I've wished that everyone would believe. I've wished that everyone would believe a lie! I've tried to convicne others to ignore the truth and follow a falsity. I've condemed people for being homosexual when the reality is that homosexuality is NOT a sin. I've fought and voted against gay marriage. I've fought and voted against a gay couple adopting children. I've spent my entire life expecting people to live up to MY standard and act according to MY beliefs... all of which were a lie.

I don't know about you... but that sounds like a pretty crappy existance to me. So although the 'odds' argument SEEMS to make sense, its still given with a Bias TOWARDS christianity. It doesn't honestly consider the alternative. Its also a form of 'bullying' someone into believing. Its at best an argument through fear and a threat to believe. "if your wrong your going to Hell... If I'm wrong nothing changes"-bullcrap. You've waisted your life.

P.S. I'm sorry about all the gramatical problems. This comment box is exempt from the red squiggly line that firefox gives me... and I'm lost with out my line, lol

Hey, I don't have long but I'll probably post more...

2009-07-21T12:17:06.544-06:00

Hey, I don't have long but I'll probably post more later. I really never got to know you that well, but I just want to say that I am completely open to any questions (and I really do mean anything at all you can think of) you have about Chrisianity or my personal faith. I totally understand your train of thought and I don't think any differently of you at all or of your character. I am a 100% logical thinker so if you ever want to discuss anything I promise not to present anything that is not grounded in reality and reason.

Again I don't know you as well as I'd like to, but I'll stay in touch and I hope that your search for the truth goes well. Any serious Christian (or member of any religion, Atheism included) you talk to should be open to a complete scrutiny of their beliefs.

G'day eh?

Brian Hendrix

I'm not a very eligant speaker or writer and I rea...

2009-07-21T10:52:46.483-06:00

I'm not a very eligant speaker or writer and I really don't know alot about life. All that I know is from my experiece and I'm not big into exploring on my own and researching things. I just feel I have to say these things.

I agree with you about the church. I'm not a big fan of what i've seen alot of christian people becoming. I don't like I know anyone who hasn't had a bad church going eperience. My family was run out of your old church by my very aunt and uncle. So I've never really liked some christian people. The dislike has led me to stop going to youthgroups and I spend more time in my own personal biblestudies. And I have to admit I've been happier and learned more from that than I ever did in youth group studies.

Also I am a huge fan of logic. Every decision I think about making has to have some logical reasoning behind it. When friends ask me advice I do my best to give them logical answers. Logic is one of the greatest tools we have. However I've found in my experience that if we use logic on something that we can't prove is true or false we always end up with circular reasoning. You can't ever be sure about something by circular reasoning. I've had many friends who have walked away from christianity. Its always made me wonder about my own faith. I've alays come to one conclusion. We can't ever be sure we just have to hope we're making the right decision. I know most christian wouldn't agree with me, but thats how I feel. I remember a philosopher I studied in my class last semester. I can't remember his name and I don't totally agree with him, but he basically came up with the argument of where do you want to place your bet.

If you place your bet in God and there is one you've won. If you place your bet with God and there isn't one you really haven't won or lost. If you don't place your best in God an there isn't one you haven't lost or won. But if you don't place your bet in God and there is a God you've lost. So he believed that people should play the odds.

While I don't agree with him totally I've always thought he had a point.

So I hope I haven't bored you to death I just felt conpelled to give you my two cents. I hope everything works out for you man. I can't wait to go shooting again.

Nate Julsonnet

PS I didn't proof read at all so I'm sorry.

Kevin, I don't agree with some of what you say, bu...

2009-07-21T08:15:48.708-06:00

Kevin, I don't agree with some of what you say, but I stand by you in your decision to search for the truth. I know I haven't been the best of friends, and my loyalty to my girlfriend/now fiancee has meant spending more time with her than you. I do feel bad about the broken engagements I had with you, but I would have hoped in the philosophy group at Crossing that you would have found an antithesis to the hypocrisy and doublethought rampant in the church today.
I certainly understand your frustration with the church, I was in a church that crumbled as well, mostly due to crazy amounts of gossip, a lot of it based on my family. Long story short, that was a lot of the reason we moved to Colorado Springs (the church was in Arizona).

My faith in God, though mainly in his people, was shaken to the very core. But then I went to MSC and found people who, while still being very faulty, didn't try to hide their faults, but instead openly admitted them.

In your search for the truth, I stand by you as my dear friend. I hope only that you return someday to a belief in Christ, a belief not based on fluffy thoughts, but based on hard logic and reasoning. I look forward to many nights of arguing about various topics, including but not limited to, moving the universe, Hnefatafl, and other such pursuits.

Though I don't agree with most of what you say, I ...

2009-07-21T07:21:46.781-06:00

Though I don't agree with most of what you say, I understand and accept your choice. I am wholeheartedly your friend, and look forward to game nights and whatnot. =D

One thing I request you do (and I think you will) is to ask yourself questions about everyting, as you did in coming to this conclusion; and research all the various possibilities for answers. During this, keep an open mind to every "viewpoint" (don't be biased like some people I've talked to who don't want to believe in God because they want to do whatever they want, rather than having as you say logical reasons, though I don't think you'll do that), get answers from those viewpoints, and choose the one that best corresponds to reality.

I went through a similar time, and actually came to the opposite conclusion (that God is the only explanation), but I need to head out to work. I'll keep in touch on facebook/here and am looking forward to maybe some TI soon!

Aaron

Interesting Find. I still don't think soccer moms...

2009-04-14T01:33:00.000-06:00

Interesting Find. I still don't think soccer moms need Hummers, but I wouldn't mind paying $1.00 a gallon for petrol. Also, there's no reason we can't extract this oil in a way that has as little impact on the environment as possible.

One should never rely on one single source. I have...

2009-02-19T14:15:08.491-07:00

One should never rely on one single source. I have read books that are errorenous. One should always do adequate research to detect anomalies and therefore rely on good information. Both Wikipedia and printed encyclopedias are reviewed and edited, and print encyclopedias' editors are not necessarily knowledgeable (and indeed if they are to verify all the information, then they must be of unhumanly vast knowledge). If you are doing proper research, then you could use wikipedia, and should not rely on just it, or anything else, but should do research, not selective source using.

"If parents did their job"?If pigs flew!We are not...

2009-01-29T12:24:16.390-07:00

"If parents did their job"?
If pigs flew!
We are not in a position to say "well parents should do this and that"
This is a triage system people!
And as to the original post, the last phrase makes me laugh
"America rethink" "in line with logic" "the rest of the world"
WISHFUL THINKING! America will never conform to the world, and it will never be logical.
America is STUPID and HARDHEADED!
As one who works in a grocery store, I've seen firsthand the effects of the restrictions
King Soopers cannot sell any alcohol after midnight (or maybe 2AM) and on Sundays
The register will physically not allow it.
I think that's archaic
As to the liquor stores, I like the mom and pop shops

If parents did their job, we would have far less p...

2009-01-28T22:10:36.390-07:00

If parents did their job, we would have far less problems with underage drinking. People are hopeless in these times. Mainly because they lack Christ, secondly because parents do not love nor discipline their children anymore. We are supposed to be our children's friends rather than their authority figure...this country need's Jesus.

PETA is off the deep end a little. You have to be...

2009-01-14T01:57:09.890-07:00

PETA is off the deep end a little. You have to be a little crazy if you want to have a whole episode of Southpark about you. It wasn't mentioned in the above blog post, but its interesting to think about Joseph Mengel the Nazi scientist who performed all kinds of ridiculous experimental proceedures on humans. In ten years will we view the animal experimentors of 2009 the same way we view Mengel today?

I take issue with the fact that people put animals...

2009-01-07T23:32:45.787-07:00

I take issue with the fact that people put animals on the same level as humans. Why is it that more people fight for animal rights than the rights of unborn humans? THAT, to me, is wrong. PETA is way too over the top.
However, I am a devout animal lover and have a soft spot for God's creatures. I strongly oppose animal abuse of any kind - God comissioned us to care for his creation, not abuse our "power" as the higher species. Most of the time I know that cosmetics can be tested in other ways than on animals. I'm not in favor of animal testing at all unless it has to be done.

well, if you believe we should strive to follow ol...

2009-01-07T23:15:56.090-07:00

well, if you believe we should strive to follow old testament law, it says that whoever kills an animal must make amends, but it doesn't say anything about if you own the animal
personally I believe any animal testing is not a good idea

The problem with the U.S. economy is not that we p...

2008-12-26T13:17:33.345-07:00

The problem with the U.S. economy is not that we produce junk. It's that we basically produce nothing. We just consume the products the rest of the world makes. And in trade we give them dollars, worthless IOU's. And it cannot last forever.

All the industry in this nation is drying up, outsourced overseas. Everything we use is made in China, or another country. We went from being the biggest creditor nation to the biggest debtor nation in the world. We went from a production based economy to a consumption based economy. And it's not viable. The policy of endless borrowing to consume cannot last.

America is not a capitalist nation. I repeat, America is not a capitalist nation. America is a fascist nation. It's corporatism, not capitalism that is the root of our problems.

The banksters run the country. And they're running into the ground, by design. We wouldn't be in a depression right now if it weren't for the Federal Reserve Bank. This depression is a consequence of bad monetary policy. Of reckless credit expansion from a fiat fractional reserve hoax.

Capitalism is the best viable system man can live under. Other utopian systems, which preach a classless and "fair" society always prove to be worse than the capitalist system they say they are saving you from.

Captialism coincides with free markets, with freedom of choice. It is the free market that brought to the masses the refrigerator, the airplane, the automobile. Anti-capitalist policies brought us bread lines and genocide.

Reminds me of a quote from Mises, "All the marvelous achievements of Western civilization are fruits grown on the tree of liberty."

As long as the unconstitutional group of private banks control our monetary system we are not in a capitalist society. We are slaves to the banksters.

I've got it! You are right Brijn lets have the co...

2008-12-24T18:28:06.253-07:00

I've got it! You are right Brijn lets have the computer try to replicate human innovation by creating new things. The problem that I think would help us seperate the computers from the people is that the computers have no needs or desires other than the ones they were programmed to exhibit. Therefore, while a human would innovate to produce more food, and then decide to create a new form of transportation, a computer would create a new way to produce food because it was programmed too, and unless there is more in its programming it will be stumped. It has no needs that say to it "how about developing a better solar panel, or bellbottom jeans need a revival" and the only way to bypass this lack of conciousness (if you can call it that) is for the computer to keep and motitor subjects and build things for their needs and desires. It could do this by reading the internet, by asking a real human questions, or by taking itself to a programming office where it is given new tasks.

Sig Hiel!

2008-12-23T23:56:49.943-07:00

Sig Hiel!

Yes, the History Channel is running a show on all ...

2008-12-22T01:42:38.291-07:00

Yes, the History Channel is running a show on all that Eschatology type stuff: Nostrodomus, the Mayans, the Rapture, etc. Right after they are done with "seven deadly sins week"! :D My eyes are going to turn square.

fascinating theoryI myself was hoping for a post o...

2008-12-21T22:54:54.752-07:00

fascinating theory
I myself was hoping for a post or mid tribulation rapture of the church, with the beginning occurring sometime around that wonderful time everyone is talking about, the end of the mayan calendar
I really want to fight through the tribulation, it sounds wicked interesting