Prophecy, Free Will and Evidence(?) for a God...
This post is again a response to a comment made, this time by @fundposhprincess
I hope to continue with this trend of responding to comments with posts, so please do leave a comment of your own here. I'll respond to all of them and choose the best one to feature in the next post =)
Ok so initially, we exchanged two short comments:
She then responded to that. I'll put what she said in quotation blocks, and respond piece by piece:
I brought up a chess game for a microcosm example. Couldn't "that future" contain the contemplation of a bunch of variables before a decision is made? And NO. They are NOT pre-determined. God allows the chess game to be played. He is NAP all the way. ...the reason He has Prophets not lightning bolts to your head! LOL
Again, the point is, if a god is all-knowing, it would know the collapse point of any/all decisions needing to be made. They would literally know not only all the possible futures, but also the actual future we each (seem to) choose for ourselves. If this god knows it, then it will happen, whether god likes the outcome or not. Thus it's predetermined. This of course includes the outcome of a chess game, a football match, a college career... everything.
In fact, I would imagine that it must be extremely frustrating to be a god. "Frustrating" actually isn't even a strong enough word. It must be hell to be a god... At least, a god that knows the future. Everything that is going to happen, you already know. Including your own godly actions... Nothing new could happen... No surprises... The sensation of being trapped would be excruciating. What would be the point, even, of existing in such a state?
Now, there is evidence of God all over the place... or at least some sort of "intercession from ETBeings"... or Angels. [She then includes the video below, presumably as an example of such a being...]
I watched the whole video and there is certainly no evidence of any god or angel or extra-terrestial being. Child prodigies exist all over the place and the source of their abilities is a question of science. The brain is as yet very much a mystery to us, though progress in understanding it is moving slowly but surely. Biologists and behavourial psychologists will discuss the issue of nature vs nurture for decades to come, I'm sure.
But even if one day we understand exactly where talent comes from, there will always be people claiming it comes from a god or an angel (or from aliens ;P) as a magical gift. The same goes for anything else that is hard to explain and understand. (Just look at evolution! The most studied theory in science ever and yet there are people who still don't "believe" it, as if it were still a question of belief...).
And of course confirmation bias will also always be there to subvert the brain... Something we are all victims of and should try and stay conscious of. I will definitely write a post about confirmation bias at some stage...
And all you need to do is turn to the back of the New Testament into the Book of Revelation and ask anyone, including yourself, how the frig' did St. John know this stuff which is taking place now, just under 2,000 years ago? FYI we are somewhere along in Ch. 9 or 10 right now... Pay specific attention to Rev. 14:9-11.
Revelations:
Would you mind citing specific prophecies? I don't have time at the moment to go looking for them. But I did read the 3 verses you cited.
It's basically an angel warning that if anyone worshipped "the beast", they would burn in hell forever, with all the angels and "the lamb" (I assume that is Jesus) looking on. Now that's heavenly love for you! "Worship and love me and only me. If you worship anything else, I will make you suffer for eternity." ... I mean, really... What kind of loving creator-father is that?
As for prophecies... I can predict a thousand things right now and given enough time, they are all likely to come true.
"The USA will have a black female president." ... "A meteor will hit the asian continent, causing death and destruction to half the world's population" ... "The human species will colonise the Andromeda galaxy."
Now we just wait. This post will be on the Steemit blockchain forever. Maybe one day I'll be known as a famous prophet ;P
Now if you don't take the idea of a Supreme Deity seriously, what is the point of this discussion? You might as well stick with the random accident theories, combined with Darwinism.
About random chance: It's simply true that random accidents happen all the time. Sometimes they go unnoticed, sometimes their results are truly happy and seem miraculous, other times they're terribly sad and seem like the devil himself interfering with fate.
But it's important to realise that the human mind is the one proscribing these descriptions to the events. We like to think of ourselves as special, so when we are very lucky/unlucky, we think of that event in terms of something being done to us, as though we were the main character in a book and the author thought it time for the plot to take an interesting turn...
Yet no evidence suggests that there is any such author. Rare, random things happen all the time. Every now and then, they happen to you. It's nothing special.
And the point of this discussion is to learn/discover new things, and to help others do the same =) ... You have inspired this entire post (for which I thank you) and now I know of that artist and will be doing more reading about her later.
I hope I have passed on some valuable knowledge to you and whoever else might be reading this. I especially encourage everyone to read more about confirmation bias and how it works... It's a sneaky one! Must stay vigilant! ;)
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I have not read the Bible, though I got one recently. One thing I have read multiple times in various books is that St. John was a magician, which I believe is a trait associated with all prophets including Jesus and Buddah.
The whole conversation is interesting because it suggests we exist under the power of fate. Maybe we each have our own concept of our own fate and whatever we think of ourselves is what happens.
I'm curious.. Why did you get a bible?
Yeah, all these so called "Masters" seem to be associated with magic in some way or another. I suspect none of them really existed as the beings we think of today. There is only one ouside-of-the-bible reference to any kind of Jesus having existed, as far as I know.
Not sure what you mean by your last sentence?
Why did I get a bible? It's kind of a long story, but a few years ago I started understanding that there is a lot of occult stuff going on in the world--politics, media, entertainment--an inversion of reality. I just kept seeing deception and alternate meanings to what we are presented with and wanted to understand it more. I started reading about myths and different writings from occultists from the past to see if I could better understand what was going on today. And naturally, I would see quotes from the bible in some of my readings so having a bible was more of a reference, but I do want to read through it more.
I was also drawn to the history of the Knights Templar and their connection to the church and how their alliance deteriorated. Ultimately, I'm finding that ancient masters and their initiates knew and understood the powers of nature, manifestation and the unseen. The Vatican has always known this and their position is to keep this knowledge hidden, the esoteric truth as opposed to the exoteric stuff that is shared. The bible, as far as I can tell, is all parables and stories that bury the truth and true initiates need to uncover and understand the true meanings. Of course, these stories seem to be interpreted however anyone pleases, so that to me is proof that it works exoterically. Hope I'm making sense. This is something I've kept to myself and don't really talk to anyone about.
What I meant about 'our own concept of fate' was a reference to manifesting what we think of. Like if you always complain about something, it will always find a way of being in your life because it's of a similar vibration, like attracts like. I think there is a hermetic axiom for this, but not sure. I'm very much still a student of this stuff, but I love it and it makes more sense to me than most of what I see in the physical, exoteric world.
not one ounce of valuable knowledge.; but thanks for playing just the same.
O.O ... I can't believe you didn't gain anything from the post, even if it only helped re-enforce your own beliefs? (Confirmation bias in action! ;P). And the tone of your comment (as much as tone can be read from a one-line comment) suggests you might not have been having a good day... If that's the case, I hope things are better today! =)
Actually, it was a great day. Today is excellent, so far. And because we now have a truly free market, uncensored forum, chances are wonderful for yet another profitable day. so that's not the issue here. The subject matter bores me. Fair enough? I'm here for Liberty, and the political forum that might help us get there without violence.
Indeed, I'm also excited about what seems to be a bit of a market recovery. So while I can't understand boredom when it comes to talking about the very nature of reality, I'm on the same page as you in that regard. Actually, maybe you could answer this... A friend of mine expressed a worry that cryptocurrencies might be the beginnings of a one-world currency that, try as we might to prevent it, governments will control.
I tried to tell him that in fact crypto is the very solution to that possible future, but wasn't able to express myself well enough to convince him. (Not enough knowledge of DLT tech). How would you respond to him?
boredom is a result of TALKING about the same ol' shit. I'm 62. Been there, done that enough times. Nothing new. I am more into doing things about our problems, rather than talking.
As for your friend's concern: if currency is "digital", it makes sense they could force anyone who uses it to do a fingerprint scan to access a computer to access your money. This goes for driving, too. Or going into a food market. This is where I part with the Anarchos. Without the Deputiz'm Plan to form a WELL REGULATED MILITIA at the county level, we will become fish in a barrel.