Malawi and MCP Cards?

[TrueTomHarley]

54 minutes ago, Pudgy said:

Although I am prejudiced that human dams are just as important as beaver dams.

It is not commonly recognized how smart beavers are. Most of them are graduates of Dam U.

[Pudgy]

Bullwinkle the Moose attended Wossamotta U, a fictional university in the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" animated TV series.

[TrueTomHarley]

On 11/27/2023 at 12:44 AM, Juan Rivera said:

I’m beginning to think that the idea that we can approach the bible without an inherent bias or rose tinted glasses is an illusory ideal. This abstract view from nowhere seems to be more effective when we think we have obtained pure objectivity, all while unknowingly presupposing contemporary ideas and assumptions. Everyone uses glasses of some sort when they come to Scripture

That being the case, it saves swaths of time if we can discover what are the glasses another is using.

It has been mentioned before that if one is atheist, it will so heavily influence anything they utter that you simply waste your time addressing them—unless you are speaking specifically of atheism or if you are speaking to those beyond them.  Atheism is for them the force that refreshes, and if you could demonstrate that each and every accusation against human organized worship is false, they still would say, ‘Well, there’s no god anyway.’ So why should you go there with them? What you as a Christian view as commendable delayed gratification they view as a woeful and willful flushing of one’s life down the toilet. When you say, ‘Well, every project needs headship, so I’ll cooperate with these people,’ they say, ‘They’re even more deluded than you! Cult leaders, through and through! The farther you can get from them, the better.’

Within the realm of religion, find out if the other believes we’re in the last days, for it will so heavily influence anything they say as to make any other criticism of theirs irrelevant. There is no sense swatting the water downstream, for it is immediately replaced. Unless you go to the source—are we in the last days or not?—any subsequent conversation, unless it is directed at those lying beyond, is fruitless. The entire ‘life boat’ scenario that so much Witness action and thinking depends upon is absurdity to them. Addressing some controversy about ‘Tight Pants Tony’ as though that was something that really troubled them, is just spitting into the wind. Even if you win, you haven’t gotten anywhere. I’ll wear pants the size of parachutes if it fits in with lifeboat protocol. 

Find out, as soon as possible, how they feel about ‘the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus.’ Many people, even those religious, are repelled by the thought—how could God be so mean! they say. Find this out as soon as you can, because it will determine much of what they subsequently say and, again, you can find yourself quibbling with a point so far downstream—critiques over how Witnesses do this or that—as to quibble all day over a comparative nothing.

And, Lord knows, find out whenever you can if the person is ‘Proud to have come out of the closet’ gay, because if he or she is, you don’t stand a chance in discussing anything involving traditional morals as found in the Bible. Whatever you are debating, with you thinking that if you can make the point it may stick will not. Their ‘sexuality’ trumps all else.

All the above are largely matters of the heart, not the head. The heart makes a grab for what it wants, then charges the head to devise a convincing rationale. This leads the unobservant to think the head is calling the shots, but it is the heart all along. This is why one might buck at ‘rationality’ as the be-all and end-all. Rationality offers good insight into the head, but poor insight into the heart.

The best talks and writings are those that, while not ignoring the head, appeal primarily to the heart. Jesus did things that would infuriate any strict devotee of reason. He routinely spun parables that he declined to explain—let the heart figure it out. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. He answered questions with counter-questions. Try doing that with a modern ‘critical thinker.’ He launched ad hominem attacks. People may say that the ad hominem attacks of Matthew 23 are not really ad hominem attacks because the scribes and Pharisees actually were that way, but this wlll be said by anyone launching such an attack.

Allen Guelzo the historian lectures about how subjective history is, not at all how most of us suppose it. We get a hint he may be right when we recall the expression, ‘History is written by the victors,’ but he greatly expands on the idea by including new trends and waves of thinking among the ‘victors.’ That’s why (he does not make this point, but likely would if his lectures were given today) Americans pull down statues of Columbus and the forefathers that they once put up. History has (once again) flipped. The good guys have become the bad guys.

But doesn’t our modern day critical thinking solve the problem of subjectivity? he asks. No, it only makes the situation worse, he says, because it repackages our dubious biases as laudable critical thinking. “When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity,” Dale Carnegie said. The trouble with critical thinking is that those who most heavily advocate it too often assume they have a lock on the stuff.

Accordingly, while your remarks must make sense so as not to explode the head, to go exclusively there is to miss where the action is. It is the heart that is the seat of motivation. One may be dubious of a discussion that appears purely intellectual, as though coming across ones fighting a battle that does not matter.

 

[Pudgy]

…. that’s why at birth each new human child should be issued a puppy, and on their 13th birthday be given a cat, or a box turtle.

[TrueTomHarley]

 

[Srecko Sostar]

11 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

The heart makes a grab for what it wants, then charges the head to devise a convincing rationale.

This is an excellent thought. Do not forget that it is applicable to everyone and to every situation. GB convinces himself of ideas, and then every JW finds his ideas within the general idea of his religion. We all do it, in one way or another to one degree or another.

[Pudgy]

Speaking of ideas … it just occurred to me that if somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy there is a species of sentient Octopus Aliens with 8 legs, perhaps they were created like Adam and Eve without sin but ate of the forbidden lobster and were expelled from the Crystal Lagoon and the blessings of their Creator were removed from them, and the were condemned to shrivel up and die. But God had mercy on them and sent his Son to redeem them and reconcile with God. 

Would that Redeemer be Jesus with two arms and legs, or have a different name and have eight arms and/ or legs?

Hmmmmm … perhaps that’s a question best asked in “Questions From Readers”.

[Srecko Sostar]

5 hours ago, Pudgy said:

Speaking of ideas … it just occurred to me that if somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy there is a species of sentient Octopus Aliens with 8 legs, perhaps they were created like Adam and Eve without sin but ate of the forbidden lobster and were expelled from the Crystal Lagoon and the blessings of their Creator were removed from them, and the were condemned to shrivel up and die. But God had mercy on them and sent his Son to redeem them and reconcile with God. 

Would that Redeemer be Jesus with two arms and legs, or have a different name and have eight arms and/ or legs?

Hmmmmm … perhaps that’s a question best asked in “Questions From Readers”.

Arauna once commented on that segment. She says that Jesus' sacrifice laid the foundation for everything that could happen in the universe in that context. So now choose what suits you best.

To me, her view is somewhat illogical, even if at first it seems acceptable, because as you also gave an example, various forms of life are possible and there can be a different context of their "free will". We are currently faced with the parameter "free will choice" in the context of whether God has the right to dictate to people how they will live. In some other part of the universe, the dilemma may be something else, so I wonder how Jesus' sacrifice, according to Arauna, would be a cover for some new "case" that was or will be in the future.

[Pudgy]

… I was just getting ready to reply something I thought was profound, wise, insightful and wrong.

[TrueTomHarley]

8 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

Do not forget that it is applicable to everyone and to every situation. GB convinces himself of ideas, and then every JW finds his ideas within the general idea of his religion

Loosely speaking, Srecko is my template for the character Vic Vomodog, sort of a Wily E. Coyote figure who lurks in wait of any comment about anything and converts it into yet another attempt to catch the Road Runner. Thus far, Road Runner thwarts him every time, but we do not know what tomorrow will hold. If we did, the gag would have lost its enduring appeal long ago. Vic’s perpetual attacks on the faith are not logically consistent, but I don’t worry about it because neither are Srecko’s. Anything that comes up—how can it be used against the faith? Nevermind if it is consistent with prior criticisms.

It probably never would have occurred to me but for reflection upon the inane, ‘hehehe )))))))’ he used to append to comments, ceasing the practice only after Nana Fofana (who does not appear to be here any more) began imitating the style so mercilessly, even meanly overacting a chopped style that stems from English being a second language, that he could endure it no more.

Oh, yeah: hehehe ))))))). How can one not think of Wily E. Coyote cooking up another scheme with some Acme products?

[Pudgy]

it may be an urban legend, but it is my understanding that the coyote in the last episode did get to catch and eat the Road Runner.

The BIG question for me this morning is  …. “How does an A.I. develop a sense of humor?”.

 

 

[Pudgy]

… I was just getting ready to reply something I thought was profound, wise, insightful and wrong.

AND VIOLA!  The Roadrunner clip!