Comments by "Guy Who Likes Ecclesiastes" (@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts) on "VICE"
channel.
-
You say that there is no God? But I assure you friend, God most certainly is, and if you are willing to take the time to look at the world around you, and you shall find abundant proof if you will but look with objective eyes. In asking me to reject God's reality you ask me to reject the facts presented to by my eyes, namely, that nothing that exists and can be physically observed can exist without having been originated, that nothing that exists can self-originate. All physically observable things follow these laws, so from where come they? These things must be made, yet you say they have no maker, for they have not allways been, nor do they make themselves, so what conclusion can be drawn but that that which made them is not physically observable. Is it so unreasonable to conclude that just as were there two dimensional men we could pass by them on each side and they know nothing of it, living their two-dimensional lives, that so too do we continue our three dimensional lives, incapable of knowing that which lies beyond our horizons? To quote a famous metaphor, if you found a house with a telescope in a forest, would you conclude that they arose through random chance? No, rather they must have a builder. Should then you conclude that the forest itself, far more complex than any house, capable of growth, regeneration, consumption, communication and adaption to circumstances, should be without one? No.
So, why then should such a God be Christian, not Hindu or Zoroastrian or deist? Why put faith in the God of the Bible, not the Quran or the Gitas? We speak of faith, so let it be defined as the Bible defines it at Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities that are not seen." Thus if we know that if A is true thatB is also true, we may be as certain that B is true as we are that A is true, even if we may not see or know B, only A. There is nothing unreasonable about such faith, rather it is unreasonable to refuse to accept the truth of B if the truth of A is certain. You yourself doubtless exercise such faith, you know that the Coronavirus is a most dangerous thing and that one should put such faith into practice by taking steps to avoid it's effects. You do this even if you have never seen the virus through optic magnification, for you put faith in the fact that the information provided by medical authorities is reliable. Why therefore should not such faith in the Bible? Because such proof does not exist for the Bible as it does for the words of Physicians? But it does! It assuredly does! Look first to prophecy, a thing immpossible by all human standerds, to the prophecy of the fall of Babylon to the Persians:
Strategically built astride the Euphrates River, ancient Babylon has been called “the political, religious, and cultural centre of the ancient Orient.” About 732 B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah penned an ominous prophecy—that Babylon would fall. Isaiah provided specifics: A leader named “Cyrus” would be the conqueror, the protective waters of the Euphrates would “dry up,” and the city’s gates would “not be shut.” (Isaiah 44:27–45:3) Some 200 years later, on October 5, 539 B.C.E., the prophecy was fulfilled in all its details. Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century B.C.E.) confirmed the manner of Babylon’s fall.
Observe further that not only is Bible prophecy accurate in the generic, but also the specific.
Isaiah made a further startling prediction regarding Babylon: “She will never be inhabited.” (Isaiah 13:19, 20) To predict permanent desolation for a sprawling city occupying a strategic location was bold indeed. You would normally expect that such a city would be rebuilt if ruined. Although Babylon lingered on for a while after its conquest, Isaiah’s words eventually came true. Today the site of ancient Babylon “falls between picnic site and abandoned theme park" reports atlas obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/babylon-iraq-saddam-hussein Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, tried to rebuild the place as a tourist attraction and national monument. Now both he and his reconstruction project rot.
It is awesome to contemplate the magnitude of Isaiah’s prophecy. What he foretold would be the equivalent of predicting the exact manner in which a modern city, such as New York or London, would be destroyed 200 years from now and then emphatically stating that it would never again be inhabited. Of course, most remarkable is the fact that Isaiah’s prophecy came true!
And prophecy is not the only proof of Biblical accuracy. Let me speak to you of an Austrian physician by the name of Ignaz Semmelweis. Semmelweis was the first doctor to discover the importance for medical professionals of hand washing. In the 19th century, it was common for women to die from an illness contracted during or after childbirth, known as childbed fever. While working at an obstetric department in Vienna, Austria, Semmelweis noticed that women delivered by physicians and medical students had a much higher mortality rate than women delivered by midwives. He concluded that the problem was that physicians were handling corpses during autopsies before attending to pregnant women, and determined that hand washing would prevent them from passing on illness.
After Semmelweis initiated a mandatory hand-washing policy, the mortality rate for women delivered by doctors fell from 18 per cent to 2 per cent – the same as it was for midwives. When he began washing medical instruments, it fell to just 1 per cent.
Nevertheless, the senior staff at the hospital still did not accept that doctors were causing the women’s disease. They believed that infections were spread through the air by something called miasmas, and attributed the low death rate to a new ventilation system. Semmelweis got another job as head of obstetrics in Budapest, Hungary, where he again succeeded at reducing mortality by insisting that doctors wash their hands.
In 1861, he published a book on his findings about how to prevent childbed fever, but it was poorly received. He died in a public insane asylum five years later, at the age of 47, only decades later with the more popular work of Louis Pasteur did such methods get the attention they needed to save lives. Is it not extraordinary then, that these regulations were in use thousands of years before Semmelweis was even born? If one looks to Leviticus 15:4-27, which I shall omit for sake of brevity, as well as, regarding human waste, looking to Deuteronomy 23:12-13 "A private place should be designated for use outside the camp, and there is where you should go. 13 A peg should be part of your equipment. When you squat outside, you should dig a hole with it and then cover your excrement." And regarding the quarantining of those with possibly contagious disease, see Leviticus 14:8-9 "The one cleansing himself must wash his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe in water, and he will be clean. Afterward, he may come into the camp, but he will dwell outside his tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day, he should shave off all the hair on his head and his chin and his eyebrows. After he shaves off all his hair, he will wash his garments and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean." And finally for rules on quarantine having touched a corpse: Leviticus 5:2-3 "Or when a person touches anything unclean, whether the dead body of an unclean wild animal, an unclean domestic animal, or an unclean swarming creature, he is unclean and has become guilty even if he does not realize it. 3 Or in case someone without being aware of it touches human uncleanness—anything unclean that may make him unclean—and he comes to know it, then he becomes guilty." And numbers 19:16 "Everyone in the open field who touches someone killed with the sword or a corpse or the bone of a man or a burial place will be unclean for seven days.". Do not these regulations exceed even the work of Pasteur and Semmelweis? And this while Egyptian physicians were putting human excrement on wounds as a cure and making potions of Lizard blood! Do not the accuracy of such regulations speak volumes of the wisdom of their author? And what human author would know such things when the foremost medical minds of humanity would take another two and a half millennia to figure out that you should wash your hands before doing surgery? Verily, a non human source is clear, and as such Yehovah God's hand is clearly suggested is it not?
Finally, look to Job 26:7 for a description of the standing of the world: "He stretches out the northern sky over empty space, suspending the earth upon nothing." Quite a contrast with Babylonian doctrines of the earth on the flat bottom of a box, Greek notions of the world floating in water or the tried and less than true "Turtles all the way down". I apologise for the length of this comment, but this is a complex topic. Nor need you take my account alone, you may be Interested in the testimony of Hans Koltar, a biotechnologist: https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=102014045&srcid=share for more information, visit JW.org. I apologise for the long reply, but this is a very important topic.
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
Racism is a problem around the world. Tragically, hatred is a part of human nature and thus it is something everyone must work ceaselessly to overcome. Hatred, however, is a symptom of a a deeper illness, sin, just as racism is a symptom of hatred. Let us all seek to apply the principle found at Colossians 3:11 "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreinger, Scythian, slave or freeman; but Christ is in all things and in all." We are all children of Jehovah, we are all made of the same dust by the same Father.
For more on this vital subject, please follow the link to an article on the topic: https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&issue=2020-11&pub=g20&srcid=share
1
-
1
-
You say that there is no God? But I assure you friend, God most certainly is, and if you are willing to take the time to look at the world around you, and you shall find abundant proof if you will but look with objective eyes. In asking me to reject God's reality you ask me to reject the facts presented to by my eyes, namely, that nothing that exists and can be physically observed can exist without having been originated, that nothing that exists can self-originate. All physically observable things follow these laws, so from where come they? These things must be made, yet you say they have no maker, for they have not allways been, nor do they make themselves, so what conclusion can be drawn but that that which made them is not physically observable. Is it so unreasonable to conclude that just as were there two dimensional men we could pass by them on each side and they know nothing of it, living their two-dimensional lives, that so too do we continue our three dimensional lives, incapable of knowing that which lies beyond our horizons? To quote a famous metaphor, if you found a house with a telescope in a forest, would you conclude that they arose through random chance? No, rather they must have a builder. Should then you conclude that the forest itself, far more complex than any house, capable of growth, regeneration, consumption, communication and adaption to circumstances, should be without one? No.
So, why then should such a God be Christian, not Hindu or Zoroastrian or deist? Why put faith in the God of the Bible, not the Quran or the Gitas? We speak of faith, so let it be defined as the Bible defines it at Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities that are not seen." Thus if we know that if A is true thatB is also true, we may be as certain that B is true as we are that A is true, even if we may not see or know B, only A. There is nothing unreasonable about such faith, rather it is unreasonable to refuse to accept the truth of B if the truth of A is certain. You yourself doubtless exercise such faith, you know that the Coronavirus is a most dangerous thing and that one should put such faith into practice by taking steps to avoid it's effects. You do this even if you have never seen the virus through optic magnification, for you put faith in the fact that the information provided by medical authorities is reliable. Why therefore should not such faith in the Bible? Because such proof does not exist for the Bible as it does for the words of Physicians? But it does! It assuredly does! Look first to prophecy, a thing immpossible by all human standerds, to the prophecy of the fall of Babylon to the Persians:
Strategically built astride the Euphrates River, ancient Babylon has been called “the political, religious, and cultural centre of the ancient Orient.” About 732 B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah penned an ominous prophecy—that Babylon would fall. Isaiah provided specifics: A leader named “Cyrus” would be the conqueror, the protective waters of the Euphrates would “dry up,” and the city’s gates would “not be shut.” (Isaiah 44:27–45:3) Some 200 years later, on October 5, 539 B.C.E., the prophecy was fulfilled in all its details. Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century B.C.E.) confirmed the manner of Babylon’s fall.
Observe further that not only is Bible prophecy accurate in the generic, but also the specific.
Isaiah made a further startling prediction regarding Babylon: “She will never be inhabited.” (Isaiah 13:19, 20) To predict permanent desolation for a sprawling city occupying a strategic location was bold indeed. You would normally expect that such a city would be rebuilt if ruined. Although Babylon lingered on for a while after its conquest, Isaiah’s words eventually came true. Today the site of ancient Babylon “falls between picnic site and abandoned theme park" reports atlas obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/babylon-iraq-saddam-hussein Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, tried to rebuild the place as a tourist attraction and national monument. Now both he and his reconstruction project rot.
It is awesome to contemplate the magnitude of Isaiah’s prophecy. What he foretold would be the equivalent of predicting the exact manner in which a modern city, such as New York or London, would be destroyed 200 years from now and then emphatically stating that it would never again be inhabited. Of course, most remarkable is the fact that Isaiah’s prophecy came true!
And prophecy is not the only proof of Biblical accuracy. Let me speak to you of an Austrian physician by the name of Ignaz Semmelweis. Semmelweis was the first doctor to discover the importance for medical professionals of hand washing. In the 19th century, it was common for women to die from an illness contracted during or after childbirth, known as childbed fever. While working at an obstetric department in Vienna, Austria, Semmelweis noticed that women delivered by physicians and medical students had a much higher mortality rate than women delivered by midwives. He concluded that the problem was that physicians were handling corpses during autopsies before attending to pregnant women, and determined that hand washing would prevent them from passing on illness.
After Semmelweis initiated a mandatory hand-washing policy, the mortality rate for women delivered by doctors fell from 18 per cent to 2 per cent – the same as it was for midwives. When he began washing medical instruments, it fell to just 1 per cent.
Nevertheless, the senior staff at the hospital still did not accept that doctors were causing the women’s disease. They believed that infections were spread through the air by something called miasmas, and attributed the low death rate to a new ventilation system. Semmelweis got another job as head of obstetrics in Budapest, Hungary, where he again succeeded at reducing mortality by insisting that doctors wash their hands.
In 1861, he published a book on his findings about how to prevent childbed fever, but it was poorly received. He died in a public insane asylum five years later, at the age of 47, only decades later with the more popular work of Louis Pasteur did such methods get the attention they needed to save lives. Is it not extraordinary then, that these regulations were in use thousands of years before Semmelweis was even born? If one looks to Leviticus 15:4-27, which I shall omit for sake of brevity, as well as, regarding human waste, looking to Deuteronomy 23:12-13 "A private place should be designated for use outside the camp, and there is where you should go. 13 A peg should be part of your equipment. When you squat outside, you should dig a hole with it and then cover your excrement." And regarding the quarantining of those with possibly contagious disease, see Leviticus 14:8-9 "The one cleansing himself must wash his garments and shave off all his hair and bathe in water, and he will be clean. Afterward, he may come into the camp, but he will dwell outside his tent for seven days. 9 On the seventh day, he should shave off all the hair on his head and his chin and his eyebrows. After he shaves off all his hair, he will wash his garments and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean." And finally for rules on quarantine having touched a corpse: Leviticus 5:2-3 "Or when a person touches anything unclean, whether the dead body of an unclean wild animal, an unclean domestic animal, or an unclean swarming creature, he is unclean and has become guilty even if he does not realize it. 3 Or in case someone without being aware of it touches human uncleanness—anything unclean that may make him unclean—and he comes to know it, then he becomes guilty." And numbers 19:16 "Everyone in the open field who touches someone killed with the sword or a corpse or the bone of a man or a burial place will be unclean for seven days.". Do not these regulations exceed even the work of Pasteur and Semmelweis? And this while Egyptian physicians were putting human excrement on wounds as a cure and making potions of Lizard blood! Do not the accuracy of such regulations speak volumes of the wisdom of their author? And what human author would know such things when the foremost medical minds of humanity would take another two and a half millennia to figure out that you should wash your hands before doing surgery? Verily, a non human source is clear, and as such Yehovah God's hand is clearly suggested is it not?
Finally, look to Job 26:7 for a description of the standing of the world: "He stretches out the northern sky over empty space, suspending the earth upon nothing." Quite a contrast with Babylonian doctrines of the earth on the flat bottom of a box, Greek notions of the world floating in water or the tried and less than true "Turtles all the way down". I apologise for the length of this comment, but this is a complex topic. Nor need you take my account alone, you may be Interested in the testimony of Hans Koltar, a biotechnologist: https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=102014045&srcid=share for more information, visit JW.org. I apologise for the long reply, but this is a very important topic.
1
-
1
-
1