Epicurus made the assertation that If God is all all powerful and all loving then evil would not exist, because
an all power God could stop evil and an all loving God would want to stop evil. However, evil exists therefore God is either not all power or not all loving. Think about that......
So there are two main theodicy camps for this. The first is the free will camp which basically argues that God created us with the ability to chose and we can chose either good or evil and allows us to freely do things that are harmful. (Its very Armenian in thought progession). I really struggle with the concept of free will because of one simple and basic concept. The ability we have to choose. Doesn’t the ability to make a choice imply that we can somehow choose God and salvation? IF so, doesn’t that imply we have some active part in our salvation and would that not constitute “works” on our part and diminish the totality of grace? Does that not also then lead us down a path where our salvation can be questionable based upon whether or not we did our part correctly?
How frightening that would be to come to the end of your life and having to wonder where you will spend eternity!
Conversly the second theodicy is the Sovereignty camp. This argument is basically that God gets all the credit for good and we get all of the blame for the evil, but that God uses all for His glory. (Calvinistic in thought progression) From a preliminary perspective it seems very agreeable especially since I tend be very Calvinistic in my theological views. So here is what I struggle with on this side of the fence. Too much semantics. People on this side want to argue the differences between what God ordains, authors and allows, but still does not answer the question of why evil. If God is sovereign creator over all then doesn't that imply that He created evil too? For what purpose? On the sovereignty of God side, the belief is held that all things occur because of God decided that they would. Thus saving grace comes from a decision that God made for the individual and then caused that individual to accept it. None of which could have happened if God had not allowed it. However, if that is the case, then everything has already been determined we have no choice in any matter. Now think about that implication. For your entire life you have sought and desired to own a BMW convertible. You work hard, you do everything scripturally right yet that BMW is just out of reach. One day that BMW is parked in your driveway and you have the ability to have it fulfilling your every desire but in order to that you must break the law by beating up the guy who dropped it off. Scriptually that is a sin. Now based upon the Sovereignty of God theodicy, 1) God gave you the desire for the BMW. 2) God did not bring about that BMW through obedience. 3) God did bring about the BMW 4) God determined that the only way you could have the BMW was to beat the guy up. For what purpose do these things happen?
Why are we given desires? Whay are they not fulfilled? Why are they used to put us in juxtaposition with beliefs? God ordains it, He allows it, He writes the script. Why? Why even bother trying to minister, or do anything because it has all been pre decided anywa? What is the point? For His glory? What does that really mean? If there was some guy walking around who had control and he arbitrailiy subjected his people to such treatment, he would be deemed a mental case. I mean seriously who does God need to show off His glory for? Are He and other dieties sitting around trying to see who is the most popular or most magnificant?
I don't get it! If you read the Book of Job it seems that God is really twisted and egomanical. Which brings me to a question. Does scripture really say that God is all loving? (I think the powerful part is pretty clear - everything, even Satan has to report to Him). I'm not sure that I can stomach either picture of God.
I know I probably border on heresy but only because I am willling to voice thoughts that I am sure many have had before me. Besides Martin Luther was once considered a heretic.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2009
Life
Days like today make me want to dive head first out of an airplane or take an S curve on the back of a bike doing 110 mph. I am not afraid of dying, but I am terrified of growing old and looking back upon my life and seeing not LIFE but existence. Decades spent conforming to the expectations of all around until there is nothing of me left. That is what I have nightmares about. I choose to live, to drink deeply from the cup of vitality and know what it means to be given over to that which calls me. To be so absorbed into the spray from the sea, or the flight of an eagle that I weep for joy, to dance in the wooded areas in the golden time between twilight and night. I want to run across an open field in a game of tag with my lover, to be caught and pulled down among grass and to make love for hours. I want to step out of time and to lie naked under the stars on the high desert or on a mountain top on a moonlight night. I will choose to allow the tides of emotion and passion be my compass and risk being shipwrecked on the high seas over following the well worn path of complacency. I would rather have my heart so full of wonder and ardor that it bursts or to also endure the wretchedness of pain to the point of being crushed, than to float along experiencing neither.
When my time comes to pass from this existence to the next, let God judge those choices for I am ready to stand for them, and let those who are left here be the ones to debate on whether or not it was a "right life".
But in the end I pray that none may say it was a life not lived, a life wasted on compromise and reget. Instead I hope for a celebratation of a life that was sucked dry of every wild and impossible passion and dream.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
INFP profile / Piscean nature
INFPS are:
• The INFP is likely the MOST ROMANTIC of all 16 types
• The INFP has extremely high expectations of intimacy in marriage and relationship
• The INFP is usually very articulate and will NEED to talk about how they fell
• INFPs find sex and romance very, very important
• The INFP will typically strongly dislike conflict, especially if repeated
• The INFP is normally very kind, liberal, bighearted with their mate and children
• The INFPs tend to live in the world of their imagination rather than the real world
• INFPs can be extremely sympathetic for others
• INFPs will be very private and personal
• The INFP under stress can be quite critical and cynical
• The INFP will take great delight in pleasing mate and family
• The INFP may search all their lives for “meaning”
• The INFP can keep a mate pursuing them all their lives.
The INFP under great stress will verbally get loud, angry and critical
I think this is 100% accurate!
Pisces are:
Pisces and Independence:
Pisces needs a dominant partner of role model in their life or they will very easily fall into a pit of self-pity and self-undoing. When they are independent and inspired by life's events, their creativity comes shining through but they are unable to be on their own for long before they start dreaming in their imaginary world of happy people and happy endings. They need other people to keep them grounded and on the right track.
Pisces and Friendship:
Pisces will go out of their way to help a friend. They are extremely sensitive and loyal. They will take a friend's problem and make it their own and suffer with them. This is the weak spot of Pisces but any friend of this zodiac sign should know that although they are attracted to people with severe problems who desperately need help, this actually does more harm them good. Even though Pisces will offer to make everything right, do not allow them to take on all your problems because they will lose their identity in your situation. They need a strong positive friend to make them strong. Pisces like adventure, new situation and social events. A Pisces friend will always have something exciting in mind and it is a very fulfilling, long lasting friendship.
Pisces and Temperament:
The Pisces personality is hard to pin down, it is very mysterious and elusive. Pisces are molded by their surroundings, they incorporate their experiences and surroundings into themselves. They have extreme compassion and they feel the pain of others. If something is wrong in the world that affects them, it affects them deeply, they take it to heart and feel extreme feelings regarding the matter. When they are happy, they are extremely happy and when they are sad, they are extremely depressed.
Pisces Deep Inside:
Pisces have an intuitive and psychic ability more then any other zodiac signs. They trust their gut feelings and if they do not, they quickly learn to because they realize that their hunches are usually correct. Pisces downfall is their sensitivity. They will help another person with their problems and like to do so because making others feel good in turn makes them feel good. They want people in their life who stir their emotions because this helps them to practice emotional stability. The inner conflict of Pisces is extremes of temperament and conflicting emotions. They are trying to pinpoint themselves on the real world while their spiritual world can cloud their vision, they will try to escape or avoid a situation instead of confronting it.
Pisces in a Nutshell:
Pisces is the sign of mysticism, mystery and the spiritual unknown. Pisces live in two worlds, the real world and the spiritual or mystical world where they interpret what they see into what they want. They do this to avoid all the realities of pain and suffering in the world. They have extremes of emotions and feel both good and bad intensively. Pisces have formidable intuitive ability. Most Pisces are somehow involved with occult or spiritualism. Pisces are very good at understanding people for they have the ability to delve into the psyche and see behind a person's motivations. Pisces are prone to drug addiction and indulging lifestyles because of their eternal search for themselves and their fear of confrontation. Once they aware this is why they are doing it, it will be easier to kick the habit. Pisces are not the pushovers that they may seem, in fact they have strength of character and will stand up for what they believe in and and they can do hard work for something they believe in. They can be very lazy but only in matters that they do not care about. Pisces is the most sensitive of all zodiac signs.
Pisces Woman:
Pisces women are very captivating and fascinating. She makes a man feel like a man because of her need for a protector and leader. She is charming, soft and feminine. The ultimate enchantress. She can see right through a man and she is not easy to fool, so any man better be straight with her and not lead her on, because instead of confronting him, she will simply disappear. She needs to nurture and will give the man orders, but only for his own good. She will make sure he is eating properly and getting enough sleep, sort of like a mother nurturing a child. What she needs in return is a man to protect and cherish her, make her feel like she is needed and loved. She might almost be clingy and dependent but never overbearingly. Her partner will become of better half. She needs patience and sympathy and you have to be gentle with her. Don't poke fun or tease and definitely do not reject her harshly because she can't stand rejection. She is extremely romantic and will lose herself in the relationship. The Pisces woman is the ultra feminine nurturer, the ideal woman for the right man
• The INFP is likely the MOST ROMANTIC of all 16 types
• The INFP has extremely high expectations of intimacy in marriage and relationship
• The INFP is usually very articulate and will NEED to talk about how they fell
• INFPs find sex and romance very, very important
• The INFP will typically strongly dislike conflict, especially if repeated
• The INFP is normally very kind, liberal, bighearted with their mate and children
• The INFPs tend to live in the world of their imagination rather than the real world
• INFPs can be extremely sympathetic for others
• INFPs will be very private and personal
• The INFP under stress can be quite critical and cynical
• The INFP will take great delight in pleasing mate and family
• The INFP may search all their lives for “meaning”
• The INFP can keep a mate pursuing them all their lives.
The INFP under great stress will verbally get loud, angry and critical
I think this is 100% accurate!
Pisces are:
Pisces and Independence:
Pisces needs a dominant partner of role model in their life or they will very easily fall into a pit of self-pity and self-undoing. When they are independent and inspired by life's events, their creativity comes shining through but they are unable to be on their own for long before they start dreaming in their imaginary world of happy people and happy endings. They need other people to keep them grounded and on the right track.
Pisces and Friendship:
Pisces will go out of their way to help a friend. They are extremely sensitive and loyal. They will take a friend's problem and make it their own and suffer with them. This is the weak spot of Pisces but any friend of this zodiac sign should know that although they are attracted to people with severe problems who desperately need help, this actually does more harm them good. Even though Pisces will offer to make everything right, do not allow them to take on all your problems because they will lose their identity in your situation. They need a strong positive friend to make them strong. Pisces like adventure, new situation and social events. A Pisces friend will always have something exciting in mind and it is a very fulfilling, long lasting friendship.
Pisces and Temperament:
The Pisces personality is hard to pin down, it is very mysterious and elusive. Pisces are molded by their surroundings, they incorporate their experiences and surroundings into themselves. They have extreme compassion and they feel the pain of others. If something is wrong in the world that affects them, it affects them deeply, they take it to heart and feel extreme feelings regarding the matter. When they are happy, they are extremely happy and when they are sad, they are extremely depressed.
Pisces Deep Inside:
Pisces have an intuitive and psychic ability more then any other zodiac signs. They trust their gut feelings and if they do not, they quickly learn to because they realize that their hunches are usually correct. Pisces downfall is their sensitivity. They will help another person with their problems and like to do so because making others feel good in turn makes them feel good. They want people in their life who stir their emotions because this helps them to practice emotional stability. The inner conflict of Pisces is extremes of temperament and conflicting emotions. They are trying to pinpoint themselves on the real world while their spiritual world can cloud their vision, they will try to escape or avoid a situation instead of confronting it.
Pisces in a Nutshell:
Pisces is the sign of mysticism, mystery and the spiritual unknown. Pisces live in two worlds, the real world and the spiritual or mystical world where they interpret what they see into what they want. They do this to avoid all the realities of pain and suffering in the world. They have extremes of emotions and feel both good and bad intensively. Pisces have formidable intuitive ability. Most Pisces are somehow involved with occult or spiritualism. Pisces are very good at understanding people for they have the ability to delve into the psyche and see behind a person's motivations. Pisces are prone to drug addiction and indulging lifestyles because of their eternal search for themselves and their fear of confrontation. Once they aware this is why they are doing it, it will be easier to kick the habit. Pisces are not the pushovers that they may seem, in fact they have strength of character and will stand up for what they believe in and and they can do hard work for something they believe in. They can be very lazy but only in matters that they do not care about. Pisces is the most sensitive of all zodiac signs.
Pisces Woman:
Pisces women are very captivating and fascinating. She makes a man feel like a man because of her need for a protector and leader. She is charming, soft and feminine. The ultimate enchantress. She can see right through a man and she is not easy to fool, so any man better be straight with her and not lead her on, because instead of confronting him, she will simply disappear. She needs to nurture and will give the man orders, but only for his own good. She will make sure he is eating properly and getting enough sleep, sort of like a mother nurturing a child. What she needs in return is a man to protect and cherish her, make her feel like she is needed and loved. She might almost be clingy and dependent but never overbearingly. Her partner will become of better half. She needs patience and sympathy and you have to be gentle with her. Don't poke fun or tease and definitely do not reject her harshly because she can't stand rejection. She is extremely romantic and will lose herself in the relationship. The Pisces woman is the ultra feminine nurturer, the ideal woman for the right man
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)