Monday, November 28, 2011

Science...Falsely Called "Falsely So Called"





Science...Falsely Called "Falsely So Called"
 
Dennis Diehl - EzineArticles Expert AuthorWe all have our stories of how we got here and who we are in the universe. Most stories told by every culture point out the unique origins of that culture, like as not, springing directly from that particular cave or mountain in distant and mysterious times in the past. When the National Geographic Genographic research team gently informed aboriginal Australians of their African origins, according to the DNA evidence, the Elders reacted with a simple "no, we originated here and maybe they came from us." Comforting and upholding of ancient aboriginal beliefs, but not scientifically true. You could feel the tension this new information brought into the cultural beliefs that for so long had encouraged and sustained them. I doubt they will change their understanding of themselves with this bit of scientific information.
 
A similar reaction occurred when the team informed the Navajo in the Americas of their DNA origins linking them to a still existant people in Siberia. The immediate reaction was understandably defensive for Navajo origin stories which had them always living in the Four Corners area of the now United States. In time, I believe they agreed that there was room for both the science and the tradition and, in this case, both maintained their truths on tribal origins. But the science was more literally correct. The uneasiness was palpable.
 
And now the Indigenous People's Council on Biocolonialism, the IPCB is raising even more concerns about the effect this knowledge will have on belief systems of indigenous peoples. For better or worse, "Indigenous peoples have consistently voiced their opposition to this type of research because it breaches cultural values, bioethical standards and human rights law. The IPCB believes the project is being undertaken at the expense of indigenous peoples. Debra Harry, the organization's executive director, writes on their website, "It is quite likely this project will advance new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowledge of ourselves. There can be no claim as to which understanding is correct, and will result in a clash of knowledge systems. Moreover, there could be serious political implications that result from a so-called "scientific" assertion that indigenous peoples are not "indigenous" to their territories, but instead are recent migrants from some other place. This cuts at the heart of the rights of indigenous peoples, which are based upon our collective, inherent right of self-determination as peoples, under international human rights law." A standard ethical requirement in human research is that the benefits must equal the risk. The IPCB believes that in this type of research, there will be no benefit to indigenous peoples, yet the research creates substantial risk for the individuals and peoples affected."
 
It is this advancement of "new theories of our origins that may contradict our own knowlege of ourselves," that seems to be so difficult for humans to handle. Truth is still true though denied by all. In such defensiveness science always get's called "science so called" and even does in the Bible as "Science, falsely so called" (I Tim. 6:20). This phrase is always used when the science is really not false, but it is threatening to sincerely held beliefs. I don't like someone knocking the nose off my idols any more than the next guy, but that's progress, painful and ever moving forward. The Bible makes fun of learning at times in this nervousness over knowledge when it mocks those who are "ever learning, but never able to come the knowledge of the truth" (II Tim. 3:7), to which I say, at least they keep trying and even Jesus is reported to have said, "seek and ye shall find." Of course he meant spiritually but it's good advice in all endeavors too.
 
 
 
We all have our origin stories that, in time, will probably prove to not be true, at lest not literally. We live in an age where even most Christians realize that the origin stories of mankind in the Garden of Eden, through a first set of parents, Adam and Eve, are not literally true. The problem with believing that is that much of the doctrine in the New Testament requires the story of the first Adam and Eve to be literally true as they lead to such literally true doctrines as the role of women in the church, why women have babies painfully, Jesus being the "Second Adam" and the Doctrine of Original Sin. All of these beliefs and teachings are destroyed by the Genesis story not being literally true.
 
If there was no real Eve, or Adam whose fault this wasn't, who caused all of mankind to fall into original sin, for which we all must repent etc, then there is no need of repenting of that which never happened or of needing a Savior in the way portrayed in the New Testament. Stories and ideas have implications to say the least. Many Christians think it is ok NOT to believe in things being literally true. But that has incredible implications for other things they think they believe but dont' realize the connection and contradictions their position causes theologically. Plainly, if there was no literal Genesis like creation of mankind and fall into sin, and it is shown to not be true by good science, the implications are staggering in how we will have to change our views. Frankly most won't but will, as always, attack the messenger and burn the message, or just burn both.
 
 
 
Actually, a simple cheek swab was all it took for me to find out my own amazing DNA trip out of Africa 70,000 years ago. Perhaps this is done for some reason somewhere, but for the Genome project, this fear is very unfounded. Our genetic history is easily taken from the inside of our mouths. Every cell contains the whole. We are like a hologram where, even if broken, each piece reflects the entire picture when a laser light is passed through it.  Amazing!
 
Simply speaking, it appears that ALL modern humans originated in and then spread out from Africa within the last 100,000 years or less. What a great story to read at Clan meetings! All the "differences" we see in humans are adaptations we made along the way in our trek from there to Europe, Asia and the Americas. Good science gives us good explanations, always subject to new information about this process.  Those humans who migrated north out of Africa had to give up some of their melenin, which darkens the skin to protect it from overexposure to the sun, to get more sun and vitimin D so their bones would not fail them.  That's it.
 
Indeed, we do need to insure the privacy of the individual if they wish it and we need to be sensitive to the process that others go through when they are faced with the implications of such information and research. It takes time to accept change and as stated, many won't, but rather will just become angry and defensive. We see this all the time in the attacks Christian literalists launch into from their pulpits when new knowledge threatens old ideas. I want to be in church the day we confirm life outside of our own solar system, or even in it. The Universe teems with life including intelligent life.  How do I know this?  It just seems so knowing what we do about the insignificance of our little planet in the whole big uni or  multiverse.
 
It's funny, in my previous church affiliation there was a belief that always annoyed me scientifically. It was the belief, now long discredited, that the Lost Tribes of Israel turned up as the powerful nations of Europe, The British Empire and of course, America. I was Dutch, so that clearly put me in the Tribe of Zebulun, according to the theory. I never gave a sermon on this topic! However, my DNA shows I made no such trip through the middle east to become an Israelite and go on into Europe. Rather it shows a long trip through Iran, Iraq the various "Beckastans" on out onto the steppes of Asia and then one big swing into Europe as Cro-Magnon and then into France, Holland and England in much more recent times. That British-Israelism idea is bunk and DNA testing will show it to be so. That particular idea is racist if ever there was one.  The Mormons also have yet to deal with the implications of DNA realities.   Naive Americans are not related to Israelites.  They come from Siberia which, as of this writing, has not been found to be a hangout for the 12 Tribes. I predict that , in time, the Book of Mormon will be claimed to be "Spiritual" and not literally true in order to keep the story going.  
 
Presidential candidates, as intelligent as they are, cringe when asked about their beliefs in God or Evolution. Their answers reflect not so much truth as expediency and take into account what the voters need them to believe.  However,  those who  believe absurdities can lead others into autrocities if need be.
 
So good science is not "science, falsely so called" or "so called science." Yes, it has implications for theologians and Christians but believing something is true never makes it really true and we need to always have a love of discovery. Sorry to say, it is usually the reactions to new information by those most threatened by it that plunges our world into chaos and still get the messenger in trouble for the message. 
 

Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
 

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Lil' Joel Meeker Has Concerns About The Internet



For some reason all the COG's have a fear of the Internet.  I wonder why........? 

Anyway, Lil' Joel is warning COGWA members about the Internet.   Too much information is not a good thing and starts to change your thinking.  Is Lil' Joel Meeker concerned that too much information about the COGWA, UCG, COG's and their inherent corruption?  Is there a trend that this information  is starting to weigh on peoples minds?  Is it that people no longer have a blind trust in COG leadership anymore?  I guess for Lil' Joel it's not like the French who basically swept the ground for Lil' Joel as he walked along.  Don't want that WonderKid who graduated from God's College to get his shoes dirty....or do an honest days work.

Lil' Joel writes:


A Prophetic Warning About Your Thinking

Is the World Wide Web playing a part in rewiring our brains? What does God say about trends in thinking in the end time?

I recently read a fascinating and troubling book called The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, a Pulitzer Prize finalist written by Nicholas Carr. The genesis of the book was the moment the author realized his thinking had changed. He, a man who earns his living by writing, could no longer concentrate on long passages of text; his attention would wander after a page or two.
He realized this change was due to all the time we, in our modern, tech-driven world, now spend on the Internet. On the web, information comes in very short texts, interspersed with embedded video or audio and distracting hyperlinks inviting us to go look at something else before we even finish what we’re reading. (On this blog we try to limit our writing to 800 words—more than that and we risk losing a reader’s attention!)

Rewiring our brains
The use of the Internet is actually reshaping our brains. Literacy, the ability to read, allowed a revolution in human thinking. Information could be transmitted over time and space. Literate people developed the ability to concentrate for long periods of time, to mentally follow complicated lines of reasoning, to contemplate transcendent concepts.

The brain of someone who reads is not shaped exactly like the brain of an illiterate person because our brains develop along the lines of the uses to which they are put.

Heavy Internet use is also reshaping our brains, and research shows that many people are losing the ability to concentrate for longer periods and to think deeply about complex concepts. It’s too much work. Short texts, photos and video are much easier to process and more entertaining.

So what?
For Christians this trend should be alarming. Our God reveals Himself, His plan, the purpose of our existence and His laws for life—all in writing. In fact, they are in lengthy, not always easy-to-read texts. To lose the ability or desire to read and concentrate on what we read is to distance ourselves from God.

Perilous times from wrong thinking
A Bible prophecy for the time just before the return of Jesus Christ states that human thinking will have become shallow and entirely self-absorbed:
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
If and when people lose the ability or desire to think abstractly and to control their thoughts, they will be left only with what they feel, and what they feel will be mostly about themselves, not others and not God. This is prophesied for the time ahead us, and our increasing dependence on the Internet may be hastening that day.
 I’m not suggesting that we stop using the Internet entirely; that’s not a realistic possibility for many of us. But we must be aware of how Internet use is changing our thinking. We must control our use of the Internet and not allow it to control us. And we must discipline ourselves to continue a deep and regular study of the Word of God.

Full aricle is here:  A Prophetic Warning About Your Thinking

Weinland Says: "Laura and I understand that this is part of what we must face..."



Weinerdude, the documented failed prophet of the Church of God Preaching the Kingdom, has finally responded to the lawsuit filled by the US Government against him and his cult for tax fraud.

He says:

This will be my response to the indictment concerning the accusation of using Church funds for personal use (beyond normal income), which in turn is being used to say I did not pay taxes upon those funds.

I’ve rewritten this posting several times, as this entire matter has been rather difficult for me to digest. I have been waiting to find out the full details of the indictment and it has been somewhat unsettling as it simply takes time to receive all the information that it is based upon. Although we have known that an investigation has been ongoing since mid 2008, it has all been rather difficult to understand why.

There really is no basis for this. This investigation that covers several years has been difficult to understand, especially in the light of the fact that we have never at any time received any civil notice from the IRS. There has never been a request for an audit of which we would have fully cooperated, as our desire has always been to do things correctly in filing our taxes. The Church has a great team of lawyers and an investigator who are vigorously working to defend the Church and myself.

As people tend to believe what they will, I’ve decided that a posting is not the forum to address the issues at hand, but to fully use our legal system and the courts to do so.

Weinerdude wants you to know that this is Satan at work attacking the true church and it's Two Witless Witnesses.  If Witless Witnness Laura is such a profound end time prophet why is she so silent?  Is she really drunk on the kool-aide from Weinerdude's sippy cup?  Can she be that stupid that she believes she is one of the two witnesses?


Laura and I understand that this is part of what we must face as part of the work we believe God has given us to do in this end-time. We will continue to do as we have ever since we became part of the ministry of God’s Church back in 1981. That makes over 30 years of serving in the ministry. Indeed, we have always sought to faithfully and zealously serve God and His Church. Our plans have not changed and we will continue as we do now by visiting the many congregations of the Church which are scattered throughout the U.S. and other countries.

Then to justify the funds transfers, he claims that they brought that Swiss Bank account monies back to the States in order to finance his failed 2008 end of the world scenarios.  As we all know first hand, every single thing he said has been an abject failure.  So I guess Weinerdude is admitting that the monies wasted on this fraudulent campaign are truly lost. Poor widows tithe money down the drain for nothing.

False Prophet Weinderdude continues:

This posting also provides me with the opportunity to remind our readers of two important doctrines of the Church. One concerns tithing and government taxation, and the second concerns our teaching of what it means to be a “good citizen” in the country where one lives.

Concerning the first of those two doctrines I have referred, we adhere to a strong belief in tithing and giving of offerings as many other Christian churches and those in Judaism also believe. We deeply believe the instruction of Jesus Christ who said that we should pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s (taxation to be paid to government agencies) and to God what is God’s (tithes and offerings). Members are to be as zealous in being faithful to God in tithing as they are faithful to God in paying their taxes to whatever government is over them.

Concerning the second doctrine to which I have referred, you can read on the Church website what the Church teaches about being a “good citizen” in a country, especially as we draw nearer to the end of the final three and one-half years of this end-time. This is stated in the FAQ section under the “Topics” and is entitled, “Citizenship in a nation.”

As the Church continues to remain faithful to God, God is faithful to lead us and fight our battles for us. Indeed, we look to God and His Son Jesus Christ to guide our way and always deliver us.

Weinerdude has made it clear to his minuscule group of followers that they are to continue to send in money to fiance his cult.  Will he end up in Tuscon when the IRS takes over his cult headquarters and repossesses his home?  Will he start claiming persecution.  Will the time of the end be near?  He seems to think so as he claims we are drawing hear to the end of the final 3 1/2 years.  What a moron!