Are People Worth Loving?

In recent years I've had a few close relationships suddenly separated by a chasm. Regardless of whose is to blame; it's most painful and disappointing, among other things. And it happened again recently, several times, and it's left me wondering why bother being around people at all if there is no true foundation for even the most desolated relationship to be rebuilt on?

In this vulnerable place I find a most tangible comfort. To find peace and joy in a valley of hatred and spoil is humbling. It comes from reflecting on my reason and purpose for existing, and the story of Jesus. Lately, it usually makes me weep before the words can leave my lips. In this place though, I suddenly remember how many times I must have treated my creator with similar contempt.

During this I find I love him even more. Like holding your first child and knowing how you couldn't possibly love someone any more, and then holding a second child realizing it still happened.

Thank you for your mercy and grace Father! Thank you for your sacrifices Jesus!

This leads me to question how he maintains faith in us. Most cite it's a mystery, and I don't necessarily disagree, but I have found you can't truly love our creator if you don't learn how to loves us first.

As I consider this I find that surely you can't love someone if you don't have faith in their character. Trust is the house of love and without it there is no where for love to dwell and abide - much less grow. So our creator must have faith and trust in us. But why?

Here I rediscover that we are an image of our creator, being a by product of his universe. The Bible is stunningly accurate when it says that we're not only an image; but the image of our creator. You can find that reference in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, chapter 27 in the first sentence.

Knowing this also tells me that whatever brings about our destruction, as people in relationships especially; has no place in our life, loves home - for the sake of poetry. So I should cast those things out, the products of fear, that would keep these relationships torn down and again take confidence in love, true love, love like our creators love, and tirelessly work until they're rebuilt.

I can't save the world, that was Jesus' role. But I can raise better people for the world to come, that's my job.

I Believe You God

I don't know of the Bible claiming to be Your "Word", dictated. But I do believe that it, in fact is still used to perfectly represent you at the exact moments you intend it to and in no others.

That these moments of encountering your words are not at the turning of a page or harmonizing with a song. Rather at the moment you mysteriously choose and reveal to us by faith. Faith that isn't conjured by the cheap recycling of mans services, but the great and awesome power of the one creator.

Tonight, as with many other nights, the words of the Bible have apprehended me and my present circumstances in a way that is clearly intentional and not simply happenstance.

Its by Faith, in the nature of our Creator - your character, that we come to truly know you. Not by words, or actions, circumstances or environment. But by all things that provoke us in faith to believe completely and progressively in You.

I don't know exactly why you use the Bible so often as your mouthpiece, but I believe you do. And that you did tonight. And I thank you for your consideration and affection for me.

I also thank you for the revelation of how my character, in its purest form, reveals to me no less than the same about you. That is to say that if I'm capable of love, generosity, excitement, joy, singing, dancing, and so much more... then the same must be true of you as well because nothing could come to exist without you first.

You are God, and I am not. I am human, and your ways are above my ways. I am free from the burden of omniscience and it's liabilities. Thank you God. I love you. And I wish to love you as rightly and truly and fiercely as you love me.

In the midst of an exponentially complicated fallout of a volatile act by another person; I read Ecclesiastes' final two chapters. Exhorting it's reader not to allow the excitement and events of your youth to overshadow your awareness and affection for your Creator. But to begin life there and carry that forward.

This is a divine message from God to me because this has been a topic in my life ever so presently, as recent as this morning.

Open Ended Thoughts on True Sustainability.

Because I have the capacity to be rational and logical, alongside the ability to be emotional, I believe that our creator is - in some form and no less than our own; equally rational, logical and emotional. Though not necessarily limited to that in ways we may be.

That being said, it occurred to me that, assuming the Biblical records of Jesus are accurate (which I know of little to no evidence to suggest they are falsified or otherwise inaccurate) then Jesus' promise of eternal life from our creator testifies that it is, and probably was, our creators intention to make humans immortal.

However, rationally I see a few problems with this;

• If humans are designed to be immortal, are other living creatures suppose to be also?
  • If any living creature is designed to be immortal what happens when the Earth is over populated? Popular scientific theory suggests that death prevents over population, and therefore is designed into life. AKA "the cycle of life". But that theory seems to contradict the purpose of nature's ability to heal.
    • If you believe humans were designed to expand into the universe (or beyond) the same problem is, eventually, reached if our universe is finite.
  • I see no other explanation than to assume that our creator is infinite, although we can't fully grasp that. So none of this is necessarily a problem, just a potential problem.
• If humans are designed to live forever on earth then why does Jesus put such great emphasis on having a new body, living with him in Paradise, etc...
• if humans are not designed to live forever why would Jesus put such great emphasis on advancing the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven into the Kingdom of Earth?

However I see a few proponents to suggest we are design to live forever.

• Telomeres - The abiltiy for human bodies to repair themselves (healing from wounds, etc...) - Apparently the only reason we die is because of a single enzyme that our bodies mysteriously stop producing. We can increase production in mice and increase their lives dramatically so theoretically we could re-invogorate them in our own bodies.
• Since we know stress reduces the production of this enzyme could this be achieved by living forever?
• To completely eliminate stress would we need to no longer fear death?
• Or do we just need to limit stress like we limit how much food we eat to remain healthy?

Jars of Clay - World's Apart Lyrics

I look upon the empty cross.
Forgetting what my life has cost.
Wipe away the crimson stains
Steal my heart
More and more I need you now.
Battle between grace and pride.
Given up not so long ago.
Wash my feet and clense my pride.
And all the things I cannot hide.
Take the beauty and take my tears.
Take it now.
Take the words I can't deny.
Wash the world I lost.
Take my world apart.
I pray.
Take my world apart.

Biological Facts

Disclaimer: I am not formerly qualified or educated on anything. This is a compilation of information I've confirmed and believe to be true by observation, personal experience or credible sources. As always verifiable constructive criticism is welcomed.

I love staying up late to watch a good movie, or working through my hungry stomach because I'm on a roll (which I'm doing right now, ha) or playing video games until I have a head ache. But I'm discovering how dangerous these behaviors are, especially over the long term.

Here are the things I've discovered and the related citations so you can verify them yourself;

Evidence for Biological Demand for a Schedule

1. If you don't wake up on time you won't eat on time.
2. If you don't eat on time then you get hungry rapidly and suddenly.
1. I've read that by the time you have allowed your body to experience "growling hunger" you have already allowed your body too much time to starve.
1. Citations needed for side effects.
2. This can result in overeating because you feel the need to satisfy that hunger rapidly, but you eat foot faster than you can digest, resulting in over eating.
2. It also results in eating your following meals later.
3. If you eat your following meals later then you're more likely to eat late.
1. If you eat too soon before you go to bed then your body can't digest it's food properly.
1. It results in a myriad of intestinal issues such as acid reflux, gas, general stomach pains, etc... that can cause irreversible long term damage to the affected organs.
4. If wait to digest and you don't go to bed on time (or whatever the reason) your body still tries to wake you up at the "normal" time the next day.
1. This results in less sleep then your body actually needs.
1. Less sleeping time means shorter period of REM (rapid eye movement, AKA "dreaming state") cycles.
1. Dreaming is your consciousness' awareness, AKA a side effect, of your body organizing your memories. It's your brain literally re-experiencing all of the sensual memories (hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, emotions, etc...) as they are taking from one part of your brain and delivered to another for storage.
1. Your brain tries to take the days memories and store them in an organized fashion so that you can, most quickly, recall and use them in following days. They're stored in nodes which are networked to other nodes. Just like computers are networked through the internet to share information.
2. Failure to sleep enough means that your brain didn't have enough time to organize those things so memories from the day get lost, die (AKA deleted), forgotten (die over time) and result, in following days, in the form of failure to recall, "think clearly" or be generally focused (fatigue from lack of sleep).
5. This makes maintaing a schedule the following day much more difficult resulting in compounded consequences that, ultimately, decay the body in ways and at times that it, otherwise, would not.

The point here is that your body was designed to manage all of this and inform you in real time. All you have to do is not ignore it! Your body wants to be satisfied and it rewards you for doing so.

Observational Evidence About Humans Anatomical Diet

I love Sushi. And cold dairy milk with Cap'n Crunch. And my dad's seared and seasoned steak.

But... the evidence I've discovered is that those things are literally destructive to the human body (not so much Sushi actually).

Despite my present dietary choices and vocalness on the topic; I was not raised vegan, virtually no one I know is, and the only reason I came to research this topic was because I started experiencing a number of the symptoms listed in this article and my "modern" doctors couldn't provide solutions and the ones that they proposed were expensive, inconclusive and hard to pronounce.

Regardless of my present belief I'm just trying to follow the evidence. So if the evidence suggests that a heavy meat and animal-by product diet; that's what I'll eat. And vice versa.

I'd like to emphasize that these details aren't just highlighting the difference between meat-eating and non-meat eating, but actually highlights any diet that includes animal by-products (dairy is a big one).

Here is the evidence that has persuaded me of these things

1. Jaw - The human jaw is identical to the rounded jaw lines of any herbivore. It's as different from a carnivore's jaw as is possible in the scope of jaw-differences.
1. Teeth - Carnivorous teeth are sharp, even omnivores have more sharp teeth (per capita) than humans). Teeth are subtle to an untrained eye (like myself) but it's still quiet clear, especially when put in the context of the other evidence throughout this article.
1. Consequences - Jaw/tooth and mouth related consequences of non-vegan diets;
1. Halitosis (bad breath) - 90% of cases the origin of odor is the mouth itself. It appears that the only causes of bad breath are easily-avoidable choices (leading with meat and dairy, but also obvious things like drugs)
1. Includes Dry Mouth.
2. Gingivitis
3. Tooth Decay
2. Benefits - Jaw/tooth and mouth related consequences of vegan based diets:
1. B12 Deficiency - There really aren't any consequences of vegan diets I can find. The closest to one is the rumored B12 deficiency which I discovered is only lacking in fruits and vegetables that have been cleaned by modern chemicals but otherwise occur naturally growing on the outside of them and is sufficient for a human body. But in our culture - unless you have your own garden like our family - you should take B12 supplement.
2. Prevention and protection against halitosis, bacterial causes of dry mouth, gingivitis and tooth decay! Because fruits and vegetables, especially a variety of herbs, naturally defend against it and simply don't cause it like animal products and by products do. Here's a non-authoritative, but easily verifiable citation.
1. This means you wouldn't need to brush your teeth (you might say gross, but think about it... why do you brush your teeth? Bad breath? Get the meat unstuck from between your teeth? If this was necessary to maintain a healthy mouth and avoid nasty breath then why weren't you born with a tooth brush and mouth wash?)
2. Nails - Just look up pictures on Google.
3. Organs - TONS of articles about this. I'm not even going to bother citing it because I don't know which article is best, there are TONS.
4. Cancers & Diseases
1. I've read and hear, many times now from many sources, that cancers, diabetes, heart diseases, strokes and obesity are virtually non-existent in carnivorous animals. Yet they're prevalent in omnivorous humans.

If we're not omnivores then why did we ever start eating meat?

My theory; because some environments the majority of plant life recedes during seasons while animals, and other living creatures, remain abundant.

So when humans begin to starve it would seem the natural instinct would be to find alternative sources for food to survive (animals). And easy to understand why we continue to eat them considering their rich flavor and high-density so eating less is more filling to a stomach that measures it's fullness by quantity instead of mass (weight).

Diet Summary

In summary, all observational evidence (facts) indicates that humans are herbivores, despite behavioral patterns. Which have well documented consquences that anyone could easily test if they adopted herbivore (probably 90%+ vegan diet).

Miscellaneous Notes

• A friend of mine recently reminded me that fasting, as you know, flushes your body of all sorts of filth but, while doing that, can cure allergies!

What is faith? How is it used? What is it used for? And how does one obtain it?

Over the last few years, my subconscious has been wrestling with logical inconsistencies with a variety of things that has resulted in a manifestation of itself through the following questions:

What is faith? How is it used? What is it used for? And how does one obtain it?

I believe these questions are important enough to be asked because life demands faith in a variety of circumstances (ex. other drivers on the road, your employer to deliver a paycheck, the nature of our creator, your spouse to be faithful, etc...). And if that faith is misplaced it will be to your detriment, even unto death.

Before you continue reading; consider whether or not you, subconsciously, interchange the word faith, with the word belief/believe as I did. By doing this I, and those who know me, missed countless blessing that our creator, through life as we know it, has to offer.

According to Webster's dictionary the word "believe" means choosing to accept something as true (and "truth" is defined as something that is in accordance with fact or reality ["fact" or "reality" meaning something that is proven or otherwise verifiable]).

What is faith?

The most common response that I've received when I asked others (religious and secular); is that faith is "spiritual" and cannot be fully grasped or defined. I quote that word because, like the word "faith", "spiritual" is another term that people use ambiguously (in this article, I'm not going to try to define it though). Interestingly, to me, the only direct answer I was offered is a single verse from the Bible in a letter to some Hebrews in it's 11th chapter and first verse which says: "Faith is the evidence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for..."

I've long accepted that as a definition, until I began writing this article and realized that it is more of a description of faith not a literal definition.

According to Webster's dictionary "faith is the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or some thing." Of course Webster's isn't, necessarily, the authority, but I think you'll find the rest of this exposition to prove that definition as consistent and true.

I've found, although, that most people who claim to have faith in the nature of our creator disagree that faith is a feeling at all. I, too, felt that way prior to starting this article. But, I realized I couldn't explain why! Maybe because I viewed it as irreverent to God? (Because I view faith in the nature of our creator as the most critical use of any application faith has in our life - although it's, obviously, not the only thing faith can be applied to.)

You see, faith is a noun (nouns are the subject of a verb). This implies that it doesn't do anything. By itself. Kind of like... a feeling! You may feel love for your spouse, but if that doesn't manifest itself with action; it's vain.

I've heard faith, when invested into our creator, described as "information from-God to-you." Which is an interesting summary when you look at this example from how the Bible teaches one of it's most renown stories of a man of faith:

"So God said (informed or described) to Noah: 'I have decided to destroy all living creatures. ... Build a large boat ...'" ~ Genesis 6:13-14

You may be thinking to yourself: "If faith doesn't do anything, then isn't it useless? I don't accept that!" And I would respond by asking you: "Are oars for a boat useless?"

How is it used?

Faith is used by belief.

For example; oars are an object. They don't do anything by themselves. So, too, faith may not do anything, but... belief... does.

Because believe is a verb (verbs are words used to describe actions). So if you have faith in me, for example, when I say "Oars enable you to move a boat." you would say "Ok." But if you believe me then you would prove your faith by grabbing them, getting in the boat, and starting to row.

Let me use a real world example to illustrate a practical application:

I believe God exists because I have proof through deduction and by observation that we were created. I don't need faith in that instance. But when you don't have proof; faith is required (assuming ignorance isn't an option). So I do need faith to believe in God's promises. Why? Because promises are things yet-to-happen. Meaning there is no evidence, facts or reality to prove them as presently true.

What is it used for?

Although there is a follow up question to this, I believe this is the pinnacle point of this article.

Since faith can be used for many things, as I established at the beginning of this article, I want to focus on the most influential purpose of faith. So I lead in with this question: what good is faith in the nature of our creator if, ultimately, our lives surmount with death?

It would be vain, really. I mean right? Feel free to comment a disagreement, but I can't see any benefit beyond temporal satisfaction. Not that vanity is equivalent to uselessness. It just wouldn't seem to be worth writing an article like this otherwise.

Unless...

...

That creator made a promise of eternal life through a resurrection...

In which case it becomes immeasurably valuable.

I mean... right?

And how does one obtain it?

Since we've established the invaluable worth to faith in the nature of God, assuming you can't debunk my conclusion, it would seem like you would be asking (like I did) "Man, if that's for real then how do I 'get' this faith?"

The answer, once again, is right under our nose. How do you gain faith in anything or anyone?

You experience it.

If you have a best friend, you probably, hopefully, really trust them. That's a form of faith. If you do; it's probably because they did something like help you move, bring you food when you were sick, lend you money, etc... So it was by getting to know them, and actively doing things with them that you built that faith in their character. The more you have faith in them the more you spend time with them.

I'm sure the same has happened on the opposite with someone, maybe even that same friend, when they didn't follow through or they let you down. You lost a little faith in them, in their character. As a result you probably spent less time with them.

With faith in our creator, it's a little more ambiguous than that because you're trying to interact with something that is so beyond, and all encompassing of, what we are as mere humans that you have to breakdown the expectation that you'll fully experience that creator only if they become human and stand before you (see Jesus for reference, haha). If you're struggling with that concept I'd encourage you to read this article where I explain it a little more.

Beside from directly experiencing our creator there is at least one other way I know of:  other people.

If you want to know if a restaurant is good what do you do? If you're like me you probably look for reviews. I often start by asking my friends and family because I trust them. Hearing their stories about their experiences builds my faith that about the kind of experience I can expect.

So to asking people who say they have faith in God's character and nature is a great place to start. Be that friends or family. But my personal favorite (because I only have three friends - which technically aren't friends if you don't count my wife and two kids) is THE BIBLE. I'm not saying it's perfect, or the only way to build and maintain faith, but it's a great starting place.

Reading this article right now is me sharing my faith with you. And if you find yourself feeling encouraged and confident about this idea: BAM. You now have faith. If you want more of it; I'd love to share more stories about my experiences in life that have grown my faith in our creators good nature. Or you can simply ask our creator using whatever means you have (speaking out loud, writing it down, whatever...).

Conclusion

I'd like to make it abundantly clear that I don't believe we were born to die so God could dangle eternal life in front of us like a horse and a carrot. Rather, I believe that we were designed to live perpetually; as evolution clearly represents with so many things. My favorite being our body's ability to self-heal. And it's the result of a single free-willed act of disobedience that introduced a virus, that can, and will, be starved some day, that resulted in exactly what God said it would: death.

I believe that one "sin" introduced death into the world because death is the absence of life. It is not a thing in and of itself, like drinking water from a glass is not filling it with emptiness but emptying it of water. So, too, when we rebel against the way we were created (our nature) then we are subtly killing, or destroying, a part of ourselves that can only be restored by our creator through obedience to him.

Which is why the hope of resurrection, to be made perfect again, is such a wonderful promise to believe in. And why it has permanently changed my love and hope for humanity and our universe. That I can believe that I, with my faith, play a critical part in restoring humanity and the universe back to that intended state.

It's truly worth sharing.

Assuming you agree with my exposition, I hope you will consider this final question:

If you have faith in Jesus' promise of resurrection from death; how does that change the way you're going to live today from the way you lived yesterday?

Annotations

If you enjoyed and benefited from my exposition above it may benefit you to review some annotations from the things that instigated the writing of this article in the first place:

• "It's truly worth sharing." I mean that to be a play on Jesus' Great Commission to preach the Good News about God (his nature and character).
• James 2:17 says that "Faith without works (belief) is dead (useless)."
• Here's a Scriptural example of faith coupled with belief: "So Noah did (notice the verb?) exactly as God commanded him." ~ Genesis 6:22
• There wasn't any way for Noah to prove God had spoken to him (as far as we know). So it was by faith in the nature of God and how he speaks to humans that he, and a few others, believed.
• It's interesting, to me, that you can believe something without faith (supplementing faith for proof or ignorance). But faith is useless without belief.
• The antonym of faith is doubt. And doubt prevents belief.
• I'd like to note that the definition of faith is almost identical to the definition of "confidence". As an exercise; imagine replacing every instance of the word "faith" in the Bible with the word "confidence

A Follower of Jesus is a Follower of Truth, Ultimately.

It has become common for me to witness, what I consider, a psychological phenomena in which a Christian (someone who claims to follow Jesus as their philosophical teacher) refuses to pursue truth in a matter yet still considers them self a Christian.

It is treasonous to behave in such a way. As it undermines our very existence, and, by default, Jesus' own teaching and life.

I use Christians as an example but this symptom is not acute to them only. It has been my experience that, humanity in general, indulges in ignorance of truth for countless, and mysterious, reasons. So if you're not a Christian, please understand I'm using Christians as a representation of a greater issue.

If I could impart only a single piece of wisdom to the world it would be this: seek truth and heed to it.

To do otherwise will always result in deduction.

* Deduction being my word choice to concisely summarize Death and it's children: Destruction and Perversion.

There is so much more to be said on this matter but I will have to articulate it with my life instead of an article.

Where you get digital downloads (DDL) of your old games.

I have tons of old games I bought on disc a while ago and it drives me nuts trying to track down the digital versions. So I've compiled a list of where to buy them:

Steam

• Age of Empires 2 + The Forgotten Expansion
• Age of Kings Expansion

Blizzard

• Starcraft 1 from Blizzard
• Broodwar Expansion
• Warcraft 3 from Blizzard

These are ones I couldn't locate a digital download for so I copied my CD's to digital and uploaded them to my drive for my private use:

• Age of Mythology
• Battle for Middle Earth (from my personal Google Drive so unless I give you access you can't download it) with Hamachi since EA's license expired for their lease of LOTR from New Line Cinema (so they shut down the server). Hamachi, essentially, allows you to create your own server.
• Rise of the Witch King
• Rise of Nations

How Parenting is Improving my Philosophy

I could probably summarize myself as a naturalist. I don't know what the proper definition is so let me explain it myself: someone who believes we're naturally equipped with the skills we need and, generally, have all of the resources available to us to thrive on Earth.

This was not something I was raised to believe, rather it is something that I've developed after many failed belief's in my history of philosophical discovery. It seems that the single most important thing every person should understand about philosophy is that there is absolute truth and it's under your nose about 99.9% of the time. Of course I'm not saying there isn't such a thing as relativity and opinion so please don't misunderstand me.

Parenting, and then marriage, have been the two most influential things in developing a cohesive philosophy founded within reality. And today I had an epiphany:

My son is at an age where he's trying a lot of new things on his own. As a result, he often gets frustrated and expresses it through verbal or physical behavior. I find that I get frustrated and "snap" at him as a result. And, if he hadn't already, that act provokes him to react angrily towards me as well... Shame on me!

But that's just what happens sometimes. Until today... when I realized he doesn't get frustrated when he gets up and comes to me asking for help (unless I #parentFail and ignore him or something).

So, too, when I'm finding myself frustrated with my circumstances I realize now that I just need to take my attention off of the thing that is frustrating me and simply ask our creator to assist me.

Definitely apart of that 99.9% I mentioned.