We move and live in Him...Acts 17. We exist because God wills us to be, we exist in His imagination. What about free will? Free will is freely given by God; because we are God's creation, we exist in His imagination. There is great joy to be loved freely, God wants us to love him of our free will, not by His will but by ours. He wants us to choose His will which is to choose life, choose light. If He just turned us on so to speak, what would our existence be but that of constant stream of matter without any emotion, without any reason for being. We would be like a simple flower blowing in the wind without consciousness, without thought of being anything.
God made each of us special and he loves us in our diversity/differences, not sameness. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth... he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Do did this so that men would seek Him... Acts 17 24.
By God setting man in different places man had to adapt himself to and establish himself in the place God put him. We understand that God created men equal, from one he made all and that he created them to be different as he put them in different places. What we should realize is that race is socially created among men who recognize their diversity as they find themselves different by and through living in different places. We are socialized in a place (we get to know each other) and since not every place is the same place, not everyone is the same. Why did God do this, so man would seek God first to understand his diversity, his place that God put him.
In today's social arena, the debates over race and equality are heated. We it appears we cannot accept our diversity, being different. We blame religion. Is it because we doubt God's imagination, to make us different by placing us in different places. In reaction to that, we want to imagine 'pretend' a life without God. We want to live outside of God's imagination. The idea is to transcend God's imagination, take His authority and override His authority, a notion that we can free ourselves from God and God's imagination, His diversity and His judgement. This is the problem. We think that if we create a sameness among men, we will still have diversity. Wrong. What we have done is usurped God's imagination.
God is all loving and all forgiving. When one has rebelled against that, one is living in darkness, and the light of hope becomes so bright it is almost impossible to bear, this is what judgment feels like; and yet if we ask God to forgive us and we forgive ourselves by embracing His love which is all His imagination and seek to live in that, then we become as bright as that light we once could not bear to look at.You see, diversity like His is the brightest light of all, in that we exist in all complexity we live and move in Him. Acts 17
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
God's Imagination vs. the Liberal Imagination
The Liberal Imagination seeks to Usurp God's Authority
The liberal seeks to free man from himself. He has failed to realize that Christ has already set him free; for in Him you are free indeed. (John 8:32) Everyone who sins is a slave to sin... (also John 8), this means that we cannot escape from sin unless we submit to God's authority which does include His forgiveness or according to the reprobate mind, until we eliminate God's authority over us. Liberals know that He sees their sin. With that line of reasoning, they conclude that since they are sinners, and cannot accept God's forgiveness as they know they will likely continue to sin, they feel condemned, and thus remain a slave to sin. However, they fail to remember that his Son set 'us' (them) free.
This all-loving and forgiving God is difficult for sinners to embrace. Because of that, they want to remove God from their mind and think that in this way, they are free. This is the liberal mindset. Thus, this kind of reasoning seeks to replace God's authority with a false authority namely government with the notion that it will remove all wrong doings and inequities that exist in the liberal mind. This is achievable because they are now detached from the highest authority; in this way they think that they free man from God. But, they are gravely wrong.They are not freeing themselves from the evils of society nor the evil in themselves (nor the justice of God) which God says He sees in them. They despise this the most since they are not willing to forgive nor accept forgiveness.
Liberals mix authority and evil, and they think that by severing themselves from God, that they are free from His judgement. What this has created is a lawless society.They see that too and this is why they now have to keep erecting more laws to control social behavior, which they gloat about as they receive pleasure from usurping God's authority.
Liberals are today's intellectual elites who want to remove their guilt ... not living in God's imagination.
The sad thing is God's imagination has only one cost - to accept forgiveness and allow Him to remove the burden of guilt. A slight cost indeed, but one which is unimaginable to the reprobate mind - lost in guilt and seeing human injustice everywhere.
Perhaps the most perplexing thing for the liberal mind to imagine is that the terrible social problems facing mankind are directly attributable to mankind - with his clear ability to choose right and wrong - and not his Creator. Man likes to take credit for good things but place blame on God for bad human choices.
Man's imagination is one where God is blamed for making the error of handing mankind the ability to choose right and wrong - even though it is logically impossible for God to have created man without the ability to make moral choices. In the liberal imagination one can escape reality by pretending it doesn't exist and when that is not possible to create a false deity that can be blamed (or in more modern times human group scapegoats). The ancient Greeks, for example, created a pantheon of petty, mean-spirited, cruel and foolish gods that lusted after power - exactly like the human imagination. Such gods are easy to reject because they are so obviously unworthy of god-hood. But the true Creator has none of those flaws and to reject Him requires the ability to imagine He does not exist even though all the evidence of our own consciences and laws says that He does and we all inwardly know it.
Accepting God's imagination is the easier path because God has removed the ability of mankind to rescue himself from himself. He wants all the credit and is not willing to share this with his creation. Why? Because He wants his creation to know how very much He loves them and has done everything to repair our human imagination to line up with His.
The liberal seeks to free man from himself. He has failed to realize that Christ has already set him free; for in Him you are free indeed. (John 8:32) Everyone who sins is a slave to sin... (also John 8), this means that we cannot escape from sin unless we submit to God's authority which does include His forgiveness or according to the reprobate mind, until we eliminate God's authority over us. Liberals know that He sees their sin. With that line of reasoning, they conclude that since they are sinners, and cannot accept God's forgiveness as they know they will likely continue to sin, they feel condemned, and thus remain a slave to sin. However, they fail to remember that his Son set 'us' (them) free.
This all-loving and forgiving God is difficult for sinners to embrace. Because of that, they want to remove God from their mind and think that in this way, they are free. This is the liberal mindset. Thus, this kind of reasoning seeks to replace God's authority with a false authority namely government with the notion that it will remove all wrong doings and inequities that exist in the liberal mind. This is achievable because they are now detached from the highest authority; in this way they think that they free man from God. But, they are gravely wrong.They are not freeing themselves from the evils of society nor the evil in themselves (nor the justice of God) which God says He sees in them. They despise this the most since they are not willing to forgive nor accept forgiveness.
Liberals mix authority and evil, and they think that by severing themselves from God, that they are free from His judgement. What this has created is a lawless society.They see that too and this is why they now have to keep erecting more laws to control social behavior, which they gloat about as they receive pleasure from usurping God's authority.
Liberals are today's intellectual elites who want to remove their guilt ... not living in God's imagination.
The sad thing is God's imagination has only one cost - to accept forgiveness and allow Him to remove the burden of guilt. A slight cost indeed, but one which is unimaginable to the reprobate mind - lost in guilt and seeing human injustice everywhere.
Perhaps the most perplexing thing for the liberal mind to imagine is that the terrible social problems facing mankind are directly attributable to mankind - with his clear ability to choose right and wrong - and not his Creator. Man likes to take credit for good things but place blame on God for bad human choices.
Man's imagination is one where God is blamed for making the error of handing mankind the ability to choose right and wrong - even though it is logically impossible for God to have created man without the ability to make moral choices. In the liberal imagination one can escape reality by pretending it doesn't exist and when that is not possible to create a false deity that can be blamed (or in more modern times human group scapegoats). The ancient Greeks, for example, created a pantheon of petty, mean-spirited, cruel and foolish gods that lusted after power - exactly like the human imagination. Such gods are easy to reject because they are so obviously unworthy of god-hood. But the true Creator has none of those flaws and to reject Him requires the ability to imagine He does not exist even though all the evidence of our own consciences and laws says that He does and we all inwardly know it.
Accepting God's imagination is the easier path because God has removed the ability of mankind to rescue himself from himself. He wants all the credit and is not willing to share this with his creation. Why? Because He wants his creation to know how very much He loves them and has done everything to repair our human imagination to line up with His.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
In God's Imagination We Live
Acts 17: 28 For in him we live and move and have our being...
Reflecting on current events... we can settle our disputes through legal assembly; otherwise, we are the ones to blame for rioting. Acts 19 In this segment, we learn that craftsmen were disgruntled with Paul who voiced his disdain for the craft of creating false images and he made his voice known in a town which produced such items. This caused outrage among those producing such things. The clerk in town insisted that those craftsmen making such things were aware that Paul was not causing the problem of 'riot' but that they were. They need to seek justice (if they feel there is injustice) via legal assembly. To bring a case against Paul through the proper legal system; which they could not because Paul was not the cause of the problem, they were.
Not that this is an exact example of current events, but it asks us to look at the root cause of social problems. Often, when their is social strife, there is a social cause. Quite often the cause is instigated from top down of the social structure (those who have the most to lose, carry on the most) and this was the case in Paul's times too.
Thorstein Veblen, American sociologist/economist, spoke of this situation as well as many decades ago in book, Vested Interests and the Common Man. He saw social conflict largely between those with vested interests and the common man. For Veblen, a vested interest is a legitimate right to get something for nothing, a prescriptive right to an income which is secured by controlling the traffic at one point or another. Whereas all the common man asks for is to be left alone to have the freedom to pursue his dreams even if they are small ones.
In today's situation's of conflict, we find this playing out. Why is that? Firstly, because we live in a corrupt program. The Christian knows of that event as is related in Genesis.
Given that, what can be accomplished here and now in this corrupted program.
Let us reexamine Veblen. Firstly, he disregards choice and free will which is everyone's. Max Weber, thankfully took this into account. Social structure/hierarchy is the composition of those participating, all people have a choice. What they end up with is based on their choice. Some may argue that they have no fair choice as would Veblen argue. But, that is not true if they live in God's imagination.
Let us say that they live in man's and how that plays out to be fair. Given that we live in a corrupt program, one that still allows everyone to make choices, knowing this program and its agenda so well articulated by Veblen, we can see how choices appear to be unfair.
Without getting into writing a book on this and or how Veblen was mistaken in many instances, the point being in regards to today's current conflicts is that everyone involved has made choices that he or she thinks will either safe guard them or catapult them into higher positions - both are about preservation. Even the common man makes decisions based on those two underlying agendas.
Using Veblen, Weber and Paul's situation as given above in view of current conflicts, we can recognize structures in places throughout the world as being created by choices made. No one is caught in a situation without having something to do with its creation. There are two social dynamics - subordinate and dominant. Neither can exist without the other. Without these, social reality would not exist.
Paul protested passively 'subordinate', and those at the top reacted harshly as they were afraid of loosing their subordinates. They did not understand Paul's choice in not supporting their dominant position. Paul's choice of preservation came from within (God's imagination) and the craftsman's preservation came from outer realm (Man's imagination -without Godly direction).
This is not to say that if the tables were turned it would be different. God's choice of Paul is significant for he was at one time on the other side of social structure - top down, he was in a dominant position and did not understand the choices of the apostles, Steven i.e. nor choices of Christians. Jesus too showed us how to live through making choices, he healed on the Sabbath, it was his choice.
The legal assembly is the way forward in our corrupt program, it is the way forward in making sure choices are viewed as legitimate because what the vested interests fail to realize is that the choices of the common man are what allowed him to make his and visa versa.
Reflecting on current events... we can settle our disputes through legal assembly; otherwise, we are the ones to blame for rioting. Acts 19 In this segment, we learn that craftsmen were disgruntled with Paul who voiced his disdain for the craft of creating false images and he made his voice known in a town which produced such items. This caused outrage among those producing such things. The clerk in town insisted that those craftsmen making such things were aware that Paul was not causing the problem of 'riot' but that they were. They need to seek justice (if they feel there is injustice) via legal assembly. To bring a case against Paul through the proper legal system; which they could not because Paul was not the cause of the problem, they were.
Not that this is an exact example of current events, but it asks us to look at the root cause of social problems. Often, when their is social strife, there is a social cause. Quite often the cause is instigated from top down of the social structure (those who have the most to lose, carry on the most) and this was the case in Paul's times too.
Thorstein Veblen, American sociologist/economist, spoke of this situation as well as many decades ago in book, Vested Interests and the Common Man. He saw social conflict largely between those with vested interests and the common man. For Veblen, a vested interest is a legitimate right to get something for nothing, a prescriptive right to an income which is secured by controlling the traffic at one point or another. Whereas all the common man asks for is to be left alone to have the freedom to pursue his dreams even if they are small ones.
In today's situation's of conflict, we find this playing out. Why is that? Firstly, because we live in a corrupt program. The Christian knows of that event as is related in Genesis.
Given that, what can be accomplished here and now in this corrupted program.
Let us reexamine Veblen. Firstly, he disregards choice and free will which is everyone's. Max Weber, thankfully took this into account. Social structure/hierarchy is the composition of those participating, all people have a choice. What they end up with is based on their choice. Some may argue that they have no fair choice as would Veblen argue. But, that is not true if they live in God's imagination.
Let us say that they live in man's and how that plays out to be fair. Given that we live in a corrupt program, one that still allows everyone to make choices, knowing this program and its agenda so well articulated by Veblen, we can see how choices appear to be unfair.
Without getting into writing a book on this and or how Veblen was mistaken in many instances, the point being in regards to today's current conflicts is that everyone involved has made choices that he or she thinks will either safe guard them or catapult them into higher positions - both are about preservation. Even the common man makes decisions based on those two underlying agendas.
Using Veblen, Weber and Paul's situation as given above in view of current conflicts, we can recognize structures in places throughout the world as being created by choices made. No one is caught in a situation without having something to do with its creation. There are two social dynamics - subordinate and dominant. Neither can exist without the other. Without these, social reality would not exist.
Paul protested passively 'subordinate', and those at the top reacted harshly as they were afraid of loosing their subordinates. They did not understand Paul's choice in not supporting their dominant position. Paul's choice of preservation came from within (God's imagination) and the craftsman's preservation came from outer realm (Man's imagination -without Godly direction).
This is not to say that if the tables were turned it would be different. God's choice of Paul is significant for he was at one time on the other side of social structure - top down, he was in a dominant position and did not understand the choices of the apostles, Steven i.e. nor choices of Christians. Jesus too showed us how to live through making choices, he healed on the Sabbath, it was his choice.
The legal assembly is the way forward in our corrupt program, it is the way forward in making sure choices are viewed as legitimate because what the vested interests fail to realize is that the choices of the common man are what allowed him to make his and visa versa.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
God's imagination is one without Conflict
God's imagination is one without conflict. Man is about conflict and he always will be. Some think that by creating a prison planet we can enforce people to live harmoniously. The only way we can do that is to live in God's imagination. Acts 17 24-28
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.
You see, men try to 'socially' engineer their social imagination when all we have to do is live in God's. I have read all the books and theories I ever care to read about multiculturalism and pluralism and conflict theory. They have no answers except to preach tolerance and create laws that force people to be tolerant and or live in harmony. I have no problem with harmony and or tolerance. In fact, in God's imagination, His social imagination, this is exactly what is asked of us. Knowing who you are in your place means you can appreciate and tolerate others in their place. Just read again Acts 17.
God made people and He determined what place. He also determined that they be with their kind. They should not mix. God told us this, to each to be with (mate) with his/her own kind. It does not mean that we can or should live mixed up,(everything is permissible but not beneficial 1 Cor 10:23) it means we can and should be able to live side by side remaining distinct in our differences and roles in a place. This is true diversity.
The argument I always hear is that people have been conquering others for ages; they don't stay put. The answer is that those people have not lived in God's imagination but in man's. Yet, they keep yelling what if another group moves in on a group, then what? The answer is that they should defend themselves using God's direction - His imagination. Remember what happened to Saul 1Samuel 28.
What if they try to defend themselves and don't succeed and end up being annexed or assimilated. The answer is that they become a new group in which the minority or lesser group which was taken over becomes or takes on the identity 'assimilates' with the conquering group; and in that 'new' place they have a new identity and follow the same practices as we see in Acts 17.The retort to that is always, what about people who were taken over and enslaved. The answer is that God will deliver read Exodus.
Point being - Diversity is not lost and neither is the identity or solidarity of the concept of group. Moreover, by mixing and blending we loose diversity and create a blob of sameness. What is difficult for people to appreciate is that in our diversity we must recognize that different groups mean just that 'being different' which does not mean on the same page or having the same world view or seeing eye to eye on everything. Otherwise, if we do not embrace that diversity means different, then diversity is lost. Fortunately, this does not mean we cannot share diversity 'difference'. Anyone can notice different practices in a place and apply them their way... In sum, From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.
You see, men try to 'socially' engineer their social imagination when all we have to do is live in God's. I have read all the books and theories I ever care to read about multiculturalism and pluralism and conflict theory. They have no answers except to preach tolerance and create laws that force people to be tolerant and or live in harmony. I have no problem with harmony and or tolerance. In fact, in God's imagination, His social imagination, this is exactly what is asked of us. Knowing who you are in your place means you can appreciate and tolerate others in their place. Just read again Acts 17.
God made people and He determined what place. He also determined that they be with their kind. They should not mix. God told us this, to each to be with (mate) with his/her own kind. It does not mean that we can or should live mixed up,(everything is permissible but not beneficial 1 Cor 10:23) it means we can and should be able to live side by side remaining distinct in our differences and roles in a place. This is true diversity.
The argument I always hear is that people have been conquering others for ages; they don't stay put. The answer is that those people have not lived in God's imagination but in man's. Yet, they keep yelling what if another group moves in on a group, then what? The answer is that they should defend themselves using God's direction - His imagination. Remember what happened to Saul 1Samuel 28.
What if they try to defend themselves and don't succeed and end up being annexed or assimilated. The answer is that they become a new group in which the minority or lesser group which was taken over becomes or takes on the identity 'assimilates' with the conquering group; and in that 'new' place they have a new identity and follow the same practices as we see in Acts 17.The retort to that is always, what about people who were taken over and enslaved. The answer is that God will deliver read Exodus.
Point being - Diversity is not lost and neither is the identity or solidarity of the concept of group. Moreover, by mixing and blending we loose diversity and create a blob of sameness. What is difficult for people to appreciate is that in our diversity we must recognize that different groups mean just that 'being different' which does not mean on the same page or having the same world view or seeing eye to eye on everything. Otherwise, if we do not embrace that diversity means different, then diversity is lost. Fortunately, this does not mean we cannot share diversity 'difference'. Anyone can notice different practices in a place and apply them their way... In sum, From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live, God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.
Monday, February 17, 2014
God's Imagination not Man's
God's Imagination not Man's
What does that mean? It means that we should not live in social man's imagination but in God's. Yes, God has a social imagination, his is omnipotent. That does not mean though that we are not part of His. We are. However, our imagination has been corrupted, just read Genesis. We must now struggle with choosing between man's and God's. We have not been forsaken in this struggle; we can be renewed through God's word, if we choose. Why should we choose or why should we have to? Because we are part of a supernatural imagination and in that, we are like a program inside a larger program, one that is greater than the one we are in. In order for super fast information exchange, we have free will, the freedom to choose. Either choice will continue the program, though because it is a corrupt program, our choices will have an effect on our being saved and uploaded to the next program level.
God wants us to choose his imagination, the Bible is our guidebook. He wants us to know that we have the most freedom in choice because we are not locked into one set of possiblities. Choosing to live in man's social imagination locks us in to a finite number of possibles, and many times just one possibility.
For instance, God warns the people to not ask for a king, because a king will only take from you and make you live under him. 1Samuel 19 We want a king over us, Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.
Let us back up to 1 Samuel 6, Give us a king to lead us, ... 1 Samuel 10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. he said, This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants...
This describes man's social imagination not God's. If you try to argue that it does not apply to today, you are mistaken. It most certainly does. Whenever we ask government to do for us what we can do and should do for ourselves using God's imagination, then we are doomed to an end... man's end.
Thomas Jefferson said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself...Why, because even the best of man's government is still man's. Is any government doomed then? Yes, it was thought and still should be considered as such in these times. Patrick Henry said " The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it comes to dominate our lives and interests."
What measure then can we take to ensure that man will not be the end of man? Live in God's imagination.
What does that mean? It means that we should not live in social man's imagination but in God's. Yes, God has a social imagination, his is omnipotent. That does not mean though that we are not part of His. We are. However, our imagination has been corrupted, just read Genesis. We must now struggle with choosing between man's and God's. We have not been forsaken in this struggle; we can be renewed through God's word, if we choose. Why should we choose or why should we have to? Because we are part of a supernatural imagination and in that, we are like a program inside a larger program, one that is greater than the one we are in. In order for super fast information exchange, we have free will, the freedom to choose. Either choice will continue the program, though because it is a corrupt program, our choices will have an effect on our being saved and uploaded to the next program level.
God wants us to choose his imagination, the Bible is our guidebook. He wants us to know that we have the most freedom in choice because we are not locked into one set of possiblities. Choosing to live in man's social imagination locks us in to a finite number of possibles, and many times just one possibility.
For instance, God warns the people to not ask for a king, because a king will only take from you and make you live under him. 1Samuel 19 We want a king over us, Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.
Let us back up to 1 Samuel 6, Give us a king to lead us, ... 1 Samuel 10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. he said, This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants...
This describes man's social imagination not God's. If you try to argue that it does not apply to today, you are mistaken. It most certainly does. Whenever we ask government to do for us what we can do and should do for ourselves using God's imagination, then we are doomed to an end... man's end.
Thomas Jefferson said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself...Why, because even the best of man's government is still man's. Is any government doomed then? Yes, it was thought and still should be considered as such in these times. Patrick Henry said " The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it comes to dominate our lives and interests."
What measure then can we take to ensure that man will not be the end of man? Live in God's imagination.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
God's imagination is a plurality
God's imagination is a plurality
Our social imagination is an aspect of God's...our social imagination is not complete without His because ours is a corrupt program. The origin of that corruption can be read in Genesis.
What most people ask is how is God a plurality.
God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness,Genesis 1 26
God is one as a pluraity - we/us - man/ women/ child - family as a basic model of 'us' = society
As a sociologist, I can tell you that no man or woman can know him/herself outside of social interaction. In that we understand I/Me/We. Jesus said where two or more are gathered in His name and or for His purpose then God is there with them. In agreement reality, social reality, this applies in the same way. Essentially, there is no true social reality for us until we 'together' gather.
Our social imagination is an aspect of God's...our social imagination is not complete without His because ours is a corrupt program. The origin of that corruption can be read in Genesis.
What most people ask is how is God a plurality.
God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness,Genesis 1 26
God is one as a pluraity - we/us - man/ women/ child - family as a basic model of 'us' = society
As a sociologist, I can tell you that no man or woman can know him/herself outside of social interaction. In that we understand I/Me/We. Jesus said where two or more are gathered in His name and or for His purpose then God is there with them. In agreement reality, social reality, this applies in the same way. Essentially, there is no true social reality for us until we 'together' gather.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Place is important in God's imagination
Place in our imagination is crucial. As a sociologist I have been witness to and part of social research that clearly shows how important place is in our social imagination. One book I contributed to a few years ago (Borders and Fields, Cultures and Places: Cases from Poland 2007) was based on a research project titled Ourness and Otherness. Conclusively, it was recognized that no matter how far people travel from home, there is no place like home.
God who made the world and everything in it, is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands, ... from one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the world earth and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
Acts 17 24
In God's imagination, place is important, God is not far from anyone of us... in Him we live and move and exist Acts 17 27-28
Check out these other blogs
christianwordsforwomen.blogspot.com
storiesfrompoland.blogspot.com
God who made the world and everything in it, is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands, ... from one man He made every nation of men that they should inhabit the world earth and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
Acts 17 24
In God's imagination, place is important, God is not far from anyone of us... in Him we live and move and exist Acts 17 27-28
Check out these other blogs
christianwordsforwomen.blogspot.com
storiesfrompoland.blogspot.com
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
God's Imagination created our imagination program
People miss the obvious because they have been taught something for so long they see the facts shaded... there are no facts that connect us to apes. Life does not just pop up out of nothing... In that case, after so long, there should be other evolved transition types? New life is not just popping up- spontaneous generation. The problem with evolutionists is that their facts are unprovable but as a sociologist, I say that they could argue that evolution is 'their' social construct acquired through like-mindedness. Their arguments for evolution reflect collective irrationality. What is rational is to think that existence is not a random event. Even if we argue that Christians act in the same way and their rationale is collective irrationality....in both deductions, what is not being solved is the question where did we come from and why. Some say space aliens, so where did they come from? Spontaneous generation again or confluence of agreeable events, how can we explain that and how does that come about? We are now talking about incredible mathematical odds; and yet so many people will bet their life on those odds. They refuse to believe that there is a greater mind above and behind their own mind who created this experience we call the universe - all heaven and earth and all things in it.
What the Christian imagination (God's imagination) gains is salvation in His Word. Our minds are conscious programs running in a wider program created by a wonderful and great Creator who can inject new things whenever He wants. He programmed evolution into all programs; a dog becomes a better 'dog' and a flower becomes a better 'flower', and a bee a better 'bee', and a man a better 'man'. The program gets better, and the variety is amazing. However, the nature of the universe goes from orderly to chaotic. Complexity breaks down. We seem to be heading toward a destiny where entropy breaks down all order and complexity and variety - the antithesis of evolution. What does that mean? It means that we live in a fallen world, a corrupted program. This was described in Genesis. Is there a reboot? Yes, for those who believe, who know that we were created in His image, in his imagination. We did not come from something else and certainly not from apes. Let each produce after his own kind... Gen -first two chapters.
He, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The Bible is His communication to us and for us and it is our true imagination!
What the Christian imagination (God's imagination) gains is salvation in His Word. Our minds are conscious programs running in a wider program created by a wonderful and great Creator who can inject new things whenever He wants. He programmed evolution into all programs; a dog becomes a better 'dog' and a flower becomes a better 'flower', and a bee a better 'bee', and a man a better 'man'. The program gets better, and the variety is amazing. However, the nature of the universe goes from orderly to chaotic. Complexity breaks down. We seem to be heading toward a destiny where entropy breaks down all order and complexity and variety - the antithesis of evolution. What does that mean? It means that we live in a fallen world, a corrupted program. This was described in Genesis. Is there a reboot? Yes, for those who believe, who know that we were created in His image, in his imagination. We did not come from something else and certainly not from apes. Let each produce after his own kind... Gen -first two chapters.
He, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The Bible is His communication to us and for us and it is our true imagination!
Born Again in God's Imagination
Being born again means being made aware of this fallen world and that salvation is ours through Jesus Christ. If we want to live in the light and be saved we cannot be nor remain senseless children Jer 4:22.
Because, we live in a fallen world, it is not easy to live in God's imagination. We must remind ourselves of that and that being children of light means to accept God's word as the ultimate truth and protection for us, for it is the way forward for our salvation. We can only be Saved by Him... imagine of a computer program as information operationalized. We are God's program and in order to be saved and not thrown into the vault where all corruption is contained, we must operate according to the word of God, live in God's imagination.
Because, we live in a fallen world, it is not easy to live in God's imagination. We must remind ourselves of that and that being children of light means to accept God's word as the ultimate truth and protection for us, for it is the way forward for our salvation. We can only be Saved by Him... imagine of a computer program as information operationalized. We are God's program and in order to be saved and not thrown into the vault where all corruption is contained, we must operate according to the word of God, live in God's imagination.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Living as Children of Light - Imagining the Holy Spirit
It is encouraging to see the diversity among people interested in this discussion. As a sociologist and social psychologist, I was at one time quite sure that my views and observations laid out in academic expressions were correct. I was wrong and even now I am not sure I do the right thing in context of God's plan for me. Yet, I perserve with the hopes of doing what God intended for me
.
I was reading Ezekiel 13 and saw my mistakes. It is not wise to prophesy out of my own imagination nor is it wise to follow my own spirit.
For it is He that can do more than we can ever imagine! Eph 3:20
God's imagination is Living as children of Light - this should be our imagination; and it is as long as we believe it is ours.
Let us look at Ephesians 4:17-25
So, I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts, having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way; surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor for we are all members of one body - one imagination "God's".
This excerpt is truly for me the direction to be taken in studying the social imagination. For those who read and are of differing opinions, understand this, I recognize diversity in context of differing cultures, histories, politics, economics in a place. The above does not negate any of those. In fact, it stresses that in our differences we are one - living as children of light. We can be different and share differences by being imitators of God - being in the light of the Lord.
And, now assuredly there are readers who find this impossible since there are many religions practiced who do not have the same God, or do they? Don't all religions call for us to leave behind darkness and live in the light of love...
In the social imagination, we connect with like minds more than unlike minds. There is no were in the Bible that says we must connect with unlike minds. It only asks that we move forward in like-mindedness. And it this movement do so as Christ did with love and forgiveness. In any society, speaking as a social psychologist, this is healthy to do toward positive functioning of the society.
But what about other religions, people have different belief systems....how can we move forward? There is no request made in the Bible that demands all people everywhere to conform, fall in line giving up their beliefs and nor does it say that all people should live together in order to move forward 'living as children of the light'
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhavit the world earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and fin him thouh he is not far from each oin of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.
We live in God's imagination, never let that go and live in another imagination, seek him and do not reach for anyone or anything else.
This is imagining the Holy Spirit
.
I was reading Ezekiel 13 and saw my mistakes. It is not wise to prophesy out of my own imagination nor is it wise to follow my own spirit.
For it is He that can do more than we can ever imagine! Eph 3:20
God's imagination is Living as children of Light - this should be our imagination; and it is as long as we believe it is ours.
Let us look at Ephesians 4:17-25
So, I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts, having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way; surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor for we are all members of one body - one imagination "God's".
This excerpt is truly for me the direction to be taken in studying the social imagination. For those who read and are of differing opinions, understand this, I recognize diversity in context of differing cultures, histories, politics, economics in a place. The above does not negate any of those. In fact, it stresses that in our differences we are one - living as children of light. We can be different and share differences by being imitators of God - being in the light of the Lord.
And, now assuredly there are readers who find this impossible since there are many religions practiced who do not have the same God, or do they? Don't all religions call for us to leave behind darkness and live in the light of love...
In the social imagination, we connect with like minds more than unlike minds. There is no were in the Bible that says we must connect with unlike minds. It only asks that we move forward in like-mindedness. And it this movement do so as Christ did with love and forgiveness. In any society, speaking as a social psychologist, this is healthy to do toward positive functioning of the society.
But what about other religions, people have different belief systems....how can we move forward? There is no request made in the Bible that demands all people everywhere to conform, fall in line giving up their beliefs and nor does it say that all people should live together in order to move forward 'living as children of the light'
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhavit the world earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and fin him thouh he is not far from each oin of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.
We live in God's imagination, never let that go and live in another imagination, seek him and do not reach for anyone or anything else.
This is imagining the Holy Spirit
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Quantum Faith - In God's Imagination Words are Energy
I have a fondness for quantum applications when it comes to explaining the social imagination of man in comparison to God's imagination which is the social imagination He wants for us, He has always had for us. One of the best small booklets I ever came across that jives with this view was written by Annette Capps who is an ordained minister, business woman and licensed airplane pilot. Her study of the Bible led her to investigate the similarities of quantum physics and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Words are energy and energy affects matter. Her publication - Quantum Faith is eye opening for anyone who doubts the presence of the Lord, and that this is His world. Before I write more about quantum faith, readers I am sure have a question- if it is His world why do bad things happen. They happen because a 'virus' or 'hacker' got in His program. The way our Creator (Lord Jesus Christ) will deal with this 'hacker and or virus' not sure which term best suits him, will be to throw him into a vault - the bottomless pit where he can do no further harm.
As you see, I also like to use the computer as a metaphor for our life in this temporal state. Whether I am talking about social imagination (Gods' vs. mans') or faith.
Quantum Faith- Jesus told us that all matter responds to faith and words. The information substance from which our world (God's) is made of is influenced and manifested by words. In the beginning was the word - John.
So, the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea', and it would obey you." Luke 17:6
Remember, Hebrews 11:3 says: "Through faith we understand that the worlds ere framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" -are as if/in they were already.
As we know, electrons were once thought to be constantly orbiting the nucleus of an atom; however, that has changed because of Neils Bohr who realized that they pop into and out of space-time around the nucleus according to probability distributions that vary according to the total energy levels of the electrons. The probability density distributions look something like clouds that surround the nucleus and the shapes of the clouds vary according to a variety of conditions for the electrons. These shapes are called orbitals to differentiate them from the old Bohr orbits...orbiting electrons around a nucleus can not be fully described as particles, but needed to be explained by the wave-particle duality.well, in short...It is in a wave state, that requires observation to make it 'be'. Which means when it is observed by someone, the wave particle collapses into something. As least that is how I understand it.
Essentially, we as Christians can find explanation for this in Hebrews and in many other Bible excerpts that show how Christ lived in both worlds (God and Mans) - via quantum level.
Live in God's imagination - He encourages you to use words wisely as they have energy which affects the matter in your life.
As you see, I also like to use the computer as a metaphor for our life in this temporal state. Whether I am talking about social imagination (Gods' vs. mans') or faith.
Quantum Faith- Jesus told us that all matter responds to faith and words. The information substance from which our world (God's) is made of is influenced and manifested by words. In the beginning was the word - John.
So, the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea', and it would obey you." Luke 17:6
Remember, Hebrews 11:3 says: "Through faith we understand that the worlds ere framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" -are as if/in they were already.
As we know, electrons were once thought to be constantly orbiting the nucleus of an atom; however, that has changed because of Neils Bohr who realized that they pop into and out of space-time around the nucleus according to probability distributions that vary according to the total energy levels of the electrons. The probability density distributions look something like clouds that surround the nucleus and the shapes of the clouds vary according to a variety of conditions for the electrons. These shapes are called orbitals to differentiate them from the old Bohr orbits...orbiting electrons around a nucleus can not be fully described as particles, but needed to be explained by the wave-particle duality.well, in short...It is in a wave state, that requires observation to make it 'be'. Which means when it is observed by someone, the wave particle collapses into something. As least that is how I understand it.
Essentially, we as Christians can find explanation for this in Hebrews and in many other Bible excerpts that show how Christ lived in both worlds (God and Mans) - via quantum level.
Live in God's imagination - He encourages you to use words wisely as they have energy which affects the matter in your life.
Monday, February 3, 2014
God's Information Never Dies, it is our Social Reality, it composes our Social Imagination
In mans' imagination- the 'worldly' social imagination is a kind of public information. It is everywhere and somewhere. It is available to us as users through socio-historical and socio-cultural frames which means that it belongs to someone and no one. Not that the later means it is free; in saying it belongs to no one, means that it means nothing to those outside of such frameworks. In that case, it is always someone's (Florian Znaniecki) It is public - out there for those who have the password to access it (being in a group is an example, as it illustrates that some members have different access codes to information and at the same time, all have the basic code to access everyday information as it pertains to and sustains the group as a whole; the elite have additional access codes - all societies have social hierarchies that orders system function).
In God's imagination, in the beginning was the word - information has substance, it never dies, it is and it goes around... it exists in the universe everywhere, does that mean it is different from the social imagination mentioned above? Yes and NO. Yes because it was His desire to have us live life in a social imagination - to love thy neighbor as yourself. No, because in the worldly social imagination we find that some harbor information only for themselves and think that it belongs only to them. They think they have new ideas or 'our' ideas as they appear to be culture bound (they are and are not) , they are ideas that are recirculating in the social imagination - God's imagination of many potentials.
The best way to understand God's imagination is from a quantum perspective. The way things work in quantum theory is based on an infinite number of possibilities. In quantum mechanics the observation made in a place of something causes out of all possibilities a possible.
Out of vast circulating information, we make choices which ultimately define us in a place, as the choice was made in a place among others. It is important to recognize the platform that place offers to us in the mode of making a choice. The importance is that in a given place whereat others are engaged there is a history of already collapsed wave functions acting as a background which has definite information in it and that affects all other observations, wave function possibles.
Can bad things from our past be changed? In God's imagination - Yes! In man's 'worldly' social imagination - No. That is the difference. God = Jesus Christ tells us that all we have to do is Repent = Rethink God's information as it never dies.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
God's Imagination as the source of social reality
God's imagination is the source of social reality and the Bible is the multidimensional manifestation of that his imagination using the form of communication that man was given to use - words/language.
The Bible is literally a code for the program of our existence then and now and what will be. Some people like to think that the Bible is a literary fiction. Some say it was written by man but that this writer (s) wrote in the future and sent this information back to us and some say it was written by aliens. The later are incredible but not impossible either as they both point to a creator. We could argue that just because man wrote it in the future, does not mean he was not God inspired. As for aliens, they too are be assumed to have been created by someone or something. As for those who call it a literary fiction, what purpose would it serve? To entertain? Perhaps for some it is a form of entertainment as they deny the information contained in it as information to be applied in the program.
The Bible was written by men inspired by God, the creator or man. In every man is a default knowing for his being on earth and that the source of his being was God. This knowing was written in on the default program by God, the creator of man who sought a relationship with His creation. At some point, corruption infected His program and for a long time this corruption ran its course. God intervened and sent his only son Jesus Christ to be the first patch 'upgrade' system application. If it sounds like I am using computer programming as a metaphor, I am. Why not. Why wouldn't God reveal himself to us and to his nature which is an omnipotent Creator of the universe. We live in His imagination and we need to seek a relationship with our Creator in order to be saved, ... Give the command and save me! Pslam 71:3
You see, God the Creator of heaven and earth so loved man (his creations) that he sent his only Son to repair the connection that was lost through man was corrupted. This suggests that another kind of entity exists, one against God. That is right and his name is Satan. He was fallen angel that he could become God and that he knew better than God, and envious of God's creation. Many people ask then, if God is all loving and forgiving couldn't He forgive Satan. Yes he could. But Satan cannot forgive and nor can understand repentance - (to rethink one's being in relationship with God) and because of that, Satan cannot accept that forgiveness can be his because he cannot imagine another way of being; he cannot imagine that he is actually part of God's imagination. Satan becomes a kind of rogue program and in the end, can only be sent to the vault where he cannot escape and where he cannot imagine what God is.
In this instance, one can argue that this is conjecture... and all this is just our imagining; I say that it is our imagining that draws us to God's imagination- his imagination is ours. He gave us imagination, because it is His.
The Bible is literally a code for the program of our existence then and now and what will be. Some people like to think that the Bible is a literary fiction. Some say it was written by man but that this writer (s) wrote in the future and sent this information back to us and some say it was written by aliens. The later are incredible but not impossible either as they both point to a creator. We could argue that just because man wrote it in the future, does not mean he was not God inspired. As for aliens, they too are be assumed to have been created by someone or something. As for those who call it a literary fiction, what purpose would it serve? To entertain? Perhaps for some it is a form of entertainment as they deny the information contained in it as information to be applied in the program.
The Bible was written by men inspired by God, the creator or man. In every man is a default knowing for his being on earth and that the source of his being was God. This knowing was written in on the default program by God, the creator of man who sought a relationship with His creation. At some point, corruption infected His program and for a long time this corruption ran its course. God intervened and sent his only son Jesus Christ to be the first patch 'upgrade' system application. If it sounds like I am using computer programming as a metaphor, I am. Why not. Why wouldn't God reveal himself to us and to his nature which is an omnipotent Creator of the universe. We live in His imagination and we need to seek a relationship with our Creator in order to be saved, ... Give the command and save me! Pslam 71:3
You see, God the Creator of heaven and earth so loved man (his creations) that he sent his only Son to repair the connection that was lost through man was corrupted. This suggests that another kind of entity exists, one against God. That is right and his name is Satan. He was fallen angel that he could become God and that he knew better than God, and envious of God's creation. Many people ask then, if God is all loving and forgiving couldn't He forgive Satan. Yes he could. But Satan cannot forgive and nor can understand repentance - (to rethink one's being in relationship with God) and because of that, Satan cannot accept that forgiveness can be his because he cannot imagine another way of being; he cannot imagine that he is actually part of God's imagination. Satan becomes a kind of rogue program and in the end, can only be sent to the vault where he cannot escape and where he cannot imagine what God is.
In this instance, one can argue that this is conjecture... and all this is just our imagining; I say that it is our imagining that draws us to God's imagination- his imagination is ours. He gave us imagination, because it is His.
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