Death is coming

The closer death creeps up upon me the less I am able to understand the reasons for life or living.

Yes I have experienced a close family member dying and unlike television it takes decades to handle such a thing. To think I am going to put my family through such a thing when I finally leave is more horrific to me than the thought of death itself.

My life was and is still a learning experience but when all said and done what am I to do with all this accumulated learning over my lifetime if I just die. There is no logic or reason to this.

Long ago I became aware that the God story that is sold to the majority is just a nice story to give mankind with a message of a basic layout of how nice life could be if everyone followed these ideas. Not many in life do and if one thinks about it the good and evil structures actually depend on each other. The good that can be experienced in life is only understood as good when there is it's opposite to compare it to. This is not rocket science only common sense in reality. I am not saying we need to experience bad but understanding in it is needed to appreciate the great things many of us can have in our lives. From birth to death there are many ways mankind helps his fellow man. How many ways can you help?


Sunday, August 16, 2009

5 Tough Questions for Atheists

By Rich Bordner

"If God exists,why is there so much evil?"

"Why are there so many hypocrites in the church?"

"If God exists, wouldn't He provide more evidence than we have?"

Usually, it is Christians and sometimes other religious believers who must justify their beliefs, but most don't realize that atheists, agnostics, and skeptics also must answer tough questions and have their beliefs placed under the microscope!

While the lead questions above have great answers, don't let the skeptic off the hook! Christian answers to ultimate questions shouldn't be the only focus:

1) Why is there something rather than nothing?

The "big bang" has a wealth of scientific evidence confirming it. Belief in the "big bang" requires one to believe that the universe began a finite time ago. Not only is there scientific evidence confirming the big bang, but there are also a number of philosophical reasons for the beginning of the universe (as opposed to a universe that's always existed). But this runs smack dab into atheism--out of nothing, nothing comes. Things don't just pop into existence uncaused. Here we have a limited number of possibilities: either something outside the material universe caused it, or it all came from nothing. Which is more reasonable?

2) What is it for something to be "good"?

This goes much deeper than the common atheist rallying cry: "you can be good without God." If the material world is all that exists, then the atheist and believer alike might *think* they are acting good, but "good" is without robust meaning. All that exists are preferences, pragmatics, and the herd morality. Upon what basis do you say racism or homophobia is wrong? Not wrong "for you," but wrong, period. What would you say to someone who comes from another culture who holds those things to be good? Is *anything* wrong universally (rape? murder? judging?), and if so, what are you prepared to do to enforce that morality? Why should someone be concerned, on atheism, about obeying the herd morality and following our evolutionary past, especially when he can get away with it and benefit from it personally?

3) Matter stays inanimate no matter how complicated you arrange it. In the absence of an immaterial mind, how can consciousness arise from a chunk of complicatedly arranged material (i.e, the brain)?

Identifying a brain state and causally connecting it to a mental state is not enough. Mental states have properties that physical states don't possess, so the former cannot be reduced to the latter. For example, physical states are third person whereas mental states are private.

4) If the physical world is all there is, is there free will?

5) The last one comes from another blogger: if Christ appeared to you and said that He really rose from the dead and is God, how would you respond? Witnesses and tests confirm you weren't dreaming--it was really God! What's next?

The skeptic's answer to this one will shine a light on his heart and motivation. Some will not follow God no matter what the evidence, and that renders their complaint about lack of evidence as a smoke screen. Their attitude, not the evidence, is the problem.

If you are a Christian, don't feel bashful about asking tough questions to skeptics! Skeptics, don't feel bashful about thinking about these questions--the answers might surprise you.

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Start To Use Your Amazing Mind Power!

By Kevin Hounsome

Just in case you didn't already know, your mind is like a magnet. What it thinks and sees, it will eventually attract. There is this thing that is called the law of attraction, and it deals very strongly with mind power. The law of attraction is basically the act of believing something is going to happen so strongly that it does. You can have the best life if you want it, but you have to be able to think it, feel it, and envision it first. This may take some practice, but success only comes with persistence in any endeavor. The power of the mind is amazing.

We all have mind power that we just do not realize. In fact, research has proven that we only use about 10% of our brain power. What a waste! We seem to only stick to the simple things and bypass the rest. That could be why we seem to think life is nothing but trouble. That leads to negative thoughts because we do not think anything can happen. We think negative, so we draw negativity to ourselves. The truth is that by thinking this way we are just manifesting the negativity in our own life.

The reality of life first happens within the mind. Whatever you have accumulated thus far has been a result of your mind power. It has been said that everyone has psychic and extra sensory skills or 'powers', but in reality, it is simply a state of advanced mind power. If there is something that you want in life, then all you have to do is think it. Those who are always expecting the worst will always end up with the worst.

There are a few things that you can do to start to increase your existing amount of mind power. One of those things involves the use of visualization. This is a very powerful technique because it will help you to exercise your current state of mind power, and might possibly be able to 'flip the switch on' for you in terms of gaining more.

Sit down and start pushing images to your powerful subconscious mind. You can do this by writing things down. Keep them positive so that it is only positive things that you draw to your life. Start by thinking about how you want your life to be and then you can start this process.

Write things down like a story on a piece of paper. Use your goals to help your create your visions and guide you on what to write. Your goals should be the basis for your visualization. Write things down until what you write starts to become reality.

Another way to increase the amount of mind power that you have is by affirmations. Affirmations are nothing more than positive bits of encouragement that you give yourself throughout the day. It can be a positive amount of encouragement about anything. For example, you can increase your mind power by saying that you will lose those 10 pounds by the end of the month. Keep telling yourself those positive things, and everything will just naturally start to come to you. It doesn't matter if you are not used to it at first, anything done consecutively for 28 days automatically becomes a habit.

Another thing that you can do to help develop more mind power is through brainwave entertainment. What this is, is synchronizing your brainwaves through audio technology. The brain naturally can do several things. One of those things is the ability to heal itself. Through brainwave entertainment you can enhance this ability. Other things that happen is enhanced memory and strengthening of natural psychic powers. This is rather advanced, but it really does work.

Hypnosis works to enhance mind power by relaxing and getting into your subconscious mind. Take for instance those who use hypnosis to quit smoking. What do they do? They simply go to a session, relax, and listen to someone tell them over and over again that they do not want to smoke anymore, and that they no longer have the desire, they are ready to quit, and then it happens for them. All they did was get the person who did not believe in themselves to become convinced through their subconscious minds that they can quit.

So you see, everyone has mind power, it is just a matter of belief in one's abilities. It may not happen overnight for everyone, but you can change your circumstances and turn your bad luck into good. You must learn to communicate your energies out into the universe and know that what you put out there will manifest itself back to you. But it all starts within the subconscious mind. How much mind power do you have?

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