Rantatouille Caveat Lector
Thread 1 - Salvation and Damnation
Thread 2 - Apologetic Refutations
Thread 3 - Predestination, Free Will, Procreation [last update 31.05.08]
Thread 4 - Non-specific Bible Commentary
Thread 5 - The fArt of War [last update --.05.08]
Thread 6 - Society and Politics [last update 31.05.08]
Thread 7 - Unclassified Miscellany
09.01.08 Wed 11:50 pm
At present, the collective effect of billions of individual intelligences is, ironically, incoherence, compounded stupidity and supercharged depravity.
The holy grail of secular human civilisation is individually-decentralised autonomous government, in an enlightened society sterile of crime, generously accommodating of diversity but still highly coherent and efficient. Such would see individuals governing self and surrounding with a real-time multilateral overview, and common (or at least compatible) moral standards.
Unfortunately such an utopia would require exorcism of ego, purging of prejudice, communal telepathic empathy and stratospheric intellect at least. To date, man's best approximation of that state has been merely organised chaos. Mankind, on its own power, is utterly incapable of self-rule with finesse. It needs a God.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and [to] his throne.
Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust [shall be] the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
17.06.08 Tue 12:50am
If only human society were as bio-metabolic process networks – self-assembling, self-organising and self-improving down to the individual level, without the slightest hint of central control.
08.02.08 Thu 8 pm
1Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Peter 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
In principle, it is Divine Sovereignty which admits leaders to, or debars them from, political rulership.
But in practice, it is mortal will which installs or deposes rulers – Hereditary-Monarchical succession, Military-Dictatorial imposition, Revolutionary Insurrection and Democratic Election are all human systems of political selection.
This presents a problem of distinguishing between Divinely appointed leaders and criminal counterfeits.
It cannot be that every self-proclaimed and self-imposed “authority” must receive recognition and submission. Just as it is presumptuous to conveniently equate any and every status quo with Divine will, so it is presumptuous to claim that oppressors who retain power without (or despite) opposition are holders of Divine Mandate.
Romans 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Romans 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to [execute] wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Submission to "authorities" is conditional to their conduct. Scripture clearly defines consistent punishment and deterrence of evil as fundamental criteria for legitimate rulership. Political tyrants fall far short of that definition, since they themselves constitute an evil deserving of punishment. Hence it is fallacious, contradictory and negligent to preach tolerance - let alone submission - towards them. Submission to savages in power is effectively collusion with criminal organisations.
There is no scriptural violation in the establishment of new authorities to abolish, usurp and punish old, oppressive governments. In such a scenario, the new authorities are not rebels, but legitimate “revengers to [execute] wrath upon (the old) that doeth evil”, fully consistent with Romans 13:4
(Of course, if these revengers intoxicate themselves with military and material excesses in the process, then they should join their predecessors in the pit of condemnation.)
Moreover, scripture does not forbid the Church to depose, and dispose of demonic despots. In fact,
“ Act 5:29 Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
To withhold forceful intervention against violent rulers is to abet their crimes under a passive excuse of peace, when none truly exists. And evil prospers while good men exercise restraint.
24.05.08 Sat 10:50 pm
It cannot be that every self-proclaimed and self-imposed “authority” must receive recognition and submission. So it is fair that individual members of society decide which political entities are legitimate “authorities”. And freedom of that choice is not rendered invalid, even if often conveniently ignored or forcibly overruled.
Of course, such choice is not exempt from Divine moral principles and conscience.02.07.07
**P is far from perfect, but it is also far from dysfunctional. Compared with the competition, it is obviously the lesser evil. Ignorant fools tend to demand liberal-style democracy, without acknowledging that many so-called liberal democracies are little more than international laughingstocks, entertaining with the occassional political contest but administratively dysfunctional.
22.11.07 Thu
“Be fruitful and multiply”? Clearly the adjective is distinct from the verb. Fruitfulness is not necessarily synonymous with multiplicity. A bumper crop of rotten fruit is quite clearly fruitless. Howbeit many populations multiply excessively, till they sink into the quagmire of poverty, decadence and suffering, groaning neath their own weight.
Procreation can be legitimate but irresponsible.
28.01.08 Mon 7:45 pm
Some question the ethics of imposing contraception upon the overpopulated and overpopulating third world, citing violation of human procreative rights, and the heavy rural dependence on large families for survival.
But classifying procreation as a human right is dubious at least - it entails an imposition of life by parents upon offspring, impingement of the will of former upon that of the latter. Freedom of choice is not equal for all human parties involved. Perhaps procreation is better classified as a Divine right.
Should survival be ensured or enforced at the expense of dignity and quality of life?
One should question the morality in wanton proliferation of offspring as mere convenient insurance-livestock , with the consequential entrapment of powerless posterity in the vicious cesspool cycle of poverty, superstition, starvation, disease and warfare.
21.04.08 Mon 8pm
The developed world over-consumes while the developing world overpopulates, perpetuating with suicidal synergy an entropic cycle of social and environmental decline.
Encouraging more marriage and procreation in (developed) aging populations is a myopic approach, which addresses a local problem at the expense of the Global one.
Managed rural-to-urban adoption and migration are more effective long-term solutions.
The concept of hyper-dense cites generating critical socio-economic mass should theoretically be obsolete in the information age. Much physical communication and traffic can be virtualised to eliminate the necessity for close proximity. The global population can then be more evenly distributed.
It is truly unfortunate to see actual trends moving in the undesirable opposite direction.
28.07.07
…not to simply distort the representation of history, but to fundamentally warp history itself, to obliterate suffering and stupidity - to castrate the warmongers, sterilise them that copulate wantonly, purge the parasites, subdue the elements - in a show of utter contempt and disdain for the wayward powers and principalities.
11.01.07 Fri 12:05 pm
History is repeatedly stained with abominable sins against women and children, by men who would be incestuous whores of Satan himself. Consider the blasphemous military ambition and exploits of Qin Shihuang, Genghis Khan, Alexander, Hitler and their ilk. Remember the perverse papal inquisition and crusades, the debased Japanese defilement of Nanjing and the Asia during the Second World War, the foul felonies of Milošević and his underlings in Kosovo, Pol Pot’s ruthless rampage in Cambodia, the ravenous Russian repression of Chechnya…
--.06.06
This world is an overgrown casino, all the inhabitants of which are forced to play. Some win, but many lose. That is not to say that the world is random and without order; Even in a literal casino, the roll of the dice, the order of deck, the turn of the wheel are all divinely controlled - or at least, sanctioned. But such events and variables are impossible for mortals to predict in detail.
--.07.06
In the hands of reasonable governments, nukes are the ultimate peace-enforcers and force-equalisers. No other weapons quite eliminate the economic incentive of war as efficiently as they do. Such is the essence of Mutually Assured Destruction, otherwise known by its apt initials M.A.D. The problem is, some idiots want war not for the spoils, but for its own sake. Osama and company simply want to watch the world burn its way down into another dark age.
--.05.06
‘Tis a tragic-comic irony
so unique to humanity.
That its glorious democracy
is but fragility and futility,
if unshielded by autocracy
known as military.
All is but a poor compromise.
16.01.08
The global citizen who calls no state home is said by confucianist conservatives to have no roots. Yet s/he has the wings which his/her locally rooted counterparts lack.
07.10.07
Citizenship is merely a contractual engagement of convenience with the government, consisting in conformity to law and paying of taxes. The wealthy can buy or sell it as their circumstances - or whim - dictate. It is an asset that can be traded, liquidated and generally manipulated in any legal and profitable way. Patriotic political allegiance is as irrelevant today as it has ever been, perhaps more. Empires and nations, thrones and dominions rise and fall like fickle waves in the austere ocean of history. Clinging fast to any one of them is sheer folly.
04.03.06
Nationalistic pride and state sovereignty are trivial compared to the well-being of civilian populations. But the silent, peaceful majority is often conveniently drowned out by pompous "patriotism" and fiery war cries.
The jap invaders of the second world war may have been national patriots, but they were traitors to God and humanity. Those who defied conscription may well have betrayed their government, but for a higher, nobler cause - worthier and more honourable ideals than petty sovereignty and patriotism.
16th Jan 08
No matter how grand and glorious a state or society, it is fundamentally composed of individuals and the relationships between them. It is a fallacy to rank collective over individual in importance. Missing the trees for the forest is no better than missing the forest for the trees.
31.05.08 Sat 11:41pm
Socio-political representation is a fallacy in that it rounds off too many factors and conveniently lumps individuals in vaguely defined factions. Worst of all, it gives those represented no direct control over their so-called representatives.
July 2006
Many rulers have held sway over their gullible populace by appealing to the petty, tribal ideals of (political) sovereignty and patriotism; the former was intended to enforce territorial boundaries, the latter to maintain servile populations. Such ideals are utterly devoid of moral basis, although countless generations have been fooled into believing otherwise.
That is not to renouce personal rights to material possession and self-preservation, but to revile the collective, representative claim and imposition thereof. It is unreasonable and unjust to twist simple principles of individual ownership and self-defense out of proportion, into ideals of corporate political allegiance.
May 2004
Just as earth’s violent seismology has fused and fragmented earth’s crust, so humanity’s volatile politics has drawn unstable territorial lines which bound the social illusion man calls “sovereignty”.
22.04.08 Tue 6:15am
There is no case for leniency towards sexual predators on psychiatric grounds. Their calculated criminal strategies prove them to be vicious, depraved sadists, rather than helpless, depressed victims of circumstance. They possess intellect well capable of cheating (and evading) primal urges, yet lustfully exploit it to consume defenceless prey.
24th January 2008 Thursday 2:10 pm
It is fallacy to argue against revocation of sexual predators’ procreative rights.
These lustful, debased parasitic worms have violated their victims’ sacred right to sexual abstinence, and thereby forfeited their own procreative rights. Moreover they have imposed the risk and/or reality of agonizing pregnancy, labour and disease on their victims, and hence no longer deserve ownership over their lives, let alone genitals.
Concision without anesthesia is not disproportionate judgment upon such criminals, since they have derived pleasure from their victims’ pain. Such draconian measures are further justified by their powerful deterrence against other potential offenders.
7th January 2007
Such grizzly scenes of violence neither tingle spines nor palpitate hearts, but instead stir up an impulse of indignation, a vortex of vengeful bloodlust to punish the perpetrators.
It is true that many wrongs make not one right. Yet revenge serves not to right a wrong by tit-for-tat, but to demonstrate the weight of wrong, and thereby deter repeat and copycat offences. Since violent sadists enjoy their victims' anguish, they should have no qualms experiencing it themselves. And we do no injustice by savaging these demons eye for an eye, if not 77-fold.
Romans 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to [execute] wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Often violence only begets violence. But sometimes only violence subdues violence.
20 Feb 2007 Wed 2pm
To slaughter recalcitrant oppressors and spare their victims, or spare the former and abet their violence upon the latter? It is clear which is the lesser of two evils( it is evil at all).
10 November 2007 ; 14 May 2008 Thursday 9:40pm
Upon a twisted interpretation of “civil liberties”, the American government spends taxpayer’s money to feed, house and “counsel” sadistic psychopaths, then releases these depraved monsters into society again to resume their ravenous exploits. Victims of crime endure further extortion for criminals' welfare, without enjoying real freedom from crime.
Too many legal systems have lost the deterrent edge against violence. The discrepancy between Law and Justice widens every day.
3rd November 2007
These turban-clad zealots know nothing but fanatical "evangelism" with guns and bombs. They indulge in the abuse and exploitation of women under the cloak of religion. Their fat beards and bellies declare the pompous egos within their lard-filled minds. They are hypocrites of the highest order.
3rd November 2007
It is confounding how some men can audaciously demand of their spouses fertile (re-)productivity when they themselves are conveniently exempt from the pregnancy. Perhaps a brief period of chemical castration should put them in their place.
03-11-2007
When death strikes close by, it suddenly grows clear that there is more to life than biology, more to humanity than complex grey matter; There is more to conscience than pavlovian conditioning, more to morality than philosophy, more to romance than hormones.
