All posts by Argo

The Marxist Lie of “White Privilege”

Uncategorized, , ,

In order to acknowledge “white privilege” one has to make the individual human being an extension of a concept. In this case “white”. Since “white” absent the individual can have no inherent existence, and certainly no meaning, it is impossible to claim that anyone can be “white”…as though “white” has some kind of power in itself to determine an individual’s existence. White is a function of the individual, not the other way around. Thus, no one can be born OF WHITE; which means no one can be born with some kind of endemic advantage simply because they fall into a conceptual category. This IS Marxism–that you are a function of the group–the “whites”–and thus, your existence is defined by it. With respect, this is utter horse shit. It is rational bankruptcy.

Also, and more obviously, not every white person in the world is privileged. But to claim “white privilege” is to claim ipso facto and BY DEFINITION that all people born white ARE automatically privileged. This is so clearly false I cannot believe anyone takes it seriously.

Moreover, and most importantly, “privileged” is a subjective term. I don’t concede the definition–which I am not rationally nor morally obligated to do–thus, I do not concede “white privilege” exists. Clearly, Rachel Dolezal did not consider it a privilege to be born white.

And do we mean biologically white? Or only those who self-identify as white have such privilege?

Ah…but we never got around to that discussion because the Marxists hoards became too distracted, like a dog fetching a ball, with banning symbols instead examining their own anthropological, biological, and philosophical  premises. How typical. You cannot keep a Marxist engaged for long when massive state force abounds just begging to be unleashed upon those with whom they disagree.

What Makes America So Fascinating is Also What Makes it So Terrifying

Physics and Metaphysics, Uncategorized, , , ,

What makes America so fascinating and terrifying? Here’s one thing:

Literally within the span of a couple of weeks we go from a national dialog on the nature of race and how it is defined by individuals as an expression of their own personal self-identification; a dialog which had the potential of radically changing the very root philosophy with respect to race, most likely to the benefit of ALL human beings everywhere–that is, a rejection of collectivist anthropology which can only divide, never reconcile individuals–to what we have today. Which is this: a seedy, obtuse, collectivist demagoguery of the issue altogether, and the feral, mindless, intellectually inhibited demand that the government use its overwhelming physical force to ban public displays of patently subjective symbols and implicitly morally blackmail private retailers into likewise banning said symbols.

This does two things, neither of which are remotely edifying, and neither of which do anything except lead ALL races down the primrose path of blind, zero-sum philosophy to inevitable misery and destruction at the hands of an absolute central Authority which destroys humanity for destruction’s sake alone. The first is that it eschews rational dialogue–that is, reason–for rank violence (state force) as the ultimate (and thus only legitimate) moral imperative; and second, it drives a wedge of animosity and distrust between a large segment of US denizens and their “representative” government.

Naturally, and predictably, this is the tragedy that never makes it into the public consciousness. And why should it? Guns and sophism have always been more effective at changing the world than reason and thought. It’s what we are most comfortable with. And just as Huxley predicted, comfort bought with the currency of murder and oppression is the only real mark of “existence” when we concede the nihilist consequences of an irrational metaphysic: Since man is not of himself, he does not own himself

Would it be Inappropriate to Suggest That the Charleston, SC Shooting is Just Too Convenient?

Uncategorized, , , ,

I suppose it is merely a coincidence that just as the “racial identity” conversation regarding white NAACP chapter president, Rachel Dolezal, (who successfully masqueraded as black for several years), was getting interesting, with the potential of philosophically redefining all racial politics in this country, we get the Charleston, SC shooting. A shooting which comes complete with a young, white, blond-haired, male, uber-racist, bearing a frightening, psychotic, kill-em-all scowl, a seething racist “manifesto”, and a portfolio absolutely buxom with Confederate-flag-waving scenes…a vault of hateful images to rival even the most prolific of Ku Klux Klan propagandists. And I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the conversation has now shifted back to the same old, tired, yet dependable, rile-up-the-base demagoguery of arguments concerning public displays of the confederate flag, institutional and systemic racism, and gun control.

Yes…I’m sure I’m way off base thinking that there is anything more here than what the news is telling me

Your Absolute Dependence Upon Pastoral “Authority” for an Efficacious Rendering of Reality (i.e. Your Sanity): Part FOURTEEN of “Collectivism Masquerading as the Christian Orthodox Ideal”

Calvinism/Philosophy, Epistemology, Metaphysics, , , , , , , , , ,

“Let’s face it; we’re all prone to wander.”  (P. 32, “Community: Your pathway to progress; North Point Ministries, 2008)

Well…no.  This is simply not true.  Useless conjecture; but even worse, it is patently deceptive.

We are not ALL prone to wander.  I could rattle off a half dozen people off the top of my head who I know are not “prone to wander”…whatever that means; I’m guessing here, because they haven’t defined it.

Ah…now that’s telling isn’t it?

Tell you what.  Hold that thought for a sec.

Furthermore, how in the hell is it possible to empirically verify such an assertion?  Did the authors interview every human being on earth both alive and dead to determine if they ever wandered?  And who decides what it means to “wander”?  And by what criteria and what consensus do they decide? And did the subjects they interviewed concede the definition?  And if they did not concede the definition, were they then excluded from the survey?  And if they were not excluded, by what rationale did the researchers decide it was legitimate and consistent with objective research protocol to disregard the opinions of the subjects with respect to the proper definition of terms?  And further, if they WERE excluded, does not that invalidate the initial claim–that “We are ALL prone to wander”–because, if some people are excluded from the survey, is not the hypothesis automatically disqualified on the basis that not ALL people were interviewed?

Also, what makes them the experts on what constitutes “wandering”? I mean, we can probably agree that, say, farming, homesteading, sharecropping, and squatting are pretty obviously not “wandering”.  But what about hunter-gatherer societies? Are they considered wandering? What about military families who move a lot?  Or traveling salesmen, or musicians, or acting troupes, or circuses?  Do they suffer from the blight of wandering as defined by North Point Ministries?  Should we demand they stop being so damn irresponsible and grow roots and put them down?  Or…um…is “wandering” merely a figurative term?

Hm…yes.  I think we may be on to something.

*

You see, once we understand that “wandering” is a euphemism for “sin”, and that only the “orthodox” ecclesiastical authority is allowed to define “sin”, this obviously absurd and impossible-to-substantiate claim (“we are all prone to wander”) is quickly revealed as an important and foundational part of the American Church’s very profitable deception.

Now, I’m sure it has, at this point, not escaped your attention that the author does not define “wander”.  And that, incidentally, is a glaring omission common in reformed literature, since the days of Calvin and Luther…at least.  You see, “sin” is never specifically defined in writings dealing with doctrine; and that’s because sin as a concept must have a fluid definition in order for it to be profitable as a tool of manipulation.  In other words, “sin” is whatever the ecclesiastical authority–(defined as those “standing in the stead of God” to shepherd (compel by violence, threats, or both) your spiritual “walk” (trail of tears))…yes, “sin” is whatever the ecclesiastical authority says it is at any given moment, in any given circumstance.  This way they can control the moral narrative of your life, and by this control the practical fruits of your labor; your existence.  Which is the whole point. The treasure is not in heaven as they have told you, but rather it is the fruit of your labor, and it is meant to flow upward, to the top of the hierarchical pyramid…and this is collectivism 101.  The government (the moral and intellectual supreme authority) of the church, just as it is in Marxist autocracies, is the only agency which really matters.  Said in an ironic way, you exist to NOT exist…that is, you exist to be sacrificed categorically to those who are “called” to ‘lead” you–where “lead” is a euphemism for “possess”.

You see, according to the metaphysic of reformed doctrine, there is no “you” distinct or autonomous from your “sin” (the reformed human metaphysic being, succinctly stated: man IS Evil; or man IS Sin).  Thus, in the process of purging you from your “sin nature”, YOU, the self-aware agent, must also be purged (and your awareness is an illusion at best; however, a self-indulgent lie and proof of your categorical apostasy probably better describes how individual consciousness is perceived by the eldership).  This purging is most effectively accomplished by destroying your cognitive ability to anchor yourself to a rationally consistent conceptual paradigm. And this is done by constantly manipulating the meaning of terms so that you remain in a perpetual state of confusion with regards to apprehending reality; that is, through manipulating concepts by implicitly teaching the constant vacillation of the meaning of words, the ecclesiastical leadership keeps you permanently dependent upon them for your sanity.  A denial of their “authority” is a denial of reality and condemns you to a state of madness from which there can be no salvation.  Of any kind.  Because “salvation” (or “Christ”, or “God”, or “YOU”) cannot have any meaning at all apart from their AUTHORITY.  That is, without them interpreting your life FOR you, you cannot tell which way is up or down.  You are as likely to wind up in hell as in heaven, and it doesn’t matter anyway because there is no functional difference.  It’s all misery because it is all undecipherable, disconnected images combined with sounds and utterances that have no reference in objective reality.   Truly it is psychological abuse and manipulation of the worst kind.  And psychological abuse is the worst kind of hell, because it lives INSIDE you.  There is no escape.  And this is why the American Spiritual Industrial Complex is so insanely profitable.  The threat of hell is, or can be, in a sense, and ironically, the worst kind of hell.  And make no mistake, it is FEAR which drives the payroll.  It is the insertion of a living and active hell into the minds of men which makes men dependent on any half-witted knob who merely claims, with absolutely no appeal to reason whatsoever and none asked for,  to have the “words of eternal life”.

*

Now, a rational definition of “sin” is pretty much that of which any sane person will assume; a definition, incidentally (for all your biblicists), one could easily garner by an honest, unfiltered, and unmolested examination of Scripture:  don’t do things that violate the the sanctity (the right to individual self-ownership) of your neighbor.  Don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t covet, don’t blaspheme…pretty straightforward moral standards not unlike those found in a rather significant, but oft ignored (because it’s far too easy, you see), moral code known as the Ten Commandments.  But since ALL of Scripture is merely a function of the Reformed “gospel narrative”, the ability to grasp the true meaning of these moral imperatives eludes you, because you, unlike your Pastor, have not been given the divine enlightenment necessary to determine for yourself what “not-coveting” or “not lying” or “not stealing” really looks like (remember, they must provide the definitions for you, moment by moment by moment, in perpetuity…for this is the only reference for “reality”…for conceptual meaning).  Thus, your pastoral “authority” is forced to interpret the “narrative of reality” for you, because you, having not been called to stand-in-the-stead as they have, and thus having NOT been divinely bequeathed enlightenment (for according to reformed epistemology, truth is not learned but is bestowed) you cannot possibly understand the Ten Commandments because you cannot possibly understand what sin really is because your absolute sin-nature has precluded you from any reference of a rationally consistent reality by which you could interpret “sin” in the first place.  Simply put:  since your consciousness is an illusion, you cannot define anything you claim to see.  Thus, they must define everything for you, according to their pastoral “enlightenment”, and this “enlightenment” is the utterly irrational metaphysical construct of a “gospel-centered” interpretation of ALL reality; which is ironic because such an interpretive lens makes defining “reality” in any rational sense impossible.

It is by no accident that the interpretation of reality always begins and ends with discussions, though no consistent definitions, of “sin”; that is, sin is always a function of the present context; it is always in the NOW, which is why even after salvation we are all still “functional” sinners (active reprobates by nature); sin is NEVER relegated to the past; there is no cure for sin because there is no cure for YOU; your existence IS, and IS NOW, and thus sin is always “with you” because sin IS you. 

This is done to serve the narrative that your sin is perpetual, of course; that there is absolutely no moment of your life which is untainted or untouched by your debauched nature.  If they can convince you that you are always doing wrong simply by breathing, they can convince you that doing right is quite impossible, but only if it is outside of their “covering” of course. Naturally then, and quite logically, being humanity’s “covering” is a highly lucrative position.  And this is why there are so many churches, and so many wealthy churches, with so many very wealthy “shepherds”.

So now you understand why there is no consistent definition of sin, as you might see in the Ten Commandments where morality is referenced to the autonomy and right-to-life and right-to-self-ownership of the self-aware agent (God and Man).  “Sin” is only ever remotely  defined with any specificity when the ecclesiasty perceives a threat–real or imagined–to their authority; their ex post facto ownership of your mind, body, and property.  “How dare you question our beliefs?” They say.  “How dare you question our vision and how dare you impose the temerity of your blindness upon us? Your gossip and your lies and your recalcitrance trail behind you like a cloud of darkness, infecting and corrupting all the wonderful things God is doing in our church family. You are probably not even saved.  In fact, no…you are not saved.  I declare it. And I will rattle my keys under your nose in mockery of your apostasy.” Yes, this is the only time sin is given anything even approximating an objective definition.

And if this sounds too profound to be true…if you are curling your lips and upturning your nose at the absurdity of my assertions, well…then whatever “God-appointed” authority to which you’ve been lending your ear is admittedly doing his or her job with exceeding facility.  You are supposed to think people like me merely polemic.  You are supposed to recoil in fear and wince horror at such suggestions.  You are supposed to blow raspberries at anyone who would dare question the motives of those who have everything to gain from exploiting your love and, even worse, your fears, and who make it a blatant point to reject reason and to offer no further apologetic for their doctrines than “who can ever really understand His ways? [shrug]”.  You are supposed to instinctively reject any possible connection between the doctrines they teach and the destructive outcomes so frequently observed in the American Church (child sexual abuse, financial scandals, sexual harassment and exploitation of women, embarrassing and psyche-demolishing church-splits, heartless and vindictive attitudes towards non-believers, open and unrepentant hypocrisy amongst the leadership, rejections of Christ en masse by former believers…to name just a few).

They’ve been perfecting their approach for thousands of years.  Your knee-jerk rejection to the idea that you could possibly be exploited by these people for their own selfish benefit, either willfully or out of ignorance, is proof that practice has indeed made perfect.  I mean, let’s face it:  you won’t be convinced to jump in front of a train unless someone spends a lot of time practicing the approach necessary to convince you that your life is ultimately beside the point; that the train cannot go where it must go with you in the way…and that being in the way means existing at all.  That is, and ironically, unless you jump directly in front of the speeding train, you cannot help but to hinder its divine mission, which, you have been convinced, is somehow worse for you than rejecting the very life you believe God created and gave you in the first place!

Yes, and thus, like the proverbial frog slowly boiling to death, you sit in the sanctuary and stare at the plexiglass podium and nod at your reformed pastor’s message dutifully, unaware of the grave reality of your condition.  And upon hearing my message you psychologically assume the fetal position, terrified at my hyperbole and paranoia.

You see, for me to declare to some people that their lives matter and that human life matters has become a yarn of madness to them, and sends them into  fits of moral indignation, a sputtering of denial, and compels them to cry aloud “God-hater!” and “Heretic!”.

And when they’ve finished, I confidently proclaim my case rested.

According to the Duggar Girls, Sexually Assaulting Siblings is an Entirely Normal Part of Male Puberty

Calvinism/Philosophy, ,

I watched a bit of the interview of the Duggar daughters last night on the Kelly Files. They said, “He was just curious about girls”.

Umm…what in the hell were these girls told to get them to accept that somehow rank sexual assault is merely a normal product of male puberty? What must these girls think about men?! That all men are designed by God to engage in the most heinous violations of the most innocent of human beings?! What must this do to their own sexual and social development?!

I was a fourteen year old boy. Yes I was “curious” about girls (and “curious” is a euphemism for exactly what you think it’s a euphemism for). No, those girls did not include my sisters. My sisters were gross and had cooties and were annoying as hell and still are for that matter (;-)). And the “girls” I was interested in at 14 were also 14. Well, between 14 and 30. Alright…14 and 50 (some of the older teachers were still kinda hot).

THAT’S normal. And the fact that the Duggar daughters would offer the “it’s just puberty” argument as a means of excusing their brother’s rank sexual deviancy is all you need to know about how sick and twisted this whole affair really is. Someone lied to these girls in order to convince them that the sociopathy to which they were exposed was not only legal, but moral; and thus, in keeping with “God’s perfect design and Will”. And that of course makes any destructive psychological effects these girls may suffer THEIR fault. If they are confused or upset or angry or their own sexual development is arrested it’s because they are “not trusting God”; or “not trusting their parents”, or their pastor, or not believing the Bible, or whatever other lies pass for “sound doctrine” in Christianity today. Their desires for justice and for protection and for healing, however obscure and inarticulate such desires may be in young children, is chalked up to THEIR lack of forgiveness; THEIR unregenerate hearts, which puts them in danger of God’s punishment for THEIR evil assumption that somehow their inherent human total depravity warrants any justice at all; as though unforgiving, grudge-holding reprobates like themselves can expect anything but wrath and condemnation from a God who obviously “allowed” the very thing they claim in their sinful blindness was wrong (insofar as a young child can articulate “wrong”). Since “God controls all things”, according to the Platonist apostasy which passes for Christianity today, then He must at least on some level have been pleased to subject them to their brother’s sexual interlocution. And what does this say about the girls’ lingering doubt about the benevolence of the situation and the innocence of their brother; that it’s all just biology?

It says that if they suffered by the circumstance, clearly they deserved it. God allowed it to show them how evil they are, and how much further they have to go before God can approve them. That in the willful coddling of their own pain God reveals a nature so debauched and so unregenerate that they may never be truly saved.

The Duggar girls explained that mommy and daddy told them that the choice of whether or not to forgive their brother was theirs alone.

Not only is relegating this responsibility to a child who has been sexually assaulted evil and abusive in its own right, CLEARLY these children had no choice at all.

Welcome to the Church. Where there are no innocent victims, not even children; and all victims ex post facto deserve their abuse, and thus the green light is divinely granted for them to be perpetually re-victimized

Is Government Rational? Is Government Necessary? What Metaphysical Assumptions Does Government Make About the Governed?

Metaphysics, , , ,

I submit that government is predicated on the idea that men NEED governing. And this is because men, it is assumed, by their very nature are existentially insufficient to perfect moral behavior (ignoring, for the time being, the contradictory fact that all governments are run by men, so what exactly gives civil “authorities” an existential pass on their own fundamental moral insufficiency?). That is, though not all men will do evil, ALL men need governing because evil is endemic to the human condition.

If this is true then “governing” men is really a means of compelling them through force to “do the right thing”. But of course since evil is a natural function of the human condition, namely, existence, then men cannot by definition do the right thing. Their nature–their existence–ultimately precludes this capability (again with the understanding that not all men do evil but all men have the capacity for evil because evil is natural to man, thus all men must be governed). This being the case, government is really established merely to punish man for his evil nature, full stop. For since man is ungovernable because his nature is evil, the very idea of government is ultimately predicated on the right of government to wield FORCE. And force precludes governing. It is actually the admission that governing man is quite impossible.

This force is to punish man, not for his evil, but for his very EXISTENCE; since it is impossible to isolate man’s capacity for evil, because evil is endemic to his natural existence, “man IS evil” is the metaphysical premise behind government.

But if man is NOT inherently evil, and evil is a product of irrational ideas, then man, if he has rational ideas…well, there is no reason to think he will not function morally. There is no reason to consider him a slave to evil, which means there is no reason to think he MUST be governed.

Food for thought–and just one among the many topics discussed here that, should you dare bring it up, will make people slowly back away from you at parties.

On “Profanity”

Uncategorized, ,

There is no such thing as inherently good or bad words. If you act from a rational philosophy, one which by its reason assumes and abides the inherent moral worth of each individual human being and maintains the inalienable right of each individual to own and prosper his or her own life, then all of your words are good words. And if you act from a philosophy which is not rational and by its irrational assumptions and/or conclusions denies the inherent morality of man and thus denies his right to self ownership and prosperity then all of your words are bad words

Part Two: The Moral and Intellectual Drought of “God Controls all Things”

Calvinism/Philosophy, Metaphysics, , ,

RC Sproul says that if God is not in control of every molecule in the universe then He is not God. I say on the contrary–if God is in control of every molecule then He cannot possibly be God; because in this context there can be NO functional difference between God and that which is not God. God is thus God in an infinite vacuum of Himself, since there is no contextual frame of reference, no actual environment, by which to relevantly or efficaciously define God, since by RC’s definition God IS the environment, because He controls it to the point where its very existence–its very essence–is 100% a direct function of the existence of God, eliminating ANY existential distinction by definition. In other words, there is no place where God ends and the environment He “controls” begins. Thus, the doctrine of God’s sovereign control is fully predicated upon the idea that there is no actual divine control at all because there is no distinct essence of anything He is supposedly in control of. Which of course renders the entire doctrine patently absurd and RC an overrated psuedo-intellectual farceur whose impossible theology (if one can call it without snorting) should be met with outright rejection and derision should he not rationally defend his claims. Instead, however, his book sales soar and his ideas are monumentalized.

Sigh.  This is where we are in American Christianity today.  The appeal to “divine inspiration” and “Biblical Infallibity” is the ecclesiasty’s get-out-of-reason free card. Another nail in the coffin of humanity and with it, its God. Which is exactly how the devil wants it. But I’m sure RC’s willful cognitive dissonance won’t allow him to absorb the sum of the guilt he is due, and on sheets of white satin he certainly sleeps peacefully night after night.

Well, what difference does it make? Even if he’s wrong and his ideas are in fact bullets with butterfly wings, man’s Total Depravity ensures that any fallout humanity suffers is well deserved regardless. And see now how the metaphysical and epistemological implications of TULIP (Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints), and all of its individual points, serve as quite the handy little plan B for each other. If God’s Sovereign Control (the metaphysical sum of all five points) fails RC in a certain context, or he finds himself in an argumentative bind, well there’s always Total Depravity to save him the moral culpability. And if Total Depravity fails there’s always Limited Atonement, and so on and so forth.

So, basically…yeah, RC can pretty much say whatever the fuck he wants, damning to a lifetime of hell and nonsense all who follow his teachings and yet can be confident that he NEVER must reap the just punishment of his deception. He has tenure as a respected theological “intellectual” because the doctrine he espouses justifies his every word, no matter what it is, by design. He can never be wrong because being right or wrong is ultimately (and fundamentally) a matter of reason, and reason, according to “sound doctrine” is completely  irrelevant to Truth. There is no evil for RC to fear as a consequence of his teaching because what he teaches precludes the very reality of evil entirely. And this, my lovely and handsome readers, is precisely why the ecclesiastical authority avoid both accountability and debate almost universally. In a world where wholesale agreement with a theological opinion is the only real “proof” of one’s righteousness and calling and thus salvation, both debate and accountability for the leaders of the church are an abject waste of time. If God hasn’t given you the “grace to perceive” (i.e. categorically agree with) what RC believes and teaches, then there is no point in discussing it with you. He will discuss it with you only after you totally accept it…which of course makes any “discussion” entirely beside the point, but never you mind that, you silly plebe. And if RC happens to teach something fundamentally at odds with reality and thus must necessarily result in harmful if not outright disastrous consequences, well…God’s grace will sustain you, of course.  Magically rescuing you from any real harm or suffering (at least, in heaven, where suffering is no longer necessary to “holiness”…and how exactly that can be possible when Reformed Protestant doctrine specifically demands that morality is inseparably tied to suffering and torment, well…they haven’t quite gotten to explaining that one yet). And if it doesn’t sustain you then God doesn’t love you anyway and you aren’t one of those who have been limitedly atoned for, so you are simply getting the just condemnation your willful–and natural (contradiction alert!)—profanity demands.

And as John Immel might say, Alakazaam, poof! Total absolution for those men specifically charged by God to care for and bring comfort and protection to His sheep even when what they teach and how they act does the complete opposite.

*

Like I said, God cannot exist in an infinite vacuum of Himself–which is the situation demanded by the doctrine of God’s absolute control.  Because in such a situation, the most that can be said about God is a rank contradiction in terms, namely , that God is the God of Himself.  Which of course makes being God irrelevant.  For God cannot be the God of Himself.  And if being God then is irrelevant then the very idea of God is impossible nonsense.  God ceases to have any efficacious meaning at all because there can be nothing He is God OF…that is, there is nothing to provide the rational and meaningful contextual reference for “God” because God, by his utter control of all things, becomes all things.  And in this context, ironically, all things becomes nothing.  For infinity (for example, absolute God) is an “everything” which precludes a reference, rendering this “everything” utterly beyond definition.  And that which cannot be defined cannot be said to serve any purpose, which means it cannot be said to be true, which means it cannot be said to exist; because existence itself demands a reference.  And again there is no reference if God is everything.

Behold again the guile of Satan’s persuasion upon the “leadership” of God’s church, that they would not only espouse and teach such rank blasphemy, but would demand that their laity accept it as well, under threat and penalty of blackmail, violence, slander, excommunication and, in the past (though there is no guarantee it will remain there), murder.

*

To further elaborate upon the points rendered in the previous sections of this article:

You cannot claim that God controls all things without making the explicit distinction between “God” and “things”.  Which means God’s control cannot extend beyond the boundaries of the things’ own distinct and fully autonomous existence.  Which means that God does NOT in fact control all things, because of the necessary limitation of God’s control implicit in the claim itself, which makes the abject distinction between “God” and “things” contradictorily moot and yet apparent by its very claim: namely that GOD controls all THINGS–the distinction is abject even in the very words of the doctrine which contradictorily denies this distinction in its metaphysics and application.  And this means that the declaration that “God controls all things” is on its face a rank logical fallacy, rendering it impossible, and totally incompatible with truth and reality.  Thus, God’s control must be not categorical, but specific–that is, what precisely is God controlling since it cannot possibly be ALL things?  The answer to this is, well, nothing.  God is controlling–in the deterministic sense, which is the intended sense of the doctrine (trust me; I was a Phari…I mean, Calvinist for 15 years)–nothing, because God, since He is the God OF things, neither needs to control them (because God’s being God is in no way dependent upon the actions of things in Creation–God is God no matter HOW creation acts; His own identity has NOTHING to do with what Creation does or does not do, or what man thinks of Him, which is the complete opposite of what RC Sproul teaches when he falsely and irrationally claims that if God is not in control of every molecule in the Universe then He is not God…this is a lie) nor is He able to control them and still claim that He is the God of them…for to control them is to render their very self-existence moot, which means that He cannot be the God of them because He cannot be God of that which does not really exist in the first place. God is defined as God precisely because man is able to define Him thus, due to man’s ability to rightly discern the distinction of God’s unique place and function in his environment, as juxtaposed to himself.  That means that in order for God to thus be God in any rational or efficacious sense, man must be able to freely relate not only to God but to ALL things distinct from himself in his (man’s) environment.  Which necessarily precludes God’s direct and deterministic control of those things.

You see, the ironic corollary to “God controls all things” is ” God controls nothing“, since the “things” in the claim that “God controls all things” when we understand the abject determinism implicit in the claim, can have no autonomous existence of their own.  But since “nothing” cannot exist, by definition, the claim that “God controls nothing” is equally false, because God cannot, again by definition, control that which does not exist in the first place.  That is, since these two claims are corollaries, the logical fallacy of one is the logical fallacy of the other. Both claims are equally meaningless.

You might then just say, “God controls Himself, which is all things”.  But…this is pantheism, first, and second, it is an obviously silly and impossible contradiction.  Because if all there is is God’s Self, then there can be no other things for that Self to be.  Further, God does not control Himself, he is Himself, which is significantly different.  You see, God’s existence is not a function of control, but of identity.  For existence is not conceptually the same thing as control, and it is irrational and intellectually dishonest to conflate the two.  Control of oneself = being oneself is a false equation because control needs an environmental context (a context outside of the reference…which is the Self of the consciously aware agent) in order to be rationally qualified as control.  In other words, that which is doing the controlling must be observably distinct from that which is controlled in order for either concept, “control” or “existence” (existence in this context = the nature of the thing controlling), to have any meaning.  To say that God controls Himself who in turn is doing the controlling is a contradiction.  And thus is an impossible conclusion.

When we talk of one “controlling” something it is always in juxtaposition to an environment–a constant, if you will–that he is not controlling.  But of course the possibility of such an environment is ruled out by the implicit metaphysic demanded by idea that “God controls all things”.  So, no matter how one chooses to examine it, the doctrine of God’s absolute sovereign control is patently false–a subordination of reason to madness–and should not and cannot be accepted and assumed by anyone claiming possession of or interest in the truth.

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Finally, one further argument for you to consider: Why would an ALL powerful God need to control ALL things.  For the actions of things in Creation could by no means thwart the Will or Identity of an omnipotent God, no?  It would seem, would it not, contradictory to say that God is both ALL powerful and ALL sovereign, as if the two are one and the same–as if absolute control is a manifestation of his omnipotence.  But this does not rationally compute because in order to manifest omnipotence it must be over something; but in the context of absolute control there can be no distinctly-existing something for God exercise His omnipotence upon.  The things He would subject to His omnipotence are merely extensions of Himself, which naturally renders omnipotence a meaningless and irrelevant attribute.

Anyway…that’s a question which, if you held your breath waiting for an answer from the institutional church in America, I suspect you’d significantly hasten your funeral. The essential point to remember in this argument is that God is neither ALL powerful nor ALL controlling because “power” and “control” are relative terms.  Which  means they need a reference–a context, in order to be given meaning.  Thus, “power” and “control” are only true according to a reference by which they can be known as efficacious TO the reference, and that reference then is outside, existentially/metaphysically, both the power and control of God.  Which means that God’s “power” and “control” cannot be absolute.  Again, they are relative.  And the relativity of such concepts must be conceded if we are to maintain the idea that God actually possesses  His own Identity.  But those of you still struggling with the idea of denying God a supreme power that man’s mind is incapable of grasping, because that’s what you’ve been taught all your life by adults who still believe in the Boogey Man and invoke his name to compel and control their children and their laity, rest assure my friends, declaring that God does not in fact have absolute control or absolute power is the exact opposite of apostasy.  Rather it affirms the idea that God has an identity of His own apart from man, and thus can be known by man as God–actually, rationally, relevantly, efficaciously, morally, and truthfully.

Another Sex Crime in the Church; Another Appeal to Satan from the Church to Excuse It

Calvinism/Philosophy

Everything wrong, evil, and destructive in the church in America today can be found in this article. Particularly in the Duggars’ own comments.

Non-specific “treatment” for a severe psychological pathology through untrained, unlicensed friends passing as “efficacious Christian counseling”; ecclesiastical absolution for criminal sexual abuse passing for justice; child victims “forgiving” (being FORCED most likely) the abuser for actions almost certain to cause long term psychological trauma passing for “everyone growing closer to God; the “we are all just sinners saved by grace” Protestant moral equivalency mantra trotted out in defense of the most monstrous of crimes against little children; appeals to the satanic lie of Total Depravity as a means to deny the moral and legal culpability of the abuser and to tacitly implicate  both God and the victims in the crime.

Flee the insatiable fangs of the institutional church for the sake of your mind, body, and soul. Otherwise you may very well find all three on the menu, people.

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/josh-duggar-named-in-underage-sex-abuse-scandal–report-195532368.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma