Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The work God is doing is in us, changing us from the inside out, where we start choosing to love over hate, to obey out of love, not just obligation or to acquire anything. The two great commandments are to love God and each other. This is far different than obeying to get out of something or even to get something. When God created us, we are to be beings made in His image, He acts out of love, this is why while we were yet sinners Jesus died for us, not that we could give Him something He needed, we were dead in our sins, He did it out of love for us, we needed Him, not the other way around.
Galatians 5
English Standard Version
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
What made me think about this was a conversation I heard with John Lennox and Jordan Peterson. They were talking about thoughts and how we don’t think about thoughts. So where do thoughts come from when we get a revelation out of the blue? Where is the blue? Who is in charge of that, if anyone? It makes me wonder. I’m not talking about hearing voices, but where do ideas come from, the good and bad?
Another pointed this out: It didn’t begin with me. The devil is also trying to work on our hearts to get us to act according to the desires of our flesh, our pride, and our lust when we fulfill any of the devil’s wants.
For me, this just means that even if I have a bad idea or train of thought, I should move on, seeking that which is good, loving, kind, full of peace, and so on. If not, to use a common term today, we start to identify with it, take on hatefulness, enmity, strife, and pride, and it becomes a direction we start to walk down, and our lives start to reflect it.
@KellyJay saidFrom the 86 billion neurons in the human brain, making connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
but where do ideas come from, the good and bad?
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidSo an idea that just comes to that wasn’t there the day before is due too, your brain playing dominios?
From the 86 billion neurons in the human brain, making connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
@KellyJay saidAgain, from connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
So an idea that just comes to that wasn’t there the day before is due too, your brain playing dominios?
Does your domino set have 86 billion tiles?
Edit:
My cat is cunning
my cat is fat,
she does no running
I'm cool with that.
Was the above an original verse produced by:
1. Firing neurons in my brain connecting info already held
2. Put there by God
3. Put there by the devil
Take a moment...
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidI find it frankly bizarre that someone would "identify as" random thoughts flitting through the shopping cart we call "the mind." As Nietzsche somewhere remarks, "a thought comes when it wants, not when I want." And as any serious Buddhist will tell you, you are not your thoughts. Thoughts are ephemera and utterly trivial. It simply does not matter where they come from; they are like clouds floating past. Observe them, but do not get stuck in them. They're just headFlix.
Again, from connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
Does your domino set have 86 billion tiles?
Edit:
My cat is cunning
my cat is fat,
she does no running
I'm cool with that.
Was the above an original verse produced by:
1. Firing neurons in my brain connecting info already held
2. Put there by God
3. Put there by the devil
Take a moment...
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidIt doesn’t matter how many dominos there are if it is a simple matter of destiny due to the material makeup that makes it so. You now claim it must have happened because this is how you think it had to have happened. We can write a book and tell our characters what they must do, but if we write it and they do it, you are putting that limitation on God, as if He cannot give us the ability to do what we want the way we want to do it.
Again, from connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
Does your domino set have 86 billion tiles?
Edit:
My cat is cunning
my cat is fat,
she does no running
I'm cool with that.
Was the above an original verse produced by:
1. Firing neurons in my brain connecting info already held
2. Put there by God
3. Put there by the devil
Take a moment...
@moonbus saidThoughts can point you in directions you want and do not want to go; you choose, choose badly, and you can be a slave to your passions and lusts.
I find it frankly bizarre that someone would "identify as" random thoughts flitting through the shopping cart we call "the mind." As Nietzsche somewhere remarks, "a thought comes when it wants, not when I want." And as any serious Buddhist will tell you, you are not your thoughts. Thoughts are ephemera and utterly trivial. It simply does not matter where they come from ...[text shortened]... ey are like clouds floating past. Observe them, but do not get stuck in them. They're just headFlix.
@KellyJay saidYes, one can be a slave to passions, lusts, inadequate thoughts, and bad decisions -- or .... one can grow up and learn moral discipline. My mother called this "character building." Donald Trump is the poster boy for not growing up, not learning moral discipline; he throws temper tantrums when people don't do what he wants, a pathetic caricature of an adult. In any case, thinking about it is not how one grows up and learns to take responsibility for one's life. Neither is believing something how one grows up and learns to take responsibility for one's life. That is why I find it bizarre to "identify as" anything one might think or believe about oneself. If there is a Last Judgement, it won't be about what you thought or believed about yourself or what you "identified as" or how much Scripture you can quote.
Thoughts can point you in directions you want and do not want to go; you choose, choose badly, and you can be a slave to your passions and lusts.
@moonbus saidAnd none of that has anything do with where thoughts come from, what you find odd about scriptures I’m not overly concerned with either. What is important in life is being connected to the source of life, not how much scripture you can quote.
Yes, one can be a slave to passions, lusts, inadequate thoughts, and bad decisions -- or .... one can grow up and learn moral discipline. My mother called this "character building." Donald Trump is the poster boy for not growing up, not learning moral discipline; he throws temper tantrums when people don't do what he wants, a pathetic caricature of an adult. In any ca ...[text shortened]... thought or believed about yourself or what you "identified as" or how much Scripture you can quote.
@KellyJay saidIn general I would imagine that all living beings are somehow connected to the source of life.
And none of that has anything do with where thoughts come from, what you find odd about scriptures I’m not overly concerned with either. What is important in life is being connected to the source of life, not how much scripture you can quote.
@moonbus saidSounds good, but from my POV serious Buddhists are probably best avoided.
And as any serious Buddhist will tell you, you are not your thoughts. Thoughts are ephemera and utterly trivial. It simply does not matter where they come from; they are like clouds floating past. Observe them, but do not get stuck in them. They're just headFlix.
@Ghost-of-a-Duke saidSir, perhaps we might agree that God does not play Scrabble with the universe (as far as I know).
Again, from connections between existing information stored in its neural networks.
Does your domino set have 86 billion tiles?
Edit:
My cat is cunning
my cat is fat,
she does no running
I'm cool with that.
Was the above an original verse produced by:
1. Firing neurons in my brain connecting info already held
2. Put there by God
3. Put there by the devil
Take a moment...
(However, I have been given to understand that some Orthodox Jews might say: "Not exactly, but almost." )
Manic mystic busybodies of Earth aside (meaning Paul, for the sake of clarity), I think it's not a bad analogy to say that the Cosmos is made of language or that its development (as we understand it) shares some commonalities with linguistic development in humans (or the other way around).
@KellyJay saidWell stated KellyJay. 🙂 Thumbs-up here.
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The work God is doing is in us, changing us from the inside out, where we start choosing to love over hate, to obey out of love, not just obligation or to acquire anything. The two great commandments are to love God and each other. This ...[text shortened]... ife, and pride, and it becomes a direction we start to walk down, and our lives start to reflect it.
@Arkturos saidI agree 100%.
In general I would imagine that all living beings are somehow connected to the source of life.