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Top Stories Defend Your Position: August 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Life, It Aint Easy

We wash our face straighten our clothes.
Smile, join the parade, ring the bell.
While we fool others heaven knows.
Life is hard, our sorrow we quell.

There is joy and some happiness.
Times of ease, occasional peace.
They are too few we must confess.
Cares and toils here seldom cease.

But alas Heaven knows.
and even cares.

 Wesley Jones

Friday, August 19, 2011

Why Is There So Much Division In Christianity ?

       Where there is liberty there is variety. Not all people have the same tastes, background or level of knowledge. Many people view the diversity in Christianity as a flaw or an excuse to dismiss it. There are some divisions that are detrimental. The division between the churches who believe the Bible to be the word of God and those who believe to be just literature is a serious one.. I am a Biblical Christian. The Jesus I worship is the Jesus of the Bible. The rules and standards I govern my life by are the ones found in the scriptures. My first allegiance is to what I believe to be the word of God, The Holy Bible.
    Because my knowledge of God and scripture is incomplete and limited I attend church to learn from others. Unlike many Christians I feel free to attend many different kind of churches..( I have found sinners and saints in all of them.). Some of the church services I have been in were awe inspiring. While others bordered on being dreadful and something to be endured. But I can honestly say I am a better person for attending each and every service I went to. Our churches and denominations are imperfect because we are imperfect.. Many (but not all ) of the divisions found in Christianity were fostered by noble attempts to offer something a parent church did not offer. Some enhanced the kingdom of God, some did not.
    What I believe would go a long way in uniting Christianity is not a single denomination or any denomination for that matter. But for each individual church within an organization to strive to produce people who thoroughly search and study the scriptures for themselves. And seek God and His will for their lives on their own. Our ignorance of God and His word is what divides us..It also leaves us vulnerable to false teachers and those who would use us for monetary gain. Our collective and individual knowledge of the Bible unites us as a Christian people.Without coercion or loss of liberty. I believe it is the church leadership's job to produce free and educated Christians who are capable of governing themselves. I believe that is something we could all agree on.

                                                           Wesley Jones

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Political Freedom : It Is The Proccess Not The Party

     Politics have become so rancorous and partisan I believe many Americans have completely lost sight of the genius of the system. There are many who are so politically prejudice, if given the opportunity they would gladly give their party and candidate a total and permanent monopoly of the system..Instead of patiently waiting and working for the next election. Many would favor a one party system or a monarchy, rather than sharing power with someone they disagree. Having a political adversary is not a bad thing for a political candidate, or a political party..Nothing like an enemy to point out the inept, corruption or neglect on part of those in power.
    We have a young president who was educated and groomed by the left of center..I am sure he is painfully aware by now they do not have all the answers. I also believe he would gladly retreat to the center if our current political climate allowed others to meet him there..We now have a right wing and a left wing media, along with the extremes within the parties. They command considerable power and sway with the electorate.The only thing worse to these partisan pundits than someone on the opposite side of the extreme fringe; is one of their own compromising with the enemy in the middle. A special wrath is unleashed on the turncoats of either party who are willing to compromise and attain only 50% of what they want rather than all or nothing.
  The far right is determined to shrink all of government with little regard to what is necessary, as well as what is our moral duty in a just society..The far left is hell bent on punishing or ransacking the rich and successful, be they individuals or business, in order to pay for pet projects. Neither side is looking at our country as a whole or our government as the collective hand motivated by the collective the will of the  people. In my opinion the only way this can be fixed; is a realistic knowledge on both sides of how things actually work.
    First the left needs to realize true socialism is nothing more than a giant Ponzi scheme. Government does not create wealth ! Government collects, spends and distributes wealth . The collapse of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe is testament to this fact. A free market creates a prosperous economy which in turn creates the wealth that government can use for good or evil..It is in the interest of those who want to use government to address social ills, to maintain a healthy and  free business climate. One that does not punish others for success.
    The right needs to realize government for the people, by the people, and of the people is not necessarily evil, unjust, and most of all, it is not unnecessary. The ability of the poor to educate, feed and shelter their children at an minimal level is due to government. Free travel on roads and bridges is product of government. Our courts and the protection of our liberties are maintained by government. A free market without government involvement would return us to a feudal lord and serf economy..There is nothing evil about us as a collective people using our government to help others help themselves..
    I have wrote about a flat universal tax before. One that goes up or down on all citizens alike, according to necessity..It would do away with the playing of one segment of our society against another. If taxes were all the same rate and went up or down equally for everyone anytime they were raised or lowered. We could determine what we wanted to pay for and adjust the universal tax rate accordingly..It would definitely help unite us and move us away from the all or nothing mentality that now rules our politics..

                                  Wesley Jones

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Keeper Of The Books

Seldom reward for right makes haste.
And penalty for wrongs seem delayed.
Time spent on virtue appears a waste.
The impatient fool is so easily swayed.
God sees nor cares not, live for today.

O ye fool there be a keeper of the books.
 
Mercy and indifference are not the same.
God is patient, in hope the foolish will see.
Nor does He forget right deeds or names.
Do right, as unprofitable as that might be.
A better day, more just times wait on thee.

Do ye right there be a keeper of the books.


Thy honor and virtue endeavor to keep.
For stolen pleasures always come due.
Elohim forgets not, nor does He sleep.
As this life be o'er, our day be through.
Thy deeds return and belong only to you.

A settler of old scores, this keeper of the books.


                   Wesley Jones





Friday, August 12, 2011

The Nature Of Liberty : Do All People Want Freedom ?

    Unfortunately many people view liberty as a one way street. The government is to make everyone do what we would have them to do. While the government leaves us free to do as we please.There are people on the left and the right that want to use the government to make their fellow citizens fall into line with their moral philosophy. We often swing between the extremes of wanting to be anarchists or hyper-socialists..The left wants moral chaos and a social totalitarianism. The right wants to impose moral order and have laissez faire or social Darwinism in all other aspects..Both the left and right have their anarchists and their government conspiracy theorists.
     The average citizen operates somewhere in the center between these extremes. However I am seeing a trend where the extreme left, and the extreme right are becoming different sides of the same coin..To maintain  liberty a nation needs a moral center, or moral cornerstone on which to build. Liberty is based upon the personal responsibility and personal integrity of individual citizens. In the past whether one was building left or right of center, the cornerstone was personal integrity. Character was paramount. Things like honesty, mercy , kindness, altruism, self control and self sacrifice were held in high esteem. The main goal of religion and citizenship, was fostering impeccable character.. Individualism was defined by ones ability to provide for and morally govern ones self.
    Individualism today means to be sexually bizarre, out of control, defiant towards authority, successful without regard for how the success was attained. Increasingly the religious right and the secular left are leaving the moral center and redefining what our personal and collective goals in life should be. They may have slight variations and methods in the attaining of those goals, but more often than not they are ending up in the same place. Personal wealth, success, perfect health, longest life possible with no set backs, only increasing prosperity have become our new national aspirations.. As our goals as citizens shift to the material from more  noble things such as ; duty to our fellowman and striving for a free and just society as well as developing a sterling character and an honorable reputation. We are more and more willing to sacrifice our liberty to obtain the material goals.
    Both the right and left now believe who ever lives the longest and dies with the most stuff wins. Both are antagonistic towards authority, just in different ways. However they are willing to sacrifice personal liberty to avoid making personal responsibility and personal liberty the cornerstone of their politics and religion... Rather than striving to produce citizens with character, integrity, and the ability to make their own decisions. Our focus is to use government as an equalizer and moral nanny..We want to live forever so we give government the power to say what we can eat and drink.We want to be prosperous so our politics are motivated by the money. We can not discern what is moral so we let the government decide for us.
       Historically the Holy Bible has been the catalyst for producing citizens worthy of liberty. It united under common values the free people of the western world. It went beyond parochial political and religious interests. Whether one was externally religious or not, it produced character and responsibility from within the individual.The Holy Bible turned our focus from the material and temporal, to developing inner strength and moral dignity. A government of the people and by the people will only promote liberty as long as the people themselves want liberty. Persons of integrity want more than ease and prosperity..They need liberty. We all do if we are to attain to greater things than material wealth.
   As the Bible, and it's focus on personal moral responsibility continues to fall out of favor among political and religious leaders. I wonder how long we will remain free..Those who do not live according to Biblical precept are living in freedom because there are those who through Biblical knowledge are able to govern themselves. As that number dwindles I am afraid our liberties will as well. I will end this post with 2 quotes from George Washington 1) " It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." 2) "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

                                          Wesley Jones
  
   
   

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dark Matter And Dark Energy, The Expansion Of The Universe.

    It is generally believed that the universe is expanding, and at an ever increasing rate. It also speculated that dark energy is the force behind that expansion. It has been calculated that 70% of the universe is made up of dark energy, 25% is made up of dark matter and the remaining 5% is made up of normal matter that we can see, know and measure. So 95% of our universe is made up of a form of energy and matter we can not quantify and only speculate about. It is not known if dark energy is fixed ( cosmological constant) or varies ( quintessence). One thing that is agreed upon, dark matter and dark energy exist. We can measure their effect on astrophysical gravity.. What I would like to do is offer an explanation for this phenomenon using the the Biblical account of creation.
    If our universe is made up of in large part a form of energy and matter we can not see. The space we used to consider as containing nothing is actually a fluid fabric. This coincides with Einstein's gravitational theory. Normal matter in sufficient mass creates ( for lack of a better word) a vortex which attracts or draws in other matter. In other words space that does not contain normal matter is like a sea of unseen dark matter and dark energy. Instead  being 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, space is 7 parts dark energy and 3 parts dark matter..
    Genesis 1, verses 1 and 2 , "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters".....God created the matter that makes up the heavens ( cosmos ) and earth. He ordered it and spoke light into existence ( light is the product of energy.)...."And God said let there be light and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness"..... When God divided the light from darkness to produce a difference between night and day, may have very well been when He stretched and ordered the heavens (cosmos )...
     Isaiah 42 : 5  "Thus saith God, the Lord, he who created the heavens and STRETCHED them out"...Jeremiah 51:15 " He hath made the earth by His power; he hath established the world by his wisdom and hath STRETCHED out the heavens by his understanding."....If God stretched out the cosmos after their creation it would explain the apparent expansion of the universe observed in astrophysics. As well as explaining dark energy's role in that expansion ( Dark energy would keep the universe from collapsing on itself again) while ( Dark matter would provide enough mass or gravity to keep it from flying apart)
    Another possible explanation for the age of the universe is also available  under the Biblical stretched cosmos scenario...If all light at one time was created at a closer proximity to earth. Then supernaturally stretched in all directions. There would be a constant source of light readily and immediately viewable from the furthest reaches of our universe..Our universe would only appear to be currently expanding, and would only appear to be 14 billion years old. When in fact it is only a few thousand years old. And we are only now viewing that expansion, which may be or may not be still happening..
    One thing I am certain of is that the Biblical account of creation does not violate any known and proven laws of physics.. Those laws themselves are indeed a product of Biblical creation..There are theories that seek to exclude a creator but they are more scientifically problematic than the Biblical account itself..

                                          Wesley Jones
   

    
     

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Unacquainted Longings

For each quaint village this old highway passes through.
There is a sweet homesickness for a place I never knew.
I long to stop and chat with old friends in that tiny cafe.
When I walk in, hows the family, the waitress would say.

 The old farmer at that table is more than likely some of my kin.
While the cop at the counter remembers my pa, way back when.
As I leave town I pass my little house grandpa built back in 32.
Homesick for a place I never lived, and for people I never knew.

I turn on the radio to remember the sweet sounds of big band.
I dream of a time when to be a soldier was thought to be grand
War news and FDR over the radio filled far more innocent air
Darling love me tonight, Europe calls, tomorrow I'll be there.

O those beautiful bygone days when the sun always seemed to shine
I never saw them, But remember the weather and women were sublime.
In my smart uniform in this quaint little village I drove my Nash around.
My dreams provide the pictures, Benny Goodman provides the sound.

There are no commercials playing on my Toyota's satellite radio.
I turn down the street to my high rise apartment. It's not far to go.
The big city is not so bad., except for the cold and driving rain.
I prefer my quaint village in uniform and in the 1940s to remain.

                       Wesley Jones

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Theoretical Worm Holes And Time Travel. Fanatsy Or Physics?

       In theoretical astrophysics wormholes are tunnels connecting black holes ( a black hole is a mass so dense it's gravity keeps even light from escaping it's event horizon .. The center of  our galaxy is believed to be one) It is speculated that wormhole structures are short cuts through space and time and contain anti-matter ( minus gravity ) and theoretically could allow time travel. Many believe Einstein's theory of relativity allowed for time travel. I don't believe so, and I will tell you why.
     Who among us have not toyed with the idea of traveling back in time? If only to recapture some special moment of time in our lives. What an advantage we would have if we possessed current knowledge in a bygone era. We could return to correct mistakes in judgement, and alter choices, or even avert terrible tragedies. Before we get our hopes up, we need to consider there is a lot of known and proven science that says, the closest we can come to time travel is remembering.
   Time is a measurement  done by recording events within context of the frequency of cycles; ( revolutions around the sun, rotations on an axis, the frequency of a pendulum's swing etc). This is not unlike weight being the relative measure of mass. We can not traverse on or weigh the metric system ( we can however do so with the matter it measures.) Time like a unit of measurement used to determine and record weight, is an idea or system used to determine and record an event in relationship to another event... A metric meter is not the essence of the matter measured, only a consistent idea of how to measure and record it ..Time has no essence like matter or motion. It is an idea on how to uniformly  track and record events by placing them in context with, and comparing them to known cyclical motion.
    It is generally believed that the faster one travels the slower time passes ( in actuality what happens is the devices that record time slow down and there is a simple explanation.... General Relativity... .Just because increased motion or speed causes a time device to take longer to cycle, does not mean there is a change in the physical properties of the rest of the universe...) It is theorized, that once the the threshold of the speed of light is attained that time will retreat backwards. Even if a clock runs backwards the cyclical motion or events it is designed to measure progresses normally. If we could travel at the speed of light ( we can't and I will tell you why) all that would happen is we would be traveling in the dark because light would not have a chance to reflect..
    Even in Hadron our largest particle collider we can not accelerate matter to the speed of light. The reason being, matter increases in weight the closer it gets to the speed of light..Energy added at a certain point needed to increase speed, only increases weight.  This may be reason to examine Supersymmetry fermion and/or dark matter in more detail when considering particle velocity.
    The most obvious reason for rejecting time travel is; if one where to return to the past, every particle and wave in the universe would have to be in the exact same place and in the same state and moving in the same direction at the same velocity as they were at the given time visited. This would have to be repeated for every moment spent in the past. Given that time ( place and circumstance) and chance influence the randomness of the human will, as well as all split second decisions ..All human actions would have to remain exactly the same as they were in the past for the duration of the visit. ...that is beyond probability maybe even an impossibility..If you were to return all matter to its state, lets say in June12th of 1945 you would have to use the matter we are currently existing in. There would be no matter to form a future to return to. The amount of matter in the universe is fixed. It would have to be squared for every moment you spent in the past. Time is simply how we quantify and order events that happened in the past.Not something that can be traversed or traveled..
    The fact is we live in a world governed by fixed laws of nature. Our current reality is not a video that can be replayed, or visited when we want later. It is a good thing too. Can you imagine a world where your current neighbors great, great, great, grandson hates your great, great, great grandson and returns from the future to kill you so your great, great great grandson will have never existed. I am only kidding, but that is the kind of problems that would arise if God would have allowed time travel.Time is not a fabric like space. It is a system of measurement used to record motion and events played out on, or within the fabric of space. Sorry Doctor Who, you are all wet..
   

                                                    Wesley Jones
    
   

Monday, August 1, 2011

Jesus Of Nazareth And Theoretical Physics

   Historically it has never been wise to hitch your theological or cosmological wagon to the latest scientific theory. However there are currently some very exciting theories being debated in physics. Things like string theory, branes, black holes, parallel universes and multiple dimensions etc.. These MAY (emphasis on MAY) go a long way in explaining a lot of the phenomenon mentioned in the Bible.
   The Holy Bible has unbelievable depth. It is multi-layered and multi-faceted  like no other book on earth. In it's wisdom books like Proverbs the seeds of moral truth are so profound they defy description. In the prophetic books it's prediction accuracy is amazing. The dozens of fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah that point to Jesus of Nazareth  are just astounding..It's historical books are so accurate they are used as maps by archaeologists in the middle east.. Every archaeological dig there in the past 200 years has only confirmed the Bible's accuracy..The Bible's account of origins is becoming more and more plausible with each new scientific discovery. The Holy Bible's knowledge of our physical universe will amaze you when we take into account when it was written.. See the post in this blog : The Holy Bible First In Science.
    The one theory I would like to deal with at least in part here is a branch of theoretical physics called string theory or (M theory as it is called since all 5 string theories have been unified). It has to do with particle physics, it claims to have found the lowest common denominator in physics, while reconciling , general relativity, and quantum mechanics (This is my own crude description ) It seeks a comprehensive mathematical explanation for how things work in the sub-atomic world as well as the rest of the universe. In other words string theory is aiming for the holy grail of physics,the title, The Theory Of Everything. What I am endeavoring  to do is to compare what the Bible has to say about the origins of our universe, and what string theory has to offer in the way of explaining origins..I hope to do the same with other theories being debated in physics in subsequent articles posted in this blog.
   The Bible teaches us that there was a void and only darkness in the space our universe now occupies.That implies there is a place where God exists outside of what we can physically know. Whether we call it a different dimension or a parallel universe or heaven it doesn't matter... God then spoke light into existence. To have light you must have energy to have energy you must have a source, matter. God did not have to go through the minutia he simply said "let there be light" so matter and energy appeared to produce light. This is why in the creation account there are 2 verses before God speaks light into existence dealing with matter.
    The Bible also teaches in the first chapter of Genesis, God spoke the rest of the universe into existence as well as ordered it. What this has to do with string theory is this. In string theory scientists believe the strings vibrate not unlike how a voice produces vibrations that are not random but have significance and meaning . If the promoters of string theory are correct and these vibrating strings are not only irreducible; meaning there is no other thing smaller or more foundational in our universe, they also contain in their vibrations the information needed to build order and hold together everything else in the universe..Has science stumbled upon the voice of God in the smallest particle in the universe? Is this the cosmological equivalent to biological DNA?
    String/ M, theory also claims 11 dimensions. That opens the door for an unseen spiritual world to dwell and operate in. This is conjecture on my part, but more and more of science is beginning to reinforce the claims of the Bible. String Theory is not a construct of theologians. It is viewed as at least a partial, yet very plausible  explanation of origins by many of the top physicists in the world. As science progresses it has not made the Bible irrelevant. In fact the exact opposite is true. We are living in exciting times.
   
                                                               Wesley Jones