For anyone wondering:
If you're interested in what is likely the best philosophical analysis of Calvinism, and one of the most solid explanations - from that angle - as to why Calvinism fails, this is it.
youtu.be/Daomzm3nyIg
As a Christian I've often grappled with the thought that some might consider even my own faith to be little more than an emotional response.
I gave my testimony at church two weeks ago (cried a lot. They were warned in advance!). I spoke with a young man afterward (a new believer, as of this week!) and said to him "I thought about you when writing my testimony down. It's important to me that you know that... despite the emotive side to my faith, and the joy and grace I've found in Jesus, that there is a firm base of evidence on which these things rest. A very real Jesus; a solid historical grounding, and a truth that is more than just emotion."
I didn't expect the response.
"I already knew the evidence.
I came here for the emotion. I looked at my life and knew there was something missing. I didn't need more evidence. I needed Jesus."
馃槶
What the Bible teaches is that our own sin (sin = acting outside of God's design) prevents us from being with God.
This shows up in some actually really poignant ways in the Bible. When Adam and Eve first sinned, they were cast out of the garden. But in Genesis 3, they've got sons and daughters. Cain kills Abel. Cain is then held accountable by God for his brother's murder, and you know what Cain says?
"Please don't send me away from your presence."
After all those years...
Adam and Eve are still living outside the gate to Eden - to a place they can never re-enter. That's *tragic*.
Step forward a couple of thousand years, and you come to Noah. You know this story I'm sure - the Ark, the flood, and so on. But move ahead after the flood, and you find Noah has become a farmer. He has a vineyard. He gets drunk and passes out in his tent.
Weird story, right? For a start, the Bible doesn't gloss over this stuff. The Bible's heroes aren't perfect people. In fact they're all pretty messed up. But why is Noah like this in his tent?
...because everyone he ever loved and knew is dead. All of civilization is gone. He and his wife and kids are the only ones left, and he can't bear it.
This is actually very much the story of the Bible. God's plan for dealing with our brokenness. Yes, our rejection of Him and so on factors in here, but it's a secondary concern. The primary concern is the one Cain had. The one Noah longed for.
"How do we get back what we lost?".
God's plan always was to make a way. And so even really early on in our history He laid down patterns for us to understand by. Drawing near to Him would always come at a cost. The cost - in a way that is profoundly costly and unpleasant - was blood.
But whose blood? The Bible tells us pretty plainly that God really didn't care about sheep and goats. The blood was just a picture:
One will come who will get back what was lost. But it will cost Him His life.
That's Jesus.
The sheep, slaughtered the night of the flight out of Egypt... the blood on the doorposts... the blood on Solomon's altar, the sacrifices in the temple for generations... all picturing this one act.
"This is how I will give you back what was lost."
That... and so much more.
Faith, then... my faith... is not grounded in a baseless hope that a fairytale in the sky will make life better one day.
It's about a deeply earthly reality. About the One who entered into our brokenness and tragedy and loss. One who cared so deeply and fully for the ones who lost everything... that He willingly chose to experience that with us, and became obedient to death - even the death of the cross - to bring us back, unashamed, to a place only two of us have ever been, with abundant life, joy and peace, and with overflowing riches of grace:
to the presence and glory of the Living God.
After a couple of days, the conclusion:
Anthropic is in trouble.
...and it's not because GPT-5.6 is better than Fable (it isn't, though it's close) - it's because the cost/benefit analysis is skewed so far in OpenAI's favour that it makes Fable almost unjustifiable.
...and Jesus said:
"by this shall all men know that you are my disciples: if you argue endlessly about free will and determinism on X."
...or something.
I'm sure this doesn't make less sense now that I'm 45.
@fiveironfrenzy
youtu.be/VZcvfG3yVEY
"We do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again. God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him."
@charliekirk11
#Keep Kids Safe: overhaul Australia's early childcare industry - Sign the Petition! chng.it/hmWG7bN2z2 via @ChangeAUS
