On Dread and Freedom

Isaiah 8:13  Genesis 28:17  Daniel 9:4

Dread is not exactly the same as fear. Fear means to be afraid of something exact such as death or a dangerous person or of God as a person. Dread is a kind of nameless fear, a sickening feeling about the future. Existential philosophers call this feeling "angst" or "nausea."

Dread consists not so much in a fear of the future as it does of being forced to take responsibility for the decisions that one cannot avoid. In this way, dread directly connects to freedom. This inner or spiritual freedom is not the same as political freedom although political freedom extends from it. This freedom constitutes the very intellectual and spiritual being of the individual. Thomas Jefferson referred to this freedom when he wrote "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness..." "Unalienable" means a freedom that cannot be separated from our inner being. In a sense, we are freedom itself. The existential philosophers contend that we are condemned to be free. By this, they mean we cannot avoid being free; and that freedom can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the choices we make. For this reason, the existentialists despise those who attempt to avoid making decisions. They consider them to be cowards in life and contend that they live in a state of "bad faith." The existentialists admire those who resolutely make decisions and manfully take responsibility for them.

Yet, as Shakespeare wrote, "Conscience makes cowards of us all." We all anguish over choices we have to make, especially the very important ones. Questions arise in our minds. What if I make the wrong choice? Will I regret my choice? Can I bear the responsibility for the choice I make, especially if it was a bad one? This is dread.

The existentialists maintain that our very being becomes determined or fixed by the choices we make. Thus, the person who chooses to do evil becomes an evil person; and the person who chooses to do good becomes a good person.

However, the Bible teaches that to choose to be good is not enough to save us from evil. The Bible teaches us that when God confronts us, He constrains us to make a choice. God forces us to see ourselves as a condemned sinner; that is, as a person who cannot avoid making wrong choices at times; bad choices for which we must take the responsibility and bear the punishment. Jacob, in Genesis 28:17, and Daniel, in Daniel 9:4, faced this dread when confronted by the presence of God; and they made the right choices to repent of their sins and serve the Lord.

Whenever a sinner reads or hears the gospel, he or she becomes confronted with God in human form; and the Holy Spirit constrains that person to make a choice either to submit humbly to Christ as Savior or to deny Him. When a convicted sinner makes the right choice to repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus as their Savior, then Jesus takes away their dread because He has already taken the responsibility and the punishment for their sins by His suffering and death on the cross in their place. In place of their dread, Christ gives them peace. Matthew 11:28-30; John 14:27; John 16:33; Isaiah 8:13.

When the new believer receives the free gift of peace, forgiveness, and the everlasting life of Christ in his heart, then his dread departs because he knows he is forever safe no matter what future decisions he may make, good or bad. But when Christ recreates the heart of the new believer, he becomes so grateful and loves Christ so much for his salvation that he desires only to please his Lord; and as a result, he endeavors to make only good choices for the rest of his time on earth.   

The Truth about Reality

What is that one main characteristic that distinguishes life from nonlife? What is the main difference between life and nonlife? The answer has to be consciousness. All of life has some form and level of consciousness, and all of nonlife has no consciousness whatsoever.

Only at such a time as when consciousness separates itself from nonconsciousness can reality be established. Consciousness establishes reality by reflecting upon itself as separated from nonconsciousness, and upon nonconsciousness as composed of separated things. Consciousness effects this separation by its use of the idea of nothing. First, consciousness recognizes that it is something in itself and not anything else. Second, consciousness recognizes each individual thing as not being anything else.

If everything were nonconscious, then all of the recognized separation caused by consciousness would be impossible. Such a nonconscious everything would be like Parmenides homogeneous soup. Parmenides thought that this homogeneous soup was the ultimate reality, and that consciousness of everything was but an illusion. Actually, the opposite is true. Consciousness establishes reality, and the homogeneous soup is not real. It cannot be real because it equals an absolute nothingness. The nothingness is absolute because it cannot be separated from the somethingness. Both something and nothing must be recognized by consciousness before reality can be established.

If ever our universe were a nonconscious one, then absolute nothingness would prevail and reality could not exist. But reality has always existed because there has to be an Infinite Consciousness who has established an Infinite Reality.

Thoughts on Quantum Mechanics

I am not a physicist but I do have certain common sense ideas ( at least to me) that seem to me to be good answers about questions about reality. I present them here for what they are worth.

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle reveals the fact that if a sub-atomic particle's position is measured, then one cannot measure its speed; and if one measures its speed, one cannot measure its position. The essence of this Principle means that an unobserved sub-atomic particle has no position. It is a wavefunction. On the other hand, if a sub-atomic particle has an observed position, then its wavefunction collapses into a material particle. Many physicists believe that this Principle only applies to the sub-atomic world. They do not believe that it applies to the macro-world where we can feel the solidity of objects and can observe their positions.

But to a certain extent, this Principle also applies to the macro-world. For example, when a baseball pitcher throws a baseball to his catcher, then while it is in flight, its position cannot be known because it is constantly moving. Only when it is caught by the catcher and comes to rest does it gain position. One may object that since we can see the baseball in flight, we can know its position, but this is not correct. The reason is that the moment we say that the ball has a certain position, it has already moved to its next position, and so forth until it reaches the catcher's mitt. Only when it stops in the catcher's mitt can we say, with certainty, that it has position. While the ball is in flight, we cannot see its position. We can only see a moving baseball. One may object that the Principle does not apply because the baseball does not become a wavefunction. But that only happens because the baseball moves to slowly to become a wavefunction. If the pitcher could throw the ball at the speed of light, then one would no longer see a baseball. One would only see a burst of light; that is, a wavefunction.

This means that wavefunctions happen when positions are not known, and positions are only known when observations collapse wavefunctions. The Uncertainty Principle causes the mind to be critical to the reality of the world.

When our minds observe the world, we observe both wavefunctions and material objects made of particles. When we see sunlight, we observe a wavefunction. But Einstein discovered that when one does a certain experiment, one finds that sunlight, at the sub-atomic level, comes in discrete energy packets called photons. This means that wavefunctions and material or energetic objects become real only by observation; that is, by the workings of consciousness.

Reality must be a duality of mind and matter, including wavefunctions. But what happens when mind is removed from duality? In other words, what exists when there is a nonconsciousness of the world? The only possible answer is that nothing exists. No positions or wavefunctions of reality can be experienced. This can only mean that space and time also cannot exist. In fact, nothingness itself cannot exist because it too can only be real as an idea in the mind. In a nonconscious world, only absolute nonexistence would (non)exist.

One cannot possibly imagine such a condition. But one can try. In the first place, since time and space cannot exist, then all of non-reality must collapse into a superposition state of existence and nonexistence. Since there could be no points in space, this superposition state would be nowhere and at no time. A superposition state is one in which sub-atomic particles both exist and nonexist at the same time, but the unreal superposition state could be nowhere and at no time. Such an unreal condition could be called a singularity.

But when one adds Consciousness to this singularity, then the wavefunction is created and one gets a burst of light. Genesis 1:3. With the burst of light, Mind overcomes the nonexistent superposition, and something becomes distinguished from nothing. Genesis 1:4-5. Then, Mind slows light until it can be collapsed into material particles that can coalesce into material objects. Genesis 1:6-10. After this, Mind can combine matter and energy in very complex ways in order to create life. Genesis 1:11-27.

Hebrews 11:3. The first half of this verse seems to indicate that God put order into His universe by His application of information when He created it. The second half of this verse seems to indicate that God created the universe by applying His Consciousness to the task of overcoming the superposition of the singularity.

Science and Unreality plus Science and Reality

Dreams, fairies and mermaids are real. Science contends that dreams, fairies and mermaids are not real, and the scientists are right but not right in the way they think.
If a scientist were to analyze any illusion or fantasy, he would discover that they always comprise mental representations of real things. Mermaids comprise mental representations of real females and real fish. No matter how fantastic a dream may be, every basic element of the dream must be a mental representation of an object or idea that has been made real by experience.
That which is not real about dreams, illusions, hallucinations and mistakes in judgment is that they consist of false combinations of real things made real by experience. The mental representations of all that can be experienced must also be real, but real only as mental events; that is, ideas. Anything the mind can objectify, whether physical or mental, must be real because those ideas are all that can be experienced. It is nonsense to speculate about the reality of things which cannot be experienced. This means that literally everything that a mind can experience must be real whether physical or purely mental. In fact, the only reason physical events are real is because they have been experienced by a mind. This means that all basic realities and all true combinations of basic realities must be unmistakenly real as one experiences them. Mermaids are not real in the world because they are not truly experienced in the world even though females and fish are. Flying snakes are a true combination of the real motion called "flying" and real "serpents" because they have been experienced in the world. This also means that all mistakes in judgment, such as a sailor seeing a mermaid, always consist of false combinations of real things.
False combinations can be experienced in dreams, fantasies, hallucinations and mistakes in judgments, but they always comprise real things. Basic realities and true combinations can also be known to be real because they always prove useful in some way. Unreality is never useful.
But if everything is real, where is unreality? The only possible answer to this question is that unreality can only reside in the nonexistence of false combinations. Mermaids do not exist even though real females and fish do. Then in what way do mermaids not exist? The only possible answer is that they nonexist in the nothingness that remains after the basic realities of the false combinations are subtracted. This is true of all false combinations.
But this also cannot be a true description of unreality because if nothingness is known to a mind, then it too must be real. The main purpose of minds is to make things real. The mind makes nothingness real as an idea. Then, where and what is unreality in the mind and the world? The only possible answer is that unreality nonexists nowhere and at no time. Unreality is never in the mind or in the world. It is an absolute nothingness of which the mind can get no idea whatsoever.
But then how can the mind know about unreality since it nonexists? The only possible answer is that the mind substitutes the real idea of nothing as a mental representation of unreality. But how can the mind obtain a mental representation of nonexistence? The only possible answer is that the idea of nothing must have been given to our minds by another Mind capable, in some unknown way, of experiencing nonexistence. In order to be capable of such a feat, this Mind must surely be an Infinite Mind.

                                       Science and Reality

Most scientists tend to be skeptics. This means that they believe there is no such thing as absolute truth, and they base their arguments on the fact that the world and human perceptions constantly change and so no determinations about absolute truth can be made. They also contend that even the criteria by which we judge facts may themselves be wrong, and so no absolute judgments can ever be made. They do believe that the scientific method reveals probable truths about the world and the mind.
But there does exist an absolute truth which cannot be doubted. This absolute truth lies in the fact that any individual true combination of basic realities always produces the exact same result so long as no basic realities are added or subtracted from it.
That honey tastes sweet to a healthy tongue results from a different true combination than that which yields the true result that it is sticky to the fingers. Honey is both sweet and sticky according to the true combination which effects each result.
Different people often make different judgments about appearances. But this only happens because finite minds tend to be faulty, mistakenly adding or subtracting true basic realities from true combinations thus making them false. Besides this, the contention that healthy minds often see a particular object differently from the same position is greatly exaggerated. Two healthy persons who observe an object from the same position usually describe it using the same words. That one person may observe details that the other missed only proves that the first person possessed better powers of observation than the other.
The absolute truth remains that individual true combinations, so long as they remain exactly the same, will always produce the exact same results. Thus, 2+2 will always equal 4. That true combination that produces the appearance called "round" will always do so if it remains exactly the same. This will happen even if "round" as a true basic reality happens to be used in a false combination such as that of a square tower which appears to be "round" from a distance. Gravity will always work exactly the same so long as Newton's mathematical laws that describe it remain exactly the same. A yard will always prove to be a true measure as long as the basic reality called "extension" is never added or subtracted from it. This judgment constitutes absolute truth even though the false combination called "faulty judgment" causes it to appear to be untrue.
Scientists devise theories and use experiments in order to separate hidden true combinations about the world from false combinations. But science is limited in scope. It can only reveal true combinations about the physical world and the physical mind, but nothing about spiritual and moral truths. In order to obtain knowledge of such truths, the finite mind needs a revelation from the Eternal Truth who knows all possible basic realities and their true combinations. This revelation is called the Word of God (KJB). 

Thoughts on Mathematics

Although I am not a mathematician, I do have certain common sense ideas (at least to me) that seem certain to me about mathematics. I will provide my thoughts here and if any mathematicians who read them should find them comical, then go ahead and have a laugh; I am happy to entertain you.

To begin with, from what I have read about the axioms of Peano and Frege, they consider zero and infinity to be numbers. But I cannot see how either zero or infinity can be numbers. Number has to be a limitation of something but zero does not limit anything. Zero actually means "no number" and how can this be a number? Zero actually means nothing. Nothing never figures in mathematical calculations. Nothing can be the result of a mathematical calculation such as 1-1=0, but cannot figure in the calculation itself. One cannot subtract, add, multiply or divide by using zero. Zero cannot be a number. The calculation 1+0=1 cannot be a true calculation since it merely affirms that nothing can be added to one.
Infinity also cannot be a number because it too does not limit anything. One cannot add, subtract, multiply or divide using infinity. Infinity cannot figure in any calculation, although it too can be the result of a calculation. There can be no such things as infinite numbers or classes of infinite things because all such things are limited by definition. The formula "n equals n+1" cannot describe infinity because if "n" is a number then it has to be finite no matter how large, and if one adds a one to it then one only has a larger number by a factor of one. This formula merely confirms that numbers must be finite. If "n" is considerd to be infinity itself, then it cannot equal itself because this would be a limitation, and also a one cannot be added to it. Infinity can only be absolutely unlimited. This can be the only true definition of infinity since any other definition would, of necessity, be limited.
There are some strange similarities between the ideas of zero and infinity. Neither of these ideas can be understood by the finite mind, and yet somehow we have the ideas of them and can use them in limited ways.
Some empirical philosophers speculate that the idea of infinity has been acquired by the idea of one end following another end somehow leaping to the idea of infinity. But the idea of one end following another end must always be a finite idea since this series always comes to an end no matter how far it goes. The leap to infinity that the empiricists imagine can only be a metaphysical and speculative leap which they do not believe ever reveals any truth.
The finite mind also never experiences nothing except as an idea. We never see nothing. We only see things through nothing. Nothingness can never be seen or felt. We cannot imagine nothing. We can imagine a dark or light screen but not nothing. Nothingness is always an inference of the mind. Space cannot be nothing in a direct way. Space is an extension between objects, but the idea that space is nothing is merely an inference.

All of this raises the question: How did we ever acquire the ideas of nothing and infinity? These ideas must be real because unreality always lies beyond experience in the realm of nothingness or the unknown. These ideas also must be real because we can use them in limited ways. Unreality is always useless. The only possible answer to this question must be that there exists an Infinite Mind who gave these ideas to the finite mind.

Commentary on Hegel

Hegel was an idealist but he was not a dualist. Although he believed that mind creates reality, he also believed that mind is a form of matter itself. He was a monist who thought that mind united with matter formed the one basic substance of the world. This belief formed the basis of his famous dictum: "What is real is rational; what is rational is real."
Hegel was right to maintain that mind creates reality, but he was wrong to contend that mind is only a form of matter. Hegel did not take into account that in order to write his philosophy based on the idea of the unity of mind and matter, he had to be aware of what he was writing. In other words, he could know nothing about his philosophy unless he was conscious of it. This means he had to separate his consciousness from that part of his consciousness that believed that mind is in unity with matter.
This process forms the basis of self-consciousness. In order for one to be self-conscious, one must also be conscious of the fact that one is conscious of something. But in order to be conscious of this self-consciousness one must also be conscious of the fact that this process could extend to infinity if the finite mind had the power to carry it that far.
Yet, even though we cannot carry this process to infinity, humans nevertheless possess the idea of infinity. With this in mind, then the question arises: If Hegel's dictum about the unity of mind and matter were true, then how could he ever become conscious of this fact since his mind had to have been locked into a unity with matter? In such a condition, he could only have been directly conscious of matter, like an animal.
Yet Hegel, like all intelligent humans, possessed the idea of infinity, which proves that his consciousness, like ours, continuously separated from itself in order to establish self-consciousness. But if Hegel's philosophy were true, then self-consciousness would be impossible and so would the idea of infinity.
Yet, despite the finiteness of our consciousness, we somehow possess the idea of infinity. This could only be true if our finite consciousness were somehow connected to infinity. But this means that infinity has to be a real entity. This real entity has to be an Infinite Consciousness since infinity is an idea in a conscious process that can extend to infinity. Beside this, if Infinity were not also Conscious, it would possess no power to give this idea to finite consciousness.
All of this put together means that if consciousness were really in unity with matter, then matter would also have to be infinite, but it is not. Matter is finite because it is limited by nothingness.

All of this means that God must exist, and that consciousness has to be quite different from matter. Reality has a dual nature; that is, mind makes matter real. That is the purpose of consciousness in the universe. The ultimate reality is an Infinite Reality.

A Commentary on UNDERSTANDABLE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE by Dr. Samuel Gipp.

This article constitutes a review and commentary on UNDERSTANDABLE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE by Dr. Samuel Gipp. This book may be ordered from any Christian Bookstore.

Dr. Gipp's book is truly an eye-opening and enlightening message. This book not only exposes and explains the conspiracies of Satan's minions to alter and discredit the true Word of God, the King James Bible; but it also reveals the true but hidden history of mankind that one does not find in the secular history books.
One can come to understand from reading this book that the true history of the world amounts to a constant and unrelenting war between God and Satan for the souls of men. Evil is not a disjointed aberration that pops up here and there in the course of history, but constitutes in fact a unified and intelligently planned conspiracy hidden within the course of history and imbued with the secret goal of the complete ruination of the human race. This intelligent plan provides good evidence that there must be an intelligent planner behind this hidden conspiracy. This conspiracy is so ingenious that the planner has even succeeded in hiding the fact that it even exists. Such an ingenious conspiracy can only attest to the fact that somewhere Satan actually exists. Not that true Christians doubted his existence, but most Christians are just not aware of how truly cunning and insidious he really is.
This hidden conspiracy reinforces the truth of Genesis 3:1 (KJB) where the Word of God describes the serpent as being "more subtil than any creature of the field which the Lord had made." This serpent had become "subtil" because it had become possessed by the spirit of Satan himself. This also explains why God in Genesis 3:14 (KJB) cursed the serpent, condemning it to become a legless , crawling creature forever a symbol of silent cunning and poisonous evil. Behind the scenes of history, Satan has certainly lived up to his serpentine character, and most people are not even aware of this fact.
In Colossians 1:15-17 (KJB), the Bible teaches that absolutely everything that is real, "visible and invisible;" God created. Not only is the physical world of our senses real, but every idea, every mathematical principle, every creative plan; literally absolutely everything that is useful and good is real and was created by God. In addition, in accordance with Hebrews 11:3 (KJB), God reveals that all of His creations "were framed by the Word of God." This means that not only did God create the physical world, but also all of the mathematical and scientific ideas and plans by which He "framed" it. God created the universe and life in accordance with the information in His Mind. This can only mean that absolutely everything, "visible and invisible," that God has created must be real, and has a direct connection to the Word of God.
Thus, all scientific principles belong to God. This fact explains why at about the same time that Satan launched his insidious attacks against the Word of God through such apostates as Westcott and Hort, he also advanced an attack against God's true scientific principles being discovered by Galileo, Newton and Pasteur. Satan used an amateur scientist and atheist named Charles Darwin to advance the false theory of evolution in a parallel attempt to discredit the Word of God by direct and indirect means. However, recent scientific discoveries have shown that God is currently in the process of reasserting His ownership of the true scientific principles.
All true political principles also belong to God. In the Noahic covenant, God established human government based on His true principles. According to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 11:25-27 (KJB), God has always tended to reveal and preserve His Word through the efforts of common people. The common people are those who have no special talents, such as fishermen and farmers. This does not mean that God cannot save and use an intellectual person. God certainly saved and used the Apostle Paul who possessed one of the greatest intellects in the history of the world. But this tendency of God to use the common people accounts for the fact that the pure Word of God was preserved and delivered to us through the efforts of the common Christians in Antioch and not through the learned centers in Alexandria. These facts may also explain why governments throughout history which have been controlled by all the people have by far been the most successful.
Satan knows all this. These facts account for why at about the same time that he began his textual and scientific attacks against the Word of God, he also began to advance an attack against the political beliefs of the common people, such as the yearning for freedom that lies within the hearts of most people. Satan used the atheist Karl Marx to spread false political ideas to the common people in an attempt to discredit the Word of God in their minds. Communism and Nazism employed direct and cruel methods to impose these false ideas on the common people forcefully. The socialists and liberals use the far more subtle method of simply bribing the people into following their false ideas. But God created and owns the true political principles, and someday when Jesus comes to rule the earth, He will use these true principles.
No doubt, Satan thought that he was on the verge of winning the war for the control of the human race when he started the false religion of Roman Catholicism in about the third century. This false religion enjoyed great religious and political power over the minds of many people for many centuries, but its false Vulgate never replaced the true latin vulgate used by the common people. Then, God raised up great men of the Reformation to counterattack this false religion and preserve His true Word in the King James Bible.
Satan has very cleverly used infiltration to try to corrupt God's science, His politics, His Church and even His Word, but God will defeat all of Satan's evil efforts. Indeed, God has already defeated Satan through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son. John 12:31-32 (KJB).

The last remaining question has to be: What constitutes the essence of this evil conspiracy? The answer can be found in Proverbs 6:16-17 (KJB). That sin that caused Lucifer to rebel against God, that sin that caused Satan to deceive Eve into disobeying God, that sin that has inspired evil men throughout history to try to destroy the Word of God and all true principles that are connected to it, that false system of ideas that has so powerfully gripped the minds of angels and men is called pride. Just as the "born again" experience is a true conversion to the truth of God's Word, so pride seems to be a subtle and powerful conversion to the falsity of all that is unholy. Only by the guidance of the Spirit can the Bible be fully understood.