Where is God When You Need Him? (Page 12)

Zanjan: If God's Word doesn't operate, who's pulling the strings and providing the inspiration to do what other's aren't doing?

ghostgeek: You're seeing strings now? Oops, that sounds bad.

ghostgeek: People get inspiration. It's what's propelled the human race from the caves to the face of the moon.

Zanjan: If nature is accidental, inspiration is randomly hit and miss, right? By what means do individuals pluck their direction out of the universe? Cave to the moon - was that humanity's objective? Seriously, you think mankind planned its destination?

Seems to me, inspiration was held back for many thousands of years; meanwhile, most people live for today and from paycheck to paycheck. Inspiration appears to be unnaturally selective; mankind didn't know where it was going or why...the moon trip was a blip of advertising brilliance. All we got out of it was bragging rights while people kept blowing each other up.

ghostgeek: What has the nature of Nature and inspiration got to do with each other? Nowt is the short answer.

Zanjan: What's a nowt? Is it a newt after it grew up?

Was it inspiration that propelled that dad in the court room to launch a physical assault on the convicted sports doctor who sexually molested his young daughters? Was it inspiration for the 4 cops to jump the dad and hold him down before he could complete his mission?

The dad and his daughters were there to present victim impact statements - the perp was there to hear them. The only error the Dad made was to first clue the cops by saying "Just give me 5 minutes alone with that monster!" Enough said. He asked for a chance and was denied.

To me, inspiration is standing back for a few moments to let the Dad get in a punch or two before spiriting off the convicted offender to jail, instead of cuffing and shackling the Dad. Nature acts on impulse, inspiration doesn't; yet both are just as fast in the making.

The world goes nowhere on forgiveness; it moves forward on justice, which includes compensation for all the victims.

Zanjan: You may think my position doesn't sound very saintly yet you know you wont find saintly cops, lawyers or judges in a civil court. Both perp and victim pays them, no matter the outcome PLUS the victims pay the perp for his keep during incarceration. This is civilized?? I'd say these are acts of nature. Where is resolution?

Had they given the dad a choice, as God does (free will), the dad would have only paid maybe $600 fine for an assault charge - the best money he ever spent and he'd be a happy man. It's easy to forgive another when one is in the state of happiness. God wants us all to be happy, regardless of our spiritual rank/status.

Civil law doesn't give people closure, justice does and justice has its price too.

Zanjan: We, as a species and as individuals, do NOT know where we're going. We need God to tell us that, and to properly prepare us for it.

Everyone knows if we aren't prepared, we wont survive; what if we prepared for the wrong thing? In that case, if we do survive, it's by accident. We'd only continue to exist because we'd be ill-equipped and unfit for the occasion. One can hope for a rescue but hope is not a function - one must pray for rescue then grab the rope when it flies out to them.

There must also be a way to thrive under new conditions we could never have conceived. God has no intention of leaving humanity in the same state - He will have us move on, whether we like it or not.

ghostgeek: "Nowt" is good old Northern English for "nothing". Having fewer letters it is very economical to write.

ghostgeek: Actually, we as individuals and as a species DO know where we are going. We are boldly stepping towards extinction.

Zanjan: With 7 billion people on earth, do you see a problem with waiting until we're down to 6 million before doing something about it?

ghostgeek: The answer is waiting in the wings: Robots.

Zanjan: Should the world be graced with yet another material convenience, what will people do with all their extra free time?

According to the latest global findings in developed countries, they'll need to be visiting fertility clinics more often. Nature appears to be self-correcting population expansion. This happens when there are too many specimens competing for forage in the same environment.

chronology: Zan, I dealt with this on my Trivia Thread a while back. Robotics and A.I. are already at levels where they can run virtually fully automated Plants making everything from cars to washing machines. But building are not yet being constructed to accommodate robots convieniently, or roads are not yet up to snuff for self drive vehicles.

It will be a gradual process where major Highways will become 'Self Drive Friendly' then major link roads to those Highways will be converted, eventually all major roads will be Self Drive, in about 60 years. Yes the cars are here now. But not the roads for them. A Transamerica Highway from San Francisco to New York will certainly change American travel as we know it. Imagine getting in your car in New York and slipping onto the Highway to San Francisco, or some place along the route. No driving at all, fully automated travel. All you do is sleep or enjoy movies or relax listening to an audio book reclining back in your chair.

A.I. will be entirely software based. Preachers in the future are likely to be A.I. systems in virtual churches people visit on Line, same with Doctors.

Zanjan: The environment is polluted, hundreds of species are becoming extinct every day, global weather patterns are causing increased severe storms, the seas are rising, rain forests are being wiped out....... just what we need, the greatest minds come up with robots and self driving cars!

No thank you. If you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.

ghostgeek: It's always interesting the way people bring up the disappearing rain forests. If we didn't know better we might think those forests had always been around. But we do know better, don't we:

Researchers have found more than 60,000 hidden Maya ruins in Guatemala in a major archaeological breakthrough.

Laser technology was used to survey digitally beneath the forest canopy, revealing houses, palaces, elevated highways, and defensive fortifications.

The landscape, near already-known Maya cities, is thought to have been home to millions more people than other research had previously suggested.

The researchers mapped over 810 square miles (2,100 sq km) in northern Peten.

Archaeologists believe the cutting-edge technology will change the way the world will see the Maya civilisation.

[ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-42916261 ]

Seems the trees are a recent arrival.

Zanjan: Seems they cleared the land before they built.

ghostgeek: Sensible.

Zanjan: Indeed, nobody likes a lumpy tree trunk under their carpet.