@RodrickSage

My opinion about the timeline of natural history is that people just make up stories about the past and call it science

Both Atheists and Theists are guilty of doing that in my opinion

@RodrickSage

Ok so this type of natural history does not use much math it is basically just naming things but it does not let you predict the future results of an action the way applying chemistry or physics to biology would

@RodrickSage

This looks like a very good book if you want an overview of the different kinds of species from a general standpoint

I have forgotten most of it because I just started focusing primarily on human biology after I graduated from high school and never studied the biology of other species much after that

@RodrickSage

https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Natural+History+%28DK+Definitive+Visual+Encyclopedias%29&itemType=book&itemSubType=book-printbook%2Cbook-digital

So here are some other visual encyclopedias that look like they are related to biology or natural history I found on world cat that you might like while trying to search for the one you listed which I could not find on worldcat

Everything on worldcat is free if you can access the right library

But accessing the right library might be expensive if you have to hop on a plane to another country

With interlibrary loans you can access far away books for free

@shortstories @RodrickSage When you put it this way, it sounds cheap and dumb. And it often is.
For better or worse, however, the *vast* majority of Man absolutely cannot escape the need to understand reality as a Narrative. While Science truly consists of facts and hard-data, 99% of us will never possess the necessary understanding of these data on their own terms, and are doomed to “make up a story” about them in order for it to mean anything.
You’re not wrong by any stretch, but the present situation is understandable.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

I think it is "cheap and dumb" when both theistic creationists and atheists make up stories about the distant past and call it science to fit their atheist or theistic agenda

I think they should just stick to using science to make models that make predictions that can be tested and then use the models which seem to often get predictions that work out well enough to make decisions instead of fabricating history and calling it science

@shortstories @RodrickSage > I think it is "cheap and dumb" …

Agreed, no dispute. It very often is. But the problem I see is that it’s completely subject to “market forces”. And I honestly don’t know that there’s a solution that’s forthcoming.

> … they should just stick to using science to make models that make predictions that can be tested and then use the models which seem to often get predictions that work out well enough to make decisions …

That should indeed be the way it goes. But the real problem is that every one of these guys that sticks to this rule, gets edged out by the other guys with a better “marketing department”.
It is an undeniably shit situation. But my point is that it‘s understandable - not that it’s good or reasonable.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

I do not think this problem would happen in an anarcho-capitalist society

They are not marketing it so that corporations can have better products to sell that achieve better results for their customers based on the principles of science

I think it is the government and synagogues that are funding atheistic "origins science" and the churches and synagogues and mosques that are funding theistic "origins science"

Ironically both Atheists & Theists fund big bang

@shortstories @RodrickSage > They are not marketing it so that corporations can have better products to sell that achieve better results for their customers based on the principles of science …

I know - the reason I put “marketing” in ”scare quotes” is because I’m using it as a synecdoche for storytelling-in-general.
For the Science to be purely facts-driven, the wealthy-and-powerful of the world would have to agree that that’s what *we’re* doing - and not the other guys that are fellating the State, say, or making big sweeping doomsday predictions, or whathaveyou. I don’t mean literal marketing - I just don’t really have a better idea to pin it to.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

I think there are a group of unknown sentient beings even above the so called Jews

These sentient beings use the governments, corporations and religious institutions as media outlets

Instead of using violence to control people

They deceive people with fiction stories that they call news which later becomes official history

They then trick other people into enforcing their will through violence

All these outlets agree on the same fictional news stories

@shortstories @RodrickSage I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. It makes the most sense of the situation.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

I combined ideas from

Tim Ozman, paranormies and others who shows news fakery

Plus my understanding of brainwashing from Steven Hassan & Mary Alice Chrnalogar

Plus my understanding of Anarchism in the sense of disbelief in the government from Larken Rose, Mark Passio and other anarchists

@shortstories @RodrickSage Nice; see I don’t know that I’ve personally ever heard/read any of those sources - but that in itself serves to validate my view that many men, from many different backgrounds, Traditions, walks-of-life etc, are landing on similar conclusions, precisely because we’re observing the same objective realities.
How I tie this to the previous points, is that in my experience, many of those in the position to finance scientific research, consider these sorts of positions as “populism” - which automatically disqualifies us from consideration by grantwriters or R&D departments. It’s darn tragic, imo.

@shortstories @RodrickSage In other words, we’d first need a story to “sell it to” the ones in the position to fund us.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

I think on the very top of the rulership structure is simply people spinning fiction stories and then putting it through all the other branches like Universities, Governments, Corporate News Stations, and all the major world religious institutions

They all agree that the same stories on the news are true no matter what religion

The news is the one shared world religion

And they even do so with so called science like the news of stuff in space

@shortstories @RodrickSage There’s definitely *something* keeping it all together - that does not come from any single individual man. Something coordinating it, keeping it coherent, “driving the bus” so to speak.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

It might just be a group of human beings who are fiction writers

Who created template scripts

And then the news writers are very lazy and reuse scripts

Multiple Church denominations have scripture plagiarism scandals in which they copy the exact sermons of other pastors in their congregation but change around some sections involving current events, local events and name of congregation members keeping everything else the same

I think news writers do this

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage

We do not really know that they are human

They could be aliens, demons, robots or some other species

But it is very possible that they are just ordinary humans on the top

I do not think we can know who it is because why would they show their face when they can have a third party show their face and hide their identity

@shortstories @RodrickSage We agree there’s “coherent maleficience” coming from someone(s), somewhere - beyond what could be reasonably expected from base immorality amongst the “public facing” rulers of the world.
And, that this coherence prefers to operate out of the public eye, for pretty obvious reasons.
That’s a pretty big deal.

@shortstories @RodrickSage My honest stance is I don't know, I'm pretty sure this is a godless world due to it's nature, By either them not existing or caring or being able to act I can't say.

@Witch_Hunter_Siegfired @shortstories @RodrickSage > I'm pretty sure this is a godless world, By either them not existing or caring or being able to act.

I held this view for nearly half my adult life, and eventually I changed my mind on the basis of concluding that Free Will is actually one of the highest “Divine Priorities”.
I have no expectation that others will simply agree with that. It’s entirely possible they have absolutely no basis on which *to* believe it; and there’s literally and absolutely nothing I can do or say to change someone’s mind regarding that.

@KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired

I never finished watching Bruce Almighty but Bruce Almighty deals with these concepts a lot from the parts that I saw

Allan Watz also said god would not give someone a book with all the answers because their brain would rot out

Basically if god(s) wants humans to learn to make better decisions on their own and to be able to make decisions with consequences and values this more than he / she / it / they values preventing evil decisions

@shortstories @KingOfWhiteAmerica @RodrickSage Here's the thing though, there's plenty of ways an allpower entity who wants a certain set of morals to work, Announcing his presence is one, but even so, he could cause bad things to happen to the wicked to give the rightious a shot, at righting things as it were too even if god/s want to remain subtle.

People used to think it worked that way. Jesus even said it doesn’t. Some people still do.

@AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories @KingOfWhiteAmerica Suppose I'm god, If I wanted people to follow me I could just announce to everyone in the world that I'm real and do some shit to prove it, Again, all power.

Jesus did that. He came to Earth and performed miracles and rose from the dead. He will come back and then gameover collect your prize.

@AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories @KingOfWhiteAmerica Thing is that would have been in a very small area, if I’m omnipotent and omniscient I can make myself known to all with ease.

@Witch_Hunter_Siegfired @AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories In the Traditional understanding, He will. But that specifically demarcates the Very End of the Cosmos as we know it.

@Witch_Hunter_Siegfired @AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories Point being, Eschatology is very much a part of The Faith - and it’s for very good reason He has *not* yet done as you’ve described.

are there still five good men in Sodom?

@AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired I’ve spent more or less my entire conscious life seeking Truth. And while history is jam-packed with unfathomably brilliant men and civilizations, none of them even hold a candle to the coherence and perfection of the Holy Deposit.

I agree. This also means we must strive to adhere to scripture to in our actions. This means just war. If that leads to martyrdom, so be it. If you gain the world and lose your soul, what does it profit you?

@AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories @KingOfWhiteAmerica @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired Can he do that again now? If he wants to know me himself, then why must his message be carried by men?

@latein @AmonMaritza @RodrickSage @shortstories @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired What you say is true, it *must* be carried by men.

> Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
‭‭~ Luke‬ ‭16‬:‭27‬-‭31‬ ‭KJV

But you’re asking why it must be so, correct ?

Jesus’s home town rejected him.

@AmonMaritza @latein @RodrickSage @shortstories @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired If one has no idea what Our Lord is doing, one definitely won’t understand why He does things the way He does.

Studying scripture is important. patiently answering questions about it is too.

@AmonMaritza @latein @RodrickSage @shortstories @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired When I was young, I figured Christianity was primarily concerned with answering questions like “how do I go to Heaven after I die?“ and “is Grandma in Heaven?” and that sort of thing. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
But a common theme I see is that childlike wonder often stops there. And millions grow up thinking that’s really all there is to it. So the idea sets in that The Faith is fairy-tales adults tell themselves to comfort themselves about the hard questions in life.
And they hold on to this “kindergarten view” of Christians and Christianity. It’s not that those questions aren’t important, or have no answer or whatnot.
But the Almighty God is utterly Limitless. Without the same sort of wonder about Him we had as kids, we’re not even going to begin to realize how this Faith conquered the Old Roman Empire, and built a new one that lasted eleven-hundred more years - and truly continues to this day in the minds and hearts of billions.

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

>you believed because you saw. blessed are those who believe and have not seen.

@AmonMaritza @latein @RodrickSage @shortstories @KingOfWhiteAmerica @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired Thomas asked to see. And Christ indulged him.

yeah, me too.

@Witch_Hunter_Siegfired @RodrickSage @KingOfWhiteAmerica

It might be that whatever god or gods that might exist might want humans to voluntarily choose to treat other humans kindly even if they do not know for sure that that god exists

I am not saying that god wants humans to believe that god exists without evidence

But maybe that god wants humans to treat each other kindly without certain evidence for god's existence

this is just something to think about

I am not claiming it is true

@shortstories @RodrickSage @Witch_Hunter_Siegfired Yep; I came to this conclusion pretty quickly after playing The Sims, back in the day.
My gf’s playstyle was absolutely dictatorial - in her mind, her goal was for her Sims to make a bunch of money so she could keep building a bigger and better house.
But I noticed my own play style was much more coordinated around “suggesting” things to them, so they could make their own wise decisions.
This was eye-opening when I realized it.