Faith and Worldview

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Oct 22, 2015 at 18:38

Hi, Moh Waz

I wanted to get in touch with you; and fortuitously, I notice that I did not respond to your last post here. In response to your latest here,

Or have all you Americans been conditioned to unquestioning acceptance to think that the North Pole is at the 'top' of the world?

It's all rather confusing to me. I reckon something ought to be called "down", if it's at a lower elevation. I've heard it used the other way too, though, with reference to map coordinates; so I always check to see what the person really means. With most people nowadays unable to read a map, this becomes more of an issue.

Many of the Christians there are Orthodox - I thnk that probably clinched the deal for (Putin).

I doubt that Putin senses a real connection with the Syrians, based on religious sect. Tartus is Russia's port on the Mediterranean; and if Turkey ever decides to block air access to it in time of war, Russia now has a clear corridor to it over Iran and Iraq. I think that's the basis for his involvement in Syria. Tartus and Latakia give Russia clout in the whole Middle East, without the need of an aircraft carrier fleet.

The thing I wanted to talk with you about, has to do with some of the existential issues we have been talking about.. I wish I could simply connect with you by email, but I don't know how I can do that from here.

We were talking about the resurrection, and about our self-identity. The vast majority of people seem to identify with not only their physical beings, but also with activity in their brains, such as memories. The latest science indicates that our memories are both fleeting and inconstant; and at any rate, we eventually lose them completely, along with all other brain function, before and at the time of death. These cannot, therefore, accompany us in the resurrection.

From the "scientific" point of view, which denies the possibility of the spirit realm and the resurrection no matter what the reasonablity of such concepts, these things do not exist. From the standpoint of Biblical revelation, they do exist, and have certain attributes. According to Paul, in 1 Corintians 13, the attributes that transcend the grave are faith, hope and Godly love. Human brain functions, including memory, are not useful in the next life, in which we will have new bodies and a new external reality.

Accordingly, dying and rising again from the dead should be something like swapping hard drives on a computer. A "ghosting" apparently takes place, though, as evidenced by the fact that the risen Jesus, speaking to John in the spirit in the opening chapters of Revelation, seemed to not only know present and past details of the "seven churches", but also foreknowledge of things to come and an overall knowledge of human history. This sort of "knowledge" and "memory" could not have come from a human brain and human experience. It could only come from the "word of God" which was elsewhere credited with being the origin and sustenance of the universe. In Ezekiel 3 and Revelation 10, there is reference to the prophet eating a scroll handed to him by the highest authority (God) -- directly in Ezekiel, and via the seven-eyed lamb, God's agent, in Revelation. The writing on that scroll could be thought of as the "source code" of the respective prophecies.

In computereze, again, our brains appear to be "apps", for our spirits to interface with this present universe: The "hard-wired" CPU is with God, Who is also the one who does the drive-swapping. Notice that all of this information is derived from the "evidence" of faith. It does not, and cannot, come from

I wish there were some way I could contact you. This whole discussion is only peripheral to "Musing on History" and on events touching on Israel today. The big connection, is the fact that the whole conflict in the Middle East is not based on any physical or territorial issues: It is based on opposing world-views based on faith, including the Mohammedan, Jewish and Western worldviews based on Qur'an, Torah and atheism, respectively.

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