Profile
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| User: | andrew_wiggin (828789) The Speaker for the Dead
speaking the truth as I experience it |
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| Name: | Ender Wiggin | ||||
| Bio: | This journal is used primarily for writing, and will not contain any recollection of day-to-day events. It's my primary medium for writing down ideas with the potential to share them with others. What are you likely to find in here?
I feel a little information about myself is appropriate at this point. I'm a 20-something college student. I study computer science and foreign language, but I have interests in nearly everything. I'm a life long learner. I'm not content with unanswered questions as most people seem to be. I enjoy science, but science is not the end all be all of human existence. A great deal of scientific inquiry has led to rampant materialism that has invaded most of Western culture. I believe the scientific method to be one of the greatest achievements of the modern age, but the degree of trust we place within science boggles the mind. I'm also deeply interested in mathematics and logic. I believe the universe to be a very logical and rule based system. I think mathematics, coupled with physics, will aid in understanding that system. With the continued development of computational machines, I think we'll discover a great deal more. I'm excited about 21st century technology, and look forward to advances in the near future. I have a staunch belief and faith in God. I believe God to be the originator of the universe and all that is. I believe God created the universe within the aforementioned logical, rule based framework. I believe there is a general revelation of God within nature and a specific revelation found through the Messiah, Jesus. I agree with the apostle, "...since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." I believe through diligent seeking, one can ascertain God's existence through a priori knowledge (viz., mathematics and logic). That being said, I believe it to be only an impartial conception of God's true nature, and true knowledge of God can only come through the revelation of Jesus. I believe other faiths, mostly in the Eastern world, to contain impartial ideas of God. They are without the full revelation. Fullness of this life is to be found in Christ only. Ultimate judgment outside of this is a matter of conscience (that of doing right and wrong). These points being expressed, I feel it appropriate to elaborate on my theology briefly. I come from a background of evangelical Christianity. Evangelical methodism to be more specific. I brought away from the experience a core set of beliefs, while abandoning others that I felt didn't have a justified foundation. I consider myself to adhere to traditional Christianity. I formerly identified myself as a conservative Christian, but I felt attaching this label carried too much baggage. I would still call myself a conservative, though, if prodded. More than anything, I would simply use the word "Christian". I believe liberal interpretations of the Christian faith to be a huge fallacy. I have an open mind about most things, but my faith isn't an area with which I take liberties. I examine everything critically, but I'm not keen on jumping to conclusions on things of great importance. It's taken me years to arrive at the ideas I have now. What do I believe? The Apostle's Creed is a good place to start. Know that I don't believe it for the purpose of church tradition, but rather because I've examined the content and find it to be most in line with sound Christian faith. I believe also in Biblical infallability (that is, the infallability of the original texts, not translations). I adhere to the canon of Protestant Bibles, with perhaps the addition of 1 Enoch found in the Coptic church (the verdict is still out on this one). I believe in the open view of God. I don't buy into full predestination as Calvinists do, and Arminianism doesn't go far enough away from this doctrine. I've investigated process theology, and while it has some strong merits, I don't feel it to be in line with my faith. I believe "hell" is eternal separation from God in an incorporeal existence. Images of hell given in the Old and New Testaments described places which are very real, but are not hellfire and brimstone. I believe eternal separation from God is more painful than any eternally raging inferno. And I don't believe the afterlife to be a material existence. Sheol, Gehenna, Hades, etc. were allegories for what this separation would be like. Likewise, images used of a place called "heaven" are allegorical. I think traditions are a huge downfall for the Western church. I believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis 1 creation account. I diverge with most between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, though. I hold firmly to the "gap theory", that the first verse is a declaration of the creation of all things. The remainder of the chapter is a reforming of a desolate planet. This is most in line with what I believe from my faith and what I know from biological sciences. I believe there were many errors made by Church fathers from the third century to present, and which continue to be followed erroneously. I believe Augustine to have been more detrimental than helpful to Christianity. That sums it up for now. I also enjoy staying fit, reading about a broad range topics, writing software, watching movies, and the great outdoors. I'm generally non-judgmental, but I will share my opinion freely. I believe sharing ideas and experiences to be one of the more important things we can do to help one another. People don't talk enough these days. If you'd like to be friended, just ask. Most entires will be public, so the passing reader can gain an idea of this journal's content. | ||||
| Interests: | 82: absolute truth, all encompasing life theories, american politics, ancient history, ancient judaism, ancient mythology, ancient semitic cultures, anti-materialism, anti-relativism, artificial intelligence, asian culture, asian religion, biology, calculus, celtic music, chemistry, christianity, cognitive science, computer science, computers, cs lewis, deutsch, electronic music, european history, faith, first century christianity, first century theologians, foreign languages, gap theory, german, germanic languages, germany, god, gregory boyd, gregory boyd's warfare worldview, gung fu, hellenistic judaism, intelligence, jazz, linguistic philosophy, linguistics, logic, martial arts, metaphysical philosophy, modesty, mysql and postgresql databases, nationalism, neurobiology, new and interesting people, new ideas, non-augustinian christianity, non-calvinist theology, non-extremist philosophy, non-fiction books, non-materialist philosophy, open view theology, orson scott card, patriotism, philosophy, philosophy of mathematics, php programming, physics, politics, predicate calculus, prose, python programming, quantum physics, ray kurzweil, science fiction, scientific theories, semitic languages, semitic traditions, set theory, theological discussions, theology, theories of consciousness, theories of knowledge, twenty-first century technology, vector algebra, virtual environments, virtual reality, world wide web technologies | ||||
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| Account type: | Basic Account | ||||
