Previous William Thomas Sherman Info Page postings, quotes, observations, etc.
www.gunjones.com
No doubt back then they, like us, must have commonly deemed themselves to be the last, most ultimately advanced, and most relevant people of all time, only to have this either confirmed or else gainsaid by posterity. And yet as outdated as many aspects of their life are or seem to us now, there are many things that are still the same or essentially the same for us; including being faced with the question "what is life?"
["Treasures From The Royal Tombs of Ur - Revised 1999" - University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology]
[ch. 1]
31...For on this account is Christ proposed as an example to all believers, because as He always, even before he knew evil at all, selected the good, and loved righteousness, and hated iniquity, and therefore God anointed Him with the oil of gladness; so also ought each one, after a lapse or sin, to cleanse himself from his stains, making Him his example, and, taking Him as the guide of his journey, enter upon the steep way of virtue, that so perchance by this means, as far as possible we may, by imitating Him, be made partakers of the divine nature, according to the words of Scripture: “He that says that he believes in Christ, ought so to walk, as He also walked.”
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), On First Principles, Book IV
Opinions, notes, exhortations, etc.
It cannot be emphasized enough - nothing is (or is as it is) but that someone says and decides that it is so. If you don't believe this to be the case then everything must ultimately and inexplicably be as it is unless and until blind chance or fortune changes it. Think then rather that someone says it or "such and such" is so first; before saying that is how it is; naturally followed by who is this someone? To put it another way, someone's say-so can change anything; though not just anyone can necessarily be that someone.
-----------
Can that person change for the good? They could.
-----------
It is not the male and female (or the seed and the egg) that confers and makes life holy, rather it is God that does this, and it is God, by way of the soul, who bestows what is eternal on that union that is life (not biology.) You belong to God first, your parents and ancestors second.
-----------
Who is it that says: "Sell me all your arts, music, culture, education, and your church and I will make you very rich?"
-----------
Also again and as ever - virtually no one blames or even talks about criminal spirit people from an empirical or scientific standpoint, even though the very worst ills of individuals, society and the world at large originate with them. By the same token, one cannot say they reject torture, murder, gross depravity and not also condemn criminal spirit people because the latter themselves condone and promote such things. And yet people stupidly smile, turn a blind eye and wink.
-----------
If devils are to be believed, just being alive makes you guilty; unless that is you are willing to purposely do the wrong thing.
-----------
We have never seen it work for these characters yet no one is more sure of being right. This method can't fail he says. Only he neglects to add that it can't and never succeeds either.
-----------
He is disappointed thinking God failed him, but God did not fail him. Rather he lacks faith that God knows what is truly good for him - and better than he does himself.
-----------
Original sin is a disease that is transmitted socially, not biologically. This is because the devil is there in some significant measure overseeing society before any individual one of us are even born.
-----------
"If all the other herd animals do it, then I have to do it too. Otherwise I am being self-righteous."
While we can excuse someone for being a herd animal out of pity, such pity cannot extend to receiving them as an authority on the grounds that they are a herd animal because they don't want to offend other such "animals" by refusing to be one themselves.
-----------
This life consist of being a guest in someone else's home, and yet surprisingly few understand this. [see Psalm 39:13.]
-----------
The time to choose has come. Ken Conway or Remsdorf Jr., and any suggestion of a middle ground is either myth or delusion.
[ch. 4]
4...Now, of wicked spirits there is a twofold mode of operation: i.e., when they either take complete and entire possession of the mind, so as to allow their captives the power neither of understanding nor feeling; as, for instance, is the case with those commonly called possessed, whom we see to be deprived of reason, and insane (such as those were who are related in the Gospel to have been cured by the Saviour); or when by their wicked suggestions they deprave a sentient and intelligent soul with thoughts of various kinds, persuading it to evil, of which Judas is an illustration, who was induced at the suggestion of the devil to commit the crime of treason, according to the declaration of Scripture, that “the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him.”
~ Origen (c. 184-c. 253), On First Principles, Book III
[Another and recent comment I posted at Charles Moscowitz's YouTube channel; with in this instance the subject being anti-semitism.)
The upsurge of anti-Jewish sentiment in recent decades is a result of bad things or serious crimes taking place and then inferring that the culprits were Jews. Now any half intelligent person can understand that what is meant is bad Jews, not Jews per se. The "bad" part is an assumed and necessary predicate because anyone of us knows there have been and are good Jews. Let's say ten unsolved, separate murders took place in a given city; with say 6-10 suspects (based on reasonable and circumstantial evidence implicated) per murder. Then upon looking into each case we discover that the one religious/ethnic group that has a majority among the suspects are the Swahilis. Now EVEN IF the Swahilis predominate percentage-wise among the suspects, it does not necessarily follow that they are actually guilty and yet we understand why people would suspect them. This is more what the problem is like not mere racial prejudice and or even more absurdly jealousy (as is sometimes maintained.) Although there are more we could name, let's take two things that really rankle many Americans: 9/11 and the degradation of the culture and morals in consequence of the flagrant misuse and monopolization of the mass media. Now without getting into the details of these here, we are all familiar with some of the arguments that attribute these crimes to bad Jews. What then for starters would be a good idea would be to address the charges that bad Jews are the main or major culprits in these crimes. What do and would you say to these charges, and then match that up objectively against what opponents do or might say/argue? So for instance, bad Jews are frequently blamed for 9/11 (the dancing Israelis for instance as evidence of such), what do you argue against this claim? Similarly, bad Jews, it is alleged, dominate and unfairly monopolize, manipulate and undermine public morals and honest discussion via the mass media which they (again it is alleged) ostensibly largely control. Do shows on these two topics and when you are done with those you could go on with more, such as (again as some rightly or wrongly claim) the JFK and RFK assassinations; hijacking of higher education; persecution of Palestinians as a form of racial cleansing, etc. My own attitude is as always is that whoever is guilty a crime is the one who did it - NOT I don't like so and so therefore they must be guilty.