Ray Comfort on Abortion

I admit I feel grieved when causes of every stripe recruit Hitler and "the gang" for their argumentative purposes; but we can't shy away from historical disasters and the ideologies that spawned them.

I think Christian-Jewish author and evangelist Ray Comfort makes a convincing argumentative connection between Nazi Germany and abortion in the short film linked here.  Critics will complain about semantics games, but I think even from a critical perspective, there's something more than language games at stake here, and Comfort presents some compelling moral thought experiments.

I warn you that it does contain some graphic images, and some objectionable language, I would also add though that this isn't a gross-out anti-abortion film.  There is a frank gospel message at the end to tie it together, so those that can't handle that are also forewarned.

Apologies aside, have it a watch, it may at least make you rethink one of the greatest ongoing crimes against humanity ever perpetrated.

I have to say, the most shocking thing in the video for me: how do you NOT know who Adolf Hitler is?  That's a red flag in and of itself!!

Tyranny & Delusion

Tyranny is vicious, twisted and deluded as it is deceitful. Tyranny often attempts to force adherence from its subjects by conceptually replacing the higher with the lower; but by means of using the conceptual name of the higher for the sake of the lower. In English what's meant here is that tyranny always involves a selfishness, which is the lower concept, but this is disguised with the good of the many or at worst, the spiritual, the Divine. It appears to offer what you need or want, or will create the need or want that it can fulfil (like a cult).

You will encounter various types of tyrants in life; not just political ones. We may have been or may still be tyrants ourselves. It can be ideological, relational, physical, emotional...and so on.

It is the mark of a deluded person that he or she does not see it possible or reasonable that he or she could be deluded. But what really makes tyranny, evil & delusion so maddening and darkly comical is that it always whines longest and loudest about tyranny, evil & delusion. These are the first people to complain, point the finger and loudly accuse; especially when they do it against those who are trying to solve the problem. Those who make accusations of fear mongering, control, manipulation and coercion often follow the same crude rule of "He who smelled it dealt it".

But the truly different thing about tyranny as opposed to common delusion is its aggressive nature. Tyranny happens when a person, either by self-delusion or by knowing selfishness, exploits others or even self for the sake of something falsely considered to be valuable. Tactically speaking, this plays out by misleading others into also misplacing their sense of value.

The tyrant, for example, may believe that money, power, fame, sex, family, religion, ideology or the glory of some perceived atheistic society or religious utopia are the ultimate values for which he or everyone else including him, or everyone but him for the sake of him, must buy into. So, the tyrant embarks on a process of reeducation, convincing his family, or nation, or church, or even himself that the things which his delusion values are supremely valuable and are worth giving up things that most of us would consider inalienable rights.

You might think it strange that I say that we can tyrannize ourselves, but like I said, tyranny isn't just about that Persian guy you learned about from the 300 Spartans or about even something physically present or corporeal. We can be enslaved to many things that aren't even people.

It's okay to give up your "inalienable rights". It's okay to die for something, or give up yourself for somebody else, in fact it can be downright heroic. You just have to do a little searching about what's really valuable in life. If you value the wrong things or the right things even in the wrong order, you will be exploited by someone or something. If you value nothing, you'll be impoverished (and a liar I'd say). Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Like it or not, everyone has a master. There are good masters and bad masters. I'm hedging my bets that the best master is first the one that loves you before himself and his projects or ideas. I think that is a model for following inasmuch as it is leading. I think it is the difference between a Lord and a Tyrant.

Book Burning

Don't believe people when they tell you that book burning is something only fascists do. Nonsense! Communists do it too. "Tolerance" would have us outlawing "hate" speech before it hits the press (it's shameful that the Bible, Talmud or Koran make such nasty value statements). Religious doubters, believers and deniers alike have been enjoying a good word burn for years.

Books make excellent kindling after all. They are dry (hopefully) and are made of delightfully flammable materials. Torn pages from even a single book can help light a fire daily for a whole week or more!

I think you'll agree, some books are worth more burning on a fire than they are remaining in print, (age, size, illustrations can all be quite irrelevant). Instead of turning away someone cold saying "be warmed" why not heat up his limbs to the glow of a few worthless books?

Now many, perhaps the vast majority of books currently in print (there are a lot of Harlequin novels, trust me) are useless worthless trash, much like large chunks of the film industry.

OK so lets get to the real point, when is it okay to light up?
Book burning must be voluntary, it must be from one's own collection.

Now of course, certain materials, such as child pornography, nuclear weapons schematics, etc. are outlawed by government (an outside hand restricting your collection) for the protection of the public - that is the business of the government right? We might argue for more outlawed books; like 'hate' literature or ALL pornography. Yes that would probably be beneficial for society in many ways.

Is this a double standard? Government dipping into somebody's collection while I insist that we should only be allowed to burn our own books? I think the fact that God is true though every man be made a liar has something to do with it. But generally speaking (civil liberties-wise), the things that are outlawed are so because they are considered grievously close to or already violating the safety of society.

Inherent is this idea: ideas, images are not imminently dangerous until they are acted upon (acted in a holistic sense). It is generally accepted that the plans, materials and methods used to build bombs are considered so risky to life that they should not be freely disseminated. Why? Because of the minds that will make them a reality.

But you should now be touting a proud pair of dilemmas (and this is really what I wanted to talk about); First, child porn and nukes are not the only media damaging humanity, why not outlaw more? Second, who gets to decide what's right and wrong and who gets to have power with what information?

The world is a mess and the Devil would sure like to clean it up for you. Remain where you are, don't get concerned and whatever you do, don't act on any dangerous ideas; or, heaven forbid, become a fascist and start burning books.