(no subject)
I'm completely enwrapped in a series of lectures/sermons by Walter Bramson.
He's a Jewish (by tradition) atheist turned Christian, but his past in Judaism gives him wonderful insight into the Bible. He goes back to the oldest copies and the original language and re-interprets where he deems appropriate. Sometimes, the results are surprising.
After years of hearing the same messages over and over, new insights are like Christmas. Which, by the way, is remarkably rooted in an entirely different religion, which means nothing until you learn that right after you learn about the End Times when the church worshipping that religion is condemned.... And this church he equates very convincingly to the Roman Catholics, on the basis of their worship of the Virgin Mary and emphasis on acts for salvation. Mostly worship of Mary.
His series on the End Times is also fascinating. His view is that there will be a nuclear war involving nuclear missiles from Israel. If I understand correctly, Israel will rebuild the temple, nuclear missiles will destroy much of the world, the remainder will be used for fuel, and then the world will basically end. During the strike, the rapture will happen, and the remaining won't even realize it. As he points out, communications will likely be down, and many 'Christians' will be left behind! It's true... many so-called Christians are Christian in thought alone. The basic requirement to be taken to God during the rapture is to accept Jesus as savior (this is actually a fairly cryptic phrase to a non-believer, now that I think about it). To accept the gift of salvation. To accept that we can't be perfect, and we Do Wrong Things, and we need someone to take the blame, and let Jesus take the blame--pay the required sacrifice God put in place so man could be with Him.
I wonder sometimes whether to a non-believer this all sounds stupid and crazy. To me, it makes perfect sense, and always has. God made man for some reason (THAT I don't understand--maybe because he wanted something complex to interact with, more complex and difficult than the angels? I'm not God), and man decided that he was going to turn from his creator. God was angry and punished man by sending man away from his presence, or maybe man was now unworthy of being in so holy a being, or maybe there's a transformation of mind that occurred when man decided to rebel and another transformation (acceptance of a punishment, deciding to fight for a relationship with God, etc etc) was required, or whatever. Look, again, I'm not God. We're not little Gods. We don't understand what's going on, any more than a squirrel can understand the purpose of a park. But in any case, God set up a set of rules for being with him--sacrifices. Eventually, he sent Jesus to be The Sacrifice that made all the others unnecessary. Sure, there are things that don't make sense, but I think we don't have to understand everything for it to be legitimate.
To a non-believer, there is a lot of explaining that's completely circular. Trust God to preserve the true message despite the potential Biblical 'errors' and false books, for example. And that's what I'm struggling with right now. It just seems so...
It comes down to "God guided everything, and we can't pretend to know what God's thinking." It's not disprove-able. It's a leap of faith. It's hard to accept, to scientists who want everything prove-able.
But you know, I've heard too many testamonies. I've heard of too many miracles, too few degrees removed from the teller. I've read too many stories and had too many experiences myself. Although there is evidence for either side, there's a point where the world is better explained with the hypothesis "there is a God" and even "there is the Christian God" than "there is no God," and I think I've crossed that point.
Based on my world... It's currently stupider to deny God than to believe in God.
...and right now, there's a lot of talk of the End Times, and Things Happening. The really spiritual people I know, especially a research associate upstairs, all talk of an air of excitement. A teacher in grade school once told us, "I truly believe you'll see the rapture during your generation." And that phrase has echoed in my mind ever since.
It's a very exciting time.
...meanwhile, I'm going to cover all my bases and try to be productive while still here by keeping as healthy as possible! So, on to new test results and theories.
Today I was careful not to eat after 3 PM. Went to the gym, back to work, got home around 7:30. Blood glucose: 77, so ha. That's a good number. Didn't do a replicate, so there may be some error. Most of today was divided between blood glucose regulation research and two-photon microscopy research, lol. Anyway, one possibility may be Reactive Hypoglycemia-- when your blood sugar plummets after meals. From what I've read, RH + high fasting/high post-prandial = insulin resistance/diabetes predictor. RH + normal fasting + normal post-prandial = sucks to be you now, but won't get worse.
Haven't found any molecular basis yet for the effect.
If this is the case, it would explain why I feel the need to constantly graze and why I feel better with small meals (less insulin response).
He's a Jewish (by tradition) atheist turned Christian, but his past in Judaism gives him wonderful insight into the Bible. He goes back to the oldest copies and the original language and re-interprets where he deems appropriate. Sometimes, the results are surprising.
After years of hearing the same messages over and over, new insights are like Christmas. Which, by the way, is remarkably rooted in an entirely different religion, which means nothing until you learn that right after you learn about the End Times when the church worshipping that religion is condemned.... And this church he equates very convincingly to the Roman Catholics, on the basis of their worship of the Virgin Mary and emphasis on acts for salvation. Mostly worship of Mary.
His series on the End Times is also fascinating. His view is that there will be a nuclear war involving nuclear missiles from Israel. If I understand correctly, Israel will rebuild the temple, nuclear missiles will destroy much of the world, the remainder will be used for fuel, and then the world will basically end. During the strike, the rapture will happen, and the remaining won't even realize it. As he points out, communications will likely be down, and many 'Christians' will be left behind! It's true... many so-called Christians are Christian in thought alone. The basic requirement to be taken to God during the rapture is to accept Jesus as savior (this is actually a fairly cryptic phrase to a non-believer, now that I think about it). To accept the gift of salvation. To accept that we can't be perfect, and we Do Wrong Things, and we need someone to take the blame, and let Jesus take the blame--pay the required sacrifice God put in place so man could be with Him.
I wonder sometimes whether to a non-believer this all sounds stupid and crazy. To me, it makes perfect sense, and always has. God made man for some reason (THAT I don't understand--maybe because he wanted something complex to interact with, more complex and difficult than the angels? I'm not God), and man decided that he was going to turn from his creator. God was angry and punished man by sending man away from his presence, or maybe man was now unworthy of being in so holy a being, or maybe there's a transformation of mind that occurred when man decided to rebel and another transformation (acceptance of a punishment, deciding to fight for a relationship with God, etc etc) was required, or whatever. Look, again, I'm not God. We're not little Gods. We don't understand what's going on, any more than a squirrel can understand the purpose of a park. But in any case, God set up a set of rules for being with him--sacrifices. Eventually, he sent Jesus to be The Sacrifice that made all the others unnecessary. Sure, there are things that don't make sense, but I think we don't have to understand everything for it to be legitimate.
To a non-believer, there is a lot of explaining that's completely circular. Trust God to preserve the true message despite the potential Biblical 'errors' and false books, for example. And that's what I'm struggling with right now. It just seems so...
It comes down to "God guided everything, and we can't pretend to know what God's thinking." It's not disprove-able. It's a leap of faith. It's hard to accept, to scientists who want everything prove-able.
But you know, I've heard too many testamonies. I've heard of too many miracles, too few degrees removed from the teller. I've read too many stories and had too many experiences myself. Although there is evidence for either side, there's a point where the world is better explained with the hypothesis "there is a God" and even "there is the Christian God" than "there is no God," and I think I've crossed that point.
Based on my world... It's currently stupider to deny God than to believe in God.
...and right now, there's a lot of talk of the End Times, and Things Happening. The really spiritual people I know, especially a research associate upstairs, all talk of an air of excitement. A teacher in grade school once told us, "I truly believe you'll see the rapture during your generation." And that phrase has echoed in my mind ever since.
It's a very exciting time.
...meanwhile, I'm going to cover all my bases and try to be productive while still here by keeping as healthy as possible! So, on to new test results and theories.
Today I was careful not to eat after 3 PM. Went to the gym, back to work, got home around 7:30. Blood glucose: 77, so ha. That's a good number. Didn't do a replicate, so there may be some error. Most of today was divided between blood glucose regulation research and two-photon microscopy research, lol. Anyway, one possibility may be Reactive Hypoglycemia-- when your blood sugar plummets after meals. From what I've read, RH + high fasting/high post-prandial = insulin resistance/diabetes predictor. RH + normal fasting + normal post-prandial = sucks to be you now, but won't get worse.
Haven't found any molecular basis yet for the effect.
If this is the case, it would explain why I feel the need to constantly graze and why I feel better with small meals (less insulin response).