Having just read the Adventist Today article on this topic, Debate: Can you be Adventists and an Evolutionist?, I came up with these options:
Man/Woman was created perfect then became imperfect, but can become perfect again. (Creationism)
Man/Woman was created imperfect (through evolution), is imperfect now, but can be made perfect when Christ comes again. (Adventist Evolutionism)
Nowhere is a third possibility given a chance. Life always comes in threes, e.g., hot, cold and lukewarm. What might the middle or third option be?
Therefore, it follows:
Man/Woman was created imperfect (through evolution or some other process) and will continue being imperfect until humanity becomes extinct.
Man/Woman was created perfect (through evolution or some other process) and is either as perfect as he/she will ever be or is on the way to becoming perfect someday.
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Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Second Life Stream-of-Consciousness
Recount the delight and unusual feelings in meeting someone friendly inside Second Life. It was easier interacting with this cyberfriend than with people in the real world.
Develop an a.i. program to mimic yourself realistically inside Second Life. Once you move on to the next existence, this virtual entity will continue as long as Second Life does. It might even be taken over by Second Life's successors. Load the a.i. program with as much as one's writings, voice clips, video tapings, personality so hardly anyone, except perhaps family members know its not the genuine article.
Develop a cottage industry of virtual replicas of people inside of Second Life who feel their ideas or other contribution would benefit the world posthumously.
Await for the a.i. program or self inside Second Life to one day develop consciousness and then create a replica of itself in order to preserve itself in case someday it moves on to the next existence.
Meet Christ inside of Second Life.
Develop an a.i. program to mimic yourself realistically inside Second Life. Once you move on to the next existence, this virtual entity will continue as long as Second Life does. It might even be taken over by Second Life's successors. Load the a.i. program with as much as one's writings, voice clips, video tapings, personality so hardly anyone, except perhaps family members know its not the genuine article.
Develop a cottage industry of virtual replicas of people inside of Second Life who feel their ideas or other contribution would benefit the world posthumously.
Await for the a.i. program or self inside Second Life to one day develop consciousness and then create a replica of itself in order to preserve itself in case someday it moves on to the next existence.
Meet Christ inside of Second Life.
Dead but Not-Dead
Living this life is all about positive approaches to the challenges life presents. The same can also apply for the after-life state. I was brought up believing that the dead know nothing and that all await a successful resurrection at the 2nd coming, or an unsuccessful one at Christ's third coming after the 1,000 years are over. That was all very fine until I lost a friend 20 years ago who died of AIDS. He was not Christian and it was the first friend or acquaintance that died of this dread disease. For me at any rate, I couldn't accept the fact that he was in the ground hoping against hope to be resurrected at the second coming. It was healthier psychologically, at least for me, to think him in a positive afterlife where he was happy and conscious and free from the pain and disease that had killed him. Lately, I've been focusing on those ambiguous texts that Paul drops casually, and not on dire and dismal texts from Ecclesiastes about the "dead not knowing anything." How much better to focus on this text, "... neither life nor death can separate me from the love of Christ."