tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post7528310250737110999..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: The Now GenerationAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-81980664931698756492009-04-12T16:08:00.000-04:002009-04-12T16:08:00.000-04:00I'd like to disagree with your description of boom...I'd like to disagree with your description of boomers....but I really can't. Watching my parents and their friends make impulsive, not thought-out life choices and seeing their children pay the price for it.....that's something I noticed as a young teenager. <BR/><BR/>I used to hope it was isolated exposure. I don't think it was. Unfortunately I think those "now" impulses have been passed on and have become a part of the general culture.<BR/><BR/>My peers, who grew up under boomers usually fall into two groups...those who repudiate that way of living, and those who follow in their parents footsteps.<BR/><BR/>Maybe Generation X can turn the tide as the boomers fall out of leadership as they age....maybe not.terrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12399706958844399216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-75928018524085445762009-04-10T20:50:00.000-04:002009-04-10T20:50:00.000-04:002009 AD: The Season of Generation-Choicemaker ...2009 AD: The Season of Generation-Choicemaker <BR/> Joel 3:14 Psalm 25:12 kjv<BR/> Consider:<BR/> The missing element in every human 'solution' <BR/> is an accurate definition of the creature.<BR/> <BR/> In an effort to diminish the multiple and persistent<BR/> dangers and abuses which have characterized the <BR/> affairs of man in his every Age, and to assist in the <BR/> requisite search for human identity, it is essential to <BR/> perceive and specify that distinction which naturally <BR/> and most uniquely defines the human being. <BR/> <BR/> Because definitions rule in the minds, behaviors, and <BR/> institutions of men, we can be confident that delineating <BR/> and communicating that quality will assist the process <BR/> of resolution and the courageous ascension to which <BR/> man is called. As Americans of the 21st Century, we are <BR/> obliged and privileged to join our forebears and participate <BR/> in this continuing paradigm proclamation.<BR/> <BR/> "WHAT IS MAN...?" God asks - and answers:<BR/> HUMAN DEFINED: EARTH'S CHOICEMAKER<BR/> by James Fletcher Baxter (c) 2009 AD <BR/> <BR/> The way we define 'human' determines our view of self,<BR/> others, relationships, institutions, life, and future. Many <BR/> problems in human experience are the result of false <BR/> and inaccurate definitions of humankind premised <BR/> in man-made religions and humanistic philosophies.<BR/> <BR/> Human knowledge is a fraction of the whole universe. <BR/> The balance is a vast void of human ignorance. Human <BR/> reason cannot fully function in such a void; thus, the <BR/> intellect can rise no higher than the criteria by which it <BR/> perceives and measures values.<BR/> <BR/> Humanism makes man his own standard of measure. <BR/> However, as with all measuring systems, a standard <BR/> must be greater than the value measured. Based on <BR/> preponderant ignorance and an egocentric carnal <BR/> nature, humanism demotes reason to the simpleton <BR/> task of excuse-making in behalf of the rule of appe-<BR/> tites, desires, feelings, emotions, - and glands.<BR/> <BR/> Because man, hobbled in an ego-centric predicament, <BR/> cannot invent criteria greater than himself, the humanist <BR/> lacks a predictive capability. Thus, his man-made criteria <BR/> rises no higher than eyebrows - and too often, no higher <BR/> than pubic hair! Without instinct or transcendent criteria, <BR/> humanism cannot evaluate options with foresight and <BR/> vision for progression and survival. Lacking foresight, <BR/> man is blind to potential consequence and is unwittingly <BR/> committed to mediocrity, collectivism, averages, and re-<BR/> gression - and worse. Humanism is an unworthy worship.<BR/> <BR/> The void of human ignorance can easily be filled with <BR/> a functional faith while not-so-patiently awaiting the <BR/> foot-dragging growth of human knowledge and behav-<BR/> ior. Faith, initiated by the Creator and revealed and <BR/> validated in His Word, the Bible, brings a transcend-<BR/> ent standard to man the choice-maker. Other philo-<BR/> sophies and religions are man-made, humanism, and <BR/> thereby lack what only the Bible has:<BR/> <BR/> 1.Transcendent Criteria and <BR/> 2.Fulfilled Prophetic Validation.<BR/> <BR/> The vision of faith in God and His Word is survival <BR/> equipment for today and the future. Only the Creator,<BR/> who made us in His own image, is qualified to define<BR/> us accurately.<BR/> <BR/> Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by <BR/> nature and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of <BR/> Criteria. Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive <BR/> characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the natural <BR/> foundation of his environments, institutions, and re-<BR/> spectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is orien-<BR/> ted to a Freedom whose roots are in the Order of the <BR/> universe. selah<BR/> <BR/> At the sub-atomic level of the physical universe quantum<BR/> physics indicates a multifarious gap or division in the<BR/> causal chain; particles to which position cannot be<BR/> assigned at all times, systems that pass from one energy<BR/> state to another without manifestation in intermediate<BR/> states, entities without mass, fields whose substance is<BR/> as insubstantial as "a probability."<BR/> <BR/> Only statistical conglomerates pay tribute to<BR/> deterministic forces. Singularities do not and are<BR/> therefore random, unpredictable, mutant, and in this<BR/> sense, uncaused. The finest contribution inanimate<BR/> reality is capable of making toward choice, without its<BR/> own selective agencies, is this continuing manifestation<BR/> of opportunity as the pre-condition to choice it defers<BR/> to the natural action of living forms.<BR/> <BR/> Biological science affirms that each level of life,<BR/> single-cell to man himself, possesses attributes of<BR/> sensitivity, discrimination, and selectivity, and in<BR/> the exclusive and unique nature of each diversified<BR/> life form.<BR/> <BR/> The survival and progression of life forms has all too<BR/> often been dependent upon the ever-present undeterminative<BR/> potential and appearance of one unique individual organism <BR/> within the whole spectrum of a given life-form. Only the <BR/> uniquely equipped individual organism is, like The Golden <BR/> Wedge of Ophir, capable of traversing the causal gap to <BR/> survival and progression. Mere reproductive determinacy <BR/> would have rendered life forms incapable of such potential. <BR/> <BR/> Only a moving universe of opportunity plus choice enables <BR/> the present reality.<BR/> <BR/> Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly <BR/> developed, and sensitive perception of variety. Thus <BR/> aware, man is endowed with a natural capability for enact-<BR/> ing internal mental and external physical selectivity. <BR/> Quantitative and qualitative choice-making thus lends <BR/> itself as the superior basis of an active intelligence.<BR/> <BR/> Human is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes<BR/> his definitive and typifying characteristic. Recall <BR/> that his other features are but vehicles of experi-<BR/> ence intent on the development of perceptive <BR/> awareness and the following acts of decision and<BR/> choice. Note that the products of man cannot define <BR/> him for they are the fruit of the discerning choice-<BR/> making process and include the cognition of self, <BR/> the utility of experience, the development of value-<BR/> measuring systems and language, and the accultur-<BR/> ation of civilization.<BR/> <BR/> The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,<BR/> customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of<BR/> his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the <BR/> creative process, is a choice-making process. His <BR/> articles, constructs, and commodities, however <BR/> marvelous to behold, deserve neither awe nor idol-<BR/> atry, for man, not his contrivance, is earth's own <BR/> highest expression of the creative process.<BR/> <BR/> Human is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and <BR/> significant act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean <BR/> fulcrum upon which man levers and redirects the <BR/> forces of cause and effect to an elected level of qual-<BR/> ity and diversity. Further, it orients him toward a <BR/> natural environmental opportunity, freedom, and <BR/> bestows earth's title, The Choicemaker, on his <BR/> singular and plural brow.<BR/> <BR/> Deterministic systems, ideological symbols of abdication<BR/> by man from his natural role as earth's Choicemaker,<BR/> inevitably degenerate into collectivism; the negation of<BR/> singularity, they become a conglomerate plural-based<BR/> system of measuring human value. Blunting an awareness<BR/> of diversity, blurring alternatives, and limiting the<BR/> selective creative process, they are self-relegated to<BR/> a passive and circular regression.<BR/> <BR/> Tampering with man's selective nature endangers his<BR/> survival for it would render him impotent and obsolete<BR/> by denying the tools of variety, individuality,<BR/> perception, criteria, selectivity, and progress.<BR/> Coercive attempts produce revulsion, for such acts <BR/> are contrary to an indeterminate nature and nature's<BR/> indeterminate off-spring, man the Choicemaker.<BR/> <BR/> Until the oppressors discover that wisdom only just<BR/> begins with a respectful acknowledgment of The Creator,<BR/> The Creation, and The Choicemaker, they will be ever<BR/> learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.<BR/> The rejection of Creator-initiated standards relegates<BR/> the mind of man to its own primitive, empirical, and<BR/> delimited devices. It is thus that the human intellect<BR/> cannot ascend and function at any level higher than the<BR/> criteria by which it perceives and measures values.<BR/> <BR/> Additionally, such rejection of transcendent criteria<BR/> self-denies man the vision and foresight essential to<BR/> decision-making for survival and progression. He is left,<BR/> instead, with the redundant wreckage of expensive hind-<BR/> sight, including human institutions characterized by<BR/> averages, mediocrity, and regression.<BR/> <BR/> Humanism, mired in the circular and mundane egocentric<BR/> predicament, is ill-equipped to produce transcendent<BR/> criteria. Evidenced by those who do not perceive<BR/> superiority and thus find themselves beset by the shifting<BR/> winds of the carnal-ego; i.e., moods, feelings, desires,<BR/> appetites, etc., the mind becomes subordinate: a mere<BR/> device for excuse-making and rationalizing self-justifica-<BR/> tion.<BR/> <BR/> The carnal-ego rejects criteria and self-discipline for such<BR/> instruments are tools of the mind and the attitude. The<BR/> appetites of the flesh have no need of standards for at the<BR/> point of contention standards are perceived as alien, re-<BR/> strictive, and inhibiting. Yet, the very survival of our<BR/> physical nature itself depends upon a maintained sover-<BR/> eignty of the mind and of the spirit.<BR/> <BR/> It remained, therefore, to the initiative of a personal<BR/> and living Creator to traverse the human horizon and<BR/> fill the vast void of human ignorance with an intelli-<BR/> gent and definitive faith. Man is thus afforded the<BR/> prime tool of the intellect - a Transcendent Standard<BR/> by which he may measure values in experience, anticipate<BR/> results, and make enlightened and visionary choices. <BR/> <BR/> Only the unique and superior God-man Person can deserved-<BR/> ly displace the ego-person from his predicament and free<BR/> the individual to measure values and choose in a more<BR/> excellent way. That sublime Person was indicated in the<BR/> words of the prophet Amos, "...said the Lord, Behold,<BR/> I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel."<BR/> Y'shua Mashiyach Jesus said, "If I be lifted up I will<BR/> draw all men unto myself."<BR/> <BR/> As long as some choose to abdicate their personal reality<BR/> and submit to the delusions of humanism, determinism, and<BR/> collectivism, just so long will they be subject and re-<BR/> acting only, to be tossed by every impulse emanating from<BR/> others. Those who abdicate such reality may, in perfect<BR/> justice, find themselves weighed in the balances of their<BR/> own choosing.<BR/> <BR/> That human institution which is structured on the<BR/> principle, "...all men are endowed by their Creator with<BR/> ...Liberty...," is a system with its roots in the natural<BR/> Order of the universe. The opponents of such a system are<BR/> necessarily engaged in a losing contest with nature and<BR/> nature's God. Biblical principles are still today the<BR/> foundation under Western Civilization and the American<BR/> way of life. To the advent of a new season we commend the<BR/> present generation and the "multitudes in the valley of<BR/> decision."<BR/> <BR/> Let us proclaim it. Behold!<BR/> The Season of Generation-Choicemaker Joel 3:14 KJV<BR/> <BR/> CONTEMPORARY COMMENTS<BR/> "I should think that if there is one thing that man has<BR/> learned about himself it is that he is a creature of<BR/> choice." Richard M. Weaver<BR/> <BR/> "Man is a being capable of subduing his emotions and<BR/> impulses; he can rationalize his behavior. He arranges<BR/> his wishes into a scale, he chooses; in short, he acts.<BR/> What distinguishes man from beasts is precisely that he<BR/> adjusts his behavior deliberately." Ludwig von Mises<BR/> <BR/> "To make any sense of the idea of morality, it must be<BR/> presumed that the human being is responsible for his<BR/> actions and responsibility cannot be understood apart<BR/> from the presumption of freedom of choice."<BR/> John Chamberlain<BR/> <BR/> "The advocate of liberty believes that it is complementary<BR/> of the orderly laws of cause and effect, of probability<BR/> and of chance, of which man is not completely informed.<BR/> It is complementary of them because it rests in part upon<BR/> the faith that each individual is endowed by his Creator<BR/> with the power of individual choice."<BR/> Wendell J. Brown<BR/> <BR/> "These examples demonstrate a basic truth -- that human <BR/> dignity is embodied in the free choice of individuals."<BR/> Condoleeza Rice<BR/> <BR/> "Our Founding Fathers believed that we live in an ordered<BR/> universe. They believed themselves to be a part of the<BR/> universal order of things. Stated another way, they<BR/> believed in God. They believed that every man must find<BR/> his own place in a world where a place has been made for<BR/> him. They sought independence for their nation but, more<BR/> importantly, they sought freedom for individuals to think<BR/> and act for themselves. They established a republic<BR/> dedicated to one purpose above all others - the preserva-<BR/> tion of individual liberty..." Ralph W. Husted<BR/> <BR/> "We have the gift of an inner liberty so far-reaching<BR/> that we can choose either to accept or reject the God<BR/> who gave it to us, and it would seem to follow that the<BR/> Author of a liberty so radical wills that we should be<BR/> equally free in our relationships with other men.<BR/> Spiritual liberty logically demands conditions of outer<BR/> and social freedom for its completion." Edmund A. Opitz<BR/> <BR/> "Above all I see an ability to choose the better from the<BR/> worse that has made possible life's progress."<BR/> Charles Lindbergh<BR/> <BR/> "Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for<BR/> oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibil-<BR/> ity of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not<BR/> a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."<BR/> Thomas Jefferson<BR/> <BR/> THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER<BR/> Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son<BR/> of man that You visit him?" Psalm 8:4<BR/> A: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against<BR/> you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing<BR/> and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and<BR/> your descendants may live." Deuteronomy 30:19<BR/> <BR/> Q: "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?<BR/> Or the son of man, that you are mindful of him?" Psalm<BR/> 144:3<BR/> A: "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose<BR/> for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the<BR/> gods which your fathers served that were on the other<BR/> side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose<BR/> land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will<BR/> serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15<BR/> <BR/> Q: "What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is<BR/> born of a woman, that he could be righteous?" Job 15:14<BR/> A: "Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He<BR/> teach in the way he chooses." Psalm 25:12 <BR/> <BR/> Q: "What is man, that You should magnify him, that You<BR/> should set Your heart on him?" Job 7:17<BR/> A: "Do not envy the oppressor and choose none of his<BR/> ways." Proverbs 3:31<BR/> <BR/> Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son<BR/> of man that You take care of him?" Hebrews 2:6<BR/> A: "I have chosen the way of truth; your judgments I have<BR/> laid before me." Psalm 119:30 "Let Your hand become my<BR/> help, for I have chosen Your precepts."Psalm 119:173<BR/> <BR/> References:<BR/> Genesis 3:3,6 Deuteronomy 11:26-28; 30:19 Job 5:23<BR/> Isaiah 7:14-15; 13:12; 61:1 Amos 7:8 Joel 3:14<BR/> Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 <BR/> <BR/> DEDICATION<BR/> <BR/> Sir Isaac Newton<BR/> The greatest scientist in human history<BR/> a Bible-Believing Christian<BR/> an authority on the Bible's Book of Daniel<BR/> committed to individual value<BR/> and individual liberty<BR/> <BR/> Daniel 9:25-26 Habakkuk 2:2-3 selah<BR/> <BR/> "What is man...?" Earth's Choicemaker Psalm 25:12<BR/> <BR/> http://www.blogger.com/profile/4744267 <BR/> <BR/> http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2728/<BR/> <BR/> http://www.choicemaker.net/<BR/> <BR/> jbaxter@choicemaker.net<BR/> <BR/> An old/new paradigma - Mr. Jefferson would agree!<BR/> (Alternative? There is no alternative.)<BR/><BR/> No one is smarter than their criteria. selahJim Baxterhttp://www.choicemaker.net/noreply@blogger.com