Everything I needed to Know – When Your Logic Fails, Trust a Hunch

Greetings Dear Reader,

There are times when reasoning through things just does not work.  We cannot make sense of something or do not have all the data needed to make a logical choice.  Yet there are times when we still must make that choice without delay.

We forget how to trust out instincts.  We fail to listen to that little voice in our head that is always more aware than we are.  We don’t trust out gut. I suppose that the first thing I would say is to trust that instinct.  Listen to your first thought as long as it aligns with good and right. 

I also have a method for choosing when I cannot choose but must.  This will sound simplistic but done in faith I have found it to be true and reliable.  Proverbs 16:33 tells us “The dice are thrown, but the LORD determines every outcome.”

When I must choose and there is no logical or clear direction I pray, toss a coin, and obey the outcome.  This may sound puerile but as long as I honor the process in faith I believe that it works.  I have established clear rules for this.

It must not be done lightly

I must pray first

I must set the binary choice clearly

I live with the outcome without equivocation

There will be times when logic fails us.  Circumstances occur where we do not know what to do.  We will have to trust our instincts or allow others to guide our choices.  We will find that we must in times act in faith.  Then again, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Everything I needed to Know – Humans are Illogical

Greetings Dear Reader,

I am not saying that we do not use logic but at the heart of it we are illogical beings.  We reject that which is best for us often.  We see clear paths and instead take rough and brambled ones.  We know what our heart wants but instead settle for a grind that saps our life and energy.

We scream and march for our own rights whilst ignoring the needs of others.  We say we love our enemies whilst allowing their children to starve.  We are illogical in so many ways that betray our faith.

We also fail to embrace the illogic of our faith in ways that will make it real.  It is not logical to love our enemies but it is right.  It is not logical that the Creator should die to redeem his creation.  It is foolish to give up the pleasures or a life we can see for the treasures of a life we cannot.

The one we follow holds out both a Cross and a Crown.  We must embrace both or neither.  There are no half measures in following Christ.  Whilst we can make sense of our faith as it is a reasonable faith.  It is also, all at once, foolish and illogical. 

We are asked to choose to follow the most illogical of dreams.  I must always embrace that I am a fool for Christ’s sake.  I must abandon the illogic of my own designs and embrace the both logical and illogical call of Christ.

God’s Own Fool – Michael Card

Seems I've imagined Him all of my life

As the wisest of all of mankind

But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men

He must have seemed out of His mind

For even His family said He was mad

And the priests said a demon's to blame

But God in the form of this angry young man

Could not have seemed perfectly sane

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise

He played the fool and He opened our eyes

When we in our weakness believed we were strong

He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so we follow God's own fool

For only the foolish can tell-

Believe the unbelievable

And come be a fool as well

So come lose your life for a carpenter's son

For a madman who died for a dream

And you'll have the faith His first followers had

And you'll feel the weight of the beam

So surrender the hunger to say you must know

Have the courage to say I believe

For the power of paradox opens your eyes

And blinds those who say they can see

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise

He played the fool and He opened our eyes

When we in our weakness believed we were strong

He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so we follow God's own fool

For only the foolish can tell-

Believe the unbelievable

And come be a fool as well

So we follow God's own Fool

For only the foolish can tell

Believe the unbelievable,

And come be a fool as well

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Percent Logic – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

I had pondered many other things to discuss concerning this but as I think through it I come to a conclusion.  Statistics must lose to compassion and love every time.  So much of their common use is political. The political must always take a back seat to the pursuit of good.

As an example I ponder the tragic shootings in Orlando.   Much more time has been spent on the ISIS and gun control conversation than on how we get to the place where killing strangers is the right thing to do.   We do not teach our society to be loving and selfless. 

We no longer place the ultimate value on human life.  We instead measure its value against other things such as convince and choice.  We allow hunger and need to exist so that we can do what we want to do.  We politicize and debate while people are being killed or dying. 

Data is important.  It is an excellent servant in science and understanding the world.  In the hands of the ill-intentioned it is a dangerous weapon.  Statistical data with integrity and used with the same can benefit us greatly.  When we use statistics to manipulate and control others we create belief based on lies.  It leaves me wondering which has killed more people: statistics or guns.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Percent Logic – Statistics and Morality

Greetings Dear Reader,

One of the things that we ignore when inundated with statistics is that sometimes they just do not matter.  There used to be a time when most of the scientific world believed that the world was flat.   Even if everyone believes that the world is flat, 100%, they would still be wrong.

There are times when ti does not matter how much we think a thing is true or how many people believe it.  I am going to use a harsh example here.  I believe it.  It is, however, an example of how morality trumps data.  In the Holocaust during World War II 100% of the people who believed it was write to kill those in the concentration camps were wrong.  There is no moral value in interring people because ow what we think of them.   

The same can be said for the Japanese camps in our own country.  The same can be said for any situation where we take the position that it is right to wrong in order to meet the desire of the majority.   No political pole or common thought can justify the mistreatment of others.

For those of you who take the rather safe than sorry position it is clear that often when we do so with human rights we end up killing people.   That is unacceptable.  I am going to offer this last thought on this.  I realize it is harsh and that I will offend some of you Dear Reader.   I am not judging individuals.  I am judging a position and an act.

No matter how we view it statically or how we present the data the moral truth is this.  100% of all abortions are murder.   No matter what situational ethics you wish to apply it is murder.  No matter how many statistics you present of who will do what if it is illegal murder is murder. 

I know that some of you disagree.  What plagues me is that people need to deny this truth to justify choices.   What about the statistics we ignore.  Only a small percentage of abortions are for medical or psychological necessity.  And then there is this; in this country alone we have destroy over 1 Billion years of potential life.  That alone is enough for me to choose morality over statistics.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Percent Logic - Refugees and Terrorists

Greetings Dear Reader,

We will hear all kinds of statistics about how few of the refugees that seek safety are actually a danger to us.  Those statistics are likely accurate.  We will also hear the argument that we have to get it right all the time and that they only have to succeed once.  We reduce the argument of being humane to others to numbers, possibilities, and probabilities.

In all of this I ask the same question:  What is my obligation to Christ in aiding others?  I am not supposed to put my safety first if others are in danger.  Yes I must consider the safety of others.  Yes there will be a flood of scenarios and circumstances where the answers are hard. 

This is why there are very clear guiding principles for those who follow Christ.  We must love our enemies.  We must meet the needs of those in dire straits.  I have to see the hungry as hungry, not as hungry “fill in whatever group you wish to avoid”.   I must risk it all for others. 

So the statistics are simple in this.  100% of the people who are terrorists are worthy of being loved.  They can and must be stopped but not by denying the needs of others.   What would be the impact of every Christ follower acting in this way?   

I cannot say that I know what the answer is here.  I do not know that there must be a way to find the true path.  There must be a way to love our enemies, protect our own, and meet the needs of our neighbors no matter how big the neighborhood.  In this case the statistics are only used to justify avoiding one of these.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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Percent Logic – Belief equals Truth…

Greetings Dear Reader,

…or does it?  One of the ways in which we fail to respect the science of statistics is when we force the data to reflect our position.   This misuse of statistics is called a statistical fallacy.  

I am going to lapse into educator mode for a moment.  The basis of cognitive learning is the gaining of knowledge, leading to understanding, then to application.  Statistics are used to help us understand things.  When we create statistical fallacies we limit or even manipulate understanding.

Some of the ways in which this is done are discarding favorable data, asking loaded questions, using biased samples, asserting a false causality, data dredging, and many more manipulations.  There is ample reading out there on this topic if one cares to pursue it.   The point is that when we intentionally misuse or skew data we create false understanding that leads to false application.

The process works like this:

I believe X is true

I skew my data so that it proves X

You are told that X is true.

It should work like this:

I believe X is true.

I gather, analyze, and report honest data.

I adjust what I believe based on the honest data.

I say all this with an open an honest caveat.  Some things require belief and cannot be proven or disproven.  In honesty we also must consider that Aristotelian logic is not the only type of valid reasoning.  There are other forms of reasoning that are valid.  Truth that cannot be found in statistics may be found in other forms of reasoning such as metaphorical logic.  We will touch on that later.

For now we need to focus on the principle that the use of statistical reasoning must be honest and avoid fallacies.  We may gain followers through statistical manipulation but we build our foundations on shaky ground when we do so.  Those inside my faith have done this and caused great damage. 

I have a dear friend who has walked away from faith because of this.  He actively pursues proof for his unbelief because of the harm done him by false data used to represent God.  It is necessary to view honest data.  It is also necessary to realize that we cannot prove some things.  Most importantly God does not command that we prove his existence.  He requires that we follow in faith.

I was reminded by a dear friend yesterday that this is not as easy for others as it is for me.  It is not up to me to prove that the Father wants you to see the Son Dear Reader.  It is up to me to follow in love and grace so that faith becomes an undeniable certainty. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Percent Logic – Opening Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

Statistics are important.  We can use them honestly understand behaviors, opinions, and conditions.  Statistics allow us to measure and quantify.  They are a valid part of research and understanding.

The problem with statistics is that they are subject to abuse.   It is easy to dishonestly represent what they say and mean.  It is easy to manipulate data to get the answers we wish.  Without integrity statics are a dangerous weapon. 

In this political and oddly violent season we see all kinds of statistics supporting this or that position.  Beyond the manipulation of the data comes the inequitable application of statistical logic to social situations.  We use percent logic to create memes that support our position but do not allow that to be equalized across a spectrum.

I believe that it is very difficult to legislate morality and do so equitably.   It is also difficult to measure some things equitably.  We cannot say that all things are equal statistically and have a moral society.  It just does not work that way.

I am thinking through the things that are being measured in our society and wondering how to assure that I filter the data through faith.  I hope you will walk through some reasoning on logic with me Dear Reader.   I always value your thoughts and questions.  After all, 100% of you are precious to me.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Great Expectations - A Pause to Respond – Part Two

Greetings Dear Reader,

If one has read the excellent novel The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis one can grasp the seed bed of my further thinking.  If we accept that there are those in torment (I am not saying yea or nay on this), then we can surmise a few things about them.

The first would be that they now believe.  They have had the ultimate show me experience.  What captured my imagination is that the people in the book have the option to stay in heaven when they are allowed to visit.  It made me wonder who would not choose to stay given the opportunity.  What is more I cannot find anything precluding God from giving that opportunity. 

Please remember that all of this is precluded on my simple thoughts and questions.  I want to develop a polemic here and please let me know if it sticks.  Actually there are a couple that I would posit.  They assume that you believe the Bible so feel free to provide analysis from that perspective.

The first is quite simple:

Major Premise:  Jesus is the all-powerful, all-knowing, God of the universe.

Minor Premise:  Jesus said he will draw all humans unto himself.

Conclusion:       Eventually all humans will be drawn to Jesus.

I will define some terms for clarity.  First the word draw here is a term that compels people.  It is that he will compel all humans to come to him.  Second since Jesus is omniscient he knows the outcome of this action.  He only ever said the Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. 

The second polemic is this:

Major Premise:  God clearly states that he will eventually work his will with all humans.

Minor Premise:  God’s will is that no one should perish.

Conclusion:       Eventually all humans will be redeemed from perishing.

Again at least one term needs defining here.  Perish means to be eternally dead.  It is the same word that Jesus uses when he tells Nicodemus that God loved the world to the extent that he sent his only Son so that belief in him would prevent perishing. 

I am not great at many things but I am passable at reasoning.  I do not find it reasonable that an omnipotent loving God could not find a way to draw all men back to his love and protection.  His nature when dealing with our relationship is to find a way.   His reputation is to sacrifice all to make it so. 

If we approach the teachings of Jesus without any filters it seems that this is his intent.  He came to seek and to save that which his Father, God had lost.  I will address your other comment tomorrow Dear Reader.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)