What Does It Mean to Sit at the Right Hand of God?

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Lee — 15 Comments

In Psalm 110, David writes:

The Lord says to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
(Psalm 110:1)

And in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus quotes these words in an exchange with the Pharisees:

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “The son of David.”

He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:41–46)

What did David mean when he poetically wrote about sitting at the Lord’s right hand? And what did Jesus mean when he quoted David?

Does this really mean—as traditional Christians commonly believe—that God the Father and God the Son are two different people, and that Jesus will literally sit at the right hand of God, like a viceroy sitting to the right of his king?

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) offers a different view.

For more on the right hand of God, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: divine power, Emanuel Swedenborg, God, God's right hand, Jesus Christ, power, spiritual meaning, Swedenborg, the Bible, the right hand of God
Posted in All About God, The Bible Re-Viewed

Is Your Spirit Rounded or Angular?

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Lee — 6 Comments

As I was browsing headlines the other day, this title at LiveScience.com caught my attention:

“A Politician’s Name & Face: Why a Good Match May Win Votes”

How does someone’s name match their face, I wondered?

As it turns out, studies show that people tend to think:

Names with “rounder-sounding” vowels such as “u” and “o,” that are pronounced with rounded lips, go better with people who have a rounder face, puffier lips, and so on.
Names with “sharper-sounding” vowels such as “e” and “I” go better with people who have a more angular face and thinner lips.

For further fascinating details on these findings, including how having a name that matches the face can help politicians win elections, see the linked article.

For me though, as a lifelong aficionado of the spiritual writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), the story had yet another fascination. You see, two and a half centuries ago Swedenborg connected the “rounder” and “sharper” vowels to the character types of the two main types of angels.

For more on angular and rounded angels, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: angels, Emanuel Swedenborg, faces, heaven, language, names, science, spirituality, Swedenborg, the spiritual world, vowels
Posted in Science Philosophy and History, The Afterlife

If There Was No Literal Flood, What does the Ark Mean?

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Lee — 53 Comments

In his massive multi-volume work Secrets of Heaven, originally published in eight Latin volumes in London, 1749–1756, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) states that the first chapters of Genesis, up to somewhere in the genealogy in Genesis 11 that leads to the stories of Abraham starting in Genesis 12, were never meant to be taken literally. Instead, they were written by ancient authors to tell a spiritual story in a metaphorical or “correspondential” style.

In Secrets of Heaven #554–1059 Swedenborg offers a verse-by-verse spiritual exegesis of the Flood story in Genesis 6:1–9:17.

Noah’s ark interior scene

The symbolic nature of the early chapters of Genesis

Swedenborg interprets the characters and events of the early chapters of Genesis as referring, not to literal events of actual historical human beings, but rather as symbolic accounts of whole races and generations of early humans. In his interpretation, Adam and Eve, for example, do not refer to two human individuals named “Adam” and “Eve,” but rather to an early culture of human beings. They represent the first beings on earth who were both physically human and had a developed spiritual awareness of God and heaven.

For more Noah’s Ark, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: children, developmental psychology, Emanuel Swedenborg, Noah, Noah and the Ark, Noah's Ark, spiritual meaning, spiritual rebirth, Swedenborg, the Bible, The Great Flood
Posted in The Bible Re-Viewed

The Red Pill Movement (MGTOW): Men Waking Up as Loners

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Lee — 167 Comments

In contrast to the “pickup artists” (PUA), some men have “taken the red pill” when their relationships with women went sour and have chosen what would traditionally be called the bachelor route.

The MGTOW symbol

These are the MGTOW (pronounced MIG-tau): “Men Going Their Own Way.” The singular is MGHOW: “Man Going His Own Way.”

If you spend any time reading MGTOW websites and forums, you’ll find them populated largely by men who have had hellaciously bad experiences in their relationships with women, and who have decided to opt out. Some continue to have one-night stands with women or use the services of prostitutes in order to satisfy their sex drive. Others “go monk” and become celibate. In this community, men actually brag about being virgins.

Needless to say, PUAs despise MGTOW as Dorito-munching, mother’s-basement-dwelling losers who are sad and lonely because they could never get a girl. And MGTOW despise PUAs as preening, hormone-driven pretty boys whose whole life revolves around the women they despise.

And MGTOW as a group do despise women.

These Red Pill men have woken up, not so much as losers, but as loners.

Most of them had their brush with women, got burned—sometimes quite badly—and decided that it’s better not to play with fire.

And if a man wants to be single, that’s certainly his choice. There have been single men throughout the ages. Some of them have done great things.

The problem is not so much in their deciding to become single, but in their intense disdain for and even hatred of women, and in their blaming women for all of their problems as men.

For more on the Red Pill movement (MGTOW), please click here to read on.

Tagged with: celibacy, marriage, marriage strike, men, MGHOW, MGTOW, personal responsibility, red pill movement, the red pill, women
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

The Red Pill Movement (PUA): Men Waking Up as Animals

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Lee — 39 Comments

Some men—mostly young men—who have “taken the red pill” and woken up to the “reality” that all women are stupid, lazy, blood-sucking whores have decided that the most logical course of action is to turn the tables on women.

How?

By getting as much as they can out of as many women as possible, while giving as little as possible in return.

And what do they want out of women?

Sex, of course.

The main goal of a Red Pill “pickup artist” (PUA) is to have as much sex as possible with young, pretty women while avoiding any obligations or strings attached. These men have woken up as male animals, whose key drive is to mate with healthy, fertile females of their species and reproduce. Except mostly without any actual reproduction.

Here is my nomination for theme song of the Red Pill PUA community (Warning: contains crude sexual innuendo and imagery):

Bloodhound Gang: “The Bad Touch,” 1999.

Chorus:

You and me, baby, ain’t nothin’ but mammals;
So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.

For more on the Red Pill movement (PUA), please click here to read on.

Tagged with: evolution, men, pickup artists, PUA, red pill movement, seduction community, sex, the red pill, women
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

The Red Pill Movement (MRA): Men Waking Up as Victims

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Lee — 31 Comments

Within the past couple of centuries millions of women woke up to the fact that they’ve been getting a raw deal. In politics, the workplace, business, finance, and even when it came to their homes and their children, they realized that they were second-class citizens.

And so the feminist movement was born.

A major theme in some parts of the feminist movement is that women are the victims of a patriarchal society—or more simply, victims of men.

Within the past half century, as the feminist movement has gained strength, tens of thousands of men woke up to the fact that they’ve been getting a raw deal. It is overwhelmingly men who die in war, at the workplace, and by homicide and suicide. Men get taken for granted and taken to the cleaners financially by women in the divorce courts, and they lose their children to their ex-wives, too. And men are subject to an invisible epidemic of emotional and physical abuse by women.

And so the men’s rights movement was born.

A major theme in some parts of the men’s rights movement is that men are the victims of an increasingly gynocentric society—or more simply, victims of women.

Welcome to the manosphere, popularly known as the Red Pill movement. This is the world where men are downtrodden, and women and feminism are their oppressors.

And the reality is, there is truth in both positions. Women are victims. Men are victims.

The question is, who and what are they victims of?

For more on the Red Pill movement (MRA), please click here to read on.

Tagged with: feminism, manosphere, masculinity, men, men's rights, men's rights activists, MRA, red pill movement, The Matrix, the red pill, women
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

Why does God Harden our Hearts, and Why are We Held Responsible?

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Lee — 21 Comments

Here is a Spiritual Conundrum submitted to Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life by a reader named Steve:

Dear Lee,

Could you help answer this for me?

Romans 9:14–23 speaks of God making vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour. Also there is John 12:37–41 where the scriptures speak about God blinding and hardening people so that they could not believe or understand with their hearts. If that is so then how can they be held to account? How are they responsible? It’s as though their free will is taken away from them. Christ warned the Pharisees about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit but if God hardened and blinded them then how are they accountable? Could you explain this please? I know that God is fair but I can’t see the fairness in my present understanding.

Kind regards,

Steve

Thanks for the great question, Steve! People have been scratching their heads about this for many centuries. Here are some principles that I hope will help:

The Bible often speaks according to the human appearance rather than the divine reality.
This is necessary for the Bible to achieve God’s purpose for it: to save our eternal souls.
God will not allow us to achieve enlightenment that we are unable to sustain.
God’s love and mercy is turned into its opposite in people who are opposed to God.

We’ll expand on each one of these one by one. But first, let’s look at the biblical background.

Clay in the Potter’s hands

For God’s power and our responsibility, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Emanuel Swedenborg, God, hardness of heart, omnipotence, salvation, spiritual meaning, spirituality, Swedenborg, the Bible, The Potter
Posted in All About God, The Bible Re-Viewed

What Do Women Really Want?

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Lee — 35 Comments

Hey guys!

Are you looking for some crazy pickup lines guaranteed to get women into bed?

Or some killer moves in bed that will drive women wild once you get them there?

If so, you’ve come to the right place!

I’m finally going to give you the straight dope:

YOU’RE A KNUCKLEHEAD!

Stop wasting your time on stupid clickbait gimmicks that don’t work.

What most women want is for you to get out of their face, because you’re not the man they’re looking for. Buuut, if they’re actually looking for a man, then what they’re looking for is quite simple:

The right man for them

And you’re probably not it. Because there are a lot of different women out there, and they’re looking for a lot of different types of men. But don’t give up. You are the right man for some woman, if you’re willing to put some effort into it.

Meanwhile, here are some of the general categories of what women who are seeking a man really want in a man:

Some women want a man who will protect them, provide for them, and tell them what to do. (Sorry, feminists, but it’s true.)
Some women want a man that they can help, take care of, make a home for, and generally wrap their lives around, while still having a say in things.
Some women want a man with whom they can be full equal partners and move forward together on a shared path in life.

That’s what women are really looking for. And your job is to find the right woman for you—and more importantly, to be the right man for her.

For more on what women really want, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: female submission, gender equality, gender roles, lasting marriage, love, male dominance, marriage, marriage equality, relationships, spiritual marriage, spirituality
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships

Homosexuality, the Bible, and Christianity: A Summary

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Lee — 85 Comments

My article, “Homosexuality, the Bible, and Christianity” provides an extensive analysis of the key biblical, religious, and social issues relating to homosexuality. That article challenges and refutes the common traditional and conservative Christian view that homosexuality is inherently evil and sinful.

However, it is a long article (over 13,000 words). For a summary of the points in that article, I had previously directed readers to my answer to a question about homosexuality on Christianity StackExchange. I am now re-editing and republishing that answer here to make a shorter version more easily available to my readers. The nine points in this summary cover in much briefer form the major points made in the main article. I recommend that you read that article to get the full picture.

1. Homosexuality is rarely mentioned in the Bible

Homosexuality is rarely mentioned in the Bible. There are only five or six clear references to it in the Old and New Testaments combined. In comparison, the sins forbidden in the Ten Commandments receive major coverage throughout the Bible. The heavy focus on homosexuality among traditional and conservative Christians despite this scant Biblical mention of it suggests that their strong opposition to it comes from a cultural opposition to homosexuality rather than from Biblical sources.

For more homosexuality, the Bible, and Christianity, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Christianity, gay marriage, homosexuality, marriage, relationships, same-sex marriage, sex, Sodom, spirituality, the Bible
Posted in Sex Marriage Relationships, The Bible Re-Viewed

God: Puppetmaster or Manager of the Universe?

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Lee — 41 Comments

Isaac Newton

Back when Isaac Newton reigned supreme in the world of physics, it was popular among scientists and philosophers to think of the universe as a vast machine grinding along on an inevitable path that could be fully predicted into the distant future if its present state and motion could be fully described.

Then came the 20th century, and people like Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger said, “Not so fast! There’s randomness and uncertainty built right into the structure of the universe!” Albert Einstein, who himself had a major part in unseating Newton as the final arbiter of the nature of physical reality, didn’t much like quantum theory precisely because of that element of random chance, prompting him to say famously that God “is not playing at dice.”

What do these new developments in physics say about God? If the universe is not machine-like and deterministic, but has uncertainty built right into it, doesn’t that mean God isn’t in control?

Some scientists and secular philosophers say that our recent discoveries about the nature of the universe show that there cannot be a God because the random, non-deterministic nature of quantum physics is incompatible with an omniscient and omnipotent Creator God.

But as a long-time fan of science, astronomy, and cosmology, my growing conviction is that God purposely designed the physical universe with a certain amount of randomness and freedom. In fact, I now think that a fully deterministic universe, with God as its puppetmaster, would be unable to achieve the goals for which God created it.

God is not a puppetmaster and dictator, controlling every move of every atom in the universe. Rather, God is an architect, manager, and friend to the universe and everything in it.

For more on God, determinism, and free will, please click here to read on.

Tagged with: Albert Einstein, Creation, Emanuel Swedenborg, Erwin Schrödinger, God, Isaac Newton, Max Planck, natural disasters, Niels Bohr, physics, Werner Heisenberg
Posted in All About God, Science Philosophy and History

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The symbolic nature of the early chapters of Genesis

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1. Homosexuality is rarely mentioned in the Bible

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