When the angels fell. Heaven's war.

I have always heard stories of the fall.  When Lucifer led his band of angels and was cast out of heaven.   But I wondered.  God is all powerful.  He created us and thus can destroy us.  So how can angels make war against God without being smited?  The answer came to me when I was watching a discussion between Dr. Alveda King (Dr. Martin Luther King's niece) and Glenn Beck.  That answer was that the 1/3 of angels cast out did not make literal war.  They couldn't.  Instead they used a war of words and ideology.  Lucifer who was jealous of man whispered in the other angel’s ears and told them that they were better.  That if they listened to him, then everything would come out ok.  In this, Lucifer wanted to supplant God due to his jealousy of man replacing him as God's favorite by controlling heaven in the same way mankind continues to vie for control of earth.   It was a rebellion of thought in order to ascertain power.  That power was to show that Lucifer was the perfect son and could be as great as God.

 Now the question is, why God didn’t just push them at the outset.  Why didn't God just be rid of Lucifer before he corrupted so many?  I think there is a few reasons.  God created the angels just like he did man.  As such, Lucifer and the other angels are God's children as well.  God could have been hoping that another angel could talk Lucifer out of it.  That the arguments against would prevail.  However, Lucifer's promises of not having to do anything but obey corrupted the pure hearted angels.  They stopped thinking and therefore no longer performed their duties.  They became a cancer.  That cancer was going to corrupt all the angels if not stopped, and thus God cast out his favorite angel Lucifer and those who no longer could think for themselves save follow Lucifer down from heaven.  

Final Thought:  Now to me it makes sense.  That an angel could actually beat God or supplant God was preposterous to me.  But as a power struggle where Lucifer sought control over the other angels and thus manipulated them into not obeying God, now that makes sense.  However, I do not think it was God fearing losing control of his kingdom that worried him.  It was what his children and Lucifer especially would do with that ability to manipulate and control that he feared.  God could not be defeated, but his other creations could.  So mankind and the other angels who were still loyal and could think for themselves were under threat of possible persecution by Lucifer's mentally lazy followers who rely on others to think for them.  And as punishment Lucifer now sits on the throne of hell, or is it perhaps Satan, another who rebelled (if you look at the Islamic lore) who sits on hell's throne? Well that can be tomorrow’s blog post.  Hope you enjoyed the read.

Triconomy of humanity

Did you know that our bodies are separated into three parts when talking about them in a religious sense?  When God created us we were made in three parts.  Those three parts are as follows, body, soul and spirit.  So what do these parts consist of?  Well let me tell you what I know.

The Body:  Basically it is the human flesh.  Our bodies are our conduits to manipulate and travel in the physical plane of existence.

The Soul:  Our souls contain our emotions.  Everything primal "thought" wise is in there.  From the pleasure we get from sex, to the drive to live.  All these stem from here.

The Spirit:  The final component that is often used interchangeably with the soul terminology wise is the spirit.  The Spirit contains our knowledge, what shapes us and our conscious decision making.  It is also the part that passes on to Heaven and meets God (as far as we know that is, as the body is left behind).  As such it is considered the most important part of our triconomy as it allows us to communicate with God.

Final Thought:  This is me sharing again.  In this case I wanted to bring attention to another way of viewing the body soul and spirit to share that our soul and our spirit may not be the same thing.  In some cases people will reverse the role of soul and spirit based on their own beliefs or understandings of the words.  Interestingly to note is that many religions have souls, spirits and maybe even more components to what consists of us, the human in the body itself.  I personally believe in the above and thus I share this with you.  Hope you enjoyed learning a little about this subject and that it spurs you to seek out more knowledge on the subject.

Children and Concussions

Should we protect children from high impact sports?  I think we should, but under no circumstances should sports be banned.  So how would this work?

High impact sports, like Rugby and Football among others, put children at risk of a concussion with children being very susceptible to brain damage.  Apparently a single concussion can impair a child for over two years.   Yes children want to play these sports, but they cannot make an informed decision on when to play.  So now it is up to adults to figure out what to do.  Some policies and laws are being put in place that can help.  One such policy is "suspecting concussion".  What this does is have a child who is suspected of having a concussion be removed from the game immediately so they can be checked by a doctor on the side lines (another child on the team will sub in while this happens).  This helps ensure a child with a concussion gets help immediately.  Another such policy/law is "return to play" laws.  In this case, if a young athlete gets a concussion they must be cleared by a doctor before they can play again in any contact sports.  This policy protects the child from further damage to their brains.  Some colleges have taken to eliminating full contact training to limit concussions and other injuries which protects athletes.  Thus alternative means of training or even non-contact versions can be used to compete and train with one another.  Another idea is to base players on size rather than age which prevents kids from getting injured by the bigger/stronger members of their age group (bigger children hit harder and thus are more likely to cause severe injury to their smaller peers).

Conclusion:  There are options, as stated above, for the children to be protected from concussions and any further brain damage.  It takes a little common sense to balance child safety and them playing the sports we love.

Problems with Libertarian Candidates

The Libertarian party is the political party that wants to take over the world so that everyone can be left alone.  Basically, they advocate for as little government as possible while still being able to punish the obviously wrongful acts (things like murder), and protecting the country from harm (terrorists and foreign governments).  But the candidates for the party are problematic and here is my reasons why.

Let me start by saying I respect the libertarian party and what they stand for.  They want maximum freedom for each and every individual.  However, when they talk about those freedoms they scare people.  Candidates like Gary Johnson (former governor of New Mexico) wants all illegal drugs legalized, and for no drug to require a prescription.  As such you could buy Heroin, and Percocet.  Problem is that people in America are only really willing to allow Marijuana to be legal right now.  People in the United States cannot grasp the idea of people buying Heroin, Pot, Meth, Percocet’s and their antibiotics from a drug store without a prescription.  People fear the possibilities of drug intoxicated people dying on the streets of New York City and elsewhere.  While their fears are well grounded, countries like Spain have had legalized Heroin for years and they have none of the problems people fear most with legalizing narcotics (especially as the use of the once illegal drugs has dropped).  Libertarians thus cite these facts, but America is not ready to listen and thus the libertarians come off as lunatics.  Likewise it is the same for foreign policy.  Libertarians want free trade, and if you don't attack us we will not kill you attitude.  But many non-libertarians take this to mean isolationist policies and unwilling to fight enemies (like terrorists) based on how they present their arguments.  Basically we libertarians can come off as nutty.

Conclusion:  Austen Peterson, a libertarian Presidential candidate, actually talked about this issue with Glenn Beck.  He said that Libertarians have to be willing to make sacrifices while putting forth their ideology and as such be pragmatic.  So legalize weed, not anything else until it is acceptable to the general public.  Embrace free trade and potentially open borders when people's concerns over terrorism and jobs can be alleviated.  Basically, do not rush the ideology of personal freedom, instead let people decide if and when they are ready for the personal responsibility aspect that comes with being a libertarian.

Puerto Rico Bailout

So Puerto Rico is in trouble.  They spent so much money on welfare programs and government spending that they are going bankrupt.  Their response was to hire more government workers, 300 in fact (Fox News is the source of this information).  Right now in Washington D.C. they are deciding if they are going to try and bail out Puerto Rico.  My response is "hell no".

Some of you are wondering why we should not bail Puerto Rico out.  Simple answer is that we did not cause the mess.  Puerto Rico is a self-governing territory of the United States.  So while its citizens double as U.S. citizens, it is effectively a completely different government and has sovereignty over itself.  Would the United States bail out another country like China or Britain?  Well.....yea ok they would, however that is the problem.  My country the United States has bailed out multiple countries multiple times in the continent of Africa, and around the world by forgiving their debts to us or giving them money.  You could say the United States is too darn generous.  Now we owe over 18 trillion in debt and no country is forgiving our debt saying "no need to pay us back, we cool".  Not happening.  So what does this have to do with bailing out Puerto Rico?  It is the line in the sand.  No more bailouts, debt forgiveness or anything.  Clean up your own financial mess as you are the one who caused it.

Conclusion:  I sympathize with the Puerto Rican people as I have family who are from Puerto Rico.  They are going to have a rough time once the Puerto Rican government files for bankruptcy.  But it is time Puerto Rico, and even my home State of New York who also has its debt worries, cut the fat in government, cut unnecessary laws that hinder growth, and ultimately take care of itself.  

Happy Memorial Day

I'm back just in time for memorial day.  Oh and what a day it is.  While some see it as a day just to get off work, it is actually a day to remember those soldiers who gave their lives for our country.  So today remember all the brave men and women who gave their lives in the service of our country and for the ideals set about by the founding fathers of the United States.  Remember those who gave their lives for freedom.

God Bless the Troops.

2 Week Vacation!!!

It is that time of year folks.  It is time for a mini vacation.  I'll be away from a computer for 2 weeks as of May 16th and will begin posting again on the 30th.  I need the mental break as it is not easy to find decent topics to talk about with you all.  Not to mention I need a break from the everyday grind of my day job at the pharmacy.  Now that I think about it, you all should look to take a week off too.  Just not having to go to work and the burden of the weekly grind is very beneficial as it relieves stress.  So while I relieve my stress, look for ways to reduce yours too.  See ya on May 30th, and thanks as always for reading.