True or False

[BT]

discuss

h/t Henny

[Xavier_Onassis]

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

 John Kenneth Galbraith quotes

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One thing we can say about Ayn Rand is that she bragged about her selfishness and was not hypocritical about it. She worshipped selfishness.

On the other hand, with regard to capitalism, Rand was essentially an old Jewish lady about investments: she touted the wonders of creative capitalists in her book about miraculous Reardon Metal, and John Galt's engine that ran on static electricity. She could have invested in jet engines, Xerox, Polaroid, IBM, GE or even GM, but she kept her fortune in a passbook account in the bank around the corner, until the 1970s; when Alan Greenspan recommended a money market fund.

[Plane]

False

As a Christian, am I obliged to ignore non-Christian wisdom?

Not just Ann Rand , but Socrates and Buddha?

I feel that I can read Camus and Nnietzsche and filter them through what I have learned via being a Christian.

I don't feel hyp[ocritical to do so , I don't discourage nonChristians from adopting Christian values in parts even when I would rather they adopted the whole.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Jesus was not into selfishness. Note that even though he cornered the market on fishes and loaves, he did not take advantage of the monopolistic situation.

Rand thought that selfishness was a great thing. She thought smoking tobacco was a symbol of man conquering nature, and had special cigarettes made with tiny $ $ on them. I don't see Jesus being all that much into man's heroic domination of nature. Stalin was clearly into it, though.

In addition, it is clear that they had vastly different views of a Supreme Being.

I always had students in my philosophy classes that thought that it was perfectly logical to believe in both astrology and Jesus simultaneously. Of course, astrology says that your fortune is determined at birth by the stars, and Jesus taught that one should turn their life completely over to Jesus to be saved.

[Plane]

  Isn't astrology part of Jesus birth story?

  Though it is , I have no confidence in it as practiced now.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The legend is that the birth of Jesus was announced by a star, which apparently moved, and therefore showed the Magi (aka the Three Wise Men) the way to the manger in Bethlehem, where they delivered thye gold, frankincense and myrrh, which were all symbolic of royalty.

The predominant religion of Persia in those days was Zoroasterianism, which is incorporates astronomy into a greater belief system. The closest thing to it now is the Parsi religion, practiced by descendents of Zoorastrians who were driven out of Persia by Muslims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrians do not believe in any Messiah or any Trinity, by the way.

[Christians4LessGvt]

true or false?

it's a typical false dynamic that tries to legitimize the illogic of liberalism

forced giving (liberalism) is anything but true charity from the heart

giving something to someone that is not even yours is in fact the opposite of charity

how does one "give" something if they never aquired something to give?

how would gvt be able to "give" out freebies if it were not for one's own labor that they tax?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Isn't astrology part of Jesus birth story?

  Though it is , I have no confidence in it as practiced now.

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In the 1700's through the 1900's, there have been hundreds of studies of astrology done from a scientific perspective and like studies of mediums and poltergeists, not one has given any credence to these bogus ancient "sciences". The same is true of numerology.

So the Star of Bethlehem was either an actual miracle, an inexplicable scientific anomaly, or just typical superstition and hype. Try following a star sometime. You will find it impossible. The virgin birth of a male child would also have to be a scientific anomaly as well. Either you believe in miracles or you do not. Prophesies are subject to creative interpretation quite often.

If you look in the the daily horoscope from the Miami Herald, it will give different advice than the horoscope published by the Ft Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal: they are different syndicated columns. The fact is, of course, that the same positions of the same planets on the same individuals should be identical, and they are not.

Si I agree with you about astrology as used today. I question that it has ever been valid for anything other than telling farmers the best days to plant their crops, since the constellations are related to the seasons, and there really are better times to plant. I'd use the Farmer's Almanac before messing with astrologers, though.

[Plane]

I have been a sailor, so I can vouch for you that finding direction by star position is not impossible, actually done right it is quite dependable.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You find your position by the position of known stars and constellations. Following a new star that there was no data about would be harder than following a planet.

It seems to me that the writers of the NT were unfamiliar with celestial navigation. "Following a Star" is not the same as stellar navigation: the former suggests that the star moves, and one follows it; the latter suggests using known stars as a way of proceeding in a specific direction. Hebrews were not known as talented seafarers. Mostly they were passengers, quite often unsuccessful ones, like Paul and Jonah.
 
The Magi were said to be astrologers, hence the name MAGI. The idea was that Jesus was to be the savior of all mankind, and that is why the Three Wise Men are depicted as one white guy, one Black guy and one Asian guy. The only Black people living to the East were Australians and New Guineans.

[Plane]

I am not familliar with the passage that says that the star moved.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There are people who clearly believed that this is what the Bible says.

I am not one of them.

[Plane]

There are people who clearly believed that this is what the Bible says.

I am not one of them.

I don't think it says that either, you brought it up.