On Binary Economies and massive, painful splinters in the public's collective Mind's Eye.

There are some firmly held beliefs in the public perception of the world and cosmos that have no basis in fact, the bible (for those that pertain to Christianity and how it should be lived, and what is actually in that book) , reality, and or even Empirical Thought and Analytical Reasoning (some overlap, I'm a big fan of both). they could be easily dispelled by those that know better or with a modicum of research into the topics these myths pertain to. While there is a need to find the truth and dispel these myths the vast majority are too lazy and have memories too short to truly do so. They default quickly back to the easy path of least resistance and go along with every one else rather then risk being ostracized, even though everyone really wants to know the truth. This is evidenced by the sustained popularity of : Mythbusters on TV (and no, Kari Byron cute and lovable as she is could not alone account for the shows longevity and popularity), Snopes.com on the web, and The Straight Dope in news papers and on the web, among others.

I call these firmly held beliefs of no basis factual or otherwise (as should be evidenced by the title of this post) "splinters in the public's collective Mind's Eye". This post is on one of the most egregious as pertains to Christianity, but before I delve into the meat of the issue some other preparatory ground must be covered. For starters why do I call them "splinters in the public's collective Mind's Eye"? Two reasons: 1. I'm a geek and read an old sci-fi book long ago with a similar name ( Splinter of the Mind's Eye, by Alan Dean Foster), 2. the bible mentions splinters in eyes. Now I don't plan to make a habit of this because I want you to go read the book itself and know what is in there for yourself but I'm going to cite chapter and verse in a moment.

I can already hear other Fundamentalist Christians gnashing teeth, "you don't plan to make a habit of citing chapter and verse? what's wrong with you? we always cite chapter and verse so people know they aren't being misled! how can we trust you to not lead us astray?". To which I reply thusly, the devil knows chapter and verse, and will use them out of context to mislead you. He even quoted scripture to Jesus in the dessert, but only partially and out of context. To this Jesus quoted the rest of the context and other scripture back to him to deliver a "Holy Smackdown of Epic Win!" My point being read the whole book, then read it again, rinse repeat. The Holy spirit will give you the ability to rightly divide the book of truth or to put it in a way you may start to grasp.
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. "
2 Timothy 2:15 (King James Version).
there are two key points in the scripture, 1. study, research it for yourself, and do so thoroughly that you may know not only what is in the bible but what it actually means, as some things have layers of meaning that apply to more then just the literal and obvious. 2. the Word of God can be divided, and should be if done rightly. this means once you know what is actually there and what it means you can cite chapter and verse, even out of context, and still have its meaning and power. So, I encourage you to go read it and stuff. then apply that knowledge to my lesser writings and see if they hold up, If not I'm sure I'll hear about it if anyone actually reads this.

Now chapter and verse about splinters and eyes:
 1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Matthew 7 1-5 (King James Version)
Now this and all of the following verses cover a lot of ground and are commonly misinterpreted and misunderstood (especially verse one). I'm going to break down this snippets meaning as it pertains to the topic (unnamed as yet) of the day.

1. if you must correct a brother do so in a non-judgmental, dispassionate way, do not let biases or feelings taint the correction.
2. be absolutely sure such correction is needed and untainted by emotion and bias
3. once you are sure, and only once you are sure, proceed with the correction
4. if you ignore these requirements you yourself are in need of correction
5. don't be verse 4's hypothetical imbecile, make sure you know what your talking about and followed these instructions.

now, there are other greater and lessor lessons contained within these 5 verses, some obvious, some not. but the above breakdown is needed for the "Binary Economy" portion of the title.
On Binary economies:
Lets start with a hypothetical, you have one Dollar and go to the Dollar Store. This Dollar store unlike most has anything and every thing imaginable, all for a single Dollar. Expand your mind a bit on this, a whole new life of riches with a mansion and a life of ease and plenty? price: one Dollar. world travel and a never ending vacation? price: one Dollar. any good thing price: one Dollar. so far so good right? now lets back up a bit to how you got that Dollar shall we? Your father is a good and kind man, and he loves you. You have repaid this loving father with willful disobedience. But because he loves you so much he sends your brother to bribe you a bit. He will take the blame for your actions and most of their consequences himself if you take his gift of a Dollar and try to correct you behavior. note, not end it completely and suddenly as this would be unrealistic, but strive to correct it with his, your father and your brothers help. Now comes the Binary Economy part, at this moment you have a choice, accept the gift offered and then proceed to that wonderful Dollar store, or don't and suffer your fathers righteous and deserved punishment. now there are actually at least three binary economies here in this hypothetical parable, try and spot them, hint the Dollar store is the least important of them. after you contemplate it awhile continue reading. the most important of them is this one, it doesn't matter what you've done to earn your fathers anger, the price of redemption is the same. If you got that as one of the at least three Binary Economies congratulations please continue reading, If you didn't think on it for a moment. murder six million people, accept the gift and you still get that trip to the Dollar Store. Tell your girlfriend those jeans don't make her butt look fat when they really do to avoid a fight? still disobedience, still earns fathers righteous and deserved punishment if the gift is rejected. also the fathers righteous and deserved punishment is a one size fits all proposition and is utterly horrible. So, who in their right mind refuses the brothers gift? Apparently the vast majority of the human population of our planet. I'm not going to break down this parable, at least not today. This was Jesus' way when he himself told a parable, it should provoke thought and maybe challenge some of your long held erroneous beliefs.

Lets move on to an intertwined erroneous belief of no basis factual or otherwise.
Innocence has not existed since The Garden of Eden. "But Inquisitor Mors" I mentally hear you whine "what about the children? they are innocent!". No, they are not. No child is born needing to be taught to lie, to be selfish, or do any other evil thing. On the contrary, we must instill in them all good virtues: civil, spiritual, or otherwise by training as they are not the default condition of humanity. Among Fundamentalist Christians this is called a "Carnal Nature" but is hardly ever explained to even church congregations let alone the public at large. This is fact and can be observed by any objective person that deals with kids. I will not debate it. Sigh, chapter and verse time, 23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God " Romans 3:23 (King James Version). this is one of those literal interpretation times. note: "all" leaves no exceptions for age. We like to think God has some criteria for when this applies to a child as babies are incapable of understanding what's going on and seemingly unaccountable for their sins should they die. that may be. But if so its not from some innate innocence, more from a lack of mental development time. I've found no other place that says he waits until a certain age or any other mitigating circumstances. "That's harsh! you must hate children!" No, I do not but God seems to be a pretty literal minded guy. Also, the truth is most often harsh, that is why lies are easier and in an effort to avoid that harshness we do the Devils job for him by lying to ourselves.

Tying It All Together:
As I said before, all the above text is preparatory groundwork, All to get to a simple concept. That concept is Christianity's most important. To wit:

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16 (King James Version)

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9(King James Version)

now, any who read this, take note.
you can in no way earn yourself into heaven, no good things you do, no mater how good or how numerous can expunge even the least of your sins in God's sight. "good people" can and do go to hell, the vast majority in fact. Now that you know this you can not truly run from it, "what has been learned cannot be unlearned" except by willful self-delusion. This public perception that has been allowed to fester that works in this world matter in heaven by those who have not accepted Christ's gift must be killed. it was started as a way to ease the suffering by loved ones when a nonsaved person died. It is no comfort and has been used by The Great Adversary to make the Broad Path to Destruction more palatable. and has sent even more to hell then anything else in modern times.

Thank you for reading this, now go use it.