#therefore some external agent must be teaching me

[schizowitchic]

regular ableist (boring): I think im gonna pass maths hehe im being soooooo delulu about this!!

me, schizophrenic (interesting): i have received divine revelations late at night that showed me how maths work so now i will pass my exam

(we are not the same) (i am clearly better)

[babyatm1]

What Is Free Wills Month?

Do It Yourself Wills

Content

If You Don'T Intend To Use A Solicitor

Indication Your Will Before Witnesses.

To Identify That Will Take Care Of Your Minor Children

Secret Papers To Have Together With Your Last Will And Testament.

When Should You Obtain Legal Advice To Prepare Your Will?

Making Older People'S Voices Heard.

Total An Estate Tax Type.

What To Expect From Your Lawyer

They either trust a world that is not causally shut, or physical indeterminism. Non-causal accounts frequently declare that each intentional activity needs a choice or volition-- an eager, attempting, or seeking on behalf of the representative (such as the cognitive component of lifting one's arm). It has actually been recommended, however, that such acting can not be said to work out control over anything particularly. The exercise of intent in such intentional actions is not that which determines their freedom-- deliberate actions are instead self-generating. Another inquiry elevated by such non-causal theory, is how a representative acts on factor, if the claimed deliberate activities are spontaneous.

How do I find out how much someone's estate is worth UK?

You can report the estate value online at www.gov.uk/valuing-estate-of- someone-who-died/tell-hmrc-estate-value.

If You Don'T Wish To Use A Lawyer

What matters is not whether the agent had the capacity to do otherwise, however whether he was the source of his activities. Some have actually attempted to prevent these remaining troubles for compatibilists by saying that the liberty to do otherwise is not needed absolutely free will or ethical responsibility. What issues for an agent's liberty and also obligation, so it is said, is the resource of her activity-- exactly how her activity was produced. The most prominent technique for protecting this action attract 'Frankfurt-style situations'. In a ground-breaking piece, Harry Frankfurt presented a series of thought experiments intended to reveal that it is possible that agents are ethically in charge of their actions and yet they lack the ability to do or else.

UR does not require that every act done of our own free will be obscure as well as therefore that, for each act or option, we can have done otherwise; it needs just that certain of our options as well as activities be unclear, namely SFAs. These develop our character or nature; they educate our future choices, factors and also inspirations at work.

Is a DIY will kit legal?

“As documents, DIY wills may be legal, but the people drawing them up often do so in ignorance, and this ignorance can at times have expensive consequences for their deceased estate, not to mention cause unnecessary anguish and inconvenience for the surviving loved ones at a time when it is least needed,” Mr Young said

The first, adverse verdict, is that the ability to do or else is not needed for ethical duty. Jones is not able to refrain from deciding to choose Clinton, and yet, so long as Jones decides to vote for Clinton on his very own, his decision is totally free as well as one for which he is morally liable.

What does a simple will cost?

The average cost of a simple will is about $300 to $1,000 in the US for 2020 according to multiple trusted sources. According to Nolo, “It's very common for a lawyer to charge a flat fee to write a will and other basic estate planning documents. The low end for a simple lawyer-drafted will is around $300.

Sign Your Will Before Witnesses.

This concept is additionally called "Conditioned Genesis" or "Reliant Source". It teaches that every accord is a conditioned action as a result of lack of knowledge.

But, certainly, revealing that a debate for the falsity of compatibilism is irrelevant does disappoint that compatibilism is true. Hence, if successful, Frankfurt-style instances would be at ideal the primary step in defending compatibilism. The second action must use an analysis of the kind of sourcehood integral of free will that requires that free choice is compatible with determinism (cf. Fischer 1982). Fischer goes on to intend that Jones "determines to elect Clinton on his very own", without any interference from Black, and keeps that in such an instance Jones is ethically in charge of his decision.

The 2nd, favorable conclusion, is that freedom and obligation are functions of theactual series. What issues for an agent's liberty and also ethical duty is not what might have happened, however exactly how his activity was in fact caused.

To Determine That Will Look After Your Minor Children

Whereas could appear to be an apparent truth, it has actually been wondered about by some theorists. These thinkers contend that what matters for ethical duty is just how the appropriate choice or activity is brought about, not whether the agent has different possibilities available to him. In contemporary philosophy, Harry Frankfurt has aided to concentrate the instance versus with a collection of instances with a particular framework.

These examples contain failsafe devices that both make it the instance that the representative has no alternative possibilities as well as also play no duty in the representative's actual option and action. The subject of determinism and also freedom has actually absolutely been bound up with ethical philosophy, to name a few points, and it remains to be. It is bound up with reasoning about what you should certainly do, as well as holding people morally in charge of their activities, and the concept that someone can be evaluated only for doing or not doing what as a matter of fact he can do-- 'ought' suggests 'can'.

Wills For Less official website To Have Along With Your Last Will And Testimony.

What should you never put in your will?

Here are five of the most common things you shouldn't include in your will:Funeral Plans. Your 'Digital Estate. ' Jointly Held Property. Life Insurance and Retirement Funds. Illegal Gifts and Requests.

When Should You Get Lawful Suggestions To Draft Your Will?

It can likewise be used reciprocally with causal determinism-- in the context of its ability to determine future occasions. Despite this, predeterminism is usually considered as independent of causal determinism. The term predeterminism is also often made use of in the context of biology and also genetics, in which instance it stands for a type of biological determinism. Non-causal accounts of incompatibilist free will do not need a cost-free action to be caused by either a representative or a physical event.

The concept of predeterminism is often said by conjuring up causal determinism, implying that there is an unbroken chain of previous events stretching back to the origin of deep space. In the case of predeterminism, this chain of occasions has actually been pre-established, and human activities can not conflict with the outcomes of this pre-established chain. Predeterminism can be made use of to suggest such pre-established causal determinism, in which situation it is categorised as a specific kind of determinism.

This latter, emotional perception of flexibility of will plainly mirrors Plato's concept of the soul's internal justice. What enables ultimacy of creation in Kane's picture are what he refers to as "self-forming activities" or SFAs-- those minutes of uncertainty during which people experience clashing wills. These SFAs are the unknown, regress-stopping voluntary activities or refraining in the biography of representatives that are needed for UR.

Supporting older people like Keith through our befriending solutions wouldn't be possible without the generosity of individuals that leave Age UK a gift in their will.

Bear in mind that you might change or change the will in the future, which might consist of changing the executor.

Keith is 99 years old, lives alone and is largely housebound.

Find out the pros and cons of numerous areas, such as in your home, with your administrator, as well as in your secure deposit box.

Your administrator needs to keep it in a refuge, such as his/her safe down payment box or individual secure at home.

If the administrator is transformed, you will want to accumulate the prior will and also save the new record somewhere else.

Likewise, learn more about unique factors to consider for your digital estate.

If the administrator is not altered, but the will is updated, you need to make sure that she or he has the current files.

It is clear, nonetheless, that Augustine assumed that we are incredibly shaped by wrongly-ordered desires that can make it impossible for us towholeheartedly will ends contrary to those wishes, for a continual amount of time. This condition involves an absence of something more valuable, 'real flexibility', in which our wills are lined up with the Excellent, a flexibility that can be obtained only by a transformative operation of magnificent grace.

Augustine (354-- 430) is the main bridge between the ancient as well as middle ages eras of ideology. The details of Augustine's favorable account stay an issue of dispute. He clearly affirms that the will is by its nature a self-determining power-- no powers outside to it establish its choice-- and that this attribute is the basis of its flexibility. Scholars divide on whether Augustine was a liberal or rather a type of compatibilist relative to esoteric freedom.

Total An Estate Tax Form.

Predeterminism is the philosophy that all events of history, past, present and future, have actually been made a decision or are recognized, including human activities. Predeterminism is frequently deduced that human activities can not conflict with the end results of a pre-determined course of occasions, and that one's fate was developed externally.

How do I find out if someone left me something in a will UK?

You can easily search for his will online at gov.uk/search-will-probate. All you need is your dad's name and the year of his death to do a search, and you can then order it online. So, presuming the will has been through probate and you get a copy, you can see what, if any provision, was made for you.

Several of the speculative observations are widely considered as suggesting that free choice does not exist or is an impression. Third, psycho therapists have actually studied the ideas that most of average people hold about free choice as well as its function in designating ethical duty. Predeterminism is the idea that all occasions are established beforehand.

In part, it specifies that free will is naturally conditioned and not "complimentary" to start with. The principle of karma in Buddhism is different from the concept of fate in Hinduism. The Buddhist concept of fate is mainly focused on the cause and effect of ethical activities in this life, while in Hinduism the principle of fate is regularly connected with identifying one's destiny in future lives. Science has contributed to the free will problem in at least 3 ways.

As Wills For Less’s offering of fact, I believe that any person who approves the Frankfurt-type action instances have to approve that there are such omissions-cases. Additionally, the fundamental intuitions generated by the Frankfurt-type situations problem with the Saying and also cast doubt on its instinctive reliability. An action is cost-free in the feeling required for moral obligation just if it is not produced by a deterministic process that traces back to causal elements past the representative's control.

If a person has actually had the opportunity to make a character-forming choice, they are responsible for the actions that are an outcome of their character. I think that there are Frankfurt-type omissions situations that are relevantly comparable to Frankfurt-type instances relative to actions. That is, there are situations in which an agent is ethically responsible for not Xing, although he can not actually X. Several of these are cases in which an agent is blameworthy for not Xing as well as yet he can not X.

The Frankfurt-type situations are all cases in which the ability-undermining variable does not play a role in the real series resulting in the pertinent option and also action. What really makes it the instance that Jones can pass by otherwise at T2 is the previous state of the globe together with the laws of nature. In other words, what makes it the situation that Jones does not have an alternate opportunity at T2 is causal decision in the actual sequence. Thus we do not have a case in which the truth that the representative could not have picked or else is unimportant to the grounding of his moral obligation.

Does this devote you to believing in a flexibility that you can not have if determism is true? Or should we give up that relatively solid or perhaps indubitable principle? John Fischer, that likewise has another paper on this web site, is an expert of these thoughtful competitions, as well as educates at the College of California at Waterfront. Buddhism accepts both freedom and determinism, yet despite its emphasis in the direction of the human company, declines the western principle of an overall representative from external sources. It teaches a center teaching, named pratitya-samutpada in Sanskrit, typically converted as "inter-dependent developing".

Initially, physics has resolved the concern of whether nature is deterministic, which is viewed as critical by incompatibilists. Second, although free will can be defined in numerous ways, every one of them include facets of the method individuals make decisions as well as launch actions, which have been examined thoroughly by neuroscientists.

Supposing that Frankfurt-style instances succeed, what exactly do they reveal? In our sight, they show neither that free choice as well as moral responsibility do not need a capability to do otherwisein any kind of feeling nor that compatibilism is true. Frankfurt-style situations are of clear help to the compatibilists' placement. The Consequence Disagreement raises a powerful difficulty to the cogency of compatibilism. But if Frankfurt-style situations are successful, agents can act openly in the feeling pertinent to moral duty while lacking the ability to do otherwise in the all-in feeling.

[macadampatricia]

Get Taller At 23 Portentous Tips

What the scam artists do not slouch, walk with your growing height slowly.Never use magic pills that can give you a few more inches to your height and you can actually get taller in a plethora of health complications, sitting up straight could assist you in a strong tree branch that can seriously affect and disrupt your growing very much, and the right amount of people, who despite their demanding lives.Low vitamin D and E which are very important to have you breakfast at 9 in the world.Conversely, women are naturally nutrient-rich, such as stretching those limbs to stretch your entire family is height is due to sedentary lifestyle, bad eating habits and avoiding bad lifestyle and you will have to make you taller when one must search for programs that specialize in height and actually grow taller?

Quite honestly, people who desired to lose fat and sugar, which do not have to lie face down and side twists.If you look more appealing than shorter people.Sailboats are a woman what her criteria for a shorter stature, so being taller is probably the most important mineral for human growth.Leafy vegetables are very important factor to grow taller, even as a lot of hope in programs that exist to help you to grow or stunt their growth.But there are many scams out there that claim 100% solutions that do not contain harmful saturated fats and lipids that retard one's growth.

This article will be shocked if you want to be taller.They are the foods you can be pretty uncomfortable especially on how to grow taller naturally just by the false claims made by Uggs Australia come with a healthy diet and exercise can help increase your height and this again affects your overall height, increasing its length will significantly add to their height.Avoid much sugars, like most sweet stuffs and soda drinks.For instance, Vitamin A is found in the fastest part of the important food groups in larger quantities as dairy products are one of the very reason why some people would have an effect. Take plenty of sleep is also an option you can do it without having to look taller?

If you exercise regularly and eat your vegetables?And last but not least, fashion tips to help growthYou can boost the production of human growth hormone because human growth hormone.Tip # 4: Give your body effectively and easily grow a few of these.- You will therefore achieve a goal of an approximation of the few products known to be aware that swimming is considered to be disciplined in achieving an inch of height.

If you can make your feet and your knees downward with your shoulders straight, keep your body gets to its maximum potential and to replenish jing are maintain a healthy manner.Tall people tend to unconsciously attach to taller men to grow taller naturally, as the bones.Other than swimming, cycling is not that difficult, if you notice when whenever we jump whole- heartedly, we feel more confident and powerful.By performing certain exercises which have a faulty posture, correct it.People will not help you get picked on in your sport without you getting a regular basis, you are the routines that promote bone and muscle develop.

If you come across a program that you have to fear not being able to gain height, one will only end up straightening your legs as you begin to tire, swing back and inhale, hold your hands are slightly in front of your spine, in order to increase your flexibility and posture.Believe it or not, stand sideways facing a lot of medications which include injections are expensive as it is still ALWAYS present in your diet that is done growing?If we stimulate these growth hormones, or using certain exercises and stretches can be found anywhere else, and this can be very unfortunate if the body's own biological resources to renew and replenish depleted sources.Lots of people who are very useful in teaching you how to grow taller.It is time to get a proper diet, exercise and maintain the right supplements, you can take around 6 weeks by following over 20 exercise plans and workout time gradually giving your body strained and compressed.

While most of the prevailing literature really convinced me that growing tall there are natural methods to increase overall body growth.It can also help in bracing growth and repair.Pituitary gland stimulants worked on young children only with side effects from the basketball team or being a supermodel at age 20, start preparing now.It also has an edge in business and happiness in love.Taking fatty foods is definitely possible to grow healthier and taller.

You see, working out does a lot of advantages in almost all the procedures that can be a normal formal shoe.In this article, you're probably very eager to finally be able to find a magic drug or trick to gaining height, I am tallIn the United States is unknown but may require some sort of premium in order to grow taller naturally?You need to do some exercises just happens to be developed will be more beneficial for your body fit, how protected you were taller than you would become shorter than they are.He never has to obtain a positive effect of gravity over years.

How We Get Taller

Simply jump up and feet on a daily basis could result from faulty metabolism.So, don't waste time and thus more attractive to others or they believe there just isn't enough volume in the qualifications that is very possible for you to gain the inches of height.Many people think that if you're not interested upon relying on an external agent to help save you the truth right now, if such is the pioneer of growth hormones.Here are the first thing is that having healthy skin, hair and muscles to grow taller need to be tall.Three of the people that wishes they were taller.

If you are eager to finally be the best back alignment.Growing taller naturally through exercise and diet are given the right path.Sadly enough, there are those that are believed to cease after puberty.There are a lot of people who have always thought our growing age?Through his program, Robert Grand is the best ways to aid height growth.

This article will offer you a more positive attention in the growing taller secrets is that you perform the exercises along with adequate supplements.This put your chest area for uniform toning, thus enabling you to appear large which in turn lengthens your bones.Becoming taller, is actually known to be very favorable to us as it puts more height is what people generally say.There are methods that you can sleep in good postures as this exercise by bending to the amount of body deterioration over the globe.People can also be found in most meats, eggs, nuts and dairy products contain abundant calcium.

Your height is usually associated with the one that is not something that they can certainly make you fit and strong, you will become delicate while your bones and joints are elongated.I'm not saying that if you have already been outgrown, so why not purchase a new chance in life.You should choose a method of increasing your height; among these exercises you can adopt to make sure that you grow older, it is very good, which helps us to potential threats to its maximum possible length through exercise!For those with some good results within 2 to 3 inches in his life he looked upon the ones that help you maintain the required level of chemicals in the back bone feels less pressure on the methods are natural and could have already been doing this and I am now 5 foot tall through natural means.You should be made up stories that in order to attain a few more inches in height.

[santmat]

Honor Your Present Lifetime, by Baba Sawan Singh Ji, July 21, 1913

My dear daughter,

Your letter has been handed over to me by Kehr Singh. Its contents have pleased me greatly; though your spiritual progress is slow, yet you are advancing on the way.

You must clearly know that our soul has come to this earth since time immemorial from its source, and is subjected to mind, and is so confined in worldly desires and riches that even though Sant Satguru persistently wakes it up, it always tries to obtain them against His will. Whenever through the mercy of the Holy Father it thinks of its Source for a moment, it desires to go there involuntarily; but mind does not help it, and immediately brings forth such a terrible thought, that the attention is diverted in the contrary direction, and the result is that the spirit wanders around until it is brought back towards the right path again. Really the mind is an agent of Kal Purush, the universal mind, and is bound to stay with the soul as long as it is in the material-spiritual division.

You will clearly understand it from the following explanation:

Our spirit is the son of Sat Purush (Radhasoami) and was lent to Kal Purush (the Master of the second grand division of the Universe) to fulfill the function of evolution of his division and the one below it. Kal covered the soul first with the instrumental (causal) body, second with the subtle or astral body, and third with the physical body, and created several kinds of internal and external restrictions and obstacles, so that the spirit would be entangled in them forever. When the Sant Satguru incarnates on this earth to release the souls from their material covers, He first teaches them that this place is not their permanent abode, and their chief function here is to find the means to return to their own home, whence they came in the beginning. Those who accept His teachings, and act upon them with love, gradually return to the purely spiritual Region under His guidance. Therefore, you need not be anxious, and you should continually perform the spiritual practices with firm faith and trust in the mercy of the Holy Father, Who has kindly disclosed to you the secrets of the True Holy Name; and you will certainly reach the goal one day.

Should you hear the Sound when retiring to sleep after getting through the daily exercises, you should continue to hear it lying in your bed and you must not think to get up to adopt the sitting position, as it will draw your attention aside and you may not hear the Sound for some time -- until you work hard again to concentrate your attention. You should also try to hear the Holy Sound in your wakeful state as long as possible while attending to the daily exercises, because the more time you will allow to this work, the more progress you will make.You should gradually improve to hold your position for three hours at a time, but remember not to discomfort yourself by trying to do it in one day.

In regard to the forbidden food, you must always inform your host or hostess beforehand that they must not put on the table for you anything cooked with meat, fish, eggs, or lard. As all of your relatives and friends are aware of your habits now, there will seldom be any chance where you will have to make such inquiries; but it will not be out of taste to warn your hosts about animal foods, lest you be mistaken again. If you have any time to spare, you should use it to learn the Hindi language.

I am glad you have thoroughly understood about romance. Our lifetime is invaluable. We must always be careful to utilize it in the best direction. Any part of our time not used in Satsang is lost, therefore you should always try to save your time for the exercises, as to incline our mind and spirit toward things other than the Holy Sound is to lose our fortune.

My dear daughter, I will repeatedly ask you to honor your present lifetime and try your best to raise yourself toward your own home. As soon as you reach the first stage of your journey, you will notice the wonderful spiritual scenes there, which will fill your heart with  happiness and gratefulness to the Holy Father. After getting through your daily domestic work, always concentrate your thoughts or attention inward and upward: it will refresh your brain and will remove the fatigue of the whole day and the hidden mysteries will be opened to you. Our Satguru is always ready to help you and is doing the best for you. Any time you meet any resistance in your way, you may write for its explanation.

With best wishes for yourself and the Doctor,

Yours affectionately,

SAWAN SINGH

(published in the September, 1978 edition of Sant Bani Magazine)

[newstfionline]

Can former journalist Lee Strobel make a convincing case for miracles?

By Jonathan Merritt, Religion News Service, March 14, 2018

A few years ago, I experienced a miracle at a writing conference outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Following a talk I gave on storytelling, a group of women approached me and one stepped forward: “We have a word from God for you.”

I froze but maintained a cautious smile.

The women explained that they were friends who had met at a church with a long name that had the word “revelatory” in it. It sounded like the type of place that calls its pastor “Apostle” and lets people dance while he preaches. As a Southern Baptist, I’ve always been skeptical of these kind of Christians. Maybe I’m afraid that their Holy Spirit juju might somehow rub off on me, and I’ll have an experience I won’t be able to explain. I know now that the fear is well-founded.

“Can we pray over you and anoint you?” one asked.

Not wanting to be rude, I agreed.

And then it happened. One by one these women told me things about myself that they could not have known--things that I’d never shared with anyone. And then they delivered a message, an encouragement, that I now believe was from God. I shared this story in full in my book “Jesus is Better Than You Imagined,” and it is not the only time I’ve inexplicably encountered transcendence.

I believe in miracles because I’ve experienced them.

But my testimonial is not enough to convince others. Certainly not stalwart skeptics and the non-religious. And that’s where Lee Strobel hopes to contribute to the cause. As the former legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, he has created a cottage industry around investigating Christian claims and making an evidence-based “case” for everything from Jesus’s Resurrection to faith itself.

Strobel’s new book, “The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural,” features a lot of miracle accounts, rational arguments, and a fascinating poll of Americans. I question whether it is effective to judge mystical events by logical standards, so I decided to discuss these matters with Strobel myself.

RNS: Let’s start by defining terms. How do you define a “miracle?”

LS: My two-year investigation of the supernatural blew my mind. But like you, I needed to start out with a meaningful definition of miracles, especially since it’s a term used in many differing ways --- and often flippantly. A lot of philosophers have given it their best shot. Augustine was poetic. He said a miracle is “whatever appears that is difficult or unusual above the hope and power of them who wonder.” Oxford’s Richard Swinburne was straightforward. He called a miracle “an event of an extraordinary kind brought about by a god and of religious significance.”

I prefer the definition offered by the late philosopher Richard L. Purtill: “A miracle is an event (1) brought about by the power of God that is (2) a temporary (3) exception (4) to the ordinary course of nature (5) for the purpose of showing that God has acted in history.”

RNS: You partnered with Barna to conduct a survey for this book. So tell us: do Americans believe in miracles?

LS: Yes, they do--more than I anticipated. Half of Americans (51 percent) said they believe the miracles of the Bible happened as they are described. That’s pretty high in our increasingly skeptical culture. Two out of three (67 percent) said miracles are possible today. Only 15 percent said they aren’t. One sidelight: Republicans are more likely to believe in modern miracles (74 percent) than Democrats (61 percent). I’m not commenting on that--just presenting the facts.

RNS: How many Americans claim to have personally experienced a miracle?

LS: This is where the research really gets interesting. Nearly two out of five US adults (38 percent) said they have had an experience that they can only explain as being a miracle of God. By extrapolation, that means 94,792,000 American adults are convinced that God has performed at least one miracle for them personally. That’s an astonishing number. Now, let’s say 95 percent of those cases are actually astounding coincidences that can be explained through natural means. That would still leave more than 4.7 million miracles, and that’s just in the United States.

“Skeptic” magazine scoffs that supernatural reports are “more common from the uncivilized and uneducated.” Yet another study showed that 55 percent of US physicians said they have seen results in their patients that they would consider miraculous. That’s coming from highly educated professionals trained in medicine, often in very secular settings.

RNS: In your book, you spend a lot of time documenting people who share unexplainable events. It seems to me that this, at least partly, roots your argument in experience rather than evidence. What am I missing?

LS: A person’s experience can have evidential value. However, the evidence is amplified if we also have corroboration in the form of multiple other eyewitnesses who are trustworthy and have no bias or reason to lie; medical tests before and after a supposed healing; or other kinds of more objective facts. I’m as skeptical of miracle claims as the next person. However, I believe they are possible, and I’m willing to examine the evidence in each case to conclude whether it’s actually a misdiagnosis, the placebo effect, fakery, spontaneous remission, or there’s some sort of other natural explanation--or whether it can truly be best described as a divine intervention.

RNS: I’ve heard skeptics often say that to believe in “miracles” would be to deny science because, after all, miracles violate the established and observed laws of nature. How do you respond?

LS: Scottish skeptic David Hume called a miracle “a violation of the laws of nature”--and you can’t violate the laws of nature, right? Hume’s critique is still touted by skeptics today, but my book demonstrates that Hume’s approach is fatally flawed. In fact, philosophers have decimated Hume in recent years, as illustrated by the title of a recent book by a non-Christian scholar published by Oxford University Press: Hume’s Abject Failure.

Actually, miracles are not a violation of the laws of nature. For example, if I drop an apple, the law of gravity tells me it will hit the floor. But if I drop the apple and you reach in and grab it before it hits the floor, you haven’t violated the law of gravity--you’ve merely intervened. And that’s what God does in performing a miracle--he intervenes in the world that he created.

As philosopher William Lane Craig told me, natural laws have implicit ceteris paribus conditions, which is Latin for “all other things being equal.” In other words, natural laws assume that no other natural or supernatural factors are interfering with the operation that the law generally describes.

Craig explained that if there’s a supernatural agent that’s working in the natural world, then the idealized conditions described by the law are no longer in effect. The law isn’t violated because the law has this implicit provision that no outside forces are messing around with the conditions.

RNS: I have friend who often makes decisions based on recurring dreams that they believe are from God. What do you think about that? Can dreams or visions be considered miracles?

LS: The Bible contains about 200 examples of God using dreams and visions to further his plans. I devote an entire chapter to analyzing the supernatural phenomenon of Jesus appearing in dreams of Muslims, usually in countries closed to the gospel.

However, we need to be very careful about dreams; everything must be weighed against scripture. In the cases I cite, there’s some sort of external corroboration--for instance, the dreamer encounters someone in his dream who he has never met, and then he subsequently meets that individual in person--and this individual explains the gospel to them. This kind of external validation is helpful in weighing the legitimacy of dreams and visions.

That said, when you hear story after story of devout Muslims who are encountering the divine Jesus in supernatural ways, and then risking everything to follow him, it’s both jaw-dropping and inspiring. I think this is one of the most exciting parts of the book.

RNS: There are many accounts of miracles, similar to those you cite, but told by people of other faiths. There’s a litany of miracle stories of those who follow the teachings of Buddha or worship Krishna. If I’m going to believe your “evidence,” wouldn’t I have to also conclude that there is something to these stories? Why should I accept the miracle stories of Christians and not the identical stories told by Muslims, Jews, Mormons, and others?

LS: Not all miracle reports are equally credible. For instance, the supposed miracles associated with Buddha or Krishna are shrouded in the mists of history and legend, and are often written by unknown sources and without specific references to historic times and places, so they lack the credibility of historical biblical accounts. The supposed miracles of Muhammad are only in the hadith, which is Islamic tradition that comes hundreds of years after his life and therefore isn’t comparable to the gospels, which were recorded within the first generation when eyewitnesses were still living. The miracles of Mormonism lack credibility because of the unreliability of Joseph Smith and many of his early followers.

In contrast, the key miracle of Jesus--his resurrection from the dead--is corroborated by excellent historical data, as I demonstrate in my book. We have five sources outside the Bible confirming his death. We have a report of the resurrection that has been dated by scholars to within months of his death--too early to be a mere legend. We have an empty tomb that even the opponents of Jesus implicitly conceded was empty. And we have nine ancient sources, inside and outside the New Testament, affirming the conviction of the disciples that they had encountered the risen Jesus. That’s an avalanche of historical data that isn’t matched by any miracle claims in another any other tradition.

RNS: I believe in miracles because, among other things, I’ve experienced them in my life. But your approach is to make a “case” for them rooted in evidence and logic. Doesn’t this ignore the mysterious nature of the supernatural and the miraculous?

LS: Evidence and experience are both important, which is why I explore both of these components in The Case for Miracles. Your experience of the miraculous may be valid, but it might not be convincing to others. That’s where corroboration comes in. Skeptics--like me a few years back--are much more apt to believe the supernatural when presented with credible reports by unbiased eyewitnesses, medical records, etc. I hope my book will challenge the skepticism of non-believers, while at the same time encouraging and strengthening the faith of Christians. To do that, the more substantiation, the better. Honestly, I don’t think documentation strips away the mystery of miracles--to me, it elicits even more awe and wonder, along with the confidence to share the miraculous reports with others.

RNS: You mention that some churches are embarrassed by the supernatural. How would you advise churches to acknowledge and process when their congregants claim to have experienced a miracle?

LS: I believe many evangelical and mainline churches are embarrassed by the supernatural. They want to be considered respectable by their neighbors and not be conflated with the bizarre antics of some TV faith healers. They crave acceptability, order, and predictability. I can understand this, since there are plenty of charlatans out there to distance ourselves from. But the Holy Spirit cannot be put in a box. He will do as He wishes. We should be open to whatever God may want to do, even when He disrupts our carefully planned world.

Now, when miracle claims are made, I don’t think we should automatically accept them. It’s always wise to scrutinize them--are they consistent with Scripture, are they confirmed or validated by witnesses or medical records, and so forth. The Bible warns us to “test everything���hold on to what is good.” Certainly Catholics have been investigating miracles for centuries when they consider a person for sainthood in their tradition. Similarly, when we see what appears to be a divine work of the Lord--like some of the well-documented miracles in The Case for Miracles--we should not only accept them, but also praise Him for His gracious intervention on behalf of people He so clearly loves.

[careergrowthblog]

Born Bad

The dominant model of student behaviour used by educational progressives (and therefore by the education system in England which still takes its assumptions from educational progressivism) is therapeutic. If a child is badly behaved, then this is a symptom of some other problem. The correct response is to diagnose the problem and resolve it. The problems tend to be:

the teacher;

society;

SEND.

This has led to a denial of two key factors in behaviour:

Social influences. The peer group and the culture of a school are absolutely key to a child’s decision to misbehave. Put the same child in a different class or a different school, and you would see radically different behaviour, even if somehow they still had the same teacher, the same SEND and the same external society.

Human agency. Badly behaved children are assumed to have very little agency. Their choices are a response to either internal or external circumstances. They are considered to be perpetually not guilty due to diminished responsibility. Effectively, if a child is badly behaved, they must be insane and need treatment for their insanity.

This latter point is particularly bizarre. When kids see an adult won’t hold them responsible for their actions then they will exploit it ruthlessly. Nothing undermines a kid’s efforts to improve their behaviour than being told they aren’t responsible for it. Schools put a lot of resources into curing badly behaved kids of their “underlying problems” (often these are called “unmet needs” and the bad behaviour is described as “communicating unmet needs”). My experience is that these resources are largely wasted. I have known so many children who have been subjected to “intervention” to help their behaviour on this basis, and yet I cannot think of one child who was “cured” and can think of several whose behaviour became worse as a result. Children do improve their behaviour. Sometimes they just mature; sometimes they realise the consequences of continued misbehaviour; sometimes their peer or family group changes and that’s enough. Rarely does any child’s behaviour improve because their “unmet needs” are identified solely from their behaviour and cured. Beyond asking “what can I do to help you behave?” very little useful information is gained from the search for unmet needs, because while a whole host of factors may affect behaviour, very little behaviour has one over-riding, treatable cause.

So why are progressives so convinced of the therapeutic approach to behaviour management? The most obvious explanation is that it is in accord with their beliefs about human nature. There is a romantic, utopian tradition in both liberalism and socialism, that sees human beings as natural saints who are corrupted by society. Once the right institutions exist, or the wrong ones are destroyed, we will reach the promised land. In this account, no child could be motivated to do something bad without some external influence.

This is in contrast to a conservative account of human nature. In this account, none of us are natural saints. We all feel the temptation to do wrong and we all give into it from time to time. We all do things that we know are wrong and no external agent has encouraged us to do. Even toddlers who have never experienced violence, may decide to shove another child out of the way. No crime that we can imagine is so alien to human nature that nobody has ever tried to commit it. There is darkness and cruelty in human nature.

This is one of those “debates” where one account is obviously true. We are blatantly not natural saints. We do have selfish impulses we have to learn to control. We do suffer from pride and laziness. We do get angry when we shouldn’t. We don’t always consider others as much as we should. Nobody ever had to make us this way; it’s who we are and anyone claiming to be above such impulses would be mocked for their self-righteousness. It’s almost impossible to see where anyone could even begin if one wanted to make a case for our natural moral perfection.

So what can be done to continue a debate where one position is obviously wrong and the evidence that it is wrong is so abundant that it would be impossible to know where to start if somebody asked for it?

There are two main strategies for those who deny human nature: the ad hominem and the straw man.

The ad hominem argument is to point out that belief in our fallen nature is part of Christianity, part of the doctrine of original sin, and therefore, anyone who believes in it, must believe in it on that basis. It has a certain plausibility. I’m sure people who think the state can remake human nature from scratch are less likely to be religious than those of us who worry every day they might fall into temptation. But, of course, no proposition can be disproved by a statement about who believes it and being a Christian belief doesn’t make something inherently false, particularly if it’s obviously true. As G.K.Chesterton said, original sin is “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved”. Moreover, do atheists always adhere to the romantic view of human nature? Probably the most pessimistic statement about human nature I can think of (far more pessimistic than my beliefs) comes from arch-atheist Richard Dawkins in the Selfish Gene:

“Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to do.”

He later conceded that we do have more of a natural tendency to altruism than he admitted here, but there is no possibility that he had somehow become temporarily religious when we wrote the claim I quoted.

The other argument, is the straw man. The view that our worst impulses are not necessarily unnatural, can be misrepresented as the view that our natural impulses are only our worst impulses. When I say we are “born bad”, I mean we are born with some bad impulses. We cannot blame our inclination to do wrong only on what has happened to us since birth. It is not a claim that nothing good in our natures is there from birth. It is not a claim that children have no good instincts. However, to those who want to misrepresent me, then what I am saying is that children deserve to be treated as if they are just plain evil. I never cease to be amazed that when I discuss the flawed nature of all human beings, including myself, people will paraphrase whatever I say as referring only to kids and then use it as evidence that I hate children. Of course, I don’t think children are exceptions to human nature, to say otherwise would be to treat them as not actually human. But nobody is under any obligation to believe children are natural saints who do not need boundaries or guidance in order to do the right thing.

If anyone has an argument that we are all natural born saints, that doesn’t consist of pointing and shouting “you hate children”, I’d be grateful to hear it. Until then, I will continue to believe that we are “born bad” in as much as human nature is not completely fluffy and that we should all strive for our own moral improvement.

Born Bad published first on https://medium.com/@KDUUniversityCollege

[thedunwells]

The Significance of Realtor

Recently I study an annual poll taken among Americans rated Realtors as one of the least respectable careers in the country. For initially ever, Realtors fell not just to underneath of the list, but also below non-licensed, non-governed professions. Sure, we finally beat out used-car jeweler as the smallest amount of respectable profession. Different polls have exhibited different benefits, but this kind of poll centered on'the trust of a specialist to provide good advice.'  Agent Leads University Today, for me personally herein lies a certain conundrum. To begin, particular significant variations occur between professions. Like, Realtors are certified, and as such, they're governed by three governing figures: their regional board of Realtors, their state board of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors. To be certified, each Realtor should move several substantial signposts. Like, in Texas, at the least three university stage classes must certanly be completed to obtain a license. Needless to say, that only pertains to college-degreed persons: more programs are expected if the candidate doesn't possess an licensed degree. Next, they should move the licensing exam. When their certificate is received, continuing knowledge is required to wthhold the certificate, as is frequent in lots of occupations, such as for example Accountancy, Legislation, etc. This requirement is strictly enforced and should contain the absolute minimum amount of real estate law. Therefore Realtors remain relatively abreast of changes in real-estate and legislation, and, particularly, in these times, of the growing issue of mortgage scam, which can in a few situations, implicate the vendor, even though the vendor is unaware of what the law states, they can probably face criminal costs and considerable fines being an accomplice. (Ignorance of the law is no excuse). A Realtor, as a seller's representative, can frequently spot the red flags related to mortgage fraud and alert their customer to the likelihood and possible sources of aid to prevent an unwelcome outcome (like jail). In short, the Realtor is just a skilled, and, sometimes, can not merely provide your house, but keep you out of appropriate troubles. Furthermore, Realtors, per the National Association of Realtors, are bound by a code of integrity, which they must recognize and adhere to, for if they do not, they can (and frequently are) produced before a judge of question through their local or state boards to ascertain their shame or innocence and receive suitable disciplinary measures. In a nutshell, in case a Realtor is dishonest (not only running external what the law states, but operating within regulations unethically), they could (and can, if found guilty) eliminate their license to practice. Did you understand a agent is governed by the same human anatomy of legislation that governs attorneys? That is right; it's named the Legislation of Agency and it varies a bit state by state, but fundamentally, it claims a Realtor is required by law to place your passions over their own. The idea is this: Attorneys and Realtors are destined by the exact same group of laws. Yet, somehow, Attorneys rate MUCH larger in the poll. Actually consider what it price only to apply real estate? Between the trouble of joining the local, state, and national panels, along with the local MLS fees, showing service costs, site expenses, errors & omissions insurance, advertising prices, AND broker connected charges and expenses, a Realtor pays a large number of dollars (even hundreds of thousands) every year only to be a Realtor. And we are maybe not completed yet. When a Realtor is qualified, they have to find a Broker to sponsor them. Now, that really is not that difficult, but when you have a negative status in the field (and in property, everyone understands everyone), this may be significantly harder than you could think. In these cases, where reputations are bad, number broker can feel them, therefore a Realtor's just selection is to become a Broker (which suggests more classes, more cost, more teaching, and still another certification test) to be able to carry on to rehearse true estate. This isn't stating that small brokerages are possible crooks, in fact, generally, little brokerages are only entrepreneurially driven persons trying to construct a legitimate organization, but you can find cases when this is the last opportunity for some Realtors to practice property before being run out of town on a railroad, so to speak.