The fact that science cannot find God is not a negative reflection on God. It is a negative reflection on the ability of modern science.

Modern science begins with a presupposition -- material, tangible reality is all that exists -- if you can't physically "prove" something, then it is not real. Thus science sets itself up for failure in finding any non-material reality. After all, you can't very easily find, discover, or prove something that you don't believe exists.

It is true that a great many women and men of science, personally believe in the supernatural. However, the field of science itself in its writings, textbooks, theorems, and experiments, approaches reality with a very strong anti-supernatural prejudice.

A Soviet cosmonaut once declared that he had been into outer space and had not found God. But did he really want to? Had that guy found God, his atheistic government would have viciously persecuted him. It is psychologically very difficult to find something that is going to get you into red-hot water.

Someone has said: "Science has explored the heavens with a telescope, but didn't find God." They can't find God, because 1) they don't want to, 2) they don't believe God exists, 3) they are limiting their consideration to physical matter only, and 4) if they seriously announce that they are looking to encounter the supernatural, those with an anti-supernatural presupposition will mock and persecute them.

Science has explored the human brain with a microscope and has never found human consciousness. Does that "prove" that our consciousness does not exist? (Only to those with a really strong anti-supernatural prejudice.) Most people would agree that human consciousness is non-material reality. After all, if human consciousness doesn't exist, how are you reading and thinking and reacting to this blog post? You are not a mere mechanism!

As surely as you are conscious of these words, proving that human consciousness does indeed exist, so too does the Creator exist! All the anti-supernatural prejudice in the world cannot "prove" otherwise.

Our thoughts talk to us. Some people call it intuition. I call it tmail -- innernet messages.

From out of the blue we get tmail. "Bing!" -- Like a pop-up add, something says: "You've got tmail," and suddenly there is a talking thought, waiting for our response.

What are our tmail options? We can delete it and send it to the trash can. We can send it to the junk mail box. We can open it and read it. We can download its attachments. We can go to its links. We can forward it on to others.

However, all tmail is not the same. Some of it, like junk email, is trying to distract us. Some, like predator email is trying to deceive and seduce us. Some thought-mail carries viruses that can cause us mental and physical illness.

In today's world it is dangerous to open and follow every email. The same is true of our thought-mail. Much of our tmail is harmful if opened, therefore we need to be wise about what we do with out innernet messages.

It is good to install a mental filter and have your negative tmail immediately sent to the junk box. Then, for good mental health, confirm that it is junk tmail and delete it without opening it. It is much easier to instantly delete a tormenting thought than it is to get rid of the thing once you have opened it and read it.

I believe that people are much more cautious and take more precautions with their email than they do with their thought mail. Many people are continually fearful of getting an email virus, while at the same time they are careless with their tmail; opening, reading, and following every talking thought that comes their way.

If we would take 1/2 as much effort and time to protect our mind from destructive messages as we do our computer, we would find life amazingly wonderful. Beware of your tmail!

It is important to respect other people and their right to choose their own attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Of course, in any society, toleration has to have limits. Many behaviors that bring direct and intentional harm to others, are not tolerated.

Intolerance has abounded in human history. Many societies and civilizations have used the threat of violence to compel their own citizens to act and think in certain ways. Others have used custom, social moray, and peer pressure to make people toe the line.

Intolerance has even been based on a person's appearance. Perhaps the worst example of this has been the prejudice and injustice inflicted on people because of the color of their skin.

We live in an age when tolerance is touted. Unfortunately, however, the definition of tolerance has been twisted and stretched to include not only "allowing people the right to behave or think differently from yourself" to "publicly respecting and approving of ideas and behaviors that you disagree with."

As a society, we have become intolerant of the basic human right of disagreement. We are slowly taking away people's freedom of speech to express their belief in moral codes that have been accepted by humans for thousands of years, simply because those codes disapprove of certain behaviors. As a society we are intolerantly labeling the belief in traditional ethical standards as "intolerant."

So is it really an act of tolerance, to demand public approval of certain behaviors?

Quote To Float Your Boat #4

"Life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, and poverty are battlefields which have their heroes -- heroes obscure, but sometimes greater than those who become illustrious." --Victor Hugo

Thoughts I Wrote About The Quote:

Hidden battles fought alone, unrecognized by anyone but the person in the fight, abound. Everyone has her/his private combat. If we could only see the secret struggles that surround us, going on inside our friends, family, and co-workers, we would be overwhelmed by their trials.

We live in a world of heroes -- common people, who going against the odds and against their feelings of discouragement, rise up each morning and jump in the ring for one more round. Even many people who appear to our untrained eye to already be defeated, like the homeless man in the shadows, are making massive heroic efforts to keep going just one more day.

Nowadays many are fighting through the trenches of misfortune -- sickness, job loss, broken hearts, inner pain, and the traps of compulsive self-destruction. Yet they fight on, heroes all!

So many today struggle with abandonment -- why were they left to grow up emotionally on their on, without the tender affection, discipline, guidance, and compassion of healthy parents? Why are we so separated from one another, so isolated and lonely? Yet millions fight on, believing that someday, somehow they will connect with humanity.

Other heroes fight through poverty, that leech that pulls out hope and leaves people running on empty both financially and emotionally -- a constant struggle just to pay bills and eat. No wonder many seek self-destructive relief by medicating their pain. However, when the pain comes back, the bills and hungry kids are still staring at them. And heroes rise up, out of their shame, and do what they can.

For all of us, life marches on, ready to overcome us and pull us down. Yet here we are, still functioning, still struggling, still seeking a better life for ourselves and those we love. No one may call us valiant, but we are. Life takes courage and you've got the right stuff.

Thanks for reading this, hero!

Who was the first Scrooge -- the very first person who tried to steal Christmas? No, it wasn't Ebenezer Scrooge, the Victorian character created by Charles Dickens.

The original Scrooge was the ruler of a Roman province, King Herod of Israel. Some star-struck wise men dropped by his palace one day searching for "He who has been born King of the Jews." This upset Herod quite a bit becausehe was the guy who was the King of the Jews. However, Herod was pretty smart. He knew that if he fussed at the magi, they wouldn't give him any information. So Herod decided to be cool and play along.

Herod asked the chief priests to tell him where the Messiah would be born. They quoted an Old Testament Scripture that read: "And you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah: because out of you will come a Leader who will shepherd My people Israel."

So Herod asked the wise men when they had first seen the star and they said about two years before. Then he sent them to Bethlehem and said: "Go and search carefully for the Child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him."

The magi found the Child in a house and worshipped Him. Then they left Israel without going back to visit with King Herod. When Herod found out that he had been tricked, he was not a happy camper (oops, I mean ruler). He didn't like this new Christmas thing and decided to abort it right then and there. Herod ordered his solders to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years-old and younger. And that was far worse than anything Ebenezer Scrooge ever did.

However, Herod's effort to steal Christmas failed because an angel had told Joseph to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt. Fortunately for us all, they left Bethlehem before Heord's soldiers arrived to do their dirty work.