Paul's Passing Thoughts

By Paul M. Dohse Editor/Author for TANC Publishing

I want to use this post to keep our readers up to speed: NO, we are nowhere near ending the series which will be turned into a published book. Lulls between parts are due to research which will include psychological studies that I have found. The Fandom has been officially classified as a personality disorder by some Psychologists and also associated with certain types of Bi-Polar disorders. Meanwhile, I received the following redacted inquiry via email by a Furry group. It reveals some more details about where the series is headed.

Received via email:

For the past couple of weeks, we in the group have been reading and going over the post. We find it to be a look into someone that has just discovered what a fandom is. We find it fascinating this is why I keep coming back and trying to get answers.

Our final questions are:
1) What is a contra reality? We think we got it but it is a weird term.
2) Is furry the first time you have ever encountered an internet community?
3) Why do you focus so heavily on the negatives and act like that is a general representation?
4) What are your opinions on other fan communities?
5) I have been asked to bring this up… Bronies
6) What makes furry different than any other online community?
7) Are you personally part of any subculture or fandom?

For us, things like subcultures, fandom, avatars, fake names, alternate identities are common online. Truthfully your post seems to be geared towards older people than younger people. It confused everyone under 35. Our chat wants to finish up the puzzle before we move on. Thank you for your time it has been fun and enlightening -Dub Mutt

PS. Would you happen to know of any good book on church history, the bible or Christianity?

Response:

1. It’s an anti-reality. It deliberately rejects God’s order of things. It rejects natural revelation and poses a reality in contrast to God’s creation.
2. Hardly. Our organization has researched several sects and cults over the years that are internet based.
3. Because that’s how Fandom describes itself. We have only begun to research the group, but one upcoming post will address the Burned Fur Manifesto. This group was formed as far back as 2005 because, “Anthropomorphics fandom is being overrun by sexually dysfunctional, socially stunted and creatively bankrupt hacks and pervs” Note the word, “overrun” as far back as 2005.
4. We research sects and cults that are driven by an ideology. Most “fan” organizations can rightly be considered mere hobbies. We make our case extensively in the posts thus far as to why Fandom is not a hobby.
5. There are KEY differences between the two groups which is going to make a good post. The contrast serves to expose Furry Fandom for what it really is.
6. See #5.
7. NO
   PS. Yes, a book I published with Andy Young titled: “The Church Lie and the Biblical Alternative.” Go to tanc.online and either purchase it or read it online for free.

Live Link: https://boxcast.tv/view/the-potters-house-sunday-fellowship-101319-galatians-220-557007

Related link: https://paulspassingthoughts.com/2014/03/14/john-macarthur-was-for-baptismal-regeneration-before-he-was-against-it/

I don’t think President Trump is a great communicator, though he is a great doer.  If you listened to his explanation for pulling out of Syria at the end of his Minnesota rally, you heard an emphasis on individual soldiers and their personal testimonies, but no clear explanation for pulling out of Syria other than, we must stop the “endless wars” policy. If you understand  that Trump is an individualism purest, you can read between the lines.

More than not, American war policy is about the individual’s sacrifice for the country. That’s not really the core of American ideology. America was founded on individual equality and a government for the people and by the people, but for the individual is implicit.

Though the question for Americans in regard to war is usually; “How many American lives would be lost and is the cause worth it?” an individualism purist like Trump is going to ask, “Is the cause worth one American life?”

Take Vietnam for example; the war wasn’t brought to a swift end because we were afraid of Russia. Obviously, if the United States had decided to invade North Vietnam to end the war, it would have been over in short order. Was our fear of Russia resulting in an anemic war plan worth 50,000 lives? Hardly. When Nixon decided to end the war, he did the next best thing that stopped short of forcing a standoff with Russia; he ordered a blockade of North Vietnam. He dropped sea mines in their harbors and bombed all of their railroads and the war was shortly ended thereafter. America won the war at that point. When Watergate happened, everyone knew the impeachment of Nixon would result in North Vietnam invading South Vietnam; no one cared. For the Democrats, getting Nixon out of office was worth more than the 50,000 lives spent in Vietnam.

This is just fact: American solders are expendable for American politics and political wars in general. How do we know? The cost of a war will be expressed in numbers of lives. Have you listened closely to the arguments against Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Syria? It goes something like this: “We are only there giving support for the Kurds and they have lost 11,000 troops while we have only lost a couple of hundred; we are getting a lot of bang for the buck!” Those who have American ideology backwards will always ask how many lives will be lost rather than the following: “Is the war worth one life being lost?” This question weighs the effect on a single family when they lose a young member who had a whole life to live. It reflects the proverb that says, “He who saves one life saves the world.” This is the true measure of life value.

Trump weighed everything going on in Syria including the lack of equal effort by those who have more to gain than us and decided to pull out. Besides, these are wars that Trump inherited and his approach to war is much different because it is based on individualism: he will go in with the full unhindered force of the American military, destroy the enemy, leave abruptly, and leave rebuilding to whom it may concern. Why?

Because the loss of one American soldier is one too many. When Harry Truman found out that an invasion of Japan would cost 700,000 allied and American lives, he decided to use the A-Bomb instead. Trump would use the A-Bomb to save one American life. He measures the cost by the effect on one family, not a hypothetical number of expendable lives.

That’s the difference between collectivism and individualism: one measures the value of life by numbers because it’s a collective mindset, while the other measures the value of life by one. It is the shepherd that leaves 99 sheep to find the single lost one.

paul

The whole widely accepted idea that Christians should read their Bibles must be qualified. If you ask the average Churchian why they should read their Bibles the answers would be varied and interesting. Being a Churchian, it’s just another thing in a list of other things that they do while having no idea why they do it.

So, according to orthodoxy, according to their spiritual heroes, according to the original tenets of the Protestant Reformation, what is the purpose of Bible reading? Answer: Bible reading is one of the “ordinary means of grace.” What’s that? Church is a salvation PROCESS. There are no exceptions. And consequently, according to the Bible, in every case where salvation is not finished one remains under law and the law’s condemnation. In other words, church orthodoxy is biblically defined as pertaining to the unregenerate. And by the way, contemporary mainline Protestant leaders state this publicly all of the time. You are either under grace or under law, you cannot be both, but actually, church claims that under grace does not change your state of being, but is part of the salvation process while remaining under law.

So, why read your Bible according to church? Answer: it aides you as an “ordinary means of salvation (grace).” As you read the Bible, the goal is finding self-condemnation for purposes of returning to the cross for more Jesus, or in other words, more salvation. This is the extreme antithesis of what the Bible states regarding its purpose. According to the Bible, it is the source for learning how to love God and others with no fear of condemnation. In contrast, when Protestant pastors promote Bible reading, it’s the former purpose they are promoting without the parishioners even knowing it. On Sunday, during the “gospel preaching” anything read in the Bible during the week is reflected back as condemnation. It promotes a “lifestyle of repentance.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Problem is, it’s a backward look for purposes of gaining more and more salvation rather than a forward look that promotes love. The idea of finding love in the church is an orthodoxed oxymoron unless you are talking about more salvation as the only love prism. Argue with me if you will, but I will quote Calvin and Luther extensively and the argument will be over.

paul