Artificial Intelligence is Stupid

People are getting over-intense about artificial intelligence or AI. There is a lot of fear-mongering over lost jobs (which might happen), robot armies (which probably won’t happen), and taking over the world (which most assuredly won’t happen). The big reason? Artificial intelligence isn’t really all that intelligent. In fact, it’s dumber than the rocks it operates in (computers) and however infallible it seems to some it is made by men (and let’s make sure to include women) and men (or women) are imperfect and very, very fallible.

Consider the computer itself. A nice tool, and we can hardly do without them in some instances. But as nice as they are, they still wig out on a regular basis. The “blue screen of death” is common despite improvements in the operating system. Applications won’t run properly sometimes, and we have to keep paying all kinds of money for the next big (hopefully working better) thing. Imperfect men (and women) simply cannot create or make anything that doesn’t have flaws and drawbacks. We are not all-knowing (only one Person has that character trait) and since wisdom (or even smarts) is lacking so are the things we make.

This includes AI. Artificial intelligence is a product of the same fallible men (and women) that build cars that break down, planes that fall apart in the sky, and governments that make mistakes on a regular basis. At best it is another tool to do some work. They do a lot of repetitious work, but the results are only as good as the person operating. The old axiom, “Garbage in, garbage out” was aptly applied when beginning to get work out of computers. I’ve been working with computers since high school (back when dinosaurs were still running around in places other than a movie screen). When I started learning about them and using them it was only about three decades after the room-sized computer ENIAC was invented. At that time they had not even been using transistors very long. ENIAC used thousands of vacuum tubes and the term “bug” was literal bugs getting into the workings and causing parts to fail.

The “bugs” in artificial intelligence are not actual insects maybe, but it is still loaded with them. It is inevitable when considering the works of man. So I don’t fret about AI at all. God is still the only one without bugs, and all of His works are also bug-free. He allows some of man’s works and puts limits on their working, so that all nations will know that He is the Intelligence without artifice that works perfectly all the time.

Shalom, Bruce

Mouth of a Donkey

I just read through Numbers 22-26 again, covering Balaam and his attempts to curse Israel for Balak king of Moab. There’s some confusion among people who try to explain this passage because at first Balaam turns down, at the Lord’s command, the money offered by the messengers of Balak. But when they return and offer more money, God tells Balaam to go with them but speak only what God gives him to say. It appears at first glance that Balaam is doing what God says is okay. When on the road, Balaam’s donkey sees the angel of the Lord with a sword in his hand three times, and each time turns aside even though Balaam is beating it. After the third turning, the donkey is given speech by God to ask Balaam the reason for the beatings. Then God allows Balaam to see the angel who tells him he would’ve died if his donkey hadn’t dodged away.

Balaam ends up blessing Israel three times (plus a fourth free of charge) instead of the cursing paid for by Balak . Balak is angry with Balaam, but Balaam reminds the king of Moab that he can only say what God tells him to say. The question is, did God approve the money-making opportunity or not?

My take on it is that Balaam wasn’t much different than the donkey. God gave speech to the donkey, and God gave speech to Balaam. The donkey was able to express itself honestly, but not Balaam. Balaam intended to curse Israel and earn his money, but couldn’t, because God is the one in control. Balaam even says that he couldn’t curse what God blessed, and couldn’t bless what God cursed.

Numbers 23:8 ESV. How can I curse whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?

So the answer to the question is that Balaam really wanted the money, but God had other plans and caused the donkey, er I mean, Balaam, to speak only what God determined. God used the donkey, and He used Balaam. Later Balaam was killed by Israel in battle with the Midianites, who used Balaam’s advice to try and corrupt Israel with Midianite women and idolatry. Even though Balaam appears to cooperate with God, he was forced to mouth words by the Spirit in line with God’s blessings. His speech wasn’t voluntary. I think the speech of the donkey was an illustration of what was to come with Balaam. God’s will is always done, whether He causes a donkey to speak or a man to speak.

Shalom, Bruce

Shining Wise

Daniel 12:1–3 ESV. “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Imagine you are walking through a dark forest. There are creatures of the darkness all around you, slavering in anticipation of the meal you represent. But none attacks. Instead, they retreat as you move forward. They wrinkle their noses in disgust at the smell of you, though you just took a shower and have on some nice deodorant. The creatures wince and hide their eyes from some unseen pain as you pass by, as if they are looking at the sun, though you see only darkness.

Children of God actually shine in a way that is painful to the hateful eyes of the deceiver’s creatures. We can’t see this light with our own eyes; we still need flashlights to light the way in our houses at night. This light manifests itself to those in darkness and they hate us because of it. There’s a smell around us too, sharply repugnant to the noses of the creatures, because it is the aroma of Christ and life. It reminds them they are destined to die a second death in the lake of fire.

2 Corinthians 2:14–16 ESV. “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

We wonder sometimes why we suffer. In our jobs we might be unfairly attacked and pressured to quit, and it seems to us as if there’s no rationale. At school there are few (too few) that are friendly and many who avoid us and spread gossip about us behind our backs. In the line at the grocery store we experience hostile stares. Even at church we might be marginalized or outright asked to leave. We can’t see the reasons. But they are offended by our mere presence because our internal light hurts their eyes and the smell of life around us is worse to them than an open cesspool or Limburger cheese on a hot muffler.

As we head into the trials and turmoil prophesied in the Bible, we are marked by God more obviously and surely than a tattoo on the head or hand. Our Messiah is with us, and no creature of darkness can stand against us. They might get us fired from a job or kicked out of church; they might even kill the body in which we are temporarily resident. However, to those who are being saved we are a fragrance of life and light in the darkness of the world. Remember that you are a child of God and a friend to Yeshua, and the salvation you have will be shared with many who turn to righteousness because of His light and aroma.

Shalom, Bruce

Dear Fox News: You Aren’t Worth It

Every once in a while, on a website other than Fox News, I’ll click on a link not knowing it will take me to Fox. Once I get there, I get a blocking pop up asking me to disable my ad blocker. I can’t see or read anything, but I don’t care. I just close the window. They’re not worth disabling my ad blocker for any reason.

If a website, especially a news website, wants to force me to watch their ads for Viagra I refuse. Any site that blocks me for whatever reason or is behind a paywall doesn’t deserve my attention. I just move on. News worth reading or viewing is going to be on many other websites where I can determine if they’re worth subscribing to or not. Usually these people don’t have reporters on the scene anyway, and just end up talking a lot about their opinions. I don’t need opinions, I need facts. I want to be educated, not inundated with ads for useless stuff I don’t even think about buying.

Fox News has descended into a People Magazine wannabe, and I certainly don’t get any news from that kind of stuff. I don’t know most of the newer celebrities because I haven’t watched cable TV in several decades. And I haven’t missed a thing, judging from the little that leaks out about them around the corners of my ad blocker. Celebrity opinions are the furthest thing from interesting or informative that I can think of. Just shut up and make movies, will you? And not the kind of schlock you’ve been putting out in recent years, either.

I know websites have to support themselves, and ads help them do it. But I’m not going to help them do it if they have content that stinks. If they have honest, factual content that educates and informs, I’ll send them a few bucks. I just hope that Fox puts up a paywall, because then they’ll lose most of their remaining viewers and no one will notice they’re gone.

Shalom, Bruce

Bad Conspiracy Logic

There’s a lot of nuts out there with conspiracy theories about the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas and other terror groups. Many of them claim to be using logic, but after reviewing some of what they are saying the best of the theories have huge logic problems.

For instance, Peggy Hall with the handle of The Healthy American in an article online titled Hamas “Attack” On Israel (implying that it was no attack) just outdoes herself with so many logical fallacies I’m tempted to say maybe it’s because she’s female and has a lot of trouble with logic in the first place. That might be labeled sexist but it fits right in with her irrational assumptions. Just because something is labeled sexist doesn’t mean it isn’t true. I’ll list here the major fallacies and illustrate what I’m talking about.

She does a lot of groundwork to bias the reader in the direction she wants to go (we can’t trust anything). The title first, then a series of statements leading to a conclusion that we can’t trust the media. They might be lying and probably are, she says. The logical fallacy here is that because many people in the media lie, then all of what we see or read are lies. She wants you to believe that the lies from some organizations means that all are lies. This is what we call a “false equivalency.” If one presentation is a lie, she says, then all are lies. Not necessarily. We have to look at the source and the motivations. There are news sources that do a great job of checking and confirming information. We can also cross-check between organizations, because some facts may be missing in one presentation that are present in another trusted source. So her analysis is skewed from the start.

Another logical fallacy is when she questions the Israeli intelligence agencies. She says they are very, very good, so how could they have missed the preparations for this attack? Not a very bright question, actually. It’s not the gathering of information that’s the problem. It’s the interpreting. Just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in World War 2, the U. S. intelligence apparatus at the time also got some hints of something. But what? In our present case, just because some Egyptian intelligence people said there was “something big” happening in Gaza, so what? What the hell does that mean anyway? With 20/20 hindsight of the armchair quarterback of course we know now what it is. NOW. But how in the world do we interpret “something big” when we cannot define “big?”

One big reason that the surprise of this attack was so prevalent is that Israel had become complacent. A majority were really thinking that all their enemies were eschewing hatred and the desire to wipe them out. In fact, they were in the process of becoming very liberal which is to say very stupid. There are a lot of people in Israel they did not grow up during World War 2, did not see the Yom Kippur war, and probably listened to people like the Healthy American who said, “Don’t trust the accounts of yesteryear coming from the old people; those events were just staged to get a reaction out of you so they could get some money from the U. S.” Stupidity is a very good reason for being taken by surprise and failing to interpret a military buildup properly.

She spends a lot of time on numbers, as if the repetition of numbers she chooses as “odd” or indicative of some ulterior motive is proof of evil intent. Never mind that many other numbers than the ones she chooses are used too. Never mind that her choice of numbers seems rather arbitrary. Never mind that people have a tendency to round numbers because the situation is very fluid. Just pick some numbers and then find a “coincidental” occurrence of the numbers.

When we get right down to it, she has nothing but supposition and bias to “prove” her theory. There are other explanations than what she chooses to see through her somewhat blurry lenses. As she wraps up her article she posits a few more suppositions for why this happened. She is obviously reasoning “after the fact” from her armchair. For instance, is it reasonable to think that the politicians would allow this kind of bloodshed that could easily blow back on them (like blaming Netanyahu for intelligence failures, as is already happening)? Logically, is it possible to falsify an attack like this in such a way that hundreds of people agree and not one (including reporters on the ground there) says that broken legs and raped women with blood in the crotches of their clothes was staged? Is it reasonable or logical to believe that terrorist organizations would never do anything like this?

So then we are left with a big question raised by her about her account of the event. Can we trust her?

Shalom, Bruce

Biblical Worldview?

I hear all the time on podcasts or read a bunch of articles from authors claiming to have a “biblical” worldview. The speakers and authors generally do a good job of listing the problems of our progressive culture, and have a few good opinions on how to fight back. For instance, Alisa Childers writing on Harbingers Daily website in an article titled The Spiritual Battle Over Our Children: Training Our Sons and Daughters to Stand Strong in a Chaotic Culture says we should “speak truth to lies” and “equip yourself.” Not bad concepts, as far as they go. Many other teachers say similar things. The problem is, while there may be some good ideas here and there, they are most assuredly NOT from a biblical worldview, and therefore not nearly as effective as the Bible itself. They are from a “Church” worldview. There’s a big difference. “Church,” of course, is a general name for all organizations claiming to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

For one thing, a Church worldview uses a lot of philosophy in their suggestions and very little Scripture. Sure, churchgoers throw in a verse here and there to add validity to their philosophies, but that’s not really a biblical worldview. Using a little of the Bible doesn’t show a real worldview. You have to use a lot. All of it, actually. The philosophies have to give way to real biblical help. The Bible isn’t a source for fortune cookies. It’s not helpful to throw out a little slip of a verse and expect it to do more than tickle the ear. All of the Bible is a lifestyle and discipleship method, in particular The Law. That’s where Church philosophy falls down. Teachers shy away from the Law because they’ve been taught that it’s “legalism” or “for the Jews” or “not a salvation issue;” concepts that the Bible itself doesn’t endorse.

Deuteronomy 6:5–6 ESV. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

A biblical worldview regards all of God’s Word as something to be held in the heart with love and lived as literally true. A Church worldview regards the Law as something to be avoided, giving lip service to some of it while holding most of it at arm’s length as if it was a skunk waiting to spray them. The Church contends that The Church was the goal of God all along and a “new thing,” grabbing authority and giving itself permission to redefine the Word at will. After redefining the Word, churches condone the destructive immorality of homosexuality and abortion because they are “tolerant.”

George Barna, as he has many times over the past decades, has again revealed more results of his studies in a new book titled, “Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child’s Heart, Mind and Soul.” He is sounding the alarm about only about 2% of Christians have a biblical worldview, which he defines as “living like Christ.” As much as I like his work, he still misses a huge point because of his Church worldview. If we are to live like Christ, we follow the Law as He showed us how to walk in it.

1 John 2:4–6 ESV. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

In his book, Mr. Barna is “Carefully blending scripture and sociological insights,” which is an obvious sign of a Church worldview. The Word of God does not need blending, it needs to be lived. If churches are not teaching it, and parents are not living it, the kids are not going to pick it up either. If the main “cultural influencers” in a kid”s life are playing fast and loose with the Word, why would the kids turn out any different? Those who claim to be following the Bible would have more success influencing with a direct, literal understanding of the Word if they believed and lived it themselves.

A person with a Church worldview tries to make the world obey God’s Law without obeying it themselves. They will point fingers at those who practice sexual immorality, yet at the same time practice immorality themselves such as divorce (or agree with those who think it’s okay in the Church). A Church worldview is lacking in answers, because it is missing large portions of the complete nutrition of the Word.

A biblical worldview has the answers for all of our problems. The root of the problems is sin, and God’s Laws are the answer to sin. Teach and follow all of God’s Laws, all the time, and the problems go away. Yeshua died to pay for all of the sins, so now we just have to live like it. Make mistakes still? Sure. If we say we have no sin we lie and the truth isn’t in us. Fall down or backslide occasionally? Probably. The Law contains the answers for that too. We have an advocate with the Father in our Messiah, so confess, repent, and try again.

Shalom, Bruce

Israel is My People

As dumb as they are sometimes, and even though many would not accept me, Israel is still my people. They are my people because God says they are His people. He wants the other sheep of His fold to pray for their peace and deliverance because He says they are the apple of His eye.

In the current environment, where Hamas has spearheaded a murderous sneak attack on the people of God, I’ve seen a lot of people trying to excuse the Arabs and blame Israel or the United States. One article calls the idea of wiping the so-called terrorists out as “genocide.” Others say that the U. S. created Hamas as a balance to Arafat. All of the articles ignore the very hateful fact that every single Muslim wants the “genocide” of Israel. No matter how much Israel has benefited the entire Middle East or created prosperity for millions of Muslims, they still hate and want to destroy the Jews.

Hate for Israel is hate for God. Muslim hate is driven by the deceiver, because they are his people and he hates God and everything about Him. But this doesn’t excuse the unreasoning attempts to wipe out Israel. All the good things of God, some of which are expressed in much of the economic success of His people, do not and will not sway the hatred. When faced with such immoral and unjustified hate, the only thing that can be done is to wipe out the haters. God did it with the Canaanites, who were so horrible they sacrificed children in fires to their gods and who practiced an immorality unseen until modern culture. He is going to do it again soon, because all of His goodness and light, including the sacrifice of His only begotten son Yeshua haMashiach or Jesus the Christ, is spat upon and scorned by the forces of the evil one.

He is the creator and source of all things of abundant life, wholeness, and purity. The earth is His and everything in it, and all who spurn His gifts and life are going to be sent to a place that is a fitting receptacle for their filth, trash and anti-life attitudes and practices.

So, genocide? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Shalom, Bruce

Muslims Attack Israel Again

Today, early in the morning, October 7, 2023, the last day of Tabernacles, is another day that will live in infamy. Most of the media are saying that Hamas attacked Israel, but that is an obfuscation. Hamas is just another Islamic terror organization just like Syria or Jordan or Saudi Arabia. They’ve been doing the dirty work for much of the Arab world since they started, and everyone knows it. The attempts to characterize this as just another terror attack are more lies in defense of Islamic nations that have the destruction of Israel as their number one priority. Just because they sign peace agreements doesn’t mean a thing. Their Koran encourages lying in the service of destroying Israel and any non-Muslim nation or people.

Of course, Israel asks for attacks too, because in general they are mostly secular and ignore God. They are also stupid enough to believe that Islam will ever make peace with them or anyone else. If the United States was smart, and our leaders mostly are not, they would turn many of those hostile nations into parking lots.

The illegitimate Biden regime has encouraged the Ishmaelites by knocking down our energy production, which had raised the U.S. to energy independence under the Trump administration, to the point where we are sending dollars to the terrorists to buy oil. Recently Bribery Biden had even sent large amounts of cash to the residents of Lebanon (self-styled Palestinians). What else did he think (assuming he thinks) was going to happen?

Israel needs to get its act together, repent and turn to God wholesale. They think they have reached this point by their own efforts, but no. The only way they could resurrect and survive is if God is with them. Now they need to realize it and get with God.

Shalom, Bruce

Finding A Place

“This is the way we do things here. If you aren’t being ministered to, there are other places where you can be” said Jeff. In other words, If you don’t like it, leave. Buzz off. Take a hike. I heard this with sadness a couple decades ago because I knew it meant that the Scriptural truth I was seeing in the Word and had tried to convey was being refused. This is a mantra at Calvary Chapels, but it really is a mantra for the whole Church. So why would he say this, and why would every other Church say it?

Well, the root of it, in my studied opinion, is fear. The Church (in general), and most churches, are houses built of cards, mostly representing the philosophies of men. They don’t want the wind of the Spirit of Truth blowing through and knocking down what they’ve built.

What was I proposing that was so bad? Was I a heretic, trying to change or ignore Scripture on the virgin birth or deity of Jesus? What could have elicited such a cold and dismissive statement? In a word, discipleship. Calvary Chapel, and many other churches, have a nice way of attracting visitors but offer very little to keep them growing in grace and truth. They have heart-thumping concerts, speak nifty things from the pulpit, and even read Scripture now and then. They lay out a nice banquet of platitude Twinkies and selected Ding Dong verses providing a sugar rush and making one feel good for the moment, but is sadly lacking in the meat of the Word. If you don’t expect much of a church except as a safe-space social club that doesn’t dish up too many of the uncomfortable parts of the Bible, has a nice music team and some special programs on holidays, then you won’t be told to hit the road. A person can survive for a while on Twinkies and Ding Dongs, right up until the nutritional needs of the body demand something more substantial. Then our starving spirits have to go somewhere that offers solid teaching and examples of living the entirety of the Word.

The problems is, does any place like that exist? After making more than 15 churches in 10 different denominations our home before I was 40, I have to say, no. Every single church is a house of teaching cards built on the sand of personalities and men’s opinions. If a person dares to ask questions after comparing the card teachings to Scripture and discovering gaping holes, that’s when all of them will tell you in one fashion or another to find another ministering place. They can’t change because they’d have to admit they were wrong and pride won’t let them do that.

My family, and now my kid’s families, haven’t been to church in a long time, except the kids for some youth group activities once in a while. And yet it is amazing how much we’ve grown in Scripture understanding and practice. We have God’s holidays, His Sabbath and the whole and balanced Word that ties us together in a true ekklesia with our Messiah Yeshua as the head, nourishing us with His body and blood. Now that we have some distance, we see The Church, and most churches, as the dry wells and fruitless fig trees that they insist on staying. They did us a favor by forcing a trip to another place. We went into The Land, figuratively, while they’re still wandering around the same mountain, unwilling to drop their pride and salve their eyes with all the truth of the Word so they can see the way themselves.

Food Offered to Idols

Twice in the seven letters to Asian congregations dictated by Yeshua in Revelation “eating food sacrificed to idols and (the) practice of sexual immorality” is mentioned as a bad thing. Yet Paul, we are told by the Church, tells us we can eat anything. They use Scripture, they think, to prove that anything goes.

1 Timothy 4:4–5 ESV. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

Romans 14:20 ESV. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.

1 Corinthians 10:25 ESV. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.

Sometimes they’ll even use Scripture such as Genesis 9:3.

Genesis 9:3 ESV. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Romans 14 is a heavy favorite, where Paul is supposed to have said that everything is opinion. But while cherry-picking and yanking Scripture out of context might be made to support your bacon preference, it doesn’t properly convey what God requires if we look at the balance of the Word.

If we read 1 Corinthians 10 carefully, for instance, Paul is not saying eating food sacrificed to idols is okay. In fact, he specifically links food, idols and sexual immorality together. It seems that pagans routinely combined all of them together in wild bacchanalia or orgies. Paul is telling us here not to engage is such practices. When he speaks of eating food that might have been part of ceremonies such as those, he is limiting the food to what is sold in the market. Once the meat hit the marketplace, you couldn’t tell whence it came. So don’t sweat the source, unless you are told by someone that it had been part of pagan practices.

Jesus tells believers in Pergamum and Thyatira that they need to repent of false teachings coming from followers of Jezebel and Balaam, specifically eating food offered to idols and sexual immorality, so it seems there were ceremonies or parties involved. It seems there were leaders promoting activities that would make a Roman senator hide his face in shame. And as Paul really said:

1 Corinthians 10:6–10 ESV. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.

So “eating anything” is not okay with God. All food is not clean just because we might have an “opinion” that “not food” is acceptable table fare. Idolatry is following our own ideas of right and wrong instead of God’s. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:29–30 ESV. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.

Shalom