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I recently heard something to this effect: Whenever someone mentions Strong's Concordance, it strongly suggests they don't understand Greek or Hebrew. Update No shade to amateur or professional students of texts who use this resource for legitimate purposes! This comment was in reference to the (many) people on the internet who use it to misinform their audiences for political or other reasons.

I DON'T CARE WHAT WIERWILLE TAUGHT YOU, UNLEARN THAT... SHTUFF.

I once showed this to someone very close to me, who knew some of my past. For many childhood memories, it's hard to bring them all up at once. They come in waves. A lot of it I don't remember until some other event joggles one loose. Anyway, this was on YouTube elsewhere, the one dubbed in French, and I showed it them: "Hey, look at this. We used to watch this all the time when we were kids." Almost immediately they looked back at me with eyes of concern and maybe horror. This surprised me. Incredulity or mockery — I expected. But not the concern, almost a kind of sadness. "You watched this as children?" "Yep." "Are you okay???" I just had to laugh — I never thought about AOS that way. Looking back now, this is some demented stuff even for an adult to look at. But at least we can tell it's all nonsense. But I said, yes, I'm okay now — though I wasn't for a long time. Thanks to experiences like these, I feel more compassion for my former self now. I suffered a lot through no fault of my own. Looking at that kid as if they were my own child. No way they'd be watching this garbage. Or even less so being told it's true. It got me thinking. No wonder I was constantly afraid of being attacked by invisible beings at any and all times! I was afraid of the dark for many years! I was afraid of any scary TV show or movie. To us those weren't fictional — they are real spirits, and the only way to stop them was to speak in a foreign language we did not understand. Which I pretended at, but secretly knew I was not doing for real, not like everyone else, who was definitely speaking angelic languages and not just making it up.

Great video. Scripts. Thats a great way to state it. Not as conspiratorial as conditioning and definately commumicates learned behaviors, behavorial/societal expectations...etc. Thanks!

This is a good, very brief look at a deep, nuanced and important issue to consider. Where do our thoughts come from? Do we by our own volition generate thoughts? Or, do thoughts just arise? What can we control? Think about a movie. Any movie. It doesn't matter if you've seen it or not. Pick one, any one. Ok, got it? Now, where did THAT come from? Of the hundreds or thousands of movies you know, why did that one emerge in your thought? Did you choose it? Why Casablanca instead of Forest Gump? Here's another one. Try to stop thinking. Clear your conscious mind of its contents. By your own free will make your thoughts stop. You will notice the harder you try the worse it gets. We are all conditioned. The script is there. Thoughts seem to arise on their own. It seems to me the first and most liberating thing to do is pay attention. See it. The topic of this thread is more complicated than it appears, and I'm not finished considering it.

Good morning to you too, kind sir. This is just one of the influences.

I agree. Just because something influences us doesn't prove a lack of free will. We still have a choice of whether we bend with the influence or not. But, you ask, what if we're unaware of the influence. Well, that doesn't reflect on free will. It reflects on the influencer. Your ability to act or not act remains, it's just been bypassed. Another reason educating yourself is so important.

Truth!

Of course I have free will - I have no choice in the matter.

Which leads to the obvious, unfortunate truth that martindale didn't really know just what in the actueal heck he was talking about.

Viktorpneustos