From the perspective of someone who's not married but who has been denied marriage most of my life. If I were married when I was younger then I would've avoided sex before marriage and a lot of soul-destroying traps such as pornography, and other terrible vices such as vaping, excessive alcohol. I probably would've made it through university with far better grades without wasting years of my life through depression and filling the void with things that are not good. Take away the good and false substitutes fill the void. If I were married when I was younger then I would've been able to share life with someone where we could just will the good for each other unconditionally and not spend excessively on what the world says you need in order to be "successful" in order to "get a wife, say". There is reasonable protocol when it comes to marriage. You typically consult the parents of the other party in order to get their approval. So, yes, it makes sense that a person should be able to at the very least "propose to their wife when they are young". Then the husband prepares to have a wife, and he has purpose in his work. Getting married young doesn't mean having children young. Marriage is very good when done in good faith. For Christians this is the way to do having a partner, and it's a holy and sacred covenant and done in the fear of God. Christians are meant to be policing themselves to keep a good conscience with God. People should be allowed to get married young before they are exposed to the evil in the world which is being shoved down everyone's throats. If people think that having sex young is OK then people should be allowed to get married young. The people who say sex young is OK but marriage not are sinful, and not everyone wants to be sinful. Some people want to have the freedom in order to live in a holy way. You don't take the good away and leave the bad. You wanna ban marriage according to some arbitrary age for everyone, then don't be a hypocrite and ban sex according to the same arbitrary age for everyone. But don't make marriage out to be a bad thing. It's not inherently a bad thing. It's a very good thing. Just because there are a few bad eggs out there in the batch, you don't ban the whole thing for everyone.
Marriage was instituted by God when people were created. The Bible says that in the last days people will deny marriage.
When I read this article, I see it as using a strawman argument to attack something which God has put in place.
You don't need marriage to have kids,you don't need marriage to love another person, you don't need marriage to live with a partner and you don't need marriage to have a fulfilling social life.
The purpose of marriage is economic, so it's not necessary to achieve anything social.
It is useful when you want protect your partner and kids from sudden death or disability, which should come AFTER the love/social part.
I am not married, I have 2 kids, been with my "wife" (partner?) for 15 years.
In Canada we are considered like married though, economically speaking.
From the perspective of someone who's not married but who has been denied marriage most of my life. If I were married (or betrothed) when I was younger then I think I would most certainly have avoided sex before marriage and a lot of soul-destroying traps such as pornography, and other terrible vices such as vaping, excessive alcohol.
If having a job or having lots of money, or having a house, becomes a prerequisite to getting married then:
- the rich take all the the woman (like in Braveheart, the noblemen having sex with the peasant's wives)
- anyone who gives their money to the needy in obedience to Jesus, i.e. the good Samaritan is unqualified to take a wife, when he's actually the most qualified and will care best for the person out of love
- robots with increasing rights and less regulation will be taking "wives" (that is abomination by the way) before even human beings can and giving them more rights than human beings is plain evil to be honest.
Marriage was instituted by God when people were created. The Bible says that in the last days people will deny marriage.
When I read this article, I see it as using a straw man fallacy in their argument to attack the effectiveness of the institution of marriage which God has put in place which is inherently a good institution.
Marriage is when you begin your own family. Young betrothal seems like a very correct and good practice because a guy can then think about how he is going to take care of this person, and prepare for that, perhaps go out and get a job, or whatever that preparation looks like and that gives so much meaning and purpose to what they're doing. So if he's going through college, sorting himself out, it's done knowing that there's someone to take care of, someone who is very special to them. It's very motivating and they're going to avoid many pitfalls that people often go through during college years. How many problems would be solved if young people were able to have hope, and joy, and faithfulness and security in even one of their relationships while living on this earth, and for that relationship to have started before they were exposed to the evils in the world?
I probably would've made it through university with far better grades without wasting years of my life through depression and filling the void with things that are not good. Take away the good and false substitutes fill the void. If I were married when I was younger then I would've been able to share life with someone where we could just will the good for each other unconditionally and not spend excessively on what the world says you need in order to be "successful" in order to "attract a wife" or be "eligible" to take a wife, say.
If you were to pick one food to eat for the rest of your life what would it be? If you were to choose one person to marry and be in covenant with for the rest of your life who would it be? Obviously, someone that you would want to be around for that long. Now if some woke person came along and said, '"that's outside of the range of the typical age gap", you must be a rapist' or something like that, that's just a blind assumption. That's how marriage gets attacked these days.
There is reasonable protocol when it comes to marriage, and it's going to automatically deal with lots of issues such as whether someone is too young to marry. You typically consult the parents of the other party in order to get their approval. So, yes, it makes sense that a person should be able to at the very least "propose to their potential future wife when they are young".
A young couple should be allowed to marry, or at the very least be betrothed to get married, before 18 even, in my opinion. But the husband has to get permission from the parents of the woman, or a guardian, say. That helps solve problems like if they're too young, etc.
Then the husband prepares to have a wife, and he has purpose in his work and joy in doing it, duty to love his wife etc. (where being forced to be single robs that and makes life difficult). When a man thinks they have to "date", sleep around, go to "bars", get a bitcoin, get house, whatever it is that society tries to shove on you as some kind of prerequisite to getting a wife, then that's not correct thinking. A person should simply be allowed to propose to the right person when they come along.
Getting married young doesn't mean having children young. Marriage is very good when done in good faith. For Christians this is the way to do having a partner, and it's a holy and sacred covenant and done in the fear of God (not wanting to do evil). Christians are meant to be policing themselves to keep a good conscience with God.
I think the reason why larger than average age gaps are so stigmatised in today's society is because people see sex and relationships as disposable.
But don't make marriage out to be the bad thing. It's not inherently a bad thing. It's inherently a very good thing.
I would say that "actual child marriage is wrong", though, but I don't think this article is accurate in defining what that is. In defining what child marriage is, it's got to take into account what the parents think and if the parents are acting righteously themselves. Are they saving for their children's future? Are they helping or causing harm to their children by preventing them from marrying. I do believe that the state should protect people and the sacred rights of people, rather than trying to over regulate it. I think that current minimum age seems totally reasonable already.
I've been told by a police officer in a church that 10 years age gap is wrong in front of a whole bunch of eligible young adults, even though my parents themselves have 11 years age gap.
So what happens as a consequence of the sabotage of marriage? False substitutes and temptations often take the place, and the person falls into a pit of sin, and self destruction.
What makes a person eligible to take a wife? Being a man is practically all that makes a person eligible.
A single person who has no assets is eligible to have the right to propose. Marriage, like water and air doesn't depend on the US dollar in order to exist. A person can get married for free. The best things in life are free. And that's what marriage should be like. A bird should not be forced to get a pilot's license in order to fly. A man should not have to get some kind of license in order to breath or in order to propose marriage to a woman. It should be joyous and helpful, and when the right person comes along it should be lawful to propose to them.
If we're keeping God's commandments for us, loving one another in the way we're supposed to, then nothing should be stopping us from proposing. It's these man-made rules which become destructive to one another and to society when they nullify God's rules which are meant for our own good. When people say "you're too old, you must be a predator", can they see your thoughts and your heart? It could literally be satan trying to keep you in slavery to sin, to addictions, substances, pornography, sex outside of marriage, etc.
I think that marriage should be further protected rather than further chipped-away-at.
Rights should be given to people to be able to propose marriage without fear of punishment.
Because noone wants to live in fear.
We want to live in love.
Perhaps the government should focus more on a bit of wealth redistribution, instead of continuing to reverse-engineer and replace people, micromanage, control and monetise every single little thing.
Just because there are a times when it hasn't worked out, or few bad eggs in the batch of people who get married young, you don't ban the whole thing for everyone.
> I've been told by a police officer in a church that 10 years age gap is wrong in front of a whole bunch of eligible young adults, even though my parents themselves have 11 years age gap.
Just out of curiosity, how old were you, how old were they, and why was the cop there?
- He attended a nearby church’s youth group in hopes of meeting “marriageable” women, in his mid-late 20s or older;
- Was bothering the girls or young women in attendance by being straightforward about his weird intentions;
- Wouldn’t leave when asked politely to do so; and,
- Had to be removed by security (maybe an off-duty cop?) or the police.
It sounds like in being removed, he made a scene, and they had to lay out right then and there (“in front of a whole bunch of eligible young adults”) that he was at least 10 years older than everyone else attending and that made his presence weird and inappropriate.
Father God in Heaven,
Please heal Richard Stallman of the cancer afflicting his
body, and give him a strong will to endure all of this to the end.
Let him keep his health through this period of his life here on Earth, LORD.
And let both him and his legacy continue shine the light of freedom and
transparency and human decency in this world, which is getting so dark.
And keep him healthy through his chemo, please God. And give him the joy of Your
salvation through Jesus Christ, and the hope of life eternal.
Save his soul, please God. And if it is Your will, even make him a saint in the
church of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Heaven wont be the same without him.
In Jesus Christ's name I ask,
Amen.
It's dangerous territory to get inspiration from a Large Language model instead of the Holy Spirit.
Thank God for His Holy Scriptures but it should be the Scriptures that set foremost in precedence to other training material for a LLM if it is going to be used as a tool.
Even then the proper way to get inspiration for a sermon is to pray and have a conversation with God about it, not a conversation with an AI.
I can think of many problems with getting inspiration for sermons from an AI instead of the Holy Spirit.
We don't want the pure and holy scriptures being subverted or interpretted by secular / political dictionaries, or corrupted by general internet corpora, political ideologies etc.
Also, consider this terrible scenarioo where a pastor may decide they want to get inspiration from the AI just because it makes them sound intelligent and they don't want to be embrassed, instead of relying on God for the inspiration.
But 1 Corinthians 1:27 says that God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
The thing about faith is like the story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22, faith sometimes requires holding-out for God, and getting inspiration through a chatbot is not doing that.
True transformation is only found in Christ. The Scriptures point to Christ.
To preach Christ crucified and resurrected is the only solution to a darkening world.
Hebrews 4:12
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
For the word of God is living and active and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing
as far as the division of soul and spirit, of
both joints and marrow, and able to judge the
thoughts and intentions of the heart.
(NASB)
The living Word is spiritual and speaks without the internet, and straight to the soul.
John 16:8
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
And He, when He comes, will convict the world
concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
(NASB)
The Holy Spirit teaches, and guides. The Holy Spirit should do the teaching and certainly provide the inspiration, not ChatGPT.
I like the SwordSearcher project because they are drawing in theological dictionaries, which preserves the meanings of the underlying words. But these large language models such as ChatGPT don't really do that. We want to translate the Bible into foreign and new and evolving languages to help people understand the Bible and be led to the authentic Jesus Christ, not redefine the meanings of the passages in the Bible in terms of evolving dictionaries in attempts to change the Bible.
LLMs are a convenience but they should not be used to generate sermons. To sound convincing is what politicians try to achive.
LLMs just as ChatGPT which are trained on the internet (untrustworthy information) generate coherent and convincing prose. But the Scriptures (God's Word, which is Truth) point to Jesus (the Word of God, who is the Truth). Prose generated from LLMs should be treated as impure and sermons should not use these AI systems for their inspiration. Rather, people should seek to hear from the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Holy Scriptures, and spoke through the prophets, and continues to speak to people.
Matthew 15:8-11
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But
their heart is far away from Me.
‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as
doctrines the precepts of men.’” After Jesus
called the crowd to Him, He said to them,
“Hear and understand.
It is not what enters into the mouth that
defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the
mouth, this defiles the man.”
(NASB)
1 Corinthians 1:27
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
but God has chosen the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to shame the
things which are strong,
(NASB)
ChatGPT is trained on internet corpua.
We don't want worldy ideologies creeping in to degrade the purity of the Holy Scriptures, thus correction comes from hearing and responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
It's not good to get the inspiration for sermons from these disconnected language models, and automating that process sounds like an abomination.
Jude 1:18-21
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
that they were saying to you, “In the last
time there will be mockers, following after
their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones
who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of
the Spirit.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on
your most holy faith, praying in the Holy
Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,
waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ to eternal life.
(NASB)
ChatGPT is of the world.
1 John 2:15
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Do not love the world nor the things in the
world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.
(NASB)
1 John 2:17
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
The world is passing away, and also its lusts;
but the one who does the will of God lives
forever.
(NASB)
James 4:4-5
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
You adulteresses, do you not know that
friendship with the world is hostility toward
God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to
no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit
which He has made to dwell in us”?
(NASB)
Jesus said in John 18:37, "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."
Only those who are of the truth can receive the truth, which is the voice of God. What is it to be "of the truth"? To be of the truth is to be birthed by the truth. It is to be born again by the truth.
I'm repurposing Pen.el into a software Bible because I believe that more important than software transparency and software freedom is developing software to keep the Bible holy and set-apart for God's purpose. My Dad told me Pen.el sounds a bit like Peniel (which means 'Face of God'), so I have made Genesis 32:30 display on startup. I want to build software to keep the Bible holy.
As you can see from the date on that blog article, Jesus saved me on 2 April 2022, daylight savings.
2 April also happened to be Palm Sunday in 2023, which is the day that Jesus triumpantly entered Jerusalem.
On 3 May 2022 I confessed (out of body, to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth):
Jesus is in me forever through the Holy Spirit.
I don't have to go anywhere to find Him. He found me.
He is the one keeping me alive.
To embrace Him is to embrace God Himself.
He is God Almighty.
Without the Holy Spirit we would not be able to obey the LORD.
He is the one who also washes us.
The Holy Spirit is doing the washing.
I've made mistakes as I was barely ready after
being born again to get thrust into spiritual
battle, but I want the remainder of my time on Earth to honour Him.
- John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
- Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- How to make a heart holy: By the blood of Jesus Christ and the Word of God in your heart.
Truth is a person, Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God Almighty, and is God Almighty.
Jesus can save anyone! I pray that anyone reading this will be blessed by God!
Though I'm not a particularly religious person myself, I have to say this is commendable work. Your passion and conviction for both this project and your beliefs is very evident. I'm comforted seeing people able to balance the provable logics of science against the blind faiths sometimes asked of religion. Thankfully it seems to be a slowly growing trend.
We don't want the pure and holy scriptures being subverted or interpretted by secular / political dictionaries, or corrupted by general internet corpora, political ideologies etc.
But I put it all down to do philosophy, then some soul searching and God turned up. Spirit, astral projection, lightsoul, God, Christ, heaven -- all real.
Regardless of outcomes, your faithfulness is still virtuous. Living completely in inner truth is what you want to aim for. Sometimes that means persevering in truth over a period of time. When it doesn't work out, you have trained yourself to be faithful. The most important thing is probaly that whatever you are doing is truth for you, but without dependency on the other. There is no dependency when reciprocation is not necessary in order for you to feel loved by the simple act of doing what is true for you. I've met a person with an imaginary relationship and it keeps him focused on his creative output. It's very important to be able to maximise creative output (perhaps through your muse?) and to not overrationalise. That is because we live in the age of DALLE and artificial imagination, and you need all the entropy you can get!
Marriage was instituted by God when people were created. The Bible says that in the last days people will deny marriage.
When I read this article, I see it as using a strawman argument to attack something which God has put in place.