Comments

Episode-353- Listener Feedback 1-11-01 — 15 Comments

  1. Jack – have you used bentonite as a soil amendment? I’ve only used it to stop pond leaks and seal foundations. It gets to be a consistency that while it may hold water, won’t be water that the plants can access. If its been done and works, I am open to the possibility but seems like it would just get to be a mess.

    For desert sites: great points Jack, also – find the most hardy evergreen N-fixing perennials that grow in that area. Plant them dense on contour and whack them as they grow, pumping your soil with org matter and Nitrogen.

  2. @Ben,

    There is a big difference between using bentonite in big areas and using powdered bentonite mixed into soil at appropriate amounts.

    Here is an awesome free one hour video on Google Video, one of the things used in the sandy soil is bentonite.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-918331001764551597

    As and amendment it is used by sprinkling it and mixing it into the soil along with some other items. Check out the video, I think you will enjoy it.

  3. @John,

    A politician in that time had to be part of a recognized church. Not everyone that goes to a church is 100% in agreement with their church.

    Here is some info on this,

    http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism

    I would say it is accurate to say the many of our founders were deist, some were Christian. Many were Christian but more like many of the Christians of today rather then the times status quo as well.

    The big thing is our nation is not a Christian nation founded by Christian’s as is often claimed, it is a nation founded by men that understood rights come from God but men are free to do with those rights as they choose, up until the point that they violate the rights of others. If only the men in our government today understood this.

  4. Wikipedia’s “Founding Fathers” article has a fairly concise piece on their religion (pasted below). And while yeah, there were certainly some deists and anti-religionists among them (especially among the bigger names), there were also some hard core Christian believers, too. It’s important to remember that atheism was a pretty foreign idea to the Fathers, though. Since these rights were given to Man by God, without God, the whole argument breaks down. Any “rights” would have to derive from the State, who could take them away at will.

    The point in the episode about _tolerance_ is right on the money. The original idea of tolerance as they understood it has been warped in the past 75 years.

    —snip

    Lambert (2003) has examined the religious affiliations and beliefs of the Founders. Some of the 1787 delegates had no affiliation. The others were Protestants except for three Roman Catholics: C. Carroll, D. Carroll, and Fitzsimons. Among the Protestant delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 28 were Church of England (Episcopalian, after the Revolutionary War was won), eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists, the total number being 49. Some of the more prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical or vocal about their opposition to organized religion, such as Thomas Jefferson[12][13] (who created the “Jefferson Bible”), and Benjamin Franklin[14]. However, other notable founders, such as Patrick Henry, were strong proponents of traditional religion. Several of the Founding Fathers considered themselves to be deists or held beliefs very similar to that of deists.

  5. I agree with your assessment of the 223 round not being designed for deer hunting. However, I was wondering if the AK47 @ 7.62 x 39mm would be an acceptable alternative. If so, would you suggest hollow point or standard rounds ?

  6. Jack what about using heavy battle rifles that can service a combat/ hunting role? FN FAL, HK-G3, M14 or other MBR guns that fire the 7.62x51mm Nato rounds. If people want something similar to a m16 platform maybe a HK-417.

    I do agree with you Jack. The world is over populated/ over populating. We have only so many resources hopefully we will not crash. I’m surprised that some don’t understand this there are many natural examples of something getting too big for it’s environment and being unsustainable some animals even live in cycles of crashing and rebuilding. We already have people around the world without good food and water, more people isn’t gonna help that problem.

    However those that are prepared and skilled will have a greater likelihood of surviving any such crash if it were to happen and being able to help others.

  7. Loved today\’s podcast, but have a quick statement to make regarding the \"Deist\" controversy:
    Unfortunately the entire \"Deist\" argument has been put forward in the recent past (especially since the 1960\’s) as a way to discredit the religious foundational tenants of our nation. Truthfully, if you read the actual writings of the various founders you\’ll find all you need to refute the argument that *most* of our founding fathers were deists. A few may have had \"deist\" tendencies or alignments on some level, but even the terminologies and methodologies they incorporated into the official national documents (such as the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution) prove that there was a definitive foundational belief in a Divine Being with the attributes of the Judeo-Christian God. Even Jefferson, probably the least \"religious\" of the founders made it quite clear where he stood (as discussed here: http://westernexperience.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/was-thomas-jefferson-a-deist/ ). So I guess I\’m saying, be cautious not to fall for the trap of those who would remove all attributes of the Christian faith that were embedded in this great nation\’s foundational tenants.
    Sincerely,
    A Humble History Teacher (who really enjoys TSP, BTW) 🙂

  8. Christian or any other values have nothing to do with it because really it’s social values they evolve over time. Christians or any other religion have no static moral consistency to point to. It just depends on what social values were around at the time which is evident in the bible it’s self it has plenty of horrible things especially the old testament.

    a few examples: (Values placed in theology are a reflection on that time)

    Hosea 13:16 NLT (Killing of children and pregnant women)
    Leviticus 20:9 NLT (Ridiculous)
    Ephesians 6:5 NLT (Slavery)
    1 Corinthians 14:33-35 NAB (Sexism)
    1 Timothy 2:11-15 NLT (Sexism)
    Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB (Rape/ death to rape victim)

    Social values evolve over time. religion it’s self doesn’t bring values, people do. religious values are made by people and that influence is clear.

  9. @Whatz you said,

    “that there was a definitive foundational belief in a Divine Being”

    Yea that would be a deist at least one form of a deist. That is the definition of a deist, in fact all Jews, Christians and Muslims are in a way also deists.

    The moment a person breaks from the mold of “one faith” but continues to believe in a “Divine Being” of some sort they become a pure deist if such a term truly exists. I find it funny that many see the concept of deism as anti religion. Many are anti dogma but none by the very definition of the word are anything approaching an agnostic or atheist.

    I personally have many issues with all organized faith. Note I said PERSONALLY, yes Jack is also a deist. I believe in God and for me that is enough. I totally respect and admire the beliefs of others and I only ask for the same attitude in return.

  10. I might get in trouble for saying this but please here me out.In the time of our founding fathers there was much more of a fear factor in church if you didnt go you were looked at as strange or anti god so i do agree that there was a lot of people that went to a church of different belief to save themself from a lot of grief.

  11. Jack,
    Great show, I liked the letter from the lady who wants to save shower water. I’ve been using for a year now a 5 gallon water cooler bottle in my shower to collect the cold water. The 5 gallon bottles fills in about a week.
    Here is one thing I am considering installing: http://www.chilipepperapp.com/. This pre-heats the water by pushing the cold water back into the water pipes until it is warm enough. Should save quite of bit of unused water from going down the drain.

  12. I know I’m way late on this, since I got behind and am catching up on a couple of shows I missed, but, we have to look at what is being claimed. Deists believe that God basically created the earth, man, etc, and then, left it and us to fend for ourselves. Christians believe God still works with, through, and in us, on a daily basis. To say the majority of the founders were Deists is simply not believable, if you examine them closely enough. Once again, the phrase is “check it out”. There would certainly be no reason for these men to have prayed on a daily basis as they did, every time they met. There was prayer, scripture reading, and many of them were educated as pastors, in colleges of the day, which were established to do that very thing. There’s not enough room here to fully address all the resources available.

    President George Washington stated, “No people can be found to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States.”

    “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live,the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? … I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.” — Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention of 1787.

    “God who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a connection in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” — Thomas Jefferson.

    Remember, Franklin and Jefferson are claimed to be Deists. Does it sound even remotely possible that they would make these kinds of statements if they were Deists?

    Not likely. Not at all.

  13. @dudekrtr

    I said MANY not the MAJORITY. However, your three you picked out all were deists at least on some level.

    Jefferson rewrote the gospel removing all components of the supernatural from it.

    Washington, well explain this painting on our capital dome? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E-8LbnhvD1s/SrumTrGINkI/AAAAAAAAB4A/7PwVzb04XSA/s400/washington_god.jpg

    As for Franklin here is a good write up on it, http://www.adherents.com/people/pf/Benjamin_Franklin.html

    The point is it doesn’t matter who was and was not a deist so much as the NEW popular argument that “America is a Christian nation” is totally false. This nation was founded by Christians and deists and atheists but it is none of them as a nation in and of itself. Read our constitution you won’t find the word Christian in it. You also won’t find the word God in it. You will find “creator” in the declaration and nothing more. Why? This nation is not a _________ nation with any faith or lack of faith in that blank. Our nation is religion neutral and trust me as a Christian you want it to stay that way. If this nation is “Christian” today, it can become Muslim or Hindu tomorrow.

    Simply put a Religious Nation is a nation founded on religion. You want to see what a religious nation looks like, here is a quote from the Iraqi constitution

    “Article 2:

    First: Islam is the official religion of the State and it is a fundamental source of legislation:

    A. No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.”

    I will tell you I am quite happy this nation doesn’t have anything like that in our foundational law.

  14. Sorry Jack, but you did say “MOST of our founding fathers were not Christian”, not many. (about 1:10) While they attended a number of different churches, they did consider themselves Christian.

    How can you be a deist “at some level”?

    The founding fathers wanted to make sure that no one “religion”, ie, Calvinism, Presbyterianism, Catholicism, would be established. That’s what the fear was; remembering that the reason we all ended up here almost 200 years before was to avoid being mandated into the church of England.

    Those are man made religions. Christianity, or, TRUE Christianity, is a relationship with our Creator.

    Let’s get back to gardening 🙂