Alcoholism, ADD, and Hypoglycemia

cmp.2009.02.19
ed. 2009.02.19.03

I was surprised when I first heard that Alcoholism was a disease where the person who was drunk couldn't actually tell that they were drunk. This just so happens to be similar with people who have ADD and hypoglycemic symptoms too.

The similarities between alcoholism, ADD, and hypoglycemia, I hope, will shed some light on the possibility that ADD children are really not just "acting out", or need more punishment, but that there may actually be a biological issue here. Certainly discipline, (heavy on instruction), is required to help teach self control, but hopefully this ponderous ponder might inspire more patience among parents.

I am not really sure if there is really any "one", "official", symptom list of alcoholism, but I started thinking about all of the other symptoms: the irritability, the shaking, the compulsiveness, the lack of inhibition, (all very much related to elavated levels of epinephrine). And oddly enough, these symptoms as well are eerily similar to ADD and Hypoglycemia, including the lack of knowledge of just how "pushed" one's own behavior gets.

Although Hypoglycemia is not a disease, the symptoms are real enough. Technically, Hypoglycemia is a set of symptoms related to problems with blood sugar, where your body produces too much insulin, or otherwise metabolizes sugar too fast.

Well, recently I came across an article entitled: "On Parenting Are Sugar-Loving Kids Likely to Grow Up Alcoholic and Depressed?", which seems to confirm my hypothesis somewhat, (from: http://www.usnews.com/health/blogs/on-parenting/2010/02/18/are-sugar-loving-kids-likely-to-grow-up-alcoholic-and-depressed.html).

I am very very curious to see how alcoholism, hypoglycemia, and ADD can, and/or will be, linked in the future. I have always wondered why these similarities really are not talked about.

God vs. Rock

cmp.2010.02.02
ed.2010.02.13.03

Organization
1. Introduction
2. An Irrational View of God
3. A Better View of God
4. Conclusion

1. Introduction
Philosophers, Atheists and even believers are perplexed by the incessant wondering: "If God is Omnipotent, then why is he forced to endure imperfection". Another form of this dilemma takes shape in the inherrent rational contradictions between the three widely held views towards God: "God is all Powerful", "God is Morally Perfect", "God has Free Will".

No matter how you spin this triangle of attributes, you will always arrive at a logical contradiction. So, because it is evident that the God of Scripture has presented himself as highly rational, and that we were commanded to pursue understanding and wisdom, then I am persuaded there must be a rational resolution.

And the answer is simply this: "What in the world were people thinking when they ascribed these attributes to God when God never ascribed all three of those attributes to himself?"

So, here is the explanation that I often give, and I would really appreciate any corrections and comments about the general validity of the response.

2. An Irrational View of God
The irrational contradictions that these three attributes imply have been wrestled with for a long time. These arguments are intended to provide a logically sound proof that these attributes could not describe any being, omnipotent or otherwise. Again, these attributes are: "Moral Perfection", "Free Will", and "Omnipotence".

Contradiction: "God vs. Rock" or "Free Will vs. Omnipotence"
1. God can do anything.
2. So, God must be able to create anything.
3. So, God must be able to create a rock he cannot lift.
4. If God cannot lift the rock, then there is something God cannot do.

Contradiction: "God's Omnipotence vs. God's Free Will
1. God can do anything.
2. God has free will.
3. Where there is free will, there is a choice.
4. Since God can do anything, then God can promise to make a never ending covenant.
5. If God cannot choose to break this covenant, then God has no free will.

Contradiction: "God's Free Will vs. God's Moral Perfection
1. God can do anything.
2. God is morally perfect.
3. If God is morally perfect, then everything he does must be perfect.
4. If God must do anything, then God does not have a choice in that situation.
5. If God does not have a choice, then God does not have free will.


3. A Better View of God
If there are "three" attributes of God that are explicitly stated in Jewish and Christian Scripture, they are: "God is Faithful", (Deut. 7:9) "God is Just", (Neh. 9:33), and "The Word of God is Truth", (Ps. 119:160). If these three attributes could be shown to be mutally exclusive, then there would certainly be a problem, because they are found in Scripture.

But as for the other the other "three", it is clear from Scripture that God is not always omnipotent, nor does God always have free will:

1. In order for any "X" to be restrained or restricted there must be some force equal to or greater than "X" to restrain it.
2. In order for God to be restrained there must be some force equal to or greater than God to stop him.
3. It is consistent to assert that there is none greater than the "Most High", God.
4. So, no greater force can restrain God.
5. But what if there is there some force equal to God?
6. Again, it is logically consistent to assert that there are none beside God if there is a "Most High", ("most" implies a single being above the rest).
7. So, if there is nothing greater than X, and nothing equal X, then what other possibility remains to constrain the free will of God, or his power?
8. X = X. God = God.
9. God is not greater than himself, but God is equal to himself.
10. Since God is equal to himself, then it is logically consistent to assert that God can restrain himself.
11. If God creates a rock, then promises to not lift it, then God cannot lift it, until the force that restrains him is removed, (the force of God, himself).

4. Conclusion
In Scripture, if "The Word of God is Truth", (of if the word of God is, or becomes, reality), then everything that God says "must be". And if so, then Scripture is full of examples of God saying things that impose on his own power and free will, (though, God uses his own power and free will to limit his own power and free will). And these promises constrain God in a way that require Him to patiently endure evil as well as to perfect the imperfect, for a time anyway.

What is a far more problematic dilemma would be a God who couldn't restrain himself, or submit himself to his own word, a God who could choose not to be faithful.

The idea that God is "all" knowing is not "traditional theology". Even though there are instances where David, or someone else in an intimate relationship with God declare that God knows everything about them, specifically, Scripture does not explicitly make these statements in generalities.

But on the otherhand, there are MANY instances in Scripture where God chooses to know, or not to know people, (God is therefore not omniscient in the way we think). There are also many instances where God chooses to be or not be different places, (therefore, God is not omnipresent as we think). And, there are many places in Scripture where God constrains himself, (and since he is not mighty enough to overcome himself, he is not omnipotent in the way we think).

So, by modern theologians creating intellectual, unbiblical arguments, they maintain unsustainable and contradictory positions. However, if they would just go with what is written, there isn't a contradicton regarding if God has free will; but rather, in both Jewish and Christian Scripture, there are many examples where God limits his own free will though his own word:

God constrains his own free will:
Gen. 22:16 "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son ..."

Hebrews 6:13
For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself ...