Fun with Maths - Part 2 - Squaring the circle

Fun with Maths - Part 2 - Squaring the circle - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012. 

There are numbers which are not natural or rational numbers, and are called transcendental numbers. These are numbers which cannot be expressed exactly in our number system, having infinite decimals, like p and e - with the result that we will never know what the circumference of a circle is equal to exactly, if we have its radius. The formula is easy C (circumference)=2*p*R (Radius).

There are two ways of trying to establish it.

Philosophy - Part 15 - For King and Country

Philosophy - Part 15 - For King and Country - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012

How many innocent, non-suspecting and honest people have been killed because of King and Country? And if you think that conscripted soldiers are not innocent, what are they then? Most countries do not have standing armies, so the soldiers are conscripted from the non-suspecting, innocent and honest population - and if they are pacifists, like myself, they go to jail for refusing. I did not go to jail, but complied with the call to arms, and did not protest against such, as I did not even know or care a hoot of why we were in that war - and that is why all countries take their youngest men. These men do not even know what the war is about - and it always happens the same, fighting for some pie in the sky.

And the truth is always the first casualty in any war. And a war is not about who is right, it is about who is left.

Adult Sunday School - Part 7 - The Law

Adult Sunday School - Part 7 - The Law - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012

We find ourselves in the beginning of the world. Adam and Eve, who knew God personally, may have died already. What do we find? Violence, revenge, war, aggression - and people in bondage, even slavery. And this despite God's will that we be kind to each other and enjoy His creation.

How did this transpire then? It is because we could sin with impunity. There was no law. God wanted us to be free and not subject to any laws other than the one forbidding us to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.

But we had eaten of this fruit - we now know what sin and evil is, and we are going to pursue this line for survival, not knowing that it leads to death.

Of course we will not be punished for our sin and evil, other than dying because of it one day. So there is this uneasy peace with God, and it is building up tension between us and God and between us and our fellow men. We were on a path of self-destruction.

Fun with Maths - Part 1 - Divisibility

Fun with Maths - Part 1 - Divisibility - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012

I find Maths exciting, fun and empowering. At its most elementary I know how old I am, what my bank balance is, and what my age will be at my next birthday. This opens up my world to comparisons and many other such useless things.

But, it is also the basis on which the Universe is created. Simple, powerful, logical, complex and mystical. No wonder the early Pythagoreans were thought to be mystic philosophers.

I have had coffee with a maths teacher of Canada once, and I thought that the coffee 'break' would be a very fruitful discussion on physics, until I found out that he knew nothing about physics. I was totally flabbergasted, and could not imagine that someone would know maths well, but would know nothing of physics. To me it was like a mechanic walking around with a box of spanners, not knowing what a spanner is used for.

Philosophy - Part 15 - What do you see?

This part was written by Annemie Odendaal on invitation.

As a painter, you are required to look at things a little differently, a little deeper. Paint that emotion behind the eyes, capture the magic that isn't visible on the surface. You have to look at an object and see how things really are. You can not draw from memory, you have to really look investigatively. We have to examine every angle, it is the only way to develop or grow in your style.

Years ago the Impressionists tried this for the first time,followed by the post-impressionists, expressionists and cubists. Until then, everybody painted just what they saw on surface and from memory. Everything was picture perfect and pretty. Almost documentary, which make sense, since there wasn't any cameras.

One day in Verona - Pictures

The first in my photography series.

One day in Verona

Adult Sunday School - Part 6 - Shaking the Earth again

Adult Sunday School - Part 6 - The earth is shaken for a last time. - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012. 

Whilst we are busy with the destruction of the earth and the subsequent reconstruction and replenishment on many occasions, it will be prudent to take it to its final conclusion. What we know is that in most of these cases only the earth was shaken, but in the end of times, the heaven will be shaken as well as in:

Heb. 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

In previous parts I have already dwelt on the meaning of heaven as referring to the sky. Our conclusion is thus that on many of the occasions when the earth was destroyed it was done from inside itself as a sort of implosion, but in Revelation the skies will also be shaken, meaning that the whole earth will tumble as in:

Adult Sunday School - Part 5 - The first sin

Adult Sunday School - Part 5 - The first sin - by P.K.Odendaal - August 2012

And so the world was new again and there was no sin and no law and no evil, only a serious warning by God that they should not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, because they would then die (spiritually).

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

It is clear from this that when there is no law and no knowledge of evil then there cannot be any sin. This verse says that once you know what is good and evil, then you will know what is sin and then you will die of your sin.

Philosophy - Part 14 - Keep it plain and simple

Philosophy - Part 14 - Keep it plain and simple - by P.K.Odendaal - July 2012

Life is so complicated ... or is it ... or do we only make it so? I think we are the real complicators, not life. And we make it complicated in our effort to make it easy.

Let us say I have to carry water from a stream to my house. Now this is very easy and monotonous and tiresome. However, I can take this burden from me and install a pipeline with a pump set - and then I will have an almost unlimited supply of water to my house at no sweat. Who worries about the extra cost when there is a thing called debt? After some time the pump set breaks down or the electrical supply is stolen - the latter being standard practise in our country.

Adult Sunday School - Part 4 - Regeneration

Adult Sunday School - Part 4 - Regeneration and Replenishment of Earth. - by P.K.Odendaal - July 2012

And so we come to Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

We have seen in the previous part how the earth was laid waste, being void, and without form and without light. It was time for God to remake the vessel :

Jer. 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.

If we read this story as the story of creation, we will see many anomalies and discrepancies. If we read it as the regeneration of earth, we will find it interesting. If we read between the lines or on a deeper level, we will find it vital and exciting - and I will try to bring all three to you.