Affable Geek recently passed 50k reputation. Still earning rep from heaven! :P

@DanAndrews Do you see this as a positive or negative development?

@El'endiaStarman :) His contributions to this site are truly immense - for instance, he is the #6 rep earner for the quarter despite having (obviously) not written a single new answer/question

@ThaddeusB Did anyone ever find out - How did he die?

Writing an answer to this question is damn hard work. I've been at it for four days solid, leaving aside dozens of minor arguments, and still ahve a long ways to go.

@JimG. There was something on meta - let me see if I can find it

nope, nothing concrete was said (you probably saw everything previously) - my memory was mistaken

@JimG. Since you're so keen on knowing, and it's been a while since he passed away, I'm okay with making it known. Attempted murder, successful suicide. The suicide was planned, the attempted murder may not have been.

I don't feel comfortable revealing anything more than that.

wow, that's a shocker

Yeah.

@El'endiaStarman I'm heartbroken.

Yeah, I was too.

@El'endiaStarman This is totally my own issue - But stuff like this really makes me look up to the sky and say stuff like, "God, why?" and "God? Are you there?"

@LeeWoofenden Lee, I've mulled this over, and I'm not sure I see the difference between "[Calvinist theology] is a horrible, evil theology that should be abandoned by any decent person" and "anyone intellectually committed to Calvinist theology is not a decent person." Could you explain the difference, if there is one?

@Nathaniel Contrary to Protestant faith-alone theology, it is not what you believe that saves you or even makes you a decent person, but what you do pursuant to what you believe that saves you and makes you a decent person (or not).

The two greatest commandments are not "Believe in Jesus as your Savior" and "Believe in Jesus as your Savior," but "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." These are what determine both the quality of a person's character and whether that person goes to heaven or hell, as affirmed in Matthew 25:31-46.

So if a person is "intellectually committed to Calvinist theology" lives a life of love for God and love for his or her fellow human beings, he or she is a decent person, and will go to heaven, not hell, in the afterlife. The belief in Calvinist theology, in itself, is useless and ineffectual.

Having said that, I would also say that to the extent that a person is intellectually committed to Calvinist theology, that person's beliefs will be vitiated, and it will be a negative influence on that person's life and character. Still, there are many very good people who cling to very false beliefs. It is the way the person lives, not the what he or she believes intellectually, that determines whether he or she is a decent person, headed to heaven.

Short version: Calvinist Predestination is an utterly false and highly toxic belief. But those who live good and loving lives anyway, despite that intellectual toxicity vitiating their thinking, are decent, heaven-bound people.

@LeeWoofenden: Have you read C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, particularly the last book: The Last Battle?

New blog post! My Notes on 1 Peter

@El'endiaStarman When I was in my teens, I read the first few books, but got bogged down in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That's as far as I got--and that was nearly forty years ago.

For the programmers among us: Computer programming to be officially renamed to "Googling StackOverflow". LOL.