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DIECAST Collectible
Model Cars And More
Item# |
Description |
Stock
Status |
2101D |
Mail Truck (4.5") 2101D |
Restock |
2102HD |
Hot Dog Vending Truck (4.5", White) 2102HD |
Restock |
2105D |
Oil Tanker (5.5", Asstd.) 2105D |
Restock |
2112D |
Delivery Truck (5.25", Asstd.) 2112D |
Restock |
2113D |
Delivery Truck (5", Asstd.) 2113D |
Restock |
9661D |
Farm Tractor (4", Asstd.) 9661D |
Restock |
9665D |
Farm Tractor (4.25", Asstd.) 9665D |
Restock |
9801/2D |
City Bus (6", Asstd.) 9801/2D |
Restock |
9811D |
Classic City Bus (5.75", Asstd.) 9811D |
Restock |
9838D |
City Pick-Up Trucks (4.5", Asstd.) 9838D |
Restock |
9869D |
Space Shuttle (5") 9869D |
Restock |
9907/8D |
Sport ATV (4.25", Asstd.) 9907/8D |
Restock |
9911D |
Garbage Truck (6", Asstd.) 9911D |
Restock |
9921/4D |
Fire Engine (4.75", Asstd.) 9921/4D |
Restock |
9931D |
Power Steam Locomotive (5", Asstd.) 9931D |
Restock |
9985/4D |
Police Series (5", Asstd.) 9985/4D |
Restock |
8882/3D |
Super Tank Team (6.5", Asstd.) 8882/3D |
Restock |
9870D |
Jumbo Jetliner (6", Asstd.) 9870D |
Restock |
3506D |
Kinsmart - Smart ATV (3.5", Asstd.) 3506D |
Restock |
5005D |
Kinsmart - Chevy Suburban School Bus (1950, 1:36 scale diecast model, 4.5", Yellow) 5005D |
Restock |
5006D |
Kinsmart - Chevy Suburban (1950, 1:36 scale diecast model, Asstd.) 5006D |
Restock |
5092D |
Kinsmart - Ford GT (1:36 scale diecast model, Asstd.) 5092D |
Restock |
5310D |
Kinsmart - Shelby GT500 Hard Top (2007, 1:38, Asstd.) 5310D |
Restock |
T002319 |
Mac Tools - Diecast Car Garage Accessories Tool Kit (1:24) T002319 |
Restock |
34870 |
Nascar Car - Hauler Car Showcase (1:64, Blue) 34870 |
New |
Tin Signs
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Thank you
Lu Su
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700

God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Humor, Prophecy, and Free-will
By Lu Su
Did Jesus ever laugh?
How does God know the future?
If God knows the future, do I have have free-will?
The first question is a gimmie. Did Jesus ever laugh? My short answer is yes -absolutely! Just because it is not documented, doesn't mean it never occurred. I've read much on our founding fathers George Washington and John Adams and I have yet to find any mention in any book that says they clipped his toe nails; But I have confidence that they engage in this mundane human activity (or perhaps it was a very exciting activity for them because they only had very sharp hunting knives?). Jesus being fully human and fully God at the same time would have the fully array of emotions we humans have. Every human on this earth seems to have the ability to laugh. It's not something that has to be taught to us. To me, it seems that humor and laughter are innate qualities to human nature. So if someone never laughed, then I might question if that person is human. Now if you are a Trecky fan, you've noticed that Mr. Spock and Commander Data never smile or laugh -because they are not human. From my perspective and the Star Trek writer's perspective, laughter is intrinsic to humanity.
Since laughter isn't evil, there is no reason why Jesus couldn't have laughed. From my observation, laughter often erupts when you are in a loving environment. If there is one person that walked this earth whom best demonstrated and embodied what love is -Jesus is it. Moreover, anyone who is willing to lay down their life for you, must have a considerable measure of love in them. Now as for the surprise element that causes laughter, I feel that surprise is a very important ingredient to cause spontaneous laughter. I also believe that because Jesus was God, nothing ever surprised him. But it is still possible that his friends pinned him down and tickled him. I know if we were together for two years traveling, eating, sleeping, and praying together and you never laughed, I would be very curious to see what happens if you got tickled. Although the lyrics for Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant song are no longer a surprise, but I still chuckle when I hear him sing "Kid, we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope under that garbage." or "I want to kill, Kill, KILL!!!"
Notice that humor, prophecy, and this thorny question of free-will versus destiny question all share something in common. What they all share in common is this thing called TIME. For us humans, time is needed for something funny to occur. Laughter itself takes time; because it involves taking air into your lungs and expelling it. The fulfillment of prophecy requires time to make it happen. Concepts like free-will and pre-determined events also require time. So without time, the three questions are all moot. Time is necessary if we are to have laughter, have a future, and to exercise free-will.
For us humans, time is so pervasive in our lives. It's like what water is to fish. It's just so part of your lives that it's something most people just take for granted -until someone is gone. I'm very grateful that God has created an environment for us humans to exist in. Now all environments have boundaries. Our boundaries are called space and time. We reside within three spatial boundaries; we have given these three spatial boundaries fancy names like length, width, and height. But besides these three spatial boundaries, we have another non-spatial boundary called time. We as humans are bound to these four boundaries and so far haven't found a way to escape them. If we hope to have a good day, we want space and time to be there when we wake up. For example, in order for our heart to properly work, our heart requires a certain spatial dimension (i.e., length, width height). Take a single spatial boundary away and the lung collapses. If time were to stop or disappear, no pumping action would occur.
In Stephen Hawking's famous book "A Brief History In Time", he does something very interesting with time. In an effort to understand the origin of the universe, Hawking attempts to look at the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe in a different way -a new model. I must admit, much of the book is beyond what my brain can understand, but I think what he does is to take time and convert it into another spatial boundary. So instead of looking at the universe in the tradition 3D plus time method, he calls his new model four dimensional space-time. Ah, typical of these scientists coming up with new new models and make these things called theories. But picturing object and events in four dimensions (4D) is really tough.
Most likely, you are in a room right now. Look at where two walls meet the ceiling. If the ceiling is flat, at the very corner you will see three lines merging out of a single point. Unless you are currently reading this in the Pentagon, all three lines should radiate from a single origin and all three lines will be 90 degree's perpendicular to each other. Now in a 4D world, when you looked into the corner, there would be 4 lines coming out of a single origin and all four lines would be 90 perpendicular to each other. I admit that I do not understand how 4D space-time glasses help Hawking better understand the universe (my mind is still working on that corner with 4 lines), but I know Hawking was on to something. He wants to look at the universe in a non-traditional way. This then gave me the idea that in understanding the question on how God can always accurately know the future, you need a different view point -a different model.
How does God know the future? The short answer is that God knows the future because the past, present and future all exist at the same time for him. The question is actually a malformed question when you ask someone a question that involves time -who is outside time. Remember God made time -so he isn't bound by it. You could say time has got nothing on God. If time stopped, we humans would cease to exist; but if time stopped, God would continue to be. I think it helps to picture it this way. Instead of us living in a 3D world plus time, imagine that we are living in a 2D world plus time. So on a piece of paper, draw two stick men. One is you, and the other strong and good looking stick figure is me. So we basically have height and width; but no depth (I needed to shed those few pounds anyway). Now what would a ball look like to us? How could 2D people understand what a 3D sphere looks like?
As stick men and having no depth perception, we could only have an understanding of what a ball looked like If the ball was pushed through our world (our world being the paper). So upon the ball making initial contact with the paper, it would just be a dot. As the ball was pushed through, it would look like a circle getting progressively larger. Once the ball was half way through our world, the circle would start shrinking in size and eventually just being a dot again. So a ball to us stick people, is a dot that becomes a circle that gets larger and larger then smaller and smaller and then is a dot again. That is what a ball looks like to 2D people and it doesn't look like a sphere. Notice that TIME is required for these 2D people to understand what a ball is.
For us 2D people, the size of the ball would not be known until the circle reached its climax and started shrinking. So upon the ball just entering their world (just a dot), it would seem impossible for anyone in our world to know what the size of the ball was going to be. Yes, impossible for the people in that 2D world; but not for people who exist outside that world. So for us humans asking the question on how God knows the future, it's the exact same question as the stick men asking how we know what the ball size is -when the ball has not yet reached it's climax. Notice that both us and the stick men need TIME in order to process what a ball is. People outside the 2D universe don't need time to understand a ball..
So here, I need you to make a jump in comprehension. Call the ball passing through the 2D world an event. Events have a starting point, a climax, and and ending point. When it comes to events, God sees our events as clearly as we see ball. So I believe that to God, our events in our 3D plus time world, look like solid object to him. He sees the past, present, and future all at the same time. Although we do not know what the future holds for us, that does not mean our future does not already exist. What is very interesting, is if you read the Bible, he gives us insight on how he sees us. He often calls people by what they are to become -even before they have become that person. More on this later.
As for the question If God knows the future, do I have have free-will? In my opinion, this is one of the thorniest questions Christians have to contend with. Because we believe in free-will and we also believe that God knows the future and thus our destiny. So if the destiny is already set, it does not appear that we have free-will to alter its course. It's sort of like that dreaded Terminator question. How can someone from the future, come back to the past and impregnate Sarah Conner? Who then will eventually be the descendant of Sarah?
To my knowledge, James Cameron never addresses that question. The apostle Paul actually touches on this very subject, but does not answer the question either. Well, if these two famous characters got to put the question off, I probably should too. But I am confident that that these two concepts (free-will and destiny) are not two mutually exclusive things; thus it is NOT an impossibility but only a paradox.