Opus 2026-337: The Laws of God and the Lies of Man

As I’m driving home from church I noticed signs that I often ignore when I’m coming up to a certain curvy part of the road and it tells me to slow down to 45 miles an hour.  I’ve seen these signs on other road trips.  Generally I’ve found that it’s pretty safe to add 20 mph on that without even having to worry about it.
 
There is a difference between the laws of bureaucracy and the laws of physics.  Bureaucracy wants to slow you down to keep you safe, and to get personal satisfaction of exercising control over your life.  Physics deals in unchanging reality.  It’s based on what happens when certain conditions are met.  It doesn’t have much to do with your attitude or your focus or your health or anything else along those lines.  It’s a matter of what it is.

Too often our government runs on the basis of what will make them feel good and what they can get away with.  God on the other hand has certain moral standards that don’t vary.  He acquaints us with them.  He let us know that there will be consequences if we violate them.  Don’t fall into the trap that God is like any other authority figure.  He will not be mocked and cannot be gamed.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-336: No Thank You

Sitting as a passenger in one of those newfangled electronic digital automobiles I was offered the experience of having my seat warmed.  I said no thank you.

There may be a lot of pleasant things in the world, but I don’t need to get used to them so that I actually desire them.  Think of all the “needs” we have that were once “wants”.  Do you really need a smart phone?  Do you need power windows?  Cash?  

I sill concede that certain inventions make life easier.  I think the zipper is a game changer.  The microwave is awesome for reheating coffee even if coffee snobs disagree.  Free long distance calls are wonderful.  I would not want to go back to candles and oil lamps.  I like hot water on demand.  If necessary I could get by without them but I am willing to call them needs.

Those needs also come with a price.  One of the reasons it is so expensive to live in America is that we are used to all these “needs”.  One of the marks of totalitarian tyrants is to reduce the quality of life.  There is a certain ego satisfaction in depriving others of the things that make life enjoyable.  It may be sick but then so are the elites of Europe that are taking away air conditioning.

Freedom improves life not only in the abstract but also in the daily application.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-335: More Salt, Please

What do you do with a piece of meat that has gone bad?  I am sure you have had the experience of finding something in the back of the fridge that is slimy, green and disgusting.  We tend to throw it out, or at least I do.  You may make it into a haute couture delicacy and convince people it will change their lives.

I was shocked to learn that before refrigeration people did not throw out a side of beef that was turning green.  I was told that they would find a sharp knife, remove all the green and cook up what was underneath.  In other words, you did not need to throw out the entire side.  What was underneath could be salvaged.  That is what God did repeatedly with Israel.  They had gone bad.  They were slimy and disgusting.  Picture a group of people who had bought into the idea of throwing their babies into a raging furnace.  Not a pretty picture.

God cut them off.  He would repeatedly find that He needed to cut again and cut deeper.  That is the bad news which we should take seriously today.  The church thinks of themselves as the body of Christ.  That body does not include the slimy decomposed gunk on the outside.  God will find it necessary to cut that off.

There is a point in preserving meat where adding salt will allow it to last longer.  America has been in that status for a long time.  True believers have provided enough salt for God to withhold His hand of judgement.  I am not sure how much longer we will be salty enough.

The good news is that not only will God bring us into eternity with Him but His promises still apply to the faithful remnant that remain.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-334: Nexus

I’m thinking that we need to start a series of meditation centers around the country.  Have you ever seen someone trip or stumble and they turn around and stare at the spot where they tripped as if they’re going to see something significant.  They have a puzzle look.  Some might be angry.  We could set up cameras and see if we could locate certain spots around the country where this event happened over and over again.

If, on investigation, we found that people were tripping because there was a raised crack in the sidewalk, we could fix it.  Or we could just leave it there and set up a candid camera to watch people trip.  If we found that there was no visible reason for this phenomenon and people kept tripping in the same spot, then it’s time to take action.

At that point we would begin to set up small monuments to honor the nymph or gremlin that was causing people to trip.  Perhaps we could make them look like wishing well.  And at these spots, people could come and throw in a few coins and think a few positive thoughts toward whatever it was at that spot that was causing people to trip.  Not only with this honor the little spooks that are playing games, but it might also keep people from falling down in public.

If the republicans are in charge, we could have local teams of volunteers to maintain these spots.  They could collect any money, dropped into the slot and channel it to the local charity.  If the Democrats are in charge, then we will probably need a federal czar, who will be in charge of a large team of federal employees to make sure that each of the points of meditation is maintained at federal standards.  Any money that was donated with mysteriously disappear.

Maybe this could be a campaign issue in 2028.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-333: Keep the Entire Promise in Mind

What does it mean to be God’s chosen people?  Not what you think.

It is the promise, for sure.  God offered blessings, physical and spiritual.

It was also the reality.  God made it all available, gave them access and opportunity.  At the same time He knew that His second gift after life, free will, would open avenues of choice that would drag most of them into perdition.

Some like to focus on God’s promises to Israel.  For the moment set aside if they were conditional or unconditional.  The pattern that developed after the first round of promises was that Israel almost unanimously chose to ignore the expectations of God and try to take advantage of the riches offered as God’s people.  They did it by ignoring Him and living lives of evil and self gratification.  

God says they will eventually return to Him.  Again I don’t care if He forces the issue of repentance or if it comes before the restoration.  Under either scenario there is also the assurance of massive destruction.  To make that clear:  Almost all of Isreal will be killed by violence and suffering.  Take you pick.  You can have the sword, disease, starvation or natural disaster.  This is portrayed as extinction level although it seems that some will always survive.  

We have no comprehension of what this means.  We apply our comic book view of a battle.  We play video games where we can gain extra lives.  When we hear about massive casualties we are usually referring to 10% or less and that includes the walking wounded.  Picture the massive invasion of D-Day in this Biblical rendering.  Out of the hundreds of thousands of troups who stormed the beaches picture a dozen being able to walk out at the other end.  That would be the nature of the preservation of Israel.  All were invited, few survived to celebrate.

Is the modern state of Israel the fulfillment of prophecy?  Except for the name and a small percentage that are serious about the things of God, there is nothing that correlates to the descriptions in the Prophets.  In both types of predictions, conditional or unconditional, there is a return to faithfulness and righteous living.  That has no indication of being in the cards after all these years.  The land?  The parameters of Solomon’s kingdom are still not reached.  

Either way, unless you are Jewish, it does not make any difference in your life or mine.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem but trust in the blood of Jesus.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-332: The Long Haul

Genuine home schooling parents are committed to the longview of educating their children.  My oldest grandchild is only eight and my daughter is already squeezing me on books and authors that she thinks I would recommend for when they get to high school age.  It’s hard to remember books that have made any lasting imprint.  Many of the ones that might be worth reading are no longer on the shelves and many of them are not even in print.

What is a parent to do?  We discussed reading certain classics such as Plato and Augustine.  The general consensus at least among us laymen is that much of that is a waste of time.  When Plato was alive and Socrates was writing down what he had to say he was original and the first one to come up with a lot of this.  Nowadays, most of what they have to say is something we have been either embracing or rejecting for all of our lives and so it’s not as exciting as it might be for an ancient Greek teenager listening to Plato.

Our hope is that the children will be readers and not just button pushers.  We read to them.  My daughter’s older child is old enough now that she’s starting to read to us.  She got her first library card this week and had to sign her name on the back.  That was an exciting moment for her and an exciting moment for her parents and her grandparents.  Children need an example set and they also need expectation set.

I can remember as a child, but my father in the evening would be reading much of the time.  We did have certain television programs we watched, but we didn’t just sit down at the TV and watch whatever came in front of us.  He subscribed to several magazines.  One of our favorites was the Readers Digest back when it was actually a readers digest.  He also subscribed to their edited books, the ones that came with all the extra fluff cut out.

My father was a blue-collar worker all of his life.  He worked with his hands.  He worked outside in the sun.  He struggled with polio from his childhood.  And yet he set an example of reading for his children that has endured to this day.

Set the example.  Turn off the TV.  Turn off the computer.  Put away your iPad.  Find a good book.  I may change your children’s lives.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-331: A Place for the Law of Moses

The purpose of the law was to civilize barbarians not offer eternal life.

Human beings take a lot of training.  Think back to when your children were born.  What would our country look like if they were not trained and civilized?  In fact, we have video of the results.  Go to the many cities that have been overrun by Antifa and BLM in the past decade.  This is what happens when you have a large group of people who never were taught to fear God or deny themselves.  It isn’t utopia, it is dystopia.  

If God had drawn His chosen people out of the middle class of Omaha, Nebraska in 1950, most of the Law of Moses as we know it would not be necessary.  Those people knew how to maintain a culture and give stability to family, city and nation.  But they would not be going to heaven.  Jesus still would need to go to the cross.

Don’t confuse the purpose of the law and the place of faith.  Read the Psalms.  David would praise the law but he was clear that it was not the law that saved him but his trust in God’s faithfulness and mercy.  The law will always have a place.  Some people will need it more than others.  Salvation still remains a gift we cannot earn.

homo unius libri