Opus 2025-357: Steering Wheel Music

I found myself humming a tune that goes to “King of the Road”.  From there I went to trying to remember the words.  I was only moderately successful, but it was a pleasant experience.

What gives some music and enduring quality?  There are certain things that appeal to us personally.  I like something with a catchy melody and an interesting rhythm.  As I get older and hear people say that they just like the sound and don’t listen to the words, I understand more what they mean.  When I listen to some of the words that I heard as a kid, I wonder how I survived with any moral fiber at all.  But I liked the songs.

What would be some qualities that would be required for a song to be worth remembering?  I think one of the qualities is that you need to be able to drive down the interstate without killing yourself.  I can sing King of the Road, Strawberry Fields Forever, Venus, I left My Heart in San Francisco, and so many other songs without losing control of the steering wheel.  I might sway a little bit in my seat.  I might nod my head.  I am not going to lose control of the car.

Now let’s take your typical rock star or rap artist.  I must confess I don’t listen to either one, so this is pure speculation, but based on observing middle school students imitating their favorite recording artist, I would say that it’s hard for them to walk down the hall at school let alone drive a car.  These kids may not remember to bring paper and pencil to class, and certainly can’t spell any word more than three letters, but they know every gesture and facial expression of their favorite recording artist.  Can you picture trying to copy Michael Jackson as you’re merging with traffic?  I mention him, because he’s one of the few names I know.  I think it takes both hands to imitate the hot licks of some lead guitarist in the band, whose name I probably couldn’t pronounce, or at least wouldn’t say in polite company.

Of course, that generation driving a car probably isn’t in the cards.  Most of them have smart phones that cost more relatively than cars did when I was a child.  They have the latest shoes.  They have expensive clothes that have holes torn in them.  Often they will spend more on a hairstyle than I would on a year of haircuts.  They will be walking, having mommy drive them, or taking the bus.

Thus speaks a dinosaur.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-356: On the Road: So Fire Me

On my recent trip to Reno there was a pattern.  On three of the four legs of my journey we were told that they had crew members who are not there so we have to wait.  Are airline employees exempt from being on time?  Is there any penalty they pay for being late?  Have they relaxed standards because of woke policies?

When you are forced to immerse yourself in the pool of humanity you notice the results of increasing numbers of people living like the rules only apply to the peasants, not to their august selves.  My mouth stands open at the size of the suitcases being crammed into overhead compartments.  People save seats that are supposed to be open.  On boarding many ignore the expected order.  Outside the terminal people just sit in their cars blocking access to those who have travelers sitting on the curb.  You know the kinds of things I am talking about.  Because people refuse to follow the rules that are in place or ignore common courtesy, new and more restrictive rules are put in place.  Of course those are ignored by the same people.

What really digs into my soul is the awareness that I may need to join them in their behavior.  I am not sure what the benefit is if I stand back and let them run amok.  I probably need to come to the place where I accept the concept of common law based on precedent.  If our culture has declared that I can take two parking spaces so my doors don’t get scratched then maybe I owe it to society to cooperate.  I don’t think there is anything in the Bible about double parking or having 20 items in the 15 item line.

Will I be able to live with myself?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-355: Don’t Call Them Boycotts

I am not against the idea of boycotting businesses and people that violate the basic values of my life.  One of the problems I am facing now is that there are so many places that have joined the forces of Satan that it’s hard to find any place to shop.  I can’t boycott everything.

So I’ve decided to make it more of a choice, an act of stewardship, rather than a refusal to do business.  Do I need groceries?  Of course I need groceries.  Am I going to go out and plow my backyard to get my vegetables and fruits?  Am I going to buy a cow and make my own cheese?  Am I going to plant wheat, harvest it and grind it into flour in order to get bread? I  think the answers are obvious.

Instead of looking for the faults, which are many, I will ask myself, which one is the most deserving.  When I go, I will try to bring a ray of Sonshine into the darkness.  We are to be salt and light in our world.  We are not told to be surgeons removing every mark of sin.

I keep forgetting to do it, but one of the things I think would be interesting would be to thank a person stocking the shelves for his work today.  Perhaps comment to someone who is pushing one of those carts and loading up groceries for someone who can’t get out of their car about how they are helping improve someone’s life.  I know one thing I do remember is when they ask me at the checkout how am I doing?  I don’t give the standard reply, “I’m making it.”  Instead, I try for something like “marvelous”, Or as they say here in Texas, “So blessed, I can hardly stand it.”

Spread a little salt today.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-354: Keep Your Distance

Sometimes we don’t really want to know the reality in front of us.  A few days ago as I sat on the front porch in the middle of the day I saw a fox come up in the back of our neighbors property across the street, exit through the driveway, cross the street, turn and proceed down the gully in front of our house.  From there, he ran across our driveway to another neighbors property.  It was a great moment.  I enjoyed every step.  The fox was rather inspiring, from a distance.

A few days later I got to thinking about it and realizing that if I’ve been close enough I would’ve seen the bugs crawling in his fur, I would have smelled things I didn’t want to smell, and I might even have seen blood dripping from his mouth from a recent kill.  If I got close enough for that, he might turn in snarl with me, and if he had rabies, he might attack.

Just before I thought about this, I was watching a deer walk by the window of my office, totally unaware that I was on the other side of the glass.  Later, when I went out on the front porch to enjoy the morning I saw what I assume was the same deer eating grass across our leach field.  It stood there and watched me for a long time.  I finally got tired of enjoying nature and went to sit down and I assume at that point it left.  A wonderful brush with wildlife.  Once again, if I had gotten close enough, I could’ve seen the bugs crawling on his hide and smelled things I didn’t want to smell.  It might even have had Lyme disease, who knows.

The same thing possibly could be said of other cultures and other ethnic groups.  Enjoy them from a distance and they’re all beautiful.  Get close enough and you realize that they have different standards of what smells good than you do.  It’s not a negative factor about them.  They don’t like your smell either.  It’s just a difference.  It is why what we call pizza would be unknown in Italy and our idea of Mexican food is ethnic American.  

Enjoy beauty from a distance. If you get far enough away you might think I am good looking.  If you get too close, you see the warts and wrinkles.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-353: Heart Law

Prophecy drives me crazy.  Actually it is the people who think they have prophecy figured out that drive me up a wall.  They are so sure.  They are so confident.  They are like my son in law who is colorblind declaring to the world that he is wearing a gray shirt when his wife dressed him in pink.  It looks gray to him and that settles it.

One of the verses that is produced in this thinking is,

(Jer 31:33 KJV)  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The main point of contention is that I tend to see this as applying to the church as well as Israel but my Eschatology Sage insisted it is only to Israel.  The Prophet said it.  This is a new thing having a new heart.  How dare I apply it any other way.

Then I come across this as I am doing my regular read through Psalms,

Psalms 40:8 (KJV) I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Pardon my awareness of history but David had been dead for a long time before Jeremiah started to share his prophecy.  I also checked that this Psalm says it is written by David.

Read in context.  This was originally a promise to Israel.  Let your context go gestalt and consider the witness of the entire Bible.  One of the aspects of prophecy that the gurus don’t like to admit is that prophecy can apply to more than one event.  Fortunately we live in a day when you can have personal access to the word of God whether you are a King James Only disciple or use the Living Bible.  You are not limited to what the priest, pastor, notes on the page, commentary or wife tell you.

Happy thinking.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-252: On the Street: New and Improved

As I walk I check for mail that might have been delivered the previous day.  As I headed out all I saw was some junk mail.  On the way back I pulled it out to file it.  Walking up the steps I read the first line of the computer simulated hand-written note.  They wanted to sell me new windows and doors.  I guess they didn’t notice we had already done that a few year ago.  

The line that got me was, “Now’s the perfect time!  We have a special new customer sale going on. PLUS, for a limited time...”

It must be me but I would hope that they would have a “new customer” sale going on.  I would hope that their work was good enough that they would not be trying to sell new windows to old customers.  My parents lived in the same house for over 30 years and I don’t remember them replacing any windows.  I must admit that if my wife had lived there she would have had a need for new ones but that is a mark of affluence, not need.

Be a good steward of  your resources.  May your windows never stick and your doors never sag.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-351: Salt of the Earth

Jesus had something to say about the advice of our modern health gurus.

(Mat 5:13 KJV)  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Good or bad?

To the Romans salt was a valuable commodity.  At times it was part of the soldiers’ pay.  They also would salt the Earth in order to make it unusable by the conquered city.

So many things in life are dependent on how they are used and the attitude of the user.  A car is an instrument of freedom or a killing machine.  The internet is a road to the world of knowledge and skills.  It is also a source of evil and perversion.  When my wife is having an emergency and needs to get hold of me or I am lost in a strange town, my phone is a life saver, sometimes literally.  When I am at dinner with friends it can neutralize relationships.

We need to practice that repulsive behavior:  Responsibility.  We need to learn to accept blame for our failures and admit our mistakes.  Possibly even more important we need to seek change within ourselves.  Even at my age there are time when I need to grow up.

Join me on the journey.  We can put away our phones and neuter our excuses and make our worlds a happier place.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-350: Is That Another Squirrel I See?

I feel another tangent coming on.  I’m already trying to understand the concept of the law in the Bible.  I’m wondering about the word “righteousness”.  Are covenants permanent and unconditional or are they conditional?  I’ve got a lot of questions and today I may be getting another one if I can remember why I started down this path.  Only time will tell if it keeps coming back to my mind.

My question today for myself, and indirectly for you is, “What does it mean to be holy?”

I come to this as I was thinking about the attributes of God.  On my list, the first one I have is that God is holy.  It seems like a good place to start a list of attributes of God.  I think we all assume God is holy.  This took me to contemplate Isaiah coming before God and seeing the seraphims as they sang out,

Isaiah 6:3 (KJV) And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

What surprised me when I looked into it is that there are only two places where you have this triple holy.  The other is in Revelation 4:8.  I thought the formula was more common than that.  From there I looked up the word in the Greek and Hebrew.  The definitions of the Greek and Hebrew words is almost identical, so I think I can assume that they mean the same thing.

So what does it mean to be holy?  Or what does holy mean?  It is the same meaning I think but might depend on how you ask the question. The list of definitions in both the Old Testament and the New have to do with being separate.  I would have thought the root would be clean or pure but, no, it means set apart.  I can see that in regard to God Himself.  He is above creation.  Yet, at the same time He is involved in creation because He is involved with us.

We are expected to be holy.  We see that expressed in terms of being apart in a verse like this,

(2Co 6:17 KJV)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

I would imagine this is part of the thinking of the Amish.  Not knowing any Amish I am just guessing.  I was raised in a denomination that considered itself of the holiness school and I know it is part of their thinking.  It was certainly part of what God wanted for Israel when they moved into the Promised Land.

It must be possible or God would not expect it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-349: Firsts: Small Beginnings

It wasn’t much, only three cents.  The point is it was in the right direction.  I noticed an item in the grocery store went down in price.  You may not have noticed, but I only buy a few things on a regular basis and I have a feel for how much they cost so I was a bit shocked when I saw that the individual servings of Greek yogurt that I have been consuming went from $.72 two $.69.  I noticed when it went up a couple months ago.  And now I noticed when it went down.

Is this a signal of a massive economic recovery?  To me it speaks more than the price of eggs because I don’t buy eggs very often.  I do buy this particular unit of yogurt on a regular basis.  It’s not much, but again it’s in the right direction.

Maybe if there are enough little moves the big things will move.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-348: Roads to Truth

There are different ways to present what to you are logical arguments.  I must confess that I use many of them if not all.

The first way of course is to be very serious and studied in your approach.  You check your sources.  You make sure you are quoting accurately. You try to think about different understandings and interpretations. You make your statement and you stand your ground.  Of course if you’re serious, someone might have a better argument and you need to then be able to listen and learn.  There are times when I approach it that way on this blog.

A variation of this approach is to write tongue-in-cheek.  The writers of the Bible are not the only ones who have the opportunity to use hyperbole or metaphor.  Humor is something that can be a good way to communicate.  Of course, humor requires both sides of the discussion to be willing to laugh at themselves and to see the absurd as absurd.  That is a high expectation.

Another approach is the wild and crazy conversations you get in with people who are wild and crazy about what they believe.  They are adamant.  They know the truth.  They don’t know what the word “listen” means.  They forgot that they’re still a learner.  They have the answer.  I enjoy these conversations because it’s just fun to try and counter what they’re saying.  Of course you also have to realize there comes a point when it’s time to turn and walk away.  I will often stop in the middle of a statement, looked him in the eye and ask, “Are we having fun?”  It becomes pretty clear when it’s time to end the conversation.  Rage and lack of information tend to cut off dialogue.

Another type of face-to-face encounter, which I enjoy are the ones in which both people in the discussion think they know what they believe, but are willing to listen and consider what the other person says.  I will be honest, these are rather rare.  I find that I have to stop and get myself a lecture when I get a little too excited.

Truth exists.  It can be found.  The real challenge is to set aside our semi-truth and recognize the real article.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-347: Putting It Together

There comes a time when we need to just stop trying to proof text things and start putting it together.  I am in the process of replacing the steering gear on the front of my riding mower.  I have ordered the parts.  I have watched the videos.  I have gone over the parts, examining them, and making sure they’re all there.  I have use my imagination to work through the process of taking apart and putting together.  I have identified some additional things that I have to get.  Sooner or later I’m gonna have to stop thinking about it and do it.

God in terms of power does not have to do anything, and conversely can do anything.

God, in terms of attributes and character, is limited in what He can do.

God, in terms of logical contradiction is limited in what He can do in our understanding.  Yes, it is impossible for Him to make a square a circle in our universe.  There might be a way in which such a thing would exist, but it would be beyond our comprehension.

My assurance of eternal salvation is grounded in the character of God that is demonstrated by grace and the death of Jesus on the cross.  My hope of eternal Life is based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Those are the bedrock principles presented by the Bible that leads us to hope in the sense of assurance, and eternal life.

Somewhere in this, whether it’s added on or buried in the middle, is also a demand for holy living.  All that living is not something that earns us or salvation, because that would make us responsible for something impossible.  Evil living, on the other hand, can negate the covenant that we have with God.  Faith is required but it is not alone in spite of the Solas.  I did a quick word search on my Bible study Software and the only places I could find the words together were,

(Jas 2:17 KJV)  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

(Jas 2:24 NAS77) You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.

So get off the mia culpa bandwagon.  It was necessary when you came to the cross but needs to be left behind as you get on with life.  Remember that Paul did not write to the “sinners” but to the “saints”.  Make sure his letters were to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-346: It’s Anglo-Saxon

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the phrase.  I don’t tend to hang around with people who use foul language, but it used to be out of respect for those who might have been offended Mr Fourletter would say, “Pardon my French.”  I always used to correct them and say that first it was not French it was called Anglo-Saxon and second it’s not like I wasn’t in the army and hadn’t heard these things before.

Back in an earlier age, when there was a bit more real class and genuine culture, people tended to behave properly when in public.  Sure they might go goof-ball after a few drinks at the local bar on a Saturday night.  When they went to school to meet with their children’s teachers, they knew what it was to behave properly.  Everybody knew.  For the most part everybody did it.  I think most of it was respect for others, as well as an acceptance of cultural norms.

I think that we tend to like to put on a front with God.  Somehow, people are convinced that if they show up on Sunday morning for church, God ignores the other six days.  They don’t seem to think that God sees those looks being cast at that fine looking person walking down the street.  They think that God is as gullible as their employer who doesn’t know they are taking a break in one of the storage rooms.

It doesn’t work very well because He sees us all the time and is aware of everything about us.  He sees us when we pick our nose.  He sees us when we make certain gestures behind peoples backs.  He hears us in the car making comments about other peoples driving.  He doesn’t filter it out.  He knows it.  And I guess you could say He’s a bit used to it.  You may impress your mother-in-law, by knowing which fork to use but God saw you eating spaghetti with your fingers yesterday.

I think that maybe one of the reasons why people are so offended by the God of the Bible is He knows a fraud when He sees one.  He doesn’t play games. They like to act like it’s some big philosophical issue like the problem of evil or the fact that accepting God created the universe takes faith, whereas believing that the singularity just popped into existence is scientific fact.  Like so many things in life we tend to think that if we ignore it, it will go away.  We think things are true, because we want them to be true.  I’m sorry to say it doesn’t work that way.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-345: Two Circles

What is the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans?  Actually, that should be plural in the sense of differences.  There are many and today I want to talk about circles.

Democrats and Republicans respond differently to attacks and opposition.  Both form circles but the circles are totally different.

When the Democrats go into a circle, it’s like the wagon trains in the old westerns.  They make a big circle, ring the cattle inside and point their guns outward at the danger.  They don’t care if they were arguing yesterday.  They don’t care if they come from different places and don’t know each other.  They know who the enemy is and they know who is on their side.

The Republicans on the other hand, when faced with danger, or simply controversy form their circle as a firing squad.  Instead of pointing out at the real enemy, they point their guns toward the center.  Whoever is the current person that has offended them becomes the focus of their attack.  What they continue to forget is the fourth law of gun safety and that is to be aware of what is behind your target.  Their accuracy is similar to that of police officers who fire forty rounds and miss every time which means that they fail to damage the offender but wipe out their allies.

For an example of how the Democrats function take the issue of a brain dead president.  It was obvious to anybody paying attention.  He was incompetent and couldn’t even walk across the stage without somebody to guide him.  The Democrats instead of acknowledging the problem formed a circle around him and found a way to attack anyone who brought the issue up.

Now take the issue of the disagreement between Elon Musk and Donald Trump or the Epstein issue.  Not only did the media have a field day but Republicans jumped on.  All of the rhinos came out of the woodwork.  All of them never Trumper’s who have pulled the camouflage netting over their attitudes started finding ways to sneak in little jabs.

Democrats who step out of line are put on a list and it becomes very clear to them if they don’t get back on board it’s over for them.  In many cases, it’s already over for him.  Republicans on the other hand are called for the talk shows, put on committees, and maybe talked about is the next president.

We need to get serious about the culture wars.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-344: The Spark

If I were a peasant toiling in the fields of China during the Ming dynasty, if I were a peasant harvesting rice in the Mekong Delta centuries ago, if I were a slave working in the fields of Rome, if I were a slave digging diamonds out of the mines in South Africa, if I were a slave hoeing cotton in Alabama, I would still be a human being created in the image of God.  I would be someone who was born with that spark within me, which made me more than an animal.

Can that spark be destroyed?  I would hope not, but I’m sure that it can be at least diminished or smothered to the point where we don’t know that it’s there.  What dulls a person to the point where they see no purpose in life?  Why would a peasant farmer in medieval Europe get out of bed in the morning and go to the fields knowing that there was no hope for the future?  When I was working a job that was nowhere near being a slave, I still had to stop at the door to my children’s room.  I still had to look in and remind myself why I was going to work instead of just finding a stump to sit on.

Then, why do so many people go through life with eyes dimmed to the point of being totally unaware of the potential around them?  It seems there are millions of young people who have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, have all the opportunities and comforts that life could offer, have the world open in front of them, and they bury themselves in some kind of addiction.  The Bible talks about getting drunk and being addicted to alcohol, and seems to understand that if your life is pointless and hopeless, then getting drunk is reasonable.

Proverbs 31:6-7 (KJV) 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

What about those who are responsible?  Such an avenue is denied.

Here’s where I have to get theological.  In John we are told that there are some people who embrace the light and some people who embrace darkness.  It seems to be their personal choice which way they go.  By in large those who embrace darkness end up doing so because they want to be the light instead of allowing God to be the light.  Eventually their light is very dim, and they can’t see a way out.  While God is willing to forgive and restore, they are not willing to humble themselves to that point.  It makes me think of the joke about some people caught in a flood and trapped on the top of their house praying that God will deliver them.  They refuse several opportunities to get out and then when they drown, they ask God why He didn’t save them.  God answers He sent several people, but they refused all of them.  It seems God did not do it their way.

If you are a dog, a cat, a cow, or a lion you do not have the spark that represents the image of God.  If you are a human being, no matter how beaten down, the spark is there.  Reach for it.  Know that it comes from Almighty God.  Turn to him if you’re in a time of need.  He has a long track record of answering.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-343: Firsts: Missing

I have been flying ever sense I was a teenager.  I have flown across the country, to Hawaii, Europe and Japan.  I finally had a piece of luggage that did not show up.  It wasn’t really lost, just displaced.

The reason it didn’t make the same airplane was that the connecting flight was scheduled so tight.  I barely made it and I hustled all the way.  Luggage is not known for having different speeds.

I went to the counter.  They typed it in and found it was coming in on the next flight.  Since we did not want to wait around they delivered it to our house that same evening.

I was able to get started on my dirty clothes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-342: Cloud Joy

As I write, I am on my Texas porch for the first time in four sunrises.  The last four I spent enjoying the sunrise on the porch in Reno.  I enjoyed every one of those four mornings.  It was absolutely glorious because my friends have a porch which is situated so that they can look across a wash designed for flood control and are high enough to look over the houses on the other side.  In the distance you have the mountains between them and California.  It is an awe inspiring view.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now that I’m back on my porch I noticed one big difference.  Clouds.  In Reno when I was there  were only clouds one morning and they were high and wispy.  Here there are brief breaks in the display above me, but for the general pattern I don’t see the sun or the blue.  It’s all shades of gray and white as it races across the canopy.

I think I missed my clouds.  There will come a time when the sky of Texas is as cloud free for long periods of time as it was in Reno.  I will live with it because in many ways it will give me a vaster vista.  But I enjoy my clouds.  It reminds me of the variety of expressions that God has given us in His creation.  It reminds me of the joyful variety in life.

It’s good to be home.  I enjoyed the fellowship.  Being an introvert, I also enjoy the isolation.  It’s called having the best of both worlds.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-341: The Big Picture

I just returned from a four day trip to stay with friends in Reno.  After four days of getting up with the dawn, 5:30 Reno time, I find myself having to readjust to being in Texas.  I enjoyed the trip.  I would do it again.  Hopefully I will do it again.  I say that in the face of a trip was immersed in constant conflict.  Every leg of the flight had some major issue about getting where we wanted to go.  That ranged from having to change planes after everybody was on because of mechanical difficulties to having to go all the way across the Las Vegas airport and getting to my connection flight just in time to get on.  It was such a short time that my baggage was not able to be transferred and I had to wait for it to be delivered to my home.  It didn’t get lost.  It just didn’t get on the plane because the plane took off before it got there.  It was an interesting trip, but I found myself more and more relaxed with every seeming obstacle to success.

I’ve come to accept the idea that I need to look at everything that I face in the context of the big picture.  In church terms that would be saying keep in mind Providence.  In my every day lingo, it is looking at what I’m facing as compared to eternity, to whatever number of years, I have left alive, to what real difference will it make tomorrow.

I have always been somewhat laid-back and non-aggressive.  That’s part of my personality.  It was also only on the surface.  Underneath there was always a building tension when things would get in my face or go sideways.  I think I’m finally learning to realize it’s no big deal.  I’m starting more and more to look at life as an adventure in these last years that I have.  There are things that I may never get done.  OK, so what?  There are things that I will get done.  Praise God.  I walked and talked about how we want God‘s will.  Part of that is relaxing when things don’t go the way we want them to go or according to our plan.  Our job is to be obedient.  Not successful.  Oh, success is a good thing.  I would like to see more of it.  But I will not be measured in eternity on how good my lawn looks or whether I was able to figure out how to unclog the sewer.  The big picture is, if you excuse the expression, bigger than that.  I need to grow to fit the picture not expect the picture to shrink to my level.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-340: Blowing Smoke

I’m off on the KJV again.  Forgive me, but I am traveling to see my KJV Only friend.  He sent me three books to read.  Over the years he had already sent me 8.  The first eight I read attentively, took notes, and look forward to discussing with him what they said.  It never happened.  He wasn’t interested in it.  He just wanted me to change my mind.

So I am reading through these books.  The first one I finished with great attention but as I kept seeing the same cultish type vocabulary and argumentation, I have pretty much lost my interest as I try to get through the second book.  Loyalty to my friend has its limitations.

One of the things that these people keep saying is that the new translations water down Christian doctrine and do away with the basics of Christianity.  They will give you a long list of places where the King James in their opinion reinforces the divinity of Christ but the New American Standard ignores it.  Sometimes it’s because of a different Greek or Hebrew text the translators were using and as far as I’m concerned it’s not a matter of “Does it agree with your doctrine”, but “Is it true?”  Doctrine is pointless if it’s based on false evidence, and it’s only inserted in the text to reinforce your narrow view.  I’m after truth, not doctrinal purity.  In the end, they both should go together, but sometimes you have to study a bit to find the convergence.

I used to go down these lists, look up the reference, try to find out if it was a textual difference, emphasis of translation, or just in the imagination of my friend and his book sources.  After a while, I get tired of the nonsense.  In these books it occurred to me that the doctrines that he brings up being undermined by the modern translations are all fully embraced by me, except for his insistence that the KJV is “God’s Perfect Bible”.  I believe in the Trinity, the incarnation, atonement, the physical resurrection, and you can go down the list.  I am on board.  And I got there using these new translations that theoretically undermine our doctrinal purity.

It’s strange that people can come to the place of orthodoxy through translations that theoretically are out to destroy orthodoxy.  Again, the one point I can’t come to is the endorsement of the 1611 King James Version as the perfect Bible.  One reason I can’t endorse it that way is because of the Bible itself doesn’t say so.  You may think this is a silly point but one of the books he gave me actually seem to be saying that the apostle Paul did use the KJV.  That’s only a slight exaggeration and does not violate what that author was actually saying.

If I can keep myself from reading second and third books that he sent me, I’m a spare you more rants of this nature.  Of course, after I have spent three days “discussing” these issues with him I may need to vent again.  Stay tuned.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-339: Interpretation Tangents

I was sitting meditating on the nature of God and how He communicates.  I was thinking about his attribute of patience.  Somehow that took me to Genesis 1:1.  As I looked at the first verse in the Bible, I asked myself how would we analyze this and break it down for understanding.

(Gen 1:1 KJV)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

At first, it would seem to be pretty simple.  It is a literal statement.  Then I got to looking at the second half where it talks about the heaven and the Earth.  That could be literal.  It could also be a figure of speech expressing something more dynamic.

It’s got me off on a tangent of how different people interpret things different ways and I was looking for the labels to put on it.  Literal is pretty simple.  If I say that my God is a rock, He is a big stone.  I don’t think that’s what David meant when he talked about God being a rock.  I think he meant that God was mighty and strong.  He could have met that God is unchanging.  He could have met many different things.  He did not mean it literally.  What is a good inclusive word to encompass all of the different types of non-literal expressions?

“Literal” and “un-literal” lacked imagination.  I decided to experiment with the two different expressions of “literal”, and “literary”.  Literary can mean many different devices to enrich communication.  When you ask someone, “Cat got your tongue,” you can do it understanding that everybody knows you’re not talking about a feline sinking his teeth into your mouth.  The Old Testament especially is full of these kinds of expressions that are used again and again.  I think of things like, “the whole world”, “forever and ever”, and even such simple terms as “always” and “never”.

I may come up with a better term.  I may forget all about it tomorrow. But for now, as I look at biblical expressions and things I read in politics and history, I am going to think in terms of literal and literary.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-338: I Can’t Avoid It

It seems like everywhere I turn I run into people who think that the KJV is the cats meow.  I have a friend who is a KJV only man.  He spends most of his time trying to convince me how it is the most accurate and influential Bible in history.  When he’s not doing that, he’s attacking the historical figures who translated other versions and trying to put them in the camp of Satan.

My pastor is not that rabid, but he loves the King James Version.  I have no problem with that.  He was raised on it.  He was converted under it.  He consumes it on a regular basis. I am sure he memorizes verses out of it.  It is part of his blood.  He is joined by millions of people around the world.  Glorious.  I think that’s wonderful.  I also know that in the days of my life when I was expected to read the King James, I didn’t.  The language was so archaic that the effort to understand it just wasn’t worth it.

That is still my problem with this translation.  I have never said it was a bad translation.  I’ve never said it is corrupt.  I’ve never made a big deal about the fact that it used inferior Greek and Hebrew manuscripts...unless you asked me.  It’s not worth dividing the kingdom over such things.  And 1611 this was an awesome project that was completed by some great scholars.  The problem is it was 1611.  Just as many people have a mental block against reading Shakespeare, the KJV is beyond their comprehension.

Now I get on my soapbox.  I’m thinking that perhaps the King James Version is now becoming the Latin Vulgate of a certain branch of Christianity.  The Latin Vulgate had become a barrier to everyone from understanding the Bible.  They were forced to depend upon the priest to tell them what it meant.  I don’t know Latin.  I can still take parts of the Latin mass and figure out what it’s talking about simply because of the roots but I can’t sit down and read it and understand it.  It would require a Latin scholar to tell me what it means.  That was the role of the priest.

Fast forward to our modern age.  One of the books I’ve been reading, given to me by my King James Only friend, when asked about the issue of archaic language was perfectly fine with it.  In some twisted way the author felt like it wasn’t important to actually understand the words.  Our pastor doesn’t go that far, but I noticed something.  Because I wanted to be supportive of his love of this translation I bought one that was a parallel publication to my New American Standard.  It had the same Greek and Hebrew helps and tools like that, so I was familiar with its format.  That in itself is not important.  What was interesting to me when I started following along as the pastor read was that the pastor would paraphrase, interpret, explain what the KJV was saying.  He would do it almost automatically without thinking.  At times he would tell you he was doing it but most of the time it was just happened.  He had become the priest who was telling the persons in the pew what the Bible said because they could not understand it.

I have no problem with the King James on the whole.  I use it in my blogs regularly.  When I have the opportunity to preach or teach at church I use it out of respect for the pastor.  I have no problem with this.  It is still not my preferred translation because I get tired of spending time looking up words to trying and figure out what they mean.  And I always wonder how many words that I think I know what they mean in reality have changed their meaning since 1611 and I just don’t notice it.

If you’d love it, use it.  Bless you.  Just don’t curse me because I am going down a different road in my Bible translations.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-337: Headlines: Nothing to See Here

When Dan Bongino looked into the camera and said the tapes had been reviewed and their was no evidence of foul play in the death of Epstein I was willing to listen.  Since I know that enthusiasm and being sure that Hillary did it are very powerful emotions and that Fake News knows no political party, I listened and said, “Okay.”  I had never seen any hard evidence.  I could swallow that...when I first heard it.

Now we have Pam Bondi looking into the camera and with great sincerity saying there was no list in the folder that was on her desk.  She seemed so sincere.  The problem is that we have seen the list with its redactions before.  Why wasn’t it in the folder.  Maybe she was telling the truth because she had an aid take it out and put it in a drawer.  Of course that brings up the question of why it takes three months to discover that there is nothing in the folder. That could have been revealed after a 15 minute examination.

This also brings up the difficulty of understanding why Epstein would kill himself if there was no evidence of wrong doing.  Why does it take three months for an agency of thousands of employees to review a few hours of tape?  Keep in mind that they only had to start at the last time he was seen alive and go to the body being removed from the cell.  All they needed was a couple of hours.  And why did what’s her name go to jail if there was no trafficking?  It isn’t adding up.  I am hoping that Trump will wake up and smell the swamp.  I am hoping that the forces of darkness have not found a way to neuter Donald Trump. We were promised a lot of transparency and so far the cataracts are growing.  We were promised arrests and justice and so far the only ones that stand out to me are the people who vandalized Teslas.  

I was willing to move past Trump pushing the vacine.  I bit my lip at the pork in the Big Beautiful Bill.  This is an issue that cuts to the core of the ruling classes and shakes out hopes that Trump represents.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-336: Chic

I am starting to really like modern fashion, or should I say lack of fashion.  There’s certainly a lack of class and a sense of pride.  Modesty is also missing.  What I like is you can do anything and be considered cool.

I am off to travel a bit.  I will be gone about four days.  I am not sure l will not be able to respond during that time.  I’m sure you’re wondering what that has to do with anything.  At present one of the great questions of my life is, “how many pair of socks, do I need to take along?”  It’s really not a serious question to worry about because in today’s modern style if I run out of socks, I can just go without them.  People who just glance at my feet, first will need to find a life, secondly, will think that I’m wearing those cute little socks that don’t come any higher than the edge of my shoe.  Others who are more into feet might realize I had no socks on and be perfectly good with that because that also fits in with modern fashion.

Think of it, they now have shirts “designed” to be worn untucked.  I would never buy them because they’re a little short for me and I’m not big on plumbers crack.  They are slightly rounded to look like a tuck in shirt but that’s not what they’re designed for.  I of course can wear any of my shirts now untucked because not only am I gaining weight but I can look really cool in the process.  Socks don’t match?  No problem.  You only have an old pair of pants with holes in them?  No problem.  You don’t know how to tie a tie?  No problem.  You look like a fool?  No problem.

Every once in a while I see those short little segments with Clickbait that try to get me to look at a Paris fashion show.  The problem is I am laughing so hard at what I see that I can’t get my finger coordinated enough to push the link.  My loss.

One advantage of posting on a blog is that people can’t see what you’re wearing.  It’s not even like Zoom where you can leave your pants off and still look professional.  My keyboard doesn’t care what I’m wearing. Usually neither do I.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-335: What Fun

It would be very easy for those of us who are not involved in rescue operations and who don’t have a big Lookie-Lou problem to conclude that the flooding did not affect us where we live.  I have been one of those.  I have driven across a road near us that has a lot of dips with warnings about flooding and posts that measure how deep the water is and I’ve seen no evidence on my first couple of trips of any flooding.

There was no dirt or rocks scattered across the road which is typical of flooding.  Everything was clean and pristine, I thought

But I noticed something different today that I hadn’t seen before.  Some of the low places have guardrails along the side and I started noticing that there was a lot of debris piled up against these rails.  That debris could not have gotten there unless there was significant amount of water moving across the road.  In fact it seemed to have been cleaned up and the debris pushed aside by workers.  They must have been out early.

The rescue work continues.  I hear there are other floods in other states.  Pray for those who are in the thick of it and or some miracles along the way.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-334: Course Correction

As we look at each one of the great teachers in the Bible, each dispensation if you would, they are not giving a totally new teaching, at least that’s not the point.  The point is that the people who are supposed to be following God, are wandering off on a tangent, and need to be brought back on task.

Consider Moses updating the message of Abraham.  Abraham was called and given a promise that his seed would be a blessing to the world.  There wasn’t much more at that time except the ritual of circumcision.  I would suggest that Abraham was aware of Noah and the basic expectations of what has come to be known as the seven laws of Noahide.  The problem emerged when the children of Israel moved to Egypt and spent 400 years.  During that time they became slaves and my theory is that they forgot all about the God of Israel.  Moses had his work cut out for him.  That is why God gave him the law.  There were the moral and theological aspects of the law such as are found in the Ten Commandments.  There were also instructions on how to live like civilized human beings such as the banning of marrying your sister and basic sanitation.  Consider the difference between Christian culture today and pagan culture when it comes to the value of human life.  The groundwork was laid in the law.  

The lessons of Moses were constantly ignored until you get to David and Solomon.  That brings us the teaching that is done in the Psalms and Proverbs.  David is constantly praising the law.  He refers to righteousness and the loving kindness of God.  He prepares the way for Solomon to build the temple.  People seem to need physical things and now they had a place to worship Yahweh.

After David you had Solomon who started well but degenerated back to the level of the Canaanites by the time he died.  The history of the Northern Kingdom of Israel is one failed king after another.  In the South with Judah you had a mixed bag but the general tenor seemed to be that the people were constantly going back to the pagan gods and rejecting the standards of God.  The message of the prophets was a constant attempt to get them back on track.  The captivity got them to focus but they turned to legalism and ritual rather than the living God who called them.

Then we have Jesus.  Note that Jesus said he did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  We hear that but we don’t understand what He was facing.  Judaism had become Rabbinical.  The Rabbis were very serious and disciplined but they were locked into the Talmud rather than the scripture.  The oral law was superior to the written law.  They knew what the law of Moses said.  They knew about David.  In spite of that they kept adding new nooses to the law by adding to the Talmud with their interpretations.  We see it today in the fact that practicing Jews reject the idea of a cheeseburger.  Why?  Because the Bible says not to cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.  What does that have to do with a cheeseburger?  In reality nothing, but in Rabbinical Judaism, everything.  

Jesus called Israel back to God and claimed to be the Messiah who would fulfill the law and the prophets.  As a reward He was crucified.  The church was born on Pentecost and began the journey of faith again.  Then we come to Paul.

Consider Paul with his teaching on grace.  He wasn’t negating everything before that.  He did not come up with something totally new.  He was getting the church back on track.  There was almost immediately a trend back to embracing the law instead of living by faith.  A group of Christians called Judiasers were teaching that Gentiles needed to be circumcised.  If allowed to continue it would have expanded to the whole law again.  Paul and the others we have in the New Testament could not allow that.  They were refining, and focusing what it meant to believe, and the eternal God and His son Jesus.

And all of my prior teaching, he said, focused on the Resurrection, because without the resurrection everything was empty.  We are now on the other side of the cross, the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We now have it all.  As the angry parent yelled to his rowdy children down stairs, “Don’t make me come down there again.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-333: Ignore the Mosquitoes

How many times have you been planning on doing some thing and a minor potential irritation kept you from proceeding?  You heard there was going to be an exciting Christmas presentation and you didn’t go because you heard about the big crowds and that parking would be hard to find.  I’ve been there.  Sometimes we’ve gone.  Sometimes we’ve stayed home.  I remember one event we went to recently where they had re-created the city of Bethlehem and you had to stand in line for almost an hour just to get inside the gates.  We stood.  It was worth it.

How many times have I missed a blessing because I was worried about the mosquitoes?  Think of the great activities available.  You can go camping.  You can go fishing.  I can sit out on my front porch in the morning.  I can take a walk in the forest.  What keeps me from doing these things?  Sometimes the mosquitoes.  Sometimes nothing but my imagination.

Our lives are full of mosquitoes.  They take different forms.  We stay home from church because there’s going be a missionary speaker.  Don’t tell me you’ve never done that.  We don’t vote because the line is too long, the ballot is too complicated and our vote won’t matter anyway.  We don’t weed our garden because the sun is too hot.  We don’t go to the revival service because we might get convicted.  We have millions of excuses.

Next time the mosquitoes threaten to scare you away from an experience with your family or friends ask yourself if maybe a little bit of scratching is worth it.  Results may vary.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-332: Methods of Communication

How does god speak to us?  I remember reading an article online about how God speaks, and it went into levels beyond just the fact that we read our Bibles and God talks to us through that.  My mind continues on that suggested path.  God speaks to us in many ways.  God uses his inspiration and revelation to get across to us great truths, and to be honest, small truths.

Let me give you an example of the kind of nonsense that this can lead to.

If we were walking through the forest and I was examining the ground as we walked, and suddenly I stopped staring at a specific spot, and then I turned you in says, “An owl has been here.”  How would I know that?  What type of inspiration would bring this bit of truth to me?

You could suggest that I heard the voice of God, speaking to me, and God said, “There was an owl here.”  You might assume that the Holy Spirit had brought to mind a scripture that talked about owls in the forest, and specifically noted the place that we were at.  You could accuse me of making it up.  You could come up with all kinds of ways in which I might make that announcement.  Each one of them could be considered a way in which truth has been communicated with me.

So, if we stretch this to the point of ridiculous and talk about me being inspired to announce truth, how did I know an owl had been here?  It’s a matter of taking facts that I know, thinking, and applying it to the reality around me.  I see an object on the ground.  I take a closer look.  I recognize the bundle of refuse as owl pellets that has been deposited there by an owl.  If I had enough facts in reserve, if I paid attention in my biology class, if I’ve been looking through the encyclopedia, and remember the pictures, I might tell you exactly what kind of owl dropped this.  It wouldn’t be what we would consider classical inspiration or revelation.  It would be a matter of taking truth that I knew, and using my mind, and my reason to come to a conclusion.  I would accept that as one form of God, speaking to me, or being aware of the revelation of God.

I know that stretches things a bit and takes the absurd and tries to make it divine but you get the point.  God speaks to us in many ways, and He uses the fact that we are created in His image to communicate to us through our natural facilities.

An inspiring thought.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-331: Grateful Not to Be an Extrovert

I am an introvert.  As I get older, I learn more about what that means.  I used to think I was shy.  I used to think that I just didn’t like people.  I used to think all kinds of things, but now I realize that I am just an introvert.

I am grateful to be an introvert.  It is a great balance to have.  Introverts don’t need people the way extroverts do.  That means that when no one is around you’re happy as a pig in the mud.  That might not be a good illustration, but you get the point.  I can be happy by myself sitting on the porch, talking to my iPad.  At the same time, strangely enough, I can have people over to dinner and enjoy the conversation.  Of course I’m glad when they leave, but I enjoy the time they are here.  I may dread the coming event.  I still I am happy to see them.

When the phone rings, I shudder.  I contemplate not answering.  I force myself to pick up the receiver or punched the button.  And then I happily go down a two hour conversation with someone I haven’t spoken to you in a while.  That is what it is to be an introvert.  You enjoy the peace and quiet and not being bothered by other people and having to listen to their opinions.  You enjoy contemplation.  You enjoy thinking.

One disclaimer I might make is that I always am aware of the presence of God.  I don’t know if that waters down my introversion or it’s just an excuse, but it is true.  I guess one of the things is that God doesn’t force me into conversations.  He doesn’t share nonsense.  Part of that is because I’m always addressing Him.  I’m not waiting.  Part of it may be the fact that as an introvert once I get into a conversation I do fine and since I am always in conversation with God, it’s not like He’s interrupting.

If you’re an extrovert, I’m sure you could have a different spin on all this and you are welcome to it.  If you can catch me with my guard down, I would even listen to what you have to say and enjoy the conversation.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-330: Monday Pulpit: Counting Your Blessings

Sunday we spent our Sunday School hour in prayer for the victims and first responders of the Texas floods.  The carnage was close enough that several people had some contact with suffering families.  People who are Texas natives know about the destructive power of the flash floods on the Guadalupe River.  I know that when we were looking at houses we researched the flood plains and ended up on a ridge.  What adds to the pain is that many of the parents of the children lost may have made the same provisions but didn’t think about the low level of the camp.

In my times of prayer my mind also roamed to the places further away.  We tend to focus more when it is close to home but I thought about the Christians in Africa who had been butchered by Muslims in the last few weeks and how it was an ongoing threat in their lives.  I thought about those being killed in Israel and Iran.  As we lift up the local tragedy it would do us well to remember other places that are also suffering.

My grandchildren are over for the night and I am very much aware of how blessed I am.  I am hugging them more often than usual.

May your guardian angels be working overtime.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-329: The Depths of “I Am”

This Bible is not a document produced by a perfect computer, with all of the limitations of a computer as opposed to a person.  It was not a document printed for a bunch of programmed robots.  Nor was it produced for a bunch of robots, half of which were programmed to respond, one way and the other half the other way.  I think we can understand those concepts because we live in a computer age.  We have a tendency to believe that computers don’t make mistakes, which is wrong.  We may think they are programmed wrong, which is more common, but they are capable of somehow making mistakes on occasions.  One of the reasons I like using the word processor and my printer is that once I have things the way I want them they theoretically don’t change.

Compare that to what happens when you dictate to the software on your iPad or iPhone, and even after you have proof-read it and corrected it.  I am willing to guess you find that the application has made some changes that you weren’t counting on.  That’s more along the lines of a real life.

So when we think of the Bible don’t think of a book of charts and tables.  Those things exist.  I don’t know if I’m ever seen them, but I think there used to be a whole book of logarithms and you would be able to look things up.  When you have these kind of books they are cut and dried.  If done correctly, there are no mistakes, and the answers never change.  They are intended to be taken as presented and inserted into the slot they are designed to go in.  It can be in a computer, a formula, or any other place where the scientist or mathematician believes they belong.  There’s no debate.  There is no variation.

That is not the God of the Bible.  That is not the Bible.  The Bible was created, written, edited, and re-produced in an interpersonal relationship between a personal God and individual independent persons.  As such it is full of literary devices.  As such, it will be confusing at times, and will require some real study to understand.  It’s kind of like a personality.

Don’t try to squeeze the communication of a living God into the box you got your computer in.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-328: The Theology of Singularity

I would doubt that many of you who are reading this were thinking about the concept of singularities when you sat down and began to look at the words.  Let me refresh your memory a little bit.  I’m not claiming that my scientific or mathematical knowledge it’s up to the task but I’ll give you my understanding.

Singularity is a concept, which is literally beyond human comprehension.  You can write up some really nice mathematical formulas and come up with some awesome scientific principles, but when push comes to shove, there’s no way we understand it or even come close.

However, we can at least grab hold of the concept as a whole.  The theory is that at the beginning of time and creation, whoops excuse me, time and space, all that is or would be was squeezed into a tiny little spot, so small that you couldn’t see it with the human eye.  In fact, it was so small that you probably couldn’t see it with our finest microscopes.  Picture everything that is being discovered by the most advanced telescopes and by the most overwhelming microscopic machines, everything, was squeezed into this one location so small that you can’t even comprehend it.  It was all there.

Believable?

Probably not but that’s the best they can come up with.  In spite of the fact that it is beyond our comprehension and the massive formulas used to describe it, we have to take it on faith.  Science still seems to believe in this theory.  There may be other theories that are in the same bag.  I am not aware of them, but again that doesn’t mean much.

So we have scientists who can believe that all that is was once this tiny little speck.  Why do they have such a hard time embracing the idea of a God who is even more powerful and bigger than all that?

We can describe God.  We can make lists of attributes.  We can do all the things about God that they do about singularities, except that the formulas necessary to describe Him would be even beyond the wildest imagination of the wildest mathematician.  That doesn’t stop them from believing in singularities.  The question is, why does it stop them from believing in the possibility of God?

At this point, I wouldn’t even demand the acceptance of the God of the Bible.  I would be satisfied with enough open minded honesty to even consider such a thing without an automatic response that brings to mind a child closing his eyes, shaking his head and saying, “I can’t hear you.”

Maybe I will live to see the day.  Maybe not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-327: Too Soon?

Has the Muslim invasion of Europe gotten serious too soon?

If you look historically at the times where Islam has tried to conquer Christendom you find that each time they’ve been backed by massive centralized governments with all the armies and resources that you can imagine.  In the West they when the French turned them back at the back of Tours an empire backed the armies of Islam.  They continued to fail as the Christian armies of northern Spain push them south back across the straits of Gibraltar.  In the East in the 1600s the armies of Islam tried to conquer Vienna and were turned back by the timely we arrival of the Polish Winged Hussars.  Again they had all of the resources of the Ottoman Empire at their beck and call and they still are not able to do it.  That was 1683.  Read that date again.  That was after the KJV was written, the Pilgrims and just before the Glorious Revolution in England.

The flames of conquest are being stoked again.  We see violence in France, Germany and other areas.  The rabble-rousers are pushing.  They are upping the ante and going for broke.  But is it too soon?

As far as I can see for all of their military might when it comes to bombing Israel there are no nations rooted in Islam that are strong enough to take on the countries of Europe.

I guess the real question would be, “Is Europe ready to surrender and be turned into a Muslim enclave or will there be enough people who refused to go along with that?”  Examine what’s happening in England.  The people are just rolling over and playing dead.  Will all of Europe follow their example?  Will the United States?

Interesting times.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-326: To be, or not…

America has been, is, and hopefully long will be that great “city on a hill” that Governor John Winthrop  hoped it would be.  I’m not even going go recite that trite mantra about how we aren’t perfect.  Since no one is perfect, that’s just a silly excuse.  It’s an attempt to seem noble to the America haters.

Anyway, you want to slice it America is a shining city on a Hill.  As far as I know, it’s the only country in the world that people are seeking to get to because it’s such a great place to be.  There may be refugees fleeing to other countries because of persecution.  There are armies of Muslim infiltrators flooding into Europe with a desire to destroy it and bring it down.  Those people are after us too.  At the same time, there are those that look at us as the world’s last great hope.  When the communist and socialist try to tell us how wonderful it is in Sweden, they don’t call on Sweden to come and bail them out when things go south.  They look to America.

The stories of immigrants coming wanting to become Americans and live the American dream are numerous and available if you look for them.  Of course, our educational system and government coerced media ignore those stories and emphasize the criminal darkside established and reinforced by the left, but the stories are still there.  The reality is still there.  America is a place where you can come, start with almost nothing, and with hard work find success for you and your children.

You won’t find me out in the street, shouting and waving my flag as I walk back-and-forth.  That’s not how I respond to life.  I could be at a World Series game with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third with Willie Mays coming to bed, and still sit there calmly, nodding my head and smiling.  That’s who I am.  Outwardly, I am smiling, maybe, but relatively calm.  Inwardly, I am shouting, “Glory.”

I like those buttons that young Christians used to wear that had a group an acronym and what the words meant were “Please be patient. God is not finished with me yet.”  I think we may be need to put one of those buttons on the Statue of Liberty.  I’m sure we need to put those in the hearts of all Americans.

Let’s pray that our best days are still ahead.  Much of that will depend upon us and whether we follow God’s lead toward righteousness, or fall into the trap of materialism.

Let the people shout, “Glory!”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-325: It’s Party Time

I constantly hear people ranking on the tendency of Americans to take every special day and turn it into a party.  It expresses itself in many ways.

Take for instance, the way in which we have taken sacred moments like memorial day and move them to a Monday.  Why?  Is there some kind of sacredness about Mondays?  No.  Moving the observation to Monday means that we now have a three day weekend in which to party and recover from the party.  Think of all the holidays we celebrate on Monday.  Others I’m sure will eventually be moved if they endure as holidays.  It is part of the evolution of red letter days.

The major exceptions would be the most significant holidays. two of those are celebrations of Christians:  Christmas and Easter.  The other that comes to mind is the Fourth of July.  These all are celebrated with parties, which is a part of the tradition.

I think about the Christmas holidays.  They are days celebrating  what could be interpreted as depressing moments or at least great struggles.  If you’ve ever been around a baby being born, you know that it is not a time to have a party.  I wasn’t partying when my first was born.  All I was doing was having a cup of coffee.  I’m still hearing about my cavalier attitude.  I’ve heard of women who, as they’re approaching the moment of delivery, declare that they are not going to have his baby and they are going to back out of this whole project.  That attitude changes dramatically when the baby is placed in their arms, and from that point on there is great celebration.  Noticed that we don’t celebrate the labor.  We celebrate the delivery.  Great pain becomes a time of celebration.

Or take a look at Easter.  This is the day the Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.  He went to the grave from the cross.  He went to the cross from a time of great torture.  Then came the breakout.  At first disciples hid in their upper room and cried it out, “Woe is me.”  Eventually the celebration emerged and has endured through this day.  Yes, we commemorate good Friday,  but we celebrate the resurrection.

July 4 is the same way.  The great bloodshed had not been started at that point, but we don’t celebrate those days.  We celebrate the Declaration and recognition of freedom.  It is an American tradition that is rooted in Christian tradition.  We didn’t have pessimistic view, rooted in the fact that we have read the book and we know who wins.

So put on the hotdogs, shoot off the fireworks, enjoy your family and celebrate.  The optimistic expectation of the future is part of the American tradition.

Opus 2025-324: Growth Potential

Is it possible for church to grow beyond the level of the pastor?

Can a church rise higher than the spiritual standing of the pastor?   I am thinking of the growing number of churches that are rejecting the orthodox teachings of Christianity as revealed in the Bible.  For that matter, many are rejecting the Bible.  What are the chances of finding truth in an atmosphere dedicated to falsehood?  Some people commit to staying in a church that is going apostate and hope to be a force for revival.  Does that ever work?

Suppose the pastor accepts the teaching of scripture but remains what Paul would call a “babe in Christ”.  What if he lacks and is not seeking spiritual maturity?  Can a church move beyond spiritual maturity of the pastor?  If he doesn’t have any discipline, exercising any spiritual gifts, spend time in personal study and worship, will the church ever be able to develop behind that?

What if the pastor isn’t real smart?  What if he is deficient intellectually and has no desire to learn more?  What if the pastor doesn’t see anything beyond superficial and refuses to study and broaden his understanding?  Will the church ever go beyond the superficial?

We could keep going down this road but the question remains.  I am one of those people who think that church splits and a general exodus can be healthy for the life of the real church.  A change can often bring new growth in individuals if it is done for the right reasons.  If you are a believer I would invite you to seriously think about the question.  Keep in mind that there is no perfect church and no perfect pastor.  Just because he doesn’t use the translation you like is no reason to go running to greener pastures.  I have learned to look for the insights in the KJV because that is what my church uses.  The positives might outweigh the negatives and we need to be sure that we are not one of the negatives.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-323: Plato Channels Buddha

In reading through Durant’s series The Story of Civilization I come across numerous places where I notice ideas that are common in other cultures than the one he’s discussing.  Right now I’m reading his analysis of Plato’s metaphysics and I came across this,

“The soul is the self-moving force in man, that is part of the self-moving Soul of all things.  It is pure vitality, incorporeal and immortal.  It existed before the body, and has brought with it from antecedent incarnations many memories which, when awakened by new life, are mistaken for new knowledge.  All mathematical truths, or example, are innate in this way; teaching merely arouses the recollection of things known by the soul many lives ago.  After death the soul or principle of life passes into other organisms, higher or lower according to the deserts it is earned by its previous avatars.  Perhaps the soul that has sinned goes to a purgatory or hell, and the virtuous soul goes to the Islands of the Blessed. When through various existences the soul has been purified of all wrongdoing, it is freed from reincarnation, and mounts to a paradise of everlasting happiness.” page 517

I don’t know if you are aware of what is taught in Buddhism but this seems to be very close to what they say.  You have Plato referring to reincarnation, karma and Nirvana.  I’m not an expert on Plato or Buddhism but they seem very close.

A couple of thoughts on how this could be.  How do these two people separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years come up with the same ideas?

One is simple logic.  Plato wrote in the fourth century BC, I believe Buddha was in the sixth or seventh century.  There’s plenty of time for the ideas of Buddha to have been passed along by word of mouth or organized missionaries so that Plato in Greece could have actually heard what Buddha was saying in India.

A second idea is that God himself revealed this to both persons.  This doesn’t make a lot of sense because a God who is focused enough to reveal something this detailed to a human being would be teaching them to ignore his existence.  It’s kind of like a saddle maker making a lot of great comments about the new Model T.

The third is one that is discussed by Hugh Ross.  Ross said that one reason he became a believer in the Bible was because the things that he was reading there were beyond the imagination and the conception of human beings.  I would suggest that such ideas as being espoused by Plato and Buddha or just the common ordinary ideas that a philosopher would come up with when he has time on his hands.

Durant, Will.  The Story of Civilization:  Part 2, The Life of Greece.  New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1939,1966.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-322: Fix It

One of the important discussions that I had with my son when he was growing up involved the difference between “I need” and “I want”.  At times it’s hard to know the difference, but there are some basic characteristics that are just not the same.

A need is something which, if not met, could lead to serious consequences, such as death or massive destruction of property.  I want is something that you have an emotional desire for, and the emotion tends to overcome your rational processes.  That you may need breakfast or you won’t be able to work is probable.  You don’t need Sugar Frosted Flakes.  A need is something you make sacrifices of other important things to achieve.  For instance if it’s winter your children may need shoes.  If you lived in Hawaii, that might not be a real need.  It might just be a want.  If you live in Illinois, it’s definitely a need.  However the latest cool fashion in winter boots is not a need.  It is a want.  You might go without a new coat for yourself in order to get shoes for your children, but you wouldn’t do so just to get them the latest fashion.  Or maybe you would.  Your choice.  Your money.

I’ll take that idea and extend it into the world of government payments.  Let me really meddle and talk about Medicare.  I am on Medicare, so I am qualified to be critical.  I’m basically healthy so some might consider me insensitive.  That may be true but it doesn’t overrule the logic.

Think about the things that Medicare pays for that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.  I know one lady who went in and had her eyelids lifted.  Granted, it did not cost hundreds of thousands of dollars but when are droopy eyelids life-threatening?  The question is should Medicare have paid for it?  Or let’s get to something a little more serious such as a new joint of some kind.  If you’re 85 years old, well, let’s change that to 77 since that’s what I am, is it life-threatening to have to hobble around, use a cane, and lean on a walker?  If you were young father, trying to support a family it would be one thing but to be retired and just getting around the house it’s another.  One is life-threatening; one is certainly comfortable, but it doesn’t ruin your future.  Should Medicare pay for it?

Quality of life is a consideration but it is a slippery slope.  An example of that is the issue of abortion.  Most reasonable people are willing to allow abortion to save the life of the mother.  The problem for people advocating abortion is that with modern medicine the mother’s physical life is almost never threatened because of a healthy preganancy. The reason liberals like the argument is that they redefine the term to include “quality of life” not life or death.  Thus if a woman feels she will be depressed if she has the child, that is a quality of life issue and she should be free to kill the baby.  The problem with exceptions is that we tend to think we deserve them but the other guy doesn’t.

There will come a time when we will face that fact that we can’t afford every joint replacement and eye lift.  You might want to schedule your procedure before we reach that point.


homo unius libri

Opus 2025-321: The Danger in Dams

I think that we went through a time in history where our society thought that building dams to control the flow of water was a good thing.  Look at the advantages.  If you build it correctly, you can put in hydroelectric generators and provide power for your people.  You can regulate the flow to provide irrigation to farmers and ranchers and you can have the water to siphon off to cities instead of letting it run into the ocean. you can prevent floods with all the destruction that they often perpetuate.

I wonder if it isn’t time to rethink this to a degree.  I would accept that there are places where building a dam is nothing short of miraculous and beneficial.  I think of Hoover Dam and all of the blessings that is provided.  There are many other examples.  There are, however, times where I’m not sure that the blessings outweigh the curses.

And here I’m thinking of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.  Yes, it’s true that it probably generates electricity. And when they build it I’m sure that what they thought was they would control the flooding and stop the destruction of that flooding.  I’m not sure they considered what they were losing by stopping the flow of water.

If you are aware of your history, the Nile river would flood every year.  The benefit of that flood was that it spread a large layer of new, fertile soil across the fields of Egypt.  It saturated the soil with water, at least giving the farmers a head start on the long dry spell.  Those are just the obvious benefits which have been lost now that the dam is built.  Now it is a matter of fertilizer and more pumping of water than was historically necessary.

And think of the cultural benefits of that annual flood.  Geometry was developed.  Who knows what other intellectual advances were developed in order to deal with these floods.  It wouldn’t take a whole lot of planning to work around the damage that might be done.  If you know it’s coming every year at the same time, if you know how far the water will likely go, if you know when it will recede, you can make plans to come out ahead.

And think of what has been lost culturally by building the dam.  The area covered by the water was rich with archaeological treasures.  They rescued what they could, but what about the large number of remains that are irretrievably lost to our knowledge of history.  Was it worth it?

And then there’s times when we need to spiritualized on these lessons.  We look at the difficult times in life and the struggles that we have to go through.  We look at our tragedy.  Look at our failures.  If we focus just on them, it’s a gloomy picture.  If we look at the lessons learned and the strength gained and the hope for the future based on that, then it’s a different picture.  Much of it is based on our attitude and response.  If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, it gives you a perspective where Providence comes in, and your whole view of the potential of the future changes.  The government’s answer is to build another dam.   God seeks to make the soil of your life more fertile.

May the floods of your days enrich the soil of your life.  May you rise to the challenge and emerge triumphant.

homo unius libri