Opus 2026-457: The Spider

One of the things I noticed as I was watching the sunrise was that my friendly neighborhood spider seem to be enjoying the scene also.

Several days ago I noticed that there was a large spider that had built a web up in a corner near the roof and going over to one of the columns that supports the roof.  I can’t remember if I discovered him originally with my flashlight or whether he was just outlined against the brightening sky.  But he was there.  When I came out in the middle of the day, I noticed that he was gone, and I wondered if he had moved on, but the next morning he was back.  I didn’t bother him.  He’s part of creation and was doing his job.  I hope that his job included mosquitoes today.

This morning, as he was up there watching I wondered if he could see the sunrise.  Then I noticed later that he was gone.  I didn’t get my flashlight and go see if he’d moved just over to be out of my sight, but he was not in my visible corner at this point.  Did he get bored with the colors.  Did he decide there was a better place to catch bugs?  Did a bird eat him when I wasn’t watching?  For whatever reason he’s not outlined by the brightening sky at the moment.

I will keep a watch out for him.  I find the concept of how spiders nourish themselves unsettling at best.  I find myself wondering if a fly that’s getting his juices sucked out glories in the fact that he is fulfilling his purpose.  Sometimes the rabbit trails overcome my common sense.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-456: One for All and All for One

One of the observations that is growing in me is that the Old Testament is group think and the New Testament is individual.

The promises of the land, the restoration, the seat of David on the throne all apply to the nation of Israel.  The eternal life aspect does not play into that.

Then we have the rapture.  I know that all the charts called it the church age.  I know they talk about the church being taken out.  What I need to look into is whether that is biblical terminology or dispensational propaganda.  Does it say anywhere that the church is going to be resurrected?  Off the top of my head, everything I think of has to do with the saints being brought up and resurrected.  It’s a large number of individuals who stand before God themselves as individuals that are resurrected.

Is there any place where it mentions the church that way?

So many of our disagreements are influenced by this confusion.  We have the irresistible grace people labeling the idea of the individual choosing to believe as works.  They throw out terms like “legalistic” for anyone who maintains that we are to live righteous lives.  There are people that take the promises of Israel being restored to the land, ignore that those predictions took place before Israel was restored to the land by the return from captivity, and try to draw a map of the future on that.  The promises of the land were not a part of eternal life.  That comes on a one-on-one basis based on the cross.

Enjoy the promises.  Embrace the way of living that is rewarded in this world.  Don’t think that will get you into heaven.  That comes through faith in Jesus.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-455: What Are Today’s Prototypes?

If you could go back in history and examine the cultural developments of civilization, you would see continual progress being made and developing things that we take for granted today.  The modern grand piano did not just appear full-blown on the concert stage.  For that matter the concert stage didn’t appear full-blown.  They all went through steps.  I have a book on guitars.  You can trace the development of the guitar back hundreds of years and possibly even thousands if you want to include things like the lyre or other ancient instruments.

What would you look at today as being in its infancy and if we came back in a couple hundred years, it would’ve developed beyond recognition?  Will pickleball evolve into an international sport?  Maybe it already has.  Will baseball still have nine innings?  With what I see in hearing aids and eye glasses, both are wide open for giant steps.  Virtual reality would be on the list.  I would guess that most of our guesses would be far from accurate.

You can’t really tell.  Remember Dick Tracy and his wrist telephone.  Science fiction is full of nonsense but it may cease to be “non” in time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-454: God’s Bodyguards

I got sucked into some click bait again.  It was a brief video about RC Sproul and Ligonier Ministries.  I watched about halfway through and that was all I could take.  I pretty much stopped listening to Sproul and paying attention to him 20 or 30 years ago when he declared war on the Arminians in the church.  The best line in the whole video that I saw was where he commented that people would probably be looking at this to watch his change in hairstyle.  I noticed that 40 years ago. I thought it was funny.

In the parts that I saw there were two comments that stood out to me.  The first was his concern with the character of God.  The second was the importance of the sovereignty of God.  I couldn’t disagree with either one of those, but I have a problem with the theological school that emphasizes the theology of sovereignty.  Is God sovereign?  Yes, of course.  The real question is “Does that mean what they want it to mean?”

That’s a deeper question than you think.  One of the problems that I have with people that emphasize the sovereignty of God is that they want to define what that means and tell us what God can do and can’t do.  Do you see the tension there?  If God is so sovereign,  who are you to define what that sovereignty means?  If God is sovereign, then who are you to tell Him He can’t change His mind?  If God is sovereign, who are you to tell Him that He cannot give man free will?

God does not need bodyguards.  He does not need people to stand up and give their opinion of where He can go and where He can’t go.  I’ve never had a bodyguard and I’ve never been involved with any, but one of my understandings is that when the Secret Service tells President Trump that he can’t go somewhere, he doesn’t go.  It’s an amazing amount of power.  I’m not sure we qualify to have that kind of power.

What is the point of having this absolute power in control if all of the love that is generated toward you is prescribed?  If only those who have faith are the ones that God gives faith to, then on whom is the joke?  Do people really think that God creates creatures, chooses some to love him, and then declares that it is so, and then rejoice in the fact that people love him?  Love given by changing the chip in your head is not love as defined by the Bible.

God created man in his image.  I have not seen anywhere that it says that the animals were created in His image.  I don’t see that the plants were created in this image.  I don’t see that the stars were created in His image.  You get the point.  The only place this statement is made is in the creation of human beings.  So when we say that God manages every atom in the universe, and He does, we need to recognize the fact that we are not atoms in the universe.  We are creatures made in the image of God.  Unlike stars that go through their process and eventually implode, we have free will.  We can choose to love.  We can choose to believe.  We can choose to respond.

People like to quote the verse in Malachi, which says God does not change,

(Mal 3:6 KJV)  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

They might want to keep reading in the same chapter where God tells Israel that if they would get on board and be obedient in their tithe, then God would do something,

(Mal 3:10 KJV)  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I assume that means that if they don’t, He won’t.  To me that seems that God gives Himself free will also.  He is free to change His mind.  He is free to ignore the limitations that people want to put on to Him by calling him sovereign.

Last time I looked, He was still God, with a capital “G”.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-453: So what if the EU does it?

I was listening to a discussion having to do with nutrition and attitudes and pesticides and food dyes and so on.  One of the points that keeps being brought up in this, and in other venues is looking at the way Europe does it and how superior that is.

First of all, I’m not sure how superior it is because I haven’t done the research or know the data.  I’m not sure that you could believe the research that you see anyway with the state of science today.  Are Americans on the whole living longer than Europeans?  Do we have higher or lower rates of cancer and other diseases that we don’t know the cause of.  Are the significant differences based on double blind testing with only one variable, or are they based on somebody’s opinion.  Do they take into account all the different ethnic groups that are involved in Europe?  Of course we have our own diversity also.

Ultimately, we need to remember that one of the reasons that the United States has been so successful is because we don’t do things the way the Europeans do it.  The Founding Fathers soundly rejected the European governments and their way of running countries.  Up until recently, we have resisted the socialism that Europe has adopted so joyfully.

Also, we need to take into consideration the element of coercion.  In Europe, people have very little freedom.  Try to post a meme in England and see what happens.  Try to run as a conservative in Germany and see what happens.  How do the farmers of the Netherlands feel about their government right now?  Europe is really good on strong-arm tactics and denying people their individual freedoms.

Americans may like the way things are because they like the way things are and they don’t want the government telling them what to do.  Take into consideration recent attempts to have special taxes on drinks that have sugar in them.  We’ve been down these slippery slopes before.  We do not need government control of everything.  If we decide we want to be fat, that’s our privilege.  If they try to force us to eat healthy foods, like they do in Europe, we will find ways to get to the black market to find what we want or we’ll find substitutes.

There may be some reasons why we would want to copy some of the standards of Europe.  There might be even more reasons why we don’t want to copy the standards and methods of Europe.

The last thing we need is more government regulation.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-452: Which Side Delivers the Fall?

I don’t know how many times I have heard this quoted in my life.

(Pro 16:18 NAS77) Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

I was thinking about the different ways in which pride expresses itself.  For some people, pride projects their personality, and in other cases pride restrains their personality.

A famous pastor recently made a very irresponsible and incorrect proclamation.  People got excited about it.  I had a friend quoting him to me before I was even aware of what he said.  He later tried to backtrack, but he knew most people weren’t paying attention to that.  This man has the kind of pride that says he has the right to make major proclamations.

I on the other hand, and all humility, would’ve never made that proclamation.  The reason would be that I’m proud of my humility.  I wouldn’t want to do anything that would make people think that I was arrogant or narcissistic.  So I would refrain, in pride.

It can come from both sides.  In each case, the major issue is caused by allowing our self image and our sense of self importance to block the voice of God in our lives.  Most of us can never achieve this.  The best description I have read is,

(Php 2:3-5 NAS77) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Only God can develop this in us.  The important part is that we should be asking Him to do so.  Even with the touch of grace it will require practice and the discipline of changing habits.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-451: Agendas

Everyone has one.  It’s obvious when the Fuller Brush man comes to the door.  It’s not so obvious when someone who looks at what they’re doing as a ministry of saving souls talks to you about keeping your house clean.  They may not know that they have one or what it is, but everyone has an agenda.

I assume I have an agenda for writing this post.  I’m not totally sure what it is, but I think it is a matter of justifying my skepticism over what I see going on around me.  Going with that thought, I find that I get really short with people who stare wide eyed into obvious propaganda and say, “Wow. I didn’t know that.”  The reason they didn’t know it is because it’s not true and it wasn’t there to be known.

Agendas are necessary in a sense.  When you leave your house to fly to Paris, you have an agenda.  When you park your car at the airport, you have an agenda.  You better make sure you get on the right plane because you have an agenda.  Having an agenda is not necessarily evil.  But what we need to understand is that everyone has one.

The place touches me most often is in people who share with me great insights or knowledge that they’ve gotten from a You Tube video or somewhere else on the Internet.  This is especially true if it’s something I’ve never heard before.  A recent example for me has to do with being told that in the Bible Paul wrote two other letters to the church in Corinth that we have no record of.  Now I have always known that the Bible tells us there was one missing letter.  I have seen the verse that speaks of that.  I can’t tell you where it is, but I know I’ve seen it.  What I’ve never heard is that there was a second letter.  I’ve been a Christian for over 60 years.  He would think I would’ve heard this by now.

Since it doesn’t change my theology or affect my life in any way, I’m willing to accept it on the condition of confirmation.  I have a couple of Bible verses to look up.  I will read them.  I will check them out.  I will do my own thinking.  Then I will evaluate whether this guru was speaking straight or just looking for proverbial clicks.

My current agenda is to seek some truth.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-450: Freedom of the Truth

When I went to seminary, I went at a time where the professors and staff were serious believers in Jesus Christ.  They had a high view of scripture and although I’m sure there were disagreements over interpretations of things there were no heretics hired by the school.  If I were going to school now, I would not be able to take that attitude because I think the standard of truth has been abandoned for the quest of scholarly acceptance.

Because of that I was able to relax a lot more than I probably should have.  I’m sure there are things the professors wish I’d listened to more carefully or looked into more deeply.  I can say that while at the same time looking back, I think the main point of seminary, at least for me, was the time of maturing and inner growth that prepared me for the future that was coming.

One of the things that we touched on was the Tuebingen School of Theology coming out of Germany and the JEDP theory which tore the book of Genesis apart based on the wisdom of German PhD’s rather than the wisdom of God.

Some of their techniques were solid and some of their conclusions may have been worth while.  But when you got through with the soup, it was toxic.  We need to understand, but this is one of the techniques that Satan uses to try and destroy the church.

How much poison does it take to make the soup a murder instrument?  Satan and his minions can teach you 90% truth and 10% blatant lies.  If the lies are carefully chosen and artfully presented, they are swallowed in the process.  The whole mixture is poisoned.

It’s possible that you could have 80% truth and 20% traditional thought, which may or may not be true in itself, but is not given or designed to deceive or destroy.  That is not toxic.  I don’t know what the ratio would be where it got so watered down with the truth lost nutritional value.  I’m sure that point could be reached.

That is why we have the scripture.  That is why we believe the Bible is inspired by God for purposes of doctrine, reprove and so forth.  That is why the King James tells us to study to be approved.  I understand the word “study” had a different meaning in 1611, but the emphasis is the same.

We need to make sure that we do not rely on commentaries, commentators, scholars, books about the Bible, or any kind of guru printed, streamed, or in person.  Our Source for truth is available.  It’s called the Bible.  I don’t care what translation you use.  The Holy Spirit can lead you the truth.

It’s up to you to seek it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-449: Name Levels

How far down in your life do you name things?  Most of us name our children.  I guess in some cases there are children who get named by someone else.  We name our pets.  I had a guitar once named Stella.  I had a car that I called Puff the Tragic Wagon.  Our last house was Wind Rose Cottage.

Then there are all the things that I never bothered to name.  My La-Z-Boy recliner doesn’t have a name.  None of my current guitars have names.  So far we have not named this house.

How personalized are the the names?  I personally love to give people labels or handles.  Many people go by nicknames or pet names that they earned in someway.  I think of two girls I knew as a teenager.  I called them Smirk and Snort, not to their face of course.  I valued my life.  To me nicknames speak of a deeper relationship, or they could. I know that I hesitate to call people by some of the handles they’ve been given.  Only when I get to know them and I feel comfortable with it.

Then of course there are the labels people have for us.  It is probably better not knowing what some of them are.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-448: Shallow Deep Thoughts

Recently, I wrote about some click bait that labeled itself as “The Heretic”.  One of the things that I like about certain interviews is that they generate a response that causes thinking in my own mind.  As the host and his guest were discussing whether God existed and how the Earth came to be, and such, the host threw out  the idea of simulation.  His view, or one of his potential opinions, was that the world we live in is not reality but it is a simulation and that we are just part of that simulation.  I’m not sure how deep he was allowed to go into that thought, but it got me thinking.

To his credit, the guest pointed out the most obvious flaw in hiding behind the concept of simulations.  Simulations require a simulator.  They require an intelligent something to design them, set them up and operate them.  That very solid objection was brushed aside.  He still liked to think of it being a simulation.

It always amuse me when people come up with ideas thinking they’re new, but in reality, they have been rehashed before.  I imagine you could go back to Plato’s cave with the shadows on the wall and refusing to go out and see what reality was.  More recent is the idea of Boltzmann’s brains.  My iPad knows how to spell that so I guess I’m close.  This is an idea that’s been around since the late 1800's.  Some philosopher named Ludwig Boltzmann, trying to explain away God and answer the philosophical question of what is real, decided that nothing is real.  He pictured the universe is being full of these brains, floating around and encapsulated and their own life support system, and each one creating their own universe out of their own imagination.  More recently we saw this concept in the movie Matrix.  If you remember the scene where the main character got clarity and saw all of these bodies attached by tubes and cables to some central computer.  Each one was living in their own fantasy world.  As you can see, this is not a new concept.

I have never really participated in anything involving virtual reality.  I think it’s cutting edge technology now.  We have had flight simulators for decades.  It’s one of the ways in which pilots are trained without killing themselves.  I think now they have developed them on the point where even ground troops can go into simulators and learn some of the skills they need to survive without any real danger.  Again, the problem is that the better the simulation the more need there is for a superior intelligence to design it and put it together.

Recently, I read a science fiction novel where the main character was going down to a planet surface, which had been mapped out by drones.  He was in a very realistic virtual reality.  He could feel the gravity, which was different than he was used to.  He could feel the temperature.  He broke out in a sweat almost immediately.  He could smell; he could touch.  He was there, except he wasn’t.  He was only there as far as the drones had been able to record what was on the planet.  At one point, he tried to enter a small building and was stopped a few feet inside the entrance because the drones had not gone any further.  They had been satisfied with taking a picture from the door and that was it.  He was very frustrated.  It felt very real, but he could not move forward because the drone, in this case a minor god, had not finished the scenario.

So hiding behind the concept of simulation is just a way of avoiding real truth.  Just as Christians are saying, the universe shows the hand of a designer in the same way this escape into science fiction also demands the hand of a designer.

Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t just be easier if people would admit there is a God.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-447: Click bait: A Misnomer

I think the label was “The Heretic”.  I really hadn’t paid much attention to the title.  I went there because he was interviewing someone I was interested in.  At this point, I can’t remember exactly who it was.  The conversation was interesting so when I saw him come up on my YouTube algorithm with a catchy title, I thought I would try it again.

The episode I watched involve the guy who called himself a heretic interviewing someone else who in a general sense, called himself a Christian.  They were talking about belief, and whether God existed and such things as that.  I found it amusing to watch two young men, who seemed to be intelligent, who didn’t seem to have any real contribution to make to society, discussing the big questions of life.  When I say young, keep in mind that I’m looking at it from the other end of the spectrum.  They were slender, tousled hair, measured voices, I assume that if I were a woman, I would think that they were relatively attractive.  They spoke carefully in well modulated tones that I imagine they thought were philosophical.  It was a good time of give and take.  What was frustrating was that as intelligent as they were and as articulate as they appeared, they obviously had a limited amount of interaction with people who have been wrestling with these questions for millennia.

Let’s start off with the title.  The program was labeled “The Heretic”.  The host, who seems to have had a Jewish background, was not a heretic.  He was an atheist.  You can’t be a heretic if you’re an atheist.  A heretic is someone who is a member of a religious group that rejects a key teaching or embraces a forbidden teaching, and thus becomes heretical.  If you are a Muslim, I may call you a pagan incorrectly, or I could call you a heathen.  I could not call you a heretic.  If I were a Sunni Muslim and you were a Shia Muslim I could call you a heretic.  The person he was interviewing, who in a generic sense called himself a Christian, was the heretic.  He wasn’t trying to be one.  He was just taking a lot of comments which would put him well outside the realm of Christianity while still trying to embrace it.

So you start off misusing terms.

Whether I click on it again or not depends on who the guest is.  The first conversation I listen to struck me as interesting because of the guest.  I find this is an attitude I’m developing towards these click bait hosts.  I think of Joe Rogan as a good example.  Most of the time I don’t bother with what he is saying.  If he has someone I consider worth listening to I might tune in for a while.  If they discuss things that matter or at least are interesting I will follow along.  If Joe gets into dropping the F-bomb on a regular basis, blowing cigar smoke at his guest, and refilling his whiskey glass then I’m pretty sure it’s degenerating into the kind of discussion that people who are high on marijuana think is really sophisticated, but it’s really childish.

I guess you could say the same thing about the things that I write, not the drugs but the childishness.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-446: What Time Is It?

We recently had a death in the church.  The man who died and another fellow went in roughly the same time and the other one’s doing OK, but this guy was on chemo and just couldn’t take it anymore and so he went to hospice and died quickly.  The other guy is coming home and then we have of course others in the church who are going through big issues also.  If you’re part of a church or any kind of extended group, I’m sure you’re used to this kind of thing.

As I pray for people, I find myself asking how do I pray for an 82-year-old man with stomach cancer when the doctor say there’s not much they can do?  There comes a point when it’s time.  Of course we can’t declare that, and God can work things out, can work a miracle, but I struggle with just how to pray.  I obviously pray for healing and restoration, but in case it’s like this, there’s always that prayer of Jesus, “Not my will, but I will be done.”

Why?  Because there comes a time.

We have another situation that was shared with us a four-year-old child with leukemia.  He’s being treated and there is hope of his recovery.  I have no problem praying for his recovery.  And if I pray “Thy will be done”, it’s more of a tag-on rather than a major point.  I assume that a four-year-old can recover and go on whereas when you’re 82 or, like me almost there, I’m not so secure in that prayer.

So when is the time?  Believing that God is in charge and that He knows what He’s doing I’m quite content to let him work it out as far as scheduling.  I’m ready to go.  I’m ready to stay.  Life is good.  I expect eternity will be better.

What we need to do is make sure that we are ready and that if the call comes we can step up with enthusiasm and expectation.

It isn’t glorious being a believer.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-445: Incognito

Today I was looking at a picture on a blog.  It was a portrait of the down and out, poverty stricken, possibly drug destroyed human animal.  I assume it was some kind of AI construct.  It was easy to recognize.

I realized it could be me.  If I went a few days without shaving, showering or washing my hair I think I could fit in as the model for this portrait.  There are days when I go to the grocery store like this and someone would think I was his twin.

We make so many assumptions based on appearance.  Of course, even though you can’t judge a book by its cover, your assumptions could be spot on.  Otherwise why would they put a cover on the book?  The issue is not the assumptions but the confidence we put in them and the way we limit our perceptions after the initial contact.

If you see a derelict keep in mind that it might be me.  That does not mean it is not a derelict but it might be one shower away from being a respectable citizen.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-444: Good Morning, Zimbabwe

As I was reaching out to the mind of God and contemplating His grandeur , it came to me that I am not the only person doing this.  I started in a general sense of wondering how many people there were around the world contemplating the glory of God at that moment.  Then my science fiction mentality slipped into place and I began to think in terms of time travel, and how God is outside of time.  I began to think of how all around the world there were people who were sitting out on their figurative front porches, looking at their particular vision of God’s creation and glorifying Him.

It brought me to a new understanding of the concept of “communion of the saints” which we repeat in the Apostles’ Creed.  As I sit on my porch in the dark, listening to the traffic over the hill and noticing that the sky is beginning to lighten a little bit, I realize that all around the world there are people doing the same thing.  We’re not aware of each other.  We are aware of God.  That’s the way worship should be done whether it’s on my front porch at 5 AM or in morning worship at 10:30.  I am communing with my brothers and sisters in Christ as I commune with God.  There is an awareness of this worldwide fellowship.

I think of someone sitting outside a thatched hut somewhere in Africa, rejoicing in the God of his salvation.  It’s funny how we always start with Africa.  I think of someone in a Swiss village high in the mountains, perhaps looking at the Matterhorn and marveling at the creativity of God.  I think of a Mongol Christian sitting outside his yurt contemplating the Gobi desert and looking at how God could take browns and yellows and distribute them in such an awesome display.  It could be even somebody on the next ridge over looking at the same valley I am contemplating.

I am rejoicing in the communion of the Saints.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-443: In Defense of Entertainment

I always enjoy it when someone tries to tell me how I should’ve preached a sermon.  It gets even more interesting when the person telling me how I should preach it wasn’t there and has no idea what I actually said.  In addition to that, I find it very interesting when the question is about my biblical integrity.  Often it has to do with sermons that I never intended to preach.

OK.  I don’t actually enjoy it.  It irritates me to no end.  And what usually starts this all is an accusation that I think it is more important to entertain people so they’ll put money in the offering and come back next week that it is to declare truth.  Of course the truth that is supposed to be declared is the truth of the person doing the accusations.  It’s the truth which if you actually spent the time doing what that person wanted you to do would make your sermon about three hours long every week.  Now I know that there was a time when if you did not preach at least for an hour and a half you were considered an editor of Readers’ Digest.  And I heard the comment that it took them an hour and a half to present 20 minutes worth of information.  The point is that no one is going to sit every week listening to a repetition of the same three hours, because what this guy would want me to do is every time I preached to trace it back through a long complicated path to some unknown beginning that he had in mind.  After a few sentences, you’ll be back on the same path again, heading toward the same destination.

I don’t think the place of preaching is to entertain people.  The point of preaching is declare the truth of God and present to people the truth that God wants them to know.  It also can be presented in such a way that it touches them where they live, makes them think and at least has a potential of bringing change in their life.  You can do this without being boring.

You’re not a better communicator if you bore people.  You’re not a good communicator if all you do is entertain them.  Like so many issues there is that middle ground where you keep them awake, keep them focused, keep them following along, and then get out in time for them to go to lunch without being feeling like they have been mistreated.

Of course that’s only if you think you’re preaching is not so good that just one of your sermons will get everybody converted.  I don’t think the Holy Spirit usually works that way.  But who am I to know.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-442: The Definition of Smoke Screen

Recently in a discussion we were looking at what an author said, and I was trying to point out the difficulties I had.  I felt like we were at least making some progress because we had the book open and we were reading a paragraph out of it.  Then I pointed out a phrase which had the word “unique” in it.  At that point, the smoke screen began.  I was asked what does unique mean?  I was told we needed to flesh this out.

Now I don’t know about you, but two college educated, theoretically mature people facing each other across the table needing to flesh out the meaning of “unique” seems bizarre.  Is this word really so unusual that we need to spend time defining it?  But OK.  I was ready to go there.  The problem is it was just a smoke screen.  He didn’t want to define the word unique.  He wanted to change the subject, and he very methodically moved us away from what we were discussing to one of his pet topics.

My point is not that we don’t need to define words.  We do.  We need to understand and agree on what words mean.  And sometimes it is necessary to ask the question that Bill Clinton asked, “It all depends on what the meaning of “is” is.”  Sometimes that’s nothing but a smoke screen; other times it is an important consideration.

So yes, definitions are important.  But they are only important if there is a serious misunderstanding  of what they could mean or a unique context, which makes them have a different understanding.  I acknowledge that both of these things can be true.  I am also aware that many people when they discuss things are not looking for truth, they’re just looking for validation.

So discuss things in good faith but always be ready to point out the fact that the other person is not.  Always be ready to go back and ask the original question again and try to start down a path of discernment.  More vital, always be ready to give up if it’s not worth the effort.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-441: Tattoo 3.01 Available

Do you really think you will ever see such an announcement?  Will you see recalls of tattoo designs?  Will they require a license fee like software does now?

Popular culture needs to update their phone on a regular basis.  What makes them think they will be happy with their 1.0 vintage tattoos when the new line comes out?

I am glad I don’t have a dog in this race.  I am also tired of watching other people’s dogs race.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-440: Give Me Clouds

One of the often repeated pictures drawn by Christians is the “bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise”.  I was reminded of this again today as a quartet was crooning about “When the storm passes over…’. All of that is beautiful and inspirational but the scripture says Jesus will come out of the clouds.  Yes, I know; I have harped on that before.

Today it was fresh because the clouds were keeping the sun out of my eyes and I was enjoying the various shades of gray that mixed with the blue of the gaps.  It was glorious. I think I want a few clouds, thank you.  Add to that the refreshing nature of a spring shower and the comforting rhythm of a gully washer and you get a complete picture.

When you think about it there is a lot of imagery that defies the written word and some of the images of the written word that laugh at people who want to take everything literally.  I have an eschatology nut in my circle and he claims that I cannot take the words of Jesus literally,

Matthew 5:18 (KJV) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

His point of reference is in Isaiah chapter 2, where we see this,

Isaiah 2:4 (BES) And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into sickles: and nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.

He gets very adamant and declares that this has not been fulfilled.  Maybe, maybe not, literally or figuratively is the question.  If you want to take this as prophecy that is full of images and word pictures and figures of speech then it’s hard to say that this was not fulfilled in some way before the death of Jesus on the cross.  If you want to go literally, I would be willing to fudge it a little bit, except for the fact that I don’t see people having spears today being beaten into sickles.  I don’t see people turning the sword that they don’t have into plough-shares that they don’t use anymore.  You’ll notice that literal does not work either.  No, actually he won’t notice that.

The problem is not usually theological.  It really doesn’t matter if there will be clouds or not at the resurrection.  The important part is that the resurrection will happen.  Enjoy your poetic license.  Don’t make HOA regulations into epic poems or chauteubriand into dog food.  Read for truth not winning arguments.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-439: Time to Call Pest Control

In a footnote in the Works of John Adams, it makes the comment that the eight lawyers mentioned by Adams as being in his circle did not side with the Americans during the Revolution.  In his words,

“It is a curious fact, that, of eight persons here named as actively engaged at the bar at this period, only one, the writer himself, liveed through the Revolution as an advocate of American Independence.” p. 143

I don’t have any way of knowing how many lawyers, judges, and government officials fled the colonies as the revolution began and stayed gone after the victory was won.  I know massive numbers of people fled to Canada.  There are others that moved back to Great Britain.  My feeling is that a large percentage of these were members of what we would call the justice system.  I’m thinking that if that’s the case, it was like purging yourself of food poisoning.

It’s very possible that one of the reasons that we survived as a new nation and developed a unique form of government was because all of the number who deserted what they considered a sinking ship.  The lawyers and the judges were a vital part of the control of the people.  When they left new people had to be appointed, and these were chosen more by the citizens than by the king.

It might be a good time to have another purge.  We talked about deporting illegals.  Might now be a good idea to also deport the “legals”.
    
Adams, John.  The Works of John Adams, Volume 1.  Norwalk, Connecticut: The Easton Press, 1992.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-438: Bricks, Leaves and Water Vapor

As I sit in the porch before the sun shows up my mind continues to wander down many rabbit trails.  One of the phrases that has been echoing through my mind recently is “it’s not about you”. I questioned the motives of the people who keep using that phrase, and I keep trying to understand why I react to it so much.

This morning as I was contemplating the greatness of God and being overwhelmed by my incomprehension, I thought about how this God who cares about each and every individual, and is aware of who we are and what we’re thinking, is the same God who holds everything together. Here Paul is talking about Jesus,

Colossians 1:17 (NASB95) He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Jesus holds the universe together.

That’s a very noble thought, but what does that mean specifically.  In our grand moments, we think of nebula, galaxies, red giant stars, black holes, and I guess for that matter donut holes.  But I wanted to be more specific so I just kind of looked around in the dark and asked myself, what can I see?

The first thing I saw were bricks.  I have these columns on my front porch that support the roof.  I’m not sure what’s in the core, but the outside is covered with bricks.  My mind reached out to those bricks.  I would’ve examined each and every atom, but that’s beyond my ability.  It’s not beyond God‘s ability.  One of the reasons we can live in this world is because we know that God is maintaining the integrity of those bricks.  He’s making sure that those electrons continue to revolve around the nucleus.  According to my understanding of physics, those electrons should eventually slow down and the atoms disintegrate.  Yet they keep charging down their path.  The bricks continue to stand.

As I look out in the dark, I can see the outline of trees covered with leaves and dimly in the distance, I can see the shadow of the semi-arid forest surrounding me.  Up in the sky, I watch a star appear and disappear because the cloud cover is moving between me and it.  I think of the water vapor and how God causes it to condense or not, depending on the other laws of physics, He has put in place.

In spite of that, it is still about me.  That’s not the narcissistic, individualistic, self-centered me that I’m talking about.  It is the me of humanity.  Each and every one of us is created in the image of God. Each and every one of us has an awareness that we exist.  Each and every one of us has responsibility to respond to the call of God.

You better believe it it’s about me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-437: Silent Salt

In a history book I am reading, the author makes the point that for every nun or monk that was living in debauchery there were probably hundreds or thousands who are serving faithfully.

I think this is a pattern.  We tend to get excited about the extremes.  We tend to want to know all the juicy details.  In reality, most people’s lives are rather humdrum.  We look at our culture and we see all the fraud and corruption.  It exist.  It needs to be dealt with.  But behind the scenes, in the quiet corners, sometimes right in front of us life goes on with those who are being responsible and ethical.

I’m going to a men’s meeting.  There’s a good chance they’ll ask me how things are going.  I, like so many, can say pretty good.  That’s not any evasion.  It is not the opposite of an exaggeration.  It’s the simple truth.  I don’t have any dramatic stories to tell about what’s going on in my life.  It’s like going to the dentist and rejoicing because it’s a boring visit.

There is a lot to be said for a boring life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-436: Actually, It Is About Me

Have you ever had anybody tell you, “It’s not about you”?  I recently came across this in a book that my MAD (Mid-Acts Dispensationist, their acronym, not mine) friend sent me.  It was written by Randy White and dealing with dividing the word correctly.  Most of it was routine MAD propaganda, but he specifically used that phrase.  He said the gospel is not about you, which means me.  I know that my MAD friend has used it several times.  I know what they’re saying in one sense but the statement just didn’t sit well with me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it is about me.  Part of that is based upon the fact that Jesus died on a cross so that I could come to eternal life.  The other part is based upon the character of God and His attributes.  One of the things that strikes me in the morning out on the porch as I look up into the dark sky and behold the majesty of God, is how big He is.  Obviously the word “big” is not a good description, but it points us in the right direction.  God is majestic and sovereign enough that He can run the entire universe down to the atom level and below, and at the same time have enough computing power left to deal with every single individual as individuals.

In the grand scheme of things no, it’s not about me.  The gospel is not an invitation to narcissism.  It is a universal declaration for all mankind.  At the same time it is about me because the parable of the Shepherd has Him leaving the 99 and going out after the one that is lost.  Did that mean He didn’t care for the other sheep?  Of course not.  It meant that He was committed enough to make it about that one sheep.

All they are trying to do is distract me so they can push their theological agenda.  The MAD sect believes that the entire scripture is about Israel being reestablished and the Messiah ruling with a rod of iron. What worries me is that they put Jesus and the cross in kind of a supporting role for that priority.

No, it is not about Israel.  It is about Jesus and me, and you, and you, and you….

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-435: And a Dash of Optimism

Recently, I had my first cataract surgery.  In the scheme of medical practice, it’s a relatively minor procedure.  I imagine there are hundreds if not thousands of them done every day and as the nurse said, they haven’t lost anybody yet.  There wasn’t much doubt that I would be having the surgery.  It was just a question of when.

On the other hand, what if I felt like I needed to replace one of my joints, would I assume that I’m going forward with that?  I have occasional twinges in my hip.  Since I’m getting old, I have occasional twinges lots of places.  Do I rush to the doctor, get x-rays, schedule a surgery?  No, I walk it off.

There are various reasons for walking it off.  The first and most important, is that it’s probably just a twinge, a momentary malfunction, and by exercising it, it will go away.  Life has taught me that.  It’s an important lesson.  The cloudiness of my vision was not going to go away.  It was just going to get worse, so there came a time for a decision.  The decision was based on the fact that I assumed I would live beyond the weekend.  You laugh.  Some people are up at a place in life where they’re not sure that they’re gonna make it past the weekend.  I am close to that.  It influences their decisions.

I am going to suggest that perhaps when we have major decisions, and we are looking at all the ingredients to that decision, that we add a dash of optimism.  My original forecast of how long I would live gives me about two more years.  I probably will need to revise that since I’m still working along OK.  If I still believed the two year forcaste I might not have gone ahead with the cataract surgery.  If something more serious comes along, I will take into consideration how long I think I will live.

Too often we take pessimism as our main ingredient.  We grasp at anything in desperation.  We rush ahead with surgeries that could just as well be put off.

It’s a hard balance to find.  Might I suggest that you walk in confidence, knowing that the living God is still on the throne.  Mix that in and see if it changes the outcome.

homo unius libri