Opus 2026-306: Sometimes Simple

I am enjoying an approaching dawn which is being announced by driving rain, lightening and thunder.  As the rolling and rumbling thunder passed over my house I found myself thinking about the cause.  Does Thor cause the thunder with his hammer?  Ancient religions seemed to need to divide up the chambers of nature among many gods.  We Christians have one God who is understood to be big enough to handle it all.  

God causes the thunder, but how?  I dipped into my memory and came up with explanations tying it to lightening and air pressure.  I have no idea if my theory is accurate.  It was passed on to me as scientific but so has global warming and evolution.  Just because someone says it is scientific doesn’t mean it is.

For many things in life a simple explanation is all we need even if it isn’t accurate.  Recently I worked with the statement, “Water freezes at 32̊.”  I pointed out that a more accurate statement would be “Pure water freezes at 32̊ F at sea level.”  You do not need to know the second statement to know how to make ice cubes or let you water drip on a cold winter night.  You could go into the miracle of ice floating because of the expansion during phase change.  You could examine the difference in energy needed to move the needle one degree and make that phase change happen and how that energy transfer makes refrigeration possible.  If you don’t have a clue to what that means then rest assured that your freezer will still make ice.

In our theology we have the same kind of practical vagueness.  I refer here to the statement found in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith.  That is enough of a summary to get a seeker into heaven.  A more accurate statement would be that God extends His saving grace to those who have faith in the shed blood of Jesus as adequate to cancel their sin.  From there you can move on to explaining what grace is, or trying to agree on a definition.  Good luck.  You can look into the meaning of faith and what it is you are believing.  You can write books about it.

Or you can simply say “Water freezes at 32̊.”

Sometimes the simple statements are more than enough to achieve the goal.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-289: Hello, Real World

One of the words that kept popping up as I was shopping the other day was “free”.  Personally, I get a little offended by such a silly concept.  There’s an acronym which basically translates, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” (TANSTAAFL)  That’s one of the great truths of life.

Nothing is free.

So the challenge becomes trying to figure out where you end up paying for it.  The item that set me off was a 5G phone.  I would conceive that you might actually get a physical communication device without having to write a check for the device, however, when you read the fine print you find that you have to subscribe to a certain phone service or some other commitment.  They make their money on that end.

Anytime I see the word free I wonder what I’m gonna be paying for, how I’m gonna pay it or who else is going to get stuck with the bill.

Another concept that I learned long time ago is you get what you pay for.

Consider that free advice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-288: Running Out of Cheeks, Part 5 of 5, Time to Think and Apply

The word resist is not used but we might also reference Peter responding to the Council when he was told not to preach any more.

(Act 4:19 KJV)  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

He was clearly ordered by the authorities not to preach.  He did not get a bad attitude, just explained his position.  In fact he did not say he would continue to preach, just said he would listen to God and not them.

We quote about resisting the devil but never put them together.  This is a common issue when trying to understand statements in the Bible.  We have what might be thought of as contradictions but at the same time believe that there are no contradictions.  My belief is that we can come to an understanding that works with both.  Some people, dispensationalists for instance, will set aside passages and claim that they don’t apply to us any more.  Sounds good.  Is easy to do.  Once you start down that road the real question is where do you stop?  How much of the Bible can you say does not apply to you and why are you really saying it?  Thomas Jefferson is famous for taking a pair of scissors to the Bible.  The Jesus Project is another example.

Nehemiah tells Jews to rebuild temple with a sword in one hand.  It is important to consider the whole council of God.  We tend to get fixated on one verse.  We also need to realize that what is the instruction for one time is not always the same when the situation is different.  Note that when Jesus sent the disciples out the first time they were told to go only to the Jews.  Later the instructions included the entire world.

Read and think.  Answers will come.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-434: Woe Is Me

We often hear talking heads lamenting the violence in America.  We see charts with a lot of numbers that look bad for us.  Most of this is illusion by the media and the elites to control us and keep us in a state of fear.  They are designed to make us feel like America is a failed state.

I have also seen the chart that removes the blue, Democrat hell-holes called cities from the equation and that moves us from one of the most dangerous to one of the most safe.  It is quite a demographic illusion we live in.  I was also looking at some click-bait about a murder.  I only look at the bait, not the story.  It seems a regular feature.  If you read it you find out that the perpetrator is often a multiple offender who will again be let out on the streets by our blue, Democrat demons called judges.  

In reality it would be easy to make our pits of despair into islands of hope.  Enforce the law.  Punish the perpetrators.  Lock them up and put the key where it can’t be found by left wing minions.  The idea of an island in the Everglades surrounded by alligators is a good model.  While they are locked up take away the TV, gyms, A/C and any other privileges that make life endurable.  Make it so they don’t want to go back.  Make it so that working a menial job is more attractive than spending your life in a small cell.

Some people would call the results a miracle.  In reality it is simply common sense, cause and effect and civilization.

homo unius libris

Opus 2025-379: Monday Pulpit: It Just Makes Sense

Someone made a comment about common sense.  I think it was in reference to Iran.  It occurred to me that what a Persian might think of as common sense would not be the same as an American.  For that matter, I have noticed that my neighbor’s idea of common sense isn’t the same as mine.

That might be a good place to start if we are trying to understand others.  If you are dealing with a Muslim who has been raised in a culture that treats women as possessions or tools then why should you be surprised when they gang rape young women parading around in public with a lot of skin showing.  To them it is common sense that she is a whore.  They see no problem and wonder what yours is.

Or take your neighbor.  Perhaps they came from a family that lived where there was no regular trash pick up.  They might have a pile in the back yard where everything was discarded.  It made perfect sense to them.  Why should they obsess about a bag of trash when they could bring in a trailer and haul a big pile out at one time, or not.  What is your problem?  They don’t have one.

Take the people attending churches where “contemporary worship” is the norm.  To you the music is boring, insipid and lacking in theological content.  Keep in mind that many of the people around you were raised with hard rock being played 24/7.  They never had a class in music appreciation in school unless it involved oriental music.  When they do listen to music the main emphasis is on moving to the beat.  To them this type of worship is just common sense.

Consider the world you live in.  Others see through different lenses.  Does that make them right?  Not necessarily but in their way of thinking what they are doing is just common sense.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-262: Sin Wins a Round

I have often sang the praises of early mornings on the porch.  I’ve sat through 40° mornings. Lately it’s been almost up to 80.  I continued with joy and enthusiasm.  This morning that enthusiasm came crashing down as the mosquitoes decided it was time to come and see what I was so excited about.

One of my convictions is that mosquitoes either did not exist before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, or they were vegan.  Now, there is a glorious thought, vegan mosquitoes.  Maybe I should get a copyright on that idea.  But whatever, they came for me to make up for lost time.  They are a product of sin.  I blame them on Adam and Eve and either way they are still very real today

So I gave up and come back inside.  I have this conviction the God can meet me inside just as well as outside.  Being inside might limit my appreciation, but not His ability to reach out to me.

I will wait for stronger breezes and lower temperatures and see what happens.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-181: Who Defines Whom?

Anytime you read theology or commentaries you come across big words that people like to throw out.  This morning I’ve been thinking about the immutability of God and the sovereignty of God.  I could add to the list I’m sure.  I think you get the idea though.  The key point I am making is that these are words that we make up or develop in order to try and grasp truths that are beyond our comprehension.

On one side that is healthy.  We look at something we don’t understand and try to find ways to grasp it.  Perhaps it requires a different angle.  Perhaps it requires a deeper dig.  Perhaps it needs more meditation and contemplation to get closer to what the actual truth is.  This is at the root of the scientific method which is given its foundation in the character of the God of the Bible.  It also has its place in the areas of study that deal in deeper truth than science can touch.

One side of that is sick and manipulative.  There are people who like to make a big words because they can then throw around their jargon and confuse the issue.  When I was teaching, I ran into this all the time in education.  They love their jargon.  They love to make up words.  They love to take old words and put new meaning on them that no one would suspect.  They love to change the meaning without telling you.  I expect that in a discipline that is so rooted in pagan values.  I watch it dread in a discussion of the Bible and theology.

Take the idea of immutability. What it really means is unmutable.  And what that means to most people is unchanging.  There is a very real sense in which God is unchanging.  There’s also a sense in which a rock is unchanging.  The two are not the same although the Bible does refer to God as a rock.  God is unchanging in His character, which would be defined in such phrases as, “God is love”.  It does not mean that God is not capable of responding to the free will choices of human beings.

God does not change the physical laws He laid down when He created the universe.   Gravity does not go away.  If He has a need for a miracle, He’s quite capable of stepping outside those laws, but I personally believe that most miracles are worked by God emphasizing different aspects of the laws of nature, and bring you about what looks like to us a miracle.  He does change His response to human beings based upon the free will choices that we make.  I love reading about Moses talking to God and supposedly convincing Him to change his mind.  We see numerous cases of this in the Bible, where God responds differently based on different situations.

Does that mean that God is fickle?  Is God capricious?  Heaven forbid.  It means that part of God’s character is a reflection of personhood.  He is not made up of blind equations and mindless formulas.  We may not understand the nuances but rest assured that they exist.  If a theologian tells you that God is unchanging then ask yourself, “Why does the Bible have Him repenting of making man?”  

Do your own homework.  Accept the words of “scholars” as the opinions of someone who has more knowledge than you do but not necessarily more wisdom or better ethics.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-127: Embrace the Insults

In reading different books dealing with the discoveries of science in biology and physics and how some of the people pushing this research are anti-God in their philosophy, I come across a comment which is supposed to be disparaging, “The God of the gaps“.

You may or may not have heard this phrase.  Like many of the things that people like to throw around in order to stop discussion or to shame people into the silence it has its use, and it’s abuse.  When a God hater uses the term, he is basically saying that you are too stupid or you’re too afraid to look deeper into the questions of nature and you just fall back and say God did it.  I would venture to say that, in spite of my criticism of their attitude and assumptions, they are right.  Often believers in God will refuse to look any further.  Whether that’s out of fear or laziness, I don’t know, but it happens.  It could also be because on some issues we see more clearly and realize that ignorance sometimes knows no humility.  Of course that is a double edged sword.

The God of the gaps problem also is common in science.  It’s called “Theory.”  When I used to teach science, I presented students with the standard for differentiating between fact and theory from a scientific viewpoint.  There are three things that are necessary for something to be a fact scientifically:  It must be observable, it must be measurable, and it must be repeatable.  These are basics of the scientific method.  In order to declare something in fact, he must be able to meet those standards.  If you cannot do it, then it is a theory at best.  It may be a good theory.  It may be a generally reliable theory.  It is still a theory.  As an example of this, I try to introduced the conflict between the concepts of creation and evolution.  I point out the scientifically speaking both of them are theories and not facts because they can’t be repeated, they can’t be observed and they are very difficult to measure.  It doesn’t mean they’re not true.  It just means they are not facts scientifically.

What scientists are doing is falling back on theory to replace real research.  One way they get away with it is to redefine terms.  For instance, you saw my definition of a scientific fact in the previous paragraph.  A theory is basically something which may be valid but has not been proven.  Here is how Francis Collins wiggles around this,

“But over a long period of time, a consistent set of observations sometimes emerges that leads to a new framework of understanding.  That framework is in giving a much more substantive description, and is called a ‘theory’ -  the theory of gravitation, the theory of relativity, or the germ theory, for instance.”, p. 58

You might notice that gravity is still an open question, germ theory was resisted by the medical community for decades and so forth.  Real science is constantly having a “new framework of understanding.”  Settled science doesn’t.

We have a tendency to get worried about the criticism of the pagans.  Use them as stimulants to thinking.  Make them two edged swords.

Collins, Francis S.  The Language of God.  New York:  Free Press, 2006.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-119: Reading Immune System

Sometimes I wonder why I finished reading certain books.  I wonder why I read some of the Clickbait that I get tricked into.  I wonder why I have a long conversations with people who won’t listen and who are rigid and seem to be unable to put facts together.  It occurred to me perhaps it is a case of building up my immunity to various mental and intellectual deficiencies.

Just as our immune system gathers strength as it is exposed to different attacks from viruses and bacteria, I think our intellectual ability also can be strengthened by the controversy that comes from dealing with irrational thinking.  I have a list of things that I call “timeless illustrations.”  You may hear me use them time and time again and that’s because they’re so effective.  One of them has to do with how bank tellers can tell counterfeit bills without a lot of complex chemical or visual examination.  The reason they can tell what counterfeit is like is because they know what the real thing feels like.  They touch a bill and they know there’s something wrong with it.

In the same way our contact with faulty logic, false facts and fake news is a catalyst because we know how to think and we know what truth is.  Think of the clickbait you see on a regular basis.  It doesn’t take much experience to realize touching the link is a waste of time.  I’ve learned that any time the title talks about how Charlie Kirk destroys a liberal student it’s a bit of an exaggeration.  Yes, he does correct their fallacies but he doesn’t come close to destroying them.  For one thing he is too polite for that to happen.  If you’re looking for something dramatic, keep looking.  Same thing with extremist types of words such as “hilarious”, “New discovery”, “you will be shocked” and “Best”.

I remember when I first started blogging I got excited because I had so many comments left on a post.  It didn’t take very long to realize that the vast majority were just bots laying some nonsense on me.  When I wrote about a Supreme Court decision and the comment has to do with Viagra, I can catch on pretty quick.  That’s what made me start to moderate my comments.  The current level of programming the bots, sometimes labeled AI, is getting more clever, and actually puts some sentences together that make sense.  The thing is, if you read what is there you find that it only touches briefly on what post says, and the rest is just nonsense.

So sometimes I will finish a book or an article, because it might give me a little bit of edge to recognize nonsense more effectively in the future.  It is also a good way to drift into a nap.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-402: Menu Math

When does 2+2 not equal four?  When you’re cooking.  Higher math can be confusing when we start talking about abstract concepts.  At the same time there are common examples that will show us why simple math does not always become simple reality.

This morning as I was preparing my oatmeal, I decided to go with honey and cinnamon.  Usually I will either go with just honey or I will go with artificial sweeteners and cinnamon.  I thought I would go with both.  I was hoping that their results would be twice as good.  In the amount that I used, it really didn’t up the ante.

There’s a certain level of enjoyment from honey.  There’s also a certain level of enjoyment from the cinnamon.  When I combined them, the enjoyment level was no higher.  I was assuming that I had two units of honey and was adding two units of cinnamon thus the results would come out as four levels of enjoyment.  In my dreams maybe.  It was still two levels. It wasn’t even three.  It was simply two.  So when I added 2+2 it did not increase in value.

I don’t know how that crosses over into physics, higher math, biology or any other discipline, but it seems pretty clear in preparing oatmeal.

So when someone tells you that 2+2 does not equal 4, they may have a reason why they’re saying that.  Of course it could be just that they are somehow off balance and trying to pull you off balance also.  It’s really up to you to make that decision.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-204: Satisfaction Guaranteed

As part of my banter I answer the cashier when they ask if I found everything I want.  I answer, “I didn’t find the winning lottery tickets.”  I get various responses from the person who acts like everyone in line says that to those who appreciate my brilliant attempts at humor.

I had another thought along that line.  The grocery store advocates that we will be satisfied with their products or my money will be cheerfully refunded.  I would suggest that if I don’t get a winning ticket I will not be satisfied.  I wonder if I could get a cheerful refund.

Somehow I doubt it.  There is probably some fine print that would overrule my inspiration.  I’ll show them, I won’t buy one.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-180: Gotcha

As I sit on the porch, looking out over the valley, listening to the chirping insects, I’m aware of all of the possible things that could be able to get me.  My grandson keeps asking “Will that ou’ (ouch) me”.  I think of the daddy long legs spider that is considered one of the most poisonous creatures in the world, and yet is absolutely harmless to us.  The reason is it’s tiny teeth can’t get through my think skin.  I have heard the same kind of thing about coral snakes.  That’s kind of the way it is with the evils of the world when God is in us.

I act toward daddy long legs and coral snakes the way I have learned to act toward the evils of the world.  Just because I don’t think they can get me, I still keep my distance.  When I am in one of those moods I assume that I will be the one case where they penetrated.  

For all of my seeming confidence I still maintain the standard protocol.  I lock my doors.  I don’t go down dark alleys.  I keep checking the parking lot when I go to my car.  You know the kind of common sense things that we all should be practicing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-021: Whether Weather Happens

The wisdom of the elders said, “It’s gonna be a cold winter.”  Remember those days.  People used to look at the Farmers’ Almanac or observe how certain insects behaved and know what was coming.  The response was to prepare.  Chop more wood.  Can more tomatoes.  Knit extra sox.  It was called life.

The wisdom of the children now says, “We’re all gonna die!”  In their panic they are ready to do anything the government calls for so that they can be safe.

Weather and climate have always been with us.  Plague and infestations have come on a regular cycle.  War and rumor of wars are a way of life.  Panic doesn’t solve anything

Examples of historic climate change are all through literature and the news.  

If you read Genesis you find frequent reference to famine, probably caused by drought or insects.  
Abraham fled to Egypt during a famine.  Later his decedents went again during one that was seven years long and was predicted by Joseph when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream.  Krakatoa exploded and the volcanic ash disrupted the seasons for years.  Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried Pompeii.  

Are we looking at disaster in the future?  Of course.  Volcanoes still happen.  We are waiting for the earth-shattering eruption in Yellowstone.  The giant meteor is expected any day.  The sun could give us a natural EMP blast that would cripple our technology.  Biden could be elected for a second term.

So get right with God.  Store up toilet paper.  Learn to start a fire and plant some kale.  The kale is to remind you that things could get worse.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-007: Killer Splinters

People die from splinters.  Splinters kill.

I assume we have all had them.  When I was a child and got a little, tiny piece of wood under my skin my mother would be forced to remove it in the face of my squirming and screaming at the torture.  Now if I get one I usually dig it out myself, or if it is too awkward, I have someone else do it with no drama.  Maturity does wonders.  

Still, people do die from splinters.

We are all different.  We respond differently.  Our hygiene and immune systems are different.  The probability of infection is a big issue.  There are so many weird bugs out there.  They all seem to be out to live off of us even if it kills us in the process.  What do we do?

Should we mandate a national program to prevent splinters?  We could have inspectors going around looking for objects that might make a hole in us.  We could have subsidies for varnishes and paints to cover over dangerous surfaces.  We could require a daily inspection in elementary school to make sure that the innocent children are not at risk.  Maybe home visits to insure that parents are keeping the home environment safe.  Perhaps we could require the purchase of splinter insurance by anyone wishing to leave their home.

Or maybe we could just learn to remove them and wash the wound.  It is something called personal responsibility.  Sorry, I know those are obscene words in some circles.

Be alert.  The world is out to get you.  Don’t give it any help.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-138: Go for the Gold

Will there be competition in eternity?  This is actually a serious consideration.  We have members of the woke community that have been working for years to drive the toxic masculinity of competition from the public square.  I have never been to one but I hear there are soccer matches in which they don’t keep score.  Sports that generate competition are discouraged.  Cooperative exercises are the order of the day.  I guess the real question I am asking is, “Is competition evil?”  Will we have a desire to win in heaven*?

I would say, yes, because many of us enjoy a rousing challenge.  The cost of winning and losing is often important to activities we pursue.  I reflect on my experience playing poker.  I really enjoyed the brief experience I had with poker but quickly realized it would be a way for me to either become addicted or lose my shirt, probably both.

So our family tried playing poker with no real money involved.  The cards were the same.  The odds were figured the same.  We could tell who won and who lost.  Why was it so boring?  Because we always had people who would make risky bets because it was fun and they really had nothing to lose.  They would bet everything in their pile for no reason but the hope it would bring you down.  In a game based on probability and odds it doesn’t take too many moments of foolish risk taking to destroy the dynamic of the game.  Many things in life are like that.

What will be different in heaven* is our attitude because we will be beyond jealousy and pettiness.  I don’t have to win to enjoy competition.  I can rejoice with the winner.  It is twice as much fun if the battle is neck-and-neck down to the finish line.  What makes competition a problem is a desire to injure or belittle.  

The same would apply to practical jokes.  It is one reason why there may be no liberals in heaven, they can’t laugh at themselves.  They only think something is funny when it hurts someone they don’t really care about.  That is also why they want to bore us with smarmy kumbaya circles.  They know it can take the joy out of life.

So irritate a woke liberal.  Have a race with your grandchild to see who can finish their ice cream first.  Have a tickle competition.  Count who can pick up the most toys when it is time to send them home.  It is okay if you cheat a little so that they win.

*Heaven - I know that “heaven” is technically not the right word for eternal life but it is the word most people use.  In this case I will bend to common practice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-045: Stay out of Paris

I am wondering what it was like living in France during the French Revolution if you did not live in Paris.  Was blood flowing in the streets everywhere or just where the French Socialists were at a certain flash point or critical mass.  I have heard that the modern French seem to hold their collective noses when they talk about Paris.  It would seem that even the French have some issues with the French.

Back to the revolution.  If you lived in a village on the Swiss border did life go on as usual.  Our modern excuse for media loves to hype things up and push us into panic mode.  I don’t know how many times my wife has been ready to rewrite her will just because the weather man told us we were all going to die.  I remember reading about the violence in Portland and other Antifa vacation destinations and wondering why anyone would be driving through areas like that.  I wonder how much violence could be avoided with a little bit of common sense.

Modern communication puts everything right in our face.  We can sometimes be right on the scene as the ambulances are arriving.  It gives us the illusion that we are in danger.  Riots in Atlanta?  Go look out the window.  Are you in Atlanta?  Get out a map and calculate how far Atlanta is from your house.  Do you have a field of fire and something to do the firing with?  Maybe it isn’t something that will effect you.

How does that apply if the United States goes critical?  If things start to fall apart, will it come to your front door?  If there is some kind of event, an EMP or a massive earthquake that takes out the infrastructure of Los Angeles, will it cause any ripples in Wichita?  If a nuke went off over D.C. when Congress was in session, would it mean your electricity would go off?  Would we even notice?

Probably not.  That may mean I don’t vacation in San Francisco or hit the beach in Hawaii.  That may crater their economy but it won’t do much to fly over country.

Prepare.  Pray.  Use common sense.  Help your neighbors.  Most of us will come through whatever is down the road.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-026: Painful Solution

We live in a day of experts and specialists.  We go to them for answers.  Fie on us.  While they have, or should have, a depth of knowledge on their own field, what they lack is a breadth of knowledge and how the world works together.  

We see this in the medical field.  I always get a kick out of a doctor telling me that I need to cut out all alchohol.  I never cut in alcohol.  I probably had more alcohol in Robitussin when it was still leaded than I have in all the beverages I have ever consumed.  I also like it when they bring up salt.  If salt was bad for me I would have never survived elementary school.  It makes you wonder what you can believe.  Then you add in how the medical profession has thrown us under the bus over a virus.

G.K. Chesterton made an intersting comment.  I need to point out that he was talking about experts in history and related fields rather than medicine, but the observation still applies.

“I, who am not one of the learned, cannot pretend for a moment to decide where such doctors disagree. But I can use my own common sense, and I sometimes fancy that theirs is a little rusty from want of use.”  p. 75

Common sense was a term that used to mean you look at the facts, think about what you see and come to a logical conclusion.  If your conclusion sounds ridiculous, you think about it again.  Since the advent of experts we have thrown our ability to think out the window.  We need to remember that for a surgeon everything involves a knife.  For a mechanic you always need to replace something expensive.  For a psychologist you need to share your feelings.  For the government you need to be told what to do and pay more taxes.

Get in the habit of thinking.  It can be painful but might keep you alive.

Chesterton, G. K. The Everlasting Man.  New York:  Image Books, 1955, originally 1925.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-146: Common Common

As I scanned the offerings on my I-pad from You Tube I saw a clip with a discussion between Joe Rogan and Bill Maher.  It was only about ten minutes and the topic was “common sense” so I took a chance.  I didn’t have much confidence that Maher had any idea what it means but maybe Rogan would.  

What was fascinating to me is that both of them think of themselves as centrist types of guys.  Maher didn’t say anything that made me think he was anything more than a left winger who is not the cutting edge of liberalism any more.  He seemed to be channeling Dennis Prager because he repeated something Prager has been saying for years, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party.  It left me.”  Rogan’s comments made me think he has less potential than I had hoped.  

Common sense is one of those things that many people talk about but each means something different.  My common sense is not your common sense.  What seems obvious to me is nonsense to you.  It is obvious to me that if you pass a law against carrying a firearm the only ones who will pay attention to the law are those who could be trusted to carry.  It is clear that making murder a hate crime is meaningless as a method of reducing crime.  On a more mundane level, if you eat a few chips out of a bag then you should seal it up to keep the remainder crisp.  Is this brain surgery?

I actually think that there is a common common sense.  The problem is in the definition of the golden rule.  Traditionally the golden rule was along the line that Jesus shared,

(Mat 7:12 KJV)  Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Different cultures and religions express it is different ways but it is understood.

Modern thinking has changed the golden rule to things like,

He who owns the gold makes the rules.

Do unto others, then cut out.

People tend to quote Jesus and live according to the wag version.  It is not a lack of knowledge but a lack of willingness.  We could transform the country and the world if people would simply start living by what they know to be right.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-353: Jobs Diet Plan

I am not sure if it is boring or amusing to listen to different theories about what we should eat.  One thing we should have learned by now is that all the latest insights are not necessarily new nor do they make sense.  Does salt make things taste better or is it just a cultural norm?  Is salt bad for you?  If salt kills you this is being written by my personal ghost writer because I died a long time ago.  Are eggs good for you or unhealthy?  Recently I went down to breakfast in our hotel and the offering was some wannabe omelet made with only egg whites.  It had a special sort of name and the taste was as special as it’s handle.  I find certain statements from the Bible to be good guidance.  

(Job 6:6 NAS77) "Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

And add to that the fact that believers are called the “salt of the earth” and that is a good thing.

Common sense is a rare commodity.  It would help if we would turn it on when we listen to the latest guru or read the current diet book.  I find that common sense and simple observation is usually better than the most impressive scientific research.

Results may vary.

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