Opus 2025-524: Discernment Watch: Beware of Experts

I just received a lengthy tome from my friend who has definite theological opinions.  By lengthy, I mean seven pages of 12 point font.  I think that qualifies as lengthy.  What makes it drudgery is that he just is repeating everything he said before.  I’m going to go over it again, looking for anything original and hope to find something.  If nothing else he makes me think and adds to my arsenal of scripture knowledge.

Disagreement has value because it forces us to look at our suppositions.  It makes us examine the foundation stones of our thinking.  That is always good.  Sometimes one of those stones needs to be changed or chipped away a little bit.

My concern though from this is, I’m thinking about definitions of words.  The one that keeps coming to my mind that people use, at least in church circles, is the word “grace”.  Christians love to talk about how they are saved by grace.  That is certainly true.  The Bible is very clear about that.

(Eph 2:8-9 KJV)  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The problem comes when we define what grace means.  The popular definition that I’ve been hearing all my life is that grace is “unmerited favor”.  If you are a student of theology and have definite opinions, you can parse that so that it might be understandable.  You might even get it to a place where I could accept it along with a big pillow of salt.  My point here is that if I need someone to define a word and all they can do is give me other words that need to be defined even further, then their definition is pretty worthless.  What do we mean by “unmerited”?  What do we mean by “favor”?  The problem with such definitions is they fly in the face of most scripture.

I prefer a definition which is much simpler.  To me grace is “God’s love in action”.  Are there any words there that need to be defined?  Is there anything about that statement that is not clear?  It is a much better definition.  It is simple.  It is direct.  And it does not cause any conflict in the world of theology and understanding of the Bible.

Take this another step.  I am now working my way through Revelation, and I find that almost every word has to be to defined.  Starting in chapter 4 I find that there is nothing that is a simple statement.  You may have heard the term “apocalyptic literature”.  It’s a form of writing, which is nothing but images and literary devices trying to get across some hidden meaning.  That is the book of Revelation.

As I have said other places, I accept the book of Revelation as part of the Bible.  As such it is scripture.  As such it is inspired.  That does not mean that we understand it or can understand it.  Anything in the Bible that needs a commentary or a scholar to explain to me using other words that I don’t understand is something that should be put on a back shelf and gotten to later.

Usually, we don’t really need an expert telling us what it means.  If we continue reading, if we continue thinking, if we keep our mind alive as we look in other parts of scripture, we will find the answers ourselves.  The answers we find will be much simpler, much more direct, and to tell the truth, more accurate.

Trust your ability to read.  Trust the ability the Holy Spirit to interpret.  God wants you to understand the truth.  He’s not so much concerned that you find a commentary that will tell you what the truth is.  Keep in mind that most of what you read in a commentary is not definitions of terms and explanation of tenses.  It is the opinion of the author and to be honest, you opinion might be just as valid as his.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-041: Fake News Is a Symptom

The repetitive clickbait regarding Joe Rogan interviewing Wesley Huff finally got me to watch the discussion.  It was interesting and informative.  What caught Rogan’s attention had been a “debate” between Huff and someone called Billy Carson.  There was enough reaction expressed that I am in the process of listening to that.  It will take me several days.

One of the areas that I have a working knowledge of has to do with the validity of the Bible.  I have read enough and listened enough that my baloney meter knows when to go off.  Wesley Huff comes across as a careful scholar who knows his stuff.  Billy Carson sets my meter to playing a concerto.  He makes statements that would cause anyone who is awake and serious about learning to develop a rash.  

It occurred to me as I was listening that Billy Carson is not alone in the world of scholarship.  Much of what we read, be it history, science, theology, economics or any other topic, is nothing but the scholastic form of Fake News.  Call it Fake Scholarship.  If you have been exposed to it from kindergarten their might be some excuse for believing the things that you hear coming from your friendly local professor but it does not take much digging to at least question what you are hearing.

The list of Fake Scholarship is long.  One that has been around since I was a child is global warming or, as it used to be called, global cooling.  The nonsense about America having some special role in slavery means you have never got past the book of Genesis.  If you want to know how many genders there are all you have to do is look in a T-shirt catalog.  What the Second Amendment means only requires a second grade education to understand.  What kind of brain dead accepts that only white people can be racist?

You get the point.

Be alert for Fake Scholarship.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-435: Living in denial

I’m wondering if people who deny God and make a big deal of denying God have some basic underlying emotional and psychological problems.  I am currently trying to finish up a book by Will Durant called The Story of Philosophy.  In it he works through what he considers to be the major philosophers of our western culture.  It took me a while to get onto his methods, but what he does is immerse himself in the philosopher he’s writing about, and then write as if he is that philosopher.  I used to think he was expressing his own ideas, but I finally realized that this was his way of getting across what they had to say.

In the current batch that I’m reading after a hiatus of a couple years, he gives a biographical sketch in an attempt to try and help us see where these people are coming from.  The three that are standing out to me now are Schopenhauer, Spencer, and Nietzsche.  All of them have major issues in their life.  As a general rule, they seem to be unable to get along with other people.  Their childhoods were a mess.  They are the kind of people you would not want to leave your children with.  Their only claim to fame is that someone thinks their writings were worth reading.

What Durrant has to say reinforces a thought that I had about what is considered classical literature.  I find that just because people tell me something is an awesome reading that will change my view of the world, it doesn’t mean a lot.  I feel that there are certain elites, who get so impressed with their eliteness that they forget that their thoughts are not necessarily significant or coherent.  I think of a joke that I once heard that tells of a polar bear sitting on a block of ice as it floats across the ocean and going to the edge and yelling “Radio”.  Now, the joke is on the people listening.  There is no joke.  There is no humor.  There’s nothing there, but an attempt to manipulate you into laughing at something that has no point.  The joke is on you.  I often think that much of the important classical literature falls into that category.

Read with your mind, turned on.  Assume that your mind is working.  If what you read seems like nonsense then consider the idea of the possibility that it is nonsense.  The only question is, does the person who wrote it realize that it is meaningless or are they as much in the dark as you are.  Have sympathy for those who read this kind of thing and then go, “Oh wow!”

Durant, Will.  The Story of Philosophy.  Garden City, New York:  Garden City Publishing Co., Inc.,  1926.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-399: Unraveling Mysteries

A couple of years ago we had an election for our representative to the state assembly.  I didn’t know much about either candidate.  I found the mailers they sent out to us relatively useful because I read them with discernment.  One candidate made encouraging noises, and I liked what she had to say.  The other candidate seem to be saying the right things, but there was an element of discordance in what he wrote.  As I read what he had to say and considered it based on what I knew, I realize that he was lying through his teeth.  That helped me decide who had the high ground and how to vote.

I relay that because I am in the process of examining a new translation of the Quran.  In that Koran’s introduction, I find a number of statements that sounds really good, but they are totally inconsistent with the introduction to another translation of the Koran.  They also fly in the face of what other authorities have said.  What does one do?

One of the things I look for is statements that defy logic and go against everything I know about human nature and history.  When a writer makes frequent use of “never” and “always” I tend to scratch my head and say, “Really?”  The same goes for “all” and “none.”  Extreme claims that are easily refuted are a red flag.  Take this from the introduction,

“It claims to be the mother and source of all other languages.” QIII, p. 3a

There is a certain attitude of certainty that comes through with certain people.  It is not exclusive to Muslims.  I have a friend who is a King James Only man and one of the books he gave me to try to indoctrinate me has this referring to the King James Bible on the back of the title page,

“God’s perfectly preserved word.”

My point here is not spiritual.  It is logical.  Extreme claims are usually in need of some qualifications.  Our responsibility is to keep our minds plugged in and active.  With a little bit of thinking we can cut through a lot of nonsense.

QIII, The Holy Qur’an, Based on explanation of ‘Allamah Nooruddin, First paperback edition, 2010.

McLean, Terence D.  Basics of Mid Acts Dispensationalism.  Alpha, Ohio:  Discerning the Times Publishing Co., Inc., 2006.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-397: Absolutes

We tend to think in terms of absolutes.  For instance consider being color blind.  We tend to think that people who are color blind only see in black-and-white.  In reality there are all kinds of variables in between.

Consider diabetes.  We tend to think that people are either ready to have their legs cut off and to go blind or else are totally healthy.  In reality there are many variables in between.

Then you have a condition like A-fib . I have a raging case of it.  They tell me that sometimes it’s 300 beats a minute.  I feel nothing.  I have no symptoms.  I wouldn’t know I have a problem if the doctor didn’t tell me.  I know of other people they can barely function because of it.  I assume there are many different levels in between.

How about integrity and ethics?  Most of us would admit that we are not perfect and that we have all sinned at sometime in our life.  Yet most of us consider ourselves basically moral people.  At the other end you have people like the Bidens who wouldn’t know an honest statement if it came up and bit him on the nose.

In between you have people like Donald Trump.  He has gone bankrupt several times.  I would guess it might’ve been planned.  I don’t know.  What I do know is he broke no laws in what he did.  The Democrats have been trying to find something to tie on him for eight years and all they could do was come up with an artificial law that they made up on the spur of the moment.  Even then they had to tell the jury that they could declare him guilty even if he didn’t do anything illegal.  Is this ethical or not?

Life is full of hard decisions.

Ultimately we have to evaluate people as individuals.  What makes it even harder is that some individuals who are on the wrong path reform, and those who are saints in the making go off the deep end.  It calls for constant vigilance.  It does not mean we don’t “judge”.  It means that we judge with honor and an awareness of what is true and what is right.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-325: Sound Bites

As I was cruising through the click bait I saw a number of interesting topics being brought up.  The first thing I do after I see an interesting topic is to look down and see how long the video is.  If it’s 15 minutes long and it’s a topic that can be offered in a minute or less then I just bypass it.  So much of what is said has nothing to do with the click bait.

Which brings me to sound bites.  Sound bites can be very valuable or totally useless.  When you have a video claiming to tell you the five most important books you could ever read and it’s 15 minutes long then you know that there are about 14 minutes and 30 seconds of nonsense that has nothing to do with the title.  Abridge. Put it in 100 words or less.  Then it is valuable.

On the other hand, much of what we consider, click bait and sound bites are statements that are taken totally out of context and are offered in order to deceive and confuse.  It’s hard to know which category these things fit into but with a little bit of thinking we can make progress.  Consider the source.  If it comes from CNN, BBC, the New York Times., or any other such source than you know it is propaganda.  You know that it is most likely out of context.  You know it’s a waste of your time.  You might even know the exact opposite is really true.

If it comes from a trusted source, read it.  Of course you still need to think about it and consider what really means.

Never turn your mind off.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-322: Click Bait: Skeptics Needed

Your personal You Tube algorithm does not show you the same things that it shows me, but one of the headlines I’ve seen several times regards revival in Iran.  One of them even had a picture of an empty mosque, and I had a headline that talked about millions of Iranians coming to Christ.

Something to chat about?  The beginning of world wide revival?  Just another bit of Clickbait?

The problem is, we will not know for years because of the difficulty of knowing the truth.  Sadly, that seems to apply even to those who are on the side of angel’s.  They like to see what they want to see, to exaggerate and distorted to fulfill their fantasies.  Are millions of Iranians coming to Christ?  It is certainly possible.  Such revivals have happened in the past.  Such revivals will probably happen again.  The problem is the people telling about it are often more concerned about getting followers to their channel then they are conveying the glory of God.

Call me a cynic.  In reality, again I remind you, I am not a cynic but a skeptic.  I believe things like this are possible but I don’t believe that the people trying to get me to follow them are necessarily being totally honest.  

I will wait.  I will listen.  Other than praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ who live in places like Iran there is a little I can do.  What I can do is make sure that I don’t send a check to people who are simply living off the gullibility of the decent people of the world.  There are too many needs that I really know about being genuine for me to waste my resources that way.

I will not make a habit of listening to what they have to say.  I might make an occasional exception but when I do I rarely finish.  I have books lining my shelves that need to be addressed.  I have serious podcasts that need to be listened to.  I have posts to write and people to call on the phone.  I don’t have time to spend listening to people talk around the barn and then never come close to the door.

I will be glad to add them to my bucket list but it is a big bucket and a long way to the bottom.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-230: Neighborly

(Luk 10:29 KJV)  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

It’s too bad that Jesus wasn’t around in the days of modern advertising campaigns.  He might have given a different answer.

As I checked the mail this morning, I noticed an envelope addressed “our neighbor.”  I had a moment of interest, because when the people across the street moved in, they sent us a note addressed that way.  That interest quickly dissolved when I realized what was designed to look like a handwritten address was really just a font available to everyone who has a word processor.

My second point of information came by checking the postmark, Minneapolis.  Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think of people living in Minneapolis as my neighbor.  Jesus might have disagreed.  In fact, when he talked about the neighbors, he was probably including just about everybody in the world because we are supposed to be concerned about everybody in the world up to a point.  With that concession in mind, I repeat, I don’t think this applies to people living in Minneapolis who are selling windows.

Feel free to disagree.  You might be my neighbor.  Window companies based in Minnesota need not apply.  

dishomo unius libri

Opus 2024-208: Discernment Watch: Not So Wise

I was sitting in Sunday school, paying attention, listening, and with my mind turned on.  The teacher was working through the verse below, and made a comment that the husband of Candace was one of the Wisemen who sought out the newborn King of the Jews.

Acts 8:27 (KJV) And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,...

At that point, my bologna meter went off, and I almost stood up and said, “No.”  We need to be aware that there is a difference between tradition and truth.  It is possible that the church in Ethiopia had a tradition that the husband of Candace was one of the Wiseman.  I would not quarrel that there is such a tradition.  However, tradition is not always based in fact.  A little thinking can go along way.  I believe that the Gospel account says that the Wisemen came from the east.  I don’t know if you are aware of any geography, but Ethiopia is to the south.  Unless the husband of Candace was on an extended sabbatical, studying with the astronomers of the east, there is no way that he could have qualified to be one of the wise man at the birth of Jesus.  We need to be aware that there is a difference.  Tradition is sometimes based in fact, and almost believable.  In fact, tradition might even be true, but not necessarily.  If we want to be people who have any clout in our world, we need to keep her minds turned on and make a difference between tradition and verifiable facts.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-142: Discernment Watch: Tradition or Truth

I was sitting in Sunday school, paying attention, listening, and with my mind turned on.  The teacher was working through the verse below, and made a comment that the husband of Candace was one of the wise men at Jesus’ birth.

Acts 8:27 (KJV) And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

At that point, my bologny meter went off, and I almost stood up and said, “No”.  We need to be aware that there is a difference between tradition and truth.  It is possible that the church in Ethiopia had a tradition that the husband of Candace was one of the wise men.  I would not quarrel that is their tradition.  However, tradition is not always based in fact.  A little thinking can go along way.  I believe that the Gospel account says that the wise men came from the east.  I don’t know if you are aware of any geography, but Ethiopia is to the south.  Unless the husband of Candace was on an extended sabbatical, studying with the astronomers of the east, there is no way that he could’ve qualified to be one of the wise man at the birth of Jesus.  We need to be aware that there is a difference.  Tradition is sometimes based in fact, and almost believable.  In fact, tradition might even be true, but not necessarily.  If we want to be a person who has any clout in our world, you need to keep your mind turned on and acknowledge a difference between tradition and verifiable facts.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-304: Click Bait: Bait and Switch

I recently was enticed by some clickbait about mistranslations of the 10 Commandments.

The host did not identify his spiritual affiliations.  I don’t know if he was speaking from conviction or from a distaste for people who read their Bibles.

Like many influencers he used bait and switch.

Some of what he said I knew to be true such as “Thou shall not kill” really being “Thou shalt not murder.”  He also showed the Biblical text when he pointed out that the passage that contains the 10 Commandments really starts with a statement about who God is, not a commandment.  One of the conventions for deceiving people is to establish a few true points so your audience begins to trust you.  Then you throw in the stuff that sounds the same but is not necessarily true.  The unwary keep trusting what you say without thinking about it.  

After establishing his bona fides he started to come up with the idea of “traditions” and synonyms.  This is where the distortion creeps in.  It is why I don’t like to read what commentators have to say or trust the words of “scholars”.  Tradition is not the same as truth.  Some traditions are harmless and may even give some insights into the culture of the writing.  Many traditions are total rewrites of the text.

He says that “Thou shalt not steal” is translated “Thou shalt not kidnap” in traditional Judaism.  Then he goes on to expand on that thought claiming that the prohibition was about personhood not property.  This is where tradition tries to trump text.  What struck me was that the denial of personal property is a mark of the liberals in society and is one of the prime targets of the Communist Manifesto.

You can do your own homework or take my word for it, but the word means “steal” not “kidnap”.  Get out your Bible study tools, you do have Bible study tools, don’t you?  Do a little study.  Find out the Strong’s number for “steal”.  Okay, I will give it to you (1589).  Look at the many times it is used in the Old Testament.  Sometimes a minor application is included in the Major meaning.  The KJV never uses the word kidnap that I can find.  The word is translated that way three times in the NASB.  Each time involves taking people to sell them into slavery.  Kidnaping a person fits into the larger meaning of stealing.  Stealing is a much broader scope than kidnaping.  

Give the man the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe there is a “tradition” in some branches of Judiasm that says the word means kidnaping.  When you look at the way the word is actually used that “tradition” becomes just another one of the long list of interpretations of “scholars” that totally ignore the teaching of the Bible.

Read your own Bible and do your own thinking.  Test all new ideas.  Some may help you grow.  Some may weaken you.  By engaging them you can sharpen your mind and strengthen your faith.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-268: Discernment Watch: The Anti-Litmus

What is the opposite of a litmus test?  I think that certain measures are good for getting a quick view of where people stand on many issues.  People who are pro-abortion tend to be worried about global warming, are still counting the genders and think Hamas is oppressed.  

What is the opposite?  I am thinking maybe a red flag or a canary in a coal mine.

What brings this to mind is a recent article, I can’t remember where I read it.  It was talking about a Republican running against Ilhan Omar.  The challenger was a Muslim also and had gone so far as to go to Israel to proclaim that all Muslims were not like Hamas and that she backed Israel.  If you can swallow that without a big gulp of water then you also believe that EV’s run on unicorn farts.  There are certain truths that just don’t go together.  I would suggest that when someone tells you something you know is not true then you might want to think twice about other things they say.

I have said before that such people are at least one of three things:  Ignorant, stupid or evil.  It is possible to be all three but any one by itself means your opinions are worthless.  

Take this woman running against Omar.  Let’s assume she is not stupid.  To get where she is means that her shoes are on the right feet.  She may be very sincere.  She may actually believe that she can be a good Muslim and stand with Israel.  Let’s say she is not evil.  That means she is ignorant.  She must have never read the Koran.  Or else she has only read the parts in which Mohammad is still playing nice.  

Another experience I had recently was on an interview by Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge.  Most of his guests are generally conservative and so I listened to the one featuring Elizabeth Economy talking about China.  She seemed well informed and spoke well.

All was proceeding smoothly until she shared that her many years of working in Washington had convinced her that most of the people there really wanted to do the right thing.  Full stop.  What?  That simple statement made me doubt everything else she had been saying.  How could someone be so naive?  Does she pay attention?  It is possible that she is just one of those really nice people that does not see evil until she feels the pain.

Then you have icons like Glenn Beck.  I accept that he is a conservative.  I agree with him on almost everything I have heard him say.  Since I don’t listen to him regularly I don’t know how much I might disagree with now.  My problem with Beck goes back to the days I was driving to work early in the morning and would listen to his radio program.  If I did not know better I would have been under the impression that Glenn Beck was an evangelical Christian of the Billy Graham School.  He had the vocabulary.  He knew the theology.  He radiated it.  The problem is, he is a devout Mormon.  He is serious enough that there can be no doubt he knows what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believe.  Mormons may be wonderful people.  They probably make great neighbors.  They are fine citizens.  The one thing they are not is Christian.

Maybe, somewhere along the road, Glenn Beck converted.  I have heard no one say that.  If he hasn’t I am left with the plain fact that he is being deceptive.  That means I will work with him but I will do so with both eyes open and waiting for the betrayal that will come.

Life is full of difficult situations.  We need to keep thinking and knowing what we believe.  We can’t afford to be simple and trusting when there is so much at stake.  Keep thinking.  Pray without ceasing.  Vote like it made a difference.  Speak up and stand tall.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-201: To Know or Not to Know, That Is the Question

I was contemplating about ignorance and wisdom.  It is amazing how much people don’t know.  It is boring how much I don’t know.

Maybe I need a different word.  We are all ignorant in some areas but the term carries a lot of negative baggage.  If you want to discuss how to rebuild your car engine, color me ignorant.  If you have questions on where to put in the gas, I am your man.  I am aware of my ignorance and it doesn’t bother me.  There are certain types of knowledge that are not necessary to live a productive life.

Other ignorance is destructive.  If you go to the voting booth without any preparation then you are part of the problem.  If you buy a diesel, 3/4 ton truck for your commute to work because your uncle Fred recommended it, you will pay for your choice.  And pay.  And pay.  Or maybe that is my ignorance.  If you marry someone because of their looks, I have bad news for you.  The tone of ignorance depends on the context.

Maybe we need to use theological terms.  Maybe we should talk about being an atheist when it comes to news as opposed to being agnostic.  An atheist rejects.  He knows what he knows, or rather what he has been told.  He has considered the facts and says, “No.”  An agnostic, assuming he is honest, simply does not know enough to make a statement or take a position.

I remember in 2020 asking people to give me a reason why they would vote for Biden instead of Trump but they had to do it without talking about mean tweets.  I never got anyone to give me a reason to vote for Biden.  Even I could do that.  The reasons to vote for Biden are exactly the reasons why I would not vote for him.  The moral issues of abortion and homosexuality are enough to show you what I mean.  If you want to kill babies, Biden is your man.

We face those kinds of decisions every day.  We face them in deciding where to shop and throw our economic influence.  Not shopping at Target is an example.  We show it by sending our children to public school.  We show it by the church we attend.  Do we seek one that actually takes a stand for truth?  

To not decide is to decide.

Overcome your agnosticism or be an proponent of the end of America and a welcome mat for the Great Tribulation.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-188: Unholy Moses

I first saw click bait that claimed the WEF was going to rewrite the Bible.  It was a podcast over an hour long so I didn’t get to it.  Recently I saw it in another format.  An article in The Stream discussed some of the activities going on to have computer AI rewrite the Bible.  I could read instead of listen.  That was doable.  

The focus of this was PETA.  They were starting with rewriting the Genesis account and their goal was to elevate the animals to be more equal with humans.  The surprise was that they admitted there future goal was to redo the rest of the Bible also.  Might I suggest that they try the same thing with the Koran.  The results would certainly save Christians and Jews from having to worry about further attempts to pervert religious documents.

This is a matter of concern but not near as troubling as humans who have been rewriting the Bible for decades.  Progressive Christianity is doing enough damage without the help of a digital brain.  Pulpits and Seminaries across the country are already well on the way to perverting what Christians believe is the word of God.

We may need to go Amish.  People serious about their faith may need to only use printed Bibles and insist that they were printed the old fashioned way with hand set type.  

Is there anything that the modern garden serpents can’t mess with?

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-089: Discernment Watch: Midnight’s Legacy

On the home stretch of my morning walk I passed a neighbor playing fetch with the dog.  They seemed to be having a great time and did not appear to be in need of my wisdom, so I waved and kept walking.

It brought memories of the dog we had when our kids were growing up.  Midnight was mainly black lab with a bit of pit bull.  She was all heart.  I finally accepted her as part of the family.  We took her out in the yard one day and started to play fetch.  It started off well but after a few throws she looked at us and said, “You go get it this time.”  Ours was too smart to keep chasing.

It occurred to me that a lot of Americans are like the neighbor’s dog.  Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on you.  Fool me a third time, shame on you.  You can see where this is going.  How many times do people need to be lied to before they stop watching CNN or any other organ of the MSM?  How many times do they need a company to spit in their face before they start buying another brand of shoe?  The lies are not even subtle or clever.  They are blatant and constant.  

We need to be like Midnight.  When they said “Plague” and we got cautious after a few weeks it was perfectly clear that they were lying to us.  A bad flu is not a plague.  A virus that mainly effects old people who are on death’s door from other issues is not something to panic the country about.  And yet you still see people wearing masks while they walk alone in the park.

If you are a thinker then encourage your neighbors and family to plug in their brains.  Be polite, if you can after all this time.  Be firm and keep explaining.

Maybe.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-271: Headlines: Gates the Republican

I found it interesting that there was an article in the Gateway Pundit linking Bill Gates to Republican members of congress.  Evidently he has been making contributions to their campaigns.

Prominent pictures of Donald Trump would make the Low Information Voter (LIV) think he was taking the dole.  In reality the only connection seems to be that he endorsed one of the candidates.  This is the kind of hack presentation that makes me start to wonder about The Gateway Pundit.  Are they closet Never Trumpers?

Of the names that were listed, the ones that I was familiar with were pretty much on my list of RINOs and semi-Rinos already.  I am supposed to be surprised that Gates is helping fund Graham, Collins and Romney?  Why does it not surprise me that Marco Rubio is on the list?  Why am I disappointed that John Cornyn, one of my senators, is on the list.  I am disappointed but not surprised because of the votes he has cast lately.

When the author gave a list of the congressmen by state it was not near as long as the article implied.  I counted 28 names.  When you consider there are around 500 members of the house and the Senate, this is not overwhelming.

Keep in mind that many people donate to both sides.  One reason is to buy influence.  A question that is not addressed, “Was this money given in primaries in order to defeat a MAGA candidate?”  Another objective might be to create the screaming headlines for articles like this.  They have money to throw away and what they are giving looks like peanuts compared to the slush fund Soros provides.  You and I might need to shepherd our donations because our incomes are limited.  People like Gates are not in that position.

Keep reading and listening but make sure that you never accept the line that is being cast.  Be skeptical, keep your brain engaged and your baloney meter turned up.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-208: Score One for the Liberals

Recently I read on Power Line about a liberal writer, Ruy Teixera,  who was leaving his liberal cesspool, Center for American Progress, and being accepted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  Evidently the Wall Street Journal thinks this is a sign of the vigor of conservatives.  I see it as the first step in the destruction of AEI.  

Keep in mind that many of our colleges and universities used to be conservative.  Like AEI they were open to opposing views and opened their ranks to professors from the left.  They refused to acknowledge that they were slowly taken over until the modern academic world is a tyranny of Progressivism.  One thing you can say for the left, they know better than to give conservatives a voice.  They know liberal ideas don’t work.  They know socialist theories won’t stand the rigor of the light.  They use the cancel culture and coercion to keep themselves in power.  That is one reason I feel it will ultimately be necessary to close down the public universities.

Enjoy AEI while you can.  The heat is being applied and the frog is still asleep.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-207: The Scorpion and the Conservative

I had never heard of Sir Roger Scruton but Peter Robinson and the staff of Uncommon Knowledge know him well enough to have an interview.  He is touted as a British intellectual who is conservative and what I have heard so far sounds good.  If you like intelligent conversation you might give it a listen.

As I listened I heard a gracious man who thinks deeply trying to be open minded about his liberal friends.  At one point, after pointing out the destructive force of liberals in our society, he had to pause and point out that not all liberals are phoney.  Some of them do care about the well being of the masses.  This highlighted the problem with conservative intellectuals.  They are blinded by their desire to be kind and forgiving to their liberal friends.  They cut them slack when it is not really deserved.  They try to see both sides and have an honest dialogue.   

Conservative intellectuals seem to usually miss the whole problem.  They are engaged in a one way desire to communicate.  Liberals do not want to communicate.  They want to dominate and control.  What they can not control they seek to destroy.  That is what they are doing to our Republic.  When they could not win by elected officials they turned to the courts to do an end run.  When they don’t win in court they release the home addresses of the Justices and sic their deranged minions on them.  Then President Biden starts writing executive orders that contradict the courts.  

You can’t reason with these people.  It is questionable whether they can be reclaimed for civil society.  Still, I guess we have to try but we need to quit giving them the benefit of the doubt.  Always keep in mind the scorpion getting a ride across the river on the frog.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-316: Discernment Watch: CCC Matures

Common Core Curriculum (CCC) keeps getting mentioned.  Trump’s alleged pick for the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, is being questioned by the conservatives because of supposed support for CCC.  Like most government programs, it will not go away.  “It isn’t a government program,” the left says.  Right.  If it looks like a duck....

Keep in mind that CCC is not really about curriculum in the sense of what will be covered.  It is about how it will be covered.  It is simply the latest evolution of what the Progressives (socialists, elitists, Democrats, left wing) have been pushing for decades.  It was being pushed when I came into education 30 years ago.  The names keep getting changed to protect the guilty but it continues to be pushed.

CCC is about group think.  It is about the Great Mediocrity.  It is about stifling anyone who might raise their head in individual excellence and actually move our culture ahead.  It pushed group work, cooperative learning, collaboration and anything that keeps the bright kids from achieving.

I had a recent revelation on this.  When I am gone I leave work for the substitute that I might not do if I was present.  I can’t count on the substitute doing much more than taking role and keeping the kids out of my desk.  So I leave prepared worksheets.  I often come back and find that students who do no work when I am there have completed the assignment.  At first I thought that maybe the sub had reached them in ways I couldn’t.  I discarded that almost immediately.  My latest theory matured recently based on my “honors” class.

This is a group of nice kids.  They are above average at our school which would make them about average when I was their age.  One of my problems is to get them to stop copying each other.  They are bright enough but they are also lazy.  They have been together for about 8 years and people keep telling them they are really smart.  They were also continually taught to work collaboratively.  They have been taught to copy.  When I am with them I keep stomping on that behavior and meet fierce resistance.  The sub just lets it go.  So when I was going over their work I noticed that people who had never completed an assignment for me had the entire page filled out. 

Will this group come up with the next generation of innovation that will revolutionize the world?  I seriously doubt it.  There are a few that might surprise me.  They will be good at working on committees and boards but we know how much work committees get done.

We are teachers.  We are molding the future.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-307: Discernment Watch: GMO Worship

I wonder if people who are worried about GMO are as worried about seeker friendly worship.

The GMO Apocalypse crowd are worried about our food sources becoming malignant because the genetic makeup of the DNA has been altered.  For instance, it might look like a tomato but in order to make it grow quicker some crazy scientist has grafted in the DNA of a pig.  So are you eating a tomato or are you eating a pig?  This could be an important question to a Jew, Muslim or Vegan.  It could also be an important question to the rest of us. 

The question is a good one.  When corn is genetically modified does it damage us in ways we won’t see for generations?  I am not sure it is a matter of basic health.  For all of the fears expressed about so many things, people are living longer.  It also seems to me as a public school teacher that they are getting dumber, but that might just be old age on my part.  Do you blame it on GMO, Common Core or Sesame Street?  Maybe all of the above.

So we have concerns about our food because we are playing Russian roulette with the basic makeup. 

Why are we not concerned about the GMO worship that we see.  Our fearless leaders in the church are concerned about being “seeker friendly”.  They don’t want anyone feeling uncomfortable.  They want to adapt the church to our culture.  They are doing an effective job of adaptation.  We don’t hear much about sin but we do hear about diversity.  We don’t hear about reconciliation with God but do hear about reparations for anyone who can find a grievance.  We reject the clear teachings about marriage and grab hold of whatever the latest cool vibe is on the slippery slop of the thrill seeking elites.

Might I suggest that we face the same danger in our spiritual lives that we face in our diet.  When you monkey with the building blocks established by God you take risks that could be very serious.  You might also make things better.  It is best not to go forward blindly using expedience and popular opinion to set the standards.  In vegetables a little testing can find out if something is dangerous.  Feed it to a few generations of rats.  If they start growing two heads you know you have a problem.  In the church you have some clear standards in the Bible that need to be followed or you risk eternal damage.  I feel like I am seeing a lot of spirituality with two heads.

Sometimes in a raging storm you paddle faster.  Sometimes you drop an anchor.  Sometimes you head for shore.  Some times you inflate your life vest.  Sadly, sometimes you die.

homo unius libri