Opus 2025-015: Then There Were Nine

It is shocking how many days have become memorials in the past few years.  September 11 was the terrorist attack on America.  October 7 is the terrorist attack on Israel.  January 6 is the Cabal’s attack on all America.  If anything we might want to remember it as Ashli Babbitt Day or the day that the Media removed the sixth commandment from the Decalogue.  

If you are not up on your Biblical scholarship let me remind you that the Sixth Commandment says,

(Exo 20:13 KJV)  Thou shalt not kill.

You should also know that the correct translation has “murder”, not kill.

On January 6 it suddenly became legal and moral to shoot through a door at an unarmed person.  I know that Joe Biden recommended doing it with a shot gun.  If you want a source, check out U.S. News and World Report.  If I had fired through a door at anyone, let alone an unarmed woman who was not threatening me, I would be in jail today, even in Texas.  You don’t do that.  Don’t bother telling Ashli Babbitt’s family that.

So today you might want to commemorate the date by going through all of your Bibles, crossing out Exodus 20:13  and making the Ten Commandments into the Nine Commandments.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-262: Because, Gorges, Part 2 of 2

What do I do with the Sabbath. 

(Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Again, that is pretty clear and I am not sure any of us try to pay attention to it.  I have a feeling that if we did the shopping malls and restaurants would start closing up one day a week.

I could make the defense that I am not a Jew and this is the Law, thus it does not apply to me.  That does not work too well because if I can do that with the Sabbath I can also do it to stealing and adultery, if you catch my drift.  While I feel comfortable doing that with the ceremonial law I can’t do it with the moral law.

So lets go literal.  What is the purpose of the Sabbath?  It seems clear that it is a day of rest.  It is a day for no work.  Notice that there is no mention of worship, synagogue or temple.  God did not go to church on Saturday, He rested.  He stopped His work of creation.

So the Sabbath is to be a day of rest.  I will admit that we do not honor that.  I could go along with the idea that we do no work on Saturday.  Maybe that is where the church has missed it.  We have taken Saturday to be the day we catch up on chores and called Sunday a day of rest.  Then on Sunday we wear ourselves out doing church stuff.  In the process we don’t have a day of rest.  Now that I am retired I could easily avoid any work on Saturday and still go to church on Sunday.  That would leave me five days to get everything done on the “honey-do” list.  If you are working you don’t have that luxury. 

Modern appointment calendars may solve the problem for me.  If you have bought one you have noticed that they are now making Monday the first day of the week and putting Sunday at the end.  They do it because it saves space on the format that puts a week on two pages.  Personally I think it is also done to kick the Lord’s Day off the beginning of the week.  It will be interesting to see if it ever spreads to the monthly calendars people have on their walls.

I see the Sabbath as Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.  I see Sunday as the Lord’s Day.  One should be for rest and the other for worship.

Until I work that out, just call me “inconsistent”. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-261: Because, Gorges, Part 1 of 2

Recently Gorges of Gorges Grouse got a bit upset with me and my inconsistency.  He stopped short of the word “hypocrisy” but you could see it wanting to jump out between the lines.  In case you don’t bother with reading comments, here is what he had to say,

“So why do you deny the TRUE Sabbath, but then stick the commandments for it on the FIRST day of the week? And please don't use the silly argument that man can choose any day he wants for “‘the Sabbath.’”

He has a point.  This is what the Bible has to say.

(Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

That seems pretty straight forward. 

Of course we also need to point out some conflicts that Jesus had about the Sabbath.  One is found in Mark 2:23-28. 

(Mark 2:23-4 KJV)  And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.  And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?

The law allowed people to take enough grain from a field to deal with their hunger so we are not looking at theft or trespass.  What the Pharisees got upset about was that plucking grain was work and that meant that they were working on the Sabbath.  If you understand the passage in Exodus rigidly, then Jesus was breaking the Law.  Yet He answers them to point out an understanding that I am not sure we get yet.

(Mark 2:27 KJV)  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

The Sabbath rest was not a burden that God put on His people.  It was a protection that He demanded for their lives.  They were not to work themselves into the ground.  Notice that it applied even to the cattle.  If it were written today it might apply to our automobiles.  God knew about type A people who never rest.  He knew that such behavior was bad for us.  To He called a Sabbath rest.

Like all Biblical laws, there is a good reason for them.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-228: Digging into Deuteronomy: Idle Worship and Idol Worship

(Deuteronomy 4:23 KJV)  Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

Most people have heard of the Ten Commandments.  I doubt if there are many who could list all ten.  If you are curious you can find them at Exodus 20:3-17.  I don’t know if the last six are listed by priorities but it is clear that the first are most important.  Actually they are a package deal and in spite of what you have heard, they can be obeyed.  The problem is no one wants to obey.  If we look at modern entertainment we find that most of them are violated on a regular basis.

The second commandment is being referred to here.

(Exodus 20:4-6 KJV)  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Most of us today would not think of actually building an idol and putting it in a special room to worship.  We are to modern for such foolishness.  Who wants a golden calf or a statue of pan in their living room?  This points out that idolatry can take many forms.  An idol is anything that we give a place to in our lives that represents anything that God has commanded us to avoid. 

For example take the commandment that says,

(Exodus 20:8 KJV)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

How many regular habits do we have that occupy our day of rest?  You might have a garage full of lawn equipment and feel that Sunday is the only day you have to mow the yard.  You may feel like you have a need for a game of golf or other sport activity.  Maybe you honor the sabbath by eating out and making others do the work you are avoiding.  Those appropriate activities become idols because they get in the way of putting God first.

I think the point of violation will be different for each of us.  It may be subtle.  It will have eternal results.  Keep in mind that God will not be mocked.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-171: How about Euthanasia?

Why is it that people who believe in eternal life tend to be the ones against legalizing euthanasia?  Christians do not fear death because they believe it will lead to the resurrection and an eternity in the presence of God.  What is the problem with getting a little help in the process?  It comes down to the questions in the Garden of Eden and whether God is in charge or we are.

Most have heard the misquote from the Ten Commandments,

(Exodus 20:13 KJV)  Thou shalt not kill.

It is a misquote because it should be “murder” not “kill”.  Since the death penalty is given in the Bible and there are cases where war is allowed, to forbid killing would be nonsense.  Murder, on the other hand is killing for your own selfish reasons.  There is even an allowance in the Old Testament law for manslaughter and an acknowledgment that there is a difference between killing in a fit of passion and cold blooded planned murder.

For Christians taking a life is not something you do for personal convenience or profit.  Life is given by God and the length of life is in his hands.  It is part of a belief in Providence.  God is in control.  He can shield us from the virus that kills.  He can put us in the other room when the chimney falls.  On the other hand He can call us home at any time.  Certain decisions are hard to make such as turning off life support on someone who is brain dead, but that is a total different discussion than administering lethal drugs because someone is depressed. 

Where are the Buddhists and Hindus on this issue?  They believe that death leads to reincarnation.  Does that make them in favor of helping people die?  Do they write it off to bad karma because they are in the situation or good karma because they get to reboot to something better?

Death comes to all but we have different attitudes toward it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-091: The War on God, part 4 of 5, Robin Hood Strikes Again

One of the basic moral positions laid out in the Bible is respect for the property of others.

(Exodus 20:15 KJV)  Thou shalt not steal.

Although all cultures that I know of condemn stealing there are different definitions.  Stealing involves taking something that is not yours without the permission of the owner.  Coercion is a form of stealing, thus when the Mafia Dons would collect money so that a store owner would not have rocks thrown through his window, it was stealing

If you are going to have government you need to be able to pay for it.  Human cultures seem to develop some kind of government.  Once it gets beyond the oldest guy in the village being the chief and settling minor disputes you get into paying for things.  Society needs roads.  We seem to need some kind of court system.  Modern society in its concentration of people needs sewer systems and clean water.  This can be paid for by each person being billed for what they use or, you can have taxes.

How so?  Didn’t Jesus Himself say,

(Matthew 22:21 KJV)  They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Yes, He did.  So the question then becomes, “What is Caesar’s?”

Taxes transition from legitimate collection to stealing.  Somewhere rulers discovered that you could get more money with a tax system than a billing system.  Not only do you claim the money to do the necessary jobs of government but you also need to collect to pay the salaries of the tax collector and all his assistants.  Then you have the projects that government officials in their wisdom know are vital but noone will willingly pay for.  You hide that in the taxation.

Soon you move to Robin Hood collections.  I don’t know if you ever read any of the original Robin Hood books but the real Robin Hood did not rob from the rich to give to the poor.  He robbed from anyone who had money and kept it for himself.  In that sense our taxation is a Robin Hood system.  You find that some people don’t, or won’t, pay their “fair share”.  You raise the rate on everyone else to compensate.  The responsible keep thinking it is their “fair share” and the ones benefitting are not going to tell them any different.

The government does not want anyone pointing out that much of what disguises itself as legitimate taxes is really stealing by special interest groups.  Because of that the government is not a big fan of God.  He had a flat rate called the tithe.

To be  continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-089: The War on God, part 2 of 5, Who Is the Boss

If God represents competition then the Ten Commandments are His basic rules.  That is why they are such a threat to governments.  As we said earlier, government hates competition.  It turns out that God also hates competition.  Take a look at the first commandment.

(Exodus 20:3 KJV)  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

If you are a devout Jew or a believing Christian then God must be the Prime Mover in you life.  He does not leave you any other choice. 

The battle of the boss begins in our personal lives.  Many individuals reject Jesus as Lord because that means they need to take second place in their own little universe.  People will be attracted to the saccharine version of Jesus that is based on half truths.  That Jesus is gentle and mild.  He is the one who would never expect them to take a stand or ignore their feelings because a silly book like the Bible tells them they are wrong.

The battle of the boss continues into our culture.  Even people who will not let Jesus rule their lives will embrace the liberty that a moral life delivers.  They don’t want child molesters teaching school.  They don’t want the government to raise their children.  This kind of thinking is a threat to the domination of the government.  People who stand up for the values that God laid down must be slapped down.  We have fools claiming that the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights come from the government not God.  While God does not change and is not fickle or capricious, the government is known for going back on its word.

Rights are from God, not the government.  This is a basic principle laid down in the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men,...”

Our rights come from God and the government is there to protect those rights.  It is not there to give us rights or decide who gets them. 

Obviously this God thing has to be gotten rid of for the government to have the power it craves.

To be  continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-179: Middle Class Morality: Chastity

Recently I was talking to a student and out of the blue he shared with me that he had had fellatio when he was 14 and wanted to know when I had experienced it.  TMI.  If you don’t know what the term means then look it up or read about Bill Clinton’s use of the oval office.  This is where our pagan culture is taking us.

Conversely, Middle Class Morality is based on chastity.  Let me remind you that chastity means purity in sexual relations, not celibacy which is the abstinence of sexual contact.  Celibacy is expected before marriage.  Chastity is expected after marriage.  America in the past embraced the concept that sex was for marriage.  They may not have lived up to it but they knew what was right and what was wrong.

Chastity is rooted in the Bible. 

(Exodus 20:14 KJV)  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

For people wanting to live God’s way that is enough but we have the modern sophists who will say, “But that applies to married people, not me.”  Okay. 

Let’s play legalistic lawyer.  Technically adultery does involved a married person sexually involved with someone outside their covenant.  Got it.  Fornication, on the other hand, is any sexual contact outside marriage.  So do a search on fornication.  You find many references to it.  Among them is,

(Acts 15:20 KJV)  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

Still not convinced?  You think they are synonyms?  Then how about this verse that uses both words?

(1 Corinthians 6:9 KJV)  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

In spite of what you may have heard by your seeker friendly pastor, in your latest Christian self-esteem book or from the guy who is trying to get you into bed, God’s standards have not changed.

Viva la middle class morality.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-466: Discernment Watch: Greedy Thoughts

Modern socialists like presidential candidate Bernie Sanders try to divide the people of America by a mantra aimed at the evil rich.  They harp on greed.  Greed is the problem.  Greed is a disease that can only be cured by taking away all the money of the rich.  It is supposed to be passed on to the poor; the money, not the greed.  What really happens is that the greedy socialists put it in their own pockets.  They know that the poor are not yet ready for that wealth and of course the rich don’t deserve it.  Only the elites, in their infinite wisdom, can handle it.  So they hold it in trust for those of us who are not ready.  How benevolent. 

America’s problem is not the greed of the “have’s” but the envy of the “have not’s”.

We have many of the first and uncounted masses of the second.

Many times what they “have” is really the willingness to work hard and take risks.  The combination of those two qualities often generate wealth.  Because they are successful they are labeled “greedy”.

Three of the Ten Commandments might apply here.  The first is,

(Exodus 20:3 KJV)  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

This is where God starts.  This is at the core of any problems we have.  This is the difference between Christians and culture.  The reality that socialists deny is that God-replacements are a problem for the poor as much as the rich.  Materialism is just more obvious in the rich because they can buy the big toys but it is just as common among the poor.

A second Commandment being ignored is,

(Exodus 20:15 KJV)  Thou shalt not steal.

Modern culture wants to only apply this to the rich.  They assume that if you are wealthy you took it from others.  They believe in zero-sum economics which says there are a set number of dollars and if you have more than someone else you stole them or cheated to get them.  Of course if that were the case then there would be no point in digging more gold out of the ground or growing more food.  The socialists ignore the fact that taking money from one group to give to another group is stealing, no matter which way the money is moving. 

The third is,

(Exodus 20:17 KJV)  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

There is a difference between coveting and wanting to better yourself.  Coveting looks at your neighbor and says, “I want yours.”  Betterment says, “I am inspired by your success.  I am going to work to achieve a similar success.”  The socialists seek to rule society by getting the poor to covet the success of the rich without teaching them to work and save in order to achieve the same ends.  It denies people the reward for their hard work and extra effort that generates more hard work and effort.

Obviously some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouth.  Obviously some who are at the top have cheated and used government contacts to get their.  What is not obvious is that most of these people have become socialists.  They plan on staying at the top by making it impossible for others to do what they have done.  Their method is government coercion. 

Next time you hear someone complaining about the greedy rich, follow the money.  See what it is that they have to gain by their sermon.  Is it political power?  It is someone else’s wealth?  Is it headlines and notoriety?  And ask yourself how many jobs you have gotten from poor people and how well they paid.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-28: Where Is Lilly Tomlin When You Need Her?

According to the internet, it was Chico Marx in Duck Soup who came up with the line, “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”  This has been improved to, “Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?”

It is a joke that has become reality.

I continue to marvel at how the foundations of this declaration are constantly being laid in my classroom.  I am sure I have said it before:  The hardest thing for me to accept and adjust to is the casual and consistent ease with which students lie to me on a regular basis.  If I were not a Christian and acknowledge the sinful nature I would be surprised.  I am still constantly disappointed.  A young man or woman with all the appearances of being a wonderful human being will be chewing gum.  It is clearly visible as a yellow, green or blue mass, sometimes hanging out their mouth.  I ask them to get rid of it.  They look at me with Oscar winning sincerity and say, “I don’t have any gum.”

It starts here.  It continues on through life.  At some time in our life we have all been taken in by a smooth sales technique.  We hear constant commercials that make claims that have been cleared by the legal department but are designed to deceive.  We have people running for political office that rival the sincerity of my gum chewing students. 

The battle continues.  Honesty, integrity, truth and all of the results of such standards are being flushed down the toilet of our culture.  I can’t change the entire culture.  You don’t have much more power.  What I can do is clean up my back yard and encourage others around me to do the same.  I can also remind people who call themselves Christians that the Ten Commandments tell us,

(Exodus 20:16 KJV)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

If that doesn’t do it for you then let me remind you,

(Revelation 21:8 KJV)  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

We all agree that Hitler is burning in Hell.  We have others we condemn to that fate, but notice what is tagged on at the end of the list:  liars.

Church, take it seriously.  God does.  World, you will also be held accountable, not by me but by whatever you will acknowledge was the Prime Mover of the Big Bang.

As Lilly Tomlin would say, “And that’s the truth.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-325: The Biggest Problem in Education

I am sure I have mentioned it before but recently it has been beating me in the face.  The hardest thing for me to take as a teacher is the drop-of-the-hat dishonesty of the students I work with.  You would think it might be violence or administrative foolishness.  In reality, I have never felt any fear on campus and I have learned to work around administrators. 

No, what stops my roller coaster is the way a student will look at you with total innocense and say, “I don’t have any gum in my mouth.”  This could be technically the truth.  It might be a spit wad they are working on.  This could be a manufactured truth.  They might have quickly swallowed the gum.  It could be a conditional truth.  They may have slipped the gum into their hand.  Since they know what I am talking about, it is still a lie.

They lie to protect a piece of chewing gum.  It can even be hanging out their mouth and they will lie.  It does not bother them.

This is just a low hanging fruit.  It could be that I asked them if they turned some homework in.  They will usually say, “Yes.”  Only when I go to check will they change their story.  When sent by an administrator or another teacher to see if they can be out of class that day, they invariably say, “Mr. Admin says you are supposed to send me to their room.”  Use your imagination.  If you can imagine it, they will lie about it.

To be honest they learned this from the adults in their lives.  It starts with their parents.  Just on what I see and hear in parent meetings gives me a clue to what happens at home.  Then they get to school and soon begin to realize that they can’t really believe what the school tells them either.  It could be something as blatant as denying a promise that was made.  It is prevalent in the announcements made about policy and the law and then totally disregarding the statement.  It can be giving the idea that everyone needs algebra in the eighth grade. 

They see it in their entertainment.  It has been a long time since I have watched TV but I would guess that the main characters are still regularly telling lies and the laugh track is reminding you it is supposed to be funny.

They see it in their politicians.

Lies are destructive.  That is why God chose honesty as one of the final ten rules.

(Exodus 20:16 KJV)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Short and sweet.  Worthy to repeat.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-263: We Need More Truthers

“What is truth?”  Pontius Pilate, John 18:38

If you would capitalize “Truth” then as a Christian I have an answer.  As a Christian I believe there are absolutes and they are found in Jesus who said,

(John 14:6 KJV)  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If you are dealing with the wider philosophical question of truth, it gets murky.

This comes to mind because as I age and the people around me age I am seeing frequent examples of incongruity or what psychology calls cognitive dissonance.  People relate events that we have in common and what I am hearing does not correspond with what my memory tells me.  An example would be conversations with my wife which lead me to tell my children that either one or both of us is losing it.  But she is not alone.  I would imagine that others feel the same way around me.

So, what is the nature of truth? 

We are all familiar with the chant of the those with Bushpobia, “Bush lied; people died.”  That statement in itself is a lie that led to deaths.  Bush may have been wrong.  He might have been misinformed.  I guess he might have even been living in delusion.  The one option not open was calling him a liar.  He spoke what he believed to be true.  He repeated what he had been told and what even his political opponents endorsed at the time.  That is not lying.

Is it a lie if your best information and memory lead you to say something that does not correspond to the facts?  I would say, “No.”  It might not be true, but it is not lying.  It might even be a lie but the act was not lying.  Lying requires volition.  It requires intent.  Any other definition means that most of us lie frequently every day.

Perhaps that is why the Bible states it the way it does.

(Exodus 20:16 KJV)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

It does not say be “wrong”.  It says to be “false”.

Our tendency is to label our opponents liars and stand up for our allies when they act the same way.  That in itself can be a form of lying. 

People of good will should accept that we are all human.  We should condemn the politicians and news reporters who deliberately spin, exaggerate, doctor and edit what they say with a deliberate goal of deception.  We should expose and forgive honest mistakes and ignorance.

What we need are more people of good will who want to know the truth.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-237: Principles Versus Rules

“People who want to ignore the principles can focus on the rules.”

I don’t know if I heard that, word for word, or came up with it myself.  It is true either way. 

Principles require mental engagement.  Life is not simple.  Conditions change.  Serendipity is more than just a word from the 60's.  “Drive safely” is a principle.  “Speed limit of 55" is a rule.  It is possible that in the rain and wind that 55 is not safe.  The legalist will insist on driving 55 plus the 5 mph grace.  The engaged driver will slow down.

We find this in politics.  We find it in business.  We find it in the church.

Take for instance the ban on murder.  If you are quoting the King James Bible, like people tend to do even when they don’t know it, it comes out like this.

(Exodus 20:13 KJV)  Thou shalt not kill.

That sounds like a simple rule.  The problem is that it would outlaw all war, capital punishment, self defense, and in extreme applications, a good steak.  For you that might not be a problem.  It is still not accurate.

Engage your mind.  Does that make sense?  Now dig a little deeper.  What the modern translations say is different.

(Exodus 20:13 NAS77)  "You shall not murder.

Now we scratch our head and say, “That is a horse of another color.”  In the Hebrew definition of this word it uses words like premeditated, murder and assassinate.

The law, the Bible in which many of our legal principles originate, and common sense have their rules but they are to be understood by the principles under them.

It is hard to be a thinking citizen.  It is hard to be a real follower of Christ.  It is easy to be a robot.

Happy thinking.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-331, “Inconsistency” in the Bible

As I was reading through the twenty-sixth chapter of Proverbs I was struck by how often Solomon was using the term “fool.”  It didn’t shock me.  I work in public education.  It is a fools paradise full of people who belong there.  The thing that came to my mind was a statement by Jesus,

(Matthew 5:22 KJV)  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

We have a problem here.  Jesus says don’t call people fool.  Solomon does it repeatedly.  This would seem to qualify as an inconsistency in scripture.

My point today is not to try to work out the inconsistency.  It has been done.  Maybe some other day.

My point today is to say that working seeming inconsistencies out is not compromise or backpedaling.  It is the heart of understanding what the Bible teaches.  There are three places you look to understand the place a verse of scripture has in teaching its truth.  You start with the verse itself.  What does it say and what does it mean?  Then you look at the immediate context.  How does the chapter and book explain what is being said.  Then you look to the total witness of scripture.  What does the whole Bible say? 

Take a simple example.  Look at the segment of the Ten Commandments,

(Exodus 20:13 KJV)  Thou shalt not kill.

That seems simple enough.  It is clear and concise.

But wait a minute.  What about,

(Exodus 21:12 KJV)  He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

This is the next chapter.  In one chapter we are told not to kill.  In the next we are told to kill.  What gives? 

A little research will show you that the proper word in the Ten Commandments is “murder” not “kill.”  With a little honesty and thought you can work this out to the satisfaction of everyone except those who are against capital punishment.

In the course of doing this you apply a little logic and the ability to think.  In most cases you can work out a solution to the inconsistency that satisfies most people.  There are probably exceptions but I figure the answer is still out there. 

Before you make a big deal of this, consider science and the scientific method.  It is just this attitude which drives the mind of research in the physical world.  A wobble in the planets did not work with the other known facts, leading to the discovery of Pluto.  Einstein struggled for years trying to find solutions to his theories.  Today the physicists still try to work out inconsistent results to data. 

Christians accept logic and reason in both areas.  The pagans and Xians reject it in theology but embrace it in science. 

Who is being inconsistent?

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-308, Decalogue or Debacle?

This morning I was drinking coffee out of a cup that listed the Ten Commandments.  As I looked at the last six I noticed that these are all broken in the average TV program of our day.  There is no sense looking at the first four because those are rejected out of hand.

5.  Honor your father and mother.  The very heart of modern comedy is that children are wise and adults are stupid. 

6.  Don’t murder.  Some comedies may avoid this but action shows justify all kinds of reasons for killing people.

7.  Don’t commit adultery.  Really?  How old school.  The modern standard is, “Do you love me?”  Even if it is only love that lasts long enough to order another round, it is justification for violating sacred vows.

8.  Don’t steal.  Why not?  If I can pirate software and CD’s why not take whatever I want?

9.  Don’t lie.  How can you have a TV program without non-stop lies?  If you did not have lies you might need to develop a plot or characters.  That would cut down on your audience.

10. Don’t covet.  Most people would need to look that up in a dictionary, if they have one. 

Maybe I am missing something.  How can you expect a younger generation to grow up to be honorable and worthy when all of their examples are 0 for 10?  How can you expect them to be law abiding when our culture is removing the Eternal Ten and replacing them with the Big Ten or the Top Ten?

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-159, Sabbath Observations: Roots of the Weekend, Part 1, A Day for Renewal

I cannot picture what is was like being a slave, let alone a slave in a pagan culture.  How do you deal with being on call 24/7 at someone else’s whim?  What is it like to never be sure of a time of rest. 

From the Old Testament we get the idea of a Sabbath.  The concept was established at creation and is tied in with the seven days. 

(Exodus 20:8-11 KJV)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

What was the purpose of the Sabbath?  It was to be holy.  That means set aside for special use.  It was to be a day of no work.  The word Sabbath means “to cease, desist, rest.”

This is elaborated more a little further into Exodus.

(Exodus 23:12 KJV)  Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

The purpose of the Sabbath was to refresh us.  It was for renewal.  It was a time to recharge our batteries.

Notice that it was to be for everyone, not just the ruling class.  The “handmaid” of the KJV is “female slave” in the NASB.  So many of the Bible’s teachings are like this.  You don’t rest by having someone else do the work.  Rest if for everyone.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-82, The Death of the Sabbath

(Exodus 20:9-11 KJV)  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

How has the Biblical faith influenced our culture?  Let me lift out one item:  The Sabbath.  When God created our world and the people on it, the Bible says that on the seventh day He rested, or sabbathed.  As you can see in the verses above, a day of rest was mandated by God for all.  Notice that the rest was extended to the servants, foreign visitors and even the animals.  The tradition of the Jewish and Christian cultures is to have one day a week when no work was done.

Historically we see that the working classes did not need to agitate for a six day week.  They already had it.  Sunday school is not in the Bible.  It was started during the industrial revolution as a way of trying to educate the children locked into the labor grind.  Sunday was the day they did not work so the churches started Sunday Schools to teach them not only the Bible but the three “R’s” also.

When I was a child you could not do any shopping on Sunday because all the stores were closed.  I remember when Sears started opening for half a day on Sunday.  I remember when people did not always go out to eat on Sunday.  You could be a waitress or sales clerk and still expect to attend church on Sunday.  Some states made these traditions official with what were called “blue laws.”  This regulated what business could be done on Sunday.

Gradually this tradition has been eroded until now it is almost gone.  Sunday is a big day in the parks, restaurants and malls.  It is like a weekly holiday and people forget where it came from.  What that means is that more people are being expected to work on Sunday.  You can’t shop in the mall unless the mall employees are on the clock.  Gradually more and more people are being required to work on Sunday if they want to work.  Some businesses still pay extra for week ends but my guess is that as the tradition disappears, so will the bigger pay checks.

My prophecy is that the privilege will gradually disappear.  Christians will be expected to work on a day that God has said, “Don’t.”  We will have no one to blame but ourselves.  Without the religious force behind it I would not be surprised if we don’t see a move back to longer work weeks.  It isn’t happening yet, but wait a few years.  If we do not acknowledge that God has declared us special and needing a day of rest the forces of elitism will decide that we don’t need that dignity.

So enjoy your soccer and bike clubs.  Look for weekend specials at the mall.  Enjoy time with your family while you can.  Just as Christmas is becoming pagan as the “reason for the season” is ignored, so the weekend will become a source of bondage instead of a cause of celebration.

Mark my words.

homo unius libri