Opus 2015-422: Tax Dollars at Work: A Slice of the Pie

I have not seen it in print yet but the radio was reporting a new scandal involving Marco Rubio.  It seems that when he was a younger politician he may have misusing a government credit card.  I expect it might become a popular theme.  We will see.

Rubio is not high on my list but I am not sure if this is really a big issue.  It isn’t that using tax money for personal benefit isn’t wrong.  It is.  The problem is that our government class is so corrupt that we can put this in the “everyone is doing it” file.

For instance, as I was listening to this on the radio I noticed a car driving beside me.  On the door was the proud seal of the City of Los Angeles.  Below it was the identification of“Public Utilities”.  We were at least three cities away from the boundary of Los Angeles.  There is no way that a city employee of Public Utilities would be out here unless he was simply using a government car to drive home.  Illegal?  Probably.  Common?  Definitely. 

Corruption is more than congressmen passing lucrative contracts to their friends and cronies.  It is also the guy at the bottom getting his slice.  It is too common.  It is still wrong.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-421: A Pet Peeve

I have a peeve to pet.  I was reading another blog and it had some great quotes from some significant people.  I would like to use them.

But are the true?  Are they accurate?  Most bloggers refuse to give their sources.  Thus, while I like the quote and might express the thought, it has no clout without the reference.  Think of all the time people quote Jesus when it was really Benjamin Franklin.  Think of all the quotes attributed to Abraham Lincoln that never passed his lips.  Today I have seen quotes from Gandhi, Emerson, Thomas Paine, Plato, Mark Twain and others.  Are they accurate?

Often we read a quote that was repeated from another source, that was repeated by another source that was repeated by another source, that was repeated by the person who made it up.

Other times we follow the same procedure and it is like the old parlor game of “Telephone” where the message at the end is nothing like what went in at the beginning.

I remember one time I wanted to quote Shakespeare,

A rose by any other name,
Be it oh, so sweet,
Is still a rose.

Not being a Shakespeare scholar I did a quick search and found that what he actually said was,

“What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

I like mine but it is not accurate.  Notice I did not put quotes around mine.

I realize you may not have the time but I would appreciate it if you would give me a title and a page number so I can see if it is accurate.

There.  I feel better now.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-420: Zombie Theology: Demon Possession

One of the kids at school was talking weird and I postulated that he was demon possessed.  What surprised me was that the kids knew what I was talking about.  Somehow in the discussion it came out that I was not worried about it.

I am not worried about being demon possessed.  Why?  Because I am filled with the Spirit.  That spot that a demon might get a toe-hold is already full. 

(1 John 4:4 KJV)  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

It is the difference between trying to crush an empty soda can compared to one that has not been opened.

Now my question here is about becoming a zombie.  The pagans like to look at the world as only material or, if there are spirits, you only hear about the evil ones.  The popular theme is that once you are bitten by a zombie you become a zombie.  As a Christian I question that.  If there are no spirits and the world is purely physical the process is purely nonsense.  Consider:  A body with all of its organs shot out, except its brain, somehow rises up and starts looking for brains to eat.  What physical process keeps the muscles contracting?  It ain’t going to happen. 

Then it requires a belief I spirits and requires it to be understood as some kind of demon possession.  By definition a true, regenerated, spirit filled disciple of Jesus Christ cannot be possessed by a demon.  Thus, I and my brothers and sisters become zombie-proof.  Bite away.  I may get an infection from your dirty mouth but God gave me an army of macrophages to deal with that invasion. 

And He gave me the Holy Spirit to send your zombies running the other way.

Sorry to rain on your parade, zombie fans.  It doesn’t need to ruin your day.  I figure you can suspend belief and enjoy the genre just as I can suspend my knowledge of the laws of physics while watching X-Wing fighters bank and roll in a vacuum. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-419: A Has Bean

Did you ever ask yourself what it would be like to be a coffee bean?

Think of the journey.  You start as the twinkle in the pistil of a plant in some third world country.  Who knows how old you are before you begin to yearn for freedom and opportunity that can only be had in the cup of an American blogger.  The yearning may develop slowly or it may pop full blown into your coffee bean heart. 

We will never know because a careless gringo dropped you on the floor.

You grew to maturity in the shade of a large tree and were carefully chosen by the fingers of a mountain peasant.  He decided you were ready for your journey.  He started you in motion by plucking you from the comfort of your branch.  But you knew you had a purpose.

You endured the processing, bagging and being tossed in the back of a truck.  You were nauseous on the ocean voyage but you knew it would be worth it.  The roasting simply made your goal one step closer.

Then came the day you slid down that chute in the bulk coffee dispenser and met your master for the first time.  At last.  You were in the hands of your consumer.  It was getting close.

Can you imagine the joy of beginning to be measured out on that special morning.  It was here.  You could see the coffee grinder, waiting with its lid off.  And then the unthinkable.  You missed your target and fell to the floor.  As you were screaming, “No!” you were picked up and dropped in the trash.  Instead of being the joyful part of a glorious morning you are suddenly landfill.

Today a coffee bean’s destiny was frustrated.

Think about your role in the destiny of others.  Remember that a coffee bean has feelings too.  It has dreams.  It has goals.  That same might be said for that noodle that your dropped and callously discarded.  Or what about that piece of radish that jumped from the chopping board to the ground.

Destiny is in your hands.  Cook with care.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-418: Monday Pulpit: Sources of Poverty, part 11 of ?, Sin

I go back to a series I started about what makes people poor.  Another cause of poverty is sin. 

(Proverbs 13:25 KJV)  The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want

Sin is destructive.  It may be fun at the moment.  It may be cool.  It may feel good.  It will destroy you.  This is expanded in an often overlooked verse.

(Exodus 15:26 KJV)  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Righteous living leads to a healthier life.  Sure, righteous people get sick.  So do rich people.   This is not a blanket guarantee that God’s people will never get sick.  It is a guarantee that God will not send the consequences of disobedience on His people.  Better health would seem to be a part of prosperity. 

S.I. McMillen makes the case in a book called None of These Diseases.  He goes into great detail about the physical infirmities that can be avoided by following the standards taught in the Bible.  I think the original is out of print.  I reread it in the third edition, referenced below.  I found that the rewriting had added a bit of political correctness but also a lot of startling statistics with footnotes for the research.  One of the startling statistics he gives in the new book comes from research done in Africa regarding the scourge of HIV.

“Uncircumcised men were up to eight times more likely to become infected with AIDS.” p. 75

I doubt if you will hear that on the evening news.  Maybe you need better sources of information.

.McMillen, S.I. and Stern, David E.  None of These Diseases.  Grand Rapids:
     Fleming H. Revell, Third Edition, 2000.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-417: Zombie Theology: The Resurrection

Zombies.  Everywhere.  All the time.  Halloween is gone, zombies remain.

One of the popular heresies being perpetuated in the “Christian” church is that Jesus was not really physically resurrected.  They teach that it was a spiritual resurrection only.  To them it was only His spirit that came back.  It was kind of a Star Wars, Obi Wan Kenobi, moment.  Like Obi Wan, Jesus after saying what need to be said, just faded away.

It makes a fun plot line but makes the Christianity these people celebrate a sick joke.  Actually it is not even a new idea.  The Star Wars theme was around in the early church.  It was what Paul was responding to when he wrote,

(1 Corinthians 15:14 KJV)  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Old heresy revisited.

Modern pagans have approached the idea of resurrection from the other vector.  In the ancient heresy Jesus was supposed to have only had His spirit resurrected.  In the modern pagan version the dead are resurrected only physically.  Instead of becoming saints they become zombies.

A zombie is a body without a soul.  It isn’t always lacking a mind.  I have only seen one zombie movie but I understand in some threads of the meme there are zombies with the ability to think and talk.  What they lack is the soul.  Cool, if you are a pagan.

Zombie evangelism involves eating brains.  One of the differences with Christian evangelism is that the zombie approach seems to be 100% effective and require no consent from the target.  In both forms of evangelism the targets usually run away.  I am not sure why people run from zombies.  They seem to like the idea.  They dress up like them.  They walk like them.  They take drugs and alcohol to make themselves temporarily brain dead.  Maybe on the inside they realize it isn’t a good option.

Feel free to make your own choice. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-416: Happy All Saints Day

It is no longer Halloween, it is now Hallow.  I read over the Wikipedia article on All Saints Day.  Much of what it had to say I already knew.  November 1 is observed by the Roman Catholic Church and liturgical Protestants as a day to remember and honor the saints of the church.  If you are an evangelical Protestant you might not understand that the term “saint” in the Catholic tradition refers to a select few who have been recognized and elevated by the church for their holy lives and miraculous actions.  For evangelicals it simply refers to believers.

A few tidbits that I found interesting.  Evidently in Shakespeare’s time the day was referred to as Hallowmas.  You can see the parallel evolution of language when you consider Christmas (Christ’s mass) Eve comes before Christmas.  Thus Hallowe’en (Hallow’s evening) is connected with Hallowmas.

The other interesting thing was that the liturgical celebration began at Vespers on what we consider Halloween.  That would rule out much of the nonsense we associate with the holiday.  It is hard to go trick or treating when you are sitting in a Vesper service.

The Day for the Evil Dead is over.  Now it is time to celebrate the Righteous Dead.

I don’t think it will catch on.

homo unius libri