Opus 2022-097: Thanks Thoughts: Aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!

If you are old enough you might remember the BC comic strip.  I don’t know if it is still out there.  One of the personalities involved was Willie.  Willie had an aversion to water.  When he came in contact with water he would go streaking across the landscape yelling something like, “Aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!”.  That is a paraphrase.  I found myself saying the same thing this morning.  His was panic.  Mine was joy.

In my Worship of Thanks I was thinking about salvation and Jesus dying on the cross for my sins.  I was saying, “Thank You, Jesus.”  I was struck by how lame that was.  My thoughts went back to Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ and a few moments of thinking about what the Spotless Lamb of God went through for me was enough to convict me of my shallow conception.  So I said to myself, “Aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!”

Good Friday is coming.  Soon after we will celebrate the resurrection.  There is much to be thankful for.

Aaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-096: Say That Again

In the third lecture of his Biblical Series Jordan Peterson talks about the necessity of a body and how the lack held back AI development.

“One of the primary reasons that we still don't really have autonomous robots—although, we’re a lot closer to it than we were in the 1960s—is because it turned out that you actually have to have a body before you can think.”

This came to mind as I was looking to throw out some old magazines.  I had looked through them but only read a few articles.  It seemed a waste.  But is it?

I like getting physical magazines.  I like physical books.  I can read on line and the Kindle but it just isn’t the same.  I had not read all of the magazines I received but if it were on line the chances are I would have never even looked at it.  Does this relate to what Peterson was saying?

That makes me wonder how much thinking can be done when the source of information is digital.  How much real contemplation can you invest in a medium that could be altered at any time without notice.  I have posts that I make based on the book of Proverbs.  I write them as part of an ongoing commentary I keep on the book and what I put on line is shown in a different font and a date posted.  Every once in awhile I come across a bit of poor grammar or wrong choice of word and I change it in my files.  It is easy.

Have you ever been in a conversation and you quote something the other person said and their response is either, “I  never said that” or “That is not the word I used”?  Generally you do not have a recording of the conversation but you remember it well.  How do you discuss important issues with people who keep editing their memory?

I think traditional print sources are important.  Word processors are convenient but I still find it helpful to print things out for reference.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-095: 613

Have you heard about the 613 Commandments?  Most have heard of the Ten but not the expanded version.  I first heard about them a few years ago after I had graduated from college and seminary, pastored full time for 10 years and part time for 7, raised a family and taught school for 20 years.  Now I am hearing about them more and more.

It is a bit of nonsense perpetuated by people who have too much time on their hands.  To be fair the list comes from Jewish scholars studying the Babylonian Talmud.  The idea is almost 2,000 years old.  It is still nonsense.

Let me give you a couple of examples.  I have a list of the first 86.  In one section it is talking about missionaries who try to convert people to idol worship.  Law 37 says, “Not to love the missionary” and 38, “Not to cease hating the missionary.”  Number 47 says “not to perform ov” which is defined as a medium and 64 says, “Not to attempt to contact the dead.”  There is a difference?  Earlier number 13 says “To love Jews” and then 15 says “Not to hate fellow Jews.”

I may be nit picking but I think a lot of this big number is for theatrical effect rather than teaching truth.  I think that most of the 613 are so obvious that if they had been shared with Abraham, who lived long before the law was given, he would have said, “Well, duh.”  Others would make him wonder what you had been smoking.  The law exists.  For the most part it contains serious moral standards, health advice and guidelines for civil society.  We don’t need to add anything that we think will make it sound impossible to live righteous lives.  

Maybe I am the one who has too much time on my hands.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-094: Ode to Old: Tickling Cure

The old age word for the day is “flaccid”.   I am not addressing what might come to your mind.  I am concerned about the mind it comes to.  I am worried about a flaccid mind.

One of the dangers of old age is a mind that has lost its edge.  Many worry about such things as dementia, Alzheimer’s and memory loss.  We have all seen it in family and friends.  I see it in others when they repeat the same question in a conversation or tell the same stories over and over again.  Every time I have a hard time remembering a word I start to wonder if it is just a word.  Have I told this story before?  Was it in this conversation?

I wonder how much of the decline can be held at bay.  I remember reading somewhere that learning new skills can keep your mind active.  It is very easy to not put in the effort.  I sometimes think that writing these posts is one of the ways I try to keep my brain alive.  Something else I have thought of trying is not telling stories of things that happened more than a day earlier.  

For me the biggest danger is living in a daydream, putting my mind in neutral.  I don’t mean naps but flaccid fantasy that robs the mind of vigor.  I can sit and drift off on a moment’s notice.  I can rework the past and create all kinds of futures.  A little probably doesn’t hurt but it is easy to get preoccupied.

I guess this is where grandchildren come in.  It is hard to daydream when you are tickling a two year old.  Maybe I have a few years left in me yet.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-093: Should-a-Beens: Biden in History

Where would we be today if Joe Biden had been president in 1939?  As low as my opinion is of FDR, he had the leadership to move the country forward to confront the Germans and Japanese.  

There were similarities.  Both men had administrations that were totally infiltrated by the forces of communism.  Both were totally blind to that threat.  Both had control issues.  The difference is that Roosevelt moved the country toward confronting the threats while Joe seems to just want more ice cream.

What is strange is that Biden, in his incompetence, seems to be succeeding in bring down America where Roosevelt just made us stronger.  The difference may be that the citizens have lost the sense of what it is to be American.  

We can’t blame it all on our leaders.

Speak up and take a stand if you have an opportunity.  Time is running out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-092: Inscrutable Verbosity

There is a point where philosophy becomes nonsense and needs to be called something else, maybe sophistology or erosophy.  The word means love of wisdom and wisdom becomes anything but when it is obscured by inscrutable vocabulary.

In first year Greek we started translating from John.  Usually the words themselves are within the range of the average understanding.  The problem in clear translation is often not ability but willingness.  In fact the New Testament was written, not in classical Greek but in koine Greek.  This was the language actually used by the people who wanted to communicate and not just sound educated.  

I guess this is a problem not just for philosophy but for most academic fields.  I know that educators are specialists in coming up with jargon.  They would often take common words and put nonsense meanings to them.  Our “opportunity room” was what common people would call detention.  Common Core was really something with no core.  I sometimes get fed up with doctors who like to use their Latin instead of English.  Or take their abuse of the English.  A compound fracture is really a broken bone sticking out through the skin.  

There are times to use technical language if you are trying to be accurate.  Many people may not know that imbecile, moron and idiot are actually words from IQ testing and have specific IQ’s associated with each one.  Too often big words are just used to obfuscate.  That’s okay, I had to look it up myself.

Don’t fall into the trap.  Speak clearly, but speak.  We need to call evil, evil and tyranny, tyranny.  We are running out of time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-091: All’s Fair in Love and War

War is dangerous.  That is obvious in the obvious way but what we don’t think about is how people in power tend to abuse the good will of the population they are supposed to be serving.  

A lot of things change on the home front during war.  If you have talked to people who remember World War II or read about the conditions you are aware of rationing, scarcities, victory gardens, victory stamps and a lot of other things that seem strange today.  People could not get new tires.  New cars were a dream for the future.  All kinds of foods were unavailable.  And people rolled up their sleeves and did their best to make it work.  There was a war on, don’t you know?

One of the forgotten dangers is the willingness of people to allow their government extraordinary power during a time of crisis.  I refer specifically to such freedoms as the writ of habeas corpus.  In case you were not paying attention in school or had a typical socialist teacher who did not want to bring it up, the writ of habeas corpus is one of the liberties that comes to us from England.  It basically means you cannot lock someone up without a clear statement of why.  It meant people in power could not arrest you and keep you in jail because they don’t like your face or were mad at your grandfather.

The Constitution allows that liberty to be suspended under certain circumstances.  

Article 1, Section 9

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety require it.”  

I have often heard how Lincoln violated the Constitution by suspending the writ.  Recently I heard George Bush was accused of the same thing.  The sentence above would seem to make that no problem but people claim congress has the power of suspension, not the president.  While I concede that this is found in the section on the legislature, it does not say that the president cannot do so.  Seems a bit murky to me.

The point I am making is that one reason the elites who want to run our lives are looking for any excuse they can find to limit our freedoms and give them carte blanche.  To be honest they are ignoring it and the rule of law in general.  An example of that is the arrest and incarceration of the people who were guilty of trespassing on January 6.  Held in solitary confinement for a year for a minor offense is not the way the law was meant to be applied.  

Now imagine if the Progressives* running our government decide to declare war.  Now they have all the justification they want for suspending the writ of habeas corpus and locking up anyone who has been suspended from Facebook or Twitter.  

Was is dangerous when you have wannabe totalitarians at the reins of power.  

Be alert.  Speak up while you still have the right.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Synonym for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri