Opus 2022-194: Games: That’s Cold

We play a lot of games that infringe on our radar only a tad.  One of those is the game of Refrigerator Dominance.  It may be a mutation of Male Refrigerator Blindness (MRB) which can be either a game or a condition.  It is similar in that it involves both men and women.  It is also the same genre because it can be played other places such as the kitchen cupboards.  

Refrigerator Dominance is about how different containers are placed in a refrigerator.  The naive observer might suggest such things as availability or frequency of use as conditions for location.  Not so.  The chief qualification is the sense of entitlement dominating the placer.  There is a feeling that objects they feel are important should be given primary placement.    

My things get moved to a lower shelf.  I would open the door, reach for a jar in the spot I left it and come up empty handed.  Well, not empty, but the contents are not what I expected.  I had a small spray bottle of artificial butter that I used several times a day.  There was an empty spot that I had been filling and making useful.  Suddenly, after months of routine, my bottle was down a shelf and a bottle of ketchup had been relocated.  

How do I respond?  My first response is to shrug my shoulders, act like an adult and get used to the new location.  I am willing to do so because I Corinthians 13:5 says love “does not seek its own, is not provoked.”  It does not become a problem until the playoffs begin.

The playoffs are when it becomes a public issue.  It seems it is not enough to move my stuff to the bottom shelf.  Suddenly comments are needed.  It seems that the entire refrigerator is dominated by my stuff.  Who would have known?  I didn’t know until it was announced to visitors.  It is hard to understand how a jar of pickles takes up more space than two jars of mayonnaise, a jar of Miracle Whip and a bottle of ketchup.  That may just be a symptom of MRB.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-193: Here We Go Again

I just finished Omega by Jack McDevitt.  Once again I see someone writing a science fiction story that is really a theological treatise.

The theology comes in when the rescuers from Earth are driven to masquerade as deities of the natives they are trying to save in order to warn them about a coming catastrophe.  They are laboring under a policy of non-intervention, The Protocol, but find that they only way they can save the alien civilization is to intervene.  So they appear in the guise of a goddess and pass on the information the natives need.  It was a simple message, “Flee to the high ground for a few days.”  

The theological statement has two elements.  First, it looks at the past in our history where there have been strange occurrences that need an explanation.  Since science fiction authors as a whole reject the idea of God, it is necessary to bring in the advanced aliens from outer space to save our cookies.  It is the same approach that evolutionists take in trying to figure out where advanced life came from on earth.  They know it could not have happened by chance.  They can figure the odds.  They know how probability works.  They know there was not enough time for evolution to take place even if they overlook the Original Cause or Prime Mover problem.  By having advanced humans save beings on another planet that says it could have happened here.  It is a popular theme in science fiction.  It also overlooks the problem of where the aliens came from.

The second theological position is that religious traditions come from people faking the activity of the gods.  Miracles are slight of hand.  Prophecy is theater.  There is no God so it must have been some legend that developed among credulous humans.

I have started the next volume in the series.  I am not sure I will finish it.  In the first few chapters there has been repeated reference to how the oceans are rising and all of that nonsense that is being pushed by the global warming lobby.  It is always introduced as if it is a done deal.  If he drops it and moves on I may keep reading.  If he keeps playing the most recent Song of Indoctrination, I will find something else to read.

McDevitt, Jack.  Omega.  New York:  Ace Books, 2003.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-192: Hang It

I put out my flag today.  I had a moment of wondering if I should bother.  The way things are going you wonder if we will soon need one with fewer stars.  The Progressives* are out to destroy the country by aggressive acts of power usurpation which destroy our liberties and opportunities.  Of the three branches of the federal government only the Supreme Court has any glimmer of being on the side of historic America and that is an undependable majority when you consider how Roberts waffles and weaves.

I put my flag out today.  Ultimately I am an American and historically I am proud of that.  It was, of course, only an act of God that had me born here instead of a refugee camp somewhere in the third world.  Even then I could have emigrated and become an American.  I am grateful.  We have our problems but if there were a balance of history we would be overwhelmingly in the good guy column.  The only thing that would keep you from believing that is believing the lies that are being perpetuated by our elites.  

I put my flag out today.  It is a sign of hope for the future.  It is an expression of hope in the American people, the silent masses.  We could take that phrase from the Statue of Liberty, “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” and apply it to the workers and families that now live here.  Ultimately my hope is based on a belief that God is not through with us yet.  It is time to remind ourselves of the promise given to ancient Israel,

(2Ch 7:14 KJV)  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We are not Israel but the principle remains the same.  Keep in mind the key parts we don’t like to remember:  humbling ourselves and turning from our evil ways.

As you put out your flag remember that there is hope.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-191: The Problem with Bedrooms, part 4 of 4

The problem with bedrooms is that eventually the problem gets too big to confine.

(1Ki 11:4-7 KJV)  For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.  Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

The key you need to see here to show you how extreme this became is in the name in that last verse:  Molech.  You may have zoned out or gone to skim mode when you blew past it.  When you see that name you need to think about parents taking their first born down to the local temple and throwing the living baby into a raging furnace.  Do a little search of the exact phrase “pass through the fire” in the KJV and you will find it 11 times.

So no, they are not nice people just minding their own business.  They are people on the level of Solomon who may have just not gone down the road far enough.  If we don’t find a way to draw a line then they will eventually bring the wrath of God down on us as a nation.

Maybe they already have.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-190: The Problem with Bedrooms, part 3 of 4

A good historical example of the problem with bedrooms is demonstrated by King Solomon of Ancient Israel.  He started out very well.  God gave him a wish, kind of like the genie in the bottle,

(1Ki 3:5 KJV)  In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

and Solomon asked for the wisdom to rule his people.

(1Ki 3:9-12 KJV)  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?  And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And of course there was the condition demanded,

(1Ki 3:14 KJV)  And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.

How did it work out.  Solomon probably figured since he was king he could fudge a little.  After all, who knows what goes on in the bedroom of the king.

(1Ki 11:1-3 KJV)  But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.

What was the social result of this legal and expected behavior?  Keep in mind that a king was expected to have many wives.  Solomon was just doing what all the other kings were doing.

To be concluded...

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-189: The Problem with Bedrooms, part 2 of 4

After theological and logical problems with the unfettered bedroom comes the social reality of moral license.  

A society that rejects the standards of God as the expectation of behavior begins to morph into a gross pagan culture.  Most Americans have no idea how bad it can get.  As paganism spreads through our culture and the church starts to be polluted with its thinking we are seeing the beginnings.  If you want a feel for where society will go when you remove Christian values then go on a little trip to San Francisco.  Drug addicts litter the sidewalks.  Cars are routinely broken into.  Thugs walk into stores and take what they want knowing there will be no penalty.  

Think of cultures that are painted as advanced.  How about the ancient Chinese.  They were very sophisticated.  They were stable.  They honored education.  Then consider that their idea of education was memorizing the works of Confucius and using that education to do little beside putting a complex bureaucratic structure in place.  Women of the lower classes were considered equal with their husbands who were considered cattle to work for the overlords.  Women of the upper classes were porcelain dolls with heavy make-up and bound feet.  Welcome to an advanced pagan culture.

Or consider Islam.  Much is made of the Golden Age of Islam.  They had universities.  They also had sharia law and the main topic of study in the universities was the Koran.  Again you see that women are there to be used and slavery is embraced.  Minority religions have a choice of oppressive taxes, limited opportunities, dress codes and inferior status.  Of course they can also convert.  They can also choose death.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-188: The Problem with Bedrooms, part 1 of 4

One sentiment that I keep reading and hearing is that what people decide to do with their lives is no issue as long as they don’t try to force others or get others to pay for it.  It often comes from conservatives with traditional values who would never personally get involved in adultery, fornication, sodomy, pornography or the myriad of new and creative kinks of our current culture.  They sound like they are being open minded and non-judgmental of the general population.  They sound very noble and kind.  After all, it doesn’t matter what people do in their own bedrooms, right?

Wrong.  It does matter what people do inside their own bedrooms.  It matters on a theological basis, a logical basis and a social basis.

First, and what should be most important to Christians, are the standards and behaviors approved and banned in the Bible.  Yes we are saved by grace but somewhere in your moral framework you need to get past the happy fantasy of antinomianism and realize the Paul, the apostle of grace, was also big on living a moral life.  For instance he wrote the following,

(Gal 5:19-21 KJV)  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice that he did not give a pass for activities in private.

So to start with we need to get on board with what the Bible tells us about behavior.  Keep in mind that when it comes to things like murder and theft we don’t accept such things in unbelievers.  We legislate morality all the time.  The question is what is the basis for that legislation.  It should be the Bible.  We should never forget that our behavior reflects what we believe and what we believe effects our eternal soul.  God does not overlook sin just because it happens in the bedroom.

Second, what people do in their own bedrooms does not stay there.  That is in reality a bit irrational.  It is like saying if you only get drunk in your living room it does not effect society.  Yes, it does.  If nothing else it effects your children.  It also can’t help but change the ability to think and function.  It causes problems in your mental processes and judgment.  It also drags down your finances.  Sexual perversion in the bedroom does something to your mind and attitudes.  Stop acting like it is just a private matter.  Recently we have seen parents taking their children to a gay bar to observe drag performers.  I would assume that there are things going on in their bedrooms that lays the groundwork for such behavior.

To be continued...

homo unius libri