Opus 2013-80: Your Tax Dollars at Work: A Hill of Beans

This week there was a timid knock on my class-room door.  When I answered, a young lady handed me a large zip-lock bag.  I looked at it.  I looked at her.  I asked, “What is this?”  She did not know.  As I examined it the light dawned:  The fingers of a federal grant are again sneaking into my classroom. 

The bag was a large, heavy duty, resealable storage bag.  No cheap bag need apply.  This was the heavy duty variety.  As I looked closer I saw that inside the bag were more, smaller bags and a pouch of raw dry beans.  When we have received things like this before they were edible.  I was expected to pass them around, have the students eat them and do a survey of appreciation.  How do you do that with uncooked, unsoaked dry beans?

When all else fails, read the directions.  Evidently I am supposed to pass out the bags and beans, insert a paper towel (not provided), “moderately wet” the towel, tape the bag to the window and watch the miracle of life.  Later we are supposed to keep a record of the growth of the bean.  This is a wonderful experiment which the children already did in elementary school.  Your federal tax dollars are now trying to get them to do it in their history class

Think about this investment in education. 
    Materials: 
        25 small bags and dry beans. 
        One large bag. 
        25 paper towels.
    Labor: 
        Time to purchase the materials
        Time to count out the beans
        Time to count out the bags
        Time to assemble
        Time to type up a special label for my class
        Time to distribute all of the above
    Class time:
        Time to explain project
        Time to assemble and tape to windows
        Time to record and evaluate.

I have news for you:  It ain’t gonna happen, at least in my class.

I don’t need to duplicate what was done in 3rd grade.  I don’t need to ignore what I am supposed to be teaching.

And you wonder why the coming generation is so ignorant.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-79: Book Review: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, part 7 of 7

I think that the last two chapter titles sum up the point, or lack of point of the book.

     Chapter 7, God Can’t Do Everything, but He Can Do Some Important Things

     Chapter 8, What Good Then, Is Religion?

Ultimately the answer to the last question is, “Not much.”  He gives the conclusion he has come to.

“Let me suggest that the bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us.  They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly.  But we can give them a meaning.  We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning on them.  The question we should be asking is not, ‘Why did this happen to me?  What did I do to deserve this?’  That is really an unanswerable, pointless question.  A better question would be ‘Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it?’” page 136

Although I don’t disagree with his positive spin as an alternative to despair, I am curious about how he concludes that the entire meaning of life and the big questions comes down to us having a positive attitude and pulling ourselves up by the boot-straps.  Notice that the meaning is imposed by us and has no relation to the eternal.  God having a purpose is rejected.  This is a curious position for one who is employed full time as a Rabbi who is supposed to be a minister of God and teach about the things of God.

Contrast this Old Testament leader with the message of the New Testament.

(Romans 8:28 KJV)  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

(Philippians 1:6 KJV)  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

(1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV)  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

His position seems to me to be a total rejection of the God of the Bible.  It substitutes the belief that man is the pinnacle of evolution and stands on his own two feet.  It is up to you to amount to something.  God is just a side-show for the weak and foolish.

Okay.  I am weak and foolish.  I have read the book and I have read the Book.  I prefer the one that teaches about an eternal, all powerful, loving, holy, personal, God. 

Kushner, Harold S.  When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  New York:  Schocken Books, 1981.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-78: Tears Trump Truth

I may be heartless.  I may lack sensitivity.  I am not blind and as a history teacher I remember what has gone before.  I have observed that when a parent cries, the meeting is hopeless.  We had a parent meeting last week.  We were trying to keep a student on track.  She was a nice person.  No one questioned that she was a pleasure to have around.  The problem was that she was failing several classes.  As we suggested checking her homework the mother started tearing up because she could not check her child's homework.  She claimed she did not understand.  I wasn’t sure if it was the English part or the math skills.  When the tears appeared rational discussion stopped.  Warm-hearted, caring people reached for boxes of tissue.  I tried to cover my frustration.  For all intents and purposes the meeting was over.

Later, it became clear that the girl was lying to her mother on a constant basis.  That should have been the point when the tears came out but it breezed by without a ripple.  It is no wonder these kids are so messed up.  What hope does this young lady have if her own mother doesn’t get upset when she is lied to.  Where can she turn when I am the only adult in the room that seems to see this as a problem.

Welcome to modern education and modern parenting.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-77: Book Review: When Bad Things Happen to Good People, part 6 of 7

I find Kushner’s interpretations of certain passages quite original, at least from my experiences. 

One of the beliefs of Christians is in the Trinity.  We believe that God is one but has three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  My purpose here is not to elaborate and explain that doctrine.  It is just a starting point.

One of the interesting things to New Testament believers is the places where it seems we can find reference to God that support our understanding of the trinity.  He takes one of those and does a circus routine with it.

Look at the portion of the creation account. 

(Genesis 1:26 KJV)  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Notice that God says, “Let us make...”  One explanation of that is simply what is called the “Royal ‘We’.”  This was a device that kings used to refer to themselves as being above mortal men.  They would say “we” because they represented the state and were the state.  I could accept that.  Another understanding that Christians have is that it refers to the triune nature of God.  Kushner has a great interpretation.  I don’t know if it is his alone or he is quoting from a pool of knowledge.  Check this out.

“At the climax of the Creation process, God is represented as saying, ‘Let us make Man in our image.’  Why the plural?  Who is the ‘us,’ the ‘our’ of which God speaks?  My suggestion for understanding that sentence is to see it as connected to the sentence immediately before it, in which God creates animals....  Having created the animals and beasts, He says to them:  ‘Let us arrange for a new kind of creature to emerge, a human being, in our image, yours and Mine.  Let us fashion a creature who will be like you, an animal, in some ways - needing to eat, to sleep, to mate - and will be like Me in other ways, rising above the animal level.  You animals will contribute his physical dimension, and I will breathe a soul into him.’  And so, as the crown of Creation, human beings are created, part animal, part divine.”  p. 72

Thus God is inviting the animals that He just created to have some input in the nature of man.  This is off the deep end, but you must admit it is creative and entertaining. 

To be continued...

Kushner, Harold S.  When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  New York:  Schocken Books, 1981.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-76: In Insight into Tolerance

I was again listening to Alistair Begg.  Try it, you might like it.  During the sermon he dropped in the following insight. 

“Tolerance justifies me doing what I want and not getting blamed for it.”

Why is tolerance such a popular virtue?  It is a kind of twist on the Golden Rule.  “Don’t criticize any behavior that you might not want criticized.”  Or, “I will overlook your depravity is you ignore my perversion.”   

Tolerance in its original definition was a virtue.  To exist in civil society there are many quirks and foibles that we need to be willing to endure in good humor.  Tolerance can be the oil that keeps friction within operating temperature.  But it has been extended with the “Judge not” generation to include things that should not be tolerated.

Keep in mind that God may forgive sin but He does not tolerate it.  He also reserves the right to determine what is sin and what isn’t.

Sorry if that bursts your bubble.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-75: Cheap Babysitting

Have you ever done the math on the cost of education compared to a good babysitter?  The public schools are really a good deal.

Lets assume that you have 30 students for each teacher.  Lets assume that the teacher has a salary and benefit package that is $100,000 a year.  If you don’t like my numbers, put in your own, I think it will still work.

Teachers have students for about six hours a day.  They teach five days a week.  Lets see what the math is on that.

    30    students
    x 6    hours a day
    180     billable babysitting hours a day.

Most teachers are responsible for students about 180 days a year.

    180
         x 180
         32,400    billable hours a year

Now, divide the cost by the billable hours.

    100,000/32,400

It comes out to about $3.09 an hour.  It has been a long time since I had to hire a baby sitter but even twenty years ago we were paying a lot more than that.

So education is really a bargain.  And you don’t have to drive the teacher home after school.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-74: Location, Location, Location

What are the foundations of your life?  What are the abiding principles that guide your decisions and set your priorities.  For Christians these foundations are found in Jesus and His teachings.  There are two places where Jesus talks about foundations and they have slightly different emphasis.  Both make it clear that we are to build our lives on keeping His words. 

Luke emphases blooming where you are planted.  The wise man digs down to rock.

(Luke 6:48 KJV)  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

In the next verse the foolish man does no preparation, just starts to build.

(Luke 6:49 KJV)  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Matthew relates it differently.  He starts with the wise man.

(Matthew 7:24-5 KJV)  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Notice that there is no mention of digging.  In this teaching it is a matter of picking the right place to start with.  Compare it to the foolish man.

(Matthew 7:26-7 KJV)  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

I can picture Jesus giving this lesson to different people and emphasizing different aspects of the teaching.  For some who have no choice it is important to dig down deep, to bloom where they are planted.  This gives us hope when we are locked into less than perfect circumstance.

The other group were more flexible in their options.  It was important for them to find the right location.  Katrina took out houses regardless of their foundation.  Maybe we need to go where the rock is to build, not just dig where we want until we find rock.

Which teaching applies best to you today is between you and the Holy Spirit.  Do you need to dig deeper or should you find a better foundation for your life?

Take your pick, both lead to Jesus.

homo unius libri