Opus 2020-248: The Big Questions

I was watching a podcast in which William Lane Craig was being interviewed.  He is a philosopher and apologist who thrives on debates in an academic setting.  In his reminiscing he said something about coming to the point in life where he began to ask the big questions like, “What is the meaning of life?”  The answer is going to be different for each of us based on where our values are.

For the Christian it involves loving and enjoying God.  The Westminster Shorter Catachism starts off on this point with a question and answer.

    Q:  What is the chief end of man?
    A:  Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

For the capitalist it might be to die with the most toys.  A variation of this might be the politician who is only happy with more power.  It is easy to measure how much money you have but hard to compare it to your goal.  

A Marxist?  I would have to guess it would involve making a real contribution of the destruction of liberty and individuality in the world.  For a Marxist the State is his god and the person is just a calorie of energy to run the machine of State.  Man has no other value.

For the spear-carriers, the masses, it would be getting to the end of the day without any conflict.  I have a hard time believing that everyone doesn’t ask the question at some point but I think some people are just better at ignoring it.  

Eventually we will all look back over our lives and evaluate how we spent the time we had.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-247: Hope and Fear

I find the level of fear discouraging when I am out and around.  There are obviously people who see through the whole attempt to control by panic but there are also a lot of people who really believe they are going to die if they take a free breath.

This is a good time for believers to explain to people why they do not fear.  You might want to review the following,

(1Pe 3:15 NAS77) but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

If you are a believer you have a hope.  That is not an empty wish but an assurance.  Because of that you should not be walking around in a tizzy.  The opportunity comes when you get a chance to explain to people why you are not frozen with fear.  Your confidence is not in a rational analysis of the numbers, although that would certainly reduce your concern.  It isn’t a belief in science or medicine, although we have the best in the world.  No, you hope is in the Creator.

If you are a believer you are not paralyzed by fear are you?  Maybe it is time to review what you should be telling other people.  As my son said when he was a college student with his head being opened up to remove a growth, “What is the worst that can happen?  If I die I get to be with Jesus and I don’t have to take the final.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-246: Ode to Old: Forgetting Blessings

As you get older the blank spots in your memory get more frequent.  I think everyone, at every age, has moments where they cannot remember a word or a name.  It is nothing to worry about.  What the younger people may not realize is it gets more regular as you get older.  It isn’t a matter of not knowing how many years you have been married.  I have always had to do a little math to figure that out.  It is a matter of writing a sentence and knowing the exact word you want to use but you can’t remember what it is.  You can almost spell it but you can’t see it.

As I was walking my mind wandered and for some reason I was trying to remember the name of a supreme court justice.  I could see his face.  I could tell you about his life.  I just could not remember his name.  I know I knew it because I had discussed him before.  It wasn’t there.  So I just kept walking.  About a hundred steps later it popped into my head, “Clarence Thomas.”  

I knew it would come and it gave me something to be thankful for.  I was thanking God for the ability to still get out and walk, for remembering how to get home and remembering to zip up my pants.  I was also grateful that I am still at a stage where I know that I have forgotten something.

Happy aging.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-245: A Matter of Perspective

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.

This is a good time to observe reactions and take notes.  You will find three general categories of response.

One group will be the Passionate.  These people will speak with great enthusiasm for or against.  Their emotions will drown out anything of value that they might add except for their kindred spirits who want even more.  She will be portrayed as either Joan of Arc or your ex-wife.  Unless you agree with them and want a rush, don’t waste your time.

Another group will be the Courteous.  Many of us were told that if we could not say something nice we should not say anything at all.  These people will increase their chance of stroke or heart attack trying to restrain themselves.  For those who are into Latin, nolite detrahere de mortuis.  Wikipedia tells me that means “Don’t speak ill of the dead.”  I thought President Trump gave a good example of that when the press blind-sided him with the news of her death.  They will not praise her but they will also be polite.

The last group will be the Factual.  In their hearts they are trying to speak clearly, control their passion maintain a level of decorum.  They have opinions but they are backed up by documented evidence.  A good example of this is found at American Thinker.  Andrea Widburg says that she read Ginsburg’s opinions when doing legal research.  She goes into detail but if you don’t have time to read her article I think this sums it up.

“The worst thing about her decisions, though, was how she misused case authority to create new principles out of whole cloth. Nothing shows that more than in her determination to bypass our American Constitution and law and look to foreign constitutions, laws, and customs.”

The “whole cloth” comment I would not be able to judge but the use of international law to trump the Constitution I was aware of in my non-legal reading.  

As I opened I suggested taking notes.  This is a good time to learn if you can rely on people’s opinions.  One blogger that I have enjoyed reading had this to say,

“Though I disagreed with some of her decisions, she was passionate, honourable, articulate, and her legal decisions were well-thought.”

I will continue to read what he has to say but will begin to question if he is of sound mind.  There will be others.  Most people writing are not emotionally involved.  If I were reading a statement by a family member I would make allowances.  Most people will be held to a higher standard in my world.  

But who cares what I think?

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-244: Election 2020: A Moment of Hope

I almost had a wish fulfilled this week.

I have been volunteering the last few days at our county Republican headquarters.  I am sure that the people in charge want me to push the yard signs and flags.  I do what I can but I enjoy conversations more.  I had a man come in that engaged me in conversation because he was a bit conflicted.  In 2016 he did what many of us did.  He held his nose and voted for Trump.  His wife voted for Hillary.  Now, four years later, his wife is still leaning Democrat and he was talking about holding his nose again.  I was mystified.  He understood and conceded everything that Trump has done.  There was no question of where Trump stands.  What was the problem?  Some enthused Trump supporters driving around in their pickups with Trump flags in the back yelled some things that were not polite.  Really?  That is the problem?  I reminded him he was voting for Trump not the pickup read necks.

Which brings me to my wish fulfillment.  I shared with him that one of the things I was looking for was a discussion with someone intelligent about why they would vote for Biden.  Since his wife is leaning that way and he was waffling this seemed to be my moment.  We talked for about an hour.  It was a civil, polite conversation.  I kept asking the question, “What reason would you have for voting for Biden?”  I never got an answer that had anything to do with anything but emotion because Trump supporters were enthusiastic and Trump is not always the smoothest politician.  

It is frustrating.  We want to talk facts and truth.  They want to emote about feelings.  Here was a family man who is pro-life, an ex-police officer and deeply religious.  It would seem this would be a slam dunk for Trump but, feelings.

There are times when I despair for even the good people in my country.  The Progressives* in education and the media have done a great job of brainwashing and feminizing the population.  I hope God has mercy on us, the Progressives* won’t.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-243: Firsts: PT

I recently had my first experience with physical therapy.

For at least six months I have had an ongoing pain in my hip.  I firmly believe that the body will usually heal itself but my hip wasn’t buying it.  Since I am at the age when joints start to wear out I finally went to get a professional opinion.  The good news was that the bone and cartilage were in good shape.  The bad news is it was a muscle problem.  The doctor suggested physical therapy and since I have the time I agreed to go.

It was an interesting experience.  I had always put PT in a category with acupuncture and chiropractors.  I admitted they had some worth.  I just didn’t know what it was.  The young woman that worked with me seemed to know her stuff.  She evaluated, pushed and pulled, gave me exercises and sent me on my way.

Am I cured?  I don’t know.  The nature of the beast is it takes time to heal.  She said that therapy doesn’t always make it all better as much as speeding the healing process.  Like much in life it depends on my applying the lessons learned.  I expect to get better in time and hope to keep up the exercises.  

I have been wrong before.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-242: A Time That Has Come

I want to see an experiment.  I want to see how it would work to establish some city states.  I have mentioned it before but I think the time is golden.  I have three naturals for the experiment.  They are all easy to isolate, their politics would make them willing to be separated, and they are literally hell holes.

I am thinking of Manhattan Island, Seattle and San Francisco.  The first is an island and the others are on peninsulas.  They all have access to the sea.

It doesn’t need to be permanent.  It could be a twenty year experiment.  Then we could reevaluate.  At that point they might be glad to become American again but we might be so glad they are gone that we would not even consider it.

If it went well we might give other cities a chance to vote on City Statehood.  I would suggest Portland and Chicago as good candidates.   

Certain provisions would be necessary.  I would suggest that the United States not cede the immediate shore lines.  They would need to maintain control of a few feet to make sure that we don’t have a tax free Singapore on our hands.  They could have no rights to the waterways around them.  I would give them an easement to travel through but not the right to restrict travel or trade by the remaining Americans.  I am sure there would be a number of institutions that would need to move out before they were isolated, but that is doable.

Of course they would have their own passports and there would be tariffs on products moved in and out.  

It is a conversation that we need to have.

homo unius libri