Opus 2024-247: Iron Versus Gold

Bible tells us the iron sharpens iron.  The concept is that when we get together with other spiritual and intelligent people we can run our thoughts by them and they can help us to get a sharper edge.

I think of honing my knife with the honing rod I have.  That is the picture here.  I use it on a regular basis.  I’m wondering if it would still work if the steel of the rod was smooth instead of rough.  Probably, but not as well.

I’m also wondering if it would work at all if the rod we’re made of something soft like tin or Gold?  

There is a fine balance between being too abrasive and too mushy.  When we deal with others it is a hard row to hoe.  We were always aware of it when we were raising children.  Now, as we learn the grandparent role, the learning curve stays steep.  As a part of the church I find I must always reign in my love of a good argument and consider whether I will confuse the issue or clarify it.

Pay attention.  Seek out people who can question you and your assumptions.  If they are right they will endure and be strengthened.  If they are slightly out of line they can be corrected.  If you are flat out wrong they may lead to growth.

Growth can be painful but the end result is glorious.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-246: The Law of…

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Psalm 19.  It has a lot of encouraging thoughts in it.  One of them is this, regarding the law,

(Psa 19:7 KJV)  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

As I was reading it today, I noticed that the verb used at the beginning of the verse in the NASB was “restoring” rather than “converting”.  I checked other translations and that seemed to be a common difference.  The law gets a lot of bad press.  In the New Testament the apostle Paul is regarded by the theologians and their clones as especially anti-law.  Not so much king David.

I noticed that here the phrase used is “the law of the Lord”.  Often we talk about the “law of Moses”.  What we seem to be ignorant of is that most of the time what people are actually talking about is the law of the Pharisees.  While the law of the Lord and Moses are probably the same, the law of the Pharisees is a perversion of the original.

The intent of the law was not to bind us in legalism.  Re-read the verse above.  If you have time go to the 19th Psalm and check it out.  The law is there to make life good.  It is there to enrich you.  It is there to lift you up to new heights.  Try to take the word of God in the sense in which it is offered and not the way the theologians tell you what it means.

Being citizens in a country that was established with a belief in the rule of law, and that the rule of law gave us liberty to live our lives, we should be very careful about throwing the law of the Bible out the window.  We get our sense of the rule of law because we believe in a God who believes in the rule of law.  Of course, both are interpreted and applied with mercy and grace.

Make it so when your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-245: Left Face

I’ve heard others observe and I’ve also seen it.  All organizations and groups of people tend to drift toward what we would call the “left”.  The Democrats have jumped off the deep end and left their life preservers on the edge of the pool while embracing lead weights in their pockets and their hands.  Republicans, the party of stupid, seem to be intent on following that leadership.  I have not read it yet but I understand that the Republican platform removed any mention of abortion.  Who do they think has held them together?  Who do they think has been the most loyal constituency?  How many of us are there who are only Republicans because the Republicans have taken the highroad on moral issues?

Why the drift?

The answer is given in classical Christian teaching.  It comes down to something variously called original sin, depravity or the carnal nature.  In fact we believe that all nature groans under the burden of sin.  If you are not an orthodox Christian you may reject the terminology.  You may find answers in psychology or sociology.  You still have to admit that there is something that needs to be fixed.  Let the Christians try their methods.  You go ahead with yours but don’t try to cripple the efforts of anyone you disagree with you.

When our children were small and we were home schooling them we would often have people express concern that our children were not being socialized.  I was teaching in middle school in the public system at the time and my answer was that if what I saw in the public school is what they call being socialized then no thanks.  I was willing to let them raise their children as they saw fit.  I just wish they would return the courtesy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-244: So Many Theories, So Few Facts

Or perhaps it should be summarized the opposite way.  Have you ever had the feeling that there is so much to know that could be interesting and you just don’t have the time or energy to get into it?

As I was meditating on God being eminent, which means he is involved in our day-to-day lives in an intimate way, the term “chaos theory” popped into my mind, and so I did a little search and some simple reading about what chaos theory involves.  I thought thought chaos theory was trying to make sense out of the chaos in the universe.  In reality it’s simply another form of behaviorism or Calvinism, which says that everything is predetermined.  OK, that sounds good.  I disagree with it but it sounds good.  It doesn’t mix well with the idea of an almighty God created man in his image and gave them free will.  Of course those are my beliefs.

Then I got to thinking about this idea that has been expressed that you can’t know both the location and the speed of particles in space.  That’s a crude summary but you get the idea.  Then you add that this idea that by merely observing something you change it.  I don’t understand how those concepts could work with chaos theory.

The popular summary of chaos theory involves the idea that a butterfly flapping his wings in Brazil could cause a tornado in Kansas.  That is close to how it is stated.  The idea is that if the butterfly flaps its wings differently then the tornado is changed.  That seems to be the source of the chaos.  However, if everything is predetermined, the butterfly will not flap its wings differently, therefore, there is no chaos.  All is well and perfectly predetermined.  In the real world, there will be other butterflies, making decisions or grasshoppers, deciding to jump or not to jump.  In the real world that would be so many different possibilities that deterministic analysis will be impossible.

There are times when I wish I could sit down with a cup of coffee or a refillable, soft drink, and go at these ideas, tooth and nail with someone else.  I don’t think it will happen, but I can always hope.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-243: Sheep or Goat

Who is a Christian?

In one sense this is an impossible question for us to answer.  In reality only God and the individual know if they meet the criteria for becoming a child of God.  The one keyword I see is belief, or faith, if you prefer that form of the word.  Beyond that, it gets a bit murky.

I say that because I worked up a brief summary of the different accounts of people becoming believers.  The only consistency I see is the word believe.

Whether I believe that you are a Christian or not is not the key issue.  The key issue is whether God accepts you.

Probably a more important question than who is a Christian is the question of why is it important to be a Christian.

Here you get into the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  In the Old Testament, it seems that the references are to corporate Israel, the nation of Israel, a group salvation.  It seems to be focused, mainly on this world, and nothing else.

In the New Testament it is individual and is dealing with your eternal destiny.  The church you attend could be full of people marching to hell and you could still be on the right path.  The goal of becoming a Christian is to have salvation for eternity.  If you don’t believe that, then there is no compulsion to move towards Jesus, other than He has an entertaining philosophy.  In that way people were drawn toward the Jews, because they had a monotheistic God with high moral standards and people liked that.  They wanted to become part of something that was wholesome and pure.  That did not require them to be changed.  They hung around the fringes of the synagogues and absorbed what they could.

Believing in Jesus is the key.  Of course there is an “and then...”  If it were that one-step then we would not need more than one of two verses of the Bible.  When you trust in Jesus you are entering into an eternal relationship that will always be growing.

It is up to you whether you are a sheep or a goat.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-242: Headlines: Hidden Indicators

One of the most encouraging articles I have read recently was on the Daily Wire.  The presented topic was Zuckerberg saying that the Biden administration had pressured him to censor content on his plateforms.  The nonsense factor was his claim that he did not cave in.  All that is interesting but at least partially Fake News.  What I found interesting was this quote from the letter he wrote,

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” he continued. “I also think we made some choices that. with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

Why did I find this worthy of note?  Notice the bit, “we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction.”   This is the kind of statement that he would make to justify telling the Trump Administration to go jump in a lake.  He would not be saying this if he felt like the Democrats were going to be able to steal the election again.  It would be business as usual.

It did not really bother him when he “compromised” content to oppose Trump.  He wants to sound like he is on the side of the angels when he refuses to go the other way.

Maybe I am looking for a silver lining.  Maybe I am in Fantasyland.  Maybe not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-241: Ode to Old: Compensation

I’ve been noticing that as I get older, it’s harder for me to type with accuracy.  I have never been good enough to be a professional typist, but I was able to get stuff done.  Now more and more I am missing the mark.

Step in technology.

I have discovered the voice recognition software that is involved in such basic things as “Notes”.  I find that I can dictate what is on my mind and then edit it before I send it or publish it.  It helps me to organize my thinking.  It helps me to speak more clearly.  All of those are good.  I find I get things written that I would have not written before, and with less frustration.

So let’s hear it for technology.  It may be that the typing skill really isn’t needed anymore.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-240: Contrary Winds

I am currently in dialogue with two diametrically opposed men in their beliefs about the Bible.  It’s like standing in a mountain pass and on one side, getting the wind from the tropical ocean below, while the other side is the frigid blast coming from the mountain’s snow covered slopes.  Both involve moving air.  Both have the same elements such as oxygen and hydrogen.  I can live with either one.  It gets very entertaining standing between.

They take totally opposite stands on what scripture they accept.  On the one side, I have a man who rejects anything that is not written by the apostle Paul.  Now he would not like that word, “reject”, but that’s what he does.  The other one believes that Paul was a tool of Satan to destroy the church.  You can see how this would cause a bit of turmoil if they ever got together.

At this point, I am not really worried about either one.  Both of these men love the Lord Jesus Christ with all of their hearts.  Both of them except the basic doctrines of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the incarnation.  Both of them believe that they are saved because of their faith in the shed blood of Jesus, and that God extends his forgiveness towards us as a gift of grace.  Beyond that things get dicey.

The reason I don’t worry is that the basic beliefs of Christianity can be found in both sections of scripture.  I believe every important doctrine and teaching that you totally need to know can be found in the gospels and the Old Testament.  I also believe that everything you need to know to come to know Jesus, walk in the light and have eternal salvation can also be found in the writings of Paul.  They may take slightly different forms, they may need more documentation, you may need to study more, but you can find them both places.

The problem comes more in the tendency toward hubris.  Many people start at the right place, and have sincere hearts, but when you walk close to the edge of the precipice, it is often just one step away from plunging into the depths.  So when you reject something such as the teachings of Paul, you are doing so on the basis of your own personal opinion, and your own feelings.  You are rejecting the wisdom and the teaching of 2000 years of the church.  I realize there’s been a lot of aberrations over the years.  That is why we study and don’t except the words of experts, but read our own Bibles and come to own conclusions.

At the same time ,once you start choosing which scripture is true and which is not, it’s real easy to just started rejecting everything that goes against your personal preference of the moment.  So I’m not worried about where these guys are now.  My concern is where they will be in 20 years.

Of course, I could be the one who is totally all wet.  That is one reason why I keep listening to them and talking to them.  They might actually have something to teach me.  Ultimately, though, my source of truth is not my friends or my acquaintances, or the latest guru or the preacher, it is the written word of God.

What an adventure.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-239: Averages

I recently watched some Clickbait of an interview with RFK Junior.  One point stood out of my mind.   He commented that the average cost of a home in America has gone from $200,000 to $400,000.  I can’t remember how long ago he put the $200,000 figure so let’s focus on his comments about this.

He said that this average price of $400,000 makes it impossible for our children to own homes.  That sounds really scary.  It is meant to sound scary.  We were supposed to internalize it.  We were supposed to think of the greedy banks and the greedy builders and the greedy, sellers, etc.  We are supposed to run to the government for solutions.  Keep in mind he is still a Democrat.   But let’s think about this moment.

When you talk about averages, in case you weren’t listening in statistics, there are three basic types, the mean, the mode, and the median.  Each one has a different meaning, and each one may come out totally different using the same database.  Most people think of average as adding all of the dollar prices of homes, dividing by the number of homes, and you come out with an average.  OK.  That’s what most people think of as average.  If you’re thinking of an average looking guy or gal, then it’s someone that doesn’t stand out either way.

So we have an average of $400,000 for a new home.  Actually, he didn’t even say new home, I don’t think.  What that means is that half of the homes in the country are over $400,000 and half the homes in the country are under $400,000.  The thing that determines the cost of the house is quality, size and location.  If the average price of a home is $400,000, that means that there are plenty of people out there that are willing to pay $400,000 per house.  It also means that half the population buying houses is willing and able to pay more than $400,000.  It doesn’t mean that there are no affordable homes on the market.

What will keep our children from owning homes?  The willingness to live in what they can afford is the biggest factor.  There are homes that are available at low price but they are not located where our children want to live.  They may not have the amenities that our children think are requirements to live with.  They not may not be cute and modern.  They may need work.  That’s a long way from saying our children can’t afford homes.

You need to keep in mind that when someone like RFK says this, they are speaking from a socialist or communist perspective.  One of their goals is the redistribution of wealth.  Of course, they mean your wealth, not theirs.  One of their solutions to this cost problem is to put a cap on the cost of homes and introduce rent control.  Or if you watched Dr. Zhivago you’ll find that it means moving poor people into all the bedrooms in your mansion.  If you are single or have no children at home then that means the solution is move two more families into your house for those extra two bedrooms.  This is not free enterprise.  This is not liberty.  This is not American.

Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.  I didn’t make that up. I heard it somewhere.  RFK has endorsed Donald Trump.  Politically for Donald Trump that may be a good thing.  If Donald Trump keeps him under control and doesn’t listen to him outside of the areas where he seems to understand what’s going on, then well and good.  He can be a good influence.  But we need to remember that he offered his services to the Democrats shortly before he came to the Republicans.  His intentions are not pure.

I have not done a detail study on RFK, and what I have heard I don’t remember my sources, so take what I say with a grain of salt.  What I remember hearing is that on anything that does not have to do with covid, vaccines, and the collusion between the government and the pharmaceutical industry he is a raging liberal.  As a raging liberal, he will use the camels nose under the tent to come in and get in the sleeping bag and try to dictate who starts the fire and what we have for breakfast.

If you’re looking for a house under $400,000, come to Texas.  Moved to West Virginia. There are many other areas where there are decent neighborhoods that have more affordable housing.  Don’t decide that you want to live in Manhattan or downtown San Francisco and complained about the cost of housing.  Also don’t fall for $400,000 politicians and their promises.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-238: Weather Report

I’m hoping that the current trending temperature is telling us that the ugly days of summer are over and that we are now sliding downhill towards fall.  It was cool enough this morning for me to go out and sit on the porch and enjoy the sunrise.  My phone said it was 72° and felt like 74°.  With a gentle breeze that was enough to be comfortable.

Knowing Texas and knowing the reality of life on this earth, which is constant weather change, if not climate change, maybe it all takes a big step backwards tomorrow.  There are times when it is a good idea to enjoy the moment.

Mornings can be glorious observed from our front porch, or they can be as boring as an old dirty handkerchief.

I hope you have a blessed day.

Opus 2024-237: I Will

My thoughts are on this idea, chaos theory, and how it plays well with behaviorism and the predestination found in Islam and some Protestant denominations.  With that in mind, I asked myself did the bullet just grace President Trump’s ear because it was predetermined, or was it nudged aside by the finger of an angel or God?

Is life truly predetermined from the big bang, or is there free will?  Is my asking that question predetermined from the singularity, or am I asking you because I have genuine curiosity generated by a free mind?  It is a hopeless loop.  If you get consumed with it, it can eat you up.  If all is determined, then we are living in this tragic joke, a cold and meaningless life.  There is nothing here except the laws of physics.  There is no purpose.  There is nothing worth living for or fighting for.

I choose to believe in free will.  If that is predetermined, I can live with it.  I will continue to have the illusion that I am making choices and that I am responsible for those choices.  I will reject despair.  I will reject frustration and futility.  I will embrace a belief in a living God, who created us in His image.  I believe that means that we actually can make choices just as God can.

Of course, if you believe in this kind of pre-determinism, then, either God does not exist or, if He does exist, He also is predetermined and has no free will.  What a depressing way to look at the world.  I guess I have been pre-destined to be a bit more optimistic than that.

Join me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-236: Seeds

I was in dialogue with a lady in our church, and she made the comment, “Seeds.”

I liked that and I told her so.  I then went on to pontificate on how we were planting seeds of oaks and not seeds of grass.  If I had spent a little time thinking about my word picture, I might have said “acorns”, not “seeds”.  That would’ve been much more pithy and clever.

We get in such a hurry.  That was illustrated by my quick response which a little thinking would have made much more penetrating.  We do that in life.  We want “now”.  We have fast foods. We have instant oatmeal.  We have instant grits.  Disgusting can also be instant.  We want the doctor to give us a pill.  We want Donald Trump to cure our country.  We want revival in the church, but let us start with someone else.

Someone once said that changing our mind quickly is rather counterproductive.  They pointed out that if someone would change their mind for you quickly, they would change it back just as quickly for someone else.  That applies to our political discussions.  Remember that when it comes to witnessing and talking to people about Jesus.

Quick change is often either incredibly weak or excessively destructive.

Give it time. Be consistent. Be persistent. Be patient.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-235: Lie for Success

If you get uneasy around theology, then just relax because that’s not the point of this post.  I was at a discussion of systematic theology and we were looking at various topics having to do with the Holy Spirit.  The following verse came up,

Acts 5:3 (KJV) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

The issue was, “Could you lie to the Holy Spirit?”  The obvious answer is yes, since it clearly states that these people lied to the Holy Spirit.  At this point some wag, it could’ve been me, observed, “You can try.”

Obviously, you can try to lie to the Holy Spirit, but you don’t succeed because He knows the truth.  That brings up a question in my mind of, “Is it a lie if both sides know that what you’re saying is not true?”  In trying to explain to our grandchildren what humor is and how it is different from lies, we came up with the idea that in humor both sides know what you were saying is not really true.  A lie is when you were genuinely trying to deceive someone.  So that brings up the question, “Can you really lie to a being that knows you’re lying and can’t help knowing you’re lying?”  Couldn’t these two people have just said, “Joke.”

The actual commandment in the Bible is not “don’t lie”.  It is “don’t bear false witness.”  That actually covers a lot more ground than just verbal deception.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-234: Sunrise Slathering

I went to dinner with my fellow old folks from the church and we had a good time of fellowship.  I’m usually one of the last ones to get there.  They originally told me 5:30 and I have kept that schedule even when I realized that they arrived earlier.  A habit was establish the first time.

When I came in and we went through the traditional raucous, greeting time, I noticed that there was an aluminum wrapped object on the end of the table where the empty seats were.  I sat down and moved it out of the way, and they informed me that it was for me.  With this group, you can never tell if they’re serious or pulling your leg so we went back-and-forth a few times until I realized that, yes, it was a loaf of sourdough bread that had been prepared by one of the members of the group, and she had given it to me.

The gift in itself was a blessing because it speaks of being accepted as part of the group and being important to them.  That is always a good thing.

It got better the next morning.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced fresh baked bread, hand sliced to your preferred thickness, early in the morning, with butter that has had a chance to soften up to room temperature, slathered on with wild abandon.  Add to that the early morning hour  and being able to look at the kitchen window and see the rose of sunrise on the horizon.

This is a good definition of what blessings are.  We are surrounded by so many modern miracles like air-conditioning, hot and cold running water, dermatologists, and grocery stores full of everything you can imagine, that we tend to forget what a miracle all of these things are historically.  Then you add fresh baked bread and butter that spreads easily, and did I say a toaster?

That is a blessing.  Count them, but don’t bother keeping track because they get very numerous.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-233: Living Confident

As I think about the lack of real honest news, I keep asking myself what can I believe.  Where can I find the information that I need in order to make decisions?  It presents a genuine quandary.  When we look at the media that supplies our information, the news, we find that it is totally corrupted and totally unreliable.  I often joke about how I used to decide how to vote.  I would take the recommendations of the California Teachers’ Association and vote just the opposite.  That worked well on ballot initiatives, but didn’t help much with the primaries or judges.  I can’t do that with the news because you can’t believe either side.

As I read different things I find at one of the goals of the cultural Marxist is to destroy confidence in the process of our culture.  To destroy our trust in the government, to make us not believe anything we read, to be willing to throw our neighbors under the bus because of our doubt.  The idea is to create chaos because we cannot trust anything.

We seem to be making progress on that or, I guess I should say, they are making progress on that.  There is very little I trust that I read or see.  Photo shopping has gotten so sophisticated and the art projects of the AI world are so well defined that we don’t know what to believe.  We can’t believe our ears.  We can’t believe our eyes.  Where do we turn?

If you’ve been reading what I write long enough, you probably know where I’m going with this, I’m going towards the word of God.  The Bible does not give us headlines to decide who to vote for.  He does not clarify whether Islam is a religion of peace, or whether the pope is a communist or a catholic.  What it does do is give us principles based on unchanging truth, which can help us come to decisions on which way to turn.  That is vital.  If we don’t have a solid foundation based on truth, then we will never be able to make good decisions.

So you may not be a believer, you may reject the idea of Almighty God.  You may think Jesus is a joke.  I would still suggest that if you’re looking for principles to live by, you can find them in the Bible.  That would be a good place to start.  It would be better than reading books on philosophy or science.  It will be better than consulting the platforms of the two political parties that seem to be running things.

Give it a try.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-232: Headlines: RFK to Show

One of the current bits of Clickbait has to do with RFK Junior being willing to endorse Trump in trade for a seat on his cabinet.  I have mixed feelings.  On the one side except for one issue, RFK is a total mindless liberal.  He pretty much works lockstep on everything except that one issue.

That one issue is important.  That one issue is the vaccines and our medical industry.  He seems to have his head on straight for this.  If Trump puts him in a position where he can reign in the CDC and the other medical alphabet agencies then he is the man for the job.

Trump also needs to realize that he can’t listen to the man on anything else.  I’m not sure Trump is able to do that, but we will see.

It may be a non-issue, pure click-bait.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-231: Bird Brains

As I was out walking a bird landed on the road maybe 50 yards ahead of me. It puttered around  as I approached to maybe 10 yards, and then as I turned to cross the road to make an about face it took off.

I’ve noticed it some birds or animals allow you to get much closer than others do.  Is that a mark of intelligence of the breed or possibly the intelligence of that particular bird.  Have you noticed that some cats run when they see you and others wait to be kicked or petted?  Which is more intelligent, the quick flyer or the one who waits?  It isn’t because they can read my mind because I am the same person both times.

We do well to be cautious.  Proverbs expresses this several ways.  Here is one of them.

(Pro 3:7 KJV)  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Be alert.  If there is any doubt, keep your distance.  Recently I mentioned a man walking around the motel parking lot at 6:00 A.M.  He was up to no good but he saw that I was watching him.  If he had moved in my direction I would have gone back inside but a large part of avoiding problems is to be alert and keep your eyes open.

May the shelter of Providence surround you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-230: Neighborly

(Luk 10:29 KJV)  But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

It’s too bad that Jesus wasn’t around in the days of modern advertising campaigns.  He might have given a different answer.

As I checked the mail this morning, I noticed an envelope addressed “our neighbor.”  I had a moment of interest, because when the people across the street moved in, they sent us a note addressed that way.  That interest quickly dissolved when I realized what was designed to look like a handwritten address was really just a font available to everyone who has a word processor.

My second point of information came by checking the postmark, Minneapolis.  Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think of people living in Minneapolis as my neighbor.  Jesus might have disagreed.  In fact, when he talked about the neighbors, he was probably including just about everybody in the world because we are supposed to be concerned about everybody in the world up to a point.  With that concession in mind, I repeat, I don’t think this applies to people living in Minneapolis who are selling windows.

Feel free to disagree.  You might be my neighbor.  Window companies based in Minnesota need not apply.  

dishomo unius libri

Opus 2024-229: He Loves Me

My wife is on a road trip and one of the side benefits of that is that I get to take care of the cat.  I don’t mind cats.  I get along well with cats, especially when they’re in your house not mine.  But I’m doing the best I can.

I need to constantly remind myself that cats tend to have their own personalities, and the one this one has does not gel well with mine.  I need to realize that he thinks of me as meat that is just too big to eat.  He does not know what affection is.  He does not have a caring bone in his body.

The reason I need to remind myself is that twice this morning I found myself falling into the trap of thinking that he wanted attention.  The first time was when he was batting in my hands in a playful manner with his claws out.  I do not consider this a friendly gesture.  When he got thrown off my chair and continued to linger in the area, I realize that he might want to go outside.  So I got up and walked to the front door, he trotted along behind me, and went out as soon as I opened it.  It wasn’t too long before he wanted back in, but he was out of my hair for that time.

Later he came in and was walking around making noise like he wanted to be petted or wanted some attention.  My fantasy about him, wanting attention, was rapidly replaced by the realization that he probably just wanted food.  So I went to where his food bowl was and, sure enough, it was empty.  I filled it, checked his water, did the litter box, and when my way, happy in the assurance that he would not bother me again for a while.

I think he loves me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-228: Basic Ante

We often start off a discussion with the wrong premise.  When you start going in the wrong direction, it’s hard to arrive at your stated destination.

And example of this would be if we were asking a theological question and we start off with “if God is God…”  Now you may not see it, but this is an expression of doubt at the beginning of the discussion.  It implies that the starting place was built on shadows and quick sand.  Ultimately there would be no possible answers.

A more appropriate way to start the discussion would be, “Since God is God….”  In one way, it doesn’t make any difference because people often don’t look at the logical fallacies in their statements.  In another way, it makes all the difference in eternity.  If you start with an assurance that God is God then it gives you something to build on.

I remember when I was still teaching I had agreed to take a position as union rep.  One day I was talking to another teacher and he, who had been a card carrying Communist and hated America, started talking to me about the evils of America as if I also had the card in my wallet.  I was a bit puzzled until I realized that he assumed since I was the union rep I would be an America hating socialist too.  When I responded as a patriot it cut the conversation very short.  In time we were able to communicate but that first attempt was pointless because of assumptions.

What are your assumptions?  Do you assume that global warming is a thing because Greta told you so?  Shaky ground indeed.  Do you assume that Orange Man Bad even though you have never actually read any of his mean tweets in their context?  Are you really that gullible?  Do you swallow the claims that the Bible says nothing about adultery, fornication, bestiality and homosexuality because the Reverend on CNN says so?

Start with a foundation of truth and life will build better.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-227: Headlines: The Right Sources

The clickbait in the Daily Wire that caught my attention claimed that 100,000 Anti-Israel protestors were going to show up for the Democratic convention.  The first couple of thoughts that crossed my mind were that it was going to cost someone a lot of money because I believe most of these people are being paid to show up and that this would help the unemployment figures for the Biden administration.  They could claim 100,000 new jobs created using their own clickbait.

As I began to slide through the article the first thing I noticed was that the first sentence reduced 100,000 to “tens of thousands”.  I passed my math class.  I know that “tens of thousands” could become 100,000.  I also know hype when I see it.  Although it was from a conservative source this did not bode well for the rest of the post.  As I read on I noticed that the Daily Wire reporting seemed to accept the numbers of the leftist spokeman.

Why can’t we get clear and direct reporting?

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-226: On the Street: Passing the Privilege

I had a chance to share some white privilege today.  I was out walking and a man and his wife pulled up in a nice shiny pickup and asked me if I could tell him how to get to a certain tourist attraction near us.  I was glad to do so.  We had a very pleasant conversation and I used terms such as “left” and “right” and “big sign”.  I forgot to apologize for assuming that he agreed with me on my definitions of what right and what left meant.  He never questioned that I was white and he seemed to be Latino, or at least his wife was definitely Latino.  We had a courteous, polite and very friendly conversation.  Why would anyone assume anything else?

He did not hesitate to roll down his window and asked me a question.  There was no fear in his eyes.  No trembling hands.  No quavering voice.  No servile demeanor.  No hesitation, just friendly American conversation like we have every day.  This was based not on white privilege but upon accepting the Declaration of Independence statement about all men being created equal and a Biblical concept of treating people with courtesy and kindness even if they weren’t of the faith.

I did not take three steps back, pull my gun, wave it in a threatening manner, and scream out “whatchu want sucka?”

Welcome to the world of white privilege brought to you by Judeo-Christian values and Western culture.

See you on the street, Bro.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-225: Monday Pulpit: Cave Free

We had a guest speaker Sunday and he spoke on I Samuel chapter 22.  It is a passage relating one of the times David hid in a cave.  He said many things, but the one that stuck with me was the call for Christians to come out of their caves.  David went from his cave to hiding in what is called a fortress.  At that point he was told by a prophet to come out and get moving.  We in the church need to hear the same thing.

We of course need to be praying.  We need to be at worship.  We need to study and mediate on what we read.  There are many things that we need to be doing in our secure world.  We need also to come out of that security and get active in the bigger world.  I’m not sure what that will look like for each of us, but there must to be ways in which we can influence our environment.  One of them is by contacting our representatives in Washington.  Don’t overlook giving them a pat on the back if they were actually doing the right thing.  Another thing we can do is be more vocal in non-vocal ways.  We tend to be afraid to put a sign on our lawn.  It might be something we need to do.  I know I need to start wearing my Trump hat instead of just letting it hang in my room.

I have a long tradition of not liking bumper stickers or other things stuck on my car or any other place.  I don’t like to wear logo clothing.  I definitely don’t like T-shirts that have advertising on them.  I need to get over that.  They’re a bigger issues at stake in my pride.

Find some small way to make a statement or take a stand.  Hope that it develops a trend in your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-224: No Answer

Have you come across questions that are very hard to answer?  One that speaks to me as being a futile question is, “If you were the only one in the world would Jesus have died for you?”  My answer to that is “no”.  I’m not sure that’s the right answer.  I’m not sure there is an answer that we can come up with.  Another question I have is, “Why did God create us?”

Then there are the questions like, “Can God make a rock so heavy that He can’t lift it?”  Or how about, “Can God make a square circle?”  The problem with these has to do with logic and are not seeking a real answer.  There is some term in the study of logic which is used for this.  I know it exists but I can’t remember it.  My answer is that in our understanding of the universe and considering the limitations of the human mind the answer is, “No.”  If you consider that God also exists outside our ability to understand then He could if He wanted to but we still would not be able to understand it.

You may have your own questions.  Feel free to ask them.  Ask your friends. Ask your  professors.  Ask God.  Be prepared to get either no answer or a nonsense answer.

Also, be prepared to hear, “Because I said so.”  As anyone who has had children knows, that is a perfectly appropriate.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-223: Ode to Old: Age Has Its Privileges

One of the reasons that older people are not so adventuresome and seeking out new thrills is because they’ve already been there and done that.

I always am a little perplexed when people tell me I need to try something new on the menu at a restaurant.  Now, if this is a weird exotic, ethnic restaurant, where I have never tried anything, and have no idea what it’s like, I am willing to experiment.  I am willing to explore.  That goes with the territory.  But when I am in a restaurant that I have been going to regularly for 20 years, you young whippersnappers need to understand that I’ve already tried everything on the menu that is even remotely interesting and I’ve decided on what I like.  There is a good chance I have taken the risk of their new offerings often enough to know they don’t have the touch of tasty creativity.  I don’t need to experiment anymore.

What brought this to mind was my oatmeal this morning.  I have tried instant oatmeal. Disgusting.  I have tried quick oatmeal.  Barely palatable.  I have tried steel cut oatmeal and found I’m not patient enough to wait for it and it doesn’t taste good enough to justify the time.  So I’ve settled on old fashion oatmeal.  According to the directions it takes five minutes and you’re to stir it occasionally.  I find after much experimentation that I will let it simmer for five minutes, but I won’t stir it.  That technique produces it just the way I want it.  If I were preparing a meal for the family I would not do it that way.  If I were making oatmeal for you, I would try to find out how you like it.  But most mornings I’m just making it for me and I have found that by not stirring and leaving it on for five minutes it has a chewy consistency that I really enjoy.  Same is true in many areas of life.

Know that age has its privileges.  One of them is that I don’t need to experiment on the newest type of sushi that has been offered at a local restaurant.  I can go out for sushi.  I’ve eaten whale sushi in Japan, where nobody spoke English and you had to point at what you wanted.  When the jury is out, you can keep trying things.  But when the jury is in and the verdict is declared there is no need to go back and try everything that somebody has used their creativity to put together.

Maybe it’s not that age has its privileges, it could just be that age has its wisdom.  We don’t have anybody to impress.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-222: God at Work

Recently I was writing about what it means to be good and how God awards those that are good.  At times I have contemplated how we are born in sin, and yet some people seem to be seeking righteousness, and others are seeking evil.  It’s a very complicated situation, and some people find it difficult to deal with.  I think that I have always been inclined toward being a child of God and yet it was not possible in my own strength.

How does this work? I think I found some clues in the Old Testament.

1 Samuel 3:7-10 (KJV) 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. 8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child. 9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.

Noticed that it specifically says that Samuel did not know the Lord, but there is that key word “yet”.  At this point, Samuel was just serving in the temple.  He was going through the motions.  But it is clear from the following verses that God was reaching out and speaking to him.  We would call this prevenient Grace.  It’s a word, or term, used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives before we are believers.

Noticed that Samuel could hear God speaking to him.  He just did not know who God was.  He did not know how to respond.  Eli had to share with him the process.  In the same way, the Holy Spirit speaks to us, maybe not audibly, but He definitely speaks to us.  The big question is, “Are we willing to listen?”  An even bigger question is are we willing to respond.

Do me and yourself a favor.  Think about it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-221: Placement

Our cat was yowling outside the window.  He wanted to come in.  He doesn’t have a clue on how to achieve that end.  As of this writing, I have never responded to him yelling in that window.  I have, however, gotten up and gone to open the door when he sits quietly in another window that I can see at all times.  How many times does he have to go through this before he learns his lesson.

Don’t be that cat.  Sometimes we are helpless to change things and are dependent on others.  I can see that.  I have experienced that.  The sad truth is there are often ways in which we can find resolution if we will simply pay attention, think about the situation, and then go about behaviors that bring change.  In the case of the cat, it involves sitting in a different window.  We need to perhaps find different windows to sit in when we don’t know how to open the door.

Other solutions for the cat would involve such things as just waiting for someone to come and call or hovering near a door that he knows I open every day about this time and sneaking in when he thinks I’m not looking.  If he knew how to open the door by pulling down on the handle, that might work.  Or maybe not if the door is locked.  Or if the door has the round handles that he could not grasp the attempt would be pointless.  Again we need to look at our situation and honestly ask ourselves if there is anything we can do.  If there is, do it.  If there isn’t then patience and creativity are in the mix.

I can’t change my country.  I can’t revive my church.  At this point I don’t need to get my children to mature properly.  Sometimes what is done is done and we are happy with the results.  Life is a mixture of blessings and challenges.

I encourage you to rise to the challenge.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-220: ocd Not OCD

This comes to mind from measuring honey into my oatmeal.  I shoot for 15 g.  If it stops at 14, I’m good.  If it goes beyond 15 I realize I can’t stick it back in the bottle and so I just enjoy it.  Some people would think I get a little carried away weighing my oatmeal, honey, popcorn and so forth.

I am not really OCD.  If I were really OCD I would keep charts and graphs of everything I have eaten over the past ten years and have averages and totals all laid out.  I would find a way to take that extra gram of honey out of the oatmeal and feel very righteous about it.  I would pity those of you who are not as disciplined as I.  

I would accept being OCD (jg) or just ocd.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-219: In or Out of the Tank

I keep hearing about how bad the economy is.  I agree with that assessment.  I’m not sure that it strikes everyone though.  My wife was giving me a song and dance about how she went out to dinner with her daughter and the grandkids and the restaurant was almost empty.  She took this as a reflection of how bad things are.

Take that in the context of her trip starting next week.  She staying in hotels and she will probably still pay $150 a night.  None of this $50 stuff I use.  She is going to the Branson area and visiting Silver Dollar City.  I heard nothing about admission but I did pick up she paid for tickets to a dinner show featuring Cowboys and all kinds of exciting things for the grandkids and shared that she shelled out $700 for tickets.  It doesn’t sound like an economy doing poorly to me.

Some of the guys who are on my zoom were talking about visiting Branson and going to a live theater presentation, I can’t remember the name.  They talked about how many people there were in a house with a panorama stage.  Live elephants were mentioned.  I am guessing that tickets in the nosebleed section, if they have such a section, would be at least $100 apiece.  I got the impression that my friends were sitting front and center.  I shudder to think of how much that cost.  And yet all of these people will talk about how the economy is in the tank.

Again I agree.  I shop for groceries.  I buy gas.  I know what’s going on and yet there is some thing that we’re not admitting.  Either we are all going deeper in the hole because we refuse to be stewards, we are richer than we will admit or we’re totally confused.

Take your pick.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-218: The Taboo Phrase

There’s something that I need to face up to and if I need to face up to it, I figured you might also be in that class of people.  It is perfectly acceptable to say, “I don’t know.”

It is not only okay to say this, but it might be the moral thing to do.  It might be a mark of integrity.

For those of us who love to argue, saying we don’t know is a game killer.  It can often bring the conversation to a close, and it’s much more fun nitpicking at whatever it is the other person says.   That’s satisfying when the argument is for recreational purposes, but if you are looking for truth, then there are many times where saying, “ I don’t know”, will open up doors to finding deeper meaning.  When both people concede that they don’t know, you might really make some progress towards working things out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-217: Composites

I was thinking of family, friends, and other people that I know, and how I see them when I look at them.  I realize that often I do not see them as they are.  In fact, it’s probably normal not to see them as they are.  What I see is a composite.

I think of my son.  When we sit talking on a weekly basis at a steak restaurant or one of the weird places that he likes to eat, I don’t see a 44 year old techie.  What I see is 44 years of close interaction.  I see the infant that I’m walking around the floor at three in the morning, trying to get it to go to sleep.  I see myself pausing in front of a mirror and looking over my shoulder, hoping to see eyes closed.  Instead, I have these two big round orbs staring back at me.  I see the legs kicking out as my child frantically flees down the hallway, trying to get away from me as I crawl after him, and the screams of joy coming out of his mouth in the excitement of the moment.

I could keep going listing all of the things that are in this composite, but I can’t remember them all.  They are still there though, even if I can’t remember them.  So when I see him, I see what no one else sees.

I think that may be common to all of us in our intimate relationships.  New acquaintances we look at on the surface and see what there is to see.  When we walked by someone at the grocery store, all we see are clothes and skin.  There are no memories in those encounters.  But for those that have been a part of our life for a long time we have composites.  Think of how your emotions change when you see a stranger and then suddenly realize it is someone you care about.  I remember when I was in Army basic training, head shaved, dressed in fatigues and my own mother did not recognize me.  Her face changed when she realized it was her second born.

So many memories to be blessed with.  An even greater blessing is that we don’t need to remember every one of them to get the savor of the whole package.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-216: Acronyms

One of the recurring memes that we come across today is using the initials, such as DEI, and substituting our own meaning, such as, “did’t earn it”.  This is a recreational pastime that we all can enjoy.  Along these lines, I find myself sometimes puzzled over the acronyms that are used in tweets and other online sources.

I keep wondering what’s going on.  We’ve always had some we are used to such as STD and DUI.  But people seem to be able to make up their own acronyms today on the drop of a hat.  Sometimes I spend time trying to figure them out, sometimes I don’t.  The older I get the less time I am willing to spend trying to fit in and be cool.

I think it’s a form of secret knowledge, one-upmanship.  It’s a way of exhibiting how you are “in” and the other person isn’t.  We all know “lol” but do you know what “to;dr” means?  Once I figured it out, I enjoyed the humor of it, but I’m not sure I’ve ever used it, because maybe people wouldn’t know what I was talking about, or they might be insulted. There is a plethora of this type of thing going on.

I will sometimes introduce an acronym in a post if it will save me time because I will repeatedly be typing a long title.  I always explain what it is the first time.  I realize that it a waste of time for things like lol and imoho (in my own humble opinion).  I guess there is a place reached by a search that will act an an interpreter but I find myself too lazy to do the search.

In time I will adapt or all the cute initials will pass out of style.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-215: New Terms: Blue Falcon

I have been hearing and reading the term “Blue Falcon”.  I admit I don’t get out much.  That is probably why I had not heard it until recently.  I was seeing it in reference to the Democrat’s VP nominee.  After I looked it up the meaning became clear.  It needs to be broadcast far and wide.

A Blue Falcon is a person who will stab friends in the back, throw them under the bus, gamble with the friends credit card and in general destroy people who trust them.  It is always done for their own benefit.  I am guessing that it also is surrounded with pious platitudes about how “it is for your own good.”

This is a good description of the entire contemporary Democrat agenda and makes Walz the perfect candidate for VP.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-214: New Terms: Influencer

I keep coming across this moniker, “influencer”.  Whom do they influence?  For what reason does anyone listen to them.  Usually the person pictured is too young to have any wisdom and I see no reason to believe they have any knowledge.  

To be honest, I am a skeptic.  Don’t confuse that with being a cynic.  I am willing to listen for a moment at least.  You never know.  Someone might actually have something to say.  The skeptic in me runs a gestalt test on what they say.  Some people might call it a Baloney Meter.  I ask myself, “Does this fit in with the things I know to be true?”  Usually I don’t need to get beyond the click bait.

I am thinking that this word, “influencer”, may be another example of how the elites are trying to rework the language.  I came across this statement on the topic in a John Ringo novel,

“Abby earned credits as something called an ‘influencer,” which, as far as Cade could tell, meant that she photographed cute or weird things with her phone and talked about them.”, p. 137

By this definition, an influencer does not influence.  They entertain and amuse.

We live among people who want quick, easy answers.  I understand there is a relatively new medication for diabetes.  It is in short supply because it also causes weight loss and all the people who don’t have the discipline to cut down on the calories go for the quick fix.  When people go to the doctor they want a pill, not a lecture.  When they go to church that want an entertaining speech that does not upset their day.  These are the masses.  These are the ones who listen to influencers.  

That would not bother me so much but they have the same one vote I have.

Ringo, John.  Beyond the Ranges.  Riverdale, NY:  Baen, 2024.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-213: Monday Pulpit: Readers’ Digest Gospel

Last week our pastor spoke on one of my favorite passages of scripture.

(Php 2:5-11 KJV)  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He spent the first few minutes working through the passage and did a good job for moving through quickly.  The rest of the sermon, as usual, focused on evangelism and making a decision.

There is a progression in Paul’s writing that gives many of the basics of the Christian faith.  

He starts with a statement of the divinity of Christ,
Then we have the incarnation.
We have the crucifixion, and
The place of Jesus as Lord.

He doesn’t mention the resurrection of the place of faith but it is a powerful statement about Jesus.  If you are a believer you know all this and sense the joy that it involves.  If you are not a believer then it is something to think about.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-212: Name Tag

Isaiah 57:15 (NASB95)
For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Jeremiah 16:21 (NASB95)
“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know-- This time I will make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.”

Exodus 34:14 (NASB95)
--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--

Psalm 68:4 (NASB95)
Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him.

When I was teaching one of the first things I did, at the beginning of the year, was to make out a seating chart so I could learn names.  After establishing, who was present, according to the role, I would go around and write a name down corresponding with the seat.  I would generally ask them if that was what they wanted to be called, and it was surprising how many actually went by different names.  Sometimes the name they wanted to be called was just a derivative.  Sometimes it was totally different.

As the year went on, they would sometimes get different names.  Sometimes this is because they got secure enough to tell me what they really wanted to be called.  On occasion, they might receive a new name from me based on behaviors or observed characteristics.  I tried to be kind in that.  One of my principles though was to try and call people what they want to be called and pronounce it right.

God has told us His name.  The one He gave, Yahweh, means “I am.  It is an announcement that He exists, which carries with it, the understanding that He is aware, that He is watching.  There are a few other names the Bible assigns.  At one point it calls Him holy, and another jealous.  His key name, though, is Yahweh.

So?  Celebrate with me, the fact that we worship the God Who wants us above all else to understand that He exists.  That should be a game changer for you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-211: Click bait: Sifting

I’m coming to the conclusion that there are several categories of Clickbait and that I have totally no interest in.

Clickbait telling me about all the problems with JD Vance.  He is the vice presidential nominee and the choice of Donald Trump.  There’s nothing to discuss at this point.  There is no point in more speculation and expressing preferences.  The elites will keep coming up with half truths and lies so it is a waste of time listening to them.  Whoever is picked by the other side will not even be in competition, so get used to it.

Mocking of Kamala Harris.  I really don’t want to see everybody’s impressions and impersonations of Kamala Harris.  My opinion of her is so low that nothing could drag it any further and as for improving it, forget it.  The reality is bad enough I don’t need to watch people making it look even worse.

Unknown information on some kind of Biblical topic.  Just swishing down the You Tube offerings I come across “Is church membership Biblical?”, “Five Things the Bible Does Not Say”, “Where Did Cain Get His Wife?”  There are a lot of these that promise to tell me five things I never knew about a topic.  Usually I am familiar with the topic and realize that they don’t “know” anything either because I have read what the Bible has to say.

Questions that don’t match the length of the video.  An example of this would be one I keep seeing in different wrappings that want to tell me the five words I will start mispronouncing two years before dementia sets in.  The video is 15 minutes long.  Now I ask you, how long does it take to tell me the five words?

There are some great videos out there.  The problem is separating the wheat from the chaff.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-210: Respectfully

Is respect a key element in friendship?  The reason I ask is because I was thinking about some people that I call “Friend”.  I spell that with a capital “F”, and there are very few people who qualify.  I have a reasonable number friends with a small “f”, they are not the ones I’m talking about.  Small “f” friends don’t really require respect.  Capital “F” friends do.

I am questioning this because when I think about those capital F friends, I find that they have some very glaring Achilles’ heels.  In each of them I can find areas where there are glaring shortcomings.  In spite of that they are my Friends.  My question is, do I respect them?  I love them.  I enjoy their company.  They are an important part of my life.  But do I really respect them?

In a way, I would say “No”, because respect to me means, looking up to someone.  My friends tend to be people I look across at not up to.  I definitely don’t look down on them, but I don’t hold them in great reverence or respect.

At the same time there are people who I would not consider friends, people I don’t even really know, but I would respect.  In some cases, the respect is because of their position.  There have been presidents that I would respect.  Obviously, that does not apply in our current situation, but in others it would.  Those people in positions might have terrible home lives, and not be pleasant to be around, but they have still possibly earned respect.

Respect is earned.  One of the destructive contributions that progressives have made to our culture is changing words like “respect”.  In the old language, respect is earned, and it meant someone that you could look up to and admire.  In today’s modern, progressive language respect means that you think everybody is the same, that all cultures are the same.  Discernment is thrown out the window.  Absolute values are discarded.  We called this multiculturalism, or at least we used to.  I’m sure it hides under a new name today.

We need to get back to the day where our leaders have earned their respect, not just a vote every few years.  It might also be beneficial if each of us would work on our behaviors and patterns of living in order to be worthy of the respect of others.  Don’t expect it.  Don’t demand it.  Earn it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-209: The Divine Voice

I watched the president’s acceptance speech at the RNC, and I’ve been picking up some of the other speeches here and there.  One of the things that keeps coming through is that God seems to be communicating again.  To some of us this does not come as a surprise, but the people who have never listened weren’t aware that God communicated with people.

The Bible is full of references to God communicating and the different ways in which He does it.  There seemed to be the period where He would speak to people one on one.  We have God telling Noah to build an ark.  We have Him dictating the law to Moses.  He had been walking with Enoch.  God got involved.

Then we have a period where it seems that God would usually speak through prophets.  When David prayed that God would heal his son, God did not answer through choice scripture or through a direct voice from heaven.  He sent the prophet Nathan.  When the king wanted to know something he would call for a prophet and the prophet would speak.

Then we come to the time where Jesus is on the Earth, and it was a real physical presence.  One of the beliefs of Christians is the God Jesus was not only fully God, but He was fully man.  He spoke.  He interacted.  He answered questions.  Simple and direct.

We are now in the period where the Holy Spirit has been sent and made available to all believers.  This changes the equation again.  Once again, we are at the point where every person can meet personally with the living God.  The living God will, and does, communicate.  Often He does this through us reading the Bible and coming across a verse that speaks to the current need in our lives.  Sometimes it’s a result of study of that same Bible.  Sometimes it is the Holy Spirit bringing things to our mind when we aren’t even aware that we were wondering about it.  However, you want to look at it, God communicates with us one-on-one again.

Are you listening.  In Sunday School a lady pointed out that the root for “ignorant” is “ignore.”  God can deal with people who are ignorant because they have never heard.  There is little hope for those who choose to ignore.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-208: Discernment Watch: Not So Wise

I was sitting in Sunday school, paying attention, listening, and with my mind turned on.  The teacher was working through the verse below, and made a comment that the husband of Candace was one of the Wisemen who sought out the newborn King of the Jews.

Acts 8:27 (KJV) And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,...

At that point, my bologna meter went off, and I almost stood up and said, “No.”  We need to be aware that there is a difference between tradition and truth.  It is possible that the church in Ethiopia had a tradition that the husband of Candace was one of the Wiseman.  I would not quarrel that there is such a tradition.  However, tradition is not always based in fact.  A little thinking can go along way.  I believe that the Gospel account says that the Wisemen came from the east.  I don’t know if you are aware of any geography, but Ethiopia is to the south.  Unless the husband of Candace was on an extended sabbatical, studying with the astronomers of the east, there is no way that he could have qualified to be one of the wise man at the birth of Jesus.  We need to be aware that there is a difference.  Tradition is sometimes based in fact, and almost believable.  In fact, tradition might even be true, but not necessarily.  If we want to be people who have any clout in our world, we need to keep her minds turned on and make a difference between tradition and verifiable facts.

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Opus 2024-207: Testosterone Thoughts

There has been much ado in the news lately about how the testosterone levels of men around the world have been getting lower.  I think this is even more true in the United States than in other countries.

The reason this is significant and could have earth shaking results is that it is the sex drive that is behind men’s need to establish a family.  The sex drive is very dominant, and without it, men would probably never get married.  In a culture where women are available without marriage it is no surprise that marriage is on the decline.  This sex drive is not a totally lurid feeling.  In most men who are healthy, it is closely tied to a desire for intimacy, for family, for children, for a need to protect, for a need to provide.  There are many things involved and in healthy people one does not dominate over all the others.  If you remove any of them, the rest tend to deteriorate and weaken.

Men are less interested in marriage today.  Part of that may have to do with the lower hormone levels which make women less attractive.  One of the reasons that it is important to have the sex drive is that it encourages men to stay in the relationship long enough to make the hard adjustments.  I think one of the reasons why shacking up or, living in sin, doesn’t work is because there is no reason to stay in the relationship when the other person gets cranky or hard to live with.  With the commitment of marriage, and to be honest, the grace of God, you make it over the humps and the rough spots and in time true love develops.  This is one of the reasons why believers have to understand the phrase, “divorce is not an option.”  When you can’t escape you make it work.

I know that macho men don’t like to admit it, but as you get older the sex drive decreases.  I would imagine that has to do with a natural lowering of the testosterone, but I’m not sure, and I’m not sure I care.  It happens.  The upside of that is that with fewer hormonal issues in your life, a man can start thinking more clearly.  A man can begin to absorb the things that contribute to wisdom.  I think one of the reasons that wisdom is associated with age has to do with the lowering of the testosterone.

You might compare marriage and “best friends with benefits” in the same way that you compare a steak prepared extra rare or blue with old-fashioned jerky. One is prepared quickly, right now, and is considered cool.  The other takes a long time and a lot of preparation and is considered redneck.  One goes bad as soon as the temperature changes.  The other stores quite well for an extended period of time.  Living together outside of holy wedlock is fun, exciting and I’m sure you can think of other adjectives.  I’m not sure about that because I never did live in sin, but common sense and observation tell me this.  It also tells me that it is usually a short track to heartbreak and despair.  I know there are a few select couples that have the commitment that leads to what we call “common law”, marriage, but for most people, it ends, as soon as the passion is over.  When there are children involved, it becomes a tragedy.

I hope you live long enough for wisdom to develop.  I hope you’re youthful enthusiasm and foolishness does not lay the groundwork for a life of failure and frustration.

Remember “God hates divorce.”  Also remember that, according to the scripture, sexual relations are to be limited to marriage.

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Opus 2024-206: The Law of Intended Consequences

We are all familiar with the concept of the law of unintended consequences.  What about the opposite?  I know that when I am in a difficult time, I will ask myself, “What is going on.?”  I might ask, “What did I do to deserve this?”  Those are the wrong questions.

What we should be asking ourselves is, “What opportunity or situation was I put here to deal with?”  It should be asked in a positive way, not in desperation.  How often in life does God put us someplace in order to be a blessing to someone or to help them find an answer to a problem they’re having?  How often do we end up someplace unexpected and only later find out the blessing we provided.  Often we are the angels unaware.

We all know situations where the outcome depends upon our attitude.  When I find myself sitting in a doctors office or some such place am I there to read my book, talk to someone else in the next chair, or meditate on world peace?  Only you can answer that question.  I know that I find myself realizing that I should reach out to people around me more.

That means making eye contact.  I hate eye contact.  It means moving from introvert mode to extrovert mode.  I hate being an extrovert.  It can be done, but for some of us, it has to be a conscious decision.  Consider the possibility that there are many people in the world that need the input that you can give.  It may not be a desperate cry for help, it may just be the answer to a general question.  It may not be anything that they are aware of needing.  But God knows and He put you there for a purpose.  Possibly.  Or it could just be a random situation and He wants to see what you’re going to do with it.

Be a game changer.

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Opus 2024-205: Talking to Jesus

I have at times considered how awesome it must have been to be one of the disciples.  We were told how great it would have been to be able to actually walk and talk with Jesus, to listen to His preaching and teaching in the first person.  I agree with that.  I think it would be awesome but today as I was thinking about that I also realized there was what might be called a downside to that.

We tend to think that when we are talking with Jesus that it will be this wonderful experience, just basking in His glory.  OK.  That’s probably true, but it goes beyond that.  You see Jesus might also have the habit of asking us questions that make us uncomfortable.  He might make statements to us specifically, and personally that make us examine our lives, our thinking, our relationships, and so many other areas of life that we don’t want to touch.  It’s very possible that Jesus would make us uncomfortable, just looking at us.

Another uncomfortable truth here is that Jesus can still do that to us.  This is what can happen to us if we read our Bibles conscientiously.  If we plug our brains in and try to apply what we’re reading to our lives and be sensitive to the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit, the Bible can speak to us.  Too often it’s things we don’t want to hear.  Or maybe it is more accurate to say too often we don’t hear things that it says.

In the same way that’s one of the reasons why we go to church.  It’s one of the reasons why we have sermons and scripture reading and sing immortal hymns.  It’s one reason why I prefer the music of the church that has endured for centuries, or at least decades, to contemporary worship songs.  I find the old hymns penetrate deeper.

Our world needs revival.  Our country is desperate for the divine salt that we are supposed to be.  We need to understand as important as the coming election is, it is even more important that you and I get in contact with the living God and listen to what he has to say to us.  If we are going to revive the country, the revival has to start with us.

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Opus 2024-204: Satisfaction Guaranteed

As part of my banter I answer the cashier when they ask if I found everything I want.  I answer, “I didn’t find the winning lottery tickets.”  I get various responses from the person who acts like everyone in line says that to those who appreciate my brilliant attempts at humor.

I had another thought along that line.  The grocery store advocates that we will be satisfied with their products or my money will be cheerfully refunded.  I would suggest that if I don’t get a winning ticket I will not be satisfied.  I wonder if I could get a cheerful refund.

Somehow I doubt it.  There is probably some fine print that would overrule my inspiration.  I’ll show them, I won’t buy one.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-203: Long Live Legalism

As I have written before, I think, that legalisms gets a bad rap.  People tend to automatically condemn it because they have heard it condemned so many times.  I will concede that real legalism needs to be condemned.  The question is what is real legalism, or for that matter what is legalism period?

I submit that the problem with legalism is not the law, but the attitude that is applying the law.  What kind of attitude I am talking about is one which does not honestly look to see how a law is meant to be applied, but looks to find ways to manipulate and distorted what is actually said in order to get the conclusion you want.  Those people claim the commandment that says “Thou shall not steal”, applied originally to the idea of kidnaping people to sell into slavery.  Although there might be some application of that thought, it has nothing to do with the original commandment.  Yes, kidnaping is stealing.  But this is not a command about kidnaping.  It is about stealing in general.

This is the kind of nonsense that legalists get into.  They distort laws to fit their preconceived system.  And then they distort the distortions.  All of it works towards fitting others for straitjackets and take away their freedom.

The purpose of meditating on the law is not defining ways to tie a noose for others.  That is legalism.  Or should I say the evil form of legalism?  The purpose of meditating on the law is also not looking for your own personal application to make yourself look better.  The time you spend meditating on the law is when you let your mind roll across scripture in the sense of gestalt.  You are looking to see how this specific verse or idea applies to the thinking of God.

For instance, suppose you came across the clear statement in the law,

(Deu 16:21 KJV)  Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

At least it seems a clear statement.  I don’t know what the Rabbis made of this but let me put on my Rabbi hat and get legalistic.  This would be expanded to include any kind of foliage.  You would of course need to decide how many trees were required to be a “grove”.  Some ambitious Rabbi might declare how many paces away from the temple this applied.  Another would spend pages defining what a pace was.  Another might declare this demanded that no wood implement come into contact with dirt.  Still another might declare you could not have anything made of wood near the altar.  And so forth, you can see how this works.

Someone who is not a legalist might simply say, “Okay, I won’t plant any trees near the altar.”  If you were a serious Bible scholar you might actually read the verse in another translation and see that the word for “grove” was really the name of an idol to a local goddess.  You might then declare that pagan idols were to be kept out of the local church.  That would get you branded as a legalist.

You also need to look at the condemnation that Paul gives to the law.  He repeatedly declares that Christians are not bound by the law, that it is death.  Note from the first chapter of Galatians,

(Gal 1:8-9 KJV)  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

This false gospel was being pushed by Judaizers who were demanding obedience to the law, specifically circumcision.  Paul seems set on this.

Then notice what he writes later, also in Galatians,

(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.

He who declared you were accursed for keeping the law lays out a pretty long list of laws and declares that if you do any of them you will not inherit the kingdom of God.  

This would seem to be an inconsistency on Paul’s part and in a sense it is.  He might have been clearer in what he said earlier.  It can still be resolved if you consider what Paul meant by the law.  Notice what he says here about himself,

(Gal 1:14 KJV)  And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

A key to this is the phrase “traditions of the fathers”.  This refers to the volumes of distortions of the written law of God by the Rabbis and collected in the Talmud.  Trying to follow the Rabbinical law of the Talmud was an impossible task.  It was deliberately made that way by the Rabbis, yet the Judiazers were trying to lay it on the gentile Christians.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Jesus declared the traditions of the elders were corrupt.  Paul declared them corrupt.  In spite of that seeming condemnation of the law both called us back to following the essentials of Godly, moral living.  We are called to live in righteousness and not in lawlessness.

That is my opinion.  I would say I am sticking to it but who knows what I will learn tomorrow.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-202: On the Street: Cranky Is Good

I was driving across town and reading signs as I went.  One of them started off, “Through a Child’s Eyes” and billed itself as a Child Development Center.  Not being sure exactly what that meant, my curiosity drove me to look it up on line.  Yes, I do have better things to do but sometimes questions keep popping into my head.  

It turns out it was a well marketed day care center.  I found the blurbs on line to be very depressing.  This group of adults were saying that they could become surrogate parents and provide all the leadership and foundations that the children’s parents were supposed to give.  I am not sure I would want people who think they are better parents than I am in charge of my children.  It reminds me of Groucho Marks saying he would not want to be part of any club that would have him as a member.

If there is anything that our culture does not need it is the tendency to look at things through a child’s eyes.  My grandchildren can’t get the concept that a quarter is worth 25 pennies.  How could such a thing be?  When I was a child I remember telling the adults at the table that I would take the money being offered to pay for dinner when it was refused for politeness.  There are so many important things children are not ready to grasp.  We endanger civilization if we try to look at our world through a child’s eyes.

That goes double for college age students who have been brainwashed by the media and public schools.  I find it depressing that when they turn 18 they can be depended on to vote in conformity to the obvious evil of their keepers.  

What we need are more cranky old men and fewer sensitive flower children.  And, yes, I am a cranky old man.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-201: Book Review: Introspection over Action

A new author and exploring his work.  It was a failure, at least on this book.  Paolinin writes well but this seemed to be more a touchy-feely examination of the thoughts and feelings of a group of social misfits that would never have been sent on the type of mission that was described.  I finished the book to see if it would ever go anywhere.  It didn’t.  I found myself skimming over large sections of memories and dreams of the main character as he searched for meaning in a lost love.

That being said it did have an interesting side.  Being different from most modern fiction there was one character that could have been identified as a somewhat orthodox Christian.  Being locked into the politically correct mind set of our time she was narrow minded and harsh.  What was interesting was the conversations between the religious character and her main antagonist.  What was interesting was not so much the actual discussion but the memories it invoked in me of similar discussions.

There are many questions involving our faith that come up in social contacts.  Some are easy, “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?”  In case you never met a true Christian, the answer is “Yes.”  Others are harder but still important.  “How can one God be in three Persons?”  Or, “What kind of nonsense is this Trinity thing?”   Eventually you get into the speculative and philosophical which are fun if you like to debate but boring if you hate to be contradicted.  This book deals with some of those problems in the dialog between Talia, the believer, and Pushkin, the materialist.  One deals with whether beauty is a fuction of evolution or an “expression of the divine.”  Good question but it was not explored much further than name calling.

The one I found amusing was a question that is often asked, “What happens to those who never hear the gospel?”  In our every day world this involves people living in some deep jungle and can be a question worth discussing.  In the book, not so much.  You see, even though humanity had developed faster than light travel and a lot of other stuff of science fiction novels, in the book they had still found no indication of intelligent life anywhere in known space.  Microbes and bacteria types, yes, but nothing advanced.  That is a presupposition of the context and is important to the question.  What got the discussion going was a huge perfect hole drilled into the surface of this planet.  With no real evidence they began discussing if this was evidence of advanced intelligence and would the builders still be around.  They almost came to blows over discussing whether those creatures were doomed to hell or whether God had a plan for them.

This is what tickled my funny bone.  They had a dramatic argument over something that did not even exist.  Of course because Paolini followed the party line, Talia insisted that they were all doomed to hell.  Pushkin insisted that made God into a monster.  How often do we get into serious discussions about things that don’t exist.  Actually quite often.  I remember going to a museum for Anne of Green Gables.  I wanted to ask my enthralled young daughter, “How can you have a museum for someone who never existed?”  

Before you get to smug, ask yourself how many conversations you have had about the characters from movies and books.  Anyone out there ever say they wanted to marry Princess Lea?  Just as you can have entertaining conversations about whether a Death Star could actually be taken out by one X-wing fighter you can have deep examinations of what is the salvation status of creatures on an undiscovered planet.  Both are speculative and have the potential for mental challenge.  Neither makes any real difference on the real world.  

When you read dialogue in fiction books about religious issues, make sure that you have several grains of salt handy.  You will need them.  If you are ever in the discussion feel free to shake your head and say, “I don’t know.”  You might even add, “Yet.”

Since Paolini is a good writer I may try another of his books.  Maybe he does a better job of bringing closure to the confused protagonist in another context.

Paolini, Christopher.  Fractal Noise.  New York:  Tor Publishing Group, 2023.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-200: Standing Up

There are many places in life where taking a stand, or standing up, comes into play and needs to be thought about.

On the serious side, we need to stand up and be counted on the attacks on the republic and the destruction of our liberty.  We need to learn to say “No” and mean it.  That may be the only way to avoid the path of violence.  It can be as simple as being honest in a conversation at the grocery store.  It might involve a speech at city council.  Stand up.

Culturally our manhood is under attack by the emasculators who want to make men sit down to do number one.  Somehow the urinal has become one of the symbols of toxic masculinity.  

What brought this to mind was the tangent my mind went on when I was getting dressed.  It is getting harder and harder to stand up while I put my pants on.  The first leg goes in just fine but when it comes to the second all bets are off.  I make sure there is a wall nearby.  So far I am getting along but I will know I have crossed another creek when I have to sit down to put my pants on.

I guess that is better than the stage where someone will have to change my diaper, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.  

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Opus 2024-199: A Different Understanding of Justice

Those of us who are believing Christians would agree, I think, one of God’s attributes is that He is just.

Even those who are often accused of being works righteousness oriented would agree that there is no way that we can earn our salvation.  We are all sinners, the Bible says so.  There should be nothing to argue about there.  And being sinners, it is impossible for us to pay for her own sin by working them off.  Thus God has to pay for that sin.

He has done that through Jesus.  This fits in with the teaching of the Old Testament and also with the culture of the day.

The concept of paying for sin is common historically.  One of the names, for it was weregilt.  Sin, or, in secular terms, a crime, hurt someone.  That someone had a right to demand your life, or to demand that you pay a certain amount of money.  Often the two options were considered equal.  This is true even in things like treason.  So we had a common idea that sin could be paid for by people, but that’s not in the Bible.  Biblically in some cases restitution can be made, but that does not deal with the sin issue.

Our culture has rejected the idea of sin.  They have rejected the idea of original sin or the fall of man.  Modern culture says that human beings are inherently good and decent and are only corrupted by the society they live in.  That sets up a cycle of nonsense for me.  If people are good and only corrupted by society and society is made up of people then how does it become corrupted.  Somewhere in the circle there needs to be a dissonant note introduced.  Christians put that in the Garden of Eden.  I am not sure where the secular world gets it.

Another extension of this is knotted in with the current idea that we need to save the planet from human beings.  We are a virus that is destroying the pristine beauty of the world.  Since most of these people are pagan evolutionists they have a problem they don’t see.  If man is a product of evolution, then he is a legitimate product of the primeval ooze.  Mankind cannot be evil or bad.  If we destroy the planet then it is a matter of survival of the fittest and the planet was not fit.

Logic can be vicious but only if you are paying attention.

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Opus 2024-198: One Man’s Weird

I just read a post on According to Hoyt on the way in which the new talking point of the left has become “weird”.  The party of admirals who don’t know how to dress like a man and a man who steals the dresses of women has the nerve to called people who marry and have children “weird”.  I find that I have to agree with Hoyt’s point about it being a badge we wear with honor.

There is a Biblical parallel if you are a KJV reader.

(1Pe 2:9 KJV)  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

In the terms of Peter we are not weird, we are “peculiar”.  The KJV is not my translation of choice but sometimes it has a glorious way of expressing itself.  If you are a believer, embrace the weird.  Identify with the peculiar.  You are part of a temporal minority.  You will become the majority when the wheat is separated from the chaff.

I salute you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-197: On the Road: Observations

I have been driving from Texas to Kansas City.  I deliberately avoided the Interstates and managed to find other routes.  I have been far from densely packed cities and the land is green, lush and mostly overgrown.  What surprised me was the lack of wildlife.  So far the only wild animals I’ve seen are two Chihuahuas and one turtle.

Skylines are interesting.  In eastern Oklahoma I noticed that at times they are disfigured by windmills.  I guess we should be grateful for how few of them are to be seen.

Motel Six is not a universally identical organization.  The one I stayed in on my last trip in Oklahoma was clean, well run and gave a veterans discount.  The one in Paris, Texas was a hang out for local road workers.  There is nothing wrong with road workers but when I pulled in they were sitting out in front of the rooms drinking beer and the parking lot look like a destruction derby.  When I got up the next morning to leave there was a mysterious man walking around in the parking lot at six in the morning.  He waved to me so he must’ve been OK.

It pays to stay alert.

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