Opus 2024-351: High Ground Parasites

There are people we run into you feel they have the high moral ground.  They are doing wonderful things, heartwarming things, things which makes society better.  This could be anything from people in a religious calling to enemies of flouride.  The net is thrown very wide with this thought.

Many people who claim to have the high ground and are working hard to convince other people that they should join them in their convictions. are basically living off of the sweat and equity of others.  Sometimes your dream is not possible in the world we live in.  One thing that comes to mind would be those who are into organic foods with no pesticides and no fertilizer.  This is a wonderful thought.  It’s something which would be great if we could all live that way.  But there is a reason why those kinds of foods are very expensive.  It’s because there is a very high rate of failure in their crops.  Bugs and various diseases tend to destroy fruits and vegetables that are not protected by pesticides.  If you have enough money, you can pay someone to watch carefully to pick off the bugs and bring you only the stuff that is golden.  I don’t think that the peasants doing the bug picking will live with the same level.  These people have the moral high ground in their own eyes, and they are parasites.

I think of the people in our country who are antiwar and nonviolent.  That is a wonderful position to take.  Some of them are thoroughly consistent and suffer at times because of their stand.  I salute them.  Others simply want to be more noble than those around them and when things get tough, they called the police.  Think of the citizens living in that exclusive community, I believe Martha’s Vineyard, who were very open minded regarding immigration until the governor of Texas sent a couple busloads into their neighborhood.  I only read the click bait headlines, but the impression I got was that they had the military called out and those dirty immigrants were removed from the upper class enclave almost immediately.  These people are parasites.

You can apply this logic to people in certain religious callings, who claim that they don’t worry about the physical things of life.  What they don’t point out is that their needs are met by the church, and by the common smelly working people who give to support the church.  It’s possible that they are parasites.  It’s possible that they are very genuine and serious and sincere, and actually producing more benefit to the community than they are taking.  The luxury of doing those noble things though is paid for by other people.  And a very real sense they are parasites.  Of course, I would be willing to accept the idea that there are some organisms which are like parasites because they live off of another organism, but give back in another way to balance the books.  I think it’s called symbiotic.

So think before you yell “parasite”.  Think before you refuse to yell it.  Examine your own life.  And don’t allow yourself to be put on a guilt trip because you don’t want to contribute to support their noble calling.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-350: Holy Chicken Wings

The English language is full of literary devices.  We get used to such things as hyperbole, simile, metaphor, and personification, anthropomorphisms, and a whole list of things that I can’t remember.  I would assume that other languages have the same devices.  I think ancient Hebrew is more full of these literary devices that we are aware of.

For instance, I’ve written about God being a chicken because of the reference to hiding under his wings.  That one is obviously exaggeration.  What about such terms as God is holy?  Do we even have the beginnings of understanding of what it means to be holy?  I’m not sure we do.

My suggestion here is that any attribute that we apply to God is really a figure of speech for us, because we cannot even begin to comprehend the magnitude of God.  We have thoughts about what holy is, and we apply that word to him.  At best it is a vague reference to something much more vital.

I guess where I’m going with this is that our theology needs to be tight enough to stick to what the Bible has to say but loose enough to make allowance for the fact that God is beyond all that we could ask or think.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-349: Buried Mysteries

What mysteries still remain to be uncovered?  Are there any significance?  Will they make any difference?

I’m thinking in terms of the quiet this morning.  It’s before 6 o’clock, still dark and I’m not even hearing cars drive by.  It’s almost enough to make you think the rapture took place and you got left behind.  I’m contrasting this with the incredible volume of insects that we had just a month or so ago as the cicadas came out of the ground and were going through their mating rituals.  It was incredible.  I’ve never heard such noise made by just insects.  Today there is nothing.  Who in their right mind would have thought of looking underground for an insect that grew for 13 or 17 years, depending on the breed, before it came out to reproduce.  Who would have dreamed of such a thing?

Yet there it is.

Does this knowledge change the way you live?  Does it make the world any different, really?  Probably not.  There may be some application that we haven’t thought about yet, another mystery.  But generally, no.

Which brings me back to the original question, what is still out there?  I believe there must be many, many things that we haven’t even begun to think about.  It will require some major thinking outside the box or just plain accidents.  Maybe it is buried treasure. Think of it is a buried city that the archaeologists are investigating because people digging a new sewer line, uncovered something they hadn’t seen before.

Think of how complex God is and how many things He has planned out, and the way the world works together that we’re just beginning to discover.  I think of that silly illustration about a butterfly, fluttering its wings and causing a tornado around the world.

Think.  Explore.  Investigate.  Wonder.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-348: Comparisons

Which was more of a shock for Jesus?  You have Him giving up his place in heaven, Becoming a man,

(Php 2:5-7 NAS77) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

And then you have Him becoming sin,

(2Co 5:21 NAS77) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We focus on the passion.  Mel Gibson made a whole movie about it that I imagine much of America watched.  We see the pain.  We see the suffering.  We rejoice in thanksgiving because Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us.  But the pain started before that.

I can picture the suffering of the beating and the cross.  Because I’ve never been there, it may be that I can’t really get to it, but I can picture it.  What I can’t picture is being in the form of God and giving that up to become a human being.  The shock must have been tremendous.

Of course trying to compare that to God, who knew no sin to actually be coming sin so that we could have salvation is difficult.  But it bears meditating on.  It’s important for us to understand what John 3:16 means.

(Joh 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Now that is something to meditate on.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-347: Do the Math

I went to the meeting, even though I didn’t qualify. It was billed as a pastors conference, and as you went in there was a sign saying ,“Welcome, pastors, and leaders”.  I joked with people that I was the “and”.  It was actually open to anybody who wanted to come, so I was not trespassing or being offensive.

They were two speakers.  The first one was a guru on eschatology.  The second was a lawyer who is very involved in the political process.  The lawyer was one of two that I know that I believe are actually going to make it to heaven.  What he had to say was solid.  Believers need to be involed in the political process, their current government and in their society.  The guru, not so much.

When the guru got up to speak, I realized that I had heard him at this event last year and my general feeling was fuzzy neutrality.  When he started to speak, he turned me off a bit because he started off with a startling “gotcha statement”.  He said that 30% of Christians don’t believe that Jesus is God.  At best that is an oxymoron.  At worst it is deceitful.  If you don’t see the problem immediately then follow me here.

If Jesus is not God, then He was just a man.  And CS Lewis points out that is not an acceptable option because He was either God or a lunatic.  If Jesus was just a man, and let’s say He was a good man, then everything He said, was just the opinion of another human being.  All of the teachings that you find in the gospels is just another self-help book or a best seller, waiting to make it on the charts.  It’s just the opinion of another man.

In addition to that if Jesus is not God then He was no longer the perfect lamb.  That means that His death on the cross, assuming it actually happened, was just a tragic moment in history.  A man was killed who did not deserve it.  If He was not the perfect lamb then his blood being shed did nothing to bring forgiveness of sin.  If He was not God, then we have no hope in Him and the term “Christian” becomes nothing more impressive than being called a vegetarian.

So basically, if you do not believe that Jesus is God, you are not a Christian.  Now I would like to think that what the man meant was that 30% of those who called themselves Christians, or consider themselves Christians, don’t believe that Jesus is God.  That would be a statement that makes sense.  Of course, it wouldn’t be as startling and wouldn’t get peoples attention so it wouldn’t work very well.  Such is the dilemma of a public speaker.

From there he went on to speak about Israel and his love with the Jewish people.  I had heard it before, so it was nothing new.  He was very involved with the Jewish people and talked as if he was a member of the synagogue.  Having heard him before I knew where he was going, and a bit about where he was coming from.  He’s one of those who is big on Israel in the end times, and how God is going to reestablish Israel and how we have to pray for Jerusalem and so forth.

Being someone who has read the book of Isaiah and a lot of the prophecies that he talks about and historical books of Israel, I have my doubts that it will work out as smoothly as he proclaims.  Two passages of scripture comes to mind.  The first has to do with the remnant of 7,000.

1 Kings 19:18 (KJV) Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

Then you have this prediction that you find in the book of Isaiah,

Isaiah 1:9 (KJV) Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

It doesn’t sound like God is concerned with preserving the masses of people who considers themselves Jews, or even those who are actually in the lineage of Abraham.  Do the math.

Let me look at the passage from I Kings since it’s more specific in its numbers.  The statement is that after all of the butchery and damage bringing Israel to account there will still be 7,000 who are faithful.  We are used to hearing that number I guess and say “Go team”.  Most of us attend churches that are relatively small and 7,000 sounds like a big number.  I think in terms of gestalt.  What is the big picture and what do these numbers mean?

When Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, there are numbers given about how many people were involved.  I am too lazy right now to go back and add them up, but let’s go with the number of one million.  I think that’s reasonable.  When they finally entered the promised land and conquered it, I would suggest that the numbers went up.  We are now 3000 years later.  Surely, that 1 million has grown.  But let’s go with that number as if it were the same.  Do the math.  If there were 1 million Jews, children of Israel, alive at that time and 7,000 are still loyal to God, that means that 993,000 have been sent on their way to hell.  Those are not exactly what I would call encouraging numbers if I were Jewish.  When the end times come and it says that all Israel will be saved in the book of Romans you have to say to yourself that means that the only ones still alive are the faithful ones and everyone else has been killed one way or another.  Not good odds.

Will God bring Israel back?  The prophecies seem to indicate that.  Will it be a great homecoming involving multiplied millions of people with Jewish blood?  Not only is that not consistent with a rational, holy God, but it doesn’t make any sense.

Stay tuned and you will eventually find out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-346: Abba God

Christians tend to think of God as father.  I was meditating on the omnipresence of God and how He sees us at all times.  We don’t seem to think about that or dwell on what that means.  He sees us that are best.  He sees us at our worst.  He sees us when we worship and sing praises to him, and to be crude, He sees us in the bathroom.

Many of our ideas of what is crude, and what is just a part of life come from our cultural traditions, rather than what the Bible tells us.  This took me to thinking of God as father, which, of course makes me think of times when I was a father dealing with my young children.  I don’t know about your experience, but mine was delightful and one of the great times of having an infant in the house was changing diapers.  Yes, changing diapers.  Some of the games we played during the time we’re awesome.  You can play hide and seek and peekaboo with a diaper and a gullible infant and if you’re quick, you can actually get him changed before he decides to squirt you in the face.

If I were doing these things with someone else’s child it might be really weird.  I would probably find it disgusting.  Changing another persons child who had a dirty diaper would be a task I could perform but would not enjoy.  On my own kids it was a time for celebration.  Again, call me weird, but when it’s your own child, it’s different.  When you are Abba and he is doofus, it changes things.

Jesus gave us this insight into the nature of God.  One of the places where Jesus was speaking to God he referred to him as “Abba.”

Mark 14:36 (KJV) And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

The English here is a transliteration of the original text.  Thus “Abba” is the actual way you would pronounce the original word.  Paul continues to use this a number of times in his letters.  What was interesting to me when I did a search on the actual Greek word used was that it came from the Hebrew word, which was pronounce very similarly.  In the Old Testament the word is used nine times and as far as I could tell it was never used in regard to God.  It always refered to your physical father.  Another interesting point is that it comes from the Aramaic.  It is only used in Ezra and Nehemiah.  The Hebrew equivalent is used about 120 times.

I was reading the biography of Benjamin Netanyahu, and as he relates his conversation at one point with his father, he calls him “Abba”.  This reinforces the idea that it is a term of affection and deep relationship.

Jesus refers to God as Abba.  Paul continues with this idea.  What makes this something to embrace and meditate on is that this concept of God being an object of our affection and endearment is that this is also the same God who created the universe and who’s wrath is capable of wiping out entire populations.

He is ours. We are His. I hope you’re a part of that happy family.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-345: Influence of the Gods

One of the reasons that the Greeks had to develop logic and philosophy was because their gods were inadequate to explain the world they lived in.

At the other end, the God of the Bible was quite adequate to explain the universe and everything about it.  The problem is that explanation is ultimately beyond us.  It moves beyond our ability to comprehend and keeps going.  Thus He had to reach out to us to teach us about Him and about whom He was.  That brings us to the ultimate revelation of Jesus.  We don’t have to figure out the world by logic.  We’ll figure out the universe by listening to the lessons God gives us.  Those lessons come home in Jesus.

Of course that understanding also lays the groundwork for a confidence in the laws of God’s nature which makes modern science possible.  What is interesting is that if scientists were truely open to what they are seeing they would be forced to postulate at least the existence of some kind of Prime Mover, i.e. a supreme God.  Too bad human pride refuses to see the obvious.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-344: Election 2024: Nothing to Lose

You’ve heard it again and again and again.  Let me add it one more time.

Go vote.

I assume that the same people that stole the last election will have even more shady actions in store for us this time.  I fear that they may steal it again no matter how many people vote.  I don’t plan to live in a fear that paralyzes me.  Neither should you.

Vote anyway.  You have nothing to lose that you would not lose anyway, and everything to win.  Think of it as another form of Pascal’s wager.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-343: Renewal

I have reading through Isaiah and I am seeing the points someone made about how much of this was written to Israel.  How does it apply to us?  That’s a question for another day.

What struck me here is that the prophecies that I’m seeing have to do with God renewing his covenant and his relationship with Israel in the end times.  This is after a long period of apostasy and neglect. That is to be fulfilled in the future.

Turn the clock back.

The current age of being out of favor with God, began with the destruction of Herod’s temple in the year 70.  From that point until today Israel has had no way to sacrifice, no way to achieve atonement, no way to in reality worship their God through the official means.  Somehow they still go through the motions but I don’t see how it gives them any hope.

Turn the clock back.

Go back to the exile when the temple was destroyed and Israel was hauled off to Babylon.  Hard times for the Jews.  No temple for sacrifice.

Turn the clock back.

Israel has been brought out of Egypt and is now being given the law and a clear direction in which to go. This will last for a while, but even after the temple was built, they begin to ignore the word of God and the rabbis take over.

Turn the clock back.

The children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been moved to Egypt.  God was in this.  He was doing it to save his people.  Somewhere in the process of living in Goshen, the children of Israel began to assimilate into the Egyptian culture.  They begin forget about their God, and they became more and more Egyptian.  Now we are into my speculation.  I think the time came when the only way God could keep them from being completely absorbed and dissolved was to raise up a pharaoh that did not know Joseph.  When this happened, they were made slaves.  It did not return them to being faithful, but it did separate them from the Egyptians and make them amenable to what Moses had to say when he returned.

Time and time again God has had to slap down His people in order to try and reach them and to keep the covenant alive.  Israel kept killing the covenant, and God kept refusing to allow it to die.

As far as salvation goes and eternity, we are still seeing that struggle between national salvation and personal salvation. I don’t have an answer for that.  As we watch events unfolding in modern Israel and listen to all the You Tube click bait about rebuilding the temple you wonder if we are coming to the time when it will all make sense.  There is nothing you can do to fulfil the prophecy meant for Israel.  What you can do is make sure that your house is in order.

I don’t need any prophecy for that.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-342: Election 2024: A Corner on Hope

In just a few weeks, we will have another national election.  We’ve done this many times before.  We’ve had a lot of anger and hostility before.  We’ve had division before.  I was just reading about the hostility between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, it was very real, very deep and bitter.  The country survived.

You can go down through our history and see many occasions like this.  If you have access to any of the sites that look at the attacks on Abraham Lincoln in the press and in any other way of communication, you could almost substitute Donald Trump and see the same types of things.  All of this is nothing new in American politics.

So what is different this time?

The difference used to be on numerous corners in every town.  It used to be that everywhere you drove you would see church steeples, and those church steeples would represent the attitudes of the people who lived in that area.  The odds were those steeples would represent churches that were full of people that actually believe what the Bible said, and who had their hope resting in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They were called the salt of the Earth.  They were never a majority but they were a significant segment.

What happens to a country when its salt loses its savor?  I’m sure you are familiar with at least part of this verse,

Matthew 5:13 (KJV) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

It is perfectly clear to anyone who is serious about serving Jesus that the church has lost its savor, or savour as the KJV would put it.  That doesn’t mean there isn’t any life in the old girl yet but it does mean that it has lost the influence that it had.  That influence is vital in the coming election.  And it’s not just a matter of Christians not voting.  It’s a matter of so many people who call themselves Christians ignoring what they believe when they vote.  They have allow themselves to be brainwashed by the anti-God forces in our culture.  Many of those forces are in charge of the denominations of the churches they attend.  The recent action in the United Methodist Church is a good example of how the so-called churches have abandoned the standards of God.

There is still hope.  And that hope is in you if you acknowledge Jesus Christ is Lord.  Can you see if you acknowledge Jesus as Lord then that means that you are a part of that group of people that are called by His name.  At this point, let me bring forth a verse, which is so often quoted and quoted incorrectly.

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

This is a message of hope.  But you need to understand that hope which is in Almighty God is dependent upon a small group of people, the ones who are “called by My name”.  Now this originally applied to Israel.  It still applies to Israel in specifics, but the principle applies to the church today.

It’s not going to do any good if people who deny God call upon his name.  It won’t do them any good to pray.  God is not listening to the prayers of his enemies.

If the country is to be saved, we need to vote, yes.  We need to pray, yes.  But above all that small group of people who are still faithful need to focus on turning from their wicked ways, and calling upon God.

The country can be pulled out of its nose dive.  It can be pulled out of his nose dive no matter who wins the election.  The key is being salt, and pepper has never been able to replace salt.

So vote. Pray. But above all turn from your wicked ways. The country is counting on you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-341: Selective Hindsight

Don’t tell me I don’t listen.  I do listen.  I may not respond immediately.  I may never respond.  It may be that what I hear is not worth responding to.

One of the things that I heard as I listened recently was a Guru of Eschatology who told us that Israel was ultimately safe in the midst of the onslaughts because God promises to sustain his people and protect their land.  I think there was some scripture quoted, which might’ve backed up what he had to say.  My problem is that he wants to ignore thousands of years of history and other scripture references.

Shortly after the life of Jesus, I believe it was the year 70 A.D., the Romans not only devastated the land of Israel but leveled Jerusalem and destroyed the temple.  If that is not an example of someone bringing disaster to God’s people in God’s land, I don’t know what it is.  Then you have the long reign of the different Islamic governments.  They controlled the area.  Again the land did not belong to the people of Israel.  It was not until 1948 that you get a group of people who claim to be descendants of Abraham, forming a government in the land.  They set up a nation.  Suddenly, this prophecy becomes popular again saying it can’t happen.

It has happened.  It has happened repeatedly.  So don’t assume the modern nation of Israel is the Israel that God is talking about in the prophet.  It might be, but it also might not be.

I support Israel because they are the only land in the Middle East that has anything close to the American idea of rights and the rule of law.  That is a political position of me as an American.  As a Christian, I have a high regard for God’s people.  That very well could be the ones living in Israel today and if I err, I want it to be on the side of the angels.  It’s just that I have need of a definition of who God’s people are.  It isn’t enough that they wear funny hats and live in the land.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-340: Group or Individual

Something I wrestle with is the way in which the Old Testament seems to speak in terms of the nation of Israel, and the New Testament seems to speak of individual believers.

Currently, I’m thinking in terms of the end times.  I am reading Isaiah.  There are lots of prophecies involved here that can only be applied in the end times because they don’t seem to fit anything we know about history.  In those prophecies after large-scale extinctions of Israelites who have been rebellious, there is still going to be a group brought back under the covenant.  That seems to involve just people who are still alive, and yet such passages as the valley of bones being resurrected makes you think that perhaps God can raise them from the dead, or will raise them from the dead.

But then there are the references to the remnants like He told Elijah.  Is that a statement or prophecy?  Also, does that go down through history?  My thinking, is wondering if from the time when the rabbis started polluting the word of God and diverting it into their own personal opinions, has there always been a group of believing Jews who pretty much ignored with the rabbis said, read their Old Testament scriptures, and continued to believe in the God of Israel?  It is not impossible.  It is possible that in the end times when Israel is called back into covenant that these will be the ones who will fulfill that.

Some people focus on Israel’s return.  There’s the passage in Romans that talks about all Israel being saved.  There’s the 144,000 in revelation.  It could be that when all of this comes together that these statements regarding the faithful will be fulfilled.

Then we come to the church and the New Testament.  The New Testament emphasizes the individual and the individual choice.  It seems to emphasize the relationship between God and individual believers.  That is the emphasis.  While that is the emphasis, there are still statements about the church.  When it talks about the body of Christ and the church, being raptured, being resurrected, going through trials and tribulations, there is a group understanding, and yet there is also an individual understanding.

This may be part of the path to understanding that I need to find.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-339: Middle Class Morality: Find Me Nine More

My thinking this morning was stimulated by some of the things that Thomas Sowell said, in the last book I read.  He was talking about what made some cultures more prosperous than others, and in addition to the ability to know that your property belonged to you so that you knew how to plan, he said there was a general trust in the population in countries that were prosperous.  Their prosperity was possible, because they could be trusted.  That led to a discussion of honesty, and such things, as not lying and not stealing.

That took me to the 10 Commandments, and one of those 10 Commandments is “Thou shall not steal.”

This led me to thinking about how honesty and respect for others property, which is a part of middle-class morality.

And that made me realize that most of the people in our lower classes would be infected with middle-class morality, as far as things like truth and theft would be involved.

And that led me to thinking of white privilege.  So much of what is labeled as white privilege is Middle-class Morality.  They are the basics of western culture and found in the Bible.

It took centuries for these values to be inculcated in western society.  It has come from the bottom up, from the everyday believers, from the monks and priest, and people who took communion on a daily basis.  When the people who believed in the truth of the Bibl, and lived by the truth they molded society over the centuries.

The satanic communist forces have been working tirelessly to break down that consensus.  They have infiltrated our educational system.  They have begun to run the government.  They control the media and they are coming after the family and the church.  The pace has sped up.  The battle is real.

We think of political moves we can make to fight this.  We should do that.  We think of building strong families.  We should do that.  Ultimately, though, this is a spiritual battle.  The only reason we are still afloat is because the Holy Spirit is working, not only in the hearts of believers, but also in the lives of people who deny God.  That gives us our hope in the future.  That is the force of Providence.

Don’t give up.  Remember Abraham pleading for Sodom.  If they could have found ten righteous then God would have spared the city.  Be one of the ten.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-338: Now or Later

Christians argue about a lot of things.  It’s funny how they are human like everyone else.  Some of the arguments are silly, some are serious.  One of the things we can’t seem to nail down is what happens to us when we die.  I’m not saying there is any doubt about our eternal destiny, I’m talking about the timing.

One side believes that when we die, we immediately go into the presence of Jesus.  We see this as the Bosom of Abraham, Paradise, or any other name you want to give it.  It means that the aware part of our being is immediately transported into the presence of the Almighty, and we begin to enjoy eternity right away.

There are other people who believe in what is called soul sleep.  This means that our awareness is suspended and does not return to our bodies until the time of the resurrection.  At that point, we are raised from the grave, and rise into the air to meet Jesus as he returns.

Which is it?  Is it now or is it later?  It probably doesn’t really matter.  It’s just something we discussed because we don’t want to do the dishes.  It gets our mind off of more serious things because either way we believe that we are going to spend eternity with Jesus.  Some people get upset about being in a grave for a period of time and being eaten by worms.  How can you be with Jesus when he returns if worms have been chewing on you?  The point is that as far as you’re concerned, if that is the way it comes down, you will not be aware of the time that you spend in the grave.

If you’ve never had any kind of surgical procedure, you may have a hard time understanding this.  Recently, I went through the joys of a colonoscopy.  They take you into a room and give you an IV, have the anesthesiologist come and talk to you.  They wheel you down corridors and put you in a room then start hooking you up to all these instruments.  They were sitting there, talking to you and suddenly, you were in a strange room, staring at the ceiling.  You were surrounded by machines, laying on your side.  Now you’re by yourself, on your back, looking at the lights.  There is no awareness of what went on in between.  It’s really strange.  I think if medical science can do this, so can God.

I don’t know which it is.  I could probably give you verses that seem to go both ways.  Honestly it’s one of those things that is not really important.  It’s like worrying about whether it’s better to have green beans for dinner or spinach.  Should I eat an apple or a banana?  It doesn’t really make any difference.  Either way Jesus is going to meet me and I’m gonna be so overjoyed.  Any delays will not matter.

Hope to see you there, now or later.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-337: Bill Clinton, Philosopher

Much humor has been aimed at Bill Clinton and his statement, “It all depends what the meaning of “is” is”.  Now we know that he was just trying to dodge the questions being asked him.  We know him.  We know his character, or lack of it.  We know him as a philanderer and all kinds of other things.  So we don’t think of him as being a great philosopher.  And yet what he said is at the root of many frustrations, as we go through our daily lives.

In many ways, it is a central question of modern culture, what is the meaning of “is.”

Of course, you have to substitute other words for “is”, but the principal is the same.  We are in the age of deconstruction.  This is a philosophy that says we can change the meanings of words to fit the circumstances.  Obviously, there are words that are based on context.  My favorite example of this is the word “can”.  It can be a verb.  It can be a noun. It can be all kinds of different meanings.  It all depends on context.  Even something as basic, as murder requires a genuine definition.  The Bible even gives us examples of first-degree murder as opposed to manslaughter.  The meaning is situational but not arbitrary.  

So yes, it does depend on what the meaning of “is”, is.  We might even come to give this its own name, and call it the “Is Question” ranking it right up there with the Pythagorean theorem or What is “truth?”

I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but let me make a prophecy.  Bill Clinton will go down in history as the man who polluted the oval office.  He will also go down in history as one of the great philosophers for asking one of the great questions.

It’s a sad statement about the condition of both politics and philosophy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-336: Say It

I’ve enjoyed the memes that show up with a picture from the Simpsons showing a classroom full of children, focused on one individual and yelling at that person to “say it”.  Then you have them say something and the one that comes to mind right now is for the FBI to say, “They were on our radar.”

The idea is that if someone is on the FBI’s radar, then the FBI should be doing something about it.  I want to take exception with that, and maybe issue a warning or concern.  I would venture to guess that most of us who have ever said anything that is outside the parameters of political correctness are on the FBI’s radar.  If you have traditional values, think there are two genders, have strong religious convictions or do not mumble “Orange man bad” this could apply to you.  If not the FBI, then one of the other alphabet agencies could be at your elbow.  They are listening.  They are watching.  They are taking notes.  They may show up at your front door someday.

Keep in mind that just because an agency of the government has you on their radar does not mean that they should be showing up at your door, arresting you, and dragging you into court.  Keep in mind this is what they have been doing to Donald Trump.  You’ve seen the poster which says, “They are not after me.  They after you and I’m just in their way.”

So no, don’t be pushing the government to start locking up everyone who makes people uncomfortable.  This is the philosophy of the red flag laws.  This is the philosophy of hate crimes.  This is the philosophyof cancel culture that is destroying our freedom of speech, assembly, petition, religion, and the right to bear arms.

It’s OK to laugh.  It’s OK to mock our government.  But keep in mind that it will get you on their list.  As long as we still have basic freedoms that is not a problem.  After all, even an FBI agent needs a purpose in life.  Just don’t let him exercise his discretion in the matter.

Until you start actually shooting, you are not a murderer.  Until you pick up that candy bar, put it in your pocket, and walk out of the store, you are not a shoplifter.  Because you think the government stinks does not make you an agent of an organization desiring to overthrow the government by violence, i.e. a communist.

Be careful what you wish for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-335: Divine Esperanto

As I was talking to the Lord this morning, and trying to find the right word to express how He has extended the hand of Providence to me and blessed my life, I found that the words I came up with were the best I could do but were so inadequate.  You have been there.  If you haven’t, I hope you reach that point someday.

At that point, I started wondering if in heaven will we speak the language of angels?  This thought is based on a verse of scripture that came to mind,

1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

I’ve often wondered what the language of Angel’s was.  I think of Pentecost when Peter and the disciples were standing up and declaring the word of God.  Many people think that the speaking in tongues that they were involved with had to do with what they were saying.  My read on it is that it was a miracle of hearing rather than speaking because each person there heard them in their own language.  Check this out,

Acts 2:6 (KJV) Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Am I wrong?  These people came from all over the known world.  They did not all speak Latin, or Greek.  In fact, it says in their own language.  I suggest the gift of tongues at Pentecost was the disciples speaking in the tongues of Angels.  You don’t don’t have to agree with me.  Just don’t call me a heretic.

So perhaps, when we get to heaven, we will be speaking in the tongues of angels.  When I say that I want to ask the apostle Paul some questions it would be something we hadn’t thought about but what language would we be speaking other than speak English?  I don’t speak any of the languages he knew.  And yet I believe that we will be able to communicate.  I want to sit down with my guardian angels and express my gratitude and asked some questions about whether it would have done any good to leave cookies out for them.

There are so many historical figures that I will enjoy interacting with.  Of course, that will probably come after a couple million years of just sitting around the throne in the ecstasy of being in the presence of God and singing with the heavenly hosts.  What language will be singing?  I have a feeling it won’t be English.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-334: Headlines: A Crack in the Fake

We hear a lot of noise about the vaccines that were pushed on the population and many of the noises are saying that the vaccines were dangerous.  The voices of the elites don’t even want to acknowledge that such theories are worth considering.  Here at last is a source that backs the claims.  It is found at a news site called Granite Grok.

The source is a British government site and it specifically says that unvaccinated children have not developed any myocarditis.  Maybe I read it wrong, so, as they say, read the whole thing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-333: It’s All in the Programming

After the fiasco with the pagers and cell phones, I think that the Iranians probably should be worried about somebody monkeying with the software in their ballistic missiles. What would happen if after launching, and reaching a certain point in their flight path the instructions to the guidance computer suddenly told the ballistic missile to turn around and return to base.  A well designed missle would allow the home base to force it to self destruct.  A clever hacker would have disabled that curcuit.

Let’s see if Israel can come up with this one on their own.  I know that if I were Iran I would have some questions.  Israel would like to supply the answers.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-332: Kamala Miranda

As I was reflecting on the recent “Ho, Hum, just another day of Democrat news” that dealt with the accusations of plagarism I began to wonder if editors should be required to read authors their Miranda Rights.

Shouldn’t hopeful authors be made aware that their spelling, grammar and coherency were going to be checked?  Don’t they have a right to know that someone might look at their sources and documentation?  Would the editor be held to different standards depending whether she were Indian or black?

You think I am joking?  That shows you at least know to wait until your shoes are on before you tie them.  I am only half joking.  Who would have thought we would live in a country where judges would refuse to allow you to enter evidence and then reject your next case because there is no evidence?  It is called democracy or Demoidiocy.

Stay tuned.  Novemeber is coming.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-331: Headlines: Just Look

One of the “Look at me” themes I am seeing lately on the Internet expounds about Kamala Harris and plagiarism.  Today I saw a Clickbait headline about information she had in her books being lifted straight from Wikipedia.  This would not be hard to verify.  All you have to do is look.

A regular tool when I was teaching middle school was Google search.  I required a serious project:  Write a term paper.  I didn’t just dump them in, sink or swim.  We went through note taking, outlining, bibliographies, and everything else necessary to write a good paper.  When it was time to evaluate the results if I saw something suspicious all I had to do was type short selection into the search engine, hit return and see what came up.  I would have been embaraced but they didn’t blink.  Often they didn’t even delete the hypertext, and sometimes even printed the addresses at the bottom of the page.  Another clue would be two paragraphs that had nothing to do with each other, kind of an early “word salad.”

It was easy to do.  All you had to do was look.  Of course, the hard part was in the head of the reader.  You had to be bright enough to realize that what you were reading could not have been written by an eighth grader.  You had to recognize hypertext as hypertext.  You had to recognize the fact that internet addresses at the bottom and the top actually came from sources not located in the head of the eighth grader.

I had kids come up for my inquisition.  I would show them the actual page on my computer screen and they would look at it and still claimed that they wrote the material.  I wasn’t training future Democrats, I was dealing with eighth grade Democrats.

Don’t blame Kamala too much.  Somewhere there is an eigth grade public school teacher who let her slide.  Somewhere there is an editor that continued the tradition.  We are getting close to the time when the American people, assuming they actually count the votes, are going to decide what kind of government they deserve.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-330: Dark Thoughts: First Person Possessive

I found myself thinking about “my God”.  It struck me that it was a little bit strange for this finite creature, who sometimes can’t even remember where he put his keys, to be acting like God is a possession.  I’d probably think of it that way sometimes but not when my mind is turned on.

Yahweh, the God of heaven, the creator of the Earth, the everlasting, the first and last is my God, but not in the sense that I say, “This is my teddy bear”.  It’s not like me saying this is my home or this is my car.  God is not an object that we process.  He is not something we control.  In fact, it’s just the opposite.

When I say “my God”, it’s more the idea that I have been allowed to be a part of something much bigger than myself.  For instants, say I worked at Tesla.  I could say that this is “my company”.  I don’t think that Elon Musk would get offended at such a thing.  He would know what I meant.  He would know that I meant I was a part of something much bigger and faster than myself.  And that since I said “Yahweh is my God” I can address Him that way and both He and I know what I mean.

I think of a quote that is attributed to Abraham Lincoln.  It is something like, “It’s not so important if God is on our side as to our being on God’s side.”  He offered me a place on the assembly line.  All the management positions were filled, but at the bottom He had  a slot for another soul.  One of the great things about God as the CEO of eternity is His open door policy.

So I start the morning thinking about “my God.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-329: A Lot of Questions

 Opus 2024-329:  A Lot of Questions

As I contemplate what we are learning about the destruction in Asheville, North Carolina, a lot of questions come to mind.  As I wander down this path I don’t want to take away from the tragedy of the wild rampage of the natural world.  People died.  Property was destroyed.  Those who survived have had the direction of their lives changed.  None of that should be mocked or belittled.

My mind always goes to “Why?”  Could the tragedy have been averted?  You can’t blame the hurricane.  It just did what hurricanes have to do.  It isn’t like Helene got up one morning and said, “This looks like an ideal day to reap carnage.”  There is a long list of natural events that have played out over time whether people were around or not.  Think of the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?”  Unless you are a frog sleeping under a bush that does not matter.  The fact is the tree fell.  Hurricanes happen.  So do earthquakes, tsunamis, eruptions, droughts, floods and mosquitoes.  Think of Pompeii being buried by a volcano.  Think of the tidal waves and soot in the air cause when Krakatoa exploded.   None of them depend on the approval or preparation of humanity.

That part of “why” is a question for science.  It involves temperature, air pressure, solar flares and probably nature phenomenon that we don’t notice.  I has no moral component.  It is possible that something might be learned to reduce future danger but not enough to prevent it.

The human side of the equation is different.  Think of the Gulf coast or parts of California.  Natural disasters wipe out homes and business on a regular basis.  People rebuild in the same location.  Should I have sympathy for them?  In Southern California there is a large development in the foothills filled with very expensive real estate.  Such a thing is normal.  What does not seem to be considered is the location in a river bed that has been flooded repeatedly before.  Will the flood control work this time?  Or how about the people who build in the hills that are regularly swept by fires?

They say this was a hundred year or thousand year hurricane.  Does that justify the many homes that seem to have been located where water rages?  I find it hard to believe that everyone who had their home destroyed carefully thought out the location.  It was cute.  It was picturesque.  It was cheap

And what about the decisions to not be prepared?  I understand that you could have all the food and water stored that you might need and a flood could wash it down stream for someone else to use but I don’t think that is the problem for most of those in need.  Every once in awhile you read an article that talks about how little food and water people keep on hand.  If we were cut off we would have no concern about starving or dying of thirst.  Our diet might get boring but it would keep us alive.  Why?  Because we have planned ahead.

I read about people they were calling “disaster tourists” who were coming around to take selfies in the destruction.  If they can get in to take selfies, why can’t supplies be delivered?  There are a lot of unanswered questions.  I remember one that my students kept asking when we studied earthquakes, “How will you get home if the bridges are knocked down?”  The answer never seemed to occur to them:  I would walk.  While we wait for it to sort itself out pray for the genuine victims and if you know a reliable way to send help, do so.

And be thankful.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-328: Beginning a Pilgrimage

I recently began a pilgrimage of reading my way through a series of books, called The Story of Civilization written by Will Durant, who later was joined by his wife Ariel.  It will be a long slog because there are eleven volumes and they are very thick.  I plan on using it as something to read in the late afternoons and early evenings, when my ability to create or concentrate gets a little bit weak.  I am about 90 pages in.  Durant writes well and communicates well.  That being said, I am curious to know how reliable his history is going to be.

The reason for my skepticism is that in the first 90 pages I am seeing a lot of empty headed fantasy about where history comes from and how human beings developed.  It is pure speculation, and at times he admits that, but it’s presented in a scholarly way, as if it really is documented and researched.  At one point he quoted as a source Marco Polo.  I don’t know how much you know about Marco Polo and his writings but they are full of all kinds of fancy ideas and fantasies about what his trip to China was like.  There was some valuable information but also a lot of nonsense.  To quote him as an authoritative source is very dubious.

He does have some catchy phrases and some interesting ways of saying things.

“To these simple people disease seem to be possession of the body by an alien power, or spirit - a conception not essentially different from the germ theory which pervades medicine today.”, p. 80

By page 90 I have already picked up that he is not a big fan of the Christian religion and is pretty skeptical of anything religious.

His writing and his attitude towards primitive people reminds me of what I’ve heard about Margaret Mead.  I have never read anything by Margaret Mead, but I have heard that her great theories about primitive society have had so many holes punched into them that you could drain your spaghetti with it.  She was someone who had her own social hangups and personal twists, and she allowed them to totally modify what she wrote.  That is pure theory based on not reading her, but just listening to others talk about her.

Durant seems to approach ancient culture is the same way that Margaret Mead does.  Of course, we are still in that section of pre-history that has very little hard evidence to use.  He’s also writing very early where there’s a lot of archaeological evidence still to be found.  He begins writing around 1935.  That might make him a predecessor of Margaret Mead.  Maybe she was a fan of his.  I don’t know.

My hope is I will finish the series.  I’m also hoping that as I get into the more specific civilizations that I will find a bit more accuracy and information based on research.  It will be a fun ride.  I hope I find enough to write about.

Durant, Will.  The Story of Civilization:  Part 1, Our Oriental Heritage.  New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1954.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-327: Specific Laws Mentioned in Proverbs

This looks like a long post but most of it is documentation that is not intended to be read.  All you need to look at is the first few paragraphs unless you want to see where I get my information.

One of the thought trails I am following involves the totally different attitude toward the Law as expressed by Paul and David.  I have a theory that will have to develop or die as I read through references to the law in the Old and New Testaments.  I am looking for specific laws that are mentioned outside of their listing in the Torah.  The Rabbis claim there are 613 laws Jews are required to follow.  I think Paul was a rabbi and was trained by them.  It seems to me that if these laws are so vital they would be mentioned more than once, not just in Leviticus.

I have just finished Proverbs because I read it once a month.  I am in the process in Psalms and the rest of the Bible is hit or miss at this point.  Here is a summary of the laws I found mentioned specifically or at least as a category.

Lies, 12x
Parents, 8x
Theft, 5x
Adultery, 5x
Sacrifices, 4x
Murder, 3x
Land, 3x
Usuary, 1x
Coveting, 1x
God’s name in vain, 1x

Notice that most of the references are found in the Ten Commandments.  Sacrifices were usually a general topic rather than a specific type.

If you are bored enough to read through the rest and find others I missed, let me know.

homo unius libri

Chapter
1.  Parents, theft, murder
3.  Firstfruits
4.  Parents
5.  Adultery
6.  Lies, theft, murder, adultery
7.  Adultery
9.  Theft
11. Theft
12. Lies
13. Parents
14. Lies
15. Sacrifices
17. Sacrifices, lies
19. Lies
20. Lies, Parents
21. Sacrifice, lies
22. Land
23. Land, parents, adultery
24. Lies
25. Lies
26. Lies
28. Parents, usury, coveting, murder
29. Land, murder, lies, theft
30. Lie, God’s name in vain, parents, adultery
31. Parents


Proverbs 1:8 (KJV) My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Proverbs 1:13 (KJV) We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Proverbs 1:18 (KJV) And they lay wait for their [own] blood; they lurk privily for their [own] lives.

Proverbs 2, none

Proverbs 3:9 (KJV) Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

Proverbs 4:3 (KJV) For I was my father's son, tender and only [beloved] in the sight of my mother.

Proverbs 5:20 (KJV) And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?

Proverbs 6:17 (KJV) A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

Proverbs 6:19 (BES) An unjust witness kindles falsehoods, and brings on quarrels between brethren.

Proverbs 6:24 (KJV) To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Proverbs 6:29 (KJV) So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Proverbs 6:30 (KJV) [Men] do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;

Proverbs 6:32 (KJV) [But] whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he [that] doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

Proverbs 7:18 (KJV) Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. Proverbs 7:19 (KJV) For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey:

Proverbs 8, none

Proverbs 9:17 (KJV) Stolen waters are sweet, and bread [eaten] in secret is pleasant.

Proverbs 10, none

Proverbs 11:1 (KJV) A false balance [is] abomination to the LORD: but a just weight [is] his delight.

Proverbs 12:5 (KJV) The thoughts of the righteous [are] right: [but] the counsels of the wicked [are] deceit.

Proverbs 12:22 (KJV) Lying lips [are] abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly [are] his delight.

Proverbs 13:1 (KJV) A wise son [heareth] his father's instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke

Proverbs 14:5 (KJV) A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.

Proverbs 15:8 (KJV) The sacrifice of the wicked [is] an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright [is] his delight.

Proverbs 15:20 (KJV) A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother.

Proverbs 16, none

Proverbs 17:1 (KJV) Better [is] a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices [with] strife.

Proverbs 17:7 (KJV) Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Proverbs 18, none

Proverbs 19:9 (KJV) A false witness shall not be unpunished, and [he that] speaketh lies shall perish.

Proverbs 19:26 (KJV) He that wasteth [his] father, [and] chaseth away [his] mother, [is] a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.


Proverbs 20:17 (NASB95) Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man, But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

Proverbs 20:19-20 (NASB95) 19 He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, Therefore do not associate with a gossip. 20 He who curses his father or his mother, His lamp will go out in time of darkness.

Proverbs 20:23 (NASB95) Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD, And a false scale is not good.

Proverbs 21:3 (KJV) To do justice and judgment [is] more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Proverbs 21:6 (KJV) The getting of treasures by a lying tongue [is] a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.

Proverbs 21:27 (KJV) The sacrifice of the wicked [is] abomination: how much more, [when] he bringeth it with a wicked mind?

Proverbs 22:28 (KJV) Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

Proverbs 23:10 (NASB95) Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

Proverbs 23:22 (NASB95) Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 23:27 (NASB95) For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.

Proverbs 24:19 (KJV) Fret not thyself because of evil [men], neither be thou envious at the wicked;

Proverbs 24:23 (KJV) These [things] also [belong] to the wise. [It is] not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

Proverbs 24:28 (KJV) Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive [not] with thy lips.

Proverbs 25:18 (KJV) A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour [is] a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

Proverbs 26:28 (KJV) A lying tongue hateth [those that are] afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

Proverbs 27:13 (KJV) Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

Proverbs 28:7 (KJV) Whoso keepeth the law [is] a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous [men] shameth his father.

Proverbs 28:8 (KJV) He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

Proverbs 28:16 (KJV) The prince that wanteth understanding [is] also a great oppressor: [but] he that hateth covetousness shall prolong [his] days.

Proverbs 28:17 (KJV) A man that doeth violence to the blood of [any] person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.

Proverbs 28:24 (KJV) Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, [It is] no transgression; the same [is] the companion of a destroyer.

Proverbs 29:4 (KJV) The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.

Proverbs 29:10 (KJV) The bloodthirsty hate the upright: but the just seek his soul.

Proverbs 29:12 (KJV) If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants [are] wicked.

Proverbs 29:24 (KJV) Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth [it] not.

Proverbs 30:8 (KJV) Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

Proverbs 30:9 (KJV) Lest I be full, and deny [thee], and say, Who [is] the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God [in vain].

Proverbs 30:11 (KJV) [There is] a generation [that] curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.

Proverbs 30:17 (KJV) The eye [that] mocketh at [his] father, and despiseth to obey [his] mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

Proverbs 30:20 (KJV) Such [is] the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

Proverbs 31:2 (KJV) What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?

Proverbs 31:9 (KJV) Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-326: Creator Love

Love is a lot like infinity.  I’ve written about infinity a number of times in reference to other things.  Infinity is a peculiar concept in math and possibly physics.  Infinity times two is still infinity.  Infinity times infinity is still infinity.  To me it’s a useless concept in my daily life but the scholars seem to find a place for it.

I was thinking about my brothers and how they have twice as many children as I have, at least, and each of their children has had multiple children, which means that they have many more grandchildren than I do.  That’s the one area in which I envy them.  At the same time I can’t conceive of what it’s like to have more than two grand children and have enough love to cover them.  Of course when I just had one I probably couldn’t picture what it would be like having two.  But the love expands, stretches, blossoms and becomes adequate.

So love times two is still love.  Love times love is still love.  It is much more useful and meaningful than thinking about infinity but it has a lot of the same qualities.  If you have time, pull out your Bible and read I Corinthians 13.  It has some awesome concepts about agape love.

And don’t forget that agape love is what you find in John 3:16,

John 3:16 (KJV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-325: Sound Bites

As I was cruising through the click bait I saw a number of interesting topics being brought up.  The first thing I do after I see an interesting topic is to look down and see how long the video is.  If it’s 15 minutes long and it’s a topic that can be offered in a minute or less then I just bypass it.  So much of what is said has nothing to do with the click bait.

Which brings me to sound bites.  Sound bites can be very valuable or totally useless.  When you have a video claiming to tell you the five most important books you could ever read and it’s 15 minutes long then you know that there are about 14 minutes and 30 seconds of nonsense that has nothing to do with the title.  Abridge. Put it in 100 words or less.  Then it is valuable.

On the other hand, much of what we consider, click bait and sound bites are statements that are taken totally out of context and are offered in order to deceive and confuse.  It’s hard to know which category these things fit into but with a little bit of thinking we can make progress.  Consider the source.  If it comes from CNN, BBC, the New York Times., or any other such source than you know it is propaganda.  You know that it is most likely out of context.  You know it’s a waste of your time.  You might even know the exact opposite is really true.

If it comes from a trusted source, read it.  Of course you still need to think about it and consider what really means.

Never turn your mind off.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-324: A Long Drive

As I was sitting, looking at the crescent moon that was rising the sky, I could see a vague outline of the rest that was not lit up.  I’m too lazy to dig out my telescope and take a look at it, but I thought about maybe someday doing that with the grandchildren.  Somewhere in that experiment they would ask how far away it is.

How do you explain the distance to the moon to a six year old?  How do you get across the concept of 238,000 miles?

They will be driving up to see their other grandparents over Christmas and it will be 1,250 miles over a 2 or 3 day drive.   I thought about trying to explain to them that if they were to take a road to the moon driving at the same speed that they drive going to grandma’s house, they might be 8 years old before they got there.  I’m not sure it is possible to get across the concept to a child.  It’s hard enough for me as an adult to understand but at least I have a general grasp.

Now take some of the bigger concepts that the Bible teaches us.  How about the eternal nature of God?  How about the Trinity?  How about the incarnation?  How about the glory of the new Jerusalem?  There’s so many things that we can kind of get a general feel for, but we can’t really put our hands around.

Just as the child has to accept from the adult general sense of reality, so we have to accept the teachings of God has given us in His word.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-323: Should-a-Beens: Where Kity, Kity

You have all probably seen the advertisements where the elderly lady has fallen and is calling out for help saying that she can’t get up.  I’ve been told that this can be a real problem not just an advertising gimmick.  When your bones crumble and your hip falls apart while you’re walking across the room there’s nothing you can do about it, but try to get help.  It can be real

There is though a danger out there that I think is overlooked and often ignored.  That is the danger of cats.  When my wife was gone for two weeks and I was responsible for the cat it started following me around as if it really cared.  In reality it wanted food.  It would sneak up on me and lay down in my path.  It would go between my feet as I was walking.  I don’t know how many times I almost fell because of this animal.

I am going to suggest an innovation or a modification to this item the companies are trying to sell so that seniors won’t fall and be left helpless.  You can call it cat radar or feline flasher.  You can call it whatever you want.  But it needs to have some kind of a sensor that lets you know when a cat is in the proximity and maybe increase in volume as the cat gets closer.  There might even be some AI thing which would sense when the cat had evil motives, and give it a blast of noise to scare it away.

The possibilities are endless. Remember you heard it here first.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-322: Click Bait: Skeptics Needed

Your personal You Tube algorithm does not show you the same things that it shows me, but one of the headlines I’ve seen several times regards revival in Iran.  One of them even had a picture of an empty mosque, and I had a headline that talked about millions of Iranians coming to Christ.

Something to chat about?  The beginning of world wide revival?  Just another bit of Clickbait?

The problem is, we will not know for years because of the difficulty of knowing the truth.  Sadly, that seems to apply even to those who are on the side of angel’s.  They like to see what they want to see, to exaggerate and distorted to fulfill their fantasies.  Are millions of Iranians coming to Christ?  It is certainly possible.  Such revivals have happened in the past.  Such revivals will probably happen again.  The problem is the people telling about it are often more concerned about getting followers to their channel then they are conveying the glory of God.

Call me a cynic.  In reality, again I remind you, I am not a cynic but a skeptic.  I believe things like this are possible but I don’t believe that the people trying to get me to follow them are necessarily being totally honest.  

I will wait.  I will listen.  Other than praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ who live in places like Iran there is a little I can do.  What I can do is make sure that I don’t send a check to people who are simply living off the gullibility of the decent people of the world.  There are too many needs that I really know about being genuine for me to waste my resources that way.

I will not make a habit of listening to what they have to say.  I might make an occasional exception but when I do I rarely finish.  I have books lining my shelves that need to be addressed.  I have serious podcasts that need to be listened to.  I have posts to write and people to call on the phone.  I don’t have time to spend listening to people talk around the barn and then never come close to the door.

I will be glad to add them to my bucket list but it is a big bucket and a long way to the bottom.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-321: Redwing Days

These are the days when you can roll down the window and hang your arm out.  I would call them Redneck Days but in celebration of one sunburned arm I will call them Redwing Days.  Of course by noon it is getting hot enough to roll up the window and turn on the A/C.  I am not sure if that just means I am flexible and respond to circumstances or I am a wussie.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-320: Watering the Tree of Conspiracy

Most patriots are aware of the quote from Thomas Jefferson about the Tree of Liberty needing to be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants on a regular basis.  This is not about that.  This is about the tree of conspiracy that needs to be watered on a regular basis with the foolishness of nuts and flakes.

You may have not heard of the group of mad scientist, military leaders and deep state demagogues, who are seeding the atmosphere with all kinds of mysterious substances in order to control the weather.  The keyword to do a search on is “contrails”.  Those are those long cloud like objects in the sky, that we always thought were the exhaust of jets.  Not so.  This is evil above us.  At least that’s the way the story goes.

These people have been harvesting.  They have been shaking the tree of conspiracy and the fruit is falling on the ground.  I speak, of course, in the way in which these nefarious individuals have created a giant hurricane, directed it across the Gulf of Mexico, made it swing up the coast of North America and turn inland to target the Asheville area.

You may ask yourself, “Why would they waste their time with this?”  The answer is control of natural resources.  It seems that there is now an awareness of large deposits of lithium in the area of Asheville.  The deep state is busy buying up all the land where this lithium deposit is known to be.  There’s also evidently a mine that produces pure crystal necessary for high-tech.  All of this is a plot to gain control of these resources.

I’m sure that everyone in the area has known about this lithium if they cared to ask.  What they don’t take into consideration is that the cost of lithium is not based on scaricty.  No, it is the government.  Lithium is something that our EPA will not let you mine because of the danger to the environment.  You may have seen the pictures comparing oil rigs to lithium mines and the idea is that the destruction to the environment by lithium mining and refining is not something that we will allow in the United States.  So the scarcity of lithium is not based on a scarcity of lithium, but a plethora of government regulation.

That is not to say that if the deep state gurus get control of all the real estate where the lithium is buried, they can’t change the rules.  They can.  We’ve seen this in my personal conspiracy theory in California.  You have the great fertile farmland of the central valley, which used to produce almost all of the vegetables eaten in the United States.  It was a prime growing location and it was a joy to drive through, buy boxes of oranges and watch the asparagus grow.  No longer.  The billionaires of the world, I like to blame George Soros, have turned off the water.  Farmland in a dry area without access to water becomes worthless desert.  Once it’s worthless desert you take your billions of dollars and buy it up for pennies.  Once you get control of it, that little fish in the delta of the Sacramento river is no longer important and you change the environmental laws and Wala, you are the landlord of the central valley.

That’s my personal conspiracy theory. You may have your own, and as they say, results may vary.

What a Time for creative people with good imaginations to be alive.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-319: Matryoshka

In Christian circles we have many different ways of expressing who God is.  I find myself this morning praying to the God of Israel, and that made me think that He’s not only the God of Israel but He is the God of nations.  What are some of the different names of God which kind of nest in each other like those Russian dolls, each one containing the other the inner ones pointing to the outer.

I guess you could start with the persons of the trinity, the three in one.  From there when you put the Father, Son, at Holy Ghost together.  In my mind, at least you get Yahweh.  To the early Israelites, not knowing much about their God, Yahweh might seem to be just another one of the local gods of the pagans.  In the process of educating them, they accepted the fact that He was the one God.  Later on He calls himself the God of Israel.  In Isaiah we have all nations coming to Him.  I believe that we can also find references to Him as the God of the heavens, and possibly the God of creation.

Each new name gets bigger.  Each one increases our understanding of who God is.

Of course the greatest miracle is that this God of the universe has also reached out to each one of us and is willing to meet with us in a one-on-one relationship.

Cause for rejoicing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-318: The American way

As I have been looking at the efforts of Americans to help other Americans recover from the destruction of Asheville, my mind went back to my personal experiences.

Somewhere in the last couple years we had a major event here in Texas, where the storm came through, the wind blew, and the combination of wet ground and extreme winds brought down trees all over the area.  After the assault was over I surveyed my kingdom and realize that some work needed to be done.  Trees have gone over, branches had broken off, my little world was a mess.  It was no tragedy.  It was nothing comparable to what people are going through in North Carolina.  But I was wondering how I was going to take care of it.  I’m getting old, and I don’t have the equipment to remove major trunks of trees.

Not to worry.  My neighbors are Americans.  I came out one day to find that my neighbor, his wife and his adult children were busy taking care of my problem.  They have chainsaws, a wood chipper, tractors, you name it they have it.  They brought it all with them, and before you know it, the tree that came down, was cut up into manageable links, loaded on the trailer and hauled off to be disposed of.  They even brought their blowers in and cleaned off all the walkways.  It was awesome.

What Asheville needs it’s not the federal government coming in like the benevolent grandpa and bailing people out.  What Asheville needs is the federal government to get out of the way, and let Americans be Americans.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-317: A New Kind of Rodeo?

You have all heard people point out that they don’t need your advice because this is not their first rodeo.  I’m sure you can substitute other words for rodeo, but you get the idea.

Relocate to Asheville North Carolina a few weeks ago.  The news media was telling you to make preparations.  They were telling you that a big hurricane was coming.  It was everywhere.  It’s all people talked about.

I would venture to guess that most of those people living in the low areas of Asheville just kind of shook their head and said, “This ain’t my first rodeo”.  How many times have they been warned in the past by the same news media that this was the big one.  How many times have they been warned to prepare?  How many times have they opened another beer, put another log on the fire, and switched to another channel?  In the past that has been enough.  This time, not so much.

I wonder how much of the blame for the disasters should be placed upon the head of hyped up, fake news people, fake weather people, fake FEMA people.  You may have your own personal source of worry.  I think of all the times my wife has been frantic that we were going to die because a hurricane was headed our way.  We live a couple of hours from the coast.  I think we are closer to the coast than Asheville is.  I have almost sprained my wrist patting her on the head and saying, “Now, now”.  Keep in mind this is the news media telling you this.  I’ve been in places where people have called us asking if we were still alive and we just wondered what they were talking about.  It’s kind of like the story of the little boy who cried wolf.  How many times have the news media use their search for ratings as an excuse to get us excited?

I don’t want to place the blame for the destruction on them.  I’m not one of those conspiracy people that thinks that the contrails in the atmosphere are changing our weather, and that the mean and evil Nazi scientists are trying to take over the world from their bases in Antarctica.  The hurricane was real.  The flooding was real.  The crushed houses and fallen trees are real.  I’m not sure anybody could have anticipated it being this bad.  I am sure we will hear someone on the screen saying, “I told you so.”  So I’m not blaming the fake news people for the destruction.  What I would be blaming them for, would be making people callus to their warnings.

While we pray for the victims, look for honest charities to donate to in order to help, and in some cases, load up our cars and drive in to be of aid, we should take to the heart the lesson that can be applied to our lives.  Do you have any groceries in the pantry?  Are they the kind of things that might survive this type of catastrophe?  A month supply of hostess dingdongs is not what I have in mind.  I’m talking about cans of vegetables, tuna, anything that would survive rough handling.  It’s possible that you could have a pantry full of food, and a flood could smash your house and wash it all away.  That is true.  But it’s kind of like having a firearm.  It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.  It’s also better to have it so that it can be confiscated by the government, than just stand there like a deer in the headlights waiting to be run over.

Pray hard.  Put feet to your prayers.  And prepare as much as you can.

Blessings.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-316: Lessons My Government Taught Me

As we look at the recovery efforts in Asheville, we need to think in terms of politics.  I’m not talking about the small politics of Trump versus Harris.  I’m talking about the big politics of big government socialism versus small government free enterprise.

One of the major problems causing death and destruction to continue in Asheville is government regulation.  The federal government wants to flex his muscles and be in charge.  They want to tell you what to do and what not to do.  They put people in charge who have ego problems from feeding out of the government trough for so long.  This keeps recovery from happening.  This is just one example that is very fresh in our minds about how government regulation, often, if not usually, keeps progress from happening.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the illustration of where we would be in transportation today if the federal government had been able to regulate the development of the automobile.  First they would have required the preservation of the horse herds and blacksmiths.  I’ve seen cartoons of horses wearing diapers, methane collectors and a host of other requirements that the EPA and OSHA would come up with.

A good example of the difference would be to look to California before the current communists took over.  I believe it was back in 1971 or 1972 when a big earthquake hit and took out a major intersection to the north of the Los Angeles basin.  Multi levels of the interchange were destroyed.  It had taken years to build, and they were predicting that it would take years to repair or replace.  Somehow, someone was able to relax all of the regulations and allow the American free enterprise system to work and the interchange was rebuilt in just a few months.

We could see that kind of recovery in Asheville.  We could see it with our broader economy.  We could see the national debt paid off.  We would see all kinds of miracles taking place if the government would just get rid of the regulations and let people do their jobs.

Of course, that’s just my opinion.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-315: Hold My Beer

You have all seen those meme posters of somebody making a bold claim and then the next panel has somebody saying “Hold my beer”.  I think we need someone to tell the federal government not only to hold my beer but take theirs back to Washington DC.  Maybe they could go into some dark room and start plotting the overthrow of the Republic instead.  Actually that should be to continue plotting the overthrow of the Republic.  Notice I didn’t say government because they already control the government, what they are after is the Republic.

I think the best way to deal with the catastrophe in Asheville is for the feds to go home.  Get out of the way with your regulations and egos and let the people below the Mason-Dixon line get on with the business of rescuing their neighbors.  I think we would even allow citizens from above the line to help out as long as they don’t identify as a government employee.  Keep in mind that Washington DC is below that line.

I think that the ingenuity and creativity and entrepreneurship of the American people is more than able to deal with this tragedy.  There are people even from Texas that are packing up and heading out to help.  Some are sent by their companies.  Some are going on their own.  Picture if you had access to some kind of tractor, a chainsaw, a few shovels and, of course, a bunch of Jerry cans to load with fuel.  By this time, not only would you be in Asheville, but you would have already cleared out miles of road and freed up people who had been trapped in their homes.  That is assuming that you could get past the roadblocks of the federal government and the local sheriff trying to arrest you for riding to the rescue.

We are not subjects of the Soviet government, at least not yet.  We are not the kind of people who sit in our basements, cowering, afraid that the government is going to come along and take over our lives.  We’re not worried about being recruited into work gangs to go and clear out masses of mud with our bare hands while armed guards stand over us.  We are Americans.  Because, as a general rule, we tend to be more wealthy than even the rich people of other countries we have access to resources.  Not only do we have access to resources but we have the inner attitude of can-do.

By this time, if the federal government and their cronies in local law-enforcement had gotten out of the way, much of the real tragedy would’ve taken been taken care of.  Many more people would have been rescued.  Food would be piling up to be distributed and the piles would stay manageable because people would keep distributing it.  No one would be running on ego power.  Americans would be helping Americans.  It wouldn’t matter that FEMA spent all the money earmarked for emergency relief on illegal aliens and moving them around the country.  People would laugh at the $750 check that Kamala offered.  Actually, I think they are already laughing at that.  They may take the money and if there’s a bank open actually cash it.  At the same time they will be laughing all the way to the bank.

And I hope that in November they remember to vote their paycheck, or the insult of their paycheck.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-314: Old and Young: Being a Dispenser

The Bible seems to feel that age is an attribute leading to wisdom.  I don’t think it assumes years always lead to wisdom, but it is an important element.  We are to honor elders, the white hair of age is a symbol of glory, and so forth.  Since I am in that demographic, I like this idea.

I think one clue we find about this is that God is the oldest of all.  God is so old that the word means very little anymore.  I guess if you turn it around and look at his existence into the past of eternity, then he’s also the youngest.

Young whiper \-snappers need to be listened to at times but they need to listen even more.  When you get a chance, dispense wisdom.  Even more important, live wisdom.  Don’t expect them to learn thrift if you spend like a sailor who just got paid or even worse, one who gets paid tomorrow.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-313: The Proliferation of Bananas

I’m sure that by this time you have heard people indicate that the United States is sinking into being a Banana Republic.  This is because our political leaders, the ones who are in control, are doing away with the rule of law, property rights, freedom of speech, and any other so-called guaranteed right that we had.

You may not be feeling it yet.  You may wonder what they’re talking about.  Banana republics are established by tyrannical despots.  It may start small and local.  As they limit your options, they begin to gather all the riches into their own coffers, and leave you sitting in a house with a leaky roof, no electricity, and if you have water, it’s polluted.  Of course they don’t live that way.  In a free economy it is not necessary for anyone to live that way.  But they’re quite happy to allow you to live that way so that you will know your place.

It starts with a banana republic government.  It moves to a banana republic economy.  Eventually it will reach you and you will pay the price.  Be careful about the tendency to allow other people to pay for your benefits.  Eventually, as Margaret Thatcher, said, the socialist will run out of other peoples money.  When that happens, you will either be forced into public transportation, pedaling a bike, or walking.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been forced to use any of those modes of transportation, but they are certainly far below your own personal automobile in convenience and comfort.

Again, the elites won’t care.  They will live in very comfortable states protected by armed guards and never running out of bonbons.  You on the other hand will be lucky to get bananas.  They are working on that too.  I understand one of the things that will be in short supply during the freight disruption is bananas.  

As bananas go, so goes the republic.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-312: Are You Mad Yet?

As we watch the fiasco taking place in North Carolina I hope you are seeing the results of a centrally planned government run by socialist.  The federal government people are stopping the locals from dealing with the problem.  At the same time they offer nothing.  We have military personnel, ready to go and help, but they’re not allowed to because it doesn’t fit with the agenda.

Probably the ultimate insult to our intelligence and are patriotism is the information that FEMA is running out of money.  Actually, they are already out of money.  Why?  Because the elites who are out to destroy the republic has spent all the money which was set aside to deal with disasters in American life.  What did they spend the money on?  Moving illegals into our society and planting them in small towns.  They spent all the money budgeted to take care of Americans in emergencies on their own personal attempts to water down our civil society.

Are you mad yet?  If not, then you are a part of that crowd that deserves the government you’re getting.  The problem is you’re forcing me to deal with the same government.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-311: Don’t Look Now

What is there about the face of God that would strike a human being dead?  Take, for instance, the request of Moses to see God’s face.  Actually, he asked to see His glory.  God refused because He said to see His face would kill Moses.

(Exo 33:20 KJV)  And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

We also have the case of Isaiah coming into the presence of God, and knowing that he was going to die having seen God.

(Isa 6:5 KJV)  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

What is there about the face of God that would cause death in a human being?  Later on, we have God speaking to Moses out of a cloud.  That seems to be enough to ensure Moses survival.  What is the nature of God‘s face that, covering it up with a cloud, will save your life?  It can’t be the concept of holy fire as His righteousness.  That would tend to shine through any cloud you could throw in front of it.

I’m thinking that it is the total, absolute purity of God’s countenance that would be deadly.  Why?  It’s possible that seeing such purity would cause us to have such a deep longing in our souls that we would die in grief.  Have you ever wanted something so bad you could feel it?  Has that feeling ever been so intense that you wanted to die if you couldn’t have it?  I’m not sure I have, but I’ve read about it, usually in fiction.

This purity would not be the kind of characteristic that radiates.  He would not be a reflection of the statement that God is the light, at least, in our human sense of that.  We think of light as radiating.  We think of darkness is the absence of light.  Are those biblical statements or philosophical conclusions?  Maybe this is another one of those mysteries like the Trinity or the incarnation.  Maybe the concept is that there is a light that is so pure that it does not radiate.  I can’t comprehend that.  But then I can’t really comprehend God either.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-310: Lucy Lives

All I can do is shake my head and wonder when the Republican Party will wake up.

I refer a course to the now standard performance of the media moderators in political debates. The allusion is to the Charles Schulz comic strip, “Peanuts.  In at least an annual event, Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown to kick.  The first year as he came full speed to kick the ball she simply jerked it out of the way.  The second year she promised not to do it again.  She jerked it out of the way.  Then we have a steady progression of every year Charlie Brown acting like he has learned his lesson and refusing to kick the ball while Lucy cons him into it.

If you are over 25 you’ve probably seen this cartoon somewhere.  You would think that the Republicans had seen it.  Is it just hubris where they think they are so smart, they can overcome a stacked deck?  Debate after debate, we have “moderators who have promised to be fair and unbiased”.  Debate after debate, we have moderators jerk the football out of the way.  Debate after debate the Republicans fall for the same nonsense.

You saw it again a few nights ago.  Softball set ups to the Democrat candidate with no answer given to the question and lies layered upon lies.  No fact check for Tim Of the Bathroom Dispenser fame.  Then they turn to the Republican candidate, gave a long speech full of lies themselves, such as the overwhelming number of scientists saying that global warming is real, and then proceed to ask a question, which is totally different from what they ask the other side.  I thought the point was that one candidate would receive the question and have two minutes to answer, and then the other candidate would answer the same question for two minutes, and then you would go back to one minute responses.  Maybe I misunderstood the rules.  Maybe the rules were ignored.  Maybe the rules were just a football jerked out of the way.

It makes you believe that wisdom which says, “Republicans are the stupid party.”  Unfortunately, it is still the only alternative we have to the evil party.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-309: Expiration Date

Every once in a while my wife will see someone on the news or a video that is closing in on the hundred year mark.  Jimmy Carter has reached that benchmark.  They may be in their 90s, and she will say something to the effect that she doesn’t want to live that long.  We tend to look at people at that age through the lenses of our glasses.  We watched them tottering along.  They seem weak and out of control and maybe they are.  But again we tend to look at it through our experience and our desires.

How do they feel about it?  I’m guessing that it’s going to vary with each individual.  If they have invested there life wisely, and if God has blessed them in the right ways, then they are surrounded by grandchildren and great grandchildren and their oatmeal is done right.  In another words, life is good.  Just because you’re old and can’t move as fast doesn’t mean that you can’t move it all.  It may take you longer.  You may need help.  But you can still get where you want to go.

I think of cans of food that have expiration dates printed on them.  Sometimes that is an important date to consider.  Milk go bad quickly if not kept cold.  However, a can of beans may last for 10 or 15 years past when they say it’s going bad.  You never know until you open the can.  There may be some indicators, such as bending or bulging, but what do you do with a can that looks fine?  The same is true of our lives.

The Bible seems to say that 70 years is what we should expect.

(Psa 90:10 KJV)  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

It says that if you’re strong you can count on 80 years.  It seems to me like there’s someplace where it mentions 120.  I believe Moses lived 130 years.

So what is your expiration date?  I have no idea what mine is.  One of the great things about getting to my age as I am already passed 70 year mark and as far as I know still cooking on all cylinders.  Do you cook on cylinders?  However you want to say it I’m still able to get up without help, dress myself, fix my meals, and do what shopping I need to do.  That’s what I call exciting living at this point

I’m not sure when my expiration date is.  I may be the last to know.  I am ready.  I hope you are too.

homo unius libri