Opus 2025-212: Lost and Found

I would venture to guess that many of you are aware that you need to lose weight.  It seems to be a common thing in America.  If you’re like me, you have tried many different avenues, many different approaches, many different diets.  Most of them work well on the short term.  The problem is the long-term discipline that is necessary to keep them in place.

When I accepted the fact that I was diabetic and decided that I really didn’t want to start having to use a needle, I got serious and found a way to take the weight off that worked well in the long term.  It had at its core a commitment to change my basic habits and understanding that it was a lifetime commitment.  That was at least 10 years ago and I have gained a little bit back but I’m still in the struggle.  I’m still fighting . I’m still doing the things that I did before.  It’s just not working as well as it did when I was going to school every day and on my feet walking around yelling and screaming at kids.  Retirement has a way of slowing you down.

One of the unseen problems that come up in trying to keep weight off is the sabotage that goes on by people who claim to love you.  I’m sure they do.  At the same time in their attempts to show that love, they undermine your efforts.  Recently, my wife shared with me that she had bought me a bear claw when she went to buy donuts for herself.  When I looked in the box, it was an apple fritter, not a bear claw.  Bear claws are OK but Apple fritters are super tempting.  Now I have a choice.  Do I eat the apple fritter and verify the fact that she bought this for me?  Do I wait until she’s looking the other way, act like I ate it, and dispose of it?  Do I do the impossible, and eat just small portions of it over several days?  Imagine my distress when I picked up the one apple fritter to eat, right now, in one setting, and found that there was a second apple fritter underneath.

We have the grandchildren over.  She announced that for breakfast we would be having sausage and eggs.  She expects me to cook them.  Sausage is very high in calories.  I never eat sausage if I have a choice.  It’s not a religious or spiritual decision.  It’s just pure rationality.  She knows this.  She still thawed out the sausage and announce to the kids that we were going to have it for breakfast.  Is this love or is this sabotage?

Keep in mind that the battle is not just one that you were fighting against your desire to eat, but it also involves people around you.  Sometimes they do things unconsciously.  Sometimes they do things deliberately.  Even when it’s unconscious there’s a very good chance that down inside they know what they’re doing.

I don’t have a solution for you.  I don’t have a solution for me.  All I can offer is an awareness of the conflict that is going on.  How we face it is an individual issue.  May you be blessed in your decisions and discipline.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-211: Rigid or Flexible

 
I enjoy a good discussion.  One element of a good discussion is to have enough difference of opinion to challenge your presuppositions.  Another is to have enough agreement that you actually can communicate.  I’ve noticed that sometimes it’s easier to communicate with people who are a little bit flexible than with people who are totally rigid.

It doesn’t really matter the topic.  You can be talking religion or politics.  You can get off on how to cook a steak.  It can be about naming your children.  We all run into these extremes and often end up totally frustrated or with bloodied heads.

Both the rigid and the flexible can know what they believe.

The rigid person is very solid in what they believe and think.  They can explain why they believe it.  They tend to be set in the channel and unable to change.  New facts are either ignored or explained away.  Sometimes they are re-defined so that they lose all meeting.  The rigid person knows what they know and don’t try to confuse them because it won’t work.  There are times when being rigid is a real benefit.  One of those times is when there are many people around you who have no basis for belief and just keep making things up as they go along.  Once you know what you like or what works for you it’s really a waste of time experimenting.  I think of a restaurant we used frequent.  I always got the same thing.  Why?  Because I had already explored the menu and knew what I liked.  I was considered rigid.

Being flexible can also be either beneficial or a disaster.  Sometimes a little bit of flexibility will help you adjust the situation without losing your basic principles.  Sometimes too much flexibility, waters down everything you believe him and makes it pointless to keep discussing or talking.

If you are reading a book and it becomes ridiculous, you can close it.  If you were smart enough to get it from the library you can return it.  You can’t take your friends back to the library.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-210: Package Deal

I recently watched about the first 15 or 20 minutes of an interview of Stephen Fry on a podcast called Trigonometry, or something like that.  To be honest, I knew nothing about Stephen Fry as I began responding.  At the beginning of the interview I was going to look into who he was because he seem to be saying some rational things.  As the interview went on, he started to morph into just another garden variety woke person from the left.

The breakdown began innocently enough.  He projected an interview he done years ago in which he was asked what he would say to God if he saw Him.  Fry claims to be an atheist.  I have no reason to doubt that.  His answer clarified it.  After a few vulgar obscenities addressed towards God, he asked him, “Who do you think you are?”  He went on to talk about children dying of bone cancer and so forth and asked how God could allow such things to happen.  OK . I see his point.  If he stopped there, I might’ve continued listening.  But he didn’t stop there.

Through ensuing moments he walked down a scripted list of issues under the guise of being in favor of freedom of speech.  It wasn’t really about free speech.  It was about rejecting all the moral standards of Western civilization.  He started listing exceptions to free speech that he thought should be in place.  He started of course with making disparaging jokes about people of other races.  I guess he’s never heard a good Polak joke.  Too bad.  From there he went to people of other religions.  OK, the flag goes up.  Obviously he doesn’t want anybody criticizing the Muslims and their violence and mayhem.  Next he jumped to how language that was negative towards trans people should be banned.  And he continued on from there.  Be assured this was not someone with old fashion liberal views about freedom who have been exiled from his party.  It was simply another closet left winger following the party line.

I can accept rational differences.  I too have struggled with the problem of evil.  Bone cancer in children would be on the list, except for the fact that it is part of life in the world as we know it.  The problem of evil has been struggled with for years.  Part of the answer to that is the issue of free will, and the honest realization that you cannot have free will unless there are real choices that can be made.  Real choices end up in consequences.  There are billions of people in the world today making free choices.  There’s no way that a real choice could end up with no one suffering.

The statement by Fry about suffering children got my attention.  It focused my thinking.  It made me once again consider how the God of the Bible is far beyond my understanding.  What I can understand I wrestle with, and move forward.  It forces me to look into depths that I would prefer to ignore.  Ultimately, I come to the understanding that evil is not sickness in children, that is a by-product of evil.  Evil is much more an attitude that justifies all kinds of destructive behavior, such as mutilating children to change their sex.

I thank Stephen Fry for his input.  I’m not sure how much effort I’m going to invest trying to understanding who he is or what he said in the past.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-209: Dark Thoughts: God Is Not a Robot

This morning. I am sitting inside instead of on the porch.  I have an electrical fire going in the fireplace, and I am waiting to see when my grandchildren wake up in the other room.  But my mind still reaches out to the Lord and He kicks me down different rabbit trails.

This morning I was reflecting on the two terms “grace” and “faith”, and how they relate to salvation.  Whenever I think about these things, one of the concepts that comes to my mind, is the concept of “free will”. Technically, it is not a biblical term, but the concept it’s all through scripture.

What got me this morning was not the applying free will to my faith, but it occurred to me that part of being created in the image of God, and believing that gives me free will, should also cause me to extend free will to God himself.  That seems silly, possibly, but think about the Calvinistic concept of grace.  Just like faith, the reformed tradition seems to lock God into a mechanical, robotic, no choice, response, or extension of the gift of grace for salvation.  They want to deny that God has any clear reasons for why He extends that grace.

I tend to think that God is not capricious and automatic.  I believe He has reasons for what He does.  When you consider the fact that in reality we are incapable of being perfect, and that we have all sinned, and that we cannot save ourselves, then, obviously God hast to do something.  It is up to God to decide when to do something and for Him to do that something.  I have no problem with that.  God is God.  He sees things that we aren’t even aware of, let alone understanding.  That does not mean that He does not consider who we are, what we are or what is in our hearts and minds.  I think it’s clear to us that He does, that’s why we have repeated statements that we will be rewarded for what we do.

It is impossible to separate totally our actions from our heart desires.  God can read our hearts.  God can see what’s in our minds and evaluate our actions in light of that.  That is His choice as God.  He can extend His grace or withhold it.

In essence, God has free will, just as He has given us that quality.  Don’t try to make Him a vending machine who responds when we push the right button or a slave master who forces us to push that button.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-208: Free Corn

The church I attend has a lot of old-timers who have put meat on the table by hunting.  They know how to deal with deer.  They know how to hunt them.  One guy talked about how when he bought his new house he set it up in such a way that he could look out through the window and see the feeder for deer that he had in his yard.  He kept it supplied with corn.  The deer came and ate there.  It was free.  It was plentiful.

It could also be deadly.  I guess he never really got into harvesting deer but he shot at least one.  It worked well for him.  It worked well for the deer that didn’t get shot. I  asked didn’t they avoid the place after one of them was killed?  The answer was no they kept coming back.  I guess there aren’t the brightest of animals.

The same can be said for those who keep returning to the trough of Socialism.  Free stuff.

And deadly.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-207: Two Words

Tradition has its place.  I think it’s almost the unforgivable sin to begin playing Christmas music before the Thanksgiving meal.  That is a tradition in our home.  It is a tradition because I declared it myself.  I declared it so because my family had already decided that was the way it would be.  Still it is a tradition.

Life is full of traditions.  Some are silly, some deeply meaningful.  We need to always keep in mind, though, that traditions are the result of past habits, not necessarily based upon divine decree.

Which brings me to my “deep thoughts”.  I am thinking of salvation, and two keywords involved in that.  Both of them are found in this passage,

Ephesians 2:8 (KJV) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

The two words are “Grace” and “faith”.  You may be familiar with the Greek here.  Grace comes from charis and faith comes from pistis.  The problem comes when we accept blindly traditional interpretations of how these words relate to each other, and to the other word, which is  “gift”.  The problem for me is that tradition says that grace is extended in a way that has nothing to do with our desire and is totally irresistible.  That same tradition says that faith is nothing dependent upon our choice, but is given to us by God.

Both of these traditions are grounded in a commendable emphasis on the sovereignty of God.  God is God.  He will not be manipulated by us.  We cannot “earn” His love or blessings.  The problem is interpreting that to mean that He becomes a robotic force that makes random choices.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The biblical concept of God is that He is a person and that He responds to us as persons.  He wants to forgive.  He wants to save.  It is His will that everyone to be saved.  If He is sovereign, and that it is His will, you would think that everyone would be saved, but such is not the case.  Your understanding of grace and God must make allowance for the fact that He has a living being response to us as living beings.

In the same way, we cannot come to faith in the absence of divine strength.  The natural man has no interest in the things of God.  The blessing is that God has extended, through his Holy Spirit, the ability to respond to Him.  It is not an overwhelming force, such as the kind of gift of faith that makes us believe, but it is the gentle reinforcement that makes it possible for us to believe if we choose to.  This choice is key to God extending His grace towards us.

On both sides, we have real personalities.  They respond to each other, or not, if that is the choice of the human individual.  That is the essence of free will, we have been created in the image of God.  He has given us the ability to respond.  After that, it’s up to us to follow the inclination of our heart.

Don’t let the logical tradition hold you back from the offering of God.  At the same time don’t feel that you were totally powerless to respond if that is your choice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-206: Definitions

The purpose of language is changing.  In a dim past language was a means to communication.  It was a way to express yourself to other people.  This was hard enough in the real world.  People tend to be locked into their own minds and often have different definitions for words that are thought to be shared.  People worked to communicate.

Not so today.  Today language is made to separate and manipulate.  

It separates because groups make up their own words.  I started watching a Babylon Bee piece about Generation A.  I had never heard of generation A but I assumed it would be consistent with my grandchildren’s generation.  They were working through a bunch of nonsense sounds that are evidently considered words in that culture.  I had seen the roots of this with the rap culture and what was euphemistically called ebonics.  Professionals of all walks like to dazzle you with their knowledge of confusing terms.  On occasion it is because it is the best term.  Often it is just to make you feel stupid.  

There is a school of philosophy called deconstructionism.  I know I have mentioned it before.  It means what it says more than you know.  The whole purpose is to deconstruct our culture by removing all meanings that are necessary for people working in harmony.  Words mean what you want them to mean.  Values are totally fluid.  If you don’t agree you are a right-wing neanderthal.  
Learn to laugh at them.  Don’t be afraid to ask, “What does that mean?”  Often you will find that they don’t know either.  Assume they are victims of arrogance and pride.  

And get a dictionary, preferably an old one.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-205: Word Games

A familiar statement is, “In a world of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”  Another saying along those lines is, “I cried because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.”  The lesson of these sayings is gratitude for the blessings we do have.  I am sure you know people like that.  They could open lemonade stands.  

I don’t think that translates very well into, “In the world of dementia the man with a memory is king.”  I think about this issue more all the time because I see others getting more forgetful.  The key to all this is attitude.  I know that the click bait tells us they have a cure for dementia but I have not forgotten enough to believe it.  

We have a zoom group made up of old goats.  It is somewhat amusing the way we keep helping others find the right word or name.  It tends to go both ways and we accept it as part of life.  May your attitude always be one step ahead of your ability.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-204: Revival of Catechism

When I was pastoring, I made sure that I did not get cavalier and casual about taking people into church membership.  You couldn’t just show up one Sunday, have an overwhelming emotional experience and be taken into membership.  I would have classes that extended for a number of weeks as we went through the basic beliefs of Christians and the peculiar aspects of our denomination.  I tried to make it clear what was basic in following Jesus, and what was expected to join our fellowship.  I don’t remember hearing any big complaints because people tended to be interested in learning what they needed to know.

I am somewhat shocked at how easy it is for people to join some churches.  I think a basic course in theology should really be required to join.  Notice I said to join, not to fellowship.  Fellowship can be extended just on the basis of, “Hi, my name is….”

In light of that, I think it would be good if part of our secret knowledge, so to speak, included a few words in the original languages of the Bible.  If we could learn those words, it would clear up a lot of confusion.

One of those words is that which is translated “LORD”, in all capitals in the KJV and NASB.  The Hebrew word is Yahweh.  There’s no great virtue in being able to say that word, but there is great value and understanding that it is as a statement of God that His name means, “I am.”

It might also be helpful to learn to pronounce the Jewish name for Jesus, and understand that that means savior.

I also think that the words dealing with being saved are important.  I think that people should learn to say the Greek word charis, rather than just grace.  I think learning a Greek word for faith, pistis, would help clear up some confusion.  It would force people to look a little deeper and think twice as they read the scriptures and talk with other believers.

I realize that this could get carried away.  I know there is always the danger of becoming an exclusive club with “secret knowledge”.  I don’t think we need that, but we do need to somehow get people to think more seriously, and more deeply about their faith.

Maybe we could even start translating our Bibles using certain keywords in the original language.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-203: Congregation of the Do

God was out and about in my front yard this morning.  Well, He may have been up above the trees, but He was there.  He met with me in His unique way.  One of my thoughts was just focusing on the awesome reality of this flawed, limited, physical human being, being able to have fellowship with the Creator of the universe.  I can’t understand.  I can’t comprehend.  I can, however know.

In searching for ways to express this, my focus centered on being a grandfather.  I remembered the day my first grandchild was born, and I was able to sit down in that maternity ward and they brought her and put her in my arms.  Did she have any comprehension who I was, or what I was feeling, or how much I loved her?  Definitely not.  Was she aware that she was warm and secure and it all was well in the world?  Definitely not. She didn’t even know she had fingers and toes.  Did anyone else in the hospital even have a glimmer of the radiating joy from that chair?  I doubt it.  My daughter and my son-in-law had a glimmer,  but they’re only parents.  they’re not grandparents yet.

None of that takes away from the bonding that was taking place of those moments.  None of that takes away from the fact that she was secure, and that she was loved.  She didn’t have to understand it.  It was still real.

So when God meets me out on the front porch, I have no illusions about Him needing me as much as Him showing His love towards me.  Some of you will understand.  Some of you don’t.  May you join the congregation of the do.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-202: Patterns

I’m thinking about how useful patterns are.  You can call them rituals, habits, even ruts.  This came to mind as I was going into the house from sitting on the porch in the early morning.  One of the first things I do when I go through the door it’s turn around and lock it.  It started as a conscious choice, now it is a pattern.

When I wake up, I say, “Good morning, Lord.”
When I sit down with my coffee, I look at the sky and remind myself of the Creator.
When I go out the door, I reflexively pat my left pocket to see if there are keys there.
If I use the restroom, I reflexively put down the lid.
After using the restroom, I reflexively wash my hands.
Breakfast is a routine so I don’t forget my medication

Think about patterns that are instilled in you as a child.  Your parents kept hammering away until certain things were driven out of your system.

Stop picking your nose.
Get your elbows off the table.
What is the magic word?

Some patterns are almost universal, or should be. Others may be unique to me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-201: Wake-Up Call

Over the weekend I had a little bit of a calm down.  I was spouting off with my usual assurance and intellectual “insight”.  It turns out that I was wrong.  I was so sure of myself, but I was wrong.

That got me to thinking about how often God uses situations to slow us down and make us think.  As usual, I try to think of some kind of a biblical example, where the Godhead put somebody on the short stick.  The one that came to mind was when Moses was bringing water out of the rock and instead of speaking to it, as God told him, he took his rod and struck it like he had the last time.  As a result, Moses was not allowed to cross over into the promised land 40 years later.

I always thought that was a bit of an overreaction.  After all, it was just one strike, one time, and his whole life‘s purpose is upset.  This makes me stop and think of my opinion of God and my evaluation of His personality and realizing that my analysis just doesn’t fit.  I don’t see God as a petty, small time operator who has to throw his weight around to get any respect.  I came to the conclusion there must be more to the story, maybe much more to the story.

As I have written other places, I think there is a lot that God did not cause to be recorded in His salvation history.  We know John said that Jesus spoke books full of information that had not been written down.  If it was true of Jesus, why not Moses?  And I think this is a pattern.  Think about, for instance, the prophets.  Think of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah wrote his book over the years.  I don’t know how many different prophecies Jeremiah made in that book but since it only has around 60 chapters and some of his prophecies go on for several chapters, I would just guess, or estimated, maybe 20.  You can read over everything he had to say in the book in a short period of time.  Didn’t he say anything else the rest of the time?

I think this just goes to demonstrate how God is patient and waits for people to, shall we say, dig their own grave.  He gives them plenty of opportunities to get it right.  Israel had hundreds of years of disobedience and defiance before God finally dealt with him.  I think in the same pattern,  Moses probably made a lot of mistakes, after all he was human, before God put the hammer down.  Perhaps Moses wouldn’t listen until forced into a corner.

I think that’s true in our own lives too.  God is incredibly patient.  If He wasn’t, we would have all kinds of holes in our roof because of the lightning strikes.  As it is, He gives us plenty of chances to respond and to repent.  We should be glad about that.  We should also take those times when we run into a wall as a moment to stop and think and ask ourselves, “Is this just one of those things where is God trying to tell me something?”

It could be either one. And we need to be open to either one.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-200: The Mystery of Hope

A number of books that I’m reading have made reference to the sufferings of Job.  He really went through it.  I hope that I never even come close to what he experienced.  Perhaps you feel you’re close.

Keep in mind the Job was totally innocent of any attitude or action.  He could have been facing discipline from God.   That is not what we see.  We start off with God giving a glorious testimony about the faithfulness of Job.  So if you’re going through hard times, don’t assume that it’s because you did something wrong.

Another thing that comes through when you read the book, Job never caved in to the criticisms and wisdom of his friends.  He didn’t accept their analysis.  He did not accept their traditional theology.  Keep in mind that part of their traditional theology was that he was suffering because of sin in his life.  He rejected that and made what we would call an arrogant claim today.  He claimed that he was not guilty.  He claimed that he was innocent of any wrongdoing.  He claimed that he stood tall before God and defied them to show where he had failed.

We are surrounded by theological traditionalists.  Their beliefs are based more on what they were told that on what they’ve actually found in the scripture themselves.  There is a real danger of arrogance on our part, but we must be responsible to read for ourselves.

Also keep in mind that the suffering of Job came to an end.  It had a limit.  He hung in there.  He got through.  I’m not sure that the children who died when the building fell were too blessed by that, or the cattle that were stolen were rejoicing in their new masters.  I’m not sure I would want to start all over again at that age.  But the testimony is that he was again blessed and found to be a good and faithful servant.

Hang in there.  Keep trusting.  And rejoice in the Lord.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-199: Prayer Requests

At least twice a week we have a time for sharing prayer requests at church.  There’s nothing unusual about this.  Most of you have been through a similar experience.  At first it seems like just a long list of aches, pains, cancers, and other really serious situations.  When I’m in the wrong mood it seems almost dangerous to go to church because there is so many problems I don’t want to catch.

Attitude and perspective can change many things.  As I get to know the people over the years and as I watch and listen to their attitudes and perspectives, I find myself being encouraged.  I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life in many ways.  I wonder how I will respond when I go through the deep waters.  Watching these people, and the joy of the Lord that radiates from them in the midst of their cancer is encouraging.  Being made aware of intense pain they may be going through and still have a smile on their face is uplifting.

What I’m saying is that while the prayer requests are actually given so that we pray, it may be that one of the reasons we share is because that experience lifts us all up.  A group of the seniors get together on Fridays at a local restaurant.  We had a couple that came for the first time in a long time this week.  She had been through multiple serious struggles.  He’s been our prayer list for quite a while because of intensive pain, and how the treatment given by the doctor had made it even worse.  It was a joy to see them out and moving.  I could look down the table and be aware of some of the struggles that different ones we’re going through.  It’s not that everyone was in the depths of despair or falling apart, but there were enough issues in the group to make me rejoice in their presence.  They took the time and made the struggle to come out and be a part of our fellowship.  It is an honor to be a part of them.

So when someone asked you to pray for them.  Do it.  Don’t forget the spiritual aspects of their need.  People often overlook that.  But also remind yourself that this is evidence of God’s hand at work, not only in their lives but in yours.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-198: Enduring Promises

The Bible is full of promises that God made to Israel, and by extension, for his people today, which would be the church.  One of the promises that people love the quote is,

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.

What is amazing about this is that every time I’ve heard this used in a sermon or a teaching session the context of the passage is totally ignored.  This promise of renewal and revival was given to Solomon right after he dedicated the temple.  In other words, this promise of renewal was given at the high point of Israel’s history.  This was not a call to repentance declared in the midst of apostasy and degeneration.  This was a statement made when God’s house had finally been finished and sanctified for worship.

God gives promises.  His promises are not limited to the time in which they are offered.  His promises are looking down through history, based on knowing what people are like, and how we live our lives.  In the previous verses, God points out His awareness of what will probably come.  In the verse just before this, He lays out the possibility that He might be forced to put Israel in time out.  He might be forced to send pestilence and disease and weakness.  And the promise is that when that happens God is waiting for our repentance and is ready to restore.

I think of other promises given that extend over millennium.  I think of Genesis 3:15 where God promises to send the seed of Adam to crush the head of Satan.  I think of the promises in the prophets of a new covenant and a new heart.

Some promises are more quickly fulfilled, but also have an extended lifespan.  I think of the promise of the Holy Spirit, and how He was to come at Pentecost.  Although that was the birth of the church and a new age in spiritual life, the promise of the filling of the spirit is still extend it to us today.  So you have the promise then that is still alive today.

Then you have promises that are just almost perpetual motion machine.  I think of I John 1:9 and how we are promised forgiveness for confessing our sins.

Promises abound.  Check out the expectations for application and rejoice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-197: Family Feud

I was watching an interview with Neil Ferguson and Konstantin Kisin where the statement was made that generation Z is not able to match up and have families because of the cost of housing.  It sounds good.  It sounded good when my children bought homes and provided grandchildren.  It sounded good when I was young and the first born arrived.  I think it sounded good when my parents were young.

By sounding good I don’t mean it is true.  It means it is a good excuse.

Investigate this a little bit.  Houses are expensive but I don’t think the problem is the cost of housing.  Children are a lot of work but they are also a lot of reward.  I don’t think it is an economic problem.  It is a moral and cultural problem where a narcissistic group wants everything and wants it perfect so they’re not willing to risk mortgages, relationships and the pregnancies.  They are not willing to make the sacrifices.  They are not willing to lower their sights on the number of bedrooms and the logos on their cars.

Fifty years ago I heard how a family could not survive on one salary.  I have heard it on a regular basis ever since.  Somehow, in spite of that common wisdom we did it.  How?  Can you spell “used cars”, “yard sales”, “thrift stores”, “hand me downs” and “stifled pride”?  Today it is working for my children.

I am humble enough to admit it might not work out for everyone.  I am discerning enough to know that most people won’t try.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-196: The Choir of Pentecost

I was sitting beginning to contemplate eternity.  A bunch of us old folks were sitting around speculating on how glorious heaven would be and we had a lot of interesting suggestions.  We talked about whom we would see and would we recognize them?  How would you find family members?

Being an introvert, I said I wouldn’t really worry about being able to find my loved ones out of the millions of individuals in heaven.  I said I would probably just find a nice quiet corner and read a book.  They were aghast.  I don’t think they understand how glorious the library of heaven will be.

This morning I got to thinking along another rabbit trail and comparing Pentecost to the heavenly host serenading God.  Lots of people have the wrong idea about Pentecost.  They think of it as a miracle of speaking in tongues, which is not really the case.  It’s more a matter of hearing in tongues.  Consider,

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.

Do you have a picture of people from all over the Roman empire and each of them thinking in a different home language.  And they all heard the sermon by Peter in their own language.  Fast forward to eternity.  Can you picture of the celestial choir?  We hear about how we’re going to be singing “Holy, holy, holy”.  I’m wondering if when it gets right down to it, each of us will be hearing a different song, depending on what our favorite type of music is.  Or perhaps it will be a whole new type of music, different for each one of us.  God’s ability to do things, to multitask, is incredible.

Just some more nonsense speculation.  In reality eternity is going to be so glorious that it would blow our socks off if we still had socks.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-195: Lap Time

My son and I were having dinner, and we were talking about purpose in life and reasons for joy, and being blessed.  I always bring up my grandchildren.  That got us talking about memories because he remembers his grandfather in a very positive way.  He was talking about Grandpa reading to him.  My son would sit in grandpa’s lap.  Grandpa would read.  The boy would ask for another chapter and eventually Grandpa would say, “I think that’s enough for now”.

What I found interesting was he really couldn’t remember much about the story, but he remembered the experience of sitting and being read to.  We are building memories.  When you get to my stage the details may fade or disappear but there will always be those memories of lap time to add a glow to the day.

Spend time when and where you can.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-194: Not a Theocracy

This thought pattern started by listening to a short excerpt of a presentation by Steven Greg as he talked about the biblical command not to be unequally yoked.  He started with the Old Testament law about not yoking an ox and a donkey together and carried that forward to the New Testament explaining that it meant believers are not to be joined together with unbelievers.

Marriage is obvious but he also mentioned political action or trying to influence our society on moral issues.  He called them social issues, but they’re really moral.  Things like abortion, homosexuality, genders and marriage.  He said that we should not be joining together with pagans and non-believers and trying to achieve changes in society because in that case the glory went to the cooperative organization and not to God.

He had a good point.  The cultures of the Old Testament law, and the New Testament church are totally different.  The OT law was not given for personal redemption.  It was given for national establishment.  It made Israel stand out from the surrounding nations.  It told them how to live.  It gave them experience in things like etiquette and manners and simple every day behaviors that we take for granted.

Under the old covenant Israel was to be a nation.  They were to keep themselves pure and separate from everyone around them and function as not only a religious organization, but a civil one.  There are certain similarities to what we see in Islam today where the religious aspect and the civil government aspects are not separate.  It could be that it is an old idea for old times.

The new covenant has the church being salt and light, but not being a government.  We are to remain pure within the pagan culture, but there is no command that we purify the culture.  We have a different role.  That’s under the new covenant.  We don’t have any demands for stoning adulterers, or executing children who talk back to their parents.  The change that we experience is an inner change, not a cultural change.  The cultural change comes, but it is a reflection of what’s going on inside of us.

We are not called to set up a theocracy.  The Christian life can be lived in many historic types of government.  The big exceptions would be theocracies like Islam and political-socialist cults like Marxism.  That is part of the reason why those two religions are targeting Christians.

Be salt.  Be light.  Get involved as a citizen in a free country while you still have the opportunity.  Leave the results up to God.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-193: Vows

I am sure that you are either married or have been to a wedding.  An important part of the wedding is the vows.  It used to include for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer and even finished with “Til death do us part.”

Cool modern couples add their own wording and concerns but there are usually some kind of vows given.  If I were still pastoring and doing weddings, there are certain things that I might want to add just to prepare these folks for what is coming.

If I were doing it again, I might want to add a few things:  in chatter or in discussion and in neatness or in mess come to mind.  I was blessed because it never occurred to my wife that I might have something to say or, to me, that I would never get to say it.

This kind of thing may be the real reason the number of marriages is shrinking.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-192: God in a Corner

I think that God is an introvert.  I am sitting thinking about how blessed life is and some of the great conversations I’ve had with friends and family.  And I think about how I don’t need it as much as other people do.  Don’t get me wrong, I can enjoy a good conversation.  The thing is I can also enjoy a lack of a conversation.  Find me a corner and a good book and I am happy as an introvert in the library.

As I was thinking along these lines, I was more and more aware that I could not really have an in-depth debate with God.  He knows it all.  He remembers it all.  He knows what I think.  In a sense he would be cheating in a discussion.  Those are the ground rules. I  got to thinking about how God was talking to Joshua.  I am currently reading Joshua slowly and I am only a few verses in.  I don’t see God sitting down with Joshua and having a discussion of the best way to study the book of Romans, or trying to figure out why women are the way they are.  What I see is God giving Joshua directions.

There’s a sense in which I think we must really bore God because we cannot interact with him on His level.  Not to worry, He has the Trinity.  That gives them all the fellowship He needs.  That means that He is metaphorically quite satisfied to sit in His celestial corner, and read His books on infinity.  He’s an introvert.  Like most introverts, He is quite capable of interacting with others.  Some introverts can be the life of the party, but that is not their default.

I think God is an introvert.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-191: The Impossible Dream

Will we ever be able to penetrate the time barrier?  I would ask, “How do you know we haven’t?”  This is one of the themes that science fiction writers have played with.  When you cross the time barrier and, say, go back in time, you’re very presence changes what was there.  It may just be the butterfly-causing-a-tornado effect, but those changes may make it so you never discover how to go through time again.  That way the discovery stops itself.

Eventually, science will reach a point where a scientist can pursue his dreams no further.  I don’t know where that is.  I don’t know if we’re even close to it now.  It does seem that the theories that the scientist keep coming up with are more and more bizarre and less and less realistic.  They are based less and less on facts, experiments and real science, and more on speculation and dystopian fiction.

Does God have a barrier in mind?  Will He keep changing that barrier?  If you don’t believe in God, then just fill in whatever it is you would substitute.

If there is a barrier, whether it’s God created, or just the limitations of possibilities, how long do you keep bloodying your head by pounding against that wall and when do you change direction and start looking for other approaches?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-190: Starship Troopers and Creation

Years ago I read the science fiction novel Starship Troopers.  To be honest I don’t remember much about it but I do remember enjoying the story.  They made it into a movie, which I did not see.  I generally would prefer to read the book than see the movie because I can use my imagination in the book.  I could also stop and take a nap when I want to.

I recently read that they are going to remake the movie.  I don’t have much of an opinion on that.  Since I didn’t see the first movie, I probably won’t watch the second, but I might see if I can get a copy of the book and read it again.

I thought of this as I was contemplating Genesis 1:1, and genesis 1:26. The first deals with God createing the universe and the second with the creation of man in His image.  As I was contemplating on these awesome events, my eyes ran down the verses in between.  In the course of the rabbit trails that occur in my mind, I thought of all the criticism that comes out about the creation account, and I asked myself, “Self, why don’t you ask the modern critics to do a remake?”

So I ask of you who criticize the creation account, how would you present it if you were writing it?  A couple parameters are necessary.  First of all, you’re limiting yourself to a page or two, you have to write it with primitive tools, on primitive paper, with a primitive language.  Keep in mind that the people you would be writing to had no idea about what a big bang was.  They did not know anything about the speed of light.  I would challenge you to find a word in an ancient language for relativity.  So not only do you have primitive tools, but you have to deal with a primitive language.  And you also need to get it on just a few pages.

When you get to the part about how life was created remember you have to explain to them what amino acids are.  Good luck on finding a word for Neanderthal.  Keep in mind that they were not stupid, just primitive.  

I anxiously await the product of your creativity.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-189: Root Causes

I have begun watching a panel discussion from about a year ago presented by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), chaired by Jordan Peterson.  He asked a question of a panel member, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, in response to a comment she made.  She spoke about at times feeling very pessimistic about the future and another time as being very optimistic.

I am just beginning to get into her response, but it brought a thought to my mind.  I also go from times of despair, possibly even depression, to times of great optimism.  At times I think I’m manic depressive.  What causes the difference?

I came to the conclusion that the difference in my case is caused by my focus and what I am hoping will provide answers and help.  When I am in my cycle of inner examination andfocusing on me and my abilities, on my dreams and my potential, the end result is depression.  When I lift my eyes up to heaven, and reflect upon the awesomeness of God, and who He is, it doesn’t take long for my attitude to change.

It’s not enough to think.  It’s not enough to be clever.  As in building any edifice, the shape, strength, and even beauty depend upon the foundation.  If the foundation does not go down to bedrock, or at least undisturbed soil, as we said in Southern California, the chances of avoiding a collapse, or at least a building that’s uninhabitable, become very slim.

Work on the foundations.  That won’t make your spires come out beautiful, but it will keep them from falling in when you’re looking the other direction.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-188: Monkey Wrench Philosophy

In theology you have the two extremes of the legalists and the antinomians.  Among denominations you have the Armenians at one end and the Calvinists at the other.  What is interesting is that even in secular culture we have this division going on.  At one end do you have the quantum physicists, and at the other end, you have the behaviorists.

Two mistakes I might be making here.  First of all, I’m not sure that quantum physics is the right area of study.  What I’m talking about is this awareness that has come to the world of physics that there is an element of unpredictability in the laws of the universe.  They talk about some small bit of matter and you have to choose, you can know where it is or how fast it’s moving, but you can’t know both.  There is speculation about how you can cause a particle to vibrate in your lab, and there is a spot somewhere on the other side of the universe where another object responses in exactly the same way.  This totally defies the concept of the speed of light and such.  

That’s on one side.  On the other side I have the behaviorists.  In my mind this is a school of psychology that claims that if we had a computer big enough to input all information we would be able to forecast everything that happens from here until eternity with no mistakes.  All events can be predetermined.

So the division is not just theological.  It is also philosophical and possibly scientific.

In between you have the actual Biblical view.  The biblical view says that there is a sovereign God, who, in his sovereignty, granted human beings free will because they were created in His image.  This threw a monkey wrench into the inner workings of the universe.  It’s all very well to say that quarks and all the other little particles of matter that physicists have come up with act a certain way.  I don’t know if anybody is trying to say that the rock in your front yard has free will.  But when you add in a little boy who picks up that rock and tossed it through a window suddenly the universe changes.

You are that little boy.  You have the ability to ignore the rock, throw it through a window, use it to pound acorns into dust, or put it in your rock collection.  The thing about free will is that you could go any direction with that rock based on just a whim that you have.

Welcome to the biblical view of the universe.  You are the monkey wrench that is designed to be stuck into the spokes.  Have fun.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-187: Witch Reality

Was the witch of Endor really a witch or was she just a reporter for the New York Times?  Or let me put it another way, was the witch of Endor really capable of raising the dead and thus demonstrating great power or was she just a charlatan living off the foolishness and gullibility of other people?

Take a look at the account in I Samuel. It begins,

1 Samuel 28:7 (KJV) Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, [there is] a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.

At this point we can assume that Saul and his servants believe there is something to being a witch.  One thing follows another, Saul meets the witch and she agrees to raise Samuel.  Here is where it gets really interesting.  It works.

(1Sa 28:12 KJV)  And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.

I could be totally wrong but every time I read this I get the feeling that she is really surprised to see a genuine specter.  My opinion is that she usually had time to prepare her stage and her mark so that they saw what she wanted them to see.  

C.S. Lewis had a comment on how our culture deals with the demonic powers,

p. ix, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.  One is to disbelieve in their existence.  The other is to believe, and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.  They themselves are equally pleased by both errors,...”  

Ever since the Garden of Eden mankind has been involved in a war between Almighty God and Satan.  Everyone picks sides whether they know it or not.  The battle is coming out in the open in our modern era.  Satan feels like the citizens of the world are ready to join his team.

Don’t be one of those foolish enough to go in that direction.

Lewis, C.S.  The Screwtape Letters.  Norwalk, Connecticut:  The Easton Press, 2002.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-186: Time in

Does God exist inside time, outside time, a combination of both or in some relationship that we can’t even conceive.  I think the default answer is the last.  As finite human beings, there is no way we can understand what it would mean to be outside time.  As an infinite God I can’t picture Him being locked inside.

It may be, that the only reason we are even able to conceive of the idea of the God of the Bible is because at some point in the past He chose to enter time.  This would still allow His eternal existence.  It’s just that the essence of who He was or what He knew or experienced would change when He entered time.  Obviously that must have been before creation.  Also obviously, understand this is pure speculation.  I’m not trying to make a theological point to establish a new doctrine.  It’s just in my mind goes on these rabbit trails.

As I go down this burrow I come to another junction.  The one that looks most interesting is the one that asked the question, “If God came from outside time and into time, was that transition on the same level of pain as the crucifixion?”  I think of Jesus on the cross, crying out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”  If God came from outside time as the only God to inside time, would He have cried out something similar, or let out some kind of divine primordial scream?  Obviously, since He is the only God that would leave no one to hear Him.

If you haven’t given up on me, stay with me for a little longer. Would He at that point have been aware of where He was going with this?   Would He at that point known that He was going to not only create a universe but creatures in His own image?  Would He at that point known that the sacrifice of the Son would be necessary?  Would He have known?

Who am I to ask such questions?  Perhaps a creature that was created in His image.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-185: Click Bait: California Miracle

I was checking the headlines at Citizen Free Press and clicked on one titled, “'Fear and anger': California town halls are not going well for Democrats, either”.  Now if you read a headline like that you might, like me, think that finally California was waking up and getting after their Democrat overlords.  You would have thought wrong.  The article came from something called SFGate.  I imagine they are getting extatic over CFP giving them national exposure.  I wonder if the people at CFP even looked at what they wrote.

When you clicked the link it took you to an article that immediately started south.  Here is the first sentence,

“Americans are increasingly concerned about President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s gutting of the federal government, with polls showing a majority of people want Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cuts to be stopped or slowed down.”

I am willing to admit that I don’t know all Americans but I do read something besides the leftist propaganda machines.  To claim that Americans are concerned about DOGE means one of three things:  They are concerned things are not moving fast enough and there are no arrests yet, you are lying through your teeth to a captive and gillible audience, you are locked up in a padded room and sharing your delusions with the world.

I could be wrong but not as wrong as the author of this article.

If you can stomach further reading the hole they are digging just gets deeper.  If you have a lot of leisure time jump to the bottom of the article and look at the bio of the author.  It says that he is the “cannabis editor” for SFGATE.  What kind of a “news” source would need a cannabis editor?

That should be all that you need to know.  Maybe he was editing when he wrote this.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-184: Where Will I Find the Time?

I find myself with more books to read every day.  I just finished a two volume set that a friend sent me.  In order to really grasp what it’s saying, I am going to read them again.  I’ve already started.  While I’m doing that I am reading another book by Thomas Sowell that was given to me by someone at church.  On my shelf with just a few pages read, I have a new book by Jordan Peterson, given to me by another friend.  On the shelves around my room, I have books that I have started and plan to finish and others that I have not started yet.  I have a list of books that I am looking for in the library and if I can’t find them after a certain point I may be forced to try and buy them.

Where am I going to find a time?

Fortunately, I’m retired and still think that my mind is working.  It’s always possible that I keep reading the same book over and over again, and just don’t remember it.  That takes care of the problem in one way.  But let’s assume that I am actually aware of what I’m doing and my interest keeps expanding and my potential resources keep piling up.

Fortunately, I also have eternity.  Believing in eternal life certainly gives you a different perspective on reading all the things that you want to read and getting to what people tend to call their bucket list.  The problem is that when we cross that line into eternity it’s very possible that our interest may change.  I would say not only may change, will change.  I will have a whole new list of books to read that I never even knew existed.  I will have musical instruments that I can now learn to master having perfect coordination, perfect pitch, and a voice that works again.  I will have endless discussions and debates not only with all the people that I have not seen enough in this life, but with historic figures.  I would love to debate with the apostle Paul, and find out what he was trying to say in Romans.  In addition to that I think Jesus will be able to fit me into his calendar for lunch or breakfast or for a long road trip.

It brings new meaning for a paraphrase of a common vulgarity, “So many books. So little time.”

But of course, the number of books will increase to match the amount of time that we have.

Hell, on the other hand might be a place where you have piles of books, but all the light bulbs are burnt out or you can’t find your glasses.  You’ll be able to do is turn the pages and wonder what they might tell you.

Have a blessed eternity.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-183: Up or Down

It started with questions about Samuel being raised up on his sleep by the witch of Endor.  

(1Sa 28:13 KJV)  And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

Samuel came up out of the earth, or so it says.  Does that mean that Samuel was in hell?  Does it mean that heaven is under our feet?  All kinds of questions came up and eventually we came to the Old Testament saints who seemed to have gone to be with God.  

We must admit that there are at least four individuals that we know were with God before Jesus went to the cross.  Start with Enoch.  Then you have Elijah who also was taken by God.  Then you have the story Jesus told about Lazarus and the rich man in which Abraham appears.  Finally you have the Mount of Transfiguration where we see Elijah again and Moses.  Whatever else you want to say about salvation and eternal life we have these four.

We also have very clear statements that the only way to the Father is through Jesus, that He was the Perfect Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, that without the shed blood of Jesus there would be no forgiveness of sins.  Do you sense any problems yet?

Somehow in your theology, and your understanding of the teaching from the Bible, you must make a way for both of these to be true.  How did Moses end up on the mount of transfiguration, talking to Jesus before Jesus went to the cross?  How did Abraham end up talking to the rich man from Paradise before the shedding of the blood of Jesus?  

These are questions which you must deal with.  You can’t throw out or ignore much of the Bible just fit into a bit of theological tradition that you have been taught.  If necessary, lean on mystery. Mystery is a part of scripture.  A well know example is found in the clear teaching in the Bible that God is one.  We also have clear teaching that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.  They talk to each other and about each other, yet there is one God.  Mystery.  We call it the Trinity.  The Bible would call it a mystery.  Mysteries by their very nature are hard for us to understand or totally beyond our comprehension.

So if you can’t figure it out, call it a mystery.  Whatever you do, don’t deny the truth.  There are answers.  There are explanations.  Sometimes we understand them.  Sometimes we don’t.  But they are still true.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-182: Prime Time

We tend to be aware of the concept that there are four dimensions that affect us in every day life.  You have length, width, height, and the fourth dimension which is time.  I would like to suggest that, perhaps the first dimension, and the most important is time.  That’s my clever title that time is prime.

Why do I say this?  There was a book published in 1884 called Flatland.  It involves creatures who lived in only two dimensions – they had width and depth but no height.  I did not read the book.  I don’t even know if it’s still available.  But I never heard anybody mention the element of time.  Without time any creatures that might have existed in Flatland would have never moved forward.  There would have been no changes.  There would have been no life.

I don’t know if anybody’s ever written a book called Point. it would also be useless without time.

I am suggesting that the first dimension that we should talk about is time and not the other three.  It is time which makes the other three have any significance.  It is time that makes us into more than just oil on canvas.  Time is the essence of life.

When we think of God as being eternal, we always have to deal with this issue of how He relates to time.  Is God outside time?  If He is can He be classified as alive?  Is He inside time?  If so, could He be classified as God?  And so on. The questions keep coming.  We may not have time for the answers.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-181: Who Defines Whom?

Anytime you read theology or commentaries you come across big words that people like to throw out.  This morning I’ve been thinking about the immutability of God and the sovereignty of God.  I could add to the list I’m sure.  I think you get the idea though.  The key point I am making is that these are words that we make up or develop in order to try and grasp truths that are beyond our comprehension.

On one side that is healthy.  We look at something we don’t understand and try to find ways to grasp it.  Perhaps it requires a different angle.  Perhaps it requires a deeper dig.  Perhaps it needs more meditation and contemplation to get closer to what the actual truth is.  This is at the root of the scientific method which is given its foundation in the character of the God of the Bible.  It also has its place in the areas of study that deal in deeper truth than science can touch.

One side of that is sick and manipulative.  There are people who like to make a big words because they can then throw around their jargon and confuse the issue.  When I was teaching, I ran into this all the time in education.  They love their jargon.  They love to make up words.  They love to take old words and put new meaning on them that no one would suspect.  They love to change the meaning without telling you.  I expect that in a discipline that is so rooted in pagan values.  I watch it dread in a discussion of the Bible and theology.

Take the idea of immutability. What it really means is unmutable.  And what that means to most people is unchanging.  There is a very real sense in which God is unchanging.  There’s also a sense in which a rock is unchanging.  The two are not the same although the Bible does refer to God as a rock.  God is unchanging in His character, which would be defined in such phrases as, “God is love”.  It does not mean that God is not capable of responding to the free will choices of human beings.

God does not change the physical laws He laid down when He created the universe.   Gravity does not go away.  If He has a need for a miracle, He’s quite capable of stepping outside those laws, but I personally believe that most miracles are worked by God emphasizing different aspects of the laws of nature, and bring you about what looks like to us a miracle.  He does change His response to human beings based upon the free will choices that we make.  I love reading about Moses talking to God and supposedly convincing Him to change his mind.  We see numerous cases of this in the Bible, where God responds differently based on different situations.

Does that mean that God is fickle?  Is God capricious?  Heaven forbid.  It means that part of God’s character is a reflection of personhood.  He is not made up of blind equations and mindless formulas.  We may not understand the nuances but rest assured that they exist.  If a theologian tells you that God is unchanging then ask yourself, “Why does the Bible have Him repenting of making man?”  

Do your own homework.  Accept the words of “scholars” as the opinions of someone who has more knowledge than you do but not necessarily more wisdom or better ethics.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-180: Double Standard

I noticed in a meme that they were making a claim that the CIA had turned over some type of nuclear technology to Israel without the knowledge of the US government.  I didn’t read it.  I assumed it was slanted.  But the concern was that Israel was guilty of some terrible deed, because they took technology that was offered by the Americans.  It was also implied that the Israelis knew this was illegal technology.

OK.  That’s what they did, maybe.  What is the bigger crime here is that the CIA went over the heads of the president and Congress and did something that was for bidden by law.  They knew they were breaking the law.  They deliberately broke the law.  Overlooking whether it was necessary or good for world, peace, or any other contingency, they broke the law.

But it is Israel that seems to be condemned for accepting the offering.

Fast forward to the DOGE activities.  Musk and his crew have uncovered repeated cases of people taking money that they knew they didn’t deserve.  In this case the media seems to imply that it is Musk’s problem for uncovering this and that the people who took money they knew they didn’t deserve we’re just doing what anyone would do.

Does anybody but me see the hypocrisy here?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-179: Dear Judge

It is time for you to police your own house.  It’s time not only because you are endangering our entire legal system but the judicial branch is undermining the Republic.  And then there’s that aspect of the possibility of vigilante justice if enough American citizens become aware of your betrayal.

I offer a suggestion because I believe that the judicial establishment is like every other part of government or business.  Most of the judges and other people involved in applying the laws are probably decent, hard-working, good faith laborers in the field.  They might have even read the Constitution.  I accept the fact that most of you are doing the best you can in a difficult situation.  I accept the possibility that you were just as upset about what you see going on with these rouge judges as I am.

The possibilities for the average citizen to clean up this mess are almost nonexistent.  The fact that you have the power to issue judicial fatwas means that the established checks and balances listed by the Founders can be stopped in their tracks.  Reforming your system from the outside, becomes either impossible or an invitation to violence.

It is time.

For the good of the country judges need to start talking amongst yourselves and using the ability you have to censor your colleagues and get this thing back on track.  Much of the paperwork coming out of the judicial system against the Trump administration is blatantly partisan and going against the spirit of the country, let alone the letter of the Constitution.

If you don’t care about the Republic, at least start reforming for your own benefit.

I would say thanks for your time, but I doubt if you will give me any.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-178: God’s Needs

God doesn’t need more Pauls.  His real need is more Aquilas and Priscillas.

We all know who the Apostle Paul was.  He wrote much of the New Testament and spent his life spreading the gospel through the Roman Empire.  Keep in mind though that in many towns he visited there were already churches established and nourished by people like Aquila and Priscilla.  Most of the spreading of the gospel was done by nameless, ordinary people who moved to new towns and took their faith with them.  That faith resulted in people asking questions that brought them to a point of belief.  Paul did a great job but he was a drop in the bucket when it came to winning the world.

He thought of himself as the apostle to the Gentiles.  I think God gave him that title because it made him feel important.  His real contribution was the letters he wrote to the churches he knew.  Evangelism has been going on for two thousand years.  Writing the Bible had to be done in a short period of time.  

We all want be the Billy Graham, the Dwight, L Moody, the entrepreneur who builds an empire, the musician that writes the ultimate song.  We have big dreams.  Don’t give them up but keep them in perspective.  It is amazing how many of the godless, pagan musicians in our culture started out singing specials in church.  They became famous.  Many are on the road to hell and dragging others down with them.  

God doesn’t need that.  What He does need are more people who are willing to scrub toilets, give people a ride to the doctor, organize books in the library, and other inglorious tasks.

Actually, in a sense, God doesn’t even need that.  God is quite capable of doing everything Himself if He wants to take over and run the robot factory.  That’s not really His style. That’s not what brings joy to his celestial heart.  He created us in His own image for a reason.

Our task is to fit into that reason not to try to co-opt it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-177: Nightmares

Last night I had a nightmare again.  My nightmares are almost exclusively about being back in the classroom.  They’re not about teaching,  they’re about not being able to teach.  Usually they have a room full of kids who keep changing their names or have no supplies.  Usually, I have no role book and no seating chart, which means I have no way of knowing who they are.  Sometimes the class keeps changing as people wander in and out, not only students but also adults.  I’ve had nightmares where the room had no walls and the entire rest of the school was out partying in the quad while I was trying to get across some truth about history.

Last night was different.  It was about teaching.  It was about making up a test for my class.  It wasn’t as horrible as actually having to teach, but it was exhausting.  Trying to figure out a creative ways to see if the kids had heard anything can take it out of you even in your sleep.

It’s been eight years now and I still have this dread of having to go back into the classroom.  It’s not the kids.  I enjoyed the kids I worked with, and we got along well.  It’s not teaching itself.  It is the frustration of having to deal with all of the roadblocks to doing the job.  If I am ever desperate enough to go back to work I will apply as a Walmart greeter first.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-176: The Danger of Donald

Donald Trump presents a real danger to America and Americans.  I say this as a Trump supporter.  I voted for him.  I wore a red Trump hat.  If the constitution allowed it, I would vote for him again.  I salute the sense of optimism and hope that he has brought to the country.

At the same time I think of him as being a real danger.

Donald Trump is not the messiah.  He is not the undisputed guru of our culture.  To be fair he has never said he is.  He is simply a man who loves America and was put in a unique position to step forward and be counted.  He may be the key figure in history in the last hundred years and in the next hundred years.

The danger comes when people of faith start to get complacent and stop praying.  We are not at the second coming yet.  The new Jerusalem is not descended from heaven.  All is not well in the world.  Our problem is we tend to get a little bit of good times and we relax.  We can’t afford to do that.

Donald Trump and his cabinet and those working with him need our prayers now more than ever.  They are living a daily life of danger.  They are in the crosshairs.  We need to pray for their safety.  We need to pray for their wisdom.  We need to pray that the statements they have made that seem open towards the presence of God take that extra step and actually embrace Him and make sure they’re on His side.

I had a litany that I gave before the election.  I went down a list of things starting with “keep praying”.  I talked about standing up and speaking out.  Keep in mind that the changes that need to take place in this country are in the hearts of mines of the rank and file, the grass roots.  There are so many misconceptions that need to be addressed and we need to be doing the addressing.

Here’s to a better stronger America.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-175: What Did You Call Me?

My sensitivity was first roused when a friend called me names during a discussion of eschatology.  I think the first time it went over my head but he kept repeating it until it registered.  It registered that I was being labelled and put in a box and I didn’t know what the box was.  I still don’t.  I think I just laughed at him.

If you are in a graduate level theology debate using some of the big words might save a lot of time.  When you are a normal person seeking understanding of another normal person’s crazy ideas they only confuse the issue.  Do you know the difference between modalism and molinism?  I do but not under those names.  I would need to look them up.

My friend likes to accuse me of spiritualizing.  My feelings were hurt.  That had to be something really bad.  When he explained what he meant by it I began to see it everywhere.  When I looked it up I started to realize he meant using allegory or any kind of figurative interpretation.  Once I understood that I embraced the term and now when he uses it I just say, “Thank you.”  Politically I have learned to treasure the moments people call me a Fundamentalist, a right winger or narrow minded.  They bring a smile to my face.

A book I read recently liked to accuse people of Latitudinarianism.  Again it has a range of meanings.  The author meant it to be anyone who had any flexibility.  To him it meant such things as accepting people as Christians who don’t believe in the trinity.  Even worse, someone who did not use the KJV.  That second thing I made up, I think.  By his definition I would be a latitudarian because I accept people into the fold who eat fish on Friday or baptize infants.  I am willing to give people latitude on things I don’t see as essential or that are not addressed in the Bible.

Be thick skinned.  Be patient.  Don’t be afraid to ask, “What does that mean?”  You will be surprised to find out that a lot of times people use terms and don’t know how to define them.
Above all, be kind.  I don’t think there will be a vocabulary lesson at the final judgement.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-174: Unusual Blessing

There are things in the Bible that I read which just make me scratch my head.  Maybe that is why I am going bald.  Look at this,

Deuteronomy 33:24 (KJV) And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

The basic blessing of the children is easy to understand.  The same with his family relationships.  What is this bit about dipping his foot in oil?

This is one of those rare cases where I feel a need to look at the comment section of my software.  The only explanation I can get is that this means “may you have so much wealth that you can wash your feet in olive oil.”

In looking at suggested cross references I found this,

(Job 29:6 KJV)  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

Unfortunately that does not deepen my understanding, just my confusion.

Cultural differences can be entertaining.

May you dip your feet in oil.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-173: The Optimism of Children

One of the bits of Clickbait I saw this morning focused on China withering away because of it’s low fertility rate.  That’s one of the common memes that we see about how world population is declining and we are going to have a crisis over that.  People love a crisis.  They have to have something to obsess over.

I think the population situation is a good way to evaluate how we look at the future.  Some people want to have children.  Some people shudder at the thought.  It tells you a lot about their values and their priorities.

Are some people having children a mark of their optimism of the future?  They believe there is going to be a future.  They want to be a part of that future through their descendants.  They want to make the world better by contributing to that.  So they have children  They don’t just have children.  They invest themselves in those children.  That makes a big difference too.

Another sign of values expressed by having or not having children is the reason why people chose not to.  Often it is because they want to live high, party and have a great time and they feel children will get in the way.  This is called narcissism.  This is a self-centered attitude towards everything and it is a poison in our society.  Like many poisons we can handle a small amount.  Warfarin, if you take it in the right amount, will help thin your blood if you have issues that need thin blood.  In larger concentrations it becomes rat poison.

Which will it be?

Some of us are beyond the stage of having children.  We’ve done our thing and we are sticking by it because there’s nothing we can do about it.  However, I noticed that I am surrounded by more and more people who are celebrating life, having children, and investing in the future.  My daughters church is full of people who have six children.  My brothers were very productive.  Alas, I only had two and one of mine never married but I still rejoice in them, and I still rejoice in the fact that I have two grandchildren.

So if you are done having children, celebrate life by being supportive of people who are still in the process.  Sometimes that may involve taking some of that food you have stored under your bed and donating it to a family with many mouths to feed.  If you do it with the right attitude, and with joy, they will except it in the same attitude.

Have a blessed day and a blessed future.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-172: The New Chosen

If you look at the Old Testament, you find a lot of references to Israel as a nation. We consider them the chosen people.

All of that changed at Calvary.  No longer is God dealing with us as a nation or a large organization.  He has no blanket promises to those who are citizens of America or any other country.  He is now dealing with us as individuals.  It a sense He always has dealt with individuals, but the theme of the Bible is about Israel preparing the world for the coming of the Messiah.

So Calvary changed everything.  I have a friend who accuses me of being guilty of something he calls “replacement theology”.  I didn’t even know the term when he first brought it up.  When he gave me his interpretation of the title I rejected it.  The problem is the more often he accuses me of this and I look at what the Bible is telling me, the more guilty I am of a heresy, his definition not mine, I never thought of committing.

God is not dealing with a chosen people now so much as he is dealing with chosen persons.  What that does to Israel is that each member of that nation is responsible for personal decisions.  No longer is there a blanket pardon or one-size-fits-all blessing.  If you are selling red heifers or have a piece of the new temple stored in your garage that might upset you but you can still rebuild a temple if you want.  Just don’t plan on fitting it into Revelation because it ain’t there, as the apostle John said,

(Rev 21:22 KJV)  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-171: The Glorious Wipe Out

I was watching a meme that had some motion to it, and it showed a skier on a truly awesome slope going through an even more awesome wipe out.  He bounced, he twisted, he shot up into the air, he slammed into the ground.  At the end, he raised his hands in victory signifying the fact that he was still alive.

I don’t think he would I have tried that in the middle of summer.  He would have bounced once, broken half the bones in his body, bounced again and broken the other half, crushed his skull, and if he lived to tell about it, would not be able to walk to the microphone.  He was able to take the risk because of the cushion of the snow.  It was not a smart risk, but there was some chance of surviving.  Maybe he tried it first in his driveway.

Some people choose to ride roller coasters for the thrill.  You have seen the looks of terror on people in the first car when they come over that first downslope.  Some will run around to get in line again.  The reason for most of them is they feel they can trust the engineers who designed it.  They actually believe that the minimum wage employees who inspected the nuts and bolts to see if they were still tight came into work that day.  That is real faith.

Some people race motorcycles.  That is dangerous enough.  Have you seen those camera shots taken behind the foot of the rider as the sparks fly on a turn?  It is either awesome of incredibly stupid.  In the memes you occasionally see some of the stunts that bikers will do on the streets.  I enjoy the ones where they end up chasing their motorcycle down the street.

Life is full of challenges.  Some are required.  They are part of the package.  Would you have voted yes about heading down the birth canal?  Some we can avoid.  You don’t really need to do a wheely on the busy freeway.  

My trust in God  makes it possible for me to keep moving forward even in the face of adversity and struggles.  I have a confidence in Providence.  I don’t know that everything will go according to my plan or that I will always have money left in the check book of life.  I do know that God can work miracles out of seeming disaster.  

I always said I would get another motorcycle when my kids got old enough for me to die.  I never did.  The ground looks awful hard and I don’t heal as fast as I used to.  I am also wiser if not smarter.  Some things deserve trust.  Some things are a mirage.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-170: Discerning Deer

Looking out over my yard in the Texas hill country I noticed that there are several places where the grass has staged an early recovery from the frost in anticipation of spring.  In some places it’s growing well.  Most places are still totally dead.  Every once in a while, I will see deer grazing on the grass and I always wonder why they choose what they do and ignore others.  Now the big question I have with deer or that I’ve heard other people ask is why do they all seem to disappear when deer season opens?  I have a few suggestions:

It could just be some mystical force radiated by the deer gods telling them to go hide.  Never rule out the possibility of the supernatural.

It could be much simpler.  Maybe they hear gunshots over the next ridge and then put 22 and 22 together.  I used to see this kind of behavior at middle school.  Everyone was minding their own business doing whatever it is that middle school students do when no one tells them what they should be doing.  Suddenly someone yells “Fight”.  If it’s a real fight they sense it and they all rush toward it from all over campus.  If it’s just somebody trying to start a stampede, they sense that also and just stay where they are doing what they’re doing.  Reverse that with a deer, it takes about the same amount of intelligence.

It could be that they hear the sound of pop tops from the beer cans being opened on the back of the pick ups along with the raucous laughter of drunk hunters telling dirty jokes.  Again, it doesn’t take a lot of brain power to know they need to be somewhere else.

It could be the Daniel Boones of the twenty-first century sneaking through the forest and making enough noise to wake the dead.

It could be that the national weather service put out a warning about flash, floods, high winds, and hunter’s over the internet, which the deer picked up on their Fitbits.

Anyway, you look at it they’re not eating my grass today.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-169: Contrast

The law of the Old Testament stands against the blood of the New, not against grace.

Grace is present from Genesis to Revelation.  All depends upon the decision of God to extend his power in whatever realm it’s needed.  It can be the grace leading to salvation.  You can see the grace of Jesus growing in His knowledge and wisdom.  Witness the grace that saved us from Hitler and the Nazis in World War II.  Grace has always been with us.

What is different is the blood.  The Old Testament sacrificial system did not forgive sin.  Yes, it made atonement, but it did not remove the sin and cleanse the heart.  That was the role of the blood.  Sacrificing a bull and pouring his blood on the altar was a type.  A type is an activity, a ritual or thing which points down the road to something more significant.  I believe Hebrews tells us there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood.  That blood was poured out on the cross, it did not happen in the temple.  Yes, blood was shed.  But that blood that was shared in the temple was not adequate for all mankind.  That’s why John said, “Behold the Lamb of God Who cometh to take away the sins of the world.”

What got me started on this?  I was again looking at Deuteronomy 28.  The first 14 verses talk about the blessings from following the law of God and keeping the commandments.  The rest of the chapter. which is really long, on all of the curses produced by disobedience.  I just read the blessings today.  As I was reading, my radar was turned on looking for any promise of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  I didn’t see it.  Maybe I just missed it.  Maybe it’s there somewhere.  I will check again.  But I don’t think so.

Every promise given in the first part of that chapter deals with boots on the ground.  One of the things that I think I keep seeing is that the purpose of the law was to give Israel the advantage in their cultural and civic living.  There’s a place earlier in Deuteronomy, where it says that as long as the law is kept it will help them to conquer the promised land.  The law has a place.  Any pagan culture could have adopted the law and it would improve the quality of life and standard living.  It would not bring them salvation, nor make them the chosen people.

Israel did not become the chosen people because they excepted the law.  They became the chosen people, because God pointed at them and said, “You.”

We are not the chosen people but we can rejoice in the standards and values shared with us by the law of God.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-168: Wildflower Watch

It is hard to believe but the blue bonnets are beginning to appear.  They are a bit sparse.  I am hoping it is just because it is early but it may be that we are in for a sparse year.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-167: Common Ground

As I was meditating on my porch and admiring the way in which God had covered the whole canopy of the sky with gray clouds, the thought came to me about how wonderful it is to be able to meet with God, and to have thoughts that appear to me to be deep, but might cause him to chuckle a little bit.  It is good fellowship to be with the Lord.

My thoughts went to the understanding that this is not you original with me.  Be honest.  We don’t see in the prophets a lot of discussion about sitting on the front porch and meditating on the things of God.  The prophets seem to be too busy thundering the call to repentance and the fact that God is not happy with Israel.  But I don’t think that’s the only time God spoke to them.  I think that the prophets were in regular communication.  That’s one of the ways that they learn to recognize the voice of God.  They heard, and sometimes they repeat it.  I believe that often they heard and we don’t know about it because it was just fellowship, not a message.

There is so much that God communicated personally.  But there’s also much that God communicats to us through the scripture.  What sustained Elijah and Elisha?  What kept Moses going?  How did Paul stay positive and uplifted?  I think it was mainly all those great insights that God gave them that He didn’t allow them to share.

I believe John said something to this effect,

(Joh 21:25 KJV)  And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

I think we can make this true in our own lives.  God speaks to us, sometimes through the inspiration of scripture, sometimes through that still small voice, sometimes through watching our grandchildren, but God does speak to us.  Make sure you listen to find out what great insight He has for you today that you are not supposed to share.

God loves you enough to give you your own inspirational thoughts in private.  Rejoice.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-166: Republic of Verbs and Nouns

Checks and balances.  Check and balance.  One is a set of nouns, the other is a set of verbs.  Both are necessary to maintain the republic.

In times of integrity and minor differences it’s enough to have these concepts as nouns.  The Founding Fathers set up a government which was supposed to contain automatic checks to abuse of power and difference of opinion.  It gave great power to minorities so that they could resist the tyranny of the majority.  This is why we have an electoral college.  This is why we have three branches with separation of powers.  This is why we have super majorities.  This is why we have regular elections.  And this is why we have the verbs.

It’s always a possibility that individuals and groups will arise to manipulate and distorted the basics of the republic.  Not only is it a possibility, it is a certainty.  The time will come when individuals and groups think they know what is best for everyone.  They will use their position of power to distorted the process of civil government by the people.

We’ve been seeing this, as the so-called deep state has been dipping into the coffers and using taxpayers money to attack and enslave the taxpayers, not to mention lining their own pockets.  It is really very clever, and was covered up very well for years.  Who knows, maybe it is the default status of government and civilization.  The current force that is pushing it is using federal judges as trump cards, or anti-Trump cards.

I’m sure that just like any other group of people, there are many judges who are guided by integrity in the law.  The problem is, these are not the judges that are sought out by the forces of the deep state.  They carefully select the judges that they bring lawsuits in front of, knowing full well that those judges are more interested in their ideology, and their bribes, than in the law.  They use the rule of law against those who actually believe in it.

We all see it happening every day.  We also should be aware of the fact that when it happens in the direction we want we tend to ignore it.  Admit it.  We only see it when it goes against our desires.  But it’s always there.  The question is what do we do about it?

Again, the rule of law and the checks and balances of our republic give us a way out.  For federal officials one of the ways out is called impeachment.  Progressives* have use this brilliantly in trying to keep Donald Trump out of office.  They don’t give up when they lose.  They work overtime to cripple him once he is elected.  They don’t like it so they use the rules in order to cheat in the game.  What works for the goose should work for the gander.  Why we are reluctant to use this tool, I don’t know.

It is time.

We need to get serious about saving the republic.  I don’t want to see the violent outbreak of a French Revolution.  I don’t want the dissolving of the republic as happened to Rome.  We don’t have the structure for a Glorious Revolution like England.  If we want to preserve the Republic and the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and we need to start using the tools that are given to us.

It’s time to impeach.  Remove people who insist on implementing their personal agenda rather than following the rule of law.  Do it by the book.  Observe due process.  Demand that it be speedy and in front of their peers.

It is time.

*(Liberals, educators, cultural Marxists, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, fascists (I repeat myself), elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Synonym for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-165: New Laws: What about the Cat?

If you have been in to see any medical professional recently, they probably have been asking you questions which the federal government feels are necessary to be asked.  When I went into the ER recently, they wanted to know if I could prepare my own meals.  They wanted to know if I could drive myself to my own appointments. They want to know if I felt insecure in my home.  They asked me about rugs.

How come they asked me about rugs, but never asked me if I have a cat?  Yes, rugs can be a problem, but at least they stay put and you have to trip over them as you walk down the hall.  Cats have a very annoying habit of appearing out of nowhere and inserting themselves into the most awkward places as you try to make any kind of move.  I’ve gotten much closer to falling from my wife’s cat then I have from throw rugs.

Maybe we need a new federal regulation from some mysterious agency requiring them to ask us about whether we have cats in the home.  It might require training the cats by federally licenced professionals to not trip people and a government certificate to show we have complied.  I feel free to share this because I doubt if any Democrats ever read anything I write.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-164: Signs the Brain Is Still Alive

I am constantly startled when I come across things in the Bible that I should’ve seen but I don’t remember ever being aware of.  Sometimes it’s not earthshaking, just surprising.  One of those happened at Wednesday night Bible study.  We were reading about the crucifixion of Jesus in Matthew, and we came to these verses,

Matthew 27:52-53 (KJV) 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

I was aware of this passage, and of the “saints” rising from the dead and walking around.  If nothing else, the current infatuation with zombies would bring that to mind.  What I had not seen before was that this took place after the resurrection of Jesus.  In other words, this is a passage that is written later, and then inserted as something that was going to happen, tying it to the resurrection.

Interesting.

It doesn’t change my world or bring out any new theological perspectives.  It did make me start wandering in my mind and associating details that have nothing to do with each other.  One thing that came to mind was the Shroud of Turin.  I had just watched part of a video of a priest who is in charge of research on the shroud.  It was very interesting and of course one of the discussions was “Is this really the shroud of Jesus”, which is one point.  Another is, if it’s not the shroud of Jesus is it from the time when Jesus was crucified.  The priest, of course, said he would love it to be proven to be the shroud of Jesus, but even if it wasn’t he’s considered it’s still a wonderful investigation because there’s so many mysteries involved in it.

I got to thinking. If this were not the burial shroud of Jesus, but was from that time with all of the mysteries involved in how it was produced, could it have been the shroud of one of those saints that were resurrected?  Letting my mind wander further, was it the divine force that caused Jesus to be resurrected that somehow bled over into the other graves nearby, and did the same mysterious force project through other shrouds?  I guess it’s just nonsense speculation, but that’s how my mind works.

homo unius libri