Opus 2025-070: Click Bait: Sounds Good

I just saw one of the shorts on my YouTube page that was titled “Beautiful Samurai.”  It had a picture of a young woman waving at sword.  I did not click on the bait.  I am not an expert on Japanese culture or history.  However, something in me says that the idea of a female Samari goes against the grain.

We have the concepts of paradox and oxymoron.  They make the statement that two things that seem to rule the other out can both be true.  If you have one child or grandchild it is impossible to think about having enough love for the next.  My brother has so many grandchildren I wonder if he knows all their names.  He still loves them.  Impossible but real.  Theologically we have things  like the trinity and the incarnation.

That is different from things that are logically impossible.  Take for instance the idea of a square circle.  One concept rules out the other.  That is the situation with the Beautiful Samurai, but I reserve the right to be totally out of my depth.  It won’t be the first time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-069: Out of Touch

I am in the process of reading a book by Francis Collins called The Language of God.  Collins was the leader of the Human Genome Project that mapped the human DNA.  He is a real scientist and a Christian believer.  I am about two-thirds through and am still waiting for the title to be realized.  Collins is a genuine believer in Jesus.  He also is totally committed to the theory of evolution in all of its random selection.  I have no real problem with that but it seems a bit inconsistent.  To both believe in random selection and that God created the heavens and the earth is uncomfortable at best.  The problem is not in the idea of evolving but in the guidance of only chance.

I also question if he is paying attention.  Collins makes this statement,

“No serious biologist today doubts the theory of evolution to explain the marvelous complexity and diversity of life.  In fact, the relatedness of all species through the mechanism of evolution is such a profound foundation for the understanding of all biology that it is difficult to imagine how one would study live without it.”  page 99

Stephen Meyer has this to say in his prologue,

“The technical literature in biology is now replete with world-class biologists routinely expressing doubts about various aspects of neo-Darwinian theory, and especially about its central tenet, namely, the alleged creative power of the natural selection and mutation mechanism.”  page x

Both cannot be accurate statements.

At first I thought that Collins was just writing too early to know these little details.  Then I checked a passage in a novel by Michael Crichton called The Lost World.

“First of all, there’s a time problem.  A single bacterium - the earliest form of life - has two thousand enzymes.  Scientists have estimated how long it would take to randomly assemble those enzymes from a primordial soup.  Estimates run from forty billion years to one hundred billion years.  But the earth is only four billion years old.  So, chance alone seems too slow.” page 226-7

I concede that this is a novel but it is a statement based on a knowledge of the field of evolution.  Both of the statements by Meyer and Crichton are consistent with the other books and articles I have read on the subject.  Collins writes like a philosophy professor trying to sound like a scientist after watching a few You Tubes.  Yet I know he is a serious scientist and a genuine believer.  Both Collins and Meyer are presenting reasons to believe in God.  Crichton, on the same page, attacks the idea that there is even intelligent design.  

Be thoughtful.  Read with your mind turned on.  Make sure that you don’t get a petrified mind but also don’t be naive.  Just because someone has a degree does not make him right.  And of course keep in mind that this criticism is a two edged sword.

Collins, Francis S.  The Language of God.  New York:  Free Press, 2006.

Crichton, Michael.  The Lost World.  New York:  Ballantine Books, 1995.

Meyer, Stephen C.  Darwin’s Doubt.  New York:  Harper One, 2013.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-068: Beyond Multitasking

I can’t comprehend how God can listen to the prayers of an entire world.  Some of it is filtered.  We have places in the Bible where it tells us that God does not hear the prayers of the wicked.  I assume that means that He is willing to listen to repentance and confession, but not petitions.  He certainly doesn’t allow attempts to smooth talk Him to have any influence.

In spite of that there are still millions of people calling on Him at all times.  He listens to all.  We have a term that has come up since Windows appeared on our computer of “multitasking.”  I’m not sure if we used that term about women before computers came along.  We probably had the concept.  I have said before that God is quite good at multitasking, but it occurs to me today that multitasking does not even begin to express what it means to be an all knowing and all powerful God.

Perhaps a better word would be infinite tasking.  That would mean there is no end to how far He can extend his consciousness without losing His edge.  I am getting to the point where I have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time.  It is a challenge to drive and pay attention to what my wife is saying.  This is just one of the ways in which our understanding of God’s character is beyond our ability to truly grasp.  We can try.  We should try.  But we should be content with a happy realization that He is far beyond our ability to pigeonhole.

Is this an attribute of God?  I don’t think the Bible uses the term multitask.  I’m pretty sure the word infinity doesn’t show up in there.  At the same time it is very clear that God is capable of dealing with all of the challenges of the universe.  My concerns are just one.  Our concerns are not ignored.  At the same time we are not the center of the universe, He is.

You would not want me in that chair.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-067: You Should Believe in Miracles

It looks like we might not descend into chaos as a nation.  We have had a successful transfer of power between groups of people who seriously disagree on almost everything.  We did it again without shooting or armies in the streets.  We did it without the Air Force generals trying to bomb the Marines.  This is an American miracle, the transfer of power in peace.

During my lifetime I have seen this kind of extreme before.  It last happened when Jimmy Carter turned over the reigns to Ronald Reagan.  I remember the rumors that flowed as the older Bush left office and how we were supposed to have a revolution when Clinton came in and another when he went out.  Conspiracy never takes a day off.  Part of the American genius is that the nation as a whole would not settle for such rituals.

That does not mean that currently the cabal running the Biden administration did not do everything they could to tie the hands of the incoming Trump.  I doubt if this is the first time such things have happened.  Way back in 1803 when the Federalists were leaving power they tried to appoint a bunch of their judges before Jefferson took the oath.  Down through history it has been a pattern.  

I would be willing to guess that the current crop of traps and handcuffs set a new record for obstruction.  Take the smothering of our justice system by the thousands of pardons that Joe Biden issued.  And what about the preemptive pardons?  Who ever heard of such a thing?  Who ever would imagine doing such a thing?  I guess the Democrats would.  If you have been following the click bait, you have been a witness to major league obstruction and attempts to violate the spirit of the republic.  

Let us hope that the republic and the Constitution are strong enough to surface and move forward.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-066: Anchors a Way

I’m thinking of those clever devices we see used as advertising and attention getters on the side of the road.  They are long tubes a very light material, sometimes with legs and arms and extensions, and they are powered by a big fan in the base, blowing air up and out the top.  They wave around.  They go back-and-forth.  Sometimes they fall almost to where they hit the ground.  What never changes is the anchor they have at the bottom.  They can appear to be blown over.  They can have moments where they lose their air and almost collapse.  Through all this, the anchor is stable and doesn’t change.  Through this that fan keeps blowing a new supply of air up and through them.

This is where worship songs come in.  They talk about being anchored in Jesus.  They point out that our feet are set on the solid rock.  They remind us that our hope and our confidence is in Almighty God.  They remind us of our anchor.  And of course there is a harbor.

An anchor does no good unless it is planted firmly and attached to the boat.  Keep in mind that God would love to supply an anchor for your life but you need to attach yourself to Him.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-065: It Wasn’t Me

How often do we see real facts in front of us and refused to acknowledge what we see?

It may be a ridiculous example, but I experienced it this morning.  I generally make my coffee in the kitchen and then carry it to different places in the house.  If I’m going out on the front porch and my route is over hard surfaces I don’t worry if I might spill a drop here and there.  It can be easily mopped up.

If I’m going over carpet, it’s a different story.  What I will do is try not to fill the cup too full, and then carry a full-size plate underneath it in case anything spills.  This morning I was going over the carpet.  I filled the cup too full.  I knew that.  I watched very carefully as I walked to the back of the house, and I felt like I had done a great job of not spilling a drop.

Fast forward five minutes.  For that matter, slow forward.

I pick up my coffee cup, and there is a suspicious ring of liquid underneath it.  How could this have happened?  I was so careful.  I didn’t spill a drop.  What nefarious gremlin has gotten into my life.  I look over at the plate and it has a small pool of coffee in it.  There was enough that it ran over the side onto a piece of paper underneath it.  How can this be?

My eyes told me I spilled no coffee.  The flat surfaces around me tell me that someone spilled coffee.  I have to make a decision.  Was it gremlins?  Did the cat sneak in and try to find a way to get back at me?  Can I figure out a way to blame my wife?

Unfortunately, I have to admit that I probably did it.  As careful as I was, as clear as the evidence was to my eyes, it happened.  I have to step up like a man and accept responsibility.  Of course I will be doing this confessing and mea culpa on the internet and not around anybody who knows me.

Maybe I need new glasses.  Maybe I need a bigger coffee cup.  Maybe I need to fill the cup less full.  Life is full of options.  Isn’t it wonderful living in a free country?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-064: The Old Five

If you mention the five today, you have people respond by thinking about a TV program.  If you are a little older, you might think of the five finger discount.  I think I watched at least part of the show on occasion but it is not regular viewing for me because I don’t normally watch TV.  However, in Christian circles, there is another five it has mentioned, and I believe it is the five soli, with soli being a plural Latin word for alone or only.

I believe the context is salvation and people who endorse this will say that you are saved by,
Grace alone.
Faith alone.
Christ alone
The glory of God alone
Scripture alone.

Anyone with a logical mind looking at this would think this is nonsense.  You can’t have five different things each one being attributed with the adjective “alone”.  So we have to think of this in a little bit different way to even try to grasp what is being said.  You see, if it’s by grace alone then you don’t need faith.  If it’s by faith alone, you don’t need grace.  It is by either grace or faith alone, you don’t need Jesus, and so forth. That is the logical approach.

The Bible does teach the importance of each one of these.  It might be more productive to say that if you leave any of them out, you don’t have salvation, but to say each one by itself is the source is logical nonsense.

Take grace for instance.  Grace refers to an act of God, which is put into motion purely by the choice of God.  It cannot be forced.  It cannot be bought.  It cannot be earned.  It is the free choice of God to bestow his grace upon people.  It is this act of God that is necessary for salvation, because there’s nothing we can do in our own power to cancel the sin or earn the status.  So far, so good.

My question would be, “On what basis does God make the decision to bestow saving grace?”  Five Point Calvinism would say that it is totally up to God whom He chooses to bestow salvation on.  It is arbitrary.  From my point of view this is making God totally capricious.  I don’t believe God does things arbitrarily, for no reason.  At the same time we cannot earn His favor.

I think this is where free will and being created in the image of God comes in.  We have attitudes.  We make moral choices.  God looks at those and beyond it to the heart directing those choices and decides whom He will save.  Notice the adjective “moral”.   I really don’t think God is concerned about whether you went to McDonald’s or Burger King.  In fact, both might condemn you.  It is the choices that would reflect the two Bible concepts of “righteousness” and “wickedness”.  There is a level on which we can make those choices freely.  I think God notices those things.  He seems to keep bringing them up.

Of course God can see nuances that we can’t even imagine.  My principle point is that a just God would not make choices like that on a celestial flip of the coin.  He might make it the best out of five.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-063: Pentecostal Pep Rally’s

I can almost guarantee that you will never see me at one of the Trump rallies.  I’m glad that they’re happening.  I am enthused about the ideas that Donald Trump is bringing to the presidency and the country.  I plan on supporting him.

Just don’t expect me to stand in the middle of a crowd, screaming, waving my arms, and generally sacrificing my dignity.  There are many things I can enjoy without immersing myself in them.  I don’t need to play in the mud to enjoy watching my grandchildren.  I will never get on a motorcycle and go jumping over obstacles.  I am sure you have your own list.

If you want to go and cheer, I encourage you.  I will endorse the behavior.  Just don’t expect me to join you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-062: Quote for the Day: Wesley Huff

Certain principles are very important when you try to understand the Bible.  One of the steps that you need to go through is to ask yourself first, to whom was this written? Then you need to ask yourself, “How did they understand it?”  After several different levels of thinking, you can finally come to the point where you seek to apply the truth to your own life.

And listening to apologist Wesley Huff, he made a statement which was not new but reminded me of something we need to understand.  I’m not sure in which order he had them, but the basic idea is this,

    “The Bible was not written to you, but it was written for you.”

For instance, when the Bible talks about the sword of the spirit you need to, in your own mind, translate that into a more modern metaphor.  We don’t use swords anymore, except in movies.  They are not something we apply to our daily life.  You might want to substitute your favorite firearm, or your favorite martial arts.  The fact that the Holy Spirit is active is the key point.

Keep your mind turned on.  Keep thinking.  Don’t be afraid to go there when someone brings up a controversial point.  Truth is on our side but sometimes it takes a bit of digging.  The person you disagree with might actually have an insight that will get you closer to genuine truth.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-061: Old and Unimproved

Advertisers and people who make products like to find ways to get attention and increase sales.  I always get amused at lemon drops saying that they are a fat free food.  Or how about oatmeal being gluten-free.  These are part of the definitions of what those foods contain.  I don’t need a special advertising for it.

Another technique they like is to announce that something is “New and Improved”.  Now the newness and the improved aspect is always questionable.  I would venture to guess that sometimes if they put 11 ounces of cereal in a box that used to contain 12 ounces they could say that this is new and improved because you will gain less weight by eating it.  Deception is deception.  Naïve is naïve.  Gullible is gullible.

There are many things that I don’t need to hear “new and improved” about.  I have done my due diligence.  I am ready to accept the judgment of my decisions.  One of those things is oatmeal.  I’ve gone through a long process of arriving at how I like to have oatmeal in the morning.  I’ve tried instant, quick, old-fashioned, older-fashioned, and steal cut.  I have followed directions.  I have been a maverick.  I have come to the conclusion that old fashion, basic as it is, cooked for six minutes instead of five, and not stirred after the initial dumping of the oats produces what I want for breakfast.

It doesn’t mean I’m against trying something new if it comes along.  Just don’t try to advertise it as being biodegradable or organic or Vegan or any of the other nonsense.  Also, you need to put it in a smaller package that it doesn’t cost me the down payment on a house just to try it out.

As a senior citizen, I’m a big endorser of old and not improved.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-060: Which Title

Two songs are going through my mind this morning. The first one starts off, “Creation shows the power of God.  There’s glory all around…”  The chorus begins, “I believe in miracles.”  I’m thinking of that as the title.  The other song going through my mind is a popular song which starts off, “Do you believe in magic?”  Take it either way, miracles or magic.  We just saw that demonstrated on January 20.

Many of us were worried about what the elite cabal that controlled the Biden administration might be planning on pulling during that day.  They were all kinds of conspiracy theories.  At this point, everyone will laugh at them, and pat the conspiracy theorists on the head.  What we will never know is how many of those potential conspiracies were actually considered by the left.  Were they really thinking assassination?  Were they really thinking of some massive explosion to wipe out the leaders of the nation?  I was very nervous as I watched multiple times that both President Trump and JD Vance were standing just a few feet apart.

Did we dodged a bullet?  Was there a bullet to be dodged?  It’s time to consider miracles or magic.  I personally will go with miracles.  One of my theories is that we are surrounded by miracles all the time, but we don’t notice them because we think that’s the way things are supposed to happen.  Sometimes when I’m driving on the interstate across country and see all of these cars rushing to wherever they think they have to be and I noticed how few are broken down by the side of the road.  I wonder why there aren’t more accidents.  So many things I wonder about, and in reality, it may be just that the hand of God is causing multiple miracles in order to reduce the amount of mayhem that we are able to produce.

We made it through the inauguration.  How many plots were foiled by faithful civil servants in the Secret Service, sheriffs department, capital police or any other Agency involved in protecting the president and the country.  There seem to have been enough serious about their responsibility to do the job.  I thank them.

Do you believe in magic?  I don’t.  But I do believe in miracles.  Bismarck is quoted as saying, “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”  I can live with that.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-059: IT Prayer

As I was praying this morning I found myself using a phrase that I didn’t like.  I knew what my heart was saying but the words that were coming to my mind just didn’t quite get across the connotation that I wanted.  I found myself relaxing in my prayer because I knew that God knew what I meant.  If I had been speaking in public, or I guess even praying in public, I might have had a reason to be concerned, but I’m in private, and the only person listening is God Himself, and He knows what I mean.

This is one of the ways in which I interpret this verse,

Romans 8:26-27 (KJV) 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

I know there are other applications and possibly deeper meanings but one of the assurances of this to me is that the Holy Spirit is working in me as I try to express my heart to God.  It’s kind of like when you were using the app on your phone or iPad that allows you to speak and it writes down what you’re saying.  There are times when the app gets some really wild understanding of what you’re saying.  The app is making wild guess guesses based on its programming.  God, on the other hand, knows exactly what you want to say so when He corrects it it’s an improvement.

I find that encouraging and thought I would share it just in case you are in the mood to hear it.  If not now, then file it away for some future moment.  God not only hears what we say, but listens to what our heart is trying to communicate.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-058: Stake Anyone?

It is interesting the way new ideas will pop up at different places simultaneously.  It is either coincidence or just that you were seeing them without being aware of them.  Currently it has been around the term “New Perspective.”  I am still not sure that I grasp the nuances but it is making some people go Rambo so it must have some interesting aspects.

As I first approached the term I was reading a book on theology called Reconsidering Key Biblical Ideas.  I was finding that the authors were mentioning a number of points I had been coming across.  I always like it when someone endorses my thinking.  After investigating some key points they dropped the term on me on page 39.  Okay.  A new theological term in a book about theology.  No big deal, or so I thought.

Shortly after becoming aware of the term the You Tube algorithm dropped a bit of click bait that had three theologians discussing the idea.  I could tell from the names, which I knew, and the way the title was written that there would be some disagreement.  “Disagreement” is a mild term.  
They drew you in by a clip of an interview of a scholar named N.T. Wright.  I have seen his name around but have not read anything he has written.  He fit into that category in my head of “Basically reliable but open to confirmation”.  What he said went along with the book.  The they switched to a different clip with a group of about seven men sitting on a platform and at the end was a man named R.C. Sproul.  I am familiar with Sproul.  I used to be on his mailing list and received a monthly newletter from his organization, Ligonier Ministries.  I knew I did not agree with him on some issues because he was a full-fledged Five-Point Calvinist.  In spite of that there was I lot I topics I could learn from him on.  

That acceptance ended when I was listening to a pod-cast in which he declared war on all Christians who did not embrace the total Reform theology.  Literally, he declared war.  He was taking off the gloves and going after the jugular.  I don’t remember the exact words, this was at least 20 years ago, but that was his point.

When the moderater asked him in this clip what he thought about N.T. Wright his response was, “He is a heretic.”  This was not one of those semi-humorous statements that we throw out when someone disagrees with us.  His accusation and the memory of his previous statement brought to mind the attitudes of John Calvin back in the days when they were burning heretics and drowning
Anabaptists.  He was deadly serious.  I keep forgetting that there are people like that out there.

I will continue reading the book and its “heresy”.  Part of that is because I totally reject Sproul’s theology.  If I had to pick a heretic I would choose him and the theology of John Calvin.  I would, however, stop far short of burning at the stake.

Forster, Roger and Marston, Paul.  God’s Strategy in Human History, Volume II, Reconsidering Key Biblical Ideas.  England:  PUSH Publishing, 2013,

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-057: Balancing Act

We need to keep in mind the principles that have been espoused about responsible government and overspending.  My concern here is two of the announcements given in Trump’s great inauguration speech.  He announced that he was creating two new government bureaucracies.  He announced DOGE, and a department involving external revenue.  In the past I heard that DOGE was going to be sunset in a couple years and was going to be mainly a volunteer organization.  I was very on board for that, but it sounds like now it’s going to become just another typical government organization, throwing its weight around.  I’m all for the concept of cutting back government waste.  I don’t think we can do that by starting more government waste.

And about this department having to do with external revenue, I think that we already have the capacity to do that through the IRS.  The I in IRS stands for internal of course.  Any money which is made in this country is included.  That also includes money made by international corporations.  We don’t have the right to go into other countries and demand a tax from what happens there.  We already have the capacity.  We don’t need to expand the government to do it.

If we think that these are such wonderful ideas then I would suggest an idea that I have heard from somewhere, I don’t know where.  I think I’ve heard of several places.  The original statement had to do with a demand that for every new regulation a government imposes it is required to cancel three or four.  If we apply that to government agencies, then for each new government agency that Trump establishes he needs to dismantle another.  He has already suggested the Department of Education.  I am definitely on board with that.  There are other departments that could also could be done away with.  Maybe our goal should be to cut back to the level authorized in the Constitution.  What a novel idea.  At least in part the staffing on these new agencies can come from the ones that are being dissolved, but the total employees should go down dramatically.

Then you have the announcement currently for $500 billion for AI development.  I wasn’t aware private enterprise needed this kind of stimulus in an area where they are already doing so well.  Where are we going to get $500 billion when we’re already in the tank so far.  I didn’t read the article, just the Clickbait.

Overall I’m excited at what I see.  My memory tells me that one of the big problems that Trump has is that he likes to spend money.  As he spends it, he needs to find a way to cut spending in other areas so that the economy can recover quicker.

I have hope for the future politically. I have confidence for the future spiritually. Hopefully the two will go together.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-056: Specific Laws Mentioned in Psalms, Part 2 of 2, Details

Here are two lists of all the verses mentioned in the previous post.  In the first they are gathered by topic.  In the second they are in order read.

By Topic

Only God, First Commandment
Psalm 44:20 (KJV) If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
Psalms 81:9 (KJV) There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
Psalm 106:28 (KJV) They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Psalm 106:36 (KJV) And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
Psalm 106:38 (KJV) And shed innocent blood, [even] the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Psalm 115:3 (KJV) But our God [is] in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
Psalm 115:4 (KJV) Their idols [are] silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

Sacrifices
Psalm 4:5 (KJV) Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
Psalms 20:3 (KJV) Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice;
Psalm 40:6 (KJV) Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psalm 50:5 (KJV) Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Psalm 50:8 (KJV) I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me.
Psalm 51:16 (KJV) For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psalm 51:19 (KJV) Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
Psalm 54:6 (KJV) I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for [it is] good.
Psalm 66:13 (KJV) I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
Psalm 66:15 (KJV) I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah
Psalm 66:15 (KJV) I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah
Psalm 116:17 (KJV) I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
(Psa 119:108 KJV)  Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.

Vows
Psalm 22:25 (KJV) My praise [shall be] of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
Psalm 50:14 (KJV) Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
Psalm 61:5 (KJV) For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given [me] the heritage of those that fear thy name.
Psalm 66:13 (KJV) I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
Psalm 116:14 (KJV) I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people
Psalm 132:2 (KJV) How he sware unto the LORD, [and] vowed unto the mighty [God] of Jacob

Lies
Psalm 31:18 (KJV) Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
Psalm 34:13 (KJV) Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Psalm 36:3 (KJV) The words of his mouth [are] iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, [and] to do good.
Psalm 40:4 (KJV) Blessed [is] that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Psalm 52:3 (KJV) Thou lovest evil more than good; [and] lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
Psalm 62:4 (KJV) They only consult to cast [him] down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
Psalm 101:5 (KJV) Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.2
Psalm 101:7 (KJV) He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.
Psalm 119:163 (KJV) I hate and abhor lying: [but] thy law do I love.
Psalm 120:2 (KJV) Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, [and] from a deceitful tongue.

Murder
Psalm 37:32 (KJV) The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
Psalm 40:14 (KJV) Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

Theft
Psalm 50:18 (KJV) When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Psalm 62:10 (KJV) Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart [upon them].

Adultery
Psalm 50:18 (KJV) When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

Feasts
I Psalms 81:3 (KJV) Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

Complete list

Psalm 1-3, none

Psalm 4:5 (KJV) Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.

Psalm 5-19, none

Psalms 20:3 (KJV) Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice;

Psalm 21, none

Psalm 22:25 (KJV) My praise [shall be] of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

Psalm 23-25, none

Psalm 26:10 (KJV) In whose hands [is] mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.

Psalm 27-30, none

Psalm 31:18 (KJV) Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Psalm 32-33, none

Psalm 34:13 (KJV) Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile

Psalm 35, none

Psalm 36:3 (KJV) The words of his mouth [are] iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, [and] to do good.

Psalm 37:32 (KJV) The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

Psalm 38-39, none

Psalm 40:4 (KJV) Blessed [is] that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

Psalm 40:6 (KJV) Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

Psalm 40:14 (KJV) Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

Psalm 41-43, none

Psalm 44:20 (KJV) If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Psalm 45-49, none

Psalm 50:5 (KJV) Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

Psalm 50:8 (KJV) I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me.

Psalm 50:14 (KJV) Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

Psalm 50:18 (KJV) When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

Psalm 51:7 (KJV) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:16 (KJV) For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

Psalm 51:19 (KJV) Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

Psalm 52:3 (KJV) Thou lovest evil more than good; [and] lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

Psalm 53, none

Psalm 54:6 (KJV) I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for [it is] good.

Psalm 55-60, none

Psalm 61:5 (KJV) For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given [me] the heritage of those that fear thy name.

Psalm 62:4 (KJV) They only consult to cast [him] down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.

Psalm 62:10 (KJV) Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart [upon them].

Psalm 63-65, none

Psalm 66:13 (KJV) I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

Psalm 66:15 (KJV) I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah

Psalm 67-80, none

I Psalms 81:3 (KJV) Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

Psalms 81:9 (KJV) There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

Psalm 82-100, none

Psalm 101:5 (KJV) Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.2

Psalm 101:7 (KJV) He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

Psalm 102-105, none

Psalm 106:28 (KJV) They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

Psalm 106:36 (KJV) And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.

Psalm 106:38 (KJV) And shed innocent blood, [even] the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

Psalm 107-114, none

Psalm 115:3 (KJV) But our God [is] in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Psalm 115:4 (KJV) Their idols [are] silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

Psalm 116:14 (KJV) I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

Psalm 116:17 (KJV) I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalm 117-118, none

Psalm 119:1-107, none

(Psa 119:108 KJV)  Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.

Psalm 119:163 (KJV) I hate and abhor lying: [but] thy law do I love.

Psalm 120:2 (KJV) Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, [and] from a deceitful tongue.

Psalm 121-131, none

Psalm 132:2 (KJV) How he sware unto the LORD, [and] vowed unto the mighty [God] of Jacob;

Psalm 133-150, none

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-055: Specific Laws Mentioned in Psalms, Part 1 of 2, Summary

This is a follow up to a study of laws mentioned in Proverbs.  There are only 31 chapters in Proverbs and 150 in Psalms so the latter took a bit longer.  I made note of specific laws as I read.  I probably missed a few and if you are worried about it I invite you to do your own research.

Here is a summary by frequency

Sacrifices and Offerings, 13x
Lies, 10x
Only God, 7x
Vows, 6x
Murder, 2x
Theft, 2x
Adultery, 1x
Feasts, 1x

As you look at this list remember that there are 150 Psalms and according to the Rabbis there are 613 laws. It seems strange to me that the law would be mentioned so often and yet the specific application is almost totally lacking.  Notice that except for the items dealing with the sacrificial system everything else is from the Ten Commandments.

My personal theory is that the law that people looked at as vital to life were in those two categories.  The rest dealt with common issues of the community such as health, government and vocation.  That is for the Old Testament and Jesus.  When you get to Paul he hyper-ventilates over circumcision.  That should explain the different approaches and attitudes.

The details will be in the next post which you can skip unless you are having a hard time getting to sleep.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-054: But Should We?

The president announced that he was going to initiate a $500 million investment in AI.  That’s what the Clickbait said.  I have not yet read in depth about what he is proposing.  I’m not excited about spending more federal money to subsidize private industry.  Private industry does very well on its own if it’s worth doing.

That is a different issue than I want to address now.  I want to look more into that well-known phrase, “Just because we can doesn’t mean that we should.”  What I’m looking at here is the whole question of AI.  I can’t think of any other topic that generates so much concern and even fear in the general population.  I’m talking to those who are actually think about consequences not just the woke groups that don’t know how to think.  We are going to be moving forward into investigating the potential of computers.  That is inevitable.  While we are looking into the technology of it, we also need to consider the ethics of it.

We were involved in a war for survival when the Manhattan Project produced the atomic bomb and opened up nuclear holocaust to the world.  I’m not sure we had much choice at that point about whether we went forward with it.  There have been a lot of people looking back and second-guessing the decisions of the time and asking, “Should we have developed the atomic bomb?”  This is a question that should’ve been asked before the question of, “Should we use the atomic bomb?”

We tend to ignore the philosophical and ethical questions of our advancements.  While it may be true that we are going to advance whether we talk about philosophy or not, we still need to get in the habit of looking into the consequences of what we do.  AI in itself is simply just developing technology to be more efficient and more effective.  When asked about AI and whether it’s dangerous, the most intelligent answer I’ve heard is that it depends on who develops it and what their goals are.  Any technology can be used for evil.  Any technology can be used to benefit mankind.  The big question is which direction will this go.

In one sense I am not afraid of AI.  I understand the limitations of computer programming.  Did you hear about the self-driving car that plowed into a parked fire truck?  The programers never told it not to run into parked fire trucks.  I don’t think that we will ever get to the point where computers will be like the robots of Isaac Asimov.  It’s a nice dream in science fiction, but I somehow don’t think that will develop in the real world.  Of course, that’s based on my review of men being created in the image of God.  I am more worried about the motivation of the programmers.

Can computers be developed that are so strong and so fast that they are very effective in limiting our freedoms?  How can we keep them on a leash?  These are questions that need to be asked.  They are really future molding.

It needs to be asked loud and clear and repetitively.  We need to hold the developers feet to the fire and have open and frank discussion about what the real goals are.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-053: Experiments in Physics

As I write we are in the middle of a cold spell.  Some people just say, “Texas.”  Others start looking through Revelation, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24 or any other place where the end of the world is forecast and try to apply their fear to the real world.

Is it cold?  Yes.  Should we panic?  Guffaw.  I am willing to let the faucets drip to keep peace in the family.  It might even be a good idea.  I went on line to see what the “experts” had to say about how cold it needed to be to drip the faucets.  At one end they seemed to be saying 32º.  That is ridiculous even to this California refugee.  At the other end they said 20º which is reasonable if you keep the heat on in the house.  

It is simple physics but what does not make it simple is the location of your pipes, how long it is how cold and how hard the wind is blowing.  As an experiment I left a two liter bottle of water out on the porch all night and put one in the garage.  This morning they were both liquid.  I will leave them because it is supposed to get colder over the next two days.  

So we let it drip.  Better safe than sorry.  In the last cold spell we had a pipe burst in the garage but that was when the high for the day was 18º.

I love central heat.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-052: Pardon My Thoughts

I don’t know why I am so angry about the pardons that Joe Biden gave to all of his criminal allies and family.  It fits.  It’s so appropriate.  Why was I surprised?  I guess I thought there might be some decency buried under the piles of garbage, but I was wrong.

As I was thinking about these pardons, and if there was any way around them and still follow the rule of law, my thought went to other cases where I couldn’t understand what was going on.  I thought of how O.J. Simpson was declared not guilty of murdering his wife.  I didn’t agree with the verdict but I had not followed the celebrity case.  I was willing to grant that the jury knew something I didn’t.  I was shocked when the family of his ex-wife was allowed to sue him in a civil court.  I thought there was this thing about double jeopardy in the Constitution.  Evidently the people who are trying to destroy the protections of the Constitution decided that even though you are not guilty of the criminal charges you could still be guilty of a civil violation.  They have done the same thing using civil rights as an excuse.  It still seems like double jeopardy to me.  There were other cases where this happened.

Because of our system of common law, which is based on precedent, it would seem that it is now possible for us to use this to move towards justice.  OK.  All these criminals are pardoned from their crimes.  What about all the money that they have stashed as they betrayed the country?  Would that not be a safe target of a civil trial?  If it works for O.J. Simpson, why not for Andrew Fauci?

The left is continually perverting protections given to us by the law.  Joe Biden distorted the power of the presidency with his executive orders.  Executive orders have been a standard tool of the president to get things done.  It is simply a name for the directions being given out.  Under Democrat presidents they became tools for going around Congress.  We can continue to look at ways in which they have perverted law.  They are continually changing the rules.  The senate filibuster is either good or bad, depending on who’s in power.  They have changed the rules on judges and the budget.

We need to take the precedents that they have established and use them to try and reinforce what the Constitution is all about.  Meanwhile, the legislature should be clarifying just exactly what the law is.  My understanding is that they can limit what the court can control and explain how the law is to be understood.  They need to do their job.

There should be a way to achieve justice before the vigilantes start coming out of the woodwork.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-051: Clickbait: Good Timing

As I was scrolling through the You Tube Clickbait I came across this announcement:

Former Clinton Pollster Mark Penn Absolutely SAVAGES Joe Biden Over Last Minute Pardons: ‘The Last Straw’

How timely.  You wait until your epiphany will make absolutely no difference and suddenly you see the light.  Is it honesty and insight speaking or just a concern about your future?  

I have seen several comments about how people who have been savaging Trump for years are now lining up to lick his boots.  Most of the names I don’t know but the phenomenon would not surprise me.  My hope is that Trump has learned his lesson.  I hope he will be courteous enough to get them to support America for the brief time their repentance lasts but will not give them the keys to the liquor cabinet.  I hope he has learned how to deal with the lizards even if they took a shower after climbing out of the swamp.

Pray for humility and wisdom to be granted to Donald Trump.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-050: Ode to Old: The Magic Is Gone

We had a dusting of snow Monday night.  It was enough to cover the walkways and any flat surface but the grass was still standing valiantly.  There was enough on the front steps to go out and make a few snowballs.  I was not tempted.  The magic is gone.  Warmth and comfort are more compelling.  

I imagine that my grandchildren are dragging their father out to see what they can make.  They learned about snow angels over Christmas in Minnesota.  If they got enough snow they will be out swishing and whooping.  They may be doing it even if they don’t have enough snow.  If I were down at their house I might be out washing their faces with snow.  That is what the magic does for you.

I will find my magic in other ways, thank you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-049: Daily Prepping

I did some prepping yesterday morning.  I would not have recognized it as such.  It involved boiling some eggs.  Why was this prepping?  Because my wife had been watching the Weather Wiz again and, on the fringe of panic, was worried that we would starve it the power went out because of the end-of-the-world storm coming our way.  Okay.  Boiled eggs are good.  They are even better if the world does not come to an end.  They keep well and can be used many ways.

So I have been prepping.  Catastrophe is coming.  I hope to see you on the other side.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-048: Live First Person

I watched President Trump’s entire inauguration speech.  I didn’t spend much time on the theatrics in the ceremony.  I watched a little bit of one of his appearances immediately after the speech, but it was clear that he was getting into keeping his base, happy, and communicating with the people who have supported him.  I don’t need that kind of encouragement.  The speech was enough for me.

I listened to the whole thing for the simple reason that I don’t trust any of the media, right or left, to tell me what he actually said, in the way in which he said it.  I think the spin should be kept in my clothes dryer, not in my politics or, for that matter, in my spiritual life, or my family.  I need to live life in the first person. I need to do the listening as much as possible.

I find that reading the Clickbait headlines is interesting to get a general trend of what is happening, but it does nothing to give me accurate facts.  Usually the articles are even worse.  I want information uninterpreted.  I don’t want to live through someone else’s dreams and aspirations.  That can be time-consuming when you’re talking about Donald Trump or any other politicians.  They love to hear themselves talk.  They love to repeat things.  Part of that is because people don’t listen.

I will admit that Donald Trump tends to go on and on.  That’s one reason why I don’t listen to many of the speeches.  I’ve already heard them.  At the same time, I need to pay enough attention to know what he’s really saying.  His inauguration speech was unfiltered from the heart into every American.  We need to take it seriously and ignore the way the media spins what he said.

Have a good time filtering the Clickbait.  Fake News did not go away just because it lost an election.  Somewhere in all that you’ll find the information you need.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-047: Time to Double Down

I’m not sure where the term “double down” comes from.  In the back of my mind there is this thought that it is a gambling term which somehow means that you multiply your bets.  My creative imagination tells me that there’s a situation in playing blackjack where you can divide your cards into two piles.  Is it imagination or memory?  That part is not important.

What is important is that people who have been praying for the revival of our country and a change of direction need to not get complacent.  We are now at the point where we need to pray even more.  This morning on the day after the inauguration I realized that we need to double down in our prayers.  What brought this home to me?  What’s the way in which God scheduled me to be reading Proverbs 21 and found this as the first verse,

Proverbs 21:1 (KJV) The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

I noticed that Donald Trump made several mentions of how God was important to our progress as a nation, and how God is going to use him.  All that was good.  I believe he meant it.  I believe he feels the hand of God upon him.  I don’t know that he has become what we might call a “true believer.”  If not, I hope that day comes, but until it does, or if it has, we need to double down in our prayers for him.

We feel we took a step forward by winning the election.  We’re hearing the kind of things that we need to hear or want to hear.  We need to make sure we don’t submit to hubris and start thinking we have arrived, and that we are specially blessed by God at the expense of other people.  We need to pray that God‘s will would be done.

As we pray for the president, we need to pray for ourselves and for the church.  We need to double down in all areas.  America is not the chosen nation in the sense that Israel was chosen by God and received a special mandate directly.  In spite of that we can be used of God, and we want to keep this nation as close to the center of his will as possible.  It makes me wonder how the world might be different, if righteousness has taken hold of Sodom or of Egypt or of any other political power in history.  Where would the world be today if Israel had been faithful?

God bless America.  Pray that we would be a part of that blessing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-046: Mixing It Up

I am really struggling with being isolated.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy being isolated; I do.  I’m an introvert.  I have very little need of contact with other people.  I find them draining and often depressing.  They can bore me or make me mad.  The problem isn’t that I feel like I need a counselor to help me with my depression and isolation.

The problem is I enjoy discussing things with people who have different viewpoints.  Actually, that’s not the problem, the problem is finding people with different viewpoints who know enough about why they have those viewpoints to talk about them.  In talking to friends in California during the election, they told me that all they saw anywhere were Harris signs.  On the converse side, in my area of Texas during the entire election season I only saw one Harris sign.  It’s kind of hard to discuss your difference of opinion with someone if you can’t find them.

There are places I could go.  I can start hanging out at Starbucks.  Something in me cringes at the thought of their over cooked coffee and under thought politics.  I could hang around a bar perhaps, but in Texas, the bar would be full of rednecks who voted for Trump.  I could go to a liberal church, but I value my soul too much and I’m not sure that people who attend those churches know enough about what they believe to have a reasonable discussion.  If they knew enough to have a reasonable discussion, then they probably would not have believed that they have.  I’ve thought of signing up for a class at a local educational unit of some kind.  My fear is that I would run screaming out of the room or else possibly throw up on the floor at what I was hearing.

So I continue to hope that somewhere along the line, I will be able to have a reasonable, in-depth, thoughtful discussion with someone who might not have like mind, but has a mind period.

Is that too much to ask for?

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-045: You Are Welcome

It occurred to me as I was driving to do some shopping Saturday and saw that the price of gas had gone down seven cents a gallon that I did the entire country a service by filling up two days ago.  It seems in my life that when I do some thing like filling up with gas, the next day the price goes down.  It is awesome to see how my butterfly wings can cause a typhoon in the South Pacific, or wherever typhoons happen.

I will do my best to stay out of your lane on the interstate and your line at the grocery store.

You are welcome.  It’s the least I can do for my fellow citizens.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-044: The Day After

Did you go to church on Sunday?  If you did, did anybody ever mention that it was a special day other than being Sunday?  Sunday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  Sometimes it’s called Pro Life Sunday.  Did anybody mention it in Sunday school?  Was it mentioned from the pulpit during any part of the service?

If your church was not aware that this is the Sunday that the champions of life selected to remind us of the tragedy of Roe versus Wade, then that might be one of the marks that tells you whether the church is worth attending or not.  Roe versus Wade was overturned, true.  In reality, the battle goes on.  Thousands of children are being slaughtered every day.  That really adds up over time.

Ignoring abortion is not the only issue that a week church fails on, but it is an indication.  It might be a good litmus test, or it might be that for some reason, your church does everything right except for that.  Only you can be the judge, but I would guess that if you go to a church that ignores the issue of abortion or soft-pedals it or sugarcoat it, you will find other areas that are also falling short of what God wants for them.  It’s amazing how often common threads of thinking and values run together.

We need revival in the nation.  We need to stand up and be counted.  If you are going to a church that is overlooking vital areas of morality, cultural, compromise, doctrinal, deviation, or outright denial of the divinity of Christ then you need to be one of those clanging cymbals that are calling people back to truth.  Keep in mind that it’s not just the public square that needs revival.  The church is where it must start.  And one of the things I’ve been hearing regularly in the past few weeks at my church is that it must start in each one of us.

Pray for revival. Pray that it would start and you and me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-043: Created vs Modified

While watching the Joe Rogan interview with Stephen Mayer,  I noticed that Rogan continually asked that same question about, “What if...?”  One of the things that comes to my mind as I think about that is that you can’t know when real genius will step into the scientific process.  We tend to confuse genuine genius with a bit of talent.

The difference can be summed up in different words.  I tried to figure out a couple and the best I could come up with was created versus modified.  I tried thinking of creating with different adjectives, but it wasn’t startling enough so I went with these two.

Most of the things that we consider to be new inventions are really just extensions of what already exists.  They are evolutional modifications.  For instance someone invents the refrigerator.  Now that is in the realm of genius but after the genius has done its work, the innovators start to evolve things.  They say if you can make things cold maybe you can freeze things, and the freezer is born.  Then someone says why not have the freezing compartment at the top of the refrigerator.  Another says let’s put it at the bottom.  Someone in a burst real creativity says, “Well let’s put them side-by-side.”  Someone else says let’s make them different colors.  These are evolutionary concepts at best.  They are not creativity.

Somewhere I read that Hugh Ross came to Christ because after studying the usual round of religions he came to the conclusion that the only one that had concepts impossible for the ancient human mind to produce was the one explained in the Bible.  I don’t think he was talking about creation itself.  It involved concepts that only an astrophysicist would notice.  It worked for him.

I love to speculate with “What if...”  At the same time I don’t let it replace truth and knowledge.  Let your imagination go wild but don’t assume you can turn off gravity.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-042: Incomprehensible

While basking in the presence of Almighty God I turned to my list of attributes that we find in the Bible.  They are puny human attempts to define God.  At the same time we do the best we can because they are given to us in the inspired word.

It might help us to keep that in mind when we try to define certain biblical terms.  Right now there are words that I am investigating and meditating on.  I keep wondering how to define grace.  I am mystified at how the Law can be so marvelous to David and such a precaution to Paul.  I wonder how righteousness is possible in fallen man.

As I continue to try to understand, to stretch the limits of my thinking, to put it all together, I need to accept the fact that I will never totally arrive.  In one sense, I will never be able to wrap my arms around the glory of God.  He knows that.  He has always known that.  I wonder how much of that will be modified in eternity.  I anticipate learning and experiencing.

At the same time, Jesus told us that if we know him, we know the Father.  That means that I will study the Son in order to understand the Father.  I rejoice in my ignorance, not because it highlights my limitations, but because it promises a continual and never ending progression of new revelations and delights.

I look forward to tomorrow.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-041: Fake News Is a Symptom

The repetitive clickbait regarding Joe Rogan interviewing Wesley Huff finally got me to watch the discussion.  It was interesting and informative.  What caught Rogan’s attention had been a “debate” between Huff and someone called Billy Carson.  There was enough reaction expressed that I am in the process of listening to that.  It will take me several days.

One of the areas that I have a working knowledge of has to do with the validity of the Bible.  I have read enough and listened enough that my baloney meter knows when to go off.  Wesley Huff comes across as a careful scholar who knows his stuff.  Billy Carson sets my meter to playing a concerto.  He makes statements that would cause anyone who is awake and serious about learning to develop a rash.  

It occurred to me as I was listening that Billy Carson is not alone in the world of scholarship.  Much of what we read, be it history, science, theology, economics or any other topic, is nothing but the scholastic form of Fake News.  Call it Fake Scholarship.  If you have been exposed to it from kindergarten their might be some excuse for believing the things that you hear coming from your friendly local professor but it does not take much digging to at least question what you are hearing.

The list of Fake Scholarship is long.  One that has been around since I was a child is global warming or, as it used to be called, global cooling.  The nonsense about America having some special role in slavery means you have never got past the book of Genesis.  If you want to know how many genders there are all you have to do is look in a T-shirt catalog.  What the Second Amendment means only requires a second grade education to understand.  What kind of brain dead accepts that only white people can be racist?

You get the point.

Be alert for Fake Scholarship.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-040: A Stolen Idea

I have looked for the source.  I can’t find it.  At this point, I doubt if I will ever be able to isolate where I came up with this idea, but it is not mine.  It stood out to me when I read it, and for some reason, I did not make a note of where I found it.

The mysterious writer said that the most important, or significant, issue in any argument is the basic assumptions you start with.  He said you can have all the right facts, have logic that is impeccable, have everything on your side, but if you start with the wrong assumptions, your conclusion is wrong.

Assumptions totally mold the argument.  Assumptions guide your choice of facts.  You ignore many things that might apply but either you don’t see them or are you downplay them.  Assumptions direct your logic.

One of my big assumptions and everything that I do, say and think is that there is a God and He is the God of the Bible.  I assume He has expectations about right and wrong.  I assume there is evil in the world and it is opposed to Him.  I assume He wants me to live in obedience.  That is the root.

So certain issues are no brainers.  Killing your baby in the womb is not an option.  Sex is reserved for marriage and the is defined as being between one man and one women.  God created only man and women, not unlimited genders based on our feelings of the day.  There is a hell as well as a heaven.  I am sure I could go on but I also assume you have a limited attention span.

Start you day with the right assumptions.  It is more important than the right breakfast.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-039: The Yellow Snow May Be Lemonade

Thursday on a Zoom meeting we got to talking about the L.A. fires.  At least three of the group live in the ash strewn valleys.  One lives within the “no-go zone”.  He is in an interesting situation.  They are not forcing people to leave but they have turned off the electricity.  They were first told to boil their tap water then told not to boil it because that would release poisons that had been absorbed.  He can leave but he can’t come back.  It is typical California nonsense.

What struck me was the positive things he had to say about his situation.  He said it was bringing people out of their houses and getting them to talk.  He was encouraged by the spirit of community that was emerging.  He was getting to know people he had lived beside for years.  It doesn’t rebuild the homes or bring the dead back to life but it is an aspect of hardship that we overlook.  

Another guy on the call, who does not live in California, reminisced on the experience I shared with him in Boston during the Blizzard of ‘78.  Martial law was declared and you could not drive.  People came out of their houses and met in the snow clogged streets and got to know each other.  It was an unexpected benefit of the attack by Mother Nature.

So be encouraged.  The destruction is not over yet but life goes on and people are busy making lemonade.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-038: The Fire Shall Burn on the Just and the Unjust

I have mixed emotions and thoughts about the California fires.

On one hand I have friends who still live in the area threatened by the fire.  Another series of furious winds and they may be out on the streets.  On the other hand I have been encouraging them to leave for years and there is nothing but deeper heel marks.  It is hard to feel much sympathy for people who keep eating at a fast food place that gives them gastric adventures.

On the one hand there are virtuous, godly people who have been effected.  I believe this simply because it is hard to believe that an entire town is full of blue brained fools.  Having said that I used to believe there were still some good people in the Democrat party too.  Some fantasies are hard to unbelieve.  I feel for those people.

On the other hand the vast majority of people being burned out have consistently voted and contributed to the people and policies that made the fires much worse than they needed to be.  Many of them will vote for the hairdo again if given a chance.  The plain fact is that some people will never learn.  My sympathy runs out very quickly for those people.  I wish them well.  I hope that they do not get what they deserve, but that crosses over into the nature of evil and why people seem to be less than they should be.

Let us hope that lessons can be learned at the lowest possible price.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-037: MADD, Media Attention Desire Disorder

I was watching a YouTube conversation between Chris Williamson and Konstantin Kisin.  There were intersting insights into what is going on in the UK but nothing shocking.  During the discussion they touched on the main goal of media, both social and legacy.  I thought this was an interesting summation:

“Do whatever it takes to get you the most attention.”

Truth, facts, informing, all take a back seat to making a splash.  I think that is true of what we consider news and even the weather.  As I have been picking up coverage of the fires in Southern California I get the same coverage.  In talking to people who live close to the fire I get both how the destruction does not seem to get the coverage it should and the panic is overdone.  One guy on our Zoom call is living within the no-go zone.  He has no electricity and there is dust everywhere.  Other than that he is getting along.  They are not forcing him to leave but if he tries to go out for supplies they will not let him back in.

These are good lessons for being prepared for various levels of emergency.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-036: The Grace Card

I think possibly that the library card is an excellent example of how grace works in salvation.  We think of being saved by grace and that is a gift of God.  This is true.  The same basic statement could be made about your library card.  I think that salvation has a lot in common with your library privileges.

We tend to think of a library card as being free.  It is a gift from whatever government agency issues the card.  As a general rule, we don’t stop to think about the fact that someone had to build the library, stock it with books, and hire people to work there.  I think most people feel like the library just appears out of unicorn dust like they do every other government service.  The truth is that someone has to pay or there is no library.  In the case of your library, it’s paid for by taxes, which means you pay it.

Salvation is more like me going to another jurisdiction, and getting a library card in an area which I do not pay taxes.  In this case, someone else pays the price of the card.  That’s more like salvation.  It depends on someone else paying the price for my sin.  In this case it’s Jesus.  So let’s just go with the idea that my library card is free.

What is necessary for me to get a library card?  One library that I have a card from will give you a card as long as you live in Texas.  Others require certain ZIP Codes.  Some require you to live specifically within the city limits.  The point is there are requirements on getting it and you have to apply.  Unlike ballots that the Democrats want to supply, they are not mailed out to everyone.  They are available.  They are not automatic. That is in sync with the idea of salvation by grace.

So far you probably are with me, but here’s where my reform readers will part company.  The big question in my life ,or at least in my mind is, what does it take to keep the card functioning?  Understand, nowadays library cards are not issued on forever basis.  Every card that I have communicates with me roughly once a year.  They are not looking to revoke my privileges or, in a sense to remove my salvation, they are simply wanting to know if I am still on board.  Do I still consider myself a part of the library community?  There are no additional fees, but they do check my address to make sure that it’s really me.  Simple stuff.  Within the reach of every library card holder.  If I don’t respond or if I tell them no thanks, my library card is canceled and my privileges are revoked.  It is totally up to me.  It is my choice.

I think that’s a good example of how salvation works as we walk down the life that comes after being saved.  God is not going to cast us out into the darkness, like He did the man with the inadequate wedding clothes.  Jesus didn’t die on a cross to see how many people He gets into hell.  At the same time, Jesus doesn’t consider His sacrifice just kind of a cheap bit of laughter material, because nothing is expected of us.  We have the statement and Peter,

(2Pe 3:9 KJV)  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

At the same time Paul is constantly telling us, and reminding us that we need to keep living a righteous life.

So if you haven’t done so, apply for a card at your local library.  If you haven’t done so express you believe in Jesus and have your sins forgiven and get your spiritual library card signifying that you were a member in good standing of the body of Christ.  And make sure that you keep it up-to-date.

The cost is already been paid.  The price was beyond your reach.  It has been paid.  That’s what makes it something that is available to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-035: Pagan Science

Words and concepts change as time marches on.  Some of that is cultural differences that were always there locally and gradually spread across cultural lines.  The Greek concept of the Logos was adopted by the Christian church and modified to meet their needs.  Other times it never crosses over because of a lack of need.  The Eskimos, now going by Inuit, have at least four different words for snow.  Arabs would just ask, “What is snow?”  

One word that has changed in meaning is “science”.

In the pagan world, the meaning of “science” was totally different.  In Aristotle, the meaning of science seems to be any area of study or interest.  In that way of thinking Theology was called the “Queen of the sciences” in medieval times.  The concept of science as we think of it was very limited.

Only with the renaissance and the emergence of the scientific method do we come to the modern concept that science is something that studies the physical world and investigates the principles, called laws, behind it.

Today we are reverting back to the pagan concepts that science is anything you want it to be.  That’s why we have terms like political science.  Politics is not a science in our modern way of thinking and in the Renaissance concept it is just an area of study.  At the heart of this is the humanistic philosophy that there is no absolute truth; truth is within you; it is anchored in your world view and self image.

Science may have passed its usefulness.  If science does not reach back and grasp the concept that there is truth then they will have no basis for further investigation.  All they will need to do is sit in their ivory towers, get grant money from the government and work their imaginations.  In many areas of science that is what they have been doing for years.

Keep in mind that the airplane does not fly because the pilot has a strong self image but because of Bernoulli’s Principle.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-034: Making Progress

Is Pilgrim’s Progress  an example of a modern version of the book of Job?

I was reading in Psalm 109.  I was struck by the poetic nature of the writing.  As I worked my way down, I told myself that there is very little in this Psalm that I would take as being literal.  It is poetic.  It is Figurative.  It is imaginative.  I would not be mining any scientific principles or understanding of history on what I read here.  I could get insights into the glory of God and His Majesty.

When we read scripture, we need to do so with discernment.  We need to understand that the authors of the different books, let alone, the Holy Spirit, are just as smart as we are.  In fact, they are smarter.  They may not have taken the courses in English literature that we did, but I listened enough to understand the concept of simile and metaphor and hyperbole and allegory.  They use all of those to communicate truth.

Which brings me to my original question in comparing the work of John Bunyan, and that of Job.  One of the questions people ask about the book of Job is, “Is this something that really happened or is this a product of creativity?”  Is this figurative or literal?  Is it history or parable?  I could ask the same question about the parables of Jesus, such as the good Samaritan.  Were these related by Jesus based on what He had seen or created to get across a point?

I think everyone who knows which foot to put the right shoe on would acknowledge that Bunyan was writing an allegory.  The literary form of allegory does not fit so well with the book of Job.  A better example for Job might be the dialogues of Socrates.  Did those discussions actually happen as listed?  Not being a scholar of ancient literature I don’t know how that response would break down, but I imagine you would find some people who would say that Plato was writing them as accurately as he could remember, possibly with perfect accuracy, and you would find others that would say that he pretty much made them up on the fly.

I would say it doesn’t really matter.  Both allegory and dialogue are presenting insights and argument, and teach a certain point or principle.  The same could be said about parables.  The value of either depends on the willingness of the learner to consider the truth that is being offered.  Don’t be like my grandson who refuses to taste anything that is not already on his list of approved foods.

Paying attention, spending time in consideration and discussing the results can make your day.  Make a few days and you transform your tomorrows.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-033: Food or Focus

The problem is not the food itself.  The problem is the focus of the eating.

As I came out of the triad of feasting holidays, I seriously asked myself how I did on my addiction to food.  I am a glutton.  Gluttony is listed as a sin.  God has promised to help me with my sin.  That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy or automatic.  But it does mean it’s possible.

The problem is not the food itself.  One of the characteristics of a glutton is that they will keep eating, I guess I should say I will keep eating, even after the food becomes relatively tasteless and I am already full.  Don’t ask me to make sense of it.  Just accept it.

The problem is in my attitude towards the food.  If my focus is on gratification of my sensual stimulation, then there is not enough food in the world to satisfy me.  If my focus is on God himself and living a righteous life, then I have hope.  My current exercise involves not eating food between meals.  It’s a real trial for me.  I find out that as I wake up to the fact that I’m reaching for some morsel, and then pull my hand back that God allows me to find something else to put my mind to.  It means I read more.  It means I write more.  It increases my study focus.  Of course 20 minutes later I’m ready for another snack.  The fact that I didn’t succumb last time makes it a little bit easier to be strong this time.

It is a journey.  I don’t enjoy the deprivation part, but I am greatly encouraged by the increased awareness of the presence of God, a greater clarity of mind, and often more energy.

The refocusing continues.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-032: Parallels

As we were driving to dinner my son was sharing with me one of the great insights into the Star Trek world.  He said in the original series there were no bathrooms.  To be honest this is some thing that I had never noticed, would have never noticed, and certainly don’t think needed to be noticed.  But evidently it’s still true, because they added them in later series.

This morning sitting on the porch, it occurred to me that we don’t seem to have a lot of reference to sanitary facilities in the Bible either.  The only place that comes to mind is only found in modern translations.  The first place I saw it was in the Living Bible.  Here it is in the CEV.

(1Ki 18:27 CEV) At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. "Pray louder!" he said. "Baal must be a god. Maybe he's day-dreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he's asleep, and you have to wake him up."

I can’t think of any major Bible personality that is explained as having gone to the bathroom.  Is there a theological significance to that?  I doubt it.  It’s still a fact.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-031: That Still Small Hand

If you’ve been around Christians much, you have somewhere heard the term “the still small voice.”  That refers to the way in which sometimes God speaks to us quietly in our in our hearts.  It is the voice of the Holy Spirit.  It is another one of those phrases that are found in the Bible.

(1Ki 19:12 KJV)  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I’m wondering if we don’t miss a lot of what God does in our world because He often moves with a “still small hand”.  We tend to think of miracles as glorious and extravagant intervention into our world.  We think of things like the parting of the Red Sea.  In reality, I think there are probably numerous daily miracles going on that are done quietly, and with what we might call divine sleight-of-hand.

We had a small miracle shared at church on Sunday.  The speaker was at an intersection turning onto a main highway from a side road.  There was a signal, and he was the second car in line.  The light turned green and the car in front of him started out into the intersection and suddenly slammed on his brakes and came to a halt just quick enough to be missed by a crazy guy in a big pickup running the red light.  The telling was very dramatic.  It seems that the car in front of him had inches to spare before he was destroyed by this behemoth.  It didn’t take much to wake the guy up to impending death.  It sounded like the kind of miracle that takes place all around us every day; less dramatic, but just as life-changing.

I wonder how often this is the way God works.  In fact, I’m pretty much convinced after thinking about it that this is usually the way God works with His still small hand.

My attitude of thankfulness includes all of those little incidents that I don’t even notice and encompasses the work of guardian angels.  You do believe in guardian angels, don’t you?  It’s a good thing that their pride is not on the line when it comes to serving us.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-030: An Act of Grace

As I try to define the word “grace”, I find that there are constant insights. This morning as I was worshiping and moving into my time of thanksgiving, I started, as usual, with an awareness of Jesus, and what it meant to come to earth.

Philippians 2:7 (KJV) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philippians 2:6-7 (LSB) 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.

As I was thinking about this, the phrase “act of grace” came to my mind.  Who Jesus was, and what Jesus did was only within the parameter of the power of God.  And it occurred to me that that is one of the aspects of grace.  True grace is something that only God has the power to administer and distribute.

My basic understanding of grace is “ God’s love in action”, as opposed to the popular one of “undeserved merit”.  The incarnation is definitely an example of God’s love in action as it laid the foundation for salvation.  While I acknowledge the undeserved aspect I don’t think that is the key idea to focus on.

May God’s Grace be active in your life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-029: Where Is Robespierre When You Need Him?

I would say it’s time to dial the government back but I think it’s more accurate to say we are past the time when the government needs to be dialed back.

What generates this line of thought was a meme post on a site called “The Daily Time Waster.”  The event being examined in the meme involved fire trucks being sent from the state of Oregon down to help with the emergency in Southern California.  If you’ve been paying attention, you understand that Los Angeles county had just donated a large number of fire trucks and other equipment to Ukraine, and is now paying the price and not having enough to go around.  They called for other states to send help.  Oregon responded.

So far so good.  This is how America is supposed to work.

Enter government control.  According to the meme the fire truck from Oregon was being held up for inspection by the California Department of Transportation.

I could not get it to show up on this blog but it is theoretically from the Oregon Public broadcasting website.  I went there and couldn’t find it.  I don’t know if I’m just looking in the wrong place or if it’s more fake news.

It’s believable because this is the way government works especially in a blue state like California.

This reminds me of what I went through about 30 years ago.  I was making a career change and going into teaching.  I had finished my class work at one university.  I had a job already under an emergency credential program.  I needed the University staff to come and supervise my student teaching.  The school I was attending said they could not come because I was outside their area.  So I went to the university who had jurisdiction in my area.  They refused to supervise me because they could not certify the quality of education that I’ve gotten in the other state university.

Keep in mind these are both state universities.  There was no competition with a private school.  In theory, they both march to the same drummer.  But because of bureaucracy, they said they could not help me.

I ended up dropping out of their programs and entering a private university to finish up my classes and my student teaching.  This is the kind of nonsense that the government does.  It should not surprise us.

You find this in just about every area of government.  You get petty bureaucrats who are very impressed with their own importance and who know what the law states, and what the regulations are, and refuse to work with you.  It could be because they are afraid.  They could be incompetent.  Often I think it is just the lethargy and malaise that comes from being a government employee and knowing that you have power over other people.

We are being ruled by an unelected administrative bureaucracy.  Try to get a building permit.  Try to get an inspection at work you’re having done.  Try to get almost anything done and you run into government bureaucracy’s telling you to stop and jump through the hoops.  It is strangling the country.  It needs to come to a stop.

Was the meme poster accurate?  Was it just a troll to generate hits?  I don’t know, but it is certainly believable because I know how the government of California works.  The problem is I think that this type of mentality is spreading everywhere, even in Texas.

One of the things that Donald Trump talks about is being over regulated.  This is a good example.  Hopefully he will be able to do something about it.

January 20 can’t come soon enough.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-028: Focus or Sloth

I have been giving Pastor the benefit of the doubt because he is an evangelist at heart.  All of the sermons have a predominantly evangelistic thrust.  That is good.  That is a quality to be desired.  But I’m noticing also a tendency to refuse to look any deeper.  And I’m wondering if evangelism is a fallback for someone who doesn’t want to do any studying, meditating, or contemplating on the great truths of God.

Sunday the text was Romans 12.  In case that doesn’t ring a bell it starts off,

(Rom 12:1-2 KJV)  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

From there it goes on to the body of Christ and one of the listings of the gifts of the Spirit and finishes up with some very important directions on living the Christian life.  There is a wealth of teaching here.  Is it necessary to become a Christian first?  Of course but if you have been around the church long you know there is more a problem with people maturing and staying in the faith than getting them converted.

The sermon lasted half an hour.  Twenty-five minutes involved jumping all around the Bible finding reasons for people to get saved.  Each spot he went to could have generated a full sermon.  There was no coherent thought, there was no chain of evidence, there was no deeper contemplation, and the beginning and primary points of Romans chapter 12 where ignored.  I will admit the last three or four minutes he quickly went through the first two verses and had some things to say but he missed the whole point.

So is it focus and priority or sloth and unwillingness to put in the time?

I have visited a lot of churches in my life.  There are two big problems in the preaching.  One is to teach worldly philosophy instead of the Bible.  The other is to recycle all the paragraphs about evangelism that you learned in Bible college.  I remember one church I visited.  I could have worshiped there every week if that Sunday was an example.  The sermon was, “You need to get saved.”  I felt like the pastor would preach the same sermon next week with no thought except to rearrange the paragraphs.

Sloth, incompetence, ignorance, unsaved?  I don’t know but I pray that the pastors will learn to convey the deeper issues without giving up their drive to evangelism.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-027: Influence

I am highly amused at the title given to people who record videos on the Internet.  I keep hearing people called “influencers”.  That is their job title it seems.  I’m not sure whom they influence.  I’m not sure that their influence is good.  But that’s what they’re called.

I realize that I have influencers in my own life.  They don’t sit down in front of a camera and make a motion picture selfie, which they keep redoing until they get exactly the effect they want.  These are people who just live life in front of me.  These are people who make comments without stopping to think about how they’re going to influence.  They are friends and neighbors.

What brings this to mind was last night at the end of dinner.  I was out with an elderly group from our church, and as we got up to leave one of the younger ones in the group shared with me exactly what I was feeling.  He said after sitting a long time it is really hard to get up and move again.  I thought it was just me.  If I listen to the doctors and the people in the videos, influencers, I would think that I needed to get their advice on how to avoid this.  My analysis was, “I’m getting older”.  My fellow diner agreed.  We are getting older.  It affects our bodies.  It slows down our minds or speeds up the rest of the world.  Either way, it is real.

Welcome to life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-026: Fantasy Philosophy

Philosophers are not known for being practical.  Here at the beginning of Ethics, Aristotle demonstrates that his heart is in the right place but I am not sure if he understands human beings.  Notice the standard

“Accordingly we may ask the student also to accept the various views we put forward in the same spirit; for it is the mark of an educated mind to expect that amount of exactness in each kind which the nature of the particular subject admits.”  p.5

In other words, use common sense, be a person of good will and be reasonable.  Think of how our political differences could be discussed if we could adopt those standards.  If we would drop the name calling, manipulating and deception we might be able to actually work some things out.

Maybe our political class would benefit from reading Aristotle.

Aristotle.  The Nicomachean Ethics, Translated by Harris Rackham.  England:  Wordsworth Classics of World Literature, 1996.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-025: Reach for the Dialogue

One of the reasons that we have a hard time communicating with God is that we refuse to listen.  We start off complaining or expressing our anger and bitterness.  That can work because God is willing to listen.  This alwasy amazes me when I consider that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe and can listen to billions of people at the same time.  He has the advantage of knowing our hearts, and knowing what we’re talking about.  He knows what is legitimate and what is just us expressing our pain.

The real problem comes when it’s time for us to listen.  We don’t want to. We want a  monologue, not a dialogue.

God communicates in many ways.  I know I’ve expressed these things before, but let me say them again.  In this day and age, God communicates first of all through the Bible.  He had it written for a reason, you know.  It wasn’t just because He had a blog post due and needed something to publish.  It is not His Ph.D. thesis.  He did it with a direct intention of supplying humanity with the information they needed for salvation.  He supervised the writing and the preservation.

He has given us the Holy Spirit.  For those of us who follow Jesus, had our sins forgiven, and receive the Holy Spirit this can be relatively direct.  Sometimes this works together with the written word.  The Holy Spirit will bring to mind scriptures that we know.  Often we can only come up with a phrase or a couple of words, but if we are conscientious, we have the tools to figure out what it is that the Holy Spirit is trying to say to us.  Can you say “concordance” or “Bible software?”  But even for those who are not believers, the Holy Spirit is working in their lives.  He is limited because of the concept of free will, but He is still working.

Then we have such things as sermons, books by inspiring authors such as CS Lewis, radio, and Internet sources, discussions with friends. The list can be endless.  God is very creative.

God knows what we think.  He knows it before we do, in a sense.  But He still listens and gives us a chance to communicate, to vent.  The problem is that we don’t listen. The bigger problem is that we often don’t want to listen.

Some problems only you can solve.

homo unius libri