Tagged: Christianity
Been Reading Some Einstein (and Infeld)
Until you do too, or until you read Newton himself, you just need to trust me. Any chance you get, any time you hear someone associate Newton with an apple falling from a tree, stamp it out—fiercely, ferociously if necessary, but effectively in any case. Newton should be forever tied to a David-esque slingshot. In all honesty, Newton’s influence on life on Earth is probably more profound than the “man after God’s own heart.” But however your rank order of the two concludes, they are both whirling a rock around on a rope—no apples in sight. Just stop it!
“Why Not?” (Rough Draft of a Sermon to a Black Congregation Inspired by This Morning’s Lackluster One)
The Blacks end their Sunday services with an actual, earnest invitation to follow Jesus. I have related that observation here many times. That is one of the many, many reasons why I attend their service, dragging my family in tow.
Yet, as noble and biblically sound as is the theology of Black Baptists, one thing the Blacks do not seem to understand is the “why” behind the diminishment of their congregations. I do. And yet given my irrevocable status as a white man, I am under no illusion that I will be preaching to a Black congregation anytime soon. But if I did, the below contains the flavor I’d bring.
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(Always pause for what seems like an eternity before beginning. This is a known public speaking trick. People came to see you speak; they will be more and more silent and curious the longer you do not speak.)
“Why not?”
The gospels oftentimes connect the events of Jesus’ life with the word “immediately”.
In the original Koine Greek, the word translated means, “immediately”.
A few verses are in order.
“And immediately the little girl stood up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.” Mark 5:42 LSB
“And immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:20 LSB
“And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:42 LSB
“And immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.” Matthew 26:49 LSB
(The Blacks love when a preacher drives a point home. There is almost an emotional roller-coaster feel to this technique. Just when you think the preacher is losing the group, he’ll insist on lengthening the list and the congregation will vocalize that they are not only picking up what he is laying down, but that they don’t want him to ever stop. So I’d continue.)
“And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.” Mark 1:28 LSB.
“Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.””Mark 9:24 LSB
“came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.” Luke 8:44 LSB
“And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.” Luke 5:25 LSB
(Now I’d have to be shouting over the whipped-up-to-a-frenzy congregants)
And in Luke Part 2, commonly known as Acts, we find,
“and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”” Acts 9:20 LSB
(Still loud, but signalling that the moment is passing, I’d belabor the word.)
Eeeee-mediately.
Immediately.
Immediately.
(Here I will share with the reader that Booker Taliaferro Washington in Up From Slavery has a chapter on public speaking and says the following. “If in an audience of a thousand people there is one person who is not in sympathy with my views, or is inclined to be doubtful, cold, or critical, I can pick him out. When I have found him I usually go straight at him, and it is great satisfaction to watch the process of his thawing out.” So here in the sermon I will search him out and pause until I find him or her. Then, looking at them, I will utter once and again…)
Immediately.
(Another long pause.)
Our problem is that we do not believe in immediately. It’s okay to admit it. We do not believe in immediately.
We are a culture with a great tradition of developing expertise. You know I am right, but to begin my defense of my claim, I offer for your consideration that a very popular book a decade ago made its claim easy to comprehend. The author said that all the best spent 10,000 hours on their particular skill or talent, before rewards came pouring in.
But we don’t need an expert who wrote a book to tell us anything.
We believe our kids should go to school for 17 years, add pre-k and it’s 18. And sometimes we encourage them to go for another 11 (“they’re called doctors”); that’s 29 years before we consider that they are ready to officially have a job.
I can tell you from experience that an Air Force pilot takes about 200 flight hours until they get their wings, but don’t be fooled, that process often takes 2 years of total time. And we don’t officially get the keys to the aircraft often for around 4 more years.
Immediately. Where is it? Not in us.
That’s why I say our problem is we do not believe in immediately.
Our problem is we do not believe immediately.
Indulge me as I give more examples.
True love…?
Waits.
Thank you. Please call them out as you are able.
A good thing takes…?
Time.
What’s the…?
Rush.
Don’t go too…?
Fast.
Tadpoles don’t turn into frogs…?
Overnight.
Only fools…?
Rush in.
Life’s not about the destination, life’s about the…?
Journey.
I don’t want to confuse anyone, but I know there are some biblical scholars here. So here’s one for ya’ll.
“Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart…”
“Wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Back to our culture.
Good things come to those who…?
Wait.
I believe my claim stands.
We do not believe in immediately.
The reason we do not believe in immediately and the reason we follow our culture is two-fold. Firstly, we have bought—hook, line, and sinker—the man-made philosophy that the only things that exist are the material things. Worse, we raise are children under the assumption that the best teachers are those who know the most about the material world.
Secondly, we do not think when we read the Bible. And we do not read enough of the Bible. And we do not push the Bible’s claims far enough when we do read them.
Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
What are the heavens? What do you picture?
What is the earth? What do you picture?
Moreover, does anyone in this body of believers honestly think that their answers would match anyone else’s here?
All I you need to know for today is the heavens are immaterial. They cannot be calculated, measured, or weighed.
The heavens is from where the Word of God emanates. “Let there be light.” Where was God when he said that? The heavens. But where are the heavens?
We look towards the stars to see the heavens, as if the heavens lie beyond the material world. This is theologically unsound.
I need to be clear.
(The pacing of this next point is beloved by the Blacks.)
There is no telescope big enough; there could never be built a telescope large enough…
You hearing me people?
…you could fill an entire hemisphere of the planet earth with a telescope;
Anyone here understand yet?
…I am telling you, you can take half of all of the known universe and convert it into a telescope with the clearest lenses to see as far as possible and you still will not see the heavens.
(Slow way down here.)
We do not believe in immediately.
We don’t.
Why not?
Why not?
Why not?
“And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it happened, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” Numbers 21:9 LSB
Immediately. Implied.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15 LSB
Immediately. Implied.
Why not believe in the god who created the heavens and the earth? Why not believe in the most powerful, the all-powerful living god?
I know why you are hesitant. Every believer sitting next to you, in front of you, behind you, across the aisle from you, up in the choir loft, every believer here was also hesitant for the same reason. The reason is always the same. You’re hesitant because you think you know a thing or two about this god you’ve been hearing about. The trouble is you have limited him to the god of earth. Or maybe you’re some kind of uppity and have some method of imagining he is the god of the known universe. Well, I am here to tell you that you need to go bigger, and you need to start thinking biblically. God is the god of the earth and the heavens. The material and the immaterial. He is concerned with you and it takes no time for him to work. You might say he can start work on you, say it with me, immediately.
And on the immaterial side of life, love, faith, hope, and others, forgiveness, patience, compassion, he specializes in immediately.
So why not believe that Jesus can save you immediately? His call is irresistible. You know it, and I know it. His yoke is light, and his burden is easy. In fact, you’re doing the hard labor right now as you battle what you know to be right. You’re probably sweating. Am I wrong? Heart racing. Come on down, son. Jesus is calling.
****
Again, it’s a draft. For fun. And I would probably go a bit more orthodox Baptist somehow at the end. “Early, Early!, Sunday morning, he got up!” and all. But I felt like recording this idea anyhow and why have a blog if you only post stuff you’re comfortable with posting?
On the Obvious
I want to start with, “Well, I’ve officially learned…” But the information is so patently obvious that it is more like, “Well, I have to admit you were right.”
Two cultures just cannot mix.
Don’t hear me say that a man and woman can’t fall in love and decide to marry etc. But don’t for a second let that man already have a child and that woman already have a child. Or, more pointedly, don’t let the non-dominant culture’s representative bring in a child. Does this sound mean? Or even tough? It’s not. Or maybe it is. But that assessment puts it squarely in the realm of truth. Truth, it seems, by popular definition is painful.
Truth is painful. Just look at what people don’t want to say. Just list a few things people don’t want to believe. Here’s maybe the deepest, darkest secret we keep in our land of self-delusion: “My kid is a moron.”
Nobody wants to concede this one. And when it becomes known to the parent(s), they do some magic act of retreating socially and investing their time otherwise. “My hands are clean.” “What can I do?”
But when the kids turn out to be contributing members of society, it’s all rainbows and unicorns. Everyone wants to know all about it in as precise detail as possible and the parents beam, “This was all Bobby (or Susie). At most we pointed them in the right direction. Ha. We. It was their mother, I was hardly around truth be told. We are truly blessed.”
So what are my demands? What do I want out of this life?
Agreement from the adult population of earth that lying is wrong. Notice I am not asking for everyone to stop lying. I couldn’t even comply with that demand. I just want everyone of age to agree that lying is wrong.
All my life I have thought it was obvious. (Thanks, mom and dad.) It is not.
An anecdote for your consideration.
I was in line at the grocery store in the small town where I work. Long story, short, I informed my bro-looking adult male line-mate that I had a wife who did not instinctively believe lying was wrong*. In a perfect display of active listening he stopped in his tracks and paused until responding, “How would you even communicate?” I said, “That is exactly the point. Thank you.”
How would you even communicate?
****
*How can someone believe lying is not wrong? It’s shockingly simple. They insert some other moral good which trumps it. Like “I just want peace.” But it could be many other ideas. That’s just the one I hear and see on the regular.
(Please keep in mind that even this peace is not defined as the only real peace that comes with virtue and morality. What these people really mean is obvious. “I just want to remain a neglected child.”)
On Culture
I used to think that culture was “you use chopsticks, I use silverware,” and a myriad of other inconsequential and oftentimes interesting differences. And in this thinking, the important, unifying fact was that the food still made it to the mouth.
This is not culture.
By analogy, culture is, “We made it one trillion years on this planet before seeing silverware! Don’t lecture me on Henry Ford or freedom!”
In short, if the people from two supposedly different cultures aren’t engaged in contentious pride fighting, they aren’t from two different cultures.
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Why does this matter to me? Because I get tired of people who have only engaged with other people from the same culture acting like they have any idea which way is up. These uni-culture people may prove the smartest on Earth, but that doesn’t mean they know which way is up.
Teachers Receive Stricter Judgment
Do not, many of you, become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.
For all the experimentally-derived information not found in the books of the Bible, it sure does contain many easily deduced sentiments.
For my part, I have been elbow deep in Natural Science essays of late, essays whose subject matter has ranged from stars to candles, from chalk to mountains, and from monkeys to conservation of energy. Essays, I say. Maybe 20 total. About 450 pages worth. And these by the actual discoverers of the subject. I have not been reading a textbook written by some no-account hack with bought-and-paid-for letters after their name, just essays written by the men whose genius advanced material life on this planet so rapidly in the last 400+ years.
After the last two essays which covered such basic topics as the “law of periodicity” and the “law of conservation of force”, of which such simple words like “period” and “foot-pound” were defined—words which none of you (or I) could define upon request, but which we employ at our leisure—I started to get angry.
I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself—I am certain that I have now read more than most ever have or will on from the field of Natural Science. And that thrills me. Instead, I was thinking of my kids and all other kids. They are sitting in schools right now, staring at the periodic table and completely unaware why it is so-named. They are, if lucky, in an auto-tech class turning wrenches, and applying torque, without being able to define what it means that the limit for that bolt is 120 foot-pounds—or from where the expended 120 foot-pounds of energy get replenished.
Before you get all “Well, Pete, you’re forgetting that not everyone…” on me, I want to re-iterate these are kids who are in school! What else are they doing if not learning? And, keep in mind I have already suggested a mere 500 pages would advance their knowledge to within reach of the current peaks of human knowledge of natural science.
Also to be clear, I am suggesting these essays would be the course. Have a teacher lead the kids through them and then see what the kids want to do. I cannot be persuaded that they would choose to stop there. It is a sure bet that their curiosity would be piqued and each would willingly follow the most interesting path they saw available to continue down.
As it stands, “hydrogen will bond with…” inspires hardly anyone and we act little different than the uneducated nations and “emerging” cultures which leave a child to himself as we declare, “Oh look at that! He’s gonna be a football player for sure!”
Since obtaining a step-son from another culture, worlds away, I have seen nothing but the distribution of participation trophies which the adults and kids assign as symbolic displays of new expertise in subjects of which they both are ignorant and of abilities of which they are both wanting.
My step-son’s skin is dark, so this was to be expected as the whites in education are utterly brainwashed into thinking BIPOC folks are genetically inferior.
But I have unfortunately watched this occur all across the spectrum. The entire field of education is one big gold star for trying. The underlying sentiment has become, “You are too stupid to understand the hard stuff, so let’s just stay in the shallow end.” The obvious trouble with this idea is the people doing the hard stuff disagree.
Education, hear me clearly, is directly opposed to the priesthood. If you believe there is some special class of human that children cannot generally achieve, you cannot also believe in education. You might as well burn books. This is no different than how you cannot believe both in a geocentric and heliocentric model of the universe, or girls can become boys and boys can become girls.
In the end, in all my “this is wrong”, I found myself reminded of the scripture I opened with. Most Christians would limit James’ warning to spiritual matters. I disagree. Teachers will be more strictly judged. Teachers are being judged. We are all being judged by their failure.
Another Conversational Strategy Tip For Utterly Silencing Flat Earth Lunatics
As I’ve mentioned, these guys bug me so much because they often are very similar to me in other ways—and yet the earth is a sphere.
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You: “Yeah, that’s bullshyat. Let’s back up a little bit. Can I ask you a simple question?”
(As most of the time all they do is interrupt and spew their dump truck evidence, with this move you’ll have them irresistibly tee’d up.)
FEL: “Sure.”
You: “Have you ever looked through a telescope at the night sky?”
(Crushing. On the off chance they have, simply continue with…)
You: “Would you mind taking the time to teach me how to distinguish planets from stars the next clear night? I don’t have a telescope, but surely you do. I am available any night.”
Knowledge Is Irresistible; It Defies Rebellion
Come close, ya stiff-necked supercargo. This one is important. This is a story about laundry. It is a story about power. It is the story of knowledge.
It may come as a surprise that pilots, especially military pilots or their veteran counterparts like me, spend many nights of each year in sleeping bags. As an Eagle Scout who knows the true value of a quality sleeping bag, I remember being very proud when I heard that our deployed commander used one instead of sheets while in Iraq. You see, I was no longer alone. To this day, I spend about 1/4 of the year’s nights in a sleeping bag—not including camping trips.
Naturally, this level of commitment leads to the need to wash a sleeping bag, and wash it with more regularity than your own sleeping bag laundering habits have ever included. In fact, you’re likely thinking this very moment, “Where is my sleeping bag?”
Washing a sleeping bag is an adventure of its own. Not just the washing, but the drying as well. For any ground-pounding, civilian pukes who never have spent a night under the stars (let’s not forget the boldly illiterate hippie camping community), there is a tag right on the bag that says, “Only dry in commercial dryers” or some similar wording that forbids the pilot from his perfect dream of living as an island.
(I have laundered my sleeping bag(s) many times at home and never had a problem. This post is not about rule-following.)
So the other day, despite both cars revealing mechanical issues almost simultaneously, I learned at night that the dryer stopped heating. (LORD? You watchin’?) It made the same noises and tumbled as surely as any other day—even longer when on the “automatic” setting; but the clothes wouldn’t dry. I tracked down that they weren’t getting warm either.
Enter YouTube.
There were two probable issues. One was that a thermal fuse on the heating element had tripped/blown. The other was the heating element itself had broken.
I tracked down an appliance parts guru in town who loved to chat on the phone and he assured me it was the fuse. But I forced him to concede it was worth ordering both just in case his foresight proved dim. During this back-and-forth, he said something like, “It’s all about airflow. The air has to blow the heat from the heating element into the dryer and then that air has to find its way past the clothes, past the lint trap, and through the vent all the way to the outside world. If any part of that path is blocked, the heat will remain and eventually blow the fuse. You may never know why the path got blocked. Could be stray article of clothes got caught in the wrong spot or maybe someone washed too big a comforter. But it’s all about the air.”
Fasten your seatbelts.
“Only dry in a commercial dryer,” the tag reads. Any warm-blooded human says, “Huh?” And we proceed to rebel and possibly damage the dryer.
But…
“It’s all about airflow. If the sleeping bag blocks the incoming heat, the fuse will blow—which is annoying. If the fuse doesn’t blow, the heating element could potentially overheat and cause a fire—lots of variables in that one,” the facts are. And any warm-blooded human says, “Okay.” And then assesses the risks and gets on with their decision.
The passive, uninformed warning fosters rebellion, and well it should. Instinct informs us to demand respect! “Don’t boss me! You have my attention. Now treat me like a man!”
But the knowledge is irresistible and fosters sound judgment and good decision making. “Hmm. Good to know. I’ve dried many things of similar size in this machine and so I’ll risk it.” Or whatever.
What is knowledge? Knowledge is irresistible. It defies rebellion.
Go get some.
PS – It was the heating element. And Speed Queen dryers are super easy to work on—should they not live up to their name.
PPS – Yes, I have gone back to the original name of my blog. I do want to use the fact that I stare down death for a living to get your attention. Whether I can keep it is the thrill.
No Helmet, A Review of Gladiator II
The refrain, “This is good,” repeatedly sounded in my head for about the first third. And the movie is good. But it isn’t great and it misses for some questionable reasons.
Most importantly, there was no helmet.
Secondly, as in the first film, there is a use of “paper” that is totally a-historical. No one had disposable paper in 200AD.
Thirdly, CGI.
Fourthly, let’s just give Russell Crowe his due. Even his hand in wheat seems divine to this day.
Lastly, there was a moment—you’ll know it when it comes—that I felt disappointed that there was more movie to go.
Time To Turn Off the TV
I know you don’t agree. I know you don’t. That is the point of this post. There is no topic more detestable to humanity of all stripes than the notion of turning off the TV—and any meaningfully similar source of information.
Yes, I’m happy Trump won. But not for anything to do with politics. I’m happy because while all the republicans and conservatives were wringing their hands, I said over and over that he had it in the bag. And so when I was proved correct, I was happy.
But every moment since then, I have been questioned by friends and family and had my good name challenged because I am not happy that Trump won for the same reason as they are.
I do not believe he is some sort of savior. I do not believe we’ll see a reversion to some past life when groceries were cheap and rule of law was respected and understood. I just don’t see national politics from that kind of perspective.
But the point of this post, again, is to explore that when I share my perspective, which boils down to, “You’re all Henny Penny and if you would just turn off the TV, you’d have profound improvement in your ‘flourishing’,” folks lose their shyat on me. It’s like I’m asking them to give up—not just food but—breathing.
I actually resorted to telling my Ethiopian/African wife (you’ll-understand-this-if-viewed-from-well-known-they’re-more-spiritual-vantage-point), “You love to talk about demons as if it’s still Biblical times—well when it comes to our attachment to TV, I agree. This situation seems at the level that an exorcism may be necessary.” Perhaps unbelievably, this did get through—in its moment.
So I think I’m done. I already do not have a TV at the house. I have cut movie watching drastically back (difficult to cut completely because night work leaves a lot of zombie time during the day). But I’ve been checking news like a junkie of late. It’s time to stop that now. And why? Because, as an human without TV, I can happily report, “The sky is not a-falling.”
My Not-Unanticipated Gloat Text To My Family
I haven’t shared too much directly personal content of late, but for the bigger point, here is the text I fired off to my immediate family (my folks and my siblings and their spouses, only one couple being Harris supporters). I do not believe anyone but my mom or dad will have read it. And I generally only experience glee when picturing my brother-in-law smiling as he reads what he would never say.
After the text I have addd here some much needed commentary—as no one but me seems to enjoy taking writing at face value and thinking about what it means and doesn’t mean.
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I’ll keep this absolutely predictable text short:
S-. H-.
Gotcha!!
Like you, I feel like the biggest “soul interrogation” just ended and you two failed. Racism (BIPOC are not better), sexism (women are not better), and communism (theft is not better) are evil. And you both have to live with the fact that you voted according to them (and, in spite of at least superficially agreeing with me and being surrounded by people who also agree).
Fear not! It’s beautiful, in a way. That is, it is truly a powerful (think sunrise 🌅 , not democrat machine’s gun-to-head) moment, if you approach this “lived experience” from the twin Biblical perspectives of divine patience and grace, as offered by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The maker and sustainer of the universe has given you more time to repent. Be happy. Consider it.
I, for my part, thank the LORD and will think of you before all others whenever I see a rainbow or cloth representation of a rainbow’s colors going forward and am inescapably reminded of patience.
****
Notice I didn’t say anything about Trump. Do you see? Not one thing was about Trump. This is for many reasons, all equally as noble as the true thrust of the text.
Firstly, I didn’t vote for him, so “my guy” didn’t win. My problem with dems has never been that they didn’t support “my guy” or “Trump.” My problem with dems is their support of evil.
Secondly, and more importantly, nobody voted for Trump because he is a man, or because he is white, or because he is old. Naturally this is hyperbole—I cannot know for certain that those DEI features were ignored by all his voters. But I can say that anyone who did cast such a shamefully-reasoned vote would never admit it. This is also hyperbole. But not hyperbole is the following: any racist, sexist, and ageist voters for Trump had no influence on the contest. And more specifically, I know my Trump-voting family members voted for him for his policies or humor or record or simple hope that his MAGA slogan is his earnest hope and plan.
Lastly, Kamala Harris is so empty, so devoid of reason, so obviously puppeteered that it is impossible for me to be wrong that her voters were voting with evil intent. Besides the manifest logical truth of this claim (you can’t reasonably vote for someone who isn’t for at least one thing), the Harris voters’ own silence on any non-DEI (evil) reasons for their vote is impossible to ignore. 66,000,000+ citizens voted with race, sex, age, theft, and lies as their motivation. 71,000,000+ voted with, at their core, hope as their motivation.
They hoped he wants America to be great again. They hoped he knew he was fibbing all the time he lies. They hoped he wouldn’t put himself before America.
Now we wait.
Captain’s Log 