160126 Dearth

Once I decided to write more, I wrote less. I added someone to my Live Journal that I regret. I could just delete her from my feed, but then I'd be doing what I dislike about what others do when they hear diverse opinions. I guess it's the haughty, "I'm right, and you're stupid" attitude she exudes. She's right because it feels evolved, and not so stuck in the mud of human history. We humans recycle this attitude every eighty years or so, and my 90 year old father does like to point out the American similarities to certain German attitudes of the early 20th Century. In this case, the common enemy has become vocal Christians who actually read their Bibles.

People with partial knowledge attack the Bible. It has become quite vogue to point out what is not included and what contradicts. They don't know how we got the Septuagint, nor why certain writings were included and others excluded. Most churches and denominations place more importance on their own interpretations and commentaries than on the actual Biblical texts, and it makes for a confusing, humanistic argument. All the books of the Bible were physically written by a human hand, but God was the Author. Either one believes, or he disbelieves. If one does not believe God, then the Bible is flawed. If one does believe God, however, then the Bible reveals God. The supposed flaws were attempts by the Adversary to discredit God. The closer one looks at the Bible as it was originally written, the more one sees that God had a hand in making it as perfect as possible in a world run by the free will of man.

The world will not continue as it has. We are due for a major shift in how life is conducted on this planet. It won't be towards the Star Trek Utopia that so many adore. People don't change. They endlessly repeat the mistakes of the past. The names change, the settings change, but the results continue to be the same. Civilizations rise and fall, while people sift through the same recycled ideas that lead to the same risings and fallings of previous civilizations. That's why I read Proverbs. People still respond to the same stimuli and behave as they did five thousand years ago.

130418 Lightening Rod

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone discriminates. If they don’t, how is that there is more than one item on a menu? How do people get dressed in the morning without discerning one item of clothing as more worthy than another? Some decisions are easy, and others incredibly complicated. Then, to make matters worse, along comes political correctness with the diseased finger of pre-judgement. (See any recent news item.)

When I look at the crazy standards that this country and much of the world have, I am tempted to despair. I don’t, because I know that this will pass. Every generation thinks that their ideas are new, but there is nothing new under the sun, only new labeling over a fresh coat of paint. Progressive policy resembles what Plato deemed perfect. How long ago did Plato live? Did it work then? Did Utopia happen? Where is the Worker’s Paradise?

All things new are of God. Intellectuals have been taught to disdain anything related to God, and to embrace secular humanism. Humans stink, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Even a cute little baby has the decay of sin flowing through his or her cute little veins. Babies are selfish and have to be taught to think outside themselves. No one grows up being ‘perfect’, and perfect conditions cannot exist because of sin. We need a standard. God gave us the standard, and then provided the way to reach Him despite the standard. It was not anything we puny humans could do on our own.

Not just one train has busted through the station of my thoughts. Everyday, a new crisis emerges: gun (non)control, bombs that kill, redefining marriage, porous vs. sovereign borders, crime, debt, hedonism, disease, education, and on and on and on. Many Americans feel that we are losing ourselves. We have, only if we have completely lost God. God, however, works well with small, committed groups. A friend of mine posted a graphic. She may have made it herself, for it appears no other place that I could find. Here is the link to her show, and where the graphic, with this quote, was posted.

"If the Bible is just a book of fairy tales, why is it banned in at least 52 countries? No one goes to jail for reading the Illiad, the Odyssey, or Aesop's Fables."

Enjoy.

120201 “They” Came

This little piece made a large impression on me when I was a teen, oh so long ago.. Most of my friends were Roman Catholic.

"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

-- by Martin Niemöller, prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor, best known as the author of the poem “First they came....”

Names change, but the actions are the same. It starts with words. Again, it is OK to bash certain groups, especially Christians. Why? Why bash any group? Medicare and Medicaid cause the greatest drain on services. When Obamacare makes Medicaid universal, what will they cut when services become scarce? What group of people require the most in medical services? Science Fiction covered this several decades ago. Old people do not seem to contribute to society. They are so slow and come up with those irritating stories about life that lead to limits on fun. They simply do not keep up with the way things are “now”. Some people deserve more medical care because they have more reason to live. That sounds good until it becomes personal and some bureaucracy decides.

History repeats itself. History goes in cycles. History may have been written by the victors, but a few people have noticed that all this has happened some other time and somewhere else. Who is going to win? Israel fell to Babylon; Babylon was absorbed by Persia; Greece conquered Persia, and then Rome took over. Rome influenced the entire western world, but Babylon wants it back. Westerners simply cannot grasp the significance of history. Almost none of them can understand a single yod of history. Man is not progressing. The passions of individuals have not changed. The evolution of technology has nothing to do with the improvement of man. Instead, man is regressing. Civilization is a thin veneer that merely hides the volcano of savagery that threatens to destroy all of mankind. (Have you noticed the political debates?) Pacifism will not save us. Ancient principles and ‘outdated’ morals may rescue individuals.

Nothing will save this world. It is too far gone to care.