I had a thought

I had a thought while I was reading Psalm 121. It says "the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night." I was wondering why some one would be afraid of the sun or moon harming them. I can see that the sun may give you skin cancer but what could the moon do? I don't know why this Psalm says this.

I was thinking, however, that perhaps people were afraid of sun or moon gods that their neighbors believed in. Well, it gave me the idea that I should not be afraid of other people's gods. The things that people devote themselves to, "gods", that often I am afraid of are success, prestige or being someone, the ability to have physical needs met. I know that people in the culture around me "worship these gods". I get afraid that I need to submit to these things as they do to have a "good life".

I wonder if this is not almost an exact correlation to the ancient nation of Israel. Israel was surrounded by people who worshiped other gods. If I am correct, these gods were meant to ensure life-things: being successful, health, the meeting of physical needs. I can imagine that it would be easy to feel pressure to also worship these gods. No wonder God was like, worship only me. Maybe it wasn't just a jealousy thing but maybe God was trying to save Israel from extra work and stress of worship all of the gods, because He was all they needed. Not to mention that the other gods could not do anything.

Dude, I need, really need to stop being afraid of the false gods of the people around me. I need to stop feeling pressure to devote myself to anything other than God.

Authority

I heard an argument in high school. It said that however many billions of people believe that buddha is god. How can multiple billions of people be wrong? I think that the point where this argument has traction is the idea that we all feel, see, and sense relatively the same things, how is it that we don’t all agree? I can seem to make sense that the majority must be right.

The problem with this argument is that it assumes that the only way that people come to believe something is by experience and reason. The truth is that people come to believe in things like buddha by authority also. In many cases large amounts of people believe in something almost entirely on authority and only a little bit on experience and reason. Some may have an experience and then have a set of beliefs that are based on the authority of the one experience, i. e. an epiphany.

A good example of how much people act based on authority is tradition. The trends of history have very strong holds on peoples beliefs and actions. Billions of people could be believing based on part tradition, part experience, and part peer influence.

Appeal of the Unknown

I do know that often the unknown is scary for people. But I was thinking about how the unknown is sometimes used to make something seem amazing. I first thought about this when I was reading the Chronicles of Narnia. C. S. Lewis is very talented at making things seem amazing. He describes the inside of the earth and tells of living jewels. He doesn’t describe in great detail all about the living jewels. He creates the idea of it. If I try to tell someone else about it I can’t make it sound as cool. I think this is because what is cool is unknown. This is why the Narnia movies weren’t that cool. Take Aslan for example, C. S. Lewis can say something like, “Aslan was as big as small elephant, and his mane was like gold with light flowing from it.” But when a person tries to pin down the unknown of what that looks like it will always diminish.

Another example is an anime called Rurouni Kenshin. The main character is a swordsmen. The story doesn’t introduce him as an amazing character. He is a humble wanderer. But everyone knows that he is a legendary fighter that no one can beat. The story doesn’t give much information about his past except in glimpses. The unknown aspect makes it so enticing. I find that my imagination spins a much more exciting tale than the story portrays.

The First

I was reading about the book of Genesis. The part that I was reading talked about how Cain murdered and then was afraid of being murdered. He acted wrongly toward one but wanted protection against being treated as he had treated another.

So he was fearing something that he started. I was trying to think of something that I had started that I was then afraid of. I imagined being a kid and doing something out of impulse and then being afraid because I didn’t know what I was doing. Once a kid was yelling in my ear. I wanted him to stop and I was angry that he did that. I punched him in the stomach. I just meant to do it lightly, as a warning. But he started crying. It made me scared. We were in fifth grade. Sometime in high school the kid brought it up. I totally didn’t know that I would start something so big. I wonder if Cain had a notion of what was going to happen.

Also think about how he was the first murderer. If no one had been killed or died yet, I don’t think that I would know what it was. He knew that dying existed but did he know what it would look like and how much violence it would require? Did he say to himself I am going to kill him? If not, it shows how much tangible evil can come from some seemingly small evil impulses.

Remembrance

I went back to my roots just now, that is I looked at old blog posts. I found that I have diverted from my original pattern of writing. I used to write them more as, my title indicates, a news letter. I also wrote in a more train of thought, sarcastic way. You know I used to have a teacher that said the word pattern like, patter-en. It was a little interesting. Also she used to say calvary instead of cavalry.

So anyway, let me give some news of what has gone on in my life. I had a hang nail last week. JK, although I really said TTYL to one of my roommates when he was leaving and it was like I was asserting myself as competent in this age of cellular telephone devices. I was saying to him, since he is quite a few years my junior, “Yo D-diddy dawg, I’m not too old yet. I am teeming, (Oh, teeming sounds too intelligent,) Uh, I am full of cool. I can reduce words to their first letters. I can keep up with the pace of technology. I am a man. I have an arm that can reach out in love for the latest Apple product. I have legs that can be shorn with the latest trend that is fed to me by people that care almost nothing about me except that they want my money.”

Yes, I can say all of that in only four letters. Although not really because what I wrote kind of makes me sound like I think that all kids care about is the latest trends and whatnot.

So I wrote the title of this post as remembrance. I was thinking back on the childhood that I participated in and I remember an oak alter in my parents church that said, “Do this in remembrance of me” on it. I wonder how much they paid for that thing. They sure are getting use out of it. I am sure it is still in the same place now.

Well, I’ve got to go. Change your clothes, but don’t change your attitude, (unless you have a bad one).

Love

Mr. Sir Braden Joshua MacIntosh Lorenzo Caravaggio Williams Junior, the Battosai (just K I have never used a sword)

Sabbath Revisited (Time)

Sabbath Revisited (Time)

Waltke quotes Heschel, who says, “But time is the heart of existence.” And later “It is a triumph frequently achieved by sacrificing and essential ingredient of existence, namely, time.”

Is time the heart of existence? I have often seen myself as fighting against time or waiting for time to do it’s thing (pass by). When thinking of time, I have a difficulty understanding it. What is it? It’s measurable. Is it a substance? I can’t conceive of a world without time. Perhaps that is what is meant by time is the heart of existence.

I have personally thought of time as being the change of physical things or as Heschel puts it, space. Without consistent change, such as day/ night, rivers, waves, would people have developed a time sense. If I think of a spot in outer space where no matter exists, I guess that there is still time there because of the changes in energy passing through that space. It seems that time is bound to the existence of space. So I, being a form in space, have time bound to me as much as I am bound to time. So it does seem that time is an essential ingredient to existence. Yet I, or other space that excludes me, am an essential ingredient of time.

So what did you think of my immature musings on time? Am I crazy, boring, or a genius who just doesn’t know it? Do I need better organization skills, or better grammar? Is this not your topic of choice? What would be?

Write me a comment. Thanks for reading.

Sabbath

... It can be inferred from the creation narrative that the Sabbath is a day to recognize and celebrate the significance of time. We are not just creatures of space but also creatures of time. As Heschel observes, “Technical civilization is man’s conquest of space. In technical civilization, we expend time to gain space. To enhance our power in the world of space is our main objective. Yet to have more does not mean to be more. The power we attain in the world of space terminates abruptly at the borderline of time. But time is the heart of existence.” Participating in God’s rest gives us significance as we reflect on what we have done and allows us to participate in something eternal.

In the imitation of God’s rest, we find our sustenance in God and the true meaning of our labor and God’s good creation. Again Heschel comments, “To disparage space and the blessing of things of space, is to disparage the works of creation. the works which God beheld and saw ‘it was good’... Time and space are interrelated.... What we plead against is man’s unconditional surrender to space, his enslavement to things. We must not forget that it is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is the moment that lend significance to things.”

This is taken from:

Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001) 73

Quotes:

A. J. Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986) 3