My second audition file. The sound quality isn’t perfect, but I adjudged not bad enough to prevent posting here.
TRANSCRIPT
December 2014 saw a splash of anti-Christian pieces in the media.
There was Kurt Eichenwald’s January 2 Newsweek cover story, which I need not respond to; an adequate response has already been made by Albert Mohler, M-O-H-L-E-R.
There is Steve Siebold’s December 24 HuffPost article, entitled, “Don’t Just Question the 10 Commandments; Question the Entire Bible.” I may respond to that at a later date.
And then there was Jeffrey Tayler’s December 22 Salon.com piece, entitled, “Let’s Make Bill O’Reilly’s Head Explode: We Desperately Need a War on Christmas Lies;” to which I will respond now.
Against the notion that blacks victimize themselves by “acting black,” Princeton undergraduate Kristen Coke complains that “acting white” does not insulate her from petty racist insults. After all, she doesn’t act “ghetto.”
I’m not concerned about victimizations that occur when blacks “act white” in the presence of whites. In my world, there aren’t enough white people to matter. I’m concerned about the victimizations that occur when black people “act black” among blacks.
The appointed Gospel text for Sunday was Matthew’s Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Matthew 22:1-14.
I was struck by verses 11-14 —
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Some people have urged me to start a podcast; in particular, one fellow showed me an app the other day such that there is now no practical obstacle to my doing this at once.
Would people be interested in this? Please comment!
I envision doing one five-minute segment every two weeks.
Saturday posts may be limited for a while; I’m working on the book. “Oldies but goodies” Thursday posts will continue.
Dad was still in good health back in ’83-85, when I became so deeply interested in spiritual healing. He maintained a pragmatic skepticism about it throughout; in essence, “What’s the use? We’re all going to die anyway.”
I recalled that Monday night 12/07/09 on my way home from Rite Aid, where I’d had to go buy a few things. I was having pretty severe pain in lower left abdomen, after having had several “difficult” eliminations earlier in the day. I took the pain for infection-inflamed ureter; later concluded I was passing a stone. Long time since I’d passed a stone. Long time by my standards, that is.
The state I was in at that hour, I was inclined to cancel all appointments and errands for the next day, and plan to spend all day Tuesday flat on my back in bed. With pain like this, you can’t do much more than just stare into space and feel miserable.
I would recall one author’s answer to Dad’s argument; Lawrence Althouse is the guy’s name. He said the sheer alleviation of pain — without opiates — is justification enough for the practice of spiritual healing. Pain occasions loss of productivity, as just described. It also stresses relationships; with any less self-control as to these things than I’ve learned in the past few years, had anyone crossed my path the wrong way on that trip home, I might well have snapped at the person.
That’s not something you want to do in the ghetto. Especially at night.
There are other was to effect spiritual healing, besides prayer.
Just being nice to people, as opposed to choosing, say, to inject needless pain (“static”) into their world — that’s one.
Crystal happened to wait on me at the Rite Aid; she’s my favorite clerk, and I’d not seen her in months. Damn if she didn’t smile at me and give me a cheery greeting as soon as I came in the door.
Damn if my pain didn’t go away — completely — for some time, later after I got home, as I recalled that encounter. “Spiritual” — healing — indeed.
Every word can work good or ill. My choice; your choice. on air talent, radio talk show, talk show host, the homeless blogger
(Transcribed from a letter to my mother dated 25 September 2007.)
This conversation yesterday with a co-worker astonished me.
“Peaches” is a 42-year old, very short woman, certainly a grandmother and very likely great-grandmother, who has about half her teeth. She works principally as a cashier, and is a really good worker and co-worker. She constantly teases me by pretending to flirt with me.
I was stocking the trash bags shelves, and became aware that she was in quite a pickle. Her shift was over, and she had appointments she had to keep at a certain time across town; but she also had assembled this bag full of items she needed to buy at once and before leaving the store. And the line at the cash register was quite long. (Long lines at cash register are a constant, intractable problem at this store.)
I told her facetiously, “Just go down there and push ’em all out.” She said, “No, that would be unmannerly, and that’s not like me.” (Conduct that can be called “unmannerly” is a big, big issue in this community, and a big issue for me personally since I see so much of it and find it offensive.) She went on: “Now, I like your manners. You speak to the customers …” Continue reading I really have nothing better to do→
The Khoisan have never left the Stone Age. Neither have we.
(I’m not happy with this audio, and will replace it in due course.)
This is the first installment in an anticipated four-part series for which the working title is, “Embracing what is.”
The title for this first installment could be, “As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris.”
It’s gluten-free.
All it needs now is an appearance on Dr. Oz.
How can any trendy, with-it person fail to be atheist?
Of the inertial prevalence of belief, Steve Siebold says, “This wouldn’t be surprising 2,000 or even 200 years ago, but in 2014 it’s almost unbelievable.”
In a blog post of July 19, 2014, I declared my ambition to become the “Nemesis of the morning glories” in the garden out behind my church. My plan was to spend four hours per week specifically weeding the morning glories in that garden.
On Monday, October 20, 2014, I wrote, “The morning glories are vanquished. As of today, they are under control throughout the entire garden.”
Heather Cook, an Episcopalian suffragan bishop in Maryland, has been in the news lately. A few weeks ago, she was involved in a vehicular homicide, and currently faces charges including vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, texting while driving, and leaving the scene of an accident.
The most recent terrorist threats we’ve seen have come not from Muslims overseas or Muslims in this country, but from Christians in this country.
On January 14, Duke University announced its plan to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the tower of its chapel every Friday. Franklin Graham posted on Facebook, requesting that donors withhold donations to the university it reversed that decision. A firestorm of controversy followed.
The Homeless Blogger 