For years, I’ve had a special sensitivity to reports of child abuse.
This one may give you nightmares for the rest of your life.
Victoria Martens
According to the police report, on her 10th birthday, the mother’s boyfriend and his female cousin injected this little girl with drugs “to calm her down.” They proceeded to strangle, torture, rape and dismember her.
While her mother looked on.
Where is God, or what is God, when such an event can occur?
Friday, October 14
At the homeless shelter where I stay, bunks are supposed to be assigned daily strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. But they try to give each man the same bunk as he had the night before. It’s an imperfect system.
About a month ago, we got a whole new crew of peacekeepers. They have their own favorites, and I am not among them. About ten days ago, Kelvin and Marvin were in line behind me. Steve, who was assigning bunks, sent word out to ask if they were there. They got called in and assigned their bunks. I got turned away.
(Originally posted 05/12/13. Reblogged 04/18/24.)
Wednesday 04/24/13
Facing various issues as to how to spend my time. The current appearance of this blog is a far cry from what I want, but I don’t want time spent redesigning it to take away from job search. The same dilemma presents in choice of whether to use my tax refund to restore my former website on Yahoo! for $125.00/year, or instead rebuild the site as part of this blog.
My church is about to launch Saturday morning prayer services in which I will have a leadership role. I will be offering teachings on prayer; I think I have about two hours’ worth of material, and an issue rises of whether to try to organize that into 10-minute or instead 15-minute segments. And there’s an issue that what I would present to the prayer team members only, isn’t necessarily what I’d present to the general public.
This morning at McDonald’s I was reflecting on these things, and on what I might teach to an audience drawn from the general public. I began to understand why Ambrose Worrall fails to refer to Kabbalah.
Prayer team members will be principally interested in learning how to pray effectively for others. People who come from the general public will be principally interested in how to pray effectively for themselves — how to get their own prayers answered.
I presume to be pretty good at the former. That’s how I became prayer ministry coordinator to start with. I’m not so good at the latter.
Continue reading x From my diary: Learning to pray
I am extremely depressed this morning. This may be a “monthly.” I find myself hyper-self-critical; ready to take anything someone may say the wrong way; ready to snap.
I’m dealing with various issues in various places that may help explain it, but as opposed to engaging in excuses or blame, I need to deal with what is.
I was in Dunkin’ Donuts at 9:00 and chose to check the library schedule for this week; to chart out what days I would go to the library and what other days I would go to church.
Continue reading * Self-management in the face of depression
At first I expected this author to affirm the “blame-your-past” orientation of “the prevailing psychological wisdom of our time.” Instead, she sets forth an intriguing vision remarkably similar to my own, with, for me, remarkably intriguing ramifications that I want to consider further.
Her counsel is to accept What Is.
Continue reading * The Real Reason Why You Haven’t Healed Your Trauma/Depression/Heartbreak
I don’t normally allow myself to imagine untoward events in the future. However, I do anticipate more riots when the Baltimore police verdicts come down.
Many, many people, black and white, have misconceived the trial and have set their hearts on outcomes that cannot obtain.
As of Monday, 04/27/15, let me say this. We had five days of completely orderly demonstrations. Only after that did the interlopers arrive, and only after that did any trouble begin.
Everybody, I think, wants certain things. We want to find out the facts. We want appropriate prosecutions, if warranted. We want …
I’ve just read this article, which indicates interlopers were indeed allowed to address the crowd at the original gathering Saturday 2015-04-25. They said things I do not believe any native Baltimorean would have said. They had to rationalize their presence, and in my judgment, failed.
“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
Connect the dots however you like. Can you connect them all?
The Serenity Prayer does not depend on belief in God, but rather expresses basic principles of life:
God, grant me
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
This pertains to where one directs one’s attention, how one chooses to feel, and where one focuses one’s desires. These are acts not of the mind, but of the will.
Jeffrey Tayler says, “Given the possibility that terrorists may acquire weapons of mass destruction and nuclear states with faith-based conflicts may let fly their missiles, religion may be said to endanger humanity as a whole. No one who cares about our future can quietly abide the continuing propagation and influence of apocalyptic fables that large numbers of people take seriously and not raise a loud, persistent, even strident cry of alarm.”[15]
Fact: those who direct Iran’s nuclear program aren’t likely to listen to an atheist American Islamophobe.
“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
A timely quote from Bertrand Russell: “Zeal is a bad mark for a cause. It suggests one is not quite certain. It is not the vaccinationists, but the anti-vaccinationists, who are zealous. No one is zealous about arithmetic.”
The homeless shelter where I stay makes us sit through chapel for an hour every night. A few days ago, this new preacher addressed us for the first time. Shortly into his presentation, he became hysterical, and stayed that way for fifty minutes. He wept. He screamed. He did not persuade anyone of anything.
Jeffrey Tayler sets forth that atheism is just as settled as arithmetic; but he is just as zealous as that preacher — and just as unpersuasive. In effect, he preaches only to the choir.
“Embracing what is,” a four-part series:
• As seen on TV: The new, improved hubris
• Belief: The unforgivable sin
• Rationalism cannot save us.
• Hell has an exit.
———— ♦ ————
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.”
The Homeless Blogger 