Not So Famous…

This is one of those blog posts I’ve been thinking about for a LONG time.  I know I’ve taken stabs at this subject in the past, yet I feel as though I’ve never really done a thorough job of covering it.  It’s likely I’ll fall short again, but it’s been bothering me too much lately to neglect any longer.  I’ve had various drafts of this post saved on my blog for a long time, as well, so it’s about time I completed one of them and posted them.

Before I begin, I would like to state (perhaps quite unnecessarily) that I am a Christian.  This post is going to be concerned with Christianity, and how the concepts of absolute truth and absolute morality are related to Christianity and the Word of God.

First off, what do we mean when we talk about “absolute truth” or “absolute morality”? It’s very simple, to be honest, and should not be confounding as many people as it is. Absolute truth is a truth that is always true, for all people, in all circumstances. Likewise, absolute morality is a set of morals that applies to all people regardless of their religious beliefs or culture. Having defined a what we mean, we can now use these words in our discussion.

Any discussion of absolutes like morality or truth of necessity must begin with epistemology.  Epistemology is the study of knowledge.  Epistemology asks the question “how do we know what we know?”  It is a question worthy of consideration, is it not?  After all, if Joe Schmoe in Podunk, West Virginia comes up with a set of morals and declares them to be absolute, ought we not ask someone who holds to those morals how they came by them?  Ought we not question the source of our knowledge? (Now, I’m not going to get into the formal study of epistemology as defined by Plato, though it’s fascinating stuff.)

In the case of Joe Schmoe’s foolproof moral system, we ask what authority Mr. Schmoe has.  Who is he to determine, after all, whether a given action or set of actions is moral or not?  How does he know that his set of morals applies to all people at all times?  We would state that Joe Schmoe does not have the authority to claim absolute morality for his little set of beliefs. He has neither the requisite experience of all of mankind nor the authority to speak for all people at all times.

Now, here is where I’m sure some of my readers will diverge, though I hope they will continue reading simply to see where I’m going with this.  When it comes to absolute morality and truth in light of Christianity, questions of epistemology are even more important.  There are a lot of things foisted upon the world in the name of Christ that need to have this kind of thing asked of them…especially in the more experiential (not experimental) branches of Christianity. Many cults have been formed and continued simply because those who follow their leaders did not ask the question, “where did this come from?  How do we know this?” Mainline evangelicalism isn’t asking the questions of epistemology.  They aren’t asking what the authority is for certain practices and/or beliefs. Or if they ARE asking these questions, they are not very selective about what the answers ought to be.

The ultimate epistemology of Christianity is God.  But we don’t have God speaking to us through a burning bush, or a pillar of fire.  It’s all well and good to say that God speaks to us, but if we don’t examine HOW we gauge the authority of such communication, then anything could be God speaking.  We end up with a nebulous definition of God’s speaking. People hear voices all the time.  How do we know that the guy who was told to shoot up his parents wasn’t hearing from God?  Too extreme?  Well, I think it’s useful to show why a line of reasoning isn’t helpful, but I can get less extreme.  What about if “God” told someone that they should stop seeing their family?  That they should no longer celebrate any family events or spend time with them at all?  This is not far from what happened to some people I know, and it’s the kind of thing that makes the questions of epistemology very important.  Anyone can say that anything they thought they heard are from God.  How do we know?  How are we to examine whether a “message” is from God?  There are insane people that hear voices.  They hear things that are decidedly not from God.  There are people who are insane, who have not been diagnosed as such. If they hear voices, how do we know they’re God? Ultimately, I’m asking how they know that what they’re hearing is from God.

The most common answer is that we must compare it to the Word of God to ascertain its divine origin.  Even in this answer, there are two schools of thought, neither of which I can devote much time to. The first is that we must be sure that this message from God doesn’t violate any aspect of Scripture that we know about.  This view says that the canon (or divinely authored list of books in the Bible) is still open.  This view says that we still get new revelation from God, and as long as the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemn something, it must be ok.  The problem with that is that there are numerous verses in the Bible pointing to the fact that the canon is closed.  The Lord has revealed to us everything we need for life and godliness.  The second school of thought, which I find infinitely more reasonable, is that we ought to examine teachings and messages from God and see if they’re found in the Bible.  If they’re not found in the Bible, then we reject them.  This is what we are told to do in Scriptures.  We are to test everything by Scripture.  That doesn’t mean we see if it’s found in Scripture, and if not, we embrace it.  Rather, the Lord has declared how He is to be worshiped, and if a method for that is not found in the Word of God, we reject it. The canon is closed, and there is no new revelation.

I’ll continue this either tonight or tomorrow.  I want to explore what we do once we know what our epistemology is.

Since we moved into this new place in October of last year, we have made friends with many of the neighbor’s kitties.  This is a quick photo catalogue of our fuzzy neighbors.  :)

This is Herbert. When we first started moving over here, Herbert was very curious at all the activity.  I saw him and said, “Oh, hello kitty.  I shall call you Herbert!”  And Herbert he remains.

He didn’t initially let us pet him, but he was always lingering around us, watching us.  Once he decided we were decent people, he let us pet him.  He went away for part of the winter.  I think he was hiding in our basement.  Here he is right before running away.  (He does not like Kim’s camera.)

A very handsome cat, to be sure.

This is Spot A.  Kim’s Aunt Brenda named this cat Spot.  And we called it Spot for a long time until we realized something….there were two Spots.  So this one became Spot A.  And this one…

Is Spot B.  Spot A is shorthaired and standoffish.  Spot B is longer-haired and standoffish.  They don’t like us very much.  I wonder if it’s because I shot at one or both of them when they were hiding under our house with my airsoft gun?  Hey, they wouldn’t stop pooping under our house.

This, ladies and gentlemen is Scary Soulless Kitty.  We call it that because of its otherworldly orange eyes.  I’ve never seen eyes like that on a cat.  Scary Soulless Kitty likes the camera…

He also likes to play with sticks, and is very affectionate.  We like to sit on our front porch and throw twigs for him to attack.  He’s also quite fond of our flowerbed sprinklers.

 
“I love me some Chris-petting!”

This is Fuzzy Kitty.  I love Fuzzy Kitty a lot, and he loves me.  Whenever I walk up to my house, if he’s anywhere near, he runs up to me, meowing rapidly.  We’ve never fed him or any of the other kitties, but he definitely enjoys being petted.  After awhile, he’s done being petted, and he walks out of arm’s reach and grooms himself, just content to be hanging around someone.

Kim loves that picture.  She caught him shaking his head, so his ear is all floppy.

 
“Are they looking at me?”

“Ah, who cares?”

Herbert and Fuzzy Kitty are my favorites of our feline neighbors.  They’re both pretty friendly, but I’ve noticed that if I pay a lot of attention to one of them, the other tends to stay away from me for awhile.  I wonder if they’re both males.  I know that Fuzzy Kitty is a male…our neighbor told me so.  His name is apparently Pretty Man to her.  I like Fuzzy Kitty better.  :)

We call this kitty The Impostor because when we were trying to keep the kitties out of the basement, we thought this guy was Fuzzy Kitty.  We boarded up many of the holes through which they were entering and exiting, and he was trapped down there for awhile.  I shot at him with my airsoft, but he just kept running around the basement. 

One day, Kim went out to do some laundry on our screened-in porch, and saw The Impostor on the side of the porch.  This was the first good look we’d gotten at him in the light, and Kim realized that this definitely wasn’t Fuzzy Kitty.  Furthermore, The Impostor was not happy to be trapped with Kim between him and the relative safety of the basement.  She stepped over to the door to the outside, and then backed down the basement stairs a couple steps, clucking to him encouragingly, though she was around the corner, and couldn’t see him.  Suddenly, The Impostor saw his chance, and headed toward the side of the porch where the outside door and the basement steps are.  However, instead of heading to the right towards the outside, he turned left, toward the basement, where Kim stood on our narrow basement steps.  He didn’t even slow down, but leapt at Kim’s face, clawing to get over her and into the cool darkness of the basement.  She wasn’t much of a defensive lineman.  He got over her, and she had scrapes from his claws.  Kim doesn’t much like The Impostor.

The Impostor is a little huskier than Fuzzy Kitty, as you can see, but in the dark, he’s a little harder to distinguish.  I can now easily distinguish between them, since Fuzzy Kitty will usually run toward me, and The Impostor runs away.

Those are most of our neighbor kitties.  The other cat that we’ve only pet once or twice, and definitely doesn’t stick around when Kim gets out her camera is Gimpy Kitty.  Gimpy Kitty is missing most of one of his front paws, so he limps around a lot.  In fact, he doesn’t appear to like standing on his front paw, so often he’ll be sitting upright like a prairie dog.  He’s so cute when he does that.  lol.

Our neighbor kitties are fun.  :)

Do you sit wondering how God still speaks to us these days?  Or was Nietzsche right when he said “God is dead”?  Of course not!  But how do we hear God these days?  We know “print is dead”, so it can’t be the Bible, right?  I mean, how can something with so many “thee’s” and “thou’s” still be relevant in this day of Internet, fast cars, and microprocessors?  What’s more, how are we supposed to fit these “quiet times” our pastors encourage us to have into our busy schedules?

These are all great questions, people, and TheDow Industries cares about the answers.  We have come up with some products that are really going to help you find out the ubiquitous Will of God.  Using our products, you will easily and quickly be able to let God speak to you. Don’t let the book of Revelation end with a period when we all know that God meant to use a comma. (Darn those translation “faux pas”.)

Prophecy-Bits
 
We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Well now it can be even MORE important with all new Prophecy-Bits Cereal!  With Prophecy Bits, you too can see the ever-changing Will of the Lord while still grabbing some grub in the morning. Prophecy-Bits can be part of any spirit-filled Christian’s balanced breakfast.

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(Prophecy-Bits is not responsible for any profanity that may surface in your morning cereal. By purchasing Prophecy-Bits Cereal, you agree to hold TheDow Industries harmless in the event that your cereal tells you to do anything illegal.)

Theopneu-Stew
 
Need to catch lunch in a hurry? No time to spend hours asking the Lord to speak to you? You don’t need to worry any longer. Theopneu-stew is your source for the up-to-the-minute Word of God. Simple nuke a bowl of Theopneu-stew and see what the Lord has to say to you now. Get answers to life’s REALLY important questions, like who to vote for, how to raise your kids, what church to attend; and get a nutritious lunch at the same time.

Theopneu-stew: God’s Inspired Soup

(TheDow Industries would like to remind our more spiritually-sensitive brethren that spilling scalding Theopneu-stew in your lap is not to be interpreted as the Wrath of God. Please nuke responsibly.)

“God Still Speaks” Ball
 
For those times when you don’t have time to cook a meal to get a quick answer from God, TheDow Industries presents the “God Still Speaks” Ball.  Not like those demonic 8-balls or Ouigi Boards, the answers the “God Still Speaks” Ball gives you are authoritative and godly. No longer feel as though you’re consulting with Satan when you pick up a “harmless” 8-ball for a laugh. Now you can get real, meaningful answers from the “God Still Speaks” Ball. 

How does it work?  Every “God Still Speaks” Ball contains no less than 2 cups of “God Still Speaks” Authentically Blessed Blue Holy Water, with inspired answers floating inside. To get an answer from the Lord, simply turn the “God Still Speaks” Ball so that the Priestly Window faces up and see what the Lord has to say to you today! Some of the answers the “God Still Speaks” Ball will give you:

Pray About It
Smite Something
Cast Out Demons
What Would Jesus Do
Signs God Points to Yes
- and-
Pray Sinner’s Prayer (For those situations when you may have accidentally jeopardized your salvation.)

(TheDow Industries would like to remind our customers that the symbol on the back that looks like an “8″ is actually the Infinity symbol, representing the eternity of the Lord. Some “God Still Speaks” Balls have been reported to leak their Authentically Blessed Blue Holy Water. This water may be used to bless cars, houses, children, babies, computer equipment, or anything else you might use inferior holy water or anointing oils for. If you run out of Authentically Blessed Blue Holy Water, you may send TheDow Industries a check for $89.95 along with a self-addressed, stamped, waterproof box for replacement water.)

PLEASE NOTE: (These products are fictitious.  Please don’t buy them.)

My uncle has a country place
that no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm
before the Motor Law.

And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
and hop the turbine freight
to far outside the Wire
where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
as the turbo slows across the Borderline.
Run like the wind
as excitement shivers up and down my spine.

Down in his barn
my uncle preserved for me an old machine
for fifty-odd years.
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream.

I strip away the old debris
that hides the shining car.
A brilliant red Barchetta
from a better, vanished time.

I fire up the willing engine
responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime.

Wind;
In my hair;
Shifting and drifting;
Mechanical music;
Adrenaline surge!

Well-weathered leather;
Hot metal and oil;
The scented country air.
Sunlight on chrome;
The blur of the landscape;
Every nerve aware.

Suddenly ahead of me,
Across the mountainside.
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide

I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race.
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase.

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I’ve got a desperate plan.

At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside.
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside.
– Rush, Red Barchetta from the album, Moving Pictures. (1981)
Based on the short story A Nice Morning Drive, by Richard S. Foster. (1973)

Many of you know that my hours were cut at work back in October. It was something I did to help the company out, and even though the IT Field is not tied to the Building Industry, and I could have gone somewhere else to work full time, I didn’t.  I didn’t leave, because I like the company for which I work, and I didn’t want to leave.

My patience has been rewarded.  I’ll not go into details about what changed to allow me to go back to full time, as it’s not really important.  What is important is that I’m back to full time at work, and I’m more than happy to do it.  I love where I work, and with whom I work, and this is definitely an answer to prayer.

Thank you all for praying.

This is something that we’ve wanted to do for years now: Watch all 3 extended versions of the Lord of the Rings in one weekend.  We were ambitious, and kicked off the weekend with We Are Marshall to boot!  lol.  We got through it all, though!

We Are Marshall is an excellent flick, by the way. Great acting, heart-tugging story.  It really is top-notch.

I hate to say this, but I definitely got bored in a couple parts in Lord of the Rings.  Part of it was that I had a lot of things going on in my mind, so at some points, I had to leave the room, just to think about some things that were distracting me.

As I said in a comment on my last post, we were kind of amazed that Peter Jackson did as much departing from the storyline as he did.  They’re really excellent movies, in my opinion, but there were some places we just weren’t able to discover his reasoning in cutting or changing things.

Last night we finally finished the first season of Heroes, as well, which was stellar.  I can’t think of a show that I’ve enjoyed as much as I’ve enjoyed Heroes.  I’m a little sad that the 2nd season was cut short because of this (well-deserved) writers’ strike at only 11 episodes.  Does anyone know where we can see them (ALL) online?

Finally, this weekend, we’re going to see Symphony X in San Francisco.  Last time the X was in SF, some sort of gay pride thing was happening.  It was disgusting, to be honest, so I’m really hoping they picked a better weekend.  Many of you might wonder why I went to San Francisco not expecting to see some sort of gay event.  Yes, I know…San Francisco has a reputation as showcasing that particular lifestyle, but to be honest, it’s not on display all the time.

For those of you who are taking umbrage at my use of the adjective “disgusting”, I’d like to say a few things.  First off, the Bible is clear…homosexuality is wrong.  However, I’m not railing against the homosexual lifestyle…just stating that it’s immoral.  Are other people going to practice it regardless of what the Bible says?  Yup.  That’s not my point.  My point is that I don’t want to see men walking down the street in nothing but a THONG that goes from their nether-regions to their shoulders!!!  I don’t want to see men walking around with butt-less chaps!!!!!  Would I have a problem with women walking around like that?  You bet I would.

I don’t really care whether or not you agree with me, though. Plenty of people won’t.  lol.  I just don’t want to see it.  If I do see it, I won’t be scarred for life.  Just disgusted.  It’s a common occurrence in SF, though, being disgusted. Just walk down market street….<HURK>

We are attempting to watch all 3 extended versions of the Lord of the Rings this weekend.  :)

I’ll let you know how well we fare.  We’re in the middle of the Fellowship of the Ring at the moment.  ;)

First off, I’d like to say that I’m not against smoking.  If you want to smoke, GO FOR IT!  What I like about this little anti-smoking ad is the presentation of the product.  It makes me laugh.  :)

The Truth - Splode TV Ad

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that we’re starting up another Hackmaster campaign.  I created a blog site that will allow me to post my game logs from each session.  We had our first game this weekend, so I have my first game log up.  I’m posting them in narrative form because they’re more interesting that way.  Since I see P&P RPG’s as interactive storytelling, I felt that this fit better, and I’m getting very positive reactions from my players.

The site can be found at: http://savevsdeath.thedow.org

Needless to say (once you’ve read the log), the session did not go well.  :) There are some positives that could come out of it, though.  :)  I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

I think today marks the first time this has ever happened: Not a single person I saw driving this morning actually stopped at a stop sign.  In fact, one guy blew through a blind intersection without even slowing down for that particular stop sign…while I was approaching it.  If I had been one of those idiots that felt that the laws don’t apply to me, I’d have been in a serious accident, because that one guy didn’t even slow down!

It could be that I was driving a little earlier than normal, and there are usually less people on the road, but in what world does the imperative "STOP" mean "STOP…sometimes…"?

Whatever.