Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Things going on...but not really

My dad had surgery on his back. This is the third time they have needed to do this as the problem is affecting one vertebrae at a time. This time, though, they had to do some repair work on the old scar tissue so his recovery has been very slow.

Though my step mom has done most of the care for him, I have been busy helping.

I am teaching my third kid to drive. You know, I don't really enjoy this, though I do enjoy them having their licenses. He should pass his test next week and then I get to start on #4 :-P

I know the courts have ruled a drivers license to be a privilege, not a right. Those judges obviously didn't live in the western US. The nearest public transportation is half an hour away by car. The nearest store is a mile or so. We would literally starve if we didn't have at least one driver's license in the house. It is a necessity for living outside the big city. I certainly can see not having or needing one in the city. It would reduce the cost of living. But here? No. You can't survive without it.

Anyway, I am getting to be a better driving teacher, though it takes hours out of my week.

In considering how I would teach the Pentateuch in Bible study (not that that is actually on the schedule or anything. Just thinking ahead to all possibilities), I decided the best, most interesting way to do it would be to go by law, not the order in the Bible. So, cover all laws from the whole Bible on slavery at once. Then the laws on theft, etc.

In this vein, I am working on the Ten Commandments. That is the first real set of laws. At some point, this will likely be published in a print book, but that is a long way off.

And of course with the political season, I'm busy making sure everyone on Facebook knows my opinion. Like, that will make a difference in the world, lol.

To summarize those beliefs:
If you want socialism, move. You have the whole world to choose from. Those of us who see socialism as dangerous and tyranny-by-committee have nowhere else to go. So it's only fair to leave us one country while you have the rest of the world.

I have been saying for 30 years "Anyone but Hillary." Yep, for that long. She entered  the public arena when Bill was running by saying "I could have been a homemaker but I wanted to do something with my life besides bake cookies and have teas." Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Words that come to mind with HC: Condescending. Better-Than-Thou. Racist. Liar. Thief. Murderer. Evil. Umbridge.

Trump? He's been in the news for 30 years too and honestly, I'm surprised there aren't more accounts of philandering, though he would have to work hard to catch up to Bill's escapades.

Everyone who knows him, especially those who have worked for him, say he is a fun, generous man.

Evidently Hillary is into dog breeding because everyone who knows her, especially those who have worked with her, keep talking about mamma dogs...

Personalities aren't nearly as important as philosophy though.

Hillary: "...deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

How exactly does she intend to do that? To change my mind on abortion and other religious views that are different than hers? Fine me? Imprison Me?  Maybe she wants to add lion pits to DC? Am I exaggerating? No, I don't' think so. The worst persecution of Christians in history has been not because they wanted to worship Jesus, but because they didn't worship the government ABOVE Jesus. They dared have different opinions than those in power.

Nothing BO has done has surprised me. He told us before he was elected what he was going to do and he has done it.

Hillary has told us what she intends to do, and that includes forcing anyone who disagrees with her to change their minds.

Trump isn't perfect, but then, no human being is. I do wish he was more conservative. But I will take his imperfections over her evil any day.

And you know, the way he handles the media, the way he puts them in their place, may actually be the best thing for this country in the long run over any other issue. They no long report, but indoctrinate. Democracy can not survive without an unbiased media, and we no longer have one.

This whole election is really about one question:

Who will run the country? The people or the self appoint aristocrats? 

A vote for Trump is a vote for the people.

6 comments:

  1. Hi, Betty! It is of course David. I disappeared; I've returned; it's what I do. (I mean, there were Reasons [tm] but whatever; there are always reasons, and I'm sorry for just vanishing without saying a word. Though somehow I /thought/ you might keep very, very busy in my absence. And look! You did.)

    Hope your dad is recovering and your son passed the test.

    Re. grouping the commandments by theme, that's a very neat idea & I would add that, within each theme, you might want to present them in chronological order. Would be interesting to see what changes over time & in what directions. Also to see what classes of commandment just /stop existing/ in the text as you hit the Old Testament / New Testament boundary.

    My first thought (though this is informed by stereotype, not detailed knowledge) is that civil law will be almost totally absent from the New Testament. There won't be detailed rules about land transfers or loans or business dealings of any sort. Am I right about that? If so, why do you think that's the case?

    (For the record: I think it makes perfect sense if -- key word "if" -- the early Christians never expected to be in charge of society. After all, subcultures can have their own /norms/, but not their own /laws/; also, if Christianity had followers all over the Roman Empire, they would have grown up with a pretty wide variety of local practices and customs. That makes it very tough to find a one-size-fits-all approach to law that will feel intuitively right to everyone. But these are secular explanations and I suspect -- and kinda hope! -- you'll say, "No no, you have to ask what are *God's* reasons, which I think are X, Y, and Z.")

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  2. Nice to have you back. Blogger changed the dashboard, so I just now saw your comment. I have to change some settings to see things earlier. Sorry about that.

    Dad is doing better, but it is very slow. He is still using a walker, but he did crawl under a pickup a couple days ago, so he is getting there.

    Child 3 appears to have a severe "test phobia." He is a boringly competent driver until a tester gets in the car. Then he forgets everything he ever knew about driving. So we are still working on that.

    New verses Old Testament: you are right that the civil law ends with the Old. The New Testament deals entirely with individuals and their relationships with God and each other. Nothing to government (other than the principles of "If you are a boss, treat your servants with kindness because you have to answer to God." This would apply to those in government as well as not).

    The biggest commands concerning government are "Pray for your leaders." and "Obey those in government as long as they aren't telling you to disobey God, (no matter how stupid the laws they pass are- my addition from context :-D)."

    Some early Christians, I think, did expect to conquer the world physically, but God had other plans. His aim was/is to conquer hearts. That is far more important and long lasting (like, Eternity)

    So far, I am actually seeing a surprisingly consistent standard throughout the Law. I really expected more variation. There is a bit of a difference in the penalties for stealing, but otherwise, it appears to be about the same throughout.

    How I am doing the study at this point is going through Exodus verse by verse (I'm in 23 now) and as I come to each law I google "scripture [relevant law]" It's slow and we have had a bad bout of flue (three weeks!) so I haven't been at it as much as I should be.

    Hope all is going good :-)

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  3. Oooooh, test phobia. That's a tough one to conquer. But he'll get there! Probably! No guarantees! ... boy, I hope you give better pep talks than I do.

    Also, question 'cause I'm curious: is Star Wars allowed in your home?

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  4. Yes, it is. In fact we all went to see Rogue One last Saturday

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  5. Aw, man. I was gonna buy y'all tickets for Christmas. Fortunately there's another movie coming out in 2017, so the dream can live on. :)

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  6. Since it's the thought that counts, thank you very much! We really appreciate it :-)

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