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Sunday, April 4. 2010
...but from weird people? That's the topic, not how much I enjoy being weird. OK...no particular order, just stuff I've thought of, maybe someone could 'run with it', maybe I'm the only one that thinks these have merit. #1: I read a guy saying that Christian men should have an accountability partner, one that comes over and looks at your internet history. The way I see it, you can look at my history all you want, but I have difficulty enough getting my own chores done, I don't have time to come check up on you. So, how about a history sharing site, one that you control the access to, where your complete internet history is posted there? I know, I know, some will say that some poor saps just don't deserve freedom, but whatever, I haven't thought it through, it's just an idea off the cuff. #2 Automotive mechanical disorder sounds (recorded). Years ago, I had this idea of a tunnel like affair, available to motorists. You would drive your car through at slow or moderate speed, with the windows open, and listen for sounds coming from your car. Might help with the diagnostic. Just the other day, I had a similar idea, a website with recorded sounds of common automotive ailments. That way, a guy like me might have help answering my current question: Is that rarr-rarr-rarr sound in my truck the differential going bad, or just the tread from the rear replacement tire I bought? Also, this place with the tunnel would have large reflective surfaces available. You would back your car up to it, then check to see if your signal and running lights are working. Although, this can be done in many commercial shopping centers. The following ideas once appeared in cartoon form on my website, so you might already have seen them. #3: Fix up a church van to look like an ambulance. Put reflective stripes, lights, and the like on it. the lettering would be to the effect of emergency help for lost souls. OF COURSE you can come up with better wording, it's not always my strong trait. Actually, I'm the weird kind of guy that thinks his wording is SO cool, why doesn't everybody like it as much as I do??? #4: This is where weird people need help, before they go off and do something more bizarre than usual. Yeah so anyway, I was about to pull out onto the main highway, and what drove by, but an early (50's??) Hearse. It was painted electric lime green, with custom graphics by the front fenders. The guy driving it was wearing a tophat. I loved it. I thought that if it were mine, I would put very large lettering along the solid metal panel: "EVERYBODY GETS ONE RIDE". Below that, Hebrews 9:27..."it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." #5: 3/4 scale Viking boat. We have a large family, so I thought it would be cool to have a Viking boat, complete with soaring snake head. As dad and captain, I would just order people around, the kids would "get" to power the oars. What fun to hit the islands at the lake with swords drawn, and give the picnickers the thrill of a lifetime! Unless of course, they were one of those concealed carry people.
Sunday, April 4. 2010
Years ago, I met a man who said:"What we need is a
revolution!" Recognizing it as a rather ambitious undertaking,
with very unpredictable outcomes, I asked him some questions along
the lines of:
If you eliminate this government, what will you
replace it with?
There will be a lot of positions to fill, what
sort of people will you get for those positions?
How long will it
be before this new government is the same as the current one?
He
was visibly annoyed with my questions, but they're not mere
implication to me, I at least want to see a plan. Which brings us to
a statement made by another man I met, he was the owner of a
restaurant, if I recall. He said:"If we could just go back to
the '50's (1950's era) everything would be alright."
What
he wants to do is take this society back to a different set of social
norms.There are at least two problems here: people would hate it,
and, it wouldn't fix what's wrong.
I had a pleasant
conversation with an ex-Mennonite minister about the then recent sub
prime loan collapse. He was convinced that the core of the problem
was greed. I concurred that it was certainly central, but not the
single essential problem. Then as now, I think the issue is
dishonesty. The reason being that dishonesty takes at least two
forms, dishonesty to others, and, dishonesty to oneself.
Think
of all the ways dishonesty is manifested.The
sub prime meltdown was rife with dishonesty. We have a dishonest money
supply. I actually had a guy tell me that government spending wasn't
as bad as it seems, because we really wouldn't have to pay back the
same amount, after adjusting for inflation. Oh by the way, our
current economic situation is very much influenced by John Maynard
Keynes, who was a homosexual. Psalm 1 verse 1 says that blessed is
the man that walks not after the counsel of the ungodly.
How
many people are part of a family heritage that includes a certain
religion? How many of those people, upon realizing that it is false,
would renounce it, and follow the Lord as taught in His word? They
would rather lie to themselves.
How many scientists or
professors, upon realizing the absurdity of Darwinian macro
evolution, would renounce it? Their career, their marriage, their
social life, basically everything, would be jeopardized.
How many preachers would
endanger their employment if they seriously and continually railed
against watching TV, divorce, and sending your children to the
people's school system? I once read an article about the secrecy of
pornography. It said that years ago, you had to go to an adult
theater, or buy a magazine at a store. Then you could get it
delivered by mail yo your house. Now, with the internet, it's totally
private. I'm skeptical of statistics, but one said the 70 percent of
professing Christian men use pornography. We should probably say
commit pornography. Very private dishonesty.
I don't think
that people really want the solution. There's an entire blog post
that could be made on the idea of "please lie to me", or
"Good lies sold here". A more fixed money supply could mean
waiting years for a home loan. Not looking at women to lust after
them would mean eliminating a lot of TV and entertainment. Taking
your children seriously would mean not regarding the people's school
system as a babysitter. My impression of the fifties is that of a
very superficial time. If you dressed right, kept your hair right,
showed up for work, showed up for church, taught the kids about Santa
Claus, Easter Bunny, and bible stories, you could secretly live as
you pleased. This is what people want to return to. Sorry,
IT_WON"T_WORK. It is what got us where we are now.
I think that armed revolution, at this point in history, is
putting the cart in front of the horse. I'll be the first to admit
that the federal government is a huge monster that should be
dismantled. There are some that think I'm unpatriotic when I say that
we shouldn't be the world's policeman. But my kind of patriotism is
that of state power, something much closer the the original republic.
Any state could live closer to the Lord's ways, and be blessed, while
other states whither by their own communism. The monster says
NO, you will all do it our way.
Nonetheless, this all may be so much armchair politics.
Notice 2 Samuel 16:21: "...and all Israel shall hear that thou
art abhorred of thy father: then shall all the hands of them that are
with thee be strong." I do not write this as a game plan for the
shortsighted. Notice what happened to Absalom shortly thereafter.
Rather, after hearing that verse again the other day, it occurred to
me that changes could be happen, which would force people to abandon
ambiguity, if that's the word.
I try to ponder things from
different angles. I've thought that keeping guns with the idea of
fighting the government might be nonsense, but, there would likely be
bands of roving opportunists in that day, calling themselves
revolutionaries. One would need to protect oneself as much from them
as from the government communist robots, who don't value family, God,
or wisdom.
As limited as my knowledge of civics,
history, and military matters is, even a guy like me can predict what
the government and media will do in a revolution. They will seize
control of all food and fuel, any inconveniences, contrived or
otherwise, will be blamed on the rebels. This society will short
circuit with the slightest difficulty. Revolutionaries will be hated,
and, as (Chuck Colson?) said: people will choose tyranny over chaos."
I'm not looking forward to this. A lot of shortsighted
people out there.
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