120 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 2-23-21”

  1. Good morning everyone.
    I have a feeling I have discussed this before.
    But, in any case, it’s important.

    Jesus said, John 1126 “He that lives and believes in me shall never die.” Given circumstances the last couple of weeks, you can see how that is important to me.

    So? What does this mean? Given the fact that Elvera is no longer around, it must mean that she has another body that still exists. That must mean that when a person is “born again”, that person has a spiritual body that is unique to him and does not die.
    That is, the real Elvera still lives with God in another dimension which is not limited with physical constraints..
    There is more to this than I can comprehend at this point.

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  2. Good morning, Chas.

    It is pretty incredible but there you have it. When He makes us alive, we are alive indeed. This frail tent will fall away, to be made new and right later. Meantime, we are alive with Him and seated with Him in the heavenlies. Nothing can separate us from Him.

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  3. That is why we fear not death . . . we are already Kingdom dwellers. We just don’t know all the dimensions of His Kingdom. We see only in part. I praise Him for how He has made a place for us. Similar to how Chas went ahead and got that generator to make a place of comfort ahead of the time, so Jesus is making a good, good place for us. Elvera is already there. We have sunlight and electric lights but Elvera has the superior Jesus light.

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  4. It will be even nicer out today than it was yesterday. I am keeping my blueberry bush (twig/whip) watered. I can see how it is named a whip. It is just about right for one of those switches that I felt on my legs when I did something I had been told not to do as a child. I did not get whippings, I got switchings. It seems so strange to think back on that and realize that as a parent I never once considered switching as a form of discipline for Wesley. He did get some spankings when quite young and in diapers so there was always the padding. A “spanking” got his attention but did not hurt. As he got older I learned to take away things as his discipline, and that was when he would try to bargain and ask for a “spanking” rather than losing something he valued.

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  6. I was thinking yesterday, what life would be like without the internet and television. We would be slightly later informed on world news as we either listened to radio or read the newspaper. We would be more focused on the here and now, interacting with those around us more. We would be outside more. We would buy locally.
    But I would not have you all and this little community.

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  7. Good morning.

    Mumsee, oh, I don’t know. We never did have television, just went straight from radio and prerecorded videos to internet. But in the pre internet days – and I didn’t start using the internet until I was in my 20s – I was a complete bookworm and was often completely absorbed in my book, not even hearing when people spoke to me. My ideal summer day was reading a long book end to end without interruption. I spend less time outdoors now not because of the internet, but because my asthma and allergies limit the time I can spend and I no longer have anyone to accompany me on long walks. As for buying local, the things we order off the internet now, we used to order from catalogues then – local stores didn’t have any better selection then. And the chain grocery stores imported much of their foodstuffs back then too.

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  8. Good Morning! The air is so fresh this morning and the temps will be in the mid 50’s! Tomorrow we will have at least 5 inches of snow and a high of 25!
    It is comforting to know our Lord has our future all planned out when we leave this earth. To be in His presence, the old is gone and everything is new…no more pain, no more sorrow. Just to dwell with Him in eternity…all of our hope is in Him. How we long for that day….

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  9. Roscuro, the only thing I bought from catalogs before was garden seeds and plants and homeschool supplies. Yes, but limited supplies is not necessarily a bad thing.

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  11. Catalogue orders: books (CBD catalogue, et al.), clothing (Sears catalogue), videos, tools (Lee Valley catalogue) and equipment not available in stores, parts for repair ordered by catalogue in store, seeds (Stokes catalogue, et al.), jewelry and novelty items (Avon catalogue, etc.). Mail order was big business.

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  12. In Chicago I did all my Christmas shopping from catalogs. (Store shopping was inconvenient in Chicago and I’ve never really been a shopper. At Christmas I sometimes got more than 10 catalogs on a single day, and felt bad about it since we had one mailbox for both upstairs and downstairs and I was filling up my landlady’s mailbox! A national “do not send catalogs” registry opened up, and before I moved I put my name and address on it, hoping it would stop the flood for her.

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  14. Roscuro, all that stuff is certainly available in catalogs and the internet is mostly a reprinting of them. Just musing on what things were like. I do recall the other Christian catalog, just not its name. Great Christian Books? Or some such thing. I liked it too. But, no, I did most of my shopping in person and since I am not a shopper, not much of that.

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  15. I bought books from bookstores, groceries from grocery stores, hardware from hardware stores, clothing from clothing stores, furniture from furniture stores. Eventually, Walmart started carrying everything and then the internet with home delivery. I see the real stores are offering home delivery these days as well.

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  17. Ah the days before purchasing online from the comfort of your easy chair! 😊
    The days of putting on your “good” clothes, hopping in the car and driving downtown. Going into the shoe store and having your shoe fitted for your foot. Going into the music store and listening to the record or having someone playing the sheet music before your purchase. Going into JC Penney and trying on new school clothes with your parents close by. And all the while we were interacting with neighbors in our community. We knew the man at the shoe store, the music store, the clerk at Penney’s. We knew the beat cops walking the sidewalks downtown. I want to go back to that time….

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  18. Mumsee, what if the bookstore didn’t have the book you were looking for? Did you get them to order it from their catalogue? There is only a limited number of publishing houses. Books are seldom produced locally, the same with many other items such as recordings, etc. Whether the individual or the business ordered it, it was still ordered by catalogue. Buying local, in modern popular parlance doesn’t just mean buying from the local shop, it also means buying goods produced locally.

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  19. Roscuro, of course, and no, I did not have them special order for me. I browsed through what was there and did not worry about the rest of the things I might possibly want if I knew they were available. Way back in the day, I remember my folks only buying produce when it was “in season”. That, apparently, meant lowest prices. Now, I am not so certain there is such a thing.

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  20. Car purchases: used to be you could go to your nearest used car lot and pick up a pretty good deal. Now, not only fifty different dealerships and used car lots within an hour of here (out in the middle of nowhere) but there is Craigslist and car dealerships in minnesota and new brunswick to look through. Along with a whole lot more.

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  21. Books are almost all printed in China, as a matter of fact . . .

    I’m about to become a local school child come Thursday. It will be death by Zoom and Vimeo as I attend an on-line writer’s conference. In addition, my normal class has a 2-3 hour Zoom meeting, I have to work somewhere in there and my newest research continues.

    Meanwhile, I’m scrambling to get ahead of real life so I’m not totally slammed. If you see me on Sunday, you will know I survived! LOL

    Beautiful weather here, BTW. I planted violets yesterday.

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  22. And true, most things are not produced locally. Or, if they are, they get shipped across the country and ordered back. We do have a large paper mill in Lewiston for taking care of the tree excess from lumber making. But the paper products seem to end up elsewhere, As with our local crops of garbanzo beans, lentils, wheat, barley, oats, etc. Farmer’s markets are of course local. Furniture, clothing, hardware, mostly comes from far and wide, and shopping locally includes paying the store folk to transport stuff from those places.

    Husband thinks one way to put an end to all the foolishness around covid and other things would be to have the truckers stop driving for one week. Can you imagine what that would do to our countries?

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  24. I sigh whenever I see the “Made in China” label on everything (though some things now are turning up from Vietnam after the tariff war and factory shutdowns in China due to Covid last year).

    I will say, though, that buying a used car is way more of a transparent process than it used to be — with Carfax records and other online and car tracking helps, it’s no longer a shot in the dark with some “salesman” who will tell you just about anything to make a sale.

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  25. Some years ago a friend bought an independent pet store in our town, complete with a self-serve grooming and dog bathing section.

    But there was absolutely no way she could offer the same dog food or other much-lower prices as the national chain pet store right across the street. The store eventually went out of business.

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  26. Chas reminds me of when I went to a Baptist summer camp and in the choir we sang a cantata based on Revelation. There was a older man there who had an accident ( or war injuries, I forget). He couldn’t walk without a cane and one of his arms had limited use. When we sang a song about our new bodies he smiled big and said “I can’t wait!”

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  28. I am certainly not discounting the ease we have now. It is definitely preferable to me to sit in my chair and order whatever I want and have it delivered in a couple of days. Except CBD that takes up to two weeks. And Gurneys that can take months. The ease is not the problem. And the cost is much less, often, than driving to a store and paying their prices. I am thinking of other costs.
    But the benefits are there as well. Talking with you all is much easier than talking to people in person for many reasons. A large fuel savings of not driving to the stores. I have more time to enjoy my place and my children. It is much easier to keep in contact with distant friends and family. All sorts of info that would have taken more work to find if it could be found.

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  30. Yes, our loggers had lots of regulation etc. that made it difficult for them. Seems that happens with a lot of our businesses. More for China etc. More pollution for the world while some politicians can feel, oh, so smug and holier than thou.

    I hate buying clothes online. We just lost another clothes store (it will shut down this week) that had clothes that would actually suit me. The manager goes to our church and was hoping for three more years of work for them. Our post offices should be getting lots more business with the returns alone.

    Part of the fun of shopping was always running into friend, neighbors and relatives. I suppose we will experience that again when we aren’t going out so early in the morning.

    Peter, your comment reminds me of the couple. we went to church with, who had a daughter with severe, multiple birth issues. She was in a wheelchair, could not talk, could not do anything for the most part. She lived to her early twenties and it is a great comfort to her parents (who could communicate with her) to know she was wheelchair free in heaven.

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  32. I found my used car on Kijiji from a local seller, private sale. Used cars have to be safety checked by a licensed mechanic before one can register an ownership change, so there isn’t a high level of risk in buying a used car, unless one is foolish enough to hand over payment before the safety check is completed.

    Living in a country with six months of cold weather would mean starvation if one only bought food in season. People have been preserving food for millennia to survive, and they have been trading from distant places for millennia to supplement food stocks – Israel getting food from Egypt during the seven years of famine was not a unique phenomenon. Medieval Europe needed Asian spices to better preserve food for winter, and thus the existence of the millennia old Silk Road trade route. The Americas might never have been rediscovered by Europeans, had not they been seeking an alternative trade route for those spices, because the Ottoman Empire was blocking access to the Silk Road.

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  33. It used to be you’d just have to take a prospective car to a mechanic for a once-over. But it was somewhat cursory.

    My last Jeep and the one I have now have full Carfax records that show what repairs have been made, what maintenance has been performed and how often.

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  34. A lot of benefits on both sides.

    As to buying in season, my parents only bought bananas, apples, and pears. They were purchased in season. The veggies were all canned so there was no season. Oh, and head lettuce and tomatoes. And potatoes, to my sorrow.

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  36. I try to buy produce in season as much as possible. They taste better and they’re less expensive–win-win. January strawberries aren’t going to taste good, so why pay more money for them than you’d pay in season? Of course, these days it can be hard to tell what the season is, and even in season they might not taste very good if they’re picked green. But it’s worth an attempt.

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  37. Michelle, I don’t think RZ cared about consequences, unless they cut into his profits. The Bible calls those of his ilk wolves in sheep’s clothing and it has nothing but condemnation for them. II Peter and Jude do not mince words. The modern church is very good at condemning lost sheep outside the church and terrible at condemning the wolves within.

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  38. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear called out fellow Baptists on Monday (Feb. 22) who he said were sowing dissension and lies in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

    Greear, who pastors The Summit Church, a North Carolina megachurch, defended his three years as the denomination’s president and the convention’s growing diversity. But he said political divides were distracting the convention from its mission work.

    “We are not, at our core, a political activism group,” he said in an address to the SBC’s Executive Committee. “We love our country, but God has not called us to save America — he’s called us to build the church and spread the gospel and that is our primary mission.”

    In recent months, Southern Baptist leaders have been embroiled in a debate over critical race theory, an academic framework that seeks to explain systemic racism. Leaders of the denomination’s seminaries labeled CRT as incompatible with the SBC’s statement of faith.
    That led several prominent Black Southern Baptist pastors and congregations to announce they were leaving the denomination.

    Greear called his fellow Baptists to focus on the gospel instead of things that divide them. And the gospel, he said, demands diversity.

    “If we are going to be gospel above all people, it means that we will be a church that engages all of the peoples in America, not just one kind,” he said. “And that’s hard. Bringing together people of different backgrounds and cultures and ethnicities into the church creates challenges. Anybody that says it’s not hasn’t actually done it.” …

    https://religionnews.com/2021/02/22/sbc-president-j-d-greear-god-did-not-call-southern-baptists-to-save-america/

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  39. … Some Southern Baptist leaders, including Greear and ethicist Russell Moore, have been accused of leading the denomination in a “liberal direction” because of their openness to addressing issues of race and social justice. Others were criticized for not being supportive enough of Donald Trump.

    Greear said COVID-19 has revealed fault lines in the denomination.

    “The last year has revealed areas of weakness in our beloved convention of churches,” he said.

    “Fissures and fault lines and fleshly idolatries. COVID didn’t produce these crises, it only exposed them.”

    … But its culture, he said, has failed at times to reflect (the denomination’s mission-based) theology and was more shaped by Southern or conservative culture than the gospel. That culture has often made life difficult for people of color while allowing racists to be at home.

    “We should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color,” he said. “The reality is that if we in the SBC had shown as much sorrow for the painful legacy that racism and discrimination has left in our country as we have passion to decry CRT, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess.”

    Greear said that he and other SBC leaders have been lied about, called liberal and accused of trying to destroy the convention. …

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  41. I had noticed such wild accusations being leveled at Dr. Moore in the comment section of his FB posts, but I noticed them long before the former President was even the Republican candidate or COVID-19 was a thing. People in the SBC didn’t like Moore’s support of religious liberty for all (a basic tenets of Baptists – there is an early English Baptist document, pre-American colonies, that calls for freedom of worship for all, including Muslims, within England, saying that the state has no right to dictate the religious convictions of its subjects) and they didn’t like how Moore encouraged the church in his book ‘Onward’, published 2016, to remember that we were strangers and pilgrims and to remain calm in the face of cultural change. They just didn’t like basic Christian doctrine, preferring a Christianity welded as a political weapon to remove all enemies and rivals. Cultural Christianity is a greater danger to the Gospel than liberal Christianity.

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  42. From Deuteronomy 32–I’m almost done!

    b. Be strong and of good courage: This was a manly way to speak to Joshua. God (and Moses) would not pander to Joshua’s weak and timid nature.

    He didn’t hear, “Oh Joshua, you’re so wonderful.” “Oh Joshua, you’re so strong.” “Oh Joshua, you’re so courageous.”

    Instead, he heard, “Now is the time. Step up to the challenge. Be strong and of good courage!”

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  44. Last time I was in a mall (I think) was a few years back when my friend was visiting and wanted to visit the center which had recently been revamped. As we traipsed through the top floor, I thought, why did we used to do this so much? Oy. I found it tedious — but I do think it’s mostly “thrilling” for us when we’re younger; all the merchandise and displays are geared to young women.

    Give me Amazon.

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  45. I remember buying my first pair of bell bottoms at the JC Penny’s in our little downtown. I was taking a pair — they only came in white and navy — off the rack when a couple uniformed cops walked by and smiled, said they loved the bell bottoms.

    I still love wandering through an antique store — or Home Goods or Target, of course. 🙂 Haven’t done that in ages, though, with the pandemic …

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  48. My CBD order is in New Jersey. That is another benefit, we can track our shipments. Or is that another anxiety as I watch it draw close and then fly by into Washington and Oregon, only to bounce back to Montana and then wend its way through the mountains to my little package box?

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  49. I remember when you had to ask the lady at the women’s counter for undies in your size. She would pull them out from some hidden cache. Now they are proudly displayed, front and center for all.

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  52. Thanks for posting the link Michelle. I always like to get Randy Alcorn’s perspective on matters. It helps me ponder 😊
    I just got back from the dentist…his new hygienist is wonderful…best I have ever had and I came away with a clean bill of dental health! 😃
    Chas I do believe Elvera and I would have gotten along wonderfully…I enjoy shopping (too much for Paul’s liking!) … I need things to match…handbags and shoes…and a new outfit does wonders for my disposition!

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  53. Clothing shopping was never fun for me. I did mall walk with two of my siblings and our dear friends and relative on a few occasions (the nearest mall of any size to where we live was about an hour’s drive, so it wasn’t a regular thing), but the highlights of the mall were the book and record (era of CD’s) stores. Clothing stores were, and still are, boring, and I only enter them when I absolutely need to buy another clothing item. Glad I didn’t have the added stress of having to ask the sales clerk for my size in underwear, don’t like talking to complete strangers about such things, prefer to find them myself. When a sales clerk asks if they can help, my answer is nearly always,”No thanks, just looking”, even if I know exactly what I want.. Generally find, the few occasions I have enlisted their help, that the sales clerk will suggest the most expensive items, which are always outside my budget. Would rather peruse the sales rack independently than have the humiliation of having to turn down their suggestions.

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  54. I never asked, that was my mother’s job. Oh wait, I had to ask in Germany. Nor was I encouraged to bring my children into the store.

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  55. And the Greeks wanted me to try on any clothing items in the store behind a curtain and I was admonished for trying them on and not showing the ladies how I looked in them before deciding to buy or not. Not undergarments, of course. Or maybe not of course.

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  56. Did I mention I do not like shopping? But shopping from my chair? No, still don’t like it but I can go to Land’s End or Eddie Bauer about every five years or so…. I am very thankful for husband who happily shops for the children and with the children.

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  58. Elvera enjoyed shopping just for the shopping.
    When the ladies were clearing out her closet, they found some items with the tags still on them. She just “liked” and bought.
    I didn’t care.

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  60. * One thing I am looking forward to with my resurrection body is having a healed face that can smile properly. 🙂 But you know what? If for some reason that does not come with my resurrection body (although I’m pretty sure it will), I will be joyous anyway, and won’t care about my smile.

    * Since Hubby’s death, I am even more grateful for online shopping, as it has given me the independence to take care of my needs (and some wants), and not need someone to take me shopping.

    * Yesterday, Roscuro mentioned something about looking to God even for the mundane in life. That reminded me of something that happened years ago.

    My mom could be kind of critical, and she would often make remarks about my hair if she didn’t like how it looked. Sometimes I would feel more sensitive to her words than at others. One morning I was getting ready for Mom to pick me up for us to go shopping and have lunch out. I think I was feeling particularly vulnerable that morning, and I prayed that my hair would look nice enough for Mom. (It tends to come out different each day. 🙂 )

    Not only did I like the way my hair looked that day, but Mom actually complimented my hair! Many would think that that was merely coincidence, but I like to think it was not. 🙂

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  63. Isn’t that just the most frustrating thing with hair Kizzie? It can look great one day and the next it is totally kaput! Happens to me all the time!
    You have been a dear husband to your wife Chas… ( I do believe I have some shoes on the shelf that I have never worn but they looked so cute on my foot at the store I just had to buy them…I probably don’t have an outfit for them to go with!…time to go shopping again!)

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  66. Back from market with a large, torpedo shaped mango, several cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers oh, and don’t forget the avocados, I always buy avocados for with my lunch.

    still saving precious comments on here from Chas and others. 🙂

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  67. Janice – I recently read a good piece by one of the SB leaders on CRT, which although not agreeing with the whole premise, mentioned what we could learn from it (or something like that). I’ll try to find it again, if I can remember who wrote it. (There’s Russell Moore and another guy who writes a lot, but I can’t remember his name. I think it was the other guy who wrote the article I’m referring to.)

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  69. Roscuro – Speaking of expensive items and sales people. . .When Nightingale and I were picking out Hubby’s urn, we had to specifically ask to see the lowest price one that had been casually mentioned earlier in the conversation, and which wasn’t included in the room with the other, more expensive urns. It was a bit embarrassing to do that, as if we didn’t care what we put Hubby in, but it’s what he would have wanted.

    It turned out that the urn, which is actually a box, was made to look like cherry wood, with that deep reddish color, and it has a polished look. It is actually very nice for our purposes, and I know Hubby would have approved. On top of it, I have his glasses and that Mont Blanc pen I mentioned a while back. (As I said at that time, that pen is so emblematic of Hubby – a man who wanted to be more of a gentleman, but was bad with money. 🙂 )

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  78. Oh, mumsee was talking about her Christian Book order.

    Haha. How rumors get started …

    Here’s an interesting Q&A from our denomination’s website:

    Question

    When we pass away, take our last breath here on earth, do we take our next breath in heaven? Does the Spirit remain conscious?
    Answer

    I think you are asking whether there will be any gap in our consciousness when we move from this world to the next. The answer is no, assuming one is not already unconscious or in a coma, in which case one will immediately “wake up.”

    Perhaps we shall breathe with lungs when receive our new bodies in the resurrection at the last day. It is hard to say exactly. But as far as our dying in this world and taking our next breath in heaven, that seems unlikely because until the resurrection of the body at Christ’s return, we will live in heaven as spirits without bodies.

    Apparently we will still be recognizable, however, and function in ways that parallel our earthly existence. Scripture does not give us a detailed explanation of our lives in the so-called “intermediate state” between our physical deaths and our bodily resurrections.

    Most assuredly, those who go to be with the Lord are immediately conscious and interact with the Lord and with other believers. The rich man and Lazarus in Jesus’ parable (Luke 16:19–31) carried on conversations shortly after their deaths. Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:1–8, Luke 9:28–32). Jesus told the thief of the cross that he would be with Him in paradise that very day, implying consciousness (Luke 23:43). The martyred saints in the book of Revelation uttered rational words (“How long, O Lord”) before God’s throne (Rev. 6:9–10).

    So while we may not take a heavenly breath at the moment of transition, we will certainly be able to think and speak—or at least communicate (Phil. 1:23).

    Hope this is helpful.

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  79. Chas, CRT stands for Critical Race Theory. According to Britannica It’s “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour”. It’s been around for 30+ years, but it’s gaining more acceptance lately.

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  81. Kizzie, I am probably going to get full up on CRT. I would not be surprised if it appears on the agenda for my next church meeting. I will be happy if it does not. I am sure there are some valid points made, but it is a very one-sided view of racism. Also, it succeeds in pitting people against each other based on skin color. We will have to deal with it here. Where you live it probably won’t be such an issue.

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  82. Thanks, DJ. I’ve always been puzzled by Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross that he would be in Paradise “this day”, seeming to conflict with Paul’s explanation of how the dead would rise at the “last day”. I’d never heard the explanation of two distinct states and it never occurred to me.

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  83. Janice, you said, “Also, it succeeds in pitting people against each other based on skin color.” Exactly! It looks to me as racist as the racism they try to oppose. So I guess there’s “good racism” and “bad racism”! Drives me nuts.

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  84. More on the Southern Baptist meetings ongoing now:

    https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2021/02/23/southern-baptist-convention-executive-committee-top-leaders-divisions-race-politics-core-mission/4515265001/

    ________________________________

    … Floyd followed Greear’s address with his own during Monday’s meeting of the executive committee, which acts on behalf of the convention when it is not in session. As he addressed those gathered in the hotel conference room, Floyd said Southern Baptist culture is out of control.

    “Each of us needs to be very careful with the words we write, speak, tweet, or post. As SBC leaders and followers of Jesus, our public behavior matters. Our words matter. Our tone matters,” Floyd said. “For the greater cause, our SBC executive committee members need to lead the way in helping create a Bible-based, Christ-centered and Spirit-controlled culture in the SBC.”

    Greear named some of the current tension points within the convention, including the critical race theory fight spurred by the Southern Baptist seminary presidents’ recent rejection of the complex concept used to analyze the effects of race.

    “We should at least ask why our blanket condemnation of CRT was so devastating to our brothers and sisters of color. We at least owe them that and we should commit that they should be at the table thinking through this as we go forward,” Greear said. “We have to be clear as we evaluate ideas like CRT against the Bible – and we should – that we will never protect the feelings of closet racists in our midst.”

    Scripture does not explicitly speak to every issue. Those instances should not be turned into litmus tests for who can stay and who has to go, Greear said.

    “Do we want to be a gospel people or a Southern Republican culture people? Which is the more important part of our name? The Southern or the Baptist?” Greear said.

    …

    The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in America. It is headquartered in Nashville and its next annual meeting will be held in June in the city.

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  85. Well, DJ, that description sounds lovely! We will be recognized for who we are rather than how we look. Interesting. And a load off my mind (not really, I do not worry about it) as I tend to not recognize people easily outside of normal expectations of where I see them. Note: nothing to do with CBD.

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  87. Well, for the life of me, I can’t think of the “other guy’s” name, but I know it is a very familiar one. It’s not Russell Moore or J.D. Greear or Albert Mohler. (Although one of those could have been the actual author of the piece I read recently.)

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  88. I almost get the feeling from CRT that there is a push to make me hate the skin color that God gave me. I am to feel guilty for being white. All white people are the same under CRT. Those who may at one time have been considered as poor white trash are considered the same as the elite whites, worthy of hatred, not because of superior social class, but because of their white skin. So the poor whites get slammed twice in essence with CRT. This is against the Bible. I understand the seminaries not desiring to teach it. It is pure reverse racism and not God’s vision of or for the world.

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  89. I always found C.S.Lewis’ description of the eldil (angels) in ‘Out of the Silent Planet’ to be an interesting attempt to describe the inherent difference between a spirit being and a physical being. Lewis describes the eldil as being able to produce the impression of speech on the ear without actually speaking using a mouth.

    I agree with this part of the Encyclopedia Britannica’s description of CRT: “that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept”. It is purely a socially constructed concept, as genetic studies demonstrate: https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/what-color-adam/. Furthermore, the concept of race was originally created to prevent servants of African descent from being able to earn their freedom as indentured servants of European descent could, as demonstrated by historical laws such as this one in colonial Virginia, which declared that all those servants not of European Christian descent were to remain slaves, even if they had converted to Christianity: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/an-act-to-repeale-a-former-law-makeing-indians-and-others-ffree-1682/
    Constructing racial distinctions was a way of denying the common rights prescribed by law to sections of the population who came from different places than those writing the laws.

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  90. There’s certainly a pendulum swing going on with the race discussion.

    I suppose what’s struck me anew is how our nation can’t be expected to “just get past it” (the horror and damage of slavery and years of intentional and legal discrimination) in only few generations.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++=

    Those roads where the Woods accident occurred can be unexpectedly dangerous.

    The winding (but gentle winding) roads heading down (north) (and he was on a very well traveled one but didn’t look like much traffic at the time) can cause you to really pick up speed unexpectedly. He apparently may have been going fast anyway, late for an appointment. But even going at a normal rate of speed, you really have to occasionally hit your brakes just to stay at a safe speed.

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  91. In writing to Titus, who was pastoring the church on the island of Crete, Paul warns Titus to help his congregation to fight against certain tendencies the the Cretan culture encouraged, and Paul does so in words that are not very flattering:

    ‘For there are also many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from Judaism. It is necessary to silence them; they overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly. One of their very own prophets said,
    ‘”Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
    ‘This testimony is true. So, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.’

    Not at all flattering to have a general national tendency to laziness and greed called out – and Paul isn’t quoting a prophet of God but rather a keen pagan observer – but Paul does it for the spiritual health of the Cretan church. When the nation or culture or ethnic group to which Christians happen to belong is called out for systemic sin, the Christians, instead of becoming offended, should zealously examine themselves to see whether that sin has been allowed into their lives or churches (see James 4:1-10). The SBC leadership is to be commended for confessing their direct involvement with national sins, since the history of why they were founded is all too clear, and for examining humbly how to best show repentance.

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  92. The way I understand it: When a person is born again, he/she receives a new life that will never die. “he that lives and believes in me shall never die”
    That means that I am not this decrepitude body that is typing here, but an eternal body that will never die, even after this physical body is put away.
    This body dwells with God, but will, at the appointed time, receive a new physical body and return to Earth at the rapture. (That part contains contriversial material that I choose not to debate now.)

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  93. CRT makes no room for forgiveness or love. It is all about a never ending payback. It is in the long run an anti-Christian movement serving those who want to divide and conquer our nation. I have suffered reverse racism here for a good portion of my life. So how much more do I owe?

    Liked by 1 person

  94. Roscuro, I think you’re right, the core argument articulated by Britannica is not unreasonable. The way I hear it being applied today extrapolates it to put guilt on all white people for the racism.

    I’m not even opposed to a measure of corporate guilt and repentence. I do confess that “my people” have done terrible things. But to say that white people are inherently racist is nuts.

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  95. I have no problem with SBC addressing race issues, and think it is an excellent idea. But CRT is the wrong route to pursue. It is not based on Christian values as I see it. It is just another wolf trying to get into the church to distract from Jesus.

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  96. Just replace rapture with Christ’s second coming and we’re good. 🙂

    The intermediary state has always been a bit mystifying, we aren’t told as much as we’d like to be told about all of that.

    But at Christ’s return, at his second coming, the new heavens and new earth will be ushered in and, also, our physical resurrections

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  97. I’m “off” today after experiencing a little kickback from that 2nd vaccine I received Sunday. I worked through Monday but had a low-grade headache I couldn’t shake and just a lot of fatigue and tiredness. After I filed my story I asked if I could have the last couple hours of the day off, was told no problem — and then today I woke up without the headache but still feeling low-energy so took another day. A few people I know have had this happen, but more people have not experienced anything.

    But it’s basically all good, just a sign your immune system is getting kicked into higher gear.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/02/second-vaccine-side-effects/617892/

    _______________________________-

    The Second COVID-19 Shot Is a Rude Reawakening for Immune Cells
    Side effects are just a sign that protection is kicking in as it should.

    … Side effects are a natural part of the vaccination process, as my colleague Sarah Zhang has written. Not everyone will experience them. But the two COVID-19 vaccines cleared for emergency use in the United States, made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, already have reputations for raising the hackles of the immune system: In both companies’ clinical trials, at least a third of the volunteers ended up with symptoms such as headaches and fatigue; fevers like my husband’s were less common.

    Dose No. 2 is more likely to pack a punch—in large part because the effects of the second shot build iteratively on the first. My husband, who’s a neurologist at Yale New Haven Hospital, is one of many who had a worse experience with his second shot than his first.

    But much like any other learning process, in this one repetition is key. When hit with the second injection, the immune system recognizes the onslaught, and starts to take it even more seriously. The body’s encore act, uncomfortable though it might be, is evidence that the immune system is solidifying its defenses against the virus.

    “By the second vaccine, it’s already amped up and ready to go,” Jasmine Marcelin, an infectious-disease physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, told me. Fortunately, side effects resolve quickly, whereas COVID-19 can bring on debilitating, months-long symptoms and has killed more than 2 million people. …
    ___________________________________

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  99. Kevin, Jesus talked about going the extra mile and turning the other cheek and giving away ones coat along with one’s cloak. In interacting with Inuit and First Nations people who automatically perceive me as one of those people who stole their land, I have found listening and not being defensive goes a long way. Many of them I find are actually much more forgiving than I would be inclined to be if what had happened to them and their ancestors had happened to my ancestors and I. One thing that I have learned to constantly keep in check in my interactions with different cultures is the tendency European Westerners have of assuming theirs is the only right way to do things. I learned, while treating a West African for serious burns, that working together produces far better results than imposing one’s supposedly superior knowledge – those burns healed far better because I listened to the West African’s cultural traditions than if I’d just followed the Western medical conventions. The Western conventions said to removed the charred skin, otherwise the burns would never heal; but the West African tradition said to leave skin if it is still attached and if it falls off, it falls off. We left the charred skin in place, while following the Western convention of cleaning the wounds thoroughly, and those extensive full thickness burns healed without a scar. It really helps to listen to the other perspective without getting offended. And there are many Black Christians who do not fully support CRT but still say there is ongoing systemic racism.

    I think, if people are honest, they would have to admit that they are naturally inclined to feel less friendship and more enmity to those who are different from them. I would say sin itself lies at the door if every human heart, and therefore, yes, we all have an inclination to discriminating against those who are different from us. In the city in which I used to live, there was, at one point, a bylaw that no one who was not if British descent could live in the western suburbs of the city, which was the nicest area. I learned that while having dinner with a family of Pakistani immigrants and a couple whose parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe. It was the Pakistani father, who had a legal background, who mentioned coming across the law in his research on his new hom, and the Eastern European woman replied that yes, she had been called racial slurs by children at school growing up in the city. Humans love to emphasize their differences and try to keep the other out. They always have the Malthusian attitude that there isn’t enough to go round, if we don’t keep ‘them’ out. So, I have no problem with my tendency to that sin being pointed out. CRT gas trouble admitting to other groups having the same tendency – World, in one of its recent editions interviewed a Black woman on her experiences, and she admitted during the interview that while colorism is a problem within Black communities, they were reluctant to discuss it openly because white people tended to use colorism to try to dismiss or belittle concerns over systemic discrimination against Black people. She had a point – whataboutism, or the they-did-it-too, logical fallacy is an increasingly used excuse for not dealing with problems. Perhaps, if we are a bit more humble in admitting our tendency, they will feel it’s safe to address their own tendencies.

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  100. Here is the link to that World interview: https://world.wng.org/2021/01/being_black_in_america

    Sadly, I can confirm that what she describes in her childhood was not uncommon – the African Loyalists who came to Nova Scotia because of their allegiance to the British Crown during the American war of Independence were also badly treated and lived in their own community, known as Africville: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/africville

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  102. I was just reading something that spoke in similar terms about how humility on the part of Christians opens these conversations and can get through differences of opinion.

    On another topic, I find myself often thinking of my deceased Christian friends and relatives during worship, recognizing they are worshiping with us still, the church universal.

    _________________________________________

    https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/communion-dead-saints-hebrews-12/

    ~ A sister in my church named Ann Carman recently died from COVID-19, and we continue to mourn her loss. We no longer see her, speak with her, or come to the Lord’s Table with her.

    Despite the absence of her face from our assembly, she is still our sister in Christ. There are connections that even death cannot sever (Rom. 8:38). Ann has joined the church triumphant. But in a “mystic sweet” way, there remains a communion between the church on earth and the church in heaven.

    I don’t mean we should live in denial or try to communicate with the dead. But I do mean something like what we find in Hebrews 12:22–24. …

    … This is an example of the familiar “already/not yet” tension found throughout the New Testament. Despite the distance between heaven and earth, between the dead and living, between now and eternity, we’re already citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, already enrolled in the same assembly. Ann now walks by sight while we still walk by faith—but we’re all looking to the same Jesus, all connected to the same Mediator, all sprinkled with the same blood.

    … We don’t know all the specifics of what’s going on there, but Scripture gives us a general idea, and it looks like worship (Isa. 6; Rev. 5–6). So when we gather to worship, we can be especially conscious that the cloud of witnesses does the same thing in heaven. The church on earth and the church in heaven—all worshiping the same God, all praising the same Lord, all filled with the same Spirit. They are seated around the throne; we are seated with them by faith (Eph. 2:6).

    What we do every Lord’s Day is but a preview of that great day when the Lord will return and gather us together and earth and heaven will be one (Eph. 1:10; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Rev. 21:1–2). …

    … Our communion with the church in heaven should remind us that those who die in Christ are not lost to us.

    When a saint dies in Christ, the true church of Christ doesn’t shrink, it just gets reshuffled. Ann Carman may not be a member of Grace Baptist Church anymore, but she’s still a member of the holy catholic church. And I can have the assurance of seeing her again, because there is a bond between us stronger than death—and that bond is Jesus Christ. The saints in heaven are still members of his body, just as we are. In the words of S. J. Stone’s “The Church’s One Foundation”:

    Yet she on earth hath union
    with God the three in one
    And mystic sweet communion
    with those whose rest is won.

    So when you think on your brothers and sisters who have died, when you gather with your little (and socially distanced) flock, and when heaven still seems an eternity away, remember Hebrews 12:22–24. Lift up your eyes by faith and see what you’ve come to.

    ________________________

    And now I have to go, the cat is flinging things off of the kitchen counter because she’s hungry.

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  105. I was praying just a few minutes ago. I mentioned Elvera to The Lord. I said, “I know there is no marriage in Heaven. But I hope we know each other. I want to tell her how much she meant to me.”
    An answer immediately came back. Almost loud enough th hear with my ears.
    “She already knows.”

    Liked by 5 people

  108. One of the problems with talking about racial issues is the tendency to feel defensive, as if admitting there is a big problem with racism automatically means that we are each personally guilty. (Please note the “as if”. I am not saying that we in fact are all personally guilty.) Who likes to think of themselves as guilty? No one I know. Anybody of any color or ethnicity will feel defensive if they think that they or their group are being accused of something, even if they’re not actually being personally accused.

    I think a lot of us white people don’t want to acknowledge the level of racism or prejudice that still exists because of that tendency. It took me a long time to realize how prevalent it still is, because I wanted to think that we had come along further than we have. The thought of it makes me uncomfortable.

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  109. Roscuro – I thought I had shared that article on here a few days ago. Maybe on the news thread? I don’t remember now. :-/

    Another example of whataboutism that she also pointed out was how some will bring up the issue of “black-on-black crime”, usually making it sound as if black people ignore that issue. She explained that black people do indeed discuss it, but “in-house”, not for all the world to see.

    I could understand that in a small way. On Facebook, I sometimes share articles to my Christian Friends list that I think would be grossly misunderstood by unbelievers but are important for us believers to consider.

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  110. I go to a home inspection, go get listing documents signed, then go show property and this is what you accomplish in my absence. Good for you. Right now, I am “making hay while the sun is shining”.

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  111. Of course there is racism, but that does not mean it is to the extent that some are trying to make it out to be. I hate how some are trying to divide us even more. I think it is detrimental also to make certain races out to somehow be above being racists or sinners. The people here when the white man came also had battles with each other. Some tribes were more peaceful than others. There is no race that is sinless. I also think it is detrimental to make people into being or staying as victims. It is not helpful. Fortunately, there are some people of color who know that and also fight against CRT. That is not to say we should not honestly look at our nation’s history, good or bad. We can learn so much from that.

    I don’t like shopping much, but one does need new clothes sooner or later. I like to actually see how something looks on me. Some clothes can look beautiful on the hanger and horrible on me and vice versa. Buying online does not give you that chance without you having to return the item if it does not fit right. I had a friend buy a size from Lands End just to find it too small. She bought the next size up and it was too big. That is more frustrating than actually going to a store, IMO.

    I was reading some local history today and the author wrote about a family that established a store in a mining location. Some of the people in the location still wanted to buy from the traveling salesmen who would come to them with their wares. It took awhile for everyone to finally go to the store for their shopping. Everything changes and it takes awhile for us to adjust.

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  113. Coach’s birthday is tomorrow, and they are having their date tonight. Nightingale made him an incredible cake. It is four small layers (smaller than the usual cake, about six inches in diameter, but taller than it is wide) of Hazelnut Espresso Chocolate Cake with some kind of hazelnut chocolate filling, and chocolate ganache on top (drizzling down the sides).

    She also put dollops of buttercream to anchor some Ferrero Rocher truffles on the top of the cake. But something went a little amiss. For some reason, the cake looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and two or three of those truffles – and the buttercream frosting – slid down the side. We had a good laught about it. It was funny seeing them slowly slide off the top and then plunk down on the cake holder.

    Since Coach is a really down-to-earth guy, Nightingale took the cake as is, knowing he will get a kick of the mishap. 🙂

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  116. OK, AJ, I re-sent and sent some I didn’t send the first time (but left out the Valentine ones I sent last time). It’s a mix of bird shots and frost and snow.

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  119. no one seems to have claimed 100, veeerrrrry interesting.
    School is out, the first plane of new arrivals just came in, with the mom of the quints on it as she had to go home for health reasons. They were so excited today.
    Now there is a combined staff meeting with the high school. hmm.. might be interesting.

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