Past Global Analysis – J. R. Nyquist “Thucydides in the Underworld” 11/06/2009.
But I think this is the wrong era for analogies. The better period is the late Republic, and their client states in the near east: Judea and the Decapolis.
Our leaders are falling into the errors of the Gracchi and the Herods. They see themselves as gods, and like wanton boys….
Apple seeks OS-jacking advert patent • The Register.
Just don’t, Jobs.
Just say no.
This is giving fuel to any alternate operating system…
And if shuttleworth does this, it will take me ten minutes to modify my sources.list to point to debian testing.
Main issue today was getting motivated. The service was concentrated on communion. As B@tcH runs in effect from 0900 to 0945 there is a sense that things are crowded. Today’s conversation was about dealing with things that keep us from God and each other.
The boys would rather walk, so we went to the silverpeaks and walked for an hour, during which the weather changed to the South. We got back to the car, muddy and a little sore, just as the rain started to come in.
Lessons? Firstly, use hiking sticks as my knees hurt on the way down. Secondly, keep short accounts. With the kids and with God.
Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
Luke 16
My son, God bless him discovered Glen Beck. He is asking if what Glen says is correct.
The correct answer, of course is “sort of”. Glen says some things that are true. But (and this is something both sides forget) so do the Democrats. What worries me is when both sides start speaking for God, for in the end God will triump.
From today’s reading.
Revelation 20:1-6
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.
Now… I take from this that God will triumph. I take from this that a fair amount of our arguing is around false Gods. We can and should do good. We can and should test our policies — and the US, with 50 systems and freedom of movement — makes one mighty social lab — and we should be clear headed about what is happening.
But we should not fear. For in the end, we are not able to alter the course of history. Our Lord is interventionist. It is our job to do good, where we are, and avoid evil, where we are, right now.
Well, got through the weekend. Was on call on Sunday, but managed to get to kirk with the boys. Then got busy: the boys could not get to youth group because I was @ the hospital.
At Kirk, five young people talked about going on mission. As two said, they wanted to make triends and tell people about the Gospel of Christ. This is the same weekend that Maj. Malik, a Palestenian US psychiatrist, killed 13 men, crying “Alluh Akbar”.
Persuasion versus force.
Death versus life.
5The idols of the nations are silver and gold,the work of human hands.
16They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see;
17they have ears, but they do not hear,
and there is no breath in their mouths.
18Those who make them
and all who trust them
shall become like them.
I spent much time yesterday persuading people to choose life. Dr Malik, who has the same training, chose death.
Let us pray for the families of all involved. May they seek comfort in Christ.
I’ve switched intense debate on for comments. Let’s see how it goes.
Had to go to a funeral today. David’s memorial was largely about his family and his love of nature, of beauty. He died suddenly, on his bike, in the mountains he loved. His daughters and wife painted his coffin. However, as with many agnostics, I left depressed.
David did much good. He was talented, he loved deeply and was deeply loving. But this was missing:
The Lord builds up Jerusalem;he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;make melody to our God on the lyre.
He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the animals their food,
and to the young ravens when they cry.
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
David was agnostic, but culturally he was a child of North England, and loved the music he grew up with, his family and his friends. He knew the hills, but doubted the eternal, God, and the city of God. In the last year of his life he was working and loving.
His death was sudden. He will be missed.
Is my regret an insensitivity, or a projection of my own fears and beliefs, or a reflection of some truth that lives, as do most issues in philosophy or theology, in the post-modern cone of silence?
Yesterdfay was chuch and this is one of the readings for this week.
Psalm 103
1Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
2Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits —
3who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s
.
The sermon was from one of the elders. He discussed his son — who as a medic, aged 25, is dying. His comment is that we must seek God first.
I don’t have this elder’s cpurage. When it is tough I get angry and withdraw, even though thsi hurts me. One of the blessings of children is that thye know when this is happening and you have do do things to keep them well.
Which leads us away from ourselves, and allows us to acknowledge that there is some good. This is not answer: it is not the beginning of an answer.
I think we may not have the answer. Perhaps the anser takes something bigger. The Psalmist speaks truth. Iat times we will not hear it.