God is often doing the most when you understand it the least. […] There’s a lot of things that are unexplainable, but there’s also a lot of things that are undeniable. Chris Lindberg
On Targeted Purpose
You don’t need to boil the ocean to make a cup of coffee.
On Pointlessness
Forget about screen doors on submarines, that’s more like a vacuum cleaner in outer space
I Still Don’t Understand Religious “Modesty”
Perhaps it is just something peculiar to my neurodiverse brain (probably), but religious “modesty” practices are nonsensical. Why is an ankle-length skirt “modest”? Is an exposed calf that alluring? And why is such skirt a “modesty” when the presence of the ass is still known and the form of the breasts is still evident? The reality is that there is no universal anatomic feature that captivates every man. As is best known, there are “ass men” and “tits men” and yet this is absolutely too reductionist. Men are likewise captivated by Continue Reading
Seeing Big, Understanding Small
Some people see big but understand small because they are viewing what is close. Instead, we should see small and understand big as Elijah taught his servant: “And at the seventh time he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.’ And he said, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, “Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you”.’ And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” 2Kings 18:43-45
God Is Deep, Not Complex
Service to Almighty God is not complicated, but there is so much more depth to God than Christians understand (or even want to understand). God is not just a happiness giver. For many, Christianity means a successful marriage, a happy family, adequate economics, protection from death. For many Catholics, Christianity (rightly) means accepting the bad with the good. This is all shallow Christianity. God is so, so much deeper, deeper but not complicated. God does not require ceremony and tradition (Psalm 51:17 “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”). God is all that we believe to be the nature and character of God. But God is deeper than what we shallowly understand. God is an existence where our own existence becomes insignificant. Walking with God is a state where nothing else even enters our thoughts, a state where we wish we could vaporize and meld with no thought for what is behind because every possible desire is satisfied in God Most High.
On Civil Accountability
I’m a private citizen with rights, but you’re a public servant with duties.vox
Itching Ears
2 Timothy 4:3 NLT “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”
A Spontaneous Meditation
“Come unto me, all ye labouring and burdened ones, and I will give you rest, take up my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.” (Matt 11:28-29 YLT)
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” (Prov 18:10 YLT)
“Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is [my portion] forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26 NLT)
“But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.” (Psalm 73:28)
Envisioning Nontraditional Men’s Clothing with AI
The difficulty in demonstrating non-existent clothing is the fact that such clothing does not exist. And whether man or woman, very few consumers have the capacity to draw what they imagine or to sew what they draw. If it can’t be represented, how will a tailor or seamstress be able to create a custom order? Maybe AI can empower the strident consumer to refine his wishes with detail that he can’t quite articulate. This image is the product of “Man wearing knee length sleeveless Oxford shirt dress with elasticized waist.” (Credit to Deep AI). Perhaps its simplicity will provoke more complex endeavors. The crazy thing is that AI does not often generate any two identical images from the same text prompt. So if an image isn’t close, just refresh. If an image is close, don’t navigate away or take a break or the AI will abandon its flow. Keep tweaking the text prompt.
Yahweh, Jehovah, & Adonai
I learned a little Arabic in 2022. The classes ended abruptly so I did not progress as far as I had expected. My graduate studies included two linguistics courses that, for inteinsic reasons, were predominantly Indo-European (duh, I speak English, Spanish, French). Of course any linguistics curriculum includes an overview of other language families, and that once-extraneous knowledge of Semitic languages quickly made a lot of sense. It probably also accelerated my uptake. It definitely connected dots which I could apply to Hebrew.Continue Reading
Something About Skirts and Satan?
This youtuber (somewhere in Africa) seems to be implying that homosexuals and men who wear skirts are deceived by Satan. It does not disclose the language, but rewind a little and it says “Kumbu 22:5” which I am fairly sure invokes Deuteronomy 22:5 (see 2019 post, “Skirts, Pants, and Deuteronomy 22:5“). [VIDEO EMBED]
Mikayla Daniels: “Why I Believe Men Should Wear Skirts”
Mikayla Daniels reminisces on her (high school) forensics speech titled, “Why I Believe Men Should Wear Skirts.” Her argument consists of four point: 1) Clothing has no inherent gender; 2) History of human civilization; 3) Aesthetics; 4) Comfort and practicality. She concludes, “Let’s just throw away all the nonsense and let people wear what they feel good in, no matter the article of clothing or their gender, because clothes are just clothes.” Read her full piece at https://mikayladaniels.medium.com
Surrendered Suffering Is Worship
Luke 22:42 records Jesus as praying, “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done.” These words demonstrate total surrender to Yahweh. It is the sheep submitting to the pastor’s plans and purposes. Suffering is not just the adversity which befalls us. Suffering is just as much knowing the adversity that will imminently befall us or the consciousness that our present adversity has no apparent set ending. Feeling about to break, we ourselves are likely to beg the Almighty to bring our suffering to an end. There is nothing fallable in that entreaty. But, if we then bring ourselves to say, “not my will but yours be done” then in that moment we offer a worship of submission. And every moment of mindful submission is worship. In worship there is peace. The desperation changes to sorrow as we experience God’s sorrow for our suffering. But if all we can offer is our desperate and broken heart, then it is sufficient to offer our desperate and broken heart. The old widow who gave her last two coins (Mk 12:41-44) offered God all that she had and it was an acceptable offering. It was her worship. When we surrender our last desperate emotions, it is our worship and it is acceptable, it is pleasing. Our agony, when offered as submission, becomes a lived act of worship. Stop bucking to start worshipping.
Of Course God Exists
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’.” —Psalm 14:1
“Thus said Jehovah, king of Israel, And his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: `I [am] the first, and I the last, And besides Me there is no God’.” —Isaiah 44:6 YLT
There was a time
There was a time when I didn’t care and when I didn’t compromise.vox
Trump Truth
I saved this Trumplethinskin meme years ago because it was so perspicacious. I had no idea it would become relevant again. 
Trump & Biden Memes
Incomprehensible
To some it would seems unimaginable that God could communicate individually with all 8 billion Earth humans. If that were humanly comprehensible, then God wouldn’t be God.
Of course demons exist
To be “Christian” is to be a “little Christ” or a “Christ follower.” Jesus rebuked demons, terrorized demons, and exorcized demons. What is there not to understand?
Inshallah, Mashallah, and Alhamdulillah
These three words capture the entirety of worshiping God Most High. I could conclude this post here and it would be sufficient for decades of meditation, but since when do I not discuss a matter at length?Continue Reading
Lawyer Discusses Vehicle GPS Trackers
Richard Ellis: F.E.A.R.
I should have posted this four years ago when I first saw it. Still true.
Method to download Facebook video
Like most things on the internet, Facebook videos might be here today and gone tomorrow. For purposes of a forthcoming post, I needed to download an overly long FB live video and edit it down to the key minutes. It was a definite challenge, but ultimately these instructions worked (after a few on-the-fly workarounds to overcome FB’s interim changes). It might just be useful to others out there, particularly civil libertarians who wish to archive unconscionable internet blatherskite.
MacGyver
Some people can MacGyver any problem. Other people somehow will MacFucker every problem.Vox