Because it is so crucial that people correct their errors about how they perceive suffering here is commentary that you need to keep in mind regarding what is taught about suffering in the Book of Job. Job is often cited as the source of Christian understanding of suffering in the Old Testament, to supplement understanding the Passion of Christ related in the Gospels. That is somewhat true, but that is also misleading. Also many, both scholars and laity, have come to think of the Book of Job as “symbolic.” That is also a problem when that is the “first read” position. One must always read the Bible first and foremost as the literal, word for word God given truth, and only on second contemplation apply insight regarding symbolism and potential contemporary meaning and applications. The Bible IS the bible, the sacred scripture, precisely because humans are supposed to read the specific things that God has said, either directly or through the inspiration of the biblical authors, and in the process of reading and believing AS IS, then mine the words and meaning for additional, not substituting, symbolism.
This is an important point. The word of God is never purely symbolic. God understands that he is communicating with limited, material beings (humans). Thus God is literal and factual first and foremost. Symbolism is a tool used by humans to then grasp a larger, more abstract meaning from the facts, dictates, historical events and contemplations placed before him. When Jesus tells a parable, for example, one must believe that the people in the parable truly exist and truly did what Jesus said they did. Why: Because he selected those people and those events, and not others, for a precise reason when communicating with humans. Also Jesus, of course, was perfectly capable of knowing of actual personages and events that took place in history that others could not know of, and using those real events in parables. So one must believe literally what is in the parable first, and then later, upon pondering its “meaning,” use symbolism to transfer the significance of what transpired in the parable to understanding, interpretation, and contemporary application. If one does not first believe literally each and every word, and jumps straight to symbolism, one misses understanding why the specific people and events were selected to be part of scripture and guidance.
For example, assume that something in a parable happens to a man. “Modern” thinkers might try to be politically correct and say, “Well, those were sexist times. This parable could have happened to a woman too.” No, actually, that would not necessarily be true. The parable may have happened to a man because the man was the breadwinner, the wage earner. Thus one has to not be revisionist or symbolic, but hear the parable, note that it happened to a man, and then search for further symbolism, which may be, for example, that the breadwinner, the earner, is the symbolic protagonist. Thus one could apply that parable to modern day understanding not through gender symbolism but by understanding that the means of earning a living is central to the parable protagonist’s identity and thus part of God’s meaning in the interpretations and applications.
The same is true in the overly debated issue about whether God created the universe in seven “days,” whether those are earth solar days of twenty four hours each or symbolic days. One misses the entire point of God revealing creation as unfolding over a period of seven days, with the one day of rest, if one leaps immediately to the symbolic. There is a reason that God created the universe in seven days and thus there is meaning to his explaining it to Moses as such. So one must first believe that God created the universe in seven days, but leave open ended how long a creation “day” is to God. In other words, if one jumps immediately to thinking that the seven days is feeble human mythological lore based, rather than understanding that God means quite explicitly that he used seven equal length cycles of creation (and rest) one is not only mistaken but misses the entire point. God says seven “days” for a reason, not because seven is a “magic number,” and not because it’s something that he pulled out of his hat so that humans can “relate” to it. God is telling the truth, which is that he used seven equal length cycles of activity for the creation of the universe and resting. One way to think about it is that the universe is estimated to be about fourteen billion years old, and thus God could very well view his creation as being seven “days” “in the making” and “of age,” where each “day” is two billion years old. Thus the day of “rest,” the most recent two billion years, fits quite neatly with the arising of single cell life and later more advanced life on earth, all of which occurred in, yes, the past several billion years. God’s day of “rest” is allowing the forces of life he has created to now hum along at their natural pace based on physical and biological natural law. God is telling people the truth, and thus one must be cautious to not jump to imposed “symbolic” understanding before first believing and accepting what God has stated first, whether one understands all of the “how’s or why’s” or not.
In this context we can now properly approach understanding the Book of Job. The Book of Job records events that “really happened.” It does not matter that scholars pick apart scripture and identify, for example, pieces of ancient story or folktale embedded within scripture. That is because God will use what people already speak of and understand since he is talking to people with a cultural history, not new inventions kept sterile in a laboratory. So when someone points out cultural or mythical references embedded in Job, for example, that should only raise the confidence, not lower it, since it demonstrates that God is speaking to people who actually lived in a multi-cultural real world that was already comprised of both historic events and cultural or mythological context. For example, suppose Jesus appeared today at a book club discussion where the latest Harry Potter book was being discussed. Someone writes an article about Jesus’ appearance and what he said. Centuries later someone reads the article and says, “Whoa, that can’t be true. Harry Potter is a work of fiction, and if Jesus really appeared, he would not discuss a work of fiction.” That is upside down thinking of the wrong kind. Instead, the fact that Jesus discussed something hot in the contemporary milieu should increase the confidence, not decrease it. Likewise the observing of portions of scripture referring to pagan, cultural or mythological belief should strengthen the belief and understanding of the actual historical context of the events and the word of God not decrease it.
So yes, when reading Job one must believe that God was conversing with “sons of God” (angels) who “came to present themselves before the Lord” when “Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6). God is telling people something about himself, which is that the angels do present themselves (converse and dialogue) with God as his children, and that also Satan has access to discussion with God. This is HUGE to accurate understanding of how the universe and the heavenly realm are in reality, not in imagination. Therefore when one reads the scripture one must always recognize the factual basis for what is occurring first and foremost, and then secondarily glean for additional applicatory and symbolic meaning. For example, one could read that one passage and have the initial fact based information gathering, which is about God’s relationship to the angels, the fact that they gather and discuss things, and that Satan is able to address God at will. Once you understand those facts one can have some symbolic “How do I better understand and apply this to my current life” “symbolic” thinking. One constructive way to do so is to understand that God demonstrates that one should have an “open door” policy. In other words, just because Satan refused to serve and was cast out of heaven does not mean that he cannot approach God or speak to him. Therefore one could understand that symbolically as a lesson and role modeling that humans should never close off dialogue with their “enemies” or those who will not serve. You would not derive that accurate secondary symbolic lesson and meaning if you did not believe literally the events that God through his sacred scripture authors provides. If you let your mind run ahead of yourself and view it all as “symbolism,” you would view the presentation of the angels and of Satan before God as “window dressing” to “explain” the “story” that you are about to hear, and that is totally false, misleading and limiting. Rather, you need to understand that it occurred exactly as presented, and then contemplate further meaning and symbolism based on the opening facts and context. It is obviously important to understand that Satan can (and does) approach God in dialogue because that is repeated later in the Gospels, when Satan approaches Jesus in order to tempt him, and also the fact that demons all recognize Jesus and his true nature on sight. So it is important to accurate theological and worldly understanding to recognize that God continues to allow Satan to approach him and to address him.
As one who wanders the earth, “patrols it” as he phrases it, Satan can see the hand of God upon people of special blessing. Thus when God brags with a loving and paternal tone about the piety and uprightness of Job, Satan is quick to respond that he knows that God has a special hand of grace upon Job. Satan quickly itemizes the ways that God has favored Job, not through supernatural means, but by blessing the work of his hands: “You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock are spread over the land” Job 1:10. Let us look at this one example of blessing. We know that raising livestock is fraught with risk. Animals must be kept fed, watered, treated of disease, protected from predators, sheltered and otherwise cared for. A single drought can wipe out flocks or herds if no water can be obtained, as we even see in modern times when cattle raisers have to slaughter or sell their herds in drought afflicted areas. Satan can see that not only is Job just fortunate to live in fertile areas where the work of his hands on the livestock pays off, but that God also is exerting some special blessing and protection: “Have you not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your protection?” Job 1:9. Thus this is not some magical kingdom where animal disease and predation does not exist, and where food and water flows freely. Satan observes that other people have problems and suffering, who do not have God’s special protection, and thus posits that if God withholds his protection and lets nature take its course with all its hardships that Job will turn against God.
This is CRUCIAL nuance to understand. Read carefully Satan’s observation and challenge: “But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face” Job 1:11. Modern misinterpretation of how God “works” has actually put a reversal into common thought. People tend to think of those who are blessed as being “touched” by God. But here Satan is observing, correctly, that Job is not “touched” by God but he is protected by God, protected from the ordinary hardships of life. In other words, normal unprotected life is fraught with the potential for loss, risk and therefore suffering. God protects Job from many of those life boundaries where suffering occurs. I explained in my previous post on this subject that suffering is the encounter of boundaries that are the reality of life, boundaries such as death, illness, accident and loss. Some people encounter these boundaries quite often such as, for example, people who live in a war zone. Thus there is in a war zone ample exposure to suffering because one is constantly forced against a boundary in life, such as being killed, wounded, maimed and deprived of freedom or material sustenance. So Satan observes that God has given a special protection, a buffering, to Job and has not allowed much of the reality of the risk of life to touch Job and his family and his livestock. Thus Satan challenges God to allow his touch to fall on Job, which means to withdraw the special protection that he has given Job and allow the natural boundaries of life that can touch him to fall on him.
And so what do we see happen to Job when God agrees to withdraw his protection? Natural forces and suffering are no longer kept at bay away from Job. It’s not like Satan (or God) now torture Job and send supernatural forces against him. Satan does not chase after Job with a pitchfork. Rather, the mundane sufferings that everyone else has now befall Job. Job’s livestock was carried away by raiders and some of his herdsmen were slain. This is hardly a supernatural event or a torture to induce suffering. This is the withholding of especial blessing and protection that God had given Job. Demons didn’t poof into appearance and carry off the livestock and slay the herdsmen, ordinary maraudering “Sabeans” did (a people from southern Arabia). At the same time “lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them” Job 1:16. Again, everyone knows that lightning is a natural phenomenon that is a very real danger at all times, it is not a “weapon of Satan” or a means by which God “smites.” The recent fires in Australia are a reminder that fires caused by lightning strikes are a constant danger and certain areas, such as Africa, lose people to lightning quite regularly. Neither God nor Satan “sent” the suffering of lightning to Job; it fell because God had withdraw his especial protection that had shielded Job from it previously.
Even as Job is absorbing those two dreadful events two more befall him. More raiders, this time Chaldeans, raided his camels, seizing them and slaying those who were tending to them, except for the one who survived as a messenger. Again, notice this is not supernatural or smiting; these are well known raiders (the messenger did not have to explain who they were, obviously Chaldean raiders, like the Sabeans, were a well known risk). But Job no longer had God’s especial protection against them, and thus he was now exposed to the same risks, and potential for suffering, as everyone else was already. The worst suffering came when Job hears from the one survivor that “a great wind came across the desert and smote the four corners of the house” of Job’s eldest son, killing all within, which were Job’s sons and daughters Job 1:18-19. Again, this is not some strange and weird phenomenon sent by either Satan or God, but as we see in the news everyday of hurricanes, tornados and straight line winds, a risk of life, and thus loss and suffering, that previously God had protected Job with his especial blessing from. Now Job was exposed to all of the potentials of loss and suffering as everyone else, and it all happened at once.
One must recognize, as I have constantly taught in my blog, that God is far from distant, far from being uninvolved, but experts day to day a comfort and protection that people simply no longer realize, clearly see or appreciate. Without God’s constant presence, inspiration and protection, life would truly be unbearable. I’ve explained the “guardian angel challenge,” which is to understand how miserably alone and alienated, unbearably so, people would feel if the invisible and silent guardian angels disappeared, if God withdrew them from their place alongside humans. Guardian angels are there from conception and attachment in the womb, providing a sense of comfort, reality, and an expectation of love and companionship even from the very beginning of a human life. It is like the oxygen in the air; you do not see it or work to sort it out consciously from the nitrogen and others gases in order to breathe just it, but you would sure notice it, and die, when it is absent.
The Book of Job describes actual people and actual events and is included in the sacred scripture so that people understand how God and the universe actually work. Life is good with potential for much prosperity and joy, but life is by nature full of limitations, of boundaries of time and loss which then are endured and suffered. God protects all people to some extent through the work of the Holy Spirit constantly among them, but God also gives especial protection to some, and those people and nations are called “blessed.” The Book of Job describes two things: 1) A reminder of the reality of life and suffering and that neither God nor Satan “cause” suffering, but instead God can protect people amidst the reality of suffering and 2) That suffering is redemptive in the sense that one can ultimately overcome all the natural suffering of the worldly life if one never turns one’s back to God. Job is NOT a torture textbook. Waterboarders and other torture advocates should not rejoice that the Book of Job shows that suffering is “good” or a useful object lesson. Any idiot can realize that if you simply read what the Book of Job actually is saying, as we have done here in just these few lines of the first chapter.
When Job hears about the four calamities that have befallen him this is what happens:
Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostate upon the ground, and said,
“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,
And naked shall I go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
In all this Job did not sin, nor did he say anything disrespectful of God (Job 1:20-22).
You can read the rest of the Book of Job, now, with better understanding of its meaning. In it Satan suggests that Job is faithful to God because his body has not been afflicted, and so God withdraws his especial protection from Job’s body and Satan “smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7) yet still Job remained faithful even though his wife urged him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:8). Nice wife, huh? But Job refuses to turn his back on God or to say anything sinful: “We accept good things from God; and should we not accept evil?” Job 2:10. Chapters 3 through 37 are then speeches whereby Job and his friends explore faith and wisdom and try to discern the meaning of what has befallen and God’s ways. Job and his friends, far from cursing God, more fully understand the both the perils and the grandeur of natural life, of God’s ways, and the blessings that are offered from the hand of God, and how bereft, but still full of faith, humans are when God withholds protection. That is the entire point of the events of Job being included as sacred scripture, not a “suffering is good” torture textbook, as some New Agers and others have ignorantly suggested. For example:
Behold, God rejects the obstinate in heart;
He preserves not the life of the wicked,
He withholds not the just man’s rights,
But grants vindication to the oppressed (Job 36:5-7).
In Chapter 38-41 God directly addresses Job and much of what God says to Job is not just for him but obviously as a reminder to the subsequent generations of God’s total control. Again that is quite different from causing suffering. In Chapter 42 Job replies to God, repenting the doubt that had crept into his heart, and the Epilogue recounts how God restored all that Job had, including becoming father to ten children. “After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren. Then Job died, old and full of years” (Job Epilogue).
If you read the Epilogue and note all that is restored to Job, once again, be reminded that God is not using supernatural powers. Job regains what he has through the natural way of having a healthy body and life, prosperity with his livestock, and fruitfulness with his wife. God does not raise Job’s previous children from the dead; Job must learn happiness again the way everyone else does, by believing in life and fathering more children with his wife. God restores the especial protection and blessing upon Job so that he is able to prosper and find joy the natural ways, not supernaturally, but with protection restored against much of the woes of life that he endured when he was without God’s protection. Job did not “get his stuff back” because he had “suffered enough.” That is one of the most ignorant and cruel modern “interpretations” I have ever encountered. The Book of Job is crystal clear that people are not meant to suffer, but that suffering is a condition of life that is the response to loss, and that God not only comforts the afflicted but God can and will bless and protect people and nations against the natural suffering of life. The entire point of the Book of Job is what happens when God withdraws his hand of protection, NOT God or Satan “sending suffering” and that “suffering is needed,” like it is separate phenomenon of life to be measured and doled out.
In fact, the Bible clearly warns against humans causing suffering in other humans. The Ten Commandments not only warn against physical harm but also the mental harm of “coveting.” Further, the image that is used in the Law is that the seeing should not put stumbling blocks in front of the blind. Humans are NOT to cause suffering in other humans. The Book of Job describes what happens when God allows nature to take its course, so to speak, by withdrawing his protection and allowing the continual risk of natural loss and suffering to afflict Job, but neither God nor Satan “send suffering.” If they do not do so then certainly humans better wise up and realize that they are strictly forbidden from being suffering “allocators.” Redemptive suffering refers to making the best out of natural suffering and offering it up for some purpose when it is encountered. Before Job is restored God demands that his friends offer up a sacrifice to God (an actual sacrifice of bullocks and rams) to repent for any doubt or lack of support they expressed, particularly because they had not “spoken rightly concerning me” (Job 42:8). After they make the sacrifice God accepts Job’s intercession with him on his friends’ behalf. You see, it’s not like God needed fourteen bullocks and rams in heaven, or that people have to grovel in return for speaking falsely about God. They have to, however, be re-sanctified and returned to the fold, and recognize their responsibility towards each other. The friends of Job had a responsibility to speak accurately and devoutly about God to Job, and Job gained the responsibility of being able to intercede for his friends with God in their shortcomings. The penance sacrifice by the friends and the intercession by Job for the friends are preludes to the restoration of Job because they reinforce first of all the relationship and rulership of God but also the importance of the mitigation of suffering among humans, human to human. The friends should have been more faithful to God and more supportive of Job to ease his suffering. Likewise Job, even in his suffering, intercedes for his friends who were at least there with him in his pain.
Evangelical Christians are often the ones who really understand and “get” the message of the Book of Job. This is true even though what many of them say is often misunderstood and sounds like they believe in a capricious and cruel, smiting form of God. But that is because the listeners do not really understand the Book of Job as I have laid it out and explained it here. When Evangelical and other Christians worry that natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, are punishment from God, people leap to the same erroneous assumptions as they often do about the Book of Job, which is that God or Satan “send” “suffering.” But listen carefully: most Evangelicals and other Christians who say this are referring specifically to the “withholding” of God’s blessing and protection. That is totally accurate and that is what the Book of Job warns against and demonstrates. Life is perilous and fraught with the potential of loss and accompanying suffering. God can and does protect individuals and nations from some of the suffering they would otherwise endure. It is the withholding of God’s blessing and protection that people should fear, and it has happened a great deal in these recent times due to sin, hubris, willful ignorance and wickedness. God can, does and will withhold his blessing and that is what Evangelicals worry and warn about when they see linkages between natural and other disasters and disbelief and turning away from God. So before you jump on the back of someone who worries that Hurricane Katrina is “God’s punishment,” think about what I have explained. God does not send the suffering, but God sure has a vital role in protecting people from the suffering of the natural order, and you do not want to slap that hand of God away when it has been offered.
I hope that you have found this helpful. Repent.
Showing posts with label Stormy weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stormy weather. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Understanding God: tragedies like Australia
There is a debate because a Pentecostal minister says that he dreamed some time ago that the liberality of abortion in Victoria would bring about a disaster like fire, as God withdraws his support from the people there. Others are upset and angry at such theories and remind people of the continual mercy and consolation that God provides. Both sides accurately cite scripture. So what should people think?
First of all, there is no new revelation, so those who dream that God is directly telling them something (especially of a prophetic nature) must use a great deal of discernment in understanding their dreams and intuitions. Remember that Jesus Christ himself did not know when the Second Coming would occur, for example, so God certainly will not give advance warning to anyone of anything apocalyptic or revelatory in nature: all that is going to be said on those subjects is already said in the scriptures.
Having said that the Holy Spirit works tirelessly among all people-believers and unbelievers-to attract them toward God and at the very least to do the best of moral and good things. Thus it is possible for people to have accurate premonitions. ESP is a fact and I recently wrote about it. So yes, both believers and unbelievers can have premonitions and accurate dreams of foreboding. The trouble is that people tend to dream using authority figures that they believe in, so a religious person will tend to dream of a premonition coming from a religious "authority figure," such as God, that the person believes in. A nonbeliever might have an equally valid premonition, but his or her dream may feature a person from the family, or someone from TV, or a historic figure... the assignment of revelatory seeming roles in dreams tends to be very individual and cultural. For example, Americans, obviously, rarely dream of the Queen of England, however she is a regular figure in dreams of British males, at least she was when I read of a study conducted about twenty years ago. So the Holy Spirit pushes all people to be good neighbors and to do the best that they can, and hopefully to become faithful believers in God, while at the same time, humans possess extra sensory perception, which gives various people remarkable insight in certain occasions.
Now, to the salient point. I've written before about God's wrath, sometimes called smiting, and warned that it is real and God will and does smite, but there are two things you must realize to put this in context. One is that God rarely smites directly and the scriptures indicate this quite clearly. It is only at times of egregious sin and corruption that God smites. One does have to have a little bit of pause and guilty conscience if one is honest, as these are times of great corruption, sin, immorality and turning away from and even mocking of God and desecration. So I would not, if I were you, sit back and think, "Why would God smite us? After all, we are so kind and wonderful." These are not kind and wonderful times, far from it. But no, God does not run around setting fires and doing "tit for tat" smiting.
However, the point the Pentecostal is making, that many deliberately or unconsciously miss, is that God is perfectly capable and frequently does withdraw support and blessing. So God does not smite, but he allows people to stew in their own juices of the consequences of their sin, evil, wickedness, or sins of neglect and omission. This is what is called in the Bible the "hardening of the heart." God can and does harden his heart when people have gone too far, and he also allows the hardening of human hearts to take place, particularly when they have tried and presumed repeatedly on his mercy without genuine reform and repentance.
When God withdraws support and allows the hardening of the heart to take place, very bad things can and do happen. This is because the Holy Spirit will not push as hard for goodness in the spirits of all men and women, and instead God will allow their true natures (which without God is not very nice) to have free rein. You have to understand that God, through the Holy Spirit, and through the guardian angels, does a great deal to make life bearable by constantly appealing to people to withstand the temptation of evil and neglect and to opt for the good whenever a choice is before them. Many people think that God is silent and aloof, but this is not true. Jesus reminded the disciples who would bar the children from coming to him that the guardian angels of all children constantly face God, and thus God is particularly protective of how children are treated. All children and their souls are born good, and are only pulled away from goodness through the actions of adults, their environment, and in some cases mental conditions. So God is very aware and through the Holy Spirit and the guardian angels strives to not only keep people on the righteous path of goodness, but also to help them with the difficulties of life. If God withdrew the support of the guardian angels, for example, life would be unimaginably unbearable, as it would be like a type of oxygen that you don't even know about but you need is suddenly sucked out of the atmosphere. Guardian angels and the Holy Spirit provide a very real constant "oxygen" of spiritual and bodily goodness, and they are individually attentive, whether the person believes or not.
So when God hardens his heart, and then allows others to harden their hearts, what happens? Well, look at the tsunami. God did not send the tsunami, but why is it that people did not install a simple warning system in that part of the world until after a quarter of a million people were washed away and died? People are greedy and selfish and did not care about implementing a warning system in that part of world, even though they knew full well the risk.
Why do I read that Victoria has liberal abortion laws, but for five years have not implemented an emergency fire warning system? Again, God does not send the fire, but he gets very tired of selfish and wicked human priorities, so he says, well, go ahead, set your priorities. And then there comes the fires and the warning system is sitting gathering dust on the shelf for five years, because of quarrels about who will pay for it. Money, money, money.
And people are shocked that many of the fires are suspected arson, and not lightning strikes (which can be monitored and I read that they are). Well, how long has a nihilistic and despairing, violent and yobbish mindset been a problem among humans? For decades now. No one has decency and mercy among each other, if one is to watch the "entertainment" that is offered, filled with violent nihilism, and how long will God protect humans from the consequences of each other's inhumanity? As I commented before, when I was in that region of the world, Melbourne and Healesville, where the fires are, Princess Diana was being raked over the coals as "average people" gleefully trumpeted her sexual and intimate matters in "Squidgygate." People were well on their way to being vulgar, coarse and cruel in the middle 1980's, and youth was being lost to nihilism, violence, addiction and thrill seeking.
God does not have to "smite," God simply needs to withdraw his protection and let you all do to each other the lowest inclination that humans will come up with, which is, as we see, pretty low. Are the arsonists horrified at what they did? Apparently not since some have raced out there and started even more fires.
That is what God meant in the Bible when he says he will "raise up an enemy" to smite the disobedient Israelites, for example. He withdraws his special blessing and protection and leaves a group exposed to the very evil that they have either promoted or neglected to address since they are busy being material idolaters and selfish depressives. God is like the parent of the addicted teenager who after repeated attempts to get them to obtain help, finally stands back and lets them fall, as they are so determined to do.
It is the same if one looks at Hurricane Katrina. No, God did not "send" the hurricane to punish people for their sinfulness. However, God withdrew his protection, and so people who worried about the levees breaking, evacuations not being sufficient, and so forth are ignored, and then the trouble comes, big time. To use a modern phrase, at some point God stands back and watches the human caused or exacerbated "train wreck." The cyclone in Burma is another example. There you have a secretive bunch of reincarnation believing Buddhists in charge of the country and they won't even allow aid to help the devestated impoverished victims. Natural disasters are a part of life, but without human intelligence and goodness to anticipate, plan, finance and be good neighbors, it does not matter what one's "faith" is or not: God will stop, at some point, the continual presumptions on his mercy and the lack of mercy that humans show toward each other.
That is what I see over and over. It is like humans are insisting on doing a dry run of the Apocalypse, through their own arrogance and neglect. Thus people are correct to feel that something is very wrong, and to think about the End of Days. Yet they are incorrect that these are those times because, believe me, there will be no mistaking it when it does happen. It's not something that the human puppeteers behind the scenes will manage or mitigate; when it happens it will be full out and unmistakable. Instead you have a time when humans should be so far advanced in decency, compassion, wisdom, stewardship and faith but are actually losing ground and going backwards, not forwards, in all of these areas. Thus humans are bringing on through their own actions and their own selfishness and neglect mini-tribulations and a dry run of the Apocalypse. Like the parent of the addicted teenager God wants nothing more than to be the consoler, yet what response does he get when he tries?
I hope that you have found this helpful.
First of all, there is no new revelation, so those who dream that God is directly telling them something (especially of a prophetic nature) must use a great deal of discernment in understanding their dreams and intuitions. Remember that Jesus Christ himself did not know when the Second Coming would occur, for example, so God certainly will not give advance warning to anyone of anything apocalyptic or revelatory in nature: all that is going to be said on those subjects is already said in the scriptures.
Having said that the Holy Spirit works tirelessly among all people-believers and unbelievers-to attract them toward God and at the very least to do the best of moral and good things. Thus it is possible for people to have accurate premonitions. ESP is a fact and I recently wrote about it. So yes, both believers and unbelievers can have premonitions and accurate dreams of foreboding. The trouble is that people tend to dream using authority figures that they believe in, so a religious person will tend to dream of a premonition coming from a religious "authority figure," such as God, that the person believes in. A nonbeliever might have an equally valid premonition, but his or her dream may feature a person from the family, or someone from TV, or a historic figure... the assignment of revelatory seeming roles in dreams tends to be very individual and cultural. For example, Americans, obviously, rarely dream of the Queen of England, however she is a regular figure in dreams of British males, at least she was when I read of a study conducted about twenty years ago. So the Holy Spirit pushes all people to be good neighbors and to do the best that they can, and hopefully to become faithful believers in God, while at the same time, humans possess extra sensory perception, which gives various people remarkable insight in certain occasions.
Now, to the salient point. I've written before about God's wrath, sometimes called smiting, and warned that it is real and God will and does smite, but there are two things you must realize to put this in context. One is that God rarely smites directly and the scriptures indicate this quite clearly. It is only at times of egregious sin and corruption that God smites. One does have to have a little bit of pause and guilty conscience if one is honest, as these are times of great corruption, sin, immorality and turning away from and even mocking of God and desecration. So I would not, if I were you, sit back and think, "Why would God smite us? After all, we are so kind and wonderful." These are not kind and wonderful times, far from it. But no, God does not run around setting fires and doing "tit for tat" smiting.
However, the point the Pentecostal is making, that many deliberately or unconsciously miss, is that God is perfectly capable and frequently does withdraw support and blessing. So God does not smite, but he allows people to stew in their own juices of the consequences of their sin, evil, wickedness, or sins of neglect and omission. This is what is called in the Bible the "hardening of the heart." God can and does harden his heart when people have gone too far, and he also allows the hardening of human hearts to take place, particularly when they have tried and presumed repeatedly on his mercy without genuine reform and repentance.
When God withdraws support and allows the hardening of the heart to take place, very bad things can and do happen. This is because the Holy Spirit will not push as hard for goodness in the spirits of all men and women, and instead God will allow their true natures (which without God is not very nice) to have free rein. You have to understand that God, through the Holy Spirit, and through the guardian angels, does a great deal to make life bearable by constantly appealing to people to withstand the temptation of evil and neglect and to opt for the good whenever a choice is before them. Many people think that God is silent and aloof, but this is not true. Jesus reminded the disciples who would bar the children from coming to him that the guardian angels of all children constantly face God, and thus God is particularly protective of how children are treated. All children and their souls are born good, and are only pulled away from goodness through the actions of adults, their environment, and in some cases mental conditions. So God is very aware and through the Holy Spirit and the guardian angels strives to not only keep people on the righteous path of goodness, but also to help them with the difficulties of life. If God withdrew the support of the guardian angels, for example, life would be unimaginably unbearable, as it would be like a type of oxygen that you don't even know about but you need is suddenly sucked out of the atmosphere. Guardian angels and the Holy Spirit provide a very real constant "oxygen" of spiritual and bodily goodness, and they are individually attentive, whether the person believes or not.
So when God hardens his heart, and then allows others to harden their hearts, what happens? Well, look at the tsunami. God did not send the tsunami, but why is it that people did not install a simple warning system in that part of the world until after a quarter of a million people were washed away and died? People are greedy and selfish and did not care about implementing a warning system in that part of world, even though they knew full well the risk.
Why do I read that Victoria has liberal abortion laws, but for five years have not implemented an emergency fire warning system? Again, God does not send the fire, but he gets very tired of selfish and wicked human priorities, so he says, well, go ahead, set your priorities. And then there comes the fires and the warning system is sitting gathering dust on the shelf for five years, because of quarrels about who will pay for it. Money, money, money.
And people are shocked that many of the fires are suspected arson, and not lightning strikes (which can be monitored and I read that they are). Well, how long has a nihilistic and despairing, violent and yobbish mindset been a problem among humans? For decades now. No one has decency and mercy among each other, if one is to watch the "entertainment" that is offered, filled with violent nihilism, and how long will God protect humans from the consequences of each other's inhumanity? As I commented before, when I was in that region of the world, Melbourne and Healesville, where the fires are, Princess Diana was being raked over the coals as "average people" gleefully trumpeted her sexual and intimate matters in "Squidgygate." People were well on their way to being vulgar, coarse and cruel in the middle 1980's, and youth was being lost to nihilism, violence, addiction and thrill seeking.
God does not have to "smite," God simply needs to withdraw his protection and let you all do to each other the lowest inclination that humans will come up with, which is, as we see, pretty low. Are the arsonists horrified at what they did? Apparently not since some have raced out there and started even more fires.
That is what God meant in the Bible when he says he will "raise up an enemy" to smite the disobedient Israelites, for example. He withdraws his special blessing and protection and leaves a group exposed to the very evil that they have either promoted or neglected to address since they are busy being material idolaters and selfish depressives. God is like the parent of the addicted teenager who after repeated attempts to get them to obtain help, finally stands back and lets them fall, as they are so determined to do.
It is the same if one looks at Hurricane Katrina. No, God did not "send" the hurricane to punish people for their sinfulness. However, God withdrew his protection, and so people who worried about the levees breaking, evacuations not being sufficient, and so forth are ignored, and then the trouble comes, big time. To use a modern phrase, at some point God stands back and watches the human caused or exacerbated "train wreck." The cyclone in Burma is another example. There you have a secretive bunch of reincarnation believing Buddhists in charge of the country and they won't even allow aid to help the devestated impoverished victims. Natural disasters are a part of life, but without human intelligence and goodness to anticipate, plan, finance and be good neighbors, it does not matter what one's "faith" is or not: God will stop, at some point, the continual presumptions on his mercy and the lack of mercy that humans show toward each other.
That is what I see over and over. It is like humans are insisting on doing a dry run of the Apocalypse, through their own arrogance and neglect. Thus people are correct to feel that something is very wrong, and to think about the End of Days. Yet they are incorrect that these are those times because, believe me, there will be no mistaking it when it does happen. It's not something that the human puppeteers behind the scenes will manage or mitigate; when it happens it will be full out and unmistakable. Instead you have a time when humans should be so far advanced in decency, compassion, wisdom, stewardship and faith but are actually losing ground and going backwards, not forwards, in all of these areas. Thus humans are bringing on through their own actions and their own selfishness and neglect mini-tribulations and a dry run of the Apocalypse. Like the parent of the addicted teenager God wants nothing more than to be the consoler, yet what response does he get when he tries?
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Australia
Sixteen and a half years ago I visited Australia and it so happens that I have seen with my own eyes the beautiful part of that country that is now burning.
I was there in August, 1992 which was a newsworthy time that sticks in the mind of many when I mention two things that happened while I was there. The first was "Squidgygate," where personal intimate recordings of Princess Diana, where she is called by a beau "Squidgy" were smeared all over the press. The recordings were made several years prior (by some innocent neighbors who just happened to pick up the cell phone signals, I mean, duh, yeah, right, just so happens) but interestingly they were released while I was in Australia. I had bought a platypus plush toy and thus named it Squidgy. To this day I wonder about people's cruelty to one another.
A few days after Squidgygate was announced Hurricane Andrew ripped into southern Florida in the USA. I watched grainy pictures of the news coverage as I was still in Australia, but about to leave. Hurricane Andrew remains one of the most destructive hurricanes in USA history.
My nature tour of Australia had taken me to Perth on the west coast and then Melbourne on the south. While in Melbourne we took a bus (coach) to visit Healesville Sanctuary, and tour the surrounding areas. I remember beautiful scenery of hills, meadows with well fed black Angus cattle, forests, a lovely bucolic scenery. At Healesville Sanctuary I was startled and cautious to encounter face to face an emu that had apparently escaped confinement. They can deliver quite a dangerous kick to the groin so I was justifiably cautious. Healesville was very nice with koala, kangaroos and wallabies all lolling around in ease and comfort. People on a small paddock near where I live now keep one or two emu among their goats. I understand that they are good to eat and have researched recipes.
If you look at Google maps, Australia, Healesville, you will see that it is just down the road from Maryville, one of the villages that has burned to the ground in the firestorm.
Another thing I recall of that day in the area is that I saw from the coach a huge double rainbow. I do believe that was my first clear sighting of a double rainbow, though I saw several at my previous home since then.
Being driven out of one's home and burned alive is a terrible, terrible thing.
It is even worse when the routine risks of nature, as fire most certainly is, is exacerbated by those with at least immaturity and at worse a murderous rage who set some of the fires to stoke more fear and destruction. I hope that all who are guilty are identified and prosecuted, and that all who suffer and mourn are comforted in the Lord.
I was there in August, 1992 which was a newsworthy time that sticks in the mind of many when I mention two things that happened while I was there. The first was "Squidgygate," where personal intimate recordings of Princess Diana, where she is called by a beau "Squidgy" were smeared all over the press. The recordings were made several years prior (by some innocent neighbors who just happened to pick up the cell phone signals, I mean, duh, yeah, right, just so happens) but interestingly they were released while I was in Australia. I had bought a platypus plush toy and thus named it Squidgy. To this day I wonder about people's cruelty to one another.
A few days after Squidgygate was announced Hurricane Andrew ripped into southern Florida in the USA. I watched grainy pictures of the news coverage as I was still in Australia, but about to leave. Hurricane Andrew remains one of the most destructive hurricanes in USA history.
My nature tour of Australia had taken me to Perth on the west coast and then Melbourne on the south. While in Melbourne we took a bus (coach) to visit Healesville Sanctuary, and tour the surrounding areas. I remember beautiful scenery of hills, meadows with well fed black Angus cattle, forests, a lovely bucolic scenery. At Healesville Sanctuary I was startled and cautious to encounter face to face an emu that had apparently escaped confinement. They can deliver quite a dangerous kick to the groin so I was justifiably cautious. Healesville was very nice with koala, kangaroos and wallabies all lolling around in ease and comfort. People on a small paddock near where I live now keep one or two emu among their goats. I understand that they are good to eat and have researched recipes.
If you look at Google maps, Australia, Healesville, you will see that it is just down the road from Maryville, one of the villages that has burned to the ground in the firestorm.
Another thing I recall of that day in the area is that I saw from the coach a huge double rainbow. I do believe that was my first clear sighting of a double rainbow, though I saw several at my previous home since then.
Being driven out of one's home and burned alive is a terrible, terrible thing.
It is even worse when the routine risks of nature, as fire most certainly is, is exacerbated by those with at least immaturity and at worse a murderous rage who set some of the fires to stoke more fear and destruction. I hope that all who are guilty are identified and prosecuted, and that all who suffer and mourn are comforted in the Lord.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Storm lost Navy medals found 5 miles away
A great story. I'm so glad this veteran got his medals back, and wish him well in rebuilding his hurricane damaged home.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6037432.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6037432.html
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Voice of American describes hurricane damage
A good summary. Sounds also like a hundred ships are waiting to unload that can't, and may have to go elsewhere.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-18-voa66.cfm
http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-18-voa66.cfm
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Someone get the damn aid to Haiti-disgrace!!!
I can't believe what I am reading. Where are all the heroes with planes and helicopters and boats now? What the freak is going on? Why is not emergency rations and water being dropped by copter? The UN obviously needs some help. Where are the wealthy nations of the area? Where are the celebrities? This is a disgrace and an outrage.
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/WireStory?id=5726755&page=1
Rescuers Can't Get Aid to Starving Haitian City
Aid groups fail to deliver aid to flooded Haitian city; tens of thousands without food, water
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/WireStory?id=5726755&page=1
Rescuers Can't Get Aid to Starving Haitian City
Aid groups fail to deliver aid to flooded Haitian city; tens of thousands without food, water
Proper perspective about world's dire problems
I continue to personally suffer as a result of the many errors committed by many secretive and powerful people who embrace cultist beliefs. I suffer both in what is cruelly done personally to me, but also, as I have throughout my life, I suffer at seeing millions of humans self destruct their own souls, and truncate the lives and salvation of just about everyone around them that they touch, and through their influence, they touch just about everyone. It is not necessary for them to intend evil; in fact, most of them view themselves as some sort of secretive “reincarnated” karma heroes, “saving humanity.” In fact, they have done the opposite and despite my good natured and loving explaining amidst the most unbearable suffering, they continue to do their damage. As an example of how they do harm even if they do not direct their plotting and dark thoughts toward a person, but instead think of themselves as “charitable and good warriors,” look at where the “powers that be” make their investments. They would rather dole out crisis aid than actually build the infrastructure properly, providing both jobs and raising standards of living.
I'll start with an easy example. I never heard a good reason why a tsunami warning system was not in place before the great tsunami in Indonesia, even though the technology was well known and in place elsewhere. Cultists would rather dole out aid that is misused and disappears rather than invest in the infrastructure prior to the emergency. That is part of their fantasy. They like to view themselves as “riding in” after the disaster (who cares how many died; they call it an “act of God,” which is apparently the only time they believe in the one monotheistic true God) dispensing their largesse, rather than anticipate the disaster through common sense, not sorcery.
The next example is more complicated and egregious. I’ve mentioned many times that India maintains the cruelest caste system that ever existed in human history, as a result of cultist beliefs that everyone is born to their station in life (and of course, the stations must extend from the great enlightened “down” to people who are viewed as little better than dog crap). In the natural scheme of things this type of belief would have been erased, especially with the rise of Christianity and Islam, both of whom correct this error and affirm total equality of body and soul of all people. But modern cultists through their “investments” and “good deeds” keep the caste system thriving and violent, by neglecting the rungs of the ladder that would raise the lower castes and erase the artificial oppressive boundaries. Children, understand that India is like a country that gives you the two sides of a ladder but without the rungs in between them, and then tells you to climb. They pass laws and mouth good words that the caste system is outlawed, but they leave the people at the bottom holding two poles with no rungs, and telling them they have given them a ladder. The crude example I have often cited is that India still requires the lowest caste to work as night soil carriers. This is because India would rather invest in other things than toilets for one billion people. So people defecate in the street and the lowest caste, including children, remove and carry the fecal matter in their bare hands to take it to open dumping areas.
Western investment priorities and attitudes have long infested India, prolonging rather than curtailing the natural selection process that would have eliminated the caste system. So when you combine an ancient cultist belief with modern “remedies” that are misdirected (in large part because they are driven by hidden false “hero” Western cultist beliefs) the situation becomes more dire rather than evolving toward true enlightenment and charity. Extreme Hindus kill Christians because the Christians know in their heart that all are equal and loved under God and exercise that belief in trying to raise the standards of the “lower castes.” Instead, the Hindus ought to have been building dams and infrastructure to handle flooding, as with what happened recently, if you know what I mean. Neglect has a way of coming back and biting people in the ass (though it is almost always the innocent on both “sides” who are displaced and suffer). If Hindus were really interested in eliminating the caste system they would have done so. And the same extends to protecting and promoting the living conditions of the poorest among even their own “true believers.”
Westerners could have easily made investment in India conditional and targeted toward certain standards. For example, if I had been investing in a factory in India, I would have required that part of my investment be used to provide housing and sanitation facilities in the surrounding area. Westerners have had decades to do this, and they certainly should know better based on supposed morals and values, but they have not, and have in fact, colluded with those who continue to oppress, neglect and dehumanize millions of people based on fallacious, greedy and self serving cultural cultist “beliefs.”
Look everywhere around you in the world and see the suffering that is due to lack of traditional, rather than cultist based, Western teaching and investment in charitable infrastructure. Haiti is ruined due to deforestation and I sit here in my bottom floor apartment ignored while I could have architected recovery of that country any time in the past thirty years, and I wouldn’t do it by waving a magic wand. China is now suffering as ignorant and greedy contractors built substandard schools that are collapsing and killing their children. In a way, China is the most understandable of all the case studies because of their huge shortcuts they have had to take to support their large human population, but again, Westerners could have warned them of the dangers of such construction (although plenty of American buildings were at the same time also being built that would be also prone to earthquakes) and of course during the so called Cultural Revolution, they would never have sought Western advice and engineering anyway. But it is too valuable a case study to ignore. More schools fall with each earthquake and aftershock. And that brings us to New Orleans. Maybe if people cared less about vampires and more about infrastructure, there would be levees and other infrastructure that not only protects the city but allowed it to thrive. Even this week I spotted an error in design just by watching routine TV coverage, one that is not at all realized by humans.
But because the Western business investment AND its “charity” is increasingly, both knowingly and unwittingly, “cultist belief” based, people are continuing to make bad investments that will reap sad and bad consequences. Mostly the cultists don’t mind because it is the “little people,” who are not astrologically or “spiritually” consequential who suffer. Like I said, then they rush to say those are “acts of God.” But not providing basic advanced infrastructure capabilities and safeties before the disaster rather than after is both material and spiritual negligence of the highest order.
Another example is the flooding that has occurred throughout the United Kingdom over the past few years. I mean, how stupid is a governmental system that no matter who is in power that they cannot anticipate and construct to remedy or mediate such circumstances? And then the droughts in certain regions of the United States, where one must wonder, instead of blaming “global warming,” why have not decision makers instituted wise water policy in the first place? I taught a seminar back in the late 1970’s while I was a university student myself about environmental law, and I pointed out the hundreds of years of conflict over water policy and how it is a dire problem. And here we are with things only worse, not better.
Again, this is not magic. Just several generations ago humans had the knowledge they needed in their hands, and the charity was growing in their hearts. But the cultist age of greed took over and before you know it, many regions of the world are worse off than they were after World War II and that’s a fact. Look at the drought in Australia, as they watch their farmland disappear and act like that’s never happened in the history of humanity. They are hurt and outraged, and I feel deeply for them. But I wonder at the past two generations who are so certain that they are entitled and that the world runs on a thermostat that they personally operate. If I had farmlands I would have planned for times of both abundant (too much, even) water, and extreme drought. Again, that’s not magic, that is using both reasoning skills and faith. Reread how Joseph advised the people of Egypt how to prepare for a dire regional seven year famine, it is all there in the Bible, both spiritual and material wisdom. So it is not as if this is an ability that humans don’t have; they had it in abundance until they decided to be manipulated into a cultist and false sense of reality regarding their lifestyle, their investments, their faith, their very reasoning skills, and the areas of humanity and environment that they willfully neglect and allow to suffer.
For several painful decades now people have marginalized and tortured me because they are more worried about “'who' I am 'really reincarnated from'” rather than reality, even though anyone could have asked me at any time and I would have witnessed to them that there is no such thing as reincarnation at all. I’ve sat here being tortured and maligned, watching how humans have set themselves up for their own destruction. At any point I could have forgiven all that has been done to me, to the innocents who have suffered, rolled up my sleeves and shown people how to raise the standards of both material and spiritual living for everyone, with total inclusion. Yet the more I point this out the more that I have been injured. And this is hardly a secret.
Let me tell you a story from sometime between 1981-5. I was working for one of the major oil companies and as a manager had to attend one of their many education classes that focus on skills and teambuilding. One was an advanced problem solving class and actually, that was quite impressive, as they taught some very interesting human techniques at problem solving and team building. One day we had an exercise where a team of three or four people had to try to figure out from a list of three possible answers the solution to a problem that they had no expertise in, or access to resources. Our team’s problem was why bears attacked certain electrical power structures.
As luck would have it, since I was an environmental science major I actually knew about this problem and the cause. But not wanting to ruin the exercise for my engineering and managerial teammates, I kept my mouth shut, except to contribute normally and positively as to where they were headed. But when I tried to actually drop some hints (as they were going off in the wrong direction) I got ignored and somewhat slapped down. So the team actually came to an erroneous choice from the list of three. During the debriefing it came out that I knew the correct answer. The team’s instructor correctly explained that this is an example of a shy or low key team member being beaten down, and how bad engineering decisions are made as a result, and how one should never underestimate the capabilities of a team member (remember, this was during a time when women had difficulty being heard in corporate settings too).
By the way, five years later the space shuttle “Challenger” exploded because it was launched in too cold conditions, overriding the concerns of minority team members about the O-rings’ ability to perform correctly. Yet, incredibly, there are many who ought to know better who continue to ascribe cultist beliefs to events like the Challenger disaster.
Humans have had a rich history of both spiritual and material progress in wisdom, yet they have deliberately polluted their own knowledge base. The more they know about flooding, the less they do. The more they know about droughts, the less they plan. The more they know about tsunamis, the less they do for the disenfranchised. The more people have older, traditional and conservative wisdom, the more they are mocked and shouted down, and persecuted out of the decision making process based on “who they ‘really’ were during a ‘past life.’” The more we know about biology and medicine, the more risky behavior humans embrace. The more humans poop the less they pick it up the proper way. Have trouble allocating resources? Blame babies; teach that too many babies are the root of all evil and shortages. Low self esteem? Tell your kids they are reincarnated alien superhero fighters rather than have them comprehend the goodness and singularity of their real actual life and the urgent need for them to make wise and not demented cultist based decisions. Have a problem? Solve it by being passive aggressive on one extreme or violent on the other extreme.
I see one or two examples of the truth beginning to dawn on people. For example, much of Louisiana evacuated successfully during Hurricane Gustav (I went along with them). I thought that the local, state and federal governments actually acquitted themselves admirably, opening referring to the lessons learned from 2005 when they did everything that they possibly could wrong during Hurricane Katrina. I saw a real maturity and depth of understanding in both the continuing leaders and the ones that were new since then. I saw many more people “get it,” and have a sense of the larger picture, and be able to reduce it to logical imperatives and cautionary steps, both individually and collectively. And I hope that they have a process by which they will evaluate even this iteration and learn what was omitted and what needs to be included “next time.” But Lord, oh Lord, this is one example of one disaster where improvement has been made in preparation and response. That is one drop in the bucket of the dire infrastructure mistakes and flaws that are destroying humanity’s present and future, both materially and spiritually. People do not have time to “try out doing one thing right” and “see how that works.” I personally don’t have the time, and neither do all of you.
I'll start with an easy example. I never heard a good reason why a tsunami warning system was not in place before the great tsunami in Indonesia, even though the technology was well known and in place elsewhere. Cultists would rather dole out aid that is misused and disappears rather than invest in the infrastructure prior to the emergency. That is part of their fantasy. They like to view themselves as “riding in” after the disaster (who cares how many died; they call it an “act of God,” which is apparently the only time they believe in the one monotheistic true God) dispensing their largesse, rather than anticipate the disaster through common sense, not sorcery.
The next example is more complicated and egregious. I’ve mentioned many times that India maintains the cruelest caste system that ever existed in human history, as a result of cultist beliefs that everyone is born to their station in life (and of course, the stations must extend from the great enlightened “down” to people who are viewed as little better than dog crap). In the natural scheme of things this type of belief would have been erased, especially with the rise of Christianity and Islam, both of whom correct this error and affirm total equality of body and soul of all people. But modern cultists through their “investments” and “good deeds” keep the caste system thriving and violent, by neglecting the rungs of the ladder that would raise the lower castes and erase the artificial oppressive boundaries. Children, understand that India is like a country that gives you the two sides of a ladder but without the rungs in between them, and then tells you to climb. They pass laws and mouth good words that the caste system is outlawed, but they leave the people at the bottom holding two poles with no rungs, and telling them they have given them a ladder. The crude example I have often cited is that India still requires the lowest caste to work as night soil carriers. This is because India would rather invest in other things than toilets for one billion people. So people defecate in the street and the lowest caste, including children, remove and carry the fecal matter in their bare hands to take it to open dumping areas.
Western investment priorities and attitudes have long infested India, prolonging rather than curtailing the natural selection process that would have eliminated the caste system. So when you combine an ancient cultist belief with modern “remedies” that are misdirected (in large part because they are driven by hidden false “hero” Western cultist beliefs) the situation becomes more dire rather than evolving toward true enlightenment and charity. Extreme Hindus kill Christians because the Christians know in their heart that all are equal and loved under God and exercise that belief in trying to raise the standards of the “lower castes.” Instead, the Hindus ought to have been building dams and infrastructure to handle flooding, as with what happened recently, if you know what I mean. Neglect has a way of coming back and biting people in the ass (though it is almost always the innocent on both “sides” who are displaced and suffer). If Hindus were really interested in eliminating the caste system they would have done so. And the same extends to protecting and promoting the living conditions of the poorest among even their own “true believers.”
Westerners could have easily made investment in India conditional and targeted toward certain standards. For example, if I had been investing in a factory in India, I would have required that part of my investment be used to provide housing and sanitation facilities in the surrounding area. Westerners have had decades to do this, and they certainly should know better based on supposed morals and values, but they have not, and have in fact, colluded with those who continue to oppress, neglect and dehumanize millions of people based on fallacious, greedy and self serving cultural cultist “beliefs.”
Look everywhere around you in the world and see the suffering that is due to lack of traditional, rather than cultist based, Western teaching and investment in charitable infrastructure. Haiti is ruined due to deforestation and I sit here in my bottom floor apartment ignored while I could have architected recovery of that country any time in the past thirty years, and I wouldn’t do it by waving a magic wand. China is now suffering as ignorant and greedy contractors built substandard schools that are collapsing and killing their children. In a way, China is the most understandable of all the case studies because of their huge shortcuts they have had to take to support their large human population, but again, Westerners could have warned them of the dangers of such construction (although plenty of American buildings were at the same time also being built that would be also prone to earthquakes) and of course during the so called Cultural Revolution, they would never have sought Western advice and engineering anyway. But it is too valuable a case study to ignore. More schools fall with each earthquake and aftershock. And that brings us to New Orleans. Maybe if people cared less about vampires and more about infrastructure, there would be levees and other infrastructure that not only protects the city but allowed it to thrive. Even this week I spotted an error in design just by watching routine TV coverage, one that is not at all realized by humans.
But because the Western business investment AND its “charity” is increasingly, both knowingly and unwittingly, “cultist belief” based, people are continuing to make bad investments that will reap sad and bad consequences. Mostly the cultists don’t mind because it is the “little people,” who are not astrologically or “spiritually” consequential who suffer. Like I said, then they rush to say those are “acts of God.” But not providing basic advanced infrastructure capabilities and safeties before the disaster rather than after is both material and spiritual negligence of the highest order.
Another example is the flooding that has occurred throughout the United Kingdom over the past few years. I mean, how stupid is a governmental system that no matter who is in power that they cannot anticipate and construct to remedy or mediate such circumstances? And then the droughts in certain regions of the United States, where one must wonder, instead of blaming “global warming,” why have not decision makers instituted wise water policy in the first place? I taught a seminar back in the late 1970’s while I was a university student myself about environmental law, and I pointed out the hundreds of years of conflict over water policy and how it is a dire problem. And here we are with things only worse, not better.
Again, this is not magic. Just several generations ago humans had the knowledge they needed in their hands, and the charity was growing in their hearts. But the cultist age of greed took over and before you know it, many regions of the world are worse off than they were after World War II and that’s a fact. Look at the drought in Australia, as they watch their farmland disappear and act like that’s never happened in the history of humanity. They are hurt and outraged, and I feel deeply for them. But I wonder at the past two generations who are so certain that they are entitled and that the world runs on a thermostat that they personally operate. If I had farmlands I would have planned for times of both abundant (too much, even) water, and extreme drought. Again, that’s not magic, that is using both reasoning skills and faith. Reread how Joseph advised the people of Egypt how to prepare for a dire regional seven year famine, it is all there in the Bible, both spiritual and material wisdom. So it is not as if this is an ability that humans don’t have; they had it in abundance until they decided to be manipulated into a cultist and false sense of reality regarding their lifestyle, their investments, their faith, their very reasoning skills, and the areas of humanity and environment that they willfully neglect and allow to suffer.
For several painful decades now people have marginalized and tortured me because they are more worried about “'who' I am 'really reincarnated from'” rather than reality, even though anyone could have asked me at any time and I would have witnessed to them that there is no such thing as reincarnation at all. I’ve sat here being tortured and maligned, watching how humans have set themselves up for their own destruction. At any point I could have forgiven all that has been done to me, to the innocents who have suffered, rolled up my sleeves and shown people how to raise the standards of both material and spiritual living for everyone, with total inclusion. Yet the more I point this out the more that I have been injured. And this is hardly a secret.
Let me tell you a story from sometime between 1981-5. I was working for one of the major oil companies and as a manager had to attend one of their many education classes that focus on skills and teambuilding. One was an advanced problem solving class and actually, that was quite impressive, as they taught some very interesting human techniques at problem solving and team building. One day we had an exercise where a team of three or four people had to try to figure out from a list of three possible answers the solution to a problem that they had no expertise in, or access to resources. Our team’s problem was why bears attacked certain electrical power structures.
As luck would have it, since I was an environmental science major I actually knew about this problem and the cause. But not wanting to ruin the exercise for my engineering and managerial teammates, I kept my mouth shut, except to contribute normally and positively as to where they were headed. But when I tried to actually drop some hints (as they were going off in the wrong direction) I got ignored and somewhat slapped down. So the team actually came to an erroneous choice from the list of three. During the debriefing it came out that I knew the correct answer. The team’s instructor correctly explained that this is an example of a shy or low key team member being beaten down, and how bad engineering decisions are made as a result, and how one should never underestimate the capabilities of a team member (remember, this was during a time when women had difficulty being heard in corporate settings too).
By the way, five years later the space shuttle “Challenger” exploded because it was launched in too cold conditions, overriding the concerns of minority team members about the O-rings’ ability to perform correctly. Yet, incredibly, there are many who ought to know better who continue to ascribe cultist beliefs to events like the Challenger disaster.
Humans have had a rich history of both spiritual and material progress in wisdom, yet they have deliberately polluted their own knowledge base. The more they know about flooding, the less they do. The more they know about droughts, the less they plan. The more they know about tsunamis, the less they do for the disenfranchised. The more people have older, traditional and conservative wisdom, the more they are mocked and shouted down, and persecuted out of the decision making process based on “who they ‘really’ were during a ‘past life.’” The more we know about biology and medicine, the more risky behavior humans embrace. The more humans poop the less they pick it up the proper way. Have trouble allocating resources? Blame babies; teach that too many babies are the root of all evil and shortages. Low self esteem? Tell your kids they are reincarnated alien superhero fighters rather than have them comprehend the goodness and singularity of their real actual life and the urgent need for them to make wise and not demented cultist based decisions. Have a problem? Solve it by being passive aggressive on one extreme or violent on the other extreme.
I see one or two examples of the truth beginning to dawn on people. For example, much of Louisiana evacuated successfully during Hurricane Gustav (I went along with them). I thought that the local, state and federal governments actually acquitted themselves admirably, opening referring to the lessons learned from 2005 when they did everything that they possibly could wrong during Hurricane Katrina. I saw a real maturity and depth of understanding in both the continuing leaders and the ones that were new since then. I saw many more people “get it,” and have a sense of the larger picture, and be able to reduce it to logical imperatives and cautionary steps, both individually and collectively. And I hope that they have a process by which they will evaluate even this iteration and learn what was omitted and what needs to be included “next time.” But Lord, oh Lord, this is one example of one disaster where improvement has been made in preparation and response. That is one drop in the bucket of the dire infrastructure mistakes and flaws that are destroying humanity’s present and future, both materially and spiritually. People do not have time to “try out doing one thing right” and “see how that works.” I personally don’t have the time, and neither do all of you.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thousands feared dead in India floods
Condolences to the poor and innocent who are suffering.
Maybe if their government worked more on public works projects instead of computers, and maybe if certain citizenry worked more on rescue and relief rather than raping, setting on fire, beating and killing Christians, maybe things would be better? Just a thought.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/2000-feared-dead-in-floods/2008/08/30/1219516798000.html
http://news.smh.com.au/world/600000-trapped-in-indias-floods-20080831-466j.html
Maybe the rapists should be taken to temples of Kali and have their willies cut off. Then they can board boats painted with skulls and join in the rescue work.
Maybe if their government worked more on public works projects instead of computers, and maybe if certain citizenry worked more on rescue and relief rather than raping, setting on fire, beating and killing Christians, maybe things would be better? Just a thought.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/2000-feared-dead-in-floods/2008/08/30/1219516798000.html
http://news.smh.com.au/world/600000-trapped-in-indias-floods-20080831-466j.html
Maybe the rapists should be taken to temples of Kali and have their willies cut off. Then they can board boats painted with skulls and join in the rescue work.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
10 struck by lightning near Boston, 4 still critical
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_07_21_Lightning_strikes_10_on_Dorchester_field:_%E2%80%98It_s_a_miracle_that_nobody_died_/srvc=home&position=0
***
The lightning bolt struck around 3:30 PM during a sudden violent storm, hitting spectators at a local soccer game. Two suffered heart attacks. Other news articles report that four remain in critical condition.
Prayers that these people all pull through. They were doing nothing except having good neighborly activity watching their regular Sunday sports. One is a young teenager, again, prayers for full recovery for everyone.
Hmm. Also in Boston area in a totally separate development (I'm sure), on the same day, and probably just a few hours separate from the lightning strike, a lovely Protestant Church hosted a mockery known as "ordination of 'Catholic' women priests." Yes, once again a non-Catholic church has decided to allow heretical women go through an "ordination" to "make them Catholic priests" on their premises. (A synagogue in St. Louis area hosted a similar "ordination of women" some months ago). "Thanks rabbi!"
Um, did you know that the Bible has some very explicit admonitions against undermining someone else's faith? So "fellow Christians," encouraging and sponsoring defiance of these people's faith (no matter how insistent they are) implicates you in the sin. This would be true if you were hosting, let's make up some other religion, say Buddhists doing something sacrilegious in their faith on your premises (since you imply that Jesus is sponsoring any activities in your church). Oh dear! Not so much! Big mistake!
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_07_21_3_women_in_the_“priesthood____out_of_the_church/
By the way, before anyone gets all outraged, this is another example of "subversive humor." You see, in case you don't recall, some Protestants made a LOT of money from a "Christian" book series called "Left Behind," where they claim that most Catholics and the Pope are tools of the anti-Christ and thus will be "left behind" and better yet.... they push the notion that lightning is under the control of the anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ in fact, in the book, zaps many converted Protestant faithful to death, including the main squeeze of one of the book's "heroes." Sooooo, I am chortling not at the injured (continued prayers for their recovery) but in good subversive humor fashion, I can't help but point out that a big fat lightning bolt hit a record number of people in the same Boston vicinity within hours of a Protestant church hosting a heretical Catholic procedure. I think you see my point now? Careful what you wish for, oh fictional "Christian authors!
Now, continuing the subversive humor thought. What might their reply be? Well, they'd say "See, God's taking sides with 'us' because the lightning struck an ethnic Catholic area! And so obvious God supports the Prots sponsoring 'Catholic women priests'. " Um, wait, run that by me again, as that's a logic problem. If you say the anti-Christ controls lightning, well, surely he must all along because it's not like he "took that power away from God" after the alleged "rapture." So which is it? Is God using lightning in a very mean and, well, anti-Christ way to hurt innocent people at a soccer match, as his way of "applauding" ze wymen pryeests... in which case God doesn't sound very nice, or is this the anti-Christ's work, which means, holy smoke, he must already be here! But hey, readers, why are you reading this instead of being "raptured" and long gone, if the 'anti-Christ' 'is here?'
If one is going to make obsessive compulsive disorder occult assertions, such as what I guess they are called "dispensationalist" Protestants do in the book (and make lots of money off of it) beware when God makes a total fool of you all in front of the world to see.
***
The lightning bolt struck around 3:30 PM during a sudden violent storm, hitting spectators at a local soccer game. Two suffered heart attacks. Other news articles report that four remain in critical condition.
Prayers that these people all pull through. They were doing nothing except having good neighborly activity watching their regular Sunday sports. One is a young teenager, again, prayers for full recovery for everyone.
Hmm. Also in Boston area in a totally separate development (I'm sure), on the same day, and probably just a few hours separate from the lightning strike, a lovely Protestant Church hosted a mockery known as "ordination of 'Catholic' women priests." Yes, once again a non-Catholic church has decided to allow heretical women go through an "ordination" to "make them Catholic priests" on their premises. (A synagogue in St. Louis area hosted a similar "ordination of women" some months ago). "Thanks rabbi!"
Um, did you know that the Bible has some very explicit admonitions against undermining someone else's faith? So "fellow Christians," encouraging and sponsoring defiance of these people's faith (no matter how insistent they are) implicates you in the sin. This would be true if you were hosting, let's make up some other religion, say Buddhists doing something sacrilegious in their faith on your premises (since you imply that Jesus is sponsoring any activities in your church). Oh dear! Not so much! Big mistake!
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_07_21_3_women_in_the_“priesthood____out_of_the_church/
By the way, before anyone gets all outraged, this is another example of "subversive humor." You see, in case you don't recall, some Protestants made a LOT of money from a "Christian" book series called "Left Behind," where they claim that most Catholics and the Pope are tools of the anti-Christ and thus will be "left behind" and better yet.... they push the notion that lightning is under the control of the anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ in fact, in the book, zaps many converted Protestant faithful to death, including the main squeeze of one of the book's "heroes." Sooooo, I am chortling not at the injured (continued prayers for their recovery) but in good subversive humor fashion, I can't help but point out that a big fat lightning bolt hit a record number of people in the same Boston vicinity within hours of a Protestant church hosting a heretical Catholic procedure. I think you see my point now? Careful what you wish for, oh fictional "Christian authors!
Now, continuing the subversive humor thought. What might their reply be? Well, they'd say "See, God's taking sides with 'us' because the lightning struck an ethnic Catholic area! And so obvious God supports the Prots sponsoring 'Catholic women priests'. " Um, wait, run that by me again, as that's a logic problem. If you say the anti-Christ controls lightning, well, surely he must all along because it's not like he "took that power away from God" after the alleged "rapture." So which is it? Is God using lightning in a very mean and, well, anti-Christ way to hurt innocent people at a soccer match, as his way of "applauding" ze wymen pryeests... in which case God doesn't sound very nice, or is this the anti-Christ's work, which means, holy smoke, he must already be here! But hey, readers, why are you reading this instead of being "raptured" and long gone, if the 'anti-Christ' 'is here?'
If one is going to make obsessive compulsive disorder occult assertions, such as what I guess they are called "dispensationalist" Protestants do in the book (and make lots of money off of it) beware when God makes a total fool of you all in front of the world to see.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Lightning strikes
The National Weather Services says that about 62 people a year are killed by a lightning strike in the USA. I know that some areas of the world have high tolls, such as Africa, because of violent storms in those areas.
I always had a healthy respect for weather effects such as lightning, since I was in an apartment that was struck, and so I got quite a shock, back in the 1974-5 time frame.
But I hadn't paid individual incidents much mind, except to feel sympathy for the victims, until I learned reading the "Left Behind" series that lightning is the weapon the "Antichrist" uses to strike down "believers." Hmm. The Antichrist must spend a lot of time hanging around children's camp grounds, lakes, sports fields and so forth then, I guess. Oh, it was only fiction? Who would have thought it, since it sure sounds so absolute about the "dogma!"
Anyway, here's a good Charlotte NC local article about all the strikes they've had and some tips to stay safe. Reminder to avoid showers and bath tubs, something people often forget.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/16836380/detail.html
The reporters learned, not entirely to my surprise, that lightning rods help, but few people ask about them. I was glad they covered that in this article.
In another article is reminder that rumbling over the horizon means lightning is in striking distance, as it can travel 10 miles from where it actually is raining. I notice people are very blase around here, even when one can see the flashes in the distance. Hmm.
Hope everyone stays safe. I especially hate it when I see a young life lost.
I always had a healthy respect for weather effects such as lightning, since I was in an apartment that was struck, and so I got quite a shock, back in the 1974-5 time frame.
But I hadn't paid individual incidents much mind, except to feel sympathy for the victims, until I learned reading the "Left Behind" series that lightning is the weapon the "Antichrist" uses to strike down "believers." Hmm. The Antichrist must spend a lot of time hanging around children's camp grounds, lakes, sports fields and so forth then, I guess. Oh, it was only fiction? Who would have thought it, since it sure sounds so absolute about the "dogma!"
Anyway, here's a good Charlotte NC local article about all the strikes they've had and some tips to stay safe. Reminder to avoid showers and bath tubs, something people often forget.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/16836380/detail.html
The reporters learned, not entirely to my surprise, that lightning rods help, but few people ask about them. I was glad they covered that in this article.
In another article is reminder that rumbling over the horizon means lightning is in striking distance, as it can travel 10 miles from where it actually is raining. I notice people are very blase around here, even when one can see the flashes in the distance. Hmm.
Hope everyone stays safe. I especially hate it when I see a young life lost.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Child killed in wind storm Huntsville AL
You can read on www.al.com the main story and blogs about the five year old boy who was killed this afternoon when a sudden microburst storm cell hit an air show that was attended by many thousands. Apparently the tent he was in collapsed, knocking a heavy air conditioner unit onto him. Prayers for him and the family. You think you are going to a nice family event and you suddenly lose your child; it is a terrible tragedy that I sure do well understand.
I mention this because people have all seen how suddenly the weather can change. It must have only been about an hour after this tragedy that I was on the road driving to a restaurant when I suddenly saw a purplish black front bearing down on me with straight line winds. It really seemed to come out of nowhere. I got behind a guy in a black pick up truck and we gunned it to out run the long side of the rectangular shape that it made, driving very fast for about six miles. While I was eyeing the storm wall as it bore down in our direction, I didn't see any rotation (my big concern for a tornado) but straight line winds can be just as sudden and fierce.
By the way, if you are ever in my situation but you actually see tornado rotation commence or straight line winds that can tip over a car, immediately get out of the car and get into a culvert. As I was driving I was watching along side the road for good sized culverts in case I had to make the dive. Cars are great for protection from lightning, and you should stay in your car if lightning is the threat, but if you encounter a tornado or car tipping straight line winds the car is not the best place. Several people have been killed in the Midwest storms during the past month when they were in their cars. A culvert, which is the underground large tubes for drainage that you see under driveways and in ditches, is the safest place to be in a tornado. Yeah, being in Mississippi I really didn't want to think about fighting a critter to get into the culvert, but that's better than a potential tornado. Anyway, the storm blew over fast and hardly any rain fell. But just like the Huntsville microburst storm cell, it was a sudden cell of fierce wind that was the threat.
I mention this because people have all seen how suddenly the weather can change. It must have only been about an hour after this tragedy that I was on the road driving to a restaurant when I suddenly saw a purplish black front bearing down on me with straight line winds. It really seemed to come out of nowhere. I got behind a guy in a black pick up truck and we gunned it to out run the long side of the rectangular shape that it made, driving very fast for about six miles. While I was eyeing the storm wall as it bore down in our direction, I didn't see any rotation (my big concern for a tornado) but straight line winds can be just as sudden and fierce.
By the way, if you are ever in my situation but you actually see tornado rotation commence or straight line winds that can tip over a car, immediately get out of the car and get into a culvert. As I was driving I was watching along side the road for good sized culverts in case I had to make the dive. Cars are great for protection from lightning, and you should stay in your car if lightning is the threat, but if you encounter a tornado or car tipping straight line winds the car is not the best place. Several people have been killed in the Midwest storms during the past month when they were in their cars. A culvert, which is the underground large tubes for drainage that you see under driveways and in ditches, is the safest place to be in a tornado. Yeah, being in Mississippi I really didn't want to think about fighting a critter to get into the culvert, but that's better than a potential tornado. Anyway, the storm blew over fast and hardly any rain fell. But just like the Huntsville microburst storm cell, it was a sudden cell of fierce wind that was the threat.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Presbyterians build and donate organ to Orleans
This is a great story on two levels. One is the wonderful charity of people who put so much time, work, love and funding into giving a church in need a one of a kind organ (Presbytarian to Catholic, by the way). The second great thing about this story is the calling that the organ fans, or "maniacs" as they call themselves, have to this historic and spiritual musical instrument.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/seattle_church_builds_donates.html
snip
In yet another post-Katrina kindness to New Orleans, the organ was a gift to the people of Blessed Seelos Parish from strangers around Seattle.
Built by hand in a garage-loft by amateur enthusiasts, it was tested there, then disassembled into thousands of pieces, hauled to New Orleans, spread across the church floor, and reassembled by 15 Seattle volunteers in Seelos' loft.
Its value if new: something like $220,000, according to Carl Dodrill, the pipe organ enthusiast who led the effort.
Its cost to Seelos: about $20,000, the church's share of preparing its loft to receive the gift, parish officials said.
Like so much other recent private generosity in New Orleans, the story of the Seelos organ has its roots in Hurricane Katrina.
In early 2006, rebuilding teams from four Seattle area Presbyterian churches targeted Seelos, home parish to a small, diverse Bywater congregation of Spanish- and English-speaking Catholics, as well as the center for deaf worship in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
My favorite two funny comments in this article:
"It's a ministry," said Dodrill, by which he means something more ennobling than restoring old cars.
"These aren't organ fanatics. They're organ maniacs," Benson confided later.
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/seattle_church_builds_donates.html
snip
In yet another post-Katrina kindness to New Orleans, the organ was a gift to the people of Blessed Seelos Parish from strangers around Seattle.
Built by hand in a garage-loft by amateur enthusiasts, it was tested there, then disassembled into thousands of pieces, hauled to New Orleans, spread across the church floor, and reassembled by 15 Seattle volunteers in Seelos' loft.
Its value if new: something like $220,000, according to Carl Dodrill, the pipe organ enthusiast who led the effort.
Its cost to Seelos: about $20,000, the church's share of preparing its loft to receive the gift, parish officials said.
Like so much other recent private generosity in New Orleans, the story of the Seelos organ has its roots in Hurricane Katrina.
In early 2006, rebuilding teams from four Seattle area Presbyterian churches targeted Seelos, home parish to a small, diverse Bywater congregation of Spanish- and English-speaking Catholics, as well as the center for deaf worship in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
My favorite two funny comments in this article:
"It's a ministry," said Dodrill, by which he means something more ennobling than restoring old cars.
"These aren't organ fanatics. They're organ maniacs," Benson confided later.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Iowa floods
It looks pretty bad. I know the feeling of seeing your dumped possessions out on the street being rained upon.
Iowa's a very pretty and green state, from what I saw of it. About eight years ago I accompanied a former friend of mine as she drove a truck of furniture out west for her daughter's store and we drove through Iowa. We had to spend a night in Davenport, but there were no hotel rooms at all ("convention"). I remembered that most hotels hold a few rooms back for high payers, so I dug out my charge card and asked and we got a room after being told there were no rooms available. LOL.
Anyway, the next day we drove across the length of Iowa and I was very impressed with its subtle beauty. It's not the flat corn fields that many imagine. The east part in particular is lovely green rolling hills, at least from what I saw from my view along the highway. It was pretty and soothing, so long as one was not looking for a hotel room ha ha.
Iowa's a very pretty and green state, from what I saw of it. About eight years ago I accompanied a former friend of mine as she drove a truck of furniture out west for her daughter's store and we drove through Iowa. We had to spend a night in Davenport, but there were no hotel rooms at all ("convention"). I remembered that most hotels hold a few rooms back for high payers, so I dug out my charge card and asked and we got a room after being told there were no rooms available. LOL.
Anyway, the next day we drove across the length of Iowa and I was very impressed with its subtle beauty. It's not the flat corn fields that many imagine. The east part in particular is lovely green rolling hills, at least from what I saw from my view along the highway. It was pretty and soothing, so long as one was not looking for a hotel room ha ha.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Things look bad in Myanmar
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/myanmar.cyclone/index.html
snip
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more than 15,000 people, Myanmar's government has said, with at least 10,000 killed in the township of Bogalay alone, according to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.
Survivors were facing their third night without electricity in the aftermath of the historic cyclone that also clogged roads with thousands of downed trees.
Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.
The death toll of more than 15,000, official sources told Xinhua, makes the weekend cyclone the deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, according to figures compiled by a U.N.-funded disaster database.
The toll eclipses that from a 1926 wind storm the killed about 2,700 people in the country, according to the database.
The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.
***
Prayers for all who are lost and suffering.
Speaking of prayers, I wonder if the marching protesting Buddhist monks who are very political also have retained their rural life knowledge and have a rescue ethic and volunteer skills. Like the Christians do, ministering and rolling up sleeves during disaster ... I'm just curious if the monks get involved like the Christian evangelizers do, whether for their own people (like during hurricane Katrina) or in foreign lands. Hope so!!
Update: Answer to my question. The monks are apparently free to help, and this article mentions them helping as the people struggle with fallen trees, without tools or government help thus far. An isolationist regime runs into deep trouble sooner or later.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5greyFH3qkj9mc9oagSoulgjN4KHgD90FTIFO5
snip
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more than 15,000 people, Myanmar's government has said, with at least 10,000 killed in the township of Bogalay alone, according to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.
Survivors were facing their third night without electricity in the aftermath of the historic cyclone that also clogged roads with thousands of downed trees.
Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.
The death toll of more than 15,000, official sources told Xinhua, makes the weekend cyclone the deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, according to figures compiled by a U.N.-funded disaster database.
The toll eclipses that from a 1926 wind storm the killed about 2,700 people in the country, according to the database.
The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.
***
Prayers for all who are lost and suffering.
Speaking of prayers, I wonder if the marching protesting Buddhist monks who are very political also have retained their rural life knowledge and have a rescue ethic and volunteer skills. Like the Christians do, ministering and rolling up sleeves during disaster ... I'm just curious if the monks get involved like the Christian evangelizers do, whether for their own people (like during hurricane Katrina) or in foreign lands. Hope so!!
Update: Answer to my question. The monks are apparently free to help, and this article mentions them helping as the people struggle with fallen trees, without tools or government help thus far. An isolationist regime runs into deep trouble sooner or later.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5greyFH3qkj9mc9oagSoulgjN4KHgD90FTIFO5
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Frost, hail and God's rounds
By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud he scattereth his bright cloud.
[With hail, also, the clouds are laden, as they scatter their flashes of light.]
He it is who changes their rounds, according to his plans...
Job 37: 10-12
Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud he scattereth his bright cloud.
[With hail, also, the clouds are laden, as they scatter their flashes of light.]
He it is who changes their rounds, according to his plans...
Job 37: 10-12
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Aussie Catholic Bishop "dry" humor!
Reading this article, thankfully no lives lost in this storm that hit Australia. I love the Bishop's dry comment.
It's a billion-dollar disaster
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/its-a-billiondollar-disaster/2007/06/12/1181414305798.html
snip
THE worst was over and the huge job of cleaning up was under way in the Hunter Valley last night, as the economic cost of the deadly storms was projected to climb to $1 billion.
snip
Thousands of Hunter residents, from Singleton to Newcastle, were yesterday scraping mud and debris from their homes and businesses - a job that will continue for weeks.
snip
The Catholic Bishop of Maitland and Newcastle, Michael Malone, called on people to thank the Lord, but added: "We can stop praying for rain for a little while."
It's a billion-dollar disaster
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/its-a-billiondollar-disaster/2007/06/12/1181414305798.html
snip
THE worst was over and the huge job of cleaning up was under way in the Hunter Valley last night, as the economic cost of the deadly storms was projected to climb to $1 billion.
snip
Thousands of Hunter residents, from Singleton to Newcastle, were yesterday scraping mud and debris from their homes and businesses - a job that will continue for weeks.
snip
The Catholic Bishop of Maitland and Newcastle, Michael Malone, called on people to thank the Lord, but added: "We can stop praying for rain for a little while."
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