Reality Wins, Every Time

Rejecting an argument because you don't like its conclusions reveals a fundamental irrationality, an inability to make sound decisions. An argument should be judged by its truth, not by your gag reflex. Because you are human, you are prejudiced, while the truth is not and cannot be. Truth is never sexist, racist, phobic, or elitist. It simply is.

We can accept the world for what it is and tack accordingly, or we can close our eyes in fantasy and let the winds and currents of reality steer us wherever they will.

Resurrection at the End from the Beginning

In Luke 20:37-38, Jesus said that the title "God of Abraham" proves the resurrection of the dead because God is the God of the living, not the dead. However, Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the resurrection of the faithful is still to come.

How to reconcile these two statements?

In v38, Jesus said "All are alive to God," meaning, from God's perspective, all the righteous are alive today. But God's perspective isn't ours, as He sees the end from the beginning. Abraham, with all the faithful of every age, is alive today in God's eyes, whether or not he has already been resurrected today, because God isn't limited to a linear experience of time.

To HaShem, tomorrow is today.

When Truth Becomes a Crime

In today's political discourse "racist" just means "expresses (or openly associates with people who express) opinions that meet any of the following criteria":

1. Not approved by enlightened progressives. 
2. Respectful of various ethnicities of European origin or commonly referred to as "white". 
3. Acknowledges the possibility that inherited genes of non-whites might have the slightest undesirable effect on anything that cannot be clearly seen, such as hair color, skin tone, etc.. (The inheritance of undesirable emotional, intellectual, etc., traits by whites can be freely acknowledged without being considered racist.) 
4. Acknowledges the bad behavior of any non-white individual or group. 
5. Questions the integrity, capabilities, or genius of any non-white individual or group.
6. Fails to weight credit for any achievement in favor of non-whites.
7. Gives whites, especially white men, credit for achievements.

When a person is backed into a corner so that he can no longer even move without breaking some rules, when he's guilty merely because he exists, eventually he stops caring about the rules.

Qualities Common to Great Men

Everyone has the capacity to be successful. Nobody is a born loser. I think the difference between a success and a loser is more a matter of making appropriate choices concerning where and how to apply one's abilities rather than the nature of the abilities themselves. If you're short and uncoordinated, for example, you'll find more success away from the basketball court than on it. If you're exceptionally tall and athletic, but not especially bright, professional basketball might be a better choice than medicine or electrical engineering. By compensating for shortfalls, developing skills, working hard, and walking the right path, everyone can become better than average at something, even better than most, since most of their peers will choose not to expend the same effort.

On the other hand, not everyone has the capacity to be great.

Qualities common to great men in no particular order:

► Self discipline
► Self confidence
► Consistent vision
► Constancy of purpose
► Faith in God
► Community minded
► Intelligence
► Idealism
► Irrational optimism
► Generosity
► Interest in people
► Strong ambition
► Sense of destiny

Not every great man has all of these qualities--I would be surprised to find anyone who did--but the more of them a person has, the more they will be predisposed to greatness.

If you don't see yourself in the list above, don't despair. Greatness is, by definition, very rare. Most successful people will never be great. Even so, every one of these qualities can be developed to some degree, some more than others. Everyone can be better than they are.

Parallels between Isaac and Yeshua

Some parallels between Isaac & Yeshua:

• Isaac & Yeshua were both conceived under miraculous and apparently questionable circumstances.
• Abraham loved Isaac. The Father was "well pleased" with Yeshua.
• 3 days journey to the binding of Isaac & 3 days in the grave for Yeshua.
• 2 men accompanied Isaac & Abraham, while 2 men were crucified beside Yeshua.
• Both men were accompanied to the locale of Jerusalem by a donkey.
• Yeshua and Isaac both went willingly & carried the wood that would be used in their sacrifices.
• Isaac was symbolically "resurrected" at God's intervention. Yeshua was actually resurrected.
• A ram replaced Isaac on the altar, while a Lamb replaced all of mankind.
• Just like Yeshua, Isaac disappeared from the Biblical scene until the Servant had prepared his bride.

Election Day 2016

I'm not thrilled with the candidacy of Donald Trump. If I remember correctly, he got a D on my conservative score card. Better than Romney, Christie, or Bush, but still not good. On the other hand, I understand his emotional--and even intellectual--appeal to patriotic voters. Despite some serious problems with his character and politics, at least he has made some noises about protecting America from our most serious threats. If he wins the election today, I'll be nervous about America's future. There are a lot of potential problems.

On the gripping hand, I have no reservations whatsoever about condemning Hillary Clinton and everyone around her. She is evil, wicked, foul, disgusting...Whatever pejorative you care to toss her way, it will stick.

Gary Johnson... Please. What a joke.

If Trump wins, I'll be nervous. If Clinton wins, I'll be ashamed and sickened by what has become of America.

The Briefest Introduction to Chiasms

The Bible is full of chiasms (kai'-a-zumz), literary structures used to provide a framework to a story--what a novelist might call a story arc--or to convey additional meaning to what is contained by the bare text. The singular is technically chiasmus and the plural is chiasmi, since the word is derived from Greek and Latin. Since I speak English, I prefer chiasm/chiasms. In a chiasm, a series of phrases or concepts in the first half of the narrative are mirrored in the second half, usually--but not always--with one, unmirrored statement at the center.

Chiasms were used extensively by writers in many ancient cultures, and sometimes they are still used today, especially in poetry and song. Along with parallelisms, thematic allusions, Hebrew word play, and a number of other literary devices, chiasms can give fascinating insight on the meaning that the original Biblical writers intended to convey. They can be as short as a single verse or span multiple books. Most commonly they span a few verses or a chapter.

A typical chiasm might look something like this:

A - God speaks to prophet
  B - Prophet speaks to people
    C - People respond to man
      D - God acts
    C - People respond to God
  B - People speak to prophet
A - Prophet speaks to God

Sometimes they are very easy to see, but often they are obscured by translation from Hebrew or by artificial chapter and verse divisions. Being able to read the Hebrew (which I cannot), definitely makes them easier to find. Tony Robinson has a lot of great teaching on chiasms and thematic connections in Scripture. You can check them out here: Restoration of Torah Ministries.

And I have a growing list of them here: Index of Biblical Chiasmi and Parallelisms.

If you want to learn how to find and understand Biblical chiasms for yourself, check out The Chiasm Course!