CANDL: Creation And Love.

The Jukebox From Hell

2017-06-30T10:16:00.000-04:00

Originally posted in the FB "Creation and Love" group.

For access to the group, drop me a note at CreationAndLove2@Yahoo.com

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The Warp and the Woof

The Jukebox from Hell

In a class online in the philosophy of religion, each term we have a discussion about the way different religious traditions explain the nature and origin of evil and suffering.

This got me thinking recently about the very common pattern of identifying certain things as being good and others as being evil, sort of placing them in a 2-column chart in our heads: evil things in one column; good in the other.

Then from somewhere in the encyclopedia of memory (we each carry around these encyclopedias) THIS brought back a conversation I had long, long, long ago when, while doing a bit of Deaning in Toronto at an evangelical college - Tyndale University College - our student life department had purchased a juke box for a newly renovated student lounge area. A debate about this arose. It took place even before the thing had been delivered. The debate was whether or not this juke box should be stocked with only Christian music CDs. The student life staff, many students, and even the president got in on this campus debate. Each person seemed to easily take sides. And when I say "easily" I mean not many seemed to find a need to do any pondering before making up their minds about this. (The president was very clear on his view when he said to me "You aren't going to stock it with Christian music are you?" Apparently he was not a fan. He said he really, really wanted some 1950s rock and roll on iy, maybe exclusively.)

I wanted a mix of things and challenged the argument of many that in keeping with being a Christian school we should have only Christian influences represented in the music collection. I reminded people with this view that this was NOT the philosophy of the college in other places - not in our classrooms, not in our library collection. It was a good counter-argument, I thought.

Few in the "exclusively pro-Christian music camp" were swayed by it. So I tried another, more theologically attuned, line of reasoning. "There seems to me to be a fallacious assumption at the foundation" of their position, I told them. "You seem to believe that what comes out of the pens of the Christians composing Christian music, and the mouths of those singing it is in entirely in keeping with Christian understanding and in keeping with the Scriptures. And on the other hand, you seem to be assuming that the Creator hasn't managed to sneak some good, refreshing, imaginative things into secular music. The irony here is that in your efforts to be faithful to the Christian message, you have departed widely from the Christian message, a message which teaches us that God's grace touches all, and that the Fall touches all.

Further, your argument, while displaying a sincere dedication to your faith and to the interests and will of God, seems to assume that we are all terribly fragile, which is not my observation of the people here and I am sure it is not your observation of our staff and friends, either." This new argument won over a few.

In the end, the juke box arrived and was stocked with a variety of CDs, much enjoyed by those in both camps. And by that time I had had so many people telling me from all points of view that I make this decision or that about it that I had come to call it, in the privacy of our staff meetings, "The Jukebox from Hell."

(I think I'm almost done with this now. Not sure though.)

This came back to me this morning as I was thinking about how we envision good and evil. I think people of every tradition put things, at least some things, in either the Good or Evil column in their mental charts. And perhaps this works for some things. And yet . . . . it might be that that very idea, "things", is a problem. I am referring to the idea that good and evil things ARE things at all.

In recent years I've found myself viewing the world more in terms of verbs than nouns, more in terms of what is happening than in terms of what is. More in terms of how issues and concepts swirl and float and flow in our encounters with them, and less in terms of how they stand there in front with our static definitions and understanding of them pinning them down. I don't know why this has happened. But it changes things to look at your books, your cats, yourself, your friends in terms of verbs, in terms of their motion, the swirling paths of their movement through the world through their own lives and through mine. I've come to be fond of percieving a friend dynamical swirling through our hour together, even as that friend sits physically immobile across a table as we visit over coffee and (for me, most often) Diet Coke.

Seeing what were formerly nouns, things, now as verbs, as what is happening rather than as what IS, has livened up life in multiple dimensions, whether the rational, the aesthetic, the emotional, the historical or whathaveyou. And, in keeping with the theme of our page and comments posted by others on it, I'll report that this more dynamic perception of it all has energized my perception of Creation And Love. It is an energy I recommend.

Back to the beginning. One result of seeing "things" as happenings is that I find I no longer instinctively place the good and evil I encounter or hear about in those two columns. I suppose if I were to represent it all in a sketch, I might draw (poorly) the warp and woof of the threads that make up fabrics. A grid, really. I might call the horizontal lines The Good and the vertical lines EVIL. Or the other way around. Doesn't matter. Then, when I encounter someTHING that is a good thing or an evil thing, I would place it at some intersection on that grid, because in this life good and evil together make up the flexing motion of the fabric that is the sum of our experiences. When it comes to good and evil I think that rarely, if ever, is one of those not touched by the other. Hit a switch and turn on a light to read by - THAT is a good thing. Of course, you're also setting atoms far away to crackling and splitting and creating just a bit more extraordinarily poisonous waste that will last lifetimes. Turning on a light easily belongs at an intersection where good and evil meet to tie together the fabric of our dances through our world.

Anyway, its a different way of perceiving good, evil, and the world. All of it dynamic, in motion, swirling unpredictably, leaving no good pure and untouched by evil. Leaving no evil untouched by the good possibilities it intersects with. This Includes the best and the worse we do. It includes ourselves and all our dealings.

Knowing this humbling.

And, yet, it all somehow refreshes me.

God's Grace in Creation

2017-06-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Originally posted in the FB "Creation and Love" group.

For access to the group, drop me a note at CreationAndLove2@Yahoo.com

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Following is a response I made to a student recently in a sort of mashed together introductory philosophy of religion/ world religions course online. (I did not create the course. If I had, I wouldn't have mashed these two together, at least not in the way this course was created.)

Anyway, once I was done with this response it occurred to me to share it here with our group with an invitation to build on it and maybe point out missed opportunities in the way I could have taken this.

By the way, one of my main goals in crafting this response was to steer the issue of grace away from considerations of salvation, which is so often where it quickly goes and stays. I wanted to cast grace in terms as wide as Creation and living in that creation - which is a thought in keeping with the Creation and Love Facebook page. I am not anti-salvation messages, by any means. But this issue of salvation speaks with such a loud voice to most that it can drown out all other voices in the room! And one of the voices - the Biblical voices - that it too often drowns out is that of considerations of Creational living in its many dimensions.

Return thoughts welcomed!

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The response to a student:

Of the many concepts you shared, let me just say something about that idea of God's grace that your grandmother shared with you. The word grace is a relative of the word gift. And this is easy to see. Each is about bestowing something unearned on someone.

The idea that good things are given by God as gifts can actually be hard to understand in our culture, and in many cultures, for that matter. After all, we hear from a young age how we must earn something for it to be meaningful. And every day many of us work to gain the income we need to live and, hopefully, live well and enjoy life.

So this message that God is a God of grace can collide with this emphasis that we really only receive most things by earning them, not by receiving them as unearned gifts. BUT . . . . to fully grasp the religious idea of God's grace in the world we would need to shift this a little. We would need a change in perspective in a way that allows us to believe that God has many mechanisms by which He bestows good gifts on the world. Some are found in nature, for example in the rain that waters crops. Others are found in our health and minds and the strength to do things in the world. And then it can be seen that it is on these foundations of what is given freely to us without us doing anything to deserve them, that we then can do our work and in some ways do what we call "earning" our living - a living that is deeply dependent first on those gifts. That grace.

So, there is a little insight into how some people have reconciled the seeming conflict between the idea that God gives us all good things and the message we hear all through life that we get those good things by earning them with our own work.

As a short sort of PS to this, one consequence of this way of looking at matters is that some then can say that working for a paycheck is only one mechanism among several God uses to provide good things for us. Another mechanism that a God of grace can use is charity from charitable giving in its many forms. Seen in this way, programs in support of those in need are seen as just one more way God has of providing for them. Perhaps sometimes such people understand better than those of us who are employed that the good things that come to them are gifts, while those of us getting paychecks twice a month can easily forget that and come to believe, falsely, that we actually did "earn a living" all on our own, rather than it being a gift from God.

Spiritual Development of Gifted Children

2017-06-28T13:30:00.002-04:00

CANDL FRIENDS:

I have been busy "priming the pump" on a new Creation And Love Facebook page, which has not left much time for posting here in CANDL recently.

I've also been pursuing a new interest of mine: giftedness, especially as it pertains to spiritual development. And especially as that pertains to gifted children.

But below this message is something I wrote on that new page in FB. I thought I would share it here.

And, btw, if you have an interest in visiting our new Creation and Love page, please let me know. I can send you a membership so you can access it. We have a small-but-growing group of good and interesting people over there. And it includes an amazing variety of people for such a young group. We have members from:

Canada

Germany

Ireland

The group also has entrepreneurs, teachers, retirees, theologians, professors, therapists, older folks, younger folks, people from the military and defense department, writers, pastors, and musicians. There are probably some other backgrounds, too. That list is just off the top of my head.

The FB Creation and Love group also has members from several religious backgrounds: Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Mennonite (which is Protestant, but of a flavor perhaps not many are not familiar with), Wesleyan, Presbyterian and of no particular affiliations at all.

To contact me with a request for membership, send an email to me at

Creationandlove2 @ yahoo.com

I'll be happy to hook you up!

___________________________

Now, the promised FB post

This morning I've been both feeling long winded and I've been scanning for material about the intersection where intellectual giftedness in children crossed paths with the issue of spirituality and faith development.
So here comes the long-winded part. . .

First, to the matter of that place where intellectual giftedness and faith development intersect, if anyone runs across anything useful on this, I will be most appreciative for links sent my way any time in 2017 or even beyond. I know I'll be at this for a while. As my college roommate rightly observed "There are a lot of people on this campus who think faster than you do."

(To clarify, I've very intentionally used the phrase "intellectual giftedness" to distinguish what I am focusing on from the many, MANY articles I've been finding that discuss how everyone has some gift from God, which is not the topic I am focusing on.)

So, with that phrase - "intellectual giftedness" - having nicely served its purpose in describing my interest in narrow terms that eliminate discussions about the religious topic of "gifts from God", it is probably important then to say that my interest is really also MORE broad than what "intellectual giftedness" typically brings to mind, and it is more broad for this reason . . .

Over the past 18 months, I've taken an interest in understanding more about gifted children (who, of course, eventually grow into no less gifted adults). There is no shortage of material available on this subject,
and so far the most useful and enlightening idea I've run across is that the kind of IQ and similar testing scores that usually distinguish giftedness in schools (although such IQ scores are are not the only possible markers) are only markers of a kind of multi-dimensional syndrome. The range of test scores that can indicate giftedness varies from one state to another, and sometimes from one program to another, but generally that range is the upper 2% to 10%.

(Only scores in the upper 2% make a person eligible for Mensa, by the way. Mensa has sometimes been called "the genius society".)

Understood as a marker that indicates a syndrome (a collection of closelt related issues), receiving a very high IQ score is akin to the doctor finding one has a very high temperature. The high temperature of the patient isn't really the entire picture. Rather, the high number on the thermometer is an indicator that some issue is present that is affecting the patient's systems in broad ways.

And so it is when discovering a child (or adult) has an IQ number in those very high ranges. Or anyway, as I've learned recently, this is the common understanding of giftedness today among professionals who deal in this sort of thing.

The child who has some measurably very uncommon intellectual capacities can also be expected to have, as the lingo in this field goes, other "super sensitivities", which are more commonly referred to in most of what is written on this as "over excitabilities". (My best understanding is that "super sensitivities" is probably the better term.) Some of these super sensitivities - which seem to occur as products of the same genetic foundation that resulted in those measurably uncommon intellectual capacities, are: *heightened physical energy and stamina

*a deeper and more attuned aesthetic experience

*deeper, more moving emotional experiences

*greater sensitivity to their physical perceptions, the sense of touch, for example.

One researcher commonly cited by those who study these things even found through his thousands of interviews with intellectually gifted children that they were more likely than others to cut the tags out of the necks of their shirts because they found them too uncomfortable and distracting!

Children in this demographic were also more likely to express dislike for the feel of certain fabrics on their skin.

Well, with that explanation behind us, it's time to start wrapping this up with the reminder that my particular interest is on the way gifted children experience spiritual, religious and faith development. Use whichever one of those terms seems good to you. I've not found much on this particular dimension of personality development where the gifted are concerned. But f

inally, I did find ONE helpful thing this morning. The article is below.

EXCERPT FROM THE ARTICLE BELOW~
" . . . many gifted children see themselves as travelers on a more profound journey. Writers who study gifted children often note that they are the ones who ask the existential questions – “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” “What will become of me?”

LINK:

http://sengifted.org/touching-the-mystery-spiritually-gifted-children/

"Dearest Dealer" Reprise

2017-04-16T08:39:00.001-04:00

Dearest Dealer

Some explain religion by saying we have created gods in our own image. This can seem to be a viable explanation, until in our experience we find we are dealing with a god who, when we vie with him, pulls out a 5th ace.

-Apple James

The Awful Rowing Toward God

Anne Sexton

ROWING

A story, a story!

(Let it go. Let it come.)

I was stamped out like a Plymouth fender

into this world.

First came the crib

with it’s glacial bars.

Then dolls

and the devotion to their plastic mouths.

Then there was school,

the little straight rows of chairs,

blotting my name over and over,

but undersea all the time,

a stranger whose elbows wouldn’t work.

Then there was life

with it’s cruel houses

and people who seldom touched –

though touch is all –

but I grew,

like a pig in a trenchcoat I grew,

and then there were many strange apparitions,

the nagging rain, the sun turning into poison

and all of that, saws working through my heart,

but I grew, I grew,

and God was there like an island I had not rowed to,

still ignorant of Him, my arms and my legs worked,

and I grew, I grew,

I wore rubies and bought tomatoes

and now, in my middle age,

about nineteen in the head I’d say,

I am rowing, I am rowing

though the oarlocks stick and are rusty

and the sea blinks and rolls

like a worried eyeball,

but I am rowing, I am rowing,

though the wind pushes me back

and I know that that island will not be perfect,

it will have the flaws of life,

the absurdities of the dinner table,

but there will be a door

and I will open it

and I will get rid of the rat inside of me,

the gnawing pestilential rat.

God will take it with his two hands

and embrace it.

As the African says:

This is my tale which I have told,

if it be sweet, if it be not sweet,

take somewhere else and let some return to me.

This story ends with me still rowing.

THE ROWING ENDETH

I’m mooring my rowboat

at the dock of the island called God.

This dock is made in the shape of a fish

and there are many boats moored

at many different docks.

“It’s okay.” I say to myself,

with blisters that broke and healed

and broke and healed –

saving themselves over and over.

And salt sticking to my face and arms like

a glue-skin pocked with grains of tapioca.

I empty myself from my wooden boat

and onto the flesh of The Island.

“On with it!” He says and thus

we squat on the rocks by the sea

and play – can it be true –

a game of poker.

He calls me.

I win because I hold a royal straight flush.

He wins because He holds five aces,

A wild card had been announced

but I had not heard it

being in such a state of awe

when He took out the cards and dealt.

As he plunks down His five aces

and I am still grinning at my royal flush,

He starts to laugh,

and laughter rolling like a hoop out of His mouth

and into mine,

and such laughter that He doubles right over me

laughing a Rejoice-Chorus at our two triumphs.

Then I laugh, the fishy dock laughs

the sea laughs. The Island laughs.

The Absurd laughs.

Dearest dealer,

I with my royal straight flush,

love you so for your wild card,

that untamable, eternal, gut-driven ha-ha

and lucky love.

Mid-Week Bible Study

2017-03-09T09:53:00.004-05:00

A MID-WEEK BIBLE STUDY

(Posted originally by Apple James to Facebook)

INTRO
Jesus' students and audience understood his parables as being addressed to communities - and understood themselves as community members with serious moral responsibilities toward their communities.

In democratic America, the "government of, by and for the people" is not an enemy, but a tool "of, by and for" the members of the American community to use to work their just will.

In a world of EXTRAORDINARILY powerful people, corporations and organizations who ceaselessly lobby lawmakers, and whose primary goals often are to increase their own wealth, to expand their own influence and their own political power, this American government by, for and of "We The People", must act as the most powerful lobbyist of all. And it must act in the interests of all American citizens, including the poorest and most powerless among us.

CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT FOR THE STUDY
With the intro of the Obamacare replacement bill yesterday, over the past 24 hours various politicians have said that this bill will "pass the test" of lowering taxes for small businesses, or "pass the test" of allowing people to put more in health spending accounts, or fulfill other goals they've supported. Some have even celebrated that the bill will "pass the test" of allowing tax credits for individuals to help offset their premiums. I've watched while one Congress member explained that under this new proposed legislation "people will have to make choices" and then went on to say that, for example, "people may need to choose between buying a smartphone and buying health care." (The new president is not the only government leader living on the other side of Alice's mirror.)

HISTORICAL DIGRESSION
Remember, this same Republican party bemoaned during the Romney candidacy that 50% of Americans were living on incomes so low they paid NO income taxes. It wasn't that they were bemoaning this kind of poverty, but rather they were complaining that these many poor were not paying taxes, and so they proposed the poor begin to pay at least some token amount each year. So we know that today's Republicans in Congress are well aware that "health care tax credits" will be of no real help to the poor in America.)

YET ANOTHER TEST THAT MUST BE PASSED
Those who allow the teachings of the Scriptures to keep them on a relatively short moral leash know that one test any health care legislation must pass is how it respects the persons and needs of those Jesus called "the least of these."

A RELEVANT TEXT
(Just one of many in Scriptures.)

From Matthew Chapter 25:

Then the King will say . . . I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"

The King will reply, "‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed . . . For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"

He will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

CONCLUDING REMARK
Any health care legislation blessed by followers of Jesus, and by those who, while not his followers are nevertheless on this point co-belligerents with Jesus, must pass the test of whether that legislation extends concern for, and makes effective practical provision for, "the least among us.'

"Go, do thou likewise". Or not.

2017-02-21T10:03:00.001-05:00

Judas went and hanged himself.
Jesus said, "Go, do thou likewise."

This was a memory this morning while waking, of a lesson in hermeneutics from my youth (17?). A pastor said these verses to me in response to some question I had asked him for which I was seeking Biblical guidance. His lesson: "Just because things are "in the Bible" doesn't mean they belong together in the same thought."

It can be helpful to remember this lesson when someone starts tossing out various Bible verses to shape our thoughts about some current event, expecting us to accept the verses as being applicable and compellingly valid simply because "They're in the Bible."

It can also be a useful lesson when an early morning TV preacher tosses some Bible-y things around while rolling a chyron telling us where we can send our check to him. I've noticed that often embedded in his message is often a note of urgency; we need to act, aka write a check NOW to show the strength of our devotion and faith.

Certainly some things in religious life are obvious. But very often understanding requires a considerable investment of thought, and thought takes a considerable investment of time. Rarely is a matter of such urgency that we can't take the time we need when it comes to carefully considering and deciding matters of religion and faith.

A familiar saying goes "Don't just stand there; do something!" But many times we are right to reverse this to "Don't just do something; stand there!" . . . and give some thought to the matter.

Promises Promises

2017-02-13T09:53:00.002-05:00

For many years now Republicans have successfully employed a strategy that is so very wicked and so very obvious, and it is this: By means of making various campaign promises, they have been able to do what is wrong, or refuse to do what is right, while presenting both approaches as moral acts - given that they WERE doing something right, i.e., "keeping our campaign promises."

"Keeping my promise" is something that can too easily and uncritically evoke admiration and approval, but clearly it shouldn't, not in every case.

Most well known was the vow taken by many Congressional Republicans that they would never raise taxes. Then, despite knowing that a growing American population needed better bridges, better drinking water safety, better schools, roads, imported goods inspections and so forth, they refused to raise the funds for these things. They justified their refusals to address these public needs - and the moral failure that represents - with the reminder that they were the kind of upstanding people who "keep our promises."

Trump is also relying on this strategy and actually does what is wicked in the name of the morality of 'fulfilling the promises I made to those who voted for me". It's a kind of moral shell game.

Keeping a promise, a GOOD promise leading to a GOOD effect, IS generally the right thing to do. But the idea of making and keeping a promise can be perverted, as can every good thing. Given this, we might be better off with politicians who abandon the practice altogether of vowing this and vowing that.

Some may be reminded of a teaching that passed around the Middle East in ancient times:

"Just let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."*

It's a teaching worth reflecting on in American today.

* See Matthew 5: 33-37

Betsy DeVos: Advancing God's Kingdom

2017-02-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

For some years Old Apple James sojourned among the good people and good scholars of the Christian Reformed Church, even living with a Dutch CRC family for a time while attending Toronto's Institute for Christian studies where I studied philosophical theology (and where I taught one fall and winter as an adjunct many years later.)

The Calvinism of these communities, and of Dutch Calvinist theologian Abraham Kuyper and Dutch Calvinist philosopher Herman Dooyeweerd, has become an important foundational influence in my own worldview. Newly appointed Secretary of Education and Calvin College graduate Betsy Devos also claims to have a worldview founded in some way on ideas from this same theological family.

Given all of this, it has been interesting to me how she and I wind up disagreeing in some key ways re: educational goals and the public/private school systems (while still sharing some of the same worldview elements.) But, as the canny writer of this good article points out, "That’s the thing about religious traditions: They can be highly formative without yielding predictable results."

I can recommend this article for anyone wanting to better understand the new Secretary of Education and how her faith shapes her political moves. Along the way, you'll get some nice clues as to some of the social motives of Dutch Calvinism, which is a very different thing in some ways than evangelicalism.

Full article

http://religionandpolitics.org/2017/01/30/advancing-gods-kingdom-calvinism-calvin-college-and-betsy-devos/

A Special Invitation to CANDL Readers

2017-01-28T12:47:00.005-05:00

Dear CANDL Readers:

Shalom-Peace to Everyone here as 2017 begins.

I keep trying to find time to write here. I've been mulling something about Galatians re: law and the coming of Jesus, and have something cooking on the back burner re: Jesus teaching to let our "No" be "No" etc. But these and more have been waiting for some months now for me to actually do something with them.

Meanwhile, in light of the advent of Trump I've returned to Facebook after taking a little - 6 year - break. (I decided I didn't want to take the Trump journey alone.) The time I've spent over there in FB further challenges the time I might have found for writing here.

So, I am still going to carry on here in CANDL sometime, and you are certainly invited to joining in the discussion over in FB. You can find me at James Robert Bailey, though you might have to search through others for awhile.

Apple James

Pre- Maxwell House Reflections

2017-01-05T10:08:00.003-05:00

Shared here from Facebook

James Bailey

4 hrs

5 a.m. thoughts before my morning Maxwell House:

I am newly thankful for my history and social studies teachers at Salamanca High School. They had grown up through the Great Depression and lived through the rise of authoritarianism in the 30s culminating in WW 2 in the 40s. (Rough timeline.)

THEY were witnesses to all of this. And so WE were well-schooled in how authoritarians angle to weaken - and then control - the institutions that can stand in opposition to them, primarily the (1) FREE press, (3) FREE speech of individuals, (3) academic FREEDOM of educators and schools, and (4) religious people and institutions.

Today add to this list the weakening and controlling of (5) workers' trade unions and of (6) the professional intelligence institutions.

Weaken these and authoritarianism clears a path to implement its agenda far more easily.

These good junior high and high school teachers told us to always be on alert for various forms and combinations of intimidation, reduced budgets, new laws having the effect of weakening some institutions and to accrue most power to central authorities - all supported by propaganda and OBFUSCATION of facts. They taught us this can all happen anywhere, at any point in history, and that America was not immune to these things.

My "THANK YOU" especially to Miss Palmer (9th grade social studies, I think) and to Mr. Blaise Buffamante (10th grade world history, as I remember). To them both: "I wasn't doing my homework and I wasn't getting the grades, but I was listening - hard." I remember some of your lessons clearly:

"The best political propaganda is actually some form of the truth, just twisted."

And . . .

"There is no more effective way to gain control of public attitudes and belief than to repeat lies - ceaselessly - until they become only background noise and sink into people's minds."

And . . .

"Populations will believe a very big lie, repeated over and over, more easily than they will believe little lies."

Voices: Howard Zehr

2016-12-21T13:13:00.002-05:00

Voices: Garrison Keillor

2016-12-07T15:43:00.001-05:00

From prophetic and observant co-author of Creation Garrison Keillor in the December 6, 2016 Washington Post

Article Excerpt

He promised the swamp would be drained,

Was elected, said “Rain!” and it rained

And the old crocodiles

Wore flesh-eating smiles

And the turtles were well entertained.

It’s a wonderful satire right out of Twain or Thurber. A minority of the electorate goes for the loosest and least knowledgeable candidate, certain that he will lose and their votes will be only harmless protest, a middle finger to Washington, and then — whoa. The joke comes true. You put a whoopee cushion on your father’s chair and he sits down and it barks and he has a massive coronary. You wanted to get a rise out of him and instead he falls down dead. Very funny.

Full article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/thank-you-trump-voters-for-this-wonderful-joke/2016/12/06/235877ae-bbe2-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html?

tid=pm_opinions_pop

Prophecy Is Where You Find It: Glenn Beck

2016-11-21T10:03:00.002-05:00

Prologue: An excerpt from CANDL message: Memories of Poker and Prophecy

"For all its various manifestations and styles, the job of the prophet is often a very simple matter. First, it is just to refuse to be lulled into forgetting. The value of the prophet is in her or his ability to remember the cold, refreshing call of the Creator's intentions (love, justice, peace, hope.) And then, having refused to be lulled, the work of a prophet is to open the back window and let it all in, all that cold, bracing, brain-awakening, oxygen-giving, justice restoring, compassion awakening point of view.
http://jamesmelov.blogspot.com/2011/09/memories-of-poker-and-prophecy.html?q=Prophecy

* * *

Steven Bannon, whom Glenn Beck discusses in the above CNN interview, has been appointed by Donald Trump as his "chief strategist and senior counselor."

A sample of Steve Bannon's political philosophy . . .

"Darkness is good.

Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power."

From a interview as reported November 20, 2016 by the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/1120/Darkness-is-good-for-political-power-Steve-Bannon-says

How Trump's Supporters Lost

2016-11-15T09:48:00.001-05:00

Dear CANDL Readers ~

How are you doing? I hope not despairing over last week’s election. Sure, we had a bad outcome, and that’s a fact. But there are some things to be learned from that outcome that can shed some light on the path forward for us. Still, sadly, it must be noted that voters for both candidates lost, and you can’t get an outcome much more dismal and useless than that.

Hillary’s supporters lost last Tuesday night, obviously. And Trump’s supporters had already lost long before Tuesday’s voting began, a reality I suspect won’t take too long to at least start to settle in.

Trump won the election by deceiving many and doing that in a couple of ways. First, he deceived his supporters in some distinct but empty promises he made them and which he traded them for their votes. Already his recently deceived supporters are seeing him abandon some of those. Obama, Trump now says, was born an American in America and is a good man and has accomplished some great things. America owes a great deal to Hillary for all she's done for the country, he tells us. He has told his supporters that they must not engage in hostility toward minorities any longer; “Stop it!” is now his new rule for them on this issue.

He says now that that massive 50 foot wall separating Mexico and the US will not be built; some fencing will do instead in many places, which is pretty much the combination already in play there now. Effectively gone is the promise that Mexico will pay for it all. Trump has said that the US taxpayer now will pay for constructing the walls and fences, and that Mexico will eventually reimburse them. He hasn’t gone into that further, but I will go out on a limb and say Mexico won’t be paying for any of it even eventually.

He’s been pretty clear that he won’t be prosecuting Hillary either, and that he won’t be abandoning Obamacare (just, as he said in the last day or two, "making adjustments" to it.) And he said he won’t be deporting the 11 million immigrants here without documentation. Now he’ll be "deporting - and incarcerating" only the immigrants who are here illegally and have been found guilty of violent crimes and dealing drugs - in other words, exactly what America has been doing for generations. He says it will be only after he’s got them all out of the country that he will he turn his attention to deporting those here illegally who are otherwise law abiding, so in other words, never. This is not a bad thing; after all, even Trump himself recognized in an interview just yesterday that these law abiding millions of undocumented immigrants are “terrific people!”

But, as I noted above, he’s deceived his supporters out of their votes in a second way, and it’s this . . .

Many of those who voted for him wanted things to become "normal” again - the way things were “before”. Really, they weren’t asking for much. Seriously. They just wanted some more factory and mining jobs. You know, like before. And like before they wanted fewer brown people driving around town and in schools with their kids and near them in their supermarket checkout lines. They just wanted to be able to walk out their freakin’ doors, for goodness’ sake, and to look up at the sky and listen to the birds and to hop in an SUV and, even if it did get less than 18 mpg, not have all that #@$%@ stuff about the ice caps melting flicker cross their consciousness and come between them and the simple pleasures of life!

They just wanted to get out of a 15 year war, one that all Americans probably want to put behind them no matter which candidate they voted for this time around. Trump's supporters wanted at the same time to pour US troops and machinery into the Middle East to settle things there in short order and for once and for all. These two things - getting the military out and pouring it in were contradictory, sure. But only if you think about it, and they were tired of thinking about it after all these years.

And Trump said he said he would give it to them. All of it. But, of course, he can't. No one can. No one can stop the great tide that is coming in now and coming in fast and coming in even faster than that. That tide will continue to rise and in its continued rise it will continue to leave Trump’s folks, and all of us, feeling unsure about what might be coming next. We will continue to be displaced from our own lives, the lives we were confident we were going to be living back in our earlier years.

I imagine a good number of Trump’s supporters are ahead of many who did not support him - in that some good number of Trumpers have been uneasy for a good while, sensing the present acceleration of history even if they didn't understand where their unease originated. Whereas it is also very likely that some who were confused about how anyone in the world could select Trump as their president weren’t more thoughtful than those who voted him in, but were instead just less attuned to that rising tide and the disruptions it was already causing so many Americans.

Most of the tide hasn’t arrived yet, not by a long shot. The greatest part of it is still on its way, as Trump's unfortunate supporters will come to notice soon enough. It can’t be stopped; Trump can’t give them what they wanted so badly and what he promised them so energetically. That tide will continue to reshape their lives - and yours and mine – relentlessly and profoundly. The list of forces coming in on this tide powerful and, to many, strange:

Globalism, pluralism and aAn increasingly mobile population running up against insufficient clean water and food.

Nanotechnology.

Genomics (accelerated now by CRISPR.)

A changing climate.

Quantum this and that.

New levels of intelligent automation, which is even now driving new-fangled initiatives in manufacturing, the service industry, education, healthcare, work toward significantly lengthening the human lifespan, communication, research, agriculture, transportation, war, etc., etc.

And AI will, with its powers to track, identify, type and predict will also be driving changes not yet conceived of in fields not yet conceived of.

Much of this has already stepped over our thresholds without bothering to knock, is tromping into our living rooms without awaiting an invitation, and even without bothering to first wipe its muddy boots on the mat, (to paraphrase an observation from one of Tom Robbins' novels.)

Who wouldn’t vote for someone they thought could manage this great, rude and unruly tide?
Many of Trump's formerly anti- big government Republicans supporters want him to manage all this through a massive government degree of involvement in it all that is unprecedented. Many of his supporters want him to use the power of the federal government to get things under control again, to get things back to "normal."

Well, while we are not individually or collectively helpless when it comes to surf this incoming tide and benefitting from the opportunities flowing in on it, Trump promised millions he could and would turn this tide back. He said straight out he could and would sooth their anxieties and fears, and that’s a crime.

It's a crime that will push many who came to trust him and to count on him into further disillusionment and cynicism, as they come to realize that, while he promised to give them something, he had already begun the process of taking so much away from them instead.

Rosa Parks and Donald Trump

2016-11-13T22:44:00.004-05:00

Dear CANDL Readers ~

Below is a comment Apple James left for his sometime colleague and long time friend - Northeastern Seminary professor Richard Middleton - in response to something posted this past weekend in his blog -

"CREATION TO ESCHATON:

Explorations in Biblical Theology from J. Richard Middleton

That post, "The New Testament and Public Criticism of Politicians", can be found at this link:

https://jrichardmiddleton.wordpress.com/2016/11/11/the-new-testament-and-public-criticism-of-politicians/

Richard ~

I very much appreciate that you’ve posted this for greater distribution. Like so many, I have been giving this whole busness some thought over the past few days. Perhaps I have been influenced by having spent time recently at the new African American History Museum in D.C., but I believe this is more of a “Rosa Parks moment” than a “time to acknowledge the president elect is now going to be OUR president” – an approach I’ve heard recommended by so many who hope groundlessly for the best, and believe defusing the conflict now in favor of finally getting back to more normal days will be the strategy that realizes the best.

In saying this I have in mind that, had the conflict that arose in the Rosa Parks incident been “reconciled” and the tension defused, then it is likely it would not have bloomed into an insistence on greater justice the way it did. Fortunately, that conflict was instead faced head on, highlighted by people of moral courage, and brought to the higher intensity needed for it to reveal possibilites for pursuing successful paths toward justice that might otherwise have remained hidden and unrealized.

Many are refusing to recognize Trump as president elect. I believe they are right to do it. They have not yet found a moral way to prevent him from taking office, but I am holding on to the hope that someone WILL find a way. The effort to prevent Trump from becoming president is one I support.

James

http://www.carbontax.org

https://www.beforetheflood.com

Voices: Garrison Keillor

2016-11-09T16:30:00.001-05:00

http://www.carbontax.org

https://www.beforetheflood.com

From the November 9, 2016 Washington Post

Opinions

Trump voters will not like what happens next

Article excerpt

The nation takes a deep breath. Raw ego and proud illiteracy have won out, and a severely learning-disabled man with a real character problem will be president. We are so exhausted from thinking about this election, millions of people will take up leaf-raking and garage cleaning with intense pleasure. We liberal elitists are wrecks. The Trumpers had a whale of a good time, waving their signs, jeering at the media, beating up protesters, chanting “Lock her up” — we elitists just stood and clapped. Nobody chanted “Stronger Together.” It just doesn’t chant.

The Trumpers never expected . . .

Full article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-voters-will-not-like-what-happens-next/2016/11/09/e346ffc2-a67f-11e6-8fc0-7be8f848c492_story.html

"God Has Us" (even when evangelicalism doesn't)

2016-11-09T13:43:00.003-05:00

http://www.carbontax.org

https://www.beforetheflood.com

The following is an excerpt from a post today (Nov 9, 2016) by Esau McCaulley in the blog "Thicket of the Jordon". I found directions to this in Richard Middleton's blog. Links to both are below.

LONGER STILL (POST ELECTION REFLECTIONS OF A BLACK MAN AMONGST THE EVANGELICALS)

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Esau McCaulley

It was the bible that affirmed black personhood in the face of an Alabama that did so much to stamp it out. It was Jesus who taught me to love the poor and oppressed. It was Jesus who told me that his coming was good news for people like me, people easier to ignore than to love. The Bible lifted up the vision of a great society consisting of every tribe, tongue, and nation. And I believed every word of it. I have dedicated my life to seeing that vision become a reality.

I thought that my bible loving Evangelical Christians would look into the bible and see the same vision (and be willing to give everything to see it happen in their lifetime). I thought that maybe . . .

Full essay:

https://esaudmccaulley.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/longer-still-post-election-reflections-of-a-black-man-amongst-the-evangelicals/

Richard's blog:

https://jrichardmiddleton.wordpress.com

Voices: Justin Trudeau

2016-10-30T22:57:00.003-04:00

There is no hiding from climate change. It is real and it is everywhere. We cannot undo the last 10 years of inaction. What we can do is make a real and honest effort—today and every day—to protect the health of our environment, and with it, the health of all Canadians.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his Oct 3 address to Parliament in which he proposed a national carbon tax to start in 2018.

http://www.carbontax.org

https://www.beforetheflood.com

2016-10-30T22:47:00.000-04:00

http://www.carbontax.org

https://www.beforetheflood.com

Voices: Apple James

2016-10-24T14:41:00.002-04:00

A Forward

Apple James has been reflecting on the extraordinary and even existential threats which have already emerged from emerging technologies.

"The call to co-author the meaning-story of Creation is a profound gift and a profound reason for living humbly, which means no more or less than to live and build lives of love in humanistic solidarity before the face of the Creator.

This call and gift presents us daily with a most profound reason for celebration (which is something we too often miss, which is a shame, really.)

And this same call and gift is the single ground for our profound responsibilities toward one another, and toward those yet unborn, as well.

You and I are called to no less a task than to be about our business, which is creating history itself and the future itself and creating us ourselves, and building those on a foundation of love and in ways in which the practice of love in it's various forms - affection, peace, justice, freedom, and so forth - prevails everywhere.

It's a tall order, sure. But really, it's not like you and I have anything better to do.

Voices: Norbert Wiener

2016-10-24T14:30:00.003-04:00

The future offers very little hope for those who expect that our new mechanical slaves will offer us a world in which we may rest from thinking. Help us they may, but at the cost of supreme demands upon our honesty and our intelligence.

Norbert Wiener

Wiener is the US mathematician credited with coining the term 'cybernetics", from which we get so many "cyber" terms today.

October Summer

2016-10-09T08:55:00.000-04:00

October Summer

Summer comes only once a year.

If you don't see it until October, then where are you?

I had a friend one summer.

We walked.

And played on escalators.

But I didn't see the friendship until October.

Now sun and wind still try

But tans all fade, and after all

Summer comes only once a year.

Apple James

October1970

Nothing to Add . . .

2016-10-03T13:10:00.003-04:00

Our fellow co-author, Gunhild Carling

2016-09-15T08:21:00.002-04:00

Psalm 29 tells us of a day when old Israelites hunkered down in their temple, believing God was there, while he was clearly (for anyone who had eyes to see) out there in the mountains, wind and storm.

Creation is not a stage we strut on, but the entire story of the world that we write - together.

Presenting a fellow co-author, Gunhild Carling . . .

Apple James: Famous. At Last :-)

2016-08-31T11:07:00.002-04:00

Famous at last.
Newsletter profile seen by dozens!
(Or possibly just a dozen.)

Write-up in my university's September 2016 Humanities and Social Sciences Dept. newsletter:

(PS. That's my wintertime tea mug I'm holding.)