Erika Kirk: forgiveness in the New Testament

Charlie Kirk was assassinated. At his funeral, his widow, Erika, the mother of their two small children, said that she forgave the assassin. A remarkable statement, and one I'm not sure I could have made, under similar circumstances. President Trump, who also spoke at the funeral, made clear that he believes in retribution, and not in forgiveness. (He ran partly on promising retribution.)

See here and here on the events above.

The Bible teaches forgiveness. Here are some scriptures that show that:

From the Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6:12b Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors....14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (all scripture from the World English Bible) This section is the only part of the Lord's Prayer that Jesus expounded on, apparently.)

Acts 7:59 They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Luke 23:33 When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, 45a that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. 

Romans 12:19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”

Thanis for reading.

How to be ready for Christ’s return

 

Some suggestions on how to be ready for Christ’s return.

 

Women of the Bible: Gomer

I doubt if you have ever heard of a woman named after Gomer, a Biblical character. (There are some men, actual or fictional, named Gomer, such as Gomer Pyle, of Mayberry.) There was at least one male Gomer in the Bible, a grandson of Noah. There are good reasons for not naming a daughter Gomer today.

Hosea 1:1 Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. 2 When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.”

3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.

Part of chapter 2 of Hosea portrays Gomer as a rebel, then as received kindly by God.

Hosea 3:1 Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as Yahweh loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”

2 So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley. 3 I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”

There are several Bible stories, including this one, which compare a relationship between husband and wife with God's relationship with us. In no case, if there were problems with the relationship, was the problem God's fault.

Thanks for reading.

 

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 92

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

Blessed Father! Thou art Love, and only he that abideth in love abideth in Thee and in fellowship with Thee. The Blessed Son hath this day again taught me how deeply true this is of my fellowship with Thee in prayer. O my God! let Thy love, shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit, be in me a fountain of love to all around me, that out of a life in love may spring the power of believing prayer. O my Father! grant by the Holy Spirit that this may be my experience, that a life in love to all around me is the gate to a life in the love of my God. And give me especially to find in the joy with which I forgive day by day whoever might offend me, the proof that Thy forgiveness to me is a power and a life.

Lord Jesus! my Blessed Teacher! teach Thou me to forgive and to love. Let the power of Thy blood make the pardon of my sins such a reality, that forgiveness, as shown by Thee to me, and by me to others, may be the very joy of heaven. Show me whatever in my intercourse with fellowmen might hinder my fellowship with God, so that my daily life in my own home and in society may be the school in which strength and confidence are gathered for the prayer of faith. Amen.

With Christ in the school of prayer by Andrew Murray, 90

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

We may gather these thoughts into a third lesson: In our life with men the one thing on which everything depends is love. The spirit of forgiveness is the spirit of love. Because God is love, He forgives: it is only when we are dwelling in love that we can forgive as God forgives. In love to the brethren we have the evidence of love to the Father, the ground of confidence before God, and the assurance that our prayer will be heard, (1 John iv. 20, iii.18-21, 23.). ‘Let us love in deed and truth; hereby shall we assure our heart before Him. If our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God, and whatever we ask, we receive of Him.’ Neither faith nor work will profit if we have not love; it is love that unites with God, it is love that proves the reality of faith. As essential as in the word that precedes the great prayer-promise in Mark xi. 24, ‘Have faith in God,’ is this one that follows it, ‘Have love to men.’ The right relations to the living God above me, and the living men around me, are the conditions of effectual prayer.
This love is of special consequence when we labour for such and pray for them. We sometimes give ourselves to work for Christ, from zeal for His cause, as we call it, or for our own spiritual health, without giving ourselves in personal self-sacrificing love for those whose souls we seek. No wonder that our faith is feeble and does not conquer. To look on each wretched one, however unloveable he be, in the light of the tender love of Jesus the Shepherd seeking the lost; to see Jesus Christ in him, and to take him up, for Jesus’ sake, ina heart that really loves, —this, this is the secret of believing prayer and successful effort. Jesus, in speaking of forgiveness, speaks of love as its root. Just as in the Sermon on the Mount He connected His teaching and promises about prayer with the call to be merciful, as the Father in heaven is merciful (Matt. v. 7, 9, 22, 38-48), so we see it here: a loving life is the condition of believing prayer.

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 87

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

We find that this is a thought to which our Lord frequently gave expression. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 23, 24), when speaking of the sixth commandment, He taught His disciples how impossible acceptable worship to the Father was if everything were not right with the brother: ‘If thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.’ And so later, when speaking of prayer to God, after having taught us to pray, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,’ He added at the close of the prayer: ‘If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ At the close of the parable of the unmerciful servant He applies His teaching in the words: ‘So shall also my Heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.’ And so here, beside the dried-up fig-tree, where He speaks of the wonderful power of faith and the prayer of faith, He all at once, apparently without connection, introduces the thought, ‘Whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’ It is as if the Lord had learned during His life at Nazareth and afterwards that disobedience to the law of love to men was the great sin even of praying people, and the great cause of the feebleness of their prayer. And it is as if He wanted to lead us into His own blessed experience that nothing gives such liberty of access and such power in believing as the consciousness that we have given ourselves in love and compassion, for those whom God loves.

With Christ in the school of prayer, 90, by Andrew Murray

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

The first lesson taught here is that of a forgiving disposition. We pray, ‘Forgive, even as we have forgiven.’ Scripture says, ‘Forgive one another, even as God also in Christ forgave you.’ God’s full and free forgiveness is to be the rule of ours with men. Otherwise our reluctant, half-hearted forgiveness, which is not forgiveness at all, will be God’s rule with us.
Every prayer rests upon our faith in God’s pardoning grace. If God dealt with us after our sins, not one prayer could be heard. Pardon opens the door to all God’s love and blessing:
because God has pardoned all our sin, our prayer can prevail to obtain all we need. The deep sure ground of answer to prayer is God’s forgiving love. When it has taken possession of the heart, we pray in faith. But also, when it has taken possession of the heart, we live in love. God’s forgiving disposition, revealed in His love to us, becomes a disposition in us; as the power of His forgiving love shed abroad and dwelling within us, we forgive even as He forgives. If there be great and grievous injury or injustice done us, we seek first of all to possess a Godlike disposition; to be kept from a sense of wounded honour, from a desire to maintain our rights, or from rewarding the offender as he has deserved. In the little annoyances of daily life, we are watchful not to excuse the hasty temper, the sharp word, the quick judgment, with the thought that we mean no harm, that we do not keep the anger long, or that it would be too much to expect from feeble human nature, that we should really forgive the way God and Christ do. No, we take the command literally, ‘Even as Christ forgave, so also do ye.’ The blood that cleanses the conscience from dead works, cleanses from selfishness too; the love it reveals is pardoning love, that takes possession of us and flows through us to others. Our forgiving love to men is the evidence of the reality of God’s forgiving love in us, and so the condition of the prayer of faith.

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 89

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24: 

‘And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’—Mark xi. 25.

THESE words follow immediately on the great prayer-promise, ‘All things whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.’ We have already seen how the words that preceded that promise, ‘Have faith in God,’ taught us that in prayer all depends upon our relation to God being clear; these words that follow on it remind us that our relation with fellow-men must be clear too. Love to God and love to our neighbour are inseparable: the prayer from a heart, that is either not right with God on the one side, or with men on the other, cannot prevail. Faith and love are essential to each other. We find that this is a thought to which our Lord frequently gave expression. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 23, 24), when speaking of the sixth commandment, He taught His disciples how impossible acceptable worship to the Father was if everything were not right with the brother: ‘If thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.’ And so later, when speaking of prayer to God, after having taught us to pray, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,’ He added at the close of the prayer: ‘If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ At the close of the parable of the unmerciful servant He applies His teaching in the words: ‘So shall also my Heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.’ And so here, beside the dried-up fig-tree, where He speaks of the wonderful power of faith and the prayer of faith, He all at once, apparently without connection, introduces the thought, ‘Whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.’ It is as if the Lord had learned during His life at Nazareth and afterwards that disobedience to the law of love to men was the great sin even of praying people, and the great cause of the feebleness of their prayer. And it is as if He wanted to lead us into His own blessed experience that nothing gives such liberty of access and such power in believing as the consciousness that we have given ourselves in love and compassion, for those whom God loves.

With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray, 24

This is another excerpt from Murray's discussion of the Lord's Prayer. God willing, there will be another excerpt from this discussion, posted next Sunday:

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’  As bread is the first need of the body, so forgiveness for the soul.  And the provision for the one is as sure as for the other.  We are children but sinners too; our right of access to the Father’s presence we owe to the precious blood and the forgiveness it has won for us.  Let us beware of the prayer for forgiveness becoming a formality:  only what is really confessed is really forgiven.  Let us in faith accept the forgiveness as promised:  as a spiritual reality, an actual transaction between God and us, it is the entrance into all the Father’s love and all the privileges of children. Such forgiveness, as a living experience, is impossible without a forgiving spirit to others: as forgiven expresses the heavenward, so forgiving the earthward, relation of God’s child. In each prayer to the Father I must be able to say that I know of no one whom I do not heartily love.

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color.

Sunspots 767

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else: 

Environment: Gizmodo/Earther says that the Trump administration is destroying part of Organ Pipe Cactus national monument, in order to build the border wall.

Ethics: Listverse describes some cases where robots have been abused. Really.

Politics: Relevant reports that most attempted immigrants from El Salvador, when returned to that country, were murdered, tortured, or raped.

The Trump administration's foreign aid cuts have seriously damaged Christian non-profits in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. One of the things these groups were working on was helping young people seek alternatives to fleeing to the US, according to Christianity Today.

President Trump used a prayer breakfast (!) -- The theme was "loving your enemies." Trump used his appearance to brag about the Senate vote on his impeachment, and to blast those who voted to remove him, or were part of that effort in the House. However, he said this, according to Yahoo! News (which reported on the entire event):  "I'm sorry. I apologize. I'm trying to learn. It's not easy,” he said. “When they impeach you for nothing and then you're supposed to like them, it's not easy folks. I do my best." 

Science: Gizmodo reports that two populations of crows in western North America must have been separated by a glacier, and were considered to be two species, descended from a single group, but are hybridizing now, and should probably be considered a single species.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Basketball, character and race relations: Bob Cousy and Bill Russell

One of my daughters got me The Last Pass: Cousy, Russell, and What Matters in the End, by Gary Pomerantz, for Christmas. It's a fine book. If you don't recognize the names of Bob Cousy or Bill Russell, this probably won't interest you. But I did recognize them. Cousy and Russell were parts of what arguably was the greatest dynasty in professional sports -- the Boston Celtics, who won 11 NBA championships while one or both of these men were on the team, from 1956-1969. (They have won more since then.) Russell was part of all of these 11 championship teams. Cousy retired in 1963. Both men are still alive. Cousy is 90, and, apparently, still has a good mind -- much of the book was based on interviews with him by the author. Russell is 84, and perhaps not sound mentally -- Pomerantz says that his children went to court to get control of his finances.

Cousy was noted for his passing skills. See here for a brief video of Cousy in action. (Russell was number 6 for the Celtics, and many of Cousy's passes went to him.) Thus the title.

The main theme of the book is the relationship between the two stars. Clearly, they respected each other, and played well together. But Russell was stand-offish, to his team, reporters, and fans (he almost never gave autographs). Russell, as an African-American, had experienced prejudice many times. One such occasion was an exhibition game in Kentucky. The hotel coffee shop refused to serve the black players, and they left. Cousy, discussing that event many years later, said that he didn't even remember it, and that he should have gone back to Boston with them. Like many of us, including me, we didn't apply the Golden Rule to African Americans and what they were (and are) going through. Shame on us. Cousy's last pass to Russell was a hand-written apology. Russell didn't respond directly, but he eventually called Cousy.

One of Mr. and Mrs. Cousy's treasured possessions was a clock given them by Russell, for Cousy's retirement.

Russell was, in his time, an articulate and highly intelligent man. He was active in civil rights, sitting in the front row at King's "I have a dream" speech, and present for Obama's inauguration. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Obama, who told him, at the ceremony, that without Russell, he wouldn't have been there.

Cousy was not a racist, or at least not a textbook case, by any means. After he became coach of his college alma mater, Holy Cross, he told an African American player who was dating his daughter that he would be proud to be his father-in-law. (The couple broke up later.) The Celtics were the first NBA team to put five African-Americans on the floor at once, and the first professional team, in any sport, to have an African-American coach (Russell). Cousy, and the Celtics, probably advanced race relations in Boston, a city with lots of racial prejudice.

It's too bad that Russell and Cousy weren't closer, and there's probably some blame to go to each of them. More important, though, is "what am I doing to reach out to people of different ethnicity?"

Another important idea, not emphasized, is Cousy's loyalty and love to his wife. She eventually became a victim of dementia. Cousy said that if he had to answer the same question from her, six times in ten minutes, he would do it. It wasn't always easy, of course, but he apparently stuck it out. She eventually died.

In their own ways, both men were role models.

The book (I read the e-book) has lots of photos, and plenty of scholarly apparatus, at the end, including an index and documentation. These don't interfere with the narrative.

A good book, about some difficult subjects. Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 692

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

 Christianity: A Relevant writer discusses the importance of hope.

The family of Mollie Tibbetts, who was murdered, has expressed forgiveness for the probable murderer, according to Relevant.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, according to Relevant, plans to establish chapters on all US campuses with more than 1,000 students, over the next few years. They say that "about 53 percent of 2,500 schools currently don’t have any known campus ministry. ..."
 
Computing: (and Food) USA Today reports that IBM has patented drones that can fly around work spaces and dispense coffee.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us whether we should use "in Jesus's name," or "in Jesus' name."

Ethics: (or something) Gizmodo reports on an agency in Brazil, which is trying to protect isolated tribes. According to the report, there may be as many as 11 tribes in the rainforest which have never interacted with "modern" man.

Food: Gizmodo reports that the state legislature of Missouri has tried to define "meat." There are questions about cell/tissue cultured products, which aren't available in grocery stores, but which may be in the future.

Health: Scientific American reports that marijuana-derived substances are found in breast milk for 6 days after the last use.

History: National Public Radio reports that there is a drought in some of Europe. That has exposed "hunger stones" in some rivers -- stones with inscriptions telling of previous droughts. One such inscription is in 1417 AD. See also here, for marked stone exposure in a different part of Europe.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight looks at research on the effect of voter identification laws.

National Public Radio reports that the Department of Homeland Security presented a rosier picture of conditions in countries that actually exists there, in order to justify sending refugees back to them. Sigh.

Science: Analysis of data collected by an Indian spacecraft show that there is water on the moon.

USA Today reports that some farmers in Mexico have been growing corn that is associated with Nitrogen-fixing bacteria. (Usually, Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are associated with members of the pea family, such as soybeans. Plants that have such associations need less (or no) Nitrogen in fertilizer, and the plants are a better source of protein building blocks in people that eat them.)

Space.com reports that an asteroid seems to be about 95% metal, which is very unusual, and could be commercially important, if we can get there to mine it. Here's the Wikipedia article on that asteroid, Psyche.

Lifehacker on how to get a cat to like you (or at least act like it does).

Scientific American on how to tell if a comatose patient is conscious.

Scientific American also reports that we can have only up to about 150 real friends -- people we interact with regularly.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 657

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

The Arts: Relevant discusses the extraordinary effort put into filming the Battle of Helm's Deep, in The Two Towers.

Christianity: National Public Radio reports that, at the trial of a white policeman, who was convicted of depriving her African-American son of his civil rights (he was shot in the back, and died), the victim's mother told the shooter that she forgave him. (The shooter apparently told her that he was sorry.)

A Relevant contributor discusses that perennial topic, the so-called "war on Christmas."

Relevant also reports on a survey, which indicates that Muslims and Jews give more to their religions than Christians do.


Computing: Developers of artificial intelligence are thinking about some of the ethical questions associated with this technology, according to Wired.

Here's a web site that will tell you if your information, such as Social Security number or financial accounts, has been compromised. Just enter your e-mail address. It doesn't tell you what to do about such problems.

Wired tells us that a lot of e-mail is being tracked -- the sender is informed as to when a message was opened, where the opening was, and on what type of information appliance, and more.
  Finance: Listverse describes some types of money that used to be used in the U. S., but aren't, any more.

Health: National Public Radio reports on the much more frequent deaths of black women, in, or shortly after, giving birth, and points to the stress of being the target of racism as at least one of the causes.

History: Listverse reports on some interesting aspects of life in ancient Egypt.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight reports on the change in attitude toward Israel in Republicans, over the last few decades.

(And Computing) Wired reports on false, or misleading, claims made by the 3 Federal Communications Commissioners who voted to do away with net neutrality.

(And Health) The Centers for Disease Control has been told not to use seven words/phrases, according to the Washington Post and other outlets. One of these is "fetus." (!) Scientific American, and others, are outraged at this directive, and believe that it will have real health consequences, bad ones. Shades of 1984.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 656

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: National Public Radio reports that, at the trial of a white policeman, who was convicted of depriving her African-American son of his civil rights (he was shot in the back, and died), the victim's mother told the shooter that she forgave him. (The shooter apparently told her that he was sorry.)

A Relevant contributor discusses that perennial topic, the so-called "war on Christmas."

Relevant also reports on a survey, which indicates that Muslims and Jews give more to their religions than Christians do.


Computing: Developers of artificial intelligence are thinking about some of the ethical questions associated with this technology, according to Wired.

Here's a web site that will tell you if your information, such as Social Security number or financial accounts, has been compromised. Just enter your e-mail address. It doesn't tell you what to do about such problems.

Wired tells us that a lot of e-mail is being tracked -- the sender is informed as to when a message was opened, where the opening was, and on what type of information appliance, and more.

Finance: Listverse describes some types of money that used to be used in the U. S., but aren't, any more.

Health: National Public Radio reports on the much more frequent deaths of black women, in, or shortly after, giving birth, and points to the stress of being the target of racism as at least one of the causes.

History: Listverse reports on some interesting aspects of life in ancient Egypt.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight reports on the change in attitude toward Israel in Republicans, over the last few decades.


Thanks for looking!


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 623

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


Christianity:  Christianity Today reports on a Gallup poll that says that the thing most churchgoers are really looking for is solid Bible teaching in the sermon.

Christianity Today also reports on how the Coptic Christians of Egypt have forgiven those responsible for deadly terrorist bombings of their places of worship.

A Relevant writer asks why so many Christians don't seem to be bothered by sexual harassment scandals.


Finance: Listverse on the unexpected origins of some famous companies. (Example: Samsung started as a grocery store!)

Health: Statnews on the care of Alzheimer's patients at home, with state assistance, in North Dakota (which has a high occurrence of Alzheimer's.)

National Geographic reports that Dubai is well on the way to becoming one of the greenest cities on earth.

National Public Radio examines the possibilities of getting hearing aids over the counter.

Politics: Listverse gives capsule biographies, and photos, of 10 important, powerful North Koreans, who aren't part of their leader's family. They are all male.

Science: The Principles and Goals of the March for Science.

A Scientific American writer tells how climate change is affecting Bangladesh, and how it will do so in the near future.

National Public Radio reports on developments that may lead to an artificial womb, and on some of the issues that would raise, if it came to be.

NPR also reports that a caterpillar may be able to consume plastic bags, so that they are biodegradable.

(or something) Wired reports that thieves with two $11 devices can fool your wireless car key system, and steal your vehicle.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight has studied NBA players who are slow to get back on defense. (Too often, because they are complaining about a foul call or no-call.)


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 620

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Christianity Today interviews an author of a study on cohabitation vs. marriage, which found that marriage is considerably better for the children involved.

It seems that Vice President Pence won't eat a meal alone with a woman other than his wife. Sojourners discusses this, and the reaction to this behavior.

(And Science) A pastor writer in Christianity Today has been in dialog with geneticists who are getting close to the possibility of producing "designer babies." He considers the morality of such activity.


Education: There is a British apostrophizer -- he adds (or deletes) misplaced apostrophes on billboards.



Health: National Public Radio reports that lonely people are more deeply affected by colds.

NPR also reports that the infant death rate has dropped significantly, world-wide, in recent years.

History: Listverse on how socks (the things we wear on our feet) changed history.

Politics: (or something) NPR reports on a man who spent 25 years in prison for crimes that he didn't commit has had his story written by a prominent TV executive. He explains his attitude, in spite of the wrong done to him.

Science: National Public Radio reports that there were far fewer cases of microcephaly, associated with the Zika virus, in Brazil, than were predicted.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 600

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: (sort of) Scientific American (!) on how to be a better forgiver.

Relevant on how social media are shaping our lives, in ways you may not have considered.

Listverse reminds us of 10 (actually more) people in the Bible who were important, but are not named.


Computing: You probably don't want to know how I keep up with several RSS feeds, such as those from Relevant, Christianity Today, Scientific American, BioLogos, and several blogs by individuals, but I'll tell you. I use Feedly. Gizmo's Freeware (I follow its posts through Feedly) suggests a number of RSS aggregators, including Feedly, all free. Perhaps one of these would help you.

Finance: (or something) Scientific American on how deadlines actually help people to get things done.

Food: Scientific American also reports that some insects that are eaten commonly (in some cultures, anyway) are better sources of iron in the diet than beef.

History: From the American Museum of Natural History, a video showing the growth of the human population through time, especially the last two millennia.

Listverse tells us 10 things that you didn't know about toilet paper.


Politics: Relevant says that there were lots of fake news stories related to the recent political campaigns, on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, says that he doesn't think they influenced the election much, if at all. I saw some fake news, but figured the Facebook Friends who re-posted the items weren't interested in being told that the Mexican legislature really hasn't agreed to pay for Mr. Trump's wall, or that someone in the FBI wasn't shot to death over the e-mail leaks. As I understand it, such fake news makes money from being seen, and the more bizarre the claim, the more likely that people will look at the page.

Science: Listverse discusses 10 amazing facts (they said "eye-popping facts") about human vision.

Scientific American points out eight worrisome trends in the world's climate.





Image source (public domain)

Excerpts from Orthodoxy, by Gilbert K. Chesterton, 33

Charity is a paradox, like modesty and courage. Stated baldly, charity certainly means one of two things—pardoning unpardonable acts, or loving unlovable people. But if we ask ourselves (as we did in the case of pride) what a sensible pagan would feel about such a subject, we shall probably be beginning at the bottom of it. A sensible pagan would say that there were some people one could forgive, and some one couldn’t: a slave who stole wine could be laughed at; a slave who betrayed his benefactor could be killed, and cursed even after he was killed. In so far as the act was pardonable, the man was pardonable. That again is rational, and even refreshing; but it is a dilution. It leaves no place for a pure horror of injustice, such as that which is a great beauty in the innocent. And it leaves no place for a mere tenderness for men as men, such as is the whole fascination of the charitable. Christianity came in here as before. It came in startlingly with a sword, and clove one thing from another. It divided the crime from the criminal. The criminal we must forgive unto seventy times seven. The crime we must not forgive at all. It was not enough that slaves who stole wine inspired partly anger and partly kindness. We must be much more angry with theft than before, and yet much kinder to thieves than before. There was room for wrath and love to run wild. And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.

Orthodoxy, first published in 1908, by G. K. Chesterton, is in the public domain, and available from Project Gutenberg. The previous post in this series is here. Thanks for reading! Read Chesterton.

God doesn't know everything -- He forgets forgiven sin

God is omniscient -- He knows everything. But there is at least one limit. That Self-imposed limit is that God forgets forgiven sin.

I quote the evidence, using the World English Bible, which is in the public domain:

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake;
and I will not remember your sins.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity,
and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage?
He doesn’t retain his anger forever,
because he delights in loving kindness.
19 He will again have compassion on us.
He will tread our iniquities under foot;
and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

There are also pleas that God would forget past sins:
Psalm 25:7 Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions.
Remember me according to your loving kindness,
for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.

Isaiah 64:9 Don’t be furious, Yahweh,
and don’t remember iniquity forever.
Look and see, we beg you,
we are all your people.

Thanks for reading!

Coping with sudden death

This post is in reaction to the accidental death of a seven-year-old girl that I didn't know. She died yesterday. I did know a little about her father, and had spoken briefly with him several times at his place of business. I know a number of his employees, and former employees, pretty well. I know an adult daughter of the person who was driving the vehicle that was involved in the accident. My Facebook page has had a lot of posts by others on this event in the last few hours. Some of them have been wonderful. Many of them have been perplexed. If this helps anyone else, fine. I hope it does. But I'm just musing about it. I'm not an expert.

How should sudden death be coped with?

Be ready! Death comes to everyone, and death is permanent. After death, there are no further chances for communication. Death ends all chances to fix things, to do things, to say things. I should be ready to go at any time. I should be sure that I tell the people that I love that I love them, often. I should be sure that my relationship with Christ is up-to-date. (I hope that I love Him. I know that He loves me.) I should realize that this is true of others, not just me, and, if I truly believe that heaven is for real, and that there is a hell to shun, try to lovingly persuade those others to be ready for their deaths, in as many ways as possible. In Luke 12:20, Jesus told a story of a man who wasn't ready for death, and called him a fool.

My will should be made, and up-to-date, and I should have made plans for others to access my important documents, written a tentative obituary, and planned my funeral.

Comfort! In John 14, and elsewhere, Jesus tried to comfort His disciples, in advance of His death. He sent the Holy Spirit, who is also called The Comforter, to them. The Holy Spirit didn't come right away, but several weeks later. Survivors need comfort, after death, for a long time. Comfort can be given in many ways. Showing up, taking food, helping clean, hugging, saying "I love you," or "I'm sorry," calling, and in other ways.

Forgive! This includes self-forgiveness. I don't know all the circumstances of the accident, but the driver surely has had reason to question a lot of things -- why didn't I do this, and why did I do that, and what if. The parents must have such questions, too. And not just about the accident. Did they show her enough love? Were they perfect parents? No one is a perfect parent, and no one is a perfect driver. Try to realize, and accept this, and move on. It won't be easy.

Of course, it may be necessary to forgive someone else. Is that always easy? Of course not. But what good does it do to not forgive? Unforgiveness eats away at a person. It hurts the unforgiving individual more than it can possibly hurt anyone else.

It may be necessary to ask for forgiveness, too. If so, do it carefully, prayerfully, lovingly and humbly.

It's not about me! It's about the person who has passed, and everyone else. The devil wants me to use any excuse to become the axis that the world revolves around. I'm not, and I must try to avoid trying to be, or thinking that I am or should be. Is this easy? Of course not. Christ provided the example, and Paul tells us about that in Philippians 2:5-11 and 1 Corinthians 13.

Pray! For yourself, for others affected, and, that, in the entire situation, Christ will be glorified, perhaps in ways that you never see.

May God help this family, and those associated with this tragic event, and all the other tragic deaths.

Thanks for reading. I'm no expert on this subject. Both my parents are dead, but both of them were in declining health, and had been for some time. A brother-in-law was murdered, two years ago today. But I haven't coped with the death of a spouse, or a child, a grandchild, a close friend, or, as a child, a young parent. I probably will have to do some of this at some point.