Posts
Fellow noshers,
I try not to be surprised here anymore. Occasionally, they surprise me, though. Since when do owners and franchisees of the Diner care about the health of anything except their wallets?
But there are nights I'll meander over to my usual seat at the Diner, to hear some conversation like this: "That was my favorite thing on the menu! I can't believe they took it off!" "You know, they're just doing it because of the health-food nuts. They can't stand it when anyone is enjoying themselves. They only want us to eat granola and grass!"
You know how these things come and go. For example, for centuries people were eating eggs. Then some brainstormer had the idea that eggs were bad for you, and nobody ate eggs. The information out more recently has said,"Maybe we were wrong. Maybe eggs aren't so bad for you. In fact, they might be good for you."
Can't they make up my mind? What exactly is good for me? What exactly can I expect on the menu here? Why does management at the Diner occasionally express a conscience that doesn't make sense?
___________________________________________________________________
While some within the faddish health-food movement have renounced infant cannibalism, I think it’s time to reconsider putting it back on the menu in light of the differences between the culture of our day and the cultures that existed in Bible times.
It has long been assumed in the "civilized" West that infant cannibalism is wrong. Of course, a healthy child should not be eaten except under the most extreme circumstances (e.g. on a life-boat stranded at sea, as Melville pointed out). But is it really fair to continue to assume and assert that eating the very young is wrong under all circumstances?
The Old Testament is quite clear on this matter - the ancient Hebrews were not to sacrifice, and thus eat, their young. However, the language used is not specific enough to condemn all child-eating, particularly that done in the right context, and with the right motives.
God’s primary concern in prohibiting child sacrifice seems to be to discourage the adoption of pagan practices, which would distract the Israelites from their worship of the one true God. We might also safely assume that the widespread sacrifice of infants would lead to the murder of infants, since the number that died naturally might not be sufficient to meet the demand. So, God’s prohibition against consuming infant flesh was founded on two very sensible premises:
1. Infant cannibalism would lead Israel into idolatry.
2. Infant cannibalism would result in harm to living infants.
Do these premises remain valid today, and should we still abstain from infant cannibalism? First, let me say that I’m not talking about gratuitous, pig-out infant cannibalism; just as I don’t advocate eating a whole bag of chips at one sitting. I’m talking about moderate, civilized infant cannibalism (which I prefer to call fetal consumption), much as one might eat caviar - occasionally, responsibly, and with the utmost tact and taste.
The Bible may condemn child sacrifice and pagan cannibalism, but those are quite different from modern fetal consumption, which was not known in the days of Moses or Paul. Today, we have a steady supply of deceased infant flesh, from a variety of legitimate sources, which I need not enumerate. Suffice it to say that, if prices were fixed at a fairly high level, say, $10 per ounce, the demand could be met without difficulty, and there would be no risk to living children. The same medical technology that allows organs to be "kept on ice" until transplantation allows the flesh of our young to be preserved until it reaches the marketplace.
But why bother defending fetal consumption? Who is interested in it? The fact is, the Christians who are in favor of infant cannibalism have been ostracized from our churches. They have been forced to seek refuge and community elsewhere. There is tolerance for all other types of behavior within the church, it seems, except infant cannibalism.
How long can we allow this hypocrisy to continue, while our alienated brothers and sisters in the faith are left outside in the cold, picking their teeth and longing to be let inside to warm their feet by the fire? Here and now, I am calling for an end to the outdated, judgmental taboo against infant cannibalism. Will you join me?
_________________________________________________________________
Obviously, this is a satirical post intended to elicit discussion about the process we use to determine whether a moral prohibition in the bible is applicable today. For instance, consider the post above in light of the modern arguments for approval of homosexuality. More than once I have encountered the argument that loving, monogamous homosexual relationships were not existent in Paul’s day, nor was homosexuality recognized as a biologically influenced or genetically determined trait; therefore, biblical injunctions against it are irrelevant.
I want to call this line of reasoning into question. I will agree that the practice of monogamous homosexuals today is vastly more preferable in every way than the idol-worshipping, prostitution-based, commitment-free version familiar to Paul.
But how far can we take the argument that our culture has created a new version of some particular practice, that falls outside of scripture’s jurisdiction? Is adultery OK if your spouse doesn’t mind? Watch TV today, eat at the Diner today, and you see that this is more than a theoretical argument. We could easily argue that "consensual adultery" didn’t exist in Paul’s day, due to the level of stigma and shame surrounding extramarital relations; today, this stigma is largely absent in many cultures, so the bible’s statements on adultery are not relevant, because they’re addressing a different set of circumstances entirely.
In many of the discussions on the subject, homosexual activity is treated as a sin different from all others, misunderstood and attacked by homophobes today. I am attempting to frame a debate about the terms in which we discuss this and other other topics of morality. I don’t think the argument I’ve described above (with infant cannibalism, monogamous homosexuality, and consensual adultery as examples) is a particularly good one, but it does get your attention, doesn't it?
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Do you see anything you like on the menu here?
Your friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist, With the Iron Stomach,
~Bill
Sunday, December 02, 2007
...and I didn't make reservations.
Fellow noshers,
I see them almost every time I am at the Diner: Roe and Wade. They love this place; are here everyday, for every meal. This year marks their thirty-fourth birthday, and they are celebrating.
We've seen how embarassing the restaurants make it for us on our birthdays. It seems the entire staff, and anyone they could drag off the street, come clapping along with this wimpy little cupcake, with that lonely candle on top burning at both ends. Don't you hate to be that person, singled out for surviving yet another year? Our friends Roe and Wade, however, don't seem disturbed at all to be in the limelight.
Ironically, despite being well-meaning people who simply want folks to be able to choose for themselves, this celebration isn't all that it could be, even for Roe and Wade. My perception is that the Diner is always at capacity, not a seat left in the house. It is only now that I look around and realize how many seats remain empty. The fire marshall would be pleased.
You know, we really should not be surprised that today brings a light crowd to the Diner. Though this is the busiest night of the week (it seems it's always the busiest night here) the patrons at this cantina of corruption grew up knowing that one-third of their generation, and their fellow diners, was missing: tens of millions of brothers and sisters, classmates and soccer team members—all dead on the altar of “choice.” They grew up knowing that they themselves might not have survived if their mothers’ circumstances had been a little different. In a way, how can we blame them for some of the (non)-nutritional choices they themselves make after such a revelation?
For once, I am grateful to be able to partake of the meal served here.
I think I've lost my appetite,
~Bill
P.S. Since 1973, over 30 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) alleged at the time, that her pregnancy was the result of a rape. She later admitted she was lying. Since becoming a Christian, Norma McCorvey has fought to make abortion illegal.
I see them almost every time I am at the Diner: Roe and Wade. They love this place; are here everyday, for every meal. This year marks their thirty-fourth birthday, and they are celebrating.
We've seen how embarassing the restaurants make it for us on our birthdays. It seems the entire staff, and anyone they could drag off the street, come clapping along with this wimpy little cupcake, with that lonely candle on top burning at both ends. Don't you hate to be that person, singled out for surviving yet another year? Our friends Roe and Wade, however, don't seem disturbed at all to be in the limelight.
Ironically, despite being well-meaning people who simply want folks to be able to choose for themselves, this celebration isn't all that it could be, even for Roe and Wade. My perception is that the Diner is always at capacity, not a seat left in the house. It is only now that I look around and realize how many seats remain empty. The fire marshall would be pleased.
You know, we really should not be surprised that today brings a light crowd to the Diner. Though this is the busiest night of the week (it seems it's always the busiest night here) the patrons at this cantina of corruption grew up knowing that one-third of their generation, and their fellow diners, was missing: tens of millions of brothers and sisters, classmates and soccer team members—all dead on the altar of “choice.” They grew up knowing that they themselves might not have survived if their mothers’ circumstances had been a little different. In a way, how can we blame them for some of the (non)-nutritional choices they themselves make after such a revelation?
For once, I am grateful to be able to partake of the meal served here.
I think I've lost my appetite,
~Bill
P.S. Since 1973, over 30 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) alleged at the time, that her pregnancy was the result of a rape. She later admitted she was lying. Since becoming a Christian, Norma McCorvey has fought to make abortion illegal.
Elbows off the table please. Table manners revisited.
Faithful readers,
Some dude in the Bible thought a lot about meals. Often He likened the kingdom of God to a feast. Perhaps even more frequently, He hosted meals that didn’t simply point to the kingdom but revealed it: scandalous meals where the least and the lost were included and the first and the found were excluded; meals that judged all other human meals and embodied a new vision of life in community.
Interestingly, that dude left behind a family of disciples gathered around a heavenly meal where bread and wine are shared. It is here as the family of God that we learn the “table manners” of His kingdom. As we see the bread and wine, we are reminded of the abundance of God’s goodness. Here, we share that bread and wine and learn together to be a generous and sharing people. As we eat the bread, we are reminded of those who have no bread. Is it any surprise that the first church in Jerusalem, gathered around so many meals with this dude, was also a community about which Luke said, “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need” (Acts 2:45). Learning His table manners led to a new community where “there were no needy persons among them” (4:34).
But then consider the Corinthian church against which Paul rails, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat” (1 Corinthians 11:20). The family meal had degenerated into a food fight. Why? Because the poor were being humiliated, doing without, even as the rich went home stuffed (vv. 20-22). Is it any coincidence that those in Corinth likely never dined with the dude?
As often as we meet, we gather around a meal that is a foretaste of that great Day, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, when humanity will live again without want in an abundant creation loosed from its bondage to the curse. That dude came announcing good news for the poor (Luke 4:18-19)—by His death and resurrection the Banquet has begun, the year of Jubilee has come.
As we go into places where poverty and hunger have eclipsed hope, we go in the name of the dude who says to the poor, “This is the year of the Lord’s favor. I am the Bread of Life.” We go with the gospel's words and deeds of justice that the poor might taste the glory of the banquet that lasts forever.
Will work for Food,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Infidel,
~Bill
Some dude in the Bible thought a lot about meals. Often He likened the kingdom of God to a feast. Perhaps even more frequently, He hosted meals that didn’t simply point to the kingdom but revealed it: scandalous meals where the least and the lost were included and the first and the found were excluded; meals that judged all other human meals and embodied a new vision of life in community.
Interestingly, that dude left behind a family of disciples gathered around a heavenly meal where bread and wine are shared. It is here as the family of God that we learn the “table manners” of His kingdom. As we see the bread and wine, we are reminded of the abundance of God’s goodness. Here, we share that bread and wine and learn together to be a generous and sharing people. As we eat the bread, we are reminded of those who have no bread. Is it any surprise that the first church in Jerusalem, gathered around so many meals with this dude, was also a community about which Luke said, “Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need” (Acts 2:45). Learning His table manners led to a new community where “there were no needy persons among them” (4:34).
But then consider the Corinthian church against which Paul rails, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat” (1 Corinthians 11:20). The family meal had degenerated into a food fight. Why? Because the poor were being humiliated, doing without, even as the rich went home stuffed (vv. 20-22). Is it any coincidence that those in Corinth likely never dined with the dude?
As often as we meet, we gather around a meal that is a foretaste of that great Day, the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, when humanity will live again without want in an abundant creation loosed from its bondage to the curse. That dude came announcing good news for the poor (Luke 4:18-19)—by His death and resurrection the Banquet has begun, the year of Jubilee has come.
As we go into places where poverty and hunger have eclipsed hope, we go in the name of the dude who says to the poor, “This is the year of the Lord’s favor. I am the Bread of Life.” We go with the gospel's words and deeds of justice that the poor might taste the glory of the banquet that lasts forever.
Will work for Food,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Infidel,
~Bill
"Fast-er! Fast-er!"
"Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it."--John Wesley
Dear faithful readers,
There is much to be learned about a person by observing how their spare time is spent. (I know, there is no such animal as spare time). For instance, I like landscaping; digging in the dirt, planting, planning a new bed or garden project, even weeding. Consequently, I look at landscaping everywhere I go. The neighborhood, the shopping centers, attractions such as the zoo are fascinating for me. They provide ideas and inspiration, respect for the hard work and skill of others who share my passion.
I am often caught wondering what the ideas were behind many of the works I see. I wonder if the finished work resembles the plans when begun, and how a designer may react to unforeseen obstacles. Would they doggedly plow ahead with the original plan, or allow a design to create itself along with the flow of the land it will inhabit? Does anyone else wonder these things? Does anyone else wonder what the new landscape replaced? What was it about the natural features that was so bad it had to be dug up, abandoned? Our American landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples. The new kudzoo, the invasive species sweeping our nation, has taken over in the form of four-dollar-a-cup lattes and Frappuccinoes.
Fasting seems to be out of step with the times, a relic from another era that was less enlightened. Both in and out of the church, fasting has fallen on hard times. It has been in general disrepute for years. Occasionally it will make a comeback in the world of fad diets, but nowhere is it seen to be of any spiritual importance, nor does it possess the biblical balance the historical church awarded it.
What could account for the disregard for a subject so frequently mentioned in Scripture? Perhaps it is the constant propaganda fed us today. The menu at the Cultural Diner has convinced us that if we do not have three large meals a day, with snacks in between, we are on the verge of starvation. The popular belief at our Diner is that it is a positive virtue to satisfy every human appetite.
Fasting is obsolete. Even the attempt to fast today brings questions and remarks, ranging from the curious to the scornful. "Isn't that bad for your health?" "You won't have any strength or energy to work." "Here, eat something. You must be hungry." So much of the modern conception of fasting is utter nonsense, based upon prejudice or an improper relationship with the political hunger strikes.
The fact is, that though the body can only go a short time without air or water, it can go a great deal longer without food before having any deleterious physical effects or starvation begins. Usually about forty days. Forty days, huh? It has even been shown that persons and animals on calorie-restricted diets live up to 25% longer than those who are not. Fasting can have beneficial physical effects.
While the list of biblical figures and great Christians who fasted is a virtual Who's Who of persons we should admire, fasting is not an exclusively Christian discipline. All major religions of the world have recognized its merit. Even Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine, believed in fasting. This does not make it right or even desirable, but it should give us pause to be willing to re-evaluate our assumptions concerning the discipline of fasting.
Since there are no laws to bind us, we are free to fast on any day.
Yours, ~Bill
Dear faithful readers,
There is much to be learned about a person by observing how their spare time is spent. (I know, there is no such animal as spare time). For instance, I like landscaping; digging in the dirt, planting, planning a new bed or garden project, even weeding. Consequently, I look at landscaping everywhere I go. The neighborhood, the shopping centers, attractions such as the zoo are fascinating for me. They provide ideas and inspiration, respect for the hard work and skill of others who share my passion.
I am often caught wondering what the ideas were behind many of the works I see. I wonder if the finished work resembles the plans when begun, and how a designer may react to unforeseen obstacles. Would they doggedly plow ahead with the original plan, or allow a design to create itself along with the flow of the land it will inhabit? Does anyone else wonder these things? Does anyone else wonder what the new landscape replaced? What was it about the natural features that was so bad it had to be dug up, abandoned? Our American landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples. The new kudzoo, the invasive species sweeping our nation, has taken over in the form of four-dollar-a-cup lattes and Frappuccinoes.
Fasting seems to be out of step with the times, a relic from another era that was less enlightened. Both in and out of the church, fasting has fallen on hard times. It has been in general disrepute for years. Occasionally it will make a comeback in the world of fad diets, but nowhere is it seen to be of any spiritual importance, nor does it possess the biblical balance the historical church awarded it.
What could account for the disregard for a subject so frequently mentioned in Scripture? Perhaps it is the constant propaganda fed us today. The menu at the Cultural Diner has convinced us that if we do not have three large meals a day, with snacks in between, we are on the verge of starvation. The popular belief at our Diner is that it is a positive virtue to satisfy every human appetite.
Fasting is obsolete. Even the attempt to fast today brings questions and remarks, ranging from the curious to the scornful. "Isn't that bad for your health?" "You won't have any strength or energy to work." "Here, eat something. You must be hungry." So much of the modern conception of fasting is utter nonsense, based upon prejudice or an improper relationship with the political hunger strikes.
The fact is, that though the body can only go a short time without air or water, it can go a great deal longer without food before having any deleterious physical effects or starvation begins. Usually about forty days. Forty days, huh? It has even been shown that persons and animals on calorie-restricted diets live up to 25% longer than those who are not. Fasting can have beneficial physical effects.
While the list of biblical figures and great Christians who fasted is a virtual Who's Who of persons we should admire, fasting is not an exclusively Christian discipline. All major religions of the world have recognized its merit. Even Hippocrates, the founder of modern medicine, believed in fasting. This does not make it right or even desirable, but it should give us pause to be willing to re-evaluate our assumptions concerning the discipline of fasting.
Since there are no laws to bind us, we are free to fast on any day.
Yours, ~Bill
Gobble! Gobble! Advent is Missing!!!
Dear Readers,
By now your conscience should be clear of Thanksgiving gorgings. Let this be the first of the Yuletide deliveries to arrive and mark the beginning of the Christmas season. Well, maybe not, since Christmas trees and decorations invaded Wal-Mart even before Halloween.
It seems the end of Advent begins earlier each year. In this festive season celebrating the omnipresence of Christmas, we must wonder how our holy days have turned into holidays. Christmas has devoured Advent, gobbled it up with the turkey giblets and the goblets of seasonal ale.
Every secularized holiday tends to lose the context it had in the liturgical year. Across the nation, even in many churches, Easter has hopped across Lent, Halloween has frightened away All Saints, and New Year's has drunk up Epiphany. Still, the disappearance of Advent seems especially disturbing–for it's injured even the secular Christmas season: opening a hole, from Thanksgiving on, that can be filled only with fiercer, madder, and wilder attempts to anticipate Christmas.
We've let this thing get out of hand, using Christ's birthday as an excuse to shop. Instead of Advent we celebrate Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Our sacraments are red-dot sales and blue-light specials. Instead of the Gospels, we read the colorful Sunday ads. We drink up the holiday spirits and wake up with a credit-card hangover.
How can we reclaim Christmas?
Your Fiendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
By now your conscience should be clear of Thanksgiving gorgings. Let this be the first of the Yuletide deliveries to arrive and mark the beginning of the Christmas season. Well, maybe not, since Christmas trees and decorations invaded Wal-Mart even before Halloween.
It seems the end of Advent begins earlier each year. In this festive season celebrating the omnipresence of Christmas, we must wonder how our holy days have turned into holidays. Christmas has devoured Advent, gobbled it up with the turkey giblets and the goblets of seasonal ale.
Every secularized holiday tends to lose the context it had in the liturgical year. Across the nation, even in many churches, Easter has hopped across Lent, Halloween has frightened away All Saints, and New Year's has drunk up Epiphany. Still, the disappearance of Advent seems especially disturbing–for it's injured even the secular Christmas season: opening a hole, from Thanksgiving on, that can be filled only with fiercer, madder, and wilder attempts to anticipate Christmas.
We've let this thing get out of hand, using Christ's birthday as an excuse to shop. Instead of Advent we celebrate Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Our sacraments are red-dot sales and blue-light specials. Instead of the Gospels, we read the colorful Sunday ads. We drink up the holiday spirits and wake up with a credit-card hangover.
How can we reclaim Christmas?
Your Fiendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
Monday, November 05, 2007
Contains 0g Trans Fat; or, No Significant Nutritional Value
Dear Diners,
They're deceptive, those food labels and health claims at the grocery store and at the Cultural Diner. They're meant to be, for if we really knew what we are putting into ourselves perhaps we would be more cautious. Perhaps.
We have recourse to so much information it just boggles the mind. There are so many options, even with regard to what we do with the information. Try to wade through it all, pick and choose the tidbits we like, or simply ignore the whole lot of it and refuse to think about the consequences of our intake. But do we really have an excuse to remain ignorant today?
It can be amusing, actually, to observe the ways in which we react to the labels. You've seen the folks who Super Size their combo, and then get the Diet Coke. You've seen the folks who chow down on that extra serving or two of fat-free cheesecake, unaware of, disregarding, not caring, or rationalizing away the extra sugar to make it palatable. You've heard the jokes about how the calories have fallen out so it's okay to eat the half dozen broken cookies. Even the new labels about 0g trans fat make us feel so good we don't remark about the extra sodium those chips have.
You may be asking (or may not be), "Bill, what does all this have to do with the Cultural Diner?". Jennifer might hear my voice in her head, with my usual answer, "You just don't know, do you?" (She loves it when I say that!)
Unpacking boxes and boxes of books lately I came across a lot of stuff I didn't know we had, and a lot of stuff I did know we had. (By the way, a book's appearance on my shelf is not necessarily an endorsement. I read some obscure stuff). One such book was When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner. Many of you might have read it, but I'm sure all of you have heard of it.
The book has been through several printings and sold in the millions. The author became a celebrity for awhile, newspapers and magazines have printed excerpts from the book; it has even been endorsed by well-known pastors and seminary professors. The book deals with an ages-old query: How can a good, all-loving, all-powerful God allow such terrible evil and suffering in the world? It's a familiar question, regardless of whether one is thinking of the Holocaust, the slaughter of the Canaanites, or the child who dies in an automible accident. We all draw from our own experience, and feel this question in our gut even if we never voice it out loud.
The Rabbi Kushner answers that God is indeed all-loving, but He is not all-powerful; the bad things which happen are simply out of His control. He writes, "I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die." I remember hearing that an admiring reader once wrote to thank him, "Maybe now I can believe in a more realistic God."
Well, it sure is nice that the Rabbi Kushner has brought comfort to so many Americans. Hold on a sec...What do we mean by a more realistic God? Who decides if God is realistic?
The God that Kushner writes about is neither omnipotent nor sovereign. Therefore, He is not the God of Abaham, Isaac, and Jacob; not the all-powerful Creator God of the Bible. Yet people have gobbled up this book anyway; Christians have clamored for this impotent God.
I suppose this is not surprising. People yearn for answers to life's mysteries, and when someone comes along with an easy answer that gives comfort and rationalizes the supernatural, we stampede the bookstores. We'll sacrifice truth to our own prejudices every day.
How can we be blind to what is happening? We stand on the shores while waves of secular thinking crash around us and are washing away the foundation on which the church stands. Well-meaning books like this are directly shaping people's perceptions of God. What should our response be? Do we just hit the snooze button and roll over for a few minutes' peace?
The message presented is not new. It represents a theology that has spread like a cancer throughout the church, dismissing the power of God and telling us that the goodness of God is more important. They used to say God is dead; now we see He is not dead, merely ill and feeble.
Certainly, evil messages like this should be expected in a fallen world. What is not expected is for a holy people to accept it. What's worse, the church seems to have lost it's taste for issues like sin and evil. They aren't popular sermon topics--someone might get offended, or convicted. For that matter, neither is gluttony a popular sermon topic, but it is a common sight here at the Diner.
A weary, frustrated, and hungry people are easy marks for those who peddle simple answers to life's tough questions. Those who write the Nutrition Facts on the food we consume at the Cultural Diner know their prey, and it is us. I
If junk pop answers wrapped up in religious packaging are so widely accepted, then Christians aren't doing their job. We should learn to label heresy as heresy.
Appropriately Labelled,
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
P.S. Just wondering, anyway--Who are the "good" people?
They're deceptive, those food labels and health claims at the grocery store and at the Cultural Diner. They're meant to be, for if we really knew what we are putting into ourselves perhaps we would be more cautious. Perhaps.
We have recourse to so much information it just boggles the mind. There are so many options, even with regard to what we do with the information. Try to wade through it all, pick and choose the tidbits we like, or simply ignore the whole lot of it and refuse to think about the consequences of our intake. But do we really have an excuse to remain ignorant today?
It can be amusing, actually, to observe the ways in which we react to the labels. You've seen the folks who Super Size their combo, and then get the Diet Coke. You've seen the folks who chow down on that extra serving or two of fat-free cheesecake, unaware of, disregarding, not caring, or rationalizing away the extra sugar to make it palatable. You've heard the jokes about how the calories have fallen out so it's okay to eat the half dozen broken cookies. Even the new labels about 0g trans fat make us feel so good we don't remark about the extra sodium those chips have.
You may be asking (or may not be), "Bill, what does all this have to do with the Cultural Diner?". Jennifer might hear my voice in her head, with my usual answer, "You just don't know, do you?" (She loves it when I say that!)
Unpacking boxes and boxes of books lately I came across a lot of stuff I didn't know we had, and a lot of stuff I did know we had. (By the way, a book's appearance on my shelf is not necessarily an endorsement. I read some obscure stuff). One such book was When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner. Many of you might have read it, but I'm sure all of you have heard of it.
The book has been through several printings and sold in the millions. The author became a celebrity for awhile, newspapers and magazines have printed excerpts from the book; it has even been endorsed by well-known pastors and seminary professors. The book deals with an ages-old query: How can a good, all-loving, all-powerful God allow such terrible evil and suffering in the world? It's a familiar question, regardless of whether one is thinking of the Holocaust, the slaughter of the Canaanites, or the child who dies in an automible accident. We all draw from our own experience, and feel this question in our gut even if we never voice it out loud.
The Rabbi Kushner answers that God is indeed all-loving, but He is not all-powerful; the bad things which happen are simply out of His control. He writes, "I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die." I remember hearing that an admiring reader once wrote to thank him, "Maybe now I can believe in a more realistic God."
Well, it sure is nice that the Rabbi Kushner has brought comfort to so many Americans. Hold on a sec...What do we mean by a more realistic God? Who decides if God is realistic?
The God that Kushner writes about is neither omnipotent nor sovereign. Therefore, He is not the God of Abaham, Isaac, and Jacob; not the all-powerful Creator God of the Bible. Yet people have gobbled up this book anyway; Christians have clamored for this impotent God.
I suppose this is not surprising. People yearn for answers to life's mysteries, and when someone comes along with an easy answer that gives comfort and rationalizes the supernatural, we stampede the bookstores. We'll sacrifice truth to our own prejudices every day.
How can we be blind to what is happening? We stand on the shores while waves of secular thinking crash around us and are washing away the foundation on which the church stands. Well-meaning books like this are directly shaping people's perceptions of God. What should our response be? Do we just hit the snooze button and roll over for a few minutes' peace?
The message presented is not new. It represents a theology that has spread like a cancer throughout the church, dismissing the power of God and telling us that the goodness of God is more important. They used to say God is dead; now we see He is not dead, merely ill and feeble.
Certainly, evil messages like this should be expected in a fallen world. What is not expected is for a holy people to accept it. What's worse, the church seems to have lost it's taste for issues like sin and evil. They aren't popular sermon topics--someone might get offended, or convicted. For that matter, neither is gluttony a popular sermon topic, but it is a common sight here at the Diner.
A weary, frustrated, and hungry people are easy marks for those who peddle simple answers to life's tough questions. Those who write the Nutrition Facts on the food we consume at the Cultural Diner know their prey, and it is us. I
If junk pop answers wrapped up in religious packaging are so widely accepted, then Christians aren't doing their job. We should learn to label heresy as heresy.
Appropriately Labelled,
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
P.S. Just wondering, anyway--Who are the "good" people?
Under the Neon Rainbow
Fellow Noshers,
It's not easy to be hungry when so much fodder is being set in front of you. Why would we want to be hungry anyway? What is this fodder being set in front of us that is preventing us from experiencing true hunger? It is important to consider these questions, because they offer clues to our dissatisfaction and hope for our fulfillment in life.
The function of our Cultural Diner is to get us to eat. It signals us that something is missing, something we need and can only get in the buffet line. The neon lights flash outside the Diner: "Open! All you can eat!". There's no need to eat alone at the Diner, either. The cooking-challenged among us are the most welcome guests at the Diner, for we are most appreciative of the food, any food.
The function of hunger is to get us to eat. It is the signal of the creature that something is needed for its growth and sustenance. And hunger pangs will increase until we attend to them.
Hunger has an incredible intelligence behind it. It is a driving force in our nature that pushes us to do what is good for us. The hunger of the soul is just as real and just as compelling as the hunger of the body. When something is needed, we feel it. When it is time for a new phase, it begins to happen. We hunger, we stretch toward new boundaries; the seed cracks open, seeking to be the flower it was meant to be.
From this perspective, it is clear why we would want to have true hunger, for it signals to us what we need and insists that we attend to those needs. The problem is that we have a lot of mixed feelings, and some misconceptions, about the soul’s hunger. The signals of change can be uncomfortable and disruptive. It could be that a sense of emptiness, or lack of meaning, arises; or perhaps depression comes. We may find ourselves restless and dissatisfied despite the fact that our lives are pretty good. Interests that once captivated us may no longer hold the same attraction. We may feel distant from people around us.
Our soul tells us what it needs. We just have to pay attention and attune to its dietary preferences. Otherwise, we will tend to give it fodder rather than real nourishment. The word fodder here means all the “food” that we give ourselves, with the best of intentions, that ultimately does not satisfy. The menu at the Cultural Diner doesn't look like fodder. It all looks like Turkish Delight; colorful and tasty but with no nutritional value, and loaded with MSG to keep up appearances no matter how long it's been under the heat lamps. Narnia's witch was right; she knows what captivates us, and holds us captive.
Typically, we feed the soul as if it were our body. Mistakenly, if it needs sweetness, we eat chocolate. If it craves peace, we give it alcohol or TV. If the soul is longing for freedom, we may have an affair or go bungee jumping. In each case, it is an attempt to provide outer solutions to inner needs.
I believe that there is one most pervasive form of fodder in our time. It is so common that it is considered normal, and yet ultimately it does not satisfy our true hunger. This attempt to satiate the soul's appetite, is ceaseless activity. What we really know how to do is stay busy. And, at the slightest hint of some inner restlessness we add more activity. For some people it is longer and longer work weeks. Others move from work to kids, or TV, or clubs and service projects. Even most vacations are merely another form of busyness. Even our children rush madly from school, to lessons, to the big game, and then off to do homework.There is nothing bad or wrong with these activities. The issue is one of balance. For most of us there is little time or value given to simply being, being alone and quiet. And therefore there is insufficient opportunity for real and deep contact, with ourselves, our families, our Creator.. And that is what we are truly hungry for.
Imagine a marriage in which every night were filled - movies, meetings, friends - and that the couple never really talked. In the absence of these moments of true contact, an essential element of the relationship that both people longed for would be missing. It is exactly the same with our primary relationship - the one we have with our innermost selves. As with any intimate relationship, it needs time and attention, with sincere and truthful discourse.
It sounds so simple to just be with ourselves. But this can be hard work. When we finally slow down and block off a little time, we are likely to see that our minds and bodies cannot be still. Or we experience such fatigue that we cannot stay awake. This is so, in part, because we live in a society with a nervous condition so widespread that there is a loss of the capacity to be still. To learn to relax the ceaseless engines of physical and mental activity takes patience and persistence. It is even an acquired taste. However, once we develop the ability to be still, each menu selection will become truly delicious.
Pay no attention to the neon signs. Go home and eat in the dark.
~Bill
It's not easy to be hungry when so much fodder is being set in front of you. Why would we want to be hungry anyway? What is this fodder being set in front of us that is preventing us from experiencing true hunger? It is important to consider these questions, because they offer clues to our dissatisfaction and hope for our fulfillment in life.
The function of our Cultural Diner is to get us to eat. It signals us that something is missing, something we need and can only get in the buffet line. The neon lights flash outside the Diner: "Open! All you can eat!". There's no need to eat alone at the Diner, either. The cooking-challenged among us are the most welcome guests at the Diner, for we are most appreciative of the food, any food.
The function of hunger is to get us to eat. It is the signal of the creature that something is needed for its growth and sustenance. And hunger pangs will increase until we attend to them.
Hunger has an incredible intelligence behind it. It is a driving force in our nature that pushes us to do what is good for us. The hunger of the soul is just as real and just as compelling as the hunger of the body. When something is needed, we feel it. When it is time for a new phase, it begins to happen. We hunger, we stretch toward new boundaries; the seed cracks open, seeking to be the flower it was meant to be.
From this perspective, it is clear why we would want to have true hunger, for it signals to us what we need and insists that we attend to those needs. The problem is that we have a lot of mixed feelings, and some misconceptions, about the soul’s hunger. The signals of change can be uncomfortable and disruptive. It could be that a sense of emptiness, or lack of meaning, arises; or perhaps depression comes. We may find ourselves restless and dissatisfied despite the fact that our lives are pretty good. Interests that once captivated us may no longer hold the same attraction. We may feel distant from people around us.
Our soul tells us what it needs. We just have to pay attention and attune to its dietary preferences. Otherwise, we will tend to give it fodder rather than real nourishment. The word fodder here means all the “food” that we give ourselves, with the best of intentions, that ultimately does not satisfy. The menu at the Cultural Diner doesn't look like fodder. It all looks like Turkish Delight; colorful and tasty but with no nutritional value, and loaded with MSG to keep up appearances no matter how long it's been under the heat lamps. Narnia's witch was right; she knows what captivates us, and holds us captive.
Typically, we feed the soul as if it were our body. Mistakenly, if it needs sweetness, we eat chocolate. If it craves peace, we give it alcohol or TV. If the soul is longing for freedom, we may have an affair or go bungee jumping. In each case, it is an attempt to provide outer solutions to inner needs.
I believe that there is one most pervasive form of fodder in our time. It is so common that it is considered normal, and yet ultimately it does not satisfy our true hunger. This attempt to satiate the soul's appetite, is ceaseless activity. What we really know how to do is stay busy. And, at the slightest hint of some inner restlessness we add more activity. For some people it is longer and longer work weeks. Others move from work to kids, or TV, or clubs and service projects. Even most vacations are merely another form of busyness. Even our children rush madly from school, to lessons, to the big game, and then off to do homework.There is nothing bad or wrong with these activities. The issue is one of balance. For most of us there is little time or value given to simply being, being alone and quiet. And therefore there is insufficient opportunity for real and deep contact, with ourselves, our families, our Creator.. And that is what we are truly hungry for.
Imagine a marriage in which every night were filled - movies, meetings, friends - and that the couple never really talked. In the absence of these moments of true contact, an essential element of the relationship that both people longed for would be missing. It is exactly the same with our primary relationship - the one we have with our innermost selves. As with any intimate relationship, it needs time and attention, with sincere and truthful discourse.
It sounds so simple to just be with ourselves. But this can be hard work. When we finally slow down and block off a little time, we are likely to see that our minds and bodies cannot be still. Or we experience such fatigue that we cannot stay awake. This is so, in part, because we live in a society with a nervous condition so widespread that there is a loss of the capacity to be still. To learn to relax the ceaseless engines of physical and mental activity takes patience and persistence. It is even an acquired taste. However, once we develop the ability to be still, each menu selection will become truly delicious.
Pay no attention to the neon signs. Go home and eat in the dark.
~Bill
The Real World
Disclaimer: The comments and opinions expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect the comments, opinions, or practices, of the message's management, owners, or staff.
The following message has been closed-captioned for the thinking-impaired.
You know what I think the problem is with pornography? It doesn't go far enough.
Madison Avenue and the porn industry have created a fantasy world, with unlimited takes, staged photo sessions with make-up breaks, and computerized editing to cover the flaws. They are slick, no doubt, but we should see right through them.
Like stage sets and building fronts, their pre-packaged titillations can make your own hometown seem third-world, and your own relationship seem drab by comparison. What place or what person can compete on a daily basis with the phony show? The answer is that no one can.
Their sets are incomplete, as are the images they project. They want us to believe they have the total package. The problem, though, is the version of sexuality they present is concerned only with the physical activities of lust. It has been stripped of it's biblical perspective as far more than coitus. It is incomplete.
They have created a fantasy world, alright. We should recognize this, because in our real world sex is a mixture of tenderness and toughness, love and fatigue, excitement and disappointment. When we seek to believe the fantasy world, we can begin to cast a searing glance at the flaws in our real world.
Make-believe is fun for awhile, but our real world is beautiful forever.
I love you, Jennifer. You are my whole world.
~Bill
The following message has been closed-captioned for the thinking-impaired.
You know what I think the problem is with pornography? It doesn't go far enough.
Madison Avenue and the porn industry have created a fantasy world, with unlimited takes, staged photo sessions with make-up breaks, and computerized editing to cover the flaws. They are slick, no doubt, but we should see right through them.
Like stage sets and building fronts, their pre-packaged titillations can make your own hometown seem third-world, and your own relationship seem drab by comparison. What place or what person can compete on a daily basis with the phony show? The answer is that no one can.
Their sets are incomplete, as are the images they project. They want us to believe they have the total package. The problem, though, is the version of sexuality they present is concerned only with the physical activities of lust. It has been stripped of it's biblical perspective as far more than coitus. It is incomplete.
They have created a fantasy world, alright. We should recognize this, because in our real world sex is a mixture of tenderness and toughness, love and fatigue, excitement and disappointment. When we seek to believe the fantasy world, we can begin to cast a searing glance at the flaws in our real world.
Make-believe is fun for awhile, but our real world is beautiful forever.
I love you, Jennifer. You are my whole world.
~Bill
The Atkins' Family...Diet
Da, da, da, dum...snap! snap!
Da, da, da, dum...snap! snap!
They're creepy and they're kooky.
They're off to get an ooky.
The Atkins' Family.
Have you seen anyone do this? You're in a burger place, and a person nearby orders a hamburger..sans bun! What is going through their mind? I mean sure, we all have different tastes, but a hamburger is a hamburger, and it has a bun! It's just not the same without it.
You know the routine. The Atkins' diet is the king of the low-carb craze. Dr. Atkins has convinced millions that carbs are taboo, that high-protein and high-fat diets are what we need to be healthy, slim, and happy. (An aside: How does that differ from the beer commercials? Oh well, another day...).
However, ask any nutritionist what the real deal is with these low-carb diets, and they will tell you: We need carbohydrates. We can't live without them. Not only that, but our intake of carbs should be the bulk of our caloric intake. A healthy diet is simply incomplete without them. We can choose to follow these diets, and even look and feel good for awhile doing so. In the long run, we are just risking our health for a short-term gain.
Americans, though, like to have choices, lots of them. They also like to believe just about any new fad that comes down the pike will make them healthy, wealthy, and wise, easily. Our Cultural Diner has evolved that way, so it is always pushing for us to eat more, faster; and the menu is constantly changing.
So what is my point? Well, I'm not trying to knock anyone's eating habits. One look at my daily fare would convince you of that! Also, most nutritionists would frown upon the prolonged fasts I occasionally take. They're tough on a body, too, the way other extreme diets are.
What I am getting around to saying is that, Dan Quayle was right! Potatoe is spelled that way!
I'm going to go out on a limb here. Now, it's a pretty strong limb; but some folks might disagree with me. We need first to understand how the world’s greatest social evils are rooted in “the chosen absence of the biological father,” whether physical or emotional in nature. This reality of broken aspirations and torn families permeates the entire spectrum of human life and history. If we listen to the children of divorce, we can trace most pain back to what is, or is at least perceived to be, such a chosen absence.
Ironically, the problem is originally seen in a story several thousand years old, and it describes both the social instability we see in America today and helps illuminate the struggle of the "War on Terrorism". Historically, the pain of just such a chosen absence most deeply affects the Arab and Muslim soul. Most of us know the story, but how many of us want to acknowledge the implications of it in our personal lives and in the world around us?
Abraham is the father to both the Arabs and the Jews; his son Ishmael is the father of the Arabs, his son Isaac is the father of the Jews, and Christians are spiritual descendants of Jewish history. The nature of the conflict between Ishmael and Isaac is thus defined forever.
In Genesis 16, Abraham’s wife Sarah sought to address her barrenness by suggesting that Abraham sleep with her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Her intent was to “build a family through her,” which is to say, the first recorded surrogate motherhood. Sarah was not even giving Hagar the status of a concubine, who at least could raise her own child. Sarah planned to take the child from Hagar at birth and claim him for her own.
Abraham agreed to the idea, and when Hagar knew she was pregnant, and understood Sarah’s designs, she despised her. Sarah despised Hagar in return, blamed the matter on Abraham, and began to mistreat Hagar. This led to conflict when Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah thirteen years later. Ishmael was biologically the firstborn and resented the fact that Isaac was to be honored legally as the firstborn.
Now Abraham wanted to be a present father to his son Ishmael. But Sarah prevented him, and in order to keep his marriage intact, Abraham could not publicly embrace Ishmael. His relational absence from Ishmael’s life was not his desired choice, but it was the fruit of a choice he foolishly made. It was a chosen, yet not chosen, absence—with devastating effects on Ishmael and world history. The war between the women has produced a war between the sons, a war between the Arabs and Jews and, hence, a war between the nations.
From Ishmael’s perspective as a young boy, he grew up not knowing why his father Abraham was relationally absent in his life. There was his father, the patriarch of a large community, wealthy and with a status near to that of a king. Abraham was powerful, therefore his absence must be chosen, so the little boy would grow to reason. All that young Ishmael desired was the honor of being known and treated as his father’s son. But the choices made prevented it.
Thus, Ishmael grew up burdened in shame, written into his soul and his life from before his birth. Shame wounds most severely when it is through no fault of our own and we feel personally rejected by someone of great importance to us. As the Arab peoples have descended from Ishmael (directly by bloodline and/or more indirectly in cultural terms), their psyche has been shaped by the burden of shame. This reality of the shame-conflict in the Arab soul is clear to this day.
Dan Quayle was right. When families fall, societies fall. Fathers must be present. Fathers must make the right, responsible choices. We can know longer expect to enjoy our hamburger without the bun. It is incomplete, and unhealthy.
I am the broken product of poor family dietary choices. It hurts. In spite of that hurt, I took on the eating habits of my immediate family and my culture. I, too, have made those wrong culinary decisions. I and my family have suffered through the emotional heartburn and psychological indigestion for many years.
I ate too much! I ate too fast! How do you spell relief?
Gastronomically yours,
~Bill
The consequences of Ishmael’s shame are summed up in Genesis 16:12:
“He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Da, da, da, dum...snap! snap!
They're creepy and they're kooky.
They're off to get an ooky.
The Atkins' Family.
Have you seen anyone do this? You're in a burger place, and a person nearby orders a hamburger..sans bun! What is going through their mind? I mean sure, we all have different tastes, but a hamburger is a hamburger, and it has a bun! It's just not the same without it.
You know the routine. The Atkins' diet is the king of the low-carb craze. Dr. Atkins has convinced millions that carbs are taboo, that high-protein and high-fat diets are what we need to be healthy, slim, and happy. (An aside: How does that differ from the beer commercials? Oh well, another day...).
However, ask any nutritionist what the real deal is with these low-carb diets, and they will tell you: We need carbohydrates. We can't live without them. Not only that, but our intake of carbs should be the bulk of our caloric intake. A healthy diet is simply incomplete without them. We can choose to follow these diets, and even look and feel good for awhile doing so. In the long run, we are just risking our health for a short-term gain.
Americans, though, like to have choices, lots of them. They also like to believe just about any new fad that comes down the pike will make them healthy, wealthy, and wise, easily. Our Cultural Diner has evolved that way, so it is always pushing for us to eat more, faster; and the menu is constantly changing.
So what is my point? Well, I'm not trying to knock anyone's eating habits. One look at my daily fare would convince you of that! Also, most nutritionists would frown upon the prolonged fasts I occasionally take. They're tough on a body, too, the way other extreme diets are.
What I am getting around to saying is that, Dan Quayle was right! Potatoe is spelled that way!
I'm going to go out on a limb here. Now, it's a pretty strong limb; but some folks might disagree with me. We need first to understand how the world’s greatest social evils are rooted in “the chosen absence of the biological father,” whether physical or emotional in nature. This reality of broken aspirations and torn families permeates the entire spectrum of human life and history. If we listen to the children of divorce, we can trace most pain back to what is, or is at least perceived to be, such a chosen absence.
Ironically, the problem is originally seen in a story several thousand years old, and it describes both the social instability we see in America today and helps illuminate the struggle of the "War on Terrorism". Historically, the pain of just such a chosen absence most deeply affects the Arab and Muslim soul. Most of us know the story, but how many of us want to acknowledge the implications of it in our personal lives and in the world around us?
Abraham is the father to both the Arabs and the Jews; his son Ishmael is the father of the Arabs, his son Isaac is the father of the Jews, and Christians are spiritual descendants of Jewish history. The nature of the conflict between Ishmael and Isaac is thus defined forever.
In Genesis 16, Abraham’s wife Sarah sought to address her barrenness by suggesting that Abraham sleep with her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Her intent was to “build a family through her,” which is to say, the first recorded surrogate motherhood. Sarah was not even giving Hagar the status of a concubine, who at least could raise her own child. Sarah planned to take the child from Hagar at birth and claim him for her own.
Abraham agreed to the idea, and when Hagar knew she was pregnant, and understood Sarah’s designs, she despised her. Sarah despised Hagar in return, blamed the matter on Abraham, and began to mistreat Hagar. This led to conflict when Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah thirteen years later. Ishmael was biologically the firstborn and resented the fact that Isaac was to be honored legally as the firstborn.
Now Abraham wanted to be a present father to his son Ishmael. But Sarah prevented him, and in order to keep his marriage intact, Abraham could not publicly embrace Ishmael. His relational absence from Ishmael’s life was not his desired choice, but it was the fruit of a choice he foolishly made. It was a chosen, yet not chosen, absence—with devastating effects on Ishmael and world history. The war between the women has produced a war between the sons, a war between the Arabs and Jews and, hence, a war between the nations.
From Ishmael’s perspective as a young boy, he grew up not knowing why his father Abraham was relationally absent in his life. There was his father, the patriarch of a large community, wealthy and with a status near to that of a king. Abraham was powerful, therefore his absence must be chosen, so the little boy would grow to reason. All that young Ishmael desired was the honor of being known and treated as his father’s son. But the choices made prevented it.
Thus, Ishmael grew up burdened in shame, written into his soul and his life from before his birth. Shame wounds most severely when it is through no fault of our own and we feel personally rejected by someone of great importance to us. As the Arab peoples have descended from Ishmael (directly by bloodline and/or more indirectly in cultural terms), their psyche has been shaped by the burden of shame. This reality of the shame-conflict in the Arab soul is clear to this day.
Dan Quayle was right. When families fall, societies fall. Fathers must be present. Fathers must make the right, responsible choices. We can know longer expect to enjoy our hamburger without the bun. It is incomplete, and unhealthy.
I am the broken product of poor family dietary choices. It hurts. In spite of that hurt, I took on the eating habits of my immediate family and my culture. I, too, have made those wrong culinary decisions. I and my family have suffered through the emotional heartburn and psychological indigestion for many years.
I ate too much! I ate too fast! How do you spell relief?
Gastronomically yours,
~Bill
The consequences of Ishmael’s shame are summed up in Genesis 16:12:
“He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”
Speaking of Food...Give us this day our daily bread...
Dear Diners,
This was new to me, but many of you have probably heard of it already.
It's called a Beggar's Bowl. From what I understand some Buddhist nuns and monks use begging bowls to get their daily food. Those who put food into the bowl do so because they believe they will be blessed. The monks and nuns receive the food with trust that it will sustain them and not harm them. For all concerned it is a religious experience.
I wonder how effective that would be here in America? I'm not so sure a Buddhist nun in Lexington would be able to rely on a begging bowl. I'm not so sure I would even do well enough to try it.
One thing I do know--there are those, even in Lexington, who each day are dependent on their beggar's bowl. We pass them in the street each day. Usually, they will stop us and ask us for some change. Occasionally, they don't get the chance, for we have stepped across the street in order to avoid them. "Just for fun we yell, get a job!"
Will you fill my beggar's bowl? What if you didn't know me?
Embarassingly apatheistic,
~Bill
This was new to me, but many of you have probably heard of it already.
It's called a Beggar's Bowl. From what I understand some Buddhist nuns and monks use begging bowls to get their daily food. Those who put food into the bowl do so because they believe they will be blessed. The monks and nuns receive the food with trust that it will sustain them and not harm them. For all concerned it is a religious experience.
I wonder how effective that would be here in America? I'm not so sure a Buddhist nun in Lexington would be able to rely on a begging bowl. I'm not so sure I would even do well enough to try it.
One thing I do know--there are those, even in Lexington, who each day are dependent on their beggar's bowl. We pass them in the street each day. Usually, they will stop us and ask us for some change. Occasionally, they don't get the chance, for we have stepped across the street in order to avoid them. "Just for fun we yell, get a job!"
Will you fill my beggar's bowl? What if you didn't know me?
Embarassingly apatheistic,
~Bill
Feed me, Seymour.
Dear diners,
I don't know if any of you remember the place. Maybe you have passed by it. Maybe there is one like it in your hometown. In Lexington, though, it is Mom's Loudon Lunch. Mom's is a tiny place, at the corner of Loudon Avenue and Limestone Street. Mom is Betty Franklin. The place really is a family affair; two daughters-in-law and her son have worked for Mom at one time or another, but everyone is treated like family. From the minute you walk in the place, you feel like you're at home (including the good-natured ribbing between you and your crazy Uncle Bob). Betty greets you with a "Hey hon', you hungry?", and you will have sufficiently dined by the time you leave.
There are times, though, when people need to be fed by another cook. Where can one go for such nourishment? Many of us talk about coming to church, participating in worship, or going to Sunday school; and we say it "feeds our soul". Have we thought about, or have we neglected to serve, those who are hungry for the soul food we receive each week? Do we smell the rich aromas of the dishes we hold in our arms, and do we know what it would mean to the people who need it?
If the citizens of the world were well-fed, physically and spiritually, maybe we would have fewer wars, less mayhem and violence. But the world is a big place, and a waiter can be overwhelmed. The server with too many tables can become frustrated, burn out, and serve no one well. But can we really afford to say,"Sorry, hon', that's not my table?" Though it may seem like every one in the world is waving their empty coffee cup, somehow we have to try and fill them.
A hungry soul that has to wait too long, or has a surly waitress, might soon: starve; or they could just go somewhere else to eat. Unfortunately, folks with bad experiences tell far more people than those who have had good experiences. Our reputation, however, is not what we should worry about most. A hungry soul will go somewhere, anywhere, until they are satisfied, seeking some experience that will complete them. They will get what they are looking for, even if it is not the food they are truly craving. Some don't even know what it is they really want, and may subsist on a steady diet of junk food.
The world is ready to serve them a smorgasbord; spiritual fast-food is just around the corner. A hungry soul will sample that spiritual smorgasbord, digesting each nibble and bite until it finds the tastes it is seeking. A little bit of Oprah, a dash of yoga, a smattering of Hinduism, Paganism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, a dash of salt and a pinch of sage. Mix well and simmer in a cast iron cauldron. Some hungry soul will find the combination delicious. Hungry souls are adventuresome eaters, and willing to try new things. But if the taste doesn't suit them, they don't always finish everything on their plate before savoring dessert.
Some may mistake spiritual hunger for a physical need. They may satisfy their appetite with the erotic pleasures of sensual living. It is no surprise to find some of the most desparate souls, and thus the most profitable mission fields, at your local 12-step meeting; the addiction du jour fills but doesn't satiate, and is an easy destination for those with spiritual eating disorders.
Maybe you have had this experience. I was craving chocolate ice cream. Only there wasn't any on hand. Sure, Kroger is open 24/7, but I didn't want to go out. It was the middle of the night. There was some strawberry yogurt; I like strawberry yogurt, but it isn't chocolate ice cream. It is cold and creamy, but it isn't chocolate ice cream. I ate it anyway; the whole thing. The funny thing is, and you can guess this, it just fails to satisfy. I wasn't hungry for just anything that was cold and sweet and creamy. I wanted chocolate ice cream! So why did I do it? I wasn't starving, or in desparate physical need of any food available. So why did I do it? Because it was there. Because it was there.
What would you do if, next time we serve communion, you heard the growling stomach of the person next to you and they leaned over and asked,"Hey, can I have some of yours? I'm hungry." They're in the right place to be hungry. They're usually not so fothright and obvious. We have to look and listen closely.
Is that your table?
~Bill
I don't know if any of you remember the place. Maybe you have passed by it. Maybe there is one like it in your hometown. In Lexington, though, it is Mom's Loudon Lunch. Mom's is a tiny place, at the corner of Loudon Avenue and Limestone Street. Mom is Betty Franklin. The place really is a family affair; two daughters-in-law and her son have worked for Mom at one time or another, but everyone is treated like family. From the minute you walk in the place, you feel like you're at home (including the good-natured ribbing between you and your crazy Uncle Bob). Betty greets you with a "Hey hon', you hungry?", and you will have sufficiently dined by the time you leave.
There are times, though, when people need to be fed by another cook. Where can one go for such nourishment? Many of us talk about coming to church, participating in worship, or going to Sunday school; and we say it "feeds our soul". Have we thought about, or have we neglected to serve, those who are hungry for the soul food we receive each week? Do we smell the rich aromas of the dishes we hold in our arms, and do we know what it would mean to the people who need it?
If the citizens of the world were well-fed, physically and spiritually, maybe we would have fewer wars, less mayhem and violence. But the world is a big place, and a waiter can be overwhelmed. The server with too many tables can become frustrated, burn out, and serve no one well. But can we really afford to say,"Sorry, hon', that's not my table?" Though it may seem like every one in the world is waving their empty coffee cup, somehow we have to try and fill them.
A hungry soul that has to wait too long, or has a surly waitress, might soon: starve; or they could just go somewhere else to eat. Unfortunately, folks with bad experiences tell far more people than those who have had good experiences. Our reputation, however, is not what we should worry about most. A hungry soul will go somewhere, anywhere, until they are satisfied, seeking some experience that will complete them. They will get what they are looking for, even if it is not the food they are truly craving. Some don't even know what it is they really want, and may subsist on a steady diet of junk food.
The world is ready to serve them a smorgasbord; spiritual fast-food is just around the corner. A hungry soul will sample that spiritual smorgasbord, digesting each nibble and bite until it finds the tastes it is seeking. A little bit of Oprah, a dash of yoga, a smattering of Hinduism, Paganism, Christianity, Judaism, Taoism, a dash of salt and a pinch of sage. Mix well and simmer in a cast iron cauldron. Some hungry soul will find the combination delicious. Hungry souls are adventuresome eaters, and willing to try new things. But if the taste doesn't suit them, they don't always finish everything on their plate before savoring dessert.
Some may mistake spiritual hunger for a physical need. They may satisfy their appetite with the erotic pleasures of sensual living. It is no surprise to find some of the most desparate souls, and thus the most profitable mission fields, at your local 12-step meeting; the addiction du jour fills but doesn't satiate, and is an easy destination for those with spiritual eating disorders.
Maybe you have had this experience. I was craving chocolate ice cream. Only there wasn't any on hand. Sure, Kroger is open 24/7, but I didn't want to go out. It was the middle of the night. There was some strawberry yogurt; I like strawberry yogurt, but it isn't chocolate ice cream. It is cold and creamy, but it isn't chocolate ice cream. I ate it anyway; the whole thing. The funny thing is, and you can guess this, it just fails to satisfy. I wasn't hungry for just anything that was cold and sweet and creamy. I wanted chocolate ice cream! So why did I do it? I wasn't starving, or in desparate physical need of any food available. So why did I do it? Because it was there. Because it was there.
What would you do if, next time we serve communion, you heard the growling stomach of the person next to you and they leaned over and asked,"Hey, can I have some of yours? I'm hungry." They're in the right place to be hungry. They're usually not so fothright and obvious. We have to look and listen closely.
Is that your table?
~Bill
Thursday, October 04, 2007
The Revolutionary Mix
Wow!!! What more could a person ask for?
I was shopping for a new refrigerator today, for the new tenants to our house. Not looking for anything fancy; but something that will hold enough for their family, be reliably cool and cold, and not too hard on my wallet. Then what to my wandering eyes doth appear? A 12-inch flat screen, and a place for my beer!
I stood mesmerized. Never in my life had I even dreamed the joining of technology and food could be so complete. When I was a kid, we marvelled at Tang and the fact that we could drink what the astronauts drank. Yet here it was. A 24 cubic foot, side-by-side refrigerator. Crushed or cubed ice and water on the left hand door; and a 12-inch LCD screen on the right hand door! It was hypnotizing. I had almost forgotten what I came for. What will those Madison Avenue Culture-gods prescribe for me next? I mean, they already know what next year's hot fashions will be...they must know everything!
There's only one problem I see with this refrigerator (besides the $2700.00 price tag!). When I open the door to grab my Silver Bullet, I won't be able to see the picture! Maybe they can put a screen inside the refrigerator; one that won't fog up when I open the door. Who knows what could happen on CSI during those crucial five seconds when I can't ignore the munchies? Or what Oprah might tell me, if only I weren't putting away the Kool-Aid? Heaven knows, I might even miss the photos of Suri Cruise, or Brangelina, while I'm grabbing the milk!
Does life have to be one big People magazine? Does our culture have to be so embarassingly nosy? Why are the headlines of the Herald-Worker usually about Tubby's problems, instead of something really important?
Desiring a little Silence and Solitude from the Screaming Masses,
~Bill
I was shopping for a new refrigerator today, for the new tenants to our house. Not looking for anything fancy; but something that will hold enough for their family, be reliably cool and cold, and not too hard on my wallet. Then what to my wandering eyes doth appear? A 12-inch flat screen, and a place for my beer!
I stood mesmerized. Never in my life had I even dreamed the joining of technology and food could be so complete. When I was a kid, we marvelled at Tang and the fact that we could drink what the astronauts drank. Yet here it was. A 24 cubic foot, side-by-side refrigerator. Crushed or cubed ice and water on the left hand door; and a 12-inch LCD screen on the right hand door! It was hypnotizing. I had almost forgotten what I came for. What will those Madison Avenue Culture-gods prescribe for me next? I mean, they already know what next year's hot fashions will be...they must know everything!
There's only one problem I see with this refrigerator (besides the $2700.00 price tag!). When I open the door to grab my Silver Bullet, I won't be able to see the picture! Maybe they can put a screen inside the refrigerator; one that won't fog up when I open the door. Who knows what could happen on CSI during those crucial five seconds when I can't ignore the munchies? Or what Oprah might tell me, if only I weren't putting away the Kool-Aid? Heaven knows, I might even miss the photos of Suri Cruise, or Brangelina, while I'm grabbing the milk!
Does life have to be one big People magazine? Does our culture have to be so embarassingly nosy? Why are the headlines of the Herald-Worker usually about Tubby's problems, instead of something really important?
Desiring a little Silence and Solitude from the Screaming Masses,
~Bill
Sir, are you ready to order?
If only it were that easy.
I am the hungry one, and she is the one who brings nourishment from the unseen source. She brings exactly what I want, tends to my half-empty glass, and does so with a smile.
Oh, I like it when a waitress calls me "Hon'". What service!
Where is my waitress? And why did I get the table near the kitchen today?
~Bill
I am the hungry one, and she is the one who brings nourishment from the unseen source. She brings exactly what I want, tends to my half-empty glass, and does so with a smile.
Oh, I like it when a waitress calls me "Hon'". What service!
Where is my waitress? And why did I get the table near the kitchen today?
~Bill
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Everybody's got a hungry heart.
Dear Readers,
It's gnawing at me today, but I can't tell you what it is. It could be the fist-sized organ tucked away under layers of flesh, bone, and other essential organs. Or it could be that "lonely organ", perhaps speculative in nature, and whose exact location remains unknown. God knows we have searched for it.
They both must be fed, every day. The appetite itself is easily satisfied. Our physical stomach won't know the difference between brussell sprouts and chocolate; when it is full it is full. The "lonely organ" is almost as easily satisfied, in today's post-modern cafeteria. A bit of Buddhist meditation, a smattering of New Age mystics, a few Eastern Orthodox rituals, and a regimen of Thai Chi. The "lonely organ" could survive on a diet like this, for awhile. It isn't exactly unpalatable fare; almost certainly more readily swallowed than the Christian discipline of history.
Maybe there is a simple explanation for this soul-hunger. It just feels like my pills didn't work today.
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
It's gnawing at me today, but I can't tell you what it is. It could be the fist-sized organ tucked away under layers of flesh, bone, and other essential organs. Or it could be that "lonely organ", perhaps speculative in nature, and whose exact location remains unknown. God knows we have searched for it.
They both must be fed, every day. The appetite itself is easily satisfied. Our physical stomach won't know the difference between brussell sprouts and chocolate; when it is full it is full. The "lonely organ" is almost as easily satisfied, in today's post-modern cafeteria. A bit of Buddhist meditation, a smattering of New Age mystics, a few Eastern Orthodox rituals, and a regimen of Thai Chi. The "lonely organ" could survive on a diet like this, for awhile. It isn't exactly unpalatable fare; almost certainly more readily swallowed than the Christian discipline of history.
Maybe there is a simple explanation for this soul-hunger. It just feels like my pills didn't work today.
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
Soul Food, or What are you bringing to the Potluck?
Dear Readers,
Everyone eats,and many people endow their eating with religious significance. Think how often food and food experiences are part of the church life. In practically all faiths, food plays a role in their religious life--from the ice cream social or chili cook-off, to communion, to the worship of the corn god.
Food cuts across these traditions much like it cuts and weaves through our physical and spiritual lives. It is material and ephemeral. We consume it and it is gone, transitory but essential to life. Prayer over a meal may be the only prayer in some people's lives, in what seems a peculiar mix of both physical and ideological substance.
We even have our food fights, evident in the debate between the theologian and the medical practitioner, regarding the common chalice or the individual communion cup; the common loaf or the individual wafer; wine or grape juice. There's the church cookbook, too. Churches range in their emphasis on food from "here are some recipes we'll share", to the move in the 1970's to fight world hunger.
If you were to ask a person attending a church potluck why they were there you could expect a number of answers. They might range from "because God wants us to be together", to "because this is where my friends are". Have we gotten so hung up on "fellowship" that we have forgotten the broader reasons we belong to a church and the mission of the church? Or is it that some people are looking for community, and when they come to church they find community and a place to fit in.
For some folks, (not just the kids), the highlight of their church experience each week may be coffee hour, or juice and snacks. We may look down on that as being not particularly Christian, but they may get from the coffee hour that "this is a place for me, this is home", and it may be something that will shape their Christian lives forever. Acting out community in this way may be more important for them than hearing a sermon on community.
I guess all this could be over-analyzing a bit. After all, sometimes a broccoli casserole is just a broccoli casserole.
One thing about potlucks--you'll always eat well. People bring their best stuff to potlucks. Keep your fork; the best is yet to come!
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
Everyone eats,and many people endow their eating with religious significance. Think how often food and food experiences are part of the church life. In practically all faiths, food plays a role in their religious life--from the ice cream social or chili cook-off, to communion, to the worship of the corn god.
Food cuts across these traditions much like it cuts and weaves through our physical and spiritual lives. It is material and ephemeral. We consume it and it is gone, transitory but essential to life. Prayer over a meal may be the only prayer in some people's lives, in what seems a peculiar mix of both physical and ideological substance.
We even have our food fights, evident in the debate between the theologian and the medical practitioner, regarding the common chalice or the individual communion cup; the common loaf or the individual wafer; wine or grape juice. There's the church cookbook, too. Churches range in their emphasis on food from "here are some recipes we'll share", to the move in the 1970's to fight world hunger.
If you were to ask a person attending a church potluck why they were there you could expect a number of answers. They might range from "because God wants us to be together", to "because this is where my friends are". Have we gotten so hung up on "fellowship" that we have forgotten the broader reasons we belong to a church and the mission of the church? Or is it that some people are looking for community, and when they come to church they find community and a place to fit in.
For some folks, (not just the kids), the highlight of their church experience each week may be coffee hour, or juice and snacks. We may look down on that as being not particularly Christian, but they may get from the coffee hour that "this is a place for me, this is home", and it may be something that will shape their Christian lives forever. Acting out community in this way may be more important for them than hearing a sermon on community.
I guess all this could be over-analyzing a bit. After all, sometimes a broccoli casserole is just a broccoli casserole.
One thing about potlucks--you'll always eat well. People bring their best stuff to potlucks. Keep your fork; the best is yet to come!
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
Monday, September 10, 2007
You are what you eat. Or, What's in Mystery Meat, anyway?
Dear Readers,
I lay moaning in my bed. I was so miserable, so embarrassed and so humiliated! My stomach ached from too much food. I hadn't felt that way in a long time. I'd almost forgotten what gluttony felt like.
What was I thinking? Amazingly, the whole episode started in my mind, not in my mouth! I'd been looking forward to the Cultural Diner for days. Now, there's nothing wrong with the Cultural Diner. You can have it anytime you're hungry. And who isn't hungry? The remarkable thing--it really is all-you-care-to-eat there.
And we like what they're feeding us! After all, instant sensual gratification is so tangible at the Diner. Our mouths savor the meat there, fat and sizzle and all; we can super-size the already gigantic portions; and the refills are always free. We have questions, and the answers at the Diner are so attractive. "Buy bigger, buy now, look perfect, Here's How." " Live life as you see fit." "Look better than ever!" "Don't you want to look like this?" "No money down!" "You deserve the best that money can buy!" Don't ask questions! "Somebody's gotta win; it might as well be you!" And if you're not up to the task, we have Viagra and Cialis. In fact, a pill for everything.
It seems as though the Cutural Diner has gone into the catering business, too. We're finding it in places we would least expect it. Goes to show how effective their marketing is. Be aware of what they're feeding you, even at the church that prioritizes entertaining its members with a “relevant” mix of loud music, amusing skits, and video clips.
Beware the need to keep a television in the car, the bedroom, and the bathroom. Beware a culture that teaches us to avoid meaningful conversation by putting on our headsets whether on the subway, shopping for groceries, or eating at the Diner.
Are we getting full? We're taking it all in, consuming what they give us, but our appetite is never satiated. We're sacrificing a deeper hunger to fulfill a shallow need. We're consuming the superficial in order to avoid facing the visceral.
But if we remain hungry for a solution to loneliness, it is not because we lack access to something that will fill us. In fact, God has given us unlimited access to spiritual food and spiritual drink. If we remain hungry, we do so because we choose to starve ourselves.
We do not fully understand why the world is as it is, and the mystery that looms over us. It is an intimidating feeling not to fully understand the answers to life’s profound questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? What will happen when I die? So we seek others for answers to these great questions. And we hope that the answers will soothe the loneliness. The other answers, however, are scary because they conjure up notions of objective moral standards, accountability for actions, and, most frighteningly, an eternal God.
The next time we're tempted to pop in the earbuds and grab a quick snack at the Diner...let us feast instead, on the Manna in our cultural desert; let us eat of the Bread of Life; slake our thirsts with the Living Water. Just think how far a few loaves and fishes might go...
Eccl 2:25 "for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"
Eccl 9:7 "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do."
What's on your menu? What's in your wallet? The Cultural Diner comes at a high price, but you can charge it.
~Bill
"The Kingdom of Heaven is not meat and drink...but righteousness, peace, and the Holy Ghost."
I lay moaning in my bed. I was so miserable, so embarrassed and so humiliated! My stomach ached from too much food. I hadn't felt that way in a long time. I'd almost forgotten what gluttony felt like.
What was I thinking? Amazingly, the whole episode started in my mind, not in my mouth! I'd been looking forward to the Cultural Diner for days. Now, there's nothing wrong with the Cultural Diner. You can have it anytime you're hungry. And who isn't hungry? The remarkable thing--it really is all-you-care-to-eat there.
And we like what they're feeding us! After all, instant sensual gratification is so tangible at the Diner. Our mouths savor the meat there, fat and sizzle and all; we can super-size the already gigantic portions; and the refills are always free. We have questions, and the answers at the Diner are so attractive. "Buy bigger, buy now, look perfect, Here's How." " Live life as you see fit." "Look better than ever!" "Don't you want to look like this?" "No money down!" "You deserve the best that money can buy!" Don't ask questions! "Somebody's gotta win; it might as well be you!" And if you're not up to the task, we have Viagra and Cialis. In fact, a pill for everything.
It seems as though the Cutural Diner has gone into the catering business, too. We're finding it in places we would least expect it. Goes to show how effective their marketing is. Be aware of what they're feeding you, even at the church that prioritizes entertaining its members with a “relevant” mix of loud music, amusing skits, and video clips.
Beware the need to keep a television in the car, the bedroom, and the bathroom. Beware a culture that teaches us to avoid meaningful conversation by putting on our headsets whether on the subway, shopping for groceries, or eating at the Diner.
Are we getting full? We're taking it all in, consuming what they give us, but our appetite is never satiated. We're sacrificing a deeper hunger to fulfill a shallow need. We're consuming the superficial in order to avoid facing the visceral.
But if we remain hungry for a solution to loneliness, it is not because we lack access to something that will fill us. In fact, God has given us unlimited access to spiritual food and spiritual drink. If we remain hungry, we do so because we choose to starve ourselves.
We do not fully understand why the world is as it is, and the mystery that looms over us. It is an intimidating feeling not to fully understand the answers to life’s profound questions: Where did I come from? Why am I here? What will happen when I die? So we seek others for answers to these great questions. And we hope that the answers will soothe the loneliness. The other answers, however, are scary because they conjure up notions of objective moral standards, accountability for actions, and, most frighteningly, an eternal God.
The next time we're tempted to pop in the earbuds and grab a quick snack at the Diner...let us feast instead, on the Manna in our cultural desert; let us eat of the Bread of Life; slake our thirsts with the Living Water. Just think how far a few loaves and fishes might go...
Eccl 2:25 "for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"
Eccl 9:7 "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do."
What's on your menu? What's in your wallet? The Cultural Diner comes at a high price, but you can charge it.
~Bill
"The Kingdom of Heaven is not meat and drink...but righteousness, peace, and the Holy Ghost."
Open all hours! Serving everything!
Dear Readers
If there were to be an organ in the human body that causes loneliness, I am sure it would be somewhere near the stomach. When I am really hungry I will eat just about anything--that stuff in the tupperware at the back of the fridge, dry spaghetti, anything past its sell by date, brussell sprouts.
The same thing is true when I am lonely. I will look anywhere, do nearly anything, to satisfy that hunger. If we hunger, there is food. If we lust, there is sex. If we are lonely, there is company, or at least the din of the crowd. Our culture crowd begs us to get in, sit down, plug it in and turn it on, and shut up. When it wants our opinion it will give it to us, all through those cute little iPod ear buds.
The company of our pop culture is superficial, however; is harmfully superficial. It never engages us in a meaningful manner. Instead it is full of empty chatter, hollow talk, false praises, soulless confessions, and boring secrets. It never fills the "lonely organ" the way food fills the stomach. It's meals are as cotton candy, sweet but for a moment, but dissolving into nothingness. We are left wanting something more substantial, and so we gorge ourselves on the senseless noise of the culture.
Human company, too, fails to satisfy fully. It is as an appetizer to a meal. Again culture answers; if we will only put our earphones back in or turn on the TV (with the remote, of course), the Dr. Phils will tell us what we want to hear, how to fill that loneliness. The cotton candy provides no nourishment.
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
"The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" Eccl. 1:8 Not yet finished....
If there were to be an organ in the human body that causes loneliness, I am sure it would be somewhere near the stomach. When I am really hungry I will eat just about anything--that stuff in the tupperware at the back of the fridge, dry spaghetti, anything past its sell by date, brussell sprouts.
The same thing is true when I am lonely. I will look anywhere, do nearly anything, to satisfy that hunger. If we hunger, there is food. If we lust, there is sex. If we are lonely, there is company, or at least the din of the crowd. Our culture crowd begs us to get in, sit down, plug it in and turn it on, and shut up. When it wants our opinion it will give it to us, all through those cute little iPod ear buds.
The company of our pop culture is superficial, however; is harmfully superficial. It never engages us in a meaningful manner. Instead it is full of empty chatter, hollow talk, false praises, soulless confessions, and boring secrets. It never fills the "lonely organ" the way food fills the stomach. It's meals are as cotton candy, sweet but for a moment, but dissolving into nothingness. We are left wanting something more substantial, and so we gorge ourselves on the senseless noise of the culture.
Human company, too, fails to satisfy fully. It is as an appetizer to a meal. Again culture answers; if we will only put our earphones back in or turn on the TV (with the remote, of course), the Dr. Phils will tell us what we want to hear, how to fill that loneliness. The cotton candy provides no nourishment.
Your Friendly, Neighborhood Apatheist,
~Bill
"The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing" Eccl. 1:8 Not yet finished....
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