Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2014

War of the Words

Did you know that the active definition of the word "literally" is "figuratively"? Here is the active listing for " Literally " according to Merriam-Webster: 1:   in a  literal  sense or manner  :    actually   <took the remark literally >   <was  literally  insane> 2 :    in effect   :    virtually   <will  literally  turn the world upside down to combat cruelty or injustice — Norman Cousins> I am quite positive that sitting on some bookshelf in someone's home is a dictionary printed several decades ago. In that dictionary is a listing for the word literally which contains only one definition, and that being the literal one.  On a parallel vein, we see words imported from other languages such as "bitch" or "fuck" which have a literal definition in their native tongue, but when used in America, have taken on much stronger and much more crass interpretations. I am quite sure that the first America

Settling for Mixed Drinks

I'm sitting here drinking a Redd's Hard Apple Cider. It's pretty good, but the fact remains that it isn't as good as a regular apple cider. The alcoholic content (8%) adds just enough bitter into the drink that it becomes unpleasant to drink. It isn't pure apples anymore. How often in our day-to-day routine do we drink the drink that the world offers us? Or even if you turn down drinking it today, are you allowing the world to pollute your drink for tomorrow? Are you settling for a mixed drink? Letting the world influence your decisions and disguise itself in the midst of truth? You see, the trouble with mixed drinks is that they are tasty, yes, but they also have a high bitterness content. Which, if you drink too deeply, you will alter your ability to think clearly. If you drink too often, you lose your ability to taste what is bitter and what is sweet. And eventually, you no longer need the sweet and you go straight for the bitter. We need to remember th

Enlightened Age of (t)Reason

Did you know that there are over 700 commands in the Bible? Well, now you do. And out of those 700+ rules, how many do you suppose you have kept/are keeping? Some of those commands are relatively easy to keep (do not murder, do not steal, do not make sacrifices to other gods, don't have sex with animals, or even the command to cut off the hand of a woman who grabs the testicles of a man who is in a fight with her husband --I have kept that last one by simply avoiding a naked wrestling match with a wife nearby looking like she had a firm grip). Some of those commands are harder to keep (don't shave the corners of your beard, honor your father and mother, stone and adulterer, let your yes be yes). And some commands are easy to keep, but we are simply too smart these days for them (keep the Sabbath holy, keeping fasting days, homosexuality, etc). It is some of these examples that have me particularly worried. When Jesus is questioned about why his disciples do not fast, H