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February 11, 2015 – Speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, seen above: I visited that venerable institution on December 26, 2014, during a Christmas visit to Cleveland. One of the exhibits was on Pink Floyd, a band inducted into the Hall in 1996. You can see the full bio at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum | RockHall.com:

The group carried rock and roll into a dimension that was more cerebral and conceptual than what preceded it.  What George Orwell and Ray Bradbury were to literature, Pink Floyd is to popular music, forging an unsettling but provocative combination of science fiction and social commentary.

And just for a heads up, some Bible prophets were – like Pink Floyd – also adept at making “unsettling and provocative” social commentaries, as discussed further below.

Pink Floyd’s variation on that theme was undoubtedly their hit, Another Brick in the Wall, “three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd‘s 1979 rock opera, The Wall.”

Part 2 of the 3-part set was “a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular.” See Wikipedia, which added –  as a side note – that the single version, “as well as the album The Wall, were banned in South Africa in 1980 after the song was adopted by supporters of a nationwide school boycott protesting racial inequities in education under the apartheid regime.” See also Pink Floyd’s The Wall: A Complete Analysis:

Pink Floyd’s the Wall is one of the most intriguing and imaginative albums in the history of rock music…  the Wall traces the life of the fictional protagonist, Pink Floyd, from his boyhood days in post-World-War-II England…   From the outset, Pink’s life revolves around an abyss of loss and isolation…  Every incident that causes Pink pain is yet another brick in his ever-growing wall[, including:]  an out-of-touch education system bent on producing compliant cogs in the societal wheel…

“Compliant cogs in the societal wheel?”  That sounds a lot like what many Christians seem bent on producing, from their take on the Bible and the Faith that comes from it.

That might be another way of saying some people need a very “codified and structured system of belief.”  And those of us who aren’t so certain sometimes envy those who can speak of their faith with such a great sense of conviction and clarity.  But as another “prophet” said:

I don’t have a problem with God.  I have a problem with religion.  I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith.

See Contents, above.  I responded in On “guilty until proven innocent”, which said:  “Here’s a news flash:  If your religion makes you certain, you’re missing the point!”

There’s nothing wrong with having a strong “codified and structured system of Christian belief.”  The problem comes when you think “that’s all there is to it.”  That is, some Christians seem to think that’s all there is to the Christian faith.  But to a true Christian Pilgrim, such a “codified system” is never an end in itself.   It’s just a jumping-off point, a place to start learning how to “soar on the wings of an eagle,” to paraphrase Isaiah 40:31.  (See The Blog.)  It’s also a starting point for implementing that Third Great Promise of Jesus, noted in Mr. Chan.

Which brings us back to Bible Prophets like Isaiah.  Such prophets back then were – as much as Pink Floyd in our time – “spokesmen of protest,” the “radicals of their day.”  The Bible prophets frequently stood opposed to the “formal priesthood” of their day, as well as the monarchy.

The priesthood then, as always, was primarily interested in the minutiae of ritual.  This was something that could easily be followed by anyone and generally presented no difficulties.  It might be a tedious way of gaining God’s favor, but it was not really painful…  The prophets, however, were likely to disdain ritual and to insist, instead, on a high ethical code of behavior, something that could present serious difficulties.

See Isaac Asimov’s Guide to the Bible (Two Volumes in One),  Avenel Books (1981), at page 527.  Asimov added that it was both difficult to perform that higher ethical good that Isaiah spoke of, and also difficult “to determine what [that] ethical good might be.”

On that note see On “expressio unius”, which noted the vast difference between the letter and the spirit of the law of the Bible.  Citing 2d Corinthians 3:6 and John 4:24, that post-column said such passages show “God does not want Good Christians to limit their reading, interpreting and living according to the Bible to a spirit-killing literalism…”

That’s what this blog is about.  Finding that life-giving “Spirit of the Bible.”

So if you’re interested in the “minutiae of ritual” – being just another “carbon copy Christian”  –  this blog isn’t for you.  On the other hand, if you’re interested in creating “new paths and patterns,” in and for your own personal spiritual journey, stick around…

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The upper image is courtesy of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum | RockHall.com, under the “Visit the Musuem” icon.  The lower image is borrowed from The Blog, and in turn is courtesy of “http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/haveamagnificentday/files/2014/03/soaring-eagle.jpg.”

Re:  “new paths and patterns.”  See the notes to On Jonah and the bra-burners.

Also re: new paths and patterns.  See On Jesus: Liberal or Fundamentalist?  That post said Jesus made two main promises:  “First, He would never turn away anyone who came to Him.  Second, He came here so His followers could have life ‘in all its abundance.'”  (See John 6:37 and John 10:10.)  This was before I fully appreciated the Third Promise, but did lead to my question:  “Why would anyone want to interpret those promises literally or narrowly?“

The original post had a lower image captioned with Isaiah 40:31, that “those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary…”

 

 

The “Mystic marriage of Christ and the Church…”

 

As noted in The Christian repertoire, “The terms ‘mystic‘ or ‘mysticism‘ seem to throw Southern Baptists and other conservative Christians into apoplexy.  (‘Try it sometime!!!‘)”

One example?  “The term ‘Christian mystic’ is an oxymoron.  Mysticism is not the experience of a Christian.” See What is Christian mysticism? – GotQuestions.org.  Or consider this:

Mysticism is when you get into a mystical state and it’s something you cannot understand, you’re out there in “la-la” land, it’s an “oooh” experience and you’re really not thinking.

Is There A Biblical Mysticism? | thebereancall.org.  (About one “click” down).

On the other hand – and as also noted in Christian repertoire – a generalized internet search leads to the definition of a mystic as “a person who seeks by contemplation and self-surrender to obtain unity with or absorption into the Deity or the absolute…”

That seems to be what Christianity is all about: obtaining unity with God, through Christ.

See also Mysticism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, which said the term mysticism originally “referred to the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative dimensions in early and medieval Christianity.”   The article Teresa of Ávila – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, noted in pertinent part, “Teresa’s writings, produced for didactic purposes, stand among the most remarkable in the mystical literature of the Catholic Church.”

And finally, there’s the note in “Mr. Chan?”   That note points out page 339 of the Book of Common Prayer, “which says that by sharing Holy Communion we are assured ‘that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son…'”  Emphasis added.

Of course there might be a dark side of the force, a “moral, philosophical, metaphorical and psychic concept.”  See for another example, The Bible and Mysticism – Patheos:

Not all mystical experiences lead to good.  It seems clear that many Germans at the Nurnberg rallies in the late 1930s entered a state of mystical ecstasy as they listened to Hitler in the midst of flags and goose-steeping troops and stirring music…    The test, the criterion of discernment, as William James wrote more than a century ago, quoting a saying of Jesus from Matthew, is, “By their fruits, you shall know them.”  If the result, the consequence of mystical experience, is compassion and growth in compassion, then it is of God, from the sacred.

Which sounds like a pretty good test.

For those conservatives and/or literalists who still want to go old school, there’s a book, Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide, available at Amazon.com, by Aryeh Kaplan:

This practical guide covers such topics as mantra meditation, contemplation, and visualization within a Jewish context.  It shows us how to use meditative techniques to enhance prayer…  Through simple exercises and clear explanations of theory, Rabbi Kaplan gives us the tools to develop our spiritual potential… (E.A.)

See also Judaism 101: Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism.   (You might want to check Kabbalah: An Overview | Jewish Virtual Library:  “Kabbalah is the name applied to the whole range of Jewish mystical activity.  While codes of Jewish law focus on what it is God wants from man, kabbalah tries to penetrate deeper, to God’s essence itself.”)

Judaism 101 did note this “trendy doctrine” had been popularized “by various Jewish and non-Jewish celebrities.”  (See Madonna Kabbalah.)  Then too, “several messages from non-Jews describ[e] Kabbalah as ‘the dark side of Judaism,’ describing it as evil or black magic.”

Heck, you might even say that beginning a spiritual and/or Mystic Quest in an effort to help your favorite college football team win national championships could be seen as part of that “dark side.”  But then there’s that darn passage about Moses, at the Battle or Rephidim, having his buddies hold his arms up, to help his team win.   (It seems that if he got tired and let his arms down, the other team started winning.  See Intro, and also “God’s Favorite Team”.)

Be that as it may,  Judaism 101: Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism also said:  “Mysticism and mystical experiences have been a part of Judaism since the earliest days.”

 

Talk about  “originalism…”

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Christian mysticism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The full caption:  “Mystic marriage of Christ and the Church.”

The lower image is courtesy of the same site, with the caption:  “Transfiguration of Jesus depicting him with Elijah, Moses and 3 apostles by Carracci, 1594.”  The site noted:  “[P]ractices such as the Eucharist, baptism and the Lord’s Prayer all become activities that take on importance for both their ritual and symbolic values.”  Further, “Jesus’ conception, in which the Holy Spirit overshadows Mary, and his Transfiguration, in which he is briefly revealed in his heavenly glory, also become important images for meditation.”

Re: “The dark side of the force.”  The full reference is Dark side (Star Wars) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:  “The dark side of the Force is a fictional moral, philosophical, metaphorical and psychic concept in the Star Wars universe created by George Lucas.  The Force is a mystical energy which permeates the Star Wars galaxy;  its dark side represents an aspect of it that is not practiced by the Jedi who view it as evil.”

Re: old school.  See for example Urban Dictionary: old school,  and Define Old school at Dictionary.com:  “advocates or supporters of established custom or of conservatism.”

Re: Madonna Kabbalah – Huffington Post.  That site included a number of related stories from the “Post,” including Decade Roundup: 7 Signs We Are Becoming More Spiritually Focused, which added:  “Celebrities such as Madonna, (now known by her Kaballistic name, Esther), David Beckham, Elizabeth Taylor, Demi Moore and Britney Spears have all embraced the Kabbalah.” 

The column On “originalism” noted the term reflects “the view that interpretation of a written constitution or law [ – or Bible – ] should be based on what reasonable persons living at the time of its adoption would have declared the ordinary meaning of the text to be.”

 

 

Oscar Wilde in 1882, before he was sentenced to prison for “gross indecency…”

 

January 30, 2015 – I just saw The Imitation Game, a “2014 historical thriller film about British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing who was a key figure in cracking Nazi Germany‘s naval Enigma code which helped the Allies win the Second World War, only to later be criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.”

This was after I’d gotten a lead connecting Psalm 130 to Oscar Wilde, who also got “sent to prison for ‘gross indecency,'” away back in 1895.

Note that all this occurred in another country – England – and before the year 2003.  That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court issued Lawrence v. Texas, thus ending such sentences:

[T]he Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory.  The Court overturned its previous ruling on the same issue in the 1986 case Bowers v. Hardwick…   The Court held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the 14th Amendment. (E.A.)

Thus as a general rule it pays to remember our past history.  That’s good advice even when – and perhaps especially when – that history isn’t all that glorious.  As Harry Truman once said, “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.”  (See Harry Truman and his History Lessons, and also my fairly-recent post On Harry Truman and the next election.)

Which brings us back to Alan Turing and Oscar Wilde.

Wikipedia said this:  “The film’s closing titles tell of Turing’s suicide in 1954, the royal pardon granted to him in 2013, and how his [code-breaking] machine inspired the invention and design of modern computers.”  Turing’s suicide followed – and may have been caused by – his court-ordered Chemical castration.  (Turing had been given the “choice” of spending some two years in prison or taking the court-ordered drug treatment…)

Wilde on the other hand got two years of hard labor, without a choice of “castration.”  And when he tried to speak, his voice was drowned out by cries of “‘Shame’ in the courtroom.”

Wilde was imprisoned first in Pentonville Prison and then Wandsworth Prison in London.  Inmates followed a regimen of “hard labour, hard fare and a hard bed,” which wore very harshly on Wilde…   His health declined sharply, and in November he collapsed during chapel from illness and hunger…    He spent two months in the infirmary…   Richard B. Haldane, the Liberal MP and reformer, visited him and had him transferred in November to Reading Prison…  The transfer itself was the lowest point of his incarceration, as a crowd jeered and spat at him on the railway platform.

See Oscar Wilde – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Which brings up Psalm 130.

Between January and March 1897, near the end of his prison term, Wilde wrote a letter.

The letter was sent from “Reading Gaol to Lord Alfred Douglas.”  The title of the letter was De Profundus.  Psalm 130 is one of the “Penitential psalms.”  In English it begins:  “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!”  The Latin for “out of the depths” is De Profundus, and that’s where the title comes from.  See De Profundis (letter) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Which brings up the popular opinion that some of the world’s best writing has been done in prison.  See for example 12 Famous Writers Who Did Time | Robert Rotstein – Huffington Post, and 10 Great Works of Literature Written in Prison – Flavorwire:

When we imagine the places where our favorite authors penned their greatest masterpieces, a jail cell usually doesn’t come to mind.  But, whether their writers were prisoners of war or victims of bigotry, the solitude and lack of distractions have produced many a great book.  From Oscar Wilde’s apologia on spiritual awakening to Thoreau’s thoughts on civil disobedience, we survey authors whose great mental escapes from incarceration resulted in some of their most insightful and profound works…

Whether that solitude and “lack of distraction” still applies in today’s prisons is a matter of debate.  But a fairly recent example does come to mind, Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Written on April 16, 1963, the open letter “defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, arguing that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws…  The letter was widely published and became an important text for the American civil rights movement of the early 1960s.”

In Wilde’s case both the prologue and epilogue of his letter were a bit different.

Throughout the 1880’s Wilde had been a popular London playwright.  He was noted for his epigrams – his “witty, ingenious or pointed sayings” – and a novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.  Then there were the plays, including a “masterpiece,” The Importance of Being Earnest.  Also:

He wrote Salome (1891) in French in Paris but it was refused a licence for England due to the absolute prohibition of Biblical subjects on the English stage.  Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London…

But Wilde’s world came crashing down when he filed the ill-advised lawsuit that led to his own arrest, trial and conviction for gross indecency.  In brief, he went from the heights of fame and pleasure, literally to “the depths.”  And there, for whatever reason, he found “serenity:”

In 1897, in prison, he wrote De Profundis, which was published in 1905, a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials, forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure.  Upon his release he left immediately for France, never to return to Ireland or Britain.  There he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.  He died destitute in Paris at the age of 46.

In other words, he “lost everything dear to him,” but didn’t blame external forces.  The letter quoted Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, and came to see “Christ as a Romantic artist.”  In a word, instead of blaming other people, Wilde “rather absorb[ed] his hardships through the artistic process into a spiritual experience.”  See Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, and also Voices from Solitary: Oscar Wilde’s Cry from the Depths.

Incidentally, Wilde had to publish his last work, “Reading Gaol,” under an assumed name:

The finished poem was published by Leonard Smithers in 1898 under the name C.3.3., which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.  This ensured that Wilde’s name – by then notorious – did not appear on the poem’s front cover…   It was a commercial success, going through seven editions in less than two years…

So, in a few short years Oscar Wilde went from the highest acclaim to cries of “shame” in the courtroom.  When he was transferred to Reading Prison, a crowd gathered to jeer and spit at him.  During his exile in France he had to publish his last work under an assumed name.

And now he brings tourists to Dublin, the city of his birth…

Aside from his statue in Dublin’s Merrion Square, there’s also an Oscar Wilde Centre, at Trinity College in Dublin.  Which brings to mind what John Steinbeck wrote about another writer…

In his book Travels with Charley, Steinbeck wrote of wanting to see Sauk Centre, where Sinclair Lewis was born.  It was also the metaphoric setting of Lewis’ satirical novel, Main Street.

As Wikipedia noted, the novel was set in Gopher Prairie, “a town modeled on Sauk Centre.”  The heroine, Carol Milford, is a free-spirited liberal who disdains “the town’s physical ugliness and smug conservatism.”  The novel itself portrayed “petty back-stabbers and hypocrites in a small town.”  It mocked the prevalent desire to live in such “‘wholesome’ small towns,” with its “vicious realism and biting humor.”  Small wonder then that some “small-town residents resented their portrayal and the book was banned in Alexandria, Minnesota.”

Small wonder too that when Steinbeck met him in his later years, Lewis was shrunken, shriveled and constantly cold.  So he too took a voluntary exile – he died in Rome, of advanced alcoholism – prompted in part by the violent hatred his novel “aroused in the country of his nativity.” But now, as Steinbeck noted, “There’s a sign in Sauk Centre all right:  ‘Birthplace of Sinclair Lewis:'”

The only good writer was a dead writer.   Then he couldn’t surprise anyone any more, couldn’t hurt anyone any more….   I’ve heard he died alone.  And now he’s good for the town.  Brings in some tourists.  He’s a good writer now.

There’s probably some kind of lesson there, for writers and for bloggers.   In the meantime, here’s Psalm 130 – that Oscar Wilde found so comforting in his later years – in its entirety:

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.  Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!  If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.  I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  my soul waits for the Lord, more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.  O Israel, hope in the Lord!  For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.  It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Oscar Wilde – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the caption:  “Photograph taken in 1882 by Napoleon Sarony.”  The lower image comes from the same article, with the caption: “Statue of Oscar Wilde in Merrion Square, Dublin:”

[Merrion Square] is a Georgian garden square on the southside of Dublin [and is] considered one of the city’s finest surviving squares.  Three sides are lined with Georgian redbrick townhouses; the West side abuts the grounds of Leinster House (seat of the Oireachtas),Government Buildings, the Natural History Museum and the National Gallery. The central railed-off garden is now a public park.

The full reference to the movie-lead reference is Imitation Game – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The full reference to the Lawrence case is Lawrence v. Texas – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The full reference to Turing’s “rehabilitation” is Chemical castration – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Re: Steinbeck on Sinclair Lewis.  See Travels with Charley, Penguin Books (1980), pages 133-34.   See also Sinclair Lewis Biography – CliffsNotes:  “Although the reaction of Sauk Centre toward the book was at first unfavorable, there is no evidence that it was ever banned from the local library.”  And see Main Street (novel) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Psalm 130 was quoted in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

 

The title for this Page – Notes on a Blog – should not be confused with Notes on a Scandal, a movie dealing with a much more exciting topic.  (As shown above and as discussed below.)

Briefly, I created this page to shorten up the Home page.

As a side note, I generally I try to make the article-posts about “two clicks” long.  That’s about 900 words, and hopefully no more than 1,000.  That’s another way of saying that if you click your “page down” key twice, you should get to the bottom image.  That’s the ideal anyway.

The bottom image separates the main text from the notes in these blog-articles.  But when I finished creating the Home page, I saw that the notes themselves came to over 800 words.  That was much too long, so I created this separate post for the Home-Notes alone.

In the process I learned that the year 2006 saw three icky films on such “May-December” relationships, one of which was Notes on a Scandal.   The other two were Venus, starring Peter O’Toole as a “decrepit womanizer,” and The History Boys, with Richard Griffiths as a “venal and self-deluding” boy-stalker.  (Notes was the only film I saw, and for that matter I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain either, but we digress…)

I suppose there’s a lesson in all this.  One lesson could be that in writing these posts I tend to go off on tangents, which can be annoying.  But the other lesson could be that going off on tangents or “rabbit trails” can be a lot of fun, and also rewarding and instructive.  (See for example Meeting God Down A Rabbit Trail – Sermon Central.)

But enough of rabbit trails for now.  Here – without further ado – are Notes on a Home Page.

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The first note from the Home Page told of a “previous lead-in image,” which led to a Wikipedia article on Pilgrimages.  The value of such pilgrimages are an ongoing theme of this blog.

The previous lead-in image, courtesy of Pilgrimage – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, is one the reader may wish to visit.  The caption of that prior lead-in was “Pilgrimage to Kedarnath.”  Kedarnath is a Hindu temple in the northern Himalayas, with “extreme weather conditions that only allow the temple to open from the end of April to the beginning of November.  The temple is not directly accessible by road and has to be reached by a 14 km uphill trek…”  See also Kedarnath – India – Sacred Destinations.  (14 kilometers is about 9 miles.)

There followed notes on the “BCP,” Charlie Chan and carbon-copy Christians.

Re: Book of Common Prayer (BCP).  The quote on corporate and mystical sides is at page 339.

Re:  “one great philosopher.”  That would be Charlie Chan, as discussed at length in Some Bible basics from Vince Lombardi and Charlie Chan, and in “What’s in it for me?”

Re: “Carbon copy Christians.”   A carbon copy is a document made “when carbon paper is placed between the original and the under-copy.”  See Carbon copy – Wikipedia, which said the use of carbon copies “declined with the advent of photocopying and electronic document creation.”  Yet the term continues in today’s e-mail abbreviation cc or bcc (blind carbon copy).  As updated the term refers to  “simultaneously sending copies of an electronic message to secondary recipients.”  The term can also be used – as here – to refer to “anything that was a near duplicate of an original.”   See also Urban Dictionary: carbon copy:  “a person that has no personality and tries to emulate yours exactly.”

Then there are notes on a carbon-copy Christian being like “another brick in the wall,” and on copying painting masterpieces as a metaphor for learning from Bible stories.

Re: “Bricks in the wall.”  An allusion to the song(s) by Pink Floyd.  See Another Brick in the Wall – Wikipedia.  There were actually three songs, or parts, and “Part II is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular.”

Re:  “Copying masterpieces.”  There’s a book at Amazon.com, Copying Masterpieces (Watson-Guptill Artist’s Library), by Jose Maria Parramon.  The site said:  “Every student of art has been encouraged to copy works by renowned masters to better understand the skill and spirit that inform a great artist’s vision.”  The same might be said of copying people like Moses and Jesus…

Then I expanded on the metaphor of the “vast, unexplored continent of the Bible” being like the vast American continent opened up by the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The lower image is courtesy of Discovering Lewis & Clark ®, and seems to best express a sense of both exploration and contemplation.  To see the original image click “The Expedition,” or see http://www.lewis-clark.org/sites/default/files/theexpedition.jpg, which added:

Since January of 2009 the ownership and management of Discovering Lewis & Clark^® has been in the hands of the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundatio … to make this the most comprehensive and useful Lewis and Clark website on the Internet.

To extend the metaphor, the reader could consider me a guide or scout, not unlike those used in the great “Western Expansion” of the early and mid-1800s, after the Lewis and Clark expedition.  See for example  Westward Expansion – Facts & Summary – HISTORY.com.

On a more mundane note, see Amazon.com: Wagon Train: Season 1: Ward Bond, Robert Horton, and/or Wagon Train – TV.com, “Wagon Train followed the trials and tribulations of pioneering families as they set out from the East to carve out a new life in the West soon after the American Civil War.  For some of the travellers [sic] it was a happy ending, but not for all, which only heightened the drama along the way…”  In the same way, in trekking the “vast unexplored continent of the Bible” you could find both a “new life” and a sense of “coming home.”   (It’s like a metaphor…)

Then I brought in Hebrews 11:14-16, LeShan’s book How to Meditate, and pilgrimages in general.

On that note see also Hebrews 11:14-16, a Daily Office Reading for Saturday January 5, 2015:

[P]eople who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.  If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.  But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.

(New Living Translation, emphasis added.)   That reading followed the one for Friday January 4, 2015, which included Hebrews 11:6 (GNT):  “No one can please God without faith.  Whoever goes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”  (Another blog-theme.)

On the subject of seeking a “better country,” see also Lawrence LeShan’s How to Meditate[:]  A Guide to Self-Discovery (Bantam Books 1974), at page 1.  He was at a conference of scientists – “all of whom practiced meditation on a daily basis” – and asked why they meditated.   Various unsatisfactory answers were given until:  “Finally one man said, ‘It’s like coming home.”

On the subject of pilgrimages in general, see also www.spiritual-wellness.org/pilgrimage.html and/or dancingspirittours.com/why-choose-us/spiritual-tours.

 

The upper image is courtesy of the New York Times review of the “2006 British drama/psychological thriller film” Notes on a Scandal, at nytimes.com/2007/01/15/movies/15age.  See also Notes on a Scandal (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The Times review was titled “December and May: Desire vs. Ick Factor.” (Emphasis added.)  The caption for the lead image included above spoke of “Cate Blanchett as a teacher who has an affair with a 15-year-old student,” and contrasted that film with the “icky” Venus and equally-icky History Boys.  (See also Venus (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and The History Boys (film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 

Apparently 2006 was the year for such films, “whose target audience seems to be aging, upscale baby boomers,” as the Times noted.  As also noted, I suppose there’s some kind of lesson in all this…

 

The lower image is courtesy of the Grand Tour link in the dancingspirittours.com/why-choose-us/spiritual-tours website.  The “linked” Wikipedia article began:  “The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means … as an educational rite of passage.”  The Wikipedia caption reads:  “Northerners found the contrast between Roman ruins and modern peasants of the Roman Campagna an educational lesson in vanities.”

 

Moses at Rephidim:  “If I let my arms down, the other team will win!“

 

 

Tuesday, January 13, 2015 – With Ohio State’s victory last night, the 2014 college football season came to an end.  That means among every other set of college-team fans – aside from Ohio State’s – there will be some who ask, “Why did my team lose?   What did I do wrong?”

Devoted fans love to think if their team wins, they – the fans – helped out.  (Through their rituals, “lucky shirts” and the like.)  See “God’s Favorite Team” – Part II:  “It’s a natural tendency for people to make connections between events.  ‘When I do this, that happens…’  Primitive people [and perhaps modern football fans] developed superstitions in similar ways.”

The flip side is that today – among every set of fans except Ohio State’s – there are some who feel guilty for “jinxing” their team.  And among Ohio State’s fans there will be some who say – quite confidently – “My team won because of what I did.  Ohio State won because I [fill in the blank].  To see some examples check out On “God’s Favorite Team” – Part I], which added:

Superstition is a large part of a fan’s repertoire these days, especially when the home team is in Super Bowl XLVIII today…   Kenny Shisler has similar superstitions.  The lifelong Broncos fan said he will wear Broncos gear all week long, but refuses to do so on game day… “Like the Bud Light commercials [say], ‘It’s only weird if it doesn’t work…’”

Emphasis added, with the emphasized part referring to last year’s Super Bowl.  For those who don’t remember, that was an example of Bronco-fan superstitions not working.  Which is another way of saying that when their team loses, lots of fans feel somehow guilty about it.

(Then too there’s the sentiment in James 5:16, in the New Living Translation:  “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”  So why wouldn’t the prayer of a righteous football fan help his team win?)

Of course there are some who think all this superstition is really weird.  But as it turn out, today’s fans are just following the example of Moses at the Battle of Rephidim.  That’s when Israel pulled off their first big upset of the season, over the “hated arch-rival, the dreaded Amelikites:”

Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  [Essentially, to “watch the game on wide-screen.”]  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Am′alek prevailed.  But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands … so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

See “God’s Favorite” – Part II, citing Exodus 17:8-16.

That’s where I come in.

I started my spiritual journey that led to this blog back in the summer of 1992.  That’s when I started reading the Bible on a daily basis – using the DOR – and also started fine-tuning my exercise “ritual sacrifice.”  Ever since then I’ve kept on searching for the functional equivalent of Moses holding his hands up at the Battle of Rephidim.

It’s been a roller-coaster ride, but in the process I’ve learned lots of valuable lessons in ten trips through the Bible.  One of those lessons is that sometimes “winning” gets in the way of spiritual development.  Put another way the question might be, Why do the most intense periods of spiritual growth always seem to come after a disaster?

I explored this subject in God’s Favorite Team, the novel.  See the notes at For a book…

God’s Favorite Team is the story of an “ordeal and triumph…”   The ordeal … came in the ‘dark days after The Great FSU Loss to the Gators in the 1997 Sugar Bowl…’  Through it all, the Teller of This Story [looks] to the Bible for guidance on how to overcome the trauma of such defeats, and ultimately to learn and grow from them.

Then too, the book explored “the mystery of ritual on the part of football fans in general, and how – through such ritual ‘in the proper manner’ – those fans can grow and develop.”

So what lessons might be gleaned from God’s Favorite Team being humiliated on national TV on January 1st?  For myself, in doing my ritual “exercise sacrifice” – in the week before the game – I seem to have overplayed my hand.  I put in too much time doing too much exercise.  In essence I seemed to believe that I could earn that second title, and that’s always a temptation you’ll run across during your spiritual pilgrimage.

In doing so I may have disregarded the ancient wisdom: “dance with who brung ya.”  See “Dance with the one who brung you,” noting that while the phrase was popularized by University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal, it originated in a song popular in the 1920s.

Or I may have simply ended up doing the functional equivalent of Moses dropping his hands during the Battle of Rephidim.  During the season I got into the habit of not watching GFT‘s games, feeling too old for such aggravation.  But then for reasons too complicated to explain, I had to watch the ACC title game, and in doing so may have somehow “messed up the mojo.”

But in the end I probably can’t put it any better than what Brian Banks said:

“I do know that what I’ve been through has been an experience for me, but I feel it’s also a platform for some higher purposes.  Whether its people in the same situation I’m in, whether it’s people who can’t get  past some tragic incident or just people who need hope, I know there’s a reason for all of this.  It’s not just football.

So, my team lost, but we’ve been here before and come back.  I’ve written three posts on the subject of this humiliating loss, and tried to learn from it.  But now it’s time to move on.

From where the sun now stands I’ll mention it no more forever.   I’ll get back to my routine, mostly writing about the Bible readings for next Sunday.  So, along with Forrest Gump:

That’s all I have to say about that!

 

 

The upper image was borrowed from On “God’s Favorite Team” – Part II, and in turn is courtesy of Rephidim – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The full caption:  “Moses holding up his arms during the Battle of Rephidim, assisted by Hur and Aaron, in John Everett Millais‘ Victory O Lord! (1871).”

Re: Bud Light commercial.  See Touchdown: Bud Light captures fan superstitions in new TV spot.

Re: “Dance who brung ya.”  See also Thisness of a that: You’ve got to dance with the one who brung ya, and What does “dance with the one the one that brung ya” mean?  The latter noted in part the phrase “means you are loyal to the person who got you into your position even if that person is in disfavor and you would benefit yourself by turning against him/her.”  A valuable lesson indeed.

Re: Brian Banks.  The quote is from Sports Illustrated, Volume 116, No. 24, June 11, 2012, at pages 13-14, “Back to His Future?”   The subtitle:  “Exonerated after five years in prison, former USC recruit Brian Banks looks to the NFL.”  I discussed Banks’ case in On Jameis Winston’s future, in partial response to one Jameis-basher’s claim that the “odds that you will be falsely accused of rape are basically the same as the odds that you or someone in your family will be struck by lightning.”  For the latest on his case, see Brian Banks takes job with NFL front office – NFL.com.

The lower image is courtesy of forrestgump.wikia.com/wiki/Forrest_Gump.  See also Forrest Gump (1994) – Quotes – IMDb., and Forrest Gump – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The latter noted a statement by producer Steve Tisch: “Forrest Gump isn’t about politics or conservative values.  It’s about humanity, it’s about respect, tolerance and unconditional love.”

 

And finally, see also It’s Time For FSU and its Fans to Embrace the Role of the Villain:

The media has had an agenda to cover all issues that are even vaguely related to FSU in a manner that shows the school in a negative light.  The most notable example of this is the coverage of the sexual assault allegations against the Heisman trophy winner.  Jameis Winston was simply accused, he was not charged.  Although there are indications of mishandling on the part of FSU and the TPD in this case, there is also a bevy of evidence that points towards the allegations against Winston being false.

See also – for example –  Oakland Raiders – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:  “Today, the Raiders are known for their extensive fan base and distinctive team culture.”  For more on the latter, type in “oakland raiders distinctive team culture.”  You’ll be surprised…

As to The Scribe’s vastly enjoying last night’s national title game, see The enemy of my enemy is my friend – Wikipedia.  On a related note see also Imprecatory Psalms – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, to be the subject of a post in the near future…

 

 

 

This post is about Jameis Winston’s future in the NFL.

On February 8, 2015, I edited the title of this post-column – to “Jameis Winston latest news” – in a blatant attempt to get more readers by paraphrasing the first phrase that comes up when you start typing into your search engine, “J-A-M-E-I…”  I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Briefly, here’s my prognostication about Jameis’ future:  If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft Jameis Winston, they’ll win another Super Bowl within 3 years…

Moving right along, if you mention Jameis Winston – the former quarterback for FSU – what comes to  mind?  One thing that comes to my mind are the following four words:

Creation.  Sin.   Judgment.  Redemption.

These are the four main themes of the Bible.  In the saga of Winston’s college football career at Florida State, we’ve only seen the first three play out.  So far. So:  Let’s make this a Bible-teaching moment! But first, note that part of his “redemption” has started, at least as that term is defined by our popular culture.   Aside from the “JW” categories noted below, Winston has spawned another new cottage industry.  Just type in “jameis winston greeting cards.”  You’ll get a host of new sites exploiting his image, like “Jameis Winston Winner’s Smile” Greeting Cards & Postcards, Jameis Winston: T-Shirts & Hoodies, and even the slightly humorous Rottenecards – Went to Red Lobster for Crabfest….Jameis Winston beat me to it. Simply put: He’s become good for the economy!   (As in the cottage industry of “Jameis-bashing…”) But enough about the shallow world of popular culture.  (See The shallow world of Popular Culture. – The Escapist.)  Let’s get back to the subject at hand.

So again:  Let’s make this a Bible-teaching moment!

Before we get into that, there may be some who ask:  “What the heck does college football have to do with a Bible blog?”  Simply this.  I started the Mystic Quest that led to this blog in an effort to help my favorite team win football games.   That is, in the summer of 1992 I started reading the Bible on a daily basis, using the Daily Office.  (See WHAT’S A DOR?) I also started trying to perfect the “ritual sacrifice” that would also help my team win.  In that I was not unlike Moses holding his arms up at the Battle of Rephidim.   (See On “God’s Favorite Team” – Part II, and also Exodus 17 – Bible Gateway, and especially verses 11-13.) 22 years and 10 trips through the Bible later – and 33 to 40 trips through the Psalms and Gospels as well – I’m still at it.  I’m still learning spiritual lessons through that Quest…

*   *   *   *

But let’s get back to the Bible-teaching moment.

Creation is about “how we got here.”  In Winston’s case, we got here when Jameis burst onto the college football scene in 2013 as a redshirt freshman.  He then led a dominating FSU team to a national title win in a game of the century against Auburn, one short year ago.

But as we all know, “there’s got to be a morning after…” Put another way, after every mountain-top experience there’s usually “a valley experience…  We can’t stay on the mountain top all the time.”  See The Valley Experience, which added, “they return back to the valley of their world [and] come under attack from the enemy.”   (But that’s a whole ‘nother post-subject entirely…) Which leads to the second great theme of the Bible:  Sin. Sin?

By now the American public has been inundated with Winston’s real and imagined sins. Start typing “J-a-m-e-i” in your computer.  You’ll get at least the following results:  Jameis Winston latest news, Jameis Winston hearing, Jameis Winston accuser, Jameis Winston fumble, Jameis Winston memes, Jameis Winston hearing results, and Jameis Winston rape case. An example of the last category includes:  Jameis Winston Is Not A Victim – Deadspin.  The writer gave facts and figures ostensibly showing – in essence – that “women never lie about rape.”   He added, “one must be extraordinarily unlucky to be falsely accused of rape.”  He then said, “the odds that you will be falsely accused of rape are basically the same as the odds that you or someone in your family will be struck by lightning.”

Really?   Former football player Brian Banks might have a different take.  He served five years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit.  See Exonerated Brian Banks signs with Atlanta Falcons – CNN.com, which noted that Banks was only released from prison after his accuser “recanted.” Then there was the “Duke lacrosse case” in 2006.  See Duke Lacrosse Player Still Outrunning His Past | Vanity Fair, which described the lingering after-effects of such a “scandal,” then noted:

When three Duke University lacrosse players were falsely accused of rape, in 2006, the media descended on Durham, North Carolina, quickly turning the case into a story of race and privilege.  Most of the country all but assumed their guilt…

Some things never change, and it seems that popular “assuming guilt” is one of them. (But here’s a thought.  As noted in Part II, the Bible punishes both those who make false accusations and “those eager to receive or listen to false testimony.”   The Bible does not seem to punish those who “believe in their fellow man” and/or give him the benefit of doubt…) See also Duke lacrosse case – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, about “what proved to be a false accusation of rape made against three members of the men’s lacrosse team at Duke University…  The fallout from the case’s resolution led to public discussion of reverse racism, among other things, and the resignation and disbarment of lead prosecutor Michael Nifong.” Then there was the scandal that came up just a month ago about the University of Virginia.   See A Rape on Campus – Wikipedia.  An article in the December 2014 Rolling Stone “alleged a vicious gang rape at a fraternity at the University of Virginia against a victim identified as ‘Jackie.'”  However, other journalists started finding “significant discrepancies,” after which Rolling Stone had to issue multiple apologies, especially about it’s “vetting:”

The story was included in a Columbia Journalism Review feature, “The Worst Journalism of 2014,” where it was described as winning “this year’s media-fail sweepstakes.”

See also 8 Campus Rape Hoaxes Like UVA Rape Story | The Daily Caller:  “With very little effort at all, The Daily Caller has found eight twisted, totally false and especially astonishing rape hoaxes proffered over the years by female college students.” Of course the writer of Jameis Winston Is Not A Victim is entitled to his opinion.  However, readily-available data show otherwise.  At the very least, reasonable people could disagree. Beyond all that, the Bible tells us such false accusations go at least as far back as 3,500 years ago.  That was the time of Joseph, son of Israel, the Old Testament patriarch “formerly known as Jacob.”   See Potiphar – Wikipedia, which told what happened after Joseph’s brothers faked his death but actually sold him into slavery in Egypt.   In the fullness of time the slave Joseph was bought by Potiphar, captain of the Pharoah’s palace guard:

Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar’s wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him, accuses him falsely of attempted rape.  Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, from where he later comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners.

See also Joseph (patriarch) – Wikipedia:  “Angered by his running away from her, she made a false claim that he tried to rape her, and thus assured his imprisonment. (Genesis 39:1-20).” The incident proved fertile ground for artistic minds, if not license – especially in the 1600s – as seen in the image below.  (One of the few not too “racy” for a blog like this.)   One point to be gleaned could be: this was “all part of God’s plan.”  Joseph eventually found redemption. And who knows?  Maybe the same will be true of Jameis…

This essay is continued in On Jameis Winston’s future – Part II.  That post will expand on the fourth-of-four great themes of the Bible – redemption – and on the “prophecy” that if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft Winston, they’ll win a Super Bowl in three years.

The upper image is courtesy of ‘Jameis Winston is a bust’ and other Week 1 overreactions in the NFL. I added this photo on October 9, 2015, along with the article-link.  

Re:  “Four central themes.”  See Course Content, under The First Year – The Old Testament, line 2, “The Book of Genesis – The Themes of Creation, Sin, Judgment and Redemption.”  See also The Central Theme of the Bible – Covenant Worldview Institute. Re: “Creation” definition.   See How did we get here? – Christian Apologetics and Research.

Re: “Winston’s real and imagined sins.”  The most infamous charge involved an alleged rape in 2012.  On or about December 5 2013, State Attorney Willie Meggs announced no charges would be filed.  He did not feel “we had sufficient evidence to go forward to trial to prove it was not consensual.”  See Cleared a year ago, developments threaten to envelop Jameis Winston. Similarly – and as noted in Part II – on or about December 21, 2014, former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Major B. Harding concluded a “student conduct” hearing.  His finding?  “The preponderance of the evidence has not shown that you are responsible for any of the charged violations of the code.”  See FSU hearing clears quarterback Jameis Winston – CNN.com.

Some further FYI:  1)  Willie Meggs began his career in 1965 as a police officer, moved up to deputy-sheriff sergeant, then to Invesigator for the Tallahassee Police Department.  He was first elected State Attorney in 1985 and has been serving ever since.  2) Major B. Harding, former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, was born in1935.  He received his “undergraduate and law degrees from Wake Forest University.  He also holds a Master of Laws in Judicial Process from the University of Virginia.”  He began serving as a judge in 1968 in the juvenile court.  See State Attorney’s Office, 2nd Judicial Circuit.  See also Major B. Harding – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Major B. Harding, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and The Justice Major B. Harding American Inn of Court, which noted:

American Inns of Court (AIC) are designed to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar.  An American Inn of Court is an amalgam of judges, lawyers, and in some cases, law professors and law students.  Each Inn meets approximately once a month to hold programs and discussions on matters of ethics, skills and professionalism.

3)  The preponderance of evidence standard is met “if the proposition is more likely to be true than not true.  Effectively, the standard is satisfied if there is greater than 50 percent chance that the proposition is true.” See Legal burden of proof – Wikipedia.  4) Misfeasance, nonfeasance, and malfeasance are types of failure to discharge public obligations existing by common law, custom, or statute.  See Misfeasance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  Under Florida Statute 838.022, “Official misconduct” is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. See Chapter 838 Section 022 – 2011 Florida Statutes, and also Fifty State Survey of Official Misconduct Statutes.   Re: “Morning after.”  See also The Morning After (Maureen McGovern song) – Wikipedia. Re: Brian Banks.  See also Brian Banks (American football) – Wikipedia, which noted: 

Banks was a standout high school football star at Polytechnic High School (Poly) in Long Beach, California, and in 2002 had verbally committed to play for USC.   After being falsely accused of rape by a classmate, he spent more than five years in prison, but had his conviction overturned in 2012 after his accuser was secretly recorded admitting she had fabricated the story.  (E.A.)

Thus the “recanted” in quotation marks. Re:  “Vetting.”  See Vetting – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:   “To vet was originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a horse be checked for health and soundness by a veterinarian before being allowed to race.  Thus, it has taken the general meaning ‘to check.'”

The lower image is courtesy of Potiphar – Wikipedia.  The caption:  “Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife, by Guido Reni 1630.”  The point being that Potiphar’s wife made a false accusation of rape, and that despite his being innocent, Joseph got thrown into prison.

 Harry Truman, the President made famous by the sign on his desk…

 

 

Election Day is a week away.  It’s coming next Tuesday, November 4, and that leads us to the prayer found on page 822 of the Book of Common Prayer, For an Election:

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges:  Guide the people of the United States … in the election of officials and representatives; that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

(Hey, it could happen…)  And speaking of money, power and politics, this post is on the wit and wisdom – quite often Biblical – of the late President Harry Truman:

Harry S. Truman [1884-1972] was the 33rd President of the United States (1945–1953).  The final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health.  Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

Simply put, Harry was an uncomplicated shoot from the lip kind of politician with an equally uncomplicated sense of right and wrong.  And so – looking at today’s politicians and to borrow a phrase from 1860 (as the county dissolved into Civil War) – “Oh, for an hour of Truman.”

That is, in view of next week’s election it makes sense to review some of Harry’s thoughts on subjects including but not limited to politics and the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (below).  Unless otherwise noted the Truman quotes that follow are from Plain Speaking[:]  An oral biography of Harry S. Truman, Merle Miller, Berkley Publishing NY (1973).

Aside from being known for his “refreshing candor,” Truman was also noted for being open-minded.   He was always willing to listen to “what the other fella has to say.”  (BTW: a trait this blog promotes.)  And he was known for his avid reading, much of it history:

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know…   [G]o back to old Hammurabi, the Babyonian emperor.   Why, he had laws that covered everything, adultery and murder and divorce, everything…  Those people had the same problems as we have now. Men don’t change.

(Miller, 26)   As updated from 1973, the politically-correct version would read, “People don’t change,” but you get the idea.  See also Code of Hammurabi – Wikipedia.

Another thing that hasn’t changed – either since the time of Hammurabi or when Truman was president – is the number of “religious phonies” around.  (The Scribe googled that term and got 2,720,000 results.)   Truman had something to say about them too:

About this counterfeit business.  My Grandfather [Solomon*] Young felt the same way.  We had a church in the front yard…  And the Baptists and the Methodists and all of them used it.  And Grandfather Young when I was six years old … he told me that whenever the customers in any of those denominations prayed too loud in the Amen corner, you’d better go home and lock your smokehouse…   And I found that to be true.  I’ve never cared much for the loud pray-ers [sic] or for people who do that much going on about religion.

(Miller, 56)  This would seem especially true of politicians today who either “wear their religion on their sleeve,” or attack their opponents’ religion, or claim they’re “better Christians,” or otherwise use religion for their own benefit.  And incidentally, Jesus felt the same way about people who “pray too loud.”  See Matthew 6:5-6, and On praying in public.

I covered Truman’s views on reporters in the movie review, On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part I, and On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II.   On the other hand, Truman agreed with Thomas Jefferson’s statement, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” See Jefferson on Politics & Government: Freedom of the Press.

As to one of Truman’s best-known statements, on the buck stops here, from passing the buck:

The expression [came] from poker, in which a marker or counter … was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal.  If the player did not wish to deal he could pass [the “buck“] to the next player.   Another [possible source] is to the French expression “bouc émissaire” meaning scapegoat, whereby passing the “bouc” is equivalent to passing the blame or onus.  The terms “bouc émissaire” and scapegoat both originate from an Old Testament reference (Lev. 16:6-10) to an animal that was ritually made to carry the burden of sins, after which the “buck” was sent or “passed” into the wilderness to expiate them.

See Buck passing – Wikipedia.  (For more on the phrase see the notes below.  See also On scapegoating, which noted:  “A whipping boy, ‘fall guy’ or ‘patsy’ is a form of scapegoat…“)

On that note, and since this blog is on the Bible, we end with Truman’s quote on the Gospels:

I’ve always done considerable reading of the Bible…  I liked the New Testament stories best, especially the Gospels.  And when I was older, I was very much interested in the way those fellas saw the same things in a different manner.  A very different manner, and they were all telling the truth.  I think that’s the first time I realized that no two people ever see the same thing in quite the same way, and when they tell it the way they saw it, they aren’t necessarily lying if it’s different…   And that is one of the reasons that when I got into a position of power I always tried to keep in mind that just because I saw something in a certain way didn’t mean that others didn’t see it in a different manner.  That’s why I always hesitated to call a man a liar unless I had the absolute goods on him.

(Miller, 214)  Now that’s the kind of “delightfully retro” we could use today…

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Everyone Is Butchering ‘the Buck Stops Here‘, which said the phrase did not mean a president can be blamed for everything bad that happens on his watch, as used today.  Instead it was aimed at “Monday morning quarterbacking” (also known as “whining“): 

“You know, it’s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over.  But when the decision is up before you – and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here’ – the decision has to be made.”

See also Harry S. Truman – Wikipedia, source of the brief biography above.

The lower image is courtesy of Peter Paul Rubens: The Four Evangelists, which noted:  “Rubens portrayed the four evangelists while working together on their texts.  An angel helps them…   Each gospel author can be identified by an attribute.  The attributes were derived from the opening verses of the gospels.  From left to right: Luke (bull), Matthew (man [angel]), Mark (lion), and John (eagle).” See also, Four Evangelists – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Re: “shooting from the lip.”  See AU theatre presents “Give ’em Hell, Harry”, noting Truman as a man who “wasn’t afraid to ‘shoot from the lip’ and put himself on the line for what he believed in, not for what was necessary to win an election.”  For other views Google “shoot from the lip.” 

Note too that “shooting from the lip” is an ironic twist on the phrase, “shooting from the hip.”  See What Does “Shoot from the Hip” Mean? – wiseGEEK, re:  an American expression referring “to a decision that is reached and implemented without stopping to consider the possible outcomes of the decision.”  The site noted two schools of thought: one that the practice is rash and likely to produce worse consequences.  The second school relies on an individual using instincts drawn on his or her collective experience; “Proponents of this approach note that many opportunities are lost because time is wasted going over the minutiae of how to respond.”

See also the King James Version of Psalm 22:7-8:   “All they that see me laugh me to scorn:  they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him:  let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” (Emphasis added.)

 

Re:  “Oh, for an hour of Truman.”  See History for Kossacks: Election of 1860 – Daily Kos, which – in speaking of the interlude between Abraham Lincoln’s election and his actually taking office – noted:

Lincoln found himself armed with nothing but words to stop the South from seceding before he could even take office…   President James Buchanan, nearing 70 … looked at the Constitution and saw his hands being tied by a lack of specific instruction.  The cry went up from frustrated members of his own party: “Oh, but for an hour of Jackson!,” but “Old Buck” almost went out of his way to prove he was no “Old Hickory.”

See also AP US History Chapters 17-19 flashcards | Quizlet.

*   According to some sources, “Grandfather Young” provided Truman’s middle name, “Harry Solomon Truman.”  But the consensus is that Mr. and Mrs. Truman couldn’t decide to honor Mr. Young, the maternal grandfather, or the paternal grandfather, Andrew Shippe Truman, and so the parents decided to go with “the letter ‘S’ by itself.”  See snopes.com: Harry Truman’s Middle Name.

The end-quote, on the differences in the Gospels, included this, “edited for content:”

I think I told you, in school we usually only had one man’s point of view of the history of something, and I’d go to the library and read three or four, sometimes as many as half a dozen, versions of the same thing, the same incident, and it was always the differences that interested me.   And you had to keep in mind that they were all telling what for them was the truth. (Emphasis in original.)

In another story Truman talked about a reporter who asked Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, “What’s the secret of your success?”  Holmes answered, “Young man, the secret of my success is that at a very early age I discovered that I’m not God.”  (Miller, 297, during an interview in which Truman discussed his firing General Douglas McArthur.)

Another quote came from Dean Acheson, Truman’s Secretary of State, as to “why the press did such an abysmally poor job” (emphasis in original) in writing and reporting on Truman as president:

It’s as if the correspondents had made up their minds when Mr. Truman became President that he was a country bumpkin, and I am afraid a great many of them never changed their minds.

(Miller, 376, referring to a problem that seems to plague some reporters “even to this day.”)  See also Dean Acheson – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

 

 Over 200 years ago…

 Welcome to DORScribe, a blog about reading the Bible with an open mind…

In other words, this blog is different.  It’s different because it says that you can get more out of the Bible by reading it with an open mind, and that it was written to liberate people, not shackle them into some kind of “spiritual straitjacket.” Such ideas run contrary to some common perceptions these days.  For example:

I don’t have a problem with God.  I have a problem with religion.  I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith.

See 10 Questions for Sting – TIME.  (But here’s a news flash:  “If your religion makes you ‘certain,’you’re missing the point!”  See for example, On a dame and a mystic.) The comment by Gordon Matthew (Sting) provides an example of some common perceptions today:   1) that too many Christians are close-minded; 2) that too many are way too negative; or 3) that too many think The Faith of the Bible is all about getting you to follow their rules, on pain of you “going to hell.”  (See also my way or the highway – Wiktionary.) For more on such thoughts see About this Blog, which talks instead about the Three Great Promises of Jesus, to all people, and about how through those promises we can live full, rich lives of spiritual abundance and do greater miracles than Jesus, if only we open our minds…

In the meantime:

Talk about old-time, conservative sentiments.  That’s William Blackstone all right. Speaking of which, columnist Greg Couch recently wrote an article, Florida State Needs to Suspend Quarterback Jameis Winston …, in which he said this:

This is the moment for Florida State when it answers the big question:  What do you stand for?  It’s an opportunity, really.  You do the right thing for the right reasons, and no matter the cost, you can look in the mirror later.  When you stand for something, it’s forever… Suspend Jameis Winston.   Now…    It’s the only thing to do for Florida State;  it must take a moral stand for football and society.  And if Florida State lets Winston play?  Then that makes a statement, too – a dangerous one. (E.A.)

Mr. Couch is right about two things.  There is a basic principle involved, and the idea that we as a people need to err on the side of caution – to chance letting 10 guilty people go unpunished rather than punish one innocent – is indeed a very dangerous proposition. (And a BTW:  Mr. Couch is in good company.  His sentiments were shared by Bismarck, the German dictator, and Pol Pot, the Communist leader of the Khmer Rouge, as noted below.) As it happens, I just wrote about modern-day witch hunts – and/or “vigilante justice” – in On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part I, and On “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II.  However, don’t think this is just about Jameis Winston.  (See also Witch–hunt – Wikipedia.) Think about Todd Gurley.  Think about Johnny Manziel.  Those three and others have one thing in common:  They are examples of the twin truisms that “destroying things is easier than building them,” and – as especially today – “the media loves to build somebody up then looks for something to take it away.”  (See It is easier to tear down than to build up – Idioms, and Butter for Paula Deen – Following Today Show, vis-a-vis another witch-hunt victim.) But let’s get back to William Blackstone’s dangerous truism, that it’s better to err on the side of caution when it comes to “convicting people.”   And don’t forget Deuteronomy 19:15-19:

One witness is not enough to convict anyone…   A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.   If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the …  judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony … then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.  You must purge the evil from among you. (E.A.)

But again we digress…   We were talking about Blackstone’s dangerous idea. As Wikipedia noted, “the details of the ratio [may] change, but the message that government and the courts must err on the side of innocence is constant.”  See Blackstone’s formulation – Wikipedia, which added that the principle is much older than Blackstone, and in fact can be seen as early as Genesis 18:23-32.  (Noted in On arguing with God.) Wikipedia also noted the “12th-century legal theorist Maimonides, expounding on this passage as well as Exodus 23:7 (‘the innocent and righteous slay thou not’)” added this to the mix:

…executing an accused criminal on anything less than absolute certainty would progressively lead to convictions merely “according to the judge’s caprice.  Hence the Exalted One has shut this door” against the use of presumptive evidence, for “it is better and more satisfactory to acquit a thousand guilty persons than to put a single innocent one to death.”

Wikipedia also noted “Sir John Fortescue‘s De Laudibus Legum Angliae (c. 1470),” and that in America, in 1692, “while decrying the Salem witch trials, Increase Mather adapted Fortescue’s statement and wrote, ‘It were better that Ten Suspected Witches should escape, than that one Innocent Person should be Condemned.'”   And finally, Wikipedia noted this:

There are alternate theories:   More authoritarian personalities are supposed to have taken the opposite view; Bismarck is believed to have stated that “it is better that ten innocent men suffer than one guilty man escape;” and Pol Pot made similar remarks.

(Blackstone’s formulation.)   So what we have on the one hand is Mr. Couch saying FSU needs to “send a message.”  But unfortunately, that message would be:  “We don’t need to bother with finding the facts or with actual guilt.  A presumption of guilt is enough for some of us.”

On the other hand we have a bit of wisdom that’s been around for millenia – “thousands of years” – going back to the time of Abraham and lovingly “tweaked” by the likes of Moses, Maemonides, Sir John Fortescue, Increase Mather and Sir William Blackstone:

[Blackstone’s ] Commentaries on the Laws of England … is the best-known description of the doctrines of English law.  The work became the basis of university legal education in England and North America. He was knighted in 1770…  In the United States, the Commentaries influenced John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams, James Kent and Abraham Lincoln, and remain frequently cited in Supreme Court decisions.

But of course when it comes to who to believe, the choice is yours…

And there’s one final message, to Mr. Couch and others in the media like him:

Hey, I can pontificate too!

…and now?

 

The upper image is courtesy of Blackstone’s formulation.  The lower image is courtesy of Lynching – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (as another example of “vigilante justice,” as noted in the “Gone Girl” reviews noted above.)  The caption:  “September Massacres of 1792, in which Parisian mobs killed hundreds of royalist prisoners,” arguably in the old-time equivalent of a “media frenzy.”

(The other images – of lynchings and such – were too gory, while “September Massacres” provides an apt visual metaphor for a modern-day media frenzy…)

And a BTW: I wrote the bulk of this post before reading Jimbo Fisher not concerned over Jameis Winston, in which the coach said “this country is based on being innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent.”    Which proves another truism: “Great minds think alike.” 

The final indented quote about Blackstone and his Commentaries was gleaned from William Blackstone – Wikipedia, and Sir William Blackstone (English jurist) — Encyclopedia ….

Moses at Rephidim:  “If I let my arms down, the other team will win!“

 

Here’s a quick response for any ardent football fan – pro or college – who gets a lot of grief for his or her “weird” fan ritual.   You know, that weird little ritual you use to help your team win, or conversely, to help avoid jinxing your team.

You may mute the sound on your TV.  (For example, if your team is on the road, losing, and you can’t stand the home crowd’s obnoxious cheering and/or gloating.)  Or you may wear a particular “good luck” jersey.  Or you may recite a “magic phrase,” over and over, like the guy I overheard at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game years ago; “knock ‘eem down, knock ‘eem down!!”

To all of this the doubting skeptic may say something like:  “Do you really believe you can affect the outcome of that game, by your pathetic little ritual?  Do you really think you have that much power?”  The answer – after ten trips through the Bible, and years of research – is YES!

Which is being interpreted: “Oh, you mean like Moses at the Battle of Rephidim?”

Which is being interpreted in turn: Exodus 17 (verses 10-13) described how Moses’ team – the ancient Hebrews – pulled off the functional equivalent of their first upset of the season, long long ago.  That’s when they beat their hated arch-rival, the dreaded Amalekites:

Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Am′alek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. [E.A.]

Now that’s a serious fan, sport or otherwise.   First of all, Moses developed the theory of having to hold his arms up in the air, on pain of “jinxing his team.”  More than that, when his arms got tired he got his two buddies – Aaron and Hur – to hold his arms up in the air.  (And by the way, that’s a form of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, the logical fallacy translating literally as “following after, therefore caused by.”  See also On “God’s Favorite Team” – Part II.)

However, as the current advertising meme says:  “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work:”

Football season was in full swing … and everyone knew it, especially Bud Light, who created an advertisement campaign with the slogan “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work,” in reference to the superstitions and rituals every die-hard fan practices when their team is up.

See It’s only weird if it doesn’t work. | Advertising & Society, which noted the TV commercial included a “montage of different superstitions fans [use], whether it be snapping fingers, stomping feet, or” – as in the case of Moses at Rephidim – getting two buddies to hold your arms up, because if you let them down, “the other team wins.”

All of which brings us back to my novel, God’s Favorite Team.  To cut to the chase, it’s about an ardent fan whose ritual included a “sacrifice” in the form of exercise – and especially running long distances – together with the discipline of daily Bible reading.   So, even if his team didn’t win all the time, he still ended up in better shape in the long run, both physically and spiritually.

And as a matter of fact, that’s how this whole blog got started…

Which is being interpreted:  My own horizon-expanding started back in the summer of 1992, in the form of reading the Bible on a daily basis.  Not only did I start in on the Bible, that’s also when I started my aerobic “ritual sacrifice.”  I did all of this in a mystic quest to help my alma mater win college football games.  (Florida State University, where I went to law school.)

But note too that most spiritual pilgrimages start that way.  From a sense of “greed.”  From wanting something good from God.  Or wanting God to keep something bad from happening…  So since 1992, I’ve been engaged in an ongoing search for the functional equivalent of Moses holding his hands up at Rephidim.  Ten trips through the Bible later, I’ve learned some lessons.  In turn it’s those lessons that I’m sharing with you through this blog.

One particularly-hard lesson to learn is that – lots of times – our own particular ritual – sports or otherwise – just doesn’t work.  (See for example:  Week of Upsets Turns College Football Upside Down: Who Is No. 1?)   That in turn leads to a lesson from the Bible on the proper approach to those trying times.   We keep trying – and have faith – as shown in the book of Daniel:

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied…  “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.    If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Now that’s true faith.

 

 

 

The upper image is courtesy of Rephidim – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, with the full caption:  “Moses holding up his arms during the Battle of Rephidim, assisted by Hur and Aaron, in John Everett Millais‘ Victory O Lord! (1871).”

*  As to the practice of religion being certain:  There is the “certainty” in the life of a Christian that he “has already won” in his “game of life.”  The true Christian knows how his life will end; it’s the time between now-and-then that can be so uncertain, usually because God has a different agenda…

The lower image is courtesy of http://lukedockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/The-Furnace.jpg,  an adaptation of an original work by Gustave Dore.  See Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Furnace – Gustave Dorea.  The image illustrates Daniel 3:16-18 (NIV), emphasis added, and shows that the proper approach of your ritual sport-sacrifice will never that your favorite team will always win, even though God has the power to do just that.   (If you could find that one “ritually efficacious sacrifice,” you’d just end up spoiled, sloppy and obnoxious, metaphorically or otherwise.)