Part 1 and Part 2 for those who want to read them in order.
Does anybody know why religious people fast? I don't mean the ones who do it because they were taught that on certain days of the year you do it because it imparts God's favor. I'm talking about people who fast just because. A few years back, I started wondering about that.
Then I started wondering why Jesus said that his disciples would fast. Why does the fat pastor not teach his congregation that Jesus said they should fast? I've heard all about not smoking, drinking, dancing, mixed bathing, no MTV, and no Halloween. Pastor Ardy Parlin told us when I was in high school that hand holding led to pregnancy.
True story. It happened during Spiritual Emphases Week at Jackson Baptist back in the 80's. Me and some of the guys took our plastic sandwich bags out of our lunches. We stuck our hands in them and tried to get the girls to hold hands with us. Laugh if you want. Some of them were down with it.
So I decided to test God on this fasting business. What I did was fast for a 24 hour period, every Wednesday for a year. The year ran from my birthday in 2015 until my birthday in 2016. I did it. With the possible exception of a small Wendy's Frosty that a co-worker slipped me on a very hot day in August and that I ate before I remembered it was Wednesday. I say possible exception, because I swore off food, not beverages. A frosty seems like a sort of gray area. It's not really a beverage and its not really solid food. It was very hot that day. I was thankful, even if I felt guilty afterwards. Other than that little slip I stuck with the program.
I had been doing one of those, read the bible in a year things, too while I was fasting. So I was going to church regular, like always, reading my bible pretty much every day, and fasting once a week. Prayer is often mentioned in the Bible along with fasting. As part of a days worth of fasting, I planed for a "special" prayer before I broke my fast.
For some reason I started praying crazy prayers. A crazy prayer is one that only God can hear and make happen. It's asking God for outrageous stuff. Crazy, ain't no way its gonna happen, stuff. The lottery went to a billion bucks when I was doing this. I bought a ticket. I prayed. I didn't win. Crazy Stuff, right? Everybody prays to win the lottery. Not exactly a let down when it doesn't happen.
I noticed something about these crazy prayers. When and what I asked for other people happened. Yes, every time. What I asked for myself, didn't. I asked God to give a friend a job. Next day he had one, $28/hr plus tons of overtime. They didn't lose their house. I asked God for a slightly better job for me. That's it, just a slightly better job. Did I get it? Nope, still pulled $9 hour doing the same old thing on the night shift. My friend had a drug habit. I had an MBA.
I remember feeling let down and a little mad at God over giving Dan a job. God did exactly what I asked, but I was mad a God for doing what I wanted Him to do. So much for being logical.
3/28/2018
Pots & Kettles
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday slammed Facebook for profiting from its users' data — and called for the social media giant to be more tightly regulated.Apple cares about ethics in marketing. Really? Are they talking about Apple the computer and I Phone company? Can't be.
Tomorrow's news will have Wells Fargo lecturing bookies on being nice when breaking a dead beats knee caps.
BJW - Child of the 80's
If you can identify with at least half of this list then you, my friend, are a "Child of the 80's".
1. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off".
2. You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".
3. You can sing the McDonald's Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fry song while jump roping.
4. You know who "Mr. T" is.
5. You know who Fat Albert is. And also the boy with the pink mask.
6. You ever wore fluorescent, neon clothing.
7. You could break dance, or wish you could.
8. You wanted to be "The Hulk" for Halloween.
9. You Believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
10. Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
11. You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
12. You wanted to be on Star Search.
13. You remember the Garbage Pail Kids, and owned some.
14. You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
15. You HAD to have your MTV.
16. You wondered why Tootie always wore those skates.
17. You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good movie.
18. You watched Purple Rain over and over again.
19. You remember the episode of Good Times when Flo broke down after James' funeral.
20. You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.
21. You own any cassettes.
22. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
23. You remember and/or owned any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut.
24. Poltergeist freaked you out.
25. You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunch box.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
27. You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair.
28. You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
29. You had a Swatch Watch with the Swatch Guard.
30. You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
31. You had Wonder Woman or Superman underoos.
32. You know what a "Push Up" ice cream is.
1. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off".
2. You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".
3. You can sing the McDonald's Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fry song while jump roping.
4. You know who "Mr. T" is.
5. You know who Fat Albert is. And also the boy with the pink mask.
6. You ever wore fluorescent, neon clothing.
7. You could break dance, or wish you could.
8. You wanted to be "The Hulk" for Halloween.
9. You Believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
10. Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
11. You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
12. You wanted to be on Star Search.
13. You remember the Garbage Pail Kids, and owned some.
14. You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
15. You HAD to have your MTV.
16. You wondered why Tootie always wore those skates.
17. You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good movie.
18. You watched Purple Rain over and over again.
19. You remember the episode of Good Times when Flo broke down after James' funeral.
20. You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.
21. You own any cassettes.
22. You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
23. You remember and/or owned any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut.
24. Poltergeist freaked you out.
25. You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunch box.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
27. You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair.
28. You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
29. You had a Swatch Watch with the Swatch Guard.
30. You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
31. You had Wonder Woman or Superman underoos.
32. You know what a "Push Up" ice cream is.
3/23/2018
Losing My Religion part 2
Back in part one I talked about how I grew up very religious and I touched on my up bringing. I started to get into how I wasn't able to live up to the standards I was taught. I wasn't and didn't. Looking back over that time I realized that my main motivation was the fact that I enjoyed rebelling against my parents and those in authority more than I actually enjoyed sinning. That may seem strange but it is true. For example the last time I got drunk I was 22 or 23 years old. Going to the bar lost its sense of excitement as soon as I turned 21. Getting drunk lost its appeal shortly after.
After I got married there was pretty much nothing left for me to do in the category of fun sins. I still told lies and cussed and stuff. I've laughed at and told dirty jokes and acted like a general heathen, but I was still what folks would have called a good guy. I settled down to attending church and even teaching Sunday school.
That's pretty much how things went until I lost my hearing. I didn't lose all of it. The way my ears work now I can only hear out of one ear. Things like music don't sound right, but I can generally make out what folks are saying if I can see their lips move or if there isn't much background noise.
After losing most of my hearing things changed for me. I quit listening to music because it sounded strange to me. Songs I used to love and remember no longer sounded "right" because I couldn't make out some of the music.
With nothing better to listen to I turned to the local Christian talk radio. Which was a all sermons all the time format. At first it was fun to listen to because I could pick out what was wrong with it. After awhile it was a fun intellectual exercise to see how different hermeneutics produced different points of view on scriptures.
The more self righteous you are, the easier it is to avoid the reality of your own sins. Which is why even though I was in church and even going above and beyond what other folks did, I was still basically sinning and not becoming what they call "Christ Like". The word used for this is "hypocrite". Which was what I was.
After I got married there was pretty much nothing left for me to do in the category of fun sins. I still told lies and cussed and stuff. I've laughed at and told dirty jokes and acted like a general heathen, but I was still what folks would have called a good guy. I settled down to attending church and even teaching Sunday school.
That's pretty much how things went until I lost my hearing. I didn't lose all of it. The way my ears work now I can only hear out of one ear. Things like music don't sound right, but I can generally make out what folks are saying if I can see their lips move or if there isn't much background noise.
After losing most of my hearing things changed for me. I quit listening to music because it sounded strange to me. Songs I used to love and remember no longer sounded "right" because I couldn't make out some of the music.
With nothing better to listen to I turned to the local Christian talk radio. Which was a all sermons all the time format. At first it was fun to listen to because I could pick out what was wrong with it. After awhile it was a fun intellectual exercise to see how different hermeneutics produced different points of view on scriptures.
The more self righteous you are, the easier it is to avoid the reality of your own sins. Which is why even though I was in church and even going above and beyond what other folks did, I was still basically sinning and not becoming what they call "Christ Like". The word used for this is "hypocrite". Which was what I was.
3/21/2018
BJW
A pirate captain was out to retrieve his buried treasure.
After months of hard sailing, his ship caught sight of
land, the land to which his treasure map had been leading. He and his
first
mate disembarked on the island to search out the buried treasure, which
was supposed to lie hidden deep within a swamp at the center of the
island.
Sure enough, at the center of the island was a swamp,
and the Captain and his first mate bravely entered the swamp. Soon the
swamp
began to get deeper, and the pirate's feet, then ankles, and finally
entire leg below the knees were covered in the swamp.
It was at that time that the Captain banged his shin against something hard. He reached down, searched around, and pulled up a
treasure chest. Prying the lock open, the chest revealed gold and jewels beyond imagination.
The Captain turned to his first mate and said,
"Arrrr, matey, that just goes to show ye, that booty is only shin deep!"
3/20/2018
This Might be Fun
Given my liking for old TV and movies, I just had to take this Quiz.
Can You Guess All These 1960's TV Shows?
The quiz has a 100 questions and it takes about 10 minutes to do.
My Score?
Post em if ya got em.
Can You Guess All These 1960's TV Shows?
The quiz has a 100 questions and it takes about 10 minutes to do.
My Score?
Post em if ya got em.
3/19/2018
Losing My Religion part 1
My name is Res Ipsa and I've lost my religion.
I'm not in anyway sad or upset about that at all. Although in some ways its absolutely terrifying. By terrifying I mean in a head spinning, dropped off a cliff, is this parachute ever going to open, sort of way. In another way, its kind of cool and peaceful.
To understand where I'm at, its helpful to know where I've come from. My father grew up in a very bible based church in the 1950's. We're talking KJV only, unless you've got it in Greek, and then, if there is any difference ya'll better error on the side of the KJV. Cause "The Authorized Version" isn't a subtitle, its a fact of divine revelation. If they didn't exactly think that, the basic attitude was there. I know because growing up around the same people in the 1970's I picked up on that attitude and adopted it myself.
Frankly there is a lot of good that comes from knowing (believing) you have the right answer. I'm not knocking someone who has a certainty about knowing why they believe what they believe. Back to my dad. He was one of those rare individuals who decided in his youth that he was going to dedicate himself to a religious life. Not only that, but he did it. Think of Daniel and his friends. That was my dad as a teenager and in his early 20's all the way through the 60's.
I'm not exaggerating. I've never heard my father use any kind of bad language, take the Lord's name in vain or do any of a number minor "sins". If he or my mother ever romantically kissed another person no one has said anything about it in the last half century. He never held me to a standard of behavior that he had not successfully held himself to first. Therein was my problem, the standard was perfection (or Jesus as it was claimed), but it was a Jesus that wasn't kind, or understanding, or forgiving.
Back up the post a bit I said, "there is a lot of good that comes from knowing (believing) you have the right answer". That's true. There is also a danger in believing that you have all the answers and that you got it all figured out, when you don't. It's worse if you can't do the things you know to be true. What happens is you know it all, but can't live it. Being convinced of your self righteousness isn't the same thing as being righteous. Being a hypocrite is even less enjoyable when your own conscience won't let you rationalize away your guilt.
The long and short of it was that I grew up in a religious environment. I learned lots of stuff about religion, but wasn't much on putting it into action. I could tell you all about it, and I could almost do some of it. Well at least I could do some of it in Sunday school and on Wednesday nights for about an hour.
I'm not in anyway sad or upset about that at all. Although in some ways its absolutely terrifying. By terrifying I mean in a head spinning, dropped off a cliff, is this parachute ever going to open, sort of way. In another way, its kind of cool and peaceful.
To understand where I'm at, its helpful to know where I've come from. My father grew up in a very bible based church in the 1950's. We're talking KJV only, unless you've got it in Greek, and then, if there is any difference ya'll better error on the side of the KJV. Cause "The Authorized Version" isn't a subtitle, its a fact of divine revelation. If they didn't exactly think that, the basic attitude was there. I know because growing up around the same people in the 1970's I picked up on that attitude and adopted it myself.
Frankly there is a lot of good that comes from knowing (believing) you have the right answer. I'm not knocking someone who has a certainty about knowing why they believe what they believe. Back to my dad. He was one of those rare individuals who decided in his youth that he was going to dedicate himself to a religious life. Not only that, but he did it. Think of Daniel and his friends. That was my dad as a teenager and in his early 20's all the way through the 60's.
I'm not exaggerating. I've never heard my father use any kind of bad language, take the Lord's name in vain or do any of a number minor "sins". If he or my mother ever romantically kissed another person no one has said anything about it in the last half century. He never held me to a standard of behavior that he had not successfully held himself to first. Therein was my problem, the standard was perfection (or Jesus as it was claimed), but it was a Jesus that wasn't kind, or understanding, or forgiving.
Back up the post a bit I said, "there is a lot of good that comes from knowing (believing) you have the right answer". That's true. There is also a danger in believing that you have all the answers and that you got it all figured out, when you don't. It's worse if you can't do the things you know to be true. What happens is you know it all, but can't live it. Being convinced of your self righteousness isn't the same thing as being righteous. Being a hypocrite is even less enjoyable when your own conscience won't let you rationalize away your guilt.
The long and short of it was that I grew up in a religious environment. I learned lots of stuff about religion, but wasn't much on putting it into action. I could tell you all about it, and I could almost do some of it. Well at least I could do some of it in Sunday school and on Wednesday nights for about an hour.
3/18/2018
Changes
Changes happen all the time. Sometimes the change is for the good and sometimes not. Sometimes we don't have a clue what's going on.
That's where I find myself today. I don't have a clue what's happening in my life. Since I last posted about my life, a lot has changed.
That's where I find myself today. I don't have a clue what's happening in my life. Since I last posted about my life, a lot has changed.
- I lost my job last August 1st.
- The Dread Ilk steeped up in a big way to help find me work. I never realized how many cyber friends were concerned and eager to help out fellow Ilk.
- My house sold and my wife left me taking the kids with her. She says we should get back together but I have no idea if she is genuine about that. I've not seen them since Christmas.
- I was homeless for a time sleeping in my truck and cheep hotels.
- God gave me a new job making more money and with a higher position than I ever had before. Literarily as I finished praying I received an interview for a opening that I never knew about or applied for. Then I was offered the job inside of 30 minutes of starting the interview. Maybe that's worth a post.
- I had to leave Wyoming to live in a liberal cesspool.
- I've been grumbling and complaining instead of being thankful.
- I've been wondering if the new job will be going away soon and if I should try to bail out before it does.
One thing is certain, things will change. The other certain thing is that I better get off the blog and on my taxes.
3/15/2018
Hello Again
It's been a long time. I have regained control of my Blogger account again. Soon I hope to fill up the BJW queue and at least produce that much content.
It's been a tremendous couple of years. I've not posted much, but life has been extremely full of challenges, heart aches and blessings. With a bit of luck, some of that might get typed up and make its way into a post or two.
It's been a tremendous couple of years. I've not posted much, but life has been extremely full of challenges, heart aches and blessings. With a bit of luck, some of that might get typed up and make its way into a post or two.
3/14/2018
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