Natural Wonder Fellowship

Suppose the bible isn't only a collection of humans' (limited) knowledge of that time? Sure it was important to pass on knowledge of basics like the lever, the wheel, fire, metal working (bronze age leading into the iron age), animal husbandry and crop rotation, signs of the changing seasons and such. What was really needed was a collection of tales and stories. Stories told by parents to lull their children to sleep at night, while teaching them a life lesson; similar to Aesop's Fables or Grimm's Fairy Tales or even Disney. In teaching the value of hard work, consider the story of Fred. Fred listened to management (workers are strong, not weary or fainting Isaiah 40:28), and crossed the worker picket lines one day. This upset the striking wood gatherers, who called him a scab and stoned him to death (possibly not really, but it's a better story this way). The striking workers negotiated one day off per week  (Exodus 31:17 on the 7th day he rested) , and a 10-minute...

I don't usually agree with Gingrich , but on this I do. Your vote matters. Make your voice heard. The absurdity of this Tucker Carlson piece  is obvious to even most of the Fox regulars (see the comments section). Biden's brother (who knew he had a brother?) is ignoring this non-story we're trying to make be a story...  how dare he? hahaha!   Would you rather spend the next 4 years with a "wretched human being" or a "doting uncle"? There's a Washington newspaper opinion piece stating the "wretched human being" is the better choice than the "doting uncle"  because the "doting uncle" will ask you to pay for the new and improved infrastructure as it were. For the wretched human being the piece says: "He panders to racists and prevents sensible immigration reform in a nation built on immigration labor and intellect,” he wrote. “He tweets conspiracy theories. He’s cavalier about COVID-19 and had led poorly through the ...

I keep asking believers to tell me why you believe what you believe, but no one really answers me. In spite of 1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man who asketh you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear", no one will answer me. It just falls back to 'faith'; no good reason, just 'faith'. I really struggle with this 'faith' concept. Do you have 'faith' that the plane will fly or the bridge will stand? No, based on evidence and barring external events (poor maintenance, earthquake,  deliberate sabotage) you know the bridge will stand. Even more baffling to me is the desire to believe that a capricious, jealous, all powerful, vengeful entity not only exists, but is a "loving god" wanting (and worthy of) your adoration and worship. Why do you describe yourself as a 'God fearing Christian'? How do you 'love' someone you fear? How can...

Another thing that's always confused me... politically speaking. Democrats are the "big spenders", social program initiators. Republicans are the fiscal conservatives, the small government pro-business lobby. Democrats want business to be responsible for the impact of their methods, demanding fair hiring and fair and equal pay, healthcare coverage, and limited environmental damage. Republicans want business to be free to concentrate on their business without regulatory interference. And really, how can you be 'pro-life' only for the pre-born, but pro-death for a convicted criminal? And don't get me started on why your god should have any influence of any sort in my government -- both are beyond the scope of this discussion. Continuing on... O wait a sec, the title. A Star Trek Original Series episode (actually named The Omega Glory ). Examining (spoofing?) the devastation possible if the 'yankees' and the 'communists' carry their ideological gr...

So sings the group 'The Police' . But doesn't 'god' say the same thing? Maybe this isn't a 'love song' to a former partner ( I've always thought of it as 'The Stalker Song') , but a 'praise' song to 'god'.  The all knowing, all powerful, the omnipresent 'god' of the Abrahamic religions? The bible 'god' goes even further than just watching though. This god is so omniscient it knows what you're thinking, and knows what you're going to think, and do, before even you know. Abraham's god has planned all that for you before you were even born (or not before you were born according to some, so this conflicted story goes, anyway). He knows if you are sleeping, he knows if you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good... oh wait, a different character. Same applies to the 'benevolent' Abrahamic god though. But, he loves you, right?  Do you love your partner? How about your children, or y...

A late, late summer early fall day 2006. That durned feral cat I haven't been able to trap has had another litter in the old wine cellar under the front porch. I only knew this when they were being moved by "Mama" to their second stage den on the front bank. She had moved one of them, who was objecting LOUDLY about being left alone in a strange place. We checked on the baby, but knowing there had to be more of them, quit our yard work so the mother cat could finish her move. It wasn't until later that night that same kitten was yowling on the bank in the undergrowth. I finally found it, just sitting there alone, yowling. It had gotten quite chilly. Was baby alone? Was it hungry? Lost? Lonely? WTH is this kitten's problem, and where are its litter mates? Had Mama (yes, that was her final name at the vet's) been hit by a car? Holding the kitten inside my jacket and a flash light, we searched among the underbrush but could not find the nest. I took the baby insid...

Hello this weird Wednesday. My regular pharmacy couldn't fill a new rx. They were good enough to find another pharmacy in a different small town that could. I went to pick up and met one of that town's LEOs on the way back. I was heading southbound in the late afternoon. As I'm struggling to find license and registration, he walked up to my car, stood a bit behind my left shoulder and began to speak, startling me a bit. I tried a stretch neck exercise but still could only see from below his left shoulder to just below his belt, and one arm. It was a big guy. He was still talking when I asked him to move forward so I could see him. "I'm standing where I'm supposed to be standing. You don't need to see me"... umm, what? "Yes, I really do" as I unclicked my seat belt and shifted my entire body to at least see (against the sun) he had a head and face, and badge. (I don't remember if he was wearing a mask. Mine was around my lower chin and nec...

Hello  Thoughtful Thursday. Religious nonbelievers are frequently harassed in the name of 'being saved'. I don't mean the bigotry, obnoxiousness, condemnation and so on from acquaintances (or strangers). I'm talking about the loving , deeply held belief that [some] family members think they will "save me from hell". Ah, jeez!  Fortunately, I have read the religious texts, various versions of them. Mom, if you truly believed your writings, then you know that I was saved long ago because * you * believed, Acts 16:31. Daughte r, forget the naysayers who claim it doesn't mean what it clearly says; that it was 'modified' when taken 'in context'; "they" aren't 'Real Christians'! Wasn't I 'saved' when Mom had me baptized as a baby? (Don't mention my DeBaptismal Certificate , LOL) Wasn't I confirm-saved when I ate those blessed crackers (cookies? wafers?) that morning at church? (Don't mention I was 6-7...

This was meant to be thunk about on Thoughtful Thursday, but... we can think on other days, too. How do you see yourself in relationship to 'the group' or 'the crowd'? Are you a member of "the crowd"? Are you not a member, but pretending to be because... [whatever personal reasons - often fear of rejection or retribution]? If a close friend or family member were having doubts about the dogma of the group, would you want to know? How could they best broach the subject to you? Would you continue to love and support that person? For instance, "Christian". I used to think it was a generic term basically meaning belief in the biblical "Christ" as a deity. I've come to realize that if that were the case, there would not be so many versions of "the church" and "christianity". I'm not counting mosques or jewish or hindu or pagan temples; I just mean "christian church". Straight off I ask, why are catholic ch...

Amazing Grace is among my favorite songs. For some reason, I especially like it when played (well) on bagpipes. If I can't have bagpipes, then I want strings. Listening to it, with or without lyrics, gives me chills. It is one of the first "real songs" I learned to play (not especially well) on my keyboard (on the 'strings' setting). Its lyrics are actually troubling the way they're usually interpreted though. You can be as obnoxious, as downright positively evil as you like, for as long as you like, throughout your life. Then halleluiah open your eyes to the [biblical 3-in-1 true] god, recognize the 'gift of grace' from this particular 'loving god' and you're good to go to your 'reward' (where you'll worship the 'loving god' for 10,000 years, and then 10,000 more). Hundreds of versions of this song exist on YouTube. This one for instance , gives me a tremendous headache in less than a minute. (It is far too sharp, ...

Chip is a complete sweetheart. He loves people, he loves other cats. He especially loves his litter mate brother Chad. It's hard to get a picture of just him. He's usually with another. He loves to play with rawhide string, and watch the birds. He really loves to eat, LOL. I noticed about a year ago that "the boys" were getting quite fat, but many of the others kept getting thinner...  yeah -- "the boys" were eating most of the overnight kibble put down for the entire group. Just to be sure, we took them to the vet for blood work. They're on scheduled meals here, with free feed only over night (Precious is teetering on the edge of whatever was not wrong with her litter mate Boots). Blood tests for them showed normal -- no hypo-thyroid, no nothing. So we isolated "the boys" overnight in the first bedroom. They began to lose a bit of weight, very slowly.  CC's babies - Oct 26, 2009 This litter has been with my rescue since late Octobe...

George Wallace - 1960s Maybe we need a history refresher course. The Democratic Party of today is the result of the splintering off of those "southern democrats" and "dixiecrats" who moved to the "Republican" party late 1940s into the 1950s-1960s -- the civil rights movement and the Johnson administration. Have you heard of Strom Thurmond? After a southern Democrat (Truman) "introduced a pro-civil rights platform at the party’s 1948 convention, a faction walked out. These defectors, known as the 'Dixiecrats', held a separate convention in Birmingham, Alabama. There, they nominated South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a staunch opposer [sic] of civil rights, to run for president on their 'States Rights' ticket."  How about George Wallace? He refused to join the Republicans -- to him in 1948, they weren't quite segregationist enough. There are dozens of articles about the "switching" of party platforms when in ...