House of Jorob

Tebow, Prayer, and Who Is Listening?

"We should set aside the notion that if we pray, we'll get what we want. That is a false notion of religion."

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/01/09/did-praying-to-john-316-really-help-tim-tebow-win/

 

The Rapture, 9 PM EDT.....

The world needs another thought on May 21's Rapture like a baseball needs an air valve.

Half the news agencies on the planet have probably done some kind of lead or another on Harold Camping's prediction not coming true today. Wire services rightly quote believers and non alike; either this strengthened the faithful or it didn't, and everyone else had a good laugh or two at Preacher's expense.

My thought is this: What if Harold Camping was right?

What if the Rapture arrived, and the only people who went were 1,459 homeless living under bridges in 23 countries and the residents of an island somewhere in the Palk Strait?

Who would know? Harold wouldn't--he'd be just like he is now, sitting and pondering things in general.

The only way, as I understand the Rapture mechanisms, is to watch for what happens AFTER the Rapture--when everything's supposed to slide into a long decline called Tribulation.

Well, damn.

I think you could define humanity's entire existence as a Tribulation.

Where's my Mayan calendar?

Woodstock: 40 Years After

They're gathering at Yasgur's Farm in New York this weekend, kicking off a grand music festival of peace, love and rock and roll....

Please.

Stop.

Woodstock is over.

It's been over for almost half a century.

That's what 40 years is.

<sigh>

Okay.

I'll lighten up.

The concert is the Bethel Woods Music Festival.

I guess the Faithful can't be blamed for wanting to hear at least a passing resemblance of what their musical heroes sound like live.

So, rock on.

Even if it is for only one more day.

Still, I can't seem to shake the mental image of the line of ambulances needed to carry all the stroke and heart attack victims out of the place when the sun's finished baking the over-sixties types.

December 21, 2012: The Day It Finally Ends

I recently wrote about Integretel.

And referred to doomsday as occurring in 2012.

Because the Mayans--they didn't have to deal with Integretel--created a calendar back when they were building a civilization.

Except the calendar expires.

December 21, 2012.

Jeez.

Way to screw up Christmas, guys.

World Clock, Spiritual Awakening, and Where's the Joy?

This is the World Clock.

A neat idea.

On the surface.

But the damn thing is soooooooo subtley negative. Right there, under the coolness of it all.

Negative.

Which is really ironic.

Considering Peter Russell is a spiritual kind of guy. And a bit of a pioneer. He's had a website going since 1996.

That's the stone age, as far as the Internet is concerned.

Back then, you coded by hand.

In Notepad.

And uploaded on a 56K modem on your house telephone line.

The hell with everyone else in the house wanting to use the phone at the time.

But to return to the point.....

I don't think the negativity is intentional.

But the choice of what's being tracked is what's doing it.

Births. Deaths. Population growth.

Deforestation.

Communicable/noncommunicable diseases.

Species Extinct.

Abortions.

Hot-button items, all of them.

Each stat is rising, of course, because the figures on the clock are approximations based on past stats and estimates, and then aggregated since the thing started counting, whenever that was.

And when you're done being impressed with the stats, the negativity kicks in.

The world sucks. People suck. We're killing ourselves.

<sigh>

Where are the counters for:

• successful organ transplants
• dollars donated by individuals for disaster relief
• babies and older children adopted
• spayed and neutered puppies and kittens
• teenagers getting their driver's licenses
• weddings
• barrels of single-malt whiskey
• pounds of aluminum, glass, and paper recycled

I mean, if you're going to seek spiritual enlightenment--using these clocks--why not leave a little joy around for others to find?