Strength

Musing over what strength is. It's overcoming your weaknesses.

Then you have inherent strength. It has to come with a sense of morality or it would go bad. The Injustice series of comics shows what would happen if Superman went bad. He was almost unstoppable. It took a good Superman from another universe to stop him.

To recognize and overcome our weaknesses yet remain humble cultivates goodness in spite of becoming strong enough that you wouldn't have to stay a good person because no one can stop you.

This scene from Captain America is a favorite about it:

Stalked By Politics

"You used to care about politics! What happened? Are you a sheep now?"

That's not how you win friends or influence people. At one point I was heavily into politics. Now I'm not.

Why? In no particular order:

1. I don't have time to fact-check every claim.
2. It's never cut and dried, always nuanced.
3. I'm burned out from when I was in the fight.
4. I don't have time for this now because my focus is different. 
5. I could jump back in and be a real beast at it, however, politics makes me angry so why pull the trigger and be angry all the time. 
6. Politics are quid pro quo. 
7. Politics are tribal and when people get emotionally involved their reasoning ability goes down.
8. I'm not going to argue with emotional people, its a waste of time.

Instead, I'll focus on my priorities now of following Jesus, husband, teacher, and friend. One of the best decisions I made was turning off the 24/7 news cycle. 

If a friend wants to discuss policy and we can keep it civil, great, I can roll with that. 

I'm just not going to blister the internet like I used too.

Someone On The Internet Is Wrong

I'm typing on my computer because someone is wrong on the internet. The internet is full of these people. Politics. Pop Culture. Ford vs. Chevy. Religion.

Even I can be wrong. So I'm told.

Telling people they're wrong is a hobby. Arguing is fun. Especially with trolls. Keyboard warriors.

Religion found me. I changed targets. I upped my game because I have smart friends. Politics weren't the issue. No one fact checks things anymore.

Let's talk about something less polarizing like religion.

I'm on Twitter arguing with an atheist. The clock ticks. 140 character bullets fly.

I'm sure every one of them is a kill. The atheist gets up again. He shoots back. It's a battle of attrition. I don't know who gives up first, him or me.

We both walk away thinking we're right.

I'm in front of a computer at work talking a religion. It's a blitzkrieg. I'm being massacred.

Questions fly like bombers. I answer as fast as I can. My smart friends are relentless.

One says I should think deeper. I think I could be if he would let me answer before hitting me again. I limp off the digital battlefield.

I open my phone. A religious question about the Gnostic gospels comes up on Facebook.

I keep scrolling. These are better answered one-on-one over coffee or email. Social media proselyting is murder.

What Kind Of Superhero Would I Be?

I recently got hooked on a show called My Hero Academia. It's an anime about a world where almost everyone has superpowers and go to a hero school if possible.

One of the main characters is Deku, who didn't have any powers-called "quirks" on the show. He was given one by the world's most famous hero. Imagine Superman giving you his superpowers and retiring.

If I was my own superhero, what would I be?

Not Batman. That comes with dead parents. But I'll take some aspects of his.
Not Superman or even Captain America.

What would I be as a superhero?

Moral. Competent. Street-Smarts with head smarts. Wise. Gentle, generous, kind and a comforting presence to be around. Calm yet firm. Some things he wouldn’t allow...
Noble.

What would that look like?

What Did I Just Read...

I'm a sucker for an excellent podcast or book. Earlier this year the Bible Project podcast was recommended to me. I'll admit that it's not for everyone and it leaves me scratching my head at times. Lately, they've been doing a series on God and the supernatural world, and it blew my mind.

Christianity is a supernatural religion. That's hard to grasp coming from a western cultural mindset. The closest we may get is God of the Gaps for what we can't explain. Yet it's all tied together.

Then they interviewed a Ph. D and M.A in the Hebrew language by the name of Michael S. Heiser. He works for Logos Bible software and wrote a couple of books, Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World - And Why It Matters and The Unseen Realm.

The first is like an overview of the spirit world according to the Bible and the latter is much more in-depth. Honestly, it helped that he works for Logos. It gave him cred. Otherwise, I was probably going to write him off as a quack.

While I read, I looked for bad doctrine. I also saw how Jehovah's Witnesses could get confused and say Jesus is an angel.

The books tied the Bible together for me. Some parts make me do the doggy head tilt. Like how demons or unclean spirits are the spirits of dead Nephilim.

I've been ruminating on what he calls the divine council of lesser spirits that God has in charge of other nations. Apparently, some went rogue. Other's didn't.

One question I have is, are they still ruling? How does that work? Who's over America? Can we tell by how that country acts if it's a good or bad ruler?

Ok, that's more than one question. The books have me thinking though...

Winging It!

I was at the doctor the other day for my wife's health insurance screening. While she was in the back, I sat in the waiting room reading. Until a kid-toddlers-walked by.

I would look up and then go back to reading. This one child caught my attention though. She was probably barely over her mom's knee in height. She was staring in rapt attention up at her mom, her little head almost all the way back.

I'm thinking I can't remember ever being that small, despite the photographic evidence. The next thought is I don't feel like I ever grew up either. I was just given more responsibility until it snuck on me.

In fact, I feel just as uncertain now as I did then...

Philosophical Musings from Superhero Shows

Superhero movies and shows have some pretty deep philosophical concepts if you pay attention. Here's a couple:

Why I don’t want to mind read after watching the Flash. If I could, then I’d always be thinking about what I just saw in their minds. I do that now with the books I read, which is literally thoughts on paper.

And some hidden secrets would mar relationships since I would have a hard time looking at someone the same again. I definitely don't want anyone looking in my head at that darkness.

An interesting theological point I just thought of is that God knows just how horrible we are, that I am. Yet, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

That's Romans 5:8. It wasn't a surprise to Him. He wasn't like "aww man, I bought a lemon."

Then I was watching Black Lightning and Khalil’s divided loyalties. Man can’t serve two masters, he’ll hate the one and love the other. That's in the Sermon on the Mount.

You will have to choose when they conflict. Even if it’s your own set of standards. This may be where situational ethics comes into play-or no right answer/good answer. It's why politics are so sticky.

A person says one thing, yet does another. We don't ask why they did it. We don't ask what did they know that we didn't.

Trouble also comes when we don't know who we are or what we stand for as individuals. You have to think deeply about things because it's nuanced. I've said a child's Sunday school theology won't work for an adult. It applies to life in this way as well, a bumper sticker philosophy won't cut it in real life.

It's only a foot wide and a millimeter deep.