"America, the radicalized" -- by Jim Vandehei

I'm so glad I deactivated my fb account. It's been maybe 6 months since I last logged on, possibly longer. I can only imagine the arguments going on between some of  people I had listed as friends, especially since the latest spectacle with Brett Kavanaugh hearing. I don't miss it -- at all!

The political wrangling is the worst. It is mentally and physically draining. If there is one thing I learned, it is that most people are not interested in honest and reasonable debate. In his brief article, Jim Vandehei lists some of the reasons why Americans are radicalized.

As always, I blame social media without apology. It is truly the "cancer of our time". Click on the link to read "America, the radicalized". America, the radicalized 

Social Media -- The Cancer of our Time

I suppose a former doctor would know better than most how to identify symptoms of a disease.  Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, sees social media as "the cancer of our time."

Social Media -- Cancer of our Time

Boccherini - Cello concert Bb-dur, Xavier Phillips

Social Outcasts: Teens Logging Off

Most news is bad news, but today I found something encouraging. At least some young men and women are seeing social media for what it is. Logged off: meet the teens who refuse to use social media

Here's some quotes from the article:

It is widely believed that young people are hopelessly devoted to social media. Teenagers, according to this stereotype, tweet, gram, Snap and scroll. But for every young person hunched over a screen, there are others for whom social media no longer holds such an allure. These teens are turning their backs on the technology – and there are more of them than you might think.

“You start doing things that are dishonest,” says Amanuel, who quit social media aged 16. “Like Instagram: I was presenting this dishonest version of myself, on a platform where most people were presenting dishonest versions of themselves.”

Like Amanuel, Jeremiah Johnson, 18, from Luton, grew weary of the pressures of sustaining an online persona. “It’s a competition for who can appear the happiest,” he says. “And if you’re not happy and want to vent about it on social media, you’re attention-seeking.”

Great Road Trip Song

The Liberal War Against Coffee

Recently I posted a brief commentary on Arwa Mahdawi's article, "Iced coffee is ruining the environment and your body".  As it turns out the Brits conducted a study on a half million people, and can you guess the result?  It's good for you! That's right!  Fresh grounds for coffee: Study show it may boost longevity.  

Of course, Mahdawi's article was posted to The Guardian, so what can you expect from a lopsided, liberal publication? They are not concerned about facts, or even care what other studies have to say. It's one thing to have an opinion or to write an editorial, but it's quite another to make argument seem like fact with nothing to back it up. It's just mere opinion and nothing more.

So big deal, right? Why waste time talking about it? People will enjoy their coffee no matter what. My problem is the "save the planet people" have inculcated their doctrine in almost everything we read. For example, instead of reporting about our wonderful planet and its crazy little critters, the National Geographic in nearly every article has to throw in about how "climate change" is destroying everything.

It's same the everywhere whether it's Popular Mechanics, Time Magazine, Better Homes, People, or Reader's Digest. The News outlets are even worse. The problem is you might think because so many publications seem to be on board that most people around the world believe this garbage. I'm waiting for the day when they try to convince us how global warming is warping outer space, or creating a black hole which will eventually suck our entire planet into oblivion.

So here's the moral of the story. Don't worry about the planet, the planet will take care of itself. You have enough problems for the day -- so eat, drink your coffee, and be happy. 

Charles Hodge: the forgotten theologian

Charles Hodge may not be forgotten by some, but it's been a long time since I have dabbled in his Systematic Theology. Sometimes I think I am more sure of the divine origin of the Bible than I am of my own salvation. No one who gives Scripture an honest read can say it's just another book or just stories and fairy tales. It has a power of its own precisely because it is from God.

Here's a quote from Hodge's Systematic Theology:

First, All truth must be consistent. God cannot contradict himself. He cannot force us by the constitution of the nature which He has given us to believe one thing, and in his Word command us to believe the opposite. And, second, All the truths taught by the constitution of our nature or by religious experience, are recognized and authenticated in the Scriptures. This is a safeguard and a limit. We cannot assume this or that principle to be intuitively true, or this or that conclusion to be demonstrably certain, and make them a standard to which the Bible must conform. What is self-evidently true, must be proved to be so, and is always recognized in the Bible as true. Whole systems of theologies are founded upon intuitions, so called, and if every man is at liberty to exalt his own intuitions, as men are accustomed to call their strong convictions, we should have as many theologies in the world as there are thinkers.

Hodge, C. (1997). Systematic theology (Vol. 1, p. 15). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.