Weekly Meanderings, 5 April 2014

Given the instructive chronological juxtaposition, how should Christians react? A few thoughts come to mind. First, both Christians and their opponents have the right under the First Amendment to express their disagreement with the actions of World Vision and Mozilla without government interference. That does not seem to be in jeopardy at this point and we should be grateful for that freedom. Second, we should understand that to live in a free society means that all have, among other things, the right to withdraw economic support from a group with which they disagree. As a result, Christians should accept that those who live by the sword of legitimate economic sanctions in one context might well find themselves dying by the same legitimate economic sword in another. That is the price, or the risk, of freedom. Third, given the above, the pastoral response is surely to start now to strengthen Christian people for the hardship and marginalization that is likely to come, as it would seem that these kinds of events are set to become more frequent. Yes, we should lament the moral malaise of society; we should use our freedoms to try to reverse that; but we should also acknowledge that the methods we use to gain influence ourselves are also open to our enemies. And thus we should think twice about crying foul on that particular point when the results are not to our liking.

A different take, that of Tony Campolo, who says the same-sex relations issue is a matter of dispute among Christians who accept the basics of faith:

Red Letter Christians believe that what defines a person as a Christian is having a personal transforming relationship with the resurrected Christ. We talk about being spiritually invaded by the Holy Spirit who cleanses us gradually from sin and empowers us to become progressively more and more Christlike.

Our doctrines are embodied in the Apostles’ Creed. We also have a very high view of scripture, believing that those who wrote the books of the Bible were imbued by the Holy Spirit in such a way as to keep them from making errors that could lead us astray. When it comes to hermeneutics, however, we acknowledge that different Christians and Christian groups interpret some passages in the Bible in different ways.

My wife and I, over the years, have interpreted Saint Paul’s words in Romans, chapter one, concerning same gender erotic behavior differently, but I never once doubted her Christian commitment, not do I think that she ever doubted mine. As Red Letter Christians, Peggy and I, despite our differences, are agreed as to the core of our beliefs as embodied in the Apostles’ Creed.

A most interesting piece on the routines of creative people with a wonderful infographic, like this one of Immanual Kant’s daily routines:

“We all have the same 24 hours that Beyoncé has” and its various iterations took the web by storm in late 2013 as the megastar became the figurehead of not only having it all, but being able to somehow do it all too.

How do creatives – composers, painters, writers, scientists, philosophers – find the time to produce their opus? Mason Currey investigated the rigid Daily Rituals that hundreds of creatives practiced in order to carve out time, every day, to work their craft. Some kept to the same disciplined regimen for decades while others locked in patterns only while working on specific works.

I had not heard of “spite” houses, houses built to cause someone else problems, but here is a series of pictures of said spite houses.

How to get rid of warts with Duct tape:

A quick Internet search will give you many zany ideas about how to get rid of warts. Various homeremedies instruct people to use pineapple juice, baking powder, basil, apple cider vinegar or even toothpaste.

Online, you’re advised to do the harmless and quirky: Rub the wart with the inside of a banana peel. And the downright dangerous: Burn your wart with a hot match. Soak it in bleach. Poke it with a needle. (Don’t do any of these!)

Anti-wart weapons

However, for wart removal that is more likely to actually work, you actually need to visit the hardware store for sandpaper and duct tape, says dermatologist Melissa Piliang, MD.

“Keep the wart covered with duct tape 24 hours a day,” she advises. “If the tape falls off, you need to quickly replace it. The skin underneath will become macerated – wet, pale and wrinkled – and warts dislike that. Keep it on for two to three weeks, and if the wart looks smaller, then continue using the duct tape until it goes away.”

The use of duct tape may not work for everyone, but because it’s safe and easy to do at home, it’s worth the effort, Dr. Piliang says.

Your favorite minor league logo?

Northwestern football and unions, a very good article summarizing the legal realities:

The real triumph of the decades-long propaganda war against organized labor isn’t best seen in the ever-declining rate of unionization, or ever-increasing income inequality, or even the way the word “union” functionally works as an epithet. It’s seen, instead, in the fact that so many otherwise smart, thoughtful people don’t seem to know what unions actually do.

Take this recent column in the Washington Post on the National Labor Relations Board’s ruling in the Northwestern unionization case, in which Sally Jenkins argues that revenue-generating labor undertaken for benefits isn’t quite enough to form the basis of an employer-employee relationship. In her argument, a scholarship is a privilege, coaching and medical care are valuable free stuff, and the main significance of the NLRB’s ruling is that it raises a lot of unanswerable questions. Are Harvard rowers exploited laborers? How will players form a bargaining unit? Can women demand to be paid like men? What IS the sound of one hand clapping, anyway?…