I think whether or not Jesus abolished the Mosaic food laws, as set forth in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament), may be relevant to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic the world is now suffering. This virus is believed to have originated by a pathogen being transmitted from bats to humans and perhaps via an intermediate animal, such as a pangolin. I have been posting about this subject in this series. These biblical texts say God... Read more
The Gospel of John in the New Testament has always been my favorite book or letter in the Bible ever since my late teens. And my favorite verse of scripture is in this book. Thus, when I used to compete on the PGA Tour, I often gave autographs by including under my name “John 3.16.” This verse is part of a lengthy saying of Jesus in response to an inquirer named Nicodemus. Incidentally, he was one of the two guys... Read more
Yesterday, I posted about the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council voting on Wednesday to oppose, in a 5 to 2 vote, Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s revised executive order calling for a partial lockdown of Kansas citizens due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Council opposed her withdrawal of two elements from her previous order: church services and funerals of more than ten people were exempted. So, the revised order eliminated that right. Regarding the discontinuing of church services of more... Read more
The current COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc throughout much of the world. In the U.S., state governors are either advising, or requiring by law, that citizens practice social distancing and shelter-in-place, that is their homes, as much as they can to avoid spreading this deadly virus. Some state directives limit social gatherings to ten people or less. Some don’t allow any such gatherings at all. People are only allowed to leave their homes for “essential” goods or services, such as... Read more
The author of the Bible’s Gospel of John says of Jesus of Nazareth, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1.12 NRSV). And the author of the letter known as 1 John in the same New Testament of the Bible says of God, “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 3.23). We also read therein,... Read more
U.S. President Donald Trump holds press briefings for what he calls FAKE NEWS. When he does, he often chastises one or more journalists for the type of questions they ask. Then, journalists often write articles complaining about this ill-treatment of their profession by the president. For example, CNN’s Editor-in-large Chris Cillizza just wrote an op-ed entitled, “Here’s the biggest thing Donald Trump doesn’t get about the media.” Chris then relates the incident that occurred at yesterday’s briefing in which Fox... Read more
Bats are kind of scary creatures. There are vampire bats that suck blood from other animals. There’s the expression, “bat out of hell.” That seems pretty appropriate when you see a flock of them flying out of some cave in the southwestern U.S. And then there’s Batman on TV. I try to stay away from bats, including that silly Batman and Robin series, played by Adam West and Burt Ward, respectively. But one summer I didn’t. I took my family... Read more
Since the 1980s, real estate tycoon Donald Trump of New York City had trumpeted that the U.S. should reduce its trade deficit with China by starting a trade war with China. And when Trump campaigned for the U.S. presidency, in 2015-16, he said if he became president he would do that, alleging China had “ripped off” the U.S. for years. Trade disputes between nations are supposed to be brought before the World Trade Organization (WTO) for arbitration. But Trump has... Read more
Today, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham called on President Donald Trump to demand of China’s President Jinping Xi to “crack down” on their “wet markets” where exotic, wild animals, both live and their carcasses, are sold. It reportedly is an $85 billion annual industry. They are used for both human consumption and in traditional Chinese Medicine. This coronavirus, called COVID-19, that the world is now suffering as a pandemic, is believed to have originated from bats sold at the Huanan Seafood... Read more
Today, President Donald Trump finally admitted that the U.S. likely will suffer 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from this coronavirus pandemic that the whole world is undergoing. He said if we have only 100,000 deaths from it, his administration will have done “a very good job.” And he extended the federal guideline of people practicing social distancing to April 30. Thus, he also abandoned his desire of seeing churches packed out on Easter Sunday, April 12, as if he was trying... Read more
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