300! (and 5)

Ok... so I'm bad about keeping track of the count. Yeah, broke 300 posts recently. This is probably going to look like most of the other milestone posts, but man, this has been a good deal. I've improved my writing. Having an outlet for ideas has been great. I really feel like I have grown intellectually through all this.

The year is almost over, so I am starting to really figure out what my priorities are going to be this next year. What am I gonna do to become a better version of myself? We will see.

First Impressions

Creating a good first impression is super important they say. It is what people use to base much of the rest of their relationship with you off of. Well, that is true, but I want to explain a bit why. It all comes down to confirmation bias.

See, when someone meets you they establish a set of baseline opinions about you. These opinions are based on how your looks, demeanor, and the setting you are in line up with their prejudices (good and bad).

For example, you are dressed in a sharp suit, and introduced to the CEO of Generic Corp at a fancy party by one of the CEO's good friends. The good friend says you are a up and coming go-getter and have some really good ideas about how to make Generic Corp even more generic. You haven't even said a word and you have already gotten set up in the CEO's mind pretty high on the competency scale.

Later that day your paternal twin happens to see the Generic Corp CEO on the street. They are dressed in casual clothes and holding a somewhat crumpled paper bag having just come from the store, behind them is an alley filled with trash, your twin smiles revealing a large piece of lettuce stuck to a tooth from lunch. The CEO thinks the grocery bag and trash behind them makes them look passingly like a homeless person.

The next you and your twin meet the CEO at the Generic Corp headquarters to present your ideas. You are both dressed to impress and give your presentations. You stayed up too late and got your slides mixed up, plus your ideas are mediocre. Alternatively your twin comes in with the most beautiful slide deck and presents a brilliant set of ideas on how to make Generic Corp the most boring company in the history of corporations, a surefire winner.

Who will win? Probably your twin, but for the sake of exaggerating to make a point you do. Why?

Everything you say and every interaction from that first introduction at the party will be measured in the CEO's mind against that initial impression. Things that match will confirm the initial high opinion, and things that don't will be shifted to fit or if they can't be will be dismissed as out of character behavior that isn't important. Confirmation bias locks you in at that high level. So when the CEO looks at your presentation they are pulling out the best pieces of it and more or less ignoring all the dumb stuff.

Your twin on the other hand is having a bad time. Every time they bend over to change the slide the CEO is reminded of the old homeless lady he saw pushing a cart around filled with garbage bags. All the best ideas are glossed over and any holes or weak points are focused on. Who dressed up this bum and let them in to do a presentation anyway? Again, confirmation bias.

First impressions are a powerful force for good or ill. You can overcome them (for good or ill) as well, but it takes a lot of work. Repeated evidence will eventual overcome that initial impression, but it takes a lot. Psychologically people do not like being wrong, so they will stick with an inaccurate impression for quite a while.

The moral of the story is, take time to make good first impressions and you will have a lot more room to fail versus having to prove yourself repeatedly.

The "What the Hell" Effect

I've been reading this book, and while the author is not a Christian he has the best advice for overcoming temptation and staying on the straight and narrow I have ever seen. Most of the "church" advice I've heard boils down to "resist the Devil and he will flee" and that there is always a way out. However, there is rarely if ever any suggestions for finding those "ways out." So here is another way out to add to my last one.

The "what the hell" effect is the idea that once you've already failed in some way you might as well just go with it and enjoy the ride. Outside of the moment the weakness of this argument is obvious. It is clearly better to stop sinning, cheating on your diet, etc. after a small slip up than follow that with ten times more. However, in the moment, when you are discouraged and already condemning yourself for your failure it is easy to feel like you are already a horrible person and you can't really get any lower.

The key here is to not get all down on yourself. The harsher and more judgemental you are on yourself the worse this effect is. The lower you go with self condemnation the more likely you are to feel like there is no reason to not keep going.

Instead, show compassion and forgiveness to yourself. Accept the forgiveness G-d gives you. Beyond that, it is scientifically proven that showing yourself compassion in times of stress and failure is associated with better self-control.

So forgive yourself quickly and you'll have less to forgive.

My Bored List

When I am bored or wanting to distract myself from everything going on around me I have a list of things that I automatically do. In no particular order:

• Get on imgur.com
• Check my email on my phone
• Read the news/comics/blogs on my feedly
• Serially watch dumb youtube videos
• Watch Netflix

None of these things are particularly useful. They do not move me in a direction I want to go. They almost exclusively serve to burn time. The contents of the list was not chosen. It was not intentional. I allowed things to get on the list simply because they are low drag things that I can slip into easily.

I realized this recently and I am going to try something different. I am going to write a new bored list, but this time I am going to decide what goes on it. Things that move me forward. Things that teach me something. That build me and those around me up.

Here is my new and improved intentional 2016 bored list. Again in no particular order:

• Read one of the three books I am currently reading
• Pray through my elephant prayer list
• Contact one of the people on my catch up list
• World build for my book/write
• Write a post
• Find a non routine task to work on around the house

I am going to print this off and put it in my pocket so I can remember and hopefully begin using my down time more productively.

I'm Sorry it was Declined

That is one of the most disheartening things you can hear. No matter why the money wasn't there it is like a punch in the gut.

The shattered expectations of not getting what you were expecting to have


The mind racing trying to figure out where the money you thought was there went.

The embarrassment of leaving your stuff at the checkout and walking out of the store empty handed.

The sinking feeling of realizing you might not have money for something important.

It goes beyond inconvenience. It strikes at your very identity. "You don't have what it takes" - to manage your finances, to provide for yourself and your family, to keep your life in smoothly running order.

It isn't the end of the world, but man, it is a bad time.

It's Not Racism Unless it IS

During the election there were a lot of accusations of racism, sexism, and bigotry. Even so far as Hillary Clinton calling half of the country racist, sexist, bigot deplorables. These are broad terms, and broad uses of those terms, and while there is racism, sexism, and bigotry out there I suspect the level of accusation was a bit excessive.

When my wife and I got married one of the marriage books we found mentioned that it is important during arguments (and in general) to not use blanket terms. For example: "You always leave your clothes all over the floor!" should instead be "You usually leave your clothes all over the floor!" The idea here is that using incorrect generalizations on top of being incorrect (I did put them in the hamper that one time) only serves to antagonize the other and make them feel attacked (and therefore defensive). Instead of expressing a genuine issue in a way that can be discussed and maybe resolved it breeds anger and resentment.

When we started having kids one of the parenting books we found mentioned that it is important to not put labels on the kids even when they behave in a certain way. The idea was that while they might demonstrate rude behavior, we should say they are being rude, and not you are rude. The reason for this is by pointing out unwanted behavior by identifying them as that behavior you run the risk of getting more of it because that is how they begin to see themselves.

Coming back to the main topic, there are people who express prejudiced opinions. It is not just reasonable but needed for people who dislike those opinions to speak against them.  However, by screaming BIGOTRY and BIGOT at any statement that could possibly be interpreted in a bad way the left discouraged the free flow of ideas and showed they themselves were behaving in a bigoted way.

Part of the issue I believe is one of confirmation bias. The people shouting prejudice started from a perspective that these things are pervasive. So when they saw questionable statements they saw them as explicit racism/sexism/bigotry and attacked. This usually ended up with them making enemies for themselves because the people they often were attacking were not expressing a prejudiced opinion.

Because of the confirmation bias the left created for themselves echo chambers where no one around them disagreed or at least was willing to express contrary opinions. So when the election was won by a openly racist Trump they saw it as tragic proof that they had been right all along and the country is full of racist, sexist, bigots.

Fortunately, I believe the left is very wrong about the state of the country. There are people who say prejudiced things, but that doesn't mean they are unfit for participation in public discourse. Even explicit racists should be allowed. By allowing a free flow of opinions and ideas we protect against bigotry from all sides and it helps us avoid losing sight of the reality of where our nation is philosophically and politically.

So to help us all develop an environment of openness and honesty lets go back to the marriage and parenting playbooks. Don't label people, label their actions. Don't make sweeping generalizations even if they are true. Present yourself and your opinions in a way that you can have a civil conversation with even the most die hard KKK supporter.

Everyone has struggles and problems. If they misidentify the cause in a prejudiced way the best way to fix that is to show them kindly they are wrong, not shoving them into the corner even more.

Fear of Agency

Have you ever seen someone who is really good at what they do and admired their excellence? Maybe a sports star, an actor, or a best selling author? I know I have. It isn't hard to do. Wow, just look at that amazingness! But then, have you followed that admiration with the thought "oh, I could never do that."? I know I have.

I've done that with less well known examples of excellence as well. The buff guy at the gym, the guy at work who does top tier work and really cares, the old couple at church who clearly have marriage figured out. These examples are also followed with "oh, I could never do that."

When we are confronted with someone who is living their lives like we dream we could live ours it is a dangerous moment for us. Those moments show that our dreams are not impossible. That there is a path to excellent fitness, for wise financial stewardship, for a strong marriage, for excellent parenting, for pursuing your dreams of being a whatever (artist, writer, insert new career). Realizing that though is dangerous because it means change. It is a tacit condemnation of your life up to this point because you have not been pursuing those things despite your ability to do so.

So we duck. We flinch. We see some obviously clear, yet completely made up, characteristic in "those people" that we do not possess and never can, that allowed them to succeed. That imaginary X factor allows us to revel in their success and be uninspired to try ourselves.

We are afraid that we might be able to do the thing ourselves. We are afraid that we actually have agency. The thing is though, that we do in fact have agency. There are always challenges. There are always difficulties. But the only thing that is standing in the way of starting down the path to your dreams is you. The real X factor for success is starting. Overcome the fear of change, the fear of possible failure, the guilt of lost time and wasted life.

You can start today. I can start today. When you look at that guy benching 250 pounds don't say "wow, I could never do that." Say, "wow, how can I get there?"

Corporate Responsibility - Housing

The housing industry has a unique place in the marketplace. Housing is usually the biggest line item in families' budgets. Because of the cost and emotional weight a home has to the people living there the relationships between them and the people or companies providing the housing need to be carefully managed.


Mortgage Companies
The housing crash from the end of last decade illuminated a lot of examples of where the industry did a very bad job at loving their customers. Beyond that, because of their poor behavior the entire US economy suffered severe damage. Their behavior was short sighted and bad for everyone.

The why of this is complicated, but the what was pretty simple. Mortgage companies gave loans to people who were terrible credit risks. It was "nice" to give people with limited means opportunities to own homes, but it was not loving at all. It meant that they were allowed to get into a position that lead to them losing their house, destroyed them financially, and led to widespread economic turmoil.

What mortgage companies should do, for their own stability and for the best interest of their customers is to hold high standards for loans. Ensure that the loans being sold can be safely repaid without serious risk to the borrower.

Inspectors/Appraisers
This was a piece that contributed to the housing crisis. Appraisers in many cases inappropriately inflated house values. This "helped" sellers because their property values went up and up and up. It "helped" buyers because they were able to get cash above and beyond the asking price at the cost of more debt.

In the end the dishonesty allowed the inflation which played a big role in making homes unaffordable and attracting the investment cash that expanded the bubble. Instead, to show love to everyone, inspectors and appraisers need to accurately express the condition and value of properties even if it makes people mad. It has the opportunity to protect people from otherwise poor decisions.

Builders
This is pretty straight forward, but is part of the industry. Builders should show love to the future residents of the homes they are building by making them well. They should not cut corners in material quality or construction methods. They should build homes that are safe and sturdy.

When homes are built poorly it really degrades the quality of life of the residents and hurts the surrounding community with lower property values which correlates to higher crime.

Landlords
Renting, especially after the housing crisis has increased significantly. Therefore the relationship between landlord and renter is more significant across the culture as it has been for a long time. Landlords and renters should have a close relationship. The reason for this is the renter is paying a large sum of money for their home, and the landlord is exposing a valuable asset to potential damage and misuse.

I don't have any major specifics for this one because it is a varied and complicated subject. However, clarity of expectations on both sides is important as well as open and regular communication throughout. The landlord needs to protect his asset and the renter needs a safe and well maintained place to call home. There is no need for a win-lose scenario.

Realtors
The key for realtors is simply honesty and transparency. Some people want to buy crappy houses, and that's fine. But covering up real issues or pushing people to buy beyond their means are bad ways to show love to buyers.

Corporate Responsibility

As individuals we are held personally accountable to G-d for our actions. He has outlined what upright behavior is, most succinctly through the greatest and next greatest commandments to love G-d and our neighbors (Matthew 22:36-40).

When we join together as a group in order to accomplish a larger goal, say a business, we do not step out from under those two commands. In fact, it requires a more intentional and focused effort to follow them since the systems and processes followed within an organization can serve to act contrary to those commandments even as individuals work to follow them.

Companies should strive to treat everyone they come into contact with with love. Fellow employees, suppliers, business partners, employees families, and of course customers. What love looks like can vary significantly depending on the relationship, but love should be the driving motivation. In addition, as we are called to subdue the earth and be good stewards of it. So we should pay keen attention to how our organizations are impacting the world around us.

Employees should be paid fairly, valued as people, and provided a good working environment. Every effort should be made for the time and energy demands made upon them not to negatively impact their families and other relationships. Employee's lives should be enriched for having worked for an organization, not worn down.

Suppliers and other business partners should be paid fairly and quickly. Any contracts or business agreements should be made in good faith and followed.

Customers should be served quickly, respectfully, and all transactions should be steeped in clarity, and transparency. Products should be physical manifestations of love towards those who use them. They should not injure, hurt, or degrade the lives of the people who come in contact with them.

The bigger an organization is, and the more power and resources it commands the more it can do and the bigger things it can accomplish. However, that includes the level of hurt and damage to everyone involved. We should strive to make them engines of love, not just profits.

No Such Thing as Karma

I want to help you make your life measurably better. Here is a tip I learned that is helping me and will hopefully help you.

We often assign moral judgments on our actions. For example, I was "good" because I went to the store twice to get the right kind of batteries for my wife. I was "good". Now, because I was "good" I deserve to do something "bad" like buying a candy bar at the store. Obviously the logic is flawed. Just because I did something nice for my wife doesn't mean that I am justified in eating junk food. Strengthening my relationship with my wife does not justify becoming less healthy.

I do this a lot and most people do too. It is illogical and really bad for us. To avoid it is pretty simple. Recognize that you are making moral associations in the moment. The clearly ask yourself, did doing this thing that helped me towards my goals justify me doing something that will hurt me?

Just the act of recognizing the terribly flawed logic will be enough to help you make a lot more better decisions. Karma is not a thing. No amount of "good" behavior will ever justify even the slightest "bad" behavior.


To summerize:

1. Recognize when you are moralizing actions.
2. Tell yourself that there is no excuse for hurting yourself.
3. Don't do the thing.

How to Prevent Civil War

There are two ways to prevent a civil war. The good way and the bad way. I obviously would prefer the good way, but I would prefer the bad way over civil war.

The Bad Way
Since the fundamental issue is a lack of empathy brought on by lack of commonalities we can fix that quite simply. Establish an oppressive authoritarian government.

This does a couple things. First, it allows the forceful suppression of apposing opinions. The government chooses what is acceptable and what is not and forces those views onto everyone. This brings commonality to the population and unifies society through the government's dictated values. Whatever they may be.

Secondly, it squelches violent interactions between groups and brings everyone peace and safety. You trade the uncertain violence of others for the consistent and even handed oppression of the state.

I don't like this way at all. However, it would work and it would be better than a civil war. An example of this in action was Iraq pre/post Saddam Hussein. He was a vicious dictator, but things were kinda stable while he was in power. We took him out and while we were a significant force their Iraq was doing alrightish. Once we left though the country has been torn apart. No part of that story is pleasant, but some bits were less worser.

The Good Way
Ah the good way, the good way is nice and pleasant and offers all the good and none of the bad. However, it is impossible.

The good way is that we need to establish a wide spread (not universal, I'm guessing 80%) agreement on a limited set of norms and standards that establish the foundation of our American society. The 20% of people who don't follow those are ok, but they can't be actively trying to break the norms either.

To do that we have to convince a large chunk of society to change their minds on some things that they most likely strongly disagree with and make them strongly agree. That is impossible. People can't get people to change that much.

It's hopeless then! We are doomed to civil war or a nasty dictatorial government... or not. There is another way of delivering on the Good way. But it isn't humanly possible. It is G-d. If there is a revival, a large major revival in our nation it would cause that shift. That change in values and behaviors amongst the population at large needed to avoid nastiness. It would present commonality that we could use to develop trust and empathy. G-d can bring about the change we need to save our nation. Ultimately that is what we need anyway, but not having a civil war is a very nice icing to that cake.

Our Part
There is a very important role for all of us to take in order to see the good way taken. We need to actively and passionately develop our relationships with G-d. We must make the time to spend with Him. We must stop letting our pride and fear get in the way of loving and serving Him. We must run away from the sins that keep us from being able to be close to Him. We must do the things He is asking us to do.

THAT is revival. It starts as a small thing. In your attitudes and actions. This thing requires all of us though. We need everyone to jump in on this. The alternatives are horrible for us and for our nation.

If you love America go love G-d.

We are Headed for a Civil War

After the election of Mr. Trump there was an immediate and strong emotional reaction from Hillary supporters. This is certainly understandable. No one likes it when the side they support loses. However, the reactions went way beyond partisan disappointment. There was not just crying, but weeping. I saw many people who were downright mourning. The reaction went so far as to devolve into rioting in places.

My heart goes out to those people. Their reactions were and are clearly genuine and I do not take joy in seeing people scared and in mourning. While I am not thrilled with president-elect Trump's election I am not despondent about it.

The thing that I am seeing is that the perspectives of Trump supporters and Hillary supports is fundamentally different. Not just politically and ideologically, but down to the very level of their view of how they interpret the world around them. The differences are deep, fundamental, and too numerous to list. I believe it is representative of how different leftist and conservative ideology is.

Ours is an increasingly divided country. We live in a very diverse country. There are differences in race, culture, socioeconomic standing, religion, philosophy, favorite sports teams, favorite sports, favorite TV shows, favorite media sources, perspectives on our country. There isn't a single universal unifying thing that even cuts across a super majority of Americans today. We are a fractured society.

This is a real problem. Regardless of who is "correct" or "moral" or "good" the disunity in our culture is a deep and existential problem for us. When rifts form as they are increasingly doing, relationships break down. Our level social progress is being degraded. I heard from many people in the news and on social media who said they didn't know a single supporter for the other side in the election. The two sides are clearly not completely separate, but they are dangerously so.

If our nation continues along this path, towards increased fracturing we are headed to a really bad place. Here is what will happen:

1. The number and strength of relationships between groups (race, religion, party, socioeconomic) will drop.
2. Trust and empathy between those groups will weaken.
3. Disagreements between those groups and individuals in those groups will begin to escalate in frequency and severity further pushing them apart.
4. Violence will begin to be seen with increasing frequency resulting in a sharp decline in dialogue even from previous levels.
5. The United States will break up politically and geographically as different groups seek to insulate themselves from the violence and instability. This could lead to a civil war.

I am not overstating the risk posed by this social fracturing. I don't know how long it would take, and it can be prevented, but it is a real risk.

Tomorrow I will discuss how to stop it.

Truth

There is knowable fundamental truth. The world works in specific ways. There are physical laws, science in theory is the pursuit of this truth. There are spiritual laws, religion as a general concept is the pursuit of this truth.

Despite our best efforts and the significant progress we have made there is still a lot to be discovered scientifically. We have the scientific method though and that really helps us parse out what is true and what is not.

On the spiritual front we have divine revelation. The conundrum here is that there is a lot of "divine" revelation out there and most of it is rather contradictory and mutually exclusive in nature. Not everyone is right despite witty "coexist" bumper stickers. Ultimately there is one single spiritual reality. There is one set of spiritual laws under witch the world operates. No matter how inclusive you want to be there are a lot of wrong people out there. No matter what the reality of the situation.

I am a Christian so I believe that every other religion is incorrect. The thing is though, that you don't have to take my word for it. Truth is knowable, and it is not relative. So whether the spiritual reality of the world is a triune G-d as described in the Bible or a pantheon of diverse mini-deities like in Hinduism or some other thing we can know.

How, you may be wondering? Well, that's pretty easy, at least in concept. You use the scientific method. We can study the different religions and make quantitative analysis' of them based on their history, theology, and following. Not religion "shopping" to find what best fits your interests, but a honest review of what makes sense.

The world works in logical and deterministic ways. It doesn't seem to sometimes, but those times a points where we simply do not have enough information to understand what is going on. The spiritual realm is the same way. It might be really weird and beyond our ability to fathom, but I doubt that. I think we just work with a small enough piece of reality that it's hard to know what's going on a lot of times.

It's late and I'm rambling, but truth exists, it's not up to you, but you can find it and change how you live to fit reality.

Things, They is a Changin'

It is easy to look out at all the unrest and strife in the world and get down and discouraged about it. There are so many sad stories of violence, economic loss, death, and destruction. If that is your focus, whether in the world or your life, you will certainly be having a bad time.

I recently realized that there is a silver lining to all this though. As I have looked back at my life I have realized that the worst times I have gone through have been times that G-d was calling me or teaching me something important. He used the difficulties to facilitate His purposes. It hurt at the time, but it worked out in my favor.

The world is like that too. Maybe not every situation, maybe not every hurt, but when there is widespread churn in society, when relationships are breaking, when jobs are getting lost, when friends and family are dying, those are the pivot points where we make choices. Those points are where we choose to turn to G-d or turn away. Those are points when we learn important truths or fill our hearts with bitterness.

So when the bad times come to you or those around you, don't just look on the bad side. Recognize that times like that are opportunities for the salvation and purification of our souls. Pray that those directly affected will make the right choices and choose to know G-d more because of them. When we can, we need to help them to do that.

Leading Causes of Death

Millions, and probably billions of dollars are spent every year on research to prevent the top causes of death. We work so hard to combat these diseases that inflict our society. Here are the leading causes of death in the US (per 2014).
 11. Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773
10. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
9. Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
8. Diabetes: 76,488
7. Alzheimer's disease: 93,541
6. Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
3. Cancer: 591,699
2. Heart disease: 614,348

Looking at the numbers it is clear why cancer and heart disease gain so much attention for research dollars. However, if you notice despite their being presented as number 1 and 2 in most lists they are in fact 2 and 3.

The number 1 cause of death in the United States is abortion. In 2012, which is the most recent year available, 699,202 babies were murdered. That puts it as the number one cause of death in our country. In fact, it has been the number one cause of death since 1974 when it passed heart disease the first full year after the Roe v. Wade decision.

If we want to truly lengthen people's lives we should start with abortion.

Why We Punish Our Children

Since we became parents I have considered punishment an important part of parenting. I finally realized recently exactly why clear and consistent punishment is a good idea.

Most of the things that we punish our kids for are not things that would otherwise have immediate consequences. For example, lying breaks down trust and damages relationships. Neither of those things are easy for kids, or adults for that matter, to observe in real time. The consequences are real and long lasting, but can take months or even years to really mature.

Punishment artificially shortens that learning cycle. It takes the reality of the situation (lying destroys relationships) and makes the unpleasantness happen right away. This lets the kid to draw parallels and adjust their behavior in minutes instead of years. This allows for many learning cycles to happen in a short period as well as hopefully sidestepping many of the real, and harder to fix, consequences.

Our kids can learn the stuff eventually, but it isn't ideal. We can speed the process up and let them move on to new and more advanced challenges. Punishment isn't fun, but it sure beats the alternative.

World Building

I am in the process of learning how to write. Beyond writing this blog I have been watching courses on writing to hopefully someday be able to semi-competently writing a book. One of the topics I have been learning about is world building. The idea where you imagine the world you want your story to be set in so that you can describe things consistently and realistically. One warning the teacher gave though was to beware of world building forever and never getting around to actually writing the story.

There are at least two lessons we can pull from this. First, world building is important. Having a vision for your life, and what we want it to look like is extremely valuable. Imagining our lives in some future ideal state can help us be inspired and motivated today.

I want my kids to be intelligent, well educated, and generally competent people. I want to have good relationships with them. I want my marriage to be strong and for Debra and I to be best friends. I want to live in comfort and have the resources to enjoy my life, help people around me, and build cool things.

The other lesson comes from too much world building. If we spend too much time thinking and planning and imagining we can waste years building sky castles and never make the hard choices necessary to deliver on the dreams we have.

So dream and dream big, but once you've got a vision, stop dreaming and do the thing.

Love G-d and Do What You Want

I have been thinking about freedom, listening to G-d and my purpose in life. As I have been meditating on these topics I have come to realize something. If I am praying regularly, reading the Bible, and in general loving G-d with all my heart, something interesting happens. I start to become like Christ.

When that happens, when I align myself with G-d it brings me true freedom. I am able to go and do whatever I want. That might sound contradictory and wrong, but it is totally true. When I am living as Christ my desires line up with His. So "whatever I want" falls perfectly in line with "whatever He wants".

The world understands on some level freedom is doing whatever you want. But when that is outside of G-d's plan it comes with damage and inevitably brings us under the influence of the enemy. We become slaves of sin. But when we align ourselves with G-d we are able to step into the freedom that everyone desires to have. We are able to be truly free.

That is what Jesus meant when He said He came, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. We are able to live in complete freedom, all that is required is that we love G-d above all else and seek him completely.

The First 100

Mr. Trump, or as he is now president-elect Trump, has released his plan for his first 100 days in office. This is not an uncommon thing to do. As far as I know all modern presidents have made these kinds of plans. However, I have never seen it presented in this way.

Here is Mr. Trump's plan.

It is two pages, but a simple read and I strongly encourage you to take a look.

I don't want to wade into the content here. Many other people who are much more informed than I are doing so. What I want to do is comment on the delivery.

Firstly, the layout and design is clear. It is an easy read. It is simple and to the point. It is inviting and short. Anyone can look at this, understand it, and judge at the end of the 100 days if he succeeded. That is unprecedented. Politicians usually obscure their goals so that you can't hold them accountable for failure. He is 100% not doing that. He is accountable for this.

The plan is put in the form of a contract. We are all invited to sign this contract. The thing that is so interesting about that is it is a blatant acknowledgement by Mr. Trump that he can not do this by himself. He is asking for help from lawmakers and the American people to help him deliver on this. He is not presenting himself as an all powerful savior, but as a leader who can help us bring about the change the nation voted for.

I think I've posted about this before, complaining that our leaders have not presented a clear vision and direction for the country. This does that. Regardless of your opinion about the content of the contract it is outlines a clear purpose and direction in his leadership. We know what he wants to do and what direction he wants to take us. It is all laid out in black and red, white, and blue.

I am not sure how attainable all the goals are, I don't agree with them all 100%, but they seem genuine, well intentioned, and by golly I feel like we are being led by someone with a vision. And at least so far it is a vision that I can really get behind.

Time will tell if his intent is good and if he is able to deliver, but this is a good start in my book.

When to Lie to Yourself

Things are going badly. Things that I have anticipated have fallen through. People I have relied on have failed me. I can be a realist and see the failures and brokenness. I can look at the reality of the situation and dwell on it. The cup is genuinely half empty, and probably leaking.

Or...

I can choose to not focus on the things that aren't working. I can look for things that are working. That are making the situation better. I can search out ways to begin recovering from the disappointment. I can look for new modes of support. I can look at the cup as half full, and imagine how to fill it up.

The key is to not ignore the failures, but not focus on them either. Put the bulk of the focus on how to make the situation better. To learn from what didn't go right. It isn't exactly lying per se I guess. It is more just shifting focus to a less natural place.

It doesn't matter how genuine the problems you are facing are. Focusing on the problems will never result in a better outcome than focusing on ways to make things better. So even if it feels disingenuous to look on the bright side it is the more productive side to use.

Developing Agency

Kids, when they are young do not have a lot of agency. They are told how to get dressed, how to eat, how to, pick up their things. They are given very limited bounds within which to function.

Initially of course that is necessary. Kids don't know how to do things. They have to be taught. However, over time the scope of what is possible explodes and their potential massively increases beyond the bounds of their parents ability to capitalize on it all.

Unfortunately I see a lot of parents not only failing to encourage their children to step out and explore the possibilities before them, but keeping them in the little box of childhood they were in as little kids all the way into high school.

I want to teach my kids to have agency in their lives. To recognize what is out there in the world. What is possible. So they can step into it at as early of an age as they can. I want them to recognize their agency and ability to determine for themselves what their path is. To ignore the "rules"  that children can't do great things. That they are limited by their age, size, experience, to only do small things and be consumers until some magic point where they "grow up".

I don't know how to do this, but that is what I want.

Global Situational Awareness

Throughout history the people with the newest and most correct information were the ones who succeeded and prospered. Knowing what was actually happening where and when (situational awareness) allowed them to make better decisions and take advantage of the people around them who knew less. In the United States we have had a history of free press for this very reason. The free press were able to inform the people of what was happening in government, our country, and around the world so we could respond appropriately.

This has begun to change in a big way. Some of the changes have been good and some have been less than good.

• [GOOD] The Internet: The internet has allowed communication on a huge scale between individuals and organizations. The entire world has been upended. The number of organizations disseminating information has greatly increased. We are no longer limited to getting our news from a few sources.
• [BAD] The Internet: The internet has disrupted a lot of things. One of those is the newspaper industry. Newspapers used to employ large numbers of reporters who would go out and find stories in order to inform people. The number of reporters has drastically dropped as news has shifted towards more centralized electronic news distribution styles.
• [BAD] Editorialization: The big news networks (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc.) have become nothing but editorial commentators in regards to the news. Even NPR has increasingly started to show distinct bias in their reporting. Smaller organizations (blogs, special topic organizations) that have come in with the wave of the internet are very biased, pushing opinions not just information.
• [REALLY BAD] Political Alignment: In this 2016 presidential election we have seen numerous emails leaked showing that media organizations have been actively colluding with the Clinton campaign. To the point that while we technically still have a free press the press has chosen to not be free.

All this put together has created an environment where despite the increased potential for knowing more, the quality of the information that we are presented with is increasingly getting worse. No one is trying to present anyone with unbiased, fact based news coverage.

As citizens our situational awareness of the world around us is getting worse. We are only presented with news filtered through others opinions and prejudices. We need unfiltered news. News that simply serves to tell us facts. Editorialization is only useful in small quantities and if we understand the underlying facts in order to be able to judge the opinions given to us by others. Otherwise we risk falling sway to whatever propaganda and manipulation the powers that be want to push on us.

Freedom of the press is dying and the future of our democracy depends on its survival.

The Church and the Arts

During the middle ages the Church was the center of the arts in Europe. The greatest music was sacred music. The greatest architecture was in the cathedrals which were in turn filled with the greatest stained glass, tapestries, paintings, and carvings. The Church encouraged, promoted, and funded the arts.

Today the Church, at least in the US, largely ignores the arts. "Christian" music and movies mostly fall very short of professional quality standards. More than that though the Church does not encourage people to use their artistic skills outside of music. Writers, painters, sculptors, actors, and musicians (outside of the worship scene) are not encouraged or equipped to succeed.

As the Church we are called to be present and a light in all facets of society. If we are not raising up the best in all forms of artistic expression we will leave the arts and entertainment in the hands of others. That is what we have done. Hollywood and the media in general is infamous for being worldly and devoid of any kind of moral compass.

I do not think the answer is to try to shove "Christian" music, art, and media to the forefront. The answer is to push Christians into music, art, and media where they can make a difference.

Comey's Betrayal

FBI director James Comey announced back in the beginning of July that he would not charge Hillary Clinton in regards to her handling classified data on her unauthorized private server. This has angered a lot of people and propagated a view that the rich and powerful are not held responsible for their actions. It seems we do not play on an equal field. Justice is not blind.

To warrant a criminal charge, Mr. Comey said, there had to be evidence that Mrs. Clinton intentionally transmitted or willfully mishandled classified information. The F.B.I. found neither, and as a result, he said, “our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” (source)

Two big things changed when Comey made this determination and announcement. First, the FBI was significantly damaged in reputation as an institution. Whether or not Comey made the decision based on political pressure doesn't matter. Most people thought it was a tainted finding. Now the public's perception of the FBI is damaged and may never be fixed.

The second thing that changed, and one that I have not heard anywhere, but is equally significant is our future ability to prosecute people for espionage. Per the reasoning Comey presented for not trying Hillary the precedent has been set that it must be shown that someone willfully mishandled classified information. That is a very high bar of proof to meet.

It means that any spy just needs to ensure they do not create any trail of willful intent and they will be fine. In fact based on that standard the FBI would have a hard time convicting Edward Snowden.

So political shill or not, Comey has irrevocably damaged our nations institutions, public faith, and ability to counter espionage. He needs to have his tenure ended in disgrace.

Moving

We moved. This is our seventh house in less than nine years of marriage. We are getting pretty good at it to be honest. This move has been stressful. That never changes. But we packed in about a week. We moved houses in about four hours with three guys. A week after moving we are significantly unpacked. It has all worked out really well.

Moving offers some great opportunities. With all the moving we have avoided collecting a large amount of unnecessary stuff. Moving into a new space gives a clear break point for adjusting routines and trying new things. It is a way of having a fresh start.

Stability is nice, and it is increasingly something that I want. But it does force some simplicity.

It also looks like we have some nice neighbors here.

Typical Politicians

When I think about an average politician it is not an overly flattering picture. I view them as being relatively easily corruptible through oversized political donations from individuals, corporations, and special interest groups. I think they actively pander and shift their opinions to conform to the perceived audience. I think they are largely out to advance themselves and line their pockets above and beyond truly representing their constituents. I view them as slippery and slimy, willing to use sleazy political moves to get where they want to go. In general though I do not view them as explicitly criminal, though that does happen.

There are a lot of politicians who are much much better than my average view, as well as some that are much much worse. I want to address one of those extremes today after an epiphany I had yesterday. I was talking politics with a friend when I realized that I had been hearing a lot about Hillary Clinton's failings in the light of "oh just another corrupt politician". I started to think about it. She does reflect the negative elements from my above list, but not in a typical way.

1. She mishandled classified material which, regardless of intent, is a crime and even in small cases results in jail time.
2. Through the process of the mishandling of classified information she used a personal server and deleted a large number of emails. Some of which were potentially classified. If that is true she is guilty of obstruction of justice which is what got Richard Nixon kicked out of office.
3. Her Clinton Foundation seems to be an organized and intentional front for overt corruption. She has actively sought out donations and payed speaking engagements in exchange for giving political favors even as Secretary of State.
4. She collaborated with the DNC to rig the Democrat primaries in order to prevent Bernie Sanders from winning. Not only that, but Hillary hired Debbie Wasserman Schultz the DNC chair as her assistant campaign manager after DWS got fired for the rigging.
5. The Clinton campaign has been found to incite violence at Trump events.

There is more, but that is a good representation of her less than ideal activities. That puts her well beyond corrupt. That is advanced corrupt. Given that most if not all of these activities have been illegal, and have involved collaboration between her and her staff I would categorize her not just as a criminal, but as the head of an organized crime organization.

Hillary Clinton is a mob boss.

Institutionalized Theft

I saw an article this morning about hotel fees and how they are becoming an increasing trend in the hospitality industry. It reminded me of the last time I flew, I picked a flight for a listed price and then when I was going through the seat selection on the website it charged me an extra $20. It wasn't a fancy seat, not even the emergency exit row. It was a seat fee. I joked at the time that I'd just sit on the floor and save the money, but that wasn't an option. I was quite annoyed.

When I am going to purchase a good or a service I want to know the price and a clear understanding of what I am getting. When companies present a simple and clear explanation of the transaction I am able to set my expectations at an appropriate level and I am usually pretty happy with the transaction. I know what I want, I know what I am going to get, and I know what I have to pay.

Fees break this. With fees I am presented a price and a promised bill of goods. Then later on in the process, sometimes after delivery, I am told that a part of what I assumed was a natural part of the exchange actually has an additional "fee". In the case of the hotels, parking and the pool are fee worthy amenities. When that happens I feel cheated. I feel taken advantage of. In fact I feel like I have been stolen from.

If part of the price of a product is not included in the advertised price it should be optional, and it should be clear that it is not included. Not just an additional line in the small print on the fifth page of the paper they ask you to sign. CLEAR. When I get to the hotel I want a menu with itemized pricing for every amenity.

Room: $50
Bed: $30 (and I want to be able to get a room without one)
Pool: $10
Electricity: $10
Running Water: $20
Parking: $10
Bottled Water: $10/bottle

That would be annoying, but at least it is honest. Why not just tell me you have a $130 room? And don't make me pay for wifi.

At best fees are deceptive. At worst they are outright theft. I might need the good or service and pay up when hit with a fee, but I'm going to dislike that company and do what I can to not use your company ever again.

Is Christianity a religion of Violence?

A friend of mine sent me some verses with the attached argument that Christianity is a violent religion. Here are the verses and my corresponding responses.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18
 16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.

That sounds pretty vicious. "Save alive nothing that breaths." Christianity is a relationship between humanity (as individuals) and G-d. The idea is that G-d loves us and we, as Christians, have chosen to love Him back. Being that He is an all powerful being and the fact that we love Him it is natural that we obey him. So in this verse when G-d commands the Israelites under Joshua to kill all these people it they do it.

Notice though, G-d gives them two things. He gives them specific tribes or kingdoms to destroy, and He tells them why. There is violence, but it is limited in scope and purpose. So to answer the underlying question of are Christians violent and should other people worry about them because of this passage the answer is no. There is clear reasoning behind this command and it does not involve me or anyone else living today. There is no justification for current violence here.


Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

This passage is actually a great example of the rule of law. This is an internal societal issue. The young man is misbehaving and refuses to change his ways. The parents take him to the elders who acted as judges of the people and present their serially misbehaving and recalcitrant son to be judged. If found guilty they call for stoning.

I believe this is largely an issue of the time and the culture. The law was presented to the people of Israel in context to prevailing norms of the time. It is not a call for us today to institute such harsh rules. However, even if it was, the answer to the question of "should we be scared of Christians" would still be no. This focuses on the rule of law and strengthens it.


Leviticus 24:16
16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

At the time that this law was established G-d was ruling directly over Israel with Moses serving as the mediator between them. This was a theocracy. Again considering the cultural norms of the time, kings and rulers held absolute power and people who insulted them were frequently executed. So I believe this law was established to reflect the people's expectations and to emphasize the seriousness of the crime.

Modern applicability is again limited by several factors. We do not live in a theocracy nor are we supposed to, the cultural norms and expectations are fundamentally different today, and finally, we are not G-d's people Israel. This was another case of different place and time and a structure within the established rule of law.

Leviticus 20:13
13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

This passage is quite clear that homosexual activity is wrong in G-d's eyes. However, the way that it is dealt with is different today than it was in Old Testament Israel because of the structure of the way things are. In that situation G-d, as before, was the ruler of the theocratic nation of Israel. It was a nation and functioned in the way countries do. It administered laws and enforced them. Some of them, obviously, with the death penalty. Today the Church which is the child of sorts of the nation of Israel, does not function as a state. Therefore the laws in general of the Old Testament (and the old covenant) do not explicitly apply. The themes are still valid, homosexual activity is still a sin, but we are not supposed to run around stoning people.

Conclusion
There is a lot of violence in the Old Testament. But an honest review of the context shows that there is no theological basis for violence by Christians for religious reasons. The Old Testament covers the Israelites operating as a nation under the old covenant. We are under the new covenant, and have no reason to take action on others based on those passages. Especially to the point of capital punishment.

Minimalism

Over the past week or so we have lived a relatively minimalistic life as we packed up everything for our move yesterday. There were certainly issues since we were packing for moving which wasn't always optimal. However, it gave me a glimpse into minimalism that I haven't seen (at least for a while).

Picking up the house took less than ten minutes. Washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen took only a few minutes as well. Our room was mostly cleaned out and it was pleasantly stark. No clutter or piles of clothes laying around to complicate things.

Having little kids limits how minimalist we can be, but it really was nice. Oh, another thing, we were getting the house ready to move out of too, so a lot of nagging projects had gotten either packed away or resolved. So there really was very little of the mental baggage hanging over my head of unstarted or unfinished projects.

The mental freedom was relaxing. I need to explore this more in our new house. I wonder if I can plan for that without being ultra minimalist (I don't want to eat dinner on the kitchen floor).

We Moved

We moved yesterday. We collectively have no internet, and when I got into work this morning I didn't have a percentage of charge on either of my phones. So... yesterday was a wash I guess. Oh well. :(

The move went really smoothly overall though so that is good.