An individual Christian Interpretation of personal life experiences, as well as a few other things.
Opportunities...
Gas prices...
I remember the ‘energy crisis’ some years back. Lots of people cut back on electricity. Lots of people bought energy efficient lighting, heating, refrigeration, increased their insulation, etc. What happened? The cost of energy went up. Your bill went up even though you conserved. Same thing will apply with oil. For the consumer, it’s a lose/lose.
There is a balancing act, though. The oil industry has to find out just what the market will bear and still stay healthy. They wouldn’t want the bottom to fall out of the economy. If they get too greedy, that could come back to bite them. If they are smart, they also wouldn’t want to upset the powers that be. That could also come back to bite them. An economy is like a circulatory system. If that circulation is impaired, the life [style] that economy provides is impacted. Some countries might get aggressive to preserve a ‘way of life’. I can think of a few ways that countries could get aggressive. They could impose new regulations, the government could take control (like Chavez is doing in Venezuela), they could wage war against a country that is controlling oil pricing, or they could attempt to assassinate the key players.
A shunt in the circuitry pt2...
Okay…I believe we have established that there is a definite shunt in the collective circuitry when it comes to intercommunication (understanding one another). I have speculated that that shunt may have gone deeper than just intercommunication and affected our very thought processes and abilities to understand generally. But there is another shunt. The individual shunt. We all have limitations of one sort or another. These can be viewed as shunts in the circuitry as well. On a scientific level you might say that the DNA is the circuitry and it’s not all optimized the same for everyone. This is again…what I do best…stating the obvious. Some people are born prodigies and other people have a hard time learning how to tell time or tie their shoes. Not their fault. It’s in the circuitry. Do you ever wonder why?
A shunt in the circuitry...
This brings up my main topic…the shunt in the circuitry. I keep looking at this scripture:
Genesis 11:7…Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
Could this be where it all began? Now don’t take this the wrong way, I’d never insult God purposefully. But, did God dumb us down so that we couldn’t understand? He surely did when it came to intercommunication. Could this scripture go deeper than just intercommunication, though? Did this confusing the language affect our internal language as well so that we would have difficulty with understanding and conceptualizing?
Submit yourselves…
1 Peter 2:13…¶ Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
Romans 13:1…¶ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Who is our ‘authority’? Obviously, from the above scriptures…kings, governors, and governing authorities that are 'instituted' for sure. But what about your pastor, or your boss? Are we to submit to them for the Lord’s sake? And what exactly does that mean…to submit to them? What if your pastor tells you to do something that you don’t agree with? Do you have to submit to them to be a good
A man reaps what he sows...
Something I may have learned...
I think I’ve learned that my prayers can’t change someone else’s mind. That my prayers can’t circumvent someone else’s free will.
I think I’ve learned that God doesn’t always come through. That’s a hard one for me. Sometimes, He appears to leave one to their own devices. I know I have beseeched God on a number of issues over the years and have never felt that I got a clear answer.
I think I’ve learned that people put a lot of words in God’s mouth that He never uttered. I’ve seen that over and over again in my life. If it rains tomorrow, I’ll know God doesn’t want me to take that trip. I’m going to flip a coin, and If it’s heads, that’s a ‘yes’ from God. If I apply for this job and get it…I’ll know it’s God’s will. If she says ‘yes’, I’ll know it’s God’s will. If I fail this test, I’ll know God wants me to quit school.
I think I’ve learned that God protects us from the knowledge and full understanding and insight into the depth of our corruption. I think if we could see it, we’d be horrified.
God's will be done...
Yes! Amen to that brothers/sisters! Who wouldn’t want God’s will to be done in their lives? I know I do. The question becomes, though, how can we be sure that what is happening in our lives is actually God’s will? Where does human will, and the corruption of the flesh come into the equation? If you ask a friend for a favor and they refuse, is that necessarily God’s will? If you ask your boss for a raise and are refused, is that necessarily God’s will? If you are passed up for a promotion, is that necessarily God’s will? You get my point? I’d love to rest in God’s will…but I’m not always sure He is the one that I’m dealing with. I’ve seen corruption in high places. My observation is that just because someone is ‘in charge’ doesn’t mean they are right or fair, show good judgment, or are doing God’s will. I always think of Hitler. He was in charge, but he was a maniac. I think of King Saul, he was God’s anointed, and yet he did his best to kill David. Can God’s anointed act out of envy? Guess so. I guess anybody can then. So when is what is happening to us God’s will then?
Stating the obvious...
I know I do that a lot. I’m sure that most of my observations are not revelations to those that hear or read them. They’ve probably heard them already, and/or thought of them before themselves. Nonetheless, I have another to share. :-) Please bear with me.
A couple of days ago I went to the store to buy supplies. One of the food stuffs that I purchase regularly is Newman’s Own Sockarooni sauce (I love this stuff). Once I returned home and put the bottles on my shelf I thought I noticed a difference in the size of the bottles. You see, I still had a bottle that I had purchased previously. Upon closer inspection, sure enough, though the new bottle was slightly taller…it was also narrower. The bottom line is the new bottle was 24 ounces, and the old bottle was 26 ounces. In other words, the cost went up 7+ % (if my math is correct). That’s quite a rise. That seems to be the ‘common’ practice these days. The cost of the item stays the same, but there is not as much of it. I don’t care for this practice….it seems cheap and deceptive to me. I wonder if there should be some sort of law against it? I think if you are going to, or need to, raise the price of your product, there shouldn’t be any attempt to hide that from the consumer. Why not just be honest? Tell it like it is. If the consumer is more knowledgeable about what is going on regarding inflation, maybe an outcry will have some effect? Maybe the politicians will be forced to address it instead of their typical routine of postponing the inevitable? I get the feeling that one of these days the bottom is going to fall out of our economy and it’s going to crash…only this time, with our economy being part of a global economy, it’s going to wreck world-wide havoc.
Here’s a paranoid thought...
Fear can stimulate the economy. For instance, let’s just say that robbery is on the rise in your neighborhood. What would you do? Many people would buy things to help protect themselves and their belongings. Some would move. Either way, you are spending more money than you would be otherwise. If you hear that a hurricane is on it’s way…you go buy things. If you hear that a product is going to be in short supply and the price will likely be rising…you might go and stock up. If you hear that an enemy is threatening to attack, you might build a bomb shelter, purchase arms, ammunition, and other supplies. If you hear that the climate is being impacted by the use of fossil fuels, you might go out and buy a green car or a bicycle. Any time cataclysm is proclaimed, it likely stimulates the economy.
I’ve also heard that war stimulates the economy. Obviously, when a country wages war it uses more war related things. That means production has to be increased. That means more people are employed. That means more people have money to buy things.
The paranoid part of this thought is that someone might use fear just to stimulate the economy. A healthy (I’m not sure healthy is really the right word) economy can mean security for the politicians that are in power, as well as for businesses in general.
It’s a bit complicated. Who out there that has spent years trying to understand it is surprised? There is one GOD, the Father (YAWEH...
-
What kind of help do people need the most? For instance, If you know someone that is really unattractive, what might be the best way to help...
-
When you really get down to it, life is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to invest. You can invest in the temporal and you can invest i...
-
Here is what scripture says: 1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord...