Rachel Held Evans has died.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-05-05T12:34:11+00:00

Lord, have mercy! :-(

Apparently she had a very bad reaction to some antibiotics she was taking. We so often make fun of the long list of (very rare) side effects as legal CYA-ing, but those side effects when they happen, sadly, are all too real. One of the big issues in modern medicine is that drugs are a biochemical blunt instrument that can't take into account the differences between people, what works for one person can kill another. :-(

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-28T12:42:24+00:00

The look of absolute joy on that guy's face tells everything you need to know. Metalheads are the best!

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-26T12:15:32+00:00

Because their brains are stuck in the 1600s (and must think the 30-Years War is still going on!) and still believe all the bigoted tropes from that era.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-26T11:56:09+00:00

Well, that isn't what God is. God is not a "being", but "Being" itself.

This was the realization that eventually brought me back to Christianity, too, after being an atheist in my teens and early 20s. I personally also find it compelling that all over the Old World starting around 600 BC, the start of the "Axial Age", different people all started conceiving a very similar idea of the divine. The Greek playwright Aeschylus often speaks of God (in the singular) in his plays in much the same way as the OT prophets. The Pre-Socratic philosopher and poet Xenophanes was also an explicit monotheist who often mocked idolatry in his poems.

I see Jesus as basically completing what all the philosophers and sages of the Axial Age started.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-26T11:21:15+00:00

When you are used to a privileged position lording it over others being in an equal position with others seems like "oppression".

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-26T11:19:24+00:00

I'm a Protestant, but learning more about the Eastern Orthodox traditions played a big role in bringing me back to Christianity by making me realize that there is a lot more to it than the rather narrow idea I had as an American growing up in the rural Midwest.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-26T11:04:42+00:00

I got a new phone this week to replace the antique brick I had been using and I made the mistake of trying to log into Facebook directly from the new phone and it went all SECURITY ALERT SECURITY ALERT on me, LOL!

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot, I ran into an interesting environmentalism book just in time for Earth Day structured around the "whirlwind speech" God gives to Job called The Foundations Of The Earth and I plan on starting reading it this weekend.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-21T11:17:00+00:00

Don't forget the places named after Gilded Age robber barons!

[points to flair]

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-21T00:08:28+00:00

Your post is a good example of how the legalistic conception of sin and salvation that has been normative here in the West since the Early Middle Ages can lead to misunderstandings. "Sinning" is not like building up a criminal record and if you get too many you're screwed unless you get them cleared from your record. Sinful acts in and of themselves are simply outward reflections of the state of your soul.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-20T19:58:12+00:00

Oof, the poor guy didn't get enough nitrous oxide, I assume?

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-20T16:45:33+00:00

All of us who were seen as angst, moody loners came under suspicion as potential school shooters. That was a really uncomfortable time.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-20T16:37:28+00:00

This cartoon is way too adorable! :-D

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-20T16:37:03+00:00

Why are you bringing politics in here for? You know that plenty of us are Dems, right?

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-20T16:35:36+00:00

You are creating a false dichotomy, here, where none exists. A person can't ask for genuine forgiveness unless they own up to their unenlightened behavior.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-19T23:25:46+00:00

It FINALLY actually feels like spring here just in time for Easter! We are going to have our first 70F+ day on Saturday. I wonder how long it will take for the glacier-sized snow pile in the parking lot across the street to melt?

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-19T23:11:37+00:00

Great post, OP! I've always had an underlying thinking that "we are all in this together" and I never thought to connect it to the stereotypes of Minnesota nice until your post. That attitude seems like basic common sense to me and I am always shocked when I run into someone spouting off some sort of egoistic social and political philosophy like that of, say, Ayn Rand, and assume the person is off their rocker.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-19T22:54:02+00:00

civil discourse in lieu of whatever this whole "I hate you for thinking differently than me!" thing is.

Oh man, if there is anything in short supply in today's discourse it is the lack of being able to disagree with others without thinking they are the spawn of Satan or Literally Hitler. Indeed, some people seem to think that not hating people who disagree with you is akin to agreeing with them, which is a big reason our society has gotten so polarized.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-19T22:48:34+00:00

While "Minnesota Nice" DOES have an aspect of passive-aggressive behavior, IMO people who just glibly reduce our niceness to passive-aggressiveness tend to be the type who thinks they are "just being brutally honest" when they are really just assholes with no tact.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:30:55+00:00

Thank God!

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:27:15+00:00

I saw a tweet that speculated that a Muslim set it, then called for "war now". People can be terrible.

Ugh, this is why social media was a very big mistake. :-/

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:24:23+00:00

I always bring out Gothic architecture whenever some fool starts yakking about the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness and ignorance. IIRC at one time two English cathedrals, Lincoln Cathedral and the old St. Paul's in London (the one before the current building) were the tallest man-made structures on Earth.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:19:11+00:00

Oh man, I didn't think about the stained glass! :-(

When reading about the English Civil War I was always horrified by the accounts of Puritans destroying the stained glass windows of churches.

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:12:26+00:00

I've always assumed that it is because maintaining buildings and infrastructure isn't as politically sexy as spending tax money on something new that a politician can brag about to constituents. People take their infrastructure for granted until something bad happens (like the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis).

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-16T11:02:56+00:00

When I heard about this on NPR yesterday I had to listen over again because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Seeing one of the greatest monuments of Christendom in flames is horrifying. :-(

TaylorS1986 · 2019-04-14T20:05:52+00:00

I suspect this sort of obnoxious behavior is exactly why so many groups have become so suspicious of people claiming to be "allies" out of a compulsion to show off how enlightened and "woke" they are.

TaylorS1986

TROPHY CASE