Sleep-Deprived Philosophy
There are three concepts that a person has to understand in order to understand just how powerful Christianity is. Those three concepts are justice, mercy, and grace.
Justice is getting what we deserve. Justice is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. Justice is reason free from passion. All people are sinners; all people are, at their core, selfish, deceitful, prideful, wrathful, et cetera. All humans deserve to be repaid in kind for their treachery to God and to each other. All humans deserve suffering; that would be justice.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve. When we are spared the suffering we deserve, when we are spared the punishment that we have earned through our trangressions, through our sins against God and each other, we are granted mercy. Mercy is bypassing that suffering that is just, through no merit of our own.
Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Grace is receiving a gift, in this case eternal life and spiritual redemption, through no merit of our own. Grace is forgiveness after nothing more than a request. Grace is continuing to screw up, but not being punished for it in the end due to unconditional love. Grace is what separates the Christian faith from all others: in all others, the best a man can hope for is mercy or justice, while Christianity offers the option of redemption through the work of Another.
By our nature, humans seek justice. Civilized humans seek to overcome the urge to seek justice, and implement mercy. Redeemed humans seek to exceed mercy, and implement grace. We are called to choose grace.
Christ is meant to be our example in all things. Christ sacrificed himself for those who misunderstood him; He died for those who were wilfully ignorant, and turned their backs on him. Christ ministered to those who deserved His love the least. We are never told that Christ's mission was an easy one; in fact, we know for a fact that at the climax of His mission, He begged for release and extraction if it was at all possible. Even so, He knew His mission, He knew the stakes, and He knew the right path: to offer grace to those who deserved it the least, to those who were wilfully ignorant, for those who turned their backs on Him. As painful as that may have been, this is our call.
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"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
- The Gospel according to St. Luke
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You can't drink a gin and tonic out of a pastic cup; to do so would represent a pollution of the Mojo, a deliberate disturbance. A GnT must be consumed from the glass, just like consuming Guinness from a plastic cup would be an affront to Allah. (We're going to get some letters on that one!) Right now I'm drinking a GnT, and I'm drinking it out of a glass, because that is the only correct way to do it.
Strangely enough, tea can be consumed from many different receptacles. It can be an insulated plastic mug, a ceramic mug, a stainless steel mug, or even a paper cup, provided the paper cup has a jacket around it; good tea comes hot, and it can make your hand very uncomfortable through just the paper cup without any additional insulation.
I don't know much about a good gin and tonic. A good Guinness is either consumed from the bottle, or from a pint glass; the stout is better than the draught. A good cup of tea has a generous amount of sugar, as well as milk or cream, added to it.
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One of my goals for this year was going to be to understand women better. It's not going so well. I'm learning more about women, but what I'm learning seems to make absolutely no sense. I'm basically at the point where I can only really understand about three women: Mo-Licious, Sarah Canuck, and April; and the current Matriarch, I suppose. It's like a classic moment from one of my favorite episodes of Sports Night:
Defiance of logic is an interesting trait; perhaps we should have more women as military strategists. If I were to guess, I could probably team up with a number of women that I know: between their ability to think outside the box, and my knowledge of tactics and strategy, we could probably be an unstoppable force in the development of new operational procedures. Then again, we'd probably kill each other in the process, or something.
C'est la vie.
---
Other translations render "solitude" variously as "desolation" and "desert". In this, Calgacus, a first century chieftain of the Caledonii, is referring to the Roman Empire in a dramatic speech to the confederacy of Caledonian tribes, preparing to defend Mons Graupius against the assault of Gnaeus Julius Agricola and his legions. The Romans faced a strong enemy in foreign territory; the Caledonians were dug in, and had elevation on their side.
It was one of the finest Roman victories in history, and if Domitian had allowed Agricola to consolidate the victory, it would have meant a consolidated Roman presence in two thirds of what is now Scotland. Unfortunately, revolts and civil wars in Germania required that the ambitious agenda of Agricola had to be discontinued; Agricola was recalled, and some of the forces he'd used to smite the Caledonii were sent to Germania.
I've seen the terrain Agricola and his legions were up against; if he didn't have the entirety of my respect before that, he had it immediately after.
---
Thus Saith the Fly.
Justice is getting what we deserve. Justice is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. Justice is reason free from passion. All people are sinners; all people are, at their core, selfish, deceitful, prideful, wrathful, et cetera. All humans deserve to be repaid in kind for their treachery to God and to each other. All humans deserve suffering; that would be justice.
"[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
- The Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
Mercy is not getting what we deserve. When we are spared the suffering we deserve, when we are spared the punishment that we have earned through our trangressions, through our sins against God and each other, we are granted mercy. Mercy is bypassing that suffering that is just, through no merit of our own.
Grace is getting what we do not deserve. Grace is receiving a gift, in this case eternal life and spiritual redemption, through no merit of our own. Grace is forgiveness after nothing more than a request. Grace is continuing to screw up, but not being punished for it in the end due to unconditional love. Grace is what separates the Christian faith from all others: in all others, the best a man can hope for is mercy or justice, while Christianity offers the option of redemption through the work of Another.
By our nature, humans seek justice. Civilized humans seek to overcome the urge to seek justice, and implement mercy. Redeemed humans seek to exceed mercy, and implement grace. We are called to choose grace.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her[.]"
- The Letter of St. Paul to Ephesus
Christ is meant to be our example in all things. Christ sacrificed himself for those who misunderstood him; He died for those who were wilfully ignorant, and turned their backs on him. Christ ministered to those who deserved His love the least. We are never told that Christ's mission was an easy one; in fact, we know for a fact that at the climax of His mission, He begged for release and extraction if it was at all possible. Even so, He knew His mission, He knew the stakes, and He knew the right path: to offer grace to those who deserved it the least, to those who were wilfully ignorant, for those who turned their backs on Him. As painful as that may have been, this is our call.
---
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
- The Gospel according to St. Luke
---
You can't drink a gin and tonic out of a pastic cup; to do so would represent a pollution of the Mojo, a deliberate disturbance. A GnT must be consumed from the glass, just like consuming Guinness from a plastic cup would be an affront to Allah. (We're going to get some letters on that one!) Right now I'm drinking a GnT, and I'm drinking it out of a glass, because that is the only correct way to do it.
Strangely enough, tea can be consumed from many different receptacles. It can be an insulated plastic mug, a ceramic mug, a stainless steel mug, or even a paper cup, provided the paper cup has a jacket around it; good tea comes hot, and it can make your hand very uncomfortable through just the paper cup without any additional insulation.
I don't know much about a good gin and tonic. A good Guinness is either consumed from the bottle, or from a pint glass; the stout is better than the draught. A good cup of tea has a generous amount of sugar, as well as milk or cream, added to it.
---
Night falls, I'm cast beneath her spell
Daylight comes, our heaven turns to hell
Am I left to burn, and burn eternally?
She's a mystery to me
- "Mystery Girl" by Bono & The Edge, performed by Roy Orbison
One of my goals for this year was going to be to understand women better. It's not going so well. I'm learning more about women, but what I'm learning seems to make absolutely no sense. I'm basically at the point where I can only really understand about three women: Mo-Licious, Sarah Canuck, and April; and the current Matriarch, I suppose. It's like a classic moment from one of my favorite episodes of Sports Night:
Jeremy: Yeah, I have to stand firm. Not to establish an upper hand, but to establish equality.
Dan: Exactly.
Jeremy: We'll have an argument and she will take a position that absolutely defies logic. Now, I have a pretty healthy respect for logic, but then all she has to do is put on one of my shirts.
Dan: The shirt.
Jeremy: She'll grab a white dress shirt from my closet.
Dan: You're cooked.
Jeremy: It's over.
Dan: That's it.
Jeremy: Like bishop to queen's-rook-7.
Dan: Keep going.
Jeremy: My chess team is playing Lakeland. I start my match king's-pawn-3, king's-pawn-3. Bam, bam, bam, all of a sudden the guy moves bishop to queen's-rook-7. I lost 32 moves later, but I was never even in it.
Dan: Right. And that relates to Natalie wearing your shirt how?
Jeremy: I have to stand firm. Thank you.
Defiance of logic is an interesting trait; perhaps we should have more women as military strategists. If I were to guess, I could probably team up with a number of women that I know: between their ability to think outside the box, and my knowledge of tactics and strategy, we could probably be an unstoppable force in the development of new operational procedures. Then again, we'd probably kill each other in the process, or something.
C'est la vie.
---
"If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace."
- Calgacus, 84 AD
Other translations render "solitude" variously as "desolation" and "desert". In this, Calgacus, a first century chieftain of the Caledonii, is referring to the Roman Empire in a dramatic speech to the confederacy of Caledonian tribes, preparing to defend Mons Graupius against the assault of Gnaeus Julius Agricola and his legions. The Romans faced a strong enemy in foreign territory; the Caledonians were dug in, and had elevation on their side.
It was one of the finest Roman victories in history, and if Domitian had allowed Agricola to consolidate the victory, it would have meant a consolidated Roman presence in two thirds of what is now Scotland. Unfortunately, revolts and civil wars in Germania required that the ambitious agenda of Agricola had to be discontinued; Agricola was recalled, and some of the forces he'd used to smite the Caledonii were sent to Germania.
I've seen the terrain Agricola and his legions were up against; if he didn't have the entirety of my respect before that, he had it immediately after.
---
Thus Saith the Fly.
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