Head-dibs

I would rather work a puzzle than play a game and here’s why:  puzzles lead to solutions and games end with a judgment;  puzzles cultivate will and games exploit weakness;  puzzles foster cooperation and games nurture rivalry;  puzzles elevate, encourage, bring completion and satisfaction to everyone who participates while in games thrive castigation, discouragement, irresolution and dissatisfaction. (disclaimer: CrossFit is the only exception to games because it's a lifestyle.) The difference between puzzles and games may also be seen by considering what it means to “win.” G. K. Chesterton published in 1910, “There is no such thing as backing a winner. There is no such thing as fighting on the winning side. One fights to find out which is the winning side.” (In “Part One: The Homelessness of Man,”  What’s Wrong with the World .)  The Far Side by Gary Larson Who is The Brave Man? Socrates wondered if this was the one who with assistance ...

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) gave us this ditty called "The Mad Gardener's Song." He thought he saw an Elephant That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. 'At length I realize,' he said, 'The bitterness of Life!' He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: He looked again, and found it was His Sister's Husband's Niece. 'Unless you leave this house,' he said, 'I'll send for the Police!' He thought he saw a Rattlesnake That questioned him in Greek: He looked again, and found it as The Middle of Next Week. 'The one thing I regret,' he said, 'Is that it cannot speak!' He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk Descending from the 'bus: He looked again, and found it was A Hippopotamus. 'If this should stay to dine,' he said, 'There won't be much for us!' He thought he saw a Kangaroo That worked a coffee-mill: He looked again, and found it was A Veget...

“But I call God to witness against me--it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” [2 Co 1:23-24 ESV] Someone observed that, while  we have many points of view, God has infinite viewing points. We only see a situation from a certain perspective until we chose to move and expand our view. God on the other hand sees everything all at once. Men may be blinded to seeing truth by varying shades of deceit, but God sees truth in the light. Being falsely accused of unfaithfulness in ministry, Paul addresses doubts held against him by calling God to witness his integrity. This is a beautiful truth concerning truth: it always stands before God. When Paul’s calling was called into question by those who sought to undermine his ministry, Paul called on God to witness his calling. When Paul was accused of using the ministry for personal gain, he called God to...

Struggling with what God has called you to do? Sometimes we find ourselves asking, “why did I start this in the first place?” That’s really not a bad question by the way, because our “why” is an excellent resource to help us keep going. If we can’t answer “why,” then perhaps we need a better “why.” Paul tells us why he continued in ministry, even in the face of opposition. “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” [2Co 1:21-22 ESV]. Paul’s “why” is rooted in Jesus, the God-given foundation of ministry, “it is God who establishes us with you in Christ.” This is the second time Paul fell back on his “why.” The first time was recorded in his first letter when he reminded his opponents of their position in Christ as “confirmed, blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into one fellowship with His Son, Jesus...

Criticism of the gospel ministry is nothing new (ol’ Solomon was right, you know: there is nothing new under the sun), so we can find great encouragement to remain faithful in all we do out of love for the Lord by considering how the apostle Paul rooted the defense of his ministry in truth. He writes: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. But I call God to witness against me--it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” [2Co 1:19-24 ESV] Paul is truthful in mini...

The Greek tragedian Aeshylus (525-456 BC) wrote, “God is not averse to deceit in a holy cause.” Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the greatest difficulties pastors face today stems from this damaging worldview. Truth is the unifying factor of all the pastor is and all the pastor is to do; otherwise, the badge of office is “scandal,” and the world knows this. Just read the headlines. We catch a glimpse of the centrality of truth in pastoral ministry where Paul writes to Timothy, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, according to the commandment of god our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, our hope; to Timothy, true child in faith . . .” (1 Timothy 1:1-2). This entire letter to Timothy encourages truth and warns against those who speak otherwise. There are those who shipwreck their faith on the reef of untruth. Truth defines both the person and work of the minister. Let’s get this right, from the beginning. “Ministry” is an outward orientation, taking care of others. Ministry ...

“We are sending forth graduates with diffused minds, scarcely fit to take command of their own lives or to co-operate in the development of a social state; drifters into conformity and essential human futility; easy victims to specious crowd psychologies; followers of what seem easy ways out . . . . They esteem themselves only creatures of their environment and so they tend to become just that. They have little or no perception of standards—of truth, beauty, or goodness; they have no goals or purposeful perfection with which to estimate values or by which to gauge achievement. All things are to them relative—relative not to absolutes but to expediency. Truth means to them little more than a body of observable facts; beauty, conformity to fashion; goodness, doing the things that will make one comfortable or popular. Out of our most able youth, capable of high adventure, we are manufacturing mental and ethical jellyfish.” President Stephen Bell, of Saint Stephens College. Quoted by W.A. ...

Solomon was right: there is nothing new under the sun. Augustine (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), demonstrated the absurdity of the idea that truth cannot be found, an idea held by many in his day. This idea still persists, and the absurdity still stands. Truth calls man into account, and the attempt to deny truth is an attempt to reject accountability. If there is no truth, then one may do as he pleases, regardless of the implications on others. If there is no truth, then there remains nothing with which to charge a criminal. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.” (Winston Churchill) Nevertheless, man cannot tolerate ruptured relationships, so he must charge an offender with something—truth is more than probable. Those who concede that truth exists find themselves recipients of an invitation to reason with the author of truth. The options are few, so consider: the one who will not reason is intolerant an...

Somewhere in my reading list is Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” (perhaps I will read it sooner than later). This short work is supposed to be the definitive book on war and has been studied for centuries. I will be bringing a treatment of the book at this time; rather, I would like to concentrate on a passage in Matthew’s gospel that is very helpful for followers of Christ who face opposing viewpoints that amount to a different kind of warfare altogether. This is not the kind of warfare that constitutes the arm-wrestling of ideas, and the best debater wins. Instead, this is the kind of warfare that battles for clear thinking on the foundation of truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ has been doing ministry in Galilee with Simon and others. Having already faced opposition at home, a multitude of people were following Jesus despite His withdrawal following the Sabbath controversy (He healed a lame man and people were seeking to kill Him for breaking the Sabbath and for saying He was equal with God). T...

“ The academicians themselves claim they follow only the probable in acting. Still they go to great pains to seek the truth, although they think it probable that truth cannot be found. Who would not laugh at this? What amazing absurdity! But let’s skip that; it doesn’t concern us or affect our lives or fortunes. . . . . For if this reasoning of academicians is probable, then one may perpetrate any crime if it appears probable he ought to, so long as he assents to nothing as true. It will not be charged to him as a sin or even a mistake. What about this? Did the academicians not see this? Indeed they saw it, for they were clever and cautious. I surely would not be so arrogant as to maintain I have come near to Marcus Tullius in industry, alertness, genius, or learning. And still, when he claimed man cannot know anything, he would not be able to refute one who answered: ‘But I know that it seems so to me .’” (Augustine, 354-430) Augustine’s comments are just as relevant today as they ...

Walking across The Horseshoe on the campus of the University of South Carolina a couple of years ago, I met a young man just coming out of a building from a class. He had his empty back-pack hanging off one shoulder, while he carried a small stack of books under the other arm. After a few moments of light conversation, I asked if he had a religious background, to which he got rather agitated and replied in a stern negative, adding that the Bible could not be trusted. I inquired how he came to that conclusion, to which he bitterly answered, “Because the Bible was written by men. It’s a waste of time. Only an idiot would believe the Bible.” The implication he was trying to make was crystal clear. What happened next was like one of those movie scenes where everything freezes while a character thinks, dialogues, or moves about for a moment until everything resumes animation once more. I stood there, looked at him, looked at the books under his arm, his empty backpack, again the books un...

I'm a Texan by birth, and everyone knows that Texans enjoy nothing more than a good lie story. Many take great pride in their ability to yarn. Must be something in the water, or the air. Too many cattle, perhaps. Two riverboat captains who got into a shouting match around the campfire one night about who was the better liar. One of their crew suggested a contest to find out who could tell the best lie. Wagers were made and the captains took a moment to gather their thoughts. The first captain stood up in the light of the campfire and spun his story of that summer the Old Muddy ran so low and dry that they used their paddle-wheel steamboat to plow and furrow the once soggy bottom. They turned miles of the rich riverbed into farmland. The soil was so rich that instead of waiting weeks, the first crop came in mere days in the heat of the summer sun. As they began to harvest the corn by backing their paddle-wheel downstream through the fields, the summer sun beat down so hard that all...

Reading through the account of Polycarp’s martyrdom reveals several observations concerning the conflict of worldviews and the impact of truth. Polycarp was killed for being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, killed in the name of religion. The persecution of believers today occurs because of the same conflict the world showed against truth--the same hostility that even our Lord Jesus Christ faced in his arrest, trial and death. Truth wrecks the principles of religion because truth is rooted in the person of Lord Jesus Christ, not in a man-made system of people who think they understand God. Pragmatism as a worldview results in many, many problems, because it attempts to establish truth in a "user-friendly" fashion. When two people stand shoulder to shoulder in the name of pragmatism or religious tolerance, the systems fail before it ever begins; for example, biblical truth stresses that man is the crown of God's creation, so for one man to "lift his hand" aga...

Years ago, the cover of the Saturday Evening Post displayed a painting by Leslie Thrasher showing a woman buying a Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey was on the scales and the butcher is standing behind the counter. The customer, a lady of about 60, stands watching the weigh in. The butcher and the lady each had a pleased look on their faces, but a closer look reveals they each knew something of a secret. Their faces showed nothing unusual going on, but Thrasher shows us their hands. The butcher is pressing down on the scales with a thumb while the woman is pushing up with her finger. Both would resent being called thieves, or even liars. But neither saw anything wrong with a little deception. "A little lie is like a little pregnancy--it doesn't take long before everyone knows." (C.S. Lewis) "A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape." (Proverbs 19:5) "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers ...

A music teacher was visited by an old friend who greeted him with, “So . . . what’s the good news today?” Taking a tuning fork out of his shirt pocket, the teacher walked across the room, and struck the fork. As the note sounded out across the room he said, “That is the sound of an ‘A.’ It is ‘A’ today; it was ‘A’ five thousand years ago, and it will be ‘A’ a thousand years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key. The tenor across the hall falls flat on high notes, and the piano downstairs is out of tune.” He struck the fork again and said, “That is ‘A’, my friend, and that’s the good news for today.” Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, "Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is."

John Cage (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992), a contemporary American composer, believed that the universe is impersonal by nature and that it originated only through pure chance. In an attempt to live consistently with this personal philosophy, Cage composed all of his music by various means of chance. He used, among other things, the tossing of coins and the rolling of dice to make sure that no personal element enters into the final product. The result was music that has no form, no structure, and for the most part, no appeal. This is a video of one of his most well-known piece, called "4'33"": Though his professional life accurately reflected his belief in a universe that has no order, his personal life did not, for his favorite pastime was mycology, the collecting of mushrooms. Due to the potentially lethal results of picking the wrong mushroom, one cannot approach a mushroom on a purely by-chance basis. Concerning that, Cage stated, “I became aware that...

Three umpires were debating their philosophies of umpiring. "There's balls and there's strikes," says the first, "and I call 'em the way they are." "No!" exclaimed the next. "That's arrogant! There's balls and there's strikes, and I call 'em the way I see 'em." "That's no better," broke in the third. "Why beat around the bush? Why not be realistic about what we do? There's balls and there's strikes, and they ain't nothin' 'till I call 'em."

This video is called "How to detect a lie." So punish the lie. The video really shows "How to detect a liar": How To Detect a Lie Add to My Profile More Videos "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and a breather of lies shall not escape." (Proverbs 19:5) "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and one speaking lies shall perish." (Proverbs 19:9) "But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, will have their part in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Rev. 21:8)

The Internet Monk once used this moniker: "Read.Think.React.Write.Live." Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) gave us this ditty called "The Mad Gardener's Song." This is how it goes: He thought he saw an Elephant That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. 'At length I realize,' he said, 'The bitterness of Life!' He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: He looked again, and found it was His Sister'ss Husband's Niece. 'Unless you leave this house,' he said, 'I'll send for the Police!' He thought he saw a Rattlesnake That questioned him in Greek: He looked again, and found it as The Middle of Next Week. 'The one thing I regret,' he said, 'Is that it cannot speak!' He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk Descending from the 'bus: He looked again, and found it was A Hippopotamus. 'If this should stay to dine,' he said, 'There won't be much for us!...