Desperate Times?

Did you know that you can use a "Berkshare" to pay for your purchase in Berkshire, Massachusetts instead of a dollar bill? In Detroit you can use a "Detroit Cheer" at the Bucharest Grill. In fact, apparently 75 local currency systems have started nationwide recently. They basically work like a coupon: you buy $100 for $95 and spend them at participating locations. But still, the idea of using something resembling a currency (that's not the dollar) here in America is both clever, and a bit surreal.

Are You Looking For Dr. Manhattan, or Jesus?

If you type "Dr Manhattan vs Jesus" into Google, guess what the first result is... yes, it happens to be my post from weeks ago contrasting the cold caricature of God that is Dr. Manhattan to Jesus. If you look at the screenshot I've included, you'll see that all sorts of queries have led people to that post. In fact, 55 people have visited my blog by searching for some variation on Dr. Manhattan.

Of course, the vast majority of those people "bounce" (leave the page immediately) so I can only guess that they didn't find what they wanted. If you look at the results from the aforementioned Google search, you'll see that most of them involve fantasy match-ups between Dr. Manhattan and Jesus, as well as Thor, Osama bin Laden, Dark Phoenix, Darkseid, and Uber Cable, among others.

While it's true that most of these Googlers didn't bother to stick around and read what I had to say, at least 20-30% at least found it interesting enough to take a gander. As such, I'm curious... To these people I ask, what were you really looking for? Where you, in fact, looking for an epic cage match of godly proportions? Where you looking for the compare and contrast exercise I wrote? Or something else entirely? Sound off in the comments.

Does This Opinion Matter?

While I wouldn't say I'm an evolutionist (at least in terms of abiogenesis), I do believe that the process of evolution occurs in nature. I can honestly say that I'm not well informed on how macroevolution occurs (as opposed to microevolution, which isn't a hard thing to grasp) and have a hard time with some ideas behind that. But I'm willing to investigate and see what scientists have to say about it, without feeling my faith is threatened.

That is to say, I'm not a Young Earth Creationist (YEC). I believe that Genesis allows for an interpretation that agrees with science on the age of the earth and the universe (really, really, old) and I'm prepared to discuss that intelligently with you. Further, I believe it disingenuous to be a YEC once you've investigated the alternatives (which are reasonable and not faith-threatening as I've mentioned before). Unfortunately, a lot of YEC proponents aren't exactly the shining representations of Christian faith they would hold themselves to believe.

This is, sadly, pointed out by an avowed atheist in this post here. He's actually fair in his assessment of Christianity and the YEC position, in my opinion. Many YEC will be so wrapped up in their interpretations of Genesis, that even Christians with differing opinions have been branded heretics and the discussion about the matter devolves into heated rhetoric, all the while shaming the Gospel of Christ.

This leads to another group of people, those who don't care. These Christians are just tired of the fighting, and don't really think it matters at all to their relationship with God. I occasionally enter this camp, but I can't put myself wholeheartedly with these folks. I'm sure we'll end up seeing young-earthers, old-earthers, theistic-evolutionists, and all sorts of people in heaven; this belief won't be the deciding factor in God's judgement. On this, I'm very sure. On the other hand, I think its important to be informed on a subject that can come up fairly frequently when talking to other Christians and those outside of the church. I won't pick a fight, but when I'm asked what I believe the Bible says on the matter, I know what I'm going to say.

So what about you? Think the whole creation vs. evolution/young-earth vs. old-earth debate is a bunch of shouting in the wind? Or am I a heretic for saying evolution occurs in nature?

At Least He's Honest

If you want a good laugh, take a look at this screenshot of someone talking to a scammer on Skype. Once confronted with his scam, the scoundrel 'fesses up rather quickly...

World's Cheapest Car

So... it's cheap in all manner of speaking. It's made in India, costs less than $2,000, has a top speed of 43 mph, and has no air conditioning, airbags, radio, or power steering. They didn't use welding to keep the various sheet-metal and plastic body parts together, they used "plastic and adhesives" which probably means bubble gum and spit. Good luck getting one of these to pass safety inspections in America.

AIG and The Bailout Explained

Just finished reading a thorough, obscenity-laced, and thoroughly entertaining (if also very disheartening) article chronicling how AIG has plunged our economy into a sinkhole, and how our Treasury Dept. and the Fed were complicit in it all. If you read this and aren't angry after you finish, check your pulse. A sample:

"The latest bailout came as AIG admitted to having just posted the largest quarterly loss in American corporate history — some $61.7 billion. In the final three months of last year, the company lost more than $27 millionevery hour. That's $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste. Yet in the end, our government had no mechanism for searching the balance sheets of companies that held life-or-death power over our society and was unable to spot holes in the national economy the size of Libya (whose entire GDP last year was smaller than AIG's 2008 losses)."

It is 8 pages long, so if you can't stand to read it all you can get a synopsis of it here. But it's worth an evening read sometime.

Assumptions

Homelessness has always been a mystery to me and I've been curious about the motives (if there are any) behind the lifestyle. At first blush, homelessness seems to be something people choose. How could it not be when there are so many programs and opportunities to leave the lifestyle? As this article points out, though, things are not as simple as that.

The gist of it is that the homeless lifestyle is dangerous and hard, and shelters don't alleviate much of that. More importantly, the article points out that homelessness is not as much of a choice as we (yes, I'm included in that) make it out to be. Whether it's mental illnesses, difficult family situations, alcohol or substance abuse, the people out on the street are a suffering lot. Often, it seems, homeless people "choose" their lot, only in the sense that they chose a way out of a difficult situation into a different difficult situation.

I think that, too often, we make assumptions about a person's situation. I was reminded of this when reading through a humorous list (beware, strong language in that link) of ways our "common sense" lies to us. The linked website talks about numerous fallacies, such as the "Nirvana Fallacy", or "Special Pleading". The Nirvana Fallacy is defined as when you "dismiss anything in the real world because you compare it to an unrealistic, perfect alternative, by which it pales in comparison", for example: "You gave that homeless guy a sandwich? Ha! Like that's really going to fix poverty!" Special Pleading is simply when we "allow something to be an exception to a rule, for no logical reason," for example: "I know I was a heroin addict, but this is different. It's meth." If you read through the explanations you'll realize that the "Nirvana Fallacy" is really cynicism and laziness, and "Special Pleading" is really hypocrisy, or sometimes lack of empathy. And in the end, "common sense" is really human nature.

All that to say, reading about why homeless people remain homeless people reminded me that all too often I don't try to put myself in other people's shoes. Too often I don't give people the benefit of a doubt that I would like to be given to me. Maybe that rude cashier might simply be irritable because she's going through a rough divorce with an abusive husband. Maybe that guy who just cut me off on I-24 is late for an interview and needs to feed his family. I'm not saying that justifies any bad behavior, and I'm not forgetting the fact that some people really are mean or rude for no good reason. But is it a bad thing to have an extra measure of grace for people?

Of course, Jesus knew all of this when he said, "in the same way you judge others, you will be judged," and "Do to others as you would have them do to you." He lived this too. He drew in the dirt, waiting for the first man who deemed himself righteous enough to cast judgement on the adulteress by condemning her to a stoning. He looks on us with those eyes of mercy, and perhaps we will look on others the same.