Odds, Ends and Stray Musings: God's Nearness

 

Some people say they have an absence of evidence for God’s existence or that He has remained hidden from them. The problem is, if God knows us and cares about us even more than we know and care about ourselves (as per Acts 17:27-28 - 'In Him we live and move and have our being), then He cannot really be absent or hidden. It must be the case that something in the individual human state - whether distraction, woundedness, pride, fear, myopia, or simply not being ready yet – prevents the individual from recognising Him, as He is already as near as we need Him to be (especially given verses like 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 4:18 and John 1:10–11).

Odds, Ends and Stray Musings: On Christian Marriage

 

1) Love and virtue
At a human level, if Jack falls in love with Jill, then that love isn’t a virtue, it’s a feeling. But we are told by Jesus that loving God is a virtue, because it is the great and first commandment (Matthew 22:36-40). This shows that loving God is more than a feeling; it is a commitment. It is a commitment to virtue, to betterment, to Godliness, and to a deep, lifelong relationship with Christ, the object of our love.

With that, we can now see why Jack’s falling in love with Jill (and vice-versa) is not a virtue, but the precursor to virtue, in that is a commitment to virtue, to betterment, to Godliness, and to a deep, lifelong relationship with God and each other in Christian marriage.

2) Seeing faults
One profound thing about seeing the faults in our beloved is that seeing faults is also an opportunity for seeing potential for greater goodness, truth, or love. It’s a bit like when a student sees a gap in another student’s knowledge – it is an opportunity to explore potential for greater understanding which, to individuals genuinely passionate about learning, is an exchange worthy of appreciation. Try to help each other to view areas needing improvement as opportunities for growth and the further expanding of potential.

3) Good for each other
If what’s good for my beloved is a part of my good, then I am pursuing my beloved’s good for their own sake, but I am pursuing my own good at the same time, because what’s good for me is good for them, and what’s good for them is good for me, and what’s good for both of us is good for the marriage.

Odds, Ends and Stray Musings: Three Types of People

 

The world can be split into 3 groups of people

 

1. Those who know less than they need to.
2. Those who know about as much as they need to.
3. Those who know more than they need to.

 

There are only a few things the average person needs to know about, say, showers, car tyres and garden plants to get by (as long as there are experts to call on). But there are things that many people ought to know but don’t, which is having a detrimental effect on their ability to get by. Things like how to treat people to maximise relationships, how to get the best out of your work life, and knowledge about optimum health and nutrition, to name but three. 

Lastly, those who know more than they need to fall into two camps, those who have invested more time than they need to on things, and those who acquire the knowledge they need and then dig deeper, ask more questions, and acquire knowledge that most others don’t even think about. At first glance, this might look like excess. But in reality, it’s the surplus of knowledge in this group that drives progress for human civilisation.

Group 3’s curiosity and mastery are not just personal quirks; they are the foundation on which society advances. While Groups 1 and 2 operate within what is necessary for survival, Group 3 explores what is possible for progress and pushes us into new frontiers.

Odds, Ends and Stray Musings: Facebook Memories

 

I've noticed something odd about Facebook memories – you know, those memories of past posts that pop up every day when you log in. The memories it offers me are but a fraction of potential memories it could offer me. I’m sure you are constantly aghast at how frequently scintillating my daily posts are, but there was at least as much, probably more, scintillation between, say, 2009-2016, and Facebook almost never offers any of that content in the memories. The memories it offers are primarily posts between 2022-2024, and the occasional select one from the distant past. There would be lots that would be worth re-sharing from the aforementioned older period, that friends I’ve acquired in the past 10 years probably haven’t seen, but Facebook hardly ever offers any of them on the daily memories.

I wonder if it’s to do with contemporary algorithms being very selective about what it offers for sharing. Because currently it’s barely scratching the surface.