Good morning everyone. What a beautiful Sunday. Can’t wait till noon arrives so I can get a few beers and begin my weekend studies. I’m taking an introductory course in anthropology. Yes, introductory. I’m not all that smart 
Well, I was talking about it to a Christian co-worker and got to linguistic anthropology. The smug comment? “I wonder how they will explain the diversity of language." Arrrrrrrrrg! – You can be as reasonable as you want, as sober-minded as you will, the delusion is complete. This ancient book is taken more seriously than any study.
I never really let that sink in, but “these people", pardon me putting it that way, they actually believe that the Bible is valid because it has some super-intelligent being behind it. I never really saw that I guess. – I mean, even when I was still a Christian I looked at the evidence first, the Bible later. If the two didn’t square then either I made a mistake or the Bible got it wrong. I weighed things, as any reasonable human being would.
Now, I love Rudolf Bultmann and Karl Barth. Reasonable people. Smart people. Christians. Theologians. And they are considered “liberals". Why are all the smart Christians driven out of the flock? Think Bruce Waltke, whom I had the privilege of meeting in person, very short only, at Dr. Kennedy’s church in Fort Lauderdale where he gave a talk on Proverbs. – This man actually translates Old Testament manuscripts for many Bible translations. A humble scholar. (Did I write this before? Sounds familiar.) And what happened? They kicked him out of the college he taught in (or asked him to leave) because he dared to entertain that evolution might be true. Are you kidding me? With such narrow-minded garbage you’re digging your own deluded grave, and hopefully soon.
My goodness. I just hope the delusion gets worse. Then, and only then, will reasonable people finally see what they follow.
But my co-worker’s comment really made me wonder. I mean, he’s pretty reasonable otherwise. I just don’t get it. Makes your little heart ache, you know.
Help you how? All I’ve got is, yep, that’s how it works. Twice in my life I’ve moved from urban to rural areas. Both times I was surprised how many decades back in time I went. It’s not everyone, but it’s the school teachers, the sheriff, the preachers. But there are modern liberal people living amongst all those.
There are still ways for communities to isolate their children from modernity, and if you succeed long enough, they’ll isolate themselves. The internet makes the modern world available, but also allows for communities to form around the crazies. Who knows, maybe this person taking the class with you will find out there is something to science.
Help you how? All I've got is, yep, that's how it works. Twice in my life I've moved from urban to rural areas. Both times I was surprised how many decades back in time I went. It's not everyone, but it's the school teachers, the sheriff, the preachers. But there are modern liberal people living amongst all those. There are still ways for communities to isolate their children from modernity, and if you succeed long enough, they'll isolate themselves. The internet makes the modern world available, but also allows for communities to form around the crazies. Who knows, maybe this person taking the class with you will find out there is something to science.Hey Lausten, thank you. - Oh, the HELP ME was more of a throwing up my hands, not an asking for help in the usual sense. - I get you. Just needed to say something. Yeah, very true, it's quite possible to survive "brain-dead" when isolated. Once it gets too public though it gets scary. Whatever. Not into arguing right now, I'm actually reading something despite my buzz. My buddy, he's open-minded, and you give me some hope here. Still, his comments sometimes make me wonder. Yeah, he might after all get it. Thanks. I'll "keep up the good work", to borrow from our mutual friend St. Paul ;)