Keep me Out of This Scrap

Jewish friends are unhappy because I keep using the term “Messianic Jew.” My response? It’s not appropriate for me to get involved in this battle. It’s among Jews. Or between Jews and…whatever you want to call the others. And on the Internet, it would be crazy to use an obscure PC term (“RC”? “Religiously Correct”?) that won’t get attention from Google users. I guess I could call them “Deluded Followers of Yeshu the False Messiah,” but no one using Google would ever know I was writing about them.

Yes, I know about “Yeshu” and what it means. It’s hard to keep a thing like that secret.

I call Jehovah’s Witnesses “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” even though I don’t think they’ve witnessed anything except a gigantic fraud. I don’t think this nomenclature thing is a major issue. I’m not using the term “Messianic Jew” because I want to suggest that these people are still Jews. I am pretty sure I haven’t gotten into that argument. I use the term because it’s efficient.

In response to a comment, I pointed out that Israel’s Law of Return rejects Messianic Jews. Atheists and agnostics? Fine. An Orthodox rabbi who keeps the law for 50 years, decides Jesus is the Messiah, and then continues observing? No sale.

As most people probably know, the Nazis exterminated Messianic Jews. They had a more liberal definition of “Jew” than Israel’s Ministry of the Interior. And when future persecution arises, you can bet the Nazi definition, or something similar, will be applied. Which means we could conceivably end up with an S.S. St. Louis situation, in which Israel turns away refugees persecuted for their perceived Jewishness. Weird.

I can see drawing a religious distinction, but the civil distinction seems likely to end in tragedy. I’m sure it has, already. Israel has probably rejected a few people who went on to suffer greatly because they couldn’t get in.

Anyway, it’s not up to me; it’s not my party. I wouldn’t try to tell the rabbis what to do, and I don’t have a voice in what happens in Israel, nor should I or any other Gentile. But you are going to have to put up with “Messianic Jews” on this blog. Out of respect, I gave way on “C.E.” and “B.C.E.”, but I am not going to type something odd like “Ex-Jews for Jesus” every time I refer to these people. That’s too much to ask.

Here’s a question that occurs to me. Will the Jews ever accept any Messiah, universally? The nature of faith is peculiar; you can believe–or refuse to believe–almost anything. People think faith is more closely tied to logic than it really is. The truth is, your beliefs are shaped by your desires. If the Messiah comes, and the thousand-year Messianic Age begins, will everyone believe, or will there be holdouts? My money is on the second option. I think that if the Messiah came tomorrow, a big percentage of Jews and Christians would refuse to believe it. That’s just how people are.

Right now, there is a big conflict between mainstream Orthodox Jews and a group of people who think the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Schneerson, is the Messiah. He’s dead, and there has been no resurrection. But they still hope. Their beliefs seem crazy to most Jews and nearly all Christians, but I can’t help feeling some sympathy. It can be very hard to figure out what’s true and what isn’t. I’m sure these folks are doing their best. Anyone can make a mistake. Even a mistake that seems incredible to others.

I believe the best proof that people believe what they want is that so many people have supernatural experiences and then ignore them. I can’t do that. If something happened, it happened. I can’t make it go away by pretending otherwise. But I believe most people can do that. I’ll bet there are people who will read this blog post, who have seen something miraculous and then gone on as if nothing had happened. And my opinion is consistent with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar.

This must be one reason we see so few miracles. If you won’t believe without a miracle, a miracle probably won’t help, because your problem is that you prefer not to believe. Isn’t that the big lesson of Exodus? Those people saw miracles every day, yet they still had problems with idolatry and lack of faith. You would think one month of manna would resolve a person’s doubts for life.

I read some interesting stuff the other day. I checked out Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s site. He’s a Messianic clergyman. I believe his mother was a Gentile, and he was raised Orthodox, and then he came to believe Jesus was the Messiah. He has a number of articles posted. Some discuss Satan and demons.

Unlike most Jews and Christians, he rejects the notion that angels are asexual. He believes they can reproduce with human women, and that this is what happened prior to the flood. The idea is this: these beings wanted to taint the bloodline of the Messiah, so they impregnated human women and gave rise to a crop of superhuman beings with unnatural abilities. And the behavior of these beings was disgusting, and they infected mankind with their pride and debauchery, and the flood was necessary to exterminate them.

He says the Jews who created the Septuagint used the Greek term for “Titans” to describe the offspring of the angels. This is translated “giants” in English. But the Titans were figures in Greek mythology. Fruchtenberg says the translators were trying to find a term to describe a race fathered by immortals. He says the Titans were regarded as half human and half god, and I can’t find anything to substantiate that. But the Greek gods did breed with humans.

I found this interesting, because it dovetails with the notion that the apocryphal book of Enoch is legitimate scripture. It appears that it was referred to approvingly in the book of Jude, so you can’t discount it out of hand.

Enoch lived before the flood. He was so righteous, he was assumed into heaven. According to Aaron, the Jews suspect that God assumed him because He feared Enoch was about to commit his first sin.

The book of Enoch is supposedly Enoch’s first-person narrative of his experiences in heaven. There are two parts to the book. One part, frankly, seems nutty. For example, it says lightning bolts are stored somewhere in heaven, which is not exactly credible. But the other part of the book makes a good deal of sense. My suspicion is that the bad part was grafted onto the good part and ought to be discarded.

Enoch says fallen angels came down on Mt. Hermon–the snow-capped mountain at Israel’s northern border–and proceeded to impregnate women and teach men things like metalworking, agriculture, and astrology. I can’t remember all of it. I may re-read it today. But it seems very consistent with Dr. Fruchtenberg’s notions. The book is also full of prophetic material concerning the end of the world. If the book is legitimate, that’s exciting, because prophecy is extremely confusing, and new input would certainly be helpful. Especially if it comports with what we already have before us.

For a long time, I have thought that Mt. Hermon had special significance. I wrote about this a while back. The Banias is at its base. This is an ancient center of pagan worship. The “Ban” comes from “Pan,” who is the physical model for our goat-like conception of Satan. Caesarea Philippi, which was associated with idolatry, was built near the Banias. And it’s where Jesus first claimed to be the Messiah. It’s where his ministry really got going. It’s the place where he told Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” I suspect that beginning his ministry there was a deliberate insult to the god of this world, just as the plagues of Egypt were intended to humiliate that nation’s “gods.”

The Jordan, which has so many symbolic meanings, starts on and around Hermon and runs the length of Israel. Pagans used to pollute it at one of its sources, throwing sacrifices into the water at the Banias. Is it just me, or are those acts sort of reminiscent of the attempt to pollute the human bloodline? Years ago, I came to believe that in the Bible, the water of the Jordan symbolizes humanity.

If you’re not religious, it sounds crazy. If you are, it’s better than Art Bell.

Dr. Fruchtenbaum believes all angels are male. I disagree. In chapter 5, Zechariah mentions female angels. I have another reason to disagree, but I won’t go into it.

Have a good Sunday.

Try as I May

Before I get started, I have something totally irrelevant to share with you. I think I have come up with the name by which Al Gore will be known throughout the centuries. “Pope Prius I.” Let’s get started on those mugs and T-shirts.

With that behind me, let me say that I was moved by the comments I got on last night’s post, in which I noted that my religious posts were being blamed for a fall in traffic. You can see what I wrote about it. I pointed out that there were other factors at work, and that I wasn’t planning to make any changes. I figured heathens would pop up and tell me what a repressive, backward creep I was. But readers, including non-Christians, were surprisingly supportive.

Reader Kim said: “I almost feel like you are minstering to me. And it gives me so much to think about. God is using your gift with words to spread His word.”

It feels great to think I might have done something positive here. I can assure everyone, I am not qualified to be a minister, but I know even ordinary Christians can be of use simply by relating their experiences. If you’re getting anything out of what I write, fantastic.

Km says: “I’m happy that you’re finding greater peace. And I enjoy watching the journey unfold.”

That’s an exemplary comment. I often get comments in which people complain that I don’t do what makes them happy; here is someone who put my welfare first. If you want to know how good your friends are, it’s pretty simple. The more they put your needs ahead of their own and encourage you to improve yourself, the truer they are. I’ve found that friends who consistently take from me and push me to regress eventually have to be set free.

Dan from Madison says: “I can’t speak much to you about your religion. What I can say is that you should tell everyone to pound sand if they don’t like your blog.”

Can’t argue with that. I have often wondered what “pound sand” really means, but I don’t want to explore the topic at the moment.

Aaron says: “Living with someone is a real test on whether you’re walking the walk in private. And it’s a constant opportunity to do kindness. Doing your own dishes can be fine, but relieving a spouse of a chore can be a beautiful act. Less opportunity for that kind of stuff when solo.”

Absolutely true. Religious Jews are collectors and disseminators of wisdom, and Aaron is no exception. About Aaron, Ed Bonderenka says: “What Aaron said: wow. How beautifully put. Your choice of friends (who will be friend to you) reflects on you. Aaron reflects well.”

I could not agree more.

Rightisright says: “I enjoy your gun and cooking posts. I mostly skip over the religious ones. I had the Bible shoved down my throat as a young’un and no longer have a taste for it. That said, I believe most people who identify themselves as Christian are decent, productive citizens.”

Tolerance for Christianity! Completely unfashionable! But I’ll take it.

Keith says: “I will never understand people who try to tell others what to write about.”

Yeah, imagine getting up in the morning and trying to figure out what to write, in order to make your readers happy. Where is the fun in that? It sounds horrible. Although now that I think about it, I know some bloggers who do that and nothing else.

Another Kim says: “I can identify with your reminiscences on past posts or blogs. I regret things I’ve said, emailed and posted. You, graciously, let some go.”

I can beat that. I’ve also forgotten them. Not because I’m gracious. Because I forget EVERYTHING.

Jim says:

“Onward Christian Soldier, Steve.

God, Guns and the Grill. (well, the whole kitchen n’ kaboodle, m’kay?)

I’m in for all of it, to be perfectly blunt. You just keep writing, and I’ll just keep reading.

And enjoying, more with each post.”

Wow, Jim, thanks. Jim is from Texas. Can you tell?

Groverat says: “I, for one, or FWIW, enjoy your blog. You have written some extremely insightful stuff lately. and your comment: “so I don’t worry about pleasing customers” —- just remember, in this life we should be playing to an audience of one, and that is God.”

Thank you for the encouragement.

Mike LaRoche says: “For what it’s worth, I enjoy reading your thoughts on religion. I’ve fallen away from my own faith (Catholic) over the past dozen years or so, but the points you bring up in your religion posts have made me think about what I may have been missing during that time.”

“For what it’s worth”? It’s worth a lot, from where I sit. Here’s my “for what it’s worth”: it seems to me that daily, consistent prayer drives the process and takes much of the difficulty out of it.

Anthony says: “Though I find some of the technical aspects about reloading a total bore, I enjoy your enthusiasm about God and firearms. Especially, since I’m a yank living in England – where firearms, and in some circles God, are in short supply.”

Oh, man. England. Are they as backslidden as the rest of Europe? The technical stuff about reloading is somewhat boring to me, too, and I’m the one writing it. But I get much-needed information that way.

Brian says: “Just some feedback: I visit your site every day because you’re a good writer! I skim the gun stuff. That’s not one of my interests now. I am not a Christian but I enjoy reading your thoughts on religion.”

If you hear about religion from the right person, in the right way, it shouldn’t be unpleasant. Many a non-believer has missed his chance because he got the message in the wrong way or from the wrong person. Such as a conquistador seated on his chest.

Josh R says: “I for one have always read your blog as a “guilty pleasure” I am glad you have turned the corner and tidied up a bit.”

Working on it.

Electro-Dude says: “what keeps me coming back is the hope that one day I’ll once more be able to read about stupid people being eaten by alligators. Those were the golden years my friend, and a category of writing that you made your own.”

Yes, I believe I invented the genre.

J. West says:

1. It’s your blog.
2. Been reading you for a long time.
3. You generally write well, which is interesting in itself.
4. Look forward to reading you one, two years from now.

Thanks. Hope I still have something to say.

Ryan says:

I have my shares of struggles attempting to learn from past mistakes and all but there is true blessing in reading about someone else’s journey. I appreciate that you will present some jewel that I’ve never considered. And I offer my sincere thanks for that.

I steadfast in my conviction that the Lord will always be there for me, and it continues that I am able to enjoy proper discernment. That said, I know that the reason I originally found your site so long ago was the twisted humor of Nigerian spammers and decadent recipes but the true blessing is finding that someone else struggles just as I do.

Lately I have found myself hoping that questionable stuff I wrote in the past would give me an audience before which to reform and write things that were more useful. Maybe it’s happening.

That’s about it.

I keep finding good stuff in The Complete Jewish Bible and The Complete Jewish New Testament Commentary. I can’t recommend this stuff highly enough. If you want something that will make Bible study new and interesting to you, this is it. In fact, even backslidden Christians might enjoy it, just for the history.

I wanted to write about something I saw in there the other day, but I can’t find it. It was about the end times, and how we would venerate youth and have no respect for the old. Has that come true, or what? First rock and roll drove a permanent wedge between the generations. And the misguided Sixties tainted two generations. Now technology is pushing older people out of the mainstream of society. The older you are, the less likely you are to understand technology, and the less competent you seem.

There are few things more perverse or damaging or sinful than disrespect for the old and disproportionate respect for the young. The young know almost nothing. They are full of ideas which seem brilliant to them, but which are actually dangerous, evil, and stupid. When the ideas of the young take precedence, you end up with scenarios like Cambodia under Pol Pot. Things like empathy and patience lose all their value. People are seen as objects. The old find themselves abandoning their hard-won maturity and emulating their ignorant, unseasoned juniors. Cruelty abounds. Maybe that’s why the Internet is so cruel. It’s slanted toward the young.

I wish I could find the reference I’m thinking of. It said something about people in that time having faces like dogs. I thought that was funny, because for the last ten years or so, we have been coping with an epidemic of creepy, convict-style chin beards. They really do make men look like dogs.

Why is it that I’m the only one who has written about our increasing willingness to take fashion cues from prison inmates? Doesn’t anyone else see it? The black tattoos, the chin beards, the shaved heads. Classic convict style. We are emulating the biggest losers in society. Seems like a mistake to me. People have a tendency to become what they imitate.

My impression is that our current youth-worship fad is unprecedented in western history. Am I wrong? I can’t think of a time when so much unwarranted deference was given to flaky, half-baked children.

Reader Susan H. sent a link a while back. I haven’t explored it very well, but it will be of interest to Christians who want to know more about their religion’s Jewish roots. It goes to a site operated by a rabbi named Fruchtenbaum.

Aaron doesn’t like this stuff too much. But it’s not like there are a lot of sources to choose from. If you’re Christian, and you want to learn about the Jewish nature of Christianity, you either go to Messianic Jews or you do without.

Hope some of this proves to be of use.

Blog Traffic is What Really Matters

Got a comment today implying my traffic is slumping solely because I write about religion. Not because I write about guns. That’s not true. People complain about the gun posts. Almost no one complains about the religious posts, but I guess that’s because it’s a touchy thing to criticize, and because most people don’t want to look like they have a problem with God.

Traffic is down for a number of other reasons, too. For one thing, I have cleaned up the blog to some extent. That’s not popular on the Internet. Let’s face it; the Internet is filthy and cruel, and that accounts for a big part of its popularity.

How many of us, twenty years ago, would have expected a day would come when words like “goatse” and “tubgirl” would instantly bring familiar images to mind? Nobody could have seen that coming. The Internet has provided a wealth of information, and it’s a boon to commerce, but it’s also our collective id. Thanks to the Internet, movies of women having sex with dogs and horses are only a credit-card transaction away. The same can be said of kiddie porn or whatever other disgusting entertainment turns you on. Ogrish. Liveleak videos of American GIs being blown apart by snipers. You name it; it’s out there.

We are getting very mean and gross in this country. And the Internet is one reason. Thanks to anonymity and distance, we can say things about people we would ordinarily never dream of saying. Traditional wisdom says that if you can vent your anger harmlessly, you’ll reduce the level of anger you carry during the day. I think that’s completely wrong. It gets you used to expressing anger, so you do it more often.

Back when I was running Huffington’s Toast, I was criticized by my guest writers because I tried to keep things relatively tame. Some of them wanted to pull out all the stops. I didn’t want to be responsible for a site like that. And I felt like I was showing restraint. But in retrospect, I see I wasn’t restrained enough. That applies to most of my history as a blogger, not just the Huffington’s Toast era. Even though I thought I was pulling punches, I published stuff that I now realize went too far. I didn’t do the world a favor by putting that material before the public.

I read something disturbing the other day. It’s funny, how you can think you’re a knowledgeable Christian and then read something in the Bible that takes you by surprise. Somewhere in Matthew, Jesus said people would pay for all their careless utterances. And elsewhere, Paul says not to indulge in filthy talk. I have a pretty serious track record to worry about. I don’t want to make it worse.

These days, many conservatives on the web work very hard to remind people that they’re hip. They use bad language to excess. They make it clear they don’t believe in God. They endorse modern morality, which is to say, the absence of morality. They hide behind cheap, convenient tolerance, trying to turn moral spinelessness into a virtue. I don’t want to get caught up in that, any more than I already have. I don’t smoke dope. I think sex outside of marriage is stupid. I would love to see pornography outlawed. I pray every day, and I don’t really care who knows it. I believe in Satan and demons, just like Jesus did. And I think the urge to be cool is a symptom of severe, crippling immaturity. In fact, I’m completely certain of it. I am trying to grow up a little. It would be nice to see the idea catch on. Maybe it is. I know a few people who seem to be way ahead of me.

I guess I put people off. A lot of people feel extremely uneasy when they hear someone talk about God. I don’t. I know I did in the past, but it was a long time ago, and my memory of the sensation is not good, and I don’t empathize very well with people who still have the feeling. It’s peculiar that it makes people uncomfortable. Why is that? If He created us and wants to make us part of a beautiful plan, shouldn’t the natural thing be to feel drawn to religion? I remember being uncomfortable around preachers and other religious people, but I can’t remember why I felt that way.

I’ve been moving in this direction for a year or two, and I feel better and better as I make progress. When God takes too small a role in my life, I tend to feel like a kid who ate an entire box of chocolates by himself. I do things that I hope will bring me peace and pleasure and so on, but they’re always a little off, somehow. And they usually have a price, the way liquor has a hangover. I tend to feel sated but somehow indebted. When you do the things a Christian does, it’s different. You get better satisfaction, with no aftertaste. The godless life leaves me feeling crusty and tired and grimy, like I need a shower and a clean bed. Living in a more spiritual way leaves me feeling clean and free and nourished. It’s impossible to explain to someone who hasn’t been there, but I suppose many other Christians will know instantly what I mean. It’s not really a sacrifice, and it doesn’t produce a dry, ascetic, puritanical existence. It’s very pleasant. Not something you should feel uncomfortable about.

I think typical Christians think of religion this way: they avoid facing it head-on, the way you would avoid making eye contact with a bum, because they’re terrified that if they get involved, they’ll have to give up all the fun in their lives. The casual sex. The drunkenness. The porn. The selfishness and materialism. They figure they’ll enjoy all this stuff and then count on forgiveness. I’ve felt that way. But it says a lot about your respect for God, doesn’t it? You think He’s smart enough to save you from hell, but not competent to guide your life. If you live like that, you end up leading a pretty meaningless life, and you also miss out on the best aspects of being a living Christian.

Maybe I’ll completely ruin my traffic. I don’t care. I make damn near nothing off of this site, and it’s not a business, so I don’t worry about pleasing customers. I think the most likely thing is that I’ll drive off people who were drawn to my worst traits, and I’ll attract people who are more positive. And like I’ve said before, we are all going to die, SOON, so why should I care about people think of me during my brief time on earth? I am more than halfway done with life, and the years pass faster and faster. Before I know it, it will be over, and what will it matter that people who didn’t know what I knew thought I wasn’t cool?

I haven’t told the whole story. My life has improved tremendously. I have more freedom, and I have power behind me. It’s not hard to live this way, and it’s completely worth it. I hope I don’t give up, the way I did sixteen or seventeen years ago. I’ve even become more open to the idea of marriage, largely because two people can help each other stay on the path.

Read this blog, or don’t. I feel like I’m on the right track.

Obama Season!

When Mike is in town, discipline goes out the window. I eat too much. I forget to water my plants. And yesterday, I didn’t spend nearly enough time acknowledging God. On the plus side, Mike and I had a long and productive conversation about our beliefs. That was worth a lot.

I got behind on my blogging, too, which is sad, because Hillary Clinton apparently threatened to shoot Barack Obama. Do I have my facts wrong? Details have never been my thing.

I think now we know what she really wants to do to staffers who look her in the eye when she passes. On the up side, it looks like she is making a twisted sort of progress with regard to her views on gun control.

We can’t let this woman become President. Her staff hung condoms on the White House Christmas tree. Condoms! OUR tree! If we’re going to elect a person like that, why don’t we just paint big bullseyes on our roofs, along with the words “Plague and earthquake here, please”?

People tell me God doesn’t punish people like that any more. He doesn’t? Oooooookay. I guess the long list of hideous, incurable, behavior-related diseases is just an incredible set of coincidences. Cervical cancer, lung cancer, cirrhosis, morbid obesity, diabetes, hepatitis C, herpes…coincidence after coincidence.

I have been told AIDS isn’t a plague. If AIDS doesn’t qualify, someone tell me what does. If AIDS isn’t a plague, then the word “plague” should be removed from the dictionary, because it is impossible for any disease to make the cut.

Not only is AIDS a plague; it’s a laser-guided plague with very limited collateral damage. You have to be pretty unlucky to get it without doing something immoral. It’s not like smallpox or the bubonic plague, which don’t discriminate on the basis of morality.

Some people say the “fear” part of “God-fearing” actually refers to a warm, fuzzy feeling. Maybe so, but I am trying to cultivate a healthy fear of judgment. I think this is one of my big deficiencies. There was nothing warm or fuzzy about what happened to Jezebel or the prophets Elisha fried alive or the people of Sodom. I am not anxious to cause myself problems by thinking of God as a giant teddy bear.

I used to think the US was blessed because we helped deliver the Jews out of the hands of the Nazis. Lately, I’ve started to think we’ve actually been punished, for turning them away before the war. Not just the people on the St. Louis, whom we sent to die in the gas chambers. But Jews, generally. We kept them out. I believe that may be why we ended up losing so many men in bloody wars, and why the children of the GI generation turned out to be so immoral and so damaging to America. Why we suffered the cancer called the Sixties.

Did you know American universities used to have Jew quotas? Robert Oppenheimer, who was to other geniuses as Muhammad Ali was to Chuck Wepner, had to get by a quota to do undergrad work at Harvard. I wish I had all the facts in front of me, to help you understand how nutty that is. This is a person who graduated with a degree in chemistry (while auditing several courses in addition to his normal courseload) and then got a Ph.D. in physics in a single year. You just don’t do that. And Richard Feynman was kept out of Columbia by a quota.

It occurred to me the other day that no one ever mentions what should be the most obvious cost of keeping Jews out of the country. We could have taken in millions. Think what that would have meant. Think of what we lost. Scientific advances. Great music. Distinguished judges. Inventions. Jews get something like 20% of the Nobel prizes. Wouldn’t that figure be higher if Hitler hadn’t killed a third of them? And if they had had American money, backing their advances? And wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in the country where the additional discoveries were made?

God told Abraham the world would be blessed through his seed, and He wasn’t kidding, and He wasn’t just referring to the Messiah.

I wonder how different life would be, if not for the achievements we prevented by closing our doors. What diseases might be curable. What technology we might have. How many Oppenheimers and Einsteins and Bohrs and von Neumanns and Rubinsteins and Cardozos and Salks and Tellers did we send into the crematoria?

The US is the friend of the Jews. But it hasn’t been a very good friend. And we have paid a price.

Anyway, I’m very sorry to hear that Senator Clinton is now hoping her enemies get shot by white supremacist militia nuts. A critical person might say this reflects a certain degree of desperation and conceivably, a tiny deficit in the empathy department.

Dang It

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein just put up some information explaining the Jewish calendar, and how it’s based on religion.

Here’s something of interest to Christians:

We are in the midst right now of one of those minor observances. The Counting of the Omer, based on a biblical mandate in Leviticus 23, is a seven-week period extending from the second night of Passover until the night before the holiday of Shavuot. (An omer was a unit of measure in biblical times – on the second night of Passover, an omer of barley was brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem). Jews count these days to remind themselves that the physical liberation remembered on Passover was not complete until we received spiritual liberation through the gift of God’s word, an event remembered on Shavuot.

To Spirit-filled Christians, this is a “forest for the trees” moment. Many events in the life of Christ were associated with existing Jewish holy days. Passover is associated with the Crucifixion. Shavuot is Pentecost. It’s the day when God changed the world forever, by making the power of the Holy Spirit available to every Christian. It’s easy for a Christian to see how the original Passover and the handing down of the Torah (Shavuot) presage Jesus making salvation available to all men and then providing for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which, Christians believe, is what the Hebrew Bible refers to when it says that one day God will write his law on men’s hearts.

Seems obvious to Christians. But if you’re Jewish, this all sounds silly or just blasphemous.

“The physical liberation remembered on Passover was not complete until we received spiritual liberation through the gift of God’s word, an event remembered on Shavuot.” I know Christians got a kick out of reading that. Because the salvation provided by the Crucifixion was only part of the story. The completion was our own spiritual liberation, which occurred on Pentecost. That’s the part of the Gospels the world hates the most and fights the hardest to hide and slander. I’ll bet the vast majority of Christians think salvation is what Christianity is all about. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the other half of the gift, and here on earth, it’s the part where all the power comes from. It’s what enables you to live a good and powerful Christian life. It beats things like addiction and habitual sin, it fixes families, it heals the sick, it teaches, it makes you kinder and more patient and more industrious…it’s the difference between a disciple and an apostle.

Rabbi Eckstein said something funny in a video. He talked about a Christian who informed him that to Christians, the near-sacrifice of Isaac–or maybe it was the Passover sacrifice–presages the sacrifice of Christ. He said it was a beautiful analogy, and he seemed very surprised to hear it. I, in turn, was surprised. Learning that a scholarly Jew who studied Christians and worked with them every day hadn’t heard about this giant landmark notion (whichever it was) in Christian theology. Through the work of people like Rabbi Eckstein, Christians are learning a lot about Jews and Judaism. But it looks like the knowledge isn’t flowing the other way with the same speed.

I guess that makes sense. Christians believe in the Hebrew Bible, and many understand that Jews can help them figure out what it means. Jews think the New Testament is a mistake and a source of persecution. I suppose they don’t have much motivation to learn about it. The Bible says that a day will come when ten Gentiles will grab the hem of a Jew’s garment and ask to be taught about the Torah. It probably doesn’t say anything about ten Jews asking a gentile about Jesus.

The problem of proselytizing is a big one, because it causes such friction between Jews and Christians. And Christians have done crazy, cruel, sick things in the belief that they were winning souls. I used to feel frustrated because I couldn’t persuade a single person. But I now think pressuring people is completely wrong. I can’t think of an example of anyone doing it in the New Testament, with the exception of Jesus and John the Baptist. They were highly critical of Jews who wouldn’t listen. But they had great authority, and they were speaking to people within their own religion. Are there other examples?

I believe it generally worked like this. People went to various cities, and they spoke publicly, and they tried to lead exemplary lives that would draw converts who envied them, and whoever believed, believed. And that was it. Nobody threatened to execute people who refused to convert. I don’t think there are any examples of harassing pedestrians and telling them they were going to hell.

People criticize Rabbi Eckstein because he’s hostile to proselytizing. However, if memory serves, he has said he has no problem with witnessing. Which is different, I believe. You just speak the truth about what you’ve seen, in the appropriate context. That’s about the best I can do, so his attitude is consistent with my efforts.

His attitude toward proselytizing becomes easier to understand when you realize it has its roots in things like the Inquisition.

To a Christian, Passover is all about Jesus. The lamb as Christ. Eating the entire lamb and breaking none of its bones, as reflections of the prophecies that the Messiah would not be permitted to rot and that none of his bones would be broken. The blood as Christ’s blood. The homes on which the blood was smeared as the bodies of believing Christians. The leaven as sin; especially pride. The unleavened bread as the body of the sinless Messiah. Pharaoh as Satan. Moses as Jesus. The exodus from Egypt as salvation. One obvious parallel after another. To a Jew, though, I guess all this sounds like the nutty stories Charles Manson used to tell his “family” about the end of the world.

In the end, you believe what you want to believe. Like Abraham said in the parable of Lazarus.

Memorial Weekend Mitzvah

Aaron’s boss, Howard W., is going in for surgery. He has had a lot of abdominal surgery already, and he has a new infection that has to be removed.

Please say a prayer for his uneventful recovery.

Ask Pharaoh

I found an answer to my question regarding a way to store my spare magazines. If you enter “sunglasses pouch” in the Google Products form, you get microfiber drawstring pouches for 78 cents. That is pretty hard to beat. I would get them locally, but I have no idea who has them, and I would blow four dollars in gas just to find out. Then I’d have to pay tax.

I think the oil problem is going to crush bricks-and-mortar retailers. In the past, when you shopped online, you got better information, lower prices, and no tax. Now you get to save significant gas money. Tell me why I should ever leave the house again.

Very bad news, if you ask me. People will lose businesses and jobs. And what happens in the future when a hostile power effortlessly destroys our communications satellites and cables? Instant disruption of electronic shopping and transactions. Economic chaos.

In the meantime, good deals abound.

My great hope is that the oil mess is like the housing mess. Greatly inflamed by deranged speculators. Exacerbated deliberately by Muslims angry over our support of the only civilized nation in the Middle East. Temporary. People are saying it’s going to get worse, forever. I don’t see how that’s possible. It’s not like world demand for oil instantly increased to a degree that justifies current prices. Things are getting tighter, but we–the human race–could still pump and refine enough oil to meet demand, if we tried. And eventually, we will have to acknowledge that nuclear power is clean, safe, cheap, and abundant. A lie can’t persist for eternity. Some people say nukes are no good because it takes 20 years to build a plant. I say it takes that long because we’re not motivated. Kick the greenies out of the way, stop humoring the hysterical, and it probably takes more like three years. It didn’t take us 20 years to build the first plant at Hanford, when we were trying to create the first atom bomb. I very much doubt the construction of safe modern plants takes other countries 20 years.

I like to think our current hardships are a labor pain, to remind us of the horrors that lie ahead as the second coming approaches. Human beings increasingly accept the conceit that they run the world and that they can solve their own problems. In reality, God runs everything. If we have good harvests, if we have oil, if we have economic strength, it isn’t because Americans are superior. It’s because God chose to give these things to us. And He can take them away in a heartbeat. Maybe God is giving us a little prod to remind us that we can’t celebrate sexual perversion and let Israel down and indulge in idolatry and generally offend Him without losing our blessings. Lately we’ve been becoming more like Godless Europe. So it’s only natural that we should get a taste of their economic inferiority.

Could be worse. We could be on our way to slavery in Babylon, in chains. What has happened to us so far is pretty mild.

The global warming myth is probably the most ridiculous example of man’s belief that he is a god. Aside from the bad science, who could possibly believe in God and also think man could control the weather? Remember the book of Genesis. Who gave the Egyptians lean years and fat years? It wasn’t Halliburton.

I think our behavior has gotten so bad, we’re teetering on the line between “blessed” and “cursed.” The bad things that threaten to occur now are so ridiculous and avoidable, yet so possible, that they can’t be anything but the result of divine action. Who could be dumb enough to believe in ethanol, knowing it has to cause starvation and that it won’t help with our energy problems? Nobody with any common sense. Yet here we are, with food prices skyrocketing because we invested in this absurd, suicidal project. What nation could be dumb enough to refrain from using its own vast energy reserves, or from developing adequate refining capacity? Yet here we are, with gasoline threatening to hit twelve dollars per gallon and our own oil and uranium still in the ground.

Seems to me that one sign that a misfortune is due to a curse is that it happens even though it appears to be something that could be easily avoided. If man is so powerful and so smart, these things should not be happening. But they are.

In Exodus, God sent ten plagues to Egypt, and some scholars believe each one was intended to humiliate a particular Egyptian false deity, by destroying the particular blessings that false deity was believed to provide. Maybe what’s happening to us now is intended to humiliate the worst false deity of all. Man.

The other day I saw Dagen McDowell and Ben Stein on Fox, claiming we needed eleven-dollar gasoline. NEEDED. These are supposed to be experts. Imagine what life would be like if their prayers were answered. Bedroom communities all over America would be destroyed, because no one would be able to get to work. The wealth contained in the real estate in those communities would be annihilated; it would be as though it had never existed. Retail sales would shrivel. Food prices would climb out of sight, and production would plummet. Factories would close. Manufacturers would shut down. Goods would be unavailable. McDowell says mass transit is the answer. Tell that to people who live where mass transit does not exist, and where it’s not practical. And how do you build new mass transit with an economy destroyed by expensive energy? Where does the money to build it come from? Let me guess. Higher taxes. On people who no longer earn enough to contribute anything significant. You can’t starve the golden goose and then jack up the egg quota.

Economic prosperity comes from consumption. No sales? No prosperity. It’s that simple. And obvious. Yet intelligent people somehow believe the opposite. How can that happen, if something beyond the natural is not at work?

Some people say conservation is the answer. Some say increased production is the answer. Fundamentally, refraining from offending God is the answer. The world is too complicated for man to run. Without help from above, we can expect nothing but defeat. One of the big lessons I’ve learned over the last few years is that when things go badly for me, the way to start fixing them is to examine my own behavior and attitudes. Generally, that’s where the cause lies. And the same applies to Americans as a whole.

Cancer

I guess everyone knows about Ted Kennedy’s malignant brain tumor. Say a prayer. Let’s not be Democratic Underground.

Which End Does the Bullets Come Out of?

My copy of America’s First Freedom came this week. I was just flipping through the article on the Heller case. This is the second amendment case the Supreme Court is considering, regarding the draconian and totalitarian D.C. gun ban.

I saw something interesting in there. Justice Breyer tried to make the facially absurd argument that the second amendment only applies to militias. Mr. Gura, the attorney representing Mr. Heller, countered with facts, noting that research has shown that men familiar with firearms in their private lives make better soldiers.

The other day, I talked to my dad about his military service. He laughed about the tough Detroit street kids he served with. He said they turned out to be pretty disappointing. He mentioned one who cried when they cut off his greasy gangster haircut.

My dad grew up in Eastern Kentucky, where guns were–and are–a part of life. Like toasters and clocks and so on. For people like him, dealing with guns was not a challenge or a safety problem. But the Detroit boys were incompetent and dangerous. He said they had a bad habit of turning around at the range, with rifles in their hands, pointing them at instructors and other soldiers. You have to wonder what percentage of them got good enough to hit the enemy. Probably a very small fraction.

My father won some sort of marksmanship prize. I doubt he was competing against city kids.

He said he liked the M1 rifle, but that he couldn’t hit anything with the .45 pistol he was issued. Apparently, a lot of people had issues with them. Maybe they made them loose so they wouldn’t jam up.

I was thinking I would like to get him an M1, but then I checked the prices. Wow. A thousand dollars, for a beat-up milsurp. I love my dad and all, but geez. I have to think about that.

Part of our military strength comes from the private use and development of arms. Consider that when you vote against the second amendment.

Kim du Toit has written a bit about the importance of Supreme Court justices. I wish he had mentioned the lower courts, which have much more power. It amazes me that talking heads and second amendment pundits almost never bring this up. Federal district and appellate judges run your life, very directly. Much more directly than the Supreme Court or Congress. And the President appoints them, and they can’t be fired. They stay in office for life. They’re like the Pope, except they have power.

If you vote for a Democrat President, you’re voting for dozens of judges who will implement his policies. You’re voting for gun bans, late-term abortions, open borders, the disarmament of our intelligence operations, the end of privacy, freedom for criminals, and the end of states’ rights. You are voting for totalitarianism and the eventual abolition of state governments. If you can’t get that through your head, you don’t deserve to be free. You probably don’t want to be free, whether you realize it or not.

I keep thinking about the mess the GOP is in. People say it’s because of the war. They say it’s because of the economy. The most unfortunate thing they say, in my opinion, is that it’s because we don’t have a “big tent.” As a Christian, I think they have it precisely backward. The GOP used to be a party that was more closely aligned with Christian beliefs. Now we’re all about sexual immorality and abortion and coddling Israel’s enemies and every other non-Christian notion presented to us. And we’re getting the reward people always get when they get away from God. Failure. It may come soon, it may come later, but it always comes. In the Eighties, we were much bolder about our religious underpinnings, and our President utterly crushed the opposition. This was at a time when the country was more liberal than it is now. Now we cower and kowtow before the rudderless swing voters, and we are getting thrashed. I have come to believe that we were given success because we tried to do the right thing. Part of faith in God is believing that if you do what’s right, you’ll get good leadership.

I am so sick of “socially liberal but fiscally conservative.” Doesn’t that mean “sinful but selfish”? Wouldn’t the exact opposite be less offensive to God? I’m socially conservative. Maybe if we please God with our behavior and our faith, we’ll be so prosperous it won’t matter if we’re fiscally liberal.

I’m not getting a bunch of convict tattoos. I’m not going to shave my head and grow a chin beard. I’m not going to smoke dope. I’m not going to sleep around. I will not grow a ponytail. I will not join the cult of self-esteem. I’m not going to imitate the lost. If I ever advocated buddying up to “hip conservatives,” I apologize, because I was insane. It was a mistake. I am not hip, and I never will be. I refuse. I just want to become a better Christian and be better to other human beings. When you die, you can’t take “hip” with you.

Man, do I need to get out of Miami.

I Want a Revolver With Wheels

Is this a beautiful day or what? Trust me. It is. Granted, the dryness of May is wearing off, and the horrific heat of summer is starting, but it’s sunny and bright, and I’m healthy, and Marv and Maynard are fine, and my new tomato plants look good, and I have a lot of useful things to do today.

Lately it seems like every day is beautiful. Life has gotten progressively better for me since I entered law school, but over the last year, as my relationship with God has gotten closer, things have improved even more. I can’t remember the last time I went to bed without thanking God for the beautiful day I just had, or the last time I woke up and didn’t give thanks for a beautiful day, in advance. And the feeling doesn’t seem all that closely related to whether I did or expect to do anything pleasant on the day in question. I feel the same way on days that, objectively, seem pretty bad. That is possibly the strangest benefit of Christianity. You tend to feel happy and at peace regardless of the circumstances.

I can’t explain it.

I learned all sorts of good things yesterday. I found out that Messianic Jews believe Satan is a rebellious, evil spirit, just as Christians do. That’s not what the Orthodox believe. I also read about Corrie ten Boom’s experiences dealing with spiritual enemies. This is one of the more confusing topics in Christianity, because the Bible is vague about it. Some people run around verbally exercising authority over spirits all day. Others think it’s crazy or wrong. And then there is the problem of wondering whether you’re talking to yourself. You generally can’t see supernatural beings. There must be occasions when we assume they’re around, but they’re not.

She said she spoke at a church in Poland, and that there was an oppressive atmosphere there, and she got sick of it and commanded the spirit responsible to leave. And the atmosphere changed. I am inclined to believe anything this lady says. Her track record seems too sound to doubt.

A lot of Christians think it’s fine to believe in God, but wrong to believe in Satan and demons. You have to wonder what Bible they read. I have no interest in arguing about whether spirits exist. I saw one a long time ago, while I was wide awake, on a very ordinary day. Conceited intellectual arguments can’t change that; don’t waste your time. Other people have seen them too.

Foul spirits seem to be associated with particular locations or people or animals or objects. The impression I get from reading and from personal experience is that they often work on a particular home or building. And it seems like they have a thing about doors and entrances. Maybe I’m wrong. Both times I drew closer to God, I felt an urge to clean up around doorways. I sort of think they like corners, too.

I don’t know. I wish I knew more about it.

I used to keep this stuff to myself, but lately I have ceased to care. We’re all going to be dead soon. What will it matter if wrong, lost people thought I was a kook? Also, many people thought I was a kook long before I mentioned any of this.

Talk about kooks…what about Jesus? He saw demons. He talked to demons. He said he was the Son of God. What about Moses? He claimed he saw God’s presence in a flaming bush. He said God handed him two tablets of stone. He said God spoke to him face to face. These days, that kind of talk gets you a straitjacket, a handful of happy pills, and a prime seat in front of the TV in the day room. It’s a little crazy for a Christian to call someone a kook, just because that person has had experiences consistent with those our revered predecessors have had.

I’m sure there are folks out there who have seen much more than I have.

I’m getting more reloading tips. I’m too lazy to look, but I apparently said I was putting sizing lube on primers. If I did, I was wrong. I meant to say I was putting it on cases. I gave Chris Byrne the impression that I was squirting primers right out of the brass tube on the press, but by “tube” I actually meant the clear tube attached to the brass one. The clear tube goes up and down and tends to come out of whatever container it’s in, spraying primers all over the place. Not sure what the best answer is; maybe I should get a tube six feet long and just not worry about it. Og says running a primed case through a decapper will set the primer off. I am happy to take his word on that, since the alternative is to put his statement to the test.

A commenter says target sights will do more for my shooting than match-grade dies. I ought to go to a gun shop and look at a gun with target sights. But if, as I suspect, they’re exactly like the sights on my .357, it would be a waste of time.

I’ve been told I should get plastic ammunition boxes for my reloads. But I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Every time I go to the range, I reach into the nearest trash can and pull out some empty ammunition boxes, and they seem to work fine. I already have a few plastic boxes; some of my .50 AE ammunition was packaged in them from the factory.

Speaking of that caliber, I’d love to reload for it. I can’t believe I can’t beat a dollar a round. My problem, however, is that I haven’t found cheap lead yet. The cheap stuff is heavy. I want 300 grain bullets. Oregon Trails (Laser-Cast) has .370-grain bullets. Not sure if they’ll work in a pistol.

Ay, caramba! It looks like the price of .50 AE ammo has doubled. Cheaper Than Dirt wants almost forty a box. Hmm…Midway says they are eventually going to have Hornady ammunition for about $25/20. I didn’t know Hornady made loaded ammunition. I’m not sure, because I’m not positive what diameter I need, but checking around, I think I can get decent bullets (jacketed!) for about 20 cents each. So–checking powder and primer prices–I should be about to make ammunition for about 33 cents per round.

For crying out loud. I have to do that. After a hundred rounds, the dies would be paid off. I’m disgusted that the margin is so high on .50 AE ammunition. Did I make a mathematical error? Three cents for the primer. Ten cents for around 30 grains of powder. Twenty for the bullet. I already have brass. Let’s see…new brass is 29 cents per round. I guess that explains why new ammunition would cost a dollar a round, but two dollars still seems high.

Geez. I can shoot .50 AE for less than the price of new .45 ACP.

I don’t understand why there is so much data for the S&W .500 and so little for the .50 AE. Both are excessively large, but the .500 takes you right to the “stupid” level. The .50 is arguably useful for hunting or for bear protection. Or whaling. The .500 appears to be too big and heavy and clumsy to be of any use for anything. I love silly, oversized guns, but even I don’t want this one. I guess the “mine is bigger” factor has proven irresistible to a lot of reloaders.

That’s the morning drivel. Use it as you see fit.

New Ammunition, in More Ways Than One

Today I felt like my head just would not hold any more religion, so I took a break and made 50 rounds of .45 ACP. Things went pretty well, although I am getting severely annoyed with Hornady’s spent-primer tube. This thing hangs off the press, and dead primers go into it. Sounds, great, but the tube goes up and down as you work the press, so it’s not easy to find a container that will catch the primers. Short containers don’t work because the primers bounce out or the tube drifts out. Tall ones fall over. I taped a Baggie to it, but one side of the mouth fell down, and the primers started spewing out on the floor.

I was thinking I might weight the bottom of an old 2-liter soda bottle.

I tried to put a little Imperial sizing wax in my brass, but I don’t think I accomplished much. I’m not sure how to do it. Maybe I should get a dedicated cloth bag and wipe wax on the inside of it and then toss the primers around in it. I know I don’t have to use it, but it seems to make things go more smoothly.

I still have 40 rounds I don’t trust, so I have been taking them apart. I thought I could spread out the agony, substituting one of these for every tenth casing while making rounds. But that doesn’t work, because you have to push the lever all the way down to charge the shell ahead of the one in the decapping die, and you can’t depress the lever completely when a primed case is under that die. Either you deprime a primed case and lose a good primer, or you fail to charge the case ahead of it.

Wish I could shoot on Mondays instead of Fridays, but they don’t ask my advice when they set the range schedule.

Can anyone give me advice on target sights? I’m not sure, but I think the single biggest problem I have right now is figuring out what the gun is aimed at. The front sights on my guns are too small; they don’t fill the gaps in the rear sights, so it’s easy to end up with the front sight off to one side or another. Also, the front sights are just too damn big. I can tell I’m shooting at the center ring, but that’s about it. Of course, once the middle of the bullseye is gone, you have to guess, anyway.

I know a lot of 1911s have target sights, and I wanted to get one. But then it occurred to me that “target sights” probably means the same thing I have on my revolver. A giant front sight coupled with an adjustable rear sight. I don’t think that would be any more precise than what I have now.

Someone suggested a peep sight. I’m not sure what a pistol peep sight is like. I’ve seen giant weird sights on race guns, but I don’t know if they’re suited for precision shooting, or just for hitting the same object over and over, quickly.

I’ll figure it out.

The Complete Jewish Bible and the related New Testament commentary are wonderful. They make me realize how lucky Gentiles are to know about Jesus, who is, after all, the Jewish Messiah. You can see from the commentary how much easier it would have been for Jews to understand and worship Him. Christians do their best, but we have had to guess a lot, and we’ve made mistakes.

As Bible translations go, I find this one easiest to read, except for one thing. You have to get used to the Hebrew names. A name will pop up, and you’ll have no idea who it is, and then it will turn out to be someone you’re very familiar with.

One fun thing about it: about half the men have names ending in “yahu.”

Another small quibble: the Christian tradition of printing Bibles in two columns, broken into verses, with annotations in the middle is very helpful, and you probably won’t understand how helpful until you see a Bible where the text goes clear across the page, with two or three annotations at the bottom.

I love The Spirit-Filled Bible, and these two volumes will take their places beside it now.

I am Master of the Press

Here’s a great tip for people who want to get used casings really clean before reloading them. Put them in a tumbler in the afternoon, turn it on, and then FORGET ABOUT IT UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE YOU GO TO BED.

Man, those casings look good.

I read a lot of Corrie ten Boom’s Tramp for the Lord today. Highly recommended, if you’re trying to get used to the idea of obeying God and living by faith.

Have You Even Showered Yet?

Today while refusing to get out of bed on time, I flipped from The Weather Channer to Fox News. I used to use Fox as my alarm channel, but there is something soothing about The Weather Channel, which Fox lacks. In spite of Heidi Cullen’s campaign to destroy the careers of meteorologists who disagree with her about global warming.

Greg Gutfeld and some other Internet personality were guests on Fox and Friends. The host said they were going to look at Youtube videos. He joked that Gutfeld scoured the Internet for material all day every Sunday, because he had nothing better to do.

I thought about that. Sunday is like that for many Americans. A wasted day. You get drunk and have fun on Friday night. You rest and recover from your hangover on Saturday. Sunday rolls around, and you lie in bed with a newspaper.

This is what people do, while refusing to give one weekend day to God. It’s what I’ve generally done. Lying in bed with a newspaper, or barbecuing, or watching sports, is better than a day of rest and devotion.

I am here to tell you, it’s no bargain. You can use that time to rest AND improve yourself AND heal and strengthen your family. Sleeping until noon, or slouching around drunk on a lawn chair is not a good substitute.

People have all sorts of stubborn problems. Addiction. Divorce. Bad relationships with their kids. Depression. Anxiety. Loneliness. Boredom. Miserable jobs. The sensation that life is meaningless. We look for answers all the time. Psychiatrists. Physicians. Prostitutes. Hobbies. Cults. Fast living. Oprah. My belief is that we have these problems because we don’t have proper relationships with God. These are problems to which God is the natural and effective solution. Without Him, we are SUPPOSED to have these problems. A miserable person will look for ten different inadequate remedies for ten different challenges, instead of praying to the one God who can fix everything. We get a little relief here and there, but it’s illusory. It’s usually temporary, or it’s not really satisfying, or it has a cost so high, it’s not worth it. The Godless life is like communism; it offers a promise it never keeps. The communists were supposed to take over the world, and every time they made a trivial bit of progress, they took it as encouragement. Now that’s all in ruins. The same thing applies to other ineffective solutions that come from earthly sources.

I remember trying drugs to fix ADD. What a disaster. It ruined my chances of becoming a physicist. And I thought I was a Christian at the time. I don’t know why I didn’t make a better effort to use my faith. Anyway, it’s a great example of a very hard problem that human solutions can’t fix. It was amazing, how resilient my ADD was. At first 10 milligrams of Ritalin fixed it. Eventually, I could take over a hundred per day and not get relief. Wellbutrin worked for a while. First thing you know, I was taking two and a half times the maximum dose in a desperate effort to make my mind work. After that, I found that a tiny dose of Prozac that most people wouldn’t even feel affected me right away and drove me around the bend for weeks.

Why didn’t I just find a church? At the very least, I could have prayed more and gotten my life right. Things would have worked out. Maybe I would have had to give up physics anyway. But I would have had peace, and a door would have opened eventually.

A weekly day of devotion would have helped me toward my goal. Instead, I lay around watching TV and playing Duke Nukem on the Internet. Wow, that paid off real good.

Businesses have meetings even when they’re going well, don’t they? I think the sabbath fulfills the same purpose. Meet up with God. Remember your priorities. Look for problems. Find encouragement. Fill out a TPS report.

Okay, don’t do that last part.

Obscure reference.

Maybe I should publish a Talmud to help people understand this blog.

The sad thing about earthly answers is that they work so well for short times. It’s hard to quit when you think you could get it right with just a little more effort. Ask the socialists.

It seems like every week, I get a new lesson on what Jews go through on shabbat. This week? How it feels when you think you didn’t get enough done during the previous six days. I would really like to make myself some .38 Super ammunition today; I felt like I was finally getting on top of the reloading situation. But it’s going to have to wait, most likely. I don’t rigidly enforce my policy of not doing anything that isn’t God-related, and if I feel like I need a break, I might spend an hour with the press. But at the moment, it’s not in my plans.

I hope some of you will give the sabbath a try, and also that you’ll find someone better qualified than I to teach you about it. You may be surprised. Like a lot of the things God wants us to do, it sounds like a tax, but it ends up feeling like a gift.

Skip to the Parts That Interest You

I have a lot of housekeeping to do today. I have been neglecting emails for maybe a week, and if I don’t catch up, no one will ever email me again, except spammers.

Speaking of spam, I got a really dumb one the other day. The subject line advertised “Oprah’s fat burner.”

Would YOU buy that?

“Yul Brynner’s hair restorer.” “Steve H.’s tips for picking up hot chicks.”

I was not tempted.

I complained that I can’t use my .38-caliber dies to make three different calibers, unless I am willing to adjust the dies every time I go from one caliber to another. People suggested using spacers. Thanks for the help, but I don’t see it working. If you put a spacer under the rim on the bushing, the bushing won’t seat. If you put a spacer on top of the bushing, the locking collar won’t work. At least I don’t think it will. Then there is the problem of finding something suitable and then figuring out how to grind it to within a thousandth of an inch of the thickness I need.

If only I had been a total man and made myself a belt sander. I think a belt sander with a disk on the side would do it.

Og says the sizing die doesn’t need to be adjusted for height. I thought that sounded crazy, but I guess it’s right, since the measurement on that die is from the bottom of the case. But that leaves me with two dies that have to be changed, and I don’t think I can buy them without picking up a sizing die in the same package.

I’m wondering if I should get a couple of match-grade dies. I don’t know how much difference it makes. I didn’t know they existed until I already had my plain old “custom grade” dies. I’m inclined to think that tiny imperfections in the bullets make more difference than dies. I shot one bullet yesterday that was a little dinged up, and I suspect it was the reason I got a wicked flyer.

When Mike was a kid, he used to hack up bullets and then shoot them to see what they did. He says they made wonderful sounds. Mike and I did a lot of fantastic, stupid things together. This is not one of them. Although he was there when I took a largemouth bass with a .30-30.

I’ve been reading about casting bullets. There are two reasons I didn’t start out that way. First, I’m not sure I want to screw with alloying lead to make it hard enough for 1400-fps rounds. Second, it looks like a huge pain. In The ABCs of Reloading, they talk about it. Apparently you have to get tiny molds that only hold a few bullets, and casting each batch requires pouring, cooling, and so on. It must take half a day to do 50 rounds. On the up side, this would make shooting nearly free. The brass and lead are most of the cost. And I don’t pay for brass, except eventually (when I run out) .38 Super.

So far, Laser-Cast has made a lead believer out of me. I don’t know if it was the Unique or the bullets, but the rounds I shot made me very, very happy. I am sorry to confess that I haven’t cleaned the gun yet, but I would be amazed if ~700 fps rounds left anything in the barrel.

I’ve been told that Hodgdon makes a powder that is interchangeable with Unique, yet which produces less crap. If I could confirm that, I’d go ahead and buy a large jug. I’d hate to put 5.1 grains of Hodgdon in a round and then find out it’s twice as powerful as Unique.

I’m sorely tempted to buy a 1911 with target sights. If I could narrow my groups by an inch, I’d be Boss of the Range. At least in my own mind, which is all that matters. I don’t know if better sights would get me there. I am not sure why I got carry sights on the SW1911. I wanted to be able to carry the .38 Super on pimp occasions, but generally, carrying a huge 1911 seems like a bad idea. Unconcealed, sure. Concealed? Less than ideal.

I know I’m boring 75% of my readers to death with guns. So here is some food stuff.

I bought a $6/pound rib roast at Winn-Dixie last week, simply because there was no way I could pass it up, and it has been aging since Sunday. I have decided I want to fix prime rib for me and my father, instead of cutting it into steaks. According to Bobby Flay, it’s a simple matter of roasting at 350 until it hits 135 inside. Does anyone know if this will work?

I plan to do 130. If it were just me, 120. But my dad goes nearly medium-well. I plan to cover it with kosher salt and mashed garlic. Wish I knew how to make horseradish sauce. Maybe I can find out.

I completely lose my mind over prime rib, but I’ve never made it. The rib steak is the main thing that justifies the existence of a cow. Everything else is second-rate. Well, except for ice cream. If I pull this off, in the future, it will be tough for me to choose between steaking and cooking whole roasts.

Let’s see. Religion. I’m all excited about my new books (Aaron: don’t look!). First, I bought The Complete Jewish Bible. The leather version isn’t all that much more than the paperback, and it should last longer, so that’s what I got. I also got The Complete Jewish New Testament Commentary. These books were written by and for Messianic Jews. I started reading in earnest last night. It’s fantastic. I can’t recommend the OT/Hebrew Bible part so much, because it has no commentary book to go with it. But I’ve been reading Matthew (Mattityahu) with the commentary on the side, and it’s wonderful.

I’m inadvertently learning a lot about Hebrew. Before I got these books, it had occurred to me that Jews described Hebrew as if it were basically a giant collection of puns. And so far, these books bear out that suspicion, in spades. It’s no wonder the Jews go crazy interpreting the Bible. The layers of meaning in Hebrew scripture are worse than The Matrix.

I keep getting little bursts of illumination. For example, I figured out that the birth name of the singer Matisyahu is probably Matthew. The name Matthew is “Mattityahu” in the Bible I bought, and Jews in Israel tend to use “T” where American Jews use “S” (shabbos/shabbat), so Matisyahu is probably the same as Mattityahu. Am I right?

It’s very slow going. It took me about an hour to get through three or four chapters of Matthew.

Sometimes it’s annoying, because the guy who edited the Bible and commentary (Daniel H. Stern)corrects beliefs Christians accept without question. But that’s what I bought the book for, so I shouldn’t complain. Christians often have an unhealthy pride about their relationship with God, as if we were chosen to know all the answers, because we’re so much nicer than the Jews. But the reality is, Messianic Jews have a much better background for understanding the New Testament. We need to accept that and realize that when Christianity drifted away from its Jewish roots, we lost things only Jews can restore to us.

As Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein–not Messianic–likes to point out, prophecy says a time will come when ten gentiles will grab the hem of a Jew’s garment and ask to be taught about the Torah. Looks like that’s happening.

It’s amazing how often Stern confirms things I already suspected. For example, I think “the Kingdom of God” often refers to God’s dominion inside us. I assume God has been helping me along, providing me with insight.

For about 20 years, I’ve suspected that Zerubbabel, in the book of Zechariah, was a type of the Holy Spirit. I wish I knew what Stern thinks about him. And sometimes I wonder if the Third Temple will be a physical building. It’s clear that Jesus expected his followers to be a living temple. And Paul used the word “temple” to describe the human body. I think that when Jesus drove the money-changers out of the Second Temple, it symbolized the Holy Spirit driving counterproductive earthly motivations out of believers.

I also got a copy of Corrie ten Boom’s Tramp for the Lord. It takes up where The Hiding Place left off. She was supposed to be killed in a concentration camp, but the Germans released her by mistake, and she went on to become a traveling evangelist. A “missionary to America.” Is that a humbling phrase, or what?

Wonderful book. Too short.

The more good stuff you expose yourself to, the easier it is to be a Christian, and the more peace you have. Something to think about the next time you buy a book or turn on the TV or listen to music. This lesson has been helpful to me.

Let me know what you think.

Too Tactical for Words

I’m getting unbelievably cocky. I’m considering running into the garage, slapping the .38 caliber dies on the press, and making some .38 Super ammunition for tomorrow.

Am I insane? Don’t answer.

I had some idiotic and truly ludicrous personal business to take care of this week, and it has been dragging me away from blogging and my hobbies, but I’m back, and tomorrow is RANGE DAY.

I’m thinking I may wear a face shield for the first 50 rounds of each caliber. I already look stupid with my giant tactical rolling toolbox, so a face shield will not make things worse.

On other news, my messianic-Jewish Bible and New Testament commentary arrived. I had to order it. There is some stuff in the Bible–okay, a lot–which only Jews get. I can’t wait to sit down with it.

I’ve been so preoccupied, I’ve let emails slide, and I even forgot to change the cloth on the beef I’m aging. I guess one day won’t hurt it. It’s a rib roast. I think I’m going to make prime rib instead of steaks. I need to ask Mike how he prepares it.

Life is sweet. Have I mentioned that? Well, it is. If I manage to move out of Miami, it will be TOO sweet.

Too tired to type. Even Marv lacks the energy to blog.