The Intellectual Devotional

 

Many years ago, prior to Google (the source of all knowledge,) I was given a copy of this book.  Let me begin by saying it's not a devotional.  It's a book on the seven fields of knowledge,  History, Literature, Visual Arts, Science, Music. Philosophy, and Religion. 

In other words, hard stuff.  But here's the fun part - each "devotional" is one page long.  So, if you want to learn a little bit - but not too much - about anything - here it is.

I watch an episode of  "Young Sheldon" every night to help calm me down before bed time.  Recently the science brainiac kid Sheldon is driven into a state of depression by a class on philosophy.  As you know, science is driven by facts.  

Skepticism is any set of philosophical arguments intended to undermine our belief in some alleged body of knowledge. It doesn't answer questions.  It only asks them. How do you know your experiences are real?  How do you know that other people have thoughts, feelings, and experiences?

I am a person who needs some daily intellectual stimulation, but not too much. So I'm back to reading my Intellectual Devotional.  

If I don't have much interest in a particular subject in one of these seven fields of knowledge, no problem.  It's only one page long.   The next page is on the Italian Renaissance.

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Rapture Anxiety

 

The Book of Revelation - Scaring the Hell Out of Us for 2000  Years!

In two weeks, my church is beginning a new sermon series on the Book of Revelation.  

Pastor David introduced it yesterday by discussing "Rapture Anxiety." This is considered by many mental health professionals as a type of religious  trauma.  He shared that he, himself, had Rapture Anxiety due to the way he was raised and asked those in the congregation to raise their hands if they suffered from Rapture Anxiety,  My hand shot up!

The fear of being "Left Behind" is real and has been exploited by various church leaders, writers and movie makers.  Generally speaking, the rapture, a fear based concept, is not a part of main line denominations. 

 In 2006 I was invited to lead a study on the Book of Revelation.  After explaining to Pastor Jayne all of the reasons I could not do this, she told me those reasons were why I needed to lead the study.  So, about thirty of us spent a couple of months studying the book.  And Pastor Jayne was right.  It was a big help.  

It's a difficult, mysterious book that's been interpreted in all kinds of ways.  If you Google it you'll find over 195,000,000 sites!  

Pastor David shared some great insights yesterday, including the fact that the word "Rapture" is not in the Bible.  He also discussed the tree of life in Genesis and the tree of life in in Revelation.  

The Beginning and the End.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  In his final speech, shortly before he was murdered, he shared that he might not be around to see the Promised Land with us - but that we would see it. He shared,

Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory of the Coming of the Lord...  Words based on the Book of Revelation

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Hugh Hefner and I Are Scrap Bookers

 On September 6, 2013, I wrote a blog entry titled Hugh Hefner is a Scrap Booker. It became one of my readers' all time favorites.  I love it too.  

According to the Guinness World Records - Hefner had the worlds's largest collection of personal scrap books.  At that time he was working on Volume 2,685. 

There are three words you would never use to describe me:  Crafty, spontaneous. or trendy.  

But, about a year ago, some family members cleaned out my attic.  We threw away almost everything but there were some fun surprises,; like photos, paintings and a box containing letters that my husband, Ken, had written to his mom.   A handful were written when he was in college, but the majority were written while he was in the Army and stationed in Germany from 1956 to 1958.  To my knowledge, they'd never been read by anyone but his mother.  

I'm sure one reason was  that Ken's handwriting was notrously atrocious. It ended up being about 80 letters, a few of them twelve pages long.  I began deciphering them in the early spring.  It took months to finish that phase.  Then I started designing two scrape books:  one small, at six pages and one larger, at about thirty pages.

I tried to keep them upbeat and positive, especially, since I was giving the books to my children for Christmas.  I learned so much that I had not known about this man to whom I was married for 44 years. 

The hard part, for me, was shopping at Office Depot for the right books and trimmings, a chore that's not in my wheelhouse. 

When Joel Stein interviewed Hugh Hefner in 2013, Hef was wearing his signature (but bizarre) uniform consisting of a captain's, hat and a red silk robe over black p.j.s and slippers.  But, as Joel Stein said, it was the perfect scarp booking outfit.  

I don't remember what I wore for this project, but I'm certain it wasn't red silk. 

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