from the glacier

In an attempt to provide a counter-example to someone (you know who you are) I give the barest bones argument on obedience as it occurred to me.

Ah yes. More goodness from the blog of Fumans asserem. These boys have hit the nail on the head again. Previously, for those with better taste than myself (or perhaps don't read stupid shit just to get pissed off) who don't read this crap regularly, they referred to a woman disagreeing with anything they say as "needing a date" or "ugly". Wow. Spectacular reasoning. Now, if you are male and disagree, you must be gay or get beat up a lot. I find it interesting that for such "good" Catholic boys to use the basest materialistic reasoning - as opposed to actually thinking that anyone could contradict them. One jackass (who, to their credit only comments probably because he has not the fortitude to post for himself) who I don't know personally, levels some pretty good attacks at my character. "Sophist pantywaist" and "elitist prig" are quite compelling. I feel myself rebuked. Thus sophistry is redefined as disagreeing with those who can only reason ad hominem.

Okay, I hear a lot about the Fatima proclamation that most souls go to hell for sins of the flesh. Reasonable. But what bothers me is that the common interpretation (at least in the circles where I hear an interpretation of this) is that these sins of the flesh are confined solely to modesty. Now correct me if I am wrong, but there are a lot of sins of the flesh that do not relate primarily to lust. Has there ever been an age where obesity has reached crisis proportions than in this country at this historical time period? Crisis speaking spiritually, not health-wise. Not going to claim to be a reader of souls, but looks like the modern world has a gluttony problem. Has there ever been a time in history when there were more people with more free time to sit on the couch and watch T.V.? Or play video games? Or post on the internet? Sounds pretty immobile to me, or perhaps another 'i' word would do better: indolence. Sloth seems to be a pretty clear sin of the flesh, as does gluttony. Drive through junk food - that combines the best of gluttony (bad food in large portions) with the best of indolence (not only do I not have to cook or clean up, but I don't even have to get my ass out of the car). Does your town have a drive through fast food place? More than one? I'm shocked. Not to downplay the role lust has played in the damnation of people. Look around, in our overly sexualized society (which I would argue makes things less sexual, but that for another time) idiotic thirteen year old boy fantasy "women" are paraded around naked to sell everything. Several years ago a comedian joked that there would be billboards of naked women, provocative (I won't say what he said exactly) and letters reading "drink Coke". We're not too far from there. But at the same time, the sins of the flesh, as a general rule, seem to be, to me, rolled into one lusty, indolent glutton called: the modern American.

(aside, spell check tried to replace "VELAWIG" with Bellagio, a casino in Las Vegas. I forgot all about lottery tickets, gambling, Texas hold 'em and greed. . . but that seems a little less fleshy to me)

As my birthday is fast approaching, I realized that we celebrate the oddest dates in our culture as "special". Thirty. Who cares about thirty? Three decades - big deal. Me, I'm going to be twenty-eight. That is important. It is the second perfect number, and the highest perfect number I will live to see. (Twenty-eight is perfect because its factors add up to it: 1,2,4,7,14 are the factors, 1+2+4+7+14=28) The next perfect number is 496 - way outside my lifespan. Thirty, on the other hand could be a very special birthday, for it is the product of the first three prime numbers, and we all know the Theological significance of three. Its actually pretty simple to give yourself a numerology of birthdays, instead of only celebrating the decades as important, as long as you remember prime factorization. If anyone cares to comment, I will give them a free birthday numerology analysis - up until my birthday. After that, $9.95.

Modern warfare is terrorism. This alarms me. What, in point of fact, is the difference between a terrorist walking into a crowded bus stop and blowing himself up, and everyone else around, and a pilot of a U.S. bomber dropping a large explosive on some part of a city? Oh, I forgot, there is intention. Intentions don't seem to me to mean a whole lot if there is the same net result: people blow up who have nothing to do with fighting the war. I think the boat was missed (and badly) when people try to discuss the particulars of this or that war (Iraq being only the latest installment of the bad reasoning debates) when it is the way modern warfare exists that is immoral. But terrorists (one may object) don't have a goal; the U.S. is trying to bring liberty, equality, fraternity, to these poor nations. Then I guess the ends justify the means. For if the immoral practices can have good results then it is all worth it in the end. Seems to me a rather poor way to live. And die. And make war.