Gog & Myblog

Last year a highly-credentialed psychologist/professor at the University of Toronto popped into the social scene after publicly decrying a piece of Canadian legislation intending to make illegal the use of certain pronouns in certain contexts. His name is Jordan Peterson. I've since grown to appreciate and be thankful for the way he is able to elucidate profound cultural subjects. I'm generally grateful for people who are able to talk reasonably and logically about difficult and divisive issues. It is sad to see the deep fissures that segment our nation and every nation. This is a divided world but there are some people who genuinely want to create positive change. I'll probably post more about Dr. Peterson in a future entry.

In order to avoid the appearance of an open-ended endorsement of this particular person, I will refer to them as "X" (although I have heard him quoted warmly by one dearly beloved preacher). A few years ago as I was preparing to serve as a translator in Central America, I picked up the Spanish translation of a popular biography of WWII era theologian X. While my beliefs (and, the Bible, I tend to think) diverge sharply from some of X's published thoughts, it is hard to read his story without being impressed with his general character. I would like to share a few quotes from X's writings. Caveat lector , for I am producing my own English translation of a Spanish translation of X's German writings. So, the idea should be basically the same as the original, but the wording may be quite different. In fact, I am hoping that to be the case to prevent anyone from figuring out X's identity. But these were quotes I found to be powerful and thought-provoking

I downloaded a new audio bible app yesterday and listened to Marquis Laughlin's rendition of the majority of Matthew today. I was blown away. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it's not. I have listened to many audio Bibles, but Marquis has made me see Jesus in a totally new way. Passages I had read and heard read my whole life suddenly made my jaw drop. Things Jesus said that I used to take for granted suddenly sounded incredibly shocking, at times harsh, even offensive. There was nothing that Jesus said that was forgettable. I hung on Jesus' every word. He commanded my respect and that of those with me as crowds of us listened to him teach. So often Jesus is presented as this ethereal, transcendent, hippie-type. But listening today, he sounded more like the Matrix's Morpheus, someone tough and strong, gritty even, with superhuman knowledge of a realm beyond my vision. Jesus wanted to lead me and the rest of his followers into a challenging and dangerous adventur

"Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquities without end?" (Job 22:5). In times of pain and discouragement, I often see people telling the afflicted, "Don't worry, everything will be ok," "your wife is in a better place," or "we'll understand it all one day." But wouldn't it be better to use a more poignant scripture like Eliphaz's thoughtful remark to Job that he probably was suffering because he was a terrible person? There are loads of deep, meaningful passages in the Bible that we can use just like that. One of the most effective methods we can utilize to comfort someone in pain is to remind them about how wicked people suffer horrendous pain, and then passively insinuate that most likely their grief is a result of their hatred for homeless people. I guarantee you, use this one little known trick, and your conversations with hurting people will change dramatically. Try memorizing this verse, and break it out when som