Christians (including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), have a tendency to believe that some popular opinions have a foundation in scriptures, when these opinions are expressed in a way that sounds scriptural. So it is for the common opinion that it is wrong to judge people in any way, and the following scripture is often quoted:
«Judge not, that ye be not judged»
The problem is, this scripture doesn’t exist
Apr 10
Today I have been approached by two different people on the street, asking me for 2 dollars. In both cases, I asked some questions before making a decision. The first man was an Indigenous Australian in his 40s, the second was a young caucasian male in his early teens. I gave an apple to the first man, and 2 dollars to the second. I felt good about my first choice, but I felt stupid about my second. What is this all about?
Jan 26
During the last few days I have been pondering about something I want to change in my life. I’ve become keenly aware of an important motivational factor and source of self-worth on which I’ve been relying since I was very young. I refer to my desire to be seen in a good light by others, to receive praise, recognition, adulation etc. I have been aware of this for a long time, but only now do I begin to see that this has no place in my life.
Jan 16
In the past few months, I have spent a few evenings with friends, and agreed to watch some movies which I later regretted having watched. I won’t offend anyone’s personal tastes by giving the names of these movies, let us just say that one was a sci-fi botch-up job, another was a cookie-cut slapstick comedy, and the last was a teenage alien fantasy flic. They were all terrible. What struck me, however, was the predictability of the elements of each movie. I couldn’t predict each joke in the comedy, or each turn of event in the sci-fi film (almost, though...), but I could predict what «typical movie element» they would include. I compare these elements to pizza ingredients.
Dec 13
On December 5th, 2009, at 9:36am (GMT +8), Joshua Joel Connault was born in King Edward Memorial Hospital, in Perth. We have been waiting for him for over 8 years, so his birth is especially poignant to us. We have had a long time to prepare ourselves for him. I found, however, that there was no way in the world I could have been prepared for the birth experience.
About 4 months ago we decided to stop watching TV altogether. We evaluated the types of «good» programs that were available on the TV, and realised that we could get equal or better quality programs from our own collection or from the Internet, without being bombarded with the thick treacle of worldliness that oozes from national TV.
Nov 30
I have very powerful memories of my childhood Christmases, mostly associated with smells, traditions, music, food, cold weather and, most of all, the anticipation of the presents to be opened on Christmas morning.
The bizarre thing is that I have virtually no memories of Christmas day once we had opened our presents. I do not remember playing with toys. I can’t even remember more than 2 or 3 presents I received. I don’t have pleasant memories associated with them. In fact, in my memory, the «Christmas buzz» died once the presents were opened.
Why is that?
Nov 10
Racists are unfortunate, ignorant souls. They fail to realize that every white American has African blood flowing through his veins.
Today I had a very enriching discussion with a good friend of mine, Penny Leach. We talked about culture, social molds, addiction and happiness. The central theme behind my comments was the conundrum of pleasure-seeking vs happiness-seeking.
I am convinced that everyone seeks to be happy, but we all have trouble discerning between pleasure and happiness.
Jun 16
Life can get tedious. We can get so caught up in the daily, weekly and monthly routines that we can forget why we even do them. Without something new and exciting coming to our attention on a daily basis, we lose focus and interest, and we tend to become dissatisfied with ourselves or with our life.
