Jack Pelham

Today’s the day in the painting—the 2nd of July, when the committee of five presented their work to the 2nd Continental Congress for its approval. It would be two days before the
Congress would vote to approve the Declaration of Independence. Fifty-six men would sign it, sealing the country’s fate at the cost of inevitable war.

The following are not matters of political opinion, but of the way reality itself seems to work—as observed over many thousands of years of human history. We can wish and pretend and even try to get around the reality—and it seems someone is always trying, or wishing at least—but we’ll never have the following freedoms, because this world simply doesn’t work that way, no matter one’s preferred political party.

The ten freedoms America will never have are these:

(This article, unlikely practically everything else I write, was not afforded a final edit. And I trust you’ll understand why. if it doesn’t make sense, this will simply go to paint the picture for you even better.)

Is all the technology worth it? I have my doubts.

First of all, let me state that I don’t think that any of the advances in technology in my lifetime have done a thing to make us better people. And while I wouldn’t expect that they would make us better people, what I’m wondering about is whether they’re actually hurting the quality of life, rather than improving it.

The living human is the absolute master
Of his inner domain—for now.

By actual count,
There are zero troublemakers
Who are complete idiots—
Having zero knowledge
And zero virtue.

Like so many other foolish kids,
He wanted to be the teacher before
He knew what he was talking about.
He had the cart before the horse, to be sure.

He knows how to have an idea.

Indeed, that part’s quite easy
Because the way the brain works,
Ideas normally just pop into the mind.

It is certainly a reasonable question—how the fool could perceive his own foolishness. Yet so often it comes down not to whether he is able, but whether he is willing to survey the damage
wrought by his beliefs and decisions—and to cut it out. To correct himself. To set things straight. To make amends. He does not see what is wrong with him because he does not want to see it; not because he is unable.

Modern views of Christianity vary wildly, of course, yet there is a very popular movement toward the idea that God requires nothing of the Christian but faith/belief. And further, this faith/belief is frequently defined in the most minimalistic way possible so as to include nothing more than giving mental assent to a very small number of propositions, such as that “Jesus is Lord”, perhaps, or that “he died for our sins”.

NOTE: This article is the starting place for a larger investigation I hope to complete in time. It simply frames the question—which, in light of all the confusion on this topic, seemed worthy of posting, even before the various hypotheses are fleshed out and examined. You will see that I have laid the groundwork for those hypotheses simply by listing the various ways in which Genesis 2:17 might be questioned, challenged, or reconsidered.