Dancing Grandpa! Or, Heart Failure Be Damned.

Today was Christmas and the cockroach was up at daybreak. Isla, my youngest granddaughter, caught me, the cockroach, doing my Christmas dance. I have heart failure and a new hip, replaced after a fall playing basketball. 

I am living proof that the Canadian healthcare system can work. I have had robotic surgery to repair a failing mitral valve in my heart. I had my first pacemaker/ICD placed in my chest almost two decades ago. Next year, I plan on getting my third pacemaker. Life is good!

You often read stuff about the Canadian healthcare system, bad stuff, sadly it is not all lies. Some of it is true. That said, the American system has its flaws. I had my first heart incident while visiting a friend in California. Despite running up a huge bill, the U.S. doctors did not discover what had caused my heart to go into overdrive, requiring a big, and very painful, electrical jolt from the two paddles of a defibrillator to return my heart to its normal rhythm.

I seem to be impossible to keep down. My doctors all agree that of all animals, the you-can't-keep-'em-down cockroach best symbolizes me.

I wanted to share this video and did not know where to post it. I decided my blog might be as good a place as any to post it. Enjoy.

Click on the broken square in the lower, right corner of image to enlarge.

 

I see The Rapture as dangerous nonsense.

When I a boy The Rapture was seen as just nonsense by all the religious folk I knew. My minister, his curate, my Sunday school teacher and my mom all agreed: nonsense. Today belief in The Rapture has grown to the point that belief in it has even infected my friends and co-workers. It may have even touched my family.

Recently, a nephew posted a link on Facebook to a book by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird: Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies. The title is a bit of a mouthful but if I understand correctly, Wright and Bird think The Rapture is not just nonsense but dangerous nonsense.

I read that Michael Bird has posted warnings about Donald Trump. Good for Bird! I understand that Bird been very critical of Donald Trump, particularly when it comes to his influence on evangelicals. Bird points to a complex relationship between evangelicalism and Trump, a relationship in which a surprisingly large number of evangelicals supported Trump.

One source found by an AI search engine reported: "Bird has analyzed why a large percentage of white evangelicals voted for Trump despite doubts about his faith and character. He suggests that this support may stem from a desire for political power and influence rather than genuine alignment with Christian values. He points out that Trump's behaviour and statements often contradict traditional evangelical beliefs, raising questions about the authenticity of his faith."

The following expresses my position better than I could ever could: Bird expresses concern about the implications of supporting leaders like Trump who exhibit authoritarian tendencies. He agrees with N.T. Wright in arguing that Christians should actively oppose totalitarianism and work towards sustaining liberal democratic values, emphasizing that true Christian witness involves promoting justice and mercy in society rather than aligning with political figures based solely on their stance on specific issues like abortion.

So, just who are these two authors? I found the following on the Christian Book website: 

N. T. Wright is the former bishop of Durham and senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He is one of the world's leading New Testament scholars and the award-winning author of many books, including?After You Believe, Surprised by Hope, Simply Christian, Interpreting Paul, and The New Testament in Its World, as well as the Christian Origins and the Question of God series.

Michael F. Bird is Deputy Principal and Lecturer in New Testament at Ridley College,?Australia. He is the author of numerous scholarly and popular books on the New Testament and theology, including, with N. T. Wright, The New Testament in Its World (2019).

I don't agree with every position that these two take. But, when it comes to The Rapture and Donald Trump and a lot of other evangelical concerns so dominant today, I must say that I find Wright and Bird dead on.