Next to Godliness

 

The Creation
(Painting by James Tissot)

Although the saying “Cleanliness is next to godliness” cannot be specifically found within the Bible, literal and symbolic references abound within both Testaments.

Leviticus includes instructions for bathing, laundering, handling corpses, and fighting against infectious disease. Deuteronomy offers tips on toileting etiquette.  In Acts, Paul speaks about washing sins away, and in Revelation "John says those who wash their robes are blessed.”

God Himself seems to favor a neat and orderly Creation.  He began scooping up the primordial soup right away in Genesis One.  He might as well have commanded, “A place for everything, and everything in its place!”

Humans also have a predilection for organizing chaos.  In his book Maps of Meaning, Dr. Jordan Peterson explains that our beliefs can be formed as a means of taming unruly passions.  Our brains are neurologically wired to support cherished categorizations.  Genesis 1:27 contends: “God created man in his own image.”

Resources

https://www.northheightscoc.org/me-looking-for-the-verse-that-says-cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2218102.Maps_of_Meaning

 

 

First Rule of Life

What NOT to Do
(Public Domain)

According to a bestselling book by Dr. Jordan Peterson, there are 12 rules for life.  At least that was the case until his sequel came out with 12 more.

Of all 24, the first seems the easiest.  So why not begin by focusing upon that?  If things go swimmingly well, perhaps the next 23 can fall gracefully by the wayside.

Let’s face it: “Fix your posture” is a breeze compared to God’s own first and foremost commandment.  Sitting up straight is way more doable than walking the straight and narrow.  Peterson points out that lobsters claw their way through life more successfully when manifesting a hardier stance.  So why not us?

He asserts that the “dominance detector” within our brains will know how droopy our shoulders might be.  Droopy shoulders may then result in droopy spirits, especially when coupled with many a droopy body part.  In conclusion: “To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open.”  So there!

Resources

https://readingraphics.com/book-summary-12-rules-for-life/

 

He Who Wrestles With Peterson

If you haven’t yet heard of Dr. Jordan Peterson,

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
(Painting by Eugene Delacroix)

 chances are that you haven’t been wrestling with the media since 2010.

Peterson’s books have topped bestseller lists in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.  They’ve offered 24 rules to live by and psychologically interpreted key biblical stories.  Ever wonder just what landed Jonah within the whale?  Peterson will tell you that and so much more.

“Overthinker” Joseph Holmes has mixed feelings about these biblical approaches.  On the one hand, he praises Peterson's “contribution to the rise in young men’s return to Christianity.”  Peterson”s somewhat macho interpretation of “the Bible’s vision for life” begins with having to find “a woman,” and ends with needing to face “the utter catastrophe of life… without fear.”

This very interpretation is what then gives Holmes pause.  He believes that Peterson places too much emphasis upon human heroism and not enough emphasis upon God's grace.  Holmes concludes that Peterson is way more the interpreter than the scholar, and perhaps way more the poet than the religionist.

Resources

https://religionunplugged.com/news/2024/11/20/book-review-jordan-peterson-fails-to-wrestle-with-god-enough 

Is bigger better?

Mother Teresa and Friends
(Public Domain)

While some are devoutly caring for the least among us, others are frantically creating the world’s largest pair of jeans.  Could it be that surpassing the previous Guinness World Record for “massive pants” is what life is all about?

Competition is fine when it spurs folks on toward lofty goals.  Yet when more than 30 textile workers find nothing better to do than to adorn “a waist circumference of 190 feet, 10 inches” with a “3-foot, 94-inch stainless steel button,” then they might just have too much time on their hands.

Perhaps the “18,044 feet of denim fabric” could have been used to clothe those in proverbial rags.  Perhaps the 18 days that each worker spent could have been used to tend the sick. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, “Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.“

Resources

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/16/Guinness-World-Records-largest-jeans/5731729100424/ 

Name that Blob

Ambergris
(Photo by Peter Kaminski)

Modern-day folks claim to know a lot about a lot, but every now and then they publicly admit defeat.

This is one of those now-and-then times. When asked, “What’s white and doughy and regularly washes up on Newfoundland shores in various shapes and sizes,” they've come up with a resounding “Who knows?”

Although some have attributed these blobs to a type of whale goo, others have called them a “mystery substance.”  Canadian officials have simply said that it’s “under investigation.”

Add this particular mystery to many another that remains impenetrable.  It’s nice to know that there are still some ways to stump the experts.

Resources

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2024/10/17/canada-mystery-white-blobs-Newfoundland-beaches/4311729195866/

Larger than Life

Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworms
(Public Domain)

Where there’s life there’s growth, even at the very bottom of the ocean.  Although scientists knew that microbes can thrive within such extreme conditions, they had little proof that anything larger could.

Yet fairly recently a “deep-sea expedition led by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research” discovered a host of larger life forms around the Tica Vent “on the Eastern Pacific Rise tectonic barrier.”  This lower-than-low area was surprisingly replete with snails and tubeworms.

Such discoveries lend credence to theories about extraterrestrial life.  If life is this hardy on our third rock from the sun, perhaps it can also be found on the fourth one and beyond.

Resources

https://news.yahoo.com/news/scientists-peeked-underneath-seafloor-discovered-184538431.html

A Surprising New Reason to Save the Trees

Raw Bat Guano
(Photo by Aphidwarrior)

Trees provide oxygen.  That alone could be enough of a reason for humans to quit their lumbering frenzy.

Yet a surprising but equally vital reason has recently surfaced.  Holy bat guano, another covid crisis could be on its way!

Chimps who had traditionally turned to decaying palm trees as an available sodium source have now been forced to eat guano instead.  Humans have excessively cut down these nutritious palms in order “to make strings for drying tobacco leaves.”

So what’s wrong with dining on bat guano?  A lot.  Bats are able to harbor quite a few pathogens without becoming ill.  Tiny viral killers can then be transmitted to humans via guano-eating chimps.  Direct contact isn’t even necessary.  Many such infections can be airborne.

All sorts of solutions have been proposed, not the brightest of which is to ”make fences, so that the chimpanzees can’t access the guano.”  Why stop there?  Why not just build walls throughout the jungle?

A wiser suggestion is simply this: quit cutting down so many trees!  Alternatives such as bamboo can often be used instead.  Each of those tobacco farmers can then be given a ball of jute twine when their birthdays roll around…

Resources

https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/ugandan-chimps-are-eating-bat-guano-raising-concerns-over-human-epidemics/