We need to get over the idea that those who pray the hardest get special favors from God and if he doesnāt answer our prayer requests then we are simply not praying enough. In my mind that is total fabrication and rationalization. Like so many other things, the religious establishment has had centuries to hone this particular message. Yes, I frequently pray to God. Except … Continue reading Those Who Pray The Hardest Get Special Favors
Thomas Edison taught his second wife, Mina Miller, Morse code so that they could communicate in secret by tapping each otherās hands when their families were around. Matthews, Scott. 1144 Random, Interesting & Fun Facts You Need To Know – The Knowledge Encyclopedia To Win Trivia (Amazing World Facts Book) Thomas Edison was the epitome of invention in his day. He was very much a … Continue reading Edison – The Epitome Of Pragmatism
I am determined to make this the last post I do with Trumpās name in its contents. For this post, I will admit where his actions were helpful and also give some excuses for his despicable actions. Yes, Trump did many ugly things while he occupied the Oval Office, but some of them were actually helpful. I’ll get into those in a few paragraphs. It’s … Continue reading Closing Thoughts – In Some Ways You Were Helpful
This is the fourth of a five-day series of closing out the mention of Trump at RJsCorner Of course, Trump had a lot of help with his turning a four-year period into something that will go down as the first dark ages of the 21st century for our country. Maybe the primary attribute to that label is how he gave validation to the contemptible edges … Continue reading Validating the Contemptible
Perhaps the most serious long-term damage that Trump has propagated is religion. Of course, in this case he was only the catalyst, not the only one primarily responsible for that. For the most part, individual religious institutions have done pretty severe damage to themselves. One of those religious leaders that comes to the top of this deadly heap is Franklin Graham. He took over the … Continue reading Perhaps the Most Serious Long-Term Damage
The Significance Of Universal Salvationā¦. A Wrap-Up This the the final revisit of the 2013 series on “If Grace Is True” Here we are at the end of my study into universal salvation as presented by Philip Gulley in his book āIf Grace Is Trueā. It took a lot longer to get here than I originally thought but this is a very serious subject so … Continue reading Revisit – The Significance Of Universal Salvationā¦. A Wrap-Up
Sometimes reality is in itself abstract. An example of that is above. It was taken at a Des Moines museum a few years ago. How creative. Continue reading Sometimes Reality IS Abstract
We all know the slogan “No One Is Above The Law”. That drives our search for equal justice. What’s good for one is good for all. Or, is it? I have seen many times equal justice just doesn’t apply. Politicians and public office holders, along with the wealthy and famous seem to get “special” treatment way too often . A local example of that for … Continue reading Accountability By Impeachment?
I need to get Trump’s name cleared from my post queue and also my mind. To achieve that, I am devoting the next five days to finishing anything I have to say about him. Hopefully (yes “hope” is a word that I can put back into my vocabulary now) I will never refer to him again. But, I wouldn’t count on that! His legacy much … Continue reading Closing It Out Week… Good Riddance
Divine Intervention means different things to different people and religious organizations. For many in the religious community it means that we must pray to God not to get cancer or even be sick, and if we do get sick, we must leave it up to him to cure us. Doing this puts everything in Godās lap and practically no responsibility to us personally. In coordination … Continue reading Divine Intervention
In 1770, the British Parliament passed a law condemning lipstick stating that any woman found guilty of seducing a man into matrimony by a cosmetic means would be tried for witchcraft. Matthews, Scott. 1144 Random, Interesting & Fun Facts You Need To Know – The Knowledge Encyclopedia To Win Trivia (Amazing World Facts Book) (p. 9). Kindle Edition. I don’t know if this law was … Continue reading Lipstick and Witchcraft
Throughout my travels across America I am constantly on the lookout for creative things. Louisville seems to have them in spades. Continue reading Creative Street Lights
I, like Greta Thunberg, consider many of my Aspie traits to be my “superpowers” but some of them do need to be controlled sometimes in order to get things done. I love the fact that I can sit down and totally concentrate on one particular thing and make the rest of the world simply disappear. I still do that for hours at a time, and … Continue reading Reigning In My Aspie Traits… Sometimes
2020 was one hell of a year. Maybe the most stressful in my life. It felt more like an Apocalypse from a movie than real life. With the pandemic and the idiot in the Oval Office it seemed too much for a 30-year-old to bear, let alone someone like me in their mid-70s. We finally got rid of that idiot in the Oval Office yesterday … Continue reading The 2020 Apocalypse
CELEBRATE I have waited four LONG years for this day. We managed to survive one of the darkest periods of our democracy. I swelled up with tears and unimaginable joy when I saw a person who is so full of empathy replace a narcissist who had absolutely none. It will be a very different America starting right now. I also celebrate that for the first … Continue reading American Independence
This is the second of three revisits to my initial posts on a book that changed my spiritual view of the world. I do these revisits so that you might better understand where I am going now by showing you where I have come from March 12, 2013. I was certain if I could preach the perfect sermon the altar would fill with people overcome … Continue reading If Grace Is True – Revisit #2
We are often told that we are only 5% of the worldās population. Whenever someone wants to emphasize our failures they use that number. We are 5% of the Worldās population: but we have 20% of the COVID deaths but we have 25% of the COVID cases but we use 24% of the worldās fossil fuels but we have 3.5 times the murder rate of … Continue reading 95% Of The Worldās Populationā¦.
Letās start out with a little history lesson. The Democratic Party has been made up of mishmash of different people with often very different agendas for a long time. I am a big fan of Will Rogers who was a political satirist during the Great Depression in the 1930s and one of his most famous quotes was āIām not a member of an organized party, … Continue reading The Tale of Two Parties
January 17, 2021 There is so much of the Old Testament that still drives many versions of Christianity, especially among White Evangelicals. They seem to be fixated on the wrath of God rather than his love. The vast majority of the source of that wrath comes from the Old Testament. Itās time for a new version of Christianity that focuses totally on the words of … Continue reading Itās Time For DIVORCEā¦ Or at least another separation
Lobster wasnāt always such a delicacy. In the 1800s, feeding lobster to prisoners was considered cruel and unusual punishment. Lobsters were referred to as the ācockroaches of the seaā. Backhause, Tyler; Backhause, Tyler. 1,000 Random Facts Everyone Should Know If they aren’t eaten by us, lobsters can live 45 – 50 years. The older they get the more fertile they become. Lobsters only became popular when New … Continue reading Feed Them To The Prisoners
I have got to put this picture back on the revised-edition of RJsView as it is one of my favorite memories from my visits to our northern neighbors. This old guy has likely spent a very long life in a very cold place. When I came across him, I almost had the feeling that I was invading his space, but got the idea that he … Continue reading My Acadian Friend
I recently updated my ā10 Pillars of Lifeā to include: āEveryone should have the opportunity to live up to their full potentialā. That is what this post is all about. When I say everyone, I mean everyone, regardless of their financial, social, or health situation or even their country of residence. Of course, affluent people have the right to give their kids almost everything to … Continue reading Universal Education
I thought I could last it out! I did last 3 years 11 months and 3 weeks. That is something to be very proud about that I guess. But I just don’t think that my sanity can survive another week of that terribly defective narcissist! For that reason, I am boycotting all news sources until next Wednesday at noon. I will then turn my TV … Continue reading For The Sake Of My Sanity
I realize that the vast majority of viewers here at RedLetterLiving read the daily post but seldom go into the archives. In order to see where I am going with the blog you need to see where I have come from. On Wednesdays going forward I will be pulling up some of my most significant posts to show you how and why my spirituality has … Continue reading If Grace Is True – Revisit #1
I am a writer. I donāt know why I am obsessed with that craft, but I have to put my thoughts into words and get them out there. Itās not that I am seeking fame or fortune. I think I do it because my brain will explode if I donāt. š¤Ŗ But seriously, it is more than that. I write to codify my thoughts and … Continue reading Being A Writer
My mind has been cluttered with the way that the GOP might be able to pull a “Phoenix” and stay relevant. Given how much that party has changed in the last 40 years maybe this is an exercise in futility, but… Maybe I am naive, but I think there are still some Republicans who have at least an ounce of sense and know that the … Continue reading Tell Them To Just Go Away
My college years were probably the most important years of my life. They were a time when I quit being a skinny kid from a very small rural conservative town. They showed me that I had responsibilities as an adult to more than just myself. They showed me a world that I never knew even existed. I will have a lot of stories here are … Continue reading Life Stories – Remembering Don
Now that the political season is finally over, at least for a few months, it’s time for some personal thoughts about that process. I know that the title of this post is not exactly how Reagan described the problem, but I kinda think my words are more accurate than his were forty years ago. When the Supreme Court decided that money is a form of … Continue reading Money In Politics Isn’t The Solution, It’s The Problem
One of the things I have probably struggled with the most is the difference between the Old Testament God and the God as described by Jesus. It just seems to me that The OT God is pretty much an egotist, vengeful, and merciless god and the God of Jesus is totally a god of love. How to reconcile that difference is a very difficult thing … Continue reading Doing God’s Will
The use of fingerprints to identify people began when two men who looked nearly identical, with the same name, arrived at the same prison. They had never even met! Backhause, Tyler; Backhause, Tyler. 1,000 Random Facts Everyone Should Know: A collection of random facts useful for the bar trivia night, get-together or as conversation starter. (p. 19). Kindle Edition. It happened in 1904 at Leavenworth … Continue reading About Fingerprints
I took a lot of pictures of the Mississinewa 1812 reenactments in 2019. Little did I know that this October 2019 event would be the last road trip until 2021. Hopefully, the pandemic will be under control this year so that my trips across America can continue. I chose this picture for today due primarily for its simplicity. It just seems like a serene scene … Continue reading Simplicity
It seems there are various groups in this world who just donāt want to go along when the āPublic Goodā is the topic. They just donāt seem to care about anyone else. They want to go about their lives totally focused on themselves. The anti-maskers donāt want to be inconvenienced by wearing a mask to prevent a mere 2% of us from dying. After all, … Continue reading Anti-Mask, Anti-vaxxers, Lazy Minds – One and the Same?
I don’t know about you, but when I watched the pictures of domestic terrorists invading the US Congress while it was in session I was struck with fear. “Is this the beginning of the end for the “United” States? Will anarchy replace our democracy? I couldn’t believe what I was watching. The only saving grace to yesterday was that all those who threatened to bring … Continue reading What Does It Take To Rattle Lazy Minds?
We spend too much of our time running away from problems instead of addressing them head-on. Let’s be honest, we in America have a history of messing things up and then moving on instead of fixing them. We have been struggling with the idea of equality and justice for our whole existence, maybe it is time to finally look at fixing that problem. We have … Continue reading Don’t Run Away
The above photo was taken at the 2019 Mississinewa Battle Reenactment. When I took the picture my heart sunk just a little and sadness overcame me. This is not the first time that has happened. In fact, I have felt the same thing hundreds of times in the past 20 years or so. In my youth I very much enjoyed music. It was not until … Continue reading Life Stories – The Sound Of Music
The theme header quotes as shown in my blog RJsCorner header above is a foundational part of where I am in my life right now. Think For Yourself Question Everything Never Stop Learning They are some major drivers in my life, and they have always been there in the background since I was a small child. In my early years I, like most other kids, … Continue reading Iām An Armchair Philosopher
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