Cafe Hayek: Just Nonsense

Just Nonsense.

A faithful Cafe patron sent me this link to a Huffington Post essay by Mary Bottari. I read it, and have nothing specific to say save that it’s nonsense from top to bottom – nonsense of a sort that elicits no reply given that not the faintest whiff of reason wafts through the essay.

Anyone who finds insight in such an essay has as much hope of being reasoned with as a tree stump has of being taught to tap dance.

I confess to suffer occasionally the urge to address every such absurdity that crosses my path. And I sincerely appreciate the Cafe patron sending to me the above link. But some such ravings – such as the above – are simply too ridiculous.

I have on my shelf an unabridged copy of the 1001 Arabian nights. In volume 2, and overlapping into volume 3 is a series of stories about a war between Islamic Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire. It’s actually pretty fascinating to see what kind of romantic tales the evil Saracens where telling about *us* in the 10th and 11th centuries. Somewhere in there, though, we’re enlightened by a description of the Patriarch of Constantinople, the evilest wizard of them all. We are assured he uses black magic with holy scripture and his own feces in order to carry out nefarious plots, often bringing young maidens into indelicate positions, in order to undermine the very will to fight of the righteous armies of Allah. Or something like that.

There’s something of that kind of storytelling in Mary Bottari’s description of Milton Friedman. Black magic, indeed.

How Rolling Dice Helps Save Leopards

How Rolling Dice Helps Save Leopards.

Then, the researcher asked questions like “In the last 12 months, did you kill any leopards?,” and before the farmer answered, he rolled the die. If he rolled a 1, he should say “no,” no matter what the correct answer was, and say “yes” if he rolled a 6. For all the other numbers, he should answer honestly. The fact the researcher never had any way of knowing whether the farmer was saying “yes” because it was the truth or because he rolled a 6 gave the subject a sense of safety.

What an awesome way to get an honest answer: find a way to assure anonymity while looking them right in the face.

The Preacher As Road Engineer

The Preacher As Road Engineer.

[Speaking of orthotomeo in 2 Tim. 2:15] “Modern versions prefer something like ‘rightly handling’ the Word (RSV), or handling it ‘correctly’ (NIV), but these are too vauge. For the word has a more precise meaning, namely to ‘cut straight’, and the image conveyed is either that of the ploughman or of the road maker” (Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 136).

I like it a lot.

The Spirit of the Lord Rushed upon David

1 Samuel 16:13,

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.”

You read a text often enough, and you start to wonder what’s behind it. Who wrote 1 Samuel? Did he interview people? How did he know that? What does it mean, that the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David?

I’m assuming David told somebody, later, that he felt something. How else would he know that the Spirit “rushed” on him? The ’84 NIV says that the Spirit “came upon him in power.” Which begs the question of what it means to come upon somebody in power, as opposed to just coming upon them the normal way. We’re still left with the impression that David had some kind of experience that he felt. Maybe that experience had later results in terms of supernaturally increased ability to lead or sing (prophesy?), or go to war. But for it to be noticeable, at just that moment, David had to have an experience.

That semi-mystical experience then had enough theological value to be included in the text of scripture as an example of what it means to have the Holy Spirit come upon you.

Aw, Come on!

Reading in 1 Samuel today, and I come to the passage in chapter 15 where Samuel has to come to Saul and tell him that God has rejected him as king. Samuel says, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” Then, six verses later, the text says, “And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

I mean, come on! Six verses between “God doesn’t regret” and “God regrets”? I don’t care what your theories are on how or by whom the bible was written. The guy who put that in there had to see that coming. I mean, really.

I’m reading the ESV, and I don’t really have the time to go looking to see what other translations put down, much less try to look up the Hebrew, so I’m stuck having to parse out all on my own in what sense God does regret and in what sense he doesn’t.

Universities Begin to Offer Online High School Diplomas – High School Notes (usnews.com)

Universities Begin to Offer Online High School Diplomas – High School Notes (usnews.com).

What d’ya bet these programs cost less than the average expenditure per student at the local public school? The public school has the added cost of being a day-care and a free YMCA.