Give them a smack

Before you read any further, check out this comic.

This comic is about having a positive attitude, but it reminded me of the idea of having faith. If you've ever been an evangelical Christian, and maybe even if you never were, I'm sure you've at least heard about people telling sick people, "If you just have enough faith, God will heal you," or maybe it's happened to you. The implication being, "If you don't get better, it's your own fault." That's where I see a parallel with this comic. I don't think most evangelicals do this, but it varies from church to church, and it happens enough that I'm sure a lot of people have been made to feel bad because of it.

We can affect our own attitudes, and we can affect our level of faith, but there are limits. And just as a positive attitude won't heal every disease, having faith in God usually doesn't result in obvious miracles. So if someone is telling you that you need to have more faith to deal with your problems (illness, depression, financial issues, relationship issues, etc.), and if that makes you feel even worse, tell them to go away. Or give them a finger. Or give them a smack. (My friend's friend's blog has some helpful tips on doing this. Directions are near the bottom of the right sidebar.) Maybe that will help you feel better. But I won't ask you to have faith that this will make you feel better. :)

I trust that God is good. I don't trust that God will act in the ways people tell me he will.

First Tuesday of Advent

I could have called this "First Sunday of Advent" if I'd posted it a couple days ago. Oh well. I've posted these song lyrics before, but here they are again:

O come, O come Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Come Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here.
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things, far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife, and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

--John M. Neale

The obvious question

Dentist: How are you?

Me: Good. I guess the last time I was here, I wasn't married. I got married this year.

Dentist: Congratulations! Does your wife have a dentist?

Metaphorical?

Two posts today! But this one doesn't really have original content, unlike the first one. This one is just a link to a comic:

Russell's Teapot

Putting a price on life

I wanted to write this before Edmonton's municipal election, which happened this week, but night shifts and overtime made it difficult. Now that my schedule is more normal, I'm going to comment on one of the big issues in that election: the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

In case you're not all that familiar with Edmonton, we have two airports. The City Centre Airport (ECCA) is near downtown, and it only serves small planes including charters and air ambulances. The International Airport is outside of the city limits, about 26 km from downtown, and it serves the vast majority of people flying in and out of the Edmonton area. Last year, Edmonton's city council decided to close the ECCA, eventually. This became an issue in this year's election campaign.

Since most Edmontonians don't actually use that airport, one of the biggest arguments for keeping it open was for air ambulances. Edmonton has the closest major hospitals to many northern communities. Moving the air ambulance flights (which are typically in airplanes, not helicopters) to the International Airport would make it take longer to get to a major hospital, typically about 8 minutes longer (more in bad weather), a fairly short time compared to the hours it would take to stabilize the patient in the northern community, get them on a plane, and fly to Edmonton. Even so, 8 minutes could mean the difference between life and death for a very small number of patients.

The airport needs some upgrades to keep it open (I don't think airport revenue is enough to cover this), and if it's redeveloped into something else, the city stands to collect more taxes from that land. So is it worth the money to keep it open to save a few lives? I heard one candidate in this election say, "You can't put a price on life." I'd like to agree with that, but in practice, we put a price on life all the time. If we really don't put a price on life, why don't we build a major hospital in every northern community, so that people don't have to fly to Edmonton in emergencies? That would save far more lives than keeping the ECCA open.

Although there's not much chance of the government funding all those hospitals, maybe the money saved by shutting the ECCA down could be put toward other health care improvements, like reducing wait times in emergency rooms. Maybe that would save more lives. (Yes, I'm aware that closing the ECCA mainly affects the municipal government's revenue and expenses, and it's the provincial and federal governments that pay for health care. But their revenue all comes from the same place--us. Maybe the municipal government will be able to cut taxes a bit and the provincial government can raise taxes a bit to pay for the improvements.)

So in conclusion, instead of protesting against the government "putting a price on life," let's ask instead how the government can use our money to save the most lives and improve people's health the most.

Lukewarm Christians

In the Bible, Revelation 3:14-16 (NIV) says:

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

I read something that explains what a "lukewarm" Christian is in more detail. Here's what it says:

A “lukewarm Christian” is not somebody who claims to follow Jesus but also does worldly things. It’s somebody who says “I don’t do worldly things, so I’m living in God’s will.”

A “lukewarm Christian” is not somebody who claims to follow Jesus but only shows up on Sundays. It’s somebody who says, “God must be pleased with my devoted church attendance.”

A “lukewarm Christian” is not somebody who doesn’t have a quiver full of children. It’s somebody who says, “I have biblical family values, so I’m more sold out to the Lord than those feminists are.”

You can read the whole thing here. I think he makes some pretty good points. I believe in being totally committed to God (not that I always live up to that) and that it's important not to just believe everything we're told about what God wants, so I appreciate articles like this speaking out against some of the more controlling or legalistic Christians.

Life imitating art, Part 2

My last post was about life imitating art, specifically The Simpsons. Now there's another example.

Back in 2000, there was an episode that looked into the future, when Lisa Simpson is President of the United States. In it, they make reference to Donald Trump's disastrous term as President.

Now Donald Trump is considering running for President.

My theory that we live in a world secretly ruled by Matt Groening is gaining traction.