Wednesday, December 2, 2020

cofessions of a serial idolater

Sugar, A Thought Experiment written by a Serial Idolater
Rev.J Scott Martin

A Spoonful of Sugar

I hope to write a good thought. I think we have an understanding that life is good. I want to write down a thought I have been thinking the past few weeks in hopes that it will help you, the reader, live better. I feel my life is better for having thought it.

Sugar is a chemical compound. For the purpose of this essay I will use sugar to mean glucose, a molecule made of 6 carbon, 12 hydrogen, and 6 oxygen atoms.  The glucose molecule is created in nature by green plants using carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy to produce sugar and oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis. All plant and animal life on earth is dependent on this process for food which is a form of stored energy necessary for life. It also produces the oxygen we breathe. Fossil fuels derive their ultimate origin from photosynthesis.

Sugar is Good

I ask therefore; is sugar good or bad? Sugar is good. Without it biological life as we commonly understand it would cease.

I ask; can sugar affect well being? Yes.

I ask; can sugar affect well being in a positive way? Yes, the proper amount of sugar is required for nutrition.

I ask; can sugar affect well being in a negative way? Yes, both a deficiency and an excess of sugar can be detrimental to health.

Sugar is like oxygen in that it is constantly necessary to fuel brain chemistry which allows thought to occur. As Descartes famously said, "I think therefore I am". Without thought I cease to live. Sugar is food necessary for life but sugar is also like a drug in that it produces pleasure and pleasure can feed an addiction cycle resulting in over consumption of sugar and significant bodily harm. A person can be aware of self harm and yet seemingly incapable of escaping the addiction cycle. Addiction is universally and correctly thought to be bad.

No doubt you asked yourself why is the author rambling on so about sugar? Surly this is common knowledge and no one would dispute its content but neither is it helpful or informative. I picked sugar for a topic because it has less emotional, social, and religious prejudices than some other subjects and thus easier to discuss in a logical way. I could have chosen sex, music, money,the Bible, work, etc. but those topics are far more complex. More importantly, sugar is fundamental to life. As fundamental as oxygen or water.  Sugar is not only good for my brain but it is fundamental substance necessary for life on earth. The maple tree converts energy from the sun into life giving stored energy in the form of sugar. Life is good. Sugar is necessary for life. Therefore sugar is good.

use vs abuse

One can not stop using sugar. If you stop consuming sugar in any form such as a zero carbohydrate diet, your body will convert dietary or body fat to sugar. When fat stores are exhausted the body will digest itself to produce sugar resulting in eventual death by the toxins created in the process. Sugar is constantly essential. Sugar must be used but it may be abused. Seven sugar cubes is an approximation of our daily requirements. Ten today and four tomorrow is not abuse. Twenty a day for a month is abuse. Consistent extreme abuse by over consumption will lead to impaired brain function, obesity, heart disease, etc. and thus negate the very purpose which makes sugar good. The excess intake of sugar is abuse. The excess intake of sugar is bad. In sugar abuse, sugar, meant to enhance life, is abused to detract from life.

pleasure

Pleasure is one of many realities complicating our discussion of sugar. I want to present a simple idea which means I will generalize.

In a manner similar to sugar, pleasure is good in that enhances life but also like sugar the excess of pleasure is abuse. Like sugar it is impossible to avoid all pleasure. Pleasure can be abused in that it can detract from life. There are 2 characteristics of pleasure that need be understand to avoid abuse. One is  pleasure diminishes with frequency. The second is that pleasure is never satisfied.

Give a child 7 sugar candies and tell them they can only eat one. If we watch them we will see ourselves. It is much easier to eat none than to eat just one because the pleasure of one demands repetition but the second cube does not achieve pleasure equal to the first and thus we feel the third is necessary in the quest to repeat the pleasure level achieved by the first sugar cube.

A rational being who desires goodness must therefore regulate themselves in order to insure sugar consumption is not harmful.

Life is Good

All of my thoughts this far are based on the maxim life is good.

All things created by God are good

Now I will make a inference which I think is justified. The use and abuse of sugar is a specific example of general principle. Good things, good conduct, good actions, good deeds are those which by their nature enhance life. It is wrong to utilize a good thing in such a way as to detract from life and thus subvert and counteract their inherent goodness. In fact, all things when used correctly are good. Thus the Christian Apostle Paul wrote.. 1Tim 4:4 Because everything which God has made is good, and nothing is evil, if it is taken with praise.

Praise

Please think a moment about praise. Paul means praise as praise to the creator of the good thing. I think this implicitly means appreciation of the goodness of the thing for which praise is given and thus recognizes the use, not the abuse, of the object for which one is thankful.

Motivation

My motivation in writing this essay is an attempt to understand a paradox in Paul's letter to the Colossians 2:18 and 3:5 in which he rejects asceticism and idolatry. Superficially he seems to say it is bad to avoid pleasure and it is bad not to avoid pleasure. Careful thought and reading is needed to understand there is no contradiction in the two verses.

Asceticism

Asceticism is defined as severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons. In Christianity a positive example is fasting. For example Jesus fasted 40 days between His baptism and beginning His ministry. However; Jesus, himself, seemed to reject fasting as an end in itself as his critics accused his disciples of breaking some of the ritualistic fasts of the Jewish religious customs of his day. Isaiah 58 is a strong condemnation of fasting as practiced in the Prophet's day because the fast was for selfish reasons and a from of pleasure. It is ironic that fasting meant to avoid pleasure could itself be a form of pleasure. How? It allowed the worshipers to think of themselves as religious while they exploited the poor for financial gain. The acquisition of wealth was pleasurable for them as was the idea they had forced God into approving of their greed by ritualistic fasting.

Since asceticism is not the topic of this thought I will state my thinking without explanation. Asceticism is a tool which can be used for good or evil but though it appears to have a form of religion it has no intrinsic value in and of itself. It is no substitute for a right relationship with the creator.

Idolatry

Idolatry is the worship of idols. Idols are false gods. If we worshiped sugar it would become an idol. If we worshiped a golden calf it would become an idol. If we worshiped a piece of wood it would become an idol. The solution to idolatry is not to discontinue the use of a good or necessary substance but rather to discontinue the worship of the same.

Worship is good if used to worship God. Many people have a vague, inexact notion of God, but Christianity teaches that Jesus is an exact notion of God. This in Colossians Chapter One, Paul wrote,

"Who is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living things; For by him all things were made, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, authorities, lords, rulers, and powers; all things were made by him and for him; He is before all things, and in him all things have being. And he is the head of the body, the church: the starting point of all things, the first to come again from the dead; so that in all things he might have the chief place. For God in full measure was pleased to be in him; "

In Chapter 3 Paul wrote, "seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth." Nothing on earth, sugar, water, oxygen, gold, silver, power, sexual pleasure,work, the Bible etc. can replace God without becoming an idol. Idolatry is abuse and is evil. Paul urges us. Focus on God. Worship God.

Behavior Modification

There are many ways to tell someone how to behave. You can list the things not to do. You can list the things to do. You can do both. You can explain principles of good and evil. You can list examples. I think Paul uses all these methods in Chapters 2 and 3. Sex with a prostitute is listed as an example of a negative behavior. Singing spiritual songs is an example of positive behavior. However; the focus and force of Paul's appeal is to set our minds on things above not on negative or positive behavior. Paul makes the assumption that setting our mind on Christ will result in positive not negative behavior. He does not need to list all negative behavior because the positive principle precludes it. He does not say, "Do not eat too much sugar." He does say idolatry is evil and that includes many excesses including the abuse of sugar.

Sugar as an Idol

Is excess sugar idolatry? In case I have not made a convincing case, think of this. Why did you eat the second piece of pie knowing it would taste no better than the first and in fact could be metabolically harmful? Were you not focused on the pie? the pleasure? Had you not lost sight of life and the purpose of life? Could you sincerely praise God? I grant perhaps you could. But, there is a point, for example the fourth piece, in which it is very very difficult to conceive a positive scenario.

Conclusion

Focus on Jesus. Focus on good. Use good things for good purposes. Beware that inherently good things can become idols. Asceticism may be a tool for a good goal but it is no substitute for Christianity and can itself be abused as an idol. Idolatry is evil. God is good. Focus on God.

The cure for idolatry is to worship God.


Monday, November 16, 2020

mindset

Colossians 3:2

[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (ESV)


How??? Is this biological? Firing one set of synapses in the brain but not another?
How??? Is this geophysical? Thinking about celestial objects ?
How??? Is this spiritual? Time in the prayer closet or an out of body trance?
How??? Is this metaphysical? Thinking of philosophy and theology?
How??? is this sacrificial? Selfless service of humanity?
How??? Is this artistic? Composing the next "Messiah" or painting "The Last Supper" or sculpturing King David?

Though I often write in riddles this is intended as a direct question such as I often ask myself. I would be delighted to read your thoughts in a comment.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

golden cowd

what if

what if frog legs?
what if green eggs?
are the gap between,
what I could,
and what I should?

do I own a sacred cow?
would I sacrifice it now?

 Deuteronomy 9:16

[16] And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. (ESV)

Saturday, November 7, 2020

too hot to handle, purpose of pain

The bare hand grasps
Hot iron handle.
Suddenly loss of the sauce,
The mess dropping it will make,
Are both an exchange,
You gladly will make.

Psalms 119:71

[71] It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. (ESV)

Friday, November 6, 2020

poetic pain protagonist

poetic pain protagonist: poetic pain protagonist

misery loves company,
or so they say.
we need each other,
like a horse needs hay!

When life is harder,
and I tire of the fight,
empathy of others,
is a necessary respite.

Why not pray to God alone,
if you are such a saint?
Who says sharing with you,
means praying to God "I ain't"?

1 Corinthians 12:26

[26] If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (ESV)

Thursday, November 5, 2020

pain, chronic

Enduring pain is really a difficult task much like rolling a heavy round ball up a steep incline. There is no rest. No chance for renewal. At first one hopes it will end. One imagines the top of the hill. Then hope fades. The realty is there is strength for one more step so you continue. And continue. And continue. If you stop the weight will crush you. But even those dark words are enlightened by reason. We humans can reflect on our own experiences and the meaning of our frail physical existence.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

[16] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (ESV)

[17] For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, (ESV)

[18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (ESV)

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

potus news

It is the day after elections in the USA.


unprecedented: Ecclesiastes 1:9

[9] What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. (ESV)

I don't understand. What is the point? This is the day after the election in the USA. The newscasters keep using the word "unprecedented". How so?

Please tell me. What is new under the sun?

Monday, November 2, 2020

65

It was a good birthday and I achieved a milestone. I am 65. My third nap seemed to help! The high point was a zoom call with the kids!

Thursday, October 29, 2020

sleep deprived

I remember in 2017, when my aortic valve dissolved, how sick I was and how sleep deprived also because I was too sick to sleep. Thankfully, I am not nearly so sick this time but I am miserable enough to have trouble sleeping. 

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

er and est

3 am ish English

Miserable has too many syllables to make a comparative by adding the suffix “er”.  So I am not “miserabler” but rather I am more miserable.  Thankfully I am not most miserable nor “miserabilest”. 

This English lesson brought to you by the vowel “e” and consonants “r,s, and t” and a few extra measures of misery.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Sickly Sunday

I attended Sunday School and church by Zoom and Facebook Live while holding a bucket and pacing in pain. I suppose that is an advantage of 2020.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

ChatMyPals


I am working on a new website for friends who want to stay in touch but don't want the constant garbage supplied by social media advertisements. 

 It is called chatmypals.com 

Monday, October 19, 2020

wind 3:16

Wind 3:16

Can’t see it.
Can hear it.
Bible says,
Like the Spirit.

Born first flesh,
Born again spirit.
All flesh dies,
Do not fear  it.

For God so loved,
You and me.
He sent His Son,
To set us free.

From sin and death
There is relief.
The cure is,
A tiny bit of belief. 

John Chapter 3

Thursday, October 15, 2020

brain train

My Brain
By JSM

I have a brain,
Like a train,
With a loose,
Caboose.

The further I go,
I look back to find,
I am not all here,
I am further behind!

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Saturday, April 25, 2020

sad

Sad

I feel sad.
I feel profoundly sad.
I have friends in many countries.
I hear from them directly,
They have no food.
They have hungry children.
They are beaten if they venture out.
They ask me how I am.
JSM 4/25/2020

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Nineteen

19 was a good number
Until Covid19 came along.
The microscopic corona virus,
Has done a good number such wrong!!!!
JSM

Sunday, February 16, 2020

motto

My Motto For Life: The best way to help yourself is to help someone else.