Living Water

Anastasia and I recently inherited the family cat, Cleo. He was formerly owned by Anastasia's sister and then by her parents. The most amusing thing for me in watching the cat adapt to our house has been the fountain. Anastasia got this fountain that sits on our floor several years ago. Cleo thinks it is the best thing, ever. He rarely drinks from the water bowl set out for him in the basement where he is generally confined at night. He will be complaining in the morning to get out so he can get a drink out of the water from the fountian, even if the fountain isn't turned on. I don't know if Betty Ford has a wing for cats with water addictions.

Heresy

I have been reading a biography of Martin Luther, and got to thinking about the fact that the root word that we get "heresy" from is "to choose." The heretic was originally seen as someone who exalts his own choice above the relevant authority. It could take a couple of forms. One is where the authority, say scripture, clearly says one thing but the person says "I choose to believe or act differently." The other form is interpretive. People have traditionally interpreted scripture in a different way and a person comes along who says "I choose to interpret this differently." From a certain perspective, the last 100 years could be thought of as the age of heresy in the sense that the phrase "I interpret it this way" has become so much a part of our mental landscape. It seems most defensible when a person appeals from a one authority to a higher one, but even there the danger remains that there will be too much I. We don't even notice how often we start our sentances with I.

Cosmetic surgery--reasons to avoid

1. It's expensive.
2. It's painful.
3. You might get scarred.
4. God created you this way and created the aging process.
5. It might poison your brain--see article below.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/131749

I wonder if I'll always be able to say these things so cavalierly, but it should give one pause.

Homemade syrup--easier than you think

This is so much cheaper and better for you than store-bought, and really not much trouble at all. I’ve eaten this all my life and love it so much I can’t stand the thick, corn-syrupy stuff from the store. And my husband, who grew up on that, likes this as well. If you eat a lot of syrup, you can double the recipe. Use a bigger pan, and it will just fit into a container of the size shown.

Syrup
from the More with Less Cookbook
About 3 cups
15 minutes


1 ¾ c white sugar
¼ c brown sugar
1 c water
½ t vanilla
½ t maple flavoring

1. Combine sugars and water in small saucepan. Bring to boil.
2. Cover pan and cook for one minute.
3. Cool slightly.
4. Add vanilla and maple. Cover saucepan for a few minutes.

Green Cleaning

Here's my first attempt at creating a home cleaning solution. I've been using baking soda to clean for a few months now, since SoftScrub stopped making a non-scented liquid cleanser. This week though I wasn't sure if just baking soda would cut it--I wanted more of a disinfectant. So I whipped this up:

Disinfectant: Mix 2 teaspoons borax, 4 tablespoons vinegar and 3 cups hot water. For stronger cleaning power add 1/4 teaspoon liquid castile soap. Wipe on with dampened cloth or use non-aerosol spray bottle.

(http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm#substitutions)

It worked great for getting through scum on sinks and cleaning the toilet. On the stubborn scum in the tub, though, I had to pull out the baking soda to have enough grit to scrub through.

I'm still not sure about all this, though--like there's a recipe for vinegar and baking soda you mix up and use as toilet cleaner--what do you mix it in before you put it in the toilet? And can you use your regular measuring cups for this stuff?

Is anyone else trying this? I'd be curious to know of others' efforts.

The real issue

I have been reading a biography of Martin Luther, and one interesting fact was that a few weeks before he posted his famous 95 theses condemning the sale of indulgences and igniting the reformation he had posted 97 theses on the topic of human depravity and the grace of God. The former was actually far more significant theologically and went much more to the root of the issues that separated Luther from the Catholic Church. A few years later, Erasmus (the foremost scholar of the Renaissance) wrote an essay criticizing Luther's positions on depravity, free will, and grace and Luther responded by praising him for at least realizing what he saw as the central issue. I am hoping in the future to get a chance to read their exchange. For now, I am reflecting on why it is that indulgences set off the controversy. Partly it was political- money was being paid by Germans to build St. Peter's in Rome. Partly it was because of a widespread sense that religious offices and even grace were for sale. But I have to think a big part of the reason for the differential response is that the sale of indulgences affected the real god of people then and now, money. Which will get people more angry, saying something that robs God of glory or swindling them out of their money? It is the same today.

Book reviews

A couple books I've read lately:

Every Secret Thing by Ann Tatlock--(sorry for the absence of a link, I don't quite know how to do them yet). Christian fiction about a woman in her 40s who goes back to teach at the school where she attended high school and ends up facing people and events from her past. I enjoyed reading this book--the characterizations were great and the plot was pretty good. It was not preachy or hokey; it was real. Until about the last 20 pages--it ended very abruptly with a not-so-believable plot twist, keeping it from being a great book. Still worth a read, an above-average Christian fiction (see earlier post).

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri--Story of a family that moves from India to America and how their life proceeds. I am conflicted about this one. She is an amazing writer-- even her minor characters and short events are fascinating. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Interpreter of Maladies, an earlier book, and people are talking about her new book, so I'm glad I've read something by her. In this one, I particularly enjoyed seeing the 60s and 70s through the eyes of Indian immigrants, something I hadn't ever considered. And I always like reading about New York. But--the life of the main character, Gogol, is very empty and (spoiler alert!) contains a string of doomed love affairs. Can I recommend (via my picks shelf at work) such a book--that contains actions I don't condone? In the end you see the results of a godless life, and they aren't pretty. Is that enough recommendation to spend time reading it though? My answer to this question (obviously not unique to this book) is--sometimes. I try to mix up my reading life so not everything I read has a nihilistic world view. What do you think?