Category Archives: The Issues

Caveat emptor, Hmmm, Issues

A Fallacy of Words

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While the public is subjected to counterfactual statements like the recent letters about needing to “Put Christ back in….” our schools etc throughout the year – it is at this time of year, the Christmas season, that delusive statements about the need to “Put Christ back in…….” abound.

The cry “Put Christ back in Christmas” seems to have an alliterative lure that those who believe that words are what manifest Christ in the world find irresistible.

You can strive to keep the words out, but you cannot keep Christ out of anywhere that a practicing Christian is because they act as a conduit for Christ’s love.

What this prattling on about “putting Christ back…….” clearly demarks is the distinctness between Christians who self label as Christians by virtue of membership in a Christian religion or church or as is often the case membership in both a religion and a church, and practicing Christians who often don’t call themselves Christians, holding that to be a judgment that only Christ can, or has the right to, make.

A demarcation rooted in the difference between words as the central tenant of being Christian versus your actions and behaviours as the central tenant of being Christian.

The fallacy of using words as the central tenet, is the fact that words encompass a degree of variation in meaning that denies any certainty in conveying exactitude in any message the words may have been meant to convey.

Consider the ubiquitous Thesaurus, a reference work whose sole purpose is to provide alternate choices for a word. For some words there maybe only 5 – 6 words as alternatives; while for other words there are 100+ alternatives.

In these days of rising illiteracy, functional illiteracy, cant, jargon, vulgarism, acronyms etc we are losing, may have lost, an appreciation for and the ability to use the subtle nuances and shadings in meanings among the words we choose to use to convey more accurately and with more certainty the ideas and meanings we seek to express.

Consider even the ‘simple’ Dictionary:

A book, optical disc, mobile device or online lexical resource (eg dictionary.com) containing a selection of the words of a language* giving information about their meanings, pronunciation, etymologies, inflected forms, derived forms, etc, expressed in either the same or another language, lexicon, glossary. Print dictionaries of of varying sizes, ranging from small pocket dictionaries to multi volume books, usually sort entries alphabetically, as do typical CD or DVD dictionary applications, allowing one to browse through the terms in sequence. All electronic dictionaries, whether online or installed on a device, can provide immediate, direct access to a search term, its meanings, and ancillary information: a Japanese – English dictionary.

*Language: 1) a body of words and the system for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area or the same cultural tradition i.e. the two languages of Belgium, the French language; the Yiddish language. 2) communication by voice in the distinctively human manner using arbitrary sounds in conventional ways with conversational meanings. 3) the system of linguistic signs or symbols considered in the abstract (opposed to speech). 4) any set or system of such symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another. 5) any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion etc. i.e. the language of mathematics, sign language.

Thus attempts to use the bible as a cookbook (take Sunday mass, add tithing, judgment and condemnation of fellow human beings because of your moral superiority, support for inquisitions, crusades, witch/heretic burnings, etc etc etc…..) to arrive at the ‘formula’ or ‘ingredients’ that mixed together make a Christian are doomed to fail.

This fallacy of words making the bible a ‘cookbook’ is compounded by the nature of languages and translation between languages.

The meanings of words in one language have subtle (or glaring) different nuances than do the corresponding (or what are considered corresponding) words in another language. The English word love does not carry the exact meaning of the French amour (noun) or aimer (verb). Indeed as you can see in going from the English love to the French language you use different words depending on whether you are referring to the noun or the verb.

A translation from one language to another should not give rise to a single word but a word plus the necessary qualifiers to convey the nuanced meaning of the word in its original language.

Compounding the difficulty of attempting to convey the meaning of a word in one language through translation into another language is the impact the biases of the translator have and the effect the knowledge and skill of the translator has.

The biases, knowledge and understanding of the reader of the reader of the translation also have an impact, a significant impact, on the interpretation of the meaning or message of words.

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

 Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott [attribution: “my priest friend Tom”]

One must also recognize the effect that a lack of concepts can have not just on translation but on the form of the expression of the idea takes in the original language.

Take the Christian creation myth of the Universe being created in six days. The ideology of Creationism is based upon the words the Christian creation myth as set out in the bible being meant literally.

Yet, call to mind how little was known about our world and what was not known or understood about our planet, other planets, solar systems, galaxies, the Universe, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, etc at that point in time that the Christian creation myth came into existence.

How would you explain the big bang to someone who had no concept of nothing?

In the beginning less than nothing existed, then a tiny spark appeared, causing an immense explosion, as the energy of the explosion cooled it gave birth to the elements the first generation of stars were formed from, the death of this first generation in novas and supernovas gave birth to the heavier elements contained in our generation of stars, planets……and by the way the elements human beings are made of – humans are made of star stuff. And the Universe is still expanding outwards from the initial explosion that was 15 billion years ago; and using a telescope you can look out into space and look back into that distant past.

How would you explain the big bang to someone who did not know the world rotates around the sun, some of the lights in the night skies are other planets in our solar system (what a solar system was), that the majority of lights in the night skies were stars whose light takes tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of years to get to earth (by the way what is hundred, thousand, million, billion?)…….

You could not.

How many truly understand the big bang today? How many are comfortable with the idea of the big bang to have a degree of understanding? How many are overwhelmed with the ideas inherent in the big bang and seek simpler, more human/earth sized in scope explanations to cling to as an explanation of the origin of the Universe. How many find that comfort in the Christian (or another) creation myth?

Finally you have the fact that the Christian gospels were clearly written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity rather than historical chronicles and their authors showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age.

 

So, if attempting to use the bible as a ‘cookbook’ forces the assumption words can convey an exact meaning mires Christian churches and religions in the fallacy of words, and that the fallacy of words is not hard to see – for those who are not to blind to see – why are churches and religions that mire themselves in this fallacy of words so popular?

Because being a ‘cookbook Christian’ is easy.

Gilbert K. Chesterton was correct in his observation that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

Practicing Christians view the bible as a guide for a spiritual journey; a journey you start on by living your life, of behaving, by striving – through your actions – to become the Christ. And while this view may well be relatively easy to come to, walking the path, striving to become the Christ is a daily struggle requiring a focus on asking oneself how would Christ act in this situation? How do the words and behaviours of Christ tell me to act?

Christ’s words “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” are, for human beings, incredibly hard to take into your heat to live by.

To put living by Christ’s words, commands, behaviours and actions into perspective consider Oren Arnold’s Christmas gift suggestions: “To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.”

Were you among those who were of the opinion that the police should have captured the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter  so he could have been ‘properly tortured’ for his actions? Can (do) you forgive him? Do you want to bring back the death penalty, even though experience and recent history have clearly shown that doing so would result in the execution of innocent persons? Does “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette” justify taking innocent lives so you can reap vengeance on the guilty (or those you judge to be guilty)?

Practicing Christianity by striving to live your life by acting in accordance to the words, teachings, behaviours of Christ is not only hard it is very uncomfortable, often requiring you to take positions (against the death penalty) that are rather unpopular and that require you to stand against the herd.

The book “Religion for Atheists” suggests that atheists, as part of understanding the overpowering lure and hold churches and religions have for the so many, need to recognize that Christian religions and churches are, or have become, about satisfying human social needs. That churches and religions have become social clubs where you get together with people who share your mindset, pat each other on the back about how wonderful you are, holding forth about being saved by virtue of your membership in a church or religion, confabulation about your morally superior to those who don’t agree with you.

Although ……applied to Christian churches and religions, the psychiatric meaning of confabulation [“the replacement of a gap in a person’s memory by a falsification that he or she believes to be true”] contains a full measure of truth.

Being a member of a Christian church and/or religion holds several advantages over being a member of a Service Organizations [Kiwanis, etc]. Membership in a service organization is not limited to only those who agree with you and as a result what you choose to believe can face challenge. Service organizations work to improve the community, without making judgments as to worthiness. While service organizations serve to fill human social needs the are about service to the community and in serving the community these organizations perform a great deal of hard work.

Christianity is not about popularity, it is not about getting together with people of the same mindset and who agree with your thinking.

If we are all in agreement on the decision – then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.
Alfred P. Sloan

More than anything Christianity is not about being easy.

One of the ironies of the past year was the WWCD pencil invasion. For several weeks many of those belonging to our local Christian churches and religions were running around with pencils marked WWJD, treating them more in keeping with a shared in joke or handing them out to persons they judged in need of saving.

These individuals, churches, religions were focused on the words, not the actions and decision making process living your life within the bounds of what Christ would do demand.

Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often. Mark Twain

In the North of Abbotsford has arisen a fancy new Tower of Babel, the occupiers of which have cut their support to the food bank. My understanding of the reason they turned their back on the growing number of hungry in Abbotsford is that the hungry in Abbotsford are not Christian enough or the Food Bank is not Christian enough or some combination thereof.

What does the Christianity of either the Food Bank or those in need of food from the Food Bank have to do with anything?

Given the growing tide of hunger in our community is not the question that should be asked whether there is hunger?

Turning away from the hungry because they (or the Food Bank) are not Christian ‘enough’ screams “We are not Christians – no matter what we label ourselves.”

No person or group of persons who live the teachings, behaviours and actions of Christ could, much less would, chose to turn their backs on, deny love and help to, the growing numbers who suffer hunger in Abbotsford. Anyone who would, or does, turn their back on the hungry  makes a clear statement that whatever they may claim to the contrary, they are not Christian.

“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?”  Buddha

Before the Christian churches and religions in Abbotsford, the province of BC and Canada waste time worrying about “putting Christ back” in Christmas or schools etc, they need to focus on” putting Christ back” in their churches, religions and themselves.

Consider, Life

The Reason

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“Christ is the reason for the Season” has made its debut, this being the season for the brief yearly appearance of this piece of ‘everybody knows’ …….untruth.

If one feels the need to have a god as the reason for the period of celebration surrounding the winter solstice and new year, then proper attribution would be to Mithras.

Mithras was a Persian god from the Zoroastrian pantheon, where he was a helper and assistant to the power of Good against the power of Evil. In the fight against Evil, Mithras slew a bull created by the Evil Lord and it was from the blood of this bull that all life sprang all.

Over time the cult of Mithras [Mithraism] gradually detached itself from Zoroastrianism and developed a mythology and rituals of its own.

Originally Mithras was subordinate to the Lord of Good [the Sun-god], but with the passage of time he came to be regarded as a peer to the Sun, and finally identified with Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun.

The cult of Mithras came to Rome in the first century BCE, and quickly gained a steady following and was widespread throughout the Roman Empire in the first century CE. Mithraism peaked in the third century CE, before being suppressed with all other non-Christian cults at the end of 4th century; a suppression that resulted from the triumphant rise of the Christian cult and its graduation from ‘cult to ‘religion’.

Faced with the threat posed by the advantage Mithraism enjoyed in the hearts and minds of the populace as a result of Mithraism’s solstice/year end/new year celebrations, the Christian cults found themselves in need of a yearend celebration.

An astute marketing decision and….the birth of Jesus was celebrated on December 25th, which strategically fell between the winter solstice and the yearend/new year.

There are those who have searched the Bible to find passages that they could interpret and use as evidence that the Bible proves Christ was born December 25th.

The problem is that the Christian gospels were clearly written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity rather than historical chronicles and their authors showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age.

The only thing that these arguments have proven is that one can use and interpret the words of the Bible to ‘prove’ anything you want to have the Bible provide ‘proof’ of.

I do acknowledge that although the timing of celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th, between the winter solstice and yearend/beginning of the New Year, lies with Mithraism – a cogent argument can be advanced that the reason for the existence and nature of the Season flows from the Christian churches and religions.

Looking back to the end of the 4th century/beginning of the 5th century, the point where Christianity triumphed, outlawed all other religions in the Empire and graduated from cult to religion [“A cult is a religion with no political power.” Tom Wolfe] we can examine the development of the Christian churches and religions and the interaction between the Christian churches and religions and the Season to see how the behaviours of church and religion shaped the character, the heart, the essence, of the Season.

Looking today around the world, around Abbotsford, at the Christian churches and religions you see astute shepherding is more in evidence today than it was at the end of the 4th century.

The cultivation of cash flow to provide salaries sufficient to attract pastors with the capability to enhance the growth of congregations, the Christian churches, the Christian religions and their wealth [properties, buildings, investments, bank accounts] .

The streets of Abbotsford provide abundant testimony as to how Christian churches and religions have, over the centuries, shaped the character and spirit, the soul of the Season. The Season of Greed.

Consider, Life, Media

How many more?

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Watching another report about a memorial or ceremony for/about Amanda Todd, the teen ‘bullied to death’, raises the question of how many other teenagers will suicide as a result of the media coverage of all the accolades and fame Amanda Todd’s suicide garnered her?

Not that many months ago the media was focused on one community’s efforts to prevent a recent teen suicide triggering future teen suicides in the community; suicides as in more than one. The community’s concern arose from the knowledge that the suicide of one teenager will set in motion thoughts in surviving teens that lead to a cluster of teen suicides in the future.

The media’s report focused on this knowledge, and the evidence linking the suicide of one teen with future suicides among the surviving teens.

If a simple teen suicide serves to trigger future teen suicides, how many suicide deaths will the message, intentional or not, we are sending via media coverage of Amanda Todd’s suicide cause in the future? Deaths that will occur not only in Vancouver, but around the world as Amanda Todd’s death became a cause celebre for media worldwide.

Want worldwide fame? Want your name all over the local media for days, weeks, months? Want people to speak of what a wonderful person you were and what a tragedy your loss is? Want your father to get a tattoo to memorialize you? Want a memorial held at the Red Robinson Theatre in memory of you? Want to make a video and have it go viral on the internet? Want not only 15 minutes of fame, but for the 15 minutes to be extended?

No problem!

Simply, make a video, post it on line, off your self – and let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.

There exists ample knowledge about the psycho/socio/bio (psychological sociological biological) nature of the realities, interactions and thought processes of teenagers vis-à-vis suicide. We know that the behaviours of the media, society and individuals with respect to Amanda Todd’s suicide will inspire other teens around the world to seek fame and immortality through suicide.

Now this may not be a pleasant reality, but it is reality none the less, one of the profuse dark realities and unpleasant truths that people and societies work hard to ignore by refusing to see or burying their heads in the sand.

But: Reality does not care what you want to be fact, reality does not care what you believe to be fact, Reality simply is what IS.

The question is not whether teen suicides will result from media coverage of Amanda Todd’s suicide and the ongoing circus that resulted as people strove to get aboard the 15 minutes of fame parade float.

That there would be future suicides triggered was an unavoidable reality, the when and how many were dependent on whether behaviour in reaction the Amanda Todd’s suicide was deliberate and considered – or our usual thoughtless reactionary denial of reality knee-jerk rote response.

Unpalatable perhaps – but Reality none the less.

 

Federal, Provincial, The Economy

Government Budget Pronouncements

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The Yin……….

Hysterical, hysterical federal Conservative anti-Mulcair fear mongering.

Or, when you don’t want the public to pay attention to your fiscal and policy debacles, point your finger elsewhere and scream FIRE!

Adding irony to the hysterical black humour of the Conservative’s American style hysterical  fear mongering attack ads is the fact that, as this latest Conservative “look out – it’s the Bogyman’ fear mongering campaign was getting underway, the federal Conservative finance minister was announcing that this year’s deficit would be at least $5 billion higher than the Conservatives had previously guessed.

Listening, truly listening, [with the thinking inherent in true listening] to the federal Conservative ads designed to stampede Canadians into hysterical panic over a – potential – $20 billion NDP carbon tax, provides evidence of the level of hysteria, panic and fear the Conservatives feel lest Canadians begin to scrutinize the actual outcomes of Conservative policies.

I say ‘potential’  tax because the fact is that while a carbon tax is part of the NDP platform, the NDP have no plan or course of action laid out to implement a carbon tax; much the same way that, while a balanced budget is part of the Conservative platform, the Conservatives have no plan or course of action laid out to achieve a balanced budget. Which is why the Conservative’s mythical future date for achieving a balanced budget continually moves farther and farther into the future.

The question of whether we can afford Mulcair and the NDP becomes moot when you consider the actual financial ‘achievements’ of the Conservative government.

A Conservative government that a few short years after inheriting a $14 billion a year surplus and a federal deficit reduced to $457.6 billion by the actions of the prior Liberal government, has rocketed the federal deficit past the $600 billion mark on the last weekend of November 2012. A precipitous climb with no trustworthy evidence to suggest the Conservatives over promised, under delivered, balanced budget will ever materialize under the direction of a Conservative government.

The reality is that the reasons for Canadian hysteria, panic and fear lie in the behaviours and policies of the federal Conservatives.

The un-spun Reality is that we cannot afford Harper’s Conservatives.

We just cannot afford them.

……and the Yang.

Pray that Clark is Lying.

If Christie Clark is actually serious about balancing the budget next year, come hell or high water, it is time to consider voting green or to run for the legislature as an independent.

The right always likes to trot out the bogyman of irresponsible NDP spending to scare voters as is currently happening in Ottawa.

And while Adrian Dix has demonstrated a worrisome lack of understanding of, or connection to, the financial realities of the province and its citizens Premier Clark’s promise to balance the budget next year borders on the insane.

Insane: utterly senseless: an insane plan.

Consider these givens: the 2012/13 budget called for expenditures of $43,869,000; the deficit for 2012/13 has been revised upwards to $1,470,000 which is 3.4% of the budget; the rise in the deficit is mainly a result of falling provincial revenues, revenues that are realistically not going to recover for the 2013/14 budget year; the promises Finance Minister Mike de Jong has made concerning the return to the PST means provincial sales tax revenues will suffer a significant reduction next year (on top of the $300 million HST repayment to Ottawa); the cost to provide the same services next year as were provided this year will be higher – particularly health costs which are rising faster than costs in other areas; the rationing of mental health services has already resulted in the deaths of British Columbians as a result of the lack of sufficient services; the increases in Justice costs (police, incarceration etc) will necessitate cutting more funds from the rest of the budget.

Balancing the budget for 2013/14 will require cutting 3.4% (+) from next year’s budget.

Given the realities of the way the province spends its money most, if not all, of the cuts will have to come from healthcare and education.

Yes you could make cuts to social services, family services and related programs…..but the hard facts are that cuts in those areas do not result in any savings. Rather they result in higher costs to the government in other areas of the budget such as Justice.

Trying to avoid cuts to health and education by making cuts in other areas, areas that tempt politicians and the public because they seem ‘easier’ than cuts to healthcare and education, will inevitably force even deeper cuts to be made to education and health.

Given the level of wilful denial, of self imposed blindness, embraced by both voters and politicians in British Columbia –  Pray that Clark is Lying.

 

Municipal

Bleeding?

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“ We’re just bleeding,” said Councillor John Smith.

Please……bleeding is what happens when you knick yourself shaving, when you slice open your jugular you are Haemorrhaging.

When Council’s desperate, no price to high to to avoid the embarrassment of having an arena with no hockey team, added the Heat to the fiasco that was (and is) the Great White Elephant (AKA the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Complex), Council sliced open the City’s financial jugular.

The debacle thus created has caused the City to haemorrhage – not bleed – millions, multimillions, of dollars every year down the twin financial black holes of the Abbotsford Heat and the AESC.

And suddenly after three years of ever increasing multimillion dollar losses it is “This just dismays me.” and “We have to deal with this issue. It’s killing us.”

A pity Councillors chose to ignore and run roughshod over those who dared question the divorced from reality assumptions, promises and numbers Councillors sold to taxpayers. If you look at what the ‘naysayers’ were saying, the current financial quagmire is what the ‘naysayers’ predicted would happen.

Mayor Banman’s statements on this matter do show he fits right in at City Hall. Only in Abbotsford City Hall would those nasty ‘naysayers’ who dared predict the City of Abbotsford would haemorrhage tens of millions of dollars, be used to obscure that it was Councillor’s egos that brought about the Heat/AESC financial debacle.

“There are solutions but moaning and groaning and crying about it won’t make it better,” said Banman.

“ Moaning and groaning” Mayor Banman?

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” George Santayana Reason in Common Sense (volume one of the five-volume Life of Reason)

It behoves us all Mayor Banman, to remember that the Heat were City Council’s “solution” to an empty Arena and that Council’s ‘solution’, in addition to the multimillion dollar yearly direct subsidies to the Heat, drains yearly multi-million dollar operating losses for the arena out of the City treasury and taxpayer’s wallets.

Remember because taxpayers and the City cannot afford another Council solution to the issue of the Heat that drains millions of dollars more out of the taxpayers’ pockets year after year.

“There are solutions….” The accuracy of the financial forecasting by the ‘naysayers’ on the cost to taxpayers of both the AESC and the Heat suggests a solid understanding of the fiscal and marketing realities of the Heat and the ASEC.

An understanding in alignment with that of the ownership group of the Heat: the only solution to losses incurred by the Heat is to have someone with deep pockets – currently the taxpayers of Abbotsford – on the hook to cover the losses.

It is clear Heat ownership saw nothing millions of dollars of red ink in having the Heat playing in Abbotsford since the ownership of the Heat would not purchase and move the team to Abbotsford without City Council’s agreement to cover the losses for a decade.

As to the likelihood of City Hall finding a way to stem the multimillion dollar haemorrhaging……. I would not consider a nearly 50% [(3905 – 2653)/2653 = 47%] increase in per game attendance to be: “A relatively small number of new fans were needed to secure the franchise success,” he (Mayor Banman) added.

Additionally Mayor Banman’s 3905 fans per game as break even requires an average price in of $38 per seat. Given that the most expensive seats are now only $42 and that tickets can be had for $15…..3905 is low.

He (Mayor Banman) also said ” Critics need to accept the arena and Heat supply fees are done deals and join efforts to solve the problem.”

I, and other ratepayers, are highly motivated to solve the problem

Which is why we support going to court and having the agreement with the Heat declared illegal (which it is) and therefore void, putting a stop to multimillions of dollars flowing out of taxpayers’ pockets into the pockets of Heat ownership.

Staff and politicians may not find this to be a welcome solution [in light of the fact that while protected from the consequences of incompetent actions, the consequences of illegal acts are a different matter], but for taxpayers it would end the haemorrhaging of taxpayer dollars.