A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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A Trial, an Issue, an Outcome
If rotten things happen to you, is it payback from God? Does He see what no one else does, and kick you accordingly? And…. mere oppression may make a wise one act crazy. Eccles 7:7 (NW) Can you think of any examples? These were among the questions discussed in last week’s Watchtower study, which has to be the most spiritual forum going. You get the…
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Prophesy and Reality TV
Pity the poor TV producer of just a few years back. Put yourself in his place. Imagine that you want to produce a TV show. First, you have to hire some actors. They’re all prima donnas and most suffer from high self-esteem. They’ll cost you an arm and a leg. Not to mention aggravation. As soon as you turn your back, they go on talk…
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Neutral People and Pacifists
When nations start pounding the war drums, you’d better snap to. Even when they’re not pounding, but merely tuning them up, they don’t put up with much dissent. Thus there are peaceful countries (as countries go) such as South Korea in which young people are drafted into the military. Our people don’t go. So they routinely do jail time instead, since no exemption for conscience…
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Ask Your Doctor if Reading is Right for You!
People don’t read like they used to and that’s not good for the Democrat and Chronicle. They want to boost circulation, not cut it. So they fired the clods that had been handling their publicity and entrusted their entire advertising budget to the Carriertom Into-Wishen Research Institute. True, Carriertom has no experience in that sort of thing but, as Tom persuasively argued to the D&C,…
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Pop Goes to the Doctor…Sort of
Pop is 85 years old. He’s in perfect health. He attributes that perfect health to the fact that he never goes to a doctor. Not since World War II. When we got him to agree to occasional physicals, it was a major victory. But he only did it so as to be on someone’s radar screen, in case he ever needs an insurance gatekeeper. During…
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What Makes a Great War Great?
The Great War began in 1914. Never had the whole world been at war at the same time. No doubt that’s why the word “great” was still available when they went to name the war. Afterwards, since there was a sequel, they rechristened it World War I. The Spanish flu epidemic followed in 1918-19, right on the heels of the Great War. It originated in…
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Weapons of Math Instruction
Whereas religious experts are a dime a dozen at the Whitepebble Religious Institute, there really is only one science and math authority: Tom Tombaugh. And even his credentials are modest: he claims to be a distant cousin of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of disgraced wannabe planet Pluto. Nevertheless, he’s all we have, so if he doesn’t show, it really creates a void. Truth be known, Whitepebble keeps Tombaugh around…
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The Helix and the Cross
I traded e-mails with someone who extols the scientific method. He favors evolution. I favor creation. We both liked the result. Did I mind if he posted the exchange on his website? No, I did not; it’s two different views expressed clearly and with mutual respect. I positively like this fellow, and may post the exchange myself, someday when I am too lazy to think…
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Belief over Bureaucracy
The race is on to see who can rebuild flattened Lebanon after the 5 week war. (assuming that war is really over) The international community hopes it will be the Lebanese government. The smart money, though, is on Hezbollah, the grass roots guerilla group that provoked the war in the first place. Onlookers wish it were otherwise, but Hezbollah represents people with convictions, while the…
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Horses in Water
Ever since I was a kid, Durand Eastman beach has been closed. With much hoopla, the new administration vowed to open it. Opening day came and their first action was to close it. The bacteria count was too high. Really, for 40 years you would never had known the beach was closed. Come warm weather, swimmers flocked to it, almost as much as to the…