October 2021

 It has been too long.  

Here are two videos from youtube that are relevant.

Here (hyperlink) is my presentation for SWE, notice that you are on the first pages, and how very much I care about you, not only with the heart but by trying to build a world that is less unsafe for you.

Mini-girl, this is your science fair presentation (hyperlink).  

The year is going by quickly.  I used to do a post per month, now I am down to doing a post per year.  I am tempted to push our Christmas letters here, because they have photos and summarise the high-points of the year.

In ancient tradition the youngest spoke first, then next youngest, until the oldest spoke; so perhaps I should speak in that order.

Pico, you are growing so big.  I love how you are learning and surprise me with new words so regularly.  Your brain is working so well.  Coming to terms with how disconnected I am due to work and life is a hard thing.  

and now my meeting is over and I have to get back to work before I am even done ... .

Matthew 1:1 to 1:4

 The text is this:

1 The [fn]record of the genealogy of [fn]Jesus [fn]the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham [fn]was the father of Isaac, [fn]Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of [fn]Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of [fn]Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king.

 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to [fn]the Messiah, fourteen generations.

I was reading through it and thought, wasn't there something in the promise to Abram that this speaks to? Genesis ch12 is considered one of the great "bookends" but the promise isn't there.  I found it a little later, in Genesis ch15.

13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your [fn]descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, [fn]where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with [fn]many possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”

Salmon was the husband of Rahab, therefore the generation where the Children of Abraham came out of Egypt was Salmon.  It could be argued that the generation where the children of Abraham went into Egypt was Joseph, the brother of Judah.

For these to line up, for it to be 400 years, the inter-generational time between Jacob's son and Boaz's father, these 7 generations, must be able to be 400 years.  Intergenerational time is the time from the birth of a child, and the birth of their child.  If you look at the (sad) story of Judah and Tamar this is not a list of first-born offsprings.  Perez was not Judah's first son, or even his second.  

The patrilineal inter-generational length should be 400/(7-1) or 66 years.  If you look at Noah or Abraham, their children were born when they were 70 and 100.  If you look at modern life, the first offspring can be (tragically) in the young teens, but tend to (much more healthily) be in the mid-20's.  

While it isn't impossible, it is very unlikely to have children in your mid-60's.  This is post-menopausal age for women, typical menopause starting between age 48 and age 52, so there is argument that many of these are children of not-the-first-wife.  This could be a series of "hidden Sarah's" where the miracle is child of old age for a series of women.  

Invocation for beginnings ... i wish

 I love God but have not been walking in the Christian disciplines for some time.  

So I'm aspiring to try and read through Matthew in the early mornings, and do a few digs (limited scope deep-dives) per chapter, and see what I can find.  Also then share it here.  I've been through chapter 1, but I can write it down.  

Notes:

• bible: NASB
• website: blue-letter-bible
• book: Matthew

https://www.blueletterbible.org/nasb95/mat/1/1/p1/s_930001

Let's see how it goes.

The word "prophet" is like "sin" - they are both ideas that were taken from language ~3000 years ago and loaded with significant emotional and cultural baggage. The real meanings get lost in the baggage.

God says to Moses about the nature of prophets: I will raise up for you a prophet from your own brothers. (Deut 18:18). This shows how God works - he uses existing materials, modifies them, and does something that he wanted to do. He uses something close-by and modifies it instead of bringing in something totally new.

God says to Moses about Moses speaking through Aaron - I am making you like god over your brother Aaron. (Ex 7:1). This gives the answer to what it means to be made in the image of God. Image isn't anthromorphic (monkey-ish shaped).. image is that man was made as a controller for the system. As a control system engineer when you think about "the fall of man" as a radically defective controller in charge of the system called planet earth ... the phrase "you will surely die" (Gen 2:17) isn't talking only about the human beings ... the whole world was guaranteed destruction by what Adam and Eve did to themselves (and us).

God radically reduced the order of the controller in order to save both the controller and the system from total destruction.

I know of an Australian aborigine pastor. He says "If Adam had been one of my people then there would have been no fall. He would have thrown away the apple and eaten the snake."

When God had all of the animals walk in front of Adam, and Adam named them (Gen 2:19-20) .. that was the certification of the control system. God isn't impressed by sequences of noises - seriously. God is infinitely perfect. (2 Sam 22:31) God is all-knowing. God hates lies. Adam wasn't assigning sequences of noises to the beasts. He was speaking their true-names. In each single word he was articulating the totality of their being and nature with a clarity and perfection that the words stood approved before God. He was doing what he was made/modified to do.

If Adam was "dust of the earth" that had been made/modified and then certified as a controller that had spoken true names of every creature .. and Eve was made from Adam - what does this imply about Eve? Each creative day in genesis the cr...eatures are locked into reproducing "after their own kind". Day 6 (creation of man) is the same. Eve was the same order/nature of being as Adam.

What does it mean that "the serpent spoke to Eve" in this context? She stated before God that "the serpent deceived me" and that statement stood - it was not a lie. If she intrinsically knew the true-name of every animal then nothing any snake-animal could do would surprise her. She understood the animal more perfectly than it understood itself. I do not think "the serpent" who deceived Eve was animal. I think it was a demon - something higher order than man, from some other place, that wanted to wage war on God, and came to earth, and tried to destroy it.

I think that God imprisoned it - whatever that "serpent" really was - on earth. When God said "you will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life" the sentence was prison here, and a finite lifespan... and man was made of the dust of the earth and to the dust he returns.. that thing consumes men.

In the Aramaic text - where the bible speaks of the fall - it isn't as portrayed in modern media where Adam was far away and didn't know. He was right there with her - watching. He added to the command of God for some reason and said "do not touch it or you will die" and he watched her touch it, and watched her eat it.

Bizarre name for a tree's fruit. Fruit of tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Knowing true name of all animals gives knowledge of true names of all they rely upon ... so this was not a vegetable tree. Adam and Eve - to use one of Heinlein's words "grokked" every vegetable tree. Some suggest that it was psycho-active, but ... any tree that bears fruit requires animals for pollination, and uses fruit for "bait" to get animals to distribute seeds. It was something that .. when planted would grow another tree whose fruit would be "fruit of tree of knowledge of good and evil". Some suggest it is scientific method - that only reveals truth - its fruit is neither intrinsically good or evil. Not appropriate title. Some suggest that it was agrarian civilization - but Adam was tending the garden before the fall and at the direction of God. I think that it is something accessible to the higher-order Adam and Eve before they were evicted from the garden, but not accessible to their offspring. Neither the fruit of the tree of eternal life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil are accessible to humanity anymore

So Adam and Eve knew they were naked, and they covered themselves with some sort of leaves. So what? I know little kids and African natives who think a necklace (only) is plenty of clothing. The text says they put on figs because they were naked and did not want to be ashamed before God. Naked is like love, war, peace .. it is a word that only has meaning in the context of community. A huge relevant chunk of their nature that was critical to their .. community with God .. was profoundly damaged. It was something obvious to both of them. When they looked at each other they saw it and had .. amazing contempt .. and when they looked at themselves they had ... amazing shame.

God killed the animal and put animal skins on them. This hid the nature of their .. defect .. so they could not have to be ashamed... either in front of Him, or in front of each other.

God said as part of the curse on the serpent "I will put enmity between her offspring and your offspring". To Adam he said "cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it" all the days of your life. Adams and Eves immortality was removed from them and their offspring. Their order of being was revoked and so "grokking" and mastering even the plants was removed from them outside of gross physical labor.