Mary Magdalene, Mary, & Salom walking up to the bright empty tomb of Jesus Christ early Sunday morning, Showing Golgotha in the background. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
More songs to enjoy as we continue to celebrate the risen Lord:
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Recorded at Westminster Abbey.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/3kPkjghup8E]
Lyrics: Crown Him with Many Crowns
I know that My Redeemer Lives
Job 19:25-27 from the New International Version (NIV):
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Here’s a selection of videos to help your celebration on this most wonderful day, even though we be worshiping apart due to the coronavirus pandemic, nothing shall ever stop the good news:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dT7dGcsrPkQ]
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
News flash from 4/5/15:
Jerry Bowyer has the report from Jerusalem. It is in the very early edition of today’s paper. Apparently that seditious rabble-rouser from Nazareth got his just due Friday past when the Sanhedrin and Roman government both agreed to address treason as treason ought be addressed.
The article’s first paragraph,
Jesus of Nazareth was executed today on the orders of the Roman State. Method of execution: Crucifixion. The charge under Roman law was treason, and under Herodian law blasphemy against the Temple. The evidence against this anarchist was so strong that authorities of both the Roman State and the Kingdom of Herod concurred with the arrest and execution, and he was subjected to trial by both governments. And in a rare uprising of spontaneous collective justice, the mass of people who were gathered for Passover called for his execution as well. The mob affirmed their loyalty to the state, chanting, “We have no king but Caesar.”
For the rest of the story, check out the full news report in Forbes: Jesus of Nazareth, Enemy Of The State, Executed For Treason.
After reading the full article, I’m sure you will agree with me that we shall never hear of his name again.
Hold on…
We will prevail. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
When will we be done with this stay-at-home restriction?
When will the economy recover?
When will we be back to “normal?”
I don’t know the dates for any of those transitions.
I have a suggestion for you.
Don’t set a specific date in your mind. Instead firmly set in your mind that this mess will end, we will get through it, we will survive, and we will thrive at the end.
What is the danger of setting a date in your mind and having faith it will be over on that date?
Let me introduce you to the Stockdale paradox.
Admiral James Stockdale was an American pilot shot down during the Vietnam war. He was a prisoner in North Vietnam for 7 1/2 years, routinely subject to brutal torture, legs broken twice during interrogation, and held in solitary confinement during four of those years with his legs locked in a metal stock each night. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor a few years after his release.
I think we should listen to him. His physical courage and moral courage are a role model for all of us.
For one explanation of the phenomenon he described check out article titled The Stockdale Paradox.
Who did not come home from captivity?
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
How do we get enough of the respirators, personal protective equipment, and medicine we need to get through the COVID-19 pandemic?
Fascinating to watch the press conference Saturday 3/21/20 with various federal officials and members of the coronavirus task force. Most fascinating feature was looking at the various comments and questions/answers from an economics perspective. Thought about Friday’s briefing as well.
Here is the difference in perspective I perceived: do we rely on capitalism or fascism as our model to get things done?
Underlying the comments from all the federal officials is the idea that the private sector can figure out how to provide everything we need.
The common thread underlying a huge portion of the questions from media is the idea that the federal government should tell which specific companies how much of which specific products to produce, specify they price they will charge, and provide the addresses for where to send each pallet of supplies.
In other words, should we use a capitalist model to provide goods we need or should we use the fascist model?
As a thumbnail description, in the fascist economic model the means of production are owned by the private sector but the central planning authority tells companies how much of which product to produce. In contrast, the next step away from freedom is communism, in which the means of production are owned by the government and a central planning agency decides how much of each specific product to produce.
Capitalism?
Chaika 3 (on redscale film) – Queue by Jaroslav A. Polak is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). Lines like this outside a grocery store were normative in the Soviet Union.
In the Soviet Union and Venezuela, grocery shopping involved/involves listening for rumors of which store got a shipment overnight, standing in line for hours, looking at lots of empty shelves, and going to the store daily to see if what you need might actually be on the shelf today.
If you have been awake the last seven days, you know that is what grocery shopping looks like in the U.S. today.
The difference between the Evil Empire and the worker’s paradise of Venezuela on one hand and the United States on the other hand is that the supply chain in the U.S. is still stocking the shelves and in a week or two or three will have them filled up.