Since installing the new power supply, the computer has worked flawlessly. It looks like that was the problem all along. Buying a new UPS would still be a good idea, but it'll wait.
I've been working on the YA book. I didn't get the rough draft finished last weekend the way I wanted to, but I did get it finished this week. I'm now going through it polishing it up and fixing things. It's set in the relatively near future a few years after the economic collapse and breakup of the U.S., though that's not the main focus. No, it's not a depressing dystopian novel. It's about a 16-year-old girl who, along with a few hundred other people, gets trapped in virtual reality and has to fight the forces of darkness to escape.
At this point, I hope there's nothing major to fix. One of the things I changed was the flying limousines. In the beginning of the book, the game world has flying limousines for high-level players, but somewhere along the way, all the driving ended up being on the ground. Did it still make sense to have them flying at the beginning, since it didn't really factor into anything later? Kind of yes but not enough to keep that in the book. The limos no longer fly.
Some of the more overt religious references are gone. The main character, Keelia, is a Christian, and that's central to the book. But I took out a few things that felt like they were slapping the reader in the face. Throughout the book, Keelia faces moral choices. I think it's better to show her faith through her actions, accompanied by an occasional reminder, rather than shoving it in the reader's face. People generally don't want to hear about your religion. They need to see it in action.
There are tons of little things to fix. I'm maybe a fifth of the way through.
The game Keelia gets stuck in is a spy game. On the side she also plays a mystery game, a fantasy game, etc. I was thinking of having two or three books in a series with each one being associated with a different genre of game. They wouldn't be books 1, 2 and 3. They would be stand-alone books that used the same characters. Then I thought that sounded boring. Keelia's not going to get trapped in the game in each book. That's dumb. However, the second book could be about her dad and the mystery game. I'd love to do a mystery novel. That could be it. Then, all of a sudden in the epilogue to the current book, the idea for another book in the series appeared out of nowhere. Now I have three ideas for three books. That just might work. And these are supposed to be young adult, so they're shorter and faster to do than a Messengers book.
But right now I need to focus on the B'vellah War books, right? Right. The plan is to finish up the polishing and fixing on the Keelia book then put it to the side for a month or so. During that time, I need to get some painting done along with working on Book 2 of the B'vellah War series.
For reasons of not being boring and other timing, book 2 starts a few years after book 1. The plan is to have a stand-alone, Calliope novella set between books 1 and 2. I'm kind of nervous about doing it that way, but nothing much happens in Yesh between 1 and 2. And somewhere I need to get the space era novel done. It's set during the time right after Kayley went into the future to save the miners and contains spoilers for the B'vellah War books. That would be easier to finish than another Keelia book.
That's about it this week. :)
Friday, January 29, 2016
Friday, January 22, 2016
Delayed: Update
In last night's blog, I talked about the latest computer problems. UPS delivered the new power supply today ahead of the bad weather. It works! It's much quieter than the old one. Based on the noise, I think the old one must have been defective the whole time.
Today's blog was last night, but here are a couple of links to people I saw interviewed.
http://melissaohden.com/
http://www.theabortionsurvivors.com/public-survivors-their-stories/carrie-holland-fischer/
Both were aborted but survived. Melissa's story was pretty interesting. Her grandmother forced her mother to have the abortion and then hid Melissa's survival from her and apparently forged her adoption paperwork. Years later Melissa was reunited with her mother.
Today's blog was last night, but here are a couple of links to people I saw interviewed.
http://melissaohden.com/
http://www.theabortionsurvivors.com/public-survivors-their-stories/carrie-holland-fischer/
Both were aborted but survived. Melissa's story was pretty interesting. Her grandmother forced her mother to have the abortion and then hid Melissa's survival from her and apparently forged her adoption paperwork. Years later Melissa was reunited with her mother.
Delayed
I can't get my computer to start. Remember the emergency computer that
was barely hanging in there that I used the last time I had computer
problems? I'm using it for this. It's so loud I have on the ear
protectors I use for mowing the lawn. I'm uncomfortable.
The new power supply was supposed to be here today. It didn't even ship until today. Another disappointment from Amazon Prime. I can't complain too much. I got Prime for free this time. Today would have been a good delivery day, because the temperature was up enough to melt nearly all the snow. Tomorrow might be freezing rain with a high of 34o(1oC) and winds around 40mph(64.37kph). We're under a "state of emergency". I live on a dirt road. I don't know if UPS will deliver here in icy weather. I might not be up and running until Monday. The rough draft for the next book should have been finished by now.
Writing Stuff
Lately, I've used some of my French reading time for English. I've had multiple Kindle books I pre-ordered but haven't read. I read two of them. Last night I read a third, since I was offline. One of them is by a relatively unknown indie author. One is by a well-known indie author who has at least one bestseller but not for a fiction book, I don't think. One is by a bestselling, award-winning, traditionally-published author.
The book by the unknown indie author had a massive info dump(see paragraphs 3 and 4 if needed) at the beginning before taking off. Unfortunately, it had some errors, some "errors" and some missing words. It was a good book. It just needed a bit more editing.
The book by the well-known indie author didn't work. It just flat didn't work. It did NOT work. I found the book encouraging at first, because the writing wasn't better than mine. I was thinking that if this person can be so successful, there's no reason I can't be. What if I had real covers? :) The writing improved the farther along it went, and the style kind of changed and became more literary. That made me go, hmm, and have self doubts. I don't try to be literary or flowery. "That through this heart should such a winged whisper wend" is about as flowery as I get, and that was a character quoting a romantic play for one line. I hope I have that quote right. I can't check my computer. But I don't try for that continually.
Anyway, back to the book. It didn't work. Some of the things it depended on were physically impossible. Some of the decisions by the characters made no sense. At first it wasn't too bad, but the farther along it went the more the logical impossibilities piled up until it was no longer realistic even for a fantasy novel. At one point the hero committed a crime for money. Imagine a sheriff robbing a train to get money for reelection, because the guy he's running against is a murderer. The situation was different, but the morality was the same. Also, the ending was a Hollywood movie ending, not a book ending.
I've left some things in my books that I know for a fact an editor would cut in a heartbeat. The scene with Kadmos in the temple in Millican? It would have been immediately cut, or I would have been forced to rewrite it into something more serious. I've put in explanations for readers that may or may not have been necessary. Editors catch things like those and fix them.
The well-known indie author has test readers and supposedly professional editing. Why didn't somebody say something? I assume it's because people don't like to tell someone something the person doesn't want to hear. Even if the test readers were afraid to say something, why didn't the editor? Maybe for the same reason. I'm kind of thinking the editor must be a friend of the author. Somebody should have been honest, assuming no one was. The author may have simply ignored the advice just like I sometimes do. :)
The professional author had a solid book with lots of writing technique to learn from, but it had a lot of sloppy "errors" like the ones I mentioned above but didn't explain. An "error" is technically not a mistake.
(A)Shirley picked the gun up. She slid it into her pocket before easing behind the door. The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway.
(B)Shirley picked the gun up and slid it into her pocket prior to easing behind the door, as footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Imagine that in a paragraph. To me the first one reads kind of choppy. The second one flows better, although these aren't the greatest sentences in the world. If I combine two or three sentences in this way, I can get away with putting another sentence in the paragraph that starts with she without being repetitive.
I try to put a lot of work into making paragraphs flow smoothly so readers glide along easily. If there's a lot of action, I try to use shorter, choppier sentences but not too many, because it doesn't read right or feel right. I saw a lot of passages like A in the professional author's book. The relatively unknown indie author had a number of them, too, but probably not as many.
In A, the second sentence has two b sounds very close together, before and behind. I try to avoid that kind of awkward-sounding thing unless I do a sentence like: The birch basket slid off the chair. I'm pretty bad about putting two words together that start with the same letter. But I try to avoid certain things. I don't use the same word twice on a page. I try not to group similar sounds. I try not to group words that start with the same syllable, etc.
The pro author's "errors" are kind of tough to judge. They're not exactly mistakes. They just make the text feel sloppy. Do readers even see them? Do I only see them because I work so hard to avoid them? Did the editor ignore them because a bestseller's books are going to sell no matter what?
I'm not talking about these books to be critical of the authors. I've read other books by all of them, and they've all done some really good work. Both the indie authors have done better books than I've seen from mainstream publishers in a bookstore. The books I'm talking about aren't bad. What I'm really talking about is the editing. The first author needed experienced editing advice. The middle author needed more editing honesty. The third author needed more attention to detail by the editor.
This YA spy book for which I'm almost done with the rough draft has had me thinking a lot about an editor. The closer I get to the end, the more I think about it. Reading the three books I mentioned, especially the second one, has me thinking about it even more. It was well-written and well-crafted, and it still doesn't work. That's scary. What if this spy book ends up being well-written and crafted but fails as a book for some reason(s) I can't see because I'm too close to it?
I have a dilemma. The driveway needs to be scraped, and the landlord won't have it done. It's washed out in places and needs to be evened up. It would cost me at least $100 to pay for it myself. I may or may not get paid back. This is the month I wanted to make a big inventory purchase to really get the business off the ground. The new power supply was almost $50. There are cheaper ones, but that's what I got the last time. The smart thing to do would be to get a UPS to protect the new one, but that would be even more money.
I like this new YA book a lot, but I'm not sure it works. I took a big risk at one point that really works for the character's story. I'm just not sure it works for the book's plot. It would be really nice if I had a paid editor to tell me whether I've done the right thing or not.
I really need the money that a small business could make. On the other hand, with professional editing and a strong cover, the YA book could go somewhere. It wouldn't have to sell a lot. What if I tried to get an agent for it? I think that's a realistic possibility.
However, I can't afford to do the business purchasing and hire an editor/do the driveway. It's either one or the other. At least for a while. A cheap editor would cost 50% of what the inventory for the business would cost. I would have to save up again and hope no more emergencies popped up. I'm praying about all this stuff. I'm just not seeing a clear direction forward. I have to do something. I can't sit around wondering what to do.
God can direct the ship, but the ship needs to be moving.
The forecast has changed since I started this. It looks like ice and snow will be here in the morning. I may not have power tomorrow. If it ices over, I don't see UPS delivering the power supply until Monday.
The new power supply was supposed to be here today. It didn't even ship until today. Another disappointment from Amazon Prime. I can't complain too much. I got Prime for free this time. Today would have been a good delivery day, because the temperature was up enough to melt nearly all the snow. Tomorrow might be freezing rain with a high of 34o(1oC) and winds around 40mph(64.37kph). We're under a "state of emergency". I live on a dirt road. I don't know if UPS will deliver here in icy weather. I might not be up and running until Monday. The rough draft for the next book should have been finished by now.
Writing Stuff
Lately, I've used some of my French reading time for English. I've had multiple Kindle books I pre-ordered but haven't read. I read two of them. Last night I read a third, since I was offline. One of them is by a relatively unknown indie author. One is by a well-known indie author who has at least one bestseller but not for a fiction book, I don't think. One is by a bestselling, award-winning, traditionally-published author.
The book by the unknown indie author had a massive info dump(see paragraphs 3 and 4 if needed) at the beginning before taking off. Unfortunately, it had some errors, some "errors" and some missing words. It was a good book. It just needed a bit more editing.
The book by the well-known indie author didn't work. It just flat didn't work. It did NOT work. I found the book encouraging at first, because the writing wasn't better than mine. I was thinking that if this person can be so successful, there's no reason I can't be. What if I had real covers? :) The writing improved the farther along it went, and the style kind of changed and became more literary. That made me go, hmm, and have self doubts. I don't try to be literary or flowery. "That through this heart should such a winged whisper wend" is about as flowery as I get, and that was a character quoting a romantic play for one line. I hope I have that quote right. I can't check my computer. But I don't try for that continually.
Anyway, back to the book. It didn't work. Some of the things it depended on were physically impossible. Some of the decisions by the characters made no sense. At first it wasn't too bad, but the farther along it went the more the logical impossibilities piled up until it was no longer realistic even for a fantasy novel. At one point the hero committed a crime for money. Imagine a sheriff robbing a train to get money for reelection, because the guy he's running against is a murderer. The situation was different, but the morality was the same. Also, the ending was a Hollywood movie ending, not a book ending.
I've left some things in my books that I know for a fact an editor would cut in a heartbeat. The scene with Kadmos in the temple in Millican? It would have been immediately cut, or I would have been forced to rewrite it into something more serious. I've put in explanations for readers that may or may not have been necessary. Editors catch things like those and fix them.
The well-known indie author has test readers and supposedly professional editing. Why didn't somebody say something? I assume it's because people don't like to tell someone something the person doesn't want to hear. Even if the test readers were afraid to say something, why didn't the editor? Maybe for the same reason. I'm kind of thinking the editor must be a friend of the author. Somebody should have been honest, assuming no one was. The author may have simply ignored the advice just like I sometimes do. :)
The professional author had a solid book with lots of writing technique to learn from, but it had a lot of sloppy "errors" like the ones I mentioned above but didn't explain. An "error" is technically not a mistake.
(A)Shirley picked the gun up. She slid it into her pocket before easing behind the door. The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway.
(B)Shirley picked the gun up and slid it into her pocket prior to easing behind the door, as footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Imagine that in a paragraph. To me the first one reads kind of choppy. The second one flows better, although these aren't the greatest sentences in the world. If I combine two or three sentences in this way, I can get away with putting another sentence in the paragraph that starts with she without being repetitive.
I try to put a lot of work into making paragraphs flow smoothly so readers glide along easily. If there's a lot of action, I try to use shorter, choppier sentences but not too many, because it doesn't read right or feel right. I saw a lot of passages like A in the professional author's book. The relatively unknown indie author had a number of them, too, but probably not as many.
In A, the second sentence has two b sounds very close together, before and behind. I try to avoid that kind of awkward-sounding thing unless I do a sentence like: The birch basket slid off the chair. I'm pretty bad about putting two words together that start with the same letter. But I try to avoid certain things. I don't use the same word twice on a page. I try not to group similar sounds. I try not to group words that start with the same syllable, etc.
The pro author's "errors" are kind of tough to judge. They're not exactly mistakes. They just make the text feel sloppy. Do readers even see them? Do I only see them because I work so hard to avoid them? Did the editor ignore them because a bestseller's books are going to sell no matter what?
I'm not talking about these books to be critical of the authors. I've read other books by all of them, and they've all done some really good work. Both the indie authors have done better books than I've seen from mainstream publishers in a bookstore. The books I'm talking about aren't bad. What I'm really talking about is the editing. The first author needed experienced editing advice. The middle author needed more editing honesty. The third author needed more attention to detail by the editor.
This YA spy book for which I'm almost done with the rough draft has had me thinking a lot about an editor. The closer I get to the end, the more I think about it. Reading the three books I mentioned, especially the second one, has me thinking about it even more. It was well-written and well-crafted, and it still doesn't work. That's scary. What if this spy book ends up being well-written and crafted but fails as a book for some reason(s) I can't see because I'm too close to it?
I have a dilemma. The driveway needs to be scraped, and the landlord won't have it done. It's washed out in places and needs to be evened up. It would cost me at least $100 to pay for it myself. I may or may not get paid back. This is the month I wanted to make a big inventory purchase to really get the business off the ground. The new power supply was almost $50. There are cheaper ones, but that's what I got the last time. The smart thing to do would be to get a UPS to protect the new one, but that would be even more money.
I like this new YA book a lot, but I'm not sure it works. I took a big risk at one point that really works for the character's story. I'm just not sure it works for the book's plot. It would be really nice if I had a paid editor to tell me whether I've done the right thing or not.
I really need the money that a small business could make. On the other hand, with professional editing and a strong cover, the YA book could go somewhere. It wouldn't have to sell a lot. What if I tried to get an agent for it? I think that's a realistic possibility.
However, I can't afford to do the business purchasing and hire an editor/do the driveway. It's either one or the other. At least for a while. A cheap editor would cost 50% of what the inventory for the business would cost. I would have to save up again and hope no more emergencies popped up. I'm praying about all this stuff. I'm just not seeing a clear direction forward. I have to do something. I can't sit around wondering what to do.
James 3:4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
God can direct the ship, but the ship needs to be moving.
The forecast has changed since I started this. It looks like ice and snow will be here in the morning. I may not have power tomorrow. If it ices over, I don't see UPS delivering the power supply until Monday.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Computer Woes
Remember that computer problem I was having where my computer would shut down before it could boot up all the way? I more or less narrowed it down to the memory, video card or power supply. I ran memory and video card tests. The memory is fine. The video card worked normally. That left the power supply. Before I did anything further, the problem cleared up and was completely gone. Then last night the computer almost wouldn't start. Today is the same. I immediately ordered a new power supply. It's supposed to be here Thursday.
If a new power supply doesn't fix the problem, the very last thing it seems like it could be is the electricity to the house. There might be some kind of fluctuation in the current that only something sensitive like a power supply is reacting to, although I have this one light that flickers sometimes.
The electricity went out the other night for over two hours. Maybe the contractors who worked on it missed something subtle.
If the computer is still having problems after installing a new power supply, my next step would be to look at getting a new UPS. It would catch voltage fluctuations and maintain an even current.
If there's no blog Friday, it means bad things are happening on the computer front.
Book Stuff
I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I wanted on the YA book, but I'm almost finished with the grand finale. There's a little bit left to do on it. The rest is mostly doing the epilogue. I might get it done tonight. Or tomorrow. I'll be snowed in tomorrow with lots of time. :) Assuming the computer works, of course. It's already shut off once while I was typing this.
If a new power supply doesn't fix the problem, the very last thing it seems like it could be is the electricity to the house. There might be some kind of fluctuation in the current that only something sensitive like a power supply is reacting to, although I have this one light that flickers sometimes.
The electricity went out the other night for over two hours. Maybe the contractors who worked on it missed something subtle.
If the computer is still having problems after installing a new power supply, my next step would be to look at getting a new UPS. It would catch voltage fluctuations and maintain an even current.
If there's no blog Friday, it means bad things are happening on the computer front.
Book Stuff
I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I wanted on the YA book, but I'm almost finished with the grand finale. There's a little bit left to do on it. The rest is mostly doing the epilogue. I might get it done tonight. Or tomorrow. I'll be snowed in tomorrow with lots of time. :) Assuming the computer works, of course. It's already shut off once while I was typing this.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Being Nitpicky and Straining at a Gnat?
Not too long ago a Baptist accused me of "straining at a gnat" for quoting the Bible in a conversation about something in the Bible. Ironically, the quote was in support of what the person was saying. A while back an SDA accused me of being too nitpicky about the Bible for referencing verses that explicitly contradicted SDA doctrines. Awkward. On a side note, if you're in a Bible study where the person leading it thinks the Bible is off-topic or offensive, you might be in the wrong Bible study. :)
Several months ago, I got nitpicky and strained at a gnat about something I thought contradicted the Bible. I'd like to share the consequences of what happened when I did that.
There's no Messianic synagogue here close enough to drive to, so I've been going to churches for a while until I can move or something shows up. I was going to this one church that had a decent pastor. He had a mild tradition problem, but he was okay. I don't know any denomination that doesn't have a problem with tradition. It goes with the territory. He was elderly and ended up having to leave because of back surgery. Another pastor took his place on a temporary basis.
The substitute pastor was an in-law of the pastor with the back problem and had been going to church there for a while to support the other pastor. The substitute's first wife died a number of years ago, and he remarried. His new wife had belonged to her church for a long time, and she didn't stop going there once they were married. It was rare that she would go to church with her husband if he went to the church where I was going. It had been that way their whole marriage. I think he went to her church for a while, though, and otherwise attended with her when he wasn't visiting us. Nobody said anything about all that. It was just the way things were. They were an older couple. Older people tend to do what they want.
I always thought it was weird that she didn't go to church with him in spite of how long she'd been a member of her church. It didn't seem Biblical, but I didn't say anything either, because it wasn't really any of my business. However, when this guy started pastoring where I was going to church and his wife refused to attend church with him under that circumstance, it suddenly became my business. I finally decided based on 1 Timothy 3 that she was in rebellion, and he was no longer qualified to be a pastor. (KJV version. CJB version.) I based that on verse 5 specifically, which asks the rhetorical question that if a man doesn't know how to rule/manage his own house, how can he take care of God's house. From what I could see, his house wasn't in order. So, I quit going there and went somewhere else.
The pastor at the new church was okay. The congregation seemed much more excited about the Bible than the place I quit. Things looked good. However, at some point a young man announced that he had been "called to preach". The pastor let him do a few sermons. It was a big deal for the family. Very emotional. The sermons were short. He did okay. He didn't embarrass himself. He was comfortable in front of the crowd. I didn't agree with everything he said, but he said nothing outrageous or controversial. I had vague misgivings about the change but nothing I could really point to. Then it turned out the young man was only 18. I could detect an undercurrent of something not right when the normal pastor dismissed the congregation, and the kid halted it and spoke on for probably less than a minute. But that wasn't my business. The regular pastor was older. I figured he'd handle the kid behind the scenes. After the third(?) sermon, the kid announced that he was going to be baptized. Whoa! He was such a new Christian that he hadn't had time to get baptized.
Since I'd just quit one place because of 1 Timothy 3, I already knew that novices are forbidden from the pulpit. I quit that church, too, immediately. I knew the kid wasn't supposed to be doing that, and if the pastor was letting him, there was something wrong there, too. To quit both churches over the same chapter was hard. I was standing on what I thought the Bible says, but no one else gave any indication whatsoever of seeing it, although I didn't discuss it or talk to anyone about it at either church. I had self doubts. Who was I to be so nitpicky? Should I just stick it out and hope God did something about it? Was I being prideful somehow? I finally decided to stick with what I thought the Bible said regardless of the circumstances and my doubts.
Over two months after I quit the first place, the phone rang. It was about the substitute pastor. He had to quit the church. Why? His wife wanted a divorce. The Bible was right. Despite how it appeared, that pastor's house was not in order. Once that church got a new pastor, I started going there again. I don't know yet if it's going to work, but so far so good.
I don't know how the church with the novice is doing, but I know what 1 Timothy 3 says. The kid's almost certainly going to be lifted up with pride and fall under the same condemnation as the devil. It was already beginning.
Galatians 1:13-18. After Paul's Damascus road experience, he went to the deserts of Arabia for an unspecified period of time and then back to Damascus. Three years later, he went to Jerusalem. Paul did not begin his ministry as a novice. He did not become the "Apostle Paul" for a long time. It took him years of preparation after his salvation to get to the point where God could give him a ministry.
What were the consequences of my choices? Even though I didn't have all the facts, standing on the Bible was the right thing to do. I wasn't being nitpicky or straining at a gnat after all. I was being a Berean.
Book Stuff
I'm very close to having the rough draft finished for the Young Adult espionage book. I might get it done this weekend. It's been a hard slog. It's not as polished as it should be at this point. I need to fix some things such as a hostage scene involving someone who probably can't be held hostage without breaking a rule. It's going to take some thought to fix it while maintaining the same level of tension and character motivation. If there's no hostage, wouldn't the characters just run off instead of risking a fight with the villain? Hmm. I also want the main character to realize something about herself, but it needs to be handled just right and occur at the right moment. It involves scars, but because of the winter season, they would be covered up. I've been wrestling with how to get past that. Maybe there could be a warm snap? Hmm. Once I reach the end, I should go over the whole thing doing polish and fixes before letting it rest a month or so. It would be easier to fix some of the mistakes while they're fresh in my mind.
During that month or more I need to do some painting and get more writing done on the next B'vellah War book. I've been going over some of the ideas for that on the side, filling in some of the blanks in the outline. It's been a struggle not to put the YA book down for a while to work on that more. :) The second half of the YA book has been difficult. I've really had to make myself stick with it.
I wanted to have the second B'vellah War book done in December, but things kept happening. It feels like I'm hopelessly behind.
Several months ago, I got nitpicky and strained at a gnat about something I thought contradicted the Bible. I'd like to share the consequences of what happened when I did that.
There's no Messianic synagogue here close enough to drive to, so I've been going to churches for a while until I can move or something shows up. I was going to this one church that had a decent pastor. He had a mild tradition problem, but he was okay. I don't know any denomination that doesn't have a problem with tradition. It goes with the territory. He was elderly and ended up having to leave because of back surgery. Another pastor took his place on a temporary basis.
The substitute pastor was an in-law of the pastor with the back problem and had been going to church there for a while to support the other pastor. The substitute's first wife died a number of years ago, and he remarried. His new wife had belonged to her church for a long time, and she didn't stop going there once they were married. It was rare that she would go to church with her husband if he went to the church where I was going. It had been that way their whole marriage. I think he went to her church for a while, though, and otherwise attended with her when he wasn't visiting us. Nobody said anything about all that. It was just the way things were. They were an older couple. Older people tend to do what they want.
I always thought it was weird that she didn't go to church with him in spite of how long she'd been a member of her church. It didn't seem Biblical, but I didn't say anything either, because it wasn't really any of my business. However, when this guy started pastoring where I was going to church and his wife refused to attend church with him under that circumstance, it suddenly became my business. I finally decided based on 1 Timothy 3 that she was in rebellion, and he was no longer qualified to be a pastor. (KJV version. CJB version.) I based that on verse 5 specifically, which asks the rhetorical question that if a man doesn't know how to rule/manage his own house, how can he take care of God's house. From what I could see, his house wasn't in order. So, I quit going there and went somewhere else.
The pastor at the new church was okay. The congregation seemed much more excited about the Bible than the place I quit. Things looked good. However, at some point a young man announced that he had been "called to preach". The pastor let him do a few sermons. It was a big deal for the family. Very emotional. The sermons were short. He did okay. He didn't embarrass himself. He was comfortable in front of the crowd. I didn't agree with everything he said, but he said nothing outrageous or controversial. I had vague misgivings about the change but nothing I could really point to. Then it turned out the young man was only 18. I could detect an undercurrent of something not right when the normal pastor dismissed the congregation, and the kid halted it and spoke on for probably less than a minute. But that wasn't my business. The regular pastor was older. I figured he'd handle the kid behind the scenes. After the third(?) sermon, the kid announced that he was going to be baptized. Whoa! He was such a new Christian that he hadn't had time to get baptized.
Since I'd just quit one place because of 1 Timothy 3, I already knew that novices are forbidden from the pulpit. I quit that church, too, immediately. I knew the kid wasn't supposed to be doing that, and if the pastor was letting him, there was something wrong there, too. To quit both churches over the same chapter was hard. I was standing on what I thought the Bible says, but no one else gave any indication whatsoever of seeing it, although I didn't discuss it or talk to anyone about it at either church. I had self doubts. Who was I to be so nitpicky? Should I just stick it out and hope God did something about it? Was I being prideful somehow? I finally decided to stick with what I thought the Bible said regardless of the circumstances and my doubts.
Over two months after I quit the first place, the phone rang. It was about the substitute pastor. He had to quit the church. Why? His wife wanted a divorce. The Bible was right. Despite how it appeared, that pastor's house was not in order. Once that church got a new pastor, I started going there again. I don't know yet if it's going to work, but so far so good.
I don't know how the church with the novice is doing, but I know what 1 Timothy 3 says. The kid's almost certainly going to be lifted up with pride and fall under the same condemnation as the devil. It was already beginning.
Galatians 1:13-18. After Paul's Damascus road experience, he went to the deserts of Arabia for an unspecified period of time and then back to Damascus. Three years later, he went to Jerusalem. Paul did not begin his ministry as a novice. He did not become the "Apostle Paul" for a long time. It took him years of preparation after his salvation to get to the point where God could give him a ministry.
What were the consequences of my choices? Even though I didn't have all the facts, standing on the Bible was the right thing to do. I wasn't being nitpicky or straining at a gnat after all. I was being a Berean.
Book Stuff
I'm very close to having the rough draft finished for the Young Adult espionage book. I might get it done this weekend. It's been a hard slog. It's not as polished as it should be at this point. I need to fix some things such as a hostage scene involving someone who probably can't be held hostage without breaking a rule. It's going to take some thought to fix it while maintaining the same level of tension and character motivation. If there's no hostage, wouldn't the characters just run off instead of risking a fight with the villain? Hmm. I also want the main character to realize something about herself, but it needs to be handled just right and occur at the right moment. It involves scars, but because of the winter season, they would be covered up. I've been wrestling with how to get past that. Maybe there could be a warm snap? Hmm. Once I reach the end, I should go over the whole thing doing polish and fixes before letting it rest a month or so. It would be easier to fix some of the mistakes while they're fresh in my mind.
During that month or more I need to do some painting and get more writing done on the next B'vellah War book. I've been going over some of the ideas for that on the side, filling in some of the blanks in the outline. It's been a struggle not to put the YA book down for a while to work on that more. :) The second half of the YA book has been difficult. I've really had to make myself stick with it.
I wanted to have the second B'vellah War book done in December, but things kept happening. It feels like I'm hopelessly behind.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
So, who was that con artist?
This isn't the regular blog. It's a followup based on Facebook feedback. Short of something unforeseen, the regular blog will be tomorrow.
Last week I talked some about the unsaved false prophets Joseph Smith and Ellen White. Smith is still widely known, but most people have never heard of Ellen White and for good reason. She made too many false prophecies. Basically, she was a con artist who used religion to make money instead of real estate, stocks or some other vehicle. She lived from 1827-1915 and was buried in Battle Creek, Michigan beside her husband. Her story's not overly interesting, but as least one part of it is very funny.
Her first big con, or at least the one that started her "prophetic" career, was perpetrated in 1846 on a retired ship's captain. White and her husband desperately needed money. At the time she had been trying to pass herself off as a prophet without much financial success. They needed a rich, gullible victim. Their target became Joseph Bates, a wealthy former captain who had a great interest in astronomy and had knowledge of current scientific facts of the solar system. The Whites finagled an invite to his home where Ellen fell into a "vision" during which she described the solar system in great detail. The captain was told afterward that she had no prior knowledge of the subject.
During the "vision" she said that Jupiter had 4 moons, Saturn had 7 moons and Uranus had 6 moons. Those and the "tall, majestic" aliens "so unlike the inhabitants of earth" she described living on one of the planets are all wrong. The figures of 4, 7 and 6 were the number of moons known in 1846 using primitive telescopes of the day. Today, we know that combined those planets have over 100 moons. White's astronomy "facts" likely came out of an encyclopedia, a source she was to use many times. That brings up the funny part.
Most prophets claim to predict the future. Ellen White claimed that, too, plus the ability to predict the past! Can you imagine someone seriously trying to predict something that has already happened? I think that's so funny. Even funnier or sadder is that people believed it. She put on a good show and eventually rigged her clothes to make it look like she wasn't breathing during her "trances". Maybe with a corset? That's interesting but off track. She would find some description in an encyclopedia and then "predict" that it had occurred in the past. As with the ship's captain, she would say she had no prior knowledge of the encyclopedia entry and act as amazed as everyone else at her accuracy.
Possibly her biggest blunder predicting the past involved the life of Martin Luther(1483-1546), the reformer. She made this incredible prophecy of some event in his life that was "verified" in an encyclopedia. It seemed amazing. There was one problem that was unknown at the time. That particular event never happened. There were various encyclopedia companies in the 1800s collecting entries for their books. They tried to check the factuality of the entries but didn't always get it right. The entry used for the Martin Luther event was from a paper that was used without proper verification. Fortunately for us, it only appeared in ONE set of encyclopedias. No other encyclopedia in history ever printed that event, because it never happened. Not only can it be proven that she lied, we know exactly how the false prophecy was invented.
Back to the ship's captain. He was skeptical before her "vision", but after that he became convinced and gave Ellen and her husband the money they'd been trying to squeeze out of him, and that's how her "prophetic" career took off.
And her burial location in Battle Creek, Michigan I mentioned? It involves one of her false prophecies. She prophesied that she would still be alive when Jesus returned. Oops! Just over a hundred years later she's still dead, and Jesus has not returned.
If you want to learn more about the con games, false prophecies and blasphemies of Ellen White, do a Google search for Ellen G. White false prophet. A bit of warning. In a massive blunder the Seventh Day Adventists, the "church" she helped start, printed all of her known writings in 1899, including personal letters. Because of that, it can be very hard to find a single page that lists all of her lies. Some have the false prophecies. Some have the blasphemies. Some are devoted to just one lie. Etc. There's simply too much information. The good news is that SDAs themselves published the information and cannot claim it to be the lies of someone else. Busted.
This page talks about her false vision(s) of Martin Luther. It doesn't explain the lone encyclopedia entry, though. It only mentions in passing that she pulled on resources available to her at the time. This has some of her predictions of the end of the world.
But anyway. Today's blog was inspired by an SDA who, after last week's blog, tried to tell me that Ellen White's writings are "edifying" to Christians. I'll let you be the judge of that one. :)
Just for the record, I'm not a Seventh Day Adventist and never have been. However, God did send me to one of their churches as a spiritual trial and for what I kind of look back on as missionary work. I'm not a missionary, but you might be. If you are and are looking for a tough mission field, you might want to consider the SDA "church". If what I've seen is representative, fewer than 5% of them are Christians. But I have to warn you. Ellen White is "Sister Ellen". She's quoted in their "church" just like the Bible and even above the Bible. Think of her as their Virgin Mary. Instead of Mother Mary, it's Sister Ellen. Same thing. Also, they will not listen to the Bible. If you read something out of the Bible in the plainest, simplest language possible but it contradicts one of their doctrines or Ellen White, it's like they physically can't hear it. Part of that is because the world can't receive things of the Spirit. Part of it it is because as a body they filter the Bible through their doctrines exactly like Mormons do.
I wouldn't go there unless you feel directly called by God to. Their doctrines are spiritual poison and nothing to be played with. You would be in immediate spiritual warfare and in Satan's territory behind enemy lines, although you will find a few stray sheep there who can't break free for whatever reason. The devil doesn't release his prisoners. My job there was to deliver a message that would have freed the sheep. Maybe I'll talk about that one day, but this blog is already too long.
Something SDAs will tell you is that Ellen White never claimed to be a prophet without telling you the actual quote. Here it is:
Technically, she didn't claim to be a prophet. She claimed to be more than a prophet. She claimed to be a messenger of God. Does that sound like Mohamed? I won't go there. I'll stick with the Bible. Was there a prophet in the Bible who was more than a prophet? John the Baptist for one. Christianity often overlooks it, but Jesus was a prophet. His main purpose was to be the Messiah, but he was also a prophet and said so. When Ellen White claimed to be more than a prophet but also a messenger, it kind of put in the same class as Jesus, didn't it?
That's probably enough. Gotta run.
Ellen White wasn't a Christian, but any real Christian can deliver a message from God, of course. It goes along with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If you're saved, God can speak through you without your knowing it. You may only realize in hindsight that you've said something from God that someone desperately needed to hear. It's not restricted to the guy behind the pulpit. :)
Last week I talked some about the unsaved false prophets Joseph Smith and Ellen White. Smith is still widely known, but most people have never heard of Ellen White and for good reason. She made too many false prophecies. Basically, she was a con artist who used religion to make money instead of real estate, stocks or some other vehicle. She lived from 1827-1915 and was buried in Battle Creek, Michigan beside her husband. Her story's not overly interesting, but as least one part of it is very funny.
Her first big con, or at least the one that started her "prophetic" career, was perpetrated in 1846 on a retired ship's captain. White and her husband desperately needed money. At the time she had been trying to pass herself off as a prophet without much financial success. They needed a rich, gullible victim. Their target became Joseph Bates, a wealthy former captain who had a great interest in astronomy and had knowledge of current scientific facts of the solar system. The Whites finagled an invite to his home where Ellen fell into a "vision" during which she described the solar system in great detail. The captain was told afterward that she had no prior knowledge of the subject.
During the "vision" she said that Jupiter had 4 moons, Saturn had 7 moons and Uranus had 6 moons. Those and the "tall, majestic" aliens "so unlike the inhabitants of earth" she described living on one of the planets are all wrong. The figures of 4, 7 and 6 were the number of moons known in 1846 using primitive telescopes of the day. Today, we know that combined those planets have over 100 moons. White's astronomy "facts" likely came out of an encyclopedia, a source she was to use many times. That brings up the funny part.
Most prophets claim to predict the future. Ellen White claimed that, too, plus the ability to predict the past! Can you imagine someone seriously trying to predict something that has already happened? I think that's so funny. Even funnier or sadder is that people believed it. She put on a good show and eventually rigged her clothes to make it look like she wasn't breathing during her "trances". Maybe with a corset? That's interesting but off track. She would find some description in an encyclopedia and then "predict" that it had occurred in the past. As with the ship's captain, she would say she had no prior knowledge of the encyclopedia entry and act as amazed as everyone else at her accuracy.
Possibly her biggest blunder predicting the past involved the life of Martin Luther(1483-1546), the reformer. She made this incredible prophecy of some event in his life that was "verified" in an encyclopedia. It seemed amazing. There was one problem that was unknown at the time. That particular event never happened. There were various encyclopedia companies in the 1800s collecting entries for their books. They tried to check the factuality of the entries but didn't always get it right. The entry used for the Martin Luther event was from a paper that was used without proper verification. Fortunately for us, it only appeared in ONE set of encyclopedias. No other encyclopedia in history ever printed that event, because it never happened. Not only can it be proven that she lied, we know exactly how the false prophecy was invented.
Back to the ship's captain. He was skeptical before her "vision", but after that he became convinced and gave Ellen and her husband the money they'd been trying to squeeze out of him, and that's how her "prophetic" career took off.
And her burial location in Battle Creek, Michigan I mentioned? It involves one of her false prophecies. She prophesied that she would still be alive when Jesus returned. Oops! Just over a hundred years later she's still dead, and Jesus has not returned.
If you want to learn more about the con games, false prophecies and blasphemies of Ellen White, do a Google search for Ellen G. White false prophet. A bit of warning. In a massive blunder the Seventh Day Adventists, the "church" she helped start, printed all of her known writings in 1899, including personal letters. Because of that, it can be very hard to find a single page that lists all of her lies. Some have the false prophecies. Some have the blasphemies. Some are devoted to just one lie. Etc. There's simply too much information. The good news is that SDAs themselves published the information and cannot claim it to be the lies of someone else. Busted.
This page talks about her false vision(s) of Martin Luther. It doesn't explain the lone encyclopedia entry, though. It only mentions in passing that she pulled on resources available to her at the time. This has some of her predictions of the end of the world.
But anyway. Today's blog was inspired by an SDA who, after last week's blog, tried to tell me that Ellen White's writings are "edifying" to Christians. I'll let you be the judge of that one. :)
Just for the record, I'm not a Seventh Day Adventist and never have been. However, God did send me to one of their churches as a spiritual trial and for what I kind of look back on as missionary work. I'm not a missionary, but you might be. If you are and are looking for a tough mission field, you might want to consider the SDA "church". If what I've seen is representative, fewer than 5% of them are Christians. But I have to warn you. Ellen White is "Sister Ellen". She's quoted in their "church" just like the Bible and even above the Bible. Think of her as their Virgin Mary. Instead of Mother Mary, it's Sister Ellen. Same thing. Also, they will not listen to the Bible. If you read something out of the Bible in the plainest, simplest language possible but it contradicts one of their doctrines or Ellen White, it's like they physically can't hear it. Part of that is because the world can't receive things of the Spirit. Part of it it is because as a body they filter the Bible through their doctrines exactly like Mormons do.
I wouldn't go there unless you feel directly called by God to. Their doctrines are spiritual poison and nothing to be played with. You would be in immediate spiritual warfare and in Satan's territory behind enemy lines, although you will find a few stray sheep there who can't break free for whatever reason. The devil doesn't release his prisoners. My job there was to deliver a message that would have freed the sheep. Maybe I'll talk about that one day, but this blog is already too long.
Something SDAs will tell you is that Ellen White never claimed to be a prophet without telling you the actual quote. Here it is:
"During the discourse, I said that I did not claim to be a prophetess. Some were surprised at this statement, and as much is being said in regard to it, I will make an explanation. Others have called me a prophetess, but I have never assumed that title. I have not felt that it was my duty thus to designate myself. Those who boldly assume that they are prophets in this our day are often a reproach to the cause of Christ. "My work includes much more than this name signifies. I regard myself as a messenger, entrusted by the Lord with messages for His people" (Letter 55, 1905; quoted in Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 35, 36).
That's probably enough. Gotta run.
Ellen White wasn't a Christian, but any real Christian can deliver a message from God, of course. It goes along with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If you're saved, God can speak through you without your knowing it. You may only realize in hindsight that you've said something from God that someone desperately needed to hear. It's not restricted to the guy behind the pulpit. :)
Friday, January 8, 2016
Adventism vs. Mormonism, Testing the Spirits
1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
There's more than one way to test a spirit. The first step is to suspect that a spirit is even communicating a message.
Mormonism and Seventh Day Adventism communicate various messages. Adventists believe in a doctrine called "The Great Controversy". This is their official position(fundamental belief #8):
"All
humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and
Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty
over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created
being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became
Satan, God's adversary. He led into rebellion a portion of the
angels. He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he
led Adam and Eve into sin. This human sin resulted in the distortion
of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created
world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the worldwide
flood. Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of
the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately
be vindicated. To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends
the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain
them in the way of salvation."
I'll get to the Mormon counterpart to this belief shortly, but let's examine a fraction of the SDA concept of the "Great Controversy". I don't have time to explore it all. On the surface it sounds reasonable. Satan's bad, but God is vindicated in the end. What Christian would object to Satan losing and God winning? Let's dig beyond the surface.
The conflict between Satan and God originated in heaven? Genesis 3 says it began in the Garden of Eden on earth. Lucifer(Helel) was sinless in heaven. Ezekiel 28:14-15 places him in the Garden of Eden as the "anointed cherub that covereth". It would be impossible for him to be anointed of God in Eden, if he had been in conflict with Him in heaven before that. It would also be impossible to be an anointed sinner. Have you ever seen an anointed thief or an anointed murderer or an anointed destroyer? If read carefully, the Bible describes him as a servant to mankind. Essentially, Lucifer was a servant that got uppity and came to think of himself as better than he was. He didn't become Satan(the Adversary) until Genesis 3:1-7 when he tempted Eve in Eden, not in heaven.
Eve and Lucifer fell the same day. That's why Lucifer was still in Eden instead of being forbidden to go there. His thoughts had not produced sinful actions yet. Thinking of a sin is not the same as sinning. The Psalms describe perfection as not willfully sinning. I'll have to find the verses for that another day. Satan didn't sin until he physically acted in Eden(Ezekiel 28:15). Only afterward, and not before that, did a third of the angels follow him.
Not only is the the "Great Controversy" doctrine incorrect about Satan, it doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a great controversy between Jesus and Satan.
Colossians 2:14-15
Blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross; And having
spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
Messiah defeated Satan at the cross. The imagery in verse 15 is that of a Roman victory parade after conquering an enemy in war. The Romans would cut off the thumbs and big toes of the enemy leader and place him at the tail of the parade as the least important person. This demonstrated total and complete victory over him. Without thumbs or big toes, the enemy could not hold a sword or run. It was absolute devastation. Satan is defeated. He has no power left. All he has left now is a big mouth. There's no controversy much less a great one. Then why has there been such a delay getting rid of him?
Ezekiel 4:4-6
Lie
thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of
Israel upon it: according to
the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear
their iniquity. For
I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the
number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear
the iniquity of the house of Israel. And
when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and
thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have
appointed thee each day for a year.
Long story short, this prophecy wasn't fulfilled until May 15, 1948. In order to keep his word, God had to wait a long time to complete this prophecy. Now that it's finished, the end of days are here as can be easily discerned.
Now that we can see that the "Great Controversy" is a false doctrine, let's look at the thought behind it. What is the underlying foundation of it? What is the core assumption? At its simplest level, the "Great Controversy" can only be true if Messiah and Satan are equals. And if Messiah and Satan are equals, then God and Satan are equals. And if God is glorious and worthy of worship, then Satan, too, must be glorious and worthy of worship, even if it's an infernal glory and and infernal worship.
Isaiah 14:14
I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High.
Satan doesn't want to be God. He wants to be like him. That is the underlying premise of the so-called "Great Controversy". The assumption is that Satan is like God. It assumes it without saying it directly. That is a slick deception. Adventists focus on the God is vindicated part and ignore the unspoken thoughts behind the words.(Does God need to be vindicated or vindicate himself to us? See God's response to Job.)
This premise is also found in Mormonism. Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers. From Ensign, a Mormon publication, as quoted by equip.org:
On
first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ,
are brothers may seem surprising to some—especially to those
unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and
the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed
offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers….But
as the Firstborn of the Father, Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother.
Brothers are equals. Like the "Great Controversy", this doctrine places Messiah and Satan on a level playing field, which leads to God and Satan being equals and thus Satan being like God.
By testing the spirit behind the "Great Controversy", we learned something incredibly insightful. The spirit behind Joseph Smith, the false prophet of Mormonism, is the exact same spirit behind Ellen G. White, the false prophet of Seventh Day Adventism. Both said Messiah was a created being, which is all we need to hear to know they were false Christians. The truth was not in them.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Glasses for the Colorblind
In the beginning of the Messengers series, the characters see into the spirit realm for the first time, including seeing new colors. The experience is jarring and emotional, etc. This week I saw this news story on Yahoo.com. It's about these new glasses that let colorblind people see colors normally. A company called Enchroma makes them. They don't work for all colorblind people, and according to one YouTube video I saw, they don't work for two specific shades of color, although no one else mentions that. It doesn't seem to matter.
The glasses are amazing. I've watched a number of videos of people trying them out for the first time. They're kind of addictive. :) Two common questions/comments seem to come up: "That's purple?!!" and "You see these colors all the time?" Apparently, purple is the one color colorblind people can't see at all except as a blue. It's very powerful when they do, because it's the first time they've ever seen it. Imagine seeing a color for the first time.
Here's a small list of a few of the more outwardly emotional videos. I've tried to filter out ones with profanity, although that's pretty hard these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCiP5bo4j4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVsMTLbEq8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UhBDpdaPFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5DahawB2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hU4wOqW3YY
When I was little, colorblindness was incurable. Technically, the glasses aren't a cure. They're more of a prosthesis. I find it moving to watch people seeing colors for the first time or full color in a normal way. "Is that red?" "Is that yellow?" They try to describe what they're seeing. There's a sense of wonder in some of them. Overall, I find these videos to be powerful and worth watching. You can't help but be happy for them. They're kind of like the ones of people hearing for the first time.
A couple of cochlear implant videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B8Zj62LoUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyECCMdlVFo
The Enchroma glasses are supposed to be helpful for people without colorblindness and people with some type of marginal colorblindness who might not be aware of it. Alas, they're very expensive, but the price has been slowly coming down. I'm not colorblind, but I'd love to try them and see if there are any fringe shades I'm not seeing properly.
I've seen science stories from time to time that talk about giving humans the ability to see into the infrared or ultraviolet. After seeing Enchroma videos, the possibilities sound a lot more exciting, especially ultraviolet. I've already seen in infrared under the right conditions. There were no light sources at all, NONE, and the walls and ceiling were warm. It was basically a red and not a very exciting one. I think ultraviolet would be actually seeing new colors.
I've read a lot about near death experiences. The people who go to heaven sometimes talk about colors we don't have on earth but can't truly describe them. I say heaven, but they never cross the barrier of no return, usually a river, and fully go there. The experiences with the Enchroma glasses remind me of the near death experiences. I think the videos are valuable for that, too. The Tribulation is very close. Knowing a little of what to expect about the transition to heaven is helpful. It will still be a new experience but not one that's completely outside of imagination. I could picture myself seeing new colors and remembering watching videos back on earth to help myself adjust, although I wouldn't "need" the help at that point.
The glasses are amazing. I've watched a number of videos of people trying them out for the first time. They're kind of addictive. :) Two common questions/comments seem to come up: "That's purple?!!" and "You see these colors all the time?" Apparently, purple is the one color colorblind people can't see at all except as a blue. It's very powerful when they do, because it's the first time they've ever seen it. Imagine seeing a color for the first time.
Here's a small list of a few of the more outwardly emotional videos. I've tried to filter out ones with profanity, although that's pretty hard these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCiP5bo4j4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVsMTLbEq8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UhBDpdaPFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5DahawB2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hU4wOqW3YY
When I was little, colorblindness was incurable. Technically, the glasses aren't a cure. They're more of a prosthesis. I find it moving to watch people seeing colors for the first time or full color in a normal way. "Is that red?" "Is that yellow?" They try to describe what they're seeing. There's a sense of wonder in some of them. Overall, I find these videos to be powerful and worth watching. You can't help but be happy for them. They're kind of like the ones of people hearing for the first time.
A couple of cochlear implant videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B8Zj62LoUg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyECCMdlVFo
The Enchroma glasses are supposed to be helpful for people without colorblindness and people with some type of marginal colorblindness who might not be aware of it. Alas, they're very expensive, but the price has been slowly coming down. I'm not colorblind, but I'd love to try them and see if there are any fringe shades I'm not seeing properly.
I've seen science stories from time to time that talk about giving humans the ability to see into the infrared or ultraviolet. After seeing Enchroma videos, the possibilities sound a lot more exciting, especially ultraviolet. I've already seen in infrared under the right conditions. There were no light sources at all, NONE, and the walls and ceiling were warm. It was basically a red and not a very exciting one. I think ultraviolet would be actually seeing new colors.
I've read a lot about near death experiences. The people who go to heaven sometimes talk about colors we don't have on earth but can't truly describe them. I say heaven, but they never cross the barrier of no return, usually a river, and fully go there. The experiences with the Enchroma glasses remind me of the near death experiences. I think the videos are valuable for that, too. The Tribulation is very close. Knowing a little of what to expect about the transition to heaven is helpful. It will still be a new experience but not one that's completely outside of imagination. I could picture myself seeing new colors and remembering watching videos back on earth to help myself adjust, although I wouldn't "need" the help at that point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)