Nested Hierarchy

Finally, I wrote about Nested Hierarchy

I’m trying to keep this intro post as short as possible

…probably not doing a very good job though

Nested Hierarchy is the way I read the Bible. There are a number of ways to approach the Bible and many of them overlap

I’m just going to make a basic comparison here though

To contrast my view I’ll talk about a narrative hierarchy

That’s how we read most books

You start at the beginning of a book and read to the end, a straight line through the text

It’s an easy way to read for sure

That’s why most books are arranged this way; the beginning chapter creates a foundation and each chapter slowly builds on that foundation

I can’t read the Bible this way for one simple reason:

The Bible is not a book, it’s a collection of books

Some of the individual books have a narrative hierarchy, some don’t

But the collection as a whole definitely does not

So I have to look elsewhere for the foundation

I believe that foundation is Jesus

Jesus is the center of a nest, with the other layers in the nest built around him

Jesus is like an egg

The egg is the point of the nest
The egg gives the nest purpose
The egg is the reason the nest was built
Everything about the nest has to be viewed through the object at it’s center

I believe Jesus is the center of the Biblical nest

All the books of the Bible are read through the lens of Jesus

His teachings
His life
His death
His resurrection
His return

The books of the Bible have their purpose fulfilled by Jesus
Jesus is the reason this collection of books was built
Jesus is the point of the collection

The center of the Nested Hierarchy

This is a theological nest I’m talking about, others may use a similar nested approach but with a different goal.

A good example would be a historical approach. Instead of trying to find the theological center of the biblical texts you might try to determine which books were written first. Then you could look at the Bible in terms of how each book is related to those that came before it.

You could do the same with language or culture as the center around which everything was built

To be honest most of us use some combination of these different different approaches

Me included

But the most important to me is the the theological nested hierarchy

My theological perspective is definitely Christian. There are others as well.

Jewish theology for example. You could say that Jewish theology places the first five books of the Hebrew Bible at the center and builds theological interpretation of the other books around them. Those first five books are also know as the Torah or the Pentateuch.

Even Muslims revere the Bible, though they view it with the lens of their prophet and their holy book at the center

My lens is Jesus
Every book points to him
Every conundrum and question that the diverse writers of the Bible attempt to address are fulfilled by him

All of my beliefs, my faith flow from this method of understanding the Bible

The Nested Hierarchy of the Bible leads me to a number of different conclusions, many that other Christians don’t share

About history
About neurology
About physics
About human sexuality
About any aspect of life that I relate to by way of the Bible

All these conclusions and more are the result of reading the Bible as a Nested Hierarchy

The term nested hierarchy is used in a variety of contexts

Brain science

Genealogy

Those Russian dolls that fit inside each other

Reading about these examples might help illustrate what I’m saying here better than I can

I know that thinking this way has led me to many conclusions that other Christians would disagree with. I certainly disagree with many Christians as a result of my nested approach to the Bible.

I guess that’s one point of this blog

We can’t find common ground if we don’t understand each other. If you want to understand my religious beliefs whether you’re Christian or not

Nested Hierarchy is my staring point

I should really do a post just about Peter Gomes & why no one knows who he is

But for now I’ll just post this quote

And think about what it says to me today

Then also think about the fact that he spoke these words in 1989

And think about what that says about us today

“There must be such a hope for the destitute of our American Calcuttas,’ Gomes said. ‘There must be such a hope for the prisoners of the inner city within sight of this cathedral church and beyond; there must be such a hope for the aged and the destitute; there must be such a hope for persons with AIDS and those who love and care for them”

I encourage you to think on these words

Rape and the crimes of Gibeah

You might say society is falling apart because of stories like this

That our secular culture is to blame

That our modern obsession with video games, war, sex, guns, consumerism are the root of heinous behavior.

It’s not true

Just look around and you’ll see it

In our Religious Communities
just as frequently as our
Political Leaders
Law Enforcement
& Entertainers

No arena is exempt

Michigan

Sexual violence is all-pervasive

It’s everywhere

Bible

It always has been

Belt

And it has nothing to do with sex itself

Sexual violence is about power. It about degrading, demeaning, dehumanizing, and destroying any and all sense of selfworth a person has.

The gratification experienced through these heinous crimes is grotesque and depraved

And utterly unlike the pleasure of an intimate, consensual sexual experience based on mutual trust and love.

That’s what the people in cases like this fail to understand.

But the Bible understands.

Just read this passage and think about what I’ve said:

While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.” And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Since this man is my guest, do not do this vile thing. Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them; but against this man do not do such a vile thing.” But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine, and put her out to them. They wantonly raped her, and abused her all through the night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. As morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her master was, until it was light. In the morning her master got up, opened the doors of the house, and when he went out to go on his way, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. “Get up,” he said to her, “we are going.” But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey; and the man set out for his home. When he had entered his house, he took a knife, and grasping his concubine he cut her into twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. Then he commanded the men whom he sent, saying, “Thus shall you say to all the Israelites, ‘Has such a thing ever happened since the day that the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until this day? Consider it, take counsel, and speak out.’

-Judges 19:22-30 NRSVCE

Now ask yourself,

Does that story have anything to do with sex?

No way

Not as far as I’m concerned

The gruesome encounter described is filled with violence that is not even close to any form of sex I’ve ever engaged in

Those men were getting pleasure from sick acts of dehumanization

It’s also speaks to my point

Brutal acts of sexual assault are not new
They are not unique to modern culture

They have nothing to do with the groups that are constantly scapegoated for creating moral decline

In fact depraved sexual violence can be traced back to the foundations of this country

So instead of condemnatory statements about “the world today”

We need to confront the pervasiveness of this issue.

Recognize it’s long horrid history.

And maybe we’ll start to address the problem and even potentially form some solutions.

When we deny the history and prevalence, when we scapegoat and fail to take responsibility for our ability to influence change, we contribute to the problem

Contribute to Solutions

This is barely scratching the surface here, but also consider the way the women in that Bible passage were valued:

“Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them and do whatever you want to them”

👆!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!👆

the most direct offense against the Truth

I am definitely not a Roman Catholic but I do find that faith very intriguing.

I especially enjoy the faith and history of the Maronite Catholic Church, which is in the full communion with the Pope and the Roman Church.

But today I have a particular excerpt from their Catechism on my mind:

Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord

-Catechism of the Catholic Church 2483

In today’s world, in our media forms and practices, I feel this is particularly applicable.

I am increasingly concerned about the modern practice of following news sources that we identify with ideologically and ignoring all others.

As well as searching out online resources we already agree with. Then accepting everything that source says as fact.
If you don’t double check those claims and they turn out to be false, you’ve been lied to.

And I’ve started to wonder if failing at our own due diligence in regard to the information we accept and spread falls under the same category as the lies described in the Catholic Catechism.

Doesn’t the spread of information we don’t know to be true or false count as a direct offense against the truth?

Doesn’t it injure our relation to truth and to our neighbors?

I believe that spreading information without verifying its accuracy is equivalent with gossip.

The Catechism denounces that as well:

Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury

-Catechism of the Catholic Church 2477

And even if the Catechism means nothing to you, turning to the Bible brings the condemnation to another level.

In this👇text the level of evil associated with gossip is unambiguous.
Because wow, I don’t see many protesters with signs that say “God Hates Gossip”

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, slanderers, God–haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

Romans 1:28-32 NRSVCE

Some would say this👆passage is about the consequences of being homosexual. But after running through that list, I recommend having a long think about the thoughts and actions being condemned here. I’m sure you’ll agree that those traits are common everywhere across all demographics

I believe that spreading unverified information on the internet is clearly a form of gossip. And if you believe that what the Bible says is true, have a think about what it means to gossip.

What a person’s insides are like if they are willing to spread gossip.

Agree or don’t; think on it.

at least this one’s dead

the death of my wife’s slayer
brought no comfort to me
now a shape for loneliness
for a dream

-Silver Bride by Amorphis

What happened

What really happened

In the aftermath of the school shooting in Maryland (best time to talk about it) I’ll point out one thing:

the resource officer didn’t prevent the shooting

The school resource officer killed the shooter, preventing further violence.

That’s to be commended.

He stopped the shooting
He did not prevent it from happening

And there is something I don’t believe

I don’t believe that the parents of the 2 injured in this incident

or the parents of all the maimed and deceased from other school shooting over the years

Can now rest from their sorrows
Can bury their pain
Can forget the horrible loss they’ve suffered
And will be at peace with the fact that their children will grow up with a terrible physical reminder of their experience

Or not grow up at all

all because this one is dead

I could be wrong
But I don’t think those parents will be all that comforted tonight

(and for what it’s worth I don’t celebrate anyone’s death. In situations like this it was unavoidable that the officer take one life to protect the lives of other. But a human being is dead. I find no pleasure in that fact no matter how justified)

Update

This incident seems to fall outside the definition of a “school shooting” where we’re usually talking about a mass shooting

This likely fits into the category of domestic violence

Which is also a problem.

Maybe we should talk about that too.

Update

And now Jaelynn Willey’s dead

I doubt it’ll come as much comfort to her parents as they miss her presence, that the man who shot her is dead.

Because the violence that man started was prevented from going any further

Which is great

But it wasn’t prevented

And now she’s dead
And no one wins
Not in this lifetime

We already know the solutions to the Opioid crisis

If you take one notable thought away from this post, I hope it’s this:

Drugs hijack an important part of the brain and it has a devastating effect on the rest of the brain. The chemicals and cells being hijacked can’t perform all their functions correctly and it takes away your ability to be yourself and control yourself. If we want to stop this the answer is multidisciplinary medical intervention.

The ventral tegmental area (VTA), the nucleus accumbens, and the prefrontal cortex

👆These brain parts are the most important element of the answer to addiction👆

I see/hear people say it all the time

“Addiction is not a disease!”
“It’s about selfishness!”
“Addiction a moral failure”

No it’s not. It’s a function of your brain.

“But the mind can-“

No it can’t
Your brain IS your mind

There’s no debate about this anymore. Maybe you could talk about other parts of your nervous system as components of your mind, that’s worth discussing.

Doesn’t change the fact that your mind is biological

Not spiritual

We may have a soul (I think so)

But whatever the soul is, it’s not your mind.

And your mind is where addiction happens.

Those chunks of the brain I listed above are part of the reward pathway.

It’s a simple part of your brain.
It has one simple function: it tells you that you need to do something again.
It says “What you’re doing is important! Do it again!!!”

It usually reinforces pretty important activities

“Eating is good! Do it again!!!”
“Water is good! Drink it again!!!”
“Sex is good! Have them babiesssssssssss”

Chemicals carry those messages from one cell to the next. The more chemicals that tell you “do that again!” the stronger the urge to do it again.

And that’s where addiction is a monster.

All the big ones; opioids, alcohol, cocaine, meth
All of the debilitating drugs

They all highjack that reward loop by increasing those chemicals that tell you to repeat a behavior.

But they don’t just increase them.

They hyper elevate the level of those chemicals beyond anything your brain could do on its own.

They create an urge that’s stronger than any activity you could engage in.

They don’t say:
“Do this again! It’s important!!!”

They say:

“DO THIS AGAIN AT ANY COST!!!”

“DO THIS AT ALL COST!!!”

“DO THIS AGAIN EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU!!!”

“DO THIS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN BECAUSE NOTHING COULD EVER BE AS IMPORTANT AS THIS DRUG”

Fixing that pathway is not about willpower
It’s not about freewill
It’s about biology

Even though other parts of your brain are capable of rewriting that pathway, they can rarely do it to correct drug addiction because drugs are UNNATURALLY strong

Medicine,
Therapy,
Inpatient Care

These are the answer to fix that part of the brain

Then comes the dumb response:

“Well if that’s how it works then you should never start in the first place blah blah bla blah bla”

Great idea 👍

Too late

Thousands, millions are already addicted. They are our friends, our neighbors, our family members. They’re doing what the reward pathway tells them: these drugs are important enough to kill your self over.

People you have loved your whole life, people you KNOW are not selfish will ignore anything and everything in their lives. Because the pathway is high jacked. And it tells them what’s important. They lose the ability to tell themselves.

So go build a time machine if you think the answer is to make them “not start in the first place”

I say we help them now.

ASAP

Use education to help prevent more addiction. Absolutely
But help your loved ones in the throws of addiction NOW
Support medical intervention, public health policy, cheaper healthcare in general.

Because this won’t stop

I know that my brain is the way it is on purpose. It functions the way it does for a good reason. Those simple parts provide basic functions. The complex parts surrounding those simple parts help you make sure the simple goals are accomplished as efficiently and effectively as possible.

I wouldn’t know that👆if I was addicted

None of that works if the simple parts are highjacked. The complex parts just can’t overcome that invasion.

Because the brain is a nested hierarchy
I should probably explain what that is 🤷‍♀️

And why I named this website after it 🤔
Of course you could google it too

Whatever

Educate yourself
Don’t take my word for it
Find the information

And use it to help save your neighbor

Don’t judge; do have compassion

Ask yourself:
What does it look like to love your neighbors?

Be the one who shows them mercy
Mercy for these accosted humans is treatment

Not punishment

I’ve definitely tried to keep the information I’ve presented here as non-technical as possible

Because who likes boring?

Even so, the chemicals and brain cells and brain functions I’m referring to here are all very complex and have many different functions.

Go learn about them all if you’d like

It’s very interesting and I recommend it

Information

Is

Power

Use

It

The Evangelical Ethnicity

(Links in Blue)

Usually ethnicity is used as an overly complicated term that is very difficult to pin down

So I’m going to make it simple;
Ethnicity is a combination of ancestry and culture.

How that plays out looks different from group to group

but there it is.

And that’s what Evangelicalism has become.

It’s not a denominational distinction,

as in

“That’s an Evangelical Church over there, and that one over there is not!”

Evangelicalism has become a way of identifying yourself as part of a broader cultural identity

(The Last Temptation)

Identity centered on a culture of Biblical Literalism, Appeal to Tradition, Hostility to Science, and Political Conservativism

(👆Just to name a few)

There are Evangelical Catholics now, Evangelical United Methodists, PC(USA) Evangelicals. Doesn’t matter the denomination, the culture is everywhere, including the Mainline Churches!

…but now an ugly serpent is slowly uncoiling itself, slithering from the base of Evangelicalism.

Till now it’s been hidden.

It’s always been there, but for years it’s been lurking in the background.

Now it’s come into the light.

It’s the other aspect of ethnicity:

Ancestry

For decades the Evangelical identity has been growing in influence and exposure, coming to define Christianity in the public square

And the whole time it’s leadership has maintained that ancestry isn’t a component!

We’re not racist!
Everyone’s welcome!
We’re all brothers in Christ!

I guess it’s possible those leaders meant it.

(Demanding Change)

But their congregants did NOT all believe it

Ancestry is clearly woven into the Evangelical identity.
Intimately
Irrevocably

The cries are clear:
We’re losing “our country”!
We have to take “our country” back!

It’s not subtle; the “our” part is ancestry.

(Taking “Our Religion” back too)

Call it race if you want (a ridiculously unscientific fiction)

But it’s been revealed as a cornerstone of Evangelical identity.

Some that have come from the “Evangelical Denominations” have now realized they can’t call themselves Evangelical anymore.

(Just listen to The Liturgists podcast)

(The Liturgists)

These former Evangelicals are the few who actually believed that ancestry wasn’t a part of the identity.

Now they see it and it’s undeniable.

(I could no longer ignore)

It shouldn’t surprise them.

Some stay. Trying to battle this rise in ancestry as central to the identity

(Trying to Fight)

Not surprisingly the most vocal opponents are the leaders who recognize the change in demographics (and don’t want to lose their new base)

(Fighting for the groups that we need to take “Our Country” back from)

Still

The truth plain; Evangelicalism is in the process of fully transforming into Evangelical Ethnic Identity

And the contingent that has conjured that identity around European Ancestry

is LOUD

Empty Words and Fleeing to the Desert

I don’t want to hear boring music about nothing

I wouldn’t mind hearing old music with some real depth, but the churches that still use old hymns have become cloistered and unwelcoming

Both of those types, and every variation between them, are filled with rigid, religious human shields who resist any attempt at self examination

I’m not the only one. And it goes well beyond music

It’s about the roar and grasping of empty words

That’s why so many leave

They realize they’re not part of a community

They’re definitely not constituents, not integral components of a larger whole

They’re subjects

To something unfulfilling, unwilling to self reflect

Or improve.

So they find community elsewhere

Outside the buildings

Somewhere with a mind of humility, openness, and rejuvenation

The promise that so many Christian communities leave unfulfilled

Like the Desert Mothers and Fathers of the 3rd century, many are now building communities that fulfill the promises of Christ
Instead of asking for admittance to communities that claim to own those promises

The Desert vs Trolls

Read the Desert

Words are Dumb

Words are meaningless

Seriously

They mean nothing

We give words their meaning by using them

That’s why a word’s meaning changes over time

One person uses a word to communicate an idea

Then another uses it to communicate their own idea, which may be relatively similar or wildly different.

That process continues, each person using words for different purposes and passing on those subtleties in meaning. Eventually any given word will have an array of definitions.

Just look in a dictionary. Some words have a laundry list of uses.

Eventually new uses will be added to those lists as we use words in new, inventive ways.

Some uses will get deleted from the list. That’s what it means if you come across word definition that has archaic next to it

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/whats-the-difference-between-archaic-and-obsolete

The definition is archaic because no one has used the word that way for a long time.

We even conjure up new words.

Like meme

Or blog

We also alter words to add meaning to them, like irregardless

(which is totally a word)

https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider/videos/10154743619774071/

Words are slippery and malleable They are also INCREDIBLY important

Words are absolutely the best way we have to communicate.

Music, painting, & other artistic expressions are all good ways to communicate our ideas to each other in a general way.

But words can do so with precision.

If I want to know you, the best way to do so if through your words

If you want to know me, the best way will be through my words.

I have to examine the words I come across. Think long and hard about how they are being used. How they were meant to create meaning by the person using them. Try to feel my way through their slipperiness and find what the speaker or writer wanted me to know.

I can’t assume that others use words the same way I do.

I’ve come to realize that so many of the problems we have in the world are the results of not taking the time to exam the words we come across. Those words are meant to create meaning and if we don’t try to see how the person is using the words we can easily miss what they meant.

Grammar, Google, Dictionaries, all good tools to uncover meaning.

But they’re not enough to capture the nuance of how we use, alter, and recreate meaning through language.

Words and language will always be defined by use, just as much or more so than convention.

Think on the words others chose to use

Think on the words you chose to use

I know that I get more out of every interaction with other people when I’m able to consider the words, then move past them to what they mean.

Don’t get caught up on words, they’re dumb. Look for MEANING.

http://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/opinion/tn-blr-me-0805-aword-20170803-story.html