NT Doctrine — 1 Corinthians 9

Posted on September 30, 2023 by ehurst

In the previous chapter, Paul ends by saying he would voluntarily set aside freedoms and privileges granted by the gospel message in order to promote that message. This chapter expands on the idea.

Paul was not a slave under human law, but an acknowledged religious leader. He was one of the select few who had actually been with Jesus and had seen Him after His resurrection. This was a high privilege, indeed. Should anyone doubt that Christ called him as an apostle, the Corinthians could not do so. The mere existence of a church in a morally corrupt place like Corinth was quite the testimony of his calling.

So, when churches welcome the surviving members of the Twelve and Jesus’ younger brothers as the Christian equivalent of royalty, rolling out the red carpet and sparing no expense in hosting them, would the Corinthians deny Paul a simple meal? Would they give him a hard time if he brought along a Christian wife when he came to visit, the way others did? For doing precisely the same work, would Paul and Barnabas be required to pay their own way?

Paul cites ancient traditions that everyone understood. Common troops could not soldier if they had to pay their own way. Agricultural workers always got a share of the food they produced; it was the law. Besides, without that share, they wouldn’t be very diligent. Then Paul points out how some parts of Mosaic Law still applied in terms of the underlying principles. It’s not that God cared so much about oxen that He demanded they be unmuzzled when treading grain, but it demonstrates His priorities, His divine moral character. On the basis of the law about not muzzling an ox, we justly deduce that those who minister the gospel get paid for their ministry.

God Himself said that spiritual work is productive for the community, too. It was that way under Moses when priests shared in the offerings they presented to the Lord on behalf of others. Those Christian royalty were not involved in planting the gospel in Corinth, and it was fine that they be supported on their travels. Still, Paul was not angling for the church to start paying him anything.

Apparently some were suggesting that Paul was the same as some religious hucksters, trying to make people feel like they owed him something, or that he bragged about his accomplishments. Were that the case, there’d be more to boast of if he had volunteered for this ministry. However, he denied serving voluntarily; he admitted that Jesus Himself had coerced Paul into the gospel ministry. Paul had always felt wholly inadequate for this work, but someone far above him had entrusted Paul with this unspeakable treasure. That privilege was more than enough reward for Paul.

Thus, Paul accommodated all kinds of weirdness and weakness from every sort of people. They put all kinds of claims on him that he knew were not his burdens to bear, but he did so voluntarily so he could be in a position to share the gospel with them, to demonstrate the character of his Lord.

Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games every two years. The city had a strong athletic heritage. Like athletes, the believers should train the way Paul did, subjecting himself to unnecessary burdens to overcome his moral weaknesses. That wilting piece of greenery the winning athletes wore couldn’t compare to the eternal glory of the gospel. You must enslave your flesh to the Spirit in order to join the victors in Eternity.

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Ride Photos 26

Posted on September 27, 2023 by ehurst

Today I rode out to Draper Lake. This time I felt like visiting at least one of the many land points, so I started with Point 1. On the way, I passed this swampy overflow basin. It was here before the bikeway was built, so they left a culvert connecting it to the main body of water. However, the current very low lake level means this little pond is temporarily orphaned and swampy.

Out on Point 1 there’s a long projection of land that juts out into the water southward. It stays there because it’s almost all rock, particularly underneath the thin layer of dirt. In this image, I tried to capture the shallow rock formations that indicate how durable this finger is. Not many real boats can tolerate that kind of thing, so it turns out some people do model boating on this point. I saw someone working on one out of the back of his van. He never got around to launching it while I was there.

Here’s just more of the rocky shoreline. I took a lot of shots, but only a few turned out. The sun was awfully bright and coming from an angle that made it difficult for this particular point on the lake.

But for all the underlying rock here, Parks and Rec will still be placing rip-rap on the existing shore in the near future. Thus, the massive pile of small boulders in this next shot, some spilled down onto the shore already. There is an awful lot of improvement work going on around the lake right now, to include roads upgraded, while others have been permanently closed. A few more small areas have been placed under preservation, meaning no more riding there.

In this area of the lake, the old shoreline road is still open to human powered rides and feet, paws or hooves. It was a pleasant ride, and this next image shows that the rock layer extends quite some ways along the shoreline. It was quieter here as it’s sheltered from the southerly breeze, which was driving the waves today.

The construction crews finally posted a banner on this massive ten acres of concrete indicating that this facility will be the new home of Pratt & Whitney. They are still laying a few more concrete pads to fill in some gaps, but the steel framing for the building has already begun showing up. They aren’t wasting any time on this thing. Every time I come out here, the progress is noticeable. This is just a quarter-mile from the southern edge of Tinker AFB, a major aircraft repair depot, so the reason they are building here should be obvious.

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The Message above All

Posted on September 24, 2023 by ehurst

Our government lies — reflexively, instinctively. When did it not lie? The problem is that the MSM operates as an arm of the government, and so the MSM lies psychotically, as well. I can’t give you links to the statistical details because no one is allowed to publish the facts. You have to glean them from the alternative sources.

Here’s what you might learn: The lockdowns, quarantines and masking rules of the COVID pandemic were in themselves more deadly in the long run than if we had simply done nothing and let the disease run rampant. No lives were saved by the restrictions; many were lost because of them. When you look at the long term results of just the economic losses alone, more people have already died, and continue to die, from economic effects of restrictions than would have died from the disease. A few governments in the world refused to play along with the hysteria, and their results are a lot better than every country that enforced the so-called health mandates.

The government will do all it can to prevent you from learning that, and particularly to prevent you sharing that. And Big Technology has agreed to silence it, a censorship that has been rather effective. Any message differing from that of the government has been suppressed. The author of the linked article notes: “Without censorship, we might have won that debate, and if so, the world could have moved along a different and better path in the last three and a half years, with less death and less suffering.”

Now, brace yourself: This has nothing to do with our spiritual goals or the gospel message. That kind of censorship and careless human slaughter is not what nailed Jesus to the Cross. Rather, it’s merely a symptom of what He died for. If you get all entangled with fighting that battle, you will have abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here’s the paradox: If you obey the Word, your life here in this fallen world will be as good as it possibly can be. The problem is how we define “good”. God keeps His promises, but His promises are on the far side of the Cross. The Cross was Christ’s greatest victory; most humans don’t get that. You have to die to live. If all you understand is the literal meanings of the words, you don’t understand anything that matters.

In pursuit of our Father’s glory, there is a utility to fighting censorship. The Bible recognizes no kind of “rights” at all. It’s the wrong approach to what God considers important. What really matters is our feudal submission to (AKA, faith in) Christ, and the personal relationship that comes with it. But if I take some actions to support or defend the US 1st Amendment, it does help keep the door open for the gospel, as well.

However, at the root of things, it’s not a question of having the “right” to share the gospel. Rather, we have a mandate to do so, rights and censorship be damned. We should gladly face the sword as the price of shouting our message from the housetops. Of course, that’s an image, a symbol of our commitment. We don’t so much resist as persist.

My loyalty is not to the 1st Amendment, but to the gospel. They are not the same thing. So the question is purely tactical whether I might help to defend the 1st Amendment. It is the gospel itself which demands I refuse to vaxx (AKA, “clot shot”), never mind the US Constitution or principles of liberty. There is no such thing as “God-given rights”; those are simply man-made reasonings. You could say that this popular phrase references a different god. None of that stuff reflects the Bible, despite the rabid assertion that it does.

I will ignore government laws, and the US Constitution, and principles of liberty, whenever they conflict with my calling and mission in Christ. But as long as those things aren’t in the way, I don’t mind playing along. So, I’ll use whatever means present themselves as amenable to the message.

As long as Big Tech and the cloud services ignore me, and don’t hinder my message, I’ll use them. I’m not an activist about that stuff. But if I find them a hindrance, I’ll go around them or avoid them, and only to the degree they are a problem. At some point, there’s no doubt they’ll be too much trouble, but for now, it’s working just fine.

Example: Google has already done things to hinder people spreading the gospel (closing accounts of people who are assertively anti-woke), so I don’t trust them with my work very much. I’m careful, very selective of what I do with their software and storage. I recommend as much to everyone. By contrast, Microsoft online services haven’t done that, so I’ll use their storage and transmission of my work more freely. I recommend it for others.

Of course, Windows is somewhat vulnerable to snooping and censorship at the OS level, but it’s a toss up whether I use Windows or not. On my current hardware, not. I make no recommendations on that. Without the OS, the online version of MS Office is a hindrance on Linux, even with their own browser and a paid subscription. Office Online does not work the same as Office installed on a Windows computer. It keeps changing the format automatically, and won’t let me change it back to what I believe I need. Instead, I use an older version of Office that runs on Linux/WINE.

Google’s Chromebooks are too much hassle, but Android devices are inescapable. I’m not aware of Apple/Mac interfering with the gospel, but I simply cannot afford their stuff, so it’s not an issue right now. I’m open to trying it out when it comes within reach, simply because their privacy policies are rather strong.

But you see how I’m rather mercenary about computer technology. There’s a balance between privacy and freedom versus the necessity of using the existing means. It’s not worth it for me digging much farther into the technology itself. The same goes with concerns about liberty and rights. Those are not central concerns; they aren’t major elements of my calling and mission.

Theories and speculation about how this will all end in a harsh globalist government don’t move me. The gospel indicates any such victory will be short-lived. Frankly, I find that threat unlikely in the first place. Some Americans will face that, but not all of us. And there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop it. Most of those who say they will unite to fight it won’t. They talk big, but I’ve seen them cut and run too often. There’s no utility in expecting any meaningful resistance at the street level. Your best bet is the state government where you live, and that may not be worth much, either. But a globalist regime is built on lies, so it won’t last long even if it does come to full power.

Still, I’d come closer to fighting any human government over the freedom to present my message than I would any other form of resistance. Yeah, that means there may be a limited utility in the 2nd Amendment, too. We’ll see; it’s not a core principle of the gospel message, but I am not averse to shedding blood in the process, mine or anyone else’s.

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NT Doctrine — 1 Corinthians 8

Posted on September 23, 2023 by ehurst

The letter the Corinthians wrote to Paul had a lot of questions. Among them was the issue of food offered to idols. We sense that Paul is quoting their comments in that letter, but it’s hard to be sure without quotation marks.

Just 50 miles from Athens, Corinth boasted a lot of highly rational thinkers who prided themselves on being less superstitious than their fellow Greeks. Sure, we recognize that our brains are capable of grasping factual information. Sadly, the more factual knowledge you think you possess, the less moral truth you can see. The fallen flesh takes great pride in its own talents, inflating your opinion of yourself. What really matters is not your erudition, but your submission — to Christ.

It can be taken as fact that there is only one God. All those pagan idols really mean nothing. Most of humanity seems to defer to about as many false deities as they do human rulers. But it’s not enough to adhere to the one true God as a fact; you must know Him and recognize His mastery over our human existence.

Not everyone has that sense of assurance. They instinctively worry that our Father is as venal as the pagan deities of mythology. And they reflexively worry that those other gods might somehow still be real, and that the Father is as easily provoked to jealousy as any human lord. Then again, there were also Jewish Christians who suffered a similar overly sensitive conscience about such things. We could say that Talmudism is little more than superstition, since it obscured Jehovah’s personality and true nature.

In a place like Corinth, it was common for pagans to support their favorite deities by cooking fancy dishes and bringing them as offerings to the temples. What the temple staff didn’t eat was sold in some kind of open market, with accommodations to eat on site. It was as close to fast food as the ancients ever got. It had the effect of making meat a lot easier to include in your diet in a society that seldom offered meat in small portions already cooked.

Some of the Corinthian Christians were intellectuals who never took seriously the pagan associations. They had no conscience about eating in the temple bazaars. They were elitist about it, snickering at those who still labored under the burden of superstition. Should the elitists prod someone with a weaker conscience into eating the temple cuisine, it could destroy the latter’s faith. The internal battle was not healthy; they still needed time with the Lord to get used that level of freedom.

Paul agreed that eating such food made no real difference to our souls. Despite Jewish obsessions about it, Jesus and His disciples had taught that Jews were missing the point about kosher, and Paul understood this very clearly. The real sin here was the arrogant elitism that snickered at overly sensitive consciences. Paul’s attitude was to seek awareness of where his companions stood on things. If they had a weak conscience, it was a lot easier to avoid meat altogether and just eat what was safe.

God does not promote smug elitism.

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Urban Journey 04

Posted on September 22, 2023 by ehurst

First, a random photo from my most recent visit to Draper Lake. Along the main trail itself, there was simply too much uncontrolled greenery to get any good photos. However, I got off the trail and visited the southern shore of the lake for this shot. Crews had done some work and this part of the shoreline is off limits to bicycles, but not up on the cut bank.

This map was released by OKC Parks and Recreation back when the contract was announced. The red box at the top shows the relative location of the proposed Deep Fork Greenway Trail. It was broken into 4 phases, and yesterday I visited Phase 1, the eastern end. It’s been under construction for several months. The crew isn’t large and weather has caused some delays, not to mention a couple of surprises.

This bridge is quite new. I wasn’t expecting the city to use concrete decking. That means the frame is put in place first, as we’ll see later, and the concrete deck is added afterward. However, I’m not surprised to see that the bikeway bridge is separate from the roadway bridge. The latter is already on the list for upgrade/replacement some time later. I’m counting on this project to be finished late; almost nothing in OKC is done on time.

The trail ends abruptly after about one-third of a mile winding along the Deep Fork River bank. This part has been completed for months. I encountered what I took to be an inspector in a pick-up coming the other way; he just waved. I rode on the dirt for a ways because I suspected there was some cause for the unfinished work.

This is the cause. From what I could discern, having assisted with dirt work in the past, there was something buried here that required attention before it could be paved over. I couldn’t see anything in particular, but the digging pattern indicates something was there hindering the placement of a retaining wall, and it probably required waiting for whomever was legally responsible for it to do something with it. The contract would not likely have covered such surprises.

On the western end of Phase 1 is this undecked bridge along Kelly Avenue. You can see how it works. There is a stout corrugated steel bottom upon which the concrete is poured. Phase 2 will begin across the bridge, and then across the street westward (to the right in the image). It will run along the south bank of Deep Fork River near a historic mansion hidden in a forest. I believe the city owns the mansion and land, but it’s under preservation. Since it’s not ready for visitors, no one gets to see it without special arrangements.

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NT Doctrine — 1 Corinthians 7

Posted on September 16, 2023 by ehurst

In passing here Paul refers to the rising threat of Roman persecution for Christians. It was the same warning Christ issued to His disciples in Matthew 24-25, the same events, which eventually took Paul’s life. It persisted for another two centuries before it stopped. This warrants Paul’s rather extreme position that the church did not need to grow by physical birth, but grew quite strongly merely by spiritual birth. What follows is my previous commentary on this chapter…

The Corinthian church forced Paul to write in terms of God’s Laws because they could not handle grace — they still needed milk. God’s Laws are the path to grace and spiritual understanding. Once you internalize the demands of the Laws (specifically the Covenant of Noah here), you are in a position to reach a more spiritual understanding that transcends mere principles of Laws. It should surprise no one that marriage and sex is a major issue for the still carnal Gentile Christians, particularly in a place such as Corinth, the imperial capital of sensual pleasure.

It would seem their letter to Paul suggested he declare sex itself a sin on some level. This heresy was already ancient in Paul’s time, so he clarified the issue. Sure, it’s great if a man can do without sex. But humans weren’t designed for that. Sex is a gift from God, and mere procreation was not the only purpose, else the wiring in our bodies would not make it so irresistible. The Fall did not create sex, merely ruined it. There’s nothing wrong with getting married, because it provides the one valid sexual outlet ordained by God.

Paul goes on to explain a vital principle ignored in almost every culture throughout history: husband and wife in marriage equally own each other. That is, each has full legitimate claims on the body of the other. Paul teaches from the unspoken assumptions that appear in almost no other culture except the Ancient Hebrew. Sexual passion does not rule, but is merely icing on the cake, and will most certainly follow your commitments. If you are committed to obeying God, then you can take just about anyone suitable in marriage, sight unseen, and the heat of passion will naturally follow. But once awakened, passion tends to be rather indiscriminate. God smiles if you keep it within the marriage bed. Otherwise, it can destroy your loyalty to Him. No one should be surprised that Satan uses that passion to break our loyalty to God, so prepare your mind to keep the marriage bed busy or Satan will offer sinful substitutes. This much comes from the Laws of God on the matter.

However, Paul’s personal preference is total abstinence. Realizing that is actually a minority calling, he cannot pretend it’s what God requires of all. Everyone has to find their own peace with God on such things. If one has never married, or the spouse has died, Paul encourages them to stay single, if they can bear it. Prostitution and even rare casual sex are sinful. If you must have it, make it lawful in God’s eyes.

Carrying on in terms of God’s Laws, Paul reminds them that marriage is sacred, even when it was entered before spiritual birth. Your spouse may be dead spiritually, but divorce is not an option in this life. If they find your faith intolerable, let them go. If they aren’t bothered by it, let them stay. But by no means can you now seek to drive them away as an excuse to replace them. You only get one shot at this until God calls them away from this world. To our undying shame, we find this very harsh in our modern world, but we see Gentile Christians of Paul’s day struggling no less with it. Within the context of God’s Laws, we find the blessings of the Laws attach directly to lawful conduct. Thus, in this context, Paul’s use of the terms “sanctified” and “clean” refer to purity under the Laws. The spiritual element comes in the possibility that your lawful conduct may draw your unbelieving spouse to repentance.

So, Paul’s teaching is that we can’t throw away everything from our previous life when we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God calls us as we are, and it remains His alone to require changes. Using the figurative language of circumcision, Paul notes that a Jew in Christ should not go pagan and a Gentile should not attempt to ape Judaism. We are entering the Realm of the Spirit, where the details of this life are simply the circumstances in which we reveal Him. Slaves can live in the freedom of the Spirit, and freemen can act as slaves of Christ. If you can get out of your earthly slavery legitimately, do so, but don’t obsess over it. There is no spiritual gain in struggling to fix your circumstances as men measure such things, since this fallen world cannot be made somehow good by reforming.

In the Gentile world, a great deal of superstition is attached to virginity. It’s not magical; there’s no particular power in a physical artifact either way. Paul says there were no Laws from God, nor deep spiritual principles on virginity, only pragmatic suggestions from a man whom God had called and used. Given the difficult circumstances of Corinth in that day, and at that time in the Roman Empire generally, it was a good idea to remain a bachelor. If a man is married then let him prepare to face the days ahead in that condition. If she leaves him, he shouldn’t seek a successor. But going through with a planned marriage is fine, though the costs could be high. It’s not as if Paul is deluded in thinking Christ was coming during those days, but he states something hard to put in any language: God was moving in ways that would bring sudden changes. Keep your eyes on Heaven, and on the God who granted marriage among humans, and who can take it away from anyone He chooses. His words paint a picture of keeping a very light hold on every part of this life, because nothing is permanent. This whole fallen existence is actually a delusion, from which all Creation will awaken quite suddenly, and not even the Son knows when that shall be.

Marriage, while terribly important in God’s plans for this world, enough so that He places very high demands on it, can still be an impediment to serving Him. Unmarried people only have to worry about pleasing God directly, but married people have to consider the spouse in everything. Even without children, marriage looms quite large on your mental horizon, and naturally comes with tons of frustration even for the most spiritually minded believers. Still, marriage is a covenant, and God takes a dim view of covenant breakers. Keep this in mind when you consider whether to go through with a planned marriage. Again, Paul emphasizes that it’s not a sin for guys to grab the bride before she gives up on him and marries another. But if he’s strong enough he can afford to keep his own virginity, it’s not about magic, but simple pragmatism.

The same can be said for the father of the bride. If he can’t afford to keep her at home let him give her hand in marriage. But never forget such decisions are binding for life in the eyes of God. If a widow can shed the burden of a husband, she would be wise to consider staying a widow, never mind the fragile position such women maintain in this world. We too quickly let ourselves be managed by common secular assumptions about things in this life, instead of looking to God and questioning in our hearts those assumptions. Paul has found God faithful against the sorrows of this world, so his opinion should count for something.

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The New WHO Treaty

Posted on September 16, 2023 by ehurst

On the one hand, I can’t imagine that folks who read my blog aren’t aware of LewRockwell.com. I’ve referred to that site too often, and so have others. Still, it seemed important enough to point out this article posted there: Global Takeover Advances to Final Stages.

None of this is particularly new to us, but this is a very good wrap-up of the current situation. I predict that, if our ruling regime tries to bring the US under this treaty, some states will rebel. This will provoke a constitutional crisis. We already have several other explosive issues facing the US, any of which could precipitate some kind of civil war, but this one is now more volatile than the rest.

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A Little More about the Forte

Posted on September 15, 2023 by ehurst

Today I headed north along the North Canadian River Valley, my first road ride on the Forte. Three years later there is still no work done on Midwest Boulevard at the Crutcho Creek bridge. However, folks who got tired of waiting have moved the barriers just enough to make access for fishing a little easier. It also made it very easy for me to ride through the barriers on both ends.

Repeated rain storms have caused the sandbars on the North Canadian River to move quite a bit. I’ve never seen that concrete slab rubble in the middle of this image. It was previously covered by a sandbar. Now the sandbar has moved quite a bit off to one side. I’m not able to get down closer and see if there are any other changes; the foliage is too dense and loaded with biting insects this time of year.

In all of its glory, this is the Zizzo Forte 2023 parked on the turn-around point of this ride. We have this view from the NE 122nd Street bridge over the North Canadian River. Because it comes with the “pig-nose” mount built into the frame at the front, I was able to craft a way to mount the kind of bag I typically hang on all my bikes. It carries stuff like a spare tube, some tools, my camera, snacks etc. Notice the three cables hanging down from the handlebars.

Those three were originally wrapped together, but the front brake cable was already binding just a little. Once I added the bag, it was really bad, so I had to set the front brake cable free from the wrapping. You can see where it connects behind the bag. Now it works without any binding. Indeed, the brakes were the single biggest headache I had on this thing.

I had forgotten how well V-brakes could work, but they do require some knowledge of how to adjust them. In the case of the rear brake here, I had to move one of the pads around; it didn’t grab the rim squarely. But most people have no clue how to get them to center themselves. That little screw indicated with the circle is the arm spring tensioner. Turn it in to make arm pull back harder. Most V-brakes will tend to pull too hard to one side or the other coming from the factory, so you just increase the spring tension on the weak side and they should rest more or less in the center and not rub.

I have gotten used to the twist grip shifter. First, I had to remember that it’s the opposite of a motorcycle throttle, because you twist upward to go faster. Second, I had to learn how to keep a light grip to avoid bumps causing me to accidentally shift into another gear. Out on the roads I used 6th gear lot more than in urban riding, when 5th is most common. I still say the range and ratios are just about right.

I plan on ordering the travel bag into which one packs the bike for public transport, a pair of better pedals that pop completely out of the crank arms when you fold it down, and a large shopping bag made to mount on the pig-nose fitting. That pig-nose was something they got from a competitor, the very much more expensive Brompton folding bikes. Whatever fits on one fits the other; the pig-nose is becoming a standard fitting.

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NT Doctrine — 1 Corinthians 6

Posted on September 9, 2023 by ehurst

If it is our duty to discern who is and who isn’t covenant family, then why do we breach that boundary for personal disputes?

Corinth was easily the most cosmopolitan city in Greece; sailors from the whole known world passed through there, and a broad mixture of them stayed. If there was one place in the Roman Empire where the sense of tribal identity would be difficult, it was here in Corinth. Then again, Paul had stayed longer in Corinth than almost anywhere he traveled. It was a real challenge to bring the Hebrew mindset of Christ to such a strange mixture of folks. They were slow to absorb it.

Thus, Paul confronts them on the matter of taking each other to court before pagan magistrates. Do they wish to be judged by pagan standards? Why have they not already appointed judges for petty matters within the church? Taking it outside the church is a failure before anyone can state their case. It’s better to suffer financial losses than to win on false terms that reject Christ as Lord. It is tantamount to cheating, defrauding Christ Himself.

Using the pagan court system against your brothers and sisters is making peace with the world. Paul rattles off a list of repulsive sins to highlight the issue here. If you leave all of that behind, what does it say when you then go back to it? What does it say about the work of Christ on the Cross, and the power of His Spirit living in you?

There is a sense in which no material object can be forbidden believers. A tool is a tool. If you can find a way to bless the Lord’s name with it, then don’t fret about physical objects being sacred or profane. But by the same token, any material thing can become a trap, a means to enslave you. Paul cites the example of food. Jesus Himself said that food itself could not defile you. God gave us a stomach to process food, and then food to put in it. It serves the purpose of keeping us alive in this world to serve Him, but at some point, all of this would go away, both food and stomachs.

However, sex was in a different class. Without discussing the finer points of modern medical knowledge, Paul knew from Scripture that sexual experience changed us permanently. Food passes through and out the other end, but sex affects your body forever. More to the point, it involves another soul, and changes them forever, too. It’s not just a fleshly appetite like eating; it leaves an eternal mark. One mistake is permanent.

Two bodies merged in sexual union is noted in God’s Presence. You are now one flesh in His eyes. If you dilute that by pursuing other sex partners, you have poked God in the eye. He’s not going to ignore that. At the very least, it trashes one of the single greatest divine blessings that you could ever have. This is the one form of self-abuse that can destroy everything else.

God owns you. Don’t act contemptuous of His claims on your life.

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Urban Journey 03

Posted on September 8, 2023 by ehurst

Oklahoma County is notorious for failing to budget in weather damage and replacement of infrastructure that was worn out long ago. It’s now a couple of months since a collection of very heavy rain storms damaged the Vickie Drive bridge over Crutcho Creek. This is a critical artery for truck traffic, but the county can’t be bothered. They brought in sufficient dirt to fill the hole, but simply used it to block traffic, dumping it across the road. Who knows when they’ll finish the job?

OKC can be slow about some things, but it has more to do with the politics of who notices, and who gets public credit. This image is the North Canadian River alongside the West River Trail. I chose Thursday to test myself, and to some degree, the new Forte bicycle by taking a 50-mile loop around the Metro. The bike did fine. It’s slower than riding a conventional bike, but it’s not much harder in terms of the physical challenge. I managed it well enough, but I was very tired and very hot before I got back home.

The West River Trail runs along the shore of Crystal Lake. This is the first year I can recall seeing homeless people camping out in the open by the lake. You can’t really see it, but they show up in the upper left of the image, out on a spit of land. They weren’t causing any trouble, but it’s a symbol of just how many there are, and their numbers are increasing significantly this year. The entire river portion of the ride saw everything from sleeping rough on the ground to really nice tents all properly set up and neatly kept camping situations. A surprising number were sleeping in or next to vehicles.

This OG&E’s Mustang Road generating plant. It’s so imposing, a jarringly huge structure in such a beautiful setting. At least the structure isn’t inherently ugly; it’s no worse than the picturesque railroad bridge, giving the view some character. This point is about as far west as the massive loop of bikeways goes. I’m just a few miles from where the North Canadian River passes through Lake Overholser. The generating plant doesn’t use water pressure; it’s gas fired and uses the lake as water supply.

It took longer than a year to build this bikeway overpass above the Northwest Expressway in OKC. Then, they kept it locked up for a few more months until the right people were ready to let it open to public passage. That came during the past two months, and I don’t think it even made much more than a blip in the local news. I took this shot after riding over it. This end is one long slope parallel to the roadway, but the other end is a jagged corkscrew because there was no place to put a long ramp.

After this point, I was getting too hot and tired to think much about taking pictures. I don’t regret it, but I’m not likely to try it again.

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