Pesky little weasels

 You’ve heard of weasel words? Here’s a few weasel phrases to watch for. Usually, they mean some version of “it’s my opinion,” or “I want you to agree with me” or even, “shut up, dummy.” And although I have heard conservatives say these phrases, usually they are the territory of liberals. Liberals love the words "dialogue" and "conversation," but it's often a monologue or a lecture. My own failure is  adverbs. We need to break up.  You can call me on it.

“Some would argue. . .”
“We need a conversation on . . .”
“Research shows . . .”
“Let’s have a dialogue. . .”

Anniversary of my baptism--72 years ago

Baptism and catechism for converts to Christianity in the 4th century.

"The candidate for baptism is to present himself before God in true repentance and humility, making sincere confession of his sins, and in the knowledge that there is one God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who together with the Holy Spirit, is the rewarder of those who diligently seek. Him. At baptism the sins of the believer are remitted; he receives the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and symbolically he shares in the burial and Resurrection of the Lord."

That's a brief summary of 28 lectures given by Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, titled "Catechetical Lectures." Eighteen of the lectures are addressed to persons desiring baptism, and 5 are addressed to the newly baptized. Our own baptism and confirmation were not that challenging, but they do have a history, and God does the heavy lifting. This is from the 4th century.

 
It seems the candidate also had an exorcism to be cleaned of evil spirits and it involved some nakedness to symbolize Christ who was naked on the cross. The candidate also went into the pool 3 times as a symbol of Christ's death, burial and Resurrection. He was then anointed with oil as Christ's gift of grace and the soul was sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Then the new believer was ready for the Eucharist which is no longer bread and wine, but the real body and blood of Christ. That was topped off by commemoration of the patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, and martyrs and the Lord's Prayer with a benediction.

 
There is very little agreement among Christians on anything--certainly not baptism or communion. But most of us can find elements of our own baptism in this ancient description. I was baptized on Palm Sunday of 1950 (April 2), and still find elements in that service and the baptisms I see at our Lutheran church in the 21st century.

This information about Cyril's baptismal instructions is from p. 93-95 of Magill's Masterpieces of Christian Literature in Summary Form (1963).

Moral hectoring from the left

Someone commented at Ann Althouse's blog on Mrs. Obama's assessment of the Tucson tragedy: "Anyone else growing weary of moral hectoring from the Party That Frowns On Moral Hectoring?"

Mrs. Obama: "We can teach them [our children] the value of tolerance – the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they disagree."

An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson | The White House

I have trouble forgetting how she dissed us--all Americans--during the campaign and election period. Where was her tolerance for differences then?

There's not a shred of evidence and no dots to connect, but the party of misinformation just keeps rolling on. This seems to be the only transparent thing about the Obama administration.

The Tucson Witch Hunt - NYTimes.com

Lakeside 2008, Week 7

Some great programming this coming week. Tonight is John Davidson at Hoover Auditorium. There is a lecture series on the middle east in the mornings, and a global health lecture series in the afternoon. All the programs look good. The one on bird flu will be given by my old friend and Sisson Hall colleague Dick Slemons of the OSU Vet school.

I've looked at the Rhein Center offerings and see two art classes I'll try (i.e., sign up for since there is a lottery system to prevent overcrowding). "Beginning Pastels" by Jean Garverick is offered M and T at 3:30 for $10 (she's the featured artist in this summer's art show), and there's a one shot class on oil painting with Harol Cunningham on Thursday morning. I don't work in either medium, so this might be a nice introduction.

Last week's watercolor class was a bit truncated because we were in Columbus on Monday and Tuesday. Friday we did portraits, not my strong suit since it is best if the painting resembles the person. I didn't have much here, but this is me from a 2006 photograph. In the transition from photo to watercolor I lost 10 lbs and 20 years and appear to have picked up a nasty sunburn.