The God many people imagine is omniscient. He knows everything. It’s handy to have a relationship with someone who knows everything. If you can contact him it’s like getting a lifeline on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Whenever you’re unsure what to do in any particular situation you can ask God, [...]

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A man boasts about his successful marriage.
“What’s your secret?” a friend asks.
“Simple division of labor,” the husband says. “I make all the big decisions; my wife makes all the small ones.”
“I don’t understand,” says his friend. “For instance?”
“For instance, my wife decides where I work, where we live, where the kids go to school. I [...]

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The other day I had a very interesting conversation with a truly engaged and engaging Christian. We were talking about the Bible. He’s a literalist. He believes that the Bible’s meaning is clear and certain, and that it’s only when other people engage in an act he calls “interpreting” that things get muddled. I asked [...]

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In thought and conversation we each take a variety of perspectives, many of which are nested or hierarchical. That is, when you make a statement, it is worth knowing what it represents. A part of you? You overall? Us? Your community? Your country? Everybody?
I’ve written a lot in these pages about how hierarchies of perspective [...]

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Q: Why do dogs lick their genitals?
A: Because they can.
As with all jokes, this one is a bait and switch. We were expecting a motive and got a de-constraint instead. The question led us to think about the dog’s ends (no pun intended), and instead we’re shunted to consideration of the dog’s means. Implicit in [...]

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