Constitution Series Part 27: Article VI

I'm going to refer to Article VI as a "typing up loose ends" article. Not to say there isn't some important stuff in here (it's all pretty important), but these are notes that didn't seem to fit into the rest of the articles, which is why I imagine they're lumped here.

Stoicism

I've been listening to The History of Rome podcast for the past month or so. I'll be doing a full review of the series once I'm done with it (Atilla has just been introduced, so the end is nigh), but a while back during the reign of Marcus Aurelius I learned that he was a fan of Stoicism. Marcus himself, the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome, was by most accounts an intelligent, good man whose greatest failure was not keeping his son, Joaquin Phoenix, from succeeding him as emperor.

I have often been called stoic myself, and though that word means something different today than it meant 2,000 years ago, I feel a deep connection with that ancient philosophy.

Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin

A while back I heard an argument against the classic St. Augustine maxim "love the sinner, hate the sin." I've been mulling over that criticism for months now, and I think I'd like to lay out my thoughts so far.

Musings on This Button on My Desk

My desk is a magnet for random junk. Some of it is mine, since I'll admit I'm not the most orderly of folks. Other things accumulate here because I'm next to a vacant spot, where people naturally tend to dump things, which then flow over into my space.

Well, earlier today Jeff left a pin on my desk. He left it intentionally for me, mostly because of our ongoing roommates' dynamic. I can only assume that he found this pin on the ground somewhere and thought of me.

It's a round, pink button, 1.25" in diameter, which says, "JESUS WAS A JEWISH LIBERAL," which seems true enough. The pin is in poor condition, having been flattened and bent.

Jesus was a Jewish liberal. What an interesting thing to make a button about. The socio-policital leanings of Christians has often confused me. On the other hand, having heard many sermons, I can say that preachers are generally not "preaching to the choir" in the figurative sense. While many church-goers claim to be trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, they almost always seem to me to be more like Jesus's disciples: suspicious, self-righteous, and forever in need of further instruction.

It's incredibly fitting, if you think about it. I've always been fascinated by people's inability to learn the lessons being taught. It was very similar to my frustrations at school, with people who couldn't grasp the day's lesson.

Sometimes I forget that learning does not come naturally to everybody.

I apologize for this ramble.