Dr. David

I pulled the first one a while back, and the answer is 'time'. "In The Beginning" says that the clock was started for whatever lifetime the universe has planned for it.

But what is the SECOND thing? Tell me if you think this is reasonable...

You can't create worlds and stars and galaxies unless there is a void to be their stage. So, to me, the second thing to be created WAS the void, a space of nothingness that was never the less had existence.

I respect that you may not buy this, and that's fine with me. I just like to have thoughtful questions here to balance out the theist/atheist/deist/anyist bickering and challanges.

I've seen a 'family tree' of all Earth languages, originating in an 'Indo-European Mother Language' (very fascinating to see how all our languages evolved). I'm curious though as to what people believe the famed and/or fabled Adam and Eve not only spoke, but used to utter names to created species.

I can see how they would give the silently hurting an opportunity to speak their grief, and that is healing and revealing. My question is whether said statements ever had documentable effects on the criminal him or herself. The recent church shooter s face was a mask of impassivity as he faced people whose loved ones he eradicated. The message was forgiveness, but nothing registered on his face.

Some things Biblical nag at me but I don't know why until a key opens the thought. When Adam and Eve saw they were naked, they were ashamed and got clothes. What were they ashamed of? Nudity? That's all they ever knew. All the animals that provided company and comfort were also unclothed. Where did this 'shame' come from? Why cover what was never covered? Where did they get the aide of specifically which anatomical parts to cover up? OR, was the 'shame' instead directed at realizing the committed act of disobedience regarding the tree of life munch break?

would it be a kindness to eliminate both sides to reduce the total of human suffering? While a double genocide is difficult to justify, what if the total war casualty figure is far greater over time than the one time wiping the slate clean, allowing a fresh start?

The Mesopotamian Valley ('fertile crescent') has known almost constant war for over 3,000 years. Many empires have risen and fallen to the tune of tens to hundreds of thousands of deaths per ruler's dynasty.

It's a radical thought and not a pleasant one, analogous perhaps to sawing off a leg to keep gangrene from killing the whole person.

Thoughts?

I m familiar with PVCs, PAC s, etc. from being a DC, an EMT and a NMT. I listened to my wife s heartbeat this morning and noted a skipped beat, random, ranging from 1x/10 to 1x/30 beats. There was no awareness on her part of cardiac symptoms. She has long been athletic and has excellent endurance, and has a history of running 5K s.

Most literature has the skipped beats being symptomatic. This one isn t, and is not in any way regular. There was no coffee or other stimulant when I noticed this, and we were both just getting ready to get out of bed.

Any experience out there in this matter?

My wife and I just finished our 94th shared book to read to each other. We take turns, and this allows each of us access to the other's view of what is an interesting read. It's worked out great (with one exception where we couldn't finish the book The Masks of Africa).

NPR has great interviews with authors, so that's one source, and our life experiences are another that gravitate us to different subjects.

How do YOU come across good books to read?

There was a great 4 DVD lecture series from Dr. Robert Sopolski (who looks like a professorial chia pet) that focused on biological contributions to violence. My wife and I learned a lot of startling observations, including the primary 3 world monotheistic religions arose from nomadic desert environs. Oddly, this is also the same milieu that is one of the most prone to violence (as compared to say agrarian or rain forest gathering). Judaism, Christianity and Islamic religions all sprang and expanded drastically from these roots. My question though is why monotheism from desert backdrops? The other question is why they spread explosively, blowing away the polytheistic religions.

It's gotten to the point where hate mail and calls have them closing down their store and going into hiding. I have a problem with this.

They said they'd be happy to serve anyone in their store, just not participate in a wedding. This is pizza, folks, and there are many such establishments that would be happy to provide the service.

What would happen if you had a food providing service and had been asked to serve a menu to a KKK convention? A Nazi reunion? A nude seniors party? I could go on with examples, but you get the idea.

This smacks of 'gay rights fundamentalism' that reacts out of perspective with the event.

By the way, I'm straight and have friends and patients who are gay, trans, lesbian, cross dressing...and I have no problems with providing care to any of them. But that's me.

In a field where nothing can be proven or denied, with adherents admitting that their deity is beyond human comprehension or understanding, how can there be so many questions about and statements clearly defining what exactly God wants of us, expects of us, plans for us?

FYI, I've been attached to a number of churches, taught Sunday school, led a children's church choir, read the Bible in its entirety twice, attended Bible studies.

That said, I ascribe to no given theology, but have a nice connect to my creator just the same. That works for me. Whatever works for you is fine by me, too.

Most of us grew up with block letters first, then script or 'handwriting' classes. Now, our checks, our contracts, our 'signing in' to just about anything, has us writing our names in script. Many states are opting out of teaching children script now, or are well on their way to do so. I understand script is an anachronism in this digital age, but what is going to happen to the long held custom to signing credit card slips, guest registers, door to door petitions?

I came across a polaroid of one young woman, her apparent mother and grandmother, and two male children. The photo on the back is stamped with "Brown Photo Service, Minneapolis, Minn. Oct 4, 1923".

There are five names penned in back, and I've been only able to find the obit on the young woman, 'Ann Casner Willson'. The other names are Margaret Pettee Wettlaufer, Mary Willson Pettee, George Lionel Wettlaufer and Richard Eugene Wettlaufer.

Ann's obit is at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&sou...

Anyone have a bell rung here?

Once in a while, there's a well thought out and rational question or observation. But boiling down the majority of verbiage, you get the word 'nyah' repeated over and over again.

It's usually a question that no one can answer, but tinged by word choice to be passive aggressive, or even patently aggressive, and most of the time demeaning.

Perhaps this should just be 'religion', for spirituality has little to do with this posting section.

My beloved soulmate and I each take a turn to pick out an old fashioned book (sometimes a bit mildewed), and read back and forth to each other. We just finished Arundel, and are working on the original Mary Poppins (as our 65th shared tome).

Print books need no batteries. In used stores, you can get them far cheaper than many download resources. There's a feel to them that just isn't passed on with an electronic device, a warmth. OK, maybe electronic books are more 'green' in both production and recycling, but the machinery to download those books breaks and is even more anti-green.

So, what say you? Any real book readers out there?

Dr. D

Most religions were formed in paternalistic societies where men dominated the culture. It seems natural that God, therefore, would be imaged as male.

Yet, if there's maleness to God, wouldn't that suggest there was a female counterpart? If God was anatomically correct and man was made in God's image, then were did the template for woman come from?

If God is the pinnacle of life and light and intelligence and power, of what use is sexuality to such a being? I've had some say God is a spirit, not flesh and blood. IF SO, are spirits male or female as well as our corporeal Cadillac's we ride along Earth on with?

I suspect that God is a unified entity with no need for gender. Men and women represent two sides of God's spiritual mind, where they complement and facilitate each other through their differences.

I realize and affirm that I do not have the absolute answers here, and that others who respond likewise will answer with either opinions or inherited dogma. That's fine with me, as long as I learn something or find something amusing in the process.

Long and merry life,

Dr. D

I've driven ambulance for decades. When there's a red light with traffic stopped, I can go around. But there's a traffic light where there are two lanes (straight and left turn only) hemmed in by a long curb for about 100 feet. I've seen cars go through the red light in order to let an ambulance or fire truck through. But what happens if one of those cars blowing the red light gets involved in an accident. Who is liable? Are they required to blow the light to make room for the emergency vehicle?

WASP and Catholic type folk seem to have an obsession for labeling. If you are heterosexual, which makes sense in the Latin origins, then you are straight. What's the opposite of straight? 'Bent'. Are homosexual folk 'bent'? No, they're gay. Gay? As in happy? As in what times the Flintstones had?

Dikes I can understand, given the action step taken by the little Dutch boy.

I love language and am fascinated by the evolutions and histories of terms. In a way, that helps me put into perspective pejoratives we now use to express our nervousness about ways that we do not understand.

So, if you have a clue on why 'straight', I'm all ears.

Dr. D

Masons, Kiwanis, Elks, Moose, Rotary, Jaycees, Lions. Once they were the community security force that helped rebuild houses, save businesses from going under by volunteering to help a stricken owner, and so on. This has been replaced by government institutions and insurance payouts (if you're lucky enough to get one). So, what happens to the old guard? Are they dying out?

You can take that two ways, and I'm interested in either tack.

I ascribe vaguely to Christianity because it's a comfortable vehicle to frame my relationship with God. It's familiar, and helps me connect with my patients. But I do not belong to any particular sect, and organized religion has too many theological disconnects for me. I know there's a next life and welcome it, but most of my belief comes from alternative sources, readings, discussions with near death experience folk, and so on.

I'm not putting down anyone who cleaves closely to a given theology...it's just not a crutch that fits my spirit. So, let's not have any zealot rantings of how wrong I am, ok? This is a friendly post.

The second tack is whether Heaven requires religion. Religion is a path to Heaven, or so it says. The path is not Heaven, just a route to it. Once you arrive somewhere in your car, you put the road map away. You don't need it anymore. You get to Heaven, then drop your crosses, your Bibles, your Korans, your stoles and offering plates/envelopes. They're not needed anymore. You arrived.

Of course no one can prove anything till one gets there, but belief is a lot of what this section is about, eh?

Thoughts?

Dr. D