Where your main stuff goes.

This is where you can write welcoming stuff, if you'd rather not do what's up above. (I have it there because I'm testing something. Try the links to the right (Site Navigation) to see how I've used individual posts to work more or less like web pages.

This would be the fastest way to get things going.

Have fun!!

List Test.

Here is some text before my list.

• » list item 1
• » list item 2
• » list item 3 - really long so it will wrap and i can test the wrapping to make sure it works okay. yes that seems like a good thing to do, and here is the end.
• » list item 4 - the last one.

Here is some text after my list.

some bold text.

Rasslin'.

Before Steve Austin, before The Rock, before Hulk Hogan, and even before promoter extraordinaire Vince McMahon came on the scene, turning professional wrestling into a half a billion dollar a year business traded on the New York Stock Exchange, there was ... classy Freddie Blassie.

Classy Freddie Blassie

I'm pretty sure that most of you reading this aren't wrestling fans (I'm not either), and I'd really be surprised if any of you had heard of Freddie Blassie or his trademark insult slogan - "You pencil necked geek!" but in the 50s and 60s he was the quintessential villain in the wrestling ring, and perhaps the first wrestling superstar. As a kid growing up, I loved "hating" him.

His arch-nemesis was "The Destroyer", whose gimmick was a mask that kept him unknown, and everyone tried, unsuccessfully, to remove from his head.

The Destroyer

He was my favorite wrestler, and his signature move was the "figure-four leg lock." If he got his opponent in that position, the match was over. It was a convoluted move, and the only way The Destroyer could actually use it was when the narrative of the match reached a climax and his opponent was so fatigued he couldn't stop it.

For some odd reason, I kept thinking about these guys as I wrestled with the prologue in this first letter from John. The English is difficult. The Greek, apparently, equally so. Is it possible to unmask the message lying under the language? Or will I end up in a figure-four leg lock of language? And how about you?

How to start? One of our helps as non-Greek speaking readers is the availability of multiple translations. The StudyLight website, www.studylight.org, is really helpful for doing this. When you first get to the site, be sure to set your preferences for which translation you want as your main reading choice, and at the bottom of the preferences page, you can choose which translations to show in the multi-translation window. After setting your preferences you can enter the passage to read, and click Search. The page you see will have the passage in your preferred translation. For each verse, there are text links to read the verse in context, in Greek, and a few other choices. The Multi-Translation link is the one to use for displaying parallel translations of the verses. You have to click through the verses one at a time, but it works.

So I cranked up StudyLight, and read from 3 parallels plus my standard: the NASB, the NIV, the NLT, and J. P. Green's Literal translation. Then I took a look at the interlinear to get even closer to the Greek words themselves. What you find when you do this kind of work, is that there are a lot of words added and removed for clarity's sake in a translation. In the NET Bible (not on StudyLight), verse 1 begins "This is what we proclaim to you..." which parallels what the NIV puts at the end of the first verse: "this we proclaim...". The NET Bible has these great footnotes that help one understand what's going on, that this phrase is inserted to make the English read more clearly. Its location in the NIV is more confusing than helpful to me, but the footnote in the NET, stating that the subject-predicate of the sentence is in verse 3 -- "we announce" -- was something I had discovered on my own from the literal translation. (And I'm glad to have that confirmation.)

The proclaim/announce verb was really important in helping me break this apart. As I read through the passage several times, trying to discover where the sentence began (and at this point I was not using NIV or NET, but the NASB and the Green Literal, that word kept popping up. Proclaim ... proclaim ... proclaim ... even an inserted phrase not in the Greek. I could picture heralds marching into a town, "hear ye, hear ye, hear ye." (Admittedly my picture is medieval and not 1st century, but still the same concept.) The heralds enter, and shout out, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld, and what our hands touched ..." That made sense to me.

Official herald of the New
Testament Read Through blog.

It's as if these were the answers to the question, "what have the heralds come to proclaim?"

This realization opened the first few verses for me, but it was coupled by a second observation, also of repetition. Whatever is being proclaimed, whatever it is John wants to talk about, it is for the sake of fellowship, used 4 times within 5 verses.

With those two observations in mind, and ignoring all other translations which may say what I'm going to say, here's the Green Literal translation, and the hook explication. (I don't expect this to be completely right, but I want you to see the process. The experts who have created the major translations are much better at this. But you should know that you can do this, too. And then you can go back and compare against the various translations.)

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld, and what our hands touched, as regards the Word of Life. 2 And the Life was revealed, and we have seen, and we bear witness, and we announce to you the everlasting Life which was with the Father, and was revealed to us. 3 We announce to you what we have seen, and what we have heard, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. 4 And we write these things to you, that your joy may be full.

5 And this is the message which we have heard from Him, and we proclaim to you: God is light, and no darkness is in Him, none! 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we walk in darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:1-8 J.P. Green's Literal Translation)

I'm only going to deal with the first four verses, usually labeled the prologue in most outlines, but I've provided the next four verses for some context. Here we go.

Start with verse three. Treat verses 1 and 2 as the blare of trumpets making certain we're listening. The words are important, but we'll get back to them. We have, then, a perfectly obvious declarative sentence, written by John using the royal we, or else writing on behalf of himself and the believers with him. "We announce to you what we have seen, and what we have heard, that you also may have fellowship with us." John is providing testimony to a reality he has experienced, and it's important that those who receive this message understand the reality -- seen and heard, not imagined. Those who do, enter into fellowship with the other believers, a fellowship with God, Father and Son. In verse 4, some manuscripts read "our joy" and some "your joy". Either way, the point is that everyone's joy increases as John shares his message and the fellowship is increased.

If you were reading the last paragraph carefully, you may have noticed the phrase "a reality he [John] has experienced." What was that reality? Well, that's the point of the music in verse 1, and the parenthetic statement of proclamation in verse 2. The music sings, "it's about this, it's about the Word of Life, that which was from the beginning, that which was real, we saw it, felt it, heard it, listen again, it was everlasting life made manifest, revealed to us, the everlasting Life that was with the Father." Jesus was real, John lived with him, and learned from him, and through him was revealed the eternal life of the Father.

The basis of the fellowship, then, is the reality of Jesus. That's the prologue. John then describes the measure of fellowship -- walking in light. The message he heard was that God is only light, and so fellowship with Him could only be in light. Well... that's the start of the rest of the story, but I've finished rasslin'. I hear the message of the heralds. I'm especially grateful for the promise of eternal life in the light. Even the greatest of athletes get old. And then it doesn't hurt to have a mask as your schtick.

Freddie Blassie and The Destroyer at an awards banquet,
later in life.

Another test.

A test of margins.
Here's some test text.

Here's a big bunch of text, guaranteed to wrap. The questions is, of course, where does it wrap to? I'm expecting everything to be left-aligned. We'll see.

And here's some post-span text.

Test.

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14 NET)

From Basil Kennett, Romae Antiquae Notitia: or, the Antiquities of Rome
(1696; London, 1721)

The triumphal procession was a major event of the Roman Empire, ingrained in the culture. Over 300 known processions have been discovered. The celebration lasted a day or more, and the highlight was the parade. The triumphant general rode in a gilded chariot led by white horses, while dazed prisoners were herded in front of him, his soldiers, and the spoils of war. This was the highest honor accorded a hero and celebrated the extraordinary deeds and service accomplished. This print, from the late 1600s, portrays the main elements of a triumphal procession. Click on this and any other image for a larger version.

The Arch of Titus on the Via Sacra in Rome (81 CE)

Relief of the Triumph of Titus

This is the Arch of Titus, erected in 81 CE, to honor Titus' victory over Judea in 70 CE. Decorative elements on the arch include a fresco depicting the triumphal procession of Titus, and another fresco detailing the carrying off of the sacred elements of the temple in Jerusalem -- the sacred Menorah, the Table of the Shewbread, and the silver trumpets which called the Jews to Rosh Hashanah.

Inscription on the Arch of Titus

The inscription on the arch reads, "Senatus Populusque Romanus Divo Tito Divi Vespasiani Filio Vespasiano Augusto" The Roman Senate and People to Deified Titus, Vespasian Augustus, son of Deified Vespasian.

Relief depicting the spoils of Jerusalem.

The Arch of Constantine (312-315 CE)
South side - Coliseum to the east

If you click on the picture you can clearly see the menorah and other spoils being carried off in the fresco. Imagine the humiliation to the defeated Jews -- these precious items were taken away, paraded around in Roman triumph, and finally it was all commemorated in stone.
The Arch of Constantine is a much larger and later (312-315 CE) example of the commemoration in architecture and the Triumphal Procession. Much of the decoration on this arch was recycled from other monuments.

Paul must have been aware of this aspect of Roman life. Perhaps he witnessed a smaller triumphal procession in the provinces before he finally arrived in Rome. And so he used this metaphor for his own description of what it means to be in Christ.

At first glance, it sounds like Christ is at the head of the parade, leading us all in triumph. But think again. We are the captives of Christ, the willing bond-servants. We are the captives driven ahead of His triumphant procession, like the slaves in the Roman procession. The difference is that we were conquered by loving sacrifice, not machines of war.

As long as we're looking at arches, the Roman arch of triumph gained favor again during the Renaissance. The most famous of these arches, commissioned in 1806, but not completed until 1833-36 is the Arch of Triumph in Paris, a monument to those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic wars. Its design was inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome. It's the second largest in the world, the largest located in Pyongyang, North Korea. That arch commemorates the successful guerrilla warfare of Kim Il Sung against the Japanese army in 1925.

Arc de Triomphe - Paris, France

Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang - 1982

But I happen to think it pales in comparison to this ultimate arch of triumph.

Oldest McDonald's in continuous operation since 1953 - Phoenix, AZ

McDonald's -- the triumph of entrepreneurial spirit, cheap, fast food, and the addictive blend of grease, salt, and sugar in just the right proportions.

Text before everything to test font family stuff.

A very, very, very, very, very, very, very long caption for photo. Even longer.

some text goes here. let's type a whole bunch more and see what happens when we finally get to the caption. will there be sufficient room for this to make sense or will it all go up in smoke, like the caterpillar in Through the Looking Glass Well, that wasn't enough text to actually figure it out. But this should be enough. Excellent, it's pretty much what we need. Now to check on the overflow of the caption itself.

The demons will win.

A few days ago I was asked about Jesus' behavior in Matthew 8:28-33. In that passage, he's getting ready to cast out some demons, when they beg for mercy. The demons ask to not be sent to wherever it was they expected to get sent, and instead they asked to be allowed to inhabit some nearby pig.

Someone wanted to know why Jesus did as they asked? My simplistic answer was, "Well, look at the results." At the time I hadn't made any connection to words we hear spoken all the time as the policy of the United States. However, while reading a post by Glenn Greenwald today, this phrase jumped out.

Mature societies do not make decisions by wondering what the Bad People want and then automatically doing the opposite. That is the mindset of a child.

Glenn's post is about the way Israel, both citizenry and government, dealt with their brief conflict with Lebanon last year, both during the war and after. The occasion of his post is the publication of a highly critical report from the Winograd Commission, which was assigned by Israel's government, with the task of assessing the military campaign.

The difference between Israel's approach and the American approach is stunning. You can read Glenn's post for all the details, but the fact that Israel sits in the middle of countries that would like to see it disappear as a country, but allows for the critical discussion that's a hallmark of democracies, is an indication of how far politics has influenced our own discourse. By that I mean that phrases such as "emboldening the enemy" and accusations of treason are politically motivated, not policy-based. Particularly goofy and egregious is the idea that if our best interest happens to be the same as the enemy's it doesn't matter, we'll do the opposite. As Glenn said.

Applying this goofy idea to Jesus' situation, imagine if the story went this way. As the demons cried out to be allowed to enter the pigs instead of banishment, the crowd interrupted, saying, "Don't do it Jesus. If you send them to the pigs, the demons will win."

Vonnegut. 4.11.2007

I'm a child of the sixties. A west coast child. There's no way around that. To me that means there are certain icons and markers, events and experiences that I share as a common background, with those who grew up in that same period. A background that is universal, not just personal. A background that is pervasive, and even today informs how I (and we) look at the world. The assassinations, Vietnam, the Beatles, Stones, and Beach Boys, Esalen, space, hippies, Watergate, civil rights, and women's rights. Along with the music, were the writers and artists -- Warhol, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Peter Max, anonymous poster artists, Brautigan, Heller, Kesey, Plath, Wolfe, Thompson, and rising iconically above them all -- Kurt Vonnegut.

Everyone's understanding of their life is probably both wrong on how unique it is, and wrong on how universal it is. My wife, who grew up in the exact same time and location, would say some of the names on my list were at all influential in her life. At the same time, while I think I'm an extremely special person with unique insights into life based on a unique set of experiences, in the broad sense, not so much. Our generation did see a President killed and men walk on the moon. Those were shared experiences that tint our view of the world, even when our reactions remain uniquely ours.

Vonnegut probably didn't speak to everyone in that time. But it surely felt that way, to this west coast child of the sixties. His voice remains so clear, especially from the early books. Their sparseness. The rhythms of repetition. "So it goes." "And so on." "Hi ho." His repetition of characters in different books, like Trout and Rosewater, creating a meta-novel of sorts, without tying the books tightly together by plot. His voice of hopeful futility that resonated with those who lived through Vietnam, the Kennedy and King assassinations. If the big picture looks hopeless, find joy and contentment in the little things -- his wit and satire among them.

I'm not any kind of critic or book reviewer, and these comments are not intended to try and explain what Vonnegut was doing, and whether he succeeded or not, or whether he was a good writer and why. I really just want to say that he has died, "God forbid," and a voice intimately tied to my life, a major ingredient in the primordial soup of the sixties, is now frozen in time. It's a bittersweet moment, like reaching the end of one of his novels, only to find out that there aren't any more to be read. And even though we seem to be living through a time when all the unfinished business of the sixties is getting played out again, I'm sure the voice of this time will have a harder edge, and a shriller tone, and less inclination to find joy in the small things. God bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

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