My Blogs -- First to Last

 

Jabba -- 8/12/08, 6:55 a.m.

1. My real name is Rich Savage. You can reach me at rsavage@nycap.rr.com.
2. I was born on June 4th, 1942 in LeCompte, LA.
3. I now live in upstate NY with my wife, Lauren. (Go figure.)
4. Lauren and I met at a summer camp owned by her parents -- where I taught horseback riding.
5. We were married on 6/5/66 at 666 6th Ave in NYC. I didn’t know about the alleged implications of those numbers at the time, but thank G-d for the “5.”
6. Together, Lauren and I raised two great kids.
7. I have a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and all the course work for a Phd.
8. I flunked the essay portion of my comprehensives – twice (maybe, you can understand why).
9. I’ve been retired since January of 2003.
10. For the previous 30 years (approx), I worked for NY State as a “Psycometrician” (someone who uses statistics to develop and evaluate psychological measurement).
11. I am an ex Army Captain, Vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot.
12. I am certifiably inventive -- I have numerous inventions and one patent (the patent being granted on the 77th day of the 77th year (of the 20th century)). The patent number is 4,175,516. I call it the "Pussy Footer."
13. I mention all these tidbits so that others might want to ‘listen’ to me…
14. I'm not Jewish, but when I proposed to my beautiful Jewish girlfriend (Lauren), I promised her that we could raise our kids Jewish. And we did.
15. Lauren and I are still members of a reform congregation – my attendance is very irregular these days...
16. I attend church most Sundays.
17. My website is www.YourLastPrimer.com
18. I have no idea what I'm doing.
19. (To be continued.)

 

Jabba -- 8/12/08, 7:50 AM

1. I tend to be introverted and introspective. While flying over Vietnam, I did a lot of thinking.
2. I have come to suspect that G-d and Jesus actually do make some sense.
3. And, I worry that I should, maybe, "take Jesus as my Savior."
4. If I can.

5. I know that this will sound ridiculous to the analytically minded (if I've attracted any), but please bare with me -- I probably have some supportive and credible points to make that you've never heard, or read, before.

6. The first point, however, is that it isn't like I've made up my mind, already.
7. I would like to conclude that that I should -- and can -- "take Jesus as my Savior," but I'm not at all sure about these things.
8. I'm here, and on my website, in order to gather and judge the evidence.
9. And, let the pieces fall where they may.

 

Jabba -- 8/12/08, 8:27 a.m.

1. Maybe this is what every body does, but just in case you're wondering, I'm using my website (www.yourlastprimer.com) as a composite of what I've put together so far (though, it's only about 1/10th complete, even in that regard), and my blog as an attempt to recruit help and to brainstorm.

2. My dream is that my website could end up somewhat analogous to Wikipedia, in that it would be written by a whole host of Internet lovers.

 

Jabba -- 8/12/08, 8:50 AM

1. Probably by the time I was 11, I had pretty much dismissed Christianity…
2. Not that I wanted to.
3. And, I did keep attending Sunday school -- to the extent that my mother made me – but, underneath, I was pretty sure that Jesus was just another Santa Clause, Easter bunny or tooth fairy.

4. So, I do fully realize how foolish the concept/story of Jesus first appears. For instance,
5. Does to "take Jesus as one's Lord and Savior" actually mean something?
6. If so -- in order to do it, one would have to "believe in" a bunch of very questionable propositions.
6.1. G-d
6.2. The supernatural
6.3. Especially prophecy
6.4. The Old Testament is prophetic.
6.5. It predicts a Messiah.
6.6. The Messiah that the OT predicts is a "suffering servant," rather than a "warrior king."
6.7. Jesus is G-d.
6.8. Jesus is also the Son of G-d.
6.9. There is such a thing as Heaven.
6.10. The only way we can get to Heaven is by "believing in" Jesus.
6.11. By believing in Jesus, he pays for our sins.
6.12. There is such a thing as Hell.
6.13. If ultimately, we do not believe in Jesus, Hell is where we'll go.
7. And then, there are some rather obvious and serious objections to the Jesus concept/story. (I'll get to these later.)

 

Jabba, 8/13/08

And now, for some of those "obvious objections" to which I just alluded:

--- The Jesus concept/story is too complicated. The basic truth should be simple.
--- The Jesus concept/story is too specific. The basic truth should be general.
--- "Believing" something is not voluntary. How can G-d reward us for involuntarily doing something?
--- Christians say all those non-sensical things. "Born again"? "Die in Christ"?
--- Christians don't tend to be all that happy.
--- They generally are not that well educated.
--- They are not generally well thought of by the well-educated.
--- Where's the "world peace"?
--- The Jewish people have not all been returned to Israel.
--- And anyway, would G-d come as a man?!

Sounds like I've got a lot of explainin to do.
Posted by Jabba at 6:53 AM

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Hang in there

But please hang in there
- I claim that despite appearances to the contrary, the Jesus concept/story is both logical and evidenced...
- And those "questionable prerequisites" and "obvious objections" aren't nearly as formidable as they seem.
- Trust me.
- For now.
- It isn't easy (for anybody), but please do your best to keep an open mind.
- I bet that many of my arguments will be totally new to you
- and will, at least, make you "pause."
- I think that most of you will find them interesting -- if nothing else
- And, note that there is a distinction between
-- believing that Jesus was who he said he was, and
-- taking him as your Lord and Savior.
- And, as a "come on," the Jesus story is about magic, human nature and love. Maybe, that will help.

How I got here. See,
- I had pretty much rejected Jesus early on.
- But for various reasons, I began to rethink.
- And, I began to come to a different conclusion.
- I began to think that there might actually "be something" to the Jesus concept/story…
- And then
-- the more I studied, the more apparent support I found.
- But then I realized that what I was gathering wasn't really being "scored."
- I decided that in order to readily score all this stuff, I needed to put it into brief, and well-organized, soundbites.
- And that, in part, is where I am today.
- I Feel like I've gathered up a lot of interesting and supportive facts and ideas.
- But these are like piles of unsorted mail.
- I need to put them into a readily totaled form.
- That's what my website, or "WebBook" is mostly about.
- Though hopefully, this can be useful to others.
- And actually, for others coming from a few different directions: believers, disbelievers, searchers.
- But then, don't hold your breath or count your chickens.
- We've got a long way to go, and over uncharted waters.
- This may take awhile.
- And G-d only knows where we'll end up.
- It certainly won't be easy -- must be thousands of different facts and ideas to express and explore.
- (Preface)

And, there's more.
- I'm rather introverted and introspective. Seriously.
- Could be that life is ultimately meaningful,
- and that there is something we're "supposed to do;"
- that we're not here just to have a good time and be happy;
- that there is an ethical, or moral, reality, dimension;
- that there is good and bad.
- So, I probably shouldn't just sit around watching TV.
- I should probably try to figure out what the possible, and most likely, good is -- and do it.
- And, that's what I've been trying (somewhat) to do for many years.
- And then, there's the "truth." I have a terrible urge to search for the truth. Hopefully, that's a meaningful concept.
- Whatever, these urges led me to an "epiphany," many years ago, that seriously changed and brightened my life. (Smoking Gun)
- So, I'm also trying to extend that brightness (and "rightness") -- for myself, and to whomever else I can attract...
Posted by Jabba at 8:53 AM