Confessions of the Hungry Blogger

While I was letting my preacher out for a stroll on Sunday, Ravenheart was musing about blogging -- the time of year is rolling around when prizes for the best this and that blog will be nominated for tallied up and presented.

Basically, what James was saying that he could give a rusty red rat's ass about popularity and prizes -- and, in my own perverse way, I concur.

Perverse, because I know how much I hunger for recognition -- but I also know that no amount of recognition could ever assuage the hunger.

I got addicted long ago in Poosah City, back in the 7th grade:

Assigned to do an oral report on R. Kipling's "Ballad of East and West", I was lost. I had absolutely no idea of what to say -- so, on a whim, I memorized the poem and recited it to the class:

0h, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

When I finished, the class burst into applause -- I was hooked!

Later as a struggling singer and songwriter, I learned there are things you can do, a sort of fluffing, to make an audience applaud -- but, like with an orgasm, if the love isn't there of itself, what use it?

I blog because it commits me to writing every day which is the only known way to learn how to write. I want to learn how to write because in so doing I clarify and gain control over my thoughts and thereby a certain control over my personal demons.

Speaking of demons, Pat Robertson, yes, the 700 Club guy with the gold mines in Africa is possessed by some sort of demonic force. Either that, or he is a false prophet in the very sense that he pretends to understand the term -- or both.

Here is what he says:

There is the god of the Bible, who is Jehovah. When you see L-O-R-D in caps, that is the name. It's not Allah, it's not Brahma, it's not Shiva, it's not Vishnu, it's not Buddha. It is Jehovah God. They don't have a relationship with him. He is the God of all Gods. These others are mostly demonic powers. Sure they're demons. There are many demons in the world.

The most disgusting is how he spits out Buddha, you can hear it here, if you got the stomach.

With his pretensions of holiness, salvation and a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus and the apparent size of his audience, one could at least expect him to know his facts!

"Jehovah" is the one pronunciation of the Explicit Name, JHVH, in the Hebrew Bible text which is certainly incorrect and "yaweh" is not all that likely.

The "jehovah" (mis)pronunciation comes from the vocalization signs for "adonai" or "lord" -- which is what you're supposed to say instead of trying to pronounce the Name when you read the classic texts.

In principle I could care a flying frog fart, but his exquisite ignorance irritates me. The fact is, it is common knowledge* that the important thing is not how the word is pronounced but its meaning in the context of classic Hebrew.

As a word, "jhvh" looks like a form of the verb "to be" and can be described as a sort of mixture of past, present and future imperative, "BE!".

Jeeze, now I've gone and let my preacher out of the box again -- get back in there, you ornery old cuss!

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* By "common knowledge" I mean it is something even a drunk, defrocked Rabbi ought to be able to tell you...