God or Lunatic
Happy Friday,
Those studying history’s titans — Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, et. al., — note that Jesus is the outlier. 1) He claimed to be God and 2) he spelled up D-O-W-N, first L-A-S-T and leadership S-E-R-V-E.
Lewis on #1
Christ’s comments in Mark clarify his ethics. This Lewis quote clarifies His claims: “There is no half-way house or parallel in other religions. If you’d asked Buddha, 'Are you the son of Bramha?' he would have said, 'My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.' If you’d asked Socrates, 'Are you Zeus?' he would have laughed at you. If you’d asked Mohammed, 'Are you Allah?' he would first have rent his clothes and then cut off your head. If you’d asked Confucius, 'Are you Heaven?' he would have replied, 'Remarks not in accordance with nature are in bad taste.' The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ said is out of the question. The only person who can say that sort of thing is either God or a lunatic.” (Lightly edited from Lewis' essay in God In The Dock)
Trending
Yogi Berra said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” but Drucker argued that tomorrow is visible if we only look. I suspect next year will bring: more drones, more AI, more brownouts, more debt, more acrimony and more 70- and 80-year-olds. I think we can also expect: fewer babies, fewer students and fewer marriages. I’m also bracing for an unsettling merger of AI, robotics and porn. (BTW, we may see revival. There are already rumblings.)
Case In Point
In 1996, David Foster Wallace said the following to Rolling Stone’s David Lipsky: “At a certain point we’re gonna have to build up some machinery, inside our guts, to help us deal with this. Because the technology is just gonna get better and better and better and better. And it’s gonna get easier and easier, and more and more convenient, and more and more pleasurable, to be alone with images on a screen, given to us by people who do not love us but want our money. Which is all right. In low doses, right? But if that’s the basic main staple of your diet, you’re gonna die. In a meaningful way, you’re going to die.”
Married?
You’ve heard I Corinthians 13 read at weddings, but have you used it to assess how you’re doing? The question is not, “Is my spouse treating me according to Paul's directives” — e.g., is he (or she) patient, kind, not self-seeking, not easily angered, is keeping no record of wrongs, but rather — “am I treating him (or her) that way?"
Sports Betting 101
1) Over half of American men (ages 18–49) have a sports betting account. 2) The industry – which was $7B in ’22 and $12B in ‘24 — is expected to be $40B in ’30 and 3) FanDuel and DraftKings spend hundreds of millions marketing to young men and “high risk” players. (BTW, because the houses close the accounts of those making money, you should know that if your account is still open it’s because you’re not beating the system.)
Microsoft > France
Microsoft has now joined Nvidia as the second company to cross the $4 trillion market capitalization mark. For perspective, only five countries currently have a GDP over $4 trillion: the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and India. While GDP and market cap are different measures, it’s worth noting that Nvidia and Microsoft now have greater economic output than France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Canada.
WOTW
Honorable mention goes to: quiet revival (a term being ascribed to the spike in Bible sales, the return of Gen Z to church, the success of shows like The Chosen, and the leveling off of the growth of Nones, etc.), misarchist (a leader hostile to government but willing to use state power to enforce order). Full honors go to phygital (a mash up of physical + digital coined to describe our hybrid reality).
The Mackinac Bridge
Sheri and I spent a wonderful week in Northern Michigan. Alongside the area’s natural beauty and wonderful people, we were impressed by the five-mile-long Mackinaw Bridge. I was also unsettled. At once, it was both a testimony to human ingenuity and a reminder that we are not building things like it much anymore.
Closing Prayer
“My God, you are always close to me. In obedience to you, I must now apply myself to outward things. Yet, as I do so, I pray that you will give me the grace of your presence. And to this end I ask that you will assist my work, receive its fruits as an offering to you, and all the while direct all my affections to you. Amen.” (Brother Lawrence - 1611-1691)
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