Happy Christmas to all!

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"Warning From Space"
Better than any of the "classic" Christmas movies on Amazon.
(Mid-90's and up Holiday romances, made for TV mostly. Dregful.

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Guys.
It's 'ROGUE One', not 'Rouge'.
You need a makeup test.

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David Tennant voices Scrooge McDuck in the new "Ducktales" series.
I have no fear!

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Panettone is a Krampus gift.

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We are watching "The Pinkertons". Nothing about this is right. They don't look American, nor sound American.
And yes, I know.

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I "liked" 20,593 things on Facebook this year.
I NEED A LIFE!!!

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LED Toilet Night Light
Words that don't belong together.

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I would very much like for 'Rubbersuitimation' to continue to be a thing in kaiju movies of the Godzilla pedigree. Not hating on CGI, just not wanting to lose the charm of the live effects.

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Sure seems that, I dunno, ANYONE can put on a safety pin. Rapists, molesters, psychopaths.
Or do they do background checks for purchasing safety pins?

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Stuff a Shelf elf with catnip, toss on the floor. Video the ensuing hilarity.

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Whenever a vegetable soup is described as a "flavors bonanza", I suspect it's being oversold.

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And, no, the angels in the Nativity story are NOT a Doctor Who reference.

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The BEST Mr. Freeze: Otto Preminger.
WILD!

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TTFN

Jesus as Mengele, Believers as Dr. Phil....

Whenever economic threads Of That Sort develop on social media, or if you are a dinosaur that insists upon in-person interaction,say, at parties or Holiday family dinners, someone MUST play the role of Brigadier Bringdown, and whinge about The Poor, and Christmas, and Guilt. (That was NOT written in the voice of Thurston Howell III.) Inevitably, the Big Guns are brought to bear, especially if there are Christians about, with turkey-stuffed mouths, gobbling about The Reason For The Season...

"So many Christians, but I don't see any of them selling what they have and giving it all to the poor, like Jesus taught!"

The inability to Read With Comprehension is a vanishing skill. With parents both working to keep up with living AND the taxes, and day-care struggling with overcrowding and staying out of the attention of regulators AND the news stations, and schools mandated to teach test-taking abilities and thus avoid the attention of regulators AND the news stations...there is little time to inculcate much beyond passing eyes over text, and defining sounding it out in one's head as "reading". Few places does this show up faster than in conversations with Biblical content. The Rich Young Ruler session that Jesus had is a case in point.

¹⁸ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
¹⁹ And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
²⁰ Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
²¹ And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
²² Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

²³ And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.  Luke 18:18-23 (KJV)

The reading is precise. The questions asked are insightful. The commands are laser-sharp. and they are all for one patient. The Great Physician diagnoses the man's problem, and prescribes the solution. Sell your assets, then give to the poor. Jesus does not say "Give ALL you have to the poor in a vast bout of charity, then pick up the mendicant's bowl." Make the assets fungible, easily distributed, and give at need. Nowhere does Jesus say "Give it ALL to the poor". Jesus teaches many things, but I do not believe bad asset management is one of them. If I may say, the Poor are extras in the play. They are not the problem. The Rich Ruler and his relationship to wealth is the problem. His purse was double-knotted. Morally, he was beyond reproach. He had a desire for God's rulership in his life (The Kingdom of God =/= 'Heaven', here.). Yet, Jesus' exam finds a cyst of avarice, and He prescribes removing the unsightly thing. The Ruler apparently did not like the idea of a scar on his portfolio, and left in sorrow, perhaps to find a second opinion.

Yet, while the exchange was between Jesus and the Rich Ruler, we may certainly derive counsel from their talk. Don't let your Stuff come between you and the Kingdom of God. Christ is more important than stocks and shares and real estate, oh my. You are never as good as you think you are. AND, Jesus speaks precisely. He is the Word, the Logos made flesh, Who said "Let there be...", and there was.

He is not going to bobble a noun.

If I go to a naturopath for my cerebral chilblains, and he prescribes a tincture of goldenseal root and kerosene, and it makes me well, that does not give him, or me, or the TV talk host who interviews us, license to prescribe the vile brew to everyone, for anything. So it is with the Rich Ruler interview. Jesus prescribed what HE needed. If I have trouble with gluttony, or lust, the prescription will fit the sin.

Don't make Jesus the Spokesprophet for your political or social druthers. Instead, bow to His Lordship, and take your personally prescribed medicine. Don't walk away grieving. As the Mark account said:

²¹ Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Jesus prescribes with love.