Letters to Laodicea Demas

Continuation of the previous episode about the spiritual meaning of gender. Listen to the first one before this one. I continue to explore lots of ways the living metaphor of gender teaches us about the proper relationship of humans to God. At a certain point I get slightly specific about private parts, which I think is extremely relevant to the topic, but you might want to pre-screen this before letting children hear it.

Merry Christmas! from Demas! This is my first episode in a long while, and I have started a new study which should help people better discuss one of the big social issues of the day -- gay marriage. Instead of focusing on why homosexuality is wrong, I focus on the reason marriage and gender were instituted as they are in the first place. Why were we created male and female in the first place? It is a spiritual metaphor and a lesson from God. I'm trying to present a more thoughtful presentation than simply quoting Leviticus 18:22 to a gay person, because in the current social climate, we need to be more thoughtful.

PLEASE listen to parts 1 and 2 of Light Pollution or you will not understand my ramblings in this episode. I discuss several poetic metaphors from a certain poet of the romantic era, and how they relate to the words of Jesus and Paul, specifically in 1 Cor 13, and John 14. I also encourage everyone to see the movie THE TREE OF LIFE, which is a deep and thoughtful cinematic meditation on God.

I revisit my previous episode "Light Pollution" and extend the metaphor and read some scriptures that have similar themes. Hopefully this episode encourages us to acknowledge God in all our ways.

Here's the link to the Hyperspace Star Polytope Slicer that I referenced in the podcast.
http://dogfeathers.com/java/hyperstar.html

Settings:

Hyperplanes: FC-24-cell
3-Symmetry: Octahedral(3)
Section slider: -0.69
Shell Slider: #22

Slide the Section slider back and forth to rotate the shape in the 4th dimension, causing the shape to enter our dimension from the dimension above. In the same way, paradoxes are part of a unified whole. The opposing thoughts are only seemingly disconnected due to our own barriers to perception. These barriers will eventually be removed, as Paul says, "when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." — 1 Corinthians 13:10

I discuss love, and also bring up some topics from previous episodes: normative power of the actual, and spiritual game theory. It seems that being salt and light does the work of preventing the new moral decay inherent in the "actual" becoming normal (ie progressive social issues). I also relate a practical example of spiritual game theory. This episode's graphic (if you listen with an iOS device) is a screengrab from The Sound of Music, where they are singing a song about "nihil ex nihilo" in the context of love. This is where I got the idea for the episode, when it made me notice that God is the first source of love, and without him we can't love. 1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

A new way to think about that phrase