About Vaccines

             I have my opinions on vaccines and you have yours. It is not the intent of this blog to ever tell you what to think. This blog hopes to present you with raw verifiable facts which are consistent with objective reality. The intent is to help you to think for yourself, rationally and critically, and, hopefully, in the context of this blog, that you allow yourself to be led by the Holy Spirit.

Do not base your opinions solely on what I say. Do not base your opinions solely on what anyone else says. Do not base your opinions solely on what any religious tradition says. Listen to all of them, but use your own mind, and read your Bible. Be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), even on totally secular matters. Like they used to say about the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “It’s all connected.”

The discussion about vaccines in the United States has devolved into people taking sides based on their political leanings and has come to involve multiple issues: progressivism, conservatism, autism, Christian nationalism, distrust of government, distrust of the giant pharmaceutical companies, distrust of science in general, rejection of organized religion, some elements of bigotry, possible adverse side effects of vaccines, issues of vaccine effectiveness, the ethics of mandates, libertarianism, epidemiological community health concerns, availability of health resources, possible vaccine effects on autoimmune diseases, religious and/or ethical objections, exactly who will benefit most from a vaccine and whom they might harm, preventing pandemics, possible medically adverse ingredients in vaccines, ethical concerns over some methods of vaccine preparation, the concern of some that over-exposure to vaccines early in life might overwhelm the immune system, natural immunity vs vaccine immunity, live vs dead viral components in vaccines, issues of informed consent, racial differences in disease susceptibility. Did I leave any out?

Vaccines are biological preparations designed to stimulate the recipient’s immune system causing it to produce proteins called antibodies against a particular microorganism. The antibodies are, in effect, weapons produced by the body to protect itself against invaders.

Some vaccines are built from proteins or other parts of the organism being targeted. Other vaccines use the entire organism in either a dead or greatly weakened form. All are intended to cause the body to violently say “This is not me!” and to learn how to attack this particular “Not Me.”

The idea is that, if an exposure to this particular “Not Me” later occurs, the body will remember the prior attack and will jump into action to produce massive quantities of the weapons it needs.

This blog post is about the Coronavirus vaccine for COVID-19. New vaccines are needed each year because coronaviruses are RNA (ribonucleic acid) viruses and mutate more quickly than DNA (deoxy-ribonucleic acid) viruses. Most of the mutations carry no consequences for the human host but a few give the virus significant advantages in ease of transmission or in severity of the disease. This occurs as errors in copying the virus’ genetic information cause changes in the organism’s surface proteins. These changes result in the surface proteins being different enough from prior versions that the body’s immune system thinks that they are a “Not Me” that it has not seen before.

Because of this, the immune system essentially has to start over and, so, cannot make a quick kill. This means that there is no pre-existing immunity to the new variant even though it is still the same virus.

Vaccines have to be developed each year because of that year’s new variants, which usually arise in Asia or India and then spread worldwide. The vaccines which are developed are actually guesses or assumptions that the virus variants which arrive in the West will still be the same ones for which the vaccine was developed. This can account for why some of the vaccines are more effective than others. 

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            An aside: This process of the body's immune system attacking "Not Me" is what is involved in tissue rejection after organ transplants and also comes into play during pregnancy because the mother is "Me" and the child is "Not Me."

The Universality of Christianity

Many religions are closely tied into racial, ethnic, or national identity.  Not so with Christianity.  The message of jesus is just as relevant for a Zulu tribesman as it is for a little boy in Mississippi.  It is for a German and a Choctaw, a Basque and a Gujurati.

Jesus  saying The Lord’s prayer in Mandarin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m3u71ShEG0

Jesus saying the Sermon on the Mount in Mandarin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqJHRCMXBZc&NR=1&feature=endscreen

More on Edgar Cayce

Yesterday, I posted about Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet.  Search your Bible and test some of the other teachings of Edgar Cayce.

1. The Christ entity came to Earth in many different time periods in order "to manifest the first idea."  At various times it manifested in the following men: Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, Joseph, JKoshua, Jeshua, and Jesus.

2. Christians serve "the Master Jesus who became the Christ." The Christ entity is a created being and is not a man; Jesus was the man.

3. Enlightenment comes when we realize our own divine nature and become at one with God.  This is classical pantheism.

4. Each of us is the same as Jesus, a spirit child of God. We each may have the Christ consciousness, the Holy Spirit.  The Creator Consciousness desired to have companions and so it created entities like itself from within itself, the first being Christ.  This means that every soul is a portion of God and therefore is divine and existed before this life.

5. Jesus was an Essene.  His mother Mary was one of twelve young girls chosen by the Essenes to be trained to become the mother of the Messiah.  Jesus and Mary were twin souls. Both were trained in the teachings of India, Egypt, and Persia and studied astrology, numerology, phrenology and reincarnation under the tutelage of the leader of the Essenes, Judy, "the first of women."  Judy's parents were Essenes at Carmel.

(Poster's comment; This teaching is totally absurd. The Essenes were a Jewish ascetic sect which strove for absolute ritual cleanliness and purity. They took ritual baths each day and avoided women to the point of not even allowing female animals in their communities.)

6. Cayce life readings dealt with telepathy, past lives, auras, telepathy, out-of-body experiences, and communicating with the dead.

7.  The power in gemstones can be harnessed.  The ancient city of Atlantis was powered by a giant crystal ball.

8.  Cayce predicted that in 1958 the United States would discover a death ray which was used on the ancient city of Atlantis.

9. Soul entities on Earth had sex with animals to produce giants.

10. The five human races were created separately but simultaneously on the Earth.

11. Many modern people were associates of Jesus in prior lives.

12. We are usually associated with people we knew in past lives.

13. Reincarnation gives a soul entity time to correct and perfect itself in its way back to oneness with God.

Book Comment: Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die

Pastor John Piper, in Fifty  Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die (2006), uses Biblical citations to show that “to die for our sins” is only one of the many reasons Jesus chose to die.  This is a point which Piper points out repeatedly; Jesus chose to die and God the Father was pleased.  The death of Jesus should not be blamed on a particular group of people;  Yes, the Jews killed Jesus,  and the Romans killed Jesus, but so did you and I.  Ultimately, God killed Jesus, and it was God’s idea.

The death of Jesus was planned from the instant of the Creation.  It did not surprise God or interfere with His Plan.  It was His Plan.  It should not surprise us that God  had multiple purposes with His plan.

Piper finds fifty reasons from scripture for the voluntary death of Jesus.  There are probably more.  Using the chapter titles from John  Piper’s book, here are a few which may surprise you:

To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis of Salvation:  Galatians 5:11,  6:12

To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning: Ephesians 5:25

To Destroy the Hostility Between Races: Ephesians 2: 14-16

So That He Would be Crowned With Glory and Honor: Hebrews 2:9,  Philippians 2: 7-9, Revelation 5:12

To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant By God for Good: Acts 4:27-28

 

As smart as we pride ourselves on being, we are very limited in our intelligence.  Look at the doctrine of the Trinity, which is clearly taught in Scripture and which we clearly struggle to understand.  God thinks on a cosmic level not bounded by space or time.  Read the series of questions He put forth in the book of Job.  “My ways are not your ways.”  Isaiah 55:8

Jogging With Michael Jr.

Christian comedian Michael Jr. talks about one day when he went jogging.




For those who don't know, the title "A Brother Jogging," is a pun. Fellow Christians are Brothers and Sisters. In American slang usage, a "brother" is a black man.

Song Version of Pastor Joe Nelm's NASCAR Prayer

Someone has made a country music auto-tuned version of Pastor Joe Nelm''s NASCAR prayer .   I personally think that Pastor Nelm's prayer is not sacrilegious and was intended in the "in all things" sense mentioned in scripture.  I find the video to be humorous. You may not.  The song was created by a commercial group trying to sell their "songify" service, so their intentions, and opinion of the video, may not be as pure as Pastor Nelms'.

Are We Not Men?

On 14 April 2010, I posted a comment on the film, Island of Lost Souls. The "happy" paradise built by Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton) begins to fall apart when his man-animal hybrids begin to ask, "Are we not men?"

Island of Lost Souls is a very perverse film which can be uncomfortable to watch even today. Many considered it to be a frontal assault on the prevalent political and religious order. The film was banned in some places and in Australia it received the N.E.N. designation: "not to be exhibited to natives;" the aborigines or "Bushmen."

The motivation for the N.E.N. designation was the same as that which produced laws in the pre-Civil War American South which made it illegal to teach slaves to read. Many especially did not want the slaves to read the book of Philemon.

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You can read more about this film and others which stretched moral, political, sexual, social, religious, and ethical boundaries in:

Doherty, Thomas, Pre-Code Hollywood. Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934 (NY: Columbia University Press, ca. 1999)

Sports Competition

     In yesterday's post I spoke against the Get Out of My Way or I'm Gonna Run Over You mentality.  I knew as I wrote it that it could be taken as a swipe against sports competition.  That's not what I meant at all.  In fact, in football, you're supposed to run over your opponent.  I support that.  The difference is in the underlying attitude.  One attitude is demeaning and belittling, the other shows respect for your opponent.

     It has become common for football players to want to gloat and to perform elaborate celebration rituals after scoring a touchdown or making a good play.  Some even want to stand over a knocked down  opponent and to glare menacingly at him to produce intimidation.  

     Football leagues have rightly established penalties for such behavior and the punishments are  appropriate not just because the behaviors delay the game.  The actions are demeaning and insulting to the team and/or players against whom they are directed.

     The legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was certainly no stranger to rough, physical football and he was not, to my knowledge, particularly religious.  There were rumors about his personal failings, but, as a coach, he knew how to train young men in the proper attitudes for sports competition.  He taught them how to be proper men and most of his players came to remember him as almost a second father.

     When a player scored a touchdown, Bryant told him to act like he had done it before and as if he planned to do it again.  Players who would not comply lost playing time.

     Players who gloated over a successful quarterback sack, or a great block, or a brilliant interception, lost playing time.

     Coach Bryant was no stranger to the tactic of intimidation, but it was an intimidation which paradoxically showed a respect for the opponent.  He told his players to knock their opponent down and then to offer him a hand up.  Then to turn around and knock him down again.  After a few rounds of this process, the opponent would begin to expect to be knocked down.

     There are people who would like to ban competitive sport altogether because they say it crushes the spirits of the less talented.  The reality is that properly administered sports can teach teamwork, self-confidence, how to deal with failure without loss of self-esteem, how to deal with success, and how to engage in equitable and honorable competition without malice toward one's opponent.  The lessons which can be learned in competitive sports can be applied to one's work career and interpersonal relations.

     The Apostle Paul saw nothing wrong with competitive sports and even used a sports analogy to make a point.

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain."  1 Corinthians 9:24.