Category / Christianty

by James Ross Kelly

OLD-GROWTH FORESTS: CARBON WARRIORS—PAUL STAMETS


 

OG0010I was born on July 17, 1955. At the time, the carbon dioxide levels on this planet were 310 to 320 parts per million. Now, we’re over 400 parts per million, higher than at any point in at least the past eight hundred thousand years.

1-That’s over a 20 percent increase in my lifetime. Such geo-atmospheric cycles usually take thousands or even millions of years to occur, and we’re seeing it within my sixty-plus years of life. In terms of geologic cycles, this is sudden; nearly instantaneous. Scientists are sounding the alarms while denialists have their heads in the sand. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. The science has clearly established that mycelium networks act as the most significant biological storage sink for carbon— far more than what is stored in above-ground flora and trees.

2-But we need both, and old-growth forests are the best above ground storage of carbon anywhere in the world. It used to be that the metric we used to measure the value of an old-growth forest was the economic value of the lumber. But that metric is quickly being offset with the advances in science. We’re going down a slippery slope. As we deforest the planet and cut down old-growth forests, we accelerate carbon loss, temperature rise, and ecosphere devastation. Biodiversity plummets. Humans experience poverty, disease, and unsustainability. This has all been well demonstrated.

3-Intact forest ecosystems, by comparison, provide more ecological services than just board feet of lumber. They clean the water, provide shade, and give communities plants, insects, and animals. Protecting our forests is essential not only for our survival now, but also for the survival of generations to come.

—PAUL STAMETS

 

Stamets, Paul. Fantastic Fungi: Expanding Consciousness, Alternative Healing, Environmental Impact // Official Book of Smash Hit Documentary (Kindle Locations 282-297). Earth Aware Editions. Kindle Edition.

by James Ross Kelly

The End of Big Churches? | Gene Veith


Already, megachurches are being hit the hardest by the COVID-19 shutdown.  Though they often have sophisticated studio facilities, making for polished online services, the central large-church experience of worshipping as part of a gigantic crowd–with the emotional experience that fosters–is no longer possible.  The effect of the technology is to break down the mass experience.

Source: The End of Big Churches? | Gene Veith

by James Ross Kelly

C.S.Lewis Addresses our Current Malaise— in 1942 | Ben Witherington


Satan: “I will cause anxiety, fear, and panic. I will shut down business, schools, places of worship and sports events. I will cause economic turmoil.”

Jesus: “I will bring together neighbours I will Restore the family unit I will bring dinner back to the kitchen table. I will help people slow down their lives, and will appreciate what really matters. I will teach my children to rely on me and not the world. I will teach my children to trust me, and not their money and material resources.”

Source: C.S.Lewis Addresses our Current Malaise— in 1942 | Ben Witherington

by James Ross Kelly

Pandemic removes Dead Sea Scrolls from exhibition – The Forward


For most of their 2,000 year history, the scrolls were hidden in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea. Since their discovery in the 1940s and 50s, they have been on a steady path to celebrity. Before the pandemic, up to 3,000 people visited the Shrine of the Book every day. Now, no one knows exactly when the public will see the scrolls in person again. The museum’s entire trove has returned to indefinite hiding.

Source: Pandemic removes Dead Sea Scrolls from exhibition – The Forward

by James Ross Kelly

The New Testament: A Translation by David Bentley Hart/Matthew 25:31-46


James Ross Kelly's avatarSt. John One: One

Matthew 25:31 And when the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his throne of glory; 32And
all the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from
one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the kid goats, 33And
will set the sheep to his right, but the kid goats to the left. 34Then
the King will say to those to his right, ‘Come, you blessed by my Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the cosmos. 35For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
drink, I was a stranger and you gave me hospitality, 36Naked and you
clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came…

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by James Ross Kelly

We Are Sheep-We Are Goats | Darrell Lackey


“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.”Those on the right, the sheep, are told to come and inherit the Kingdom. Those on the left do not fare as well. Or, at least this is the common understanding of these verses.  The sheep are bound for heaven, while the goats to eternal perdition.  One is either a sheep or a goat, there is no in-between. Two groups. Very simple. Very black and white.  You know, the way most of us like our theology.And yet, I wonder. So too did Sergius Bulgakov. There are alternative readings to what we call the “final judgment,” or the end times.  Bulgakov offered such a reading, which I find compelling and closer to the over-all sweep of Scripture, the Christian narrative, and of the God portrayed therein.What partly formed his reading of Matthew 25 and the sheep and the goats, was his view of what “judgment” entailed and meant.  We normally view judgment as something happening outside ourselves. We stand before an external judge who makes a decision regarding our lives, our souls.  It is something handed down to us, rendered or decreed.  It is separate from our own judgment, reflection, or internal calculus.

Source: We Are Sheep-We Are Goats | Darrell Lackey

by James Ross Kelly

Easter Sneak Peak–Soon to be published by UnCollected Press: And the Fires We Talked About


And The Fires We Talked About Cover ArtEaster Sunday Afternoon

HE WAS STOOPED OVER AND ABOUT five-foot-five on a freeway entrance on I-5 northbound, with two good-sized paper grocery bags. Bundled up as he was, you could not discern by a scraggly grey-streaked beard; could have easily been fifty or older, but, stocking-capped, it was hard to tell.

“Oh thanks, oh thanks,”He said.

“I need a seven-mile ride!” He said.

Clear blue sky met us both and the twenty-year-old Ford picked up to freeway speed, and he was settling in with his bags at his feet. There were four, quart bottles of Rainer Ale.

“Warming up eh?” He said.

“Well yes, and its Easter,” I say, and I told him I’d just been to church, told him the Pastor preached the Road to Emmaus, and…

“Luke 24!” He said.

“They were walking with Jesus!” He said.

“Didn’t know it was Him!” He said.

I thought of stumbling over some point this Pastor had made, then I stopped. He knew scripture; I listened.

“Didn’t know, until they broke bread with him, Ha!” He said, slapping his knee.

“Got me a bridge up here I like!” He said, almost growling.

“Stays nice and dry, I can have a little fire, and nobody sees the smoke.”  He said.

“I stopped being able to live inside about fifteen years ago,” He said.

“Don’t know why, I can’t live inside. I do pretty good. I worry in the winter that my feet will freeze.”  He said.

“I do pretty good though, see my way around, find places like this bridge,” He said.

“Haven’t been rolled in two years,” He said.

“I can’t live inside.”  He said.

“Wrap my feet with paper on winter nights.” He said.

“I’m afraid in the winter my feet might freeze,” He repeated.

“My feet froze seven years ago, lost one toe.” He said.

“But it’s getting warm now.”  He said.

“I do pretty good.” He said.

When we arrived at the bridge, I got off onto the freeway shoulder with my Ford, and we talked for a while. My heart burned. I remembered I’d just bought a box of oranges. I got out and retrieved a dozen to a plastic bag from the trunk, I’d just done laundry and there were wool socks on top of the laundry basket, I put those in with the oranges and I found a twenty and gave him that too.

“He is risen!” I said.

“He is risen indeed!” He said, then vanished down under a roadbed bridge home.

 

 

 

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And the Fires We Talked About–Copyright © 2020 by James Ross Kelly

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