00:30 Happiness and homogeneity
31:00 Is the Bible historical truth?
39:00 Time to Close Down the Elon Musk Circus, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/21/elon-musk-twitter-press-00074881
45:00 The cult of 12 step programs
1:02:30 The Economist: Why cricket and America are made for each other, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=146596
1:24:00 The Second Coming of Guru Jagat, https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/11/the-second-coming-of-guru-jagat
Virtual Pilgrim says: 9:30 Luke says, Happiness is the more you have in common with others such as, race, ethnicity, religion, culture… Hmmm… reminds me of something someone once wrote: “Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the SAME ancestors, speaking the SAME language, professing the SAME religion, attached to the SAME principles of government, very SIMILAR in their manners and customs…” ~ John Jay, First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, 1787, Federalist Papers #2
The problem with national surveys in racially diverse countries such as America, is that there is no such thing as a typical American anymore. The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary defined an American as, “DESCENDENTS OF EUROPEANS born in America.”
1:14:48 “Can anyone become an American?” No. But now, if that idea is true, It is not unique to the United States. Anyone can now become an Australian, an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Norwegian, a Swede. There’s nothing unique about the United States being a nation of immigrants.
Ronald Reagan said, “You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you cannot become a German, a Turk, or a Japanese. But anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.” Did Reagan really intend to imply Blacks living in France are not truly French?
1:40:46 Luke mentions swearing among Jews. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)
“Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” (Ephesians 5:4)
