“Idolatry is an account of the world. It is not stand-alone worship of some god who is not God, who is being worshiped for its own sake. No, the idol is connected to an account of the world. This means that when we reject the idolatry, as we must do, we are still not in a position to reject the thing of which that idol is erroneously thought to be lord. We reject Aphrodite, not sexuality. We reject Mammon, not money in our wallets. We reject Ceres, not wheat farming. We reject Poseidon, not joining the Navy” (Empires of Dirt, p. 19).
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Can we reject Posiedon AND joining the Navy. It’s just that I have this fear of drowning.
May I suggest tattoos of a rooster and a pig on the tops of your feet? (One animal per foot, of course.) Superstition has it that those two particular animals will not drown if their ship sinks, so by tattooing their likenesses to your feet you can ensure that your feet will not drown in the case your ship sinks.
You can tell this is exemplary information because it is superstition, it has ‘super’ right in the name. Your fear is now rendered irrational, problem solved.
Sounds great. I mean, who doesn’t want to be “super?”
Alden –
If the animals make your feet float, doesn’t that make swimming kind of hard? Do they both swim in the same direction? This seems like there could be some associated problems could arise.
This brings back memories of childhood and ill-advised games of “let’s strap the water-wings to our ankles”. I guess if things look like they’re going seriously south, you can always eat the animals. I believe you’ll be hard pressed to find a rooster that is worth the effort of preparing, but just about any pig will satisfy. Plus a pig has the benefit of being meal-agnostic; it is tasty for breakfast, lunch, *and* dinner.
Those of us who believe it is wicked for a nation to have a standing army in time of peace also reject joining the navy.
I suspect that you haven’t spent much time around the Army in peacetime. With no war to give purpose to a soldier’s steps, mostly the Army just sits around. Some trench digging also happens. And of course there are ‘field exercises’, which consist mainly of sleeping in tents. All in all, very little standing is accomplished. As a former sailor I can say that this is doubly true for the Navy. Heck, it’s mostly true even in time of war (of the Navy, that is).
Great point- sadly look through the comments, it way over most heads