Session Notes

recoverynation.com

While the architects of AA should forever be in everyone’s gratitude for such a revolutionary approach, and a pure desire to make themselves and their society better… do keep in mind that what they wrote back in the 30′s was cutting edge — back in the 30′s. With all sociological theories, an evolution must take place–and this is especially true in addiction recovery. So much has been learned about the human condition over the past seventy years that it is unfair to compare today’s approaches to then. Not saying that some of their earlier hypotheses were wrong (well yes, some were absolutely wrong… but many continue to form the basis for today’s recovery community) — only saying that the authors were at a significant disadvantage due to not having the benefit of knowing “what we know now”. They were making things up as they went, based on their own intuition and experience. Well, that and a recovery model loosely based from another created in the late 1800′s. But they did good. Not perfect, but good.

You’ve heard the mantra, “Once an addict, always an addict”… Well, while such a statement is not technically a “lie” — as a lie implies deception — such statements are not accurate, either. Not with what we know today to be true of addiction. They may be accurate on the surface, offering a sense of temporary stability and identity… but they are offering the WRONG identity for permanent change to occur.

There’s a backlash growing in our society against the 12 step model — it’s about 20 years too late — but it’s happening. Here’s the stats:

45% of the people who attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings never return after their first meeting

95% never return after the first year.

Based on Alcoholics Anonymous World Services’ own statistics Alcoholics Anonymous has only a 5% retention rate.

and here’s the research to back them.

If you are an addict in the USA with no money to spend, you will be subjected to a 12 step program. On the other hand, if you have a few (As in up to 9) K a week to spend, you will never see a 12 step model brought anywhere near you. Apparently, when someone is spending almost $1300.00/day, you have to actually help them…;-)

Of course, isn’t it interesting that the church is notably absent from any of the above links and, without a doubt, one of the biggest promoters of the 12 step model… Do we actually want people sick?

Q&A: Chastisement in view of development, not shortcomings!:

“WE are the ones who have a problem recognizing it. Just because His dealings may SEEM to line up with injuries or trials or what-have-you, we are the ones who will try to figure out what GOD might be doing by things that may have no connection whatever!!
Some thoughts:
Do your back injuries really have to be considered as ”chastisements“ at all? Could they not just be a weakness and/or an injury? Then again, might this incident not end up being a ”gift“ as our father works all things together for your good? I think we have been trained to be very, very superstitious in our ”Christian“ upbringing.”

This is a good reminder that God sees us/others according to our reality in Christ, if we believe in Jesus/His Work for us. We are the ones who have the problem recognizing it.

Q&A: True discipline:

“The reality of our total acceptance is the basis for true discipline, for our Father is faithful in maturing us.  He works in us FROM the image of his son TOWARD the image of his son.  In other words, beginning and ending in the reality of Christ in us.  He is teaching us who it is we really are, and He uses whatever means He desires to cause us to see this. ”

This is an excellent encouraging short article that says discipline is constant care. I pray parents/schools would understand for believing children God is in them.

demonbaby.com

If you’re not familiar with Oink, here’s a quick summary: Oink was was a free members-only site – to join it you had to be invited by a member. Members had access to an unprecedented community-driven database of music. Every album you could ever imagine was just one click away. Oink’s extremely strict quality standards ensured that everything on the site was at pristine quality – 192kbps MP3 was their bare minimum, and they championed much higher quality MP3s as well as FLAC lossless downloads. They encouraged logs to verify that the music had been ripped from the CD without any errors. Transcodes – files encoded from other encoded files, resulting in lower quality – were strictly forbidden. You were always guaranteed higher quality music than iTunes or any other legal MP3 store. Oink’s strict download/share ratio ensured that every album in their vast database was always well-seeded, resulting in downloads faster than anywhere else on the internet. A 100mb album would download in mere seconds on even an average broadband connection. Oink was known for getting pre-release albums before anyone else on the internet, often months before they hit retail – but they also had an extensive catalogue of music dating back decades, fueled by music lovers who took pride in uploading rare gems from their collection that other users were seeking out. If there was an album you couldn’t find on Oink, you only had to post a request for it, and wait for someone who had it to fill your request. Even if the request was extremely rare, Oink’s vast network of hundreds of thousands of music-lovers eager to contribute to the site usually ensured you wouldn’t have to wait long.

In this sense, Oink was not only an absolute paradise for music fans, but it was unquestionably the most complete and most efficient music distribution model the world has ever known. I say that safely without exaggeration. It was like the world’s largest music store, whose vastly superior selection and distribution was entirely stocked, supplied, organized, and expanded upon by its own consumers. If the music industry had found a way to capitalize on the power, devotion, and innovation of its own fans the way Oink did, it would be thriving right now instead of withering. If intellectual property laws didn’t make Oink illegal, the site’s creator would be the new Steve Jobs right now. He would have revolutionized music distribution. Instead, he’s a criminal, simply for finding the best way to fill rising consumer demand. I would have gladly paid a large monthly fee for a legal service as good as Oink – but none existed, because the music industry could never set aside their own greed and corporate bullshit to make it happen.

Probably one of the most complete and well thought out assessment of the current state of the record industry — with some strong suggestions about how to take them completely out. Very well worth the read.

Canadians are salt lovers at heart:

“ small children are getting too much, with one- to eight-year-olds consuming more than twice the recommended adequate daily intake of 1,000 to 1,200 mg of sodium per day.”

Q&A: Are we still chastened by the Lord?:

“I can know, good or bad, that He loves me and is not thwarted by all that crap. He didn’t bring us into a life that needs to be made better … but into a life that is connecting to everything I am and everything I do!”

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO TRY TO BE better. God seemed to say trusting Him is the OUTCOME. HE DOESN’T MAKE US LOVE HIM.

TIME

The Bible and Its Influence has a fascinating constellation of supporters and critics. Some of its more liberal champions, such as the American Jewish Congress’s counsel Marc Stern, feel that the republic can not only survive but will actually benefit from public school courses on a document as culturally central as the Bible — as long as the classes avoid being devotional. Evangelical heavyweight Chuck Colson hopes that God will speak to students even through a class that is secular in intent. Those opposed to the book include secularists who argue that it already violates the First Amendment and fundamentalists who see its approach as secular and therefore diluting the value of what they see as God’s inspired word.

What’s striking about this article is not that you can get a group of Christians, Jews, Secular intellectuals and even a fundamentalist like Colson to agree on a textbook. That’s really not too hard. All you have to do is create a work that is objective, accurate and clearly demonstrates the incredible effect Christianity has on culture and even many atheists will support it.

It’s not even striking that there are fundamentalists out there like this. It takes only the briefest research to discover that it’s not just Islam that has grown more fundamentalist. Evangelical Christianity and other faiths all over the world are all moving towards greater and greater extremism at alarming rates.

What is striking is the degraded nature of thinking process among these Evangelical-Fascist subgroupings. It goes something like this:

Spirituality is a magic thing we get from following rules and jumping through hoops — it is, by definition, good.

Spirituality is as different from the rest of life as outer space is from an atmosphere.

That which is not spiritual is of little value — should be suspect and combated.

Therefore, because it is not about rules and hoops, life and learning can not be spiritual.

Because life and learning is not spiritual, we must fight it.

Seems to me we’ve seen this thinking before — we saw it in and near the end of the dark ages when the religious leadership was trying to burn astronomers at the stake. The Roman Catholic church — in part due to reformers like Luther — was forced to finally cancel this absurdist distinction and embrace all of life as an encounter with the Divine.

For years, Evangelicalism has worn the label of Protestant. We protested an institution and a structure, yes, but really we protested the idea of a human mediator between us and God, the idea of the separation between the clergy and the laity and a split between the secular and the spiritual. We protested magic crystal ball spirituality and demanded that the truth of intimate relationship with God again be taught.

We were right — the release of a document called Vatican II finally even had the Roman Catholic Church agreeing. (Thank God)

The irony is, once we finally get the Roman Catholic Church to agree with us, we then adopt what they just rejected. Now that’s ecumenicism at it’s finest…

FOXNews.com

I was intrigued and excited to meet and interview Alexander Roy, who, with a co-driver, claims to have broken the unofficial transcontinental driving record, racing from New York City to the Santa Monica Pier in 31 hours and four minutes in a 2000 BMW M5.

Ok, I can’t resist.

After all my 7 years of driving ambulances and fully understanding that a couple of lines of Cocaine have absolutely nothing on the high that results from doing 100kmh through rush hour traffic, I’m still trying really hard to condemn these guys — I’m trying, I’m still trying… Really trying… SOOOOOO hard… Really…

And then to get to do it with a chase aircraft overhead to watch for radar traps… No! {SLAP} Bad Cal!

OK, so I give up. Seems like God has some significant regeneration He’s not quite yet accomplished with my right foot…

Cervical Cancer – Cancer – Body & Health:

“It’s been shown repeatedly that women who are young when they lose their virginity and women who have had many sexual partners are at higher risk of the disease. However, most people have been exposed to HPV in their lifetime.People who smoke are at higher risk of this disease, as with most cancers. The risk also increases steadily with age. Women over age 65 are the most likely to develop cervical cancer. In Canadian studies, people with low incomes had consistently higher rates of cervical cancer. The most dramatic risk elevation was found in First Nations women, who are 2 to 6 times as likely to develop cervical cancer as non-Native women.”

USATODAY.com

“I don’t know how long this leave of absence will last, but I fully trust the members of the Board of Regents,” Roberts said in a statement released by the university. “I pray and believe that in God’s timing, and when the Board feels that it is appropriate, I will be back at my post as president.”

Well, the son of the man God wanted to nuke for being short on cash has spoken. First, God thundered from the clouds and told him to stand and fight to the end. Oh, now wait a sec, God just thundered again — now our good friend the Oral Roberts prez has to step aside. (Or maybe his indigestion went gurgle in the night…)

But, only temporarily — and on a deadline — as a negotiating tactic — because he needs one — because he’s innocent — and his wife is sure she isn’t into little boys — (and since God, of course, doesn’t speak to impure people, you can definitely trust him on this one) because, “GOD hath SPOKEN…”

There’s a little psychological trick known as, “Divorcing your own voice and receiving it back as thunder.” It works like this:

(1). You figure out what you want.
(2). Tell the world it’s not your decision; you are just waiting on God.
(3). Claim that God told you to do what it is you wanted to do in the first place.
(4). Profit from the gullible.

It works really well — until you suddenly figure out that you are not the Almighty, that your desires, unlike God’s, have changed and you are now stuck. Then the world and even your own throughly brainwashed followers can suddenly see that either your are your own god, your god is psychotic, and/or you are schizophrenic.

And then there are the thousands of those followers who have now seen the truth that they no longer need priests to stand between them and God and are fleeing to a real relationship with the God who is really there (and isn’t short on cash?) Umm, oh, never mind…

But… But… But, oh, let’s follow him anyway.