Illusion: Color Castle

This is a pretty neat illusion. You don't really have to stare for 30 sec, but at least for a while.

Lies, All Lies (Pt 3)

There are other types of lying as well. One that I hate is called the “Just Kidding” lie. There’s a big difference between playing a joke on someone, teasing someone, and lying to someone but then saying “Just Kidding” afterwards. It may seem like there’s no difference, but believe you me, there is. And today and possibly this week, I’m going to tell you the differences. First, let me tell you a story. A true story that happened to me. Honest. No lying!

For the last two years of my college years, I roomed with a friend, a non-Christian Thai friend. I may have talked about him before, he was a neat freak. Well, still is, I suppose. Seriously, there’s nothing better than rooming with a neat freak, although undoubtedly the neat freak would think there’s nothing worse. So anyway, one time I came home from school and my friend was lying on the couch, watching some TV. I walked to my room, and dumped my stuff off and I went back outside to sit on the couch. During a commercial break, my friend casually told me, “I got fired from my job at the lab.” Immediately, I sat up and said, “What? What happened?” “Oh, they caught me stealing some computer stuff.” Of course, I became concerned, I mean, wouldn’t you be in this situation? So I started to sympathize with him, and he just kept telling me more and more stuff. Then he at the end he said, “Just kidding!” That’s when I started pummeling him with my fists in my mind.

So, what are the differences?

Well, first let’s talk about playing jokes. Playing a joke on someone certainly involves a bit of lying. Although, in this case, this is called “acting”. Acting is playing a role, and normally isn’t malicious. It’s like a job. So to set up a practical joke, it often involves actors, playing certain roles. In the 80’s, there was this show called “Bloopers”, hosted by Johnny’s sidekick and the ageless man (Ed McMahon and Dick Clark). There they play elaborate practical jokes on people. I guess I’m showing my age here. Nowadays, it’s called “Punk’d”. Jokes are intended to fool someone, but in the end, it’s all in good fun. The key to the practical joke is that the person who is being fooled, eventually knows that it’s all not real. That’s the main thing. There is a big “reveal” phase, where the whole setup is shown to the victim. Done properly, it can be very entertaining (to the actors or the audience).

Teasing is simply making fun of someone. It doesn’t really involve lying, per se. Sometimes, it involves exaggerations, which can be considered lying. It’s more like stretching the truth. It can go anywhere from increasing the numbers, to making something into a habit. For example, if someone is taking a long time to get ready, I like to tease them by exaggerating the length of preparation time. Something like, “You’re taking so long, I think a glacier just passed us by.” Teasing often enough can be damaging to a person, but done lightly and with care, it can often make you seem funny. To others, not the victim of course. And that’s what matters the most. It’s the time-honored trick of putting someone down to make yourself feel better or look better. It’s often a mainstay in a comedian’s repertoire. If they sense their jokes are falling flat, go tease someone! Feel free to racially profile someone in the front (Note, this is why for comedy shows, it’s actually better to sit in the back)! Teasing isn’t all bad. Sometimes, it shows how quick thinking a person is. Like if I tease someone, and they quickly tease me back, it’s a sign that they think fast on their feet, or a well-practiced bully…. Hrm… does this mean bullies are smart?

Social Engineering: USB

Do you remember the adage, if something looks too good to be true, it probably isn't? A lot of movies glamorize computer hacking as people writing codes to break passwords or go through firewalls. Truth is, more often than not, breaking it involves scams and what experts call Social Engineering. Here's an ingenious way this security firm retrieved passwords from a Credit Union.

Video: Animation vs animator

I finally get to show this awesome video! It's been in the queue since early June. It really bears watching multiple times to see all the action, because there's a lot going on the screen at once. Anyway, enjoy.
Really Cool flash video of animator vs animation. Around the middle, it starts getting hectic and hard to see what both sides are doing. This definitely requires multiple viewings. I really enjoyed it.

Hot off the Press! Beloit MindSet List

For those of you who don't know, Beloit College every year prepares a list of things that the incoming freshman class grew up with. Cultural landmarks that have affected this kids. It's always an entertaining read. However, don't read this if you don't want to feel old.

Lies All Lies (Pt 2)

Ever since I was a kid, I had honed my craft of lying without actually lying. Yeah, I liked to disobey my parents often, and I hated punishments worse, so I began to find ways of bending the truth, or misdirection. That way I could get away with stuff without having to repent my sins to Jesus. Lying was always a last resort for me. As I became good at evasion, I was able to analyze very quickly the different ways to present the truth, and judge its efficacy in satisfying the question. But if I was unable to come up with something within 5 or 6 seconds, then I had no choice but to lie. You see, with any hesitation or pause, it already means you’re making something up. So the quicker the response, the more truthful it seems (even if it’s not.) Knowing this, if I couldn’t think of anything good within those 5 seconds, I had to make a decision to lie, there’s no backing down. And remember the rules for lies. Keep it short. No, yes, I don’t know.

So what are some tricks to bend the truth? Well, I’m not going to show you ALL my tricks, lest you use them against me. I can’t have that. But I will give you a couple and you can take it from there. My first trick I’m going to share doesn’t even involve your mouth. It involves your eyes. As I had learned from television (See? And you thought TV is a waste of time! Actually, today’s shows offer more information than ever before. Especially psychological or crime dramas, they like to throw out statistics and actual interrogation methods to make the series seem more real. A smart person would do well to write these things down.), before you open your mouth, you have to absolutely -- make a conscious effort now -- to look the person in the eyes. When people lie, they feel ashamed or guilty, so often they can’t look at the person, hence the phrase, "can’t look them in the eye". If you want your lie, or trick or whatever, to succeed, you gotta stare straight at their peepers. And you have to concentrate looking at their pupils. Don’t ever shift your eyes to their ears, and don’t look up or down. Stare into their eyes, note the color of their irises, how big their pupils are (Actually, a good benefit of staring into their eyes is you can tell right away whether your trick is working or not. When you see their eyes narrow or their pupils narrow, that's a red Alert! Shields up! Evasive Maneuvers!). Also, don’t stare at their bridge of their nose. You may think that you’re looking into their eyes, but they can tell you’re not. Choose one eye first, I like to start with their right eye. Then while talking, if I’m bored at looking at the right, I’ll shift to the left. But whatever I do, I never look away, not even for a nanosecond. Now this seems easy, but it’s a hard skill to master.

Second trick I like to use is to let the other person’s imagination fill in the blanks for me. It’s said, that people only hear and remember about 20% of a given conversation anyway. Try to be vague, and have holes in your story, and if you’ve been staring at them, they will want to believe you and their own mind will fill in the rest of the blanks. In effect, you are having them lie for you. I’m not sure who’s guilty in this case. It’s best for me not to dwell on that too much. But the key to this trick is how vague to make it. It’s a very fine line to walk. You have to be vague enough with the important details that you aren’t lying, and yet not be so vague that it makes it look like you’re hiding something. Once you crossed that line of appearing to be hiding something, immediately they’ll become suspicious, and they won’t be helping you lie anymore. Instead, they’re going to start grilling you and not really believing everything you say. After that, you’re screwed. Either fess up or tell a straight lie, because one thing you can never do is make someone unsuspicious. You may swear to Heaven, God, your mom’s grave, their mom's grave, it’s not going to work. They won’t be satisfied until you give them a direct answer. Your wiggle room is gone, so to speak.

Lies All Lies (Pt 1)

Lies, All Lies!

Lying is such a funny thing. It has the greatest potential for the most harm, and yet people do it all the time. Often times, we lies so often, we become numb to the consequences of lies. “It’s no big deal”, we lie to ourselves. See? But, every lie, no matter how “white” it is, are all big deals. It’s so serious, that God felt it should be written on those stone tablets, right there next to murder and adultery, both of which are capital punishments. Lying is a capital punishment. You will die if you lie. Hey, pretty catchy huh?

If the consequences are so serious, then why do we still do it? I think it’s because it’s so easy to do. Just make up a story, sprinkle in some facts, and there you go: a lie. I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but the key to creating a good believable lie is ironically enough, keeping it as close to the truth as possible. Just change a few facts around, emphasis on few. If you start changing whole chunks of the story, you will only make it harder for you to remember the lie. And that is key. In order for it to be real, you have to remember it as real, and the details can’t change. If they change, and the person catches it, the whole thing falls down. Another problem with lies are that they have a way of growing. And I don’t even mean growing more and more preposterous, like a TALL tale. Those are different kinds of lies. No, often, I find that lies often are built on other lies like a fragile house of cards. When the lies become complex and intricate, it takes on a life of its own. Often those aren’t worth doing, and should only be accomplished by a master. Here let me give you an example.

Let’s say your friend Jill invites you to a party on Sat. You politely tell her you’re busy (Lie). She says ok. Then next week rolls around, and she asks you what you did last Sat. Now, obviously you can’t say sitting on your butt all day, because she would know you lied. So you start going into this story of how you went hiking with some friends. See how the lie is building? Now you need to keep track of a) where you went “hiking”, b) when you went “hiking”, and c) with whom you went “hiking”. So she tells other people about your exciting hike, and throughout the day, random people will ask you how your hike was. And you have to keep in mind all the details, because if those random people talk with each other, everything has to match. See?

The other thing about lies is to keep it as short and undetailed as possible. Who went on the hike? Oh, my college friends you don’t know. Where did you go? Pick a place you have been to before, so if they are familiar with it, you can both reminisce about it.

However, everything I’ve said, don’t do it. It’s not Christian, and remember the death punishment? It all applies. If you tell your significant other that the dress looks fine (even though it’s neon green, with enough zigzags to hypnotize people), you’re basically going to hell. I guess it’s a choice of whether to be in hell now or later, right? Of course, it’s not all gloomy, like all other sins, Jesus will forgive you if you repent. But, I still want to stress the seriousness of lying. It isn’t something to be taken lightly. And now, a word from our sponsors:
Rev 21:8
Ps 5:6
Pr 12:22
Col 3:9
Acts 5:1-5

Video: Pool Trick Shots

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a very relaxing or fun weekend! Here's a video to start off your week. Some pretty impressive trick shots. I just like it when he pumps his fist when he gets it right. I dunno, I guess cause it shows he's doing this for fun, rather than as a professional. Here's the video.

Video: Nother Rube Goldberg

Here's another rube goldberg, but this time made entirely of sticks and stones in the outdoors. It's interesting, but some parts are hard to follow cause the cameraman is shaky.

Forgiveness

What I’m trying to talk about this week is forgiveness.  What exactly does it mean to forgive someone?  Now, the guy I was talking about earlier, he lived by a simple rule.  Three strikes and you’re out.  What he means is if you cross him three times, he will have nothing to do with you anymore.  So apparently the first two times are “warnings”.  And he will “forgive” you those two times.  But if you cross him, and make him mad again, well buh-bye!

First of all, he absolutely gives no ground rules on what makes him mad.  Looking at him funny will make him mad.  I told him that too.  I said, “You can’t expect people to live by this three strike rule if you’re being vague about it.”  He just shrugged.  “That’s tough.”

Second of all, is it really forgiveness when he still keeps track of the number of times he’s been wronged?  Can you imagine Jesus doing that?  “Oh, that’s the 2,412,239 lie you told today, you’re outta here!  Don’t you know?  I have a 2,412,240-strike rule!”  I dunno, but I don’t think forgiveness works that way.  How did Jesus put it?  Something about hitting someone 490 times.  I’ll have to look it up later.  I think an essential part of forgiveness is forgetting.  When you forgive someone, you’re not holding anything against the person who has wronged you.  And yes, I’m talking to you, ladies who hold grudges about things your Significant Other did 10 years ago!  When you say forgive, you forget.  It’s automatic.  It’s why they share the same 3 first letters.  FOR.  

What does forgiveness really mean?  It’s so trite and trivial nowadays.  Someone says sorry, you say I forgive you.  Sometimes, even a “forget it”.  That means, the action is in the past, and you have both moved on.  That’s the key.  Like Jesus said, if you want God to forgive you, you need to move on.  You can’t be carrying and storing up all the sins other people have against you.  Your burden (not to mention your mind) will get heavier and heavier.  Soon you’ll need a spreadsheet to keep track of who has wronged you how many times.  And anyway, what’s the point of keeping track?  Are you going to be like my friend and put an upper limit on the suffering people have caused you?  What will you do then?  Stop being friends?

When you start holding grudges against people, it sours the relationship, and you stop trusting them.  You may say you forgive on your lips, but deep down, you’re just waiting, biding your time until they slip up again.  Then out comes the “I KNEW IT.  You told me you would never do it again, and here you are, doing it again!”  And then what?  All you did was shown that you are the liar, because you didn’t really forgive the person.  Forgiveness means the slate is clean.  When you forgive a person, that wrongdoing has never happened.  It should be erased from your memory.  After all, doesn’t everyone need forgiveness?  And I’m pretty sure you want God to wipe your slate away, right?  Well, as Paul says, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Col 3:13)  Keep that in mind when I have sinned against you for the 20th time.

Wed Joke

Kinda old joke, but I've always liked it. So here it is again:

Mahatma Gandhi was quite a spiritual person. He walked barefoot everywhere, to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard.

Even when he was not on a hunger strike, he didn't eat much. Over time he became quite thin and frail. Furthermore, due to his diet, he wound up with very bad breath. Therefore he came to be known as a.....

"Super calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis."

(For those of you who don't get it, you should definitely rent "Mary Poppins"!)

The Friendship Breakup

I had a friend, who had a pretty bad temper. He kinda looks like a jolly Chinese… Santa… well without the beard and the hair on the top. But yeah other than that, just like Santa. On the surface, he seemed really nice. He was always considerate of others, looked like he cared what others said. People shared with him pretty easily. But, once you get to know him….whooo boy! Watch out! I got to know him pretty well one year, and well… let’s say it was a non-stop cheese and whine show, heavy on the whine. It got to be pretty bad, because against my better judgment, I started acting on things he told me. My views of other people started changing, and I started doubting everyone. I knew that wasn’t me, who I was. So I resolved to get away.

Have you ever broken a friendship before? It’s very weird. It’s kinda like breaking up with a girlfriend, only this is another guy. How do you approach it? “I’m sorry, but this… this isn’t working out.” “It’s not you! It’s me!” Those don’t really work. And you can’t say things like, “I think it’s time we hang around other friends.” It’s definitely not something that happens every day. Usually with my other friends, we just stop hanging out, we drift away. Usually it happens during school changes, like from eighth grade to high school, then from high school to college. But those are victims of circumstance, this was by choice. So, I took the coward’s way out.

I stopped talking to him.

For the first few weeks, he would call and leave vmail. I didn’t answer any nor check my vmail. He would also email me, but I deleted those as soon as I saw his name. That was made easier because somehow people had cracked his account and was using that same account to send spam. So, kill two birds with one stone, eh? Eventually, he took the hint and stopped calling or trying to contact me.

You know, Seinfeld had an episode exactly like my situation. It was an early one, with Seinfeld and this guy who was very self-centered. Never really listened to what Seinfeld had to say. So Jerry tries to end it. But then the guy starts crying! And it seemed just like what a girl would do when a guy tried to end the date. He starts blubbering about how his life sucks, and Jerry is the only bright spot. So of course Jerry backs out and even tries to bribe him by giving him Yankee tickets.

No, this isn’t a column about how to break up a friendship. I’m sure there’s a better way to do it. Nope, this column is about something completely different. It’s about forgiveness actually.

Hearing Test

I'm paraphrasing the website, which is down due to too much bandwidth.

There's a study that says as we get older, our hearing threshhold drops. The max an average human can hear is 20,000 Hz. The theory is that as you get older than teenage years, your max hearing goes down. The person who did this study thought it would be a good way to get rid of annoying teenage loiterers without bothering adults. Anyway, a guy created a sound test that uses Flash. You can see for yourself what your hearing threshhold is.

Mine is at/around 15000 Hz. I know, i listened to too much of that devil music, Rock N' Roll!

When Science goes mad!

Ok, some of these hybrids are just plain wierd to look at, especially the zebroids. Are there any moral ramifications to cross-breeding animals? What's next, a lionkey? Looks like Dr. Moreau's dream is coming true.

Video: Geekiest Video ever!

Can this movie get any more geeky? Maybe if they threw in some Battlestar Galactica or Farscape or something... Seriously, this is the coolest video I've seen yet, and if you're a scifi geek at heart, you definitely want to check this out. It's kinda long though, 7 min.

How to handle Jevhoah's Witnesses (Pt 2)

Ok, I’m back, and a little late.  But that’s ok.  It’s all about the cross.  It’s all about forgiveness….  It’s all about the fact that I had SOOOO much work to do what with work and school and church, did I mention I’m doing Jeopardy today?  Err I mean tomorrow, because of course, this post happened on THURSDAY, not Friday like you assume.  Yeah, you know what they say about ASSuming!  It makes you look dumb.  Like a donkey.  A big fat dumb donkey.  Not like the talking Donkey in Shrek.  No, that’s a cool but a little annoying donkey.  Plus he’s got Eddie’s voice.  A donkey with Eddie’s voice automagically is not a dumb donkey.  Did I mention, like you?

I’m sorry for insulting you, I didn’t mean it!  I swear, it won’t happen again!  Just come on back now.  That’s right.  Here’s a hanky.  Now, where was I?  Oh yeah, the one thing you should never do is…  Wait, should I be telling you this?  I mean, you might be a Jehovah’s Witness!  And here I am telling you how to avoid them, and then you would know how to avoid the stuff to avoid you… So first, all you Witnesses, close your eyes!  I’ll tell you when you can open them again!

Ok.  So, whatever you do, never ever let them enter your house.  Yup, they’re like mold, once you get it in, you’ll never get it out.  You’ll either have to a) move out of the house and never come back or b) burn it down.  Ok, I’m just kidding, but no, seriously, don’t let them in.  Once they’re inside, they know they won most of the battle.  Then they’ll talk on and on and on and on, and you can’t get them to stop.  I mean can you stop Niagara Falls from flowing?  No, and they’re a thousand times worse!

Oh no, you say.  But they’re already here!  And they’re reading this now!  What should I do?  Well, first of all, slap yourself.  I’d do it, but I’m here.  Ok, now stop panicking.  Slap yourself again, just in case.  Take a deep breath, and ask them politely to leave because you’re already a Christian.  Then tell them kindly that they’re a cult, and you don’t want any steenking cultists around.  Finally, tell them you’ll be laughing at them from heaven as they’re burning in hell.  You know, after both of you die.

Well, looks like it’s about time to go.  I swear I’ll get back to the topic of evangelizing.  I got a couple good stories about that!  See ya next week!

10 Accidental Inventions

Sometimes, it's not just sheer braininess that leads to invention, but sheer dumb luck. Here are 10 inventions that have had a huge impact on society, but were discovered accidentally.

How to handle Jehovah's Witness (Pt 1)

This week is going to be pretty hectic for me as I have a lot of writing to do on other projects.  So forgive me if this week’s rant isn’t as long as it normally is (Hey, no cheering back there!  I hear you!).  

So… what to talk about?  Let’s talk about evangelizing.  Now, I’m a Christian, and even I get annoyed when people come to my door to talk about religion.  Hey, I love to talk to religion as much as the next guy, but I dunno, talking to strangers isn’t my thing.  Is it just my paranoia or do you also imagine them suddenly pulling out a knife and stabbing you in the throat with it?  That always goes through my mind when I answer the door and it’s a stranger there.  Hey, race doesn’t matter, it could be black, white, Chinese, Mormon, it’s all the same.  So what I like to do is just open the door a crack, so I can just stick out my head (You know, limit my exposure) and talk to them there.  But then I realize it gives the impression that I don’t want them to see the rest of me, like I’m naked or something.  So then I’m swinging the door open and ajar to show them, yes I’m fully clothed, but still ready to close the door at the mere glimpse of a gun.  Yeah, I got reflexes of a cheetah!  I don’t know how well the door would handle under a fusillade of bullets, but every inch between me and a bullet is an inch closer to life.  Maybe I’ve been watching too many movies.  But it never hurts to be ready.  

So, I’m answering the door, swinging it to and fro like a bunny hopped up on speed, and it’s a well-dressed boy, with a bike.  If that doesn’t scream Jehovah’s Witness, I don’t know what does.  First rule of thumb when dealing with them.  Don’t let them talk.  Just look down at them with a sneer and say something like, “No thanks, I already have the Foreman Grill.  It works wonders!”  Then while they reel in confusion, casually mention that the Alien Zorg who is your supreme commander, doesn’t like it when you talk to strangers.  Then slam the door.

However, if this is a well-experienced Witness, they’ll start speaking even before you’ve unlocked your door.  Now you’re stuck hearing his entire spiel.  You can’t interrupt him because when you try, he just raises his hands, with the palms down, in a reassuring motion, to let you know, it’s ok, I’m almost done talking, just give me the 5 minutes to run through my speech.  Now you’re stuck.  What do you do?  Panic?  Scream?  Well, whatever you do, never

Well, this has gone pretty long.  To be continued on Thurs!

Caffeine Nap

ok, who had a wild and crazy weekend? Here's a method to stay awake the fastest, without side effects. It's called the Caffeine Nap, and only takes a total of 15 min to work. Perfect for those long drives at night or boring times in the office.

Video: Mashed Taters

I love potatoes! Here's something to kickstart your Monday!
Anyway, here's a techno remix parody of Lord of the Rings, about... you guessed it! Potatoes, the wonderful spud. The song is quite catchy.

World's Top Brands

Here is the list of the top 100 best global brands this year. This is a Business World survey.

Video: Cone Juggling

This guy is juggling inside a cone. Check it out if that sounds intriguing to you. It runs about 3 minutes. Actually, it's a pretty cool idea. It gets better near the end when he juggles more balls.

Generational Curse (Pt 2)

So, the generational curse… it just doesn’t apply to us.  Why?  Because Jesus absolved us of it.  When he was about to heal a blind man, his disciples asked Jesus.  Why was this guy blind from birth?  Was it because of the generational curse or because he himself sinned?  And what did Jesus say?  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (Jn 9:1-3)  So what Jesus is basically saying is that disabilities are not a factor of our sins.  But instead, the disability is there so that God’s power can be manifested.  Whether that means divine healing or something else, it’s all the same.  

Do we get healed when we pray for it?  No, not always.  But miraculous healing isn’t the only work of God that can be displayed.  Living with a cheerful heart, that is another way people can see God in the disabled.  But I’m also not saying there are no more miracle healings either.  God can still heal people, he has the power.  

Second thing is that if you do believe in this generational curse, that means our sins aren’t forgiven.  The sins of our forefathers get passed to us because nobody took care to expiate their sins, whether through a sacrifice or something else bloody.  People really liked blood in those days.  As the theory goes, when a guy has secretly sinned, God sees it, and says to himself, “Hmm… now that man.  He did a sin and didn’t confess!  Well then, I will visit him with trouble and his kids will get it too!”  But, the thing is, Jesus died for our sins, once and for all.  And as Christians, we only have to ask for his forgiveness and our sins are forgiven.  All of them…even the ones we didn’t commit.  Hrm… I wonder if we can ask him to forgive the sins we will commit?  Oh well, that’s another article.

Lastly, because I know some of you have been shouting at the monitor about the obvious reason why generational sin is wrong, the passage in Exodus isn’t even talking about it.   People have been misinterpreting it all along.  Now, I’m not a Bible Scholar, but this website talks about it.   Also, if you look at the comments from the first part, some ANONYMOUS (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) commenter suggests another site.  I’m sure there are others as well, but this was the first one I could find using my secret research techniques.

So, that’s about it.  Yay!  A short article for once!  I’m so glad you enjoyed it.  But don’t celebrate too long… soon I will write something twice as long as this.  Call it a make up article ;)

Peace out.

Game: 3lines

Happy Wednesday!
Try to eliminate pairs of numbers that are connected with 3 lines or less. It's a puzzle game. I beat all 5 levels. See how far and fast you can go. Game on!

Generation Curse (Pt 1)

There are many heresies within the church today. Probably as many if not more than present during the days of the Early Church. However, rather than coming from one external source, like the Gnostics, modern day heresies usually spring up from within the Bible passages themselves. Some Bible verses are taken out of context, and are easier to spot if someone knows the passage well. However, some verses are actually used correctly, yet nevertheless are still distorted from the Word of Truth.

One such belief is what is known now as the “Generational Curse”. This is taken from Exodus, and is actually still widely believed by Jews today. Some Christian Churches, however, have also adopted this belief. Here’s what it says:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Ex. 20:4-6)

What it basically says is that if you sin, God will not only punish you for the sin, but all the way down to your 4th generation, which would be your great-great-grandchildren.

The Jews believe that the curse typically manifests itself through debilitating diseases or handicaps. For example, if a Jewish child was born blind, they would say that it is because of a hidden sin that the parents committed, or even grandparents. It was a sign of God’s displeasure with that family. And rather than try to help the young child, they believe that that it is just for the child to live out its natural life with the defect as punishment from God. For who can forgive sins, except God, the Almighty?

Some churches believe this as well. I remember my mother was accused of this once. You see, she has diabetes, which granted, is a hereditary disease. My grandmother had it, and my mom’s brother has it as well. In fact, her diabetes manifested itself every time during her pregnancies with both me and my sister. Obviously, I don’t know what happened when my mom carried me, but I remember my mom checking her blood every night. She had this machine, and she stuck her hand in the hole, and then squeezed a drop of blood out. Then, she would take this strip that had different colors on it, and compare her blood to the colors. The one that closely matched, told her how much blood sugar she had. I had no idea what that machine did, so one time, while my mom was away, I took the machine out and stuck my finger in it. Yeah, let’s just say I’ve learned never to stick my fingers into any machine ever again.

Oops, sorry about that. Bringing it back to the point, someone once confronted my mom and told her, “Your diabetes is a result of something bad your grandfather did.” That was it. No sorry, no hi, just that. And let me tell you, it shook my mom to her being. It made her doubt herself, and doubt her faith. Was her disease a result of something her dad did? When she told me, I couldn’t believe it! One thing, I couldn’t believe this person would dare say such a thing, and the second, I couldn’t believe my mom actually believed her! It was the most preposterous thing I ever heard. In fact, I think I laughed it off. Ha ha ha! Before this gets too long, let me tell you right now, it’s hogwash. But stay tuned for next Thurs for why? Or, you can make a game of it. Figure it out yourself, and if you get it right, umm… I’ll give you a gold star… right on your forehead!