My husband is working from home today & has already rescued two tiny buns from the claws of our cat, a Wicked, Wicked Boy who is in no way acting out his rage from being Maternally Smothered (why do you ask?)
Here is a pic of hubs rescuing another bun in Apr.
Paul informs me that while I was away at the coffee shop & Pumpkin was temporarily not under the gaze of the Maternal Panopticon, Pumpkin caught the bunny for the third time.
We have decided that if a cat catches you thrice on the same day, it's on you and we should probably allow the Survival of Fittest thing to run its course in this particular situation.
This is why rabbits are adapted to multiply rapidly. High attrition.
You would think the smart rabbits would have a reproductive advantage over the dim ones, though.
Paul is tired of jumping up to rescue the bun, but its screams are pretty heartbreaking.
Paul will rescue just about any distressed animal, even snakes.
I am less compassionate. An animal has to be pretty high up the cuteness Scala Naturae for me to be moved with pity.
Of Pumpkin's preffered prey, chipmunks always get my most heroic efforts.
I am indifferent to shrews and snakes.
I just looked at that sweet picture of Paul rescuing a bun earlier in the year & realized that it is probably the great-great-grandbun of the thrice-cursed victim of today. We are the ones making bunnies stupider by making it possible for the dim ones to pass on their genes.
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Mediocre men that exhibit horrific errors in judgement shouldn't get to distribute Stay-in-the-Hierarchy-for-Free passes to one another just because they recognize each other's good intentions & doctrine. They will only continue to hold each other to the same low standards.
Here is how I think these things happen: every sexual predator who becomes a member of the clergy is able to do so because he has learned that denominations are willing to bestow authority on nice, well-intentioned men that appear sincere and profess good doctrine.
Sincerity isn't hard to fake. Most people who become clergy are legitimately sincere & seek ordination b/c they love Jesus & want to help people.
@pewresearch are you asking about changes in religious identification? If not, could you start asking? Some 2016 white evangelicals no longer identify as evangelical. It's hard to tell how many have left & how their views have shifted on politics AND religious affiliation.
I've seen estimates that as many as 20% of white evangelicals have shifted religious affiliation in the past 5 years. There's no way to gauge real numbers & how this relates to shifts in political support without asking about CHANGES in religious self-identification. 20% is huge.
I first heard the 20% figure in this article citing @PaulDjupe . Anecdotally, this fits what I am hearing from pastors, who are also telling me that a lot of the younger adults have not returned after in-person services restarted. newrepublic.com/article/161772…
My roommate, Sam, and I were discussing our recent discovery that our one-year-old orange tabby, Pumpkin, seems to have formed a close friendship with the well-mannered black cat that lives somewhere close by.
On the one hand, I am incredulous that any creature raised by yours truly could possess this level of social competence, despite my transparent attempts to emotionally cripple him & render him dependant on me forever with a strategy of constant maternal surveillance.
On the other hand, I am deeply resentful of this other cat, who I am choosing to blame for the decrease of cat-initiated snuggle time in my life. The other explanations, such as a normal snuggling decrease in outside cats with age or excessive maternal smothering are implausible.
@jackvelbar@freedomsbride I'm glad that @freedomsbride could call on you. I hope we see more men in the days ahead doing everything they can to hold their brothers accountable.
@jackvelbar@freedomsbride Part of the reason that abuse is rife in the SBC is b/c the standards that men are expected to meet before they recieve a Maturity Badge are pitifully low. Some men do more than the bare minimum, but they don't have to as a precondition to recieve and maintain power & authority.
@jackvelbar@freedomsbride Predators flourish partly because they flatter non-predators who are weak men, offering them the pseudo-dignity of being recieved as a God's Warrior Fighting for the Truth in exchange for continuing to upholde the predator as a worthy leader.
Three of the arugula seeds that I attempted to grow have sprouted & produced a few leaves.
As a treat, I picked one of the leaves & rejoiced in the harvested bounty.
It tasted amazing.
Then I started thinking...
Thinking about how the Stoics & Peripatetics thought plants had souls, but not at the same level of intensity as humans & animals.
Psyche was basically a life force powered by pneuma , & there were different levels. The higher the level of intensity, the more stuff a creature could do. Plants could grow and reproduce, animals could do that, but also had sense perception & goal oriented movement.
@AndrewH88063358 Thanks, @AndrewH88063358 - Part of what is going on in the "experiential avoidance" dynamic is that there is very little practical wisdom in large sectors of white American evangelicalism about how people grow to become more like Jesus. 1/
@AndrewH88063358 If they aren't coming in with some relational capital that helps them form a healthy attachment to God, it can be pretty hard for people to find relationships that can help them learn how to pray and connect with Jesus so they can grow.
@AndrewH88063358 This is really sad because this is the last thing they are intending to do. Nobody means for it to be this way, except maybe a handful of uber-predators who are self-aware of how they benefit from the system.