I think it's really interesting that Jesus used the word "Abba" when referring to God; my understanding is it's the Aramaic equivalent of "Papa" or "Daddy" rather than the sterner "Father" that it's usually written as in the Bible. In that context, while I can certainly see people being a disappointment to God I can't quite imagine the angry torment-for-all-eternity response some people see Him having to everyone who doesn't measure up. (Then again, I have a pretty good relationship with my own father; friends who had strict authoritarian fathers probably didn't have the same connotations of the parent-child relationship when applied to religion.)

I think of lot of the nature of Christianity is from Paul's influence. It's been a while since I've read the letters, but Paul doesn't seem to be a very cuddly kind of guy.

In modern Hebrew, "Abba" is used like we use "Dad" in English -- it's the usual way that people address their fathers, not just little kids like "Daddy" would be. The more formal word for father is "Av." (My Hebrew grammar is terrible, but I don't think Av would ever be used when talking to your father, rather than about him -- I THINK that, if you wanted to talk TO your father formally, you'd address him as Avi, or "my father." But I could be totally wrong about this.)

A guy who translates Aramaic says that translating Abba as Daddy is incorrect, linguistically. [link]

Weird. I just got a call from someone in a nearby Bank of America branch indicating that she's assigned to me and that I should contact her with any banking or investment questions.

I'd be tempted to call the bank and see if it was a phishing scam, shrift. But I'm mistrusting like that.

Timelies all!

Got up to 90 or so today. Tomorrow the predicted high is around 70. Weird.

I'd be tempted to call the bank and see if it was a phishing scam, shrift.

Well, it's literally down the street and the phone number checks out, otherwise I'd be with you. I'm just wondering what kicked off that call from the Financial Advisor.

The Universalists believed that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross redeemed all sinners. All of them--past, present, and future, believers and non. Mother Theresa and Hitler. Hell's empty, except for maybe a handful of demons who like the climate. I like Universalists. The story was that Universalists thought God was too good to damn people eternally, and Unitarians thought people were too good to be damned, so they decided to merge in the early 20th c and call it even.

Protip: you can take the "once-daily" antihistamines, like Claritin, Zyrtec, or Allegra, twice a day if your allergies are really bad. Don't do it forever, but a couple of weeks of twice-daily Claritin is fine.

Not if you take the D, though, according to the advice of my doctor friend. I'm on Claritin-D, benedryl, flonase, some kind of cough medicine and just finished a course of prednisone to try to rid me of the wretched night cough I have. It didn't work that well although I pretty much finally slept through the night w/out waking myself up coughing for the first time in weeks last night.

I'm sitting up in my 10th floor window seat with a view of the river and a glass of wine right now. Sweet! Also, am looking down on preparations for filming for a movie starring some people who, if I happen to see them in person, will make me lose my shit with excitement! [link]