To be a better person is a good goal for all of us. As far as religion goes, it can be distilled down to, do not do to others that which you find harmful to yourself. Another excellent read Captain.
Powerful reflections on authority and practice vs theory. Your obervation about the cruelty of asking everyone to interpret scripture individually resonates deeply - we wouldn't send a cadet to sea with just a manual, yet we do exactly that spiritualy. The red cardinal moment gave me chills. Sometimes the signs are too specific to dismiss, even when our rational minds want to. Thanks for sharing such a vulnerable piece.
I found much humor here. For example after your description of PVK’s voice I went to his podcast expecting some kind of strange cross between Cajun and New Hampshire, but no. When I played it for my wife she said I don’t hear any accent at all.
This does not bode well for me or ANY of the people living on the lefty coast of the US.
Regarding Scott Adams.
CS Lewis makes an argument that a psychopath standing behind an old lady on the street corner that resist the urge to push her in front of an oncoming bus is more to be admired than some do-gooder who does something that cost him nothing. ( I can’t remember the actual premise but later I will look it up so I can see how badly I butchered it)
Scott Adams struggled with his ego. He loved to predict something and have it come true and he hated admitting when he made a bad prediction. During Covid he said that he made the perfect choice by getting the original shot and then the booster. He had to recant later. He was mad about it. It took him quite awhile. But he ate crow. The smart guy admitting that people in his audience had a better handle on what was happening than he did. It wasn’t pleasant for him. Provaxers in my acquaintance still don’t admit even the tiniest doubt that they would have died if not for being vaxxed and boosted. Scott A battled his ego and admitted to being wrong. A sign of humility. Then, at the end of his life, instead of being proud right to the grave he has humility again by taking a shot at redemption. I was shocked. Pascal’s wager Adam’s style is exactly right. He saw the upside potential and didn’t let pride or looking ridiculous (posthumously) get in the way. 25 percent of the country think he was a fool, 25 percent are relieved by what he wrote and 50 percent are still living in the simulation.
I prefer Guy Cotton over HH. Feels more supple when it’s cold.
Quite possible the best piece of writing I have read, second to the Bible of course.
The COVID years took me to places I never expected to go. I saw a side of humanity that shook me to my core. Fear replaced reason. Obedience replaced conscience. Neighbours turned on neighbours. Friends I had known for years burned bridges simply because I spoke honestly and refused to stay silent. For a long time, the only person I wanted near me was my wife.
Even the so-called “freedom community” fractured. What began as a shared stand for basic human dignity slowly became a marketplace of competing ideologies. People stopped listening and started recruiting. Some even expected me to promote their causes simply because my Facebook page, Create-Action-Inspire, had grown to over 63,000 followers. That was never why I spoke out.
The losses were deeply personal. My mother — a proud, no-nonsense Scot born in Dunfermline, Fife — died in a hospital in Kingaroy (Queensland) after suffering a massive cerebral haemorrhage following the COVID injection. We were told it could not be proven. But we knew her CT scan months earlier had been clear. Sometimes proof isn’t found in paperwork — it’s found in knowing someone’s life, their health, and what suddenly changed.
My wife’s Uncle Bill, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, also suffered a cruel end. Diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2020, he was gone by late 2021. In an act of quiet dignity, he admitted himself to palliative care so as not to burden his wife. Yet even then, compassion was conditional. She could only see him wearing full PPE, as if love itself required permission. His illness wasn’t caused by the vaccine — but the coldness of his final days was shaped by the system that governed them.
All of this stripped away illusions. It showed me how fragile human systems are. How quickly institutions fail. How easily people abandon truth when fear is offered protection. I could no longer make sense of a world run purely by human authority.
So I went back — not out of habit, not out of nostalgia — but out of necessity. I returned to Christ. He is now the centrepoint of my life. The one fixed truth in a world that shifts by the hour and shits on the common man.
I don’t look to governments, movements, or crowds for meaning anymore. I focus on Him. I build myself daily — spiritually, mentally, physically — to become the best version of who I am called to be.
Christ is the anchor.
Christ is the compass.
Christ is the centre.
And in a world that lost its way, that has made all the difference.
Ha! I have a hard time convincing my sons to start tracking the changes that can occur. Sometimes changes are a big hint. Mine went up slowly for years and then the rate of change accelerated. You can guess the rest.
I can imagine. I don't know what the deal is here in the NHS. I'm fortunate that I have to have annual medicals for work, really. Although it's rare they do full bloods.
The Norwegian rigs I've been on they have their sacred waffles (I think it was) every Sunday - $50k per hour, and work stops for waffles.
It's odd the things that put people on to religion. For me it was working out technical aspects of net zero, concluding it was categorically based on so many false premises, then trying to work out what why a false thing could be so sustained at so large a scale. If you read from genesis chapter two holding the idea that responding in accordance with external incentives rather than the voice in your head leads to the creation of institutions that care only for themselves therefore destruction of the individual, the book is a real page turner.
To be a better person is a good goal for all of us. As far as religion goes, it can be distilled down to, do not do to others that which you find harmful to yourself. Another excellent read Captain.
Conrad USA
Powerful reflections on authority and practice vs theory. Your obervation about the cruelty of asking everyone to interpret scripture individually resonates deeply - we wouldn't send a cadet to sea with just a manual, yet we do exactly that spiritualy. The red cardinal moment gave me chills. Sometimes the signs are too specific to dismiss, even when our rational minds want to. Thanks for sharing such a vulnerable piece.
I found much humor here. For example after your description of PVK’s voice I went to his podcast expecting some kind of strange cross between Cajun and New Hampshire, but no. When I played it for my wife she said I don’t hear any accent at all.
This does not bode well for me or ANY of the people living on the lefty coast of the US.
Regarding Scott Adams.
CS Lewis makes an argument that a psychopath standing behind an old lady on the street corner that resist the urge to push her in front of an oncoming bus is more to be admired than some do-gooder who does something that cost him nothing. ( I can’t remember the actual premise but later I will look it up so I can see how badly I butchered it)
Scott Adams struggled with his ego. He loved to predict something and have it come true and he hated admitting when he made a bad prediction. During Covid he said that he made the perfect choice by getting the original shot and then the booster. He had to recant later. He was mad about it. It took him quite awhile. But he ate crow. The smart guy admitting that people in his audience had a better handle on what was happening than he did. It wasn’t pleasant for him. Provaxers in my acquaintance still don’t admit even the tiniest doubt that they would have died if not for being vaxxed and boosted. Scott A battled his ego and admitted to being wrong. A sign of humility. Then, at the end of his life, instead of being proud right to the grave he has humility again by taking a shot at redemption. I was shocked. Pascal’s wager Adam’s style is exactly right. He saw the upside potential and didn’t let pride or looking ridiculous (posthumously) get in the way. 25 percent of the country think he was a fool, 25 percent are relieved by what he wrote and 50 percent are still living in the simulation.
I prefer Guy Cotton over HH. Feels more supple when it’s cold.
Quite possible the best piece of writing I have read, second to the Bible of course.
The COVID years took me to places I never expected to go. I saw a side of humanity that shook me to my core. Fear replaced reason. Obedience replaced conscience. Neighbours turned on neighbours. Friends I had known for years burned bridges simply because I spoke honestly and refused to stay silent. For a long time, the only person I wanted near me was my wife.
Even the so-called “freedom community” fractured. What began as a shared stand for basic human dignity slowly became a marketplace of competing ideologies. People stopped listening and started recruiting. Some even expected me to promote their causes simply because my Facebook page, Create-Action-Inspire, had grown to over 63,000 followers. That was never why I spoke out.
The losses were deeply personal. My mother — a proud, no-nonsense Scot born in Dunfermline, Fife — died in a hospital in Kingaroy (Queensland) after suffering a massive cerebral haemorrhage following the COVID injection. We were told it could not be proven. But we knew her CT scan months earlier had been clear. Sometimes proof isn’t found in paperwork — it’s found in knowing someone’s life, their health, and what suddenly changed.
My wife’s Uncle Bill, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, also suffered a cruel end. Diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2020, he was gone by late 2021. In an act of quiet dignity, he admitted himself to palliative care so as not to burden his wife. Yet even then, compassion was conditional. She could only see him wearing full PPE, as if love itself required permission. His illness wasn’t caused by the vaccine — but the coldness of his final days was shaped by the system that governed them.
All of this stripped away illusions. It showed me how fragile human systems are. How quickly institutions fail. How easily people abandon truth when fear is offered protection. I could no longer make sense of a world run purely by human authority.
So I went back — not out of habit, not out of nostalgia — but out of necessity. I returned to Christ. He is now the centrepoint of my life. The one fixed truth in a world that shifts by the hour and shits on the common man.
I don’t look to governments, movements, or crowds for meaning anymore. I focus on Him. I build myself daily — spiritually, mentally, physically — to become the best version of who I am called to be.
Christ is the anchor.
Christ is the compass.
Christ is the centre.
And in a world that lost its way, that has made all the difference.
Thank you for your writings. Amazing.
Thank you, Jason. Awful times. Although, at least some good comes out of it in the end.
[Paul VanderKlay's Podcast] Does Jesus' Response to Nicodemus Tell Us His Response to Scott Adams? #paulVanderklaysPodcast
https://podcastaddict.com/paul-vanderklay-s-podcast/episode/216198601 via @PodcastAddict
Are you getting your PSA checked?
I'm 40, and low risk, so I only check my prostate for recreational reasons.
Ha! I have a hard time convincing my sons to start tracking the changes that can occur. Sometimes changes are a big hint. Mine went up slowly for years and then the rate of change accelerated. You can guess the rest.
I can imagine. I don't know what the deal is here in the NHS. I'm fortunate that I have to have annual medicals for work, really. Although it's rare they do full bloods.
The Norwegian rigs I've been on they have their sacred waffles (I think it was) every Sunday - $50k per hour, and work stops for waffles.
It's odd the things that put people on to religion. For me it was working out technical aspects of net zero, concluding it was categorically based on so many false premises, then trying to work out what why a false thing could be so sustained at so large a scale. If you read from genesis chapter two holding the idea that responding in accordance with external incentives rather than the voice in your head leads to the creation of institutions that care only for themselves therefore destruction of the individual, the book is a real page turner.