Note: Republished from April 9, 2018

"According to the Oxford English Dictionary's first definition, a 'skeptic' is 'one who holds that there are no adequate grounds for certainty as to the truth of any proposition whatever.'" – Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine, quoted in Time magazine, last spring

"If Truth were dead, how would you know THAT?" - C. Dahlgren, 2017

THINGS JUST GET CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER (to coin a phrase). "Claim" is a favorite media word. If traditionalists "claim" something, it must be fake news, but if "Progressives" write something, the media and pop culture do not treat THEM skeptically. Shermer cites The Miracle Myth, a 2016 book by a U. of Wisconsin-Madison professor (surprise, surprise!). We won't dignify that book with a quote here, but in the spirit of the season, here's a re-posting of my column from this week one year ago:

"I HEARD your publication is hiring a new community commentator, and I'm here to apply for the job," said the stranger. "My name is Jude."

Hey Jude! Jude what?

It's just Jude, dude.

Okay! So what's that you have there? Your resume?

This is a sample of my writing. It's a letter that I wrote to some new friends back in 66.

You've been writing since 1966?

That's just 66, dude.

Whatever. But just for the heck of it, let's hear what you wrote there.

OK – "I needed to write to you guys to urge you to stand up once and for all for the faith, because certain people have turned the grace of our Lord into license. Remember: He saved our people out of Egypt, but afterward destroyed some of them who believed not. For example, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities gave themselves over to lust and suffered the vengeance of fire as a result.

"ENOCH ALSO, the seventh from Adam, predicted all this. 'The Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints,' he said. 'To convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. And there will be ungodly mockers and scorners in the latter days who will walk after their own ungodly lusts. and then come the Last Days!'

"These are complainers, pedantic pundits, whose mouths speak great swelling words to impress people, having ungodly men's opinions in admiration in an attempt to gain advantage. But remember, you guys, the precious Words spoken long ago about ungodly sins. Hold fast to those words."

That sounds kind of judgmental, doesn't it?

WELL DUH! What do think judgment IS?

Well it's not cool to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah. This is 2019, you know!

I hate it when people miss the point. You see this Roman coin here? There are two sides to every story; I also told my friends to have compassion and try to pull people out of the fire.

That's interesting, but don't call us. We'll call you.

P.S. I interrupt myself to go back to the original column that I had planned to submit this week, before I was so rudely interrupted by certain events:

"Question authority? NO, the media are now the authority and you're not entitled to your 'own facts,' they say ('It's six o'clock and we're here to tell you what the facts are.'"

I hate to sound like a skeptic, but -