READ INSTRUCTIONS, VERIFIABLE INSTRUCTIONS

We all read instructions before starting things.

Or should. But . . . ?

You already know what to do?

They don’t make sense?

No one is telling you what to do?

Instructions are documents of proper planning to prevent poor performance.

They always start with “Read Instructions Completely.”

Verifiable instructions save money, time, and aggravation.

I don’t like the kind that are printed in micro lettering on rolling papers.

They seem like an after thought when they can’t be read without a magnifying device.

I replaced the wiring harness on a clothes dryer once.

If I hadn’t read the instructions I would have replaced each wire instead of looking for the plug in.

Close call.

 

What To Do With No Instructions?

A recent post on boomerpdx involved verifiable truth.

Turns out verifiable truth isn’t some blogger opinion, or an invention by some writer who writes a blog.

 

Verifiable truth is a cornerstone of news writing.

If you find three sources who tell the same story on the same topic, you’re going good.

Three online sources for some cockamamie story on the internet?

Not the same outcome, but not everyone agrees.

When you’ve got a serial fabricator, a compulsive liar, a misleader, calling trusted news organizations ‘Fake News,’ doubt is sewn.

If the same man is shown telling his version of his story for eight years, from 2016 to 2024, and it starts to wear you down, then you need to change.

Either give up and submit to the treatment: Trump was cheated in the last presidential election, Jan. 6 was a normal tour of the Capitol, and women are better off without bodily autonomy, without the right to make decision about their own bodies.

 

Current events don’t come with instructions on how to feel, or how to respond.

It’s more a return to how you were raised and which way you bounced as an adult.

I’m an adult. Maybe you, too? It doesn’t matter one way or the other when it comes to cultural instructions.

When a bad man happens upon a scene usually reserved for people who explain how their ideas will improve life for all, the tone turns ominous.

They might say ‘you could have a better life if it weren’t for abortions, the southern border, and cat women with no kids.’

Instead of a better economy, more cooperation, and working to lift the burden off of regular people, they blame ‘those people,’ they blame ‘them,’ as a response to questions not asked, like ‘who can I blame next?’

Instead of ‘Anything Is Possible,’ you hear nothing is possible unless you do what they tell you.

For the kids out there: listen to the adults around you.

To the adults: be verifiable, not some loose lipped shit-talker.

 

Every Burden Is Different, But Still Burdensome

Life experiences explain what is, and what isn’t, a burden.

You want to loose weight, you’ve read the instructions, but that refrigerator has your number?

You want to get strong, but don’t like to sweat?

Whether in your house, your apartment, your shelter, you want to stand tall with hope for a better tomorrow.

A better tomorrow has instructions, unspoken instructions, common sense instructions.

You can’t read instructions that are not written down; what if they are, but not verifiable?

Then what?

 

People Need Assurance

Without assurance in the past, some people took action.

The short version:

The Roman Empire spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

After its fall, parts of the Roman Empire function transferred to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Church needed instructions.

 

The New Testament tells the story of the life of Jesus and the early days of Christianity, most notably Paul’s efforts to spread Jesus’ teaching. It collects 27 books, all originally written in Greek.

The sections of the New Testament concerning Jesus are called the Gospels and were written about 40 years after the earliest written Christian materials, the letters of Paul, known as the Epistles.

 

The Holy Bible includes important scriptures that outline Jesus’s teachings, the lives and teachings of major prophets and disciples, and offer instructions for how Christians should live.

 

The non-fiction Bible becomes verifiable when followers take the instructions for how Christians should live seriously.

A non-Christian has no say in the Bible other than reading. It offers no instructions for them, they say.

But living a fair life, a decent life, a giving life, are all the rules anyone needs.

Even if you can’t see well enough to read instructions, your actions will show out.

If the answers to questions come across as hateful, divisive, and ignorant, keep looking.

You may need to review your good book and read instructions to refresh your view of things.

Amen?