I’ve been living in the basement for five days waiting for COVID test results. We’re fortunate to have a space in our house where a past-middle-aged guy can watch a ton of movies, eat like a teenager, sleep like a large cat, and keep everyone else in the house from getting sick.

It’s not been horrible. I needed some space.

COVID hit us pretty hard. We were safe, but the constant threat and unknowns coupled with our chosen level of isolation wasn’t kind to the kids. We’ve navigated the storm well, I’d say, but it’s been a difficult two years.

Poor us, right? Could’ve been much worse. Continue reading Having Faith When Faith isn’t Working

There’s an important word that happens all throughout the New Testament:

ἡ πίστις

It takes up a full three pages in most greek dictionaries. Jesus used it in so many of his teachings. A friend of mine once wrote his entire dissertation on it.

Most of our bibles translate ἡ πίστις as “faith,” or “belief,” but those fall short of what the biblical authors had in mind when they penned it.

If you read its (very long) entry in Bauer, Gingrich and Danker’s Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, for example, you’ll find a deeper meaning:

Trust

When scripture invites us into “faith” or “belief,” it’s not calling for some cognitive grasp of terms and definitions. It’s asking us to trust something. When Jesus said, over and over again, “believe in me,” he wasn’t expecting us to believe things about him (son of God, savior, Messiah, etc.) he wanted our trust.

Whatever it was that he wanted us to trust him for, he seemed to want it really badly, threatening anyone who stood in the way:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones who trust (ἡ πίστις) in me to stumble, it would be better for them to have an extremely large millstone hung around their neck and tossed into the ocean.” ~ Matthew 18:6

Sure, Jesus wanted his followers to believe the right things about him, but the devil believes the right things about him. Nazi Germany believed the right things about him.

There is a huge difference between someone who embraces the proper facts and figures about a chair, for example, and someone who has enough trust to actually sit in it. In the same way, “faith” has to go much farther than theology, bible knowledge, church attendance, politics; all the stuff the devil could do if he walked amongst us.

You’ll have to pardon my use of the term “devil.” I don’t mean to imply that he actually exists, i.e., a somewhat human entity that roams about trying to undo everything God does. He/she/it might be real. St. Paul and Jesus seemed to think so. Don’t forget the many human entities roaming about trying to undo what God does, many of them warming our Sunday morning pews.

I’m simply trying to make the point that one can be truly evil and simultaneously do a bunch of things that we call “Christian.”

I once watched a politician cite scripture and talk about Jesus in front of his newly minted Christian followers. He had no prior record of anything that remotely resembled Christian behavior, but his newly minted antics were more than enough to declare him the savior and protector of American Christianity.

He divided the United States like no politician in my lifetime and became a laughingstock in the global arena. But that’s OK so long as he gave sufficient evidence of “faith” and “belief.”

Please don’t hear me passing judgment on whether or not Donald Trump is a Christian. That’s not my place. What I am passing judgment on is the uncritical acceptance of someone who manipulated American Christianity’s lust for a political savior.

There’s nothing that Donald Trump did or said that the Devil couldn’t do or say. If us Christians are going to be the fundamental pillar of support for a politician, we should look for more. But we’re not. As long as our favorite leaders believe certain things and adhere to a culturally acceptable list of behaviors, they are Christian. So is anyone else who “believes,” including the devil.

Trust is Different

It’s much more difficult to be truly evil and simultaneously trust Jesus to take care of us while we do all of the impossible things he commanded us to do. Evil, for example, cannot forgive. There is no reason to. It’s emotionally and spiritually expensive. It’s risky. There’s no real payoff.

But if I “believe” (ἡ πίστις) that Jesus wants me to forgive and that he’ll place great power at my disposal to make it a reality, I can forgive. Sure, I’ll enter an arena that’s fraught with difficulty and pain, but I’ll come out on the other side a changed human, much less likely to play the devil. I might gain a friendship in the process.

Ask me how I know.

I can also “believe” all of the things I’m supposed to believe about God and simultaneously place great faith (ἡ πίστις) in the religion of power, force, and retaliation, cutting off relationships and spreading my assholery far beyond myself.

Ask me how I know.

Both scenarios require trust. In one I’m trusting a way that makes no sense, a road less travelled, one that feels like it might kill me. In the other I’m placing great faith in something that makes me feel righteous but ends in chronic anxiety and an ever-decreasing circle of friends.

Back in the day, Jesus’ followers had to a) believe certain things about who he was so that b) they could do all of the crazy things he commanded them to do. I’m not trying to downplay the importance of facts and data about God – those are just as fundamental as anything else.

But if we stop there, we’ve robbed our faith of trust. And robbing our faith of trust ultimately robs us of the hope that follows.

Photo by Allec Gomes on Unsplash

Advent is about hope, and nothing says hope right now better than cryptocurrency. My fellow Christians might say that we should place our hope in Jesus, and I agree, but sometimes it’s fun to make money.

I’ve been wanting to write this for a while, so I’m taking a break from Adventine reflection to talk you into what looks like the next iteration of money.

Long ago, we traded solely in goods and services, then graduated to gold and silver coins, then to paper money, then plastic cards with a magnetic strip, transferring invisible money via the internet, etc.

Now, go figure, there’s crypto, a further foray into the digitization of money.

But most people don’t want to get into to it because they don’t understand what it is. If that’s you, I can’t help. I also can’t explain why that five-dollar piece of paper in your pocket is worth 5 dollars beyond the fact that a bunch of people think it’s worth 5 dollars.

The same phenomenon goes for crypto, and because of its current proliferation, you can bet that it’s here to stay.

The crypto market went bonkers (in a good way) last year. A growing number of financial institutions, major corporations, media influencers, movie stars, countries, et al. are adopting it. You have to wonder what it’s going to look like in 5 years.

Based on what we’ve seen, there’s much more to come.

Should you get some? Absolutely. When random, little-known bloggers take time away from their earth-shattering Advent series to talk you into it, it’s safe to assume that something big is afoot.

Below is my advice on how to move forward. Do so at your own risk 🙂

Pick a Number

I had a hard time selling crypto to my wife because it’s so hard to explain. When she got on board, we picked a dollar amount that wouldn’t leave us feeling like idiots if we lost it all.

Our initial $200.00 investment quickly grew to $50,000 on the eve of Elon Musk’s SNL appearance, then it tanked, hard, but we’re still up by ~ 5,000%. We’ve since invested more, but, again, not so much that we’ll feel cheated if this thing blows up.

Picking a number that you don’t mind losing is the first step. It’s not time to bet the farm, as so many have done, but getting a seat on the bus is a good idea.

Get On a Good Exchange

How do you get crypto?

Nowadays, that’s easy. There are a few trustworthy, time-tested cryptocurrency platforms – “exchanges” – to choose from.

My favorite is Voyager. They don’t charge exorbitant fees, and their transactions aren’t complicated. All you have to do is grab the Voyager app, verify your ID, fill out the application, and get rollin’.

You can learn more at investvoyager.com, or get the app.

The best thing about Voyager is that you get $25.00 in free Bitcoin if you use this code at sign up: C3D98A. Even better, if you use that code, I get $25.00 too, and getting free money during Christmas time is what Advent is all about.

Note: per US regulations, all crypto exchanges require driver’s license, social security #, etc. I wasn’t entirely comfortable passing sensitive data via the internet but haven’t experienced any issues in the year since I signed up.

Understand the Coins

Once you get on an exchange, you’ll notice that there are a bunch of different coins to choose from: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge, etc.

Which one(s) should you get?

In whatever exchange you go with, you’ll notice that you can track a coin’s history over time. In Voyager, you can look at the past hour, week, month, or year to see how each coin is performing. A few have done well this past month while many others have struggled because of all the recent COVID news.

I chose Terra (LUNA) because it tends to go up when everything else is going down (up 14,000% since this time last year). I also have some riskier coins – DOGE, SHIBA, and MANA – because I think the market in general is going to take some big leaps in the next 5 years.

According to many, Bitcoin and Ethereum are safe bets too.

I’ll offer one prediction: once the markets recover from COVID bad news, things will change. Omicron has taken a huge bite out of the crypto market, and it’s going to be awhile before it recovers. But because everything’s so low, it’s a good time to get your foot in the door.

Understand the Taxes

There’s one simple thing you need to know about how Uncle Sam will charge you if you get into crypto.

Let’s say you invest $200 in Dogecoin at its current price of $0.17, then it grows to 0.20 and you decide to trade all of it for some Bitcoin. There is nothing to report if you either cash in or trade for another coin.  That’s considered a capital gain by the IRS, and you’ll have to report it.

Not so if your Dogecoin has lost value when you cash in/trade for something else, that’s recorded as a loss.

Some folks make their investments and stay put, ride out the volatility, etc., while others trade frequently throughout the month. If you’re in the latter group, don’t worry, your exchange will keep a record of your transactions, but it’s a good idea to track them yourself as you’ll need to report any gains on your tax returns.

There’s much more to all of this; which coins to buy, when to invest, where the train is heading etc. I wish I could offer more, but I’m no pro.

I’m happy to help if you need it. Please comment below, especially if you have anything to add to the basics of crypto.

Either way, go, adeste fidelis, and get you some crypto.

I’ll be back next week with some good ol’ fashioned Advent spiritual mumbo jumbo.