Atheism....

 This is a comment on a NYT article. I've seen people elsewhere say very similar things and I would have responded directly but comments had been closed.

"I wonder what Jesus might say if he could speak to evangelical "influencers" today like John Piper, who has sold over 50 books but refuses to critique the real evils in American society -- inequality, poverty, endless wars, racism, just to name a few."

Inequality is not an evil. You get what you pay for. If you're NOT getting what you paid for, maybe God has something different/better in store for you, and sometimes you might not really recognize what that is until you see Him face to face.

Racism means so many things, some of which are truly irrelevant. Apparently it's racist to call someone from China a "Chinaman". If by racism you mean having negative thoughts associated with certain skin colors, then that is simply a person trading thoughts of purity, excellence, etc for negative thoughts. The error in those thoughts obviously isn't good, any more so than it is to say Mel Gibson was in Ghostbusters. If you truly love your neighbor as yourself, then you don't need John Piper or anyone else to call you out on being racist.

I'm not sure why poverty is added as a separate thing by this person...

Endless wars are not a part of America society. We had two "endless" wars over a 75 year period. They were not a byproduct of American society. They were a byproduct of poor judgement, which is not unique to America, and is by no means a good thing, but harping on a person for one act of stupidity is like a game of whackamole. It's more efficient to get to the root of the problems. Pride is on overdrive in this nation, on a variety of fronts. Most of us are guilty like Solomon of abusing the bountiful gifts God has given us.

I have so many things I could add to this post but it was tiring enough typing all of this out.  Maybe later today.

conflict

I've been really conflicted about my intentions lately.  I always want to buy stuff, but I don't know what to buy.  I really like music, but most CDs are just not that great, and the ones I do really really do like are either out of print or they're so obscure they're on backorder.

pandora radio / pandora premium is insanely inexpensive.  I remember the days when I would have to alternate between FM radio and CDs because even after spending $30 on CDs, I would still get bored.  Even if that $30 was for 6 or 7 used CDs, I'd be bored with them before the month was over.
Now, I still get "bored", but I think that's up for debate.  There's times when I simply don't need to be listening to music or whatever, but I really can't think of anything else TO do.  That's just a byproduct of having way too much time on my hands, I think.
I was thinking what I would do if I got another credit card.  I honestly can't think of a single thing I would do with that money except maybe buy a new TV.  And I would simply not want to do that because everyone I know would be giving me so much shit over it.  So nevermind that.  Maybe some Ghostbusters collectibles, but, really?  Do I want them so bad that I would go into a year's worth of debt for that??  Doesn't quite balance out, as far as I can discern.
Overall, it'd be nice to have more money, but I need to just accept the fact that there's just no predictable way to make that happen.  I can't explain why work is not a viable option.  I try to and it just comes across like "Well, you're just a spoiled brat."  And maybe I am.  Maybe that's all it comes down to.  I don't know.  I'd prefer not to mess with crap and try to find out if I actually can make do in the work force.