April 9, 2013

Baroness Thatcher died sitting up in "a top suite" at the Ritz Hotel in London.

She was in bed, reading a book. She'd been staying there since Christmas, where she'd moved after a hospital stay. It was "one of her favourite places – and she was invited by its owners the Barclay brothers to stay there for the foreseeable future."

The article doesn't say what the book was. What book do you like to think it was?

Sitting up reading in bed — would you not want that to be your final moment? What book do you like to think you would be reading? If you say the Bible, name the chapter.

114 comments:

Geoff Matthews said...

It certainly says more about her that she was reading in bed than watching TV in bed.

LilyBart said...


*Psalms*

Ignorance is Bliss said...

50 Shades of Grey

Anonymous said...

I had heard that she was suffering from dementia, which presumably would have prevented her from reading anything.

Peter

Unknown said...

Romans 5

ddh said...

"History of the English-Speaking Peoples."

T. A. Hansen said...
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T. A. Hansen said...

The Necronomicon

ddh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
test said...

Sitting up reading in bed — would you not want that to be your final moment?

Uh, no.

Anonymous said...

good night moon

Craig Howard said...

No disrespect meant to the wonderful Mrs. Thatcher, but one of my great fears is that I'll be found with porn as my final, um, interest..

Not that I think that was the case here, but I have actually wondered if I should abstain from porn if it's such a worry.

Nah. The town'll talk for years. Not much goes on here.

m stone said...

The Revelation. Most any chapter in the middle or end.

F said...

Dreams of my Father?

Paul Brinkley said...

What IRIW said above - I'm pretty sure that with her dementia, it couldn't have mattered much what she was reading, so much as it was the feeling of performing the "reading ritual" (she probably found sitting with a book in lap comforting).

Bit of a sad end, in my opinion, given the life she'd had. Not the saddest by any stretch, but dementia isn't something I'd wish on anyone.

Anonymous said...

I have a hard time believing she was the alone with a diagnosis of dementia. Most likely she had a caregiver. As for what book she was reading, depends on her level of dementia, I'd like to think it was the Bible, Revelations maybe.

Titus said...

Going Rogue

Rob said...

The room service menu.

Anonymous said...

I thought she had Alzheimer.

Obama's speeches. And laughed to death.

Shouting Thomas said...

Genesis 3

This is the story of the Temptation of Eve.

I've been trying to tell you, Althouse, that this is the story of feminism. Human history is cyclical, not linear. Every generation thinks that it reinvented everything, and every generation is wrong.

I've been working on a song about the Temptation of Eve, but Billy Joe Shaver has a new song out on this subject. He's beat me to it! (Heard the song on Sirius Radio a couple of days ago. Can't find it on YouTube.) I believe the name of Shaver's tune is "Same as It's Always Been."

I'll continue working on my version anyway.

The reason I like this verse is because I'm rediscovering the wisdom of the fathers. Every generation, especially mine, thought that they were smarter than the fathers, and that the wisdom of the fathers was useless. And, what was Margaret Thatcher about? Rediscovering the ancient wisdom cast aside by generations that thought that they had found a way to change everything about humans.

Jesus promises that we will be re-united with the father upon our death.

John Burgess said...

Anarchist's Cookbook. That's got to be it.

edutcher said...

Churchill's "Second World War".

Yesterday, I linked the 13 rules of Leftists.

Well, here's number 14, when the Lefties accuse someone of an odious characteristic, they're almost always describing themselves.

An orgy of hate by the real haters over Mrs T's death (and no one else could have been the female counterpart).

OTOH, some very nice farewells

From Andy Marlette

A nice one from Paul Zanetti

And, I think my favorite.

Plus The Magnificent Three

and a real Wonder Woman.

Anonymous said...

"she did not want her body to lie in state or money to be spent on a fly-past."

consistency is good...

Brent said...

I am with Inga . . . Revelation would my choice, especially Chapter 22 (the END!)

Shouting Thomas said...

I had a discussion with a lefty on FB about the Temptation of Eve recently.

He thought that the story highlighted the innate stupidity of religious faith. He interpreted the command to refrain from eating of the Tree of Knowledge as a command to humans to remain ignorant.

I replied that the Tree of Knowledge represents that wisdom and power that should remain with God.

rcocean said...

John 3:16

rcocean said...

John 3:16

Synova said...

I want it to have been something clever and entertaining, even comedic.

caplight45 said...

Psalms 116 which is what I was reading to my mother when she drew her last breath and a tear rolled down her cheek.

116 (The Message Translation)
I love God because he listened to me,
listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently
as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face,
hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn't know which way to turn;
then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out.
“Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you've been rescued from death;
Eye, you've been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
I stayed faithful, though bedeviled,
and despite a ton of bad luck,
Despite giving up on the human race,
saying, “They’re all liars and cheats.”
What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it in company with his people,
In the place of worship, in God’s house,
in Jerusalem, God’s city.
Hallelujah!

ricpic said...

Whatever she was or was not reading I'm sure she was thinking of her beloved grocer father and remembering with gratitude his common sense and decency.

MadisonMan said...

I haven't read the article -- but do they offer any real evidence other than someone's say-so?

Color me skeptical.

garage mahal said...

"The article doesn't say what the book was. What book do you like to think it was?

"Top 100 Nutritional Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Ways to Keep Them From Babies"

Patrick said...

She was reading Hayek.

Mumpsimus said...

A Shropshire Lad.

Maybe Ecclesiastes (King James).

edutcher said...

garage mahal said...

The article doesn't say what the book was. What book do you like to think it was?

"Top 100 Nutritional Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Ways to Keep Them From Babies"


That NHS stuff is from your side of the aisle.

Remember Dr Berwick?

The Silver Haired Angel of Death?

Jim S. said...

I replied that the Tree of Knowledge represents that wisdom and power that should remain with God.

It wasn't the tree of knowledge, it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Prior to being told about it, they could not know evil because they didn't have the option of rebelling against God. They had to be given a choice to follow God instead of just following him because there wasn't anything else to do. When they ate the fruit, they knew evil; and the Hebrew word for "know" there is "know in the biblical sense", i.e. to have intimate, experiential knowledge of something. They couldn't have had experiential knowledge of evil until they experienced evil.

Now to get back to the subject of the post, I'd like to imagine Thatcher was reading philosophy. Either that or science-fiction.

Diana L. Sullivan, CPA said...

Psalm 139.

Titus said...
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Titus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Titus said...

So Sorry..."Are You There God, It's Me Margaret".

The 80's were before my time but the hair and clothes were not that great.

tits.

Tim said...

"...pearls before swine..." and swine makes its presence known.

The stench outlasts the pig.

Pity.

Jeff with one 'f' said...

Fitzgerald's Odyssey, when Odysseus landed on the island of the Phaiakians and spent his first night sleeping in the forest near the beach.

"...so in the leaves Odysseus hid himself, while over him Athena showered sleep that his distress should end, and soon, soon. In quiet sleep she sealed his cherished eyes."

Robert Cook said...

Shouting Thomas said:

"I had a discussion with a lefty on FB about the Temptation of Eve recently.

"He thought that the story highlighted the innate stupidity of religious faith. He interpreted the command to refrain from eating of the Tree of Knowledge as a command to humans to remain ignorant.

"I replied that the Tree of Knowledge represents that wisdom and power that should remain with God."


Jim S. said,

"It wasn't the tree of knowledge, it was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Prior to being told about it, they could not know evil because they didn't have the option of rebelling against God. They had to be given a choice to follow God instead of just following him because there wasn't anything else to do."

Wikipedia says:

"The phrase in Hebrew: טוֹב וָרָ×¢ / tov V'ra, translatable as good and evil, may be an example of the type of figure of speech known as merism. This literary device pairs opposite terms together, in order to create a general meaning; so that the phrase 'good and evil' would simply imply 'everything'. It is equivalent to the Egyptian expression evil-good which is indeed normally employed to mean 'everything'. In Greek literature, the concept is also used by Telemachus, 'I know all things, the good and the evil' (Od.20:309-10)"

Obviously, the parable of Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit is a metaphor for the gaining of awareness, or consciousness of the world, and the loss of the innocence and unknowingness of childhood. Adult knowing can include wisdom, of course, but also brings the pain and fear of knowing we will face travails in life, and will one day grow old and sick, and then will die.

God's commandment that Adam and Eve should not eat of the tree is a poetic description of a futile wish that we could somehow not gain that awareness. Despite "God's" command, it is inevitable that will gain consciousness of the world and of our fate.

The Garden of Eden is a description of an idealized state of innocence, a state we enjoy for the briefest flicker of a moment as children, a state we may sometimes long for, (or think we do), but which we can never regain, (as we could never retain it).

It's the story of growing up.

Shouting Thomas said...

It's not surprising, Cookie, that you would reject the ultimate Christian story of the struggle between good and evil.

The story of the Temptation of Eve is the story of the rebellion of humans against the will of God.

You're on the side of the rebellion. Thus, your interpretation.

campy said...

The Audacity of Hope.

Gene said...

It's astonishing that the reporter would say that Thatcher was lying in bed reading a book and then not say what the title was. He should have known that question would come up in the mind of everyone who read the story.

Of course he may not of known the title (probably true). But in that case he at least could have put a sentence in the story saying the name of the book was not immediately available or how Thatcher was even able to read a book with such dementia.

Reporters get lousy training these days.

kjbe said...

Seems fitting - kind of what I would have imagined for her.

My book - maybe something by Ann Lamont, Thomas Merton, or George RR Martin - if I live long enough to finish Martin, that is.

Ambrose said...

Hope it was not a good mystery thriller - it be such a shame to die without knowing how it cam out.

Bender said...

Wikipedia is hardly an authoritative source, especially on the most profound matters of human existence. Those who wish to remain ignorant, yet insisting that they are knowledgeable, may place their trust in it, but ignorance is the only fruit they will gain.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Romans, because it's a practical book and I'm a practical girl.

edutcher said...

Somebody tell Cook the parable of Eden is that we're not as smart as we think we are and, when we try to play God, we always end up wishing we didn't.

If we live that long.

Satan is always trying to get us over to the Dark Side by making us think we're smarter than we are and smarter than God. When we fail he wins.

This is why the Leftist message is so Satanic.

PS One of the more interesting metaphors proposed is that the Tree of Knowledge represented the transition from a hunter gatherer society to the permanence of agriculture and animal husbandry.

The idea that Adam and Eve would have the power of God was that they would have the ability to create their own food supply.

Interesting notion.

Bender said...

Free will, an ability to choose, includes the ability to freely choose to return God’s love, or the freedom to reject Him and live our lives apart from Him. Thus, the man and the woman of Creation were free to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, even though God had warned them not to:
"the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."

The man and the woman thought that they could be like gods themselves, that they could then choose their own truth, their own reality, their own concepts of right and wrong. They thought that they could be self-fulfilling and self-sufficient, not needing God or other people. Even today, there are many people who still believe this. Indeed, we could easily say that we are, ourselves, both Adam and Eve, that the story of the Fall of Man is one that repeats itself on a daily basis.

However, the man and woman were wrong. In eating the fruit, in freely choosing to oppose God, believing that they did not need the one true God, but could be gods themselves, Adam and Eve did not become gods, but instead fell from truth into error. And error necessarily leads to more error, until ultimately you are so removed from Truth and Love, i.e. Life, that you are "doomed to die," and not merely bodily death, but eternal death, that is, Hell.

By opposing God, by turning against love and truth in this way, man necessarily severed the relationship between mankind and God, who is Love and Truth, and so corrupted human nature that our ability to love and to reason and discern good from evil is impaired. Before the loss of his “original innocence,” man could see – truly see. He could see God, truth, and love.

But after sin, which is an offense against truth and genuine love for God and neighbor, man’s sight is impaired, his hearing is distorted. While hiding in the bushes, vainly seeking to hide from God, instead of being able to see Him clearly, the man now saw only leaves and branches. His ability to see God, to know God, to know love and truth, was grievously impaired. Loss of original innocence necessarily means that man can no longer live in the Garden of innocence and truth.

Thus, we see that, as with this first “original sin,” our own individual sin, which is done by our own free choice of the will, carries its own intrinsic “punishment” -- error leads to more error, until, in your ignorance of the truth, you are in slavery to error and sin and death. By choosing to sin, choosing to set aside the Light and Truth of God, you are necessarily left to fend for yourself in ignorance and darkness, and you will find yourself inadequate to the challenge. And it is that first, original sin that is the root of every other sin.

By sin entering into the world, our entire human nature is wounded, corrupted, and compromised, our souls are tainted. Our judgment is clouded, our ability to reason is impaired, and the influences and temptations of the world overwhelm us, plunging us into darkness and error and slavery to further sin.

The account of the Fall in Genesis not only shows how sin affects the sinner, it demonstrates how sin is intensely social. Indeed, this Original Sin did not affect merely Adam and Eve, but has affected and infected us all, it has left a stain on our being. All sin, both original and individual, affects and injures not only the sinner, but all of us. Sin severs and poisons all relations.

After eating the fruit of the Tree, Adam not only foolishly tries to hide from God, but the first thing he does when confronted is to blame Eve. What directly follows is Cain’s murder of Abel.

Bender said...

Eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge does not make one more knowing or smarter, it only makes one more ignorant and stupider.

Yes, it is a paradox, but all too often people learn to be ignorant.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I also love the gospel of Luke.

ad hoc said...

I wonder what she was reading, Ecclesiastes, perhaps.

I would like to be reading either Luke, ch. 15 or John, ch. 2.

bagoh20 said...

"What book do you like to think you would be reading?"

Like any other journey you need to read about the people you will be meeting, so I would choose "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers"

Unknown said...

Revelation 22:1-6
Almost finished with the Bible knowing that things end well.

Bender said...

Remember who was the "smartest" of the bunch with respect to the Apostles. The one who was the most educated ended up being too full of his own exalted "knowledge" that he could not accept the Truth standing there before him.

George said...

"Well, I'm back."

mccullough said...

She was reading The Great Gatsby

Michael K said...

Hugh Cairns, the greatest English neurosurgeon, who trained with Cushing, died at 53 of lymphoma reading a book in bed. The young house physician who stopped by shortly before to check on him was interested in what he was reading. It was a detective novel.

Cairns founded English neurosurgery and treated George Patton and TE Lawrence.

Archilochus said...

1 Corinthians 15

Ann Althouse said...

Since she had Alzheimer's, she would have something very easy and familiar, I would think, something that would be occupy a mind that was losing all sharpness.

I think the Psalms would be a great choice. The Psalm caplight prints above is very impressive, an excellent heightening of consciousness in the last moments.

Thatcher wouldn't have known, I don't think, that she was reading her last few pages.

But what if you were?

Much of reading is oriented toward continuing in life. But what if there were no life ahead? What would be worth reading?

Michael said...

P.G. wodehouse. A Bertie Wooster.

Michael said...

Oh, and God bless the Barclay brothers for their generosity and kindness. A very nice gesture

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tim said...

"But what if there were no life ahead? What would be worth reading?"

Although I'm something of an introvert, I'd actually prefer to spend my last moments talking with my family, starting with my wife.

But, assuming that wasn't an option, the Gospels.

As to which one, that would depend upon my mood.

Oh, and I must have a Single-Malt Scotch in hand.

My best thinking comes with a Single-Malt in hand. I would insist on that.

dustbunny said...

My dad had Alzheimer's and he used to sit in a chair with a book open. my mom said it was the same book that he had been "reading" for about a year. It was heartbreaking, he had always loved reading, so we think it was an activity he held on to even when he could no longer actually read.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

It's valuable to remember that when you see the phrase "Wikipedia says:", that really means some unknown editor somewhere wrote the following during his second glass of scotch. It may be accurate, or not, but there is little about Wikipedia that proves either. This is of course true of most links, sources, etc, that get displayed here like shiny battle shields, that can be grabbed from a pile at the door when you walk in. Most stuff is just some other guy or gal who wrote down what they were thinking, heard or read somewhere accurately or not. That's really all it is - just one more guy saying the same thing you want to say.

That said, I still read a lot of Wikipedia, because somebody always knows something more about something than I do, and it's free to get his opinion.

Anonymous said...

caplight: Thanks for Psalm 116 and your mother's story.

If I have the grace to die consciously, with my faculties, and in sufficient comfort to read, I would hope to read from Psalms, the Gospel of John, the Gita, or my favorite poetry -- Whitman, Neruda, e.e. cummings, maybe some Leonard Cohen. Possibly the ending of Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon.

It's a tough question -- what text has the range and voltage to send one out on a high, clear note?

And I wonder, why am I not reading such books now?

Patrick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Patrick said...

Scotch, Bagoh20? You give them too much credit. I was thinking more like Thunderbird.

Sydney said...

I remember seeing a man in the hospital with dementia who always had a Calvin and Hobbes book with him in bed. Just because you have dementia doesn't mean you can't read on some level.

Big Mike said...

What book do you like to think you would be reading?

How to Break Software.

Anonymous said...

The young house physician who stopped by shortly before to check on him was interested in what he was reading. It was a detective novel.

My best friend has spent an inordinate amount of time in bars and hospitals. He tells me that, contrary to popular belief, people who know that they are dying don't change their lives. They keep doing pretty much whatever they were doing before they were diagnosed until death overtakes them.

For all my high-minded intentions, I'll probably die watching a sitcom or an old movie, if I'm not lucky enough to have friends or family around.

Tim said...

Patrick said...

"Scotch, Bagoh20? You give them too much credit. I was thinking more like Thunderbird."

Indeed.

Please do not impugn the reputation of we Scotch drinkers by comparing us to Wikipedia editors.

And, rather than read, I think I'd rather be listening to Von Karajan's Beethoven's 9th Symphony, all things considered. And, if God found it worth the favor, I would not go until the end.

MadisonMan said...

Top Suite really reminds me of this.

Patrick said...

That'd be some fine music to go out on, Tim. I mean on which to go out. No, that's still not it. Try again.

That'd be some fine music out on which to go.

Ahh, fuck it. This is nonsense up with which I shall not put.

bagoh20 said...

Look guys, no offense intended, but Thunderbird drinkers don't imagine they have encyclopedic minds that the world needs to hear from. That's a very strong correlation with Scotch. I'm not saying which comes first the Scotch or the delusion, but the combination is more common than stoned hikers lost in the woods.

Alex said...

The Histories by Herodotus

Chip Ahoy said...

Robert Sabuda's pop-up version of Alice in Wonderland. "Woop, there you go Maggie, woop, there you go Maggie, woop, there you go Maggie," and so on to the end and then back to the front all over again as if presented with a brand new book.

traditionalguy said...

My guess is Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion in the the Large Print version.

traditionalguy said...

Suppose Maggie was reading galley proofs from the publisher of her authorized biography to be released next week.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

But what if there were no life ahead? What would be worth reading?

Tea leaves?

madAsHell said...

I saw a picture of Maggie a few months ago. She was with her adult children, and she obviously did not recognize one of her daughter-in-laws. She appeared profoundly confused.

RIP Maggie.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Ok seriously... the phrase "its the end" comes to mind... it is done.

John 19...
Her detractors reaction to her death and the cries "crucify, crucify", offers some crude parallels... along with the near unanimous "savior of Britain" tributes hailing from her admirers.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It may have been too much for her to understand but... who really understands "the end"?

Deacon Bill Burns said...

Yes, the bible would be the last thing I'd like to read. I actually posted this earlier today on Facebook.

My favorite Psalm (63:2-9): Oh God, your are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting, like a dry weary land without water.

Phil 314 said...

Phillipians chapter 3 & 4

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Is it interesting to contrast her end with the end of one of her countrymen?
The two ends could not have been more different.

Just wondering.

Almost Ali said...

What are they going to say, that she was just lying there staring at the ceiling?

Not to mention... comics are referred to as books.

C R Krieger said...

Sirach 38

Eric Jablow said...

May I suggest that the story of the Tree of Knowledge is the Jewish story of the struggle between good and evil?

Eric Jablow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Larry J said...

Personally, I'd rather die in bed at age 100, shot by the jealous husband of a hot 23 year old woman.

pdug said...

Matthew 25:23

pdug said...

"knowledge of good and evil" isn't a bad thing to have, in the Bible.

If you do a simple study of the passages where good and evil both appear, you'll find that most of them it has to do with having maturity to decide judicial cases. Children don't have it. Wise kings DO have it.

A&E were 'newborns' and seized the privilege of judgement ahead of time, in a desire to be independent of God's judgment.

carrie said...

Dante's Divine Comedy

carrie said...

Dante's Divine Comedy

Wally Kalbacken said...

Sure beats a Motel 6 out on Route 7. Way to go.

viator said...

A book that contains the denouement of the "Song of Ice and Fire"

Leland said...

My grandfather was the first person I ever knew to die. Of course, this has an impact on anyone, but how he died has always guided my decisions.

Grandfather was in his early 80s. He went to work that morning, because that is what he wanted to do. He worked at a local hardware store and sold tools and supplies. This particular day, he got to work and had a stroke. This was in 1986, and we understood far less about treating strokes than we do now.

My grandfather refused hospital treatment. He never spent a day of his life in the hospital, and didn't want to do so that day. Today, going to the hospital almost definitely would save a life in that condition, but then, it was probably less than 50/50. He went home.

My mother and uncle, his two children, went to the house to see him and my grandmother. EMS had left him in his favorite chair in the family room. He was still complaining of a headache, and on the primary care physician's advice and prescription; my mom and uncle left to go get appropriate medication. My grandmother returned to the kitchen to continue baking her pie. About a half hour later, the children returned to find grandfather had succumbed to the blood clot.

When I go that's the way I want it to be. I honestly believe to have that happen requires certain convictions that help in building a good family to be there for you and having the ability to continue working at that age. So, I do what I do in the hope that is the way it all ends.

kentuckyliz said...

Oh dear sweet Jesus, Maggie wouldn't be reading The Message version of the Bible, or any other Bible-for-Idiots translation like that. She had better reading comprehension than that.

kentuckyliz said...

I'll bet she read the KJV or RSV. Those are the only two approved C of E versions that are before the feminist language craze.

caplight45 said...

Kentuckyliz said:
"Oh dear sweet Jesus, Maggie wouldn't be reading The Message version of the Bible, or any other Bible-for-Idiots translation like that. She had better reading comprehension than that."

Hey Liz, next time read the assignment more carefully. Ann said, "What book do you like to think you would be reading? If you say the Bible, name the chapter."

It is what I would want not Lady Thatcher. And for the record, to set your mind at ease, as my mother was dying my brother and I were reading to her from the KJV. It was from her personal New Testament and Psalms which I then used for my own personal reading for the next year till the first anniversary of her and my father's deaths (they died three days apart and we buried them on the same day in the same grave).

Now should you be called upon to minister to me at my bedside as I prepare to enter the presence of God please be kind enough to read Psalms 116 to me in the KJV in honor of my mom and in the Message for my own comfort and strength.

BTW-I rather suspect that he who is The Word, will be pleased that his words are read and heard in any of the translations and paraphrases we have today.

victoria said...

What would i be reading??? Hopefully some trashy romance novel (my secret is out).

Vicki From Pasadena

caplight45 said...

Re dustbunny's post at 9:00 AM:

The pastor who was my mentor had Pic's Disease (a type of dementia) in his late fifties. For his last five years he only recognized his wife and sons, one of whom he lived with. His son told me that he was regularly found kneeling by his bed in prayer with his Bible and the church pictorial directory open before him.

kentuckyliz said...

I reject your smackdown caplight, and one-up you this: I am English, and I know English culture. A woman of Maggie's position would not read such a low-class translation.

You have to inject social class into the choice of translation.

Other than that, I agree with you that the best Bible translation is the one you'll read.

kentuckyliz said...

Baroness is not as impressive to me as is Prime Minister.

Deb said...

My mother-in-law has advanced dementia. We visited her a couple of weeks ago and while we were there she read every single word on the whiteboard on the wall opposite her bed -- over and over, of course. She didn't understand waht she was reading but she could read the words. The same was true for my mother. She used say she couldn't "see" but actually, she could not understand what she was reading.

eddie willers said...

I remember seeing a man in the hospital with dementia who always had a Calvin and Hobbes

Not a bad choice regardless of your mental state.

This is nonsense up with which I shall not put.

Apropos that a thread on Thatcher is speckled with Winston.

Jim S. said...

Sorry to return to an earlier topic, I just saw the response by Robert Cook. "Good and evil" is almost certainly a merism (I'd never heard that they aren't), where two opposite are put together to express the totality they encompass. Another is "heaven and earth" which means, basically, everything above and everything below. So "God created the heavens and the earth" means "God creating everything." Merisms are important in ancient Hebrew, since it had a significantly smaller vocabulary than modern languages.

This doesn't mean that merisms express everything, just the totality that the opposites encompass. Putting the knowledge of "good and evil" together refers to moral knowledge, knowledge of goodness, evil, and everything in between. It doesn't mean general knowledge, just moral knowledge. Adam and Eve had no moral knowledge, because they had no experience of choosing to do the right thing or the wrong thing. God gave them that choice, and by eating the fruit, they experienced rebellion against the ground of existence, and so they knew good and evil, i.e. they had moral knowledge.

Gene said...

Leland, thanks for the account of your grandfather's death.

One of this country's many problems is that, when our health is beyond repair, we don't have any good way to die. Guns are messy and pills seem undignified.

If I could choose when my time comes, I'd hold a funeral party for myself and all my friends on the shore of a lake. Then after all the toasts and tears and final goodbyes I'd row myself out, wave goodbye and push a button to blow up the 10 sticks of dynamite under my seat.

A lot of people I think would welcome the opportunity to leave the planet with a bang. It would be quick, dramatic, and uplifting to one's friends. You wouldn't need a funeral or cemetery plot. All that would be left of you would be your friends' memories and a puff of white smoke floating on the wind.