You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

EX-ENRON BOSSES CLOSER TO PRISON
More than four years after the collapse of their company stunned a city and sent shockwaves through corporate boardrooms across the country, former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling failed one last time: to convince a jury that it was not their fault.

"Certainly we're surprised, more appropriately to say we're shocked ... I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me," said Lay. He noted that he's still a blessed man because of his family and friends. "We believe God is in fact in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord."

Houston Chronicle

I understand the umbrage people take at Ken Lay's proclamation of his innocence and even more at his statement that it's all good 'cos he loves the Lord. For some it may sound like, no matter what a court says, everything he did is okay. A jury seems to think what he did was criminal, and from A Conspiracy of Fools one gets the impression that a whole lot of pride, selfishness, chest-beating and disregard for ethics played a huge role in the collapse of the company, the loss of so many people's savings, and the general assault on capitalism- so the "it's all good" sentiment seems a bit indelicate. But the resentment against his words doesn't mean that what he's said doesn't in some way resonate as true. It just may be that the good he thinks there may be may not be what he wants or expects it to be...
It may be that the good God works through those who love Him is very much not like the good we expect or would find easiest to swallow.

I find it interesting (read inane and revealing of how little is understood) when people say the Biblical king David was A Man After God's Own Heart and by that mean, "It's all good." Pardon my French, but if you read his story you see David was a bit of a trou de cul. The Bible saying David was a man after God's own heart does not necessarily justify or even excuse what David did. It might make it worse. It might mean that even a "man after God's heart" can't handle being a king. It might mean being earnest for God does not guarantee you do things well or that you are good at being good. I don't think the stories of David's adultery, dead babies, civil war, pestilence, and no temple building bloody hands are so easily glossed over or meant to be seen as good things because David was a man after God's own heart. Although that is an easier approach.

It may be that David could be horribly wrong, corrupted by power, susceptible to lust and violence and come to a point where he says something like, "Holy crap I suck." I don't know... I tend to think being a person after God's heart doesn't mean you're great and can do no wrong. Maybe it means something more like you are able to say, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." And strangely enough, that seems to be its own kind of greatness.

So Ken Lay says he loves the Lord and is expecting good because of it. I don't know what he means by that. I kind of get the impression he means something like, "Ain't no haters can take us, ya heard me?! Only God can judge me." But maybe he means something else. Maybe he anticipates the good he expects God to work will come through being devastated. I don't know. But he's still right... sort of.

Playing Through the Alphabet: B Can Barely Bother
I Miss You- Bjork
Cover Me- Bjork
Headphones- Bjork
The Wiizard- Black Sabbath
Paranoid- Black Sabbath
War Pigs- Black Sabbath
Iron Man- Black Sabbath
Fairies Wear Boots- Black Sabbath
Changes- Black Sabbath
Sweet Leaf- Black Sabbath
sky is falling- Blackalicious
My Pen and Pad- Blackalicious
Chemical Calisthenics- Blackalicious