R.H. blog

  As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, it seems fitting to consider the centuries of traditions and beliefs that have shaped our holiday season. In the simplest terms, Christmas—an abbreviated version of “Christ’s Mass”—emerged from the early Christian church as a commemoration of the birth of Christ. The earliest records of such a celebration date back to the 2 nd century, but the customs that shape our holiday today emerged over the course of several hundred years. The selection of December 25 th as the official day of celebration was the product of much debate and research, and wasn’t agreed upon in the church until the 4 th century. Prior to this, some regions celebrated on January 6 th to commemorate the baptism of Christ (by John the Baptist) rather than the birth. December 25 th was selected because it was exactly nine months after March 25 th , which was widely believed to be the date of Christ’s conception. This was based on the date of Gabriel’s appearance to Zech...

  In response to a friend, regarding “the natural law of music” and the article “Natural Law: Its Influence on Modern Music,” by Marion Bauer, The Musical Quarterly, October 1920.   Hi Ruth, A few weeks ago I heard someone wax eloquent on “the natural law of music.” He was referring to it as God’s law of chord structure, etc., and violating the natural chord structure by rearranging the music so it does not resolve breaks God’s intended purpose and is against His will.  He went much further as you can imagine, but I want to keep this simple, and ask if you think there is any merit to such a conclusion?  I googled the phrase “natural law of music” and found an article that was very interesting. Link to the article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/737974#metadata_info_tab_contents   Reply: Dear friend, My knowledge of music theory is very limited, so please take my reply with a grain of salt. It may be helpful to first summarize Marion Bauer’s ar...

On October 8th, I participated in the Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca, California, for the first time. I had an author booth at the very end of the line-up (or the very beginning, depending on where you parked), just under a tree and in front of a little duck pond. More notably, I happened to be just across the street from the entrance to Bass Pro Shops, whose bathrooms I far preferred to the parking lot porta-potties. As you can see from the photo, I selected the cloth purple color of my book cover as the official color of the day.  Although I was not the most popular booth, by any means, I had a steady trickle of visitors throughout the day and was never idle for more than fifteen minutes at a time. Many people only stopped to glance idly at my booth before moving on, some people stopped to chat or grab a business card, and some stared at me in amusement and remarked on how young I looked. But the main attraction of my booth was the writing contest: participants were given 2 min...

  The California Central Valley is not kind to August and its droves of returning scholars eager for fall to begin. Summer vacation may be over, but summer is not. It is generally assumed that the beginning of the school year ushers in a new season—that the summer heat will gradually taper off and give way to more moderate temperatures. The assumption exists in our own valley, too, as a glance into any department store will show. Here, no one will think it strange that pumpkins and colored leaves decorate the shelves or that racks of sweaters are already being wheeled out, while the thermometer outside reads 100 degrees Fahrenheit. They will shrug and say, “School is starting,” and Google when Starbucks is going to start selling pumpkin spice lattes. It’s a national tradition, and it helps students romanticize the otherwise dreaded return to school. Here in the valley, the extreme heat advisories will persist well into September. The real transition into fall—the cool temperatu...

The essential question regarding the issue of abortion is this: can the unborn be properly considered human and are we therefore under an obligation to protect them? If this can be answered, we can begin to consider the social and political issues surrounding abortion. The Nature and Rights of the Unborn Human rights are contingent on being human—something that has always been implicit, but never fully defined except in the sphere of philosophy or in a strictly biological sense. In the past, a clear definition wasn’t necessary, because no one was thinking about existence before birth or what makes us different from machines and so forth. As science has progressed, however, we’ve been forced to consider our own humanity because of how deeply we understand our biology, including our development from a fertilized egg, and of how frequently in science the lines between material and abstract existence are blurred. Ethics in science aside, abortion is probably the most notable scenario...

My name is Ruth (R.H. Verrinder). I am an independent writer from the California Central Valley. This blog serves as an outlet for various nonfiction pieces on religion, philosophy, the arts, and current events. I have a self-published book on Amazon entitled Sketches of a Small Life, which draws from my childhood and adolescent experiences to depict life in rural California, and I am currently working on my first science fiction novel. Throughout my writing, I draw from my experiences in science and engineering to attempt to bridge the gap between science and the arts.  R.H.'s Substack

  To analyze our own existence, to draw out ourselves and the people around us, and to begin to understand, slowly and carefully, the meaning of life and how it ought to be lived—that is the common goal of work and art. In a million different ways, through a million different media, we are all seeking answers to our questions. Questions of self, questions of others, questions of the world around us; in every walk of life, there are questions to be answered. And with each question we answer, we gain a stronger sense of self and of security of our position within the world. By continuing to wonder and to seek out answers, we are insisting on living, and not simply existing. The only measure of success, then, is not your existence to yourself, but how you have lived. If you are a kinder person than you were before, if you are more patient, more loving, more ready to forgive—then you have asked the right questions and you have found the right answers.

Galatians 1: Paul’s letter to the Galatians addresses the delineation between the teaching of Christ and the teaching of man—a delineation that the Galatians had apparently blurred. Paul begins by reminding them that “the gospel they have received” is not from him or from any man but the Man Christ Jesus. With this knowledge, he asks them, why do they seek a different gospel? Why do they seek what is man’s, which can profit nothing, when they have already received what is God’s, which is everything? How are we to know the difference between what is man’s and what is God’s? Know what you have received by revelation, not by the teaching of man (v. 11-12). Paul goes on to explain how for many years what he was taught by man defined him and inspired all his actions, but in a single moment, through the revelation of Christ in him on the road to Damascus, the teachings of all those years crumbled to the ground and only one fact remained: Christ and Christ crucified. Nor was it necessary fo...

Isaiah 57:8 “Also behind the doors and their posts you have set up your remembrance; for you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me, and have gone up to them; you have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them; you have loved their bed, where you saw their nudity.” In comparing Israel’s worship of false gods and allegiance to worldly practices to adultery, God is saying that worship—of God or of the world—is as intimate an act as sexual intercourse. Indeed, more so, because worship deals with the soul and not the body only. Worship is a submission of self—soul and body—to a greater force, real or perceived. Mere existence requires the submission of your soul to an external force. In the simplest interactions of life with life, there are concessions to be made, choices of one thing over another, forces of will and thought behind every action. If the driving force behind these things is the law of God, we are in submission to God. If it is the law of the world, we are i...