Editor’s note: Recently in The Voice, the announcement was made of the death of the conductor of the column, Ask Grandpa, which provided readers with 503 weeks of sage advice, humor, and continuity. Below is the repeat of the May 27, 2021 column. The Voice will continue to offer previous columns. We invite special requests of previous columns.
Grandpa,
I need to know the person to contact. The health department doesn’t seem to care. I have called them last Fall and again this week and nothing has been done about it. I hesitate to call DCFS, but I will if you think it will help. The problem is my neighbors behind me. Our yards back up to each other. They have a dog fence around their back yard even though they don’t have a dog, and they let the children go out there without wearing face masks. I have told them that the president has told us that we need to wear two masks when we are outside the house. They don’t care. Those kids are outside, playing together without any face coverings at all. Should I call DCFS? No one else seems to care that these people are putting their children at risk.
Grandpa says: Before calling to make any reports, may I suggest you call your doctor to get the facts about the virus? Research to determine why it is okay for the children to play together inside without masks, but that they need them to play in the healthful sunshine. Please consult with a good personal counselor about your obvious need to control others and how they live in their own homes. Because COVID-19 is a virus that affects the respiratory system, Grandpa suggests that you keep your nose out of other people’s business, even if you are wearing a mask, or two.
Grandpa,
In Psalms 7:9 we are told that God judges the heart and He reins. But in Psalms 26:2 and 73;21 it mentions the heart and reins without the mention of God being the one who reins. Can you explain; does it mean the heart reins over us?
Grandpa says: Syntax error! In the King James Version (KJV), the word reins actually appears 15 times. Not in any one of those times does it mean to rule or control. You are confusing two homonyms. The word that means to rule is reigns. Reign, in its various tenses, appears well more than 300 times in the KJV. The word in your question, reins, is always used in the plural in KJV because it is a noun, not a verb. Fourteen times in the OT the word translates from the Hebrew ‘kilyaw’. In the one use in the NT, John the Revelator is quoting Christ using the Greek word nephros. Both of these words are translated into the word ‘reins’, which is an archaic English word meaning kidneys. The ancients believed that the kidneys were the center for emotions such as love, greed, hatred. It is no more odd than modern man believing that the heart is the center of emotion. In each of the scriptures where you read the word reins try substituting the word mind. It would make a lot more sense to you. That is the word used in several of the more modern translations of the scriptures.
Grandpa says: If you love your country and the freedoms you enjoy, thank a veteran. A blessed Memorial Day to you all.