ATM or ATM

An Automated Teller Machine (ATM) gives you cash. Well, to be more precise, an ATM gives you back your own cash…subject to a daily withdrawal limit of course. Kind of like when you were 10 years old and had an allowance.

To paraphrase the great Danny DiVito, “Banks love money…other people’s money!” But we’re not here today to rake the banking industry over the coals (some of my best friends are loan officers), and besides, we have Elizabeth Warren for that.

Back on topic, I stick my bank card into a hole in a wall, push a few buttons and out pops $$$. The individual bills are pretty, I suppose, if a bit repetitive. I guess I could frame one and put it on my wall, but what am I to do with the rest?

And 10,000 people just wrote in, “Send it to me!” Why? Because you all know that money is fungible. You know you don’t have to frame it (‘dream it’); you can trade it (‘be it’) for other things – things like Prada, Wagyu, Dom P, and a Batmobile and, oh yeah, I almost forgot, your very own McMansion.

A wall hanging for me, a mansion for you. Hmm, I think you got the better of me on this one. And all because you knew that money was fungible!

Aletheia Today Magazine (ATM) does not give you money; it gives you information; and you know what they say about information?

“That and $2.95 will get you a Coffee Grande at Starbucks – and they’ll even throw in non-dairy creamer at no extra cost.”

Money is fungible but information is not…or is it? Let’s put together a Brief History of Information (with a tip of the hat to Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time); and where else should a history begin but at the beginning…the very beginning!

Check out these headlines from the Washington Post:

• “Eve Eats Apple - Trades Paradise for Knowledge.”

  • Paradise = Eden

  • Apple = the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

• “Job Sues God - Demands Information.”

  • Bereft, destitute, disgraced, and diseased, Job forgoes a claim for restitution and sues God for Information instead (see The Riddle of Job in AT Magazine, Issue #1).

• “Solomon Shocker: Boy King Chooses Wisdom over Wealth.”

  • “Ask for whatever you want me to give you,” says the Lord.

  • “A discerning heart,” replies Solomon. (1 Kings 3: 1 – 15)

This same theme runs throughout the Old Testament (OT). Heck, there’s a whole section of books (seven to be exact) devoted entirely to ‘Wisdom.’

So, what about the New Testament (NT)? There, information does not lie in a set of laws (Written Torah) nor in an understanding of Nature (Oral Torah); it lies in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the logos, the Word, i.e., the structure of information itself.

But OT or NT, is the information fungible? Well, it may not get you a cool ride or an awesome crib, but it might just get you eternal life instead. Given the choice, and it is a choice (“You cannot serve both God and Money,” Mt. 6:24), the heroes of the Bible did not hesitate; would we?

“I set before you ATM and ATM; therefore, choose ATM!”

Thoughts While Shaving is the official blog of Aletheia Today, produced every Tuesday and Thursday. To never miss a single Thought, subscribe to Aletheia Today by scrolling to the bottom of the page and selecting the subscribe option. Thanks for reading!