You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2008.
Two mornings a week I drive by a house on my way back from dropping a couple guys I know off at school. Well, I actually drive by a lot of houses, but this one is unique because it has a big, green, three-dimensional (as opposed to the two-dimensional kind, see above) peace sign standing out in the front yard. I think it used to be covered in astroturf, like some sort of conciliatory Chia Pet. Now, however, it appears to have lost the shag and kept the green.
I saw it again this morning and it reminded me of a brief article I read in this August’s edition of National Geographic, explaining where the peace sign came from. Apparently it is a combination of the semaphore letters for “N” and “D,” which stand for “Nuclear Disarmament.” Semaphore is the method of using flags held in various arm positions to communicate information. The letter “N” is signaled by holding the two flags opposite one another, facing downward at 45-degree angles from your body. The letter “D” comes from holding one flag straight up above your head and the other straight downward. Here’s a visual illustration to help:
This is how Helen Fields from National Geographic explained it in the article:
On a rainy Easter weekend 50 years ago, a crowd of protesters set off from London on a four-day march for the fledgling cause of nuclear disarmament. A new movement needs a new symbol, so they waved signs bearing a simple logo that has since gone on to become a universal emblem for peace.
The peace symbol is neither the track of a dove nor a chicken, as hawks have sneered. Artist Gerald Holtom based it on the semaphore initials for nuclear disarmament, although he later said that it also represented himself in despair, palms out and down.
Purposely never copyrighted, used in everything from Vietnam War protests to cigarette ads, the symbol is easy to recognize — and to misdraw. Pat Arrowsmith, 78, helped plan the 1958 march and still goes to antinuclear and antiwar events. A common mistake — leaving out the middle leg — turns a peace sign into the Mercedes-Benz logo. She fixes that: “I get out my ballpoint immediately.” (Page 22)
Semaphore images taken from Wikipedia (Here and here). You can check out the copyright info there since I don’t understand it.
Zach Nielsen at Take Your Vitamin Z has some great counsel for how to be wise in our electronic utterances:
Today in our staff meeting our executive pastor asked us to come up with a collective list of rules to generally follow when dealing with email. Here is the list we came up with followed by some comments from me:
1. Don’t confront people over email.
Non-verbal communication is too important in confrontation and tone cannot be interpreted well over email. Ask yourself if you are wanting to confront over email because you are being cowardly and have a sinful bent toward the fear of man. One push back on this principle is that when writing an email you can collect your thoughts in a cohesive way for better communication. I would say if you feel this way, write your thoughts on a pad of paper with bullet points and bring it to your confrontation appointment.
2. Use email to work on your grammar.
Text speak (lol, c ya, etc.) can merge into our email, email can merge into our more formal writing. Don’t believe this? Ask my wife, she teaches graduate school and can testify to this fact. Scary, I know.
3. Work to have a balance between email and personal contact.
I am bad at this. I have found that I would rather sit in my office and fire off a quick email to the guy in the office next door as opposed to just popping over and saying something quickly. I know it feels efficient in the short term, but I wonder about the long term effects. If we are not careful we breed a culture of isolation that is detrimental to our essential nature of God’s image bearers, created for communities of love.
4. Be professional over email.
Granted, for most of us email is not a professional medium of communication, but why not raise the bar?
5. Use subject lines.
Again, I am bad at this but working on it. It’s much easier to find old emails this way, for you and the one who receives. It also helps emails not get pushed to spam folders and gives your reader a sense of your intentions right off the bat.
6. Don’t multi-task too much with email.
I have been burned bad in the past by having too many emails flying around with different windows open and hitting reply when I should have hit forward. What a horrible feeling! It’s like you want to scratch and claw your way into the computer after hitting send to pull that one back out. Sadly, you can’t. I did this one time in college when I was wanting to forward something to JT about our religion professor, but rather sent it to the religion professor himself. The email was less than kind. The next day in class he was a good sport about it and thought it was funny, but made fun of me in front of the whole class. Mortifying.
7. Don’t email your spouse a love letter, or better yet, anything to anybody that is emotionally meaningful.
Use your own handwriting. It’s way more personal.
8. Hesitate before you hit reply all.
Do they all really need to receive your reply?
9. Don’t forward cheesy emails with winged angels and dancing bears.
Barf.
10. Learn people’s style.
Some people just don’t like email. Serve them by not trying to force them into your style and then being angry when they don’t reply to your email. Call or go and see them. This is most loving. Also, don’t be offended when you write a four paragraph book email and they only reply with two sentences. They might not have had time to reciprocate with equivalent size and would rather just talk on the phone.
11. Use blind copy (BCC:) when sending to a large group.
If you don’t you could expose people to spam from insensitive spammers who like to collect email addresses to add people to random lists.
HT: James Grant
Two stick out noticeably from my past. I remember the first for its infamy. The second was just awesome. When I was probably seven years old or so, I actually dressed up as Satan for Halloween. I had a freakish, horned mask and a plastic pitchfork. My grandma was living with us at the time because she had cancer and wasn’t doing well. She saw me wearing the mask in another room while I was playing with my brother and it really scared her. Let’s just say that costume won’t be resurfacing in future Bowers generations. At least not if I can help it.
All of that is only gloriously contrasted by the Halloween where my brother and I dressed up as Ninja Turtles. I was Leonardo and my brother was Michaelangelo. My super-creative mom made us shells out of cardboard that looked incredible. We had eye masks and belts and plastic weapons. It was turtleiscious.
How about you? What was your favorite costume?
According to Wikipedia, the term “blogosphere” was coined in 1999 by a man named Brad L. Graham. I take this with a grain of salt — dictionary.com lists its beginning in 1997 — but here is the full report for what it’s worth:
The term was coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke. It was re-coined in 2002 by William Quick, and was quickly adopted and propagated by the warblog community. The term resembles the older word logosphere (from Greek logos meaning word, and sphere, interpreted as world), the “the world of words”, the universe of discourse.
Despite the term’s humorous intent, CNN, the BBC, and National Public Radio’s programs Morning Edition, Day To Day, and All Things Considered have used it several times to discuss public opinion. A number of media outlets in recent years have started treating the blogosphere as a gauge of public opinion, and it has been cited in both academic and non-academic work as evidence of rising or falling resistance to globalization, voter fatigue, and many other phenomena, and also in reference to identifying influential bloggers and “familiar strangers” in the blogosphere.
What are some other words we could use to refer to refer to the amoeba of blogdom? The blog pound? The blogocylinder? The blog jam? I’m all ears.
Friday night Crystal and I sat down and read what has been released of “Porn-Again Christian,” an online booklet written by Mark Driscoll to address issues of pornography and masturbation. Mark has a deep burden for the men in his church to know what biblical manhood looks like, and he is sharply aware of the crippling effect pornography has on embracing that vision.
Here is an excerpt from the introduction to give you a flavor of the booklet:
As the pastor of a large and growing church filled with strong men, many of them young, I have seen the secret sins of pornography and masturbation paralyze many men with shame, guilt, and embarrassment. I have written this booklet to discuss these matters in a manner that is both theological and practical, in hopes of contributing to each of you experiencing the power of the gospel to forgive, renew, and empower you by grace. Because I am speaking to fellow men, my tone may not be well suited for some women and, therefore, I would request that they not read this booklet, unless they are a wife whose husband has read it first and he can discuss its contents with her in love. For men wanting to encourage other men to lives of purity, I pray this booklet would be a useful and readable piece of literature that you could pass on to as many dudes as possible as a pedagogical tool for cranial-rectal extraction.
Mark’s language is raw at times, but that’s exactly what I appreciate about him. He speaks frankly about issues that can be awkward to address and doesn’t pull any punches. If you meet the criteria he mentions above, I would encourage you to read this booklet. All the chapters haven’t been released yet, but everything up through chapter 9 is available, and chapter 10 should be coming out today.
In Hebrew class we’re translating through the book of Jonah. Yesterday, Jonah 1:7 (”And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us’”) spurred a lively discussion about whether or not it is valid for a Christian today to use lots (which for us would be something like flipping a coin or maybe throwing dice) to discern God’s will about a particular situation.
Granted, the sailors in Jonah were pagans. However, the apostles cast lots to determine whether Joseph called Barsabbas or Matthias would take the place of Judas as the twelfth apostle (Acts 1:24-26). They asked God to show them which one of the two he had chosen, they cast lots, the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the twelve.
The situation we had in mind was a situation in which all other avenues of discernment have been exhausted (prayer, searching the Scriptures, godly counsel, using wisdom) and there are still two viable and equally desirable alternatives on the table. Is it appropriate in that situation to pray that God would make known his will and then flip a coin, casting yourself on his sovereignty as it is described in Proverbs 16:33:
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
What do you think?
I just added a page in the bar above called “About the Gold.” It’s my effort to explain the purpose of The Fool’s Gold, summed up in the phrase “sifting and gifting.” I hope it’s helpful.
Doug Wilson has an insightful post today about an implication of the story of the widow’s mite:
This last Lord’s Day, something occurred to me in the course of the sermon, something which I mentioned in passing. But then as I was reading the Scriptures this last week, the same point jumped off the page at me, and in a far more explicit way than what I had seen before.
I was making a standard point about generosity, and mentioned the widow who had put her “two mites” into the Temple treasury, and who had been praised by Jesus for the proportions in her generosity. I then went on to point out that she was actually donating to a thoroughly corrupt ministry, one that was going to be judged in a severe way by God in the course of just a few years. Jesus didn’t rush up to the widow, and tell her to save her money for a more worthy cause, or to keep it herself.
I then compared this to the well-intentioned widows today who live in poverty, but who send more money than they can afford off to television stations where the thrones are gold and the women have big hair. God receives the intention, and not just the money.
What do you think? Do you think this could also apply to a believer who gives money in good conscience to a con artist who claims to be in need?
I was sitting at my desk yesterday and Crystal was standing over me doing whatever wives do when they stand over their husbands sitting at their desks. She was kind enough to point out to me (again) that my scalp is shining a little more than it used to at the top of my head. This has set me to thinking. Given that I may very well lose some hair in the coming years, how does a man go bald with dignity? I see at least six options that don’t involve some sort of surgical or medicinal procedure:
- Buy a wig now so that people are used to it by the time I’m 50.
- Wear very tall shoes and refuse to sit down unless everyone around me is seated.
- Always wear a hat. Even when I’m sleeping.
- Grow a big, nasty beard so people don’t even think about my head.
- Sport a sweet combover with strategically-spaced, well-greased strands.
- Shave it all. Better yet, get it waxed.
What do you think? What’s the best way for a man to lose his hair in style?
Saturday night my wife and I went with some friends from church to see Call + Response, a rockumentary (hadn’t heard that one before) about the human trafficking industry. The DG Blog promoted it a week ago yesterday. It was well done and sobered me to the fact that, among other types of slavery, there are real-life girls who are being forced to have sex with real-life perverts who have real-life money to burn on their defiling passions. It’s a sick trade.
Here’s a description from the movie’s website:
CALL+RESPONSE is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.
Luminaries on the issue such as Cornel West, Madeleine Albright, Daryl Hannah, Julia Ormond, Ashley Judd, Nicholas Kristof, and many other prominent political and cultural figures offer first hand account of this 21st century trade. Performances from Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed artists including Moby, Natasha Bedingfield, Cold War Kids, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap, Talib Kweli, Five For Fighting, Switchfoot, members of Nickel Creek and Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Rocco Deluca move this chilling information into inspiration for stopping it.
Music is part of the movement against human slavery. Dr. Cornel West connects the music of the American slave fields to the popular music we listen to today, and offers this connection as a rallying cry for the modern abolitionist movement currently brewing.
If it’s in your area and still showing, I’d encourage you to see it. Better hurry, though. Most of the show times have come and gone, and the latest I saw was this Thursday the 23rd.
Did anybody else go? What did you think?
My dog died yesterday. She had to be put to sleep because of old age and failing health. Her name was Mandy and she would have been 13 years old in a couple weeks or so. My brother and I got her as a gift on Christmas Day 1995. She was a fluffy golden retriever puppy and her breath smelled like graham crackers. That was fitting, because that’s exactly how I would describe what Mandy was like. A graham cracker. Brown and sweet.
She was my friend. Actually, she was a friend to the whole family. She nuzzled her way into our hearts with her big wet nose and just kind of laid down there for thirteen years, smiling, patient, gentle. And then she left. It’s hard to explain what that feels like. My heart feels like a couch where somebody’s gotten up after sitting there a spell. You can still feel the warmth and see the depression of the cushions, but no one’s there.
Of course, I wonder if I’ll see Mandy again. I know she was a dog and dogs don’t have immortal souls like humans, but I just can’t shake feeling like Mandy was more than a tomato plant. I tried looking up the word “dog” in the Bible, but I don’t think dogs were highly thought of then. Revelation 22 says that dogs will be outside the heavenly city along with the sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters. I think, though, that the dogs there are people, so I’m left with a hopeful ambiguity.
Will our favorite pets be on the new earth? Perhaps. I don’t think we can know for sure, but I do know that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21). God will release his saints from decay and he will do the same with his creation. Maybe that will include my sweet smiling friend. I sure hope so. Either way, I can’t wait to be with Jesus. He was the one Mandy was pointing me to all along, anyway.
I’d like to share with you part of a poem by John Piper from the book Future Grace. Whenever I read it, it makes me long for the day when God will restore all things in Christ. Mom mentioned it to me this morning on the phone. Piper is talking from the perspective of someone experiencing the birth of the new creation:
And as I knelt beside the brook
To drink eternal life, I took
A glance across the golden grass,
And saw my dog, old Blackie, fast
As she could come. She leaped the stream –
Almost — and what a happy gleam
Was in her eye. I knelt to drink,
And knew that I was on the brink
Of endless joy. And everywhere
I turned I saw a wonder there.
A big man running on the lawn:
That’s old John Younge with both legs on.
The blind can see a bird on wing,
The dumb can lift their voice and sing.
The diabetic eats at will,
The coronary runs uphill.
The lame can walk, the deaf can hear,
The cancer-ridden bone is clear.
Arthritic joints are lithe and free,
And every pain has ceased to be.
And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that’s left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart, and understand,
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.
O, God of wonder, God of might,
Grant us some elevated sight,
Of endless days. And let us see
The joy of what is yet to be.
And may your future make us free,
And guard us by the hope that we,
Through grace on lands that you restore,
Are justified for evermore.
(pages 381-382)
A post like this is dangerous for two reasons (which, incidentally, are not the two reasons I’m going to give you to subscribe):
- It may betray a bent toward number-mongering. It’s very easy, after all, to locate your identity as a blogger in how many people subscribe to your posts.
- It may suggest that the issue is of small significance. A case defended by two points typically smacks of a puny defense.
My response to the two dangers is:
- Simply because an action may be poorly motivated does not require that it must be. There are plenty of right reasons (well, at least two) to appeal for subscriptions, which I’ll get to in a jiffy.
- A case defended by two points may in fact be sizable, provided that the two points are significant. My hope is that the latter is the situation here.
With that said, here are my two reasons why I think you should subscribe to The Fool’s Gold. I give two because it will be easier to remember and because the number two embodies the healthy symbiosis I hope to commend:
- Subscribing to The Fool’s Gold will be a help to you. Instead of visiting the blog to see if there have been any new posts, you can receive automatic updates either through e-mail or through an RSS reader like the one Google offers (Abraham Piper offers a helpful explanation to guide you through the process). This will save you time and almost certain frustration. Furthermore, subscribing to The Fool’s Gold is absolutely free and you can unsubscribe at any time you want. It’s a win-win situation.
- Subscribing to The Fool’s Gold will be a help to others. By seeing how many regularly read this blog, potential subscribers will be encouraged to trust the content they find and join our happy crew. Furthermore, your subscription is an encouragement to me. It really helps me to know how many of you are out there and spurs me on to keep my hand to the plow.
So, if you’re persuaded by my two-pronged case, click on the link on the left-hand side of the blog that says “Subscribe to the Fool’s Gold.” You’ll be directed to a page that will give you a list of subscription options to choose from. After that, you’re on your way to digital bliss. Enjoy!
I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know about an on-line resource that I think may be a great help to your personal Bible study or sermon preparation.
The name of the website is BibleArc.com, developed by a friend of mine in the TBI program. The purpose of the website is to provide a user-friendly platform for engaging the text of Scripture through a process called “arcing,” which is simply the method of splitting a passage up into individual units of thought (called propositions) and demonstrating how those units of thought relate to one another. You can do this in Greek or in English. Here is an example of what Romans 12:1-2 looks like when it’s arced:
Now it may not look like it, but what you’re seeing is a treasure map. All those curved lines and abbreviated symbols are leading you to Paul’s original intention in writing what he did under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They’re a graphical representation of the apostle’s flow of thought, which is the gold we’re after.
If all of this is new to you and you have no idea where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Along with allowing you to construct your own arcs, BibleArc.com offers a whole section chock full of video tutorials that take you through the process step by step and give you examples of each of the possible relationships that can exist between propositions. The following video from the website explains why a tool like arcing can be invaluable:
Personally speaking, I would say arcing is one of the most significant tools for Bible study I’ve ever learned. One of the benefits of this approach is that it forces you to slow down and ask hard questions about why an author says what he does. It takes some time to learn, but it becomes easier with practice and is worth every ounce of energy you put into it.
Listen to this testimony from John Piper about the influence this kind of approach to Bible study had on him:
It was a life-changing revelation to me when I discovered that Paul, for example, did not merely make a collection of divine pronouncements, but that he argued. This meant, for me, a whole new approach to Bible reading. No longer did I just read or memorize verses. I sought also to understand and memorize arguments. This involved finding the main point of each literary unit and then seeing how each proposition fit together to unfold and support the main point. (”Biblical Exegesis: Discovering the Meaning of Scriptural Texts,” pg. 18)
If you’re interested in pursuing this method of getting inside the Biblical authors’ heads, I would warmly encourage you to check out BibleArc.com.
Tope Koleoso, lead elder of Jubilee Church in North London, attended the Desiring God National Conference at the end of last month. Adrian Warnock, who attends Jubilee, has posted the first of three video installments in which Tope shares his thoughts about the conference. In this video Tope comments, among other things, about his experience of the worship at the conference. I found his remarks to be significant and encouraging given his background as a Reformed charismatic.
If I had to nail down a summary statement, it would probably be this one: “In the end, the question would be this: ‘Did I worship? Did I have those moments of being lost in awe and joy?’ Yes, I most definitely, absolutely did.”
You’ll find this section beginning at the 2:50 mark.
In my short life, I’ve done my fair share of sleeping in class. I’m not proud of it. It’s just the way it is. I don’t try to fall asleep; it just hits me at inconvenient times and I can’t stay awake. Unfortunately, I’m a big-time head-bobber, which means I don’t ever have the luxury of fighting drowsiness incognito.
This brings up a question. If a person is struggling to stay awake during a meeting of some sort, should he 1) throw in the towel and put his head down, 2) try to stay conscious, employing every strategy possible to convince others he’s really awake (stretching, shifting, propping his eyelids open), or 3) confess his struggle and stand up until he’s no longer tired?
Here is a quote from Mark Driscoll’s new book “Death by Love,” a collection of letters written to people Mark has worked with as a pastor. Each letter takes one of the aspects of the cross and applies it to a particular person’s situation. In this letter, Mark is addressing a man who appears externally religious but is full of vice. He provides this man with a list of ten ways to distinguish religion from the gospel. Here is #3, which I share because it is particularly convicting to me:
[R]eligion is about what you do. Because of this, religious people like you like to quantify their righteousness in measurable ways. Meanwhile, because such things as love, patience, kindness, and mercy are not easy to quantify, you do not pursue them as vigilantly as a clean house, regular church attendance, enforced bedtime, and a balanced checkbook. Conversely, the gospel is about what Jesus has done–for you, in you, and through you–by grace. (page 95)
If you’re ever in the mood, consider how much we command one another to do things over which we have no final say:
- Have a good day
- Enjoy your meal
- Take care
- Cheer up
- Sleep well
I think there are at least two reasons these commands are inoffensive to all but maleficent ne’erdowells:
- Most of these, with the possible exception of #3 and #4, are remnants of longer wish statements. For example, #2 could be more fully stated by saying, “I hope you enjoy your meal.” In this instance, the waiter is not demanding something as much as expressing his sincere hopes that you have a scrumptious feast.
- Even if all of these have assumed the force of commands, no one is offended by them because you are essentially commanding that person to be happy, which is universally agreeable.
Any other commands you would add?
I’m not an economist. The only experience I have dealing with inflation is what happens to my eyeballs when I hear people talking about things like “principle” and “subprime loans” and “fiscal propriety” and so on. However, I am thankful that economists exist, particularly ones that care to make things understandable to non-economists like me.
In the most recent issue of WORLD magazine, Timothy Lamer penned an article titled “Anatomy of a Crisis: How Washington and Wall Street Got into Trouble” (pp. 10-11). In it, he explains what brought our country into the economic sinkhole we are experiencing. He does it in six steps, which I will try to reproduce and boil down a little for digestibility.
- In an effort to stave off economic recession after 9/11 and the “bursting of the tech bubble,” Alan Greenspan (Federal Reserve Chairman at the time) took bold strides to ease monetary policy, reducing the federal interest rate from 6% to 1% over two years (2001-2003).
- Because of the low interest rates, mortgage lenders started offering loans to people with sketchy credit history (called “subprime” loans). This increased demand, housing prices rose, and people started entering the market to “flip” houses (buying houses with debt, fixing them up, and selling them for a higher price tag). According to Lamer, “a speculative bubble began to inflate.”
- Mortgage lenders sold their dubious loans to groups such as government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two corporations then “packaged these loans into mortgage-backed securities and sold them to investors.”
- These investment banks used these securities to take on dump truck loads of debt. As a result, the state of Wall Street depended on the ability of suspect home buyers to make their monthly payments.
- Interest rates began to rise, housing demand fell, and the “speculative bubble” mentioned in step 2 began to deflate. Homeowners who had taken advantage of subprime mortgages saw their interest rates rising at the same time as the worth of their houses either stagnated or sagged. Many defaulted because they couldn’t make house payments, and the Wall Street investment banks of step 4 were left out in the rain, stuck with a bunch of debt that was “secured” by assets whose value was dwindling.
- In response, the Bush administration attempted to do what it could to avoid the collapse or recession that was feared. It “began engineering bailouts of some of these firms [see step 4] and, finally, proposed a $700 billion macro-bailout,” which we heard about recently.
Lamer sums it all up by saying:
The fundamental dynamic is this: Washington and Wall Street helped people buy houses they could not afford on such a massive scale that simply letting the lenders and debtors take their lumps would arguably do grave harm to the economy. They will take some lumps (Wall Street isn’t exactly a hot job market right now), but most of the losses will be “socialized,” or spread out among everyone who pays taxes. This includes those who exercised restraint during the bubble. That’s how it is. (pg. 11)
CNN has an article on the increase of middle and upper-class customers who shop at thrift stores. Here’s an excerpt:
The Salvation Army store in Dublin, Georgia, located halfway between Atlanta and Savannah, has seen its sales increase by 50 percent this year, said store operator Gary Spivey. The comparative affluence of his new customers is obvious.
“We’re seeing a lot more middle-class and upper-class customers we haven’t seen before,” he said. “Without even asking, you can just look in the parking lot (at their cars).”
Savers Inc., a for-profit thrift store chain based in Bellevue, Washington, has had a 10 percent growth rate, said chief executive officer Ken Alterman. The company now has 220 Savers and Value Village stores in the United States, Canada and Australia, and expects to open 25 new stores in each of the next several years.
According to Alterman, 75 percent of the company’s customers are college educated, with an average income between $50,000 and $65,000. Thirty percent of its customers have household incomes exceeding $100,000, he said.
Some of the chain’s most successful stores are in Redmond, Washington, home to Microsoft; the high-end waterfront in Victoria, British Columbia; and the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
Do you shop at thrift stores regularly? If so, what have been some of your best finds?
I stumbled upon this t-shirt probably four years ago or more. We’ve become good buds.
Crystal and I read the following portion of The Horse and His Boy the other day. C.S. Lewis is describing a battle taking place at a stronghold called Anvard:
The best way I can tell you what really happened is to take you some miles away to where the Hermit of the Southern March sat gazing into the smooth pool beneath the spreading tree, with Bree and Hwin and Aravis beside him.
For it was in this pool that the Hermit looked when he wanted to know what was going on in the world outside the green walls of his hermitage. There, as in a mirror, he could see, at certain times, what was going on in the streets of cities far farther south than Tashbaan, or what ships were putting into Redhaven in the remote Seven Isles, or what robbers or wild beasts stirred in the great Western forests between Lantern Waste and Telmar. (pg. 200)
I have two observations:
- We have the Hermit’s pool. It’s called the internet. It is astounding to me that the capabilities of a mystical pool in a children’s fiction tale are at our fingertips.
- The negative consequence of this is that it may make us more like hermits than we like to think.
The winner of the October 2008 Fool’s Gold Book Giveaway is:
Tim Chen
Tim operates a blog called “To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain.”
What does Tim do during the day, you ask? Here is his answer:
I’m a student during the day (Engineering with an interest in everything, including philosophy).
He describes his favorite season this way:
I’m from the Midwest so my favorite season is fall. The air is crisp and clear, stinging your nostrils as it goes in. Cold enough to play soccer or tag with your hands stuffed in your pockets on the colder days. And on the warmer ones, the sun on your back is enough so that you can run freely with shirt and shorts without breaking a sweat. A dewy frost on the ground in the misty mornings before the cool glowing sun cuts into and makes the air so crystal clear.
Winter is even better, the hushed sleeping landscape with only your footprints and the silence. But being inside is cold wet and drafty at times. Cold feet are a common malady along with the constant worry of carbon monoxide. Enthusiastic heater use often results in a drowsy feel and a popped circuit breaker (and a shutdown computer). So overall, fall is the more favored holiday.
Congratulations, Tim! Be sure to stay tuned, everyone, for next month’s giveaway.
Welcome to October! To celebrate the dawn of this new month as well as The Fool’s Gold’s six-month birthday, I’m giving away a free copy of “The Reason for God” by Tim Keller.
Giveaway Details:
Between now and midnight on Thursday, October 2 (Central Standard Time), send an e-mail to thefoolsgoldblog@gmail.com. In the e-mail, include the following:
– Your name
– The name and address of your blog (if you have one)
– What you do during the day
– Your favorite season and why
After the deadline passes, I will randomly select an entry and e-mail the winner to ask for his or her mailing address. The winner will be announced sometime on Friday, October 3.
About the Book:
I warmly commend this book to you if for nothing else than to see what it looks like to winsomely defend the gospel. Keller is masterful at handling objections to the Christian message with understanding while peeling away levels of argument to expose underlying assumptions.
The book is divided neatly into two sections. The first section deals with seven common objections to Christianity:
– There Can’t Be Just One True Religion
– How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
– Christianity Is a Straitjacket
– The Church Is Responsible for So Much Injustice
– How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
– Science Has Disproved Christianity
– You Can’t Take the Bible Literally
The second section presents seven reasons for believing in Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from his “Intermission” chapter to whet your appetite:
Intermission means literally to be between journeys or missions. That is where we are now. Underlying all doubts about Christianity are alternate beliefs, unprovable assumptions about the nature of things. So far I’ve examined the beliefs beneath the seven biggest objections or doubts people in our culture have about the Christian faith. I respect much of the reasoning behind them, but in the end I don’t believe any of them make the truth of Christianity impossible or even improbable. We have another journey to take, however. It is one thing to argue that there are no sufficient reasons for disbelieving Christianity. It is another to argue that there are sufficient reasons for believing it. That is what I will try to do in the last part of this volume. (pg. 115)
If you’re curious to discover his reasons, shoot me an e-mail. I think you’ll find “The Reason for God” to be a very helpful and faith-strengthening resource.
