Saturday, July 30, 2011

Just Say No to Leetspeak

Hello, ladies. Look at your comment, now back to mine, now back at your comment, now back to mine. Sadly, it isn’t mine, but if you stopped using leetspeak and switched to proper grammar, it could look like mine. Look down, back up. Where are you now? You’re on Facebook, with the comment your comment could look like. What’s in your hand? Back up. It’s a keyboard with letters composing the English language you love. Look up again. The comment is now EPIC. Anything’s possible when your comment uses proper grammar and not leetspeak. I’m on a chair.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Young Earth vs. Old Earth

This is one of those big Christian arguments which, at face value, has little to no effect on the world in which we live.

If "Young-Earth Creationism" is correct, we're still here living right now.
If "Old-Earth Creationism"/evolution/what have you is correct, we're still living here right now.

Of course, the argument isn't really about the face value of YEC vs. OEC.
The argument, and thus its far-reaching effects, involves a gradual shift in priorities for the Christian community.

Young-Earth represents the old way (ironically).
-"God said, I believe it, and that settles it," "old-time religion," etc. thinking.
-faith instead of reason.
-Science is the enemy of faith (and thus God), even though YEC Christians continue to take advantage of SCIENTIFIC breakthroughs, especially in technology.
-The Bible > anything and everything else, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise.

Old-Earth represents the new way.
-"Prove it!" "How can you say that in light of this and this and this contradiction?" etc.
-Acknowledging that there are mysteries in the universe which we will never understand, but in the meantime it behooves us as rational, thinking beings to strive to understand all we can.
-Faith working with the rational minds God gave us in order to find a synthesis of the two.
-Science is a necessary ally of faith, especially when studying Galileo, Newton, Copernicus, etc. who were all Christians believing that by achieving greater understanding of God's universe, they could gain greater appreciation for His creative nature and find new more wondrous reasons to worship Him.

At least for me personally, once I reached this understanding I could never go back to the old way.

Notice there aren't many converts from one to the other, barring divine intervention?
This is one of the VERY few Christian arguments with VERY distinct battle lines.
A Christian attempting to study the origins of the universe will quickly find the two sides clashing throughout spiritual and scientific academia, though the Young-Earth side rarely ventures into scientific territory (for obvious reasons).


A larger, more detrimental effect of this argument is to anyone outside looking in.
God forbid an atheist/etc. seeking the truth be turned away because all he/she sees of "Christians" is a bunch of yappy dogs nipping at each other.

I believe as technology gives us increasing ability to accurately look back in time, the Young-Earth mentality will disappear, or at least be limited to tiny groups of senile senior citizens still shaking their heads and folding their arms saying "Nuh-uh!"

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Notes to Overprotective Parents

-HARDSHIP BUILDS CHARACTER.
-GREAT ART CAN ONLY COME FROM GREAT PAIN.
-EVERY CHILD GETS MADE FUN OF.

A whole generation of children is being insulated to the point that when the shit inevitably hits the fan, they will be PARALYZED. They will consider the toilet backing up a major catastrophe of biblical proportions.

Now imagine them as adults.
Then imagine the effect they will have on THEIR kids.

Then be afraid, and maybe let little Jimmy play with some dangerous toys.

And stop calling your lawyer every time he comes home from school crying because he was called a butthead on the playground!


Bullying has caused suicides for DECADES.

My more draconian side considers this a mechanism of natural selection.
The kids with the personal motivation to succeed, even if success is only measured in a high school diploma, WILL succeed in spite of anyone else's criticism to the contrary.

Especially given that bullying is merely one of MANY factors leading to suicide.
God forbid we hold the PARENTS responsible for brushing their kids aside when they needed support.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Walls we Build

"I love my Roman Catholic friends, and my faith is richer for listening to them share their experience of the Eucharistic mystery and the traditions of their church. I have deep respect for my Orthodox neighbors and feel a sense of mystery and awe when I worship amid the aroma of incense in their church. I love my Southern Baptist colleagues, whose love of the Scriptures and preaching of conversion have left their mark on me. And my Pentecostal friends have reminded me that the Holy Spirit continues to work in unexpected ways. While I’m drawn to the United Methodist Church’s attempt to hold together the evangelical and social gospels, and to stand in the center of the theological spectrum as a bridge between the left and the right, I don’t believe all Christians should be United Methodists. In fact, I think Christianity would be the poorer if they were."
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White

My pastor preached on Christ's oneness prayer last Sunday, and one of the more depressing facts he pointed out is that "anyone trying to find middle ground nowadays just gets shot at from both sides."
Especially in America, where "compromise" equals "surrendering to the enemy," the enemy in this case being everyone who doesn't believe exactly as "we" do.

Us vs. them all over again.

I was raised to believe that agreeing to disagree agreeably (i.e. set aside issues which aren't critical when they put our relationships in danger) was a sign of high maturity.
But even in my most intimate circles, there are several who now say that any such arrangement is heretical, once again treating compromise as complete surrender.

I think this quote from John Wesley sums up the solution well, and interdenominational charity work, mission trips, etc. demonstrate the validity of his statement.

"Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences."