Christianity: Truth or Fiction

One of the great things of being at home with bub is that we the have time while William is feeding (and then sleeping nicely all full!) to listen to things such as the recent debate held at UWA between the UWA Christian Union and the UWA Atheist & Agnostic Club Debate. I think such debates are great ideas. It's like two boxers talking themselves up – it doesn't really mean much until they fight it out. In a loving, respectful way that is.

You can listen for yourself here: http://www.uwacu.org/talks/2008/080805-Debate.mp3

My thoughts:

• I thought it was ironic how Michael's first point was that people only believe in religions because they have it on authority from someone else, whereas atheist, agnostics and other "independent thinkers" think about things for themselves. However my impression at the end of the debate that you were encouraging people to check it all out for themselves (reading the gospels etc.) and since Michael did nothing of the sort it was like he was implicity expecting people to take him as our authority.
• Tim used some bold words regarding Mohammed. To me these were actually refreshing after listening to our politicians using so many words to say so little. Some would consider this intolerant, but I think Voltaire was right when he said: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. "
• Also a lot of Michael's arguments (e.g. the problem of pain, the presence of evil) seemed to indicate that he hadn't even heard the Christian responses to them (e.g. the fall). He only seemed to consider the possibility that God created the world the way we see it now. To actually make a point he would have had to demolish some of the longstanding Christian responses. Unfortunately without this the debate isn't as effective as it serves to polarise the crowd - both sides seeing his point as convincing for their side of the argument.

As advertised at the talk they'll be an open forum to follow up on the debate. Hopefully that will appear online too soon!

The Parable of the River

Thanks to the people at Koorong for tracking down this story I was hunting. It's called "The Parable of the River" and is from the book "In the Grip of Grace" by Max Lucado. Someone has transcribed it online here, I recommend having a read. It's a great allegory of the different ways we as as humans respond to our sin.

Unsoliticed Advice #1

I think I'll start regularly posting what I see as useful advice. At the very least, it will be interesting to look back and see if my opinions change. But hopefully you might find these useful too. Here's the first:

How to give compliments to people who won't take them.

Have to ever tried to be nice to someone and they just won't take your compliment? Perhaps they are too shy, too humble, or just too proud! Here are some tips to compliment these people in a way they will respond to.

Avoid compliments that use a comparison, even value judgments. For instance:

• "That piano playing was really good"
• "You're the most beautiful person I know!"

People who find it hard to take compliments will usually deny these claims. This may because they are under-rating themselves, or because they think you are over-rating them! They may actually be justified in denying your claims - if for instance they feel that they didn't play the piano very well compared to their usual skill level, or they know someone more beautiful than them that you aren't aware of! So either their self-esteem is low, or your experience of piano playing or personal beauty isn't as wide as theirs

Either way, you can still give an effective compliment by changing the compliment around to reflect the effect that they have had on you. This is good because:

1. It emphasizes the relationship between the two of you, rather than just the performance/beauty of the other person. Whether you are romantically involved or not, focusing on the relationship you have with someone is always more important than the things they or you do or look like.
2. But more importantly, it is much easier for the person to accept the compliment because there is less comparison involved. For instance:
   - "I really enjoyed your piano playing"
   - "I just love looking at you"

The other person can then feel warm and encouraged (the purpose of a compliment) because of the effect that they have on you (enjoyment, pleasure etc.). They don't have to worry about whether they thought they were good enough. There is no way they can deny your compliment without sounding silly (e.g. - "You didn't enjoy my playing!").

So your compliments should have the desired effects!

Note: If, in response to "I really enjoyed your piano playing", they say "Well you must have simple tastes because I played very badly", then we can assume their ego is far too developed to warrant any further compliments!

Man Nesting

Our baby is due in 3 weeks, 5 days. And I think I've been nesting.

I know it's supposed to be a pregnant woman thing but why can't a man want his house all ordered and fixed up before a baby comes along and pulls things in the complete opposite direction? I think I'll call it Man-Nesting. This is woman nesting:

This is Man-Nesting:

In the last two weeks I've organised my clothes, gone through and thrown out old study notes (*sigh*, I used to be so smart before I started working), installed a shelf, put 2 trailer loads of mulch in the garden, transplated a 10-foot tree and this weekend I'm installing a ducted vacuum system!

I hope this baby appreciates it :)

My sense of humour

I've just discovered this webcomic, called xkcd. I think it's very very close to any kind of comic I would try and write, given my sense of humour. So rather than write my own, I'll just read this one a lot. You might like it too.

Supernatural history

Recently I responded to an an online letter to The West newspaper by Kathleen Smith that said:

"How can the Bible be historical if it is fiction? The word, "historical", implies factualness and the supernatural aspects of the bible can hardly be described as historical"

Here's my response:

The only way we know anything about history is from the people who were there and recorded it. We can only assess the accuracy or credibility of them as witnesses.

You might say "I think it is extremely unlikely that someone could be raised from the dead, therefore it probably didn't happen."

But, I might tell you that I won the lottery 10 years ago. You could say, "It's extremely unlikely for someone to win the lottery (1 chance in billions?) therefore it probably didn't happen". Well we know that a better idea would be to investigate my claim by talking to people who were in my life 10 years ago, and they may just be able to convince you that it did happen.

So just because something is "supernatural", that doesn't mean can't be historical.

Fighting the good fire

I've been thinking - how can we keep God's mission central to our lives, when it seems that most of our lives are taken up by other things? Telling people about him seems to be a thing that gets done sporadically, when the opportunities pop up (sometimes not even then). So how can evangelism remain our prime focus?

Well, I thought of a helpful analogy recently. Consider the life of a volunteer country fireman. They have other things to do, during the time when there are no fires to put out. They must look after there farms and take care of the necessities of daily life. However, there primary responsibility is as a fireman. Once that fire-bell rings, they must drop everything and run to put out the fire. Their jobs com sproradically. But even though they aren’t continually involved in fighting fires, it is still their primary concern.

Even though they are voluntary, they still must undergo training to be effective. We must do the same. Once a town gets large enough, they will be able to support full-time firemen. This is really the only difference between full-time gospel workers and the rest of us. We must do our work voluntarily because there are not the resources available to support us full-time. However, our duties remain the same. We may not be able to devote our entire working day to fighting fires, but we can still think of this as our primary mission. We may not be able to devote that much of our time to training ourselves as effective firefighters, however we still must undergo regular training to be effective. Imagine if the volunteer firefighters became fat and lazy and forgot how to connect their hoses!

So keeping this analogy in mind, we can still go about our everyday lives, doing the things that are necessary to keep ourselves alive, and yet still have the sharing of God’s gospel as our primary mission.


So then if we are working, the money we have after taking care of our own needs can be used to support full-time firefighters throughout the world. And if you are a student then studying is just a means to making this money more effectively.

But all the time, we are ready for any fires that break out.

Help me find: The River

Dear reader,

I was wondering if you could help me locate a story. I heard this many years ago and cannot remember the title or author. I was hoping someone out there may have heard of it and know more about it.

It's called something like "The River" and is an allegory about sin, our response and God's response. In summary, 4 brothers are warned against going near a fast-flowing river by their Father. When they inevitably disobey him, they are caught up and swept downstream to a faraway land very different from their Father’s land.

One of the brother’s decides to move in with the natives of this land and indulge in their evil practices. The other brother sets up camp near the first brother to catalogue his evil ways for future judgement. Another brother tries to build a path back up the river using stones from the river bank, with little success. The last brother trusts that their Father will come to bring them back to his land.

Eventually their Father does arrive and meets with the trusting son. The Father tells him to go and collect his other brothers so that he can carry them all upstream. The trusting son tries to convince the first brother, but he is now happy living in this new land. The second son is pleased to hear that the Father has returned but can’t leave just yet as he hasn’t finished writing down all the first brother’s sins. The third brother tells the trusting son that his Father wouldn’t want him to give up trying and he will stay and keep building his path. After the trusting brother confronts him with the futility of his efforts, he aggressively rebukes the trusting brother for his negativity.

So finally the Father travels back up the stream, carrying the trusting son on his back, carrying him back to safety and back to his family.

Any ideas where I might find a copy of this story? For once Google is no help at all!

Radio killed the marriage star

One of the questionable benefits of listening to ABC in the morning is the old music they often drag out of the archives to play on a the old turn-table they managed to get working (well maybe I'm exaggerating here). Today they played a song I'd never heard of by an Australian band I'd never heard of. It was Tom Tom Turnaround, sung by New World (but apparently sung first by The Sweet) . You can find the lyrics here:

It's a song about a strong man and the sweet young girl that he took for his bride. It then looks at the struggles they face when Tom Tom is called away but his wife says stay (though he never had to leave before). It's quite touching and left me with a new sense of appreciation of my lovely wife.

But what really struck me was how unusual the song was nowadays. Think about it - when was the last time you heard a song on the radio about a husband and wife? Never? They're all about boyfriends and girlfriends and breaking up with said 'friend. As a married person I really appreciated hearing a song about married people. Could someone please write some more like this?

It's back, it's really back

Wow, I can actually access my blog at work now!

For ages it has been blocked by the corporate powers-that-be in Brisbane. But now for some reason I have access to it. I'll now be able to muse away in those quiet moments between deadlines.

Don't get too excited or anything though :)

Farewell, Cinema City!

It is with much sadness that we say farewell to Perth's grandest cinema complex. None of the suburban megaplexes ever rivalled Cinema City for it's sheer old style class.

The architecture was impressive. Huge vaulted ceilings, balconies, mirrored walls that gave a great impression of space, floor-to-ceiling carpeting in a most traditional red, and very arty photos of famous actors.

I slaved away at this cinema as an usher from 2001 - 2005, and yet had many fond memories. It's a pity that during it's final years its state of repair was let to decline so much. It's also such a pity that it's being knocked over. And to make room for yet another city apartment complex no less - whose patrons ironically will now have no city cinema to attend (apart from Picadilly that is, but you won't find many recent movies there)

So ends an era. 1980 - 2007. Cinema City, we salute thee!

Perth: Chillsville, not Dullsville

It's about time somebody addressed all these allegations of Perth being "Dullsville".

To all those that malign Perth - yes, we understand. Not many shops are open after 6pm. Not many shops are open Sundays. We don't have daylight savings (permanently anyway). We don't have a massive public transport system. We don't have every sort of shop you could think of. We don't have readily available taxis. We don't have an overabundance of night-life. And (shock, horror, despair) we don't even have Krispy Kreme!

So then, why would anyone want to live in Perth? Isn't is because it's such a beautiful, clean city? Isn't it because of it's relaxed and laid back lifestyle? Isn't it because of it's small-world status and fewer degrees of separation?

Now think about the connections between the last two paragraphs. Surely it's not too hard to see the inherent causality.

Detractors of Perth usually compare it's lack of excitement, night-life and facilities to cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo and London. They say Perth needs to move with the times and become more like them. But surely there are already enough of these bustling metropolises in the world. Perth is something special, so why should we make it like the rest? If you much prefer these busier cities then what is stopping you from going and living there (or going back there perhaps?).

Lifestyle in Perth revolves around having good friends, not good facilities. We invite friends around to our houses for BBQ's, dinner parties, pool parties, games nights and movie nights. We chill out on the beach and watch the sunset. We have picnics in our many lovely parks and take the kids for bike rides. Surely this is a lifestyle that makes for healthier bodies and relationships?

So really, Perth deserves the tag "Chillsville", not "Dullsville". It's a great combination of perfectly adequate facilities with a relaxed and healthy lifestyle. Isn't that worth keeping as it is?

Chinese Counterfeits

I found this very enlightening.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/26/60minutes/main595875.shtml

I guess this highlights the importance of being genuine.

Their, their, it's (not) OK

The English language has been missing a gender-non-specific third person singular pronoun for a long time. That is, "A toilet user must sink his/her own submarines". Various attempts have been made - his/her is probably the most correct but also the most clumsy. I've been a fan of their for a while, and while it's not technically correct (it's plural) there are certain usages that sound a lot better than others.

Facebook doesn't seem to realise this. Never a great one for impressive displays of grammar, one of their ugliest uses in this:

"Joe Bloggs updated their profile"

I think "their" only really works in the singular if the identity is unknown. For instance:

"A user has updated their profile"

sounds OK to me. Because the user could be anyone, we then have a vague sense of plurality. But the original just sounds hideous.

Pay the nerds

Do engineers get payed enough? It's sometimes hard to think they do, considering they usually have 4-5 years of uni, 12 years of school and 12-48 weeks of vacation work under their belt. Does a plumber or a brickie deserve to get payed the same amount after their on-the-job training or apprenticeship?

Well, perhaps they do. I'm sure their work is much more boring and backbreaking so I guess it evens out. Perhaps we engineers enjoy our work too much (because we are nerds at heart) to get paid huge amounts. Why pay someone a lot if they like their job?

Meat, meaning and evolution

"Red meat - you were meant to eat it."

Or so Sam Neill has been paid to say by the Meat and Livestock association of Australia in their TV campaign a little while ago. If you haven't seen it, be thankful. But it you want to punish yourself, you can do so here.

He argues that by eating red meat, our brains became bigger and that's a main reason we evolved into the superior species that we are today. He waffles on about all the benefits of eating read meat and then concludes with the tag line - you were meant to eat it.

Isn't the self-contradiction in this painfully obvious? If humans evolved, we weren't meant to do anything. Humans just decided to eat meat because it was there and tasted good. How can there be any meaning in a world where we evolved out of nothing? No-one meant for us to eat meat.

Unless there is someone out there with a plan for our lives. And not just out lives, but the whole of history. Someone who can mean for terrible things to happen, like a man dying on a cross, as part of a larger plan. Then we would to meant to do things.

Perhaps Sam Neill should stick to Jurassic Park.

Spelling, Grammar and Meaning

The prescriptivist vs. descriptivist war on spelling and grammar will go on forever, and both are important, but one principle reigns supreme: meaning.

What are you trying to say? Is your meaning comprised by your improper use of spelling or grammar? Or is it perhaps enhanced? Pull out your artistic licence if you must. But always ask yourself - how will what I am saying affect the meaning?

This is really just a roundabout way of trying to get across that:

Don't say you want to be apart of something when you really want to be a part of something!

They pretty much mean the opposite of each other.

Ambivalence

I've always been quite ambivalent as to whether or not I want a blog.

A lot of people think this word means "indifferent", probably because it sounds the same. However, it actually means "feeling contradictory emotions at the same time for the same object or person"

On the one hand, I like the idea of having an outlet for my insights and rants. I think it would be good to vent sometimes and also good to share my ideas with others for their benefit. I often have thoughts I consider good enough to share with a wider audience than the internal lining of my cranium.

On the other hand, I'm quite an introvert and spilling my innermost often takes lots of energy and momentum. I'm not naturally forthcoming with information. Also once bared, I then feel exposed. That I have given away too much and will be judged because of it.

I've started up blogs before and they generally become graveyards of thought, occasionally getting the odd post twice a year when I feel like I've slipped into obscurity and no-one knows what I've been up to.

However, a number of things have prompted me to think about starting one up again:

• I'm discovering that volunteering information can be quite helpful to a conversation. I've always been more of a listener. So here is my chance to get some practice.
• Frivolous talk often annoys me. I'm happy to have a D&M with someone soon after meeting them. However as Steve McKerney pointed out, most people won't talk about the deeper things until they've built up a rapport starting with the trivial.
• I'm working up North without a wife for every 3 out of 4 weeks, so I'm getting much less relational interaction. That was fine for a while (a chance to really get into some computer games). But now it's a getting a bit lonely up here. I could stop playing Knights of the Old Republic for 5 hours a night and do something more interpersonal.
• The cycle of life rolls on... time to try again at past things failed.

So there it is. After reading a number of people's blog I have become inspired again. Now we shall see what happens.