Why you don't "just believe what the Bible says".

Let's start off with one clear truth. I believe the Bible.

I believe it is true.

I believe it is sent by God to man to reveal God to us.

I believe it was sent to be understood by men because God wants us to know Him.

I believe parts of the Bible are very easy to understand.

I don't believe anyone "just believes what the Bible says". The Bible is a 2000 year old book. You are most likely reading a translation of the Bible. Even if you have a perfectly translated Bible (which is something I personally think is impossible, but setting that aside) you still have to understand what kind of writing you are reading.

Reading a letter is different than reading apocalyptic literature. Reading wisdom literature is different than reading a historical narrative. Reading an English translation of a Greek text translated from spoken Aramaic is different than getting a story spoken by a native speaker of a language in a language that you've known from birth.

That is a rambling pre-amble so let's get to the meat of what I'm talking about here. Sometimes when arguing with certain people about a particular topic (generally theological in nature) the phrase "Well I just believe what the Bible says" will come up. It is usually a response to an assertion that the speaker disagrees with.

An example would be something like abortion or homosexual marriage. I'm not weighing in on either subject right now (as that would take a lot of space) so I'm just using them as an example of a conversation. Many people will ignore Scriptural arguments for or against either and respond "Well I just believe what the Bible says".

I'm not arguing with you about ignoring what the Bible says. I'm arguing whether or not what you think the Bible says is what the Bible says. Frequently though disagreeing with them is never seen as "I think the Bible means something different than what you mean". It is always seen as disagreeing with the authority of Scripture.

I try to not be rude, but it's hard to communicate this idea without resorting to "Well, you're an idiot who doesn't understand the Bible." So, let me convey this idea clearly. Just because you and the people you know think the Bible clearly states something doesn't mean that anyone who disagrees with your position is ignoring the Bible. They are just ignoring your interpretation of the Bible. As long as you hold to the view that disagreeing with you is the same as disagreeing with the Bible then discourse is at a stand still.

Just understand that it is possible for you (and me!) to be wrong about what the Bible says. Just because you think that is what the Bible says doesn't make it true. People (including me!) take verses out of context. People (including me!) fall into logical fallacies regarding doctrine.

When I disagree with you on something it doesn't mean I hate God. It doesn't mean I disagree with God. It doesn't mean I'm ignoring God. It doesn't mean I think God is wrong.

It means I think you are wrong.

Let's take an example.

The Bible states clearly that we are not to bear false witness. Many people equate this to "Thou shalt not lie". They say this is a clear Biblical teaching.

Then why was Rahab praised for lying and hiding the Israelite scouts? Is God praising someone for sin? For committing a grave moral crime?

The next time someone asks if it is okay to lie to Nazi's to hide Jews, you respond with a yes, and they say "You evil moral relavitist!" just point out Rahab and how God seems to be a moral relativist as well.

How about murder? Is murder wrong? "Thou shalt not kill" seems pretty clear. Of course then God orders Israel to do some exterminating. Immoral? Only immoral if directed by man instead of God? Only immoral if done by someone who isn't a soldier? Is killing someone in war a sin? What if you catch them unaware? Do you have to give them a chance to fight back? What if you shoot someone who would've given up, but sometimes their compatriots do that only to pull out an explosive under the white flag?

So yeah. Since you just believe what the Bible says, what does it say about those situations?

To conclude, you don't believe just what the Bible says. You believe what you've been taught the Bible says and that comes through a huge filter of cultural understanding and assumptions. You're probably wrong (and so am I!) about plenty of the stuff you think the Bible teaches clearly on.

So how about some civility in our discourse about what the Bible says? Instead of accusing people who disagree with you of being terrible back-sliding sinners who are going after teachers with itching ears just take a breath. Maybe that person is trying just as hard to obey God as you and just has some different ideas about what Scripture says.

Maybe that person hasn't read every verse in the Bible and hasn't completely thought through their doctrine.

Maybe that person has a different perspective that lets them see part of the truth of scripture that you overlook when emphasizing different parts of verses.

Maybe, just maybe that person is right and you are wrong.

As long as you maintain that you just believe the Bible and anyone who disagres has impure motives or a hidden agenda you'll never know.

Let's all work on finding out the truth instead of defending our assumptions and preconceived notions. Instead of looking just for verses that back up your argument try to find everything the Bible has to say about a subject.

There are some difficult parts of Scripture. Some are hard to understand because they are confusing. Some are hard to accept because they show us how bad we can be. Some are hard to accept just because we've vocally declared the opposite and our pride gets in the way.

Humbling ourselves before these difficult passages and topics and saying "I don't know. I could be wrong." is a great first step.

Table Top War Games

I'm a big fan of the game Warmachines (and Hordes). I like the setup and the style. I've put a good bit of time and money into building up an army of two.

I like skeleton and undead armies. I'm not sure why I like them so much. My first 40k army was the Necrons. They are in essence a version of undead terminators. That is probably the best job I've ever done on an army.

When I started playing Warmachine I went straight for Cryx. They are tricksy, fast, and more of a glass cannon type class. In RPG's I tend to go with glass cannon types. I like'em. Being fast and maneuverable gives you a pretty big advantage in most tabletop games.

So yeah with 40k I tried the Eldar. I got murdered. A lot. They are a lot more squishy than the Necrons (who I learned to play with).

I've posted stuff about 40k in the past, but I imagine for now I'll pass on playing anymore and just stick with Warmachine.

Then again Wyrd Miniatures has a cool looking skirmish game called Malifaux out. It looks pretty awesome. It's difficult to concentrate on one game at a time.

Mama Mia's

Went to a restaurant named Mama Mia tonight.

The spaghetti marinara was pretty good. I was surprised at how spicy the sauce was, but it was delicious. It was just spicy enough to be interesting rather than uncomfortable.

I wasn't too happy with the amount of oil in the sauce. I understand it is necessary to have some, but the amount in mine seemed excessive. Of course it's silly to expect a chef who has never met me to know exactly how I like my sauce. It was still good.

The atmosphere ended up feeling more like a bar than a typical Italian restaurant. Kind of like the Italian version of a pub.

I was a little disappointed with the garlic bread. It felt more like normal white bread with garlic button. I think I prefer the whole bread piece style "bread stick". Like Fazoli's has.

I love Fazoli's. It is so delicious. It makes me sad that the only one remotely close (off 124) to me shut down. Now the only one I know of in existence is in Ft. Oglethorpe. I frequently convince my family to go there anytime I'm in town.

And that is my 200 words for the day! This counts as Friday even though it's after midnight.

Dance Central

We beat dance central tonight. Of course beat is loosely defined with a game like that. We've unlocked and beat all of the challenges. That means (in effect) that we've gotten 4 stars on every song.

All told we've spent 11 hours playing the game. That sounds incorrect. I've watched Katie play some of the songs over and over. I guess they don't take as long as you think. Most of the songs are only 3 or 4 minutes long so I guess you can do one 20 times and still only have used around an hour.

It was funny. At first we were doing every song in the "break it down" mode all the way through on easy. Then we'd perform it.

Later I realized that going through the song twice (once to learn the moves, once to pass it on easy) was quicker than going through the break it down mode.

I'm glad it's there though. Some of the songs that I like more I'll want it for the medium and hard modes.

It's fun in that it breaks down what look like complicated sequences into learnable moves. I'm not saying I'll be the next great pop dancer, but at least I understand some of the basic moves people combine together to get cool results.

Now I just need to work on my popping and locking.

As a very side note Perfect Couples has gotten a lot better. I kind of hope they get renewed for a second season. I'm not so sure they will, but if they do I'll make sure and watch it.

Minecraft

I love minecraft.

I am a little irritated though.

It seems that the beta (1.3) SMP is just less stable than the previous versions. I think part of it is the addition of so many new features. I love new features. They are insanely awesome. However I feel like the additional information tracked has had some strong negative consequences.

I see a lot of popping blocks now. I get disconnected quite frequently. I see things I've placed disappear only to log off and back in and see they have reappeared.

It's not broken. The game is entirely playable. But it is a hassle. Of course it's a beat so things are supposed to be even worse. I can't say I blame them for adding things in before taking time to optimize the client/server transactions.

But it is irritating. This is a perfect example of ingratitude. A guy has made an incredibly awesome game available since alpha at a dirt cheap price. Rather than rave about how awesome the game is (and it is awesome) I complain that the beta multiplayer has some problems.

I get on my own nerves sometimes.

I'll escape by going and doing some mining.

Are MMORPGs from the Devil?

I find that not playing an MMORPG (WoW is my particular brand) multiplies my time. I seem to have all of this time on my hands all of a sudden. I feel that the days have grown longer (and though it's spring and the daylight has grown longer that isn't what I mean).

It's nice. I've been able to get back to my list of goals for 2011. If there is one thing I've noticed it is that MMORPG's are the death of other goals. You lose track of time and then it's time for bed and you haven't gotten anything else done.

Even with other time waster games out there (Torchlight being my current) I find I can't play them for too long. It feels more like a waste of time. The progression is different. Maybe WoW is unique, but I have vague memories of Everquest, Anarchy Online, and Guild Wars all doing similar things to my perception of time.

Maybe it's the multiplayer part. I can remember completely losing track of time playing Smash Brothers and other games. The same goes for Halo 2. Something about playing a fun game with friends makes time fly.

So MMORPG's you aren't of the devil. You're just a lot of fun and you are a little too accessible.

NBC Comedy Thursday Nights

I like Thursday nights on NBC. I find the shows to all be hilarious. The only downside is that 3 hours of television is too long for me. In fact I really feel like anything more than 2 hours is too long.

I'm willing to not watch Outsourced. So the choice is either miss 30 Rock or Community. Both are solid shows. Tonight's Community was surprisingly not that funny.

Don't get me wrong I laughed. There were some great moments and plenty of good lines. However the general tone of the show was not humor. The general flavor of the episode was serious. It was weird to see Danny Pudi showing so much emotion. His performance as "Chad"-Abed gave the episode a ton of gravity. It was weird even after he returned to the Abed I'm used to seeing. In fact that seemed to highlight the differences of his earlier actions even more.

All of the jokes seemed less funny. Troy's antics and Jeff's willingness to let Britta lose her job didn't seem that funny. The montage at the end when they act out different parts of Pulp Fiction didn't make me laugh at all.

It was awesome. It wasn't funny, but it was still really good. Community can pull off genuinely touching moments. It generally weaves them in with the comedy.

Troy is the funniest character on the show. I've had this discussion with my wife many times and I stand by that statement.

I think my favorite though is Abed. His status as the outsider is clear. A man always on the outside observing the lives of the people around him without ever really being on the inside. I think that is what gave "American Poultry" so much weight. The homage to mafia movies was hilarious. However the naked vulnerability throughout the episode (and series) of Abed using culture to try and establish connections with other people is intense.

In American Poultry the balance between comedy and seriousness clearly leans toward comedy. "I dressed like a crazy Pharaoh for you man". Tonight's episode leaned the other way. Abed's commentary on a revelation is more poignant when we realize it isn't real. Maybe it's how he think he should be or how he thinks he would be in that situation.

At the end of the day the story is about someone who longs to feel the touch of the people around him. Who wants to stop being on the outside and feel like he thinks other people feel.

Abed is the, superficially, least deep character. He is a machine to allow the writers to comment on culture and be geeky. However when you look you see that he is in fact the deepest character on the show. He so clearly conveys his desperate need to connect with people by completely dedicating himself to the one medium where he can do exactly that.

Torchlight

I'm trying to blog something every day.

So today I'll talk about Torchlight.

It's a fun little game. Kind of a Diablo type clone. Nothing revolutionary.

However it's only $15 and I feel like a time waster game that recreates a classic game with new content that is reasonable.

Something like spiderweb software (with the Geneforge games) seems to be in a similar vein. I really like those games, but I do feel the prices are a little high ($28 for Geneforge 5). I might be willing to buy them if I like the demo enough, but it would be more of a considered buy than a quick buy.

Torchlight was more of a quick buy. I knew I would probably get around 40 gaming hours out of it. Since the $/time played ratio was good it means that game is a good value.

Compare to something like Disgaea where I logged more than 200 hours for a $35 game or Pokemon Pearl which was 300 for $40 and you'll see that really great games have a better ratio, but I think 40 hours for $15 is a good deal. It's not the best game in the world, but it's solid.

Progress

I'm making good progress on my goals so far. I haven't quite finished the first week of the year, but I think that I've built some good momentum. I'll at least be able to finish January strong.

I'm trying to make sure that I have something tangible for my efforts for January. While I am trying to read books (4 fiction, 1 theological, 1 non-fiction) I want to create something. The blogging and the novel writing both give me tangible products.

At the beginning of February I'll have something to look back on. Hopefully that will inspire me to keep up my efforts.

Yesterday I started playing WoW when I first settled down for the evening. Trying to get momentum to work on something "productive" was a lot harder than the days when I just first sit down and get cracking writing or building or researching.

I still haven't settled on what kind of work environment I'm going to program in. I'm thinking of going with Java, but I've been toying with the idea of working in Lisp. I could in theory go work in Small Talk (or a derivative like Squeak), but I'm not sure how practical that would be.

One of my purposes with all of these goals is to sharpen my life skills. The other is to make myself better at my own job. Working with a variety of languages and learning to look at problems more generally will help. Also I'm hoping to sharpen myself on languages I haven't used in a while so I can do some freelancing on the side.

This will probably be my last post for the week. I'll be over the 1000 word goal, so I won't have as much incentive to post. Well, if I post anything else it will probably be more links and less monologue. I really enjoy other sites that have links and commentary. I'll try to have more of that next week. An added bonus will be more articles since each will have less text.

Programming for fun and profit

I am a computer programmer. I program for a living and my degree is in Computer Science. One day I was sitting around reflecting on jobs and I thought, how often do most people use their job in their everyday life.

I have a friend who is an electrician. Whenever he has problems with the electrical stuff in his house he can bust out his tools (which he has an impressive array of) and get to work.

I know plenty of people who are handy around the house. When they need a tool to perform a job they can go make it using their assortment of other tool-making tools. Working on construction has given them a strong bent towards the practical.

So, I applied this to myself. What am I good at doing and how can I take advantage of that in my own life.

Computer programs, at their best, help us make life easier.

I write code to help people fill out paperwork so they can get money faster. Fill in all the fields in the process of normal work and I'll use it to populate your paperwork so you don't have to pay someone else to do it. It removes simple, repetitive, tedious work.

How often do I have things in my life that are tedious, simple, and repetitive?

There are a lot of different ways to look at that. I can write something to automate a lot of stuff. My biggest problem is forgetting things, so some kind of automated reminder system would help. That's just one example.

For now I'm going to concentrate on simple tools. The first project (it's very small) is to make a tool that does word counting.

Let me be clear - this is a solved problem.

I'm not breaking new ground. I'm not innovating. I'm not shooting for the moon.

What I am doing is building a code base and a tool set, so that later in life when I need something more complicated I have a nice set to pull already functioning tools from.

It also has an immediate use, in helping me to keep up with whether or not I'm meeting my weekly goals of blogging 1000 words.

So, if you have a profession let me encourage you to ask yourself how you can use it in your everyday life. It is something you're already good at. Use it for yourself, not just your employer.

2011 will hopefully be a banner year for this blog

So, yeah this year I have a goal. That goal is to blog 1000 words a week. This goes along with a host of other goals. So expect to see more blogging.