Moses v Jesus

I just found this pretty interesting article (though it’s on Fox’s website so it’s probably inaccurate and full of bias) that concluded that Moses is more culturally important to the United States than Jesus.

Which I guess says a lot about some of the religious identity problems plaguing America.

“But as important as Jesus was to Americans’ private lives, he had far less influence than Moses on the great transformations of our public life. The themes of Jesus’ life – love, charity, alleviating poverty – would not make the list of the defining impulses of most Americans.

The themes of Moses’ life, by contrast – social mobility, standing up to authority, balancing freedom and law, dreaming of a promised land – would make any short list of America’s defining traits.”

October 25, 2009

On typology

I’ve had a fair bit to say about typography lately – so don’t get confused here. The first one is about the patterns made by letters, typology is the study of “types” and theologically it’s a way of linking the Old Testament to the New Testament.

Think of the way we use the words archetype and prototype and you’re getting close.

One of the foundational reasons that I think Jesus is something special is the way he fulfils the Old Testament. I don’t mean just the specific prophecies regarding the coming saviour that atheists are so keen to claim are debunked on the basis of generality or whatever other reasons they give. I mean the way he is the fulfillment of the narrative of the Old Testament. In particular the pivotal characters of the Old Testament. And I don’t see how it’s possible for that to be debunked any time soon. Here’s a cool list from a Tim Keller sermon via the new Evangel group blog…

  • Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.
  • Jesus is the true and better Abel, who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.
  • Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar, and go out into the void, not knowing whither he went, to create a new people of God.
  • Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his Father on the mount,but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “now I know you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me, now we can look at God, taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing Him, and say,” now we know that you love us, because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from us.”
  • Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
  • Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold Him, and uses His new power to save them.
  • Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.
  • Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses who was struck with the rod of God’s justice, and now gives us water in the desert.
  • Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.
  • Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
  • Jesus is the true and better Esther, who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.
  • Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out into the storm so we could be brought in.
  • He is the real passover lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so that the angel of death would pass over us

It’s not an exhaustive list – there’s no mention of any of the judges or many of the prophets. But until atheists get this, and critique this properly, they don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to the claim that anyone can “fulfill the Old Testament” given the right mix of intention and coincidence.

October 25, 2009

The only good toy cat…

Sadly, as far as I can tell, this isn’t a real toy but a work of art.

I found this particular dead cat at BoingBoing.

I would buy one, I’d also buy some of the previously featured roadkill toys that are sold on this website.

Splodge the hedgehog is great for those people hanging out for the results of my pathos laden letter to K-Rudd. He’s also great for those people wanting to traumatise their children with a plush toy. And he’s completely consistent with my own experiences with the Australian echidna…

October 25, 2009

An idea with no legs

Craigslist not only the place to go to let the world know about the attractive girl you didn’t talk to on the bus… it’s also, apparently, where you go to recruit people to function as part of your slightly bizarre Halloween costume.

This guy should get points for trying. Maybe. Here’s a bigger version of that picture.

If you haven’t clicked the link to read the picture for yourself – here’s the text…

So this might seem strange and really offensive to some but hopefully someone will reply. I have always loved the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Chewbacca has to carry around a half reconstructed C3PO in a backpack because he hasn’t reattached his lower body yet. For Halloween I would love to dress up like this. I’m big enough and strong enough to pull off both the Chewbacca look and carry around a lot of weight for the night. So I’m looking for a double amputee (someone missing both legs – preferably at the hip) to accompany me as C3PO for the evening. We should meet ahead of time to work out the backpack/harness system. There are a few parties that I want to attend and I think we will be the hit of any event we attend. Anyone up for this?

October 25, 2009

Craigslist connections

I think Australian culture is poorer for not having the same addiction to Craigslist that our American friends do. There is an Australian site.

There’s apparently a whole culture I was almost completely unaware of, where you post “Missed Connections” advertisements or messages in the hope of finding that person who caught your eye.

I know Text the Editor in our local paper occasionally features this sort of behaviour. But it’s mostly so that people can vent or rage about bad driving.

This is a long preamble to bring to your attention this blog called “Missed Connections” where an artist provides artistic renditions of these ads that catch her eye.

Like these…

“Monday, March 23, 2009
-m4w (Harlem)
Remember? Uptown A train. Sunday at around 9pm. I was the black dude reading Bukowski’s Post Office. You were reading the Arts and Leisure section. You passed wind rather loudly and started chuckling. I’d like to see you again. The flatulence wasn’t a turn-off. “

“Thursday, August 27, 2009
sorry your bike got stolen. its beautiful. when some guy offered it to me for 40 bucks, i didnt even think twice. i was drunk, missing my bike and figured if not me, someone else would buy it anyways. also, my bike got stolen last week. who knows, maybe you bought it for 40 bucks from some guy on the street. so if you see me riding it, feel free to say hey. maybe we could trade back. if not, you can buy it from me for 40 bucks. id buy my old bike back for 40 bucks. it was way more comfortable than this one. “

“Saturday, October 17, 2009
– m4w
We shared a bear suit at an apartment party on Saturday night.
I asked for your number and you gave it to me, but somehow I don’t have an area code written down. I had a great time talking with you, and I don’t trust Chance enough to wait until I see you in the elevators… “

October 25, 2009

Robyn’s Report Timer

Just for fun I thought I’d see how many hours I’ve spent writing reports. You can read about it here.

25/10/09     17 hours and 45 minutes

27/10/09     23 hours and 45 minutes

28/10/09     30 hours and 30 minutes

30/10/09     38 hours

03/11/09     43 hours

04/11/09     48 hours (& loving it!)

05/11/09     54 hours

10/11/09     58 hours

11/11/09     63 hours

12/11/09     65 hours

13/11/09     70 hours

14/11/09     72 hours 30 minutes

They’re finished! Read my review here…

October 25, 2009

A night at the football

We went to the Fury game last night. And despite what Joel says about football there is something thrilling about a tight, low scoring game that isn’t really decided until the final whistle.

And there’s something beautiful about a player who knows the rules gazumping a pack of whingers who don’t…

Robbie Fowler is a class player. Tim was going to post this video too – I don’t think he has yet…

October 25, 2009

Knight to south paw

Chess boxing is my new favourite sport.

“The basic idea in chessboxing is to combine the #1 thinking sport and the #1 fighting sport into a hybrid that demands the most of its competitors – both mentally and physically.
In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on.
A contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer.”

I can’t help but think that it’s one of those sports that will be forever dominated by participants from the former USSR.

It would seem that in order to ensure chess players can last more than one round one of the only qualifications for the competition is the ability to play chess… but competitors should be a little worried.

One of the Klitschko brothers, Vitali, holds a PhD in sports science. He’s no dummy. And he and his brother are both keen chess players and world heavyweight boxing champions… from Wikipedia…

“Both Vitali and his brother are avid chess players. Vitali is a friend of former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and the two have played, with Kramnik always winning. Vitali has commented that “chess is similar to boxing. You need to develop a strategy, and you need to think two or three steps ahead about what your opponent is doing. You have to be smart. But what’s the difference between chess and boxing? In chess, nobody is an expert, but everybody plays. In boxing everybody is an expert, but nobody fights.””

October 24, 2009

Have a break, have a Tac Bac

Canned crispy bacon. Nutritious and delicious.

You can buy it from Think Geek.

October 24, 2009

Small change

I thought this was pretty funny. It’s from here.

And along the same theme…

October 24, 2009

Six areas atheists and Christians should agree

I had the chance this week to head along to JCU’s Society of Atheist Philosophy (SOAP) meeting where Dave Walker was invited to speak on the reasons he’s not an atheist.

The meeting itself had all the trappings of a Christian meeting. It had a nice positive tone.

Dave did a great job. I’m hoping he’ll turn his three reasons into guest posts.

But here are six areas I think Christians and atheists should agree.

  1. The separation of church and state is a good thing
    One of the big branding problems facing Christianity, and one of the major problems atheists have with Christians, is that we’re inconsistent in our approach to politics.

    We can’t want to impose Christian morality on people through the legal system unless we’re happy for an atheist government, or Islamic government to do the same to us. If we all believe we’re right and everybody else is wrong we need to make accommodations for this in the way we deal with each other.

  2. Freedom of speech
    I’m a bit shocked at how Christians respond when atheists want to advertise or gather. This week two atheist websites were hacked – probably by crazy Christians. Complaints flood in every time an atheist association puts up a billboard or advertises on a bus.

    If we want to be free to discuss and promote our beliefs we need to uphold the rights of others to do the same. Even if we don’t like what they’re saying.

  3. Most religious beliefs are crazy
    I think it was Peter Jensen who said that atheists are the closest group philosophically to Christians because we’ve both made a deliberate decision regarding the existence of God. We believe there is one, they believe there is none, the rest of society is either undecided, pluralistic, or quasi-spiritual.In most cases we’ve applied logic and reason to the rejection of other Gods. We shouldn’t be overly upset when atheists do that to us. Even if we think they’ve discounted one God too many.

    There are also a lot of subsets of Christianity that fit the crazy bill. Anyone who bases a distinctive on one verse in a part of a gospel that is not even in all the original manuscripts (like the snake holders and poison drinkers do) should be considered crazy.

    Most people who read Revelation as though it’s a literal description of what’s going to happen (even though it is introduced as a vision) can also rightly be labeled crazy.

  4. Pluralistic relativism is a dumb idea
    If there’s one idea that truly unites atheists and Christians it’s the idea that we can’t all be right. Both groups make absolute claims. All religions make contradictory claims. Even the monotheistic Abrahamic religions that are theoretically following the same God make claims that can not be reconciled. Islam teaches Jesus didn’t die. Judaism teaches Jesus isn’t the Messiah, and that he didn’t rise. We can’t all be right. We can’t pretend that we are.
  5. Morality is not dependent on belief in God
    Atheists are capable of doing good things. The group contributing the most money to developing small businesses in developing countries on Kiva is an atheist society.

    Christian statements about morality are slightly confused, which in turn confuses atheists. There are two definitions of good at play in the Bible. One describes actions. It’s “good” to feed the hungry. The other describes our nature. Where nobody can be “good enough” for God.

    It’s true that Christians believe that all goodness, and good actions of people come from God. Whether you’re a Christian or an atheist. And that good atheist actions come because they too are made in the image of God.

    But you don’t have to believe in God to be good.

    To throw further confusion into the mix – not even Christians are “good” in the complete sense. And nobody is good (or righteous) except Jesus.

  6. Science is a great tool for understanding the world
    Christianity’s stance on science (particularly in America) is confused and confusing. Science has no scope to prove or disprove God, unless you think the Bible (written before the scientific method was developed) somehow seeks to be a scientific textbook.

    Science teaches us about the way God does things. It reveals more about the world we live in. Christians should love science. Not fear it. The reason some Christians fear it is the same reason someone attacked by a vicious dog fears all dogs. Science handled badly is dangerous.

    What Christians shouldn’t like (and one of Dave’s points) is the idea of naturalism – that only what we can sense and test is real. This is a philosophy that embraces science as a sword. It’s not science.

For more fun with Google autofill check out my new blog…

October 24, 2009

How to write a novel: the twist

So you’re writing that novel you’ve always had trapped inside your head. But the plot is formulaic and requires something a little bit special. How bout a twist. Here’s a nice chart that will help you pick the perfect plot device for a completely non-formulaic storyline.

From Dresden Codak.

October 23, 2009

Facing the music

If I was going to make a compilation of musical torture it would look nothing like this (now fairly old but suddenly “current”) list of bands that may or may not have been played to torture people who may or may not be terrorists held at Guantanamo.

A bunch of bands want to know if they have been in the metaphorical firing line squad, they’ve launched a Freedom of Information inquiry to find out if their music was played. I think Metallica have joined in just so they can be paid the appropriate royalties.

If I was an unheard of band I’d be joining the inquiry just to get my name in the news…

Except maybe “I Love You,” from the “Barney and Friends” children’s TV show.” I would just play that over and over again.

When I was a little younger I used to be a musical terrorist. I’d take $10 worth of coins into a pool hall that had one of those video clip jukeboxes and order $10 worth of really painful music (think Britney Spears and Aqua) and then leave.

What songs would you torture people with?

October 23, 2009

Name and shame

It turns out that nominal determinism has something to it…

A news story reporting on a study of school performance in Germany reports what anybody who has read Freakonomics already knows. Names can cause all sorts of dramas.

The Freakonomics blog linked to this news story which explained a little bit about why all the staff are deserting the PM’s office.

“The name Kevin was perceived as being linked to especially poor behaviour and performance, with one study participant even writing that, “Kevin is not a name – it’s a diagnosis!””

This is a German study so these names don’t look like orthodox Australian names – but the study of 2,000 teachers found that people with normal names turn out better.

“The study reveals that the names traditional names such as Charlotte, Sophie, Marie, Hannah, Alexander, Maximilian, Simon, Lukas and Jakob are consistently linked to strong performance and good behaviour. Non-traditional names such as Chantal, Mandy, Angelina, Kevin, Justin and Maurice, on the other hand, are associated with weak performance and bad behaviour.”

October 23, 2009

That time of year

Thankfully “that time of the year” only rears its ugly head twice. Two times too many in my opinion. This time is my least favourite because it overlaps with my birthday. Report writing. I loathe it. And I’m sure that those who live in close proximity to me also feel disdain toward this time of year.

Just for fun I’m going to keep a record of the number of hours I spend directly on report writing. Time spent setting and marking assessment which relates to the report cards will be counted. As will editing and proofreading. Setting and marking class work will not count. Interestingly or not 90% of this time is done “in my own time”. I only receive 110 minutes of non contact time per week and most of this is spent preparing lessons.  In one week I’m already up to 17 hours* and counting.

* This included six hours of time spent during our pupil free day this Monday.

October 23, 2009