The Air Nomads and Religious Vegetarianism

In the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the quasi-extinct culture of the Air Nomads are portrayed as a society of peaceful, fun-loving monks. They are known to travel extensively, are the only one of the Four Nations to be composed entirely of benders of their respective element, and have a penchant for fruit pies. But one other trait distinguishes them from all the others: They are all vegans. Or vegetarians, or what-have-you.

It's no secret that the world of Airbender (created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) draws heavily from medieval East Asian culture. Indeed, this unique choice of source material is one of the cornerstones of the success of the series. The mythologies and histories of Japan, China, India, and other East Asian cultures are ripe with storytelling possibilities to draw from. The fact that DiMartino and Konietzko (the latter of whom is a vegan) are the most visible Western creators to do so is a credit to their ingenuity and talent.

However, looking back on the series, particularly the Air Nomads, I began to wonder just how true to their inspirations some aspects of this incredible fictional world were. Maybe it was something I read about vegetarianism in my college Nutrition class, but my curiosity was piqued. So I did a little investigating, and found some things that surprised me, if only just a little.

The Air Nomads, a monastic society, are obviously based off of Tibetan Buddhist monks, right down to their clothing and architecture. On the face of it, Buddhist monks are known to adhere to a code which prohibits the killing of either man or animal. However, as usual, the devil is in the details. Within Buddhism, there are multiple schools of thought regarding exactly how far this code applies. Insofar as I can understand, most divergences in this area of Buddhist doctrine stem from a disagreement over whether the no-kill rule logically extends to not eating meat. Put simply, one school of thought believes that the eating of certain meats (such as pork, chicken, or fish) is okay as long as the Buddhist eating it didn't know it was killed on their behalf, while another believes that a moratorium on the consumption of all meat is implicit in the reading of their sacred texts. And that's all without getting to the Tibetan school of thought which allows for the consumption of both meat and alcohol, a big deviation from these other two which I have been able to identify.

It's a bit complicated, involving a depth of understanding about Buddhist theology and doctrine that I won't even pretend to have. As it applies to the Air Nomads, who are obviously heavily inspired by Tibetan society, I can make a slightly swifter judgment. If the Air Nomads were based primarily on Tibetan Buddhist monks, then their sacraments endorsing vegetarianism, let alone veganism, make little sense. Tibetan Buddhism, as stated, allows for the consumption of meat. The 14th Dalai Lama has encouraged vegetarianism, while still acknowledging it as optional, to the point of regularly eating meat himself. The reasons that vegetarianism is optional in Tibet is for reasons both religious and practical. Tibetan Buddhism follows a school of thought originating from Northern India called Vajrayana which makes vegetarianism unnecessary. More pressingly, vegetables are scarce in mountainous regions such as Tibet, thus requiring less stringent traditions.

So, assuming DiMartino and Konietzko did their research, their incorporation of veganism into the fictional society of the Air Nomads may instead come from the culture of Hindu priests. I talked with an acquaintance who formerly resided in India, and she informed me that when it comes to adherence to the dietary laws of Hinduism, the different castes of Hinduism vary greatly. The priest caste ardently practices vegetarianism, no doubt because they can afford to do so, but not uniformly. Lower castes, however, are allowed to eat meat and dairy. Even these general rules of thumb differ heavily region-to-region.

My acquaintance's son resided in a region near the Ganges River, one of the most polluted rivers in the world by his account, which kept the consumption of fish down. Meanwhile, this 2006 survey tells us that only about 31 percent of Indians are vegetarians. That's all without accounting for Jainism, whose most devout adherents pursue the goal of non-violence to the point of using feathers to sweep insects out of their way wherever they go and wearing head coverings to avoid inhaling small insects. They're all either vegans or lacto-vegetarians, going even beyond that by not eating garlic or other root vegetables so as to not do harm to plants!

Tibetan Monks

In view of all this, the Air Nomads, like most of the other cultures depicted in Avatar: The Last Airbender, are a composite culture which contain elements from Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. This fictional society does not conform to any one specific religion, but is syncretic. This explains why the Air Nomads place great value in meditation and piety, abide by strict dietary regulations, and yet are able to kick serious tuckus through the use of magic kung fu.

A discussion on this blog about religion and fictional monastic orders wouldn't be complete without a Christian view on the subject of religious vegetarianism. While several Christian sects, ranging from Benedictine monks to Seventh Day Adventists, encourage or even mandate vegetarianism, the Bible's teaching on it are clear enough. God gave humanity permission to eat meat after Noah's flood (Genesis 9:3), and although He prohibited the Jews from eating certain animals, He never prohibited the consumption of all meat. Jesus later declared all foods clean in a vision given to the Apostle Peter (Acts 10:10-15), and is recorded in the Gospels as eating fish (Luke 24:42-43) and lamb (Luke 22:8-15). He also served bread and fish during the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:17-21).

In one particularly notable passage, found in Mark 7, Jesus made the larger point that it isn't what a person eats that makes him "unclean," but what comes out of the person from within. As it reads there:

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride,foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Image 1 courtesy of avatar.wikia.com. Image 2 courtesy of tibettravel.org.

The Metal Clan and Utopianism

A couple weeks back, I ended my post on Zaheer and Zen Anarchism (that sounds so fun to write) with a promise that the next time I wrote about The Legend of Korra, I'd talk about the Metal Clan. That day has come, and I now plan onc talking about how the Metal Clan relates to the philosophy of Utopianism.

Utopiansim refers to the belief or philosophy surrounding the concept of utopia. Utopia itself is defined by merriam-webster.com as "an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect." Christian philosopher and apologist Dr. William Lane Craig defines Utopiansim as "arrival at... a kind of perfect world, a paradise on earth, as it were—the perfect society." Although this precise term wasn't coined until English philosopher Thomas More wrote the book Utopia in 1516, the idea of utopia has been around since Plato's Republic at least, which dates back to around 380 B.C. Utopia has been discussed in various other literature and other media across the centuries, and in the modern era has led to the development of the respected but relatively new genre of dystopia. The Legend of Korra provides in Book 3: Change an example of what is for all practical purposes a utopian society: Zaofu, home of the Metal Clan.

Zaofu is a community made up largely of metal and earth-benders, founded and led by some of the descendants of Toph. According to its leader, Suyin Beifong, it is a place where everyone is encouraged to strive for their maximum potential. She also states that it is "the safest city in the world." Indeed it is, as it contains elaborate security measures, such as retractable metal roofs over the city, metal-bending powered gondolas for entry, and a crack squad of metal-bending police, though Lin Beifong doesn't think much of all this. What's more, it's implied that all or many of the city's earth-bending inhabitants have learned Toph's ability to detect lies in other people through earth-bending, providing a neat incentive for the residents of Zaofu to never fib. Zaofu is evidently a meritocracy, housing some of the world's finest scientific minds, including a certain Howard Hughes-esque businessman who we haven't seen since the Book 2 finale. Thus, for all intents and purposes, Zaofu is a utopia, most likely following the philosophy of classical liberalism (not to be confused with liberal progressivism), perhaps not intentionally established, and not stated outright by the characters, but definitely meeting much of the criteria.

But here's the catch: Utopia, by its very definition, is imaginary, just like Zaofu is imaginary. But unlike many imagined utopias, Zaofu's status as an ideal society is subtly deconstructed by pointing out one of the principle holes in the proposal of utopia: Who's going to make it all happen?

Many utopias, especially those based on the principles of socialism, profess that given the proper conditions, a classless, stateless society will emerge in which everyone works for the common good. Of course, this has never happened in reality, with attempted experiments with such models resulting in oppressive dictatorships such as Soviet Russia, Maoist China, Revolutionary France, and countless other nasty historical episodes. The main problem with this idea is that human nature is, by default, self-serving and uncharitable. The only way to organize a group of such creatures to work for the common good is through coercion, such as in a dictatorship or an oligarchy. But if that happens, then the ideal of a classless, stateless society is lost, and the whole experiment is for nothing. Due to their inherently faulty natures, the economies produced by socialism and its ilk generally descend into kleptocracy, or in a few extreme cases, anarchy. In many cases across the modern developing world, multiple dictatorships have risen and fallen in succession, calling to mind the French proverb, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." As Lois H. Sargent wrote in her essay "Anyone for Utopia?" in 1977, "Utopians seem never to give thought to the mechanics of management and operation of their imagined systems."

Cincinnatus (519-430 B.C.)

Part of the reason societies like the Soviet Union developed into dictatorships was because the dictators in question typically don't want to relinquish their power. (The rest of the reason for these particular events have to do with a discussion of Communism, which is beyond the scope of this post.) Rare in history is the benign ruler who, when given absolute power in a time of crisis, resists the temptation to take hold of it until someone else can take it back by force. The Roman statesman Cincinnatus (519-430 B.C.) comes to mind, as does George Washington, who refused the opportunity to become King George I of America after the American War of Independence. In the Soviet Union, people like Lenin and Stalin, despite their ostensibly sincere belief in the Communist Utopia, were evil tyrants who used their power to bring about many deaths, if for Lenin it was thousands and Stalin millions. Later Soviet dictators weren't much better, using their power to line the pockets of they and their friends while the people lived in squalor. 

It is this element of corruption which all dictatorships and oligarchs have in common that exposes a chief vulnerability of any kind of utopia. In The Legend of Korra, a principle leader of Zaofu is revealed to have been in league with the villains. The reason this is significant is because it shows that Utopia can't be accomplished as long as there are imperfect humans trying to make things perfect. All civilizations have rulers, and if a ruler is corrupt, the whole civilization will be corrupt along with him. As we have seen, corruption is often the case in dictatorships. Imagine if the aforementioned Zaofu leader had used his position to accumulate illicit wealth, curry favors, accept bribes, or pervert justice for his own ends, which nearly does happen? What would we make of this Utopian community then?

The other big problem with Utopianism, an extension of the problem outlined above, has to do with the nature of government. Government is designed to restrain the corrupted nature of man, as the founders of the United States set out to do, with successful results. The American experiment is unique in that it went about this task by restraining the government; that is, by setting in place certain safeguards, such as separation of powers and elected representatives, so that the government would not grow too big or oppressive. The founders had no illusions, however, that they could produce a perfect society. James Madison, widely known as "the Father of the Constitution," wrote in The Federalist #51, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." The long and short of it is that there will always be iniquities in any society made up of imperfect men. Even the nation of Israel, whose law codes (forming the first five books of the Bible) were provided by God Himself, and was supposed to be a model for the rest of the world, was a less than perfect society, frequently veering into apostasy, war, civil unrest, and other blights, to the point of being split into two separate kingdoms after the death of Solomon. (See 1 Kings 12)

Oddly enough, Israel in the days of the judges was little more than a loosely federated coalition of tribes led by a council of elders, and yet things were usually just as chaotic then as they were during the period of the kings, if not more so. (See Judges.) Thus, not even a semi-democratic theocracy such at this could bring about Utopia, not by a long shot! If all of this tells us anything, it's that there is no hope of a truly perfect society, not one made by human hands, until the coming of the Lord in His power, when there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Imperfect man can never make anything truly perfect, permanent, or stable. This world is, after all, transient and temporary.

In sum, we see from The Legend of Korra than even a society as wonderful and idyllic as that of the Metal Clan is not invulnerable to fault. For all its veneer of Utopia, it is still shown to be fallible in some key respects. It brings to mind another location from Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra's predecessor. This location, the city of Ba Sing Se, is a dystopia controlled by the villainous Grand Secretariat Long Feng, who through the use of the Dai Li, the sinister secret police, claims to be maintaining "an orderly utopia. The last one on Earth." Unfortunately, poor Long Feng is just as deluded as Marx, Wells, and Lenin. The only Utopia to ever exist will come at a time when all of them have faded away, and this one will never fade away: The kingdom of Christ, the Son of the Living God. And unlike any human made utopia, its coming is inevitable and everlasting.

Follow Levi on Twitter at @levi_sweeney, and submit questions and post ideas with the hashtag #QLevi

Image 1 courtesy tv.com. Image 2 courtesy kids.britannica.com.

The Legend of Korra - Book 3: Change: Zaheer and Moral Syncretism

I'm not gonna lie, Book 3 of The Legend of Korra is easily the best season of the show that I've seen yet. I haven't seen Book 4, however, so I'll have to wait until then to judge whether or not this is in fact the best season yet. A word of warning though: Due to the nature of the post's content, some substantial spoilers regarding Zaheer's motivations will be mentioned.

The Legend of Korra - Book 3: Change is everything that this sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender was hyped to be from the start: bigger, better, and more beautiful than we've seen yet. Taking place a couple weeks after the events of the sadly mediocre Book 2: Spirits, we see that Harmonic Convergence (long story) left dozens of random non-benders across the world -including Tenzin's brother Bumi- with the ability to airbend. This prompts Korra, Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, Asami, Bumi, and Jinora to embark on a quest to gather the new airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads from the ground up. Unbeknownst to them, however, a mysterious warrior poet named Zaheer (voiced by Henry Rollins) has broken out of prison under the watch of the strangely incompetent White Lotus, with airbending abilities of his own. He pulls together his own team of elite benders to strike at Team Avatar for enigmatic purposes. Will Korra and company succeed in their quest before Zaheer achieves his mysterious plan? (Good grief, I'm beginning to sound like Shiro Shinobi.)

Aside from the intense emotion, high drama, funny dialogue, stunning visuals, great voice acting, and cool action that is by now par for the course on this show, Book 3 boasts what is quite easily the best villain we've seen yet. Unalaq and Vaatu were just two more generic evil bad guys at the end of the day, and Amon, while getting an awesome build-up, was the victim of a lousy payoff. It didn't help that he and Tarrlok went out kind of stupidly, and don't even get me started on Hiroshi Saito. Zaheer though, Zaheer is a whole different animal. Zaheer is quite easily one of the best TV villains I've seen yet, and the best I've ever seen in an animated series. I'd even say that he's one of the best villains we've seen in the entire Avatar-franchise, up there with Azula, Long Feng, and Ozai. What makes Zaheer such a great villain? Simple: He has the most complex, well-developed, interesting, and well-executed motivation we've ever seen on this entire show, and in my book is tied with Zuko for that category in the entire franchise.

But what is that motivation, and why is it so important to Zaheer's character?

As any seasoned writer who might be reading this blog would know, in a story, character motivation is everything. Without a motivation, a character is just a random blip on the screen with no purpose and no place in the story. They're just there, doing nothing, affecting nothing, and that makes for a pretty boring story. Believe it or not, making up a character motivation is a lot harder than it sounds if you're a writer. I can't begin to tell you of the ribbings I endured in an old creative writing class I took a few years ago that stemmed from my characters having terrible, poorly thought out motivations. Simply put, the better motivation a character has, the better odds he (or she!) has of being a great character. And remember what Zaheer has?

That's the thing about Zaheer though: His motivation is so complex and mysterious that even Korra and the rest of Team Avatar doesn't know what's driving him and his pals until about halfway through the season, and even then it blows their minds even more than it does the audience's. The long and short of it is that the guiding philosophy of Zaheer's group is that the natural order of the world is, in fact, disorder, and that they are on a righteous mission to topple all the world's governments and throw the world into anarchy. Throw in a smattering of humanism, and you've got what amounts to Zen Anarchism, which is probably the most bizarre philosophical label I've ever seen, discussed, or otherwise conceived of.

It's also inherently unworkable.

I don't know exactly what the show's illustrious creators (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) were trying to do when they introduced Zaheer, but Zen Anarchism as a practical philosophy is fundamentally irreconcilable with its very self. Zen, insofar as I understand it, is the attainment of wisdom through meditation, which in Eastern philosophical thought is basically thinking really, really hard. Anarchism, on the other hand, advocates for a stateless society where no government exists, based on the premise that any kind of governance only leads to more suffering, which is right where Zaheer stands. But the entities that cherish the obtaining of knowledge and wisdom, such as institutions of higher learning and many religious bodies, are historically shown to be byproducts of an established society in which there exists some sort of governing authority. The environment of peace and safety required to pursue a Zen-like lifestyle is unattainable in an environment of anarchy. As James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 51, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." 


If men were angels. The key problem with with Zaheer's outlook is that he's got all backwards. Men aren't angels because of bad governments; certain governments are bad because men aren't angels. One particularly memorable scene from episode 3 of Book 3: Change ("The Earth Queen") features Team Avatar arriving at Ba Sing Se. In an obvious parallel to a similar scene in Book 2: Earth of Airbender, they come into the city, only to find that it's a old, broken down cesspit of poverty and pestilence, ruled over by a despotic dragon-lady of a monarch who bleeds the people of their tax-money and then leaves them to rot. The message: Things haven't changed at all. If anything, they've gotten worse. In universe, the Ba Sing Se of 75-plus years prior was, in Troper parlance, a Crapsaccharine World. At least there was a semblance of order, and things were relatively safe and peaceful. Now, it's a full-on kleptocracy, where the kingdom and its citizens are the chattels of the Earth Queen. 

Does this mean that all government is inherently bad? Not quite. While any human effort to erect a lasting authority based on its own principles, borrowed or invented, is doomed to fail, almost any government is worse than no government. An every-man-for-himself mentality, where the rule of law is defined by who carries the biggest stick, is unquestionably a chaotic nightmare that only a shortsighted fool would really want. Look no further than Somalia. Is Zaheer such a shortsighted fool? He's no dummy, but I think we'll have to wait until Book 4 to find out the real answer to that question, owing to the inevitable consequences of the back half of Book 3: Change.

In short, man was never meant to live apart from his neighbor, a situation which Anarchism cannot resolve. You can talk all you want about mutual cooperation without government, but again, men are not angels. A mirror of the ultimate authority is needed if the ends of God are to be met, that is, if mercy, justice, peace, love, and gentleness are to be the ruling attributes of a society. The common refrain in the book of Judges was, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Scary, huh? In the book of Romans, Paul wrote, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Jesus Christ himself said in the book of Luke, concerning taxes, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” Zaheer may think he knows what's best for the world, but Korra and company would be happy to know that he's wrong, rightfully rejecting Zaheer's worldview.

In sum, Zaheer has great appeal as a villain. He's smart, cunning, cool, has a complex and compelling motivation, and feels like a flesh-and-blood person. He's not a megalomaniac like Ozai, nor is he a destructive tyrant like Unalaq. He has a lot more in common with Amon than anyone else, even though they fall on two opposite extremes of the ideological spectrum. He even has a girlfriend, for Pete's sake! (Incidentally, I think that "The Earth Queen" features the franchise's first onscreen lip-lock between two consenting adults.) I love how he quotes poetry and airbends like a boss, because he's just that awesome. It helps that he has some real badbutt friends. His "philosophical mumbo-jumbo," as Korra put it, may be unsound, but he's nonetheless a very charismatic villain.

Next time, we'll be talking about another interesting faucet of The Legend of Korra: The Metal Clan.

Images courtesy of avatar.wikia.com

True Villains: A Case Study in Moral Nihilism

Imagine a world where evil wins.

Picture it. The heroes are defeated. The bad guys are triumphant, making wisecracks and pumping fists. Their heinous deeds are splashed across the canvas of your imagination, brought to fruition and on display for all to see. And those wicked sots are actually proud of their actions, feeling justified by them. But there's more: In this scenario, evil deserved to win. In fact, the bad guys are actually the good guys, and the people you thought were the good guys aren't actually all that good. In fact, they're humorless, self-righteous prigs at best, and oafish bullies at worst. What kind of world is this? It's nothing short of a nightmare. 

But it is, in a perversely profound way, right on the mark about what things would really be like without reality's single defining factor: God. 

I've talked a little about my faith on this blog before, but it's mostly been something of sideshow. I'd throw in a Bible verse on the weekends, fill in the people who actually read this thing on the sermons at my church, maybe name drop Big G on occasion, generally in a humorous manner. But now I'd like to talk about something serious. Ironically enough, the spark of this serious discussion comes from a frankly silly and ostensibly lighthearted source: a webcomic called True Villains.

My good buddy Nathan (the other Nathan; not the one who thinks that the Richard Donner Superman movie is the greatest superhero movie ever made) recommended this webcomic to me as a possible source of inspiration, and for a good laugh, in writing my own webcomic. In fact, both my own webcomic (Currently in the works. More on that in the future!) and True Villains have a similar premise; a satirical take on the conventions of genre fiction from the vantage point of the bad guys. To be specific, True Villains takes the standard tropes of your average fantasy world (like, "the good guys always win" and "crime never pays" and "bad guys don't wear yellow."), and turns them inside out and flips them upside down. 

To be honest, this webcomic is fun stuff, with a style of humor that zigzags from raunchy to ridiculous, though never to the extreme of either. In addition to being funny, the characters are admittedly likable. You've got adventurer-turned-apprentice-to-the-evil-bad-guy Sebastian Jalek, Elia the Necromancer, Mia the magical child, Bayn the kid sorcerer, and Xanith the aforementioned evil bad guy. I swear, the makers of this strip could make a truckload of cash on T-shirts of Xanith saying, "I have a plan," or Mia smiling.

But remember what I said earlier, about imagining a world where evil wins? That's pretty much what this strip is, complete with the heroes who aren't heroes. I don't want to sound like some kind of killjoy, but the tail end of Saga 5 made me feel a lump in the pit of my stomach. In it, Sebastian tells his old adventuring buddies, including his sister, to basically shove it, complete with his own explanation of how he sees morality. For the sake of brevity, I will not include the full outpouring of bullcrap that spewed forth from the character's mouth (even Xanith, who's a flipping demon, agrees with me), but I will summarize it. In the scene, Sebastian essentially says that good and evil are two equally valid choices, and that morality is defined by the whim of the chooser. He isn't nearly that honest, wrapping his perversely self-justified twaddle in doublespeak, equating his lack of a definite moral compass with "freedom." 

Freedom. Freedom to do what? Freedom to do whatever Xanith, a sadistic liar, tells him? Freedom to kill and destroy whenever it's convenient? Freedom to aid a psychopathic murderer like Elia in various acts of wholesale slaughter? Near the beginning of the strip, Xanith orders the pair to burn down a whole village for a laugh, with Elia melting the faces off of the survivors. Sebastian admittedly saves Mia from the catastrophe, but only based on an arbitrary notion of morality that he readily discards at will, such as in a recent strip when he's assigned to kill a child said to be "the Chosen One." What kind of freedom is that?

Sebastian goes even further, claiming that it's pointless to fight for good, because there will always be evil. Here's where he turns from moral relativism to outright nihilism. Nihilism is the belief that nothingness defines reality, that life is simply futile. Sebastian has embraced nihilism, declaring that he is glad to be on the side of evil, because it makes him feel "free." He sees himself as above good and evil, doing thing not because he should, but because he can. In other words, he believes that he can do whatever he wants with no consequences. 

Of course, in the world of True Villains, it's vaguely possible for Sebastian to have a point, if only because in that world, there is no "God" as we understand it. There are said to be many "gods," such as a god of progress, a god of stability, a god of fear, a god of tall grass, etc. In fact, there is said to be a "god" for every aspect of reality. (Logically, this would imply that there are gods for good, evil, justice, truth, etc., but these "gods" are also said to be "unbiased" towards good or evil. How a possible god of justice could be "unbiased" toward either good or evil is beyond me.) Again, this is perversely profound, in that if there were a world wherein no supreme, objective standard of morality existed, then the logical extreme would be that there would be no supreme, objective standard of morality at all. Any honest atheist philosopher would say just as much, if not more so. Therefore, Sebastian and his cohorts are perfectly justified in committing acts of injustice, and have no reason to pretend to have a moral code, because there is no basis to have such a code if there is in fact no God, or even many gods. In the words of Fydor Dostoevsky, "If God does not exist, then everything is permitted."

This is all rather ironic, as there are plenty of "good guys" who mainly consist of the aforementioned humorless, self-righteous prigs, and also plenty of bad guys who readily admit that they're "morally bankrupt" and on the side of evil, including Sebastian's boss, Xanith. It's even acknowledged that Hell exists, and that all of these "gods" have both angels and demons working for them. The convoluted nature of this invented theology is nonetheless quite disturbing if given sufficient thought. It doesn't help that there's a lot of attention given to the various acts of necromancy and "dark magic" employed by our villains, which is disgustingly portrayed in agonizing detail. Good grief, I'm beginning to understand why people like Jack Chick don't like D&D. 

In sum, we have a mildly intelligent, well-written and illustrated, yet at the same time quite disturbing webcomic, where good and evil are equivalent to blue and orange in difference. It's a world where basic concepts of morality rest upon the whim of the individual, where good is a word and a word is air. (Thanks for the quote, Shakespeare!) That does sound like a nightmare. As the good book says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"

Image courtesy of tvtropes.org

A Hiatus

Hello, readers. I am here to announce that I will be taking a short hiatus from blogging in order to reconsider my efforts in that area. I have recently discovered that in the interest of blogging better, I need to amend some things in my manner of blogging. This may indeed require a whole new blog in and of itself. This could also mean a new name, my own domain name, a completely new look, the whole nine yards. In the meantime, I will be taking a break from blogging in order to consider these things and find out what I ought to do. In addition, as a matter of practicality, school will be starting soon, and I may not be able to devote as much time as I would like to blogging anyway. Therefore, I will, with any luck at all, see you all soon under better circumstances.

Till we meet again.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." - James 1:5

Bible Verse Sunday #84

This week's verse is James 5:16, a verse on prayer:

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

In this passage, Christians are instructed to confess their sins "to one another", not necessarily to a priest, but to fellow Christians who are concerned with the matter being confessed. James also writes that a righteous man will know better what the will of God is and thus how to best pray to Him.

In church today, the pastor spoke about judgement. He said that there are two kinds of judgement; judgements based on scriptural principals, that is, direct instruction, and judgement based on differing opinions on debatable doctrine, such as matters relating to communion. Judgement, he said, is detrimental when focused on opinion based matters, but is constructive when it brings honor to the Lord. He said that we should let such a God-honoring attitude permeate our social life, worship, parenting, politics, and work. The general rule of thumb is that we are to let God's judgement guide our interactions.

I then went to help out in  the second grade class during the second hour, in which a lesson was given on prayer. The teacher gave a lesson on the Lord's prayer and on the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, also known as the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, as detailed in Luke 18:9-14. I also organized a small tick-tack-toe tournament.

Bible Verse Sunday #83

After missing two weeks of Bible Verse Sunday, I am happy to present the next installment of this blog's perennial feature. Today, in accordance with the lesson in today's Sunday school class, we will be discussing Nehemiah 4:14:

"'...And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.'"

In this verse, Nehemiah is exhorting his people to continue their work rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in the face of threats from their enemies. His encouragement is applicable in other distressing moments, when all hope seems lost, and things seem to be going to Hades in a hand basket, as it were. It also is a reminder that we as Christians have a greater and more assured hope in hard times than the world does, and that even if God doesn't relieve our worldly sufferings, he still cares for us and will insure that everything goes according to his own grand plan.

I was glad to be finally back in church today after missing two straight weeks. In the main service, we were still continuing in our study of the book of Romans, but the series' subtitle had been changed from "The Message that Changed the World" to "The Church that Changed the World." In this week's sermon, the pastor talked about how as Christians, we should actively seek to "root out" sin in our lives, and that we "hunger" for Jesus' return. In addition, he said that next week's sermon would be on judgement, mean to answer the question, "Why are Christians so judgmental?" The pastor said to invite your friends to this one. If any of you readers out there saw the sermon, I invite you to invite other people, just as I hope to do.

I finally managed to return to helping in the second hour 2nd grade classroom, where we discussed the story of Nehemiah. This summer's theme is celebration, and we very much celebrated in the form of a melodrama. We assigned parts and props to each of the kids, and as the teacher read the story, they made various sounds and motions on cue at the mention of particular words. It was kind of fun. After the lesson, the kids each made a miniature wall out of marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and frosting, before eating it. Yum!

On another note, I went with my dad to the theatre later today... but that's another post.

Review: The Book Thief

The German poet Heinrich Heine once wrote, "Them that begin by burning books, end by burning men." (Kudos to Indiana Jones for that quote!) By the end of The Book Thief, written by Australian author Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger probably understands this better than some college professors. She should know. Being the titular character, she makes a career of petty theft throughout the story, specializing in stealing books. Beginning in 1939, ten year old Liesel arrives in a poor neighborhood of a small town near Munich, brought in by a foster family after her biological mother can no longer support her. Her brother dies of disease on the train ride there, leaving Liesel deeply shaken, but also leading her to begin her career in book theft. Suffice it to say, she steals a manual on grave digging from the cemetery where her brother is buried, but doesn't begin her book thieving career in earnest until later, where she steals a book from a Nazi party book burning.

From there, everything changes.

Liesel, initially illiterate, is taught to read by her loving foster father, the accordion playing, cigarette smoking Hans Hubermann. She becomes best friends with the incorrigible boy next door, Rudy Steiner. She becomes the heavyweight champion of the local schoolyard. She is drafted into the Hitler Youth. She befriends the young Jewish boxer that her foster family takes in. She accompanies Arthur Berg and Rudy on apple stealing expeditions. And she keeps stealing books.

What is particularly notable about this book is that, unlike so many other popular young adult novels, such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, it is not written in first person per se. It's a mixture of first, second, and third person in the form of an omniscient narrator, identified both within the novel and specifically by Zusak in interviews as Death. While I contest on theological grounds the anthropomorphic portrayal of Death as a sentient, thinking being, I have to admit that Zusak's choice of Death as the narrator of a book set in Germany during the Second World War is a stroke of brilliance. In the book, Death is a wearied, put-upon being who yearns for a vacation and is amused by human conceptions of him. (At one point, he notes that he does not carry a scythe and that he only wears big black cloaks on cold days.) He is not a sadist, but rather a disinterested, even compassionate being. He goes so far as to directly contest the assertion that "War is death's best friend." In The Book Thief, Death is literally as much a main character as Liesel Meminger.

Speaking of characters, Zukas manages to successfully work with a large cast and make them all stand out in their own way. They all feel well rounded and realistic, like they're really living and breathing on the other side of the fourth wall. Everyone from Liesel, Rudy, and Max Vandenburg (the aforementioned young Jewish boxer) to Ilsa Hermann, Tommy Mueller, and Frau Diller have a clear cut motivation and characterization, all of which work together like a well trained orchestra, producing an equally grand result. The most interesting character in the book, I think, is Hans Hubermann (my personal favorite is Max). In him are wrapped up many of the prevailing themes of this book. Courage versus cowardice. Survivor's guilt. The power of love. Those are just a few of the many powerful themes present in this book, but we'll discuss those later.

Of course, with great characters that you can relate to and love, that also means that they are characters who you will be crushed to read about when their unfortunate fates are mentioned. I won't go into detail for risk of spoilers, but let's just say that you're going to come away from this book very, very sad. I sure did. But the sadness and emotion generated in the reader is only a payoff for the suspense built up throughout the whole book. The reader is constantly kept guessing at just what will happen, how this plot thread will unravel, who does what, what happens to whom. If nothing else, The Book Thief is unpredictable. Most of the time, that's a good thing. This is one of those times.

Oddly enough, the least interesting character in this book is probably Liesel herself, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. Though the story is ostensibly about her, most of the focus is on the events and people going on and about around her as she perceives it. How she reacts to it is generally how the reader reacts to it. She's still a well-rounded, complex character, but not to the degree that a lot of the others, such as Rudy, Max, Hans, or even Rosa Hubermann (Liesel's foster mother) are. She is, in a word, a viewpoint character, and a darn good one at that. I actually learned in my creative writing class last year that the main character shouldn't necessarily always be the most interesting, for the sake of telling a good story. If they are the most interesting character in the cast, then it's usually harder to write a good story, something only the best writers can usually pull off. Again, this is not a bad thing, and the book actually benefited from it in the end.

Major themes in this book other than those previously mentioned include death (obviously), war, friendship, family, love, compassion, loss, grief, different perspectives in a conflict, and hope. A lot of heavy stuff. The most pervasive and obvious theme, however, is the power of words. Liesel, Max, and Death both note that words have great power, and can be used for either good or evil. That's a lesson that needs to be taught a little more often in this day and age.

A word of warning, however. This book is quite plainly enough a young adult book, mainly because of the ubiquitous profanity, both German and English. I'd think that for someone who reads a lot, Liesel would have a larger vocabulary, though she does by the end of the book. As it is, all of the characters, except Ilsa Hermann, swear at least a little, but the primary offender is Rosa Hubermann, so take what you will from that. There's also a lot of, well, death, and destruction, and some other nasty things that I dare not mention in polite company. Moreover, The Book Thief doesn't seem to condemn the eponymous character's actions so much as it observes them, but I can't help but note that stealing, whatever the reason, is stealing, specifically prohibited by the eighth commandment. I do hope that Liesel, noted by Death to be a Lutheran, paid heed to Ephesians 4:28 in her later years.

Nevertheless, The Book Thief is without a doubt one of the greatest books that I have ever read, with a style and excellence in writing that reminds me of Louis Sachar, Jeanne DuPrau, and even Eoin Colfer. I therefore see fit to award this book with the highest rating which I can bestow upon it. I also look forward to reading another of Markus Zusak's award-winning books, I Am the Messenger. It sounds quite good. I also hope to view The Book Thief's recent film adaption of the same name, though I've been told that it's "so-so." Ah well. Worth a shot, right?

RATING: 10/10

Image courtesy of barnesandnoble.com

Bible Verse Sunday #82, On Polls, and Artemis Fowl News

This week's verse on Bible Verse Sunday is John 3:17:

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."

I picked this verse when looking up passages about heroes. The Son in question is Jesus Christ, the greatest hero the world has ever known or ever will know. The purpose of Jesus' ministry wasn't to bring punishment and wrath upon the denizens of Earth, but to save them from themselves, to insure that every one of them would be able to go to heaven after death. There will be a day of wrath when Jesus returns, but only after he has rewarded and commended the faithful. It is only the unbelievers and the forces of Satan who have anything to fear from this event.

In church today during the main service, the pastor continued in our study in the book of Romans. This week, the pastor discussed a basic salvation message, detailing the world salvation cycle, our spiritual state, and the result of God's salvation promises. We are, in turn, to respond with worship, gratitude, confidence in  Christ, and obedience. Specifically, we must check with what God desires, and we must remember that God is faithful and merciful in messy situations.

I helped in a kids class during the second service, and it was pretty okay. The kids were kids, a rambunctious, energetic lot, but I hope to make an impact on them through my volunteering as a teacher's assistant. I have lots of idea about how we can make the lessons come alive for them. It's so exciting to be able to do things like that!

In other news, I have decided to stop putting up polls. Why? Because I never get more than a few votes, and the only one I got for the last one was mine. This may be my fault for putting up questions which few people care to answer, but I don't know for sure. The point, however, is that the monthly poll is an apparently unpopular attraction, and I don't want a useless gadget cluttering up my blog space. If any of you out there want the poll back, you'll have to ask for it.

Finally, we have some big news for Artemis Fowl! The graphic novel rendition of The Opal Deception was released just a week or so ago, and I sincerely hope that it's better than the last one. I look forward to checking it out soon, after which I will report back to you, gentle readers, on just what it was like.

Bible Verse Sunday #81

This week's verse is Proverbs 31:30:

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

This is one of my favorite verses, because it communicates the standards by which the Christian man should evaluate a potential wife. It's a verse which is particularly relevant in our increasingly superficial and warped culture, and reminds believers to look beyond appearances when searching for a spouse. In fact, Proverbs 31 is essentially a checklist to determining the ideal wife. I encourage all single Christian men to study it, and all Christian women to emulate it.

In the main service in church today, the pastor continued in his series in the book of Romans, discoursing on how to serve God. He preached out of Romans 12, saying that we must offer our whole body to God, and help out in the church however we can. Specifically, we are to willingly embrace Christ, and endure through difficult situations which are used by God to mold and refine us into his image. We are also to use our respective spiritual gifts to serve him readily.

In the young adult group, we split into three subclasses. I went to one being conducted by my dear friend Caleb. Caleb, who recently graduated from Bible college, gave us a brief summary of the books of the Bible. The Bible being the Bible, it wasn't a huge, in-depth study, but it did cover some interesting information, such as approximately when each book was written. Caleb is also an engaging speaker who is good at explaining things and conveying information, which made the talk that much more enjoyable. That guy is going places.

Bible Verse Sunday #80

In this eightieth installment of Bible Verse Sunday, we will be examining Galatians 5:1:

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

This verse is an exhortation by Paul to the church in Galatia to not revert to being slaves of sin. Christ has set us free from the chains of sin, so that we are free in Christ. Free from the short-term pleasures of the world, free from immoral pursuits and their inevitable repercussions, free from sin. These things have a natural "yoke of slavery" over the unsaved, but Christ has won the battle to free them from it. His yoke, in contrast, is easy, and his burden is light.

In church today, the pastor continued in our study in the book of Romans, where we further discussed Israel's role in the present day and the end times. Specifically, he said that God has only partially rejected Israel in favor of the Gentiles, but will bring them back into his family at the end of time, where all Israel will accept Jesus Christ as Lord. This is so that our own lost world will be saved, and so that God's grace will be magnified. On a final note, he warned us not to be boastful about our salvation over that of Israel, but to be humbly grateful for God's extension of grace to we the Gentiles.

Bible Verse Sunday #78 & Father's Day 2014

In honor of Father's Day, this week's verse is Ephesians 6:4:

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Directed at fathers, this verse plainly tells fathers not to work their children into a lather, but to seek to communicate with them and forge strong and intimate bonds with them. This extends past merely spending time with them. Fathers should teach their children how to live, to love God and to love people, and to abide by His commandments.

In the main service at church today, we had a guest speaker. This guest speaker continued in the series on the book of Romans, describing that there are no excuses for excuses. That is to say, we are specifically and clearly told to evangelize and win souls to Christ anywhere and everywhere. One of the biggest lies that Satan has perpetuated, said the guest pastor, is that we have plenty of time to evangelize, plenty of time to win souls. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The pastor said that we are always closer to Christ's second coming than we ever were before, and as he could come back at any given time, we must always strive to reach out to the unsaved.

In the High School service, another guest speaker gave a basic overview of the gospel. Starting with Genesis and going all the way to 1 Corinthians, the speaker told of how the entire Old Testament was basically us saying, "I don't need you God. ...Oh, wait, I actually do." The New Testament describes the fulfillment of the law, that is, Jesus himself. In sum, we owe everything to God, and we should always live for Him wherever we are, wherever He needs us. The reason we owe everything to God is because He sent His only son, Jesus, to die a horrible death in order to take the punishment that we, sinful humanity, so richly deserved. And then he was raised from the dead, just to prove that it was totally legit.

Father's Day, I believe, is a very special holiday. It is not only a fine occasion to celebrate our earthly fathers, but to celebrate our Heavenly Father as well. I would not be the person I am today if not for both of my parents working in sync, not to mention the innumerable teachers and mentors I've had over the years. Most of all, however, God, my Father in Heaven, is the number one influence in my life. I would hope that everything I do would give glory to Him, and to Him alone. But I wouldn't have grown to respect my Heavenly Father if it weren't for the profound influence of my Earthly father. So thank you, dad, and thank you, Heavenly Father.

Image courtesy of nationalharbor.com

Bible Verse Sunday #77 & New Fan-Fic Chapter

This week's verse is Exodus 23:25:

"You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you."

This verse, selected from God's discourse to Israel concerning the laws they were meant to live by, does not mean to imply that life will always be free of trouble for God's people. In this context, it applied to the whole theocratic nation state of Israel, meaning to say that if the people of Israel would only abide by the law of God, he would bless them. As a general principle, it also means that God will always respond to the prayers of believers, even if the response isn't what we're hoping for. But even then, He usually has a better idea in mind.

This week's sermon in the main service was on Romans 9:1-29, plus a brief recap of what we've learned previously in the series. This section of scripture deals with Paul's grief over the unbelief of his people, the Jews. In view of this, the pastor asked what we cry over, the logical conclusion being that we cry over what we love most. Paul, in this case, had a passion for the unsaved, an attitude which all believers should share. More specifically, when tragedy strikes, we often ask God why this sort of thing could have happened to him, the error in this thinking lying in our mistaken belief that God owes us his blessing. Israel had a particularly bad problem with this way of thinking, believing that just because they were God's chosen people, God owed them his blessing. The reality is that God blesses not based on race, but based on grace, including the grace he has given Israel over the years.

In the High School service, the sermon was on the subject of unity. Being a longtime fan of Bionicle, in which the Three Virtues were unity, duty, and destiny, I found it interesting to be treated to a Christian take on unity. The basic premise of the sermon was that divisions in the church are not a new problem, dating all the way back to the Corinthian church. Often, said the guest speaker, division is born of pride, in this case, pride in being a follower of a specific leader. Thus, humility must be practiced if we are to achieve unity, humility meaning not to put yourself down, but to put others first. In the end, unity is always possible in the church because all Christians have the commonality of Christ.

In other news, chapter 9 of my fan-fic, The Misadventures of Nobody (and X-Ray) was posted a couple of days ago on BZPower.com. Go ahead and check it out!

Bible Verse Sunday #76, 250th Post, and Graduating Seniors Send-Off Ceremony

In this 76th installment of Bible Verse Sunday, which coincides with my 250th post published (Tuesday's post is the 250th post written), we will be discussing 1 Timothy 4:12. This verse should be of particular note to this year's high school and college graduates. Congrats to you all of you grads out there. Anyhow, here's the verse:

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

The meaning of this verse is plain enough, reflecting one of the key faucets of God's personality: he does not judge the outside of a person, but rather what's in their heart. Here, the apostle Paul is instructing his protege, Timothy, to not be intimidated because he is a younger man, and by connection, less experienced. Rather, says Paul, even physically young Christians (spiritual youth is a different matter) such as Timothy should take initiative and step forward in the church to help and to lead where they are called and needed. (Alex and Brett Harris seem to have picked up on this when they wrote Do Hard Things.) This involves putting spiritual gifts to work in the church and in the world to do what we do best. In Timothy's case, he evidently had strong spiritual gifts, which may have manifested as miracle working, or something more mundane, such as administration. Either way, God desires that we each ascertain our respective spiritual gifts and discipline them into efficient tools for the furtherance of his will, no matter what our age.

In the main service in church today, the pastor continued in the series on Romans, discussing Romans 8:31-39. He said that here on Earth, God's "vote" is the only one that matters, and that you can always depend on his "vote" if he can always depend on yours. God, in essence, is one-hundred percent for us, as revealed in scripture. He has already won the spiritual battle for us, making us "more than conquerors." This doesn't mean that we'll win every battle here on Earth, or that we'll be protected from harm, but it does mean that God is always on our side.

There was no formal sermon in the High School service today, as we spent the service in a send-off ceremony for the graduating senior class. The graduating seniors fielded questions about what they're going to do after High School, what some of their favorite memories were, what they've learned from their time in the High School service, and what advice they'd give to the younger students. We were then served cake and lemonade, and I for one am always happy to patronize (most) events which involve free food. Once again, many congratulations to all of you grads out there. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Image courtesy of timesnews.net

Bible Verse Sunday #75, Geek Pride Day 2014, and Memorial Day 2014

This week's verse is Jeremiah 48:7:

"For, because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken; and Chemosh shall go into exile with his priests and his officials."

In this passage, the prophet Jeremiah is preaching against Moab, detailing how their greed and vanity has led to their disgrace. Chemosh was the principal deity of the Moabites, whose paganism involved human sacrifice to their god. These abominations are clearly stated to be the reason for the Moabites' downfall, and Israel's as well for sharing in this travesty. We contemporary readers would do well to take note.

In the main service in church today, the pastor preached from the back half of Romans 8, talking about how God takes us in our brokenness and transforms us into something better. God removes from us the frustration, the disgrace, the isolation. There will be no "awkward moment" when we stand before God's throne, because we have been transformed.

In the High School service, the youth pastor preached from John 15, talking about how we should "marinate" ourselves in Jesus, by absorbing his word daily and living out his commandments. He said that although it is possible to "fake" being a Christian, true believers are secure in Christ, and also that God commands us to love each other. The central point of the sermon is that life is lived fullest when lived with those we love.

Today is a momentous occasion. It is not only the seventy-fifth installment of Bible Verse Sunday, but it is also the 37th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars film in theaters, way back in 1977. That particular occasion is why this day was chosen to be Geek Pride Day, a celebration of geek culture the world over. On this day, we shall eat, drink, and be merry, though not necessarily in that order.

This weekend, however, marks an even more important occasion: Memorial Day. Tomorrow, there shall be a nationwide celebration of all those who have fought and died in service to our wonderful country. In accordance, I hereby extend my heartfelt salutations and commendations to all persons who fall into this demographic. In sum, have a blessed Memorial Day!

Image courtesy of sliceofscifi.com

Review: Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

Darwin's Black Box derives its title from it's author's postulation that the cell is a "black box." That is to say, it's an area of study which was once thought of my most scientists to be a simple matter, but upon further inspection, it was actually very complex. Written in 1996, Michael J. Behe uses this book to illustrate his theory of Irreducible Complexity. This theory states that there are systems, such as the cell, that are so complex that to take away even one small component of it would result in the system not working at all. Therefore, it couldn't have developed gradually, because an incomplete, not "fully evolved" system wouldn't have worked at all. The book begins with an introduction to the idea of what a black box is, before proceeding into a highly detailed lesson on cellular mechanics. The book ends with an examination of how Darwinism and Intelligent Design are treated in the wider scientific community, among other things.

I'm in two minds about Darwin's Black Box by Michael J. Behe. On the one hand, it provides a stunning critique of Darwinian evolutionary theory in an informative and precise manner. On the other hand, roughly half of the book is devoted to a painstakingly detailed explanation about just what's going on in our cells. I understand that the main point of all of this exposition was to get across the idea that cells are super complicated, but man, does it drag on!

However, once you get past all of the scientific minutiae and technical jargon, Behe presents a well-argued case for Irreducible Complexity and Intelligent Design. For those of you with reservations about Behe's stance, don't be so quick to confused Intelligent Design for straight up Creationism. They are very different. (I myself, being a creationist, welcome any and all arguments in favor of Intelligent Design, an admittedly similar theory which has its merits and is compatible, if not synonymous, with Creationism.) Behe expertly weaves together these various ideas of science and philosophy.

The third section of the book was particularly interesting to me, in that is examined the philosophy and ideology which drives the anti-supernatural mindset held by many scientists today. Behe addresses the subject eloquently and respectfully, not resorting to snide comments or insults, as many of his opposite numbers have been shown to do to in their own books. He methodically tackles the issues with Darwinism and why the scientific community is the way it is when it comes to the evolution debate.

Of course, there are many vocal Darwinists who would take issue at this, as many have. A quick Wikipedia search shows that Darwin's Black Box has received more than its fair share of negative criticism from prominent Darwinists, with all the jabs typically leveled at such works being listed there, to the point that the page even brings up the fact that Behe (apparently) admitted while under oath at a trial that his book wasn't sufficiently peer reviewed. Going on a tangent here, but I didn't realize that scientific law was determined by judical fiat (the trial concluded that Intelligent Design was the same as Creationism, and therefore "unscientific," a typical misinformation tactic used by Darwinists). My point here is that if a book gets this much hate, it's probably saying something worth looking into. Ditto for a book getting a lot of praise, but that's another story.

All in all, I enjoyed this book for the information it provided, the formulation of some scientific stuff in ways that I could understand,  a fascinating look at the philosophical and ideological forces at work today, and in general a great primer for intelligent design theory. I highly recommend it to anyone who's into science, or wants to learn more about intelligent design theory. Be warned, however, it is, like I said, super complicated, so keep that it mind.

RATING: 8.5/10

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Bible Verse Sunday #74 and New Poll

This week's verse is John 10:10. As usual, this verse comes courtesy of ESVBible.org.

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly."

This famous verse, in addition to being key to this week's High School service sermon, is taken from the middle of a sermon Jesus gave on his role in theology. Jesus is the "Good Shepherd" discussed further in this passage, and the "thief" refers to the Pharisees, who were only interested in their own gain. The sheep ("they") are, of course, we the people, but we'll go into that more later.

This week's sermon had the pastor preaching out of the middle third of Romans 8. The topic was delayed gratification, and how this phenomenon is important to the Christian life. Specifically, the pastor said that the satisfaction gained from following God's commands is a result of delayed gratification, whereas the satisfaction derived from sin is immediate, but all too temporary, leaving sinners unfulfilled in the end. God, however, is just waiting to share all he has with us.

In the High School service, the Jr. High Service pastor's wife addressed us concerning John 10. She discussed how we, the sheep, are useless to God, but he loves us anyway, having sent the Good Shepherd (Jesus) to save our souls. She also said that the "abundant life" promised by Jesus may be free to us, but it certainly wasn't free to him. Furthermore, it is therefore concluded because of these things, God, our father, owns everything, including our bodies. That way, we can go about thinking, "My father owns that high rise!" or "My father owns that bank!"

Also, there is now a new poll up! This month, we'll be looking at which of the following artists you'd like to play at your wedding! I naturally chose Michael Salvatori and Martin O'Donnel, the makers of the Halo series music! I can't even imagine what their music would be like as I went down the aisle!

Bible Verse Sunday #73, Mother's Day 2014, and New Primary Ignition Article

The verse of the week is Psalm 100:1:

"Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!"

Plainly enough, this verse tells us to engage in worship in an enthusiastic and hearty manner. Exactly what constitutes a "joyful" noise is up for legitimate debate, but I opine that any and every kind of music is acceptable for use in worship so long as it serves to glorify God. This can vary between cultures, and can include piano, drums, saxophone, electric guitar, etc. I've heard of everything from classical hymns to Christian death metal. The point of this verse is that no matter what noise you make, as long as it's a "joyful noise to the Lord," it's all good.

In church today in the main service, the pastor continued in our study of the book of Romans, speaking from the first part of Romans 8. The essential message of today's sermon was that we need not punish ourselves for and giver ourselves grief over our sins, because we are forgiven. The pastor said something like, "How dare you judge yourself guilty for your sins, when there is nothing to judge! Even if there were something to judge, you are in no authority to do so! Only God can judge in that manner." (Again, this is a paraphrase, not a direct quote.) Today's sermon was also notable for me because before it, I and most of the other members of the Bible Quiz Team were invited to quote Romans 8:1-14 in front of the congregation. We did it for all four services. It wasn't easy, but we were prepared, pulling it off splendidly. I bestow my heartfelt congratulations to those members of the Bible Quiz Team who participated in this demonstration. I have no doubt that it is but the first step in a new, fruitful recruiting drive.

In the High School service, the band Everfound held a short concert, and though they are not my favorite band (I honestly prefer the Newsboys), I am of the opinion that they deserve the accolades and praise that they have received from our church's youth. That is to say, they have a heart for the Lord and are more than capable of making a joyful noise.

Also taking place today is Mother's Day. I will take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to mothers everywhere, especially to my own mother. I mean, without her, I wouldn't be able to write this blog, right? To all of you at home reading, I urge you to leave the computer, go to your phone, and call your mom (if you can) and wish them a happy Mother's Day. You also might want to send them a card, or even take them out to dinner. They deserve it. As the good book says, "Honor your father and mother."

Also, a quick plug for myself: I recently authored a new article over at Primary Ignition, a review of Batman: Eternal #4. Go over and read it, and be sure to like it and maybe leave a comment.

Addendum: I forgot to mention that my most recent pole, which poses the question of Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, was overwhelmingly in favor of Coke. Cheers! I will be putting up a new pole shortly.

Review: Cold Case Christianity

This is the second eBook that I have ever acquired. The first was the woefully, tragically ill-written Echoes of Darkness, but this second one is a non-fiction book. Cold Case Christianity, written by J. Warner Wallace of the Los Angeles Police Department, was offered up for exactly $0.00 on amazon.com some time ago, and after being informed of the offer by my Bible Quiz Team leader, I couldn't help but snap up this wonderful bargain. Yay free stuff, I suppose. At any rate, this book is without a doubt one of the best examples of Christian apologetics literature I have ever read.

Wallace's story reflects that of journalist Lee Strobel, who wrote the forward to this book: Cynical atheist comes to faith after investigating the evidence for the Bible. In this book, Wallace details his investigation which led him to believe in the Bible as the divinely inspired word of God. The focus of his book is on the Gospels, the cornerstone of the Christian faith, and whether they can be trusted. He examines church history, the eyewitness accounts of the Gospels, the testimony of secular historians, and archeological evidence- all through the lens of a seasoned homicide detective.

Cold Case Christianity is unlike any other Christian apologetics book I have ever read. Aside from it's blessing by Lee Strobel, a personal hero of mine, it approaches the question of whether the biographies of Jesus can be trusted, but in a very clever manner: as a mystery. The potential for metaphor is immense. The ultimate murder, with the ultimate twist: God's son, dead, before being raised to life. How's that for a murder mystery? But in this case, the case is made all the more complicated because the question isn't about who did the dirty deed and why (the Gospels are kind of spoilery about that), but whether it happened at all. As someone who firmly believes that it did happen, having my faith examined in such a colorful, thoughtful, dare I say it, professional manner is greatly appealing to me.

Moreover, Wallace pulls out all the stops when going through this "mystery." He uses engrossing anecdotes throughout the book, makes use of actual police investigation techniques, and diligently tracks the connecting threads in between all the puzzle pieces. Speaking of puzzle pieces, this is one of the analogies that Wallace uses: Although not every single piece of evidence is available to form a picture of the crime, enough can be found to form a recognizable portrait. In this case, the host of circumstantial evidence, corroborating witnesses, and the like are more than enough to tell the whole story.

In short, I highly recommend this book to every seeker and believer, every sinner and saint out there, as a useful tool filled with a bounty of knowledge. It is without a doubt one of the best, most thought provoking, most engaging books on apologetics that I have ever read, up there with Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ. I always liked detective stories, but I never before thought that this liking could be combined with my faith in such a cool, fun manner. Needless to say, I have been pleasantly surprised.

RATING: 10/10

Image courtesy amazon.com

Bible Verse Sunday #72 and the Return

Two. Weeks. And three days. Wow.

That's the longest I've ever gone without posting a single word on this blog in its one year and five month history, and I am happy to announce that I am ready to return from this short hiatus. We will begin by getting back to basics, starting with the seventy-second installment of Bible Verse Sunday. This week's verse is Luke 18:16:

"But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."

This verse illustrates Jesus' innate compassion, especially for the younger generation. Jesus, knowing the scriptures, such as Proverbs 22:6, understood that training up the next generation of believers was a top priority. He knew that instilling a godly foundation into children was important to their development into faithful, godly adults. He also appreciated the innocence of little children, which is what he meant when he said that the kingdom of God belongs to such. That is, he meant that the kingdom of God belongs to the innocent. Or rather, it belongs to those who are made innocent through their acceptance of his sacrifice.

In church today, the Pastor continued in his series on the book of Romans (feels like it's been going on forever). In it, we discussed Romans 7, in which we learned that sin isn't the problem; we are the problem. Unfortunately, people are often reluctant to admit this, which leads to the truism that "You can't legislate morality," the flipside being, naturally, that you shouldn't be able to legislate immorality either, i.e. gay marriage. The key question to ask in this instance is, "What in my life do I need to change?"

In the High School service, the youth pastor talked about John 8:12-30, in which Jesus declared that he was "the light." The Pharisees, needless to say, didn't get it. The main point of this story is that Jesus, being the light of the world, gives us light. This means that even when we feel like we're all alone, with no hope, this is not the case. Jesus is always there for us. We are never alone.

During my absence, several momentous occasions came and went. For example, Easter 2014. For that blessed occasion, we invited several of our relatives over for dinner after church, having a good time filled with uplifting and intelligent conversation. Christ was indeed with us, in our very presence.

The following weekend brought us the Bible Quizzing Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament 2014, in which I froze repeatedly and our Novice team emerged victorious as undefeated champions in their bracket. My sister Rebekah's birthday was over that particular weekend, and we celebrated by bringing a homemade chocolate cake to the snack table. Unfortunately, we had neither knives, forks, nor plates, forcing us to cut the cake with a folded up paper cup and to eat it with our hands out of other paper cups. But all in all, I'm glad to have met some new people and to have spent some time outdoors. It is my last Regional as a quizzer, and I look forward to acquitting myself and my team well at the upcoming National competition.

Yesterday brought us Free Comic Book Day, a happy event which was held at my local comic book store, the Comic Hut. I picked up the Avatar: The Last Airbender issue that Dark Horse put out for the occasion and the awfully depressingly Future's End #0 that DC produced. I reviewed them both for Primary Ignition, and hope to see them up and ready soon. I also picked up Azrael Vol. 1 issues #7 and 8. Not the best comic, but hey, I love Jean-Paul Valley and will fervently hope that the creators at DC will bring him back with a talented, up-and-coming writer like Scott Snyder of James T. Tynion IV or somebody. Who knows? Maybe he's show up in this Batman: Eternal miniseries they're running right now. I just bought issue #4 on Comixology, and I'd say that it would be the perfect place to do that. Failing that, I'll get a job at DC and write him in myself. But anyway, I'm rambling. I spent Free Comic Book Day working, going to the comic book store, getting pelted by rain, and helping my mom man a booth at this business expo thing down in Renton.

Finally, today is Star Wars Day, or May the Fourth be With You. This holiday celebrates the Star Wars saga, and I although I am saddened that I'll have to miss my church's film viewing party of Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (doubling as a "Cinco de May Eve" party) in order to attend my sister's belated birthday dinner, I am happy to do so on her account. In the meantime, I do look forward to watching The Empire Strikes Back tonight, a fitting follow up to last year's viewing of A New Hope. Thusly, I say unto ye all, happy Star Wars Day, and may the fourth be with you!