Reason is not King

Ah, I have been not blogging for very long time! I blog later. For now, short post. I'm reading Anna Karenin right now by Leo Tolstoy. Really good! One thing that comes clear is that our own powers of reasoning are not king. We have a strong propensity to use reason to justify our own ways, and what seems to as plain reason is often just emotion or desire defended by intellect.

"Passion and prejudice govern the world, only under the name of reason." - John Wesley

Ah, also, one really cool thing that comes through clear in the book is that the protagonists are often the antagonists in other situations. This isn't the postmodern view that there are no good guys and bad guys, but only better and worse people, no black and white only shades of gray. There is good, and there is bad. However, what it illustrates is...

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. " - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

OK, that's all. Is tells yous peoples whats is thes happenings ins mys lifes laters.

Today Begins with a Small but Tasty Defeat

Started to feel a little hungry, but I remembered that I have a paperbag underneath my desk with some fruit inside. I thought, oh good, maybe I can finally eat that fruit, that would be quite healthy.

I pulled out the bag, looked inside, and saw a donut in the midst of the fruit. I am now eating a donut.

Cyrus the Great

I read this quote by Cyrus the Great the other day and it really stuck with me: "Diversity in counsel, unity in command." It's one of those quotes that just floats around in my head to the extent that it comes up often when I think about how to handle leadership.

Life and Doctrine

Sometimes I read people saying they are tired of all this emphasis on doctrine. Too much useless head knowledge, they say. Their point is well taken though, because sometimes Christians really don't live out their faith.

I read this verse this morning, which I liked a lot: "Watch your life and doctrine closely" (1 Timothy 4:16). We need to be very diligent in watching the way we live our lives. And, we also need to watch our doctrine very closely. It's both, not either/or.

Also, I have been very lazy about posting recently. I will make efforts to post more :)

Instant Coffee

Nescafe instant coffee, I would like to have a word with you. I would like you to know that you taste terrible and I would punch you except that you would scald my fist. Out of rational self-interest I have decided not to punch you, but be forewarned: the Word of the Lord says "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7). Instant coffee, you have reaped bitterness, and you will sow bitterness - thus sayeth the Lord.

Telescope and Stethescope

Here's something I read last week and captures well what I've been struggling to learn. It's from the essay called "The Analyst" by F.W. Boreham.

Chesterton says that the battle of the future is the battle between the telescope and the microscope. He is mistaken. The battle of the future is between the telescope and the stethoscope. And in that fight the telescope must win. It was fashionable, once upon a time, for most excellent and devout people to spend half their time with the stethoscope in awful introspection and analysis. Such self-examination has its place; but it has been sadly overdone. I prefer to lay down the stethoscope and take up the telescope. "Looking off unto Jesus," says a wonderful writer who points out this more excellent way. It is so very difficult to analyse the soul and to dissect the good from the bad. I like to think of that great and gracious Covenantor, David Dickson, Professor of Theology in Glasgow University. When he lay dying, he attempted to analyse his inmost self; but he soon abandoned the attempt. Then, turning to his bosom friend, John Livingstone, who sat beside his death-bed, he said: "I have taken them all - all my good deeds and all my bad deeds - and have cast them all together in a heap before the Lord! I have fled from both of them to Jesus; and in Him I have sweet peace!" It was beautifully and bravely spoken.

Dream Talking

Early in the morning while I was getting ready for work, Mike started sleep talking and we had this conversation:

Mike: "what are you looking for"
Me: "i'm not looking for anything"
Mike: "why are you looking for something"
Me: "i'm not looking for anything"
Mike: "... then why are you taking everything apart?"
Me: "i'm not taking anything apart you're sleep talking"
Mike: "oh. right. ... i need to reformat my dream. dreams come in all different kinds of formats."