Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

I'm still digesting the news about the huge earthquake/tsunami around Asia. For several days I haven't really managed to think about it much, because the scale is just so... vast, as to make real comprehension nearly impossible at this stage. So I don't have any deep insight at this point except to point at a few other people who have already managed to get some of their thoughts out.

-Fred Lebaron talks about the Theology of Natural Disasters.
-More on the Christian Theology answer to Natural Disasters.
-Kevin Kibelstis talks about morbid curiosity and natural awe, and how that can make us feel.
-Amazon.com has a spot up where you can make donations. 100% of the money goes to the American Red Cross relief efforts

I may write more on this at some point, when I can think more coherently about it.

This one, the picture doesn't really match, and makes me a look a little more depressed than I feel, but oh well, I didn't draw the pictures. The stacking thing is kind of neat though, and the text isn't that far off.




Your World (Part One): What is your world made of? [girls]
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This one is pretty accurate I think.

J:

Your Beauty lies
in Dreams. Day-dreamer, creative and forever lost in thoughts. You're a
dreamer, wanting more in your life than you have now. Though you a lot of your
dreams never seem to leave your own mind. You've created your own little world
inside that head of yours and you're most beautiful when your mind is in
the clouds with sparkles in your eyes.
You'd rather be asleep than awake and
people find it hard to have long conversations with you as you mind often
wanders and you aren't a big fan of reality. You are long and almost child-like
probably with a great love for Fantasy or Science Fiction. You're very creative
and most likely love to write wonderful stories or draw and even sing, anything
creative that you can use that vast imagination of yours. You're a bit of a
puzzle to people love to wonder as to what is going in your mind.

Some Things
That Represent You:

Element:
Water, Wind Animal: Eagle Color:
Purples, Blues,
Pinks, Misty Colors Song: Imaginary by
Evanescence Expression: Blank Stare

Gemstone:
Rose Quartz Mythological Creature: Unicorn,
Fairy Planet: Saturn Hair Color:
Strawberry
Blonde Eye Color: Violet

Quote:
"I lie inside myself for hours and watch my
purple skies fly over me."

Where Does Your Beauty Lie? ..::Original Pictures Are Back! Detailed Results::..
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Hmm, haven't read this one. Maybe I should.

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a
mystery novel dealing with theology, especially
with catholic vs liberal issues. You search
wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that
learning is essential in life.


Which literature classic are you?
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Okay, and for pure silliness:

Which Monty Python & the Holy Grail Character are you REALLY?
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Over at Ebear's blog, she was discussing a current mailing list debate regarding homosexually in fiction, and her unhappiness at the tone of that conversation. I replied with a post explaining my own strong feelings of ambivalence on the subject. She replied to me, and I replied back, and well, here's the link.

I'm not going to go into it all again here except to say that I remain quite conflicted on the whole matter. One way feels right, but goes against what I've been taught, and I know from personal experience that my 'feelings' don't always lead me in the right direction. *sigh* I doubt that I'm going to come up with a solid answer anytime soon. Just like the Iraq war, I find myself holding strong, but contradictory positions.

Saw this story on The Drudge Report. A British philosophy professor by the name of Antony Flew has been a long 'believer' in Atheism. In particular, he feels that, in discussing the existence of God, the burden of proof must be on the person asserting that God does exist. He even wrote an essay called "The Presumption of Atheism". On that point, I agree. It is impossible to prove a negative, so it is up to the believer to present evidence of God's existence.

The surprise? Apparently Dr. Flew is convinced! He has concluded, on the basis of scientific data (mainly study into the origins of life,) that there is a "god" in some form. He has not followed this line to any particular religion, (he calls himself a "Deist",) but he feels that there is sufficient scientific evidence to suggest that "Intelligent Design" is the most reasonable theory to explain the existence of life.

This makes me happy. Not in the sneering "Ha ha, I told you so!" way, but in the sense of having a shared conclusion. In school, I studied a fair amount of biochemistry and evolutionary theory. The more I learn about the innermost workings of the human body and life in general, the more I marvel at the incredible intricacy of it all, and the less it seems that it could all just be the result of random chance.

Just the same, that wasn't what led me to believe. When I was in high school, I considered myself a logical, reasonable, agnostic. "There's just no way to ever know for certain," I'd say. It was close friendships with believers that brought me to God. I spent some time with Christian friends and gradually came to truly believe that they had something that I didn't. When I finally crested the hill and saw into the valley of faith, it was truly an epiphany for me, and there are no words to describe it. Faith hasn't solved all my problems or anything, but since that day, my life is immeasurably better.

The tension, ('conflict', I think, is not quite the right word,) between intellectual belief and emotional faith has always been an issue for me. It is important, I think, not to have a blind faith. Simply ignoring evidence because it does not support your pre-existing belief is not is not the way to go. (Or to please God, for that matter.) Having said that. Sometimes faith requires believing in things you can't see. Sometimes even continuing with that belief when you can't feel it for a while. How do we resolve that tension? If you figure it out, let me know...