When She Was A Kitten

This video is of my cat, Pascal, when she was a kitten.

Punctuation

I'm not a grammarian, but my punctuation is decent. Sometimes when I wander across a blog that is poorly punctuated, I move on. If I have to work too hard to understand what is being written, then it is not worth it.

I've noticed that many bloggers seem to place no effort in punctuation. Depending on how tired or cranky I am, I find it quite irritating. Because of this tendency, I did a search for blog punctuation and came upon a wonderful site.

Copyblogger.com is the site, and here is their description:

Content drives the Internet, and using the right words in the right way will determine not only how well your site converts visitors into sales, but also how well you rank in search engines and how many links you get.

Now that blogging has become the smartest strategy for growing an authoritative web site, it’s your copywriting skills that will set you apart and help you succeed. Copyblogger is all about helping you:

• get traffic
• gain subscribers
• attract links
• sell something!

All you need to do is write in a strategic, persuasive, compelling manner.

On their web site, I found this wonderful page on common punctuation errors. Their list is well described, and they offer excellent examples.

Please forgive me for any punctuation errors in this post. :)

Obama's Jedi Mind Trick

Silly me...and I thought it was the Kool Aid.

A New Low, pt 2

This update to my previous post on a new low:

According to the New York Sun:

“Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages,” a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, said in a statement sent by e-mail to reporters. “The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.”

I ask you, how low has society become for this to become art?

How depraved have people come to even think of the project?

Is this the result of a society that has is in favor of abortion on demand?

A New Low

World Net Daily reports:

A student at Yale University, who for her "senior art project" says she repeatedly artificially inseminated herself and then took abortifacient drugs to induce multiple miscarriages, plans next week to display her "art" – including blood from her own forced abortions – prompting reactions ranging from horror and disgust to suggestions of fraud.

Read the rest of the story at the above link. Warning...it is absolutely disgusting.

Leave Barack Obama Alone!

Robert Frank Faith

Roy H. Williams wrote in Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads:

(p. 116)
The edge of a picture is called the frameline. When an image extends beyond the frameline, the viewer's imagination reacts by filling in what was left outside the frame. This phenomenon is called frameline magnetism, and it's a powerful tool that has long been used by the world's great photographers, videographers, filmmakers, and illustrators to engage the imagination of a viewer.

(p. 117)
Robert Frank is generally regarded as one of the greatest photographers the world has ever seen. In his legendary photo book, The Americans, Frank captures the unposed reality of 1955-56 America with such ruthless clarity that collectors now bid tens of thousands of dollars to own just one of his vintage prints...

Robert Frank was (1) unusual in his selection of an angle, (2) economical in his inclusion of detail, and (3) a master of frameline magnetism.

Robert Frank's photography and Christianity hold a lot in common.

First, Christianity provides us with a number of unusual angles. The most unusual angle is the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection...God becoming man, taking on humanity's sin, and resurrected from the dead. The idea of a suffering God is utterly contrary to the ancients view of gods, yet it is the God we serve.

Second, Scripture is economical in its inclusion of detail. We are left with tensions with which to wrestle. We are free to choose, yet God foreknows. There is one God, yet three in one. Christ will return, but when?

Third, scripture uses frameline magnetism. An inclusio represents frameline magnetism.

In literature, inclusio is a literary device based on a concentric principle, also known as bracketing or an envelope structure, which consists of creating a frame by placing similar material at the beginning and end of a section, although whether this material should consist of a word or a phrase, or whether greater amounts of text also qualify, and of what length the frames section should be, are matters of some debate. Inclusio is found in various sources, both antique and new.

We see this device used in Scripture as a way of framing the narrative. An event will be bookended by two similar themes, sometimes providing insight into the deeper meaning of the story. A very simple one to identify is in Genesis chapter 17, where the it begins and ends referencing Abraham's age.

Thus, we have some similarities in Scripture and faith and the photography of Robert Frank.

Impressionist Faith

Indistinct images. Concepts without details. Light. Little darkness. This characterizes Impressionism.

"Characteristics of Impressionist painting include visible brushstrokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles."

As it is with Impressionist art, so it is with our Christian walk. Experiencing our faith is often a blur. We are not sure of what the future holds, but we are sure our lives are in God's hands so the uncertainties are more bearable. Yes, we have some details, but many of the answers to the questions we ask are left unknown. We have the big picture that God has given us.

In Impressionist art, light is primary and there is little to no darkness. Our experience of darkness in life is nothing compared to the light of Christ. As the light shines darkness is dispelled.

There is a form of movement in the art of the Impressionist. So it is with our faith and our calling. A call to move forward, not looking back, and running the race with endurance.

The primary subject matter of impressionist art is very ordinary. And so God became one of us and has chosen to trust treasure of the Gospel in jars of clay. We are fragile, broken, and ordinary, yet God has entrusted the Gospel message to us.

Next installment: Robert Frank Faith.

The Moved Mover

I've always thought of the Unmoved Mover in a cosmological/ontological way. Today during church, I had a thought. I hope I had more than one thought, but this thought was about the Unmoved Mover.

In Sunday school we were talking about prayer and our beliefs about prayer. During the song service I was thinking about emotions and accessing emotion. (I tend not to be an emotive person, so experiencing emotion can be somewhat of a problem.) It occurred to me that God is both an Unmoved Mover and a Moved Mover.

In an ontological way, He is unmoved because He does not change. But, I believe God feels and is moved emotionally (forgive me for lack of a better word) when His children come to him in prayer or worship. He grieves, rejoices, loves, and cares for us, thus making him a Moved Mover. Not moved in the sense that He has changed, but moved emotionally.

I believe He hurts for the lost. He longs for the prodigal to come home. I believe God is a passionate God. Perhaps that is one of the reasons He is so disgusted with the lukewarm. (I think disgusted would be an appropriate term to describe "spew you out of my mouth.") Perhaps one of the reasons He so detests lukewarmness from us is because He is not lukewarm about anything. I do understand that one of the primary reasons would be the sacrifice of Christ, but perhaps passion is part of our transformation into the image of Christ. Perhaps God's disgust stems from the fact that He does nothing half-heartedly, and neither should we.

So what do you think, can we refer to God as The Unmoved Moved Mover? Or the Unmoved Mover Moved?

On another note, why is "move" and "moved" pronounced "moove" and "mooved" instead of "muvved" like "loved"? Or perhaps "loved" should be pronounced "looved," but that would confuse people with the museum.

Political Cartoon

From Lazarus Cartoons.

Seminary Meme

Ryan at CommunalFeast tagged me with the Seminary Meme. Here are the rules and my answers:

This Seminary Meme is part of a competition sponsored by Going to Seminary and Eisenbrauns. If you’d like to be entered, simply answer the 7 questions below and tag 5 other people. You’ll also need to post this paragraph (links included) with your answers as the links will be tracked back to your blog and will count as your “entry” into the competition. On April 30th, 2008, one blogger will be selected at random to win a $100 gift certificate to the Eisenbrauns online bookstore.

1. Where do you attend seminary? Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Abilene Christian University (Graduate School of Theology), and Institute for Christian Studies (now the Austin Graduate School of Theology).

2. What class do you think has most impacted your spiritual life? Philosophy of Religion is the class that helped form my reasoning on faith. Wrestling through those issues (theodicy, existence of God, etc.) helped strengthen my faith and increased my love of Scripture and God.

3. What seminary professor has been the most influential while in seminary? That is a very tough call. Garth Rosell and Michael Weed are tied. Dr. Rosell's overflowing love of God and his absolute brilliance are still inspiring. He was also very encouraging regarding my academic abilities. Dr. Weed taught Philosophy of Religion, and other classes that were completely fascinating. Through this class I became friends with Pascal. He has been one of the most encouraging professors I have ever had, and really encouraged me regarding my ability for theological reasoning.

4. What is the greatest challenge you’ve faced in seminary? Location. When I started at ICS/Austin Grad I was living in San Antonio and commuted. When I went on to ACU I also commuted, but this was tougher. Part of the time I was driving from San Antonio to Abilene (about 4 hrs.) for school and from San Antonio to Austin to volunteer at our church. There were days I would go from San Antonio to Abilene to Austin. When I moved to Austin, then I was only commuting to Abilene, but that was still about 3 1/2 hours each way with the road taking me through lots of small towns.

5. What has been the greatest reward you’ve experienced in seminary? The whole experience was a great reward. I often hear of people refer to it as cemetery, and I have no idea of what they are talking about. I loved seminary, and I miss it. School is fun.

6. What are your plans after seminary? I would like to get a PhD in either philosophy of religion or church history.

7. How many times have you been asked question #6? A lot, but the intentions were always good (I think). I cannot honestly answer that because I did not keep count.

For the tagging part...I tag JeremyZ, Brian, BryanL, and two others whose names have both consonants AND vowels.