Let me get this straight -- musing about lines in nature

Natural objects very seldom contain perfectly straight lines. Man-made objects often do.

True, there are some nearly straight lines in natural objects. Some tree trunks are almost perfectly straight. Still water has a flat surface, a straight line expanded to two dimensions, as it were. Salt crystals are sometimes nearly perfect cubes, or, at least, they often have one or more flat surfaces. Some leaf veins are almost perfectly straight. But these examples are rare.

Spider webs do have what appear to be straight lines, but they usually don't go very far before joining with another line, which goes in a different direction, and, like power lines, the threads usually sag in the middle. I am not sure that there are any really straight lines in the photo above. (The photo is from my Flickr photostream. If you want to see a larger version, go here.)

Covalent bonds, such as the 4 bonds that Carbon atoms can form


are depicted as straight, as in the image of cyclohexane, above, where the dark gray balls represent carbon atoms, and the rods between the balls represent covalent bonds. But the angles of the bonds are such that, even in this model, the straight lines can not continue in the same direction. Besides, the bonds aren't really little rods, any more than the atoms are little spheres. And, even if they were little straight rods, they are very short -- just the distance between two adjacent atoms in a tiny molecule.

The two examples above, and some tree trunks, are about as close to really straight lines as you are going to find, in natural objects. Look, for example, at the trees and leaves in the first photo, or at almost any natural scene. You will see all sorts of shapes, many of them difficult to describe, but you will almost never see straight lines.

Why is that? I don't know. But this fact suggests that it is very difficult to grasp nature clearly. In a way, our use of straight lines, angles, flat surfaces, and curves, in the things we build for ourselves, is a reflection of our power over such artifacts. But we have much less power over nature -- we can't create it. Its shapes are too complicated for us to easily duplicate, and comprehend.

The word, "straight," is used several times in the Bible. Of the twelve versions that the Blueletter Bible offers, the New International Version has the most occurrences, 40. Here they are.

I am not sure that any of these 40 refer to a straight line, as such. Most of them are used in the sense of going straight toward some destination.

Here's one instance of the use of "straight" in the Bible:
Matthew 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.” (This is referring to Isaiah 40:3, which uses much the same wording.)

Did the people of Bible times understand the concept of straight lines, or straightness? Surely they did. In Acts 9:11, a street in Damascus is called Straight Street. 2 Kings 21:13 uses the concept of a plumb line as a measure of straightness.

To sum it up, God, and God's nature, are more complex than we often like to make things. But that is not to say that God doesn't understand our simple patterns and constructions, often with straight lines all over the place. He does. He made straightness possible. We should see beauty in the seemingly complex, and  difficult to describe, shapes that we find in nature, such as the lichen below:

(Larger sizes here.)

 

Thanks for reading! Keep yourself straight, but appreciate complexity.

Sunspots 443

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:  

The Arts: A photo of an amazing lavatory (two washbasins and a mirror) in a German railroad station, if I understand the description. There's a small cross on the wall, too.

Christianity: Why marriage isn't for you.

Politics: "Republicans seem unin­terested in governing, Democrats seem incapable of it." - Michael Gerson, columnist.

(Sort of -- it's really about leading a church board) Ken Schenck discusses Persuasive versus Coercive Leadership.

Science: One of my Flickr contacts tells us, with a photo, that some monarch butterflies migrate to California for the winter.

National Public Radio on why you might want to have your gut bacteria analyzed, and why you might not. (It can be done, fairly cheaply.)

Sports: Kenyans are great long-distance runners. Actually, it's one tribe of Kenyans, according to a report by National Public Radio, which explores the question of why this is so.



Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 8

[The previous post in the series was about the importance of praying for other believers, according to the New Testament. This post continues that topic.] 

 

That they may be able to effectively communicate the gospel, and that opportunities to do so will occur: 2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you; 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men; for not all have faith.

Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; 3 praying together for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds;

Christians are to pray especially for other Christians who are leaders: Romans 15:30 Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints; 32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.

1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brothers, pray for us.

Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things.

The passages above are from the writings of Paul, James, and whoever wrote Hebrews. Other New Testament writers were also concerned to pray for those who would read their writings:

1 Peter 5:10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11 To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep them* from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, 25 to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

*Text note – or “you.”

Jude 1:24-25 is more adoration than supplication, but it is also a prayer for believers.

Perhaps the greatest mass conversion of unbelievers in history took place in conjunction with Pentecost. Although it is possible that the 120 disciples, meeting as described in Acts 1-2, were praying for non-believers, there's no evidence of that. It's hard to believe that they were praying for each of the 3,000 or so who came to belief, since this was a diverse group, people from several different racial and ethnic types, even speaking languages that the 120 didn't know. But the 120, especially Peter, were transformed, as a result of drawing aside and praying, and as a result of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told them, in Luke 24:49, to “wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Presumably that's most of what they were praying for.

The last words in the New Testament are a prayer for believers:

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.

In conclusion, the Bible doesn’t say that praying for non-believers was important in the early church. There is more in the New Testament about praying for government leaders than about praying for unbelievers. It does indicate that prayer for believers was very important. I need to pray for Christians with unbelieving family members, Christians who work and go to school with unbelievers, and other believers who can be representatives of Christ to someone who needs it. It’s good to pray for unbelievers, but I should also pray that some godly people will influence them, in ways that I can’t. Perhaps I can be a godly person, influencing an unbeliever that some other Christian, one I don’t even know, is concerned about, and help win that unbeliever to Christ.

The above, except for the insert in brackets, which was put in for clarity in changing from a full book to a series of blog posts, is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here.

Thanks for reading! 

Ender's Game: the movie

In the last post, I discussed Ender's Game, the award-winning book by Orson Scott Card. Ender, by the way, is from a rendering of the name of Andrew Wiggin by his sister, when she was small. It also can have another sort of meaning.

I have now seen the movie. Let's put it this way -- my wife liked it. It's a PG-13 film, for violence. There's no sex at all, and very little questionable language. We thought that the sound track was louder than it should have been, but have heard worse.

As would be expected, there were some deviations from the book. The most obvious one was the age of Ender, and the other battle school trainees -- they were 5 years, or more, older, than they were in the book, which actually makes more sense.

There were some other minor changes. The enemy species was called formics -- bugger was not used. The role of Petra Arkanian was magnified somewhat, which is a good thing. She was well played by Hailee Steinfeld. Asa Butterfield played Ender, the lead role, and did a good job, also, although we couldn't understand a few of his lines. Harrison Ford did a good job in an important role, and Viola Davis looked like she belonged in service in a future military.

There was even less religion in the movie than in the book. Ender's brother, Peter, was less important than in the book.

I don't wish to give away the plot, any more than in the last post, but will say that the theme, in the movie, is not so much relationships, and how they work, as it is war, and the morals of it. Is all fair in war? The book did deal with that, quite a bit. It was written before the war expense, fatalities and injuries, drone attacks, invasive data collection, and, depending on who is talking, torture, of the Bush 2 and Obama administrations, so was not a commentary on them, and the movie shouldn't be taken that way, either. There will be serious moral questions about war whenever one is fought or contemplated, and Ender's Game brings some of them to the fore.

Thanks for reading.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game (1985, by Orson Scott Card, and based on a 1977 short story) was, and is, an important science fiction book. See here for its Wikipedia article -- the book won both the Nebula and Hugo awards. The book has been adapted for a movie, which is to come out tomorrow. I have not seen the movie, but I like the list of actors -- Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld, Viola Davis. I don't see many movies, but I have seen all of these people in one or more, and like their work. I may see this one. Card, himself, has been deeply involved in the script of the film.

Amazon recently advertised the Kindle edition of the book. I purchased it, and I'm glad that I did. I hadn't read the book in a decade or two, and it's a good read. Also, the new edition includes a fine introduction by Card, about the book, and other things. Here's an excerpt:

Why else do we read fiction, anyway? Not to be impressed by somebody’s dazzling language—or at least I hope that’s not our reason. I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not “true” because we’re hungry for another kind of truth: The mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about ourself.

What is the book about? Before I give a brief summary, some broad themes:

Relationships. I would say that extended family relationships is the most common theme I have encountered in Card's books, almost so much that his science fiction and alternate history tales are, in large part, vehicles for portrayal of that.
War, and some of the ways it warps our morals.
Teaching children to stick up for themselves by not backing them up.
What it's like to be an exceptionally intelligent child.
Bullying.
How we might interact with aliens.

There are some interesting science fiction ideas in the book. One of them is the ansible, a device for communicating instantaneously with others, not matter how far, really far away they are. Ursula K. LeGuin seems to have invented this device, in her equally important science fiction novel The Dispossessed. Another one is the alien species that Card describes sketchily in Ender's Game.

There is no explicit religion in the book, except for some Bible quotations, and a mention of the religions of Ender's parents, one of them a Mormon, one a Catholic. (Card is a Mormon.) No one prays or goes to church. There is a high moral tone, or at least recognition that some things are right.

Now, for a summary. Don't say that I didn't warn you! Spoilers included.

Before the book starts, humans have encountered an alien race, insect-like, the buggers, a few decades earlier. They defeated them, but believe that the buggers may come back, with better weapons. Mazer Rackham was the military leader who defeated them the first time.

Ender is a six-year-old boy, highly intelligent. He, and others, all over the earth, have been monitored by the army, who is looking for children who are flexible enough in their thinking, intelligent, and physically adept, to train so that they can lead the fight against the buggers, when they return. A bully attacks him, and he believes that the only way he can stop this bully is to defeat him utterly. He does, but, although Ender doesn't realize it, he kills the bully. He is given the opportunity to go to Battle School, a satellite where such children will be trained in free fall group war games, with the understanding that he won't see his family for years.

Ender's brother, Peter, is a highly intelligent sadist. His sister, Valentine, is a highly intelligent good person. He will miss her, and hates to leave her at Peter's mercy, but accepts.

Ender becomes the best leader in Battle School. Again, a bully attacks, and Ender defends himself, so thoroughly that he kills the bully, although Ender doesn't realize this. The adult leaders of Battle School want Ender to understand that he is on his own -- if something bad happens, he has no one but himself to count on. I wonder how the movie will handle the two bullying/retaliation scenes, if at all?

Ender is so good at the games, especially at leading others to be effective, that he is sent to Eros, where he takes part in more drills to fight the buggers. Eventually, Mazer Rackham becomes his teacher. (Rackham has been traveling at near-light speed, so that he can still be helpful in the next battle with the buggers.)

As you might expect, Ender, and several colleagues from Battle School, who have joined him on Eros, eventually defeat the buggers. But there are a couple of surprises in that defeat, which I won't give away.

Ender is such a hero that he can't really go back to earth. His future, traveling with Valentine, makes up a part of four additional novels. So do the lives of some of his colleagues at Battle School.

In my opinion, the most important of the succeeding novels is Speaker for the Dead, the next novel. For more on that, and other Enderverse books, see here.

Thanks for reading

Sunspots 442

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: Fancy horse on teaching a two year old about sacrificial giving.
Health: National Public Radio reports on a scientific study of whether adding bacon to recipes really makes them more appealing.
Politics: NPR also reports on whether just giving money to poor people helps them or not.
Science: I am not making this up. There is an animal, known as the demon mole rat, which, unlike the naked mole rat, which is highly social, is solitary. They bang their heads against their tunnels to tell nearby animals to stay away. (reported in Wired.)
Sports: Various outlets, including ESPN, report that a football game last weekend was to have been officiated by a crew which included four females.


Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 7

[The previous text in the book says that praying for believers is by far the most common type of prayer in the New Testament. Praying for the sick occurs a little. Praying for sinners to be converted is hardly mentioned in the New Testament.]

What, exactly, should we pray for other believers? Based on the New Testament, there are several things we should ask for. Some of them were given in the prayer of John 17 . . . . Others include these:

That other believers don’t habitually sin, and that they become sanctified:

1 Corinthians 13:7a Now I pray to God that you do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is honorable,

1 Thessalonians 5:23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

James 5:13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, 15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

The James 5 passage is commonly used as a motivation for praying for the sick, and that’s appropriate, but it is also about praying for forgiveness of sin in believers.

That their love may increase: Philippians 1:9 This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;

(Paul is speaking of agape love, the unselfish, caring kind that Christ had for others, and the kind described in 1 Corinthians 13.)

Colossians 1:9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy;

2 Thessalonians 1:11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;

The above, except for the insert in brackets, which was put in for clarity in changing from a full book to a series of blog posts, is an excerpt from my recently published e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which may be obtained free of charge, or purchased from Amazon for $0.99, which is the lowest price Amazon lets an author set. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain.

The previous post in this series is here.

Thanks for reading!