I'm thankful for sex

I’m thankful for sex. Without it, I wouldn’t be here, and neither would you. Yes, there are problems with sexual behavior in our society, and sexual behavior can be terribly warped. We should watch out for sexually oriented temptations. We should shun pornography of all types, exploitation of sex, treating others as sex objects, sexual slavery, adultery, and fornication. If you, or I, have sinned sexually, we can be forgiven for that, and, with God’s help, even be able to minimize some of the awful consequences of sexual sin on families.

We have a tendency to think of sexual sin as the only sin. It’s not. One of the other important sins is pride, including pride that we haven’t sinned sexually, or at least that we haven’t been caught, or pride in believing that sexual sins we are committing are above God’s moral law. Slander is another sin. Often it is spreading things we shouldn’t about the sexual behavior of others.

God’s plan, reinforced through the entire Bible, from the story of Adam and Eve to the portrayal of the church as the bride of Christ, is that sex, one of God’s good gifts to us, should be between a man and woman who are deeply committed to each other, and to Him.

Sex is one of the ways – not the only one – that binds spouses together. It helps to provide family stability for raising children.

Sexual reproduction causes our genes to be reshuffled each time someone is conceived. I have three legitimate full brothers, and we are all different, and the world is better off for it. Without sex, all people would have only one parent, and each of us would be knock-offs of that parent, much more predictable in appearance and behavior, as well as more prone to diseases, than the way we are. Humans would be less likely to produce the unexpected geniuses, often from humble beginnings, that help us all, in all sorts of ways. 

Sex is part of God’s plan for the world, and, treated correctly, it’s a blessing.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 448

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
The Arts: The Piano Guys show how to play a piano in some really unusual ways. It's Christmas music. Warning -- they try to sell you a CD at the end.
Christianity: (And animal husbandry) An article in Wired criticizes the planned Noah's Ark exhibit in Kentucky for not being designed to take good care of the animals that may be exhibited there.
Politics: An eye-opening post "20 things the poor really do every day," with linked documentation. The poor aren't particularly lazy, and aren't particularly on drugs, and aren't particularly likely to vote Democrat.
Science: National Geographic reports on the sequencing of DNA from ancient humanoids, which is remarkable enough in itself, but the results have apparently shaken up the prevailing views of how humans, Neanderthals, and others are related.
The Los Angeles Times reports that lemon sharks return to the place where they were born to give birth themselves.
National Public Radio reports that the US Department of Agriculture hopes to control the brown tree snake population on Guam by giving the snakes access to dead mice which are dosed with acetaminophen (aka tylenol) which is poisonous to snakes, but not to most other animals, including humans.
Wired reports on a parasite that lives in the heads of fire ants, changing their behavior in favor of the parasite, and eventually killing the host ant.

Image source (public domain)

I'm thankful for politics (!)

I’m thankful for US politics. Yes, there are problems, big ones, but we’ve got a better “system” than most countries. Government is seldom used as a tool to promote religious belief in the US, compared to Muslim countries, for example. We have freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. We also have freedom of the press. These days, though, most of us read, listen to, and watch, only media outlets that reinforce our prejudices, and that’s a mistake. No person, save Christ, and no ideology, save the Gospel, is always right. No media outlet is always right, and that includes my Facebook and my other web pages. Some media outlets spread slander and disrespect about politicians deliberately, contrary to the Bible.

One good thing about our system is that the problems caused by one ideology, or one person, eventually lead to the replacement of the ideology, or the person, as they are voted out, although, of course, since we are sinful humans, the next ideology, or person, brings different problems. But we are still better off than as if one person, or one ideology, ruled us perpetually with an iron fist.

The Bible says that we are to pay taxes, and honor our rulers, even if we don’t like taxes, or what they stand for. I don’t always honor politicians that I disagree with, and that’s wrong – the Bible tells me that I should. For one thing, it must not be easy to live your life, and have your family, under the constant scrutiny of the press and your opponents. For another, the pay isn’t great. Politics won’t redeem people. Jesus, nor Paul, took up anti-slavery, or overthrowing the Romans, as a major cause, or as a cause at all. They had more important things to do.* Some Facebook pages and blogs, put up by Christians, emphasize some ideology more than they emphasize Christ, and the really important message gets lost.

I am grateful for the service of President Obama, Governor Haley, my Congresspersons, my mayor and other city officials, my sheriff and other county officials, and their families, and, also, I’m grateful for other people who aspired to these offices, at least partly because they wanted to serve, but didn’t win them. May God reward all of them, and give them good sense. May they seek His guidance.

*God seems to sometimes call some Christians to take action to change laws and customs – my own church, The Wesleyan Church, was founded out of opposition to slavery, and some of our congregations, and church buildings, were part of the underground railroad, for example. The pivotal woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, was held at a Wesleyan church. Billy Graham decided that his Crusades would be color blind.

I'm thankful for sports/athletics/exercise

I’m thankful for sports/athletics/exercise. Paul said that bodily exercise did people some good, and the Bible uses athletic contests as symbolic of the Christian life. Besides that, most people in Bible times walked wherever they went, so they took exercise for granted. Sports for young people can, and do, make them physically fit, give them purpose, teach them discipline and teamwork, introduce them to new friends, and allow them to achieve. In my experience as a college teacher, women athletes were usually among the best students, probably because they had to prioritize and organize their lives more than non-athletes. Sports participation for older people can keep us from dying, as well as give purpose and discipline. I need to exercise regularly, body and brain, and I’m thankful for my wife’s insistence on our walking sessions. There are excesses, to be sure, such as dedicating one’s Facebook page, or front lawn, to some team, so that that is your identity, rather than you being known as a follower of Christ or a loving family member; bad behavior in the stands, or by athletes; idolizing and/or overpaying coaches and players; fans spending too much on tickets, food, travel and paraphernalia; exploiting or abusing athletes; using sports as a vehicle to advertise unwholesome things; universities being identified by their teams, not their scholars; putting priority on games over worship; and too much emphasis on winning come to mind as some of the excesses. It’s too bad that there are excesses, and we should try to eliminate them. If Jesus were alive today, perhaps He would tailgate, but I imagine He would be concerned about the problems of the fans and the participants, rather than caring who won, or how.

Thanks for reading. Now get up and exercise.

Does the Bible Really Say That? Excerpt from my book, 13

[Continuing the topic of family headship, as shown in the Bible.]


Hannah, Samuel’s mother
1 Samuel 1:1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
6 Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because Yahweh had shut up her womb. 7 As he did so year by year, when she went up to Yahweh’s house. Her rival provoked her; therefore she wept, and didn’t eat. 8 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
9 So Hannah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of Yahweh’s temple. 10 She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh, weeping bitterly. 11 She vowed a vow, and said, “Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.”
12 As she continued praying before Yahweh, Eli saw her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
15 Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. 16 Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”
18 She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more.
19 They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.
20 When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”

Elkanah apparently was a believer himself. There is no mention that he took the lead in this. Eli spoke to Hannah, not to Elkanah, and Hannah spoke to Eli, for herself. And her vow was a remarkable one – she promised a son of Elkanah to God’s service, rather than to Elkanah’s service. And the Bible doesn’t say that she consulted Elkanah in making this vow.

The above 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. The next post, God willing, will consider the same topic.

Thanks for reading!

I'm thankful for money

I’m thankful for money. The Bible warns me that I shouldn’t love it – I must not make the pursuit of money the center of my life – but it doesn’t say that I can’t use it. The Bible has a lot to say about helping those who have less than I do. I don’t know why I have enough to satisfy my needs, and some of my wants, when some people don’t. It isn’t because I deserve it, and it could all be gone in minutes. But God has provided for me, and I have responsibility, according to the Bible, to pay taxes, to pay my debts, to take care of my family, and to cheerfully support God’s Kingdom work. As one of my Facebook Friends said, during the month of November, “and God provides.” He does, and I am undeserving, and grateful.

Thanks for reading! Don't try to pay me.

I'm thankful for language

I’m thankful for language. With it we can think, as well as speak (although sometimes we don’t do enough thinking before we speak). Thinking includes imagining things as they might have been, as they might become, and even impossible things. We couldn’t do that without language. We can read and write. God chose to communicate the truth to us mostly through language. There are other species that can communicate, but none come close to the complexity and sophistication of human language. It’s not only complex and sophisticated, but ambiguous, and that makes for interesting puns, and, sometimes, miscommunication.

Thanks for reading this short essay, which used language.

I'm thankful for pigments

I’m thankful for pigments – chemicals that absorb some colors of light, but reflect some. There are the pigments in my eyes that let me see color. Then, even more important, the pigments in leaves, which absorb some of the sun’s energy, so that plants can make food. (Not green pigments – green light mostly goes right through leaves, or bounces off them.) Some of these pigments are still there when the green is gone, making fall colors. And then there are signal pigments, in many animals and birds, and even plants, which help them attract mates, or warn off enemies, or attract pollinating insects. And pigments that make things just plain beautiful.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 447

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

Christianity: Christian History has published an issue on the church's response to Darwin, from the time of the publication of The Origin of Species to the Scopes trial. The issue is available as a free .PDF file.
Ken Schenck has summarized his view on how to interpret scripture. Readable, and concise.
Politics: National Public Radio reports that we may pick our location, at least to some extent, to accord with our political preferences.
An editorial in The Washington Post says that, in government, managing for efficiency is not rewarded. In fact, managing inefficiently may be.
Science: Wired reports that lemurs can anticipate what other animals will see, but not what they will hear.
USA Today reports that pre-wedding jitters may predict problems in the marriage.
National Public Radio reports that our brains geotag memories, so that events are associated with places.
NASA has posted a video on sungrazing comets. By the time you read this, Comet Ison will, or will not, have survived its trip near the sun. (It probably did survive, or some of it did.)

Image source (public domain)

I'm thankful for nuclear fusion

I’m thankful for nuclear fusion, the process by which the sun, and other stars, transform mass into energy. In the sun’s case, this is through 4 Hydrogen nuclei (protons) fusing into a Helium nucleus. About 0.7% of the mass involved is turned into energy. The reaction is not going on very fast. Scientists estimate that, at present rates, it would take about 10 billion years to exhaust the sun’s supply of Hydrogen. To put it another way, a human body at rest gives off more energy than the same volume of the sun’s material does. But the sun is so large that it gives off enough energy to heat our planet, over 90 million miles from it, losing about 5 million tons of mass per second. (Most of the sun’s energy goes out into space without striking anything in the solar system.) Without nuclear fusion, we wouldn’t be here. Our planet would be frozen, and there would be no light for green plants to convert to food. Although I’m very thankful for nuclear fusion, I’m sorry that we have, sort of, harnessed nuclear fusion, and that Hydrogen bombs exist.

See here for my main reference. Thanks for reading!

Robin Hood trilogy, by Stephen R. Lawhead

Stephen R. Lawhead is a respected author of fiction, much of it about ancient Britain. I recently read his three books on the story of Robin Hood. See here for the Wikipedia article on Robin Hood. The Wikipedia also has an article on the trilogy, but it is too brief to be very informative.The Amazon pages on the three books are these: Hood, Scarlet and Tuck.

This post is in two parts.

The first part is for those who haven't read previous books, by many different authors, about the story of Robin Hood. There have been many such, telling the story in various ways. If you haven't read such books, this trilogy is a good place to start, but the hero is seldom given that name in the trilogy. He mostly goes by Bran. I will give away the bare bones of the plot, by saying that it is about a bold hero, with a few followers, who fights tyranny, using trickery, woodcraft and skill with the longbow, and, eventually, regains his place in the world. The fighting is mostly done with the longbow.

The characters are well drawn. The story is well-done, well plotted, and the setting is also as realistic as could be expected, considering that it is in medieval Europe. It is mostly realistic, perhaps entirely realistic, depending on your view of faith in God and answered prayer. Although Lawhead's books are often sold as fantasy, there aren't any wizards in the book, and no spells are cast. There is a wise woman, who has a special link to God, and also to the woodland where most of the book takes place. The book has a Christian world-view, which is not out of place in that day and time. The second book won a Christy award. However, the books are not preachy. Some of the characters just have faith and act on it. Not all church officials are motivated by faith, although some of them are.

Lawhead tries for authenticity, in that he gives what he believes to be culture-accurate renderings of many words. One example: The French invaders are Freinc, in these books. There are pronunciation aids. Another adjustment is that the second book is told in the first person, whereas the first and third are not.

For those who have read previous books, the trilogy will take some getting used to. There's no Nottingham, and no Sherwood Forest. The story is moved to Wales, where Lawhead says it belongs. There is a sheriff, and a Guy of Gisbourne, and there is a Friar Tuck, an Alan a Dale, a Will Scarlet, and a Little John (although they all have variations of these names. Little John is called Iwan, with no "little.") There are some important characters, such as the wise woman, an Archbishop, and a Norman nobleman, who are not important, or don't occur at all, in other stories of Robin Hood. Bran is not the heir to an estate, but to a small kingdom.

Lawhead explains the change of location. Perhaps he is right, but I don't think it makes for a better story.

Overall, the books are well written, and held my attention. I'm glad I read them.

Thanks for reading. Read Lawhead.

Does the Bible really say that? Excerpt from my book, 12

[Continuing the topic of family headship, as shown in the Bible.]
Manoah’s wife
The most complete description of a woman taking spiritual leadership, even though her husband was available, and a believer, is here:
Judges 13:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless. 3 Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 4 Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing: 5 for, behold, you shall conceive, and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome; and I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name; 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

8 Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”

9 God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah, her husband, wasn’t with her. 10 The woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me, ”

11 Manoah arose, and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

He said, “I am.”

12 Manoah said, “Now let your words happen. What shall the child’s way of life and mission be?”

13 Yahweh’s angel said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. Let her observe all that I commanded her.”

15 Manoah said to Yahweh’s angel, “Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you.”

16 Yahweh’s angel said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I won’t eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah didn’t know that he was Yahweh’s angel.

17 Manoah said to Yahweh’s angel, “What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor you?”

18 Yahweh’s angel said to him, “Why do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible?”

19 So Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh. Then the angel did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20 For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, Yahweh’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 But Yahweh’s angel didn’t appear to Manoah or to his wife any more. Then Manoah knew that he was Yahweh’s angel. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

23 But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh were pleased to kill us, he wouldn’t have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, and he wouldn’t he have shown us all these things, nor would he have told us such things as these at this time.”

Even though Manoah’s wife (who gave birth to Samson) is not named, she is the important part of the couple in this story. And it wasn’t that Manoah wasn’t a good man. He prayed, and God answered his prayer – God sent the angel a second time as a result. But the angel appeared to her, not Manoah, twice. The instructions were for her. Then Manoah doubted, and his wife said, “It’s OK, dummy. If God were going to kill us, He already would have!”

The above 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. The next post, God willing, will consider the same topic.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 446

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

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells us that there is a free Merriam-Webster Dictionary app. I tried it on my Android tablet, and it works. It can even look up spoken words, so you don't have to know how to spell it to find it.
Philosophy: The BioLogos Forum has a two-part post on "Questions on Time and Eternity." A subject with lasting interest. Here's Part 1, and Part 2.
Politics (and Sports): An article on Dean Smith, super-successful coach of the University of North Carolina men's basketball team for many years, who was also a pioneer in race relations, and against the death penalty. Unfortunately, Smith is a victim of dementia.
Science: The sun is losing about 5,000,000 tons of mass to Hydrogen every second. But fear not. At that rate, it won't stop emitting significant amounts of energy for about 5 billion years, and by that time, it will have lost only a tiny fraction of its mass.
From the Greenville (SC) News, an article on a dog which is said to have an amazing vocabulary, and can understand parts of speech.
Sports: (And Christianity!) An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, no less, about the evangelical Christianity that is part of the Clemson University football team.


Image source (public domain)

Does the Bible really say that? excerpt from my book, 11

[Continuing the topic of family headship, as shown in the Bible.] 

Much of the spiritual leadership in the Old Testament was exercised by the husband. Abraham, Jacob, and other fathers and husbands exercised spiritual leadership. Clearly Abraham, and Jonadab, (Jeremiah 35) showed spiritual leadership that lasted even after their death. But there are cases, even in the male-dominated Old Testament, where a wife took a leading role, at least for a short time.

Exodus 2:1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. 2 The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. 5 Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it. 6 She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”

8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.”

The maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”

The woman took the child, and nursed it.

Except for “a man” in verse 1, There is no mention of Amram, the father of Moses, in this passage. These verses tell us that it was Jochebed, Amram’s wife, who took action to save Moses from the death that Pharaoh desired for all male Hebrew babies. Perhaps Amram had died. Perhaps he worked so hard all day, serving the Egyptians, that he couldn’t play a role in these events. We don’t know.

There is another passage that tells us that Moses, himself, the man who had recently talked with his God, in the form of a burning bush, didn’t take spiritual leadership, while Zipporah, his wife, who was not even a Hebrew, did so:

Exodus 4:20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand. 21 Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me”; and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.’”

24 On the way at a lodging place, Yahweh met Moses and wanted to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

For some reason, Moses hadn’t seen to it that his sons were circumcised. Surely he must have known about this ritual, because it was part of the covenant between Abraham and God, described in Genesis 17. Zipporah, like Jochebed, took action, and there seems to be no doubt that Moses could have, but didn’t. At least in this episode, she took spiritual leadership, when her believing husband did not.

The above 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. The next post, God willing, will consider the same topic.

Thanks for reading!

50th anniversary of his death -- C. S. Lewis

There’s plenty of media discussion about the 50th anniversary of the tragic death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. There were, no doubt, millions of people, all over the world, who died on November 22, 1963. One such was C. S. Lewis, who died of a heart attack.

Lewis was a teacher, an author, and one who was charitable to many people, in ways that didn't attract attention to himself. One of his charities was to assume responsibility for the mother of a fellow soldier. Lewis entered World War I before he was 20. He and a foxhole buddy agreed that if one of them survived, and the other did not, the survivor would assume responsibility for the parent of the other one. Lewis did that faithfully.

Lots could be said, and has been said, about the writing of Lewis. I will refer to only three of them. Much more could be said.

In The Silver Chair, one of the Narnia books, Puddleglum tells Eustace and Jill that there are no accidents. Aslan, the Christ-figure in these books, knew the future consequences of all actions. See here for my post on that book. I didn’t do the book justice.

There is also a magnificent resurrection scene in that book. King Caspian, dead of old age, receives his glorified body, and is restored to youth and vigor.

While a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, I was looking for something to read in the University Library. I stumbled upon the Narnia books, “by accident,” in the children's fiction section. This was my first contact with Lewis. I am still learning from him. I have an e-book of devotional readings for each day of the year, excerpted from his works. No readings from The Silver Chair, though.

A lesser-known fictional work by Lewis, is Till We Have Faces. Some critics consider that his best work of fiction. So did Lewis. I agree. It is about a fictional kingdom before the time of Christ. The protagonist, Orual, has been fussing at “the gods” over the life she has lived – couldn’t it have been better? But she suddenly realizes that all her questions are answered, just by God, Himself. In His presence, pain, feelings, inconveniences don't matter. See here for my post on that book.

Thanks for reading. Read Lewis!

Sunspots 445

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


Literature: “But what the best fantasy does, in my opinion, is to transform it into something truer, and more real, than it was to begin with.” Ashlee Willis, Speculative Faith blog.

Politics: A Pennsylvania newspaper, which called Lincoln's Gettysburg Address "silly," 150 years ago, took it all back.

National Public Radio, optimistic as ever, reports that some states are trying to end extreme partisanship (both sides of it) by changing the way primaries are conducted, or changing the way congressional districts are drawn. I hope so.

Science: NBC News, and other news outlets, tell us about the oldest living animal -- now dead, and killed by scientists -- a clam.

Wired reports on yet another theory of what causes consciousness.

NPR reports on gut bacteria again. This time, it's about how they may influence how we think. Possibly some mental illnesses could be treated by infusing bacteria from a "normal" person into the gut of the sufferers. Amazing, but very preliminary.

Sports: Sports Illustrated says that Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, has selected his most memorable dunk.



Image source (public domain)