Apologies...

...for the temporary lull in blogging activity. School, though mundane as usual (save for the standard AP Bio cat dissection), has increased in intensity over the past while. I'm not sure when I'll have time to post anything substantial--perhaps this weekend. For now, here is the expected Thursday 13 (sorry for missing last week's!). Topic: 13 things that you have in your purse or wallet. (Disclaimer: small wallet, boring list.)

1. A Baylor Student Life Center pass informing the world that my name is "Gidgon Jeffrey."
2. An ancient receit.
3. Driver's licence.
4. School ID card.
5. AAA card. I have only had to make use of this once, when I left my headlights on at a UIL tournament.
6. National Beta Club membership card.
7. Phi Theta Kappa membership card.
8. Heh--ticket stub for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
9. One penny.
10. A few bills to go along with the penny.
11. Phone numbers for people in Canada.
12. Library card--rarely used, since our family library is usually sufficient.
13. That about covers it. Told you it was boring... not even a credit card yet!

Inside the cover

When one sees the picture below of the "Revolve" bible (there's a version for guys too, by the way, called "Refuel"--I just happened to see the "Revolve 2" for girls first), one would assume it was an ordinary magazine that could be snagged off the shelf while waiting in line at the grocery store. But this is a translation of the Word of God. The biblical text runs down the center of each page in small black print , while the sides are embellished with many colorful extras. I will list some of the main features below.

1. "Didya Know"--about once every ten pages, there is a statistic about modern teen culture, such as "more than half (53%) of teens go online every day and 73% are online five or more days a week," or "75% of online teens use instant messaging (IM)."
2. "Music Reviews"--a recent Christian album will be advertised every book or so, telling readers "why it rocks."
3. "Blab"--answers theoretical anticipated questions from readers. Most have to do with family issues, relationships, and drug and alcohol use.
4. "Radical Faith" and "Promises"--both discuss moral and ethical questions teenagers may be confronted with in society.
5. "Learn It & Live It"--brief advice for how to understand and apply certain verses.
6. "Check it Out"--offers an introduction to several Christian ministries.
7. "Relationships"--essentially deals with boy-girl issues and family or friend conflicts.
8. Calendars--there are calendars for each month spaced throughout "Revolve," giving daily spiritual advice, ideas for potential activities such as collecting leaves or walking your dog, and invitations to pray for people of influence (e.g. "Pray for a person of influence: Ashlee Simpson is having a birthday."
9. "Bible Bios"--features that discuss biblical women such as Eve, Ruth, Sarah, Delilah, etc. Each one is complete with a picture of the featured lady, most reminiscent of "Teen People" cover illustrations. The only adjective I would use to describe many of the postures is "seductive."
10. "Beauty Secrets"--advice for girls on how to improve their outer beauty (not inner beauty, as one would expect...). These boxes are devoted to hangnails, mascara, eyeliner, etc.
11. "Guys Speak Out"--we thoughtfully answer the girls' deepest questions. Two examples given here. "Q. What bugs you the most about girls? A. In general? Just the fact that they seems to be totally uninterested in the things that interest me. But it isn't a great idea to generalize. Every girl seems to be very different." "Q. What things do you worry about the most? A. I worry about my future the most."
12. "Quiz"--subject matter includes "Are You Too Body Conscious?", "Is He a Player?", etc.
13. "Top Ten Random____"--you fill in the blank. For instance, "Ways to Shock Your Parents." This includes making dinner, cleaning the house, etc. Strangely, no spiritual material is present.

Now, what is wrong with this picture? First of all, I will say that some of the advice given in the more serious features is spiritually sound. However, the addition of so many trivial and irrelevant extras is a serious problem.

The point of giving a nonbelieving teen God's word is to enable him or her to thoughtfully probe the heart and soul of Christianity, not to bombard them with pop culture and shallow commentary. The authors of "Revolve" would argue that this version allows for teens to see the relevance of the Bible to their everyday life. However, advice on how to keep lipstick working is not consistent with demonstrating the relevance of the Bible. In the end, the Scriptures are trivialized to the point that they become, indeed, just another teen magazine.

"Revolve" is intended, supposedly, to be a "cool" way to make the Bible more accessible. I would argue that the opposite effect is achieved--when presented in this manner, the profound realities of God's majesty, power, wisdom, and love are overshadowed by the extras, effectively distancing people from the truth of the Scriptures. A non-Christian reader would be, in my opinion, far more likely to flip through scanning the brightly colored beauty tips than the tiny type. And some of the content is simply unacceptable for inclusion in any translation of the Bible. When a girl sees guys worrying more than anything about making a first impression on peers, how will she relate this to the biblical passages that tell us our foremost concern should be serving God and keeping his commandments? What about the drawings that would seem to equate Eve with Britney Spears?

Reading the Biblical text by itself, without any of the distractions and embellishments that characterize the "teen targeting" translations, is the activity that will profit a nonbeliever. The relevance of the Word of God to everyday life should never be "enhanced" by blabbing--it is perfectly evident in the text itself. Today the trend is to move the Bible ever closer to mainstream culture, on the premise that this will enable people to accept it more readily. But if what they are accepting is simply another form of pop culture, and not pure Christianity, then they have not been helped, but hindered.

Thursday 13, etc.

By the way--everyone should read C. H. Spurgeon. What a marvelous preacher.

We-ell, this week's "Thursday Thirteen" topic had to do with clothes. In my opinion, my clothes aren't really that interesting, so I'm going to change tack and list "Thirteen common misconceptions Canadians have about Texas." These may not be as far-fetched as you think...

1. The cattle population is higher than the human population. (actually, it's probably pretty close...)
2. Texas is predominantly desert.
3. Everyone wears a Stetson--except for a few Davy Crocket types who sport coonskin.
4. Shootups following card game disputes at saloons, though illegal, are relatively frequent.
5. Vultures are the state bird.
6. If you can't shoot a cigar from someone's lips at 40 paces, you're a rookie.
7. Every living organism can hurt you. Badly. (I've downgraded to about 50 percent on this one.)
8. Most kids ride their horses to school.
9. All adults ride their horses everywhere. Unless there happens to be a stagecoach nearby. But the descendants of Jesse James are on the lookout for stagecoaches, so it's best to stick with a horse.
10. If you stick a shovel too far into the ground, oil is going to spurt everywhere.
11. The state song is "William Tell Overture." (I think people cite "The Lone Ranger" on this one.)
12. Fences? On a 1-million-acre ranch, who needs fences? Just brand the critters. (apparently the Dept. of Transportation disagrees)
13. There are only four veggies in the Texas food group system--baked beans, refried beans, coffee beans, and potatoes. The other three food groups are meat, bread, and beer.

Conclusion: Canadians need to fast forward about 100 years.

Anyways, tomorrow I'll leave the mind of the stereotypical naive Canadian and post something a little more thoughtful.

The Word of God?

I recently came across this...



Now, is this the manner in which the Scriptures should be treated?

(This is intended as a rhetorical question with the expected response being an emphatic NO.)

Announcing...

...that Gideon a) felt the need to post but could not think of good subject material and b) he is, therefore, stealing the weekly "Thursday Thirteen" tradition seen on other blogs, and did not know how to ask permission because he has observed it on the sites of both Laura and Amanda (can I link?) and did not know who was responsible for the idea. If either of you two wish to prevent me from adopting this, please let me know. I saw no evidence of any patents, copyrights, etc., sooooo...

This week's topic is "Thirteen ways that God has been good to you this week."
1. Central Texas received substantial rainfall for the first time in almost four months.
2. Serious study of the book of Joshua on Wednesday night (half the book in one go!!!!).
3. Much less tedious schoolweek than is typical.
4. Fun times with friends.
5. I am still on this earth, being given the opportunity to witness to others the majesty and holiness of God.
6. I was able to listen to the radio all the way to school without having to turn it off in disgust.
7. I am finally beginning to recover from a persistent cold.
8. There have been several extremely deep, thought-provoking discussions AT SCHOOL. (this is a rarity)
9. A particularly harmful computer virus will most likely fail to penetrate my Mac's security system. (Way to go, Jobs and Wozniak!)
10. I picked up "Diary of a Country Priest" by Georges Bernanos recently, and so far have been enthralled by it.
11. The weather can't get much nicer than this.
12. My online mathematics course has finally started! (I will actually be doing serious, interesting work every day during school.)
13. I was sent an excellent article attacking, from both a moral and scientific perspective, human cloning and abortion that delivered a knockout blow to the infamous Peter Singer.

Feel free to compose your own Thursday Thirteen at your own blog or directly below in the comment box--provided, that is, that the aforementioned persons are willing... Amanda and Laura, I would appreciate your feedback soon, so that you won't have to track down the rest of the readers and harass them as well.

The Blessing of Books

What a relief to reach this most blessed of days… After the dreary monotony of school I have endured this week, I was especially grateful. Every Sunday in our church is a wonderful fresh opportunity to dive deep into the heart of God’s word. Currently we are working our way, slowly but surely, through Revelations. It is one of the most difficult books in the bible to understand, which makes it all the more worthwhile to study. The guys over at The Rebelution advocate doing hard things, and in my opinion that should apply to study of the Scriptures as well. Truly, the only thing that marred my experience this morning was the little tan rivulet of coffee that trickled down the sloped floor from above, soaking my bible, hymnal, and bulletin in one fell swoop. Presbyterians sure do enjoy their caffeine—quite a few mugs and Starbucks cups up and down the aisles.

Today I was examining some of many ancient books my dad has acquired over the years—theological textbooks from the fifteenth century, etc.—and was reminded of the blessings of living in a household with a family library approximately the size of that at my high school. I was recently poring over a list of texts that I could possibly read for the University Scholars program at Baylor University with Dad—who has read virtually everything on the said list—and, instead of the suggested load of 60 “points,” with each book receiving a value from 1 to 3, we had it narrowed down to about 600. Here are some of the standouts. I could have included it in the last post under “Why One Should Not Spend Every Waking Hour in Front of A Rectangular Assembly of Plasma Crystals”:

Plato’s “Republic”
St. Augustine’s “De Magistro” and “City of God”
Dante’s “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradiso”
Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”
Galileo’s “Starry Messenger”
Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
Isaac Newton’s “Principia Mathematica”
Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”
De Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America”
Dickens’ “Bleak House”
Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy”
Lewis’ “The Abolition of Man”
Brian Greene’s “The Elegant Universe”

Quite a range of subject matter there; I was trying to incorporate most of my diverse interests. I would love to get some feedback from all y’all out there regarding 1) whether you have read any of these (in some cases I know the answer is yes), 2) if so, what you thought of them, and 3) any other recommendations of books that I absolutely must read. I know quite a few of you are of a literary persuasion…looking forward to the suggestions!

Lists

10 healthy alternatives to decimating one’s neurons with mindless soap operas:

C.S. Lewis
J.R.R. Tolkien
George McDonald
Charles Dickens
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe
Geoffrey Chaucer
Mark Twain
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Fyodor Dostoyevsky

9 composers worth listening to:

Bach
Beethoven
Handel
Mozart
Vivaldi
Scarlatti
Brahms
Haydn
Chopin

8 of my favorite things to do:

Listen to the brilliant, outrageous Click and Clack solving the automotive world’s problems on the “Car Talk” radio program.
Read a good book, of which I have about 6000 to choose from in our house alone.
Sit down at the piano and just play whatever comes into my head.
Ride the several-hundred-foot-tall roller coasters at Six Flags Over Texas, much to the dismay of my parents.
Solve a particularly difficult mathematical problem.
Hang out with my friends doing nothing in particular.
Sleep in for a few hours on Saturday morning, knowing that I will not be subjected to seven hours of monotonic lectures and sheer boredom.
Contemplate the glory of God’s creation while flyfishing for trout on a mountain stream, watching a picture-perfect sunrise. (Unfortunately, the stream was in Washington—a bit far for a daily commute.)

7 hymns I love to sing:

How Great Thou Art
Amazing Grace
Fairest Lord Jesus
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming
What Child Is This
Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross

6 universities that I am considering:

Baylor (my arm is being twisted in this direction, and I can’t say I’m complaining)
Princeton
Washington University in St. Louis
Notre Dame
Caltech
College of William and Mary

5 things that I am less than fond of:

Politics.
Television in virtually any form, excepting the occasional football game, worthwhile movie, or Animal Planet episode, in which Steve Irwin transforms me into an ardent fan of all toothed reptiles that he harasses.
Sardines (those that I am forced to consume, that is).
Fire ants swarming up one’s hand, stinging as they go.
The combination of three feet of mud in a barnyard after a spring thaw and eight inches of snow falling in a raging blizzard, forcing one to wade through the said barnyard during the blizzard chasing cattle who have conveniently broken a fence and escaped, and in addition lack the necessary intelligence to comprehend that one actually wishes to help herd them to a location where they will be safe and dry.

4 countries I wish to visit someday:

Greece
Italy
Spain
Tanzania

3 questions I will be asked all of my life:

“How tall are you?” (I am 6 foot 5.)
“Why do you like something as dumb as mathematics?” (I pity those who ask this question for the lecture they are about to receive.)
“Is it cold in Canada?” (Rhetorical question, genuine curiosity, or pure stupidity?)

2 goals that I have:

Become a mathematics professor at a Christian university, so that I can help lead others to a better understanding of not only mathematics but the glory and majesty of God, while continually growing in knowledge of His glory and majesty myself.
Someday, acquire a mountainside villa in Greece or Sicily overlooking the Mediterranean. I have to say, I wouldn't complain too much about somewhere in the Rockies, though.

One who is the center of my life: The Lord God, whom I will serve all my days, whose kingdom I will ever seek, who leadeth me beside still waters and restoreth my soul, to whom all honor and glory be given, now and forever.