A Creational Worship Experience

As I watch this video of a three day old Mouflon (proto-sheep) exploring for the first time, all I can think is, "Who lets their newborn play near a cactus?"

Maybe I can adopt her, rescuing her from that clearly unsafe home environment.

Looking Back on 2012

I crawled out of the hole I slink into every year for the holidays to find that Word Press had compiled a present for me: a colorfully designed "year-in-review" post pre-made for publication. And because blogging is almost inherently self-indulgent, I thought I would post it here and share with everyone. Click here to see the complete report.

Here's an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,500 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

More interesting to me was the fact that the most visited post here this year was on the nature of ethics from my comparative series on Christianity and Jain. What will be the most visited post this year? Probably not this one.

The Connotations of Numbers

I came across a curious quotation while reading Barzun and Graff's The Modern Researcher:

Unlike numbers, words have connotations, overtones--the power of suggesting more than they really say.

That's an odd suggestion, particularly considering that only pages before reference is made to the significance of 3, 7, and 12 in Western history. Consider, as an example, 666. The number denotes nothing other than a quantity one more than 665 and one less than 667. Yet, culturally, we understand there to be something sinister about this number, and its appearance in our daily lives is often intentionally ominous. To a lesser but no less real extent, the number 13 functions in a similar way. Though not exclusively so. With no more than a simple familiarity with the film, or even just the cover art, most observers will understand what is mean by the title of the movie "Thirteen." It connotes to us something much more than merely one year older than twelve, one year younger than fourteen.

Though merely a passing comment, the above quote misses the critical truth that all means of communication carry with them both a concrete, narrowly definable meaning and a complex of unspoken, amorphous associations which inform their use. This is true of words and numbers, not to mention gestures and images.

A Quick Clarification

Harding in the Olympics

I came across this exciting tidbit in the Arkansas Times:

[Janet] Cherobon-Bawcom, a former runner at Harding University, qualified for the 2012 London Olympics in the 10K race last month. A native of Kenya, she started running at age 20 when she was told it could help her get a scholarship. She will be Harding's first Olympic athlete. After becoming a naturalized citizen in 2011, Cherobon-Bawcom was able to represent Team USA in championships and now will represent the nation at the 2012 Olympics. See her in the 10,000-meter race at 3:25 p.m. Aug. 3.

This could be better than watching Tank Daniels play in Super Bowl XLII.

The Song of the Summer

I don't typically go in for Top 40 music, but this song (shockingly) hit the spot. I'm not sure what it is:



Incidentally, to all those who have, for whatever inexplicable reason, visited The Itinerant Mind, thank you. The Blogger edition just passed the ten thousand pageview mark, with the much newer Wordpress edition sliding past one thousand at almost the same time.

Joe Paterno Has Died

After having one of the most trying years imaginable, legendary sports icon Joe Paterno has died. I hold the Penn State board of trustees personally responsible. Sure, you may say that is an irrational, knee-jerk overreaction, but who are they to judge?

Episcopals are at it again

In an ongoing effort to tie up courts with lawsuits among believers, the Episcopal Church (USA) has won yet another court battle which affirms the national hierarchy's rights to the property of local congregations who have voted to split from the denomination. It is, once again, a proud day for Christianity.

More Press for the NIV

The fourth quarter edition of the Magnolia Messenger includes a surprisingly balanced, level-headed critique of the new NIV under the relatively inoffensive title "Not Your Father's NIV." It is by no means the kind of thoughtful, scholarly analysis that should be given priority in the discussion, but it does, at the very least, rise above the level of frothing invective. Go figure.

Robert E. Lee on War

I became aquainted with this relatively famous quote of Lee's while reading Stout's Moral History of the Civil War:

It is well that war is so terrible—we should grow too fond of it.

Unfortunately, history seems to have taught us that the more terrible war becomes, the more fond of it we to grow.

In Other News

It appears that Detroit Lions fans have better taste in music than professional football loyalties. Said one fan in response to the selection of Nickelback as the halftime entertainment for the iconic Thanksgiving game:

This game is nationally televised, do we really want the rest of the US to associate Detroit with Nickelback? Detroit is home to so many great musicians and they chose Nickelback?!?!?! Does anyone even like Nickelback? Is this some sort of ploy to get people to leave their seats during halftime to spend money on alcoholic beverages and concessions? This is completely unfair to those of us who purchased tickets to the game. At least the people watching at home can mute their TVs. The Lions ought to think about their fans before choosing such an awful band to play at halftime.

In Other News

In supporting his new bill designed to bring back firing squads--or, as he puts it, lead cocktails--as a means of execution, Florida's Rep. Brad Drake confesses, "I have no desire to humanely respect those that are inhumane."

In ironic and unrelated news, a new study published Molecular Psychiatry found that depression alters brain chemistry in such a way that people often turn hate for others into self-loathing.

Orthodox Serbs reach out to Albanian Muslims

I'm not entirely sure what to think of this. Is it a tremendous act of Christian charity and a preperation for evangelism or is it a capitulation to pluralism and the human impulse toward idolatry?

In Other News

Recently, Congressman Ron Paul has made the audacious suggestion that people ought to be able to pay for things with precious metal coins, which have intrinsic worth, instead of the US dollar, which is fundamentally worthless. Congress will likely ignore such ludacris suggestions as they have in the past.

In other quarters, a twelve-year-old in New York City is being charged with a hate crime and faces serious jail time for flirting with one of his classmates. The sixth grader, himself a Muslim, is being accused of taunting and roughing up a Muslim girl in a fit of anti-Muslim fervor. The prosecuting attorney has been quoted as saying, "We want to make it clear: the District Attorney's office is tough on schoolyard antics."

In Other News

The pope is calling for a quick suspension of the use of arms by all sides in the Libyan conflict. I cannot help but hope that this plea is an extension of his previously expressed beliefs about war.

"We're not sorry if we tricked you."

I recently stumbled across an interesting article entitled Insane Clown Posse: And God Created Controversy. It was written this October by Jon Ronson (of "Men Who Stare at Goats" fame, among other things) about the revelation (some years ago now) that ICP has been secretly infusing spirituality into their lyrics in an attempt to prompt their fans to think about God, life, and death. Most interesting of all was the subtitle: "America's nastiest rappers in shocking revelation – they've been evangelical Christians all along." Curiously, in reading the article, neither of the rappers that make up ICP ever use the word Christ or Christian at all, much less to describe themselves. They certainly never label themselves as "evangelical Christians." I'm not sure when, but at some point generic theism seems to have become evangelical Christianity by default. I didn't get the memo.

See you Sunday Shaggy 2 Dope.

In other news

In an overwhelming display of generosity and good will, the Turkish government gave the Orthodox Church back this dilapidated, hundred year old building (that the Turks had "appropriated" in 1997):



Bravo, Turkish government. What more could the Orthodox want?

Buddhism and Abortion

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me (given the essential role that respect for life plays in Buddhism), but reading about abortion laws in Thailand has made me realize just how "pro-life" Theravada Buddhism can be:

In [the] Buddhist view, both having an abortion and performing an abortion amount to murder. Those involved in abortions will face distress in both this life and the next because their sins will follow them.

Action 5 News Meets Survivor

In a recent TV plug for WMC-TV Memphis evening news, the anchor promised that if you watched that night you would see the sex of an unnamed staff members baby revealed. It turned out the story was actually attached to a report about the accuracy of a take home test that purports to determine the sex of a fetus, but I'm concerned that TV channels feel the need to advertise the news as if it were reality TV.

We interrupt this program to bring you some late breaking news:

The pope has come out in favor of condoms as a means of combatting the AIDS crisis in Africa. Or at least he thinks that they are slightly less immoral than HIV positive, homosexual prostitutes having unprotected sex with clients.

But then again, who doesn't think that?