Saturday, October 21, 2006

Scottish Things

In Scotland they wear sweaters all the time, I think, because of the wind pushing sea air across the land. The thought stirs my soul and makes me breathe deeply, only dreaming to catch a whiff of their salty breeze. My midwestern life has never extended to an ocean.

Speaking of that bonny country, today I received my very own copy of the 1898 edition of J.M. Barrie's The Little Minister. Last year I read that novel, and so enjoyed the dialectic writing (several different levels of the Scots' take on English) and the love story, that I determined to have a copy. Merry day, to receive such a treasure.

Ooh! I should add "old books" to my list of interests. After publishing, I shall do so directly.

More Scottish notes: the Highland Study Center, of R.C. Sproul, Jr. and friends, published their bi-monthly magazine containing a sluagh of articles on the evolutionary worldview. This further relates to Colossians, which happens to be whither I drew much of my devotions this week, is verse 8 of chapter 2, warning Christians against being spoiled by "philosophy or vain deceit" after the "rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

The article which has been most applicable to my life (since I received the magazine Friday) is Going Bananas, about the manipulative application of the flawed theory of conditioned response. Last night I watched Batman Begins for the first time. In fact, that two hours was my first exposure to feature-length Batman. A message is promoted by the ninjas at the beginning which was directly addressed in the essay. I was so proud when the movie rather refuted the teaching.

Oh, which reminds me, why don't superheroes have wives? They experience all this conflict about girlfriends. Yet, with the Genesis 2 view of humanity, wouldn't it be a good thing to have a wife supporting, loving unconditionally, encouraging? I think a woman could be much more encouraging than a butler, though he does serve his purpose. Men tend to enhance the "tough guy" attitude that elicits survival, while women, I like to think, are the motivation to survive.

My brother is reading C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength, which addresses the topic of women's reason for existence especially as relating to men. The topic of feminism isn't the primary reason he wrote, but is an evident outcome of the worldview C.S. Lewis was attacking. His means of attack, which simply delights me, is to follow his enemies' philosophies to their conclusion, until their ideas are in self-defeating contradiction. All worldviews that are non-biblical, I believe, ultimately arrive at this fate.

To God be all glory.

6 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love Scottish stuff! Out here, the beach isn't much. It's always polluted with the most recent sewage spill, there's junk all over the beaches, and surfer "dudes" everywhere. I like the ideas of Scotch shores much better!

    But I saw that Batman last December (my Dad rented it). I too liked that he objected to their worldview...except in the end I always want a Christian hero...it seems that a "good" non-believer just never seems to cut it for me.

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  2. I should add Nessie! She's Scottish, though she certainly has relatives all over the world, even in the ocean.

    Did you see the pick-up commercial featuring Nessie and the Loch Ness documenter? I love it!

    To God be all glory.

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  3. Dr. Paleo,
    I always find myself thinking that if only superheroes could pray, or if they would read the Bible, they would be so much more encouraged.

    However, I don't sit around reading my Bible for news reporters to see, nor do I talk about God all the time (probably not as much as I should), so I can imagine that the characters are believers, and that the movie just leaves it out.

    Wouldn't a movie be grand if it featured a Christian superhero? Not one of these "Bible-hero" kid stories, but a real drama, ranking with Spiderman and Batman, but where the character experiences Christian dilemas and triumphs.

    To God be all glory.

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  4. Your idea about a Christian superhero? I already got you covered. ;-D

    Look no further!

    http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=195290

    P.S. What commercial?

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  5. See, dr. paleo, if you watched sports, you would probably have seen the neatest commercial of the season. But it is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2QGTaq13ds&eurl=

    To God be all glory,
    Lisa of Longbourn

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  6. Oh wait, the one where it bites the car? Yeah, I've seen it now....

    And I don't watch sports for moral reasons.

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