Quote

"free curiosity has greater power to stimulate learning than rigorous coercion"

~ St Augustine

Poetry

I came across this profound piece of poetry:

"A trio of sightless rodents

A trio of sightless rodents

Observe how they perambulate

Observe how they perambulate

They perambulated after the agriculturist's spouse

She severed their spinal extensions with a culinary utensil

Have you ever observed such a phenomenon in all of your existence as a trio of sightless rodents?"

Quote

 The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

~ George Bernard Shaw

The incongruity of TV adverts.

"Your plan is flawed. Scorpius will not chase the transport. Because there is one thing he values more than his precious base... Chocolate eggs." 

~ Farscape Season 1 episode 22 / Reese's ad

Sun

~Douglas Adams

Fiction and non-fiction

I was standing by the church library while two wee girls were looking at the kids' books.

('Bible Fiction' means historical fiction and time-travel stories about Bible events.)

Child 1: In my school we can choose whether we want to read a fiction book or a non-fiction book.

Me: Which do you prefer?

Child 1: Fiction 

Child 2: Non-fiction, because it tells you about things that are real.

It made me think of that Neil Gaiman quote (where he was misquoting GK Chesterton):

Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.

I did not confuse them by telling them this!

Analogies are not (necessarily) heresy

Wrote this aaaages ago - finally got round to finishing and posting.

From time to time, people claim that this analogy or that analogy of the Trinity gives the wrong idea of God, or is even heretical. I'm sure that's sometimes true. But sometimes I think it's just that the people criticising it are trying to make an analogy do more than it's meant to.

For example, take the triangle. People say it's a bad way to explain the Trinity because each member of the Trinity is fully God, whereas each side of a triangle is not a triangle. But, I don't think it's bad, just - like all analogies - incomplete. It would only be a bad analogy if you were saying that a triangle says everything that's to be said about how the Trinity relates - and that's not how analogies work.

Craft we made, based on these instructions.

 

I have used the triangle analogy in Sunday school. I'm teaching people who may not yet even know that Jesus is God. So all the analogy is meant to say is that:

• The trinity is a thing.
• There is one God, made of three people, (who are all God).
• They are the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit.

It's true in what it intends to teach - it's not the last word on the subject.

Actually, it's the same with the analogies of Jesus which are used in the Bible. He is variously described as our father, future husband, brother, master, shepherd, a lamb, a vine, a gate, bread, water, light... If you took any of those to extremes you could easily make a heresy. And some of them are mutually contradictory.

 

But the point is that Jesus - who is far more than we could ever understand - is a little bit like all those things (and the context usually makes it clear in what way).

Here's a quote:

We have to think about Christ using ideas and images, but if we put our trust in these symbols, rather than in the One they symbolize, we will be making a big mistake. [...] By using more than one image for God, we remind ourselves that any image we use is only temporary; it must be corrected and relieved by other images. These images serve our minds; they do not save our souls. A fork is not food.

~Michael Ward, The Narnia Code

A good reminder

"Nothing is wasted

Nothing is wasted

In the hands of our redeemer

Nothing is wasted"

~Jason Gray

Knowledge

Received ‘wisdom’ says that the people who lived before us, and particularly in the Middle Ages, knew far less than we do, but what stands out the most for me from my research is they were infinitely more knowledgeable. What we have is much more information at hand, most of it little better than trivia, but they had real, embodied knowledge of their world. They understood the chemistry of plants and minerals, how to make the most of it and what to avoid. They knew when and how to gather and prepare for food or craft. Their daily practical skills and self-reliance put us to shame, with our dependence on factory-made products that don’t need to exist.

~Joumana Medlej

💣 Patience

A verse for anyone that has to relate to other Christians:

"I ... urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:1-3

(The emoji in the title is meant to represent having a long fuse 😁)

The difference

"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - CS Lewis

"His name unfortunately was Eustace Scrubb, but he wasn't a bad sort."

The Silver Chair - CS Lewis

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!"

2 Corinthians 5v17

Quote

 All the things that we create, whether you have a big audience, or whether you're just making stuff for the folks close to you. Sure - maybe those things you make will be forgotten. Or maybe the things that you create will get laid down as someone's long-term memory, and affect them a lot later in their life. So, make nice things. Try to give people something they'll be nostalgic about, not something they'll flashback to. You never know what impressions you might be making for the future. 

~Tom Scott

Foolproof

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools

~Douglas Adams

Only words

What others say to us and what we say to others can last a long time, for good or for evil. The casual sarcastic or critical remark can inflict a lasting injury on another person. The well-timed encouragement or compliment can inspire someone for the rest of their life.

~ David Guzik

This is terrifying.

And true.

And we don't know which of our words will be quickly forgotten, and which will have a lasting effect.

Lord, set up a guard for my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

~Psalm 141v3

Evening prayer

"Father in your mercy dispel the darkness of this night,
and let your servant sleep in peace,
that at the dawn of a new day I may wake with joy in your Name,
through Christ our Lord.

Amen"

~ From a Daily Prayer App

Movie adaptions

A director cannot fairly make his money of the writings of a man long dead while simultaneously warping the substance of that work into something the dead man would never have agreed to.

~ Travis Perry

"Is everything sad going to come untrue?"

I wonder what Tolkien would think if he knew how many Christian songs allude to Sam Gamgee's question from The Return of the King.

Probably be chuffed.

Why creativity is hard

Politics

"Let the believer rejoice that the government under which he dwells has an immortal ruler at its head, has existed from all eternity and will flourish when all created things shall have for ever passed away."

~ Charles Spurgeon

Success

"How will you define "success" for this collection? 
Wow, good question. There are so many different metrics. At the end of the day, I need to feel like I’ve told the truth. So that’s the first measure of success for me. Beyond that, hearing that the songs found people where they were and helped them would be the second measure. And beyond that, I know my label and management hopes it succeeds commercially. I hope for that, too, because it will mean I can make another record and keep doing this work. Commercial success also reflects that you’ve struck a nerve and that it’s connecting with people, which is important to me as an artist who sees my music more as a way to serve than as a mode of personal expression."

~ Jason Gray