Bugs

Here's a great feature on software bugs. Check out the animated tutorials for a crash-course in bug-writing...

Wired News: History's Worst Software Bugs

Theomorphisms

Anthropomorphism

Any half-informed Bible student knows the word. It's the standard explanation for what the Bible means when it talks about a non-physical, transcendant God 'baring His arm' or having 'eyes'. We know God doesn't have an arm, right? So it must be an anthropomorphism.

But what is an anthropomorphism?

Well, the word comes straight from the Greek. Anthropos means mankind, as in anthropology (the study of mankind) and philanthropist (one who loves mankind). Morph means form (which carries over into our usage, which usually entails changing form). So, you put the two together and anthropo morphism becomes human form. The implication is that something which is not human is being assigned human characteristics as a figure of speech.

A handy correlary I ran across recently (thanks to D.A. Carson's great little book, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God) is anthropopathism. Pathos, of course, is emotion, and so an anthropopathism is a figure of speech in which something non-human is assigned human feeling.

But...

Is that really an accurate explanation for these Scriptural expressions? Is God simply using an analogy to illustrate for us something that we otherwise couldn't comprehend? I would argue that there's something much more profound going on here, because, strictly speaking, we are created in God's image (or form). I reject out-of-hand any hint of the idea that God first created man and then had to start picking from our organs and limbs to illustrate Himself for us. Rather, I believe He made our arms and our eyes to demonstrate certain aspects of His own Being (for starters, His activity and His consciousness).

That said, I propose what I believe is a more accurate explanation of the Bible's speaking of God's arm and eyes. These aren't anthropomorphisms at all; these are in fact the most natural and basic usage of these words. Instead, when we speak of our own arms or eyes, we are speaking in theopomorphisms - figures of speech which speak of humans as if they somehow have some aspect of God's form.

Store Wars

For all you holistic science fiction fans, here's some hilarious hybrid humor...

http://www.storewars.org/

Why die?

Chatting with Josh and Josh and Bryan at Sonic about daring to die for Christ... The discussion guide turned the question on its head, asking what Christ's motive was in dying for us. Josh Maubach, off the top of his head, listed the two essential factors: (1) to save souls, and (2) to obey His Father. Of course, the incredible thing is that those two factors are the very same impetus we ought to find if we're ever faced with martyrdom. "We must obey God rather than men." "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."

Orthodox Protestantism? That's so 90's...

First, one good buddy goes off into hyper-covenantalism, then another starts leaning toward Catholicism. Now I hear an older pal subscribing to 'higher criticism'. It's getting lonely back here where we all used to believe...

Psalm 84:0

Most of my readership (that teeming mass of humanity) is familiar with Psalm 84. It's a beautiful expression of delight in communion with God in the context of the tabernacle. But what we may not have noticed is the wider context hinted at by the Psalm's prologue:

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Typical enough, right? Anybody who's read the Psalms has seen lots of these, but a recorded sermon by Peter Greasley recently reminded me of the unique significance of this one.

Korah

We know somebody by that name now, don't we? Way back in Numbers 16, we've read the memorable account of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Those men (Levites appointed by God to facilitate the practical aspects of the spiritual life of the congregation of Israel) decided one day that they weren't one bit less special than Aaron and Moses and demanded their own turn in the top authoritative and priestly posts. To make a long story short, there was some mystique to those special offices, and God swiftly and dramatically proved this as Korah and his cohorts and their families were swallowed alive by Sheol while nearly 15,000 Israelites were consumed by fire and plague. The casualties were kept low due to the humble intercession of (who else) Moses and Aaron on the part of the rebellious people.

That's the end of the story as I'd remembered it; but Numbers 26:8-11 (which is, incidentally, smack-dab in the middle of one of those classic Old Testament geneological listings) adds a striking footnote:

The son of Pallu was Eliab, and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah's followers when they rebelled against the LORD. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign. The line of Korah, however, did not die out. [Emphasis mine.]

The line of Korah didn't die out? That's interesting. No, that's amazing! It sure sounded bad when God's judgement fell back in chapter 16. Something odd happened here. Apparently, God chose to spare a few and restore them to service before him in his tabernacle!

And indeed, every indication is that those very descendants of Korah, that line that was graciously spared the wrath so justly leveled against so many of their peers, found themselves alive, well, and singing and keeping doors in the house of the Lord:

Shallum the son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his fathers' house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the LORD, keepers of the entrance. - 1 Chronicles 9

Suddenly now that I know "the rest of the story", I'm reading Psalm 84 with different eyes. There's a whole new light on verse 10:

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

If I don't delight enough in God's presence, or if I lack enthusiasm for his earthly dwelling, that is, for His Church, perhaps I haven't truly begun to grasp the significance of the salvation to which I lay claim.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Indeed, it is those who have experienced the delivering mercy of God who sing,

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

Time's Up, Einstein

I'm no physics student, but this guy's making more sense than anything else I've heard from physics theorists in a long time...

In his theory, reality is merely sequences of events that happen relative to one another; time is an illusion. There's no chronon, no direction for time's arrow to fly, no "imaginary time" flowing 90 degrees off the axis of normal time.

Wired 13.06: Time's Up, Einstein

The Chief End

What is the chief end of man? I know the party line, and I don't disagree with the principle. But I've found a slightly different spin in Scripture. Take Genesis 1, for example. Humanity is introduced by God with a very specific distinction:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

In case you missed it, God created man in his image. Of course, man promptly turned and desecrated that image. Indeed, to whatever extent fallen man bears that image today, he twists and perverts it. But that's not the end of the story.

What amazes me is that this theme of bearing God's image is picked up on again in the New Testament message of salvation. God speaks of his elect as those whom he has destined to be "conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29)! This was God's plan from the start, and no human fall is going to foil him in it. =)

But what does it mean to bear the image of God? That is a wonderful question, and I'm convinced that the reality is as gloriously multifacted as God himself is to us. However, to prove that I really don't disagree with the classic Reformed perspective, I must say that it seems relationship is an essential aspect. God reveals himself as a Trinity - one God co-existing in three persons - persons clearly distinguished as Scripture narrates the interactions (relationships) within the Godhead. Even so, humans are social creatures - relating among ourselves, and (much more significantly) capable of interaction with God himself! The great, sad moment of the Fall was when God came to the garden to walk with Adam and Eve, and they felt compelled to hide. The great joy of eternal blessedness - indeed, Christ's definition of 'eternal life' - is to know God (John 17:3).

Thus, I must admit that the Westminster theologians really weren't far afield to assert that the chief end of man is "to glorify God and enjoy him forever".

Hello, world!

This is a test. Programmers always call their initial test 'hello, world'.