For David

Bite off more than you can chew THEN CHEW IT
An obstacle is only something you haven't torn through yet
Nothing's gonna stand in your way NOT TONIGHT
The world is dark when you're depressed Your thoughts have the power to shape your world
you were born a winner you were the fastest sperm
Depression breeds depression Effort breeds success
If you never give up You never lose
Don't believe in yourself Believe in me, who believes in you
The doctor said it was cancer I call it a challenge
You are awesome Go and prove it
Even if you fall on your face You're still moving forward
You have no limits
You feel alone but someone is thinking of you
Better to die on your feet than live on your knees
If life asks for your all give it even more

Couldn't it all just be random?

I completely bailed out when a friend asked me this earlier. He saw me carrying Does God Believe in Atheists, and when he asked, I told him how it proposed that a Christian worldview makes best sense of the world.

"What, you mean creationsim and stuff?" (He's a physisist) - it's amazing how many people focus not on Jesus, but on the relatively impersonal, abstract Genesis of the universe. Whether the world was created in six days or 6 billion years continues to be debated, but I don't think the argument tends to bring people to Jesus.

We got on to talking about purpose vs entropy, at which point he asked why the universe couldn't just be random...

Objective Christian Beauty

Chatting with David Field over the weekend on an Oakhall event, it seems that Christian aesthetics is a sorely underdeveloped field of study.

He is convinced, and I expect he's right, that there is such a thing as objective beauty - that it is possible to correctly judge album X as more praiseworthy than CD Y.

David reckons that a checklist of however-many points is necessary (but not sufficient) in judging the worth of a piece of art/music/drama, the first two points of reference being:

1. Does it honour God?
2. Does it promote an unframed lie?

The first point is self-explanatory - meaning that the majority of death metal and anything associated with Trent Reznor cannot be beautiful.

The second denounces anything that presents a lie as truth, unless it is in the context of exposing/showing up the lie for what it really is.

Thanksgiving

A very blessed time saying goodbye to some Korean friends from church today. I praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sovereignly ordained that MJ, Mee Young and So Ye would be brought into my life this year.

For the servantheartedness, encouragement, fun and fellowship we share with friends - we must treasure more the good gifts He gives!

Bring Back Hideoblog!

I remember the first blog I ever read was that of Hideo Kojima. He's been called a lot of things; the first postmodern game designer will always have a special place in my heart for creating such beautiful games.

Metal Gear Solid changed everything back in 1999, and MGS2 and particularly 3 were no small feats either.

Come back Hideo!