Monday, December 31, 2012

Through the Bible in a year

The week before Christmas I finished reading the Bible. This project started in January when Amanda made this post on her blog.

My general comments are:
  • The Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures could have used a good copy editor. Things are out of order, repeated, contradict each other, and make for a very boring read in several places.
  • There are some unappreciated things in the New Testament.
  • The prophetic books have a lot of oracles against different groups of people. However, it is hard to build a sense of who is who because I have no exposure to these groups of people outside of a Biblical context.
  • I want to learn more about Judaism to understand how they view and interpret their scriptures.
My observations about needing a good editor gave me a few ideas on how to arrange a book. Derek is anticipating that just as the Jefferson Bible was produced, soon we will have the Page Bible.

If you want to do something like this, you need to find some kind of accountability. Amanda and I were on the same reading schedule and chatted about the readings over Skype every week. Since we would talk on Monday nights, I did most of my reading on Sunday and Monday right before we chatted. We would often pick out different (or even the same) verses and ideas to comment on. She picked up on a lot of things I completely missed. Without her support, I would have fallen away from the reading soon after starting. While you could probably read 1500 pages of a normal book, there are a few sections that could derail all but the most dedicated reader.

Some of the things I learned have already been useful. Someone had a question at a Bible study and I was ready to give a short lecture on typology as an answer. A few weeks ago my general comments about Zephaniah had someone asking if I took a theology class. My knowledge of ancient history was helpful in understanding a few of the things I read.

Now I am working on some summary sheets with a few comments on the minor prophets. Knowing just a couple of sentences about a few people can go a long way. The next time a Protestant or a self-proclaimed Christian who rejects the Council of Nicaea (which I think is a contradiction) tries to argue with me I want to be ready.

I also read the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the last year. Nothing specific stands out from it.

Now I need a new religious reading project. What do you think we should read next? It could be the writings of the early Church Fathers, Vatican II documents, Papal encyclicals, writings of saints like City of God or Summa Theologiae, a specific study on one gospel/letter, or something completely different.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Poison Belt & Professor Challenger

I just finished reading The Poison Belt by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I enjoyed it.

I read this story because it was published immediately after The Lost World and follows the same main characters. I read that novel a few years ago, when I used to make a lot of posts and read a lot of books.

I never made a post about The Lost World, so I will say a few words about it. The novel follows some adventurers as they find an isolated area where dinosaurs still live. Aside from that, you should know the book is awesome. Written in 1912, it has all the excitement of turn of the century English men of science exploring unknown lands. Then there is the adventure of trying to survive dinosaurs and holdovers from prehistory. One of the memorable characters is Professor Challenger. He has an imposing intellect, possess great reasoning skills, and does not back down from his conclusions. However, he is aware of his intellectual prowess and lacks patience when dealing with lesser minds. He can be arrogant and argumentative.

The Poison Belt starts with Professor Challenger publishing a letter to the public stating the blurring of Fraunhofer lines in light could be a harbinger of horrible things for humanity. This is a great scientific way to start a story and fully consistent with the science of the day. Since the story is relatively short, I will leave off any more details.

Standing alone, The Poison Belt is an interesting read, but not a noteworthy novel. If it did not continue with the main characters of The Lost World, it would be nearly forgotten.

If you want a book to read, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World is highly recommended. If you want more of Professor Challenger after that, The Poison Belt should be next.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Mail and Christmas

First, I will share some of the mail I have received recently. I watched Miracle on 34th Street for the first time a few days ago, which provides another reason to appreciate the Post Office.


There are a several cards my parents got addressed to the entire family. However, these cards are addressed to me. The card with the Campanile is from the College of Letters and Science at Berkeley. It is from the Deans of the different divisions and reads "Your generosity lights the way to a future of unlimited possibilities." The odd thing is I do not remember giving any money to Letters and Science. Not pictured is a card from my Congressman that is unafraid to declare "we celebrate the Birth of Jesus."

Christmas in my parents' house
It would not be in the spirit of Christmas to say a lot of bad things. The short version is my family needs to grow up (in some ways I need to as well). My parents want to have the type of Christmas our family had 20 years ago. Trying to fit the realities of today into the mold of Christmases of decades past does not work. It makes this the low point of my year, not the joyous time it was created to be.

I want to move my life forward, and the people around me want to turn the clock back. I want to be happy on Christmas, which means changing my expectations based on the situation and the time people put into things. The people around me think everything will magically go like years past. However, their grumpiness and crying are not signs of happiness.

If Christmas is not a joyous time for you, you are doing something wrong. For me, the problem is the people I am around. There was a lot of concern in my parents' house over what food we would eat, what cookies would be baked, when decorations would go up, which decorations would go where, who would get Christmas cards, and what presents people would get. Poor planning and terrible communication led to a lot of last minute work. After all of that, there was little left for joy. What we really needed was to have a Whoville Christmas.

The problem is not Christmas, but my family. These are all manifestations of problems that have been on display for the last couple of years. I have tried to help out, but they are not taking steps to improve themselves. I need to remove myself from this situation. I should not ignore my own responsibilities and wants to keep them afloat.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Everyone's Exciting Updates

First I have an exciting update of my own. I got an A in my electrical engineering class!


Friday night I got back from a trip to Northern California. It was a lot of fun. I went there to visit some friends. Many of them are up to interesting and exciting things. However, not all of the stuff they said is ready to be widely publicized. Some people want to share their news with a few people before posting it online for everyone.

Recently I have been reading some Sherlock Holmes. Since I am in a mystery mood, I will make this a guessing game of sorts. I will share a couple of items here and leave the identities of the people undefined. My regular Newman readers are friends with both of the people mentioned below and could do some detective work to figure out the people who match the stories. The main thing is do not publicly out anyone. Do not post revealing questions on someone's wall.

The theme for this trip was everyone's progress in relationships. Chris and Linda were looking for a wedding venue. One person related adventures (or misadventures) in online dating. This included some messages that were horribly received pick-up attempts. If I had more time I would have visited Kim and Patrick, who had their first baby earlier this year.

Person 1
One of my friends will start to a date a longtime friend. After a confession of feelings, both of them were open to trying a romantic relationship.

I hope things work out for my friend, especially because I have a heartbreaking story from when I was in a similar situation.
Once upon a time I was friends with a girl. We had almost exactly the same sense of humor and got along very well. Every time we were together was amazing. At some point, I developed romantic feelings for her. Sadly, she did not share them. So, she cut me out of her life. She did not return my phone calls, she said the seats next to her in class was saved for her other friends, she avoided all the places I frequented, and she dettaged herself from my picture albums. She broke my heart into a million pieces and I lost one of my best friends.
I do not mean to discourage my friend. I know how horribly bad hope things can go and I hope they work out better for him/her.

Person 2
One of my friends is engaged.