You are likely to be eaten by a grue

Posted on September 22, 2008 by me

West of House

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

> _

If this is completely meaningless to you, then chances are you’ve never heard of CP/M, single-density drives,  or Zork.  If this is the case, you also missed the golden age of computer gaming, back when imagination and a knowledge of classic literature were more important than quick reflexes and a high-speed internet connection.

The Zork trilogy of games by Infocom were potentially more addictive than World of Warcraft, even though they contained no graphics whatsoever, no sound effects, and each could fit on a 191k floppy disk.  I know, as I was one of those who occasionally stayed up until 3am trying to outsmart a unicorn or find a way through the gates of Hades. However, while I solved Zork I, I never completely solved II or III.  I did have a lot of fun, though.

Today, as luck would have it, I stumbled across this video by MC Frontalot (not something you’d typically find on my Walkman), featuring an appearance by none other than Infocom’s Steve Meretzky:

Destined to be a classic, I’m sure.  It is, in any event, a great tribute to the Zork games.

For some time I’ve wanted to find a way to port my old CP/M games from my Kaypro II (yes, I still have mine) over to CD and find an emulator so I could play them again. However, inspired by the above video, my son Isaiah found that the games – available for both Mac and PC – are downloadable for free!  And they even work on Vista!

So, the golden age is still upon us.  Both of us have been breaking into white houses, killing trolls, and wandering around underground mazes all evening. So, go grab yourself some classic computer fun, and waste a few hours exploring the mysteries of Zork. But, just remember:  Don’t wander around dark places unless you’ve got your lantern or some matches, or you’re likely to be eaten by a grue. And, we wouldn’t want that…

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I’m starting to remember what Church was all about

Posted on September 22, 2008 by me

Today Scot McKnight writes at Jesus Creed on why there seems to be a trend that

There is a rise, a burgeoning rise, of young college students converting from low church evangelicalism, with its anemic, unhistorical ecclesiology, to the great liturgical traditions: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

This is happening at evangelical Christian colleges and seminaries; and, not only that, but seminary professors as well are moving to more traditional, liturgical churches (including Lutheran and Episcopalian).  As someone who was raised Lutheran and who has experienced the failings of evangelicalism for about 30 years, I truly understand why. I’ve written about it extensively here (and here) over the past couple of years.

At first, there was the explanation that people were looking for some kind of mystery, and that liturgy provided that.  While this might be true to some extent, the real trend seems to be more than this.  A couple of weeks ago I visited a local Episcopal service and spent about an hour afterward talking to a couple who had become Episcopalian in college; he had been Nazarene, she Baptist.  They spoke of the depth of theology and meaning, and the sense that they were actually in touch with the historical church.

For me, I’ve found that evangelicalism, for the most part, lacks both theology and historical understanding. You can attend some of these churches and never be sure what they believe.  I suspect that many members aren’t even aware that there are creeds, and may not be able to recite the Lord’s prayer.  They may leave feeling that they’ve failed and need to do better, but have no sense of forgiveness, or even that it’s available.

While I am still uncomfortable with some high liturgical practice (the bowing and kneeling, for example), what I like about liturgical worship includes:

  1. A connection with the historical church
  2. Emphasis on the corporate, rather than individual, worship
  3. Publicly confession of truth, in the hymns, liturgy, and recitation of the Creeds
  4. A reminder that I am a sinner and forgiven
  5. The honor shown to the Word of God
  6. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper weekly with a true incarnational understanding (rather than the weak superstition found in most evangelical communion services)

I am thrilled to have found an evangelical church that has not lost all of the above- they have somewhat of an incarnational understanding of communion, and have just started giving Bible reading center stage – but still plan on visiting local liturgical churches on occasion. I’ve found that more than just leaving Church feeling good or enjoying a sermon, participating in liturgy actually feeds my soul.  I am starting to remember what Church was all about.

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“What Americans Really Believe” might surprise you

Posted on September 20, 2008 by me

The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won’t create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that’s not a conclusion to take on faith — it’s what the empirical data tell us.“What Americans Really Believe,” a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.

From Look Who’s Irrational Now, by Mollie Ziegler Hemingway (WSJ 9-19-08).  According to the survey, close to a fourth of professing atheists believe in a god or force, 10% pray weekly and 12% believe in Heaven.

And, even Bill Maher, whose anti-religion documentary is to be released soon, appears to be somewhat of a nut:

Mr. Maher told David Letterman — a quintuple bypass survivor — to stop taking the pills that his doctor had prescribed for him. He proudly stated that he didn’t accept Western medicine. On his HBO show in 2005, Mr. Maher said: “I don’t believe in vaccination. . . . Another theory that I think is flawed, that we go by the Louis Pasteur [germ] theory.” He has told CNN’s Larry King that he won’t take aspirin because he believes it is lethal and that he doesn’t even believe the Salk vaccine eradicated polio.

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt | 2 Comments

Bradley Monton: my new favorite atheist

Posted on September 19, 2008 by me

In my prior post, I quoted from Bradley Monton, philosophy professor at the U of Colorado, Boulder. I stumbled upon Monton a few days ago, and enjoy him immensely, even if we disagree on some key issues.  I’ve been very critical of all of those dubbed the “new atheists” for their huffing and puffing and bad logic. Monton is different; he actually seems to have taken the time to examine and understand Theism, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t have the baggage that Dawkins, et al. have.

In the last couple of days Monton has been responding on his blog to posts Tom Gilson has up at Thinking Christian, and vice versa.  Monton started by asking a very perceptive question, “Do people really believe in God?”, in which he discusses apparent conflicts between professed belief and behavior. In his most recent post, he says:

… if Christians think that some people are saved and some are not, and there is something really worthwhile in being saved, and those who aren’t saved are really missing out, then why aren’t they spending more energy encouraging people to be saved? (One standard account is that the saved people go to heaven, while the unsaved don’t, but I recognize that different Christians differ on these details.) Yes, there are people who devote their lives, or at least significant portions of their lives, to missionary work and evangelism, and I admire them for following their convictions. It’s the Christians who don’t do this that I have trouble understanding. I know people who profess to be Christian and yet who live their lives pretty much like atheists do, except for the occasional trip to church, or prayer over dinner. For these people, their behavior is deeply at odds with their professed beliefs, and it makes me wonder if they really believe what they say they believe.

It seems that he may understand some things that most atheists, along with some Christians, don’t.

Posted in Faith, Science & Doubt, Philosophy | 6 Comments