Everlasting to Everlasting

anabiels: but the part of Star Trek where everyone in the theater went, ”Mickey?!” at the same...

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:24:00 +1000

but the part of Star Trek where everyone in the theater went, ”Mickey?!” at the same time

This is exactly what happened between my friend and I when we saw Star Trek today. I’m so proud of Mickey for making it into an awesome movie. Even if only for five minutes.

liuness: CNV00012 by laurenniee on Flickr. Oxford!

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:14:28 +1000

liuness:

CNV00012 by laurenniee on Flickr.

Oxford!

Actually ridiculously excited that I bought this today - oh the...

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:36:31 +1000

Actually ridiculously excited that I bought this today - oh the crafty possibilities!!

"I know it sounds awful, but I felt confused. Because for some reason their deaths were more shocking..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 22:18:51 +1000

“I know it sounds awful, but I felt confused. Because for some reason their deaths were more shocking and disgusting and numbing than all the deaths you normally read about and see on the news. You know how it is, you turn on the six o’clock news and there are people starving and countries bleeding and people dying for the right to freedom from occupation and dictatorship and what do you do? You tut-tut and sigh. Most times I flip over to ‘The Simpsons’. That’s what got me all confused and upset. Because I couldn’t stop bawling, watching the towers come down and the people’s terrified faces. It was a terrible thing to happen. And a terrible thing to realise that I don’t sit up through the night crying when such horrors happen all the time.”

- Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah

The best way to spend an afternoon :)

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:35:38 +1000

The best way to spend an afternoon :)

"Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, ‘what is the purchase?’ It is something..."

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:45:03 +1000

“Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, ‘what is the purchase?’ It is something less than proud human nature will like to give. It is without money and without price. Ah! You would like to pay a respectable rent! You would love to do something to win Christ? Then you cannot have the house, for it is ‘without price.’ Will you take my Master’s house on a lease for all eternity, with nothing to pay for it, nothing but the ground-rent of loving and serving Him forever? Will you take Jesus and ‘dwell in Him?’ See, this house is furnished with all you want; it is filled with riches more than you will spend as long as you live. Here you can have intimate communion with Christ and feast on His love; here are table well-stored with food for you to live on forever; in it, when weary, you can find rest with Jesus; and from it you can look out and see heaven itself. Will you have the house? Ah! if you are houseless, you will say, ‘I should like to have the house; but may I have it?’ Yes; there is the key - the key is, ‘Come to Jesus.’ ‘But,’ you say„ ‘I am too shabby for such a house.’ Never mind; there are garments inside. If you feel guilty and condemned, come; and thought the house is too good for you, Christ will make you good enough for the house by-and-by. He will wash you and cleanse you, and you will yet be able to sing, ‘We dwell in Him.’”

- Spurgeon, on 1 John 4:13 ‘We live in Him’

On Worldviews

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:30:00 +1000

A book I’m reading on literature included an essay on worldviews in literature. One section struck me, and I’ve been meaning to share it, so here it is:

The succession of human ideologies that marks human history is, indeed, a succession of humanly devised worldviews. These ways of looking at existence - the varying assumptions about the nature of reality, the basis of morality, what human nature is like - are not so much consciously held philosophies. Rather, they are presuppositions, habits of thinking that are taken for granted and that serve as the basis for other perceptions. Because the human intellect is fallen, secular knowledge is always partial and in a state of change, and we are in constant need of God’s revelation - the Word of God - which alone is the ground of truth.

I’m unsure why the following thoughts came from that quote, but all I could think was: how awesome is it to be a Christian! Worldviews are where you come from, they shape how you think and what you value. And they change throughout history. It’s why we have trouble understanding old literature (apart from the old english), or have to work hard to understand ancient civilisations. It’s why we sometimes just don’t connect that well with writings from the past; there’s a gap the size of a worldview between us.
But the Christian worldview is based on the only unchanging thing in the universe: God and His word. That’s why, I think, I always feel more of a kinship with Christian poets or writers than otherwise. Sometimes they can sound so modern and relevant - but that’s not because they’re ‘modern’, it’s because the truth they lived by is unchanging and is still relevant. I still enjoy the works of non Christian authors, don’t worry. But Christian authors, even if they wrote a thousand years before I was born, we both base our lives on the same rock. That’s not the case for non-christians reading old secular writing (except, you know, occasionally).
There’s just something so awesome about this that excites me but which I fail to be able to put into words. So, sorry :D

"You’ll have time to read after college."

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:05:51 +1000

“You’ll have time to read after college.”

- Annie Dillard
I’m secretly afraid that this isn’t the case - thanks Annie Dillard.

17 Pinterest Fails

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:00:07 +1000

17 Pinterest Fails:

Pinterest

Today I found out Lindt balls come in all sorts of flavours beyond the usuals you pick up. All...

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:26:00 +1000

Today I found out Lindt balls come in all sorts of flavours beyond the usuals you pick up. All sorts. Like orange. Cookies and cream. Caramel. Irish cream.
This is a nice discovery (even if it is excessively trivial).

"There is wisdom and illumination but not salvation in a sonnet."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 22:48:09 +1000

“There is wisdom and illumination but not salvation in a sonnet.”

- Chad Walsh

Photo

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:37:25 +1000

I could probably dance to this song for a long time.

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:02:41 +1000

I could probably dance to this song for a long time.

"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one..."

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 10:41:00 +1000

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anybody obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

- 1 John 2:1-6

This passage is so cool: it asks so much, but give so much as well. Because if you focussed on the end, well, it’s crazy. We must live as Jesus did? That’s an enormous ask, beyond our capabilities as fallen humans. We will mess up. But that’s why the start is so great: we have one who’ll speak on our behalf. Christ has already taken away the punishment and guilt etc that should fall on us if we fail to obey the word, or misstep when trying to live like Christ.
Which is why the Christian message is so wonderful! We want to and can try to live like Christ because the punishment for the times we fail is gone. Now we have the freedom to live like Jesus did, because we don’t have to fear messing up. We can take risks in living like Christ, and aim high, and though we’ll fail, we ask forgiveness, get back up and keep going again. No fear.

this is what a good hitler joke looks like Funny Stuff you...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:25:49 +1000

this is what a good hitler joke looks like

Funny Stuff you like?

"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:53:56 +1000

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

- Colossians 4:2

"Utile et dolci."

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:21:26 +1000

“Utile et dolci.”

- Horace, as quoted in ‘The Christian Imagination’

O My Soul, Arise - Sovereign Grace (by tranceseraph)

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:14:00 +1000

O My Soul, Arise - Sovereign Grace (by tranceseraph)

Photo

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:39:51 +1000

"Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a..."

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:58:00 +1000

“Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the pillars of the earth are removed! Even death itself, with all its terrible influences, has no power to suspend the music of a Christian’s heart, but rather makes that music become more sweet, more clear, more heavenly, till the last kind act which death can do it to let the earthly strain melt into the heavenly chorus, the temporal joy into the eternal bliss! Let us have confidence, then, in the blessed Spirit’s power to comfort us.”

- C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening.