Friday, November 30, 2007

Jumping With Joi

It's the end of NaNoWriMo. Joi has made it.

Check out her novel, A Million Sunsets.

Her novel last year: Sanctus.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Feasting On Thanksgiving

[via slacktivist]

'Why have we feasted,' they say,
'and you have not seen it?

 Why have we humbled ourselves,

 and you have not noticed?'

 Yet on the day of your feasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

Your feasting ends in quarreling and strife,

 and in striking each other with wicked fists.

 You cannot feast as you do today

 and expect your voice to be heard on high. {continued}

Someone's rut is another's groove. Ruts are broken records; grooves keep moving.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Santa Stranglings...

Wittenburg Door #214

In this issue:

Interviews: Rolf Potts and Phyllis Tickle

Also featuring articles such as:

"They'll Know We are Christians by Our Stuff"
The Exegete: Harmonizing the Gospels for Dummies
Vision Statements You're Not Likely to See
Jesus Weary of Being Lifted Higher
Goin' Straight: Notes from Ted Haggard's Support Group
St. Christopher Relieved from Duty
A James Dobson Emergency Alert: The Newest Threat to American Families
Reading Lolita at Liberty University

and more. The Last Word: Santa, Yule, and Me

Monday, November 12, 2007

Remembering...Always

To me, remembrance is about learning who we are and who we want to be.

...We can make people/criminals feel guilty for doing wrong in-the-eyes-of-another, but we can’t make people/criminals feel shame. Shame starts from within us. And it’s a means of personal change initiated by oneself. And the change can only be for the better when it’s understood (through increased skills to empathize with our victims) that disappearing will not benefit those we’ve hurt. Nothing can erase the damage done. But the best compensation for our victims is gaining healthier relationships. And the best way for victims to receive justice is to help the wrong-doer find their own true shame.

...Falsifying our personal history by censuring it is a crime. History should reveal the world of the adult along with the world of the child, memories of the good, and bad, in all.
[via daydreamer]

How Stressed...

Consider for a moment the effects that stress (and persecution would certainly qualify) has on the human body. The body functions most effectively under the just the right amount of stress. Too much stress or too little stress leads to pathology (dysfunction). It is true that certain aspects of the body are more active when the body is highly stressed but these same aspects can lead to major problems especially over an extended period of time. In fact one of the common effects of heightened stress is the tendency for the person or animal to give up (this helps to explain stress related depression). So then the question must be asked, "Does the stress of persecution make the individuals more likely to give up in the face of ongoing stress or are things like imprisonment and martyrdom actually an act of resolute determination?" Not only that, what can we say about the convictions themselves? We know that a brain that is under perpetual stress increasingly loses its capacity to reason and make accurate judgements of the stimuli present.
[via D'caffeinated Pickle]

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

"The 'test of faith' card again?"




[via Mr. Deity]