Category: General

Scripture Memory

Recently the men’s group that I’m a part of has decided to add a scripture memory component to our sessions, which I hate. I’m actually pretty good with the memorizing; what I don’t like is incrementalism – that is, doing a little bit, every day, for the rest of your life. I abhor the idea of filling up my day with five minute tasks, and I’d rather take anything I have to do and “have it all at once and get it over with.” Give me five hours on Monday, rather than 5 minutes a day for the next 2 months.

Unfortunately, that’s not how memorization works. You could commit the entire gospel of John to memory on that Monday and recite it perfectly. On Tuesday, it would be “In the beginning was the Word and the word was God and the word was with God, without which nothing was made that was made… uh, John not the Christ… Cana… something.” Memorization has to be incremental. Which means the biggest part of memorization is remembering to memorize.

Fortunately, a friend had a handy little form that I’m going to try to use. On the front page, you have your list of verses and a set of checkboxes by each one, arranged in sets of seven. The goal is to recite your passage (correctly) every day for seven weeks. On the back side, you have your list of verses, with checkboxes arranged in sets of 5. After you’ve hit seven weeks, you recite the passage once a week for seven months. And I’ve been told that, after you complete this nine-month regimen, you have a baby. That is, you can move on to other passages, because you will never forget again. And since, I will likely be castigated by my friends for failing to do my memory work, I’m going to give it a try.

However, I can’t stand a hand-made paper form. So I’ve made a better one (I think). I’ve attached it to the bottom of this post in two formats. One is a spreadsheet, in OpenOffice format, which has the advantage that it can be edited on computer, keeping ugly handwriting away from my pretty form. The disadvantage is that OpenOffice wouldn’t allow me to do it in a single file, so you have two. The second format is an Acrobat file, which is neatly in a single file, but you have to fill it out by hand, because I don’t have the technology to make proper forms in Acrobat.

You’re welcome to these forms if you like them:

Morning Links

David is still home. His supercold has mostly gone away, but now he has an ear infection from the buildup. And of course, a fever. As soon as I get done being the worst Mr. Mom ever, I’ll see about posting something that I originated myself.

In the mean time, links:

  1. More on Watchmen: revision as political statement. I doubt I will actually watch the movie myself. Some things that are bearable in print, should not be seen in action.
  2. David says B, which has always been my preferred position on the matter, but I think we’ll be going with A for a while.
  3. Ok. If I can get them to use this patch for something, we will do Boy Scouts.
  4. Population rapidly declining, liberals rejoice?
  5. Only works in English
  6. More on the Evangelical collapse. From one view, it’s a good thing – the part that’s supposed to collapse is the part that I didn’t consider Evangelical.
  7. Apparently, I need to read more Wodehouse, cause I never heard of Bertie Wooster. I have heard of Jeeves, though.
  8. (Obliquely) via Rick Joyner: Todd Bently on road to restoration, via a remarriage. My only thought: Remarried? I couldn’t even get married that fast!
  9. A critique of the Lorax, with which I agree. I’m all in favor of taller buildings!
  10. Scary place to do your business.
  11. Embryos might become fertilized?

Afternoon Links

  1. Hoo Boy
  2. Heh.
  3. Wow. All Don Francisco’s stuff is donation-based. I still haven’t downloaded any songs though. I feel the need to donate something and I haven’t any.
  4. Connecticut attempts to undermine the first amendment. Fortunately postponed. Anthony Esolen says, “bring it on!“
  5. On Confession. The Orthodox position looks to be closer to a Protestant position than he thinks. Of course, for a Protestant, there is a judicial aspect to dealing with sin, but that aspect, for the believer, has already been dealt with at the cross. Since the judicial aspect of confession has been removed, there is no reason to confess your sins to an official who responds to it like a parole officer. Rather, you confess one to another, for mutual edification.
  6. The Debt Star.
  7. Massive financial collapse leading to war. Fernandez seems this is an improvement over WWI, in which this was reversed.
  8. Pretty! My guess is that I still won’t be allowed to get one at that price, 45,000 hours or no.
  9. Evangelicalism collapsing. Actually, I thought the trend was up.

Opening Thoughts, Marred by Verse

This poem isn’t really finished, but it’s at least round the first bend, and since somehow I’ve already managed to post it once by accident, I’ll let you read what’s there while I work on the rest.

I have been reading Dante, so
Forgive me, if you may,
The way that I am strewing all
These iams on the page.

The mind adapts itself unto
The pattern that it’s fed
And replicates it endlessly
While pulling on its thread –
Unraveling, re-raveling
With endless permutation,
A master-house that has the goal
Of its own renovation.

Who has seen a created thing
That’s made quite like the mind?
Do fish, or birds, or arthropods,
Or beasts that feed on grass
Create themselves the path they follow
And set their lives to plans?
But such is man who’s made like God
The created who creates.
He picks a star and sets his course,
And rides in his own wake.

Yet, unlike God, who gets to choose,
Man also cannot choose.
The mirror shines, and so must he,
Reflecting what he sees.
He halts a bit, and modifies,
Changes meter, or the rhyme,
Opens up his aperture,
Adjusts his shutter speed.

But he cannot cease to worship.
He cannot cease to feed
On wisdom, honor, truth and beauty.
The numinous, the seed
Of glory ever lives inside him
and grows there like a weed.
It forces him to seek the holy
With a holy sort of greed.

And Lord, here is your gardener,
Standing in the field:
He has his seed; he has the soil,
He has a hoe to wield.
He has his purpose, and his duty,
And has the call to choose.
But still he cannot force himself
To ever choose the good.

And like a telescope deciding
Stars are without worth –
It twists itself to look for something,
Unhinging from it’s posts,
Then sways and tips, and holding… falls,
Its lens now mired in earth,
Its vision-shaft now soundly bent,
And lost to starry hosts.
Yet something still is working there,
Receiving what it sees,
Passing up exhumous visions,
Displaying rotten leaves.

So the human constitution,
Though broken by its fall,
Cannot help but seek its purpose,
Shaping self and all
The cosmos to the god it’s fashioned,
Cycling god and self
And cosmos, thralled with choosing, still
Desiring something else.

Morning Links

Good Morning. I’m sitting on pins and needles this morning, hoping that our outrageous tax rebate comes in soon. Apparently our child deductions from last year are the only thing that can help us afford to pay for this year’s day care – until we can get a cheaper situation.

On to the links:

  1. The things time-shares will do to get you to listen. (Robots!)
  2. Soviet era jokes, applied to US.
  3. The realism of a Sega light gun.
  4. Just like Minority Report. Now all we need are the telepaths.
  5. More fanatic than his fans.
  6. The power of pie
  7. Turtle marching band
  8. Hallelujah! Americans acquiring sense, to the disappointment of all politicians everywhere.
  9. Emoticicons… busted.
  10. L. Ron Hubbard, explained.

Morning Links

Good morning. Working on a new site design. Tread lightly.

  1. Heh. Have you seen *my* portfolio?
  2. I’m heading this direction soon, myself.
  3. A new perspective on 1 Trillion
  4. Why hasn’t inflation hit? Personally, I’m in favor of a sudden, rapid burst of inflation, to last for approximately one year, or until I get my debt paid off, whichever comes last. Following that, I would be in favor of an equally rapid phase of deflation, to last until I buy a house. after which I would be strongly in favor of doing whatever it takes to eliminate these dangerous swings in the economy.
  5. The Periodic table… of awsomeness. Man, think of the molecules you could put together!
  6. Overpriced car, now with more features. It’s still too expensive.
  7. Avoiding “the Tertullian heresy” is getting more and more difficult.
  8. Joe Biden – apparently not a math minor either.

Morning Links

Good Morning.

  1. In which employment is elusive. My own dilemma.
  2. Housing prices – an example.
  3. Why Business majors are bad for business. Instead you’re supposed to get an Arts degree, plus something like a math minor. Doug Wilson would be pleased. So should I. But I missed the math minor (and I’m still trying to figure out how to make up for it).
  4. New Readability button makes things more readable by formatting out the junk. I’ve tried it a couple of times, and it has its advantages. It also can’t handle poetry, and can’t be turned off without reloading the entire page.
  5. On the follies of using text replace without proofreading the text.
  6. Scientist unlocks mystery of bellybutton lint. Seriously. Even comes up with a theory of its purpose.
  7. WSJ: Barak Breaking Economy.