Backward progress

I have an iPhone 3G. Apple offered an upgrade to their version 4 operating system and I took it. Regret followed immediately when the phone slowed down so much passing snails were smirking. Today I discovered how to downgrade to the last of the version 3 systems and speed has returned, leaving amazement among snails all over Worthing.
 

A step backwards brings progress. Vive IT!

16 September 2010

Slow Reader

I bought Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder on 8th May, 1999. I finished reading it a few days ago in September, 2010. Like so many other books, I bought this one to read on a trip for Feba, that time as I flew out of Heathrow to Nairobi and on to Seychelles. On the way home I visited Kampala, Uganda. Well, the book then went on the shelf and stayed there on and off as I accumulated others on different trips.

This particular literary journey to the end of Sophie’s World began with a visit to Francis Schaeffer’s Escape from Reason in the hope of understanding how British culture has so wholeheartedly turned away from Christian faith. His brief review of the history of philosophy made me want more, so I turned to Sophie. I only wish I was as bright as this fictional young lady, just 14 years old but able to absorb with great ease and rapidity all her mysterious philosophy teacher gives her.

14 September 2010

Anne Rice

I was kind of disappointed to read that Anne Rice has given up on formal, churchy Christianity. Her reasons are typically liberal and I don’t agree with all she says, however, I do share her despair at the un-Christlike hatred she quotes as one reason. My view is that neither liberals nor “haters of sinners” have got it.
 
Jesus loved sinners, being accused by the religious establishment of his day of being a friend of sinners. On the other hand, Jesus did not single out any particular sin as being smaller or bigger than any other; all sin is against God and will be judged by Jesus one day. Everyone, everywhere has fallen short of the standard set by God. And that’s why I can’t swallow modern redefinitions of sin and morality; God decides right and wrong not me.
 
Churches are made up of all kinds of people in all kinds of spiritual condition, so it’s no wonder that any one of us might feel it’s a beneficial thing to give up on church when we have bad experiences, either of sin within the church or of judgementalism that does not reflect the gracious Saviour we claim to love.
 
I talked about Ephesians 3:10 to a group of folk this week and emphasised that despite its failings and our bad experiences, the church belongs to Jesus Christ and God’s manifold wisdom is still revealed through the her. Giving up on God’s work is too easy an option.
 

And that raises the question – what is the church?

10 August 2010

How interesting…

I happened across this web site earlier today – Atheist Anne Rice’s Surprising Discovery – which relates to my last post about her book. I don’t know much about its host site, but this article made an interesting read for me.

7 March 2010

Called Out of Darkness

Over Christmas I read Called Out of Darkness by Anne Rice, which turned out to be a very interesting story of a famous and wealthy writer, brought up in the Roman Catholic Church, who lost her faith, yet “…after thirty-eight years as an atheist, she turned back to Christ, not in blind faith but in a profound transcendental surrender made with open eyes to an all-knowing God…” So says the dust jacket.

With so many prominent people in the U.K. who are former Catholics and now determinedly antagonistic to Christian faith, this was an unusual and moving story.
 
1 March 2010
  1. Sequel
  2. Friday Night Buzz
  3. St Paul's
  4. London in February

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