I just read this and thought it to be a beautifully eloquent and forceful defense of theism:

Transcript of the Pope's Regensburg address, September 12th, 2006:

We believe in God. This is a fundamental decision on our part. But is such a thing still possible today? Is it reasonable? From the Enlightenment on, science, at least in part, has applied itself to seeking an explanation of the world in which God would be unnecessary. And if this were so, he would also become unnecessary in our lives. But whenever the attempt seemed to be nearing success - inevitably it would become clear: something is missing from the equation! When God is subtracted, something doesn’t add up for man, the world, the whole vast universe. So we end up with two alternatives. What came first? Creative Reason, the Spirit who makes all things and gives them growth, or Unreason, which, lacking any meaning, yet somehow brings forth a mathematically ordered cosmos, as well as man and his reason. The latter, however, would then be nothing more than a chance result of evolution and thus, in the end, equally meaningless. As Christians, we say: I believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth - I believe in the Creator Spirit. We believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal Word, with Reason and not Unreason. With this faith we have no reason to hide, no fear of ending up in a dead end. We rejoice that we can know God! And we try to let others see the reasonableness of our faith, as Saint Peter bids us do in his First Letter (cf. 3:15)!

We believe in God. This is what the main sections of the Creed affirm, especially the first section. But another question now follows: in what God? Certainly we believe in the God who is Creator Spirit, creative Reason, the source of everything that exists, including ourselves. The second section of the Creed tells us more. This creative Reason is Goodness, it is Love. It has a face. God does not leave us groping in the dark. He has shown himself to us as a man. In his greatness he has let himself become small. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, Jesus says (Jn 14:9). God has taken on a human face. He has loved us even to the point of letting himself be nailed to the Cross for our sake, in order to bring the sufferings of mankind to the very heart of God. Today, when we have learned to recognize the pathologies and the life-threatening diseases associated with religion and reason, and the ways that God’s image can be destroyed by hatred and fanaticism, it is important to state clearly the God in whom we believe, and to proclaim confidently that this God has a human face. Only this can free us from being afraid of God - which is ultimately at the root of modern atheism. Only this God saves us from being afraid of the world and from anxiety before the emptiness of life. Only by looking to Jesus Christ does our joy in God come to fulfilment and become redeemed joy. During this solemn Eucharistic celebration, let us look to the Lord and ask him to give us the immense joy which he promised to his disciples (cf. Jn 16:24)!

Quote of the day: "I ain't flat, the band's sharp." - Robbie Williams in the background of one of his songs. (As a joke of course)

We just got back last Friday from our vacation at the North Sea, which was awesome...more later on that.

Now I need to get the "I usually don't do memes, but..." out of the way before I post this:

I usually don't do memes, but...my brother Timothy tagged me, so I really have no choice. :) Note my answers are not at all going to be as impressive as his are (Henry David Who?) Here we go, my answers to the book meme:

1. One book that changed your life:

Well, sorry, but the only book I can think of that actually deserves that description would also be the most obvious answer: the Bible. No other book I've read (so far!) has impacted me strongly enough that I'd say it actually changed my life.

2. One book that you've read more than once:

Radical Reformissionary by Mark Driscoll. I read it on my own, then also our church read it together. I found myself thinking "That is EXACTLY what I've always thought, just never had words to describe it like that." more than once reading it.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island:

Other than the Bible and "Practical raft-building", I can't think of anything better than a good deep novel: Lord of the Rings for example.

4. One book that made you laugh:

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. I don't know exactly why, but he hit my funny bone very often in that book, I think my humor is similar to his. I found myself laughing out loud on the tram, people staring at me out of the corner of their eyes. :)

5. One book that made you cry:

This is kind of embarrassing, but Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala. There is just story after unbelievable story of God answering desperate prayers, and one story of parents and the church crying out to God for the parents' runaway daughter, only to have her completely turn her life around and come back home brought me to tears.

6. One book you wish had been written:

The Gospel of James with stories about Jesus' teenage and young adult life as remembered by his brother.

7. One book you wish had never been written:

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: NOT because I disagree with the science in the book (though I do), but because of what happened philosophically in society as a (direct and indirect) result of Darwinism.

8. One book you're currently reading:

Walking from East to West by Ravi Zacharias. Great book so far, it's a very intriguing account of his life - growing up in India, then moving to Canada, then the States. His insights and memoirs in there are so inspiring and challenging.

9. One book you've been meaning to read:

Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or ours? by Roland Allen. This book was written in 1912, but is seemingly becoming more and more relevant as time goes by.

10. Tag someone else:

Hmmm...I tag my wife. *evil grin*

Just some random Google goodness - have you ever wondered how many teaspoons are in a cubic light year? I sure know I have.

And now I have the answer, thanks to the wonder of Google. Thank you, Google, for total information overload.

Found this cool art site in a Times article which allows you to create your own Pollock painting, like mine on the left there:

http://jacksonpollock.org/

Enjoy.

I just figured out why I never really liked baseball. According to this article, the average baseball game takes almost 3 hours, but out of those 3 hours, the ball is actually in play only roughly 10 minutes!! Meaning that 95% of a baseball game, basically absolutely nothing is happening.

Hi!

Just wanted to unashamedly admit that I actually kind of enjoyed "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift".

Well, almost unashamedly.

A couple of friends at work are really into yo-yoing (yes that is spelled correctly). A while ago a good friend of theirs got fifth place in the world yo-yo championship.

Here's #1. Prepare to pick your jaw back up out of your lap.



I love watching people who are true masters of their trade. I should make an archive of videos like this one and the juggling one from a while back. They inspire me.

Yeah, I know, it's been a while, sorry about that, bla bla bla... :)

Anyways, just wanted to point everyone to my family's blogs, there's some really cool stuff on here:

Timothy - "The Mental Stomach of Timothy Goering"
Other than the rather yucky metaphoric title ;), he's concentrating on very deep theological stuff - his posts are definitely not quick reads (or "snacks" to stick with his food picture) - but they're very deep and worth reading!

David - My eyes
David's a frikkin' AWESOME photographer, so check out some of his pictures, other than that he writes fun stuff on his blog, so check him out and give him some clickin' love.

Jana - The Fun Site
So far mainly what all's going on in her life, she played in a theater production at school, and got into a whip cream fight a while back (ew...). :) Good fun.

Enjoy!

I've decided to keep an online journal where I enter in any thoughts I have during times with God, or from teachings or songs or other stuff. That way I'll be able to sort and search thoughts months and years down the road, also it's a motivator to really be writing stuff down that I'm learning.

I'll definitely still be using this blog (the one you're reading) for fun links, news, and other stuff. But for the more, I don't know, spiritual stuff I'll be using this Vox page, so go ahead and bookmark / Bloglines it if you feel like it:

The John Journal