Went to dinner tonight so I could introduce my friend Christina to my little brother Xan. We went to Fortune, one of our favorite Chinese food places here in Provo. ($1.25 an item for takeout is a steal!) End of the meal comes, we get our fortune cookies. This has to be one of the best ones I've ever gotten:
A short stranger will soon enter your life with blessings to share.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
House, M.D.
I usually watch an episode of something while I eat lunch everyday. You can find most any TV show on the internet these days. Recently, after running through Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Angel, Boston Legal, and Supernatural, I decided to try House, M.D. A rule of thumb I have is that every series gets at least 1 season. If they haven’t made me interested by then, I don’t continue watching it. This rule stems from the first season of Stargate: SG-1, which wasn’t all that great until the last few episodes and went on to become a really good show.
House, M.D. follows the outrageously blunt medical genius Dr. Gregory House and his squad of assistant doctors who try to diagnose patients with such bizzare symptoms that they have been incorrectly diagnosed or not even diagnosed at all by other hospitals.
I’m glad I stuck to the one season rule for this series. Until the middle of the season I was kind of bored. Dr. House was mostly annoying (though his sarcasm lead to some classic moments), none of his assistant doctors was interesting, and the conflict between him and Dr. Cuddy, the hospital administrator, was midly engaging at best. Somewhere in the middle the writers decided to make it about the characters, and not about the diseases. With the introduction of Edward Vogler, the new owner of the hospital and head of the board, the series began to take off. Though Vogler was only around for five episodes, he provided the impetus for lots and lots of character development, making it a serial drama with episodic leanings. In that sense it is now kind of like Bones or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is one show I will continue to watch. I give it an A.
To end, a few gems from Dr. House:
After calling some parents and telling them their son is dead, even though he isn’t: “Be sure and let me know when Cuddy starts screaming.”
While talking to a young mother who doesn’t want to vaccinate her infant: “You know another really good business? Teeny, tiny baby coffins. You can get them in frog green. Fire engine red. Really.”
Talking to the parents of a child, who they didn’t disclose was adopted when he was admitted: “Listen, when we were taking his medical history were you confused? Did you think we were looking for a genetic clue to his condition or did you think we were trying to ascertain who loves him the most in the whole wide world?”
To the wife of a patient when her husband and his assistant doctors (who he references here) refuse to let him continue the treatment: “So what’s your plan? You take the big dark one, I take the little girl and the Aussie will run like a scared wombat if things turn rough?”
To a mother who has just refused to let House and his staff start a prescribed treatment: “I understand my doctors consider my decision to be completely idiotic, but I am convinced I know more than they do. I took a biology course in high school.”
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Thoughts on FLDS theology, or The Little Cult on the Prairie.
Seeing as I have a MA in theology from a decently prestigious university (Yale) I think I’m qualified to weigh in on this issue. I promise not to go on too long, as I really could in this case. To start, the entire Texas fiasco seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. Taking all of the kids? All? Really? But that turned out, in the end, to not really pan out and the children have been returned. However, in reading up on this through the various news outlets I found out a few things that, at least I’m reasonably confident, are true of FLDS theology.
1. In order to obtain the highest degree of heaven, one must be polygamous.
2. In order for women to obtain the highest degree of heaven, they must be married to a righteous man.
3. Living the Principle, polygamy, trumps everything.
Now I doubt any FLDS person would actually state 3. Maybe they would. I have stated it here because, well, it appears to be true. Things like “go ye therefore and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19) apparently no longer apply. FLDS don’t do missionary work. I could point to others, but it seems the FLDS have missed the whole “everybody is a child of God” boat. Basically it appears that they have decided that living this commandment supersedes all other commandments.
Regarding 1 and 2, the FLDS God is apparently not, assuming a ration of 1:1 males to females among all his children, interested in saving 1/4 of his children. If you must be polygamous to go to the highest degree of heaven God has instantly condemned half of all the males who have ever lived to some kind of lesser heaven, or even a hell, depending on what conception of the afterlife the FLDS adhere to. I read in one paper, but couldn’t verify it anywhere else, that in order for it to count you must have more than two wives. Lovely. That would automatically condemn 1/3 of God’s children.
I’m sorry. Any theology that automatically condemns certain people to hell for circumstances beyond their control is wrong. This is another reason for point number 3 above . . . the Principle is apparently so important that they will kick out young men who compete for the women. And this must happen because, like any other community, the ration of men to women born is about 1:1. That leads to problems very fast.
Go do the math, FLDSers. Your God is an idiot. Fail.
1. In order to obtain the highest degree of heaven, one must be polygamous.
2. In order for women to obtain the highest degree of heaven, they must be married to a righteous man.
3. Living the Principle, polygamy, trumps everything.
Now I doubt any FLDS person would actually state 3. Maybe they would. I have stated it here because, well, it appears to be true. Things like “go ye therefore and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19) apparently no longer apply. FLDS don’t do missionary work. I could point to others, but it seems the FLDS have missed the whole “everybody is a child of God” boat. Basically it appears that they have decided that living this commandment supersedes all other commandments.
Regarding 1 and 2, the FLDS God is apparently not, assuming a ration of 1:1 males to females among all his children, interested in saving 1/4 of his children. If you must be polygamous to go to the highest degree of heaven God has instantly condemned half of all the males who have ever lived to some kind of lesser heaven, or even a hell, depending on what conception of the afterlife the FLDS adhere to. I read in one paper, but couldn’t verify it anywhere else, that in order for it to count you must have more than two wives. Lovely. That would automatically condemn 1/3 of God’s children.
I’m sorry. Any theology that automatically condemns certain people to hell for circumstances beyond their control is wrong. This is another reason for point number 3 above . . . the Principle is apparently so important that they will kick out young men who compete for the women. And this must happen because, like any other community, the ration of men to women born is about 1:1. That leads to problems very fast.
Go do the math, FLDSers. Your God is an idiot. Fail.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Yoda and the Book of Mormon, eh?
So I was walking from church in the Joseph Smith Building to count tithing in the Benson Building when I saw this.
There are a few ways to react to this. The first would be simply to post the picture I took with my iPhone with the caption “I got nothing. You got anything?” Because, really, I have no words to describe this.
Is the gospel more convincing when taught by a Jedi Master? Or is Yoda going all old-school Christian Crusader and enforcing conversion by the sword (lightsaber, in this case)? Are they all signing a pact to read the Book of Mormon, swearing the oath by signing their names on his likeness? (The pen is there, taped to him in the picture.) Or did some idiot think this was a good idea to project his love for Star Wars into church? I mean, some Mormons have speculated that Yoda was designed to look like Spencer W, Kimball:
but come on. In church?
Could we make church more, oh, I dunno, focused on Jesus? On my mission I took a picture of me holding the book of Mormon in one hand and a picture of the Savior in the other in front of the Statue of Liberty, mimicking the post as best I could. It’s something I have in a photo album. I think Grandma Holbrook has a picture of it up on her missionary wall. But I would never put that up in a church. Especially in a life-sized presentation. What dork thought it would be a good idea to have Yoda doing the same? Did someone actually think people would read the Book of Mormon because Yoda said to? There must be a better way to encourage reading the scriptures. Seriously.
There are a few ways to react to this. The first would be simply to post the picture I took with my iPhone with the caption “I got nothing. You got anything?” Because, really, I have no words to describe this.
Is the gospel more convincing when taught by a Jedi Master? Or is Yoda going all old-school Christian Crusader and enforcing conversion by the sword (lightsaber, in this case)? Are they all signing a pact to read the Book of Mormon, swearing the oath by signing their names on his likeness? (The pen is there, taped to him in the picture.) Or did some idiot think this was a good idea to project his love for Star Wars into church? I mean, some Mormons have speculated that Yoda was designed to look like Spencer W, Kimball:
but come on. In church?
Could we make church more, oh, I dunno, focused on Jesus? On my mission I took a picture of me holding the book of Mormon in one hand and a picture of the Savior in the other in front of the Statue of Liberty, mimicking the post as best I could. It’s something I have in a photo album. I think Grandma Holbrook has a picture of it up on her missionary wall. But I would never put that up in a church. Especially in a life-sized presentation. What dork thought it would be a good idea to have Yoda doing the same? Did someone actually think people would read the Book of Mormon because Yoda said to? There must be a better way to encourage reading the scriptures. Seriously.
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