Precautionary Measures When Critiquing or Criticizing; Or, Hunting Lessons

When hunting down a sacred cow or two, know the gun that you will be using. A shotgun kills the cow faster, but you may unnecessarily/unintentionally wound some other cows. Precise aim is essential for hitting the target you want without bothering the other cows. Some targets require more and bigger ammo and that's fine, but the more bullets you start zipping around may either 1) result in innocent casualities or 2) make you look like a bloodthirsty sadist. Of course, if the cows keep on multiplying and you don't take stock and see which ones may need to be taken out, you'll be left with a field full of cow poop.

Bible War

So the ESVSB has landed, and what a ruckus it has caused. On one hand it is quite exciting, on another hand it can cause rebellious types like me to roll their eyes a little bit. Do we need an extra 700 pages of Bible? Do we need glossy reconstructions of the Jerusalem temple? So, with stone-faced determination I went and employed my "less is more" ethic. I went and bought a Bible.





That's what I'm talking about.

I am a voice crying out in the suburbs

Since I can no longer stand being "that blog" that just takes up space on your blogroll, I will post!

I am still here at Trinity. Alive: yes; sane: barely. [Takes a break to wipe the dust off my desk]. I don't know how to properly express my happiness with being here without sounding like I'm recruiting or fundraising for Trinity, so I'll try to be more reflective.

First of all, I love being here. Okay, now that I got that out of the way:

It's impossible not to compare this place with Biola. They both have Bible departments, outstanding faculty, chapel services, financial aid offices (oy vay!), and on-campus housing. Oh, and students. So the similarities go on and on. So is Trinity just a colder version of Biola?

After thinking about the differences between Biola and Trinity, undergraduate and graduate schooling, one big difference came to mind. Now, understand first of all that this distinction I will make is a highly subjective, gross generalization and may be very false. Okay? Here goes: After thinking over undergraduate education, I started to see it as a one-way transaction. It goes like this: teacher-->knowledge-->student. The student is a bucket, and he/she is to catch as much knowledge as they can (or as much as they want). Full stop. End of transaction. Now hear me on this: I don't think schools set out to deal with this one-way transaction of knowledge to students. This education model I just gave is grotesque, and I doubt any reasonable educator would affirm that college academics seek to fulfill this plan. So why did I give this model in the first place? Because I think the students are the ones who see undergraduate education this way, and that makes all the difference. Students see college as: "I go to college, I learn, and I leave." End of transaction. Again, I am not saying that every college student ever was like this, but it sometimes seemed to be the general air being carried around the undergraduate world.

And so, turning attention to Trinity, I see something different in the way education is portrayed here. Now, just like Noah's ark, generalizations best come in pairs, so generalize I will. Because of Trinity being a seminary (*ah hem*, a 'divinity school'), a training ground for future ministers, there is an ethos of service and urgency. The students here (beware: generalization approaching) have a sense of calling and purpose to be here, so any talk of getting smart just to get smart is near blasphemy. And, let's be honest, who'd want to pay this much just to get smart?

I could go on, but I really need to study Hebrew. Maybe I'll post again in another month. Thanks for reading.

I've been rather silent on this blog since I've arrived here at Trinity, so I plead forgiveness for my aloofness. Unfortunately, this post will do little to inform you regarding my thoughts and experiences thus far. I've been busy with Orientation as well as getting oriented in this place. All I can promise is Soon; Soon I will make a post full of fun bits of my past week. For now, all I have to say is that this Wednesday at 7:30 I will sit in my first seminary class, Biblical Theology and Interpretation, under the esteemed D.A. Carson. And, dear reader, I can hardly wait.

I spy with my little eye something that looks like...

Chicago!

I'm here! It's weird! It feels and looks like L.A., except there are toll roads. More news to follow.

Bible colleges are in big trouble

How's this for an OT/NT survey class?

The Wheels on Mario's Kart Go...

Red shells--check. Bananas--word up. Tropical islands, castles, haunted mansions, and battle modes--fo' sho'. All the joys of Mario Kart for Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Gamecube have been faithfully transported over to the Wii. This time, however, you get to use a steering wheel.

The game (I think) comes with two plastic steering wheel cases that you connect the Wii controller to, which helps to bring this animated and imaginary racing experience to life (or..closer to life). I found that sometimes the steering could be overly sensitive or sluggish, but you'll be too engrossed in trying to blast Wario's face off with three red shells to care.

The big change that came with the Gamecube version of Mario Kart and that carries over to this edition is the amount of intensity in the racing experience. There is almost never a time when you aren't shooting someone/being shot at, making quick turns to avoid a pit or getting a chance box, or laughing (probably all three simultaneously). The game is gracious to you when you fall behind in a race (giving you the best weapons/boosts to help you catch up), and the race leader is never safe (the spiny shell is back, a favorite of those in 11th and 12th place).

The tracks themselves are always a pleasure to look at and race on. There are never too many challenging turns or pitfalls in a track--that would make it too much like a racing game and there would be no need for weapons. Yet, there are always enough track surprises (jumps, changing environments from lap to lap, Goombas in the middle of the road) that force you to race smart or face coming in last. A few tracks are brought back from the Nintendo 64 days, so those who are a little behind the times (me) can still fight on familiar ground.

I don't own a Wii. I only played this game for about 30 minutes. But I liked it, and I recommend it.