Posted by William on Jun 26, 2010

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”

- Daniel Boorstin

I feel that in Christian culture, the concept of faith is taught in such a broad spectrum that the way we are really to interact with it is made somewhat ambiguous.

Many Christians assume faith must be totally blind. As children, or new Christians, we’re taught a set of Christian dogmatics and facts. They simmer for a long time. Then, most of us as (seemingly) mature Christians feel, on some level, that we have the answers that we need for our faith. But it doesn’t really add up quite right.

A near infant can learn that when he sees the symbols “F I R E T R U C K” arranged in the right way, he says the word “fire truck!” But this doesn’t mean he can read. What if that’s all we did? We simply memorized the arrangement of letters for thousands of words, but never learned the rules that built those words out of letters? We might conclude that we could read. Even though we couldn’t.

In some ways, this is how I think Christians often see their faith. A series of facts they’ve memorized and therefore concluded that their education in those areas is complete. As many ex-Christians know, it takes very little to shatter that faith.

I think for Christians to grow secure and strong, we need to fully realize that, even of the things we know about our faith, we know very little.

Posted by William on Aug 17, 2009

I think that some of the most interesting and entertaining videos to watch on the internet are the high frame-rate, super slow-motion recordings of every day things. It’s so interesting, in fact, that Discovery Chanel actually made a whole show about it. It’s called Time Warp.

I spent about an hour this afternoon watching videos like these and it occurred to me how fascinating and complex just about everything really is if you can look at close enough. Even the simplest actions, like catching a ball or swinging a hammer are a really intricate web of tiny interconnecting actions. And I skate right over it just about every minute of every day.

I know this is no cosmic revelation. But it was fun to take notice for once. This video is a collection of interesting things from the Time Warp show on Discovery.

If you can’t see the video here, you can watch it on YouTube.

Posted by William on May 18, 2009

Okay, possibly one of the strangest-uninteresting things I’ve been inspired to write about here, but it’s where my gut is taking me, so it’s where I’m going.

I seem to be in a time of rediscovery. Coming across things I once dismissed for one reason or another and realizing that I love it now. I think it started with Macintosh computers. Then web & graphic design. Now, it’s Subway.

subway,0 Not the subway, as in the series of interconnected underground railways. I mean the international chain of sandwich shops that hit the scene in 1965.

Years ago I dismissed Subway because they had this bad habit of being really stingy with the meat. Plus, it always seemed like I ended up spending $7 or $8. Frankly, it was just too much for what I was getting. Plus, I’ve always had this hesitation about buying subs since they’re so easy to make at home. So needless to say, I walked out and decided I’d stick to other quick-cuisine options.

Several weeks ago however, some friends and I discovered a Subway shop in Gambrills Maryland that’s open 24 hours a day. A small Asian man always arms the station at night time. He works slowly, but accurately and never uses too much mayo—unless you ask him to.

They seem to have corrected their meat portions problem and now that all the basic sandwiches are just five bucks, it’s really an excellent (and tasty) deal.

(You know, I should really be getting paid for writing crap like this).

Anyways, thanks for wasting a few minutes reading about my rediscovery of Subway restaurants. If you hit up a Subway, try out the Oven Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat bread, toasted, with Southwest Chipotle sauce. You won’t be disappointed. It’ll cost you $5.30 in Maryland. Enjoy.