Are you grandiloquent?
Some fun with words and definitions – big words are very useful, but big words, not to mention copious words, can obfuscate rather than clarify. Here’s some fun words related to words. Got more?
bombastic
grandiose but with little meaning, ostentatiously lofty in style
grandiloquent
pompous or extravagant in language, style, or manner, esp. in a way that is intended to impress
fustian
pompous or pretentious speech or writing
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
fear of long words!
macroverbumsciolist
1) a person who is ignorant of large words
2) a person who pretends to know a word, then secretly refers to a dictionary
pleonasm
1)The use of more words than are required to express an idea; redundancy.
2) A superfluous word or phrase
sesquipedalian
given to using long words
Horace’s phrase was verba sesquipedalia which would mean “words a foot and a half long’ – like ‘sesquicentennial’ means the 150th anniversary.
turgid - (of language or style) tediously pompous or bombastic
Making fun of Scientology
In case you missed the hilarious scientology episode of South Park, you can watch it here (WARNING: Explicit Language). You can also learn all about scientology through this funny flash dealio (WARNING: Explicit Language). And of course, you can find even more fun stuff like anti-scientology t-shirts (“Free Xenu”) at scientomogy.com.
Sevens Meme
Prosthesis tagged me to answer these questions.
A. Seven things to do before I die
B. Seven things I cannot do
C. Seven things that attracted me to [my spouse or significant other or best friend]
D. Seven things I say most often
E. Seven books (or series) I love
F. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time)
G. Seven people I want to join in, too
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Is Genesis Metaphorical or Historical?
One of the more informative podcasts I listen to regularly is Issues Etc. Recently, they interviewed Joel Heck, who’s written a very inexpensive book entitled In the Beginning, God: Creation from God’s Perspective, which examines the questions surrounding the historicity and interpretation of Genesis.
I was impressed with his answers, and learned some new reasons why Genesis should be interpreted as history, not metaphor, and that Chapter 2 should be seen, not as a recapitulation, but as a detailed examination of the 6th day (the creation of man). His explanation of why the verbs in Chapter 2 should be interpreted as past tense (God “had planted”, not God “planted”) easily clears up the ‘problems’ with chronologies. Download the mp3 here.
Podcast: Play in new window
Effectiveness of zero tolerance policies
After much of the violence and deaths at school campuses across the nation, school boards began enacting zero tolerance policies for things such as weapons on school grounds. While this sounds reasonable on its surface, it has become an escape for teachers and administrators allowing them to not make a tough decision. They simply point to the policy and apply a one-size-fits-all brand of justice.
While everyone should be treated fairly, that does not mean that every student accused of bringing a weapon to school deserves to be punished equally.
Take a recent case in Georgia where two girls were suspended for 10 days because of a butter knife. The even more amazing thing is they didn’t even bring the butter knife to school.
NYT is ready for a Brave New World
The New York Time (as always) is advocating controversial science with no need for public debate.
In an editorial yesterday, the Times editors attempted to calm any doubts or fears about the creation of chimeras (animal-human hybrids).
There’s no problem they assured us. Researchers just want to try to find cures for all our diseases. Stem cell research using chimeras will solve every health problem we’ve ever had. All they want to do is implant human brain stem cells into mice and see how they react. That’s all. Who knows what would really be going on there, but don’t worry just let the scientist do their jobs.
Sorting out the Civil War’s causes
With the upcoming Sesquicentennial (150 years) of the Civil War, a lot of discussion is occurring around racism in America, as well as the role of religion and politics in the making and unmaking of slavery and racism in America.
Here’s two really good resources, both podcasts.
First, in Evangelical Fervor and the Crisis of the Civil War: A Conversation with Historian David Goldfield, Albert Mohler interviews historian and award winning author David Goldfield on his new book America Aflame: How the Civil War Created a Nation.
Podcast: Play in new window
What good does eternal punishment accomplish?
In my last post, I discussed the various defenses of the eternality of hell – this time, I would like to compare the role of punishment in the temporal world (our current temporal time frame) and in eternity (eternal time frame).
1. What does EARTHLY punishment accomplish?
a. Protecting the Innocent
If we either incarcerate or execute criminals, we remove them from being a threat to the general population.
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Why eternal punishment?
Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins is a modern reformulation of Christian Universalism, that is, the idea that all are saved from judgement by the works of Christ. Not a new idea, but controversial coming from a supposed evangelical.
One of the questions the problem of eternal hell brings up is, “is eternal (infinite) punishment a just recompense for temporal (finite) sins?”
To my knowledge, there are three orthodox answers. I suspect these may all have names and have been discussed by famous theologians, but alas, I have not found them yet. Let me know if you know of good representatives of each view.
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10 Questions Your Pastor Can’t Answer – Answered
Recently, Stewart from Insulted proposed a list of what he called 10 Questions Your Pastor Can’t Answer. I’m not sure how difficult these questions would be for my pastor, but they were rather difficult for me. That being said, I do have answers to each of Stewart’s questions.* (I am also in the process of preparing my own “10 Questions Your Local Atheist/Agnostic/Skeptic Can’t Answer”)
