Link Ethics
So, thanks to Heather, mostly, I've begun to be re-interested in the old Nintendo game "Legend of Zelda" See the website that has a bunch of the old games here.
Some things I've noticed as I'm re-learning the game & attempting to rescue the princess:
1. It is impossible to win without killing a large variety of alternately fuzzy, grumpy, and winged creatures.
2. Such creatures are usually out to get you, and once killed they sometimes leave behind money, weapons or life-force.
3. New lands mean new things to kill.
So, maybe this is basic training, but it is interesting how closely these principles seem to echo real-life war - killing other people allows mercenaries and looters to get money, weapons, and food (or whatever else constitutes life-force) from dead enemies. I have to admit though, sometimes it's really nice to catch a life-force fairy and see those little empty hearts fill up.
Perhaps with love, the true life-force?
[Post-script 9.18.07 - The better I get at killing little creatures, the less I contemplate it.]
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
The Book of Philemon
For those of you interested in reading the Bible, but also wanting to impress people with how many books you can read really quickly, I recommend Philemon. It's not even long enough to have a second chapter. And, as a bonus, it's written by Paul, but has very little of his convoluted theologizing. It could almost be a blog entry.
Some caveats: in the letter, Paul is trying to get Philemon to accept back gracefully a slave who had run away from him to serve Paul. So in the past people used the text to justify slavery. I would say that Paul is mostly just working within the status quo, not necessarily agreeing to it. In fact, he seems to be trying to get an exception made to the rules based on his authority as an apostle.
Still: There's something about the rhetoric of the book that I really like. This is Paul at his most appealing and personal. You get the feeling he really loves Philemon, the householder, and Onesimus, the slave, and wants both of them to do the right thing out of love for each other and Christ. Like I said: short on theologizing, long on personality.
And if you didn't like it, it's technically pretty short on everything.
For those of you interested in reading the Bible, but also wanting to impress people with how many books you can read really quickly, I recommend Philemon. It's not even long enough to have a second chapter. And, as a bonus, it's written by Paul, but has very little of his convoluted theologizing. It could almost be a blog entry.
Some caveats: in the letter, Paul is trying to get Philemon to accept back gracefully a slave who had run away from him to serve Paul. So in the past people used the text to justify slavery. I would say that Paul is mostly just working within the status quo, not necessarily agreeing to it. In fact, he seems to be trying to get an exception made to the rules based on his authority as an apostle.
Still: There's something about the rhetoric of the book that I really like. This is Paul at his most appealing and personal. You get the feeling he really loves Philemon, the householder, and Onesimus, the slave, and wants both of them to do the right thing out of love for each other and Christ. Like I said: short on theologizing, long on personality.
And if you didn't like it, it's technically pretty short on everything.
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