Saturday, November 24, 2007

Belgian Waffles and Cougars

I actually got dragged off a to a football game today (or at least a broadcast of one). A friend of mine in the ward wanted to go at a local movie theater, and I turned him down last time he invited me to something, so I felt I probably ought to go. Anyway, it ended up fun (we won, and I ate popcorn), so hurray for football. In a fit of sanity, I changed out of my red T-Shirt into a blue one to go watch the game.

My parents are having their anniversaries this week, so we took them out to breakfast at a local restaurant. The food was really good, so score one for Mimi's breakfasts. Unfortunately, the service was sloooooww, so score minus-one, for a grand total of meh.

I filled in for a friend's shift at the temple for most of the afternoon and evening, which was a lot of fun. I haven't done baptisms in quite a while, so it was a nice change of pace from always doing sessions.

Rivalry Week

It's rivalry week! The rivalry in question is BYU vs. the University of Utah, also known as Blue versus Red. The school colors are actually blue & white vs. red & white, but we prefer to emphasize the differences. It's a bad week to be wearing red in Provo.

Since one of the favorite (and particularly destructive) pranks this time of year involves painting things red, most of the BYU campus statuary is coated in shrink wrap. The theory is that overzealous students will chuck their bucket of paint on the shrink wrap, and the statue can then be restored simply by waiting for it to dry and then removing it. The Y on the mountain is 200-odd yards tall, though, and the shrink wrap trick is a little impractical at that size. Instead, they just stick day-and-night patrols on the Y and check anyone going up for paint.

The football game is today, so the madness will hopefully die out by tomorrow.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Giving Thanks

It was Thanksgiving today. This has brought several pertinent things to attention:

1. My niece is very cute.
2. My nephew is pretty cute too.
3. Many of the members of my extended family can cook extremely well. Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful.
4. Folks in my family get along with each other pretty well, and everyone hates leaving when we get together. This is a good thing.

Susan tells me that I should inform Cavan that his trip to Russia was clearly ill-advised, as it has caused him to miss out on a very large chocolate trifle. It was, indeed, a particularly pleasant chocolate trifle, complete with cream, nuts, cherries, chocolate cake, grated chocolate, and loads of chocolate pudding. Cavan, if you're reading this, consider yourself informed.

Incidentally, Thanksgiving at my house is a bit of an amalgam of traditions. It's not a holiday in South Africa, so our family customs had to be pretty much invented on the fly. Turkey with cranberry sauce is good stuff, but for variety's sake, this year we threw in a ham as well. Why not? Mashed potatoes are pleasant enough, but roast potatoes are much nicer, so we do roast potatoes and yams and skip the mashed variety. Stuffing seems like a good idea, but it cooks so much better when you cook it outside of the turkey--and when you do it that way, you can make enough for everyone to eat a lot of it. My mother's stuffing-like invention involves adding a lot of sausage, and is actually one of the main dishes. And of course, there was dessert.

Now, I have nothing against pumpkin pie. They fed it to me in school, and I learned to really enjoy the stuff. But, and this is important, my parents don't really like it. Blasphemy, I know, but they're not going to serve something they don't like. So instead of pumpkin pie, we had to settle for, well, chocolate trifle and lemon meringue pie and custard and some kind of chocolate-and-coconut covered marshmallow things that Elaine assures me are very similar to some favorite South African candy that I don't remember too well. I say "settle," but I think we win on that count.

I think an easy way of describing the meal is sort of a cross between a traditional American Thanksgiving and a British-style Christmas dinner. We just took all the bits we liked from both and mixed them together until you're so stuffed that you have to sort of waddle out the door as you're leaving.

Thanks to all who prepared, those who came, and those who hung around afterward and kept things interesting. It was a great day.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Coding Blog

I've got a fairly long list of programming snippets (usually in C++), and have started a different blog so that I have somewhere to stick them. Most of my readers here are friends and family with little interest in computers, so I've been hesitant to stick heavily technical posts here. Having a separate blog for it makes sense.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Hitting the Gym, and Updates

I spent the evening with some friends who are going back to France tomorrow. We had a mock Thanksgiving dinner (France has no Thanksgiving, and they found the whole concept of deep-fried turkey fascinating). They have a cute four-year-old boy who is sweet and ignores pretty much everything he's told. It was nice to actually use my French a bit, since it gets rusty if left unused.

Shan, if you are going to get a membership then of course I would love to go. Actually, that goes for anyone who doesn't mind putting up with the gym's oozing, oily salesmen in order to get a membership (just be aware that the price you pay and the price they say have pretty much nothing to do with each other--don't give them anything until after you've read the small print on the contract and added up all the unmentioned fees). My hope is to go about 8 o'clock on weekday mornings, so if anyone wants to try it, let me know!

Oh, and Cav asked about a couple more passages. Here they go:

John 10:30, KJV: "I and my father are one." NIV: "I and the Father are one."
John 14:9
KJV: Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
NIV: Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

There are, to my knowledge, no passages claiming that a vocal confession of Christ saves us. The strongest passage that I'm aware of in support of this doctrine is this:

Ephesians 2:8-10
KJV: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
NIV: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Nothing particularly notable on either of these. The word "vocal" never occurs in the NIV NT. The word confession occurs a couple times, but it doesn't seem to be strongly tied to the "grace only" doctrines.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Quick Life Update

It was an interesting weekend. I was reminded that I needed to teach a lesson on Sunday sometime late on Friday night; Saturday was occupied in rapid serial fashion by a quick trip to the gym, several hours of catching up with friends at Van's, and then a session of D&D (with a small gap in there where I actually planned out said session). The talking squirrel is turning out nicely so far, and the druid's back.

That was a lot of fun, but the lesson ended up getting prepared at sometime past midnight, and while it went all right, it was delivered on insufficient sleep. It didn't help that the topic was "women in the church," which I'm sure the Relief Society enjoyed, but it's difficult to figure out where to go with that for an all-singles Elder's Quorum.

Anyway, it's coming up on bed time. Good night, gentle reader(s).

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Further Bible Thoughts

I got such good comments to my last post that I thought I'd do a little follow-up research.

First off, I don't think the NIV really has a good shot at being a replacement for the KJV. The Book of Mormon language generally parallels the KJV and makes recognition of matching passages easier. Our doctrine and lesson books and libraries of sermons are all centered around the KJV. The terms we use come out of the KJV. And there are probably cases where, in doctrinal matters, the KJV is closer, although I haven't really got a good one yet. I think that for reference, the KJV is probably the best way to go. However, for reading, there are definitely times when a modern-language translation can shine.

A quick example: Try reading 2 Corinthians 11-13. Now, I'd read that in the KJV, and while it's a bit of a grammatical maze, you can puzzle out the meaning. What doesn't come through in the KJV is that Paul is ranting. Sure, he's talking about a serious topic (namely, the apostasy of the Corinthians), but he's doing so in such an aggressive, fiery way that you can almost picture the audience wincing at his forcefulness. The KJV tends to come across as soft-spoken and formal, no matter what's being said.

It was mentioned in a comment from Eve that the NIV might have an anti-LDS doctrinal slant in the way things were worded. I would really like references for this. I've taken a few shots at passages with fairly strong references to decidedly LDS doctrines, and thought I'd share the results.

1 Cor 15:29 -- Baptism for the dead as an authentic practice.

KJV: Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
NIV: Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

Rom 8:16-17 -- Man's potential to become heirs of God with Christ.

KJV: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorifed together.
NIV: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Amos 3:7 -- God reveals his will to prophets

KJV: Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
NIV: Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

Genesis 3:4-5 -- A moderately meaningful difference in this one: The word "gods" was changed to "God." This one doesn't bother me all that much, admittedly, since it's a pretty fine distinction, and we're usually fine with Elohim being translated as "God."

KJV: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
NIV: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Genesis 3:22 -- Plus, the plural is still here. Some branches of Christianity explain this one as God addressing "the heavenly court," by the way.

KJV: And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
NIV: And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

Job 38:7 -- So this one looks like a difference...

KJV: When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
NIV: while the morning stars sang together and all the angels [a] shouted for joy?

But to be fair to the NIV, that footnote [a] reads "Hebrew the sons of God." This one also strikes me as pretty minor.

Anyway, there are piles and piles of these. This was just a random sampling. I hope someone was interested, since these are fun to put together. Feel free to throw out suggestions.