There is nothing new under the sun

The Folly of Atheism, from the Pleasures of a Religious Life

Religion tells us we are the Workmanship of a superlatively wise, powerful, and good Being; that we are placed here to view and applaud these glorious Scenes of Heaven and Earth; and that God has created a sufficient Store of all Things, either necessary or convenient for us; and particularly to such as obey him, has promised a Supply of all our Wants, and a Protection from all Dangers; That he has sent his Son into the World to bring Life and Immortality to Light, and to render to Mankind, if they would obey his Commandments, the Promise of eternal Salvation.

Atheism on the contrary would persuade us, that this is all a Dream; that there is no such excellent Being as supposed, that created and preserves us; that all about us is dark senseless Matter, driven on by the wild impulses of Fatality; that Men rose out of the Slime of the Earth, and that what is called the Sou, perishes by Death.

And what Stupidity is this, to let go the Hopes of everlasting Life with Willingness, and entertain the Thoughts of Perdition with Exultation?

This inconsiderate Behaviour of the Atheists is so extremely absurd, that it would be deemed incredible, if it did not occur to our daily Observation. It proclaims aloud, that they are not led astray by their Reasoning, but led captive by their Lusts to the Denial of a God.

Did Religion bestow Heaven to both good and bad Men, there would be no Infidels among us: But it is the Way of attaining it, that makes prophane Men let go the Expectation of it. They will not practise its Rules, and therefore they cannot believe its Promises.

But, however, let us suppose that they have acted like reasonable Men, and upon diligent inquiry have found they were under a necessity of rejecting Religion, upon account of their being obliged to give their assent to such Things as are repugnant to common sense. And here I confess, that did the Offers of eternal Happiness depend upon our giving a full assent to such Things, the Kingdom of Heaven would become the Inheritance of Idiots and Fools. And if the Atheist can shew me any such Absurdities in the Christian Religion, I will either evince them to be Interpolations and Corruptions of the Faith, or yield myself a Proselyte to Infidelity.

Richard Bentley, The Confutation of Atheism, 1692.

Get with the Programmer!

I want to nominate Matt for this, but he's not keen. True, it would be unfair to everyone else who might want to enter...

A Literary Meme

I found this meme on Ali's blog, and decided to do it even though I wasn't tagged.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline (or mark in a different color) the books you LOVE
4) Reprint this list in your blog. The premise of this exercise is that the (American) National Endowment for the Arts apparently believes that the average American has only read 6 books from the list below.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling. I've been resisting, because whenever someone tells me that I have to do something, I usually refuse! But I'm thinking about reading the series after the PhD!
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee.
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte. Hated it!
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman. Well, I've read the first one. The others - maybe after the thesis.
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens. It's on my shelf.
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy.
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare. I think I've read 5, but one day I'd like to be able to say I've read them all.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell. I have a vague feeling I read this once, but I can't really remember...
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald. I'm not absolutely sure I finished it, though...
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens. It's on my shelf. And I'd like to see the BBC series.
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy. It's been on the shelf since the end of 1998 when I bought it for $4.95 - bargain! One day I'll read it. I hope.
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams. The first one was hilarious, the second quite amusing, but the third just got too silly. Mattresses flollopping in swamps?!
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh. I really wanted to see the movie, but didn't get around to it.
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy. I've tried a couple of times - maybe after the thesis? (That's becoming a theme!)
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens. On my shelf...
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen. Probably my favourite Jane Austen!
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis. I read this many times when I was a kid, but couldn't get into the others. When I re-read the series in the first year of my PhD, I loved it!
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown. Twice. Ouch!
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins.
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery. I read all her books, but unlike many girls, I didn't LOVE Anne of Green Gables. And Gilbert Blythe? Meh.
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding. My goodness, that was a disturbing book!
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan. Still want to see the movie!
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen. Although I confess, I don't think I've ever finished it...
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens. Very depressing! The Scarlet Pimpernel was much more upbeat!
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy.
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - I own it.
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker. It's on my shelf...
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett. One of my favourite books as a child!
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce. I've probably read about half of it. Maybe I'll aim to finish it on Bloomsday?
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray. On my shelf, in a beautiful illustrated edition. Loved the movie.
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens. All this Dickens, but where's Our Mutual Friend? I've read that twice!
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton. Another childhood favourite.
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad. I didn't get it.
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery. In French and English! "Dessine moi un mouton!"
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams. I don't think I've read it, but I hear it's sad.
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare. My favourite Shakespeare! I saw an awesome production at Oxford Castle a couple of years back. Love it!
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo. I remember getting near the end of this when I was on my way home from work at DJs years ago. I was sitting on the train bawling my eyes out, it was so sad!

I tag Duncan, Nick, Byron, Jessica, Chris, and Doug. I'll be impressed if anyone still reads this blog frequently enough to find the tag...

White Diamond

This is very sweet (as long as the link works!)

"Fairytale" by Sara Bareilles

This is a classic song, though I certainly don't feel this way! (Not these days, anyway!)

Cinderella’s on her bedroom floor she’s got a
Crush on the guy at the liquor store
Cause Mr. Charming don’t come home anymore
And she forgets why she came here.
Sleeping Beauty’s in a foul mood for shame she says,
None for you dear prince, I’m tired today.
I’d rather sleep my whole life away than have you keep me from dreaming

CHORUS
’Cause I don’t care for your fairytales
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden though you know
She’s only waiting on the next best thing

Snow White is doing dishes again cause what else can you do
With seven itty-bitty men?
Sends them to bed and she calls up a friend, says will you meet me at midnight?
The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair says,
Would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair
I’ll have to find another tower somewhere and keep away from the windows.

CHORUS
’Cause I don’t care for your fairytales
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden though you know
She’s only waiting on the next best thing
Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom
Man made up a story said that I should believe him
Go and tell your white knight that he’s handsome in hindsight
But I don’t want the next best thing
So I sing and hold my head down and I break these walls 'round me
Can’t take no more of your fairytale love

CHORUS
’Cause I don’t care for your fairytales
You’re so worried 'bout the maiden though you know
She’s only waiting on the next best thing
I don’t care
I don’t care
You worry bout the maiden though you know
She’s only waiting spent her whole life being graded on the
Sanctity of patience and a dumb appreciation
But the story needs some mending and a better happy ending
’Cause I don’t want the next best thing
No, no I don’t want the next best thing.

Sew happy!

I've recently become addicted to craft blogs, and collecting projects to have fun with after the thesis. One particularly cool blog I stumbled across is Mix Tape Zine - "a collision of craft, eco-cool and pop culture kitsch!" Based in Melbourne, Justine and Nichola produce a fabulous-looking magazine filled with crafty tidbits. I'd love to subscribe, but I'm trying not to spend too much money these days.

Mix Tape just had a week of give-aways, and I was fortunate enough to win a book - check it out here! I can't wait to make soft toys for my gorgeous niece Anastasia!! Thanks Mix Tape!

Speaking of my gorgeous niece, I haven't seen her in AGES (can't wait for Christmas!) so I have to settle for photos sporadically put up on Flickr by my super talented brother. Here's a few recent favourites:

Awww... She looks so peaceful!

Holding hands with Hannah.

Flying baby!

Very cool!

From the newsletter of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion - Denis Alexander is the director:

Denis Alexander took part in a public debate on Intelligent Design (ID) in Fort Worth, Texas, attended by around 1000 people, discussing the topic (as a theist critical of ID) with an anti-ID atheist, a pro-ID atheist, and a pro-ID agnostic. A further 350 people came to a follow-up discussion with the four panel members the next day.

Page 56

Picked this game up from Bec, who picked it up from Gordo, who picked it up from Facebook.

Give it a go for yourself:

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall/blog
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Mine is:

"'The Ocean,' 'The Phoenix,' 'The Consort,' 'The Dolphin,' were passed in turns; but 'The Vivid' was my ship, and it seemed she lay further down."

From Villette by Charlotte Bronte - a book I've given up on once or twice, but I'm trying once more to get through it. I haven't yet reached the point I gave up last time (at least, I don't think I have), but I am enjoying it so far.

I thought about doing this twice earlier in the day (when I read Gordo's post and then when I read Bec's) but I didn't have any books close by. The bookshelves were the closest, and then I would have to choose one. I'm in bed now, and although there are two piles of books on my bedside table, Villette was the top book on the closest pile.

Natural Theology

You read it in the blue wind,
the blue water, the rock spill,
the blue hill

rising like a phoenix from ash. Some mind
makes itself known through the markings of light
on air; where earth rolls, right

comes after, our planet’s bright spoor… If you look, you’ll find
truth etched on the tree trunk,
the shark’s tooth, a shell, a hunk

of root and soil. Study from beginning to end.
Alpha and omega – these are the cirrus alphabet,
the Gnostics’ cloudy “so – and yet.”

If a tree falls in a forest, a scared hind
leaps, hearing branches break;
you crawl under the log and shake

honey out of a hollow, eggs from a nest, ants from the end
of a stick; resting, you read God’s name on the back of a bass
in a blue pool; God grows everywhere, like grass.

Kelly Cherry, Natural Theology, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 1988, p. 36.

Weakness and Strength

In a moment of weakness this morning, I bought a white chocolate, fig and cranberry cookie at the Coffee Cart.

In a moment of strength, I gave it away to a friend.

Twirly skirt

This is an awesome skirt!

Status

Lara is:

• tired
• wishing she'd brought a cardigan today
• wondering just how ridiculous it is that she was at uni before 7am
• amazed that there's still no parking on High St before 7am
• desperate to finish her thesis
• frustrated that this desperation does not translate into energy and concentration
• starting week 3 of Lite n' Easy
• thinking she might have lost a tiny bit of weight
  
• going to get a coffee
  

Natural Theology by Rudyard Kipling

Primitive

I ate my fill of a whale that died
And stranded after a month at sea. . . .
There is a pain in my inside.
Why have the Gods afflicted me?
Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith!
Wow! I am sick till I cannot see!
What is the sense of Religion and Faith:
Look how the Gods have afflicted me!

Pagan

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold
Anything more than a harmless flea?. . .
The burning plague has taken my household.
Why have my Gods afflicted me?
All my kith and kin are deceased,
Though they were as good as good could be,
I will out and batter the family priest,
Because my Gods have afflicted me!


Medieval

My privy and well drain into each other
After the custom of Christendie. . . .
Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother.
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
The Saints are helpless for all I offer--
So are the clergy I used to fee.
Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer,
Because the Lord has afflicted me.


Material

I run eight hundred hens to the acre
They die by dozens mysteriously. . . .
I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker,
Why has the Lord afflicted me?
What a return for all my endeavour--
Not to mention the L. S. D!
I am an atheist now and for ever,
Because this God has afflicted me!


Progressive

Money spent on an Army or Fleet
Is homicidal lunacy. . . .
My son has been killed in the Mons retreat,
Why is the Lord afflicting me?
Why are murder, pillage and arson
And rape allowed by the Deity?
I will write to the Times, deriding our parson
Because my God has afflicted me.


Chorus

We had a kettle: we let it leak:
Our not repairing it made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week. . .
The bottom is out of the Universe!


Conclusion

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure,
For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free;
But what comes after is measure for measure,
And not a God that afflicteth thee.
As was the sowing so the reaping
Is now and evermore shall be.
Thou art delivered to thine own keeping.
Only Thyself hath afflicted thee!

HURRAH!

I'm going to see Kylie!

I'm so excited!

The concert is on December 17, and my thesis is due on December 15, so it will be a great way to celebrate!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

1 week down...

Well, I've survived one whole week on Lite n' Easy. The food itself is not bad, but the portions are rather small. This morning for breakfast I had one small slice of toast with some cheesy creamed corn, plus a mandarin. And I just realised that the mandarin was supposed to be my morning snack. Oops.

I am on the lowest calorie plan (1200 calories per day), which explains why the portions are so small. I do add a few things in, though. You're allowed to have extra vegetables, and if you really need it, an extra piece of fruit and bread. I usually have a banana, a low-fat/low-sugar yoghurt and a Skinny Cow ice-cream block. Those are awesome - only 84 calories!

So, it's not easy, and I'm often hungry, but it's a lot better than Optifast! I haven't noticed any difference in my weight yet (although I don't weigh myself - just waiting to see if my clothes fit better), but I'm sure it will come. It would help if I was doing more exercise, but it's hard to find the energy sometimes!

Bias, Prejudice and Free-Thinking

Dr Peter Slezak, senior lecturer in history and philosophy of science at UNSW, has an interesting opinion piece in today's SMH.

I first took one of Peter's subjects in my first year at uni. I remember talking to a Christian friend about the subjects I was studying, and when he heard I was taking "Science: Good, Bad & Bogus" he told me that Peter Slezak was really "anti-Christian." This got me worried, but I shouldn't have been. Sure, Peter is a staunch atheist who has no time for unintellectual views, but we actually got along very well. Sure, he'd poke fun of beliefs he thought were stupid, but he was always quite happy for students to stand up and disagree with him, as long as they produced a decent argument.

In total, I took five subjects with Peter as an undergraduate - I like to call that a minor in Slezak Studies! His "efforts at brainwashing" failed, however. I'm still a Christian, and even after 3 years of anti-SSK messages, I've become somewhat sympathetic to a sociological view of scientific knowledge. I think Peter is more disappointed about the latter...

I think it's of crucial importance that academics are allowed freedom of thought and expression in universities. I think all students should have their beliefs challenged, no matter what they are. Universities should be places where students learn to think critically, and to question everything. The great thing about Peter's classes is that he wasn't really trying to brainwash his students with his point of view - he was trying to get students to think. Bias and prejudice are unavoidable - everything is always taught from some kind of perspective - but as long as students are being marked on their ability to think and argue critically, rather than on their adherence to a party line, what is the problem?

God said go forth, multiply - but have fun, too!

It's awesome to see articles like this in the mainstream media!

This is me on a diet

But not this time! Day 6 of Lite n' Easy, and I'm doing pretty well! I feel a bit sorry for my husband and my mum, the ones who hear me whinge the most about how hungry I am!

I love electronic journals!

Currently revising chapter 2 of my thesis. I have a section on natural theology in the Bible, including some discussion of Romans 1:19-20. I'd commented that whatever Paul's intention in these verses, later theologians had interpreted these verses to favour the pursuit of natural theology. I'd left a note to myself asking "which theologians?" Google "natural theology" + Romans. First hit - an article titled "Natural Theology in Paul? Reading Romans 1:19-20" in the International Journal of Systematic Theology. Fortunately, the UNSW library has an electronic subscription. So I can get the article without even leaving my desk. Well, except for walking a few metres to the printer (I printed double sided, of course!)

SCORE!

In other news, I'm on day 3 of my Lite n' Easy diet. I've already eaten my breakfast and morning snack, and I'm HUNGRY!

Vicious cycle

Today, I was trying to finish the final draft of chapter 1. I was determined to stay at uni until it was ready to send off to my supervisors. It's not done. I'm going home. Oh well.

There are two sections that still need major work, and a few smaller points to deal with. I don't ever seem to finish a whole draft in one go. Whenever I send it to my supervisor for feedback, there are always notes to myself in the margin (love the "Comment" feature in Word!) on parts that still need more work or questions that I still need to answer. And then my supervisor adds more comments (he loves Track Changes!), some of which get dealt with as soon as I get the revised version back, but others have been waiting around for a year or more.

While I was working on one section today (criticisms of the "Jacob thesis" concerning the "Anglican origins of modern science," in case you're interested), I came across an old loan slip in one of the books I was using. It seems I borrowed the book on May 6, 2005, and most likely, that wasn't the first time. It reminded me of how long I have been working on this thesis - the number of times I've borrowed particular books and still not finished using them - the way I've gone over, and over, and over these chapter drafts, and they're still not done - the amount of time I've spent on this thesis (nearly 5 years), though it still feels like a last-minute job - and the fact that I'm supposed to submit the thesis on December 15, but there's still so much work to do!

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGG
GGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(In case you were wondering, as I'm sure you all were, the book in question was Larry Stewart, The Rise of Public Science: Rhetoric, Technology, and Natural Philosophy in Newtonian Britain, 1660-1750, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992.)