An ‘Istoric Evening

I just spent the better part of two hours arguing with people on an online forum about whether the phrase should be pronounced “a historic” or “an historic.” (The answer, of course, is that you say “a” if you pronounce the H, as a typical American would, and “an” if you don’t, e.g., if you’re from the East End of London.) I poured my linguistic heart out in an attempt to show people the error of their ways and convince the undecideds to come to my side.

I wish I always had this much mental stamina for working on things that really matter. The Kingdom of Heaven, for example. The Word of God, to name another. I wish the same passion that filled my soul discussing phonetic shifts (geek alert) would overcome me when I apply myself to study the Bible.

Not that I don’t think God has a place for academic pursuits, and I’m committed to developing the gifts and passions he’s placed in me.  And not that I don’t love reading his words.  I just hope (and know) that he continues to teach me to fall in love with the scriptures, and that I can be as familiar with the Bible as I am with my Indo-European Dictionary.*

Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness. Psalm 119:159

*If you’re also interested in linguistics, please check out the Etymonline and Omniglot links in the sidebar.

What It’s Like To Be Known

One of the recent innovations in computer technology is a system called ‘tagging.’  A tag is metadata, usually a word, associated with a particular file to help the computer associate similar files and ideas.

To give an example, at the bottom of most blog posts (including mine) you’ll see tags that the blogger associated with each post.  Anyone else can find a relevant post by searching for a particular tag, such as “friends” or “fishing.”

Pandora works using tags to associate similar songs in a playlist.  The iTunes Genius feature does this too.  Shopping websites use the tags connected to items a user views, searches for or purchases to develop a user profile and make recommendations.  The FBI certainly uses a similar system internet-wide to identify suspicious persons.

Well, I’ve done enough shopping on Amazon for it to finally know something about me.  I signed in today to find these recommendations: I either already own or want to buy nearly everything on the page!  The ‘tag cloud’ in the middle made me laugh at its accuracy.

It’s taken the computer a few years and dozens of purchases to figure out what I’m into, but it’s got a long way to go before it really knows me.  And I can choose what it gets to know about me- I don’t have to search for this or buy that.

The surprising level of knowledge the computer reached got me thinking about how it feels to be deeply known.  It’s reassuring, of course, but also more than a little uncomfortable.  And how deeply are we known by God!  Whether I like it or not, he already knows everything about me, not just the stuff I buy on the internet.  He knows my soul, the hairs on my head, and what I’m going to do tomorrow.  The hours of my life are already measured out to him, and he doesn’t have to rely on tags- God knew me before I was born.

But in spite of his intimate knowledge of my selfish personality, my secret sins and betrayal, Jesus chose to die in order to reconcile me to God– before I even had the chance to misbehave.

Well this day’s been crazy
But everything’s happened on schedule,
from the rain and the cold
To the drink that I spilled on my shirt.
‘Cause You knew how You’d save me
before I fell dead in the garden,
And You knew this day
long before You made me out of dirt.

-Caedmon’s Call, Table for Two

The Dark Side

The Internet Has a Dark Side

On Friday NPR aired an interview with Leonard Kleinrock, the man who invented what would become the Internet on its 40th anniversary.  In the interview, Kleinrock expressed his surprise at how the network, originally trust-based and open, developed what NPR dubbed a “dark side.”

“[T]his open, trusted, available, shared environment, [was] the culture, the ethics of the early Internet. And then when we approach the late ’80s and the early ’90s and spam, and viruses, and pornography and eventually the identity theft and the fraud, and the botnets and the denial of service we see today[.]

Mr. Kleinrock’s innocence is charming, but I have to ask: What did he expect?  The internet was created and run by humans, who, as a general rule, will pervert everything they can to their own uses as soon as they can get away with it.  Look what we’ve done with our civil liberties.  How I mistreat the people closest to me.  How we crucified the one who came to save us from our sins.

When a close female relative of mine first got into gardening, she had very little success.  So little, in fact, that my brother and I joked that she had a “brown thumb” that killed everything she planted.

We’re all afflicted with a similar condition.  The power of self-improvement championed by Aristotle, the Renaissance and the Internet-bearing ’60s is an illusion.  We can’t do anything good on our own!  The more we try to improve our condition by our own power, through virtue, medicine, or the Internet, the more we’re tempted to forget how truly great is our need for grace.  In our self-embrace this Midas touch has begun to consume us, and against it all our striving would be losing without the incomparable grace of Christ.

And because of the unexpected, unsurpassed, unrequitable gift of God, we have hope far beyond our own power.

And so does my mom’s garden.

I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5