Saturday, December 27, 2008

Can someone explain this to me?


This "illusion" was on a cereal box that I was looking at this morning and I can't figure it out. It's really bugging me. Both triangles were created with the exact same four shapes. In the first one, all four shapes take up the entire area of the larger triangle. In the second, the shapes are rearranged to create the exact same size larger triangle, but this time there is a one-unit square missing. How is that possible?

(Edit: Actually, I think I figured it out....)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Essential Virtues


I have been reading through Jim Berg’s new book, Essential Virtues: Marks of the Christ-Centered Life, and came across this compelling quote:

The world system, primarily through the media, desensitizes people – including God’s people – to biblical universals while enticing them to an endless pursuit of particulars. Not only are they desensitized to the universals of truth, goodness, and beauty, but they are also robbed of the very habits of heart and mind necessary to even reflect upon universals. A believer saturating his life with entertainment cannot concentrate on his Bible without feeling great boredom and restlessness. He does not have the humility nor the mental discipline to do so. Consequently, he neglects his Bible and the solid preaching of the Word and fills his life with entertaining distractions made possible by the electronic, connected age in which we live.

This analysis appears to be right on target. If that is the case, then our churches and youth groups are filled with bored believers, all but incapable of sustained concentration on spiritual things. As a father, I need to be careful regarding the habit forming pull of our media-driven culture and the devestating effects that it can have on both me and my children.