ch 8 wars

I thought this chapter was really really interesting. I was recently in a conversation with a nonchristian about how the old testament God could be the same as the one described in the new testament. There was a really troubling passage in 1 samuel where God commands for a village to be destroyed, no one spared, not even women, children, and livestock. throughout the whole conversation all i could think about was how much i wished i had read the old testament. i think i realized just how little i knew about the old testament there. it sparked a lot of questions in myself also.

i really like how the author talks about the "bigger picture" perspective and how warfare is shifted from a physical warfare to a spiritual warfare and how this is something God planned (seen in the so many prophesies about Jesus' life and purpose). i feel like it's still something that's difficult to interpret though especially in our modern world where there are still so many wars made on the basis of religion. in some ways i feel like we've been "spoiled" in this post-Jesus era where love is seen in the highest regard. I wonder what the mindset of the people before Jesus was. How did they see God? wars? judgement? What does it feel like to still await a savior? I feel like the early church had no problem reconciling Jesus' life as the one sent by the same God of the old testment. It must've made a lot more sense to them.

in other news, we just finished our first week at the marine lab. i'm still waiting for my roommate to arrive. my roommate is supposed to be pen-yuan for those of you who know him. He's the nicest guy ever and he lived across from me back in the southgate times. i feel like i've been so lucky in terms of roommates at the marine lab. and it's pretty cool that i got to live in a single for a week (just like last semester when my roommate came late from papua new guinea). Class is going pretty good. our professor has a really untraditional teaching method. there's very little structure and we learn mostly by trying things out and making self-discoveries. it's pretty cool i guess. we're working on experiments that will eventually get legitly published in scientific journals too, so we all get to be co-authors. Last night we canoed to carrot island nearby and collected animals. It was fun, we waded around the low tide and netted up blue crabs, learned to catch fish with our hands and cool stuff like that. The waters are so different at night. fish are not afraid to bump into you, your flashlight is a thing of fascination to the animals, and little crabs run around the shore in the millions. it is sad to think about a world where almost no one will ever get to experience nature like this.