It's me... super-hero-ized.

I found this website today by happy chance. It's called Hero Factory, and you can make different superheroes. So I made myself into one. Notice the patch and the spork. Please feel free to visit the site, make one of yourself, and then post a link to it in the comments. (Edit: By "post a link to it," I guess I really mean that you should click "download" to get a copy of the image, then put it up on your blog, and then put a link to it in the comments.)

Faith

I study the sciences, and as a result I've run into a lot of different ideas about the world and the universe. There seems to be a growing shift to atheism (or at least agnosticism) in the world (and even one or two people that I know) which has led me to think more about faith, what it is, and why we need it. I ran across a post at Mormon Matters that articulated a lot of the same ideas I had been mulling over.

I think that faith is a decision. We choose to believe or to not believe. God has provided enough evidence (or sufficient lack of evidence, if you choose) on either side so that we can make our choice about what we want to believe. God will generally never give us incontrovertible, sensory evidence about his existence and science cannot definitively prove that God does not exist. Andrew at MM states that God wants this to be a difficult choice, and thus we must struggle and work to make our faith grow. He says, "by concealing himself and his doings, God had demonstrated he wants faith development to be a soul-searching, heart-wrenching, and mind-bending experience." Essentially, I think God wants to see how bad we want it.

Two particular scriptures come to mind that help provide me some reassurance in this process. One is in Ether 12:6--"ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." This implies that after our faith has been tried, we will receive further witness (=personal evidence). An example of this shows up in Alma 32, where the prophet is teaching a group of people about how to know if his words are true. He compares his words (and God's word) to a seed. That seed requires nourishment and care in order to grow. When we see the growth, we have further evidence that what we have worked on is worthy of our work.

I have chosen to believe. I don't have all the answers to all of the questions that might come up. Some of my questions have to be put on the shelf until I receive further light and knowledge. However, in my decision to believe I have found more and more evidence that there is indeed a Creator, and I grow stronger in my faith that we have a Savior who loves us and will help us be our best and return to live with God.

Sad day.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and these are very sad words. See the two arrows? Those parts should be connected, but they're not. Also, you can see our lovely green floral print chair in the bottom of the photo. On a brighter note, I won two games with broken strings tonight, and it's the first time that I've ever busted strings--makes me feel manly. Manly and sad.

Christmas Beard 2008

Here it is, two-and-a-half glorious weeks worth of beardage. And the tragic end.

 

 

Jess is happy because it's all going away.

 

 

Probably the weirdest thing I tried. And it looks like I'm trying to look hard. 'Sup.

Who doesn't love a good mustache (more mustache pictures to come...)?

My best Charlie Chaplin impression. Notice the lack of any (colored) hair directly beneath my nose. That's probably my weakest "growing spot."

So sad.

But this is why it's worth it. :)

Nobody ever seen him again... He got eaten.

How's that for weirdness? I made a post about the songs of the moment and even received two comments on it. And then I checked my blog today and it's all gone. Like it never even happened. Anyone else have something like that happen on their blog?

Bonus points for the title reference.

I want one!

Apple's newest product. I can't wait!!


Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Soylent Heat

I read an interesting tidbit yesterday. Apparently there is a town in Sweden where they are going to use heat from a crematorium to help heat the town. My first feeling about it was shock and little bit of disgust, but the more I think of it the better an idea it sounds. Since people are going to be cremated anyways, you may as well harness some of the energy that comes from it.

That does not entail tossing limbs into your home fireplace instead of logs. That's just plain creepy.