Camp Of Truth

No, this isn't going to be that deep, or controversial. It's only a puzzle I remembered today from a long time ago.

You're walking down a road on your way to the Camp of Truth, when you come to a fork in the road. One fork leads to the Camp of Truth, the other fork leads to the Camp of Lies. There is a man standing on each of the two paths, one man is from the Camp of Truth and the other man is from the Camp of Lies. The man from the Camp of Truth can ONLY tell truth, and the man from the Camp of Lies can ONLY tell lies. The men are not necessarily standing on the path that leads to their camp.

If you could ask only ONE THING of ONE of the men to help you reach your goal, what would it be?

This is derifter (not Les Nessman) saying so long and may the good news be yours.

Thankful?

Yes, of course I have an endless list of things and people to be thankful for, not the least of which is having the next five days off work! But I'm not gunna bore you with my long list. I'll save that for God. But one thing I will share with you is what I was singing in the shower a little while ago:

And when I think
That God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in,
That on the cross,
My burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died
To take away my sin!

Then sings my soul,
My savior God to Thee,
"How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul,
My savior God to Thee,
"How great Thou art!
How great Thou art!"

Peace, blessings, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
(Belated, if you're Canadian!)

Those People

I met some people this weekend of the type who help me keep my balance. As we sat around a bonfire at a housewarming party chatting about everything from Dutch Elm disease to mental illness, this group of spikey-haired and dreadlocked, pierced and tattooed freaks spoke with a passion and compassion that had me envying them before too long. It's not that I agree with everything they said, it's that based on their appearance the moment I met them, I had already decided who they were and what they were about. I hate that. As we talked, I never got the feeling that they had done that to me. I'm from the suburbs and they're from the city. Lots of the things I only read about in the paper happen to them. I started to realize that although I feel in tune with my crowd, I'm way out of touch with theirs.

I think you sort of get "socially inbred" if you know what I mean. Birds of a feather flock together, and you don't really get to know other types of birds. It was interesting to hear not only what they thought but why they thought that. And it was never a debate, it never got heated. We were just talking. I don't want to think about people in terms of "those people". What a lousy way to think of people Jesus died for! But I do want to get to know more people who are less like me. How crazy. Usually I like people who are like me.

The Golden Compass

I got an e-mail a few days ago warning about the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass, saying it's a movie about killing God. According to the e-mail, it's "the anti-Narnia". It also contained a link to Snopes.com, where there's a brief summary of the movie and of the author of the book series the movie is based on. The Snopes.com link quotes the author from a 2003 interview as saying, "My books are about killing God." So I guess there isn't much doubt about what the books are really about.

But if you've seen the trailer, it looks really good!

There's a feature on the movie's website where you can "meet your daemon" by answering 20 questions. Mine is a spider called Aspradora. In the movie, everyone has a daemon (demon), but they dwell in the form of an animal outside your body rather than inside, and they're a reflection of yourself rather than an indwelling spirit. Maybe your exo-soul. So maybe the whole "Demons are our pets" thing is a bit troubling.

I love fantasy-adventure flicks like this. And regarding the hidden message behind the story, I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it. Remember The Matrix? We Christians found a hidden message of hope and life and truth in it, because of all the "other-world", eye-opening, truth-revelation scenes it contained. Non- (or anti-) Christians found in it a hidden message of hope and life and truth, because of all the "other-world", eye-opening truth-revelation scenes in it. I have a hunch The Golden Compass will will be owned by both positions, too. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But I definitely want to see it. Maybe I'll post on it again afterward.
Normally I like spiders, and I had three tarantulas as pets when I was younger. But if I ever see Aspradora around, that sucker's gunna get squashed.