The Ophidian's Oration

Gen. 3:1-5   

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” 

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

We all know this bible passage--the few moments preceding the Dawn of man's sin.  How often have we read it?  Many of us have been told it from our earliest days.  Perhaps that's why few of us actually read it with fresh minds.  We know what's going on, why take a closer look?  Indeed, why?  Let's do so now.  

"Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman..."  STOP!  Did you see that?  Let's look one more time.  "He said..."  HOLY COW!  We've got a talking snake here!  What's with that?!   Is this a literal description of a talking snake, or just a metaphor?

Either case is quite interesting to ponder.  If in fact the snake *did* speak, was that an isolated occurrence?  Was that particular serpent just the devil in disguise, and no other animals could talk?  If so, Wouldn't Eve have been rather surprised?  Or, what if talking animals were commonplace?  That's really cool too.  We get into the realms of Narnia and other fantastical tales.  (I would have wanted to ask a bee what she thought of the phrase "busy as a bee")

But then, some people don't take this seriously.  They say that the serpent didn't really say anything (Note, that's what the serpent said, "Did God really say...?"), but it was something else.  Such as just the serpent eating the fruit, and the devil prompting her to eat it.  Or some such thing.

So.  What are your thoughts?  I look forward to your comments.

On Lower Things in Life

You wake up in the morning, golden streams of warm sunshine bathing your face and arms.  Stumbling out of bed, you stagger over to the window, rubbing your bleary eyes.  The green grass and trees, and red and blue flowers fill your senses with a delicious feeling of awe at God's creation.

Then your focus swings closer; to your window.  Rivers of slimy mucus run all over the outside -- clear evidence that slugs were having a party while you slept peacefully.  Slugs are such disgusting creatures, you grimace, how could the same God who made the flowers and sky have made such slimy, repulsive little boogers like slugs?

I did a little research into slugs (AKA gastropod mollusk) today.  They're interesting.  Did you ever wonder how they even climb up windows?  I don't know if you've ever tried climbing a window (I know I have!), it's really not as easy as you'd think.  There's not much to grab on to.  But these slugs go up, up, up, no problem (Though, I wish it were harder for them, especially when I'm delegated to wash the window).  

Slugs have a mucus excretor (called a "Pedal gland")  near their head which carpets their path with a thick, smooth trail for them to slide along.  The mucus has fibers in it which help it stick to vertical surfaces.  Rows of muscles on their feet -- or more accurately, foot.  These muscles contract and relax at just the right times, making a wave effect that pulls the slug along. 

Also the slug's reproductive system is quite... erm... queer.  Slugs don't have different genders.  All act the same, and have the same bodily parts.    So often times when you see them just circling each other doing, and it looks like they're eating each other's tail, well, that's not what they're doing.  Need I say more?  

I could probably go on about interesting facts about slugs, but I don't want to make you sick and avoid my future posts.  My whole point is that slugs really are unique animals specially and uniquely designed by God, for his enjoyment (No, not culinary, thank you).  If you can get past the gaggingly hideous outside, you'll see the creativity and beauty of God's workmanship even in slugs.  I just wanted to share that, as the Psalm says, "I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders." (Psalm 9:1)

So next time you see a slug, don't just grab your salt-shaker and watch the poor thing melt -- praise God.  

Now please excuse me while I go remove the slimy beasty on my carpet.

Oh, look at the time!

Well, it's been a while since my last post.  

I'm not sure who even stops by here, anyway, o if anybody will actually read this.   So, without much plan in my mind, I'm sitting here formulating what I should write about.   I just got a flash of inspiration.  I'll just write about what I do.

Lately, I've been working on  some 3d projects using Blender (a pretty sweet program, and free).  The latest being some fire (Pictured here, or you can check out the animated version here YouTube - Blender Fire) .

Let's see...

I've also been studying Trigonometry, Norwegian, Math theory (I'm reading a book about Phi.  No, not Pi -- Phi.), English, (My story, The Stone, is taking up most of my writing time, hence the lack of Googlus Blogus.  Boy does that sound funny.) and Music.  I learning, slowly but surely, how to play the guitar.  Speaking of which, I may post a picture of my girlfriend sometime.  She's got a really sleek body, and a nice neck, and.... *Sees people staring at me*  *Ahem* maybe I should note that my guitar is my girlfriend.  I don't know exactly how it started, but me and my friends refer to our guitars as girlfriends...  go figure.  

Well, here she is.  Yes, she's on the floor, I know, I know, I'm unkind.  It was the only picture on my computer, which I took for a project I had...

Anyway, she's a Matao (A very rare brand, you've likely never heard of it. ^^  Ha.  They were made in Japan.)  She's a classical acoustic with really great tone (Wish I could play as good as she!).

*Gets really crazy idea*

Okay, how about this.  Let's play a little game.  Take a picture of your instrument(s), and post a description of them on your blog, then link back to here.  If you don't have a blog, upload the picture somewhere and describe in a comment.  You can even give her/him a personality, if you want (Just be sure to check out the poll I made, and vote Insane).

That's it for now.