Yarr! – The Weblog of Bob Heffernan

I will be away for most of the next three or four weeks so don’t expect any new posts.

You could read the series on Scripture and leave a comment if you’ve nothing better to do.

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917 – 19 March 2008).

Clarke, Asimov and others of their ilk were a big influence on me when I was younger. They are probably part of the reason why I’m studying mathematics now — their main characters were often academics and sometimes mathematicians.

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

The illustrious Donncha is updating blogs.linux.ie to a newer version of WordPress so things may be a little topsy turvy around here until it all gets sorted out.

Here’s to Donncha for putting in the time & effort.

This one is for friends and family, in case you think I’m petitioning random blog-readers for gifts:

If you’re wanting to get me a present and you’re not sure what to get, I have an Amazon Wishlist. Be sure to sort by priority (it should be like this already, I think, but check to be sure). This way, if you want to buy me a book you’ll be sure you’ll get me something I really want.

To those who this does not concern, my apologies. To those who feel under pressure to buy me a gift now, you’re not — honest!

I’ve been away for a fortnight and have come back to find 1,024 comments awaiting my approval. I deleted everything, assuming that they were all spam, so my apologies if you’ve left a genuine comment in the past two weeks — it’s been deleted.

OK, one more…

A package of books I ordered recently, all by the late Stan Grenz, just arrived in the post today! I am one happy Bob.

Just to illustrate how super cool Grenz really is, here an excerpt from an interview:

Next-Wave: What, in your eyes, are key-essentials for churches that desire to reach postmodern people?

Dr. Grenz: The ultimate key is “community.” The best apologetic we have in the postmodern context is the vibrant, local community of disciples who are loyal to Christ, that is, a community in which the power of the Spirit is transforming relationships. As many of my friends in IVCF tell me, postmodern persons are converted to the community before they are converted to Christ.

In addition, I think the church today needs to recapture a profound confidence in the power of the Spirit who remains active in the world today and is active in ways that we might not immediately recognize. Many Christians are tempted to become cynical and despairing along with people around them. In this way the downside of the postmodern ethos invades the church. In a context in which people no longer find a humanly-based reason for hope, we have good news to share, namely, the gospel about the God who does what is humanly impossible–the God who brings life from the dead.