the ‘frozen chosen’?

The dynamics of church rise and fall have always been interesting to me. I think it’s a portal the gives a look into deeper societal trends. Apparently there’s a sort of [renaissance](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15320763/site/newsweek/) happening in mainline denominations:

>The difference between them and a conservative, evangelical megachurch is that the megachurch says, “This is the tradition and there’s one interpretation”–where tradition is like a statue in a museum that you’re never supposed to touch. In the new mainline churches, tradition is more like the clay from which you make the statue.

This sounds similar to some things that Rob Bell has said, and some of the things that are discussed in the article sound very ‘emergent’ as well. I think there is definitely a deeper tradition of scholarship to draw on in mainline protestantism (N.T. Wright is an Anglican) and in catholicism. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future. Clearly the American religious experience is light years away from the European one. We probably will not see the death of mainlines here like Europe essentially has.

is there a wrong to write?

A recent Washington Post [article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_2.html) describes the continuing decline of penmanship in society, and asks whether it is worth it or not. I think that this is an interesting question. Most writing that people will do in school, college, or business is on the computer. But is there value in learning how to write? Maybe:

>When adults are given the same composition written in good handwriting and poor handwriting, “they still give lower grades for ideation and quality of writing if the text is less legible,” [Vanderbilt University professor Steve Graham] said.

Do we hold an innate bias against looking at ugly compositions? Or maybe a learned bias? If we do, is that same bias existent when comparing a poorly-formated typed and printed document to a well-formated one?

I don’t know, but I think that people do have a natural attraction to what is beautiful.

As for me, my writing was atrocious (I devolved to a sub-legible manuscript sometime in Junior High). I wanted to improve it, so I bought [this](http://smithhand.com/index.html) remedial handwriting system a while ago, and it has helped some. I generally write cursive now, but it’s not beautiful yet. I lost steam a while ago on the system, so I need to get back on the wagon!

Is the balance beginning to shift?

I’ve heard and read so many different opinions on the North Korea problem in the last week. I think it’s really less complicated than many realize. China and South Korea are scared to death of several million refugees pouring across the border and wrecking their economies if Kim’s regime falls. I’ve believed this for a while, as it explains the behavior of both quite nicely.

The recent nuclear test (failed perhaps) may have changed the calculus for China. [This article](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20587473-2703,00.html) from an Australian newspaper suggests the tide may be turning, and the economic/refugee problem is shrinking in China’s ‘mind’ relative to the political/stability problem. China has shown that they like stability above all else (human rights, religious freedom, etc…), and Kim’s not high on the ’stable’ list right now.