Bible stories

Just in case the occasional al fresco theological debate wasn't enough to keep my mental storehouse of Christian trivia from losing too many items to mould and decay, I find myself in the role of occasional freelance exegetical consultant to the nice old man who teaches Sunday school when he's not doing exit control for us. It's an odd position to be in, trying to assist a believer in finding meaning in passages that I don't put any stock into. Fortunately, I can easily fall back on the kind of literary textual analysis drilled into me through high school and college, which encourages you to ground your interpretations first and foremost on what's actually in the book you're reading (an approach summed up by something one of Nuphy's professors was fond of asking during these kinds of discussions: "Wo steht das im Text?")

I suppose it reveals a bias on my part that I wouldn't think of adopting the kind of sceptical, academic tone with this elderly black man that I did with those two young Caucasian pastoral students. Maybe he's perfectly capable of approaching the Bible with a bit of dispassionate remove or responding to me with the same kindness and respect despite believing that I will find Heaven's doors barred to me when I die, but I'd rather not find out. It's a delicate line to walk, talking about the Old Testament without offending any sensibilities while remaining faithful to your personal beliefs, but it's nothing I haven't done before.

Pet peeves, local radio announcer edition

Weather When giving the high temperatures for the day, why tell us it will be "cooler by the Lake"? Everyone whose been here for five minutes knows that. It's like saying "warmer in the greenhouse" or "cooler underground".

Traffic "Chicagoland" sounds like an Al Capone theme park. Why use it when you can just as well say "Chicago area"? And why compound your bad judgement by saying "Chicagoland area"? What is that even supposed to mean?

(Feel free to add your own.)