Book review: Did Jesus Exist? The historical argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart Ehrman

It seems that now days, Christianity is constantly under attack. One of the hottest, and probably the most popular fore-front debate, is the constant discussions between theists and atheists on the topic of science vs. God. Dozens of public debates have took place where famous scientists and thinkers have pitted against each other, arguing for what they believe is right. Hundreds of books have been written about science vs. God where atheists and theists have presented their views on this topic, finally, tens and thousands of debates have been held on internet, where ordinary people have also expressed their views about science vs. God.

What an interesting phenomenon! Sometimes I really wonder why did science become the "supposed" only method of knowing the truth? When did the human society elevate science to the golden throne where it is viewed as the superior way of knowing and understanding, while ranking all other methods of knowing and understanding as second class knowledge? Is science the only way of knowing and understanding? I think not, but this is beyond the topic of discussion in this book review.

I follow Stephen Hawking's writings quite closely, not only because I think he is a great physicist, but I also admire his ability to write popular science books in styles that is readily accessible to the general public. Hawking have previously stated in his book, "The Grand Design" that laws of physics has made God redundant. In my previous book review on "The Grand Design", I have expressed my humble opinion as why Hawking's argument is weak. But after reading a vast amount of literature on this topic, and even participate in a few debates about science Vs. God myself. I finally arrived at this conclusion: Science, cannot be used to prove the existence of God, but neither can science be used to prove that God does not exist. How people view science, is dependent on what they believe. For example, as a Christian, I believe that science is God's wonders. While atheists will believe that science, is the root explanation for existence.

So I realized, perhaps the question cannot be simply answered by science. In order to determine if Christianity is the truth, one would have to look at history, and examine the Bible to come to a conclusion in yourself.

The book I am reviewing today, is written by Bart Ehrman. He is an American New Testament scholar, who is also an agnostic. Ehrman has written various books previously and is well known for his argument against Christianity.

However, this book captured my interest as Ehrman wrote this book to argue for the existence of a historical Jesus, and today, I will like to present a book review for Ehrman's new, interesting book.

Notice:

Before I start the actual review, I need to say that I do not possess any academic qualification in any history related subjects, therefore, I can only base my review on what Bart Ehrman said in the book, and the small amount of knowledge I've acquired during my concurrent research while reading this book.

Synopsis:

In this book, Ehrman used various historical evidence and formidable arguments to establish the high probablity that Jesus was a real person who lived in the 1st century, Jewish, a spiritual teacher and was later crucified by Pilate. As Ehrman stated in his book, he wrote this book mainly to debunk the mythicists (those who believe that Jesus never was a made up figure who never existed).

The book has nine chapters, and is categorized into three parts, here I will give a brief summary for each chapter:

In chapter 1, Ehrman briefly described the popular mythicists views on Jesus. He talked about the history and the development of the mythicists views, and listed a few main ideas of such views: For example, one of the mythicists view Ehrman talked about was the view that Jesus is based on ancient pagan religions for a dying and resurrected God. After listing the different mythicist views, Ehrman gave some arguments why these views are invalid.

In chapter 2, Ehrman listed historical evidences to argue for the existence of historical Jesus. Referencing to historical documents from non-biblical sources, such as the writings of Josephus (Testimonium Flavianum), Pliny the Younger, Seutonius (which doesn't directly refer to Jesus, but mentioned Christians), Tacitus. In this section, Ehrman mostly talked about non-Christian sources that mentioned Jesus. Where Ehrman paid particular attention to the writtings of Josephus, arguing that although the writings of Josephus could have been edited by later Christian scribes, but it can still be used as historical evidence for the existence of historical Jesus. In the conclusion of chapter 2, Ehrman concluded that these non-biblical historical document are not only evidence for the existence of historical Jesus, but we can also get an idea of the life of Jesus, that he really was a Jewish person, a religious teacher, and died by crucifixion under Pilate's reign.

In chapter 3, Ehrman used the New Testament books and letters as historical evidences, to argue for the existence of the historical Jesus. Ehrman said most historians have agreed that each books in the Gospel, can be used to testify the existence for the historical Jesus. Ehrman mentioned that although the four Gospels are written decades after Jesus was crucified, but these books are written based on oral accounts that have been circulating since the early 30 ADs, right after Jesus was crucified. In additional, Ehrman also stated that most historians believe that the earliest Gospel written was Mark, around 70AD, followed later by Luke and Matthew, and John. While Matthew and Luke are believed by most historians to be based on a hypothetical document called Q, that contain information not found in Mark. while Luke and Matthew could also be based on other hypothetical documents called L and M, while John can be treated as an independant source by itself. Therefore, Ehrman argued that in the Gospel section alone, there are all together 7 sources that testify the existence and the life of historical Jesus. Furthermore, Ehrman also provided arguments and historical evidence that there are indeed, oral accounts of the life of Jesus that can be dated all the way back to early 30AD's. Ehrman argued that we can trust that although the Gospels were written in Greek, decades after the crucifixion of Jesus, but we can trust that they are written based on reliable oral traditions around the time of Jesus' crucifixion. Ehrman supported this argument by observing that in the book of Mark, there are keywords in the sentences where it does not make sense in Greek, but makes perfect sense once it is translated into Aramaic, which is a language that Jesus and his followers spoke in the region where Jesus lived and was active. The most striking example is in Mark 2:27-28. Where Jesus used two lines to silence his critics. This is when some of Jesus' disciples were walking through the grain field on Sabbath, and because they were hungry they started eating the grain. The pharisee (a group of Jews observe the laws very strictly) saw this and protested to Jesus because the disciples were breaking the Sabbath. Jesus' response was to say that Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath, and according to Ehrman, the Greek version of this passage is: Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath, Therefore the Son of Man is the Lord of Sabbath. Ehrman said, the last sentence doesn't make sense, because even if Jesus is referring to himself in the last sentence, it doesn't add up because the pharisees are complaining about the disciples, not Jesus. However, Ehrman stated that the senetence makes sense when the key word is translated back into Aramaic, because in Aramaic, it uses the same word for man and Son of man, the word barnash. So the original sentence in Aramaic should read: Sabbath was made for barnash, not barnash for Sabbath. Therefore barnash is the lord of Sabbath. And all of the sudden, the "Therefore" in the sentence makes sense, because the reason why human are the lord of Sabbath is because of what Jesus just said. Ehrman continued to state in the original Gospels written in Greek, there are "punchlines/keywords" that are remained in Aramaic, or make better sense when it is translated into Aramaic. This is an indication that the Gospels are based on oral traditions that can be dated all the way back to 30AD's, just after Jesus was crucified.

In Chapter 4, Ehrman argued for the existence and life of Jesus by using the non-Gospel sources. He started by discussing the Christian, but non-biblical historical writings from early Christians: Papias , Ignatius of Antioch, 1 Clement. Ehrman argued that these early Christian writings, can be used as evidence to show that Jesus was a historical figure who really was crucified by Pilate. Following the reference to the non-biblical Christian sources, Ehrman comes back to the New Testament, and used the non-Gospel writings in the NT to argue for the existence of historical Jesus. According to Ehrman, in the Book of Acts, the narratives of the Apostles about the life of Jesus, especially the speeches in the book of Acts, are good testimony for the life of historical Jesus. The reason is because these speeches are based on the oral traditions about Jesus that existed before the Gospels were written. Ehrman then moved on to discuss the non-Pauline NT epistles (e.g. 1 and 2 John, Jude, James, 1 and 2 Peter etc..). Here, Ehrman believes that 1 Timothy is not written by Paul, and there is a non-Pauline source in NT. Nevertheless, Ehrman stated that the non-Pauline epistles in the NT are indeed independant, historical records that testified the life and existence of Jesus. Following this, Ehrman moved on to what I think is a particularly interesting argument from Ehrman, the witness of Paul. Ehrman stated that the earliest NT writing, is probably 1 Thessalonian, which can be dated back to 49AD. This means it is less than 2 decades after the crufixion of Jesus when Paul wrote this letter. Ehrman stated that Paul (also known as Saul), who was a persecuator of the Jews, after some events in his life, converted to Christianity in the early 30AD's, approximately in the same time period when Jesus was crucified. Another historical fact we know, is that Paul is close with Cephas (Simon Peter), and James (the brother of Jesus, both mentioned in the Bible and in the writing of Josephus). This means Paul based his knowledge about Jesus on these two actual disciples who knew Jesus before he was crucified. This makes all of Paul's letters (1 Thessolonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Phillipians etc..) another independant source to testify the life of Jesus, Ehrman argues that the fact that Pauls' writings pre-dates the first writings of the Gospels, coupled with the fact that Paul knows 2 out of the 12 actual disciples of Jesus, makes Paul's testimony about the life of Jesus highly credible, this is because Cephas (Peter) and James would have seen, known, heard and spoke with Jesus personally. Not only that, Peter and James would have be around when Jesus was crucified.

In chapter 5, Ehrman discussed what he thinks are the two main historical sources for the existence and life of historical Jesus. Peter and James (brother of Jesus). Ehrman provided reasons and debunked the mythical view that James was not really a brother of Jesus. Following this, Ehrman made another powerful argument to prove that Jesus really was a historical person who was crucified by Pilate, and that the testimony in NT that Jesus is the messiah is actually not based on Pagan religion. Ehrman stated that the ancient Jews never believed that the messiah would die. Actually, the ancient Jews believed that the Messiah will go on living, and never die (this view is confirmed by a pastor who preached at our church camp as well). Ehrman argued that the reason why Paul (Saul) persecuted Christians before his own conversion was because, the idea that a messiah can die is a highly offensive concept to the Jews, so someone who is very high up in the Jewish religious order as Paul, will find it highly offensive and blasphemous, leading to his persecuation of the Christians. Ehrman argued this means the concept of a a dying/suffering messiah in Christianity, is actually not based on some ancient pagan religion, but an original concept at the crucifixion of Jesus, an event that actually took place in history.

In chapter 6 and 7, Ehrman provided discussions and arguments against the popular mythicists views about the non-existence of Jesus. Ehrman debunked the common mythicists views that the Gospels are non-historical sources, in which Ehrman took the view that although the Gospels contain what he called "legendary materials", but can still be used at parts, as historical sources. Ehrman then debunked the mythicists view that "Nazareth doesn't not exist", by providing archeological findings and historical data to show that Nazareth was actually a small town that existed in 1st century, when Jesus walked the earth. The third mythicist view debunked by Ehrman was the view that "The Gospels are interpretative paraphrases from OT". In general, Ehrman focused his arguments to debunk the mythicist view that Jesus is based on ancient pagan Gods and myths.

In chapter 8 and 9, Ehrman focused his discussion to formulate what he thinks is the "real" life of the historical Jesus. In this section, Ehrman used a set of criterions commonly used by NT scholars, namely Criterion of Dissimilarity, Criterion of Multiple Attestation , and Criterion of Contextual Credibility (I can't find a scholar article for reference here, but basically it is saying that traditions are more likely true if they conform to what is known). Ehrman applied these three criterion, and concluded that the historical Jesus is an apocalyptic prophet, who was heavily influenced by John the Baptist, and believed that the end of days was going to occur in his time, then taught that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, one must keep the laws in the Torah. Ehrman, in his conclusion, said that Jesus died 6 hours after his crucifixion.

My thoughts on the book:

What do I think about this book?

Personally, I think Ehrman definitely has an in-depth knowledge about NT history, the background, ancient culture and history in general. Personally, as someone who did not study any history or biblical history, I have learnt a lot of news things about the Bible. I particularly find it useful to know that the ancient Jews did not believe that a messiah would ever die. Because this is a very powerful apologetic point for Christianity, and not only that, a very powerful argument for the existence and the life of historical Jesus.

In addition to this, I also find knowing that Paul's writings are amongst the earliest NT literature is very useful information. I find Ehrman's argument very convincing, in that because Paul knows Cephas and James personally, this makes Paul's testimony on the life of Jesus highly credible.

Furthermore, I am also very intrigued by Ehrman's proposition that the Gospels, although written in Greek and at a much later time, but are based on oral traditions about Jesus that can be dated to 30AD's. The most intriguing and convincing point was that certain words and keywords in the original written Gospels remain in Aramaic, indicating that they are written based on oral accounts (narrated by eyewitnesses who lived in 30AD's, in the regions where Jesus was active) who actually have witnessed the life of Jesus, his teaching, death and resurrection (the resurrection was ommitted by Ehrman in this book, I have something to say about this later).

I think Ehrman definitely provided some sound, reasonable and if I may say, formidable arguments that pretty much demolished the mythicists view that Jesus never existed. On top of this, Ehrman was able to support all of his argument with his vast knowledge in ancient Greek, Aramaic, NT literature, early Christian history and history in general. I am thoroughly impressed with this well-learned scholar.

However, in the later parts of the book, after much thinking, research and reflection, I decided that my views departed from Ehrman's views on the "real" historical Jesus in chapter 8 and 9, and I will like to discuss them below.

First of all, although I am not a NT scholar. Neither does my educational background grants me qualifications to say much about NT history. However, I noticed that two of the key arguments for Ehrman against Christianity are:

1) Ehrman says that the world wide census mentioned in Luke, there are no historical evidence to support the event recorded in Luke, therefore Ehrman calls this an error in the Bible. Upon reading Ehrman's argument, I was brought to think about this problem. After some research, I found this internet article quite useful. (article). This article explains why the census mentioned in Luke is highly plausible, and although I have not personally checked all 7 references listed in the articles, but I find the arguments constructed by the author highly sound.

2) Another of Ehrman's argument against Christianity, is that the conversation between Jesus and Nicademus in John 3:3 couldn't have happened. In John 3:3, Jesus said to Nicomedmus "unless you are born "anothen" you will not be able to enter the kingdom of God". Ehrman argued that, the greek word "anothen" has two meanings: a) second time and b) from above. Ehrman argued that this conversation is centred on the double meanings of the Greek word "anothen", where Jesus is saying that unless you are "born again", from the spirit that comes "from above", you cannot enter the kingdom of God (this conforms with our NIV and ESV translation if you read from John 3:3-6). The problem, according to Ehrman, is that when this passage in John 3:3 is translated back into Aramaic (the language that Jesus probably spoke), the aramaic word for "born again" is not the same as "second time" as the Greek word "anothen" has double meaning. And without the double meaning of the word "anothen", the entire conversation from John 3:3-6 doesn't flow. Therefore, Ehrman argued, that this conversation in John 3:3-6 never really happened. When I first read Ehrman's argument, it does look very challenging, but once again, after some research, I found this article that shed light to debunk Ehrman's argument about the problems of John 3:3 (article). It turns out, that in the ancient Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic version of John 3:3 does contain the word "again" in the sentence. This means the original Aramaic version (which is probably what Jesus said to Nicodemus) doesn't require a double meaning word such as the Greek word "anothen" to make sense. Anyway, click on the link I provided above, the explanation to debunk this particular argument from Ehrman is very well done.

Finally, I cannot help but find Ehrman's proposition for his version of the "real" Jesus a bit weak. To start with, Ehrman used the three criterion used by NT scholars to some degree, wrongfully. The criterion of dissmilarity, the criterion of multiple attestation and the criterion of discontinuity, are meant to be used jointly for strictly positive means to support a historical claim, not in a negative way to reduce the historical relability of a claim.

But as I am not a qualified historian, perhaps some would accuse me of over stepping my field of qualication by criticising Ehrman's argument about these criterion.

However, even if I step out of scholarly criticism against Ehrman's negative use of the criterion of authencity. There is still one big problem that I can see in Ehrman's argument in his use of criterion. From a non-scholarly perspective, but from a common sense view.

My biggest protest against Erhman's argument in chapter 8 and 9 is, Ehrman was happy to use the criterion of dissimilarity, and the criterion of multiple attestation, and the criterion of contextual credibility to deduce the high probablity of the existence of historical Jesus. Because the various sources from NT (the Gospels, letters of Paul, and speeches in Acts) has testified that Jesus was once a Jewish religious teacher who lived in 1 century, but was crucified by Pilate, therefore it passes the criterion tests. But why is it that Ehrman is happy to admit the life and crucifixion part of the life of Jesus, but is completely silent about an equally, largely testified part of these historical sources, which is the resurrection of Jesus? Where is the integrity to examine all these historical accounts with an unbiased approach? Surely if Ehrman is happy to say that because multiple sources say that Jesus lived and died on the cross, then by integrity he should also notice that the resurrection account of Jesus should pass the criterion tests. In other words, the reason why Ehrman is completely silent about the resurrection account, is because he has a bias against historical records that contains supernatural phenomenon.

I would like to call for integrity to consider the life, death and resurrection of Jesus be considered in equal terms when analysed by the criterion of authencity tests, because all three parts of the records of Jesus are equally attested in the historical sources of NT.

Human beings, often like to think that just because we haven't seen something, so it cannot happen. But time and again, we have proven that this is an ignorant way of thinking. Even in the field of science and engineering. I will give an true example where we can deter ourselves from finding the truth because of our ignorance.

In the early to mid 20th Century, scientists and engineers used to think that supersonic flight is impossible. This is because in classical aerodynamics, the engineers use a graph called "drag polar", to determine the amount of drag on a moving object travelling in atmosphere. Scientists and engineers in those days (and today), when constructing the drag polar graph from pure mathematicaly and from classical methods, the drag will approach infinity as we approach the speed of sound (Mach 1). This is still an unresolved mystery in the field of aerondynamics and aircraft design. However, we all know that aircraft such as Concord, fighter jets, missiles etc.. can fly supersonically today (faster than speed of sound. We can determine the drag of supersonic flight by recording the coefficient of drag through wind tunnel testing. Do we have a theory to explain why the classical aerodynamics predicts infinite drag at Mach 1, while the reality is so different? No, we can't explain why. But if you were to say to aeronautical engineers back in the days that you want to design a supersonic aircraft, they will surely think your proposition is highly "implausible" because base on what they know, it is impossible to fly supersonically due to infinite drag that's predicted on the drag polar curve.

Yes, science is very differnt to history (well, aeronautical engineering is very different to analysing the credibility of biblical history), but at the core of analysis, human ignorance, ego and the little knowledge that we possess can often cause us to develop a bias, and rule out the critical elements that we regard as "implausible", simply we don't understand it and think it cannot happen. This can sometimes delay/deter us from finding out the truth, until we can see such "implausibility" occur in front of us. In the case of realizing that it is possible to fly supersonically despite what theory tells us, has relatively minor consequences to our lives. However, in the case of the resurrection of Jesus, well, discovering the truth too late will have eternal consequences, if what Bible says is correct. Don't you agree?

In the case of Ehrman's argument that the historical Jesus was just an apocalytpic prophet, I think Ehrman's bias against the things that he thinks as "implausible" has disabled his ability to treat all the evidences and data that lay before him with equal integrity, and that missing piece is obviously, the equally and multiple attested account of the resurrection of Jesus.

I have just spent the last 4 hours writing this exhaustive book review. It is now the 6th April 2012 at half past zero in the morning, it is Good Friday today. This is the day when Jesus was crucified, a multiply attested event in all the historical accounts that is in the New Testament. Equally as well attested event is the resurrection of Jesus, which, according to all historical tests and evidence, should be accredited as a real historical event despite the fact that we do not know how the dead can come back to life. But that is exactly why the resurrection is a miracle, because it is something extra-ordinary. No, the resurrection is more than just a supernatural stunt that impresses people, the resurrection, symbolize hope and God's promise to us, it means so much more. Perhaps, after all the intellectual activities and discussions in the topic of science vs. God, or authenticity of the Bible and history. It is more important to think about what Jesus means to us, to our lives, and how his resurrection means to our lives?

Concluding remarks:

Ehrman is an extremely well learnt scholar, this book demonstrated his in-depth knowledge in the field of NT history research. Ehrman is formidable in debunking the mythicists views about Jesus, and provided some intriguing and challenging things to think about. Overall, a very good read if you are interested in history of the New Testament and want to acquire some basic knowledge about the scholar study of historical Jesus. However, I departed with Ehrman's views in chapter 8 and 9 in regard to the nature of Jesus. My biggest protest is that Ehrman, because of his personal bias against the divine nature of Jesus, is completely silent about the multiply attested resurrection account found in the books in the New Testament. This is importing data without keeping the integrity of the data, due based on personal bias. As a result of this, I find Ehrman's proposition of his version of the "real" Jesus very weak and contains major flaws, because who he thinks Jesus is, is derived based on his own personal prejudice against the resurrection account of Jesus.

P.S.

- The words underlined and colored blue, are links to articles that might be helpful to understand the topic. To access, simply click on the words

- Special thanks to Diony McPherson and Cameron Blairs for sharing, explaining and exchange of ideas and information. Please feel free to comment or correct me if there is anything that doesn't make sense.

- Due to the long the exhaustive length of this article, the fact that it is now 1am in the morning and I've been writing for the last 5 hours, and that I've had a tiring week at work. There might be grammatical and spelling errors that I am unaware of, or sentences that don't flow well. I will come back and perform some revision works in the near future. In the meantime, please excuse me should there be any such errors.

Video game review: Mass Effect 3 (PC)

In 2005, developer Bioware took the world of video games by storm when they announced the Mass Effect project. A sci-fi RPG space adventure set in the futuristic world. What really grabbed the attention was that the game would allow players to make "choices that matter" to the story development. Mass Effect 1 and 2 were released in 2007 and 2010 respectively, and have both received critical acclaims from both the critics and the general public. The main protagonist of the series, commander Shepard, have also become one of the most beloved video game characters, where millions of players around the world have spend hundreds of hours, crafting their own story for their version of commander Shepard.

The success behind the Mass Effect series is mostly that the game allows the players to "craft" their own stories, by constantly making choices through playing the role of commander Shepard. On the epic quest to save the galaxy. In Mass Effect 3, Bioware has promised to bring a satifactory conclusion to the commander Shepard story arc.

Story:

In 2157, we discovered a strange device called "Mass Replay" at the far corner of our solar system. In 30 years' time, human race managed to harvest the technological knowledge from the device, and bring about great technological advancements. Eventually, human race sent space ships through the mass replay, and discovered that we, are no alone in this universe. Mass replay, are simply devices (gateways) that connect one solar system to another, where intelligent life forms exist.

All known life forms in the universe formed a galactic system of governance. Based on a gigantic space station called "Citidal". In the event of Mass Effect 1, a human soldier, a commander of a spaceship named Shepard, was put on the case to investigate strange activities at the far side of the space. Shepard discovered that an ancient, synthetic alien life form, known as the "reapers" had a plan to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. Shepard successfully thwarted the reapers' plan, but died later during a mission at the beginning of the story in Mass Effect 2.

In Mass Effect 2, the bodily remain of Shepard was recovered by a human supermacist group called "Cerberus", the organization spent tremendous amount of resources and capitals to "resurrect" Shepard. After returning to life, Shepard was put on a mission to investigate the strange disappearances of people on human colonies throughout the galaxy, which led to the revelation of a consipiracy plan by an alien group called "Collectors", who was working with the Reapers to wipe out organic life in the galaxy.

After Shepard successfuly stopped the Collector's plan, in Mass Effect 3, Shepard was accused of being a war criminal due to his actions in Mass Effect 2, and was put under house arrest on earth. Despite Shepard's warning of the Reapers' threat. The council ignored the warnings, and was completely unprepared when the Reapers finally made a massive invasion on earth, and simultaneously across the galaxy. Outmatched by the Reapers, Shepard had no option but to flee the earth, on a mission to unite the different alien races across the galaxy, in a final confrontation against the Reapers before all organic life forms are wiped out.

Needless to say, Mass Effect 3 is more epic than both of its predecessors, as the central plot involves assembling a unison of galactic fleet for a final showdown against the Reapers. The player can import their save games from Mass Effect 2, where the decisions they made in the previous games will shape the story in Mass Effect 3. Just as previous Mass Effect games, commander Shepard has a team of squad members who can join Shepard on this epic adventure. One of the strength of Mass Effect stories is that, as you play the game, you will become familiarized with your squad members, by having conversations with them, or be in missions with them in life and death situations.

In Mass Effect 3, the squad is smaller to the size of squad members in Mass Effect 2. However, a lot of old friends returns to join Shepard, while some new members also make their first appearances in the series. Bioware has done a really good job in connecting the players to these squad members. You will feel like you actually know them towards the end of the game, and that adds weights to your decision making, when you have to make difficult choices in the story.

Another success of the story is that new comers do not have to play the previous two games to be able to enjoy Mass Effect 3. The story narratives in Mass Effect 3 reveals the essential plot revolving around the first two games, so if you are new, it is likely that you will be able to pick up the story of Mass Effect after a few hours.

Bioware released an amazing trailer called "Take Earth Back", see below



Gameplay and design:

Mass Effect has been gradually evolving towards a 3rd person shooter game. In Mass Effect 3, the gameplay is even more action packed than Mass Effect 2. While the core game mechanics and engine hasn't been changed much since ME2, but Shepard definitely has more freedom of movement in Mass Effect 3. For example, now Shepard can sprint, jump and climb ladders. The game still retain the RPG elements from the first two games. There are still five character classes: Soldier, adept, infiltrator, engineer and sentinel. Each class has its own unique skills and play style. Mass Effect 3 also has a large library of weapon and armors. There are all together 32 sets of armors for Shepard to equip. The weapons can also be customized and upgraded. These features retain the classic RPG elements. I think Bioware has managed to improve the RPG/shooter hybrid gameplay in Mass Effect 3, and deserve to be commended for this achievement.

Enemy AI has been improved, they are now more aggresive, smarter and generally harder to beat. Mass Effect 3 is the hardest game in the trilogy with ramped up difficulty level, and should appease critics who criticized the first two games from being too "easy".

The artistic and atmospheric design of Mass Effect 3 is somewhat between Mass effect 2, and Mass Effect 1. The various alien worlds and planets have their own unique outlooks, and the mission environment gave senses of danger and urgency. The voice acting is pretty good, although slightly dull compared to the voice acting in Mass Effect 2, but once again, Martin Sheen gave a great voice acting performance as the character of "Illusive man".

Graphics and sound:

Although still graphically impressive, but it seems Mass Effect 3 is using the same graphics engine as Mass Effect 2, and there are signs that this graphics engine is beginning to show signs of age. While the characters still look detailed and realistic, but the environment can sometimes look a bit rough around the edges. Compared to Batman Arkham City which came out last year, the graphics of Mass Effect 3 looks slightly dated. But that is not saying the graphics is bad, Mass Effect 3 still looks impressive all around.

The soundtrack in Mass Effect 3 is, in my opinion the most memorable in the series. While some of the voice acting is a bit flat, but the sound effect and the soundtracks are still great. Especially on 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system.


My thoughts about the game (warning: minor spoiler!!)

Since the release of Mass Effect 3 on 6th March. The game has generated a lot of controversies over the issues of day one DLC, and even bigger expressions of anger and frustrations over the endings.

In regard to day one DLC, personally I am unaffected by this, as I bought the collector's edition of Mass Effect 3 which came with the DLC. I guess it is only fair to say that maybe Bioware should have just released one format, which is the collector's edition which contained everything. Having said this, the problem is that most people don't want to pay the extra 20 dollars for collector's edition, but this really is a minor problem.

The biggest controversy, is the ending of this popular sci-fi trilogy. Fans of Mass Effect complained that seemingly, the previous choices they made in the previous games actually has no impact to the ending, and all 16 possible endings in Mass Effect 3 are essentially identical. Furthermore, all the endings are quite depressing and gloomy. There is a facebook petition where angry fans have gathered, demanding Bioware to change the endings.

Personally, while I can understand where these angry fans are coming from, but I, for one, actually really liked the endings of Mass Effect 3.

I cannot think of a better way to end this remarkable sci-fi trilogy, this is why:

At the final moment of Mass Effect 3, I finally realized Bioware, is trying to explore an age old theological/philosophical/scientific dilemma in Mass Effect 3 story, the dilemma of "Free will vs. predestination".

Players of Mass Effect series would know that, the series is famous for giving players the freedom to make choices that shape the story arc of the games. By giving the player the ability to import saved games from their previous games, this allows the player to craft their own stories. However, at the end of Mass Effect 3, the players are faced with 3 choices to end the story, each choice will lead to almost the same result at large, but with minor different consequences.

This gives players the feeling of "illusion of free will", or "illusion of personal choices". No matter how hard you worked in the previous two games, making the best choice, attempting to bring about the perfect ending you would want in Mass Effect 3, at the end of the day, it is all futile. As players are shut down by the immovable obstacle, the obstacle of predestination, the inescapable fate that occurs in the infinite space and time.

To be honest, I was really stunned by the ending of Mass Effect 3, when my beloved commander Shepard literally "vaporized" into thin air, in his final act of self sacrifice to save billions of lives. While my final choice did have minor impacts on the future of the universe, but by large. The choices I've made throughout the entire game could not save Shepard from his final fate, one way or another.

This led me to ask the question:

Do we really have choices in life? Are we able to obtain "happy endings" that we want by hard work? Or are we all on the highway to an unavoidable destiny and nothing that we do really matters? Furthermore, does anything matter at all?

There is a good reason why the age old debate of free will vs. predestination is an ongoing discussion. This is because no one in the history, nor the greatest thinkers or the best of the philosophers that ever walked the earth have able to figure out the exact answer.

One thing is for certain, that you and I, and everyone else, have a limited time on earth. Everyone living human being knows their destiny, that the physical death of our bodies, is inevitable. That is the one inescapable destiny that awaits all of us. Just as in Mass Effect, in Shepard's final moment, he realized that no matter what he chooses, he cannot escape his inevitable fate, but Shepard didn't get stuck in trying to figure out the answer to predestination vs. free will, nor did Shepard become paralytic and gave in to his "seemingly" inescapable fate. Shepard knows what really matters, knowing his limited time and destiny, Shepard made the choice and decision that holds most true to his belief and value, for the best of everyone else. In other words, while it may seem that Shepard had no power over his final fate, but he still made the choice that really mattered in the end, because Shepard believed his belief and values, were more important than himself!

Will the answer to the dilemma of "free will vs. predestination" do anyone any good? Personally, I don't think such knowledge will bring much practical benefit to anyone's life.

Perhaps, instead of trying to get a knowledgeable answer, it is more valuable to walk away with a wisdom:

Because our time on earth is limited, with the predestined fate of our physical death, we ought to base all of our choices on what we uphold to be the most true, according to our belief and values, according to something bigger than us. Live a life that reflects what we earnestly believe to be truth and meaningful, in this sense, our lives and our choices really matter!

But the question is, what is it that you earnestly believe to be true? Have you found the belief and value that you uphold as bigger than yourself?


Final score:

Story 9.6/10 - Mass Effect 3 brings a satisfactory conclusion to the story of commanders Shepard. Personally, I think there is no better way to conclude this remarkable story with its current endings. While it is certainly not a happy ending, but at least it is an interesting and meaningful one that leaves much room for interpretations.

Gameplay 9.6/10 - Mass Effect 3 proves to be the most challenging game in the series yet. It is a really good blend between RPG and action.

Graphics 9/10 - While still graphically impressive, the current graphics engine is beginning to show signs of age. There are occasional graphical glitches in the game.

Sound 8.5/10 - The soundtracks are good, but the voice acting is a bit flat at times.

Violence - heavy - As commander Shepard trying to stop an invading alien force, you kill lots of... stuff... lots...

Sex - Mild - Another controversy about Mass Effect 3 is the homosexual romance option. The player will have the option to romance same sex squad members. With the current hot topic of legalization of same sex marriages, Bioware seems to be making a propaganda by saying that in the future, same sex romance should be a norm in our society.

Final score: 9.4/10 - Mass Effect 3 is a great way to end an otherwise amazing sci-fi adventure. It is hard to part ways with commander Shepard, but nevertheless a great way to say goodbye to commander Shepard.

Book Review: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Anansi Boys, is a spin-off novel of Neil Gaiman's American gods. Published in 2005, this novel won both Lotus award and British Fantasy society award. Compared to American gods, Anansi boys is a shorter and a lighter novel. This is a book that contains elements of fantasy, mythology, fairy tale and comedy.


Synopsis:

This novel takes place in the same world as the world in American gods. Anansi, is a trickster/spider, a dominant mythological character in West African and Caribbean folktales.

Anansi (Mr. Nancy from American gods), is a god of Western African origin who arrived in America with the immigrants. The story follows Anansi's son, "fat Charlie". Who is perpetually embarrassed of his father because of his father's attitude and carefree lifestyle.

Fat Charlie lives in England, works in a job he doesn't like because he has a bad boos, and is not very adventurous. He was planning a wedding with his fiancee Rosie, and his difficult future mother in law. His future wife insisted fat Charlie to invite Anasi to their wedding. When trying to contact his father, fat Charlie found out that his father had died in an embarrassing manner at a karaoke bar. Fat Charlie travelled to Florida from London to attend his father's funeral, and met up with his father's neighbors and old family friend, Mrs Higgler, who informed fat Charlie that his father was the incarnation of the West African spider God, Anansi. Furthermore, Mrs. Higgler also informed fat Charlie that he has a long lost brother, a man named "Spider", who inherited most of Anansi's magical powers. Mrs Higgler told fat Charlie that to summon his brother, all he had to do is to ask any spider to pass on the message that he wishes to see him.

Fat Charlie dismissed all of those information as ridiculous fantasies. Until one night, he drunkenly told a spider that he would like to see his long lost brother. The next day, a mysterious man shows up at fat Charlie's doorway and introduced himself as fat Charlie's long lost brother "Spider". This re-union marked the beginning of a series of eventful adventures for the two brothers.

My thoughts of the book:

Unlike "American gods", "Anansi Boys" is a much lighter novel, and it is also alot more funnier and humorous. In the story, fat Charlie represents the kind of man who is shy, reserved, less adventurous with a sense of low self confidence. Most of Charlie's personality can be attributed to his feeling of embarrassed towards his father, with further explanation later in the novel.

This is a story about breaking out of normal life patterns, making riskier decisions, and overcoming brute forces with cunning and intelligence. While Anasi Boys has less philosophical depth compared with American gods, but this book is also funnier, light-hearted, and has less sexual/violent contents. The story is very readable, and the pace is lightning fast.

While Anansi Boys isn't as thought provoking as American gods, but Neil Gaiman has written a book with one of the most intriguing opening lines in modern literature:

"It begins, as most things begin, with a song".

My favorite quote of the book is this one:

"Each person who ever was or is or will be has a song. It isn't a song that anybody else wrote. It has its own melody, it has its own words. Very few people get to sing their song. Most of us fear that we cannot do it justice with our voices, or that our words are too foolish or too honest, or too odd. So people live their song instead.”

Without spoiling too much of the story, the main plot is somewhat revolved around "songs". What does this mean? Well, read the book yourself and find out.

Rating:4.5/5
Conclusion:
While Anansi Boys is not as deep (philosophically) as American gods, but this book is funny, lighter, enjoyable, less sexual/violent contents, and extremely well written. The character development is great. I enjoyed this book and thought it was a great read, highly recommended for readers of any taste (fantasy, mythology, fairy tale and comedy).

Book Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods, is a fantasy novel and winner of the Hugo and Nebula award. Written by British author Neil Gaimen. I don't know if you can easily classify American Gods as a fantasy novel, because it is actually a blend of American studies, fantasy fiction and ancient mythology. Since its publication in 2001, American Gods has been gaining increasing popularity. HBO, after its success of adapting George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones", is currently producing a six seasons long TV adaptation of "American Gods", to be released in 2013.

So what is it about this novel that captured so much attention? To be honest, I started reading this book with no idea what to expect. At the end of the story, I cannot but help to think that this is one of the most original fiction novel I've read in many, many years.

Synopsis:

America, is a land of immigrants (much like Australia). It is a cultural melting pot, it is a huge piece of land where people from all over the world come to pursue a better live. Along the way, they bring their cultures, as well as belief systems into the country. So in a way, the American society is somewhat a product of the blending of all the cultures. At the same time, America is the technological flagship of the world, where everything is moving, improving and changing all the time.

THe premises of American Gods is that, when people come to America, they bring their belief to that land. In the process they also bring their gods to America. These gods thrive on people's belief in them. In 21th century America, people are turning to the new gods and forgetting the old gods. These new gods of internet, media, mobile phone, drugs etc.. are like the rising sun. While the old gods that came with the immigrants are gradually fading away as people forget them.

The story of American Gods follows an ex-con named "Shadow". Who served 3 years in the prison after he committed a crime of assaults. When Shadow is released from the prison, he tried to go back to his former life. He had a wife Laura waiting for him, and a good friend Robbie who offered Shadow a job once he is out of the prison.

However, just as Shadow is released from the prison. Tragedy struck, his wife and his best friend died in a car accident together. At his wife's funeral, Shadow was informed of the truth that his wife was actually having an affair with his best friend while he was in prison.

Out of bitterness and disappointment, Shadow had nowhere else to go. When a mysterious man called "Mr. Wednesday" appears (Mr. Wednesday? Can you guess who this is? To give you a hint, think of which god in the Nordic pantheon is Wednesday dedicated to), and offered Shadow a job as a personal guard. Having no other choice, Shadow accepted the job. It is not long before Shadow realized he has got himself involved in a business that will change his life forever...

My thoughts on the book:

American Gods is a very well written novel, I think it has one major plot and two subplots. The story has a lot of surprising twists, and the subplots are very well integrated into the main plot. A word of warning though, the story contains some very violent scenes and graphic sex scenes.

As I said in the beginning of the review. American Gods is the most original fiction novel I've read in many, many years. Neil Gaimen cleverly used a mythological tale of "old gods vs new gods" in his novel to illuminate the underlying social phenomenon of a materialistic, consumerism based society in America and the struggle of the old cultures among its own people.

It is pretty clear that in the novel. The old gods such as: Odin, Bast, Thoth, Anansi, Mad Sweeny etc.. represent the origin of the people of America, and the cultures that they belong to. These old gods are gradually being forgotten by people, they live in fear, uncertainty and are struggling to adapt to the rise of the new gods. The gods of Internet, mobile phones, media, drugs etc.. on the other hand, the new gods of 21th century America, while thriving and rising, also live under the constant pressure because they know that new technologies are being invented everyday, and unless they keep up, they will also be forgotten by people and share the same fate as the old gods. One of the catch phrase in the book is "America is a bad land for gods, a land that has no time for gods". While I was reading this book, I had the feeling that Neil Gaimen was trying to convey a message about the nature of belief, and that is a belief is made up by people. In the book, the gods are all created by people's own belief. The old gods were created because people needed to believe in something for protection, and the new gods of the 21th century are created by people, because people built their lives around these things and "worship" these new technological gods.

While I do agree with some of Neil Gaiman's underlying message in American gods, but I do not agree with his message that all belief systems are created by human beings. As we all know from our own experiences, a belief system/faith can be built based on good reasons, evidence and revelation from a sentient being that want you to place your faith in him. For example, when you believe that your spouse loves you, it is not because you created your own belief system (or delusion) that your spouse loves you, out of your own need. In contrast, you believe that your spouse loves you, because your spouse has revealed him/her thoughts to you, and backing it up with actions that forms evidence, so you can have faith in their declaration based on good reasons.

Similarly, I do not think Christianity is a belief system created by human. The Bible is a love letter to human beings, where God revealed himself to us about his nature, character and purpose. God also shows that he meant what he meant through the actions of Jesus, which are recorded testimonies in the New Testament. Here we have God's own revelation of himself, through the evidence of Jesus's life on earth, and we can place faith in him based on good reasons.

Is my argument circular? Yes it might be, but not more circular than the reason you believe or place your faith in anything of this world. While this book is making a statement about the nature of belief, but it forgot to mention that after all, we all believing in something. Without believing in something, meaningful relationships can never be formed.


Final rating (4.5/5):

While I do not agree with the underlying message about the nature of belief in this novel, but I really think Neil Gaiman has written a master piece here. This is the kind of book that people can write pages and pages of literary analysis on. At the same time, the pace of this book is lightning fast, and highly entertaining as a fantasy fiction novel. It is very thought provoking, but as a final word of warning, this book contains some graphical sex scenes and very violent scenes that might upset some readers.

P.S. The next review would be Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys", stay tuned.

Book Review: Arabian Nights (Barnes and Noble leatherbound classics)

1001 nights, is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk tales over many centuries. It is one of the most collectible literature in the world, full of wonderful and amazing stories, and form the basis for many modern fictions. Some of the stories are so popular that most people would have heard a story of two from 1001 nights. For example, Aladdin and the wondrous lamp, Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, or Captain Sinbad and his 7 voyages.

In this book review, I will focus more on the quality of this particular edition of Arabian nights and less focus on the content of the book. This is because the story of 1001 nights is so popular that I assume everyone would have heard at least, one or two tales from the entire collection sometimes in your life.

Synopsis:

The story of 1001 nights started when a Persian king, discovered the unfaithfulness of his brother's wife, and became even more shocked when he discovered that his own wife has also cheated on him. Out of bitterness and rage, he executed his wife, and decided that all women are treacherous in nature. So he started marrying virgins in his kingdom day after day, only to execute them after the first night of their marriage. After a long period of cruel massacre, the people in his kingdom trembled with fear and were hateful against his tyranny. Until one day, the daughter of the king's vizier, a young lady named Scheherazade volunteered to marry the king, she was determined to save the girls in the kingdom by changing the king's heart with her own wit and power of persuasion.

On the night their marriage, Scheherazade started to tell the king a story, but doesn't end the tale. So the king was forced to stay the execution until the next day. Scheherazade repeated the same trick on the king, night after night. By telling him tales of wonders and amazement for 1001 nights. Until the end where she bore the king 3 children, and managed to persuade the king to have a change of heart, and abandoned his previous ways.

All the tales told by Scheherazade were collected together, and became known as "1001 nights".

The book itself:

By chance, at the beginning of this year, I found out that Barnes and Noble have been publishing a series of leatherbound classics, for really affordable price of 18 dollars per book. The collection included classical literature such as: The Divine Comedy, Lewis Carol, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, the complete Grim's tales, Narnia, Iliad and Odyssey etc....

So I ordered quite a few of these books. And one of them is "Arabian Nights". This edition probably doesn't contain all of the stories from 1001 nights, but it does have 20 stories. The book is decorated with numerous color illustrations. Overall, the quality of this book is excellent. It is leatherbound, with gold gilded edges and a book ribbon. As you can see from the picture, the cover of the book is beautiful and really stands out on any bookshelf.

The only possible annoyance for some people is that, this edition uses the translation from Richard F. Burton. The translation is dated back to 1850. The style of language is therefore, quite old. For example, to give you an idea what the use of language is like: "Ho thou, I once visited thy Hammam and thou entreatedst me with honor and accomplishedst all my needs..."

However, if you are like me, and don't mind the use of old fashioned English language in a book. Then I think you will definitely love this beautifully decorated edition of Arabian Nights. The only possible side effect after being exposed to more than 700 pages of old fashioned English language might be, when you are visiting your friend's house, and asking your friend to bring you a glass of water, you might say: "Ho thou, have me a glass of water bringeth so I may quench the thirst of my throat and adore the beauty of thy shelter"... After which your friend might respond with a raised eyebrow!

The bottom line is, if you like classics, if you like beautiful leatherbound books at low price. Then don't wait, go get this book, this is a good edition of 1001 nights. It's good, real good.

Rating: 4.5/5

Book Review: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Canto I
"Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward path has been lost.

Ah me! How hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough and stern
Which in the very though renews the fear.

So bitter it is, death is little more:
But of the good to treat, which there I found
Speak will of I of the other things I saw there" ~

What is the Divine Comedy?

The Divine Comedy, is often regarded as one of the greatest works of world literature. It is a three parts epic poem composed by Italian poet Dante Alighieri in 1300 AD. This book has been at the top of my "to read" list for the last three years. I finally picked up a very nice edition of this book three weeks ago, and I have to say that it has been quite a journey to read through the entire "Divine Comedy". I also have to say this is probably the heaviest and most difficult book I have read up to date, but the efforts I invested was worth while. This is why I would like to share my review of this book, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who don't mind doing some thinking while reading. I won't be able to cover all the main themes and ideas in this book, but I will try to point out a few things that were memorable to me.

The Divine Comedy is a work of fiction. Where Dante, at 35 years of age found himself lost in a dark forest, where he no longer knows the straight path of his life. Dante then met up with Virgil (an ancient Roman poet), who was sent to guide Dante to find the reason for existence and discover the divine will of God. On this epic journey, Dante and Virgil traveled through hell (inferno, 34 cantos), purgatory (purgatorino, 33 cantos) and finally arriving at the paradise (paradiso, 33 cantos). Where they met and spoke with many characters from Greek and Roman mythology (such as Achilles, Orpheus, Jason, Jupiter etc..), as well as Biblical characters (Nimrod, Judas Iscariot, John, Peter etc..), and historical characters (Cleopatra, Brutus, Julius Caesar, Augustine of Hippo etc..). In the end of his journey, Dante finally gazed upon the trinity God and understood the the divine and human nature of Christ, and his soul became aligned with the love of God (this is why it is called the Divine Comedy, because at the end of Dante's journey, his status changed from being "lost in a forest dark", to "saved through the salvation in Christ").

After I read this book, I think in order to fully appreciate Dante's master piece. We have to understand this book from three different perspectives: 1) Literal interpretation of Dante's imagination about after life, 2) Social, political and historical background, and 3) Allegorical interpretation.

A deeper look at the Divine Comedy:

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), was not only a poet, but also a political thinker and a philosopher who was back stabbed by his political enemies, and was forced into exile from his home town, Florence. He began to compose The Divine Comedy in early 1300, and finished it before his death. As a devout Roman Catholic and a philosopher, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and Aristotelian philosophy of classes of sin (Inferno) as the backbone ideas for his works.

The true genius of his works lie not only in Dante's vivid poetic imagery, but more so in the allegorical interpretation of his works, the entire Divine Comedy is referring to a Christian's journey back to God. Inferno, can be interpreted in two ways: 1) A Christian seeing the sins in the world and its consequence, b) A fallen world that is struggling with sin. Purgatorino is allegorically resembling a Christian life, where Christians are redeemed through Christ from state of sin, as Israel was rescued by God out of Egypt (this is notable as Dante and Virgil arrived at Purgatorino on Easter Sunday). Finally Paradiso is allegorical to a Christian's understanding of the union of Christ's divine and human nature. I leave the would-be readers to discover the full content of Dante's fantastic poem. However, I would like to talk about some of my thoughts about this book.

My thoughts:

Things that are different to the Bible:

First of all, I think The Divine Comedy is one of the finest piece literature I've ever read. However, since The Divine Comedy is based on Roman Catholicism theology, as well as Aristotliean philosophy, and because I am a protestant Christian who (mostly) follows the theology of Calvinism, there are a few things I would like to point out that aren't consistent with the Bible teaching:


Regarding Inferno:

1) The Bible never mentioned that hell is divided based on level system, but it is good to remember that hell is real, and we have to repent and put our faith in Jesus.

Regarding purgatorino:

1) The Bible doesn't mention anything about Purgatory, in other words. The Bible actually doesn't say that purgatory exists. The idea of the purgatory is NOT a scriptural concept.

2) Purgatory is NOT a place where people can make absolution, then become free of sin and gain entrance to the heaven. Refer to 1), purgatory, is not a scriptural concept and is not mentioned in the Bible at all. Actually, we can not free ourselves of our sins and "work" ourselves into the kingdom of heaven, but only through what Jesus has done for us (Matthew 5:20, Ephesians 2:8-9). In order to enter the kingdom of God, the only way is to place our faith in what Jesus has done for us (John 11:25, John 14:6, Matthew 1:15..etc..).

Regarding Paradiso

1) The Bible NEVER mentioned that structure of heaven is divided according to the three theological virtues: Love, faith and hope.

Finally, while Dante's vivid descriptions of hell, purgatory and heaven are intriguing and imaganative, but these are his own visions and imaginations, and his works is after all, if I may say, fantasy fiction. So the reader should be reminded that while some of the theologies in Dante's works are Godly, but his writings should NEVER replace the Bible, which is the authentic teaching and the words of God. So in regard to theology, the Bible is always the ONLY source material for Christians.

Things I have learnt:

For those who know me personally, I have been wondering about the question of divine will and human responsibility for a long time. So many questions can arise from this topic, such as: Why is there suffering in the world if God is all loving and sovereign? Why does God's plan includes evil and suffering in this world if God has good intentions? So on and so forth. This has been a question that I cannot stop thinking about for many, many years. But I am so glad that I read The Divine Comedy, because in the last Canto in Paradiso, as I read these final verses, I understood something important for myself that I wish to share.

"But through the sight, that fortified itself
In me by looking, one appearance only
To me was ever changing as I changed.

Within the deep and luminous subsistence
Of the High Light appeared to me three circles,
Of threefold color and of one dimension,

And by the second seemed the first reflected
As Iris is by Iris, and the third
Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed.

O how all speech is feeble and falls short
Of my conceit, and this to what I saw
Is such, 'tis not enough to call it little!

O Light Eterne, sole in thyself that dwellest,
SOle knowest thyself, and, known unto thyself
And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself!

That circulation, which being thus conceived
Appeared in thee as a reflected light,
When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes,

Within itself, of its own very color
Seemed to me painted with our effigy,
Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein.

As the geometrician, who endeavors
To square the circle, and discovers not,
By taking thought, the principle he wants,

Even such was I at the new apparition;
I wished to see how the image to the circle
Conformed itself, and how it there finds place;

But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.

Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy;
But now was turning my desire and will,
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,

The Love which moves the sun and the other stars."

In the last moment of the Divine Comedy, Dante had a vision of the unity of time, creation, and the trinity God (three persons in one essence, described as three interlocking circles), Dante said that although he had a vision of this, but he cannot describe the truth of what he sees because he is only a human, who cannot fully comprehend the divine plan and will. But In the end, Dante is assured of one thing, and that is at the end of his journey, he has been saved through Christ, and he is not in Christ, where his desire and will is moved by the love of God.

As I read these verses, I finally understood the truth that God's divine will and plan, predestination, election and the tension with human responsibility. The answer I found for myself to this age old question is that this is not something that human beings can fully comprehend regardless of our intellectual efforts. In life, when things don't make sense, as Christians we have to trust in God and His wisdom while not neglecting our responsibility to live out a God pleasing Christian life (Colossians chapter 3). The Bible says that God is eternal, loving, all powerful, His will is mysterious and he does things according to his own purpose, and for the good of those who love Him (Roman 8:28, Ephesians 1:9, Philippians 2:13, Isiah 46:9-10, 1 John 4:8-10). So even when life gets hard, I can trust that in all of my joys and sorrows in life, because God loves me, so God's plan is to ultimately bring me back to Him through His son and through his unfathomable plan for me in this life, when at the end, I will be able to marvel at the glory of God, and I believe this will be even more glorious than Dante's description, which my feeble intellect can never hope to comprehend right now, until such time when God reveals it all to His creation.

Life on earth contains both joys and sorrows, but now I understand that all things, in joys or sorrows, are parts of God's master plan, in His good will, and good pleasure and love to fashion me to be more like Jesus through this life on earth, to bring me back to Him. I realized that God's unfathomable plan, is the ultimate "Divine Comedy" for those who love Him and have faith in Jesus

Conclusion:

Content - The Divine Comedy truly is one of the world's greatest literature! My copy is a part of Barnes and Noble leatherbound classics, it is a beautiful book with hundreds of illustrations alongside the text. The only problem is, this translation is by Henry Wardsworth Longfellow in the 1800's, so the language used in this translation is quite funky and difficult to follow. As a result, the interpretation of Dante's works is made really difficult because the reader has to constantly interpret the text allegorically while trying to understand the funky Victorian poetic style of writing. Personally, I became very lost several times as I was reading it, and needed to continuously refer to the short captions from a different ebook version of The Divine Comedy.

To give you an example of how hard it is to interpret Dante's works, there are a few verses in Purgatorino, when Dante saw a griffin on a chariot, and the griffin got off the chariot and tied the charriot to a tree, leading to a massive bloom in space. Yes, are you wondering what in the world Dante is going on about here? The allegorical interpretation is that the griffin (half eagle half lion) represents Christ's (the 2nd Adam) divine and human nature, tie the chariot (dying on the cross) to the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the 1st Adam), the result is the redemption of man's sin (the massive bloom in space). So yea, if you decide to read this book, just be prepared to do some intense thinking. Reading The Divine Comedy is not like reading Peter Pan, so be prepared for numerous hours of headaches and confusion. All of this said, I really think The Divine Comedy is not only a great work of literature, but more importantly, despite its Catholicism theology and Greek philosophy influences, it is a great Christian fantasy literature that everyone should try to read it at least once in you life.

P.S. There are many things I did not covered in my review, because I think it is good to leave people to make discoveries on their own.

Video game review: Assassins Creed Revelations (PC)

Ever since the first Assassins Creed video game was released in 2007, the series has become one of the most recognizable franchise in the world of video games. The series managed to capture the interests and generated a solid fan base with its unique and interesting history based storyline, intriguing characters and open world game play. Over the years, UbiSoft has released 4 Assassins Creed games up to date on major platforms. When Assassins Creed 2 was released in 2009, it was an instant hit where the game made a lot of improvements over its predecessor.

In 2010, UbiSoft rolled out Assassins Creed Brotherhood, once again it was met with positive reviews and response from the gaming community. This year, UbiSoft released Assassins Creed Revelations, which is no doubt, one of the most anticipated game of 2011. One has wonder how can a developer release one sequal every year within such a short development cycle.. so has the latest installment of Assassins Creed game keeping up with the standard of the previous games? Or is the short development cycle finally catching up with this otherwise remarkable franchise? Let's find out.

Story:

The entire idea of Assassins Creed is, our ancestors' memories are encoded into our DNA, and with a certain scientific method. The memories can be unlocked, this led to a conflict between the ancient assassins order (based on the historical Hashashin order) and the templars order. In the first game, the templar's order kidnapped a young man known as Desmond Miles. In attempt to unlock his DNA memory to determine the hidden location of the fabled artifacts "pieces of Eden". Through a series of events, Desmond was rescued by the members of the assassins order, and agreed to help the assassins to re-live his ancestors' memories to determine the locations of "pieces of Eden", which can help to prevent a global catastrophe in 2012. In the last few episodes of Assassins Creed, Desmond has lived two of his ancestors' memories: Ezio Auditore, a master assassin who lived in the renaissance era, and Altair, a master assassin from the crusader era.

The central story of Assassins Creed Revelation follows three major characters of this franchise so far: Ezio Auditore, Altair, and Desmond Miles. After the events of AC:Brotherhood, Desmond was left in a coma status, and was suffering from the bleeding effects of the machine that was to used to unlock his DNA memories. At the beginning of AC:Revelation, Desmond found his mental self arrived at a strange island. Having realized that he is trapped, he needs to recollect more of Ezio and Altair's memories so he can leave his coma status, and go back into the reality.

Desmond re-lived the memories of Ezio's later life this time. Where Ezio was an older man in his 50's. As a master of the assassins order in the renaissance era. Ezio embarked on a journey to retrieve his predessor Altair's secrets. Ezio's journey took him to Constantinople, where he had to find the 5 keys that will unlock Altair's library. As Ezio found the keys, he discovered that these keys contained the memories of Altair himself by using the technology of the "first civilization".

So in a way, the story of this game can be summed up as the following: Desmond (in 21th century) reliving Ezio's memory (in 16the century), and Ezio re-lives Altair's memory (in 13th century), the memories unveil the secrets of the "first civilization" and the hidden location of the artifacts "pieces of Eden" which can be used to save mankind of the impending doom in 2012.

UbiSoft has already announced that Assassins Creed 3, a game that will be the finalle of the Assassins Creed series is to be released before December 2012.. so how the story will end, it is still to be seen. However, I think the story of Assassins Creed is by far, one of the most interesting stories ever told in the platform of video games. The stories are semi-historical, which actual historical characters and locations. At its core, Assassins Creed is a work of science fiction, but blended with elements of historical fiction with styles similar to Dan Brown's novels. Only that the story of Assassins Creed is a lot more interesting than Dan Brown's stories. I think that is why the story of Assassins Creed has managed to attract the audiences.

Assassins Creed Revelations is the last game to feature the Renaissance era, so essentially. This is the last game where Ezio Auditore will make an appearance. And I have to say, the character of Ezio is one of the best characters in video game stories, and I think this is a fitting end to an otherwise remarkable fictional character.

Gameplay:

There are a few new features added to AC: Revelation. Some are good, some are bad. For example, Ezio is now equipped with hook blades to enhance his climbing abilities, another worth while mention is the addtion of bombs. The only problem is that, while the hook blade is a most welcomed addition to the gameplay. The inclusion of bombs are.. well not so well implemented. In the game, the procedure to craft the bombs are simply too tedious to be useful. I only used bombs 3 times in the game.

Another "not so great" item in the gameplay is the tower defence mode. In AC:Revelation, as Ezio you have to win Assassin territories in the city of Constantinople. However, if you are too "infamous" amongst the templar, it could prompt the templars to attack your dens. This is where the tower denfence mini game comes in. While it is an interesting idea, but this mini game is simply too out of picture in the context of AC: Revelations, and the mini game is overly repatative and can become really frustrating.

AC:Revelation is also considerably shorter compared to the previous three games. The main story will only last approximately 12 hours of game play. While there are side missions, and these side missions are more varied in comparison to the previous games, but I just couldn't really be bothered to do most side missions because they don't provide enough rewards. The only side missions that I completed was the mission to collect the memoir pages of the Turkish general Ishak Pasha, at the end of this mission, I got a set of very cool armor to be used on Ezio. The other side mission I completed was to explore the dungeon of Vlad the Impaler, and I found the sword of Vlad Impaler which is quite rewarding. So maybe in Assassins Creed 3, if UbiSoft can add more rewards to these side missions. It will greatly enhance the values of doing side missions.

It is also worthwhile to mention that in AC:Revelation, the difficulty of combat is a bit higher than before. Having said this, I still think the combat was too easy. Once again I have completed another Assassins Creed game without my character dying during combats (yep, I have never died during the combats in any of the Assassins Creed games).

To summarise, there are enough innovations in AC: Revelations, but not enough to make this game feel like an entirely new gaming experience. Hopefully UbiSoft can come up with some dramatic renovations in AC3.

Graphics:

I have to say, although the graphics engine of AC: Revelation is now looking slightly dated, but it is still an amazing looking game. The city of Constantinople is very well crafted, and I actually believed that is what the city looked like in 16th Century. Having said this, I do think if UbiSoft wants to make AC3 a dramatically improved game, they will have to put some efforts into renovating their current graphics engine.

Sound:

As usual, the sound effects and the soundtracks for AC: Revelation is just as great as all other games in this franchise.

My thoughts on this game:

I remember when I played Assassins Creed 2. Ezio said the Creed of the Assassins Order is this: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted", which is actually a quote from Hassan-i Sabbah, the master of the Hashashin order in the 11th century.

The first time I heard this in AC2 two years ago, there was a massive alarm rining in my mind. Because I thought it was some post-modernism propaganda. However, in AC:Revelation, there was a cut scene when Ezio explained the creed as the following:

"nothing is true" meaning to realize that the foundation of the society are fragile, and we must be shepherds of our own civilization. "Everything is permitted" means to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.

While I do not entirely agree with this philosophy, but I do agree with some of it. I agree with the later statement that we are to be responsible for our lives, and to live with the consequences of our own actions, but I do disagree with the former statement. Because surely there must be a standard where we should shepherd our society accordingly.. if we do what we think is good for our civilization, without following an absolutely true standard, then how would we know if what we are doing is actually "good"? If we steer our society according to "our" standard (which is adjustable due to circumstances), then how will we be able to tell what is right and what is wrong? What if we go astray?

What about you? What do you think? Do you think this makes sense? If you have played this game, maybe it will be good to discuss this with your Christian friends and see what the Bible says about human responsibility and God's standard.

Conclusion:

Story (8.8/10): AC: Revelation has an interesting story. What a great way to bring a final closure to Ezio and Altair's journey, while building up the setting for the finale! It's sad to say goodbye to Ezio, but in the meantime, I cannot wait to see how the story will finally unfold in this intriguing adventure.

Gameplay (8/10): AC: Revelation has some innovative elements, but not all these elements are well implemented nor fitting. Furthermore, the newly added features are just not enough to make this feel like a new game. Having said this, the open world exploration and the core gameplay is still just as good as the previous AC games.

Graphics (9/10): Though the graphics engine is becoming dated, but AC: Revelation still manages to look great. And because I played this game in 3D mode, the 3D effect is amazing. If you have a 3D HDTV, do not hesitate, play this game in 3D!

Sound: (9.5/10): The soundtracks are very well done, it really captures the essence of the Assassins Creed story.

Sex: None - Another factor I really liked about AC:Revelation is Ezio's low-toned romance story with one of the game's female character (which later became his wife). There are no sex nor nudity scenes.

Violence: High - This is a game about Assassins and Templars.. you will be stabbing, slashing and hacking your enemies all the time.

Final score: (8.5/10) - While AC: Revelation is not the best in the franchise, it is still a good game. With great characters, intriguing story, fun gameplay and most importantly, it's the final chapter of Ezio's story, and a great one as well. If you have played other AC games and like it, then you definitely shouldn't miss this one.