it's the end of the world as we know it....

I've been having interesting conversations with friends lately about the end of the world. I'll admit right now that I'm a big History Channel fan, though I think a lot of their facts are skewed. Over the last week they have been showing a plethora of specials about the Apocalypse, the end of the world and various doomsday theories. One such show parallels the prophecies of Nostradamus, the Mayan priests, and others and their belief about something catastrophic that will occur on December 21, 2012. I have my doubts that there is anything significant about that date other than it will be the Winter Solstice for that year.
I guess I bring this up because I feel like for the first time in my life I'm beginning to think about my own mortality. In a lot of ways I feel a sense of fear and apprehension about the future. This is probably common, and I might return to this subject in a later post. For the moment I'm just curious what your thought are concerning the end of the world. What do you believe about it? What are your feelings regarding it?

It's the 50th anniversary of Legos.

HT: brickshelf.com

narrative or absolute truth?

I've been thinking lately about how to read the Bible. Some people read the Bible dogmatically and seem to just be looking for ammunition so they can support their own arguments. The converse option seems to be to look at it as a grand narrative, which is great I think. But then I wonder if that can be harmful as well. If the Bible is simply a narrative or a good story (a true story, but a story nonetheless) then it seems robbed of its power. When we come across something we disagree with or something that disagrees with my worldview then I can simply dismiss it. After all, it's only a story written by men with their own preconceived opinions. So I guess I'm just writing this out to see if there can be a balance; a way to read the Bible and see the grand narrative, but also see it as divinely inspired and worthy of my obedience even if it calls me to different conclusions then those of the world.
These are just some thoughts I'm having and they may not make much sense. What are your thoughts on this subject?