"The results of the incarnation of the Savior are such and so many, that anyone attempting to enumerate them should be compared to a person looking upon the vastness of the sea and attempting to count its waves."
- Athansius of Alexandria
Friday, October 3, 2008
Athanasius of Alexandria
It is not known where or when Athanasius was born, but it is sometime around AD 295 and was likely born in a small town along the Nile river. This is a good guess because he spoke Coptic and had a dark complexion like the Copts. He was also very short. At the council of Nicea his enemies called him "the black dwarf." Through out his life he was closely associated with Monasticism. Athanasius learned a rigid discipline from the monks that he applied to himself. He was so deliberate in his living that he earned the admiration of friends and the respect of many of his enemies. Athanasius was a great supporter of Nicene Orthodoxy and a theological giant. “Of all the opponents of Arianism, Athanasius was most to be feared. The reasons for this were not to be found in subtlety of logical argument, nor in elegance of style, nor even in political perspicacity. In all these areas, Athanasius could be bested by his opponents. His monastic discipline, his roots among the people, his fiery spirit, and his profound and unshakable conviction [are what] made him invincible.” (Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, p.174) He wrote many books about the Arian Controversy in defense of Nicean orthodoxy. Even when he was exiled he could not be kept silent. Upon his return to his position as bishop he was welcomed as a hero. Athanasius died in AD 373 without seeing the defeat of Arianism. However, he died optimistic that Arianism would be defeated in the end.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Chapter 2 Part 2 - Dreams
Twenty minutes later John and I found ourselves speechless staring at the ugly woman bubble gum bandit. We had dreamed about an opportunity like this for years but never really thought it would happen to us.
I met John at Yale back in 69’ where we were both going for a criminal law degree. He was always better at school then me; I resented him for it a little at the time but would have never admitted it. He had been drafted right out of high school but took a bullet in Nam and got discharged. After that, he knew that he could not go back to a boring desk job so he decided to get his degree and join the FBI. That feels like it was just yesterday but its been over 30 years. He has cracked hundreds of cases over the years and was due to retire a few years back but the case of TUWBGB had kept him on.
We use to have all the time in the world to live out our dreams, but the older I get the more I realize time is slowly running out. To tell you the truth before today I had all but given up on ever living out such an adventure like the one that we now seem to be embarking on.
I met John at Yale back in 69’ where we were both going for a criminal law degree. He was always better at school then me; I resented him for it a little at the time but would have never admitted it. He had been drafted right out of high school but took a bullet in Nam and got discharged. After that, he knew that he could not go back to a boring desk job so he decided to get his degree and join the FBI. That feels like it was just yesterday but its been over 30 years. He has cracked hundreds of cases over the years and was due to retire a few years back but the case of TUWBGB had kept him on.
We use to have all the time in the world to live out our dreams, but the older I get the more I realize time is slowly running out. To tell you the truth before today I had all but given up on ever living out such an adventure like the one that we now seem to be embarking on.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I don't even know...
So I am taking physics at CNM this semester, at night which makes this fact even worse! Just a FYI I would not recommend taking physics I dislike it very much, but that is not the point of this little blog.
CNM main campus has a huge parking issue during the day, which means you have to park across the street and walk which isn't a huge deal if you allow adequate time to walk. At night on the other hand you can park in the parking lot next to the buildings, because there isn't as many night classes or something. It was this way tonight, there were at least five parking spots on the row I chose to park in which was on the far side of the parking lot, but still ridiculously close to class in my opinion. So I started walking to class and not more the five spots closer to the building there was a lady in her car sitting with her turn signal on waiting for a parking spot. She was willing to wait just to park fifty feet closer! Is this how lazy our society has gotten? Maybe she had a good reason for it, like she has a bum leg or she is blind and didn't see the row of empty stops right in front of her. Who knows? At any rate I just needed to let someone know about my experience.
CNM main campus has a huge parking issue during the day, which means you have to park across the street and walk which isn't a huge deal if you allow adequate time to walk. At night on the other hand you can park in the parking lot next to the buildings, because there isn't as many night classes or something. It was this way tonight, there were at least five parking spots on the row I chose to park in which was on the far side of the parking lot, but still ridiculously close to class in my opinion. So I started walking to class and not more the five spots closer to the building there was a lady in her car sitting with her turn signal on waiting for a parking spot. She was willing to wait just to park fifty feet closer! Is this how lazy our society has gotten? Maybe she had a good reason for it, like she has a bum leg or she is blind and didn't see the row of empty stops right in front of her. Who knows? At any rate I just needed to let someone know about my experience.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Chapter 2 - Gurtrude
...This woman had kept my friend John, who was now gawking at the oddly dressed woman, mighty busy over the last few years. The woman, only known to him as "the ugly woman bubble gum bandit" had been stealing bubble gum machines and cracking them open for the quarters. John had been he FBI agent on this case since the beginning. Several times John had been seconds from catching the thief only to be disapointed. TUWBGB had always left clues at the previous crime scene which pointed to her next target. John would try as best as he could to peice the haphazard clues together and race to the destination only to find that it had just been heisted. Hours later a call would come in saying a Coinstar machine had been used for a large amount of quarters. The servalence tape would always reveal that it was indeed TUWBGB. It was the perfect crime. John always believed on some level that he would never catch her, but to see her now standing in his own living room made him all atingle.
During this whole exchange of bewilderment and odd looks, I was sitting in John's recliner having no clue who this lady was.
John could bairly get the words out, "what are you doing here?" when she began to explain...
During this whole exchange of bewilderment and odd looks, I was sitting in John's recliner having no clue who this lady was.
John could bairly get the words out, "what are you doing here?" when she began to explain...
Part 2
This was posted as a comment by "Hi!"...
. . . For no apparent reason his heart leapt within his chest. Not just anyone would dare to battle the deep turns and wide slopes that led up to the steep drive where this dark Cadillac now found its rest. Before he even cracked open the door, he could smell her. Her cheap rose and daisy perfume saturated the air and fried his nose hairs. And there she was, just like he remembered her, with her crazy black curls falling in front of her solitary blue gray eyes. She wore a vibrant, slinky purple gown that flowed well below her feet, not to be discredited by the gaudy gold jewelry that hung from her neck, ears and wrist. She was a small waif of a young woman, barely five feet, with a feather plume that stuck nearly a foot out her hair,and slumped to the side, its red color faded and dingy. . .
. . . For no apparent reason his heart leapt within his chest. Not just anyone would dare to battle the deep turns and wide slopes that led up to the steep drive where this dark Cadillac now found its rest. Before he even cracked open the door, he could smell her. Her cheap rose and daisy perfume saturated the air and fried his nose hairs. And there she was, just like he remembered her, with her crazy black curls falling in front of her solitary blue gray eyes. She wore a vibrant, slinky purple gown that flowed well below her feet, not to be discredited by the gaudy gold jewelry that hung from her neck, ears and wrist. She was a small waif of a young woman, barely five feet, with a feather plume that stuck nearly a foot out her hair,and slumped to the side, its red color faded and dingy. . .
Friday, June 6, 2008
Part 1
So there hasn't been a lot of posting going on as of late. I feel that this is due to an overabundance of things going on in our lives, which is just fine. I have noticed that, at least for me, one reason I have not posed anything is because I feel that I don't have time to post a well thought out blog. So here is what I propose. I will write the first part of a story, then each of the blog members will add too this story. There aren't any limits to this story just write anything you want! This way no one has to think to hard you can just write for fun! So here we go...
Part 1
If you were to walk into his house the first thing you would notice is that it looks like nothing has changed in at least 20 years. Dark brown paneling surrounds the lower half of the walls which accents the yellow and orange fuzzy flower wall paper that his wife made him put up so many years ago. He told me one time of how much he hated that wall paper. When I asked him why he put it up he just said with a chuckle, “that woman could talk me into doing just about anything.” The carpet in the room was a lighter brown then the paneling and gave the room an even darker gloomy feel. One complete wall in the living room was covered floor to ceiling in large built-in book shelve that was filled with just about any book you could ever dream of. Talking to him you could easily tell that he had read all of them a multitude of times. Even after all these years you can still ask him about any book on the shelf and he could tell you anything you wanted to know. There are two over sized chairs and a large sofa they got as a wedding present in the middle of the room. Spending money was something neither of them liked to do, and well, I guess some things never change.
It was a wet October day. The rain had just let up a little when he heard car doors. He peaked out the window and saw a large black car sitting out front. Just as he saw the car he heard a knocking on the door...
Part 1
If you were to walk into his house the first thing you would notice is that it looks like nothing has changed in at least 20 years. Dark brown paneling surrounds the lower half of the walls which accents the yellow and orange fuzzy flower wall paper that his wife made him put up so many years ago. He told me one time of how much he hated that wall paper. When I asked him why he put it up he just said with a chuckle, “that woman could talk me into doing just about anything.” The carpet in the room was a lighter brown then the paneling and gave the room an even darker gloomy feel. One complete wall in the living room was covered floor to ceiling in large built-in book shelve that was filled with just about any book you could ever dream of. Talking to him you could easily tell that he had read all of them a multitude of times. Even after all these years you can still ask him about any book on the shelf and he could tell you anything you wanted to know. There are two over sized chairs and a large sofa they got as a wedding present in the middle of the room. Spending money was something neither of them liked to do, and well, I guess some things never change.
It was a wet October day. The rain had just let up a little when he heard car doors. He peaked out the window and saw a large black car sitting out front. Just as he saw the car he heard a knocking on the door...
Monday, May 19, 2008
From Evangelism to Church Growth
So I have been really frustrated lately about the programming of churches to where they are more country clubs than communities of believers. While in class today the transition from evangelism to church growth was explained to me. The professor that is teaching the class is writing a book on Pastoral Theology which includes some of these thoughts.
At some point the Church (meaning churches, all, the whole community of faith) started to make a move from a descriptive to a prescriptive mode of ministry. Basically, they moved from being defined as a community of love and grace to an institution with programs and rules. Programming became a means to grow the church. The more programs offered, the bigger the church.This prescriptive mode leads pastors to be managers rather than participants. Pastors began competing with one another, trying to offer more programs than another church in order to gain the people from that church. This created a consumerist base, people decided to go to church where they could get MORE. Sadly, during this time preaching changed from challenging the people to being "seeker-sensitive." Basically, pastors started preaching from the Bible, but not calling the congregants to live like Jesus. Seeker-sensitive preaching overtook the prophetic voice that once made its home in the pulpit.
Two major themes overtook the pastoral position. First is that of manager, which calls the pastor to manage the chaotic world, a world of competition and violence. So, the pastor in managing this kind of world is not speaking against it, is not trying to reform and/or restore it, rather is actually supporting it. Second is the therapeutic approach to pastoral responsibilities which says that the pastor is to help people cope with the chaos. The problem with this approach is that in dealing with the chaos, confrontation of the issues is avoided. Preaching should involve speaking a word that will break down the chaos in our world in order to rebuild the world.
The message that Jesus came preaching wasn't easy to hear, in fact the good news was bad news for a lot of people, especially for the rich and the religious leaders. Jesus told the rich to sell all of their possessions and give to the poor and he tore down the institutions of the religious leaders. When the church growth movement began pastors lost their desire to preach the gospel because they knew that it wouldn't allow people to be comfortable consumers. No wonder many sermons are shallow, pastors would rather build comfortable institutions of consumerism than call people to take up their crosses and be like Jesus.
At some point the Church (meaning churches, all, the whole community of faith) started to make a move from a descriptive to a prescriptive mode of ministry. Basically, they moved from being defined as a community of love and grace to an institution with programs and rules. Programming became a means to grow the church. The more programs offered, the bigger the church.This prescriptive mode leads pastors to be managers rather than participants. Pastors began competing with one another, trying to offer more programs than another church in order to gain the people from that church. This created a consumerist base, people decided to go to church where they could get MORE. Sadly, during this time preaching changed from challenging the people to being "seeker-sensitive." Basically, pastors started preaching from the Bible, but not calling the congregants to live like Jesus. Seeker-sensitive preaching overtook the prophetic voice that once made its home in the pulpit.
Two major themes overtook the pastoral position. First is that of manager, which calls the pastor to manage the chaotic world, a world of competition and violence. So, the pastor in managing this kind of world is not speaking against it, is not trying to reform and/or restore it, rather is actually supporting it. Second is the therapeutic approach to pastoral responsibilities which says that the pastor is to help people cope with the chaos. The problem with this approach is that in dealing with the chaos, confrontation of the issues is avoided. Preaching should involve speaking a word that will break down the chaos in our world in order to rebuild the world.
The message that Jesus came preaching wasn't easy to hear, in fact the good news was bad news for a lot of people, especially for the rich and the religious leaders. Jesus told the rich to sell all of their possessions and give to the poor and he tore down the institutions of the religious leaders. When the church growth movement began pastors lost their desire to preach the gospel because they knew that it wouldn't allow people to be comfortable consumers. No wonder many sermons are shallow, pastors would rather build comfortable institutions of consumerism than call people to take up their crosses and be like Jesus.
Friday, May 9, 2008
"Unique"
I really enjoy reading. A year or so ago I read a book Titled "Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical" by Shane Claiborne, and last week I read "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. In both of these books the theme of being a radical is prominent. God calls us to live a radical life, to be so devoted to Him that passion overflows out of us into our world. Shane shares the need for us to love our neighbor radically, to give up building kingdoms for ourselves in order that others may have life. Francis Chan talks about actively loving God, reminding us how crazy God's love is for us and that we should have crazy love for Him in return.
I had a conversation with my Pastor recently where I was sharing with Him my vision for the church to simplify, to get away from running programs for programs sake in order to strive to love God and our neighbor. I was a bit surprised when he told me that I was "a unique Christian" because I wasn't raised in the church and because I have experience serving in the inner city. It seems that he was telling me that my thinking is too outside the box and I need to stay within a framework that is comfortable, where "normal Christians" are and like to be. If this is the case, then I would much rather be "unique" than "normal". To me, normal is mediocre and mediocrity is being okay with just getting by. I am not content with getting by, I love my Jesus and I choose to live radically, to break free from the box that most Christians contain themselves and God in.
I was in San Diego recently at Point Loma Nazarene University walking down to the cliffs on the ocean, when I saw something "unique." In a field of weeds I saw this crazy eucalyptus looking thing sticking up, so I walked through the weeds to see what it was.
In this field full of weeds there was this crazy looking plant. I have no idea what it is, but I thought that it fit this illustration well. In the midst of a bunch of weeds (stagnant, mediocre Christians) there are sometimes "unique" plants (radicals.) While the "unique" plant may stand alone, it is much cooler than the weeds and should live out the life God intended for it.
I had a conversation with my Pastor recently where I was sharing with Him my vision for the church to simplify, to get away from running programs for programs sake in order to strive to love God and our neighbor. I was a bit surprised when he told me that I was "a unique Christian" because I wasn't raised in the church and because I have experience serving in the inner city. It seems that he was telling me that my thinking is too outside the box and I need to stay within a framework that is comfortable, where "normal Christians" are and like to be. If this is the case, then I would much rather be "unique" than "normal". To me, normal is mediocre and mediocrity is being okay with just getting by. I am not content with getting by, I love my Jesus and I choose to live radically, to break free from the box that most Christians contain themselves and God in.
I was in San Diego recently at Point Loma Nazarene University walking down to the cliffs on the ocean, when I saw something "unique." In a field of weeds I saw this crazy eucalyptus looking thing sticking up, so I walked through the weeds to see what it was.
In this field full of weeds there was this crazy looking plant. I have no idea what it is, but I thought that it fit this illustration well. In the midst of a bunch of weeds (stagnant, mediocre Christians) there are sometimes "unique" plants (radicals.) While the "unique" plant may stand alone, it is much cooler than the weeds and should live out the life God intended for it.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
The Foreknowledge of God
God knows everything.
Does God know the future?
I wrote a paper on this in my theology class. At first I didn't know that there was any argument. I know there is between pre-destination and Arminianism, but aparently there is an argument even between Armianism.
Aparently there are people that claim that if God knew the future then we would not have free will. These people are called freewill or open theists. They believe freewill is only freewill if a person has the ability to choose otherwise and this is called Libertarian freewill. If a choice is foreknown by God then it has to end up the way God knows it to be.
Lets look at it this way. If later this afternoon at lunch I have the option of eating pizza or a sandwich and God knows I am going to pick the sandwich then I have to pick the sandwich. This reasoning makes sense to me, but so does the other side of it.
The other side says, basically, that because we do not know our future it is a free choice or compatiblistic freewill. It is not because God knows the choice that the choice is going to happen, but because it is going to happen that God knows it.
Both of these make sense and both of them fall under Arminianism. Yet Jacobus Arminius didn't believe either one of these but rather saw it as something that the human mind simply could not understand.
I really dunno what I think on this subject anymore. I have looked at it and read about it and there seems to be no one right answer. Even the predestination people got somethings right it seems like!
All I do know it that God is All-knowing, All-present, and All-powerful and that means He is so much more than I can ever understand. Whatever someone thinks they know about God, there is always more to know. And many times when we try to fit God into a box we end up having to cut part of Him off so that He fits. Every one of these possitions has to ignore some part of Scripture in order for their version to work 100% of the time. So maybe the way it really is, is that all of them are right, to some degree. Maybe we are predestined and maybe we have freewill. Maybe God knows the future and I still can choose one way or the other. Either way, God is God and I am just me. What do I know?
Does God know the future?
I wrote a paper on this in my theology class. At first I didn't know that there was any argument. I know there is between pre-destination and Arminianism, but aparently there is an argument even between Armianism.
Aparently there are people that claim that if God knew the future then we would not have free will. These people are called freewill or open theists. They believe freewill is only freewill if a person has the ability to choose otherwise and this is called Libertarian freewill. If a choice is foreknown by God then it has to end up the way God knows it to be.
Lets look at it this way. If later this afternoon at lunch I have the option of eating pizza or a sandwich and God knows I am going to pick the sandwich then I have to pick the sandwich. This reasoning makes sense to me, but so does the other side of it.
The other side says, basically, that because we do not know our future it is a free choice or compatiblistic freewill. It is not because God knows the choice that the choice is going to happen, but because it is going to happen that God knows it.
Both of these make sense and both of them fall under Arminianism. Yet Jacobus Arminius didn't believe either one of these but rather saw it as something that the human mind simply could not understand.
I really dunno what I think on this subject anymore. I have looked at it and read about it and there seems to be no one right answer. Even the predestination people got somethings right it seems like!
All I do know it that God is All-knowing, All-present, and All-powerful and that means He is so much more than I can ever understand. Whatever someone thinks they know about God, there is always more to know. And many times when we try to fit God into a box we end up having to cut part of Him off so that He fits. Every one of these possitions has to ignore some part of Scripture in order for their version to work 100% of the time. So maybe the way it really is, is that all of them are right, to some degree. Maybe we are predestined and maybe we have freewill. Maybe God knows the future and I still can choose one way or the other. Either way, God is God and I am just me. What do I know?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Unclean
I have been reading the book of Numbers the last couple of days. I decided to journal some of my reflections today and thought that you all might like to hear them as well.
Chapter 5: Talking about defilement, God instructs the people to send those who are unclean outside the camp, which are all lepers and those who have any form of discharge. I love Hebrews chapter 13 which says that Jesus went outside the camp to suffer. In Numbers we learn that this kind of uncleanness is disgusting to God because it is a result of sin and separation from Him. So, He sends people away because they have chosen defilement over intimacy with Him. When Jesus comes, He goes outside the camp. He goes to the ones who are physically unclean to show that He has come to redeem all, even the worst of the worst who have been sent outside of the camp. I was listening to a song this morning by Brave Saint Saturn titled “Under Bridges”. In this song the Least of These are the highlight. At the end, the lyrics are: Jesus Christ dying of AIDS can look right through you. And all have hated, Crucified and walked away. The Savior of the prostitutes, Drunkards, rapists and the gays. Jesus suffered with those who were cast out. He continues to suffer with those who are cast out, He loves and came to be the Savior of the entire world, including the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists and the gays. The challenge for us is whether or not we will truly follow in the footsteps of Jesus and choose to go to the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists, and gays. Hebrews 13:12-14 “Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
Chapter 5: Talking about defilement, God instructs the people to send those who are unclean outside the camp, which are all lepers and those who have any form of discharge. I love Hebrews chapter 13 which says that Jesus went outside the camp to suffer. In Numbers we learn that this kind of uncleanness is disgusting to God because it is a result of sin and separation from Him. So, He sends people away because they have chosen defilement over intimacy with Him. When Jesus comes, He goes outside the camp. He goes to the ones who are physically unclean to show that He has come to redeem all, even the worst of the worst who have been sent outside of the camp. I was listening to a song this morning by Brave Saint Saturn titled “Under Bridges”. In this song the Least of These are the highlight. At the end, the lyrics are: Jesus Christ dying of AIDS can look right through you. And all have hated, Crucified and walked away. The Savior of the prostitutes, Drunkards, rapists and the gays. Jesus suffered with those who were cast out. He continues to suffer with those who are cast out, He loves and came to be the Savior of the entire world, including the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists and the gays. The challenge for us is whether or not we will truly follow in the footsteps of Jesus and choose to go to the prostitutes, drunkards, rapists, and gays. Hebrews 13:12-14 “Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Rob Bell's new book
Rob Bell is coming out with a new book in October. The title is "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" Here is a link to an interview with him about this work.
http://vineyard-cc.org/podcast/2008/04/15/rob-bell-jesus-wants-to-save-christians/
http://vineyard-cc.org/podcast/2008/04/15/rob-bell-jesus-wants-to-save-christians/
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Lit Class Project
So I made this for my Liturature class. It is rediculously cheesy but, I am pretty proud of it. I did it all in one day.
It is a song by Hector Berlioz. It is called March to the Scaffold and it is about a man who killed his lover and is being lead to die.
Hope you like it.
It was easier to just put the link haha.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wilderness
The O.C. Supertones have a song titled "Wilderness". Part of the lyrics are, "I’m somewhere in-between Canaan and Egypt A place called the wilderness I’m not one who always trusts their feelingsI don’t believe in what you’d call blind faith But faith that you can do all that you promised And you said it all works for good It’s safe to say I don’t see the big picture I can’t see the forest for the trees."
As I was writing an assessment of our church for one of my classes, this song came to mind. The following is what I wrote in my paper:
Finally, I would like to call the church to not be content with mediocrity. It is easy to come to church every week, participate in activities, even teach a Sunday school class, but to miss out on the greater vision of the Kingdom of God. I believe that we are stuck in the wilderness between Canaan and Egypt. We are no longer in slavery and we may even thank God from time to time for freeing us, yet we choose then to sit and complain in the wilderness, staying in the desert versus entering into the promise land. It is easy to hope for growth and complain about the lack of commitment of members, however, if we actively pursue Canaan and the Kingdom of God, we will be fulfilling God’s purpose in the world. The end goal is not more programs and meetings; it is to love God and neighbor and to make disciples.
I believe that too often our faith is too small. Do we really believe that God will do all that He promised? It seems to me that if we really believe in the Kingdom and that God will be with us in all that we do, then we will be active in pursuing the bringing of the Kingdom to earth as Jesus prayed in Matthew 6. Instead, though, we hang out in the wilderness, in this place of mediocrity. We have the potential for something great, something beautiful, but we are afraid of taking risks so we just sit around. We don't see the big picture, we allow ourselves to be blinded by the trees, not seeing the forest. We become involved in so many programs, so many "good Christian" kinds of things (which really makes me quite sick, the idea that going to church, giving money, baking cookies for VBS, etc are the ways that we get to heaven)that we miss out on the Kingdom of God. These things in and of themselves are not bad at all, it is when we allow them to blind us, when we become so caught up in them that we miss out on loving God and neighbor, essentially bringing the Kingdom to earth.
I want my life to reflect an active and passionate pursuit of the Kingdom. I am not okay with hanging out in the wilderness, living in fear of change, living in fear of the presence of God. I choose Canaan. I choose to enter into the presence of God in my daily life by pursuing His agenda in this world by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with my God.
As I was writing an assessment of our church for one of my classes, this song came to mind. The following is what I wrote in my paper:
Finally, I would like to call the church to not be content with mediocrity. It is easy to come to church every week, participate in activities, even teach a Sunday school class, but to miss out on the greater vision of the Kingdom of God. I believe that we are stuck in the wilderness between Canaan and Egypt. We are no longer in slavery and we may even thank God from time to time for freeing us, yet we choose then to sit and complain in the wilderness, staying in the desert versus entering into the promise land. It is easy to hope for growth and complain about the lack of commitment of members, however, if we actively pursue Canaan and the Kingdom of God, we will be fulfilling God’s purpose in the world. The end goal is not more programs and meetings; it is to love God and neighbor and to make disciples.
I believe that too often our faith is too small. Do we really believe that God will do all that He promised? It seems to me that if we really believe in the Kingdom and that God will be with us in all that we do, then we will be active in pursuing the bringing of the Kingdom to earth as Jesus prayed in Matthew 6. Instead, though, we hang out in the wilderness, in this place of mediocrity. We have the potential for something great, something beautiful, but we are afraid of taking risks so we just sit around. We don't see the big picture, we allow ourselves to be blinded by the trees, not seeing the forest. We become involved in so many programs, so many "good Christian" kinds of things (which really makes me quite sick, the idea that going to church, giving money, baking cookies for VBS, etc are the ways that we get to heaven)that we miss out on the Kingdom of God. These things in and of themselves are not bad at all, it is when we allow them to blind us, when we become so caught up in them that we miss out on loving God and neighbor, essentially bringing the Kingdom to earth.
I want my life to reflect an active and passionate pursuit of the Kingdom. I am not okay with hanging out in the wilderness, living in fear of change, living in fear of the presence of God. I choose Canaan. I choose to enter into the presence of God in my daily life by pursuing His agenda in this world by acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with my God.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Malaria
I wrote this a few weeks ago but never posted it for some reason so here it is.
This is the "Facts" section, and to tell you the truth Wikipedia writes these better then I can so I copied it:
Malaria is a potentially fatal tropical disease that is caused by a parasite known as Plasmodium. It is spread through the bite of an infected female mosquito. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include symptoms of anemia (light headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness, and in severe cases, coma and death. Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites with mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining standing water where mosquitoes lay their eggs.
Although some are under development, no vaccine is currently available for malaria; preventative drugs must be taken continuously to reduce the risk of infection. These prophylactic drug treatments are often too expensive for most people living in endemic areas. Most adults from endemic areas have a degree of long-term recurrent infection and also of partial resistance; the resistance reduces with time and such adults may become susceptible to severe malaria if they have spent a significant amount of time in non-endemic areas.
According to one study one child dies every thirty seconds from malaria.
This is the "Discussion" part of the blog which I wrote:
I was over at Mike and Lawries’ house on Tuesday hanging out and Mike started talking about this e-mail got. He told us that a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria. This is so crazy, let’s do the math. That is 2 children a minute, 120 children an hour, 2,880 children a day, 1,051,200 children a year. I don’t know about you, but I had no idea this was even happening, I knew this killed people, but over a million children not counting adults? How did I miss this? To tell you the truth before I wrote this blog I didn’t even really have a full understanding of what Malaria was. Facts like these have been presented to me so many times in the past, but I guess for the first time I realized how hard to them I have become.
Part of all this concern for the hardness is coming from Fancies Chan. I listened to one of his sermons yesterday and I started crying. He started talking about this guy he met who is one of leaders in the fight against human trafficking. There little children who are being kidnapped and sold into slavery. He brought up how when one part of the body suffers the whole body should suffers, and how we should mourn with those who mourn. So he said that he tried imagining his own children being taken from him and forced to do the horrible things. He asked himself questions like, “What he would he do?” and “How would he react?” He was such a mess, it was so astounding how heart broken he was for these kids. I wish I could say that the reason I cried was for the same reason, but it wasn’t. I was so upset that I have never truly felt that way. Of course I am saddened by the injustice in this world, and I long for the opportunity to do something about it. But have a really mourned for those people, those children who are dying from a mosquito bite? I mean really mourned? I am not sure that I can say that I truly have.
I live in my own little world.
In this world it is nice to talk about change.
It is nice to talk about injustice and how it should change.
It is also nice not to do anything about it.
I understand that I am in the place I am for a reason, and I am making a difference, even if it is small. But I want more. I want to help people. Awareness of the issue is one thing, but doing something about it is another. There isn’t a cure for Malaria, I watched videos and read articles on what is being done. As far as I can tell it’s far too sciency and smart for me to understand, but I do think they are doing the best that they can. Someday there will be a vaccine to cure this madness, but it will be a while.
Malaria isn’t the point for me, as bad as it is. The point is that I have to keep letting the Holy Spirit invade my life. We all do. We have become hardened by the things of this world. We can’t stop focusing on justice. We can’t stop talking about things outside of ourselves. I need a constant reminder of where Gods heart really is. We may get tired of hearing these facts, seeing these kids, reading these words, but we have to keep doing it.
This is the "Facts" section, and to tell you the truth Wikipedia writes these better then I can so I copied it:
Malaria is a potentially fatal tropical disease that is caused by a parasite known as Plasmodium. It is spread through the bite of an infected female mosquito. The parasites multiply within red blood cells, causing symptoms that include symptoms of anemia (light headedness, shortness of breath, tachycardia etc.), as well as other general symptoms such as fever, chills, nausea, flu-like illness, and in severe cases, coma and death. Malaria transmission can be reduced by preventing mosquito bites with mosquito nets and insect repellents, or by mosquito control measures such as spraying insecticides inside houses and draining standing water where mosquitoes lay their eggs.
Although some are under development, no vaccine is currently available for malaria; preventative drugs must be taken continuously to reduce the risk of infection. These prophylactic drug treatments are often too expensive for most people living in endemic areas. Most adults from endemic areas have a degree of long-term recurrent infection and also of partial resistance; the resistance reduces with time and such adults may become susceptible to severe malaria if they have spent a significant amount of time in non-endemic areas.
According to one study one child dies every thirty seconds from malaria.
This is the "Discussion" part of the blog which I wrote:
I was over at Mike and Lawries’ house on Tuesday hanging out and Mike started talking about this e-mail got. He told us that a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria. This is so crazy, let’s do the math. That is 2 children a minute, 120 children an hour, 2,880 children a day, 1,051,200 children a year. I don’t know about you, but I had no idea this was even happening, I knew this killed people, but over a million children not counting adults? How did I miss this? To tell you the truth before I wrote this blog I didn’t even really have a full understanding of what Malaria was. Facts like these have been presented to me so many times in the past, but I guess for the first time I realized how hard to them I have become.
Part of all this concern for the hardness is coming from Fancies Chan. I listened to one of his sermons yesterday and I started crying. He started talking about this guy he met who is one of leaders in the fight against human trafficking. There little children who are being kidnapped and sold into slavery. He brought up how when one part of the body suffers the whole body should suffers, and how we should mourn with those who mourn. So he said that he tried imagining his own children being taken from him and forced to do the horrible things. He asked himself questions like, “What he would he do?” and “How would he react?” He was such a mess, it was so astounding how heart broken he was for these kids. I wish I could say that the reason I cried was for the same reason, but it wasn’t. I was so upset that I have never truly felt that way. Of course I am saddened by the injustice in this world, and I long for the opportunity to do something about it. But have a really mourned for those people, those children who are dying from a mosquito bite? I mean really mourned? I am not sure that I can say that I truly have.
I live in my own little world.
In this world it is nice to talk about change.
It is nice to talk about injustice and how it should change.
It is also nice not to do anything about it.
I understand that I am in the place I am for a reason, and I am making a difference, even if it is small. But I want more. I want to help people. Awareness of the issue is one thing, but doing something about it is another. There isn’t a cure for Malaria, I watched videos and read articles on what is being done. As far as I can tell it’s far too sciency and smart for me to understand, but I do think they are doing the best that they can. Someday there will be a vaccine to cure this madness, but it will be a while.
Malaria isn’t the point for me, as bad as it is. The point is that I have to keep letting the Holy Spirit invade my life. We all do. We have become hardened by the things of this world. We can’t stop focusing on justice. We can’t stop talking about things outside of ourselves. I need a constant reminder of where Gods heart really is. We may get tired of hearing these facts, seeing these kids, reading these words, but we have to keep doing it.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Orthographic Drawings
This is my final for my construction detaling class. I hand drew everything which means it took a very long time!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Today is. . .
Today is March 30, 2008
on March 30, 1282 The people of Palermo massacred 2,000 French residents in the Sicilian Vespers, a revolt against the Angevin king Charels I.
We had a missionary come speak to us from Palermo, which is on the island of Sicily, named Jessica Morris.
Paul the Apostle stopped by the city of Syracuse, which is on the island of Sicily, on his fourth mission journey.
Eric's dad's name is Paul.
Eric is my room mate.
My bed is comfy.
I am going to go to bed.
on March 30, 1282 The people of Palermo massacred 2,000 French residents in the Sicilian Vespers, a revolt against the Angevin king Charels I.
We had a missionary come speak to us from Palermo, which is on the island of Sicily, named Jessica Morris.
Paul the Apostle stopped by the city of Syracuse, which is on the island of Sicily, on his fourth mission journey.
Eric's dad's name is Paul.
Eric is my room mate.
My bed is comfy.
I am going to go to bed.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
And Just Like That I Have a 1,500 Word Post
I wrote this for a class so don't expect it to be very interesting.
What is Karl Barth's view of tradition, and how does that fit into post-modern society?
Over the span of the history of theology there has grown a sense of tradition: the things that were thought by previous theological thinkers still have value. Tradition has become an important part of theology because it is a way to judge people’s experiences and their interpretations of Scripture. In an ironic way theology still keeps with tradition by looking at what previous theologians thought about tradition. There is now a tradition of looking at tradition. In this way Karl Barth was a theologian that looked at tradition, and wrote a considerable amount on the subject. Although tradition was not the main focus of Karl Barth’s work it was something that could not be over looked. For Karl Barth, tradition was not just something that happened it was the responsibility of the previous generation. Karl Barth has much to contribute to the grand scheme of theology and how tradition fits in to theology, even in today’s society.
Over the span of the history of theology there has grown a sense of tradition: the things that were thought by previous theological thinkers still have value. Tradition has become an important part of theology because it is a way to judge people’s experiences and their interpretations of Scripture. In an ironic way theology still keeps with tradition by looking at what previous theologians thought about tradition. There is now a tradition of looking at tradition. In this way Karl Barth was a theologian that looked at tradition, and wrote a considerable amount on the subject. Although tradition was not the main focus of Karl Barth’s work it was something that could not be over looked. For Karl Barth, tradition was not just something that happened it was the responsibility of the previous generation. Karl Barth has much to contribute to the grand scheme of theology and how tradition fits in to theology, even in today’s society.
Karl Barth came in direct contact with the traditions of the church as he grew up, and the time and culture in which Barth grew up significantly impacted his views on this tradition. Karl Barth was born in 1886 of Swiss-German decent. His father, Johann Friedrich Barth, or Fritz as he went by, was a pastor and then became a teacher of theology. A treasured photo of his father “above Barth’s desk [hinted] that the father’s theological pilgrimage was in a real way a model for the son” (Green 13). Barth studied in Berne, Berlin, Tubingen and Marburg. Early on as a pastor he was very concerned with how theology related to the everyday problems in his congregation. He began work on theology in Germany, but he shortly moved back to Switzerland when he would not swear allegiance to Hitler. World War II led Barth to write The Barmen Declaration which spoke out against Hitler and the German Christians who supported the anti-Semitic ideas of the Third Reich. These German Christians emphasized the crucifixion of Jesus by the Jews and some even called for the elimination of the Old Testament from the Bible. The Barmen Declaration is a modern confession of faith rooted in scripturally based doctrines believed by the early church and “it appeals to all concerned to return to unity in faith, hope and love” (Gunton 135). Over his life Barth wrote many major works including Anselm: Fides Quaerens Intellectum, Community, State and Church, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, The Epistle to the Romans, The Word of God and the Word of Man, and his largest but unfinished work, Church Dogmatics.
The overarching theme of much of Karl Barth’s work was this idea that God, Who is ultimately free, unchanging, and unlimited, “has elected to be for, with, in and among us” (McDowell 3) and has decided to act on behalf of humanity and redeem them. God does not have responsibility to do this and He is in no way bound to do it. God Himself has chosen of His own will to make Himself a part of human history through the person Jesus Christ and through revelation. This is the central theme of Barth’s theology and it dictates how he thinks about other aspects of theology, including tradition. Tradition is viewed through the lens of God’s self revelation to people throughout history. When it comes to tradition, Barth is not explicitly concerned with the topic; it is all in relation to how God makes Himself known through revelation.
This main theological idea, that God has made Himself known and that He is still making Himself known through revelation, greatly shaped Barth’s ideas on tradition. The most important thing in Barth’s mind was God’s revelation to His people, not tradition, not Scripture, not Dogmatics. This is not to say that Barth disregarded all of these things and was swept away by whatever theology came along the way, but he did judge each piece of theology through this idea that God has revealed Himself. Still, tradition plays a key role in determining the legitimacy of revelatory thoughts, for “theology does not labor somewhere high above the foundation of tradition, as though Church history began today.” (Barth 42). Instead tradition proved to be a helpful way of testing and approving of new theological ideas claiming to be a revelation from God. “Theology has to reconsider the confession of the community, testing and rethinking it in light of its enduring foundation, object, and content.” (Barth 42). Tradition is crucial for actually being able to assess and approve of whether something is of God or not. Does the revelation keep with scripture? Have people in the past had revelations like this? What do previous theologians have to say about this topic or that topic? These types of questions can all be answered through tradition. Barth’s idea about tradition was that it played an important role in subjecting what people might claim as revelations to an outside source that receives its authority through continuation of previous theologies and most importantly the Word of God.
All this being said; for Barth tradition started with the Apostles of the New Testament. The Apostles were first hand witnesses to the life and event of Jesus Christ. They came in personal contact with Jesus, saw the miracles He performed and witnessed His death and resurrection. These Apostles then wrote down their accounts for various purposes, but all as witnesses to the Gospel. For this reason, Barth would say, the Apostles’ testimony is to be regarded as valid and cannot be added to or taken away from. Theology and tradition are always subject to the original witnesses of the Gospel; they are never equal with it, and most certainly never above it. “All subsequent theology, as well as the whole community that comes after the event, will never find itself in the same immediate confrontation” (Barth 32). All succeeding generations of theologians are all subject to the witness of the Apostles to the Gospel. This continuous looking back at previous generations led Barth to make the statement, “in order to serve the community of today, theology itself must be rooted in the community of yesterday.” (Barth 42). This community of theology is to be secondary witness to the Gospel, and if it is not doing this, then it has failed. Because the community believes the testimony of the previous generations and ultimately the witness of the Apostles to the Word, the community must speak and testify to the Word as well. For Barth the intent of theology, also, was to serve the needs of the church/community that it finds itself in, and the needs of the community could only be met when theology looked at the communities of the past and evaluated the way they dealt with similar problems. This process is part of tradition.
Karl Barth’s view of tradition is an important one to think about in a society like today’s. The common worldview today is a post-modern one that sees truth as a relative thing to what one’s experiences tell them it is. One person may see Jesus as God’s Son and another may see Him as nothing more than a teacher; both views are valid in the post-modern perspective. Where post-modern thought has a problem with Christianity is when Jesus claims that His is the One and Only way to God. Similarly, because of the post-modern thinking, Karl Barth’s ideas in general could be seen as unpopular. In a society that rejects most authorities that are outside or contradict their individual and personal experiences, it is easy for a theology that says one’s own experiences are not always valid unless they coincide with the traditions of the Church to be ridiculed or hated. Barth’s view expresses “the need for conversation with other perspectives and disciplines from one's own” (McDowell 2). This view emphasizes the idea that people cannot know everything without other perspectives to draw them back to reality.
Although Barth’s ideas have taken some heat among post-modern thought, I still believe that they really have truth in them. I believe this because if the post-modern reality is true, then no one reality is true, which can be a very slipper slope to go down. Post-modern thought also places individuals in the highest respect, that whatever it is they have figured out, they have right. This view throws tradition out the window and makes living in the moment the only real way to live life to the fullest. I do not believe this mentality because the people that came before did have some things figured out right and society cannot just discard them because they do not agree in pursuit of personal ideologies. Barth had a great analogy that does a good job of summing up tradition. Barth had this idea that the people we are learning from are really just students of previous students, all the way back down to the original witnesses to the Gospel, and we are really just joining with them to find out more about how to live life in a pleasing way to God. “To study theology means not so much to examine exhaustively the work of earlier students of theology as to become their fellow students” (Barth 173). So we join the long line of witnesses to the Gospel that have the hope of finding something a little bit deeper than the previous generation, and the hope that we might be able to pass that on to the next.
Bibliography
Barth, Karl." Encyclopædia Britannica.
document.write(new Date().getFullYear());
2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 3 Mar. 2008 <http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9013520>.
Barth, Karl. Evangelical Theology: an Introduction. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
Green, Clifford, ed. Karl Barth: Theologian of Freedom. Minneapolis: Fortress P, 1991.
Gunton, Colin E., Stephen R. Holmes, and Murray A. Rae. The Practice of Theology. St. Albans Place: SCM P, 2001. 133-134.
McDowell, John C. "The mystery of God: Karl Barth and the post-modern foundations of theology." Evangelical Quarterly 76.3 (July 2004): 275-278. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. EBSCO. [Library name], [City], [State abbreviation]. 10 Mar. 2008
Reinisch, Leonhard, ed. Theologians of Our Time. Notre Dame: The University of Notre Dame P, 1964. 1-16.
Friday, March 21, 2008
something to ponder...
'Momentum – The speed or force of forward movement of an object or a quantity that expresses the motion of a body and its resistance to slowing down. It is equal to the product of the body’s mass and velocity. Or (perhaps more accurately, the death of Messiah.)'
- David Crowder
- David Crowder
Monday, March 17, 2008
If God wanted us to know, then I’m pretty sure He would have told us...
What if science proved God is not real? Would there be any Christians left?
This question has been kinda bugging me lately. I feel that we have put way to much faith in our own reasoning, and not enough in God. Some people -mostly Christians- mix science, faith, God and everything else all into one big lump sum. I do not feel that this is the best why to go about discerning what to believe. God is my life, and everything in my life is going to revert back to Him. I just feel that people try to use science as a way to prove or disprove the reality of God. This is not only wrong, but in the end it does not help anything.
I have heard from Non-Christians over and over that Christians are close minded people, and as sad as it sounds, I would tend to agree. One of the reasons I say this is because of the way that some Christians present their beliefs on the beginning of the world. My beliefs on the creation of the world have absolutely nothing to do with science. They are faith based, which according to a reliable source means, “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.” (Thanks for the clarification Answers.com!). Science - I am more accurately speaking of geology- offers a view point on the beginnings of the world based on a system of testing hypothesis. I am taking a geology class right now at UNM and I am learning all sorts of things about how they date rocks. To tell you the truth the process of dating rocks is the one of the least interesting things I have ever learned about. My professor is going though this testing process in a very detailed way, and I could take a few hours and fill you in, but it is terribly boring, so I won’t. Just believe me when I say that it is very complicated and confusing.
Over the few years I have been alive I have seen books, heard talks and seen videos debating the validity of this research; all of which are from a Christian/”scientific” perspective. A number of these sources end up using the bible, flaky science and logic to defend God. I think what some people have forgotten is that you can not use science to prove or disprove Christianity. That is not the motivation of science. I do not know where I stand on the earth being 27 billion years old or whatever; I wasn’t there. I guess I just don’t feel that it is my place to tell anyone they are wrong for thinking this. Everyone has there reasons for what they believe, if they did not they would change them.
When did Christianity become about proving people wrong? My walk with Jesus is about my relationship with Him, and doing my best to love other people. It is very simple. I do have a very deep, well thought out stance on these issues, but they are only means to deepen my relationship with Jesus. Of course people outside of Christianity have to try and answer the question of “where did all of this come from?” It is only natural, God instilled in all of us the desire to discover and ask questions. I have an answer to my questions, and it is God. I think it would be foolish to assume that people who do not believe in God would not try to answer their questions by using things they feel they understand. My Geology professor has spent his entire adult life exploring the system of carbon dating; he knows it inside and out. The reason he likes this science it that it answers questions for him. Not only would it be pointless to try and prove his life work wrong, it would go against treating other people how I would like to be treated. I do not want to sit and have an argument with someone who is trying to prove to me that my beliefs are wrong, why should I expect someone else to?
I guess the point of all this rambling is this. I am tired of hearing people fight over things that there isn’t verifiable evidence for. If God wanted us to know I think he would have told us, but he didn’t. He gave us free will. If there were scientific proof for God then we wouldn’t need faith. We get so wrapped up in try to prove people wrong, which goes against everything Jesus came to this earth and died for, that we forget what God is about. To tell you the truth it makes me sick.
We go around judging people for thinking that the world came from a “big bang”.
We laugh at the Theory of Evolution.
We wonder how anyone could be so incompetent to think the earth is 59 billion years old (or whatever age people say it is).
We have to stop trying to prove God is here. He is here, I feel him. If science proved or disproved His existence I would still believe, because I feel Him move. I hear His heart beat. I see His beauty. I do not need scientific proof that He is here, and real. We also need to start loving people. I am pretty sure the bible does not have one story about how Jesus talked went to the scientist and proved him wrong, but it does have an overwhelming number of stories of him loving people. So maybe He wanted to tell us to stop worrying about stuff that doesn’t mater. Just love people, and love God.
I don’t know if all of this makes sense, I just had to get it out. Please comment, think about, and figure out where you stand on all this. I do not have all the answers, and there isn’t anything wrong with exploring. I just don’t think God is not about fighting, so that is not what I want to be about.
This question has been kinda bugging me lately. I feel that we have put way to much faith in our own reasoning, and not enough in God. Some people -mostly Christians- mix science, faith, God and everything else all into one big lump sum. I do not feel that this is the best why to go about discerning what to believe. God is my life, and everything in my life is going to revert back to Him. I just feel that people try to use science as a way to prove or disprove the reality of God. This is not only wrong, but in the end it does not help anything.
I have heard from Non-Christians over and over that Christians are close minded people, and as sad as it sounds, I would tend to agree. One of the reasons I say this is because of the way that some Christians present their beliefs on the beginning of the world. My beliefs on the creation of the world have absolutely nothing to do with science. They are faith based, which according to a reliable source means, “Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.” (Thanks for the clarification Answers.com!). Science - I am more accurately speaking of geology- offers a view point on the beginnings of the world based on a system of testing hypothesis. I am taking a geology class right now at UNM and I am learning all sorts of things about how they date rocks. To tell you the truth the process of dating rocks is the one of the least interesting things I have ever learned about. My professor is going though this testing process in a very detailed way, and I could take a few hours and fill you in, but it is terribly boring, so I won’t. Just believe me when I say that it is very complicated and confusing.
Over the few years I have been alive I have seen books, heard talks and seen videos debating the validity of this research; all of which are from a Christian/”scientific” perspective. A number of these sources end up using the bible, flaky science and logic to defend God. I think what some people have forgotten is that you can not use science to prove or disprove Christianity. That is not the motivation of science. I do not know where I stand on the earth being 27 billion years old or whatever; I wasn’t there. I guess I just don’t feel that it is my place to tell anyone they are wrong for thinking this. Everyone has there reasons for what they believe, if they did not they would change them.
When did Christianity become about proving people wrong? My walk with Jesus is about my relationship with Him, and doing my best to love other people. It is very simple. I do have a very deep, well thought out stance on these issues, but they are only means to deepen my relationship with Jesus. Of course people outside of Christianity have to try and answer the question of “where did all of this come from?” It is only natural, God instilled in all of us the desire to discover and ask questions. I have an answer to my questions, and it is God. I think it would be foolish to assume that people who do not believe in God would not try to answer their questions by using things they feel they understand. My Geology professor has spent his entire adult life exploring the system of carbon dating; he knows it inside and out. The reason he likes this science it that it answers questions for him. Not only would it be pointless to try and prove his life work wrong, it would go against treating other people how I would like to be treated. I do not want to sit and have an argument with someone who is trying to prove to me that my beliefs are wrong, why should I expect someone else to?
I guess the point of all this rambling is this. I am tired of hearing people fight over things that there isn’t verifiable evidence for. If God wanted us to know I think he would have told us, but he didn’t. He gave us free will. If there were scientific proof for God then we wouldn’t need faith. We get so wrapped up in try to prove people wrong, which goes against everything Jesus came to this earth and died for, that we forget what God is about. To tell you the truth it makes me sick.
We go around judging people for thinking that the world came from a “big bang”.
We laugh at the Theory of Evolution.
We wonder how anyone could be so incompetent to think the earth is 59 billion years old (or whatever age people say it is).
We have to stop trying to prove God is here. He is here, I feel him. If science proved or disproved His existence I would still believe, because I feel Him move. I hear His heart beat. I see His beauty. I do not need scientific proof that He is here, and real. We also need to start loving people. I am pretty sure the bible does not have one story about how Jesus talked went to the scientist and proved him wrong, but it does have an overwhelming number of stories of him loving people. So maybe He wanted to tell us to stop worrying about stuff that doesn’t mater. Just love people, and love God.
I don’t know if all of this makes sense, I just had to get it out. Please comment, think about, and figure out where you stand on all this. I do not have all the answers, and there isn’t anything wrong with exploring. I just don’t think God is not about fighting, so that is not what I want to be about.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Coldplay makes me sleepy...
Next time you have to move your clock an hour and lose sleep and have trouble getting up you can thank Mr. William Willet. In 1907 he proposed the idea of Daylight Savings Time based on the notion that we should not “waist the daylight”. This sounds great or whatever, but it sucks having to re-adjust. This is what good ol’ Wikipedia has to say about this, “The practice is controversial. Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours, but causes problems for farming, entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun” So I guess that pretty much sums up everything I want to say on the issue. But I would like to mention one more thing. William Willet is the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin. This really has nothing to do with me not liking to change my clocks, but it does answer the questions of why I have never really cared for Coldplay.... Thanks a lot Mr. Willet you ruined everything!!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Music
In first grade, I told people I liked alternative music; I didn't know what that meant. My neighbor asked me if I ever listened to Kiss FM, which in my mind was the bad radio station that the devil listened to. I said yes and he asked me what I heard when I listened to it. Realising he was testing me I panicked cause I was lying so I said I heard kissing noises. The truth was I listened to this christian radio station called K-LYT which was on 88.3. This radio station was the cool station for christian music, and I would listen to it quite a bit but I vaguely remember anything I listened to. Every once in a while a song comes on the radio and I know the words and I know that it came from all those hours of just listening to music. I remember listening to the radio and calling in to request songs so I could record them on a tape and listen to them on my Walkman. The only songs I really remember from these days are dc Talk's - Jesus Freak and Audio Adrenaline's - Big House. I'll call these my pre-music days. The days when I could listen to anything that came out of the radio and if someone said it was cool I listened to it. Later on my tastes got more discriminating and I began to buy CD's when they became the general format for music to come in. What follows is a list of CD's or music that impacted my life in some way:
1. Audio Adrenaline - Underdog
I knew Audio Adrenaline before this CD I even had their Some Kind of Zombie CD. But this CD was the first CD I ever bough myself and it stayed in my CD player for a year straight probably. I loved this CD because it was just rock and roll in my mind and every track was awesome, except for track 9. It Is Well With My Soul. . . anyway. The best track is probably the title track, Underdog. This song is about not being able to finish the race of life but God has taken our place and He has already finished the race for us. DC-10 is just good rock and roll and the House Plant Song might be one of the best "hidden tracks" ever recorded.
2. Five Iron Frenzy - Anthology
FIF was first herd by my ears some Wednesday night at church. It was great, from then on out it was on my brother's radio constantly. I listened to FIF a lot when I was younger went to a few shows and then I lost track of ska for a while... then when I heard that Five Iron was breaking up I rediscovered all of these songs all over again. One song that is amazing is Every New Day. This song is about understanding that we are so small and the day to day life would be such a drag if it were not for God making "every new day seem so new." There are many other songs by Five Iron that are amazing and they bring back so many memories and make me just wanna dance around. I love Ska, no other genre of music could talk about such deep topics and make you wanna dance around.
3. Relient K - Anthology
One day my brother called me into his room and made me listen to this song called Hello Mcfly on this CD sampler that he got somewhere. It was by a band named Relient K and I thought the song was pretty good. When their CD came out my brother bought it and I listened to it a couple times. For Christmas I asked for their second CD called The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek this was when I started to really like RK and it has one of my favorite songs on it, Failure to Excommunicate. "Jesus loves the out casts, He loves the ones the world just loves to hate, and as long as there's a heaven there will be a failure to excommunicate." Awesome words. I remember from that point on I loved RK I remember getting super excited about their third CD and listening to it in my truck. I remember getting mmhmm their 4th CD and being awe struck. Relient K will always hold a special place in my heart and I can never forget the shows I've been too.
Other bands that have impacted me but aren't worth writing about include:
Air Five
Anberlin
Brave Saint Saturn
The Classic Crime
David Crowder* Band
The Eagles
Emery
Good Charlotte
Hawk Nelson
The Hippos
The Insyderz
Jars of Clay
MxPx
Reel Big Fish
Run Kid Run
Ruth
Sanctus Real
Skillet
The Supertones
Switchfoot
Thousand Foot Krutch
The W's
The Wedding
Yellowcard
1. Audio Adrenaline - Underdog
I knew Audio Adrenaline before this CD I even had their Some Kind of Zombie CD. But this CD was the first CD I ever bough myself and it stayed in my CD player for a year straight probably. I loved this CD because it was just rock and roll in my mind and every track was awesome, except for track 9. It Is Well With My Soul. . . anyway. The best track is probably the title track, Underdog. This song is about not being able to finish the race of life but God has taken our place and He has already finished the race for us. DC-10 is just good rock and roll and the House Plant Song might be one of the best "hidden tracks" ever recorded.
2. Five Iron Frenzy - Anthology
FIF was first herd by my ears some Wednesday night at church. It was great, from then on out it was on my brother's radio constantly. I listened to FIF a lot when I was younger went to a few shows and then I lost track of ska for a while... then when I heard that Five Iron was breaking up I rediscovered all of these songs all over again. One song that is amazing is Every New Day. This song is about understanding that we are so small and the day to day life would be such a drag if it were not for God making "every new day seem so new." There are many other songs by Five Iron that are amazing and they bring back so many memories and make me just wanna dance around. I love Ska, no other genre of music could talk about such deep topics and make you wanna dance around.
3. Relient K - Anthology
One day my brother called me into his room and made me listen to this song called Hello Mcfly on this CD sampler that he got somewhere. It was by a band named Relient K and I thought the song was pretty good. When their CD came out my brother bought it and I listened to it a couple times. For Christmas I asked for their second CD called The Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek this was when I started to really like RK and it has one of my favorite songs on it, Failure to Excommunicate. "Jesus loves the out casts, He loves the ones the world just loves to hate, and as long as there's a heaven there will be a failure to excommunicate." Awesome words. I remember from that point on I loved RK I remember getting super excited about their third CD and listening to it in my truck. I remember getting mmhmm their 4th CD and being awe struck. Relient K will always hold a special place in my heart and I can never forget the shows I've been too.
Other bands that have impacted me but aren't worth writing about include:
Air Five
Anberlin
Brave Saint Saturn
The Classic Crime
David Crowder* Band
The Eagles
Emery
Good Charlotte
Hawk Nelson
The Hippos
The Insyderz
Jars of Clay
MxPx
Reel Big Fish
Run Kid Run
Ruth
Sanctus Real
Skillet
The Supertones
Switchfoot
Thousand Foot Krutch
The W's
The Wedding
Yellowcard
Friday, February 8, 2008
Pictures
I don't know how to do picture stuff on here. So thats my dorm room and thats me in my dorm room.
I found my camera
This is the campus early in the morning. It's foggy.
oggy
oggyThursday, January 31, 2008
Since arriving I have:
Played 2 Games of soccer
Scored 1 goal
Gotten 1 rug burn from soccer
Played several games of dodgeball
Eaten 8 slices of pizza
Eaten 6 Hamburgers
Been to Wal-Mart 5 times
Read 44 articles
Written 44 summaries of articles
Written 1 paper
Washed 1 load of laundry
Made 6 pots of coffee
Driven 25 miles (in my car)
Made a trip to Wichita
Been to Church 4 times
Been to Chapel 4 times
Played Halo 3 twice
Played Tiger Woods 5 times
and
Taken 3 pictures
I don't know what I did with my camera though, so I can't show all you lovely people what my dorm room looks like from three different angles.
disclaimer: I may have done somethings that are not on this list, but I am forgetful.
Played 2 Games of soccer
Scored 1 goal
Gotten 1 rug burn from soccer
Played several games of dodgeball
Eaten 8 slices of pizza
Eaten 6 Hamburgers
Been to Wal-Mart 5 times
Read 44 articles
Written 44 summaries of articles
Written 1 paper
Washed 1 load of laundry
Made 6 pots of coffee
Driven 25 miles (in my car)
Made a trip to Wichita
Been to Church 4 times
Been to Chapel 4 times
Played Halo 3 twice
Played Tiger Woods 5 times
and
Taken 3 pictures
I don't know what I did with my camera though, so I can't show all you lovely people what my dorm room looks like from three different angles.
disclaimer: I may have done somethings that are not on this list, but I am forgetful.
Friday, January 4, 2008
For your Information...
The world’s biggest open air ice rink was opened yesterday. Its 3400 square feet and cost 1.5 million dollars. Here is the goofy part, it was built in Mexico City.
Hold up, Mexico City? Now I'm not an expert on Mexico City, but as far as I know its pretty much impoverished. I looked up the average income of someone living in Mexico City and I found That if you were living in the city you would be making 300-400 dollars a month, this means $3,600 - $4,800 a year! I have no idea how true these stats are, but still why on earth did they spend money on something as goofy as a giant skating rink, when there are people in this city who don't even have enough money to eat? How do you justify that? Our people cant even afford to eat, but hey, they can ICE SKATE! I don't know I just thought it was random, and I felt that I should let the readers of this blog know whats going on. Oh wait, no one reads this...
-Jesse
Hold up, Mexico City? Now I'm not an expert on Mexico City, but as far as I know its pretty much impoverished. I looked up the average income of someone living in Mexico City and I found That if you were living in the city you would be making 300-400 dollars a month, this means $3,600 - $4,800 a year! I have no idea how true these stats are, but still why on earth did they spend money on something as goofy as a giant skating rink, when there are people in this city who don't even have enough money to eat? How do you justify that? Our people cant even afford to eat, but hey, they can ICE SKATE! I don't know I just thought it was random, and I felt that I should let the readers of this blog know whats going on. Oh wait, no one reads this...
-Jesse
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