Daily Type

2007-11-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

I've decided it would be healthy for me to maintian my blog....so I will!! I forgot how much I enjoy blogging as an excercise to articulate my thoughts or just to let people know whats goin' on with me!

To the world of blogging without end! Amen.

Also, you can see me on mere orthodoxy! I've recently become an "intern" for them.

Monarchy vs. Democracy

2007-07-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

“Lordship for many is no good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king…”
Iliad ~ Homer
Book II line 204-05

Until recently, democracy and monarchy have been nothing more than terms for good and bad government. Living in a democracy, I typically only hear of the evils of monarchy….but I wonder if there isn’t something good in monarchy that we miss in an overwhelmingly democratic world.

The stories (fairy tales and history) are all too fresh in my mind of the evil king or queen who tortured their people and forced unbearable living conditions upon them while they sat in their cushioned seats clothed in the most expensive material. Then characters such as Robin Hood, come on the scene and begin to help the poor by stealing from the rich and rallying together the people from the surrounding villages to fight back. However, it is interesting that they are not looking to replace the form of government…rather the person in power. Replace the evil king with a good king.

It seems a little risky on the part of Robin Hood (and people like him)….didn’t it cross their minds that such absolute power would more than likely corrupt whoever attains/receives it? What good was there to be had in monarchy that made it worth the risk?

Here’s what I have come up with so far….monarchy tends to work in extremes. It either produces such evil as can be imagined or it produces a utopia that a democracy could never possibly attain. Where democracy plays it safe by distributing power among all the people, monarchy says, “A virtuous man who rules righteously will bring about perfect peace in a kingdom….however, an evil and corrupt man will produce atrocities that were before unthinkable.” Confusion and frustration seem to preside over a democratic government…but it is exactly those two states of being which prohibit such evils as Auschwitz from becoming a reality. At the same time, they also prohibit peace and prosperity as was found during the reign of King Oswald (700 A.D.) and Richard the Lion Heart.

I’m not sure if reinstating a monarchy would be the best thing to do at this point in time in history. I know England still prides themselves on maintaining one…but even then the country is mostly run by the Prime Minister and a Parliament. It would be too much of a shock (especially for America) to demolish democracy and replace it with a monarchy. The very reason the pilgrims left England was to escape the government (and I think some of those hard feelings still linger among the American culture).

Is Homer right then? For the Kingdom of Christ which is to come…yes! However, until that time I think a democratic society is ultimately the safer and more effective way by which people ought to be governed.

Haiku

2007-07-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

I've rediscovered a form of poetry that I enjoy writing! They are fairly simple...but I needed something to get me started. So here are few of them I have written (they are meant to be read on their own)!

Music sweet as love
Dominates the mind and soul
Makes beauty for ears.

Incarnate the sound
As waves twirl in the deep sea
Forever unbound.

A squirell at the door
Scratches and sniffs the pavement
Then leaves in a flash.

2007-07-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

Tag!

2007-06-17T23:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently the game "Tag" is not physically confined to the playground...it has been carried over into the blogosphere! Over at the blog of Emily Ask, I have been recently tagged....and now I must list seven things that perhaps my readers do not know about me.

Where to begin....

1. I have hiked over seventy miles through the sierras and climbed Mt. Whitney all in one week.

2. I am an Eagle Scout

3. I like coffee more than tea (although earl grey and the english breakfast tea make for a good alternative sometimes)

4. I have already been sunburned THREE times this summer! (time to pull out the sunscreen!)

5. I love to read books, however, I often find myself torn between several books at a time because I want to read them all.

6. I lead worship for the high school group at my church a couple times a month.

7. And last but not least, I am far to competitive for my own good!

There! I'm glad confessionals are over! :~) It is now my perogative to tag others *begins to bask in such awesome power*. Alishia, Crystal, and Pat!

(this feels so childish and yet somewhat theraputic.....)

The progression of life: Assimilating into the grown-up world

2007-06-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

UGH! I am so behind in writing blogs and reading them! My most sincere apologies go out to those who continue to check my blog for new posts and are continually let down! It is amazing how one week of holiday will throw you off!

However, let not my absence make you think that my mind has been idle...far from it! I have been thinking about a lot of things lately and thought I would point out one observation that has been affecting me personally. That is (and everybody 18 and older can relate) growing up.

It is odd, as an 18 year old, to be working part time for the city with MEN who are old enough to be my father and yet treat me as a fellow employee. Up until now, men who worked full time always seemed so much more mature and "adult" like; people who I depend on but not relate too. Now I am making my way into the ranks of such men and soon little kids will be looking to me in the same way!!

I have, for most of my life, been one who resonates most deeply with Peter Pan. Growing up was never a reality that I looked forward too. I remember times as a little kid, having meltdowns about the over looming fact of having to grow up someday. It was a most frightful thought. However, as I continue into adulthood, I find that God truly is merciful. He allows for a time of adjustment as well as loving parents who help me out along the way. I think he knew that if the change was going to be abrupt I would die!

I am also finding that a proper understanding of one's identity is very important during this time of assimilation. However, I will save that topic for another post!

Perhaps my readers (assuming I still have some!) have more insight into the whole growing up process?

2007-05-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

Dr. JP Moreland has recently written a new book called The Kingdom Triangle. I have not read it yet but I have heard some very good reviews since its release. Here is a link to Dr. J.P. Moreland giving a sermon at his church, talking about his new book. Dr. Moreland himself calls it, "the most important book I have ever written." He presents some seemingly practical and yet very difficult ideas. After hearing his sermon, I am even more eager to read it for myself!

For a more in depth review check out this blog.

Music and Me Part II

2007-05-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

To conclude this mini two part series, I thought I would share some of what I have learned from not listening to music.

At work, I work alone. As far as I can tell, nobody supervises me (except for when they come to check my work when I am not there) and therefore have quite a lot of time to myself. A couple of months ago, when I first heard about what my job would entail, I immediately thanked God for the invention of the Ipod! The first couple of weeks I did the cool teenage thing....I stuck headphones in my ears and listened to music throughout the work day. However, I soon became bored with the same ol' tunes over and over again and thought, "Certainly, I would benefit from books on tape!" And so I did. I listened to Paradise Lost, The Hobbit, Shakespeare, Of Mice and Men etc.

However, during this time, I had been talking with some friends about some of the trends of our culture; one of them was how we seclude ourselves from reality and from other people through recent technology. This of course brought up Ipods and the constant distraction they offer from ourselves and from other people. The observation finally hit home that day I was in the book store and the kid in front of me never removed his headphones as he paid for his item.

The next day at work I decided to leave the ipod in the car and venture to hang out with God and myself.

I suddenly became aware (in the strictest since of the word) of my thoughts and how they roam. They roamed not only amongst themselves but through my emotions and feelings untamed. I could not maintain any continuous thought pattern much less pray. It felt as if I were following a toddler around telling him, "don't touch that!" or "put that down!" My sanity seemed to be fleeting as I desperately tried to maintain control! What appeared to be my identity became more and more ambiguous.

Of course, it was during this time that I asked myself, "Why?" Why should I continue to put myself through this? Isn't music a good thing? Why should I deprive myself of it?

To start with the second question; music is a good thing. It is so good in fact that even Plato considered it to be one of the highest forms of art. When somebody plays a piano piece, they must pour into it their knowledge of theory as well as their passions/emotions. Their head (the knowledge) must be just as proactive in the process of creating the music as their heart (the passions). The result is a manifestation of some of the deepest human experiences one can offer. In so doing, music does affect/influence its listener in some way or another. However, music has turned into such an outlet for emotion that artists no longer have to know the structure of scales and chord patterns but merely need to have strong emotions. Because of this, music that is creative and requires both thought and feeling has been diminishing. It is by no means extinct but stereotypically one mostly meets elderly people at the community opera house. To allow music only to affect your emotions is BAD, because a lot of music has bad emotions! Thus to only allow music entrance into your emotions, can result in a fake perception of the song itself and reality (i.e. Love).

On the other hand (the hand I tend to be guilty of), is to over analyze the music to the point that it has no affect on your emotions at all. Suddenly it becomes a thought project instead of an experience. Certainly I am keeping myself safe from the pitfalls of being overly emotional but now it has become detrimental. I become entirely separate from the music itself and I am incapable of experiencing the part of reality the composer is relaying. Although I may understand the mechanics of the music and perhaps the message the music is relaying; I cannot come to understand it holistically. What do I mean by that? Well, for example; there is a difference between understanding who a person is on paper (i.e. eye color, hair color, likes and dislikes etc.) and knowing the person. There is a distinct personality within each person that cannot be extracted through the analysis of their chemical make up. In the same way, music cannot be known solely through intellectual endeavors but also through experience of the music itself.

Whew! Glad I got that off my chest! However, you might be wondering what this has to do with refusing to listen to music for the past month or so. And rightly do you wonder! My answer is this; that through the constant noise we surround ourselves we become too much head or heart. We are so fragmented, that when we are finally forced to put together both our intellect and our passions it appears to be nearly impossible. However, if we continue to live as if we were one or the other the manifestation (our hands) results in an unprofitable and dissatisfying life.

If every evolutionist lived out his world view...

2007-05-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

I would not be going to geology class!

For those who can't wait!!

2007-04-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Update:
Spiderman 3 is coming out next Friday! (not Saturday)

I have some pretty high expectations for this third installment of Spiderman. I must confess however, that I was not entirely thrilled with the first two movies.... but they seem to be getting progressively better. I am hoping this trend will continue. And from some of the trailers I've seen, it promises to be a good one!! Check out this exclusive trailer and let me know what you think!

Music and Me Part I

2007-04-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Just the other day while I was on campus, a friend of mine was going to be playing a couple piano pieces for a music class and asked if I wanted to come. Being a big fan of music (especially classical) I couldn't refuse.
Music is a funny thing. The effects of music on my emotions and often times on my thoughts can sometimes be very subtle or outright grueling! I will attempt to describe some of the experiences I had that day.

As she played through her first piece by Chopin, I felt as if I were in a fairy world. Not a cheesy fairy world that inevitably pops up into every ones mind when the word is mentioned, but a far more interesting world. In fact, I think that "interesting" is the only word which describes the experience. It didn't seem to be good or bad....just interesting. Much like the fairy world George MacDonald talks about in "Phantastes" (although not quite so dark).

This all changed as soon as she began her Rachmaninoff piece. The disturbance of Rachmaninoff's soul translated so tangibly through his music it even makes the listener begin to feel his anger and strife. It felt as if my insides were being torn to shreds! I wanted to stand up and shout and run around like a mad man! This of course was a good feeling because it meant that she was playing the song well....weird, but true! :~)

And then finally there was Bach. The man who was forced to play by all the rules. When I listen to Bach, I often feel as though I should be sitting up straight and controlling my breaths for fear of being heard. It is like the feeling one reads in stories about school children who attended the old boarding schools. They have to wear the stiff collars, itchy jackets and uncomfortable trousers while sitting up straight in a hard back chair for hours on end. This is not to say that all of Bach's pieces are so hard to listen too (i.e. Jesu, Joy of a Man's Desire) but the majority does tend to be difficult at times.

This analysis seems to beg the question, "what then is the importance of music and should it be taken lightly?". As of late, I have literally gone on a fast from music. I have not been listening to it while in the car or on my ipod while doing school. Everywhere I look people have headphones in their ears. And it has begun to annoy me!! For example, one day while at school I was in the book store waiting to pay for some scantron forms. The person in front of me had his head phones in and was pretty much dead to the world. I began to watch him as we came closer to the front of the line and wondered if he would take them off. Although I was not surprised, but still just as shocked, he went through the whole purchasing process with his head phones in; never making eye contact with the cashier! Needless to say I was terribly annoyed and was tempted to reach out and pluck the head phones from his ears. (fear not, I was able to restrain myself!)

Music appears to have become such a noise maker for our society that I wonder if we have forgotten what it sounds like. Much less forgotten how to listen to it.

Thus, partly out of spite and partly because I want to relearn how to listen to music, I have been taking a fast from it. And until you actually try it, you won't realize how hard that is! I find myself suffering from withdrawals as I itch so habitually to turn on a CD and make some noise in order to distract myself from myself.

"Distracted from distraction by distraction" ~T.S. Eliot
(That still doesn't make sense, but it sounded like it fit! :~)

What I have learned from this I will explain in the next part of this two part series.

First of Many

2007-04-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

Update:
I am offically putting up my first post from my new laptop! It came in the mail the other day while I was at school! Needless to say I was excited to get home and play with it. It is the perfect size and weight for when I am carrying it around school! And what is even better...my neighbor was able to load up Microsoft word and Excel so I do not have to use Microsoft works!

....now if only I could figure out how to use the new Windows Vista!!

Bomb Drop!

2007-04-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to spanish class feeling fine...and perhaps a little excited about going. However, that was not the case as I was heading for the parking lot on my way out!!

My teacher had mentioned earlier this semester that there was going to be an oral exam..she even put it in the syllabus (which is saying a lot compared to my other teachers!). I wasn't so appalled at the idea.... because I assumed I was allowed to read from a paper I would write.

Little did I know....

She decided to unveil all of the gory details that night! Caught off my guard, she said that the oral would be strictly an oral! There is no reading from a paper or even notes...she just wants us to get up in front of the class and ramble on about a subject concerning the spanish culture for 5 minutes!
ME! A gringo! She said she doesn't mind mistakes as long as we are up there for 5 minutes...my question is whether or not she minds a weird awkward silence for 5 minutes. :~)

Hopefully it won't be so bad....seeing as I have a wonderful friend who helps me in my time of need! The saviour for all gringos who dare to delve into the spanish language! And perhaps, once more she will save me from such a terrible predicament (possibly the worst yet!).

Gracias Señora Cuqui! Soy agradecido para su ayuda todos!

Finally!

2007-04-17T00:08:00.000-07:00

I have finally ordered my first, very own computer!! It is a dell 1405 Lap top with an extra long battery upgrade!! To view the specifics click here. I can't wait to get my hands on it and organize it all! In fact, I might even organize myself.........or not (as if a new computer will improve my lack of time management!)

It is amazing how fast the money I saved for the computer left....immediately after I pushed the "buy" button I went to my bank account and saw that the transaction had happened automatically. It was a little scary to see how instantaneous it all happened. One minute I had the money, the next I did not!

Perhaps now that I am an official owner of a computer, I will be more motivated to blog *laughs to himself*!

Update

2007-04-07T23:52:00.000-07:00

I would like to take this time to apologize for not putting up any serious posts lately....blogging about real serious issues is a lot of work! However, I do feel an idea brewing that perhaps will one day make it to the blog! In the meantime, check out this blog about leading discussions.

Jack Bauer

2007-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here are 26 reasons why Jack Bauer is so cool!!

1) If you wake up in the morning, it's because Jack Bauer spared your life.
2) Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauerkilled Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.
3) Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His secondfavorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.
4) Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent thenext half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of thekeys.
5) Jack Bauer got Helen Keller to talk.
6) Jack Bauer killed 93 people in just 4 days time. Wait, that is a real fact.
7) Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.
8) 1.6 billion Chinese are angry with Jack Bauer. Sounds like a fair fight.
9) Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.
10) Jack Bauer doesn't miss. If he didn't hit you it's because hewas shooting at another terrorist twelve miles away.
11) Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are consciousright now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.
12) When you open a can of whoop ass, Jack Bauer jumps out.
13) If Jack says "I just want to talk to him" and that him is you…well amigo, you're screwed.
14) Killing Jack Bauer doesn't make him dead. It just makes him angry.
15) When life gave Jack Bauer lemons, he used them to kill terrorists.Jack Bauer hates lemonade.
16) In grade school, a little boy punched Kimberly Bauer, and Kimberlyran home to tell her dad. That little boy's name? Stephen Hawking.
17) Jack Bauer does not sleep. The only rest he needs is what he getswhen he's knocked out or temporarily killed.
18) No man has ever used the phrase, "Jack Bauer is a sissy" in asentence and lived to tell
19) In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.
20) Jack Bauer literally died for his country, and lived to tell about it.
21) As a child, Jack Bauer's first words were "There's no time!"
22) Jack Bauer's family threw him a surprise birthday party when hewas a child. Once.
23) Guns don't kill people, Jack Bauer kills people.
24) Everytime Jack Bauer yells "NOW!" at the end of a sentence, aterrorist dies.
25) If you send someone to kill Jack Bauer, the only thing youaccomplish is supplying him a fresh set of weapons to kill you with.
26) Jack Bauer could get off the Lost island in 24 hours.

(....I really should start watching this show!)

2007-03-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS GREG!!

CHEESE!!!

2007-03-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've always had a profound respect for cheese....it is used in so many idioms of the english language! Not to mention it tastes sooooo good!! G.K. Chesterton seemed to think the same. You can read here, his complaint about the lack of cheese in poetry. Also there is a poem there dedicated to cheese!

Three cheers for CHEESE!!

Happy?

2007-03-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

Good ol' NBC news is once again informing us of such desirous information. However, this time they decide to take a more abstract concept and make it as materialistic as possible....it gave me a good laugh.

Perhaps I will join the laughing class!!

There's a first time for everything!

2007-03-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Unexpectedly tonight, I received a call from a friend asking if I wanted to go street witnessing with him and some other people. In order to buy some time, I said that I needed to ask my parents and would call him back. After I hung up the phone, I reflected on my initial impulse to say no.

What was so unnerving about talking to people about Jesus? I wasn't doing anything that night...yet I still remained very apprehensive. After deliberating with my dad, I decided that I ought to go. When I got there, the group of us talked for awhile and then we prayed before heading out. Honestly, I was more nervous than I had ever been. My legs were shaking, my tongue felt heavy (as if I wouldn't be able to talk) and I just wanted to go home.

I have been wrestling lately with my lack of desire to talk to non-Christians about the Gospel. Almost every epistle of Paul and John and Peter....all start out talking about the glory of the Gospel and how it compels them to spread the news. Where was that desire in me? And then I realized the problem.....the desire isn't in me! The desire comes from God! Instead of wondering if my Christianity was at stake for my lack of desire, I should instead raise my eye's, as Dante did, to the Divine Love which moves the sphere's! There is my desire and passion.... where all things hold together and Love is found in its perfection.

After that "zing!", I ended up talking to a guy who was from Mexico and considered himself Catholic....although not a practicing one. I won't go into every detail of the conversation (we talked for 20 minutes or so) but I will say it was a joy that I was happy to experience! And I am now wanting to share with others if only because when my eye's are raised to the Divine Love, I can do naught else but love other people!

Amazing Grace how sweet a movie!

2007-02-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

Last night a bunch of my friends and I went to see the movie "Amazing Grace". It is a powerful story about William Wilberforce who abolished the slave trade in England during the 1750's. Initially going into the movie I had forgotten that Wilberforce is not the man who wrote the song "Amazing grace", therefore I was terribly confused for a good portion of the movie, but not at all detached from the story.
The character of Wilberforce is filled with integrity and courage....faith and love. He was a man who experienced many trials and let downs; yet persevered by the strength of God. The movie starts out showing a broken and sick man, worn down from his seemingly impossible work. And later displays a man of great victory! Not just outwardly but in his character as well.

It is so refreshing whenever a good Christian film is made. Too often, most Christian movies are either cheesy (due to a lack of budget), unserious or made with terrible actors. Thankfully this is not the case. It turns out that Wilberforce was friends with John Newton (the true writer of amazing grace) who helped thrust him into fighting the slave trade. There is an especially powerful scene towards the end when Newton is an old blind man and says, "Two things do I remember clearly; I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior!"

I highly recommend this movie to all who would go see it!

In need of a good read?

2007-02-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

If you happen to find yourself in need of a good read then I have the solution! :~) This is an essay by George MacDonald talking about the importance of Fairy Tales and the imagination.
If you read my paper, you'll see that I gleaned much of my information from this essay. It offers an interesting perspective about the power and purpose of a fairy tale. Enjoy!

Johnny Cash

2007-02-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

Here's an intense music video, and I believe the last, by Johnny Cash I just recently happend upon. Let me know what you all think.

And BTW, I apologize for such a lack of blogging lately....I seem to go in phases. One week I am blogger savvy, and the next, contract some sort of illness that hinders all my blogging capabilities. Currently I am looking for a cure...if anyone so happens to have one, please let me know!!

Life Lesson

2007-01-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

As of the past couple of months, we have had the ping pong table up in our garage. During these intense finger nail biting, keeps you on the edge of your seat, matches, I have learned some life lessons!

Lesson 1: Always expect the unexpected.
Ping pong application: Beware of your hand eye coordination becoming temporarily impaired. Some of the best excuses that can be used are: "there is an odd glare on the table," "the lighting is to dim," "my eyes are fuzzy." (etc.)

Lesson 2: Always be relaxed. Tensing up or becoming frustrated only makes situations worse.
Ping pong application: While playing war pong don't tense up. Tensing up makes the pain of the ball striking your stomach slightly more intense. If you remain relaxed, the strike is able to distribute more evenly throughout the gut area thus relieving the sharp stinging sensation.

Lesson 3: Better to be safe than sorry!
Ping pong application: Always place the paddle over your face when playing war pong. Even if your opponent is striking your back. When playing in an enclosed area, with walls a maximum of 9 feet away, chances are the ball will ricochet off the wall and hit you in the face with the same amount of velocity!

Lesson 4: Always better to have the best gear.
Ping pong application: One's paddle is the key to his/her game. Often times having a better paddle can make or break your performance.

TA DA!!!!

2007-01-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. It is officially sent in with my application however, I'm not stopping there. I will probably continue to revise it more in order to stretch my writing skills. Please feel free to comment or criticize as it will help me grow in writing!

Fairy Tales in Education

I.
Are fairy tales truly important? Do they have any influence on the human soul? Is it at all efficacious for the successful education of young people? The following essay attempts to answer these questions by considering several arguments for, and several arguments against, the importance of fairy tales in the education of young people. It appears that science is the leading tool of knowledge these days because it deals with facts. Would it not be better to educate our children with facts instead of fiction? There seems to be no danger in teaching a child facts however, there appears to be a danger in educating them in fiction. Science explains what a thing is made of, thereby making us capable of knowing what the thing “is”. Fairy tales on the other hand claim that science is only one way of gaining knowledge. And, that knowledge is incomplete without fairy tales. In fact, science could not stand on its own without the help of fairy tales. Yet fairy tales likewise would be incomplete without science. We have been taught to leave the realm of fairyland behind in our old childish dreams. Perhaps we ought to think differently and should never have left that realm, only incorporate into it other truths.

Science is independent of all imagination and metaphysical dealings. The crux of science is in dealing with the empirical evidence found in nature. Thus, understanding how our physical universe works. Removing the wonder of how a flower blooms and replacing it with the knowledge of how it does bloom, is the job of science. The word science comes from the Latin word Scientia, meaning knowledge. It does not delve into the realm of the imagination where all things appear probable; as in the mind of a child. Science is a realm for practical adults who deal with the laws and hard truths of nature. As Jean Rostand said, “Science has made us gods even before we are worthy of being men”. To remain in the realm of fairy tales is to lack growth and maturity in truth. Because science revolves around truth, it would be foolish of one to esteem fairy tales (which contain solely fiction) above the laws and physical workings of nature. If at the very least, fairy tales cultivate a child’s imagination giving him/her a false perception of reality and perhaps worse a prejudice against science. By no means can science explain the workings of all things at the present but the progress of science has been so incredible, it will only be a matter of time. What was once thought a miracle in the sky will soon be found to be a mere working of hydrogen and oxygen molecules in a certain pattern.

With these present and future tools of science, we will be able to more adequately educate our children. In science, we will fill the minds of our young people with truths, rather than ideas which are not cohesive with the actual world. Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to educate our kids with the facts of life rather than the imagination of some author? To expose and cultivate a fictitious mind set in our children would be to fail that generation; making them incapable to lead when their time comes. What people want are intelligent leaders, capable of making good decisions. Not leaders who daydream about fairies. One must ask themselves, “Where would our country be if our leaders only considered the impossibilities of fairy land as war tactics?” Our country would be lost to dictators such as Hitler and Stalin, if we did not use the tools of science and reason. To say that our children need to be immersed in fairy tales and educated in them is only a recipe of destruction for the future of the world.

II.
On the other hand, fairy tales are the very tools by which the incredible power of our imagination is awakened. Without the imagination, science cannot exist. New discoveries in science will cease to be made, thus, science will no longer flourish. Therefore fairy tales are an extremely important faculty in the education of young people.

III.
The notion that fairy tales are the exact opposite and completely separate from the realm of science, is very misleading because it is the very purpose of a fairy tale to stir the imagination of a child. George MacDonald once said, “It (a fairy tale) is there, not so much to convey a meaning but to awaken one.” Without the imagination, science could not exist. How did scientists come to know all of the laws and facts that we know today? It was through a process of observation. However, scientist did not know before-hand whether or not this form of observation would produce results. The process by which he hoped to observe cannot be explained through a certain law he was following but only by his imagination. Certainly it was his intellect that concluded the results but it was his imagination that produced the ability to find the results. Novalis said, “The imagination is the stuff of the intellect”, meaning that it is not the intellect which is the highest tool by which things are discovered. It is the imagination that searches out and the intellect that investigates. For example, the imagination could be thought of as the navigator and the intellect as its hireling. What the imagination discovers the intellect investigates; making the unknown discovery of the imagination known. The very heart of a scientific inventor is his imagination. To stunt the growth of a young child’s imagination is the same as abandoning any further great discoveries in science and leaving humanity hopelessly caught in a torpid circle of stagnation. This would ultimately amount to the fear that most people have concerning fairy tales; a false perception of reality.

However, what they fail to realize is that by limiting or completely ignoring the need for an imagination is to give just as false a reality, because exploiting previously discovered truths is not where a better understanding of reality is found. Certainly this is not to say that those discovered truths ought not to be searched out, but rather to say it is better to cultivate great discoverers than exploiters. Genius is not found in the exploitation of an idea but in the discovery of it. Plato was not a philosophical genius because he elaborated on philosophical truths (although that was part of it) but because he discovered those truths. Just as Thomas Edison is not famous for exploiting the use of the light bulb but rather he invented it.

Therefore, would it not be best to educate our children in the art of invention rather than exploitation? By protecting a child from fairy tales for fear of a false perception, one will only lead them into that same fear but by a different route. Thus an education in both disciplines is the only safe guard against this common and most probable fear. For to educate a child solely in the art of science, is like giving somebody half the pieces of a puzzle. And, in the same way it is dangerous to do so, because when that half of the puzzle is put together the person will have a false idea (however, not completely void of truth) of what the picture of the puzzle is supposed to represent. For example; beauty cannot be found wholly in scientific terms because there is an element to beauty which cannot be explained by its physical attributes. Just as the power of music, cannot be defined by the notes in a scale. Science certainly helps in revealing a part of beauty but it does not give the entire picture. In consequence, without the entire picture, it is much more probable one will twist and distort the truth.

However, this is not the only reason why fairy tales must be an important part of education but also because it is one of the most efficacious ways a child learns. As Chesterton said, “I knew the magic bean stalk before I had tasted beans; I was sure of the man in the moon before I was certain of the moon.” A child is more likely, and often does, retain a story much better than facts stated in a text book. They may not know it but they often hold to the truths conveyed in fairy tales as well. And this is the power of a fairy tale; that too often people don’t realize the moral truths or falsities of which they ignorantly adopt. Therefore, it is a powerful position to be the author of a fairy tale; one that ought not be taken lightly. Thus it is important, that as teachers and educators, we immerse children in good fairy tales, ones that are beautiful and true, that they may grow up having adopted virtuous morals. It would be a wicked act indeed, to write a story of a good man doing bad deeds and a bad man doing good deeds. The world would be a much better place if there were greater story tellers and inventors.

In addition, fairy tales are important if only for this reason; they do not confine a thing to what it is made of. In his book “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” C.S. Lewis portrays this aspect of fairy tales in his character Romandu. Romandu is a retired star slowly getting younger everyday that he might return, “And once more tread the great dance”. But Eustace, in his ignorance, explains to him that in his world stars are only big balls of gas. In response, Romandu explains that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of. Surely it is good to know what makes up the physical attributes of the world but to allow that to be the definition of what a thing is, can only lead to a complete disregard for all that is good and beautiful in the world.

Perhaps it would be best to return to the days of our childhood where all things were wonderful and new. Where science was important and yet not the tool with which all wisdom is found. Stars were amazing because we did not know who they were. And it was to this childish wonder that Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." If the main concern for not educating our young people in fairy tales is a false perception of reality then we ought to realize educating them solely in science will bring about the same fear.

A new discovery!!

2007-01-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

This may seem like old news to most of you....but I have just recently discovered that you can buy books on tape from itunes!! And not just by modern authors but also books by C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, T.S. Eliot, Christopher Paolini (I know he is a modern author but still....)and so many more!! The reason for my ecstacy is this: at work I am able to listen to music through my ipod the whole time I am there. Recently I have been listening to the Narnia series and have begun to feel very sad now that I am on the last book. However, my mourning was turned into dancing when I discovered itunes audiobooks!! Work now seems more inviting when I can take fairy land along with me as well as systematic theology! :~)

Coming soon

2007-01-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

I am in the midst of writing a rather large paper as part of my Torrey Honors application (hence the lack of posting). Slowly, I am beginning to finish it up and plan to post most of it up on my blog. The thesis of my paper is "On Fairy Tales and Their Importance." So stay tuned!

Two Perspectives of Christianity

2006-12-27T12:03:00.000-08:00

Perspective #1:
What Christ and the scriptures say are true. All things are to be tested as true by comparing them with scripture. If anything contradicts scripture it is to be accounted as false. There is no negotiation, scripture is the truth by which all other truths are tested.

Perspective #2:

Christianity is true and yet the truth of it is what the "truth seeker" clings too. If on their quest for truth they find Christianity is false, it is to be accounted as false. However, while Christianity remains true to the truth seeker, he must use (what appear to be) outside philosophies as the testing of its truthfulness. These other philosophies will either sharpen or make dull one's belief in the truth of Christianity.

For as much as these two perspectives compliment each other, one cannot be both. Because perspective one insists on the truthfulness of Christianity and its validity concerning all things. Making the Bible the very source of our knowledge of truth; enabling us to decipher what is true and what is not.
On the other hand, you have a perspective which relies mostly on man's reason, however it can lead to faith. Just as Dante is led by Virgil up to Paradise. What this perspective is assuming is, truth is the thing worth searching for. If Christ is true, then we must pursue Him in order that we might discover truth. Part of discovering the truth however, is learning how to discover it.

This leads me to my question then; how do we discover truth? And can it be found in scripture?

Angelus Silesius

2006-12-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

"If even in Christ himself there were Selfwill at all,
Despite his Blessedness, believe me, he would fall."

Don't know quite what to make of that....

The Gift of Giving?

2006-12-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

Is it really better to give than to receive? Seriously, I really enjoy being showered with gifts. I often venture to think that it is good for me to receive with a grateful or even ungrateful heart. What is the difference as long as I am still receiving and enjoying the newly acquired possession? Why am I told then, that giving is better than receiving? Is it because other people are being selfish and want me to shower them with gifts? Or do they know something I do not?

I have begun to see a certain theme running throughout all of philosophy and in Christ's parables. Plato talks about the goodness of virtue and how it ought to be followed for the sake of one's soul. Christ talks about the realm of the spirit and the goodness of His Father and the law He set forth. Which also ought to be followed for the sake of one's soul. Surely if as humans we want what is good for ourselves, then we will want to follow virtue and the law. Because ultimately not only would it be good for us but it would also bring about joy and gratitude. Both of which we find satisfying . However, we don't find any of those things to be what they are said to be. We think virtue is hard and if God is good then He would not condemn people to hell for breaking just one of His laws.

Perhaps, if these great men (one of them just so happens to be God!) exhort us to do these good things-things that we find difficult-then we must have a messed up view of what is good for us. Maybe giving is better than receiving because it satisfies a desire that we thought was manifested in a different form. What we thought would be good enough is not enough at all. Such as receiving to much or even the wrong thing could be damaging to our soul. (I realize that the argument "giving is always better than receiving" is pretty weak. Because it could work vice versa. Also it is not always bad to receive...such as receiving the gift of salvation.) Augustine conveys in his "Confessions", the same problem of not understanding what his desires are. When he was searching for God, he realized that what he thought was God, was not God at all. Making it nearly impossible to find the one true God instead of an empty fantasy.

"For what I thought of was not you at all; an empty fantasy and my own error were my god. If I tried to lodge my soul in that, hoping that it might rest there, it would slip through that insubstantial thing and fall back again on me, who had remained to myself an unhappy place where I could not live, but from which I could not escape." ~St. Augustine

It was after a severe destruction of Augustine's own pride and ego, that while his soul lay desolate before him, he found the raw desires of himself. Desires placed in us by God. And by seeking out those desires (as painful as it was) he came to the God he had longed for all of his life. It was then that he realized, "Our souls are restless until they find rest in You".

Dr. Reynolds at it again!

2006-12-14T19:37:00.000-08:00

Dr. Reynolds of the Torrey Honors Institute (THI) has been blogging a rebuttal against author Cornel West. Cornel West is a Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Princeton University. He is known for weaving the traditional Baptist church with transcendentalism and socialism (sounds like one big paradox to me...).

Anyway, Dr. Reynolds has just finished a five part series in defense of constantianism and the religious right. His last blog I found to be the most compelling. He talks about the need for education as a means to stand up for what is right. Unlike Cornel West, we need to not empower the young hip-hop artists of today but educate them. However, Dr. Reynolds points out, that a "conservative" retreat from education and listening to the many will pose the same problem. A problem that Mozart saw and displayed in his Opera, Don Giovanni. The problem being a failure to act.
Go check it out yourself and let me know what you think!

Spanish!

2006-12-12T18:12:00.000-08:00

What a roller coaster this semester has been!! All for the sake of one measly little class!! However, a class not to be taken lightly. Yes this is my third semester of Spanish at the local J.C. and could possibly be the last Spanish class that I will ever have to take. Chances are I will voluntarily take the final class offered at the college. "You're crazy!" some might say! Especially for those who know me....they are probably wondering why in the heck I would wish to put myself through this again. The answer is simple (the understanding of it is a very different problem): I would love to become fluent in another language and although I do not necessarily care for the Spanish language, I can't imagine starting all over again. I would be re-missed however, if I did not admit that the language is growing on me, despite my utter frustration.

Learning another language is an experience not easily found anywhere else. Through it, I think I have learned more about my own language than of Spanish. Its fascinating to learn why we put words in certain orders, and how a minor slip could affect the entire sentence. Making it either unintelligible or say the exact opposite of what was intended. This is especially obvious when translating. Often Spanish does not follow the English rule regarding adjectives and nouns (but then again, neither does English at times!!). When one is translating a sentence, they have to reorganize all that they are reading and then try to make the translation sound like the original.

A group of friends and I are in the middle of reading through Dante's Purgatorio together. One of my friends has the original Italian text written next to the English translation. Because the Spanish and Italian language are very similar, we often try to read it in the Italian and compare it to the English. We have noted a couple of times where the English translation does not read quite the same as the Italian. Thereby giving us a different perspective of what Dante is trying to relay. It has occurred to me, through these readings, that there is a lot of pressure on the shoulders of a translator. Not only do they have to understand the other language, but they have to be careful that they do not misrepresent or inaccurately convey what the author is relaying. Not to mention that the work is extremely tedious and requires an enormous amount of patience.

However, what makes this art of language so amazing is it is a talent that everyone is born with. Everyone can speak at least one language. To learn a second or third language is skill that all people have the ability to do! By naturally speaking one language one already has the building blocks to learn another. Take it from me...you don't have to be a genius to learn. This is not to say learning another language is easy, but it is a joy that most people miss out on. The joy in expressing oneself more fully through articulation.

This Thursday I have my Spanish final which the professor so happily told us was going to be cumulative! That was just before he informed us that we were going to have another test a couple days before the final as well! Now as I frantically search for class notes, previous tests, and begin to feel the weight of the up coming final, I'll try to remember that I am doing this for the joy of expressing myself more accurately (no telling what that will sound like)!

Dr. Kent Hovind

2006-12-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

This is a sad story for any who new of Dr. Hovind. During my elementary years of schooling, I used to watch his videos as a part of my science curriculum and was a huge fan. As a kid, dinosaurs were extremely fascinating. Not to mention my mom enjoyed the videos because they were not only educating but a great way to occupy my brothers and I! :~)

He has been convicted of tax fraud and found guilty for 58 various tax related laws. Currently he is being held by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office until his final sentencing. Apparently he could serve a max of 288 years in federal prison. His wife was also found convicted for not reporting to the bank certain payments. However, she is free pending on what the final sentencing outcome is.

All of the evolutionists are probably having a field day with this news. I can only hope the media will keep this on the down low...so far so good.

Personally I'm not sure how I feel about the sentencing. Especially when I hear stories about how a 19 year old kid faces a mere 10-14 years in prison for killing a 12 year old girl while driving drunk. His blood alcohol was .10, the legal limit being .08! Not to mention he isn't even legal to be drinking alcohol! When I compare this with the sentencing of Dr. Hovind, I can't help but feel a slight unfairness. Maybe I'm missing something.....

Anyway, check out the story and let me know what ya think!http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061103/NEWS01/611030338/1006

And the saga begins!

2006-12-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Well, now that football is over I find myself in the beginning of a new stage of life. I have been applying for a job these past couple of days and have found the job aspect of life not quite as exciting as I had hoped it would be. The deal was, as long as I was in school and playing sports my parents were not going to require me to get a job. That utopia has finally come to a end.

A friend of mine offered me a job working for the city. It pays $10.55 an hour and I am basically in charge of my own schedule! Not a bad deal....at least working won't be. It has been this application process that has been the most frustrating. The lady who takes my transcript has been anything but helpful....however, after 3 trips to her office I think I have finally got it all in order. All that remains is getting fingerprinted (just in case I decide to break the law...then they can track me down!) and then a trip to the doctors office and I should be good to go!

Through this process I am beginning to see a need for time management (not one of my strengths!). Time management has been one of my biggest enemies...just within the past year or two. Whenever I am told I must be more efficient with my time an ugly sinking feeling begins to build in my stomach. Not because it is bad but because maybe my perception of it is bad. During these past couple of weekly meetings at my house, we have been discussing time management and what it means to save time. My definition of time management has slowly been changed and is still changing.

My original disdainful feeling towards such efficiency was the fact that it does not allow one to live life. It is as if one writes their life for one day on a piece of paper eager to get as much done as they can. Only to use what ever "saved time" they have left to sit in front of the t.v. and "veg". People miss out on life because of their burning desire to hold off on living and finish what is "required" of them. Instead of looking at one's job as apart of their life, people look at their job as an unfriendly obstacle that they must endure in order to start living. Often I hear on retirement commercials, "now that you are retired why not start living?...(insert advertisement here)". How SAD!! You mean to say that people aren't actually living until their old and retired??? Is this what time management is about? Nonsense I say! I will have none of that! Why hold off on spending time? Why not experience the work force...instead of trying merely to appease it by getting done what is required. Besides, how does one save what one already has?

I have found it is nearly impossible to save time. Why? Because I already have it. It is mine for the spending...not saving. Through my discourse with others, time management is becoming more of a surveillance of what I am doing already and what I wish to do more of. By writing down what I have done at the end of the day, I then begin to evaluate what I wish to do more of. There is of course always the requirements (such as school, work, and chores) but ultimately I am finding that those requirements are what I want to do. This process has revealed to me that I have very bad ideas of what is good for me and what I ought to do. While working through this alternative way of time management, I am finding that through the act of actually experiencing those obligations, such as school and work, they are more pleasurable. And now I question why I would even wish to fulfill those obligations faster for the sake of "saving time", if with that "extra" time I am going to waste it by watching t.v. or playing video games?

Now after giving my self a little pep-talk, I shall attempt at becoming more organized with my time! (pray for me!!! :~)

Constantine

2006-12-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

Over at the blog of http://middlebrow.com, Dr. Reynolds has recently posted a very interesting blog about Emperor Constantine. Often when I have learned of Emperor Constantine, he seemed to be portrayed in a very mixed light. He of course was the one who ended the persecution of the early church in Rome and established the city of Constantinople. However, what has always confused me (and still does) is the praise he receives from some, for freeing the church of its oppression and the accusations of those who accuse him of endowing the church with to much freedom. Thereby causing the purity of the church to fail.

Dr. Reynolds interpretation of Constantine is filled with a refreshing optimism...especially when one looks practically at what Constantine did accomplish. I will stop there and allow you to check it out for yourself!

Christmas season

2006-12-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

I find myself to be very cynical about the Christmas season at times....mostly because of how the media has created it into one big gigantic commercial, forcing upon the culture product after product hoping to make one more almighty dollar. I've always been drawn to the Charlie Brown type Christmas. One that doesn't require a perfect looking Christmas tree made out of metal, or the competition of the best decorated house.

No I would prefer to have the only real tree in the Christmas Tree lot...even if it is drooping and not up to par with the other trees. I also think I would prefer to have the only house in the neighborhood who either used the old fashioned different colored lights or no lights at all.
However, as a side note, I will say that the one thing I do enjoy about this Christmas commercialism is the holiday coffee's!! The egg nog latte and ginger bread latte are both muy bueno!

Cindy Lou Who asked an excellent question regarding the hustle and bustle of Christmas. She asked, "Isn't all of this Christmas shopping a bit...superfluous?". It may be that it is...and it may not be. Perhaps I am to much of a simpleton? However, something appears to be lost in all of it. People are reduced to obstacles (far more than usual) and relationships are measured by the amount of money spent on a gift. Even the Nativity scene is used as a sort of appeasement rather than a heart warming remembrance.

In that light, everything does seem to be a bit superfluous....however, (to venture and become the optimist now! :~) this season is a time where relationships often are mended and families brought back together. All for the sake of recognizing a holiday which celebrates the birth of our Lord. Perhaps the best thing we can do is gather around the Christmas tree and sing, "Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king!"

2006-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well, Rosie O'Donnell is at it again! She apparently finds her new position as a co-host for the ABC television "The View" to be a sort of therapy for herself. Most of you have probably heard about her comment against Christianity, claiming that it is just as dangerous as radical islam. Now, however, on one of the latest shows, she has decided to ridicule the newly elected Pope for allowing the sex abuse scandal that took place within the Catholic church a few years ago. Here is a link that states exactly what happened.

link
(Sorry I haven't figured out the actual making of a link... I am a little technologically impared! Until then just copy and paste the url.)

Some thoughts...

2006-10-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a friend today about a passage from 1st John. As we were talking, she mentioned that she prefers to just take the Bible for what it says and not really search for an answer. Because ultimately we won't find the answer....To a certain extent I agree that we won't necessarily ever find the answer, however, I would argue it further.

An illustration would be practicing piano. Why do people insist on practicing the piano if they are never going to become a perfect piano player? If it is impossible to become a perfect pianist, what is the point of practicing? Surely one practices in order that they might become as good as they can be. The goal is not necessarily to be the best but rather to become better. Likewise our quest and search for answers in the Bible is not so that we can have the answers written down and memorized, rather that we might understand more fully the God we serve.
I am finding that the pursuit of knowledge is not a pursuit of answers so much as a pursuit of healthiness. If one has wrong beliefs, whether out of involuntary ignorance or willfull ignorance, it is likened to being physically sick. However, it is a sickness in the soul. Logically when one is sick they take medicines to become healthy and rid themselves of their sickness. Likewise would it not be logical to at least attempt to heal one's soul through examination?

Here's to the Fans of "The Dead Poet Society"

2006-09-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

O captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning:

Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneaeth your head;
It is some dream that on the deck
You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse or will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won:

Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

~Walt Whitman

Ouch!

2006-09-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

I write to you in a very uncomfortable state right now....I have just returned from the football game tonight against Irvine. We ended up losing tonight (28-6), and the pain post game is always worse when one has lost. However, that is not what has struck my fancy to write tonight. There has been a character trait brewing among the team, that has finally reached its boiling point...One that I not so affectionately call "Cliche motor mouth".

After coming off an 0 and 10 season last year *begins to hang head in lament*, we seniors this year decided that something had to change. With the previous seniors there was a serious lack of leadership and commitment and just a hunger to play the game. So on the first day of pre-season (January 3rd), we were going to hold people accountable for being at practice and having just a plain old fun time! This plan worked for a while but has slowly been on the decline, and has now really reached a low point within the past couple of weeks. Practices are crummy, nobody really wants to be their, and the lack of enthusiasm has begun to suck the life out of us. However, this has not slowed down the "cliche motor mouths!"

I find that people who use cliches, as their pitch to get other people excited, ignorantly display what type of person they are. It usually implies some sort of shallowness and an inability to think for one's own. They try to talk with sincerity, however, lack the ability because they have become mere puppets. This is then manifested in our practices and games. Nobody knows how to get excited, because nobody understands excitement. They try hard to conjure up feelings of excitement, but ultimately fail in the end because it is not found in simple little lines from a movie.
Yes, mere words which are not backed up with action seem to be entirely meaningless. Carrying out an action is entirely different from just talking about it. Because ultimately what gets people excited and willing to do what has been said is when the "cliche" has actually been carried out. Anybody can talk about how we must discipline ourselves in virtue or the Christian life, but I find that not everybody can not do it. Whether it be a lack of courage or just laziness.

May we be like the apostles who not only taught the truth but lived it and were willing to die for it!

A not very well liked ability....

2006-09-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging!!! WOO HOO!! I know its a miracle. There seems to be times when blogging comes so easily to me, and then there are other times where it is probably one of the hardest things to do. I wish I could give an excuse as to why, but after a pretty laid back summer, which included a serious lack of blogging, I find that I have none. I wonder if part of the determining factor for the amount that one blogs, has to do with the people they hang out with? Being that it is the middle of football season, I find myself in the company of jocks. The conversation really is not worth while or even half way intellectually stimulating to make one want to blog. Unless of course it were some sort of ranting and raving (but nobody really cares to read such things). So I now am at a point, a very brief point of my life, where I must take the initiative to keep my mind thinking by reading books and attempting meaningful dialogue where ever I get the chance. However, during this very brief point, I think I am beginning to see what the life of the mind is truly about. It is not an easy lifestyle and it is not one where the goodness of it alone is motivation enough. Because ultimately I have a very tainted idea of what truly is good for me. It becomes far to easy to stray from what is Good, True, and Beautiful. Now as I continue to embark on this very short journey, I will practice thinking when it is not fun anymore, and hopefully come out of this stage in my life more educated and prepared to tackle an even greater examined life!

Now on to the topic at hand!! :~)

Over the past month or so, I have come to appreciate the natural ability that some people have at pissing other people off. It shows somewhat strength in character, or having the courage enough to state what they believe is true without feeling embarrassed. This seems to be a very rare attribute these days, one that is not looked to highly upon because it is intolerant. For if one states what they believe to be true, then inevitably they are saying that it must be true for everyone else. It is not something to be sorry for, in fact, what one finds to be true obligates them to defend it. Otherwise it is not truth at all and merely a make believe world suited for oneself, putting it in an entirely different category than truth. If subjective truth reigned, it would be impossible for cultures to survive because the people could not communicate.

Pope Benedict XVI has recently done this in his speech at the University of Regensburg. He talks about the need for reason in the Christian faith. Often faith is viewed as some kind of blind trust which explains the mysteries of Christianity (i.e. the trinity, and God becoming incarnate). We often categorize reason as some sort of worldly wisdom, devoid of any divine adherence. I love what the Pope said about this in his speech. He states, "A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures." But how can the divine be reasonable if it is above and beyond our human intellect? I have come to the conclusion again, that maybe my definition of reason was a little messed up.
Through wisdom God created the world. God did not create the world superfluously making it impossible to have any contact with Him. It could very well be that reason and wisdom and knowledge are the very keys to understanding the divine. Because it is through those that God created the world.

The beginning of his speech however, is what really got the Islam world all fired up. He was reading from a historical text of a dialogue between "Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian" regarding the difference between Christianity and Islam. I am not going to go into detail of what was said, but here is the link if you are interested in reading it. http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2006/09/faith_reason_th.html#more

When it comes to pissing people off there is a middle ground that must not be compromised. Because if taken to the extreme it often denotes an air of arrogance. An arrogance that does not allow learning or the ability to follow the dialect where it leads. On the other end of the pendulum, however, there are the passive, "tolerant" people who believe there is no truth. And despite their best efforts, try not to offend people. Both extremes will get one no where. The middle ground always seems to be the hardest place to find and the easiest to compromise. And yet of the two, it appears to be the most extreme!

2006-08-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

"All those who wander far away and set themselves up against you are imitating You, but in a perverse way; yet by this very mimicry they proclaim that You are the creator of the whole of nature, and that in consequence there is no place whatever where we can hide from Your presence." ~St. Agustine

"Know Thy Self"

2006-08-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

I have recently returned from once again another intellectually stimulating, mind blowing, self-esteem shattering, flourishing of my soul....Wheatstone Academy!! The week is intense, more intense than anything I have ever experienced. I can literally feel my mind expand into uncharted territory with the selfish fear of never returning. It is a thorough examination of oneself, to understand how completely useless our culture has rendered us by mechanizing our education. It is at the Wheatstone academy that they teach us "true" education. An education that can't help but transform one's life by self examination and rigorous discourse. There one is freed from the noise of business and brainless socialization, compensated by taking part in the great dialectic and the constant intake of beauty through art, music, and dance. I cannot give a sufficient definition of this conference without belittling it in some way. However, I think the best I have heard so far is: "I go BOOM!!!"

This past week I have grown more than in the past 17 years of my life. The week challenged me to step outside the box (an all to0 comfortable place) and to truly talk with others about my ideas and questions. Because if one does not make audible one's own thoughts, they will end up with many false beliefs which only leads to damaging their soul (narcissism is not healthy!). However, this growth does not happen without the help of the staff. They are all incredibly committed to helping the young chums (students) who are slowly but surely growing more and more in the life of the mind.

So what did I take away most of all from this conference you're wondering? Probably more than I could articulate in order to satisfy your curiosity. "Ok", you might say, "buy why? Why put yourself through that if living a normal schedule life is just fine?" I'm not going to pretend to have the answer, if by answer you mean something you can remember to use for a test. No I think the answer lies in the actual experience of the examined life itself. It is like trying to define the timeless. It is an experience, rather a lifestyle, so right, so intrinsically complicated and fulfilling that words become entirely false propaganda. In its essence however, it is healthy. Healthy in relation to the soul, and the flourishing of.

A sort of fragmentation has occurred in our culture causing us to pull ourselves apart in order to "succeed" in life. Instead of bringing our head, heart, and hands, to the work field, we bring our hands alone. Likewise in academia, where the only part of our beings we use is our mind. This cannot be healthy, not just because it makes us ineffective (however that is a huge part of it) but because it does not allow us to live. There is no education in academia if we leave the doing and loving out of sync with our mind.
Wheatstone academy in a sense is the introduction to and the actual training of bringing all three parts of our soul together.

Through the course of the week we read many short stories by the inklings (Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, George Macdonald, etc.), who realized the power of story and the sub-creation of ideas through stories (e.g. fairy tales). However, the week culminated to the final discussion of G.K. Chesterton's book, "The Man Who Was Thursday - A Nightmare". It is an amazing book with many parallels between characters and the creation story from Genesis. The mind of G.K.C. is incredibly sharp and witty, that truly he is the only man who could ever conceive of such a fairy tale! While reading the book, I was so caught up in the action of the story that I was entirely unaware of the deep implications and even relationship between the characters and the days of creation. After the discourse of this profound book, the words of Dr. Sanders rang even more true in my mind, "Unless a well rounded mind is brought to a book, one will only find himself in a text."

Well, I have not even scratched the surface of the incredible week I have had, so you can expect more topics being written as I slowly work through everything I learned and realized I didn't know. I will try not to wait another month before posting!!

A Poem

2006-07-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

I came across this poem by C.S. Lewis while checking out other blogs who had been talking about the very same thing I just posted. The poem is about those eternal moments or rather "Sudden Heaven" that one gets a glimpse of every once in a while in this life. It is the unexplainable Joy that cannot be relayed to others unless they too, have had the same experience. Lewis here attempts to explain the psychological aspect of what happens to a person when they experience such a phenomenon. What is most interesting about this poem however, is it was written while Lewis still considered himself an agnostic. Which probably made it even harder for him to place his finger on the cause of what had happened.
Now without further a due (sp?), here is the poem:

"The Day With A White Mark"

All day I have been tossed and whirled in a preposterous
happiness:
Was it an elf in the blood? or a bird in the brain? or even
part
Of the cloudily crested, fifty-league-long, loud uplifted
wave
Of a journeying angel’s transit roaring over and through my heart?

My garden’s spoiled, my holidays are cancelled, the
omens harden;
The plann’d and unplann’d miseries deepen; the knots
draw tight.
Reason kept telling me all day my mood was out of season.
It was, too. In the dark ahead the breakers only are white.

Yet I –I could have kissed the very scullery taps. The colour of
My day was like a peacock’s chest. In at each sense there stole
Ripplings and dewy sprinkles of delight that with them drew
Fine threads of memory through the vibrant thickness of the soul.

As though there were transparent earths and luminous trees should grow there,
And shining roots worked visibly far down below one’s feet,
So everything, the tick of the clock, the cock crowing in the yard
Probing my soil, woke diverse buried hearts of mine to beat,

Recalling either adolescent heights and the inaccessible
Longings and ice-sharp joys that shook my body and turned me pale,
Or humbler pleasures, chuckling as it were in the ear, mumbling
Of glee, as kindly animals talk in a children’s tale.

Who knows if ever it will come again, now the day closes?
No-one can give me, or take away, that key. All depends
On the elf, the bird, or the angel. I doubt if the angel himself
Is free to choose when sudden heaven in man begins or ends.

As a side note: if you wanted to check out the blog from whence this poem came here is the link.http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/middlebrow/archives/sudden-heaven/#more-151

Motionless Motion

2006-06-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

That’s kind of an odd title... seems to be a little bit of an oxymoron and maybe even untrue. Because how can one be moving and yet...not moving. It is difficult to think of stillness without fixity or even an on going moment where there are ever perpetual possibilities but no linear line of movement. There is no getting closer to the object yet there is no retracting from it either. Could this be a land where routine rules and monotonous living flourish? Or could that "monotonous" living be the very thing we long for??

I should first, before I go on, give a more glamorous definition of the word monotonous. First off, I don't mean it in a condescending way (as it usually co notates) rather a constant recurrence of a beautiful or good thing. Such as the sun rising, or the blooming flowers found during May time. It is my intention to use it in the setting of a type of Elysium (see Virgil). Because who would say to the sun, "stop rising every morning, it rather irritates my eyes. Could you find a new hobby?". So it is in the timeless moment of complete and utter joy, the ever ensuing encore of beauty in reality.

T.S. Elliot seemed to have the most insight into the realm of timelessness. He calls it the eternal present, or the still point of the turning world. Where motion is evident but time is not. There seems to be this longing or desire inside of us for the timeless. And still there is a constant frustration that eats away at us, a slow deterration caused by the inability to satisfy the insatiable desire for the eternal moment. Our attempts are futile because we go about it the wrong way by trying to step into the "alongside" as if our life were some kind of movie. A terrible lie that has crept into our culture is that we can satisfy our eternal desire by not taking part in our lives, by living yet not living. We are indoctrinated into this easy slumber (especially among the youth); where it is taught that materialism is reality, however, reality is elusive so don't bother your head over it to much. Inevitably however, there follows the crude awakening from that peaceful ignorance that had once so wonderfully enveloped us. Immediately after awakening we attempt to go back through various roads, whether it be living vicariously through another or simply going into an unstable state of denial.

To describe such a moment, would for me, be to describe beauty. Its not gonna happen!! :~) However, just because our linguistics fall short do not make the moment less real. Once again, another false notion! Our language does not describe, completely, reality. It has done a wonderful job at hinting to something out side of its walls, but never has it broken through. Often I become short sighted in this area, and fall back on the fact that, if I can't explain it, it must not have happened. When really this is doing injustice so some many different aspects of life, it’s a wonder why there is no law against such an egotistical ideology.
Lewis talks about these sorts of experiences he had during his childhood. He called them, stabs of joy, that stabbed him when it was least expected but immediately went away as soon as he began to cognitively think about the experience at the moment. There was no linear sequence by which he could relay such feelings, nor was it something that happened often. T.S. Eliot describes the same situation in his book "The Four Quartets":

“Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,
And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,
The surface glittered out of heart of light,
And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.
Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.”

And so it is. We cannot, while temporarily living in this sinful body, endure much reality. We cannot endure it because we cannot contain it cognitively, which would make sense why the moment leaves as soon as we become aware of what is happening. Lewis called it Joy; Eliot called it reality, but whatever name it would prefer to go by, we could not contain it still.

"We had the experience but missed the meaning,
And approach to the meaning restores the experience
In a different form, beyond any meaning
We can assign to happiness." ~T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages

Hell

2006-06-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

Just recently I finished the first book of the Divine Comedy by Dante the "Inferno." And I can justly say that I have yet to see or read a book that mutilates all of five of my senses within a matter of a few pages!! As weird as it may sound, I meant that as a compliment. Dante has a way of getting across what he is talking about by giving one the ability to see what he is talking about with the eyes of their imagination.

Dante starts off his story by describing a time about "Midway along the journey of our life..", a time when he has found himself in a dark wood. He does not remember how he got there only he was feeling drowsy when he began to stray from the "straight path." He later runs into two beasts (a leopard and a she-wolf) whom he cannot get past on his own. Dante (I should mention that Dante the poet, writes himself as a character in his own book) runs into Virgil who tells him that he has been sent by God to lead him to the Gates of Saint Peter (aka. Heaven).

It is here that Dante sets up his theme as Virgil being a symbol of reason. Virgil becomes Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory but later tells him that he will be unable to guide Dante through paradise. However, it is Virgil that slowly but surely brings Dante to his senses as they journey through hell.

While entering the gates of eternal punishment, Dante begins to feel pity for the wretched souls that must endure such punishments for their sin. Virgil quickly reproves Dante by telling him that they are receiving their just punishment because of their carelessness while in this life. They were given mercy and grace while they lived beneath the sun, however, now they are experiencing true justice without mercy. Down through the circles of hell, one begins to see Dante grow and rebuke those souls whom he engages in dialogue. It is at these times that Virgil (aka. reason) praises Dante.

When recognizing Vigil as a representation of reason, it is interesting to note that he cannot guide Dante through heaven. Virgil says that he can bring Dante to the gates of heaven but no further. There seems to be an implication of the boundaries of reason and the need for faith. Sheldon Vanauken describes it as "the leap". That great chasm where reason will lead but cannot build the bridge in order to cross. Reason (for most people) is a very tangible guide by which we are led. A leader that can get us through most struggles in life. But reason also seems to be a very humanistic ideology in that it is confined mostly to our physical realm. Reason is the back bone to math and science and most philosophy. However, it is not the back bone to theology. When discussing the death of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, it usually (to non-believers) sounds like an irrational, unreasonable conversation. And when faith is left on the way side, it is!!

Reason does not make someone a Christian; much less get them into heaven. It is like that old saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." So it is with Virgil, he can lead Dante to the Gates of Saint Peter, but he cannot make him cross. I have not read the rest of the divine comedy, but I am curious what Dante's guide through heaven will represent. Will it be a figure of faith?? That seems to be the only "reasonable" answer! :~)

Song of the month

2006-05-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Yes I am a little bit behind on this...Ok so I'm really behind!!! The song this month is: "Within a Room Somewhere" by Sixpence. I especially like the end of the song when they go into an instrumental. The guitar solo is awesome!

"The Da Vinci Code" Not So Great?

2006-05-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

I ran accross this article http://movies.msn.com/movies/cannes06/davincicode_critics and figured it would be this huge promotion for the coming of, "The Da Vinci Code" movie...however, it was a completely bashing the movie, which was just recently released to the press. The reviewers called it a "stodgy, grim thing..." One of the reviewers recounted what it was like during the movie, "Sitting through all the verbose explanations and speculations about symbols, codes, secret cults, religious history and covert messages in art, it is impossible to believe that, had the novel never existed, such a script would ever have been considered by a Hollywood studio!". That certainly isn't the reaction Ron Howard was expecting! I am doubtfull however, about the lack of success this movie will still have. The fans of the book will remain faithfull and buy their tickets to see the movie regardless.
The end of the article kind of goes down hill when it starts talking about the news conference....but nonetheless it was not a good plug for the movie. :~)

I'll stop there and let you read the article for yourself.

....

2006-05-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

Finals suck!! Only a week and a half to go!! Then more posting! :~)

2006-05-08T17:38:00.000-07:00

"He had read of 'Space': at the back of his thinking for years had lurked the dismal fancy of the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds. He had not known how much it affected him till now-now that the very name 'Space' seemed a blasphemous libel for this empyrean ocean of radiance in which they swam. He could not call it 'dead'; he felt life pouring into him from it every moment. How indeed should it be otherwise, since out of this ocean the worlds and all their life had come? He had thought it barren: he saw now that it was the womb of worlds, whose blazing and innumerable offspring looked down nightly even upon the earth with so many eyes-and here, with how many more! No: Space was the wrong name. Older thinkers had been wiser when they named it simply the heavens-the heavens which declared the glory- the 'happy climes that ly; where day never shuts his eye; up in the broad fields of the sky'".

C.S. Lewis ~ "Out of the Silent Planet"

I'm a mad man!!!

2006-04-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

"The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits!" ~G.K. Chesterton "Orthodoxy"

You know, sometimes I'll read a book and feel like the author specifically wrote that book for me! It is a very odd feeling at first, and yet it turns out to be a feeling of relief in the end. It is this mental freedom of reading something that you yourself could not put into words. A confirmation of what you had previously pondered yet apprehensive to tell others, afraid that you may look like a fool.
Logic and rationality are so deceptively alluring. And wonderfully so...but too much logic and one will go insane! Salvation through the perfect mans death, a death btw considered to be one of the most heinous forms of punishment, is anything but logical. Not only was this man perfect but He was God incarnate! Attempting to put that story inside my head as a certain sequence or mathematical equation only boxes up that which has confounded the most brilliant men in history. (Disclaimer: when I say that it boxes up salvation I mean it strictly confined to myself. I do not degrade salvation; merely I have blinded myself to it due to pride.) Frantically I insist on making a list of as many quick answer arguments so that (whether intentionally or not) I do not have to dwell on or think about my beliefs. Thereby making it much easier to contain inside this carnal mind.

No I do not think that reason is what makes Christianity real....or even why I have chosen it. I have been on this high of fairy tales lately. So much so that Christianity has never seemed more real. Nursery rhymes and stories have not appealed to me more than they do now. They talk of the normal mundane things of life (or so they are viewed) with wonder and mystery. It looks at stars not as a big ball of gas but as if the sky is bewitched somehow. They look at mountains (in the words of George Macdonald) "as portions of the heart of the earth that have escaped from the dungeon down below, and rushed up and out. For the heart of the earth is a great wallowing mass, not of blood, as in the hearts of men and animals, but of gloshing hot, melted metals and stones. And as our hearts keep us alive, so that great lump of heat keeps the earth alive: it is a huge power of buried sunlight-that is what it is." (He goes on and on...far too much for me to put here.) C.S. Lewis or J.R.R Tolkien said (I do not remember who), that the story of Christ is "the myth that became fact." And rightly so! For what god, even in Greek mythology, would in their right mind crucify himself for the sake of humans?

I wonder sometimes if it isn't fairy tales that make Christianity reasonable...if it isn't what gives reason its rhyme? Science has greatly taken away from this aspect of life and has now led us into a world of dissecting which only leads to stagnation. We dissect everything to find out how it works and what it is made of only to become bored and move on to something else. I by no means mean to bash science because it has done a great many things....(such as indoor plumbing!! :~) it seems though that we have veered to far off the track of enchantment that it is now considered childish to turn back.
Creativity is at an all time low....just look at the movies Hollywood is making!! They are either sequels or older movies being redone (ultimately another sequel!). I can't help but wonder if this can be due to the rising religion of relativism...beauty is no longer objective, the word "absolute" is an offense, and subjectivity is the rave! There is no standard by which we hold things. Our standards have turned into personal perspectives which only turn out to be evil and very uncreative!!!

I wish for a land where animals can talk and colors are colorful of their own initiative, not because the government says that your grass must be green and your house this color. A place where the sun shines, not because of some law of nature, but because it is bewitched. I long for Christianity to be real not because the cosmological argument says so, but because the mythical story of a Savior actually took place thereby making it true. If we can conceive a realm outside of ourselves, then why do we ignore it? Is it a sense of fear that we might actually be insignificant and that our over indulgence of self-esteem has turned out to be a lie?

Obviously there is a fine line where both science and fairytales must be kept in balance and over indulgence to either side is unhealthy. But to hyper focus on one and completely snuff the other is completely "illogical"!! I will now end this exhaustive rambling from a slightly prejudiced and ignorant teenager with a quote from G.K. Chesterton (who was not quite so ignorant!!), "It is not earth that judges heaven, but heaven that judges earth; so for me at least it was not earth that criticized elf land, but elf land that criticized the earth. I knew the magic beanstalk before I had tasted beans; I was sure of the Man in the Moon before I was certain of the moon."

2006-04-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my brother and I in wales visiting the college where my Dad did a student exchange progam 25 years ago. It started to rain pretty hard and some of us got pretty thirsty. :~)

Song of the Month

2006-04-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

Alright this month's song has to be.........Doyle Dykes, "While my Guitar Gently Weeps". My reasoning is simple.. I just like the song! Along with Doyle Dykes!! :~)

On a vacation

2006-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yes I have returned!!! However, I do not like to think of it as a return home but a return to temporary residence (aka. vacation). England was fabulous and Scotland even more so! Wales was an interesting place....it was a place that reminded me of the grey town in C.S. Lewis's, "The Great Divorce". But I did not let that taint any of the other experiences I had! We saw 3 castles (4 if walking around the out side of Cardiff castle counts), Edinburgh castle, Warwick (pronounced=Warick) castle, and the Tower of London where the crown jewels are held. Each as breath taking as the last!

We landed in Heathrow, London on a Wednesday morning. The flight was approximately 9 hours, and let me tell ya...flying loses its magic after about the 3rd hour! It was weird to literally be flying into the future. We left at about 10:30am our time and landed in London right at dawn! The sunrise from the plane was incredible! A friend and I put it a little poetically by titling the journey "In to the dawn." When I first stepped out of the plane and into the London air I was initially hit with the briskness of the air! It felt wonderfully refreshing and was definitely a step in the right direction for the rest of the trip.

From there we caught three different trains in order to get to Oxford....ah the name of that place brings about a wonderful feeling!!! Oxford was by far the most enchanting....The colleges were gorgeous, especially Christ Church, and the garden of St. Johns College. I got to actually step into the courtyard of Jesus College where Sheldon Vanauken studied during he and Davy's time there! One could literally feel the history in that place! Christ church however, had to be the high light of the Oxford trip. It is a church and college all rolled into one. The garden and the meadow were beautiful while the inside of the buildings are artistically enthralling. We spent a whole day in Oxford meandering around checking out different colleges and shops....One shop that was most excellent and that I will be returning to someday in the future was Ben's Cookies!!! I have never tasted a cookie quite like that before!

Another highlight was eating at The Eagle and Child pub where C.S. Lewis met once a week with J.R.R Tolkien for their Inklings club. It was so cool to think that it was there that Narnia and The Lord of the Rings were actually conceived.
There was so much more that we experienced and saw....far too much for me to put down in blog form. I will say in passing that Scotland was more than I expected whilst Oxford met all of my expectations. Which is better I cannot say, but both were thoroughly enjoyed! I think I will end with a poem that I conjured up while on the trip sort of recapping what we did. Let me forewarn you that I am no poet and am not sure how the whole stanza and pulse thing works but I decided I would give it a shot anyways!

We've experienced sunshine rain and snow
and visited history up front and personal

The rolling hills protrude with color
making ones heart beat for no other

England has been a trip of return
a land full of beauty for its sake alone
a plethora of colors with every turn
However fleeting are the chances to
gaze and behold as I am prone

Expectations mounting
fantasies embellished are surmounting
Arriving at the spot where fairytales were conjured
and manuscripts gone asunder

My head is splitting attempting
to turn it all to logic
Suffering from a headache that has become quite chronic

Stepping onto the campus stepping in to the pub
I realized something unexpected...
All is not above, all is not bellow,
All is not myth and all was not unforetold
My expectations were dashed and my ideas absurd
Yet not for loss (for I am better for it) because reality
has become what it once was, what it now is, and what it will be.

Where my journey will lead next I cannot tell
But inkling I have and that is well.

.......

2006-03-27T08:19:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for the delay of no posting....however, this time I have an excuse that is a little more legit than in the past! I have had one mid-term and one final to study for and it has taken up literally all of my time! Thankfully after today I will be done with all of that and maybe even have a new post up by the end of the week!! So please don't give up on me just yet! :~)

Song of the Month

2006-03-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Once again this is another late post that has been in the makings for awhile! But here it is nonetheless!! This month's song is...... Beethoven's "Pathetique Op. 13 No.8".

Lately I have been listening to classical music and have truly been able to enjoy it!! I think it is definitely one of those catagories in music that falls under the label of an aesthetic beauty. It displays such emotion from the composer and yet at the same time it is objectively relaying a message or feeling. It’s sad to see how we have degraded beauty to pleasure! Doing so only makes true beauty (which hurts more often than not) hard to come by. Maybe someday we will step out of this storm of "in the eye of the beholder" and really begin to see with our eye that which is objectively in front of us (not inside).

Δεν βρέθηκαν λέξεις

Movie Review

2006-03-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Alright....I know it has been an incredibly long time since I have posted anything!! I have received posts explaining peoples agitation and as of yet I have neglected to relieve them of their frustrations. So in an act of desperation (and guilt) I will attempt to write a quick review of the Johnny Cash movie "Walk the Line."

The movie as a whole was good from a film makers perspective. Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix did an excellent job as actors and the script was well written.

However, the movie hinged around Cash's drug addiction and the countless times he cheated on his wife. It was a plot of tension that did not seem to resolve in the way that was expected. Not much (if any) was mentioned about the life he led afterwards which included his spiritual reformation. It focused on his affair with June Carter (thankfully without any obscenity) and his constant struggle with cocain. Other than the scene where he and June walked up to the little community church, there was no refrence to his spiritual life (I guess that can be expected from Hollywood). His marriage to June Carter was the breath of fresh air at the end of the movie. Yet the release was not as fulfilling as it could have been.

This movie for me was a kind of introduction to Johnny Cash and his music. It was interesting to find out how someone as famous as Johnny Cash actual got started...here he was in a band of three, living the way all normal suburban families lived and by chance he makes a record that eventually sells millions!!! He achieves the American dream, only to let it go to his head! I think the old cliche "power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely" could be said of fame as well. Thankfully his story has a "happy" ending!

To sum up...I enjoyed the movie and would probably watch it again knowing that there were many things I missed and didn't quite understand. The movie definitely requires a more mature audience (my younger brother didn't quite care for it). It’s a bit slow, but that is necessary for the story to make any sense. If anyone else has seen the movie yet I would love to hear your thoughts on it!!!

2006-02-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

"The living force within them is of fire and its seeds have their source in heaven, but their guilt-ridden bodies make them slow and they are dulled by earthly limbs and dying flesh. It is this that gives them their fears and desires, their griefs and joys. Closed in the blind darkness of this prison they do not see out to the winds of air. Even when life leaves them on their last day of light, they are not wholly freed from all the many ills and miseries of the body which must harden in them over the long years and become ingrained in ways we cannot understand." Virgil - The Aeneid

Song of the Month

2006-02-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

This months song is.....(suspense mounting!!)
"Deviation" by Bela Fleck and New Grass Revival. Bela is awesome on the banjo as always! However, the guitar solo is what really stood out to me. The speed and clarity is amazing!

Saint or Theologian Part II

2006-01-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

Well after my last post I had a feeling that some heavy questions were going to be coming my way...as well as some extra defining!! So I decided that instead of making a huge comment I would write my response in a blog format.

I'll start off with defining (to the best of my ability) the difference between a saint and a theologian.
A theologian is one who contemplates matters of the spiritual realm. Such as the Law and Gospel, Faith, Predestination ect. Theology is a very important aspect of the Christian faith and certainly not something that should be neglected. If Christianity is what I believe, then surely I need to learn what exactly it is. However, what my point was in my last post (which I did not make clear enough) was the fact that theology is often taken aside as if it is something all by its self. When really it is meant to be a part or piece of the puzzle to the Christian life. To set it aside and make it ones sole focus is to no longer be a "whole soul". Merely using ones head and forgetting about the heart and hands not only leads to an unbalance but to a distorted view of Christianity. The same mistake can be made with the heart and hands as well.

A Saint however, is one who encompasses the head, heart and hands. Thus being a whole soul. The title "Saint" is much bigger than the title of "Theologian". Because it means that a person not only has the head knowledge but also is about their Father's business (just as Christ was). Christ did not merely preach theology or sit around talking about the mysteries of God with the disciples but simultaneously He was about His Father's buisness. This is not to say that Jesus did not talk about the mysteries of the spiritual realm -"Eat my flesh, and drink my blood" - but it is to say that He understood the "balance". The balance of equal extremes. Of knowing theology inside and out, of being about His Father's buisness, and the emotion that goes along with all of that. Of not having His eye's on the Law and trying so hard to fulfill it, but on the Father. Because if one has their eye's solely on the law, then naturally they are going to sin. However, if their eyes are on God then naturally they are going to fulfill the Law.

Christ came and died so that our fulfilling the Law was no longer required if we were to get into heaven. It is through our communion with Him that the Law is satisfied. Not because we are consciously trying to appease the Law, but because it is what comes natural through our communion with the Father. Christ became our mediator granting us instant access to God, making communion with Him possible.

All this to say…if we are in communion with God then everything else will fall into place. Becoming hyper focused on theology, or ministry only leads to utter bewilderment (or separate denominations).

Saint or Theologian?

2006-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

I read an excerpt from A.W. Tozer the other day that really impacted my outlook on the Christian life. Here is the excerpt: "God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence and say, 'O Lord, Thou knowest.' Those things belong to the deep and mysterious profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints."

It never had occurred to me that there is a distinction between a saint and a theologian. The more I thought about it the more the realization hit me (harder and harder and harder and......you get the picture). I then began to question what it was that made a saint. Obviously a theologian is one who contemplates those things which deal with the nature of God's sovereignty and of Faith, but what was that distinct feature that separated the saints from the others? Tozer outlined what constituted a saint as someone who was not only sensitive to the Holy Spirit but most importantly fulfilled those desires of the spirit. It is the mark of someone who satisfies those yearnings towards "Godliness". This obviously cannot be done through selfish ambitions/motives, but through a sincere love towards Christ and His work on the cross. It is through this that theology falls into place. When we are in constant communion with God, all of our thoughts and ideas will be centered around Him. If your eyes are constantly on the Father, how can one go wrong? This of course seems like the ideal way of living, unfortunately we do not live in an ideal world. There is the problem of sin and the fact that we aren't "good" enough to make it on our own.

Paul who warned us against getting the Law and the Gospel mixed up, did not meta cognitively come up with such a profound distinction through monologue. Rather through his constant communion with God and his constant pursual to satisfy those yearnings within his spirit. To easily can one get so caught up in his/her own mind that they grey up all that which was once black and white. Paul (as well as the other apostles) sought to be holy just as Christ was holy. Seeking fellowship as a means to help grow and strengthen each other in the Faith, not as some sort of social gathering where everyone catches up on all the gossip (I am as guilty of it just as much as the next person).

People wonder why there is no revival among the Church....how can there be? Either we are so caught up in our theology that fulfilling the desires of the spirit does not matter or we are so busy with "ministry" that we forget what we are doing and why.

In conclusion, it all comes back to our relationship with God the Father. How can we Love creation if we do not Love the creator? How can we understand if we do not commune? And how can we satisfy the yearnings of the spirit if we are not willing to cultivate them? It seems that a Saint would encompass theology; however, much to often are the two separated.

I'm still alive!

2006-01-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

This is just to let you all know that I am still in the process of coming up with another blog! And to say that I have not forgotten about blogging! In the meantime however, if you wish to see the epidemy of self-esteem and what it can do to a person I would suggest watching "American Idol"!! Just for laughs! :~)

"In my beginning is my end"

2006-01-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been seriously dwelling on the concept of time.... why? I really cannot say. It is this force of reality that as of late made itself known to me (or I to it..). It is this idea that is taken lightly or subconsciously. However, by it we live and breathe!!

Time; it is this constant motion that never fails to stop. Day end and day out it never ceases. But keeps the same pace never slowing and never accelerating. By it we see everything yet cannot see the thing itself. By it we love, and rejoice! By it we grow and learn and by it we are destroyed. Not just physically but mentally and spiritually as well. We become frustrated by it yet cannot imagine a life without it. It is this very thing that we often wish away which leads to our death.

Every moment passing without warning. The present is nothing more than a memory. In the past, present and future are held. Only by our memory do we recall the present which ultimately is the past. For one to be conscious of the present is to be outside time. Thus "to be conscious is not to be in time" -T.S. Elliot. If one were to be outside time he would no longer remember or predict but just simply KNOW.
There is a frustration that I believe all of us have, whether conscious of it or not. It is the frustration of never being able to grasp the present. Never being able to hold on to a moment except by memory. "Words after speech, reach into the silence." -T.S. Elliot (alright so I have little obsession with his writings right now! More specifically "The Four Quartets":~). Speech, music, thought, and reading all take time! And all, after a little while reach into the silence only to echo in your mind.

I hope this made some sense.... thoughts such as these tend circle around inside my head more often than not and need to be organized somewhere (whether or not they come across understandable!). Truly, time is an amazing thing.

On Obedience

2006-01-13T14:06:00.001-08:00

Is there a right way or a wrong way to obey? I sometimes wonder what exactly obedience is. It is often looked upon with disdain yet encouraged as a sort of virtue. Here is what I've come up with:
Obedience is a selfless act, yet often I obey only when it is convenient. However, by only obeying when it is convenient seems to completely counteract what obedience means, thereby no longer constituting it as obedience. Often obedience is looked upon as some kind of duty. Turning it into a task rather than a service. Which in one sense that is true, however, I do not believe it was meant to be looked at in that way. As I have wrestled with this thought, it occurred to me that obedience is to be looked at and carried out with joy. Obedience is to be met with true joy, not the kind that one may be able to muster up in his/her own strength, but that same kind of joy which words could not express. The joy that Lewis talks about in his biography.

Yet in our culture we have replaced the word obedience with words such as "chores" and "tasks". We have replaced something positive with something of a negative meaning. Because obedience does not necessarily fulfill my selfish desires it is looked upon with disdain. Sometimes however, it is for our own good yet we may not see it at the time.

Obeying the speed limit on the highways is beneficial for me although I would much rather be going faster! Our perspective of obedience has been so disgruntled it is nearly impossible for us to take part in any kind of service without a selfish motive. Obedience now is a means to gain recognition or respect. It is like saying, "I read my Bible every morning because that means that God is looking down on me with a smile!" Far be it from me to ever think such thoughts again!

How could I think that reading my Bible has ever made God love me that much more? As if I could appease Him through my selfish obedience! I love the words from Caedmon's Call song "Mystery of Mercy"; "All my love was vinegar to a thirsty King." I have nothing for God to take pleasure in. We are not to obey God's commandments because it is some kind of chore or because it'll make God love us more, rather we should naturally want to obey because it is where we find that unexplainable joy. It is to be a natural reaction that we have when we finally realize the magnitude of love our creator has for us.

To answer my question at the beginning: I do believe that there is a right way and a wrong way to obey. However, the latter is not obedience at all while the former should be our natural response to the King who died a criminal’s death that we might find true joy.

Song of the month

2006-01-03T10:28:00.001-08:00

Starting this year I've decided to post my song of the month each month (obviously).
This months song is "Stranded In Kodiak" by Mike Marshall and Chris Thile from their duet album "Into the Cauldron".

Real Me Part II

2005-12-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

Another step to understanding the real me, is understanding my depravity. Understanding the fact that I truly am nothing without the grace of God. Because when I can effectually grasp the concept of my depravity then the grace of God becomes so much more powerful in my life. This new piece of knowledge will also open the doors for learning.
Learning starts with me not feeling satisfied with where I am. It starts with frustration, and anger. However, to often does our society worry about my self-esteem, and my feeling good about my self, that when reality sets in it is almost unbearable. Hence the reason the education system is failing. Teachers and administrators are so worried about making the student feel good about him/her that they destroy the kid’s ability to learn. All of a sudden truth has been subjectified and is nothing more than something that feels good.

Truth is quite the opposite. It is freeing, but in a very painful way. People who ask for the plain truth are ignorantly arrogant. If the objectivity of truth and all that it encompasses was completely understood, our out look on life would be totally different. Our selfish desires and ambitions would come to a screeching halt, while our spiritual selfless lives would come alive.

Christ's life was not an easy one. Yet He knew the truth and was set free in the sense that His perspective of this life was much bigger. He didn't become bogged down in the dogmatic narrow views of His friends and family.
Most people don't consider being chained up in a prison as free, yet for Paul it was only a confirmation of his liberty in Christ. Mentally and spiritually.

It is so incredibly hard to hold on to the real me once I find it. Because as soon as I recognize and accept the truth of my depravity, the "god" inside me - that I have been so indoctrinated with by society - is trying to tell me "perk up your not so bad!". How deceived we are and how readily we accept it!! God have mercy on me!!

The Real Me

2005-12-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

It seems that in every person there are two personalities. On the one hand you have the physical being (flesh), on the other you have the metaphysical being (the mind/soul). Contained in each person is two. The irony is these two different persons inside my head contradict themselves. One is telling me to live for the moment while the other is telling me to hold out for something better. One says not to worry about living the examined life while the other is saying that the unexamined life is not worth living. The latter is saying that there is an afterlife and what you do here does affect that life to some degree or another and the former is saying there is no life after death therefore live for yourself. One says "You are your own god," while the other says, "Humble yourself because you are insignificant and nothing you can do will ever change that".

How do we know which is the real me? Or is there a real me, and whatever that struggle is going on inside my head, is merely a figment of my imagination? The great thinkers struggled with this question and seemed to all come to the same conclusion. But why or rather how did they come to a congruent decision about the real self?

The metaphysical self seems to be the most improbable. Amongst our society, instant gratification is all that people care about. Therefore why take a chance and hold out for something I am not certain about? Why not indulge in the moment and live life for me? That'll make me the happiest won't it? The truth however, is quite the opposite. In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon experiments with both of his persons.

He lives for Himself. Indulges in every sort of thing that would seem to make him happy. Yet in the end, he finds that all is vanity and chasing after the wind. Nothing he did to satisfy his immediate wants were enough to make him happy. Ecc. 2:16-17 "I communed with my heart, saying, 'Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.' And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind." It was impossible to satisfy his flesh, because everything he tried was unfulfilling, and merely chasing after the wind.

Solomon then states what is worth living for in Ecc. 12:13-14 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." If this truly is what is worth living for, then the metaphysical part of me is the real me. To fear God and obey Him is not instantly gratifying....In fact it is a lot of work! However, anything that is worth having is worth working for.

This is what Socrates meant when he said, "the unexamined life is not worth living". Because by not examining ones life and merely doing what "feels good" is only to become more frustrated with something one does not understand! The reason one does not understand is because one has not examined. This is why so many adults have a mid-life crisis. They have lived forty or so years of not examining their life and all of a sudden they have to face reality. All of a sudden they begin to involuntarily examine their life, which turns out to be a whole lot of nothing. They find out that what they have been living for either does not exist or was extremely childish.
It is this very fact of living an unexamined life that makes teenage peers so incredibly frustrating. They are ignorant of their ignorance.

So how does one, who has finally faced the reality of their nothingness, begin to find their true self? From the Christian stand point I believe C.S. Lewis put it best. In order to allow our true selves to be the most prevalent in our lives is to let Christ rule. To remove our physical selves that Christ might "move in". It is when we allow the creator to shape us and mold us into who He originally created us to be. "It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own....there are no real personalities anywhere else," -C.S. Lewis "The Buisness of Heaven". This rings so true, because when one looks at all of the evil leaders of history, they all were fairly much the same in their personalities (Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Marx). However among the saints there was a glorious difference!!

Redeeming the culture

2005-12-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

This has been a long time coming, and I have now recently finished this blog that I started in October!!! So here it is completely finished!! (Just because I started it in October does not mean it is going to be some GREAT blog. Fact is, is that I haven't worked on it since October. While I was going through some of my previous blogs I came across this one and decided I would try and finish it to the best of my ability.)

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Biola apologetics lecture. Its actually a 7 week class that I signed up for. Each Thursday night there is a different speaker. This weeks lecturer was Mike Erre. He is the pastor for Rock Harbor church and he talked about redeeming the culture. I am going to do my best and write up a readers digest version of what he talked about. Mike Erre brought up a lot of good points. He brought up so many obvious yet intelligent topics that the church tends to look over. He started the night out by talking about what culture is. Culture is the sum of everything - a set of ideas that are true, right, or ideal. One of the reasons why culture is drifting further and further away from the church is due to the fact that the church is no longer answering the questions that the culture is asking. The church is still stuck on the questions which are no longer relevant. We as Christians need to learn how to contextualize the scripture, yet still holding on to the main gospel message. He then gave three useful postures: 1. Observe 2. Engage 3. Incarnate For the first posture he gave the example of Paul when he was in Athens. Paul observed how the Greeks lived and began to make note of what a religious people they were. Taking notice of all their idols and graven images to Zeus, and Hera and the many other Greek gods. Paul also read some of their famous poets and philosophers. People like Plato who were very influential in the Greek culture. He then explained how Paul engaged the Greeks. In Acts 17 when Paul stood up and began to preach he didn't start off by preaching stuff that they did not understand. He began by talking about things that would put him and his audience on common ground. As his sermon progressed he began quoting their own writings back at them! Thus showing them that Christ is Lord of all truth. Its is during this time that one must then talk about Jesus. Christ was God incarnate. He overcame the world as we also are to overcome the world. However, He didn't conquer the world by making war, rather by sacrificing Himself. So we also must sacrifice ourselves for God. Whether it be by giving up an addiction or as the early church did, martyrdom. This is where Jesus differed from the Pharisees. There were three different types of Pharisees: 1. the ones who insisted on separating themselves. However, by separating themselves they were no longer able to affect the world for God. Christ did not seek to separate himself from the world, but rather He dined with the sinners and offered mercy and forgiveness for their sins!2. The zealots who wished to over take culture, but they also were ineffective because they left no room for forgiveness. Christ also did not try to take over the world the way the zealots attempted to. 3. Then there were the Pharisees who embraced culture as apart of their religion. Christ also did not embrace culture. He sought to redeem the culture! There is a balance between these three different attitudes towards culture. To be overbearing on one and then forget the other two is ineffective.

It’s about maintaining a balance. However, not a balance of mediocrity, rather of equal extremes (I hope you don't mind me quoting you Mr. Fry!). Redeeming the culture isn't a politically correct revolution. The disciples and the early church were brutally killed for trying to redeem the culture. Christ Himself suffered the worst death that any of us could imagine! If they had the guts to kill God Himself, how much more will they do to us? “18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” LORD strengthen me Your servant!!

Narnia

2005-12-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

Absolutely refreshing!!

Going into the movie I was a little apprehensive due to the fact that Disney was helping with it. I thought maybe it had been built up to much, and disappointment would soon follow. However, after seeing it twice already, I have never been more pleased with such an incredible representation of a story. The characters were amazing! Peter’s transition from boyhood to manhood was inspiring. The display of courage he showed by leading the army of Narnia against the White Witch was a magnificent portrayal of his final step towards manhood. Susan who's smarts and logic almost handed over Narnia to the White Witch. Edmund who was all smiles at receiving his crown and the throne on which he was to sit, knew that this came at a price. And the ever adorable Lucy whose goodness to others never seemed to cease.

Once again Lewis portrays his ability to not only write about things complicated and over the heads of most people, but also his ability to write something as simple as a children’s story that is yet filled with concepts and allegories so genius that can only blow people (who understand) away! I am so thankful that Disney did not destroy or take away from the story the way I thought they might!

My advice: Go out and see it as soon as possible (assuming that you haven't already..)!! Remember while watching it though, that a movie is not a book therefore things will be left out and characters may be underdeveloped. With that in mind it makes the experience that much more enjoyable!

Great CD

2005-12-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to think up anything worth blogging about as of late..... So I thought I'd take this time to tell you how great Sean Watkins new CD is!!

This is definitely different from his past two CD's however, one can still hear the old Sean in the backround. I've always liked the way Sean has incorperated the drum machine and the way he changes between time signature (btw camlost.. I think I've almost figured out the time signature for "I say nothing"). Very inspiring.....

He hasn't let out the cd yet but you can down load it from his site: http://seanwatkins.com

Flummoxed

2005-11-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

A question has slowly been taking shape in my mind and beginning to plague my eternal being. I find it troubling that I will accept and/or reject worldviews and personal beliefs without ever examining why or how I came to that conclusion. However, as soon as I begin to examine what I believe or hold to be good, I am soon flummoxed with the thought "how can one know the truth?" Obviously I am coming from the belief that there is an absolute truth, but as soon as I begin to survey the evidence of why I hold that belief my lack of education becomes ever so clear.

How does one educate oneself in truth, yet while educating must be able to decipher between fact and fiction? It sounds a lot like life in a way. We are living yet learning how to live every day. We are the blind leading the blind. Constantly striving to gain knowledge however, while gaining knowledge one has to have the wisdom to be able to decipher the truth (how does one gain wisdom?). It is while searching for knowledge about truth that we become discouraged because we soon realize that truth is much bigger than we anticipated. Truth is filled with mysteries that we can not solve much less understand. We have a tendency to dismiss that which we don't understand, which leads to the dangerous mind set of carelessness.

Truth is supposed to be factual, and straight to the point. Or maybe we don't comprehend what truth actually is. If God is truth, and our finite minds can't comprehend God, then maybe we can't understand truth. Christ was the truth incarnate full of mysteries that even now we don't understand. Yet people seem to think it rational to believe in His ability to forgive sins and save all of mankind. So also with truth. We may never completely understand it, but by acknowledging it our eyes are opened.

It is by acknowledging truth that the Greeks began to flourish. They had something to set all of their standards by and constantly refer to in case of a big decision. However, their logic self-destructed because they soon became skeptics due to the increase of new doctrines claiming truth, thereby freezing any new intellectual discoveries. They could not tell between the different doctrines which were right and wrong because they could not put their finger on what truth really was. So not only do we have to decipher the truth while learning about it, but also be wary that we do not become skeptics and destroy the logic that has brought us to where we are now.

Again my question is, how does one gain knowledge regarding truth? Is it through traditional education, or philosophy? Through life experience perhaps? Maybe its a combination of all of them. One thing that I do know is true, when I reach heaven all things will be revealed! It is then that I will see truth Himself and all that He encompasses.

Its all the same

2005-11-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

Something that has really become more obvious lately is the fact that sin is all the same.

As fallen human beings we have created different degrees of sin. God however, does not see sin in different degrees. It doesn't matter whether or not you told a little white lie, or committed adultery. Either one will keep you out of heaven, and nothing you can do will clear your plate.

I need God just as much as the next person. That next person could be a murderer and I may have stolen something minor. Because I did not physically murdered someone, my circumstances may not seem as extreme as his, but my condition is the same. The fact that I have sinned is going to keep me out of heaven. It doesn't matter how I sinned, the realization is I sinned and there is no getting around it! God's grace is needed in both situations.

May God continually bring to realization my need for Him and His ever abundant grace and mercy.

Narnia

2005-11-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Alright, I just came accross a blog of a guy who atteneded an interview with Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis. It is a live blog of the interview concerning Narnia the movie!!!

The movie sounds like it is going to be awesome!!! I think I'm going to go crazy!! Before I wasn't trying to get my hopes up but now after some of the things I've read and heard I'm pretty sure Disney is going to do a good job!! Gresham was even a little excited!! Here's the link to the blog if you're interested.

Pharasitical

2005-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

I was reading a blog a couple of days ago about whether or not it was ok for a Christian to cuss. I'm not going to go into detail about it, however, I was kind of caught off guard when one of the guys posting said that it was to pharasitical to say that a Christian is not allowed to cuss.

He made mention that Christians have become oblivious to the fact that we are now the modern day pharisees. We have become so worried about the outside of our cup rather than the inside. In a sense I agree with him, not about the fact that it is alright for a Christian to cuss, but because so many Christians today have become blinded by their own hypocrisy.

We want people to feel comfortable around us even though we have the label "Christian". However, it has made us willing to compromise our beliefs in order to achieve that objective. The leading religious leaders of that day were not comfortable around Jesus. Why? Because He cared about up-holding His Father's truths in His own personal life which in turn relfected on His public life. Christ said, "Out of the heart your mouth will speak." Not everyone was/is comfortable with an absolute truth

The majority of the church today has turned into a lip service for Christ. We preach one thing but live another. Thus causing the non-believers to label us as judgemental, or legalistic. Legalistic because when it comes to pointing out others faults we leave no room for grace.

Aw grace, the magic word!! How sweet the sound!! God has shown us grace beyond anything we could have even hoped for! It is through grace that we are saved and nothing else we could've done would have been enough to get us into heaven. God gave us true grace that we might simulate it towards our fellow men and women. That we might instead of looking at a sinner in disdain rather look past the sin and see the lost soul that needs a friend. No matter how rough the outter shell of a person might be, grace is strong enough to tear down the barriers and allow sinners to have communion with our creator!

So often we forget about grace and become so hyperfocused on the law and our good works that we forget what an incredible gift that was given to us. Given to us not to be locked up and stored away, but that it might be shared with others. However, this period of grace will not last forever. There will be a day of judgement when God will judge those who did not accept His free gift, and for those who took His gift for granit.

Christ is once again the perfect example for us to follow regarding this issue. He knew when it was time to show grace and when it was appropriate to pass judgement. Thanks be to God who has shown both grace and mercy on a soul as sinful as mine.

Worship

2005-11-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

Could we as a Christian society possibly have misunderstood the word worship?

In the old testament, worship was a type of sacrafice. Whereas praise was the actual act of singing and dancing to Jehova. The New testament rarely used the word worship because it actually meant to sacrafice something to God. However, because Christ was the ultimate sacrifice there is no longer a need for worship in its literal meaning.

Today worship has become a sort of concert. And at the end of the worship session we talk about how "good" it was. We use words and ask questions that we would use after watching a movie. "Worship was terrible today," or "It was really moving." There is no longer real worship, or praise for that matter, which comes from the heart. It has become a way of entertainment.

What is even more frustraiting is that worship songs have become so redundant and reptitive that the lyrics are borderline meaningless. There are no longer words which are filled with as much emotion and theology as there are in the old hymns. "Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that it would save a wretch like me." The song "Come Thou Font" is another perfect example of what is so prevelant in the Christian walk. "Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love!" To often Christian lyrics try to give solutions to problems that they refuse to face.

This I believe is an excellent example of the uninteligent Christianity that we face today. Theology no longer matters. Knowing what you believe is no longer a priority. Thereby giving people the liberty to justify what the Bible calls sin. Music has such a profound affect on people that is often underestimated. Worship more so because it is supposed to lead people into the throne room of God.

Now this is not to say that all worship is bad. There are some great worship tunes that I enjoy singing and playing too. It just happens to be that the vast majority of worship songs seem so watered down.

Clarification

2005-11-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

Just to clarify about my "another quote" post: it isn't really a quote. It is a definition of the word controversial that I had heard from Pastor Mike Erre. Hope that clears up any confusion!!

A good time?

2005-10-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

What does having a good time mean?
Among my peers it seems that by having a good time you have to be getting into mischief. Stirring up trouble where ever trouble can be stirred. Why is it that getting into "trouble" is what makes something fun or enjoyable? Why isn't virtue "fun" anymore. When someone is considered prudent or virtuous in anyway they are automatically a "party pooper"! The things which are good, true, and beautiful are no longer worth aspiring to. "They are not exciting enough," one might say. We value the antagonist more than the protagonist!

Yet we fail to realize that by valuing evil, we are missing out on the long lasting joy of searching out the good, the true, and the beautiful. Because virtue is not instantly gratifing or "funny" we dismiss it.
The sad part about this is, because something is "funny" it is instantly justified. Making a crude joke isn't bad unless it is not "funny". When in actuality, the crude joke is just as bad even if everybody does laugh at it (or at you for that matter). Where is the line drawn?

I have a hard time enjoying the company of my peers because of this. How do I make them see that virtue is "fun". Anytime I try to bring up something related to this subject it is immediately rejected due to the fact that it is either, "to serious," or "who cares?"

How does one make others see? It is the question. Many great thinkers have pondered this question and if they did not come up with a definite answer then I certainly won't within the next five minutes!! However, it definately deserves some of my time. Paul said, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Another quote

2005-10-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Controversial = to embrace truth where ever you find it.

Quote of the day

2005-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

"Saints love true peace. They also hate false peace, peace based on lies. Saints hate violence and intolerance against sinners. But they also hate tolerance of sin. Saints love sinners more, and sins less, than anyone else does. Both of these eccentricities puzzle people and often offend them."

~Peter Kreeft

Faith

2005-10-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

Faith described by James, in its essence is works. James primarily talks about faith in chapter 2:14-24, where he says,
"What does it profit, my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitue of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works,' show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?"
This being the case, then what Paul said in Romans 1:17 makes a little more sense. "as it is written, 'the just shall live by faith'." For it is by good works that the true believers will live and be justified. However, good works isn't what saves us, it is the fruit of our belief. This now erases even the slightest conception of using Christ as a crutch. It is by grace alone that we are saved. Not so that we can keep on sinning but that we would realize how wretched we truly are, and recognize the need for Christ in our lives.

Faith I believe also plays a part in our own personal conversion. Sheldon Vanauken in the book, "A Severe Mercy," describes to CS Lewis the frustraiting gap that he is dealing with. The gap between paganism and Christianity. In a letter to CSL he writes, "My fundamental dilemma is this: I can't believe in Christ unless I have faith, but I can't have faith unless I believe in Christ. This is 'the leap'."
Faith now has been established as an action. The paganist must then have faith to believe. After the initial act of believing, his faith will be stregnthend as he begins to grow and mature in his walk with Christ. God will slowly remove those desires for worldly things as long as the former paganist continues to keep his faith alive. Hence the reason why the Christian walk is so hard at times. It takes self-control and a self-will to supress the desires which are contrary to Christ's standards.

To summarize, faith is an action. It is the by product of our own personal relationship with Christ. Faith is not something one says he has, but something that must be proven over and over. "Faith without works is dead..."

Interesting

2005-10-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

There is a professor at Washinton University who wrote an essay called "In Defense of Homophobia." Needless to say this is making some people very unhappy.
I found this article to be very interesting. Interesting in the sense that the a student from W.U. who is fighting against what this professor has said, mentioned that there needs to be a discussion about tolerance. When in fact he is now the one who is intolerant becuase he does not agree with the professor. The hypocrisy is amazing!!
The professor brings up a lot of good points and even quotes the Bible regarding the issue of homosexuality. I'm not sure if he is a Christian or not.

This is the news article:
http://www.ksdk.com/news/education_article.aspx?storyid=85334

Here's Katz actual web page:http://wuphys.wustl.edu/~katz/defense.html

Its coming.....

2005-10-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Yes the Chronicles of Narnia, "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe," will be out Dec. 9!! http://www.narnia.com I hope Disney does a good job....

On the Fringe of Reality

2005-10-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

What is it about "teenagehood" that makes it so unbearable at times? The random mood swings, and the need to rebel? Those mountain peaks closely followed by very low valleys. I believe it has to do with reality.

As a kid (0~12) one has been pampered by their parents. There is literally no responsibility, and the world revolves around how one feels. And then around the teenage years something starts to happen. One begins to see glimpses of what it means to be self-sufficent. To have an income and have to pay for expenses. At first this all seems very fun, "Look at all the freedom I have!!" However, this "freedom" doesn't come without a price.

Work becomes boring, school seems to overwhelming, and ones parents won't get them out of doing what has to be done. All of a sudden the social life which seems to be SO important at the time must be put on the back burner.

When looking at this initially, it all seems so boring and wearysome. Where's the fun in providing for ones self and living on ones own? Should this be how we look at the future? Or is there something which is worth looking forward too?

Its as if one is stuck between reality and dream world. That feeling you have when you first wake up in the morning. Here you have just woken up, dream world is slowly slipping away while reality is about to hit you right in the face. You long to go back to dream world but you know that that is impossible. Reality must be met with fervence. It must be met with a readiness, knowing that the promise of once more going back to dream world is only a short time away. The better you deal with reality the better your slumber will be.

And so it is with the Christian life. We must take on the world, trying to further Christs kingdom. All the while remembering the promise of spending eternity with Him. Where He'll wipe away every tear and where everything will be perfect!! So take heart and run the race to win!!

Joy

2005-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

I just recently finished the book "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterson. Its a great book and I would highly recomend it to anyone who is interested in Christian theology.

One of the things Chesterson talks about towards the end of the book is the joy of a Christian. The joy of a Christian should be so overwhelmingly huge that words would be not strong enough to express the feeling. Yet we get caught up in the paganistic view that joy is only found in the small things. The pagan is happier the closer he gets to the earth, the Christian is happier the closer he is to the heavens.

Heaven is so overwhelmingly joyful that we in this mortal body cannot fathom just the slightest idea of how wonderful it is! We are deaf to the incredibly joyous sounds in Heaven. Chesterson uses the analogy, "we are sitting in a dark room deaf to the joyous sounds of the heavenly realm."

Chesterson goes so far as to say that Christ, who was unashamed to display His emotions, may have had in Him a thread of shyness. In that incredible personality who over threw the temple and its money changers, yet was so quickly moved to compassion for the multitude of five thousand, may have had a side to Him which He was unable to relate to us. Chesterson says at the end of his book, "I sometimes fancy if maybe it wasn't His mirth."
Of course this always brings about the question, "what is joy?" :~)

Katrina

2005-09-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing different views from people about Hurricane Katrina. So many people have said that, "This is a judgement from GOD!!" or "Its just like Sodom and Gomorrah." At first this all seemed very reasonable. When looking at this disaster from the surface it seems very probable. Louisianna has the highest murder rate in our country ranging from 2 - 3 murders a night. Fornication of every kind runs rampid.

However, I have also heard a different side which I tend to agree with more. When looking at examples in the Bible of when God punished country's and cities for their sins, He gave them every opportunity to repent.
The story of Jonah is a perfect example. God sent Jonah to Neneva in order that they would have a chance to repent of their sins and be saved from destruction. And they did! Therefore God spared them. When God sent the flood, He had Noah to set the example of how they should live, yet they rejected him and God destroyed every living creature except for Noah and his family. In Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family were the examples, and when the city refused to turn from their wicked ways, God saved Lot and his family from the destruction that came upon the city.

Unless there was some type of messenger from God inside Louisianna that was unknown to us, then it was nothing more than a natural disaster. However, I do believe that the earth may be starting to have its birthing pains. Jesus talked about in the last days that the earth will be like a mother who is in labor enduring birthing pains before actually giving birth. When you start to compare this hurricane with the tsunami and 9/11 it begins to make one wonder.

School again....

2005-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Yes that time of year has come around again. The time when kids between the ages of 5 and 18 dread the most. A time when a schedual is reinforced and backpacks begin to feel heavy. Yes it is now the beginning of the 2005/2006 school year!!

While examining this upcoming school year I came across a question that really put the year into perspective. Have you ever wondered what it is about shcool that makes it so unappealing? Granted all situations are different, but what is it about the word school that makes us cringe? After examining this myself, (I am starting my junior year of H.S. btw) I have found that the essence of my sour attitude towards school is mere laziness. At first that seemed rather shocking but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

Because we are humans, we are sinful by nature. And the nature of most sins is selfishness. I don't want to start school because its not what "I" want to do. "I" don't want to have to get up in the morning and put my brain to work. Laziness as you can see, stems from the fact that I can't get my eye's off of me.

As a Christian this is one of the hardest things we deal with. So much of the time we don't want to share our faith with others because it is not convienent. We lack the big picture. Instead of trying to see things from God's perspective, we become so tunnled visioned that we miss out on what He wants to do in our lives. If we would only keep our eyes on Him and constatantly be in communication with Him, would we truly live life to the fullest.
There is a reason why God has me where I am. He wants to use me, but so often I keep Him from using me because I refuse to get my eyes off myself.

When you start to have that sour attitude about school ask yourself where those feelings are coming from and then ask God for His perspective.

Beauty continued...

2005-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

There have been some interesting comments regarding beauty and I thought that I would post them as blog.

bucky said...
I suppose that poses the question of "is beauty good?" Does "beauty" inherently posses a quality of good or bad? If it does, then there is scriptural basis for what its standard is, but if it does not, then it would seem that the word "beauty" is only a synonym for "preferred" or "pleasant" (or "pretty" to the dismay of Coleridge regarding the description of a waterfall).
12:52 PM
Nick said...
Isn't beauty good? It seems that when you call something beautiful you are automatically inferring that it is good....
5:10 PM
bucky said...
We may infer, but are we right? When referring to beauty, our reference is positive, yes, but does that necessarily mean that beauty is inherently good; good in its essence?I suppose that would pose the question “what is good?"
6:23 PM
Nick said...
To pose the question "what is good?" would be a totally different subject... Could you give an example of when someone could be wrong in thinking that an object is beautiful?
7:07 PM
bucky said...
It appears we are speaking equivocally; the same word with perhaps two definitions?Is it possible that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is true if ones definition of the word beauty is the same as Webster’s: “The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit: loveliness”? If we were to substitute their use of the word “beauty” for our use of the word “pleasurable”, then this would be correct. On the other hand, if our definition of beauty is “something possessing a quality that demands appreciation, even if it is not granted it”, than their statement would be false. Perhaps the beauty that we consider objective, is just that. If, for instance, we consider beauty to be what God is delighted by, than this has nothing to do with what anyone of us beholds, but if we consider beauty to be what “one” is delighted by, than it doesn’t matter what the object is, it may or may not be beautiful depending upon who is looking at it.
11:42 PM
Nick said...
So which is it? Both definitions sound probable.. and since there can only be one definition, it has to be one or the other. A question that I think that needs to be taken into account is: What about the things that we can learn to find beauty in? If we can find the beauty in something we didn't orignally see, wouldn't that suggest that there is some kind of quality of beauty that the object must have in order to find it? And if there is a certain quality that everything must have in order to be beautiful or to find the beauty in, that would mean that there must be some kind of standard that it must fall on.
8:35 AM
bucky said...
I do think it possible for one word to have multiple definitions (i.e. the word “right” could mean “correct”, “the direction opposite of left”, or even “just” as in “near”, such as in something’s placement being “right around the corner”), but I see what you mean, and what appears to remain unresolved.To approach the real subject that you are referring to (not the definition of the word, but the quality and essence which the word is attempting to define) I would again go back to goodness. No one is good but God, yet He says when looking on His creation, that behold it was good. Not to be too meticulous here, but what exactly is “it”? What if the “it” referred to here is God’s action of creation itself? What if nothing inherently possesses goodness (except God, being Goodness Himself), yet as His creation, we exist for His good purpose, in very fact, His good pleasure? This brings me back to beauty: “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit: loveliness”-Webster. God taking pleasure in us would seem to me to be the best example of objective beauty that I’ve seen yet (subjective to God in the sense that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which in this case is Himself, but objective to man since God’s vision is Truth). If this makes any sense, it could perhaps define the standard or quality of beauty: that which God takes pleasure in.The reason we can learn to see the beauty which was once hidden from us, may very well be the same type of learning we undergo when we come to recognize Truth that we had formerly overlooked.Where man's art comes into play here, I don't quite know, but I would ask:what does God take pleasure in?
12:39 AM
Nick said...
So nothing is inherently beautiful, but the act of taking pleasure in something is beautiful(correct me if I misunderstood.)? That would mean that beauty is subjective, because people then can choose what they decide to take pleasure in and what they don't want to take pleasure in. If God is the essence of beauty, then us taking pleasure in Him is not what makes Him beautiful. Because He "is" beautiful. Whether or not we "choose" to take pleasure in Him does not make Him any more or less of what He is. Now where this plays into creation is not quite clear. However, if God made us in His image then we as humans are beautiful. And what He created within those seven days of creation must have beeen "good" (whatever that means! :~P). In something such as art, we are using what God had created within those seven days. This leads back the idea that there is some element of beauty in art, whether or not we instantly see it. However, the question now is: can we as humans distort Gods beauty? At first that question seemed simple, but now there seems to be a lot more to it (as usual)!!

God Incarnate

2005-08-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

I'm rereading the book, "A Severe Mercy" for the second time and came across an analogy that Sheldon Vanauken gave regarding how Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time. It is a diaolgue that he and Davy had with a friend of theirs while in Oxford.

"Look, Richard," I said. "This afternoon Davy and I were talking about writing a novel of Oxford with the Studio in it, and us, and everybody. Now, assuming we could do it-"
"Assuming you could do it" said Richard, "I'd buy a copy. Not more than five shillings, though!"
"Listen" I said. "we're talking about the Incarnation. Okay, suppose I write it-its to complicated with two authors-and I put myself in it. There I am, walking down the High, wearing a Jesus tie-in the book. And let's say Imake up a lot of characters, in it, and I, the character, say whatever I would say in the various situations that occur in my plot."
"What abut the Incarnation?" said Richard.
"That's what I'm telling you, stupid fellow," I said with a grin.
"Don't you see? I am the incarnate in my book. I am out here writing it, so I'm like God the Father. But it's really me in the book, too, isn't it? So that's Jesus, the Son, right? The me in the book speaks my words - and yet they are speeches that I've probably never made in real life, not being in those situations. And yet can't you see that it's really me?"
"Um," said Richard. "Yes, right. I see. Go on."
"Well," I said. "All right. I'm out here, being the 'Author of all things' and I'm in the book, taking part in scenes of 'drammer' incarnate in my book. Now, the me in the book: he's all me, isn't he? And he's all character, too isn't he? Like the doctrine: all God and All man. It makes sense doesn't it? And one more thing, suppose the characters run away with the story - authors are always saying that that happens. It might be necessary, whatever I had originally intended, for me to get killed - um, crucified.......anyhow - you see?"
"You win," said Richard. "It does make sense that way. I'll have to thinkg aobut it."
"There something else, though," said Davy. "The other characters- made-up ones. Invented ones. If Van invents characters, they'll all, even the bad ones, have something of Van in them, won't they? So, you see? wea ll have something of God in us - God's spirit - but only the One, Jesus, is God Incarnate."

A Journey

2005-08-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

This question seems to be popping up alot lately, "Am I enjoying the journey, or am I wanting to get to the destination so fast that I can't enjoy and learn from the journey itself?"
Personally I'm still trying to figure out what I am. However, I do believe that we do sometimes get so caught in wanting to reach the destination that we forget about the journey. Especially as a Christian I wonder why God even makes us endure the journey of life. It is so complicated and so hazy at times that I just long to be in heaven where everything will be cleared. I wouldn't have to worry about the everyday trials that we face consistently.
Its during those times when I wonder, "Why am I here, when I want to be there? Why can't I grow up faster?" But God has a divine purpose for everything.
The Bible says that God put eternity into our hearts. I believe He did that so that we would search out eternity. Not to just confirm our own preconceived opinions but rather to grow and to be willingly to hold our opinions loosely. To be willing to change your opinion is part of the journey. When you realize that you are wrong and then can change what you orignally believed is probably one of the hardest things to do. This is one part of the journey that I know I miss out on. I get so caught in my own opinions sometimes that I wrap a blind fold around my own eyes.
Rationality can also hinder us from truly enjoying the journey. Wanting everything to be rational will only lead to disappointment. As Chesterson said, its the most rational people that are most prone to ending up in a mental hospital. Not being willing to have faith the size of a mustard seed can sometimes keep us from enjoying the very thing that God has set before us.
The last question is, "Am I making the most of where I am?" With what God has given me, am I being a good steward?
These are just questions that I have been pondering lately and something that is worth thinking about.

Two kinds of will

2005-08-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

A friend and I came to an agreement the other day that there are two kinds of will. There is the will which is the action and the will which is the intention.

To have the will to do something could merely mean that you have the intention of accomplishing whatever it is you want to do. Whether or not you accomplish it is irrelavent. To will your self to accomplish something means you finish whatever it was you set out to do whether or not you feel like it.
This conversation was brought about by a definition I heard for the word courage: "To will yourself to do what ought to be done in the face of opposition."
After discussing this, we came to the conclusion that the will used in the definition is implying an action. You cannnot merely intend on doing something and be considered courageous. But then what does it mean to be courageous?
That was the main topic for the week at the Torrey camp. Needless to say we never came to a good enough definition of the word, however we had some excellent dialogue about it!!

In-sane...?

2005-08-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of reading a book by G.K. Chesterson called "Orthodoxy." It is a book talking about why he (Chesterson) chose Christianity and what led to his conversion. So far I'm only a chapter and a half way through the book. The first chapter talked about people who are in-sane and those most prone to someday go in-sane.

He mentions that people who are most prone to go in-sane are those who believe that everything must be worked out logically and/or reasonably. He backs this up by saying that not everything can be explained through science or pure logic. Because of this, those who depend soley on logic and reason will in the end go mad! Even some of the greatest thinkers in the world such as Socrates, or Aristotle didn't figure everything out!! They believe that if it can not be figured out logically then it is either not true or not worth talking about. However, knowing that there is something out there that they can not explain, will gradually begin to nag at them.
By adopting this type of thinking, they tend to live in this tiny universe where anything unexplainable is not allowed in. This eventually leads to the hospital for the insane.

The book has been great so far! I hope it only gets better from here.

Beauty

2005-08-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lately my Dad and I have been discussing whether or not beauty is objective or subjective. I tend to take the stance that beauty is objective and my Dad believes it is subjective.

When you say that something is beautiful, to me, it seems that you have to be comparing it to a certain standard. For an object to be beautiful, there must be a standard of beauty that something must fall under, in order for it to be beautiful. The reason I believe something may seem more beautiful than another comes down to preference. A lot of times the reason something may seem more beautiful than another is sometimes due to the knowledge you have of it, or you can relate to it in one way or another. An example that first comes to mind is this: to most guys, all girls are beautiful. However, what may draw a guy to a certain girl may be the fact that he can relate to her better than he could to someone else. They have more in common with each other and therefore are more attracted to each other. Thus making her seem more beautiful than any other girl who he may come in contact with.
As far as having more knowledge of an object, I'll use the example of me going to the Getty Museum. Like I said in the previous post, going to the Getty did not orginally sound exciting. Even during the first half hour or so of being there, it was not very exciting. However, after I began to converse with others about certain paintings, and learned more and more historical facts about the paintings, they became even more interesting. I began to see the beauty in them, because I had a better appreciation for them. Which seems to me that if you can teach yourself to find beauty in things that you did not orignally see but others did, then there must be some kind of attribute that they all have in common. Thus leading to a standard of beauty.

My Dad's arguement is this: If I find one thing beautiful but he does not, then to him it is not beautiful. He also raises the question, if there is a standard of beauty and God set it, where in the Bible does he say, "this is beautiful and this is not?" He also asks, "what about people who find war beautiful?" To him, just because I find something beautiful, doesn't mean that he finds it beautiful as well.
So as you can see, my reasoning for why I think beauty is objective, does not sufficently answer his questions. While I continue to search for better questions and answers, I'll be sure to keep the site updated!!

Torrey Academy

2005-08-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to the Torrey academy summer camp. It was probably the most amazing summer camp I have ever been too!! The Torrey Honors program at Biola University is a program that gets its students to read the classic books and then discuss them. It is a way of getting people to think for themselves, and to always question everything. As I learned while I was up there, when engaged in dialogue, its not about the answers its about the questions. The process of how one comes to a conclusion is more important than the conclusion its-self.

We had many lecturers (some lasting over 3 hours) about many different yet similar subjects. One of the lecturers that stuck out to me the most was one (of the many he gave) given by Dr. Reynolds, regarding how society is so caught up in instant-gratification. I'll try to summarize to the best of my ability.....

Our culture has lost sight of the things that are worth enjoying. Things such as having meaningful dialogue, reading great books (Plato, Aristotle, G.K. Chesterson etc.), listening to classical music. He said the reason for this, was due to our instant gratification. Because to truly enjoy things of this nature takes work. It often takes a lot more work than people are willing to do. If we don't receive enjoyment immediately, then its not worth the work. Another great example of our laziness is Art.
While at the camp one of the field trips we took was to the Getty Museum. I'll admit that going to look at art painted by some dead guys did not sound very exciting at first. However, after getting there, and discussing some of the art I found that it was very enjoyable. At one point there were about seven of us standing around one piece of art work by Rembrandt for over 30minutes!! I received so much insight and gained so much appreciation for that work of art that I was sad when it was time to leave. After having that experience I realized how much more enjoyable art could be. It was so much more satisfying than it would have been if I were to have stayed home and played Nintendo or something of that nature.

This is only one example of that real joy that is worth enjoying. So often we decide to substitute lesser joys for the real thing because they gratify us faster than a Rembrandt painting. We think that if we can just find more and more things to substitute it with, then in the end we'll be just as satisfied. On the contrary, we will be even more miserable. This is the reason why people don't like to learn or educate themselves either. It takes work!! But when one truly sees the joy of learning, the more he'll find it easier to enjoy things such as paintings, or great books. He'll have more of an appreciation for those things.

The hard question to answer now is, how does one bring our culture or our society to see that the things worth enjoying, are the things which take the most work? It is a question that has been circulating since the time of Plato and Socrates. I only hope that someday I can play a small part in giving people that glimpse of what experiencing true joy is. The Torrey Academy truly gave me the split second glimpse of what I was missing out on!!

First Post Ever

2005-07-31T17:13:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I never thought I would actually have my own blog spot!! This post really is just a test to see how the whole site looks!! If someone happens to run across this then welcome! I hope to be posting more interesting and hopefully more thought stimulating blogs.... Until then!