Monday Musician: “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)”

Today’s Selection:

Amy Grant – “Breath of Heaven”

The church that I attended as a young boy often had a Christmas program performed by the youth, and for several years in a row, we (the youth) sang this song.  I admire this song because, for one, it is original in content and theme; I don’t hear too many songs like this listening to the radio around Christmas.  I also love the theme: despite the associations we have of Christmas in modern culture, the story told of Mary and Joseph is really a story of much pain, suffering and (I think) questioning God’s presence.

If you disagree with me, think of it.  What were her parents and friends thinking when Mary became pregnant and claimed an angel appeared to her?  Would they believe her, or would they assume (like I would) that she had been unfaithful to Joseph?  Or perhaps that she had sinned with Joseph during their engagement (which to the outsider would explain why he stayed with her).  And what of the Romans (i.e. the evil foreign empire) ordering them to go to Bethlehem while she was pregnant?  And giving birth in a barn?  And then fleeing for their lives into a foreign land because Herod wanted to kill their newborn child?

The Christmas story is one of remarkable literary significance.  Jesus’s birth into the world was a time of suffering and violence, and it is easy when we suffer to wonder where God is.  The Christmas story is fundamentally this: in Mary and Joseph’s suffering and struggles, it would be easy for them to ask where God could possibly be when, in fact, God could not have been closer.  He was physically present with them.

What if this is true?  What if, in our struggles, God draws nearer?  That is the Christmas story.

SfC

“The Hero As a Visitor in Hell”

Just today, I finished a research project for my graduate studies, and in the process of writing my paper, I came across this article that I thought was most fascinating.  It talks about the trope of a hero’s descent into Hell or some comparable place and discusses it as a necessity in the hero’s journey and quest.  In particular, I thought the author’s commentary on J.R.R. Tolkien and the “eucatastrophe” of literature particularly intriguing.

Here’s a link to “The Hero as a Visitor in Hell: The Descent into Death in Film Structure.”

What Does It Mean: “The Faithful Mind?”

I happened to be thinking yesterday, “what does it mean to have a faithful mind?”  When someone reads this blog, I’m sure this question has come out before.

Well, first of all, my original intention behind “faithful” was simply to indicate my desire to stay faithful to my religious beliefs, which is entirely true and valid; I put a very high value on my faith and consider it the most important part of me.

However, I do think “faithful” in the context of my life has a double-meaning: I also consider faithfulness to be a prized character trait.  If you know me, you know that when I make a commitment, a decision, or any such thing, I will very stubbornly carry out all the duties and responsibilities to that decision, no matter the personal cost to myself.  I take commitments very seriously; the most personally painful thing that can ever happen to me is when I learn that I have failed to be faithful to a relationship with a family member or friend, a commitment that I failed to follow through on, and so forth.

As for why I choose “mind” over heart in my title of “The Faithful Mind.”  I did consider “The Faithful Heart” because  it just sounds better.  However, I chose “mind.”  I have since learned that this is perhaps a better thing; according to the Bible and modern psychological research, what goes through our mind eventually affects our heart.  Do you have strong feelings for a person?  Are you angry with someone?  Do you struggle with fear or loneliness?  The more you allow those thoughts to pulse through your mind, the more they will bleed into your heart and become who you are.  A person’s heart is really a reflection of what thoughts they have allowed to dominate their mind…or which thoughts they have  chosen to dominate their mind with.

And that is really the remarkable thing.  We all know that we as human beings are capable of great things: we’ve built guns, castles, cathedrals, skyscrapers and ships that take us into space.  However, if there is a lie encapsulated in today’s post-modern technologist society, it’s that by advancing technologically, we can change the human condition.  We can in fact make the human soul better with technology.  If that were true, then wars, criminal violence, and selfishness should be on the decline today, right?  Especially in the developed and developing world, we should see crime and vice on the decline.  However, what we see is the opposite.

Now, I would personally coach that if you really want to change the human condition within yourself, you would do well to consider faith.  Christianity has much to offer in the way of life-changing, human condition-changing truth.  However, the Bible does also coach that what you allow into your mind is who you become.  Again, this is remarkable because this may be one of the only ways in which we humans can directly impact who and what we become.  It isn’t an easy road; changing the way you think is not like flipping a switch.  It is more like turning the rudder on a ship: you won’t always perceive the course change immediately…and it is far more normal that you won’t recognize how your change in thinking changed your behavior and your heart for some time.  Even so, this is a positive way to impact who you become and where your life goes.

Just some random thoughts on a Saturday morning.

thefaithfulmind

Divorce: Economically Destructive

I came upon this article recently, and I wanted to provide a link to it and comment on it.  The article is entitled “Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty.”

To begin with, I want to make it clear that I count myself a very blessed man in that I grew up in a nuclear family; my parents loved me and they loved each other, as much as we all drove each other crazy from time to time.  So, this whole thing of divorce is not something that I have experienced directly the destructive pain of divorce.  That being said, I do have something to say about  the topic.

As I am a Christian, I feel that an adequate place to begin would be the Bible.  What did Jesus say about divorce?  In Matthew 19, the Pharisees came before Jesus asking him about divorce:  “Is it lawful for a man to divorce?”  For one, I wonder why they even asked him this; according to the law of Moses, divorce is permissible, so I wonder if this was the first time Jesus taught on this.  But notice that in Jesus’s response, he does not focus on the lawfulness of divorce but the intent of marriage:  man and wife joining together and becoming one flesh (v. 6).

Then, when the Pharisees ask why Moses permitted it, Jesus explains that it was a concession to the “hardness of your hearts;” in other words, God permitted it only because the people were going to do it anyway and thus he gave them guidelines for making divorce a legal proceeding (which at the time would’ve made men think twice about divorce).  Now, however, Jesus is saying that the only proper reason for divorce was sexual unfaithfulness.  So strict was this stance that Jesus’s disciples said, “Then it’s better not to get married!”  Why would they say that?  Because suddenly they realize the gravity of the issue of divorce and how important marriage is in the eyes of God.  Surely they were thinking, “What if I marry a woman, and she turns out to be horrible to live with?  I would have to live with her until I died!”

Now, do not misunderstand this:  I love marriage, and I think it’s an incredible institution that, when done properly, infuses the married couple with life.  And as a Christian, the Bible is my first argument against divorce.

But, if you want other reasons to not divorce, read the article that I posted at the top of this post.  In that article you will find statistical data that will tell you that divorce is a major cause of child poverty; only 6% of children in a married two-parent family are poor.  Compare that with 36% of children in a one-parent household.  That is not a small difference.  That means that if you are married and are thinking of getting a divorce, then you are thinking of putting your children at risk of living in poverty.  You can cover that by saying that you love them and that you are getting divorced because you don’t want your children to live with parents who don’t get along, but statistically speaking, that is untrue.  Divorce destroys wealth in the family that goes through it, not just in the spouse divorced but also in the spouse that is getting the divorce, and it seems to me that the real losers in the whole scenario are the children.

Now, I’m not saying that you cannot deal with really important issues in your marriage.  In fact, if there is a major issue in you marriage that needs to be confronted, then confront it now and stop waiting for the issue to get out-of-hand!  And also stop waiting until you have multiple issues with your spouse to confront because then they all get mixed and mashed together.  Resolve them one at a time in as clear-thinking a mindset as you can.  And more than anything, stop using divorce as the first option you go to when you have a marriage problem; if you’re a Christian, then the only – the only scenario in which a divorce is permissible is if your spouse has been unfaithful to you.  Don’t divorce your husband because he called you fat (literally heard of it).  You can stop cooking his dinner, or maybe make his bed on the couch for a couple of nights, or stop doing his laundry.  But don’t just throw in the towel just because of something someone said that irritated or hurt you.  Don’t divorce your wife because your cats don’t get along (literally heard of it).

Now, some people will say, “But what if my husband beats me?” or “What if my wife does drugs?”  Well, those things are illegal and wrong, so I would highly suggest you call the police on him and let them throw him in jail, but don’t divorce him.  I’m not trying to downplay the seriousness of these offenses; believe me, if you experience these sorts of things, I have the highest sympathy for you.  But there comes a point where these bad behaviors reflect badly on those who are suffering at the hands of these badly behaving spouses.  After all, they got married to these horrible people.  That’s why this marriage stuff is really serious; you have to choose very carefully and not just decide on a whim who you are going to marry.  I heard of a woman who wrote in to a show that helps married people: she met a man, 3 days later they were married, and 3 days later, he was deployed with the military.  And then, she writes in to this marriage show wanting help with her marriage.  How could they even begin to help her?  She was the one who chose that situation, and as much as others can try to help, there’s a point where there is not help to be given except encouragement to stick it out.

At what point do people literally understand and ascent to the vows, “For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do we part?”  I think there are a lot of people who are lying when they say these vows today.  Maybe we should rewrite these vows to say very simply, “No matter what happens, no matter how much money we have, no matter how we feel, the only way we are getting out of this is in a body bag.  And that does not authorize either of us to kill the other while he/she is sleeping!”  Either that, or we rewrite them to say, “I’ll stay married to you…until circumstances get bad.  I’ll stay with you…until we run out of money.  I’ll stay with you…until you get cancer.”

Anyway, so this much is clear from the article: if you are married with children, and you are thinking about getting a divorce, then think of the effect that will have on your kids; for all you know, they could be scrapping a living below the poverty line for the rest of their entire lives if you go through with your divorce.  Do you really want that?  Is the possibility of that existence worth going through the painful process of divorce so you can be free of your “horrible” spouse?

Life, Currently

My, it has been awhile since I’ve updated “The Faithful Mind.”  Well, here’s a brief recap of what’s been going on for me:

This past summer, I took 4 Spanish classes out of a college closer to my hometown, giving me 12 credit hours in a foreign language and putting me a full year ahead of schedule for my graduation.  So, as of now, I will be graduating in May, which is exciting.   For my post-graduation plans, I believe that I will be taking the GRE within the year and apply for graduate school for Higher English Education.  That’s the plan, but I’m also trying to be flexible and keep an open mind as to what would be the best option for me to pursue; frankly, I’m still very uncertain, but that’s the course I have set for now.

My work on Kenushi Ryu is progressing nicely.  I’m in my third Creative Writing class, and have a rather large body of stories that I have written to help me explore the background of the Kenushi Ryu story.  In fact, since I suggested it way back in April, I’ve created a blog that I will use as a database for my notes, files, and ideas for Kenushi Ryu.  It’s currently a private blog, unavailable to public readership due to concerns I have about people stealing my ideas; I will probably be looking for a way to give access to it to a select few people that I know and trust.  Anyway, I’m hoping to use it as a place where I can organize my notes, bounce ideas off of others, and such.

I am also happy to report that I have grown significantly in my faith since the spring.  This has been due to several challenges in my life, but the net result has been that I really have felt God working in my life and using me to help others.  I’ve recently written a generic paper called “Letter to A Christian,” encouraging fellow believers in their faith.  I will probably post it on this website at some point in the near-future, and hopefully it will be a source of comfort to those of you who are Christians.

I spent an hour or so this morning creating a page on “The Faithful Mind” where I’ve cataloged nearly every piece of music that I’ve ever posted on this blog; feel free to check it out!  I hope to begin my “Monday Musician” sequence again, and I may also start doing a “quote of the week.”  Again, these are all just ideas that I’m throwing around.  I also happen to remember that I have a reading log posted on “The Faithful Mind”, which nees to be updated so as to encourage myself to do more leisure reading.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other public blog, The Faith Journey of a Christian Man. There isn’t much there right now, but I’m hoping to correct that in the coming weeks and months.  We’ll see how things go with my school schedule and everything.

Thanks .

SfC

A Respite, and Possible New Blogs

Well, I had my Medieval Philosophy test yesterday.  Though I don’t have the grade back yet, I’m strongly confident that I got an A on it.  After that test, I have a week or so where I have a chance to catch my breath and get ready for the end of the semester.  Today is also the day that we workshop one of my stories in my Creative Writing class and one of my classmates said that she really enjoyed it and had a lot of comments, so I’m looking forward to that.

I found a link to an advice page for bloggers the other day that suggested that, when you are running a blog, you should keep to a central idea or theme within the context of the blog.  The problem with having a variety of themes and ideas all within a blog is that people will be more likely not to read your blog because the focus isn’t something they are interested in.  Now, when I first realized that WordPress allowed its subscribers to create multiple blogs, I thought that sounded ridiculous; why would anyone create a second blog when they have one already?  Why couldn’t they just have multiple discussions on multiple ideas within the context of a single blog?  Now, while I do still think that having multiple blogs is a little goofy, I also acknowledge that it would help me in the organization of my thoughts if I had separate blogs.

I have been thinking and hoping for some time that I would like to start a blog that I create where I can talk specifically and exclusively of my religious thoughts, probably calling it something like “The Faith Journey of a Christian Man,” because though I do talk of religion and my faith definitely has a presence in the posts I make on The Faithful Mind, I have at times wanted to make a post on an explicitly religious topic that would feel out-of-place on this blog.  In addition to this, one of the main reasons why I started this blog was to show how intellectual honesty and religious conviction can exist harmoniously, and I still believe that completely.  I think the solution is simply that I will continue to discuss a somewhat larger variety of topics on this blog and my religious convictions will still have an active role, but I do want to start a blog at some point where I can explore those convictions more deeply, including the questions and conflicts that I face in the spiritual realm.

In addition, as I have stated since the day I started this blog, I have been writing a book series entitled Kenushi Ryu.  Perhaps it would be better to create a blog who’s deliberate purpose is to provide updates and bounce ideas in direct relation toKenushi Ryu.  In addition, I’ve been working with a wiki in one of my classes this semester and realized how practical it would be to create a wiki where I put the notes and ideas that I conceive for my book.  So, that is another possibility for another blog that I’m considering: a place where I talk exclusively about Kenushi Ryu, and perhaps even build it like a wiki.

Anyway, these are some of my thoughts about my blog.  If I do create another blog, then I will post a link on this one.  If you have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions/snide comments, please share .

SfC

P.S.  Another note.  I am considering restarting my Monday Musician sequence.  I will need to find a source of more classical music, though I do think that if I do, I will also throw in some modern instrumental music in the regular running of the Monday Musician:  soundtracks from movies, instrumental pieces in general that catch my attention, etc.

Weekly Schdeule, April 6-10: The Onsalught

Monday

-Music History – Movie Response Paper Due

-Writing About Literature – Reading

Tuesday

-Music Theory – Assignment

-Band Concert

-Writing About Literature – Reading & Response

Wednesday

-Music History – Quiz

Thursday

-Music Theory – Assignment

-Human Language – Exam (Delayed to 4/14)

-History – Paper Due

Friday

-Writing About Literature – Reading

For my history class, I just finished the book Carnival of Fury by William Ivy Hair, which is a historical novel about Robert Charles and the race riot of 1900 in New Orleans.  I must say, it was a fascinating, though somewhat shocking; I guess it is easy to forget how far we as a civilization have come in terms of civil rights and understanding have come in the last hundred years.  It is easy to look at all of the problems of modern civilization with disdain, but it is also valuable to remember that life in the United States has improved by leaps and bounds in the last century, especially for minorities.  Therefore, it should be our goal that people living in a hundred years are able to say the same thing about the 21st century.

I have also very nearly finished reading Tony Campolo’s Letters to a Young Evangelist.  Overall, I have it found it a very good assessment of the modern-day Evangelist movement, and it has been insightful to read his opinions and understandings of today’s complex issues.  He, too, is very vocal about his frustration about the apparent alliegiance of the vast majority of modern-day evangelists with the Republican party, which has led to a great deal of political agendas within the Evangelist movement.  He also points out that Fundamentalism (in the modern understanding) has begun to try to adopt the title of Evangelism to sound less politically and socially acceptable, and Campolo’s solution is for non-Fundamentalist Evangelicals to refer to themselves as “Red-letter Christians.”  Honestly, I find it far more simple to just say, “I’m a Christian,” and if someone asks for some kind of added specificity, I’ll reply, “I’m an independent Christian.”  Anyhow, that is not the only thing Campolo addresses: he also discusses the roots of modern-day Evangelism, the Praise & Worship movement, the importance of witnessing, the roots of “Rapture” theology, and many other issues.  If he ever reads this, I must offer a storng congratulations to Mr. Campolo; his book has been enlightening about many things, and he has encouraged me to think for myself on a wide range of issues.  Of course, I haven’t totally finished it, but that is where I am now.

In addition, I have very nearly finished reading the Bible from cover to cover.  After this, I will probably go back through the New Testament books again; in one of the Bible studies that I participate in, the teacher spent several weeks before Spring Break teaching us how to study the Bible for ourselves so that we can come to our own Bible-based conclusions on all issues that the Bible touches on, including Church doctrines.

Thursday, I finished reading Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, which was a novel about Blacks living in America in the mid-20th century.  However, it doesn’t just address the white-black distinctions and prejudices of the time; it also touches on class differences within each race, the necessity for knowing one’s ancestory, and many different topics.  While it was definitely not a book I would normally read on my own, I did enjoy it and the insights that it provided into another range of thoughts.

Anyhow, I am now going to spend some time writing the paper for my music history class.  It is on the American musician Charles Ives, who is considered the first modern American musician.  WE watched a documentary on him before Spring Break, and so the paper is to be a sort of review of the documentary and on Ives in general.

Have a great day and God bless!

thefaithfulmind

Weekly Schedule and Other Recent Activites

Here’s what I have going on this week:

Monday:

Writing About Literature – Reading

Tuesday:

Music Theory – Assignment

Wednesday:

Writing About Literature – Reading

Thursday:

Music Theory – Assignment

Friday:

Writing About Literature – Reading

Keep in mind that I have also been asked by my French Horn instructor to try to practice at least 30 minutes a day.

Anyhow, I went home again this weekend and got to go sledding on the hill of one of my friends’ house.  I got a mouthfull or so of the powdery snow, got to go flying down the slopes of the hill as speeds that I couldn’t even run, and it was a very relaxing activity.  After that, we watched The Iron Giant, played Catchphrase for a little while, and then watched The Princess Bride.

Oh, and I got to go to another friends’ house on Friday night before all of the snow started.  We played hide n’ seek for awhile until the two friends that I was playing with…well, let’s just say that they took a couple of years off of my life due to fright.  After that, we elected to play some Halo 2 against each other.

Ordinarily, I would probably be little panicked right now because I didn’t get much done this weekend, but I instead get the feeling that I needed the downtime.  Overall, as evidenced by my schedule, this week is going to be pretty uneventful, thankfully, so that will give me a chance to get ahead on writing my next essay for Writing About Literature and studying the Bible more.

Also, as a final note, I’ve picked up a couple of books from the library of the house that I live in.  One of them is called Be The Change by Zach Hunter, a 15-year-old Evangelical Christian who is spearheading an effort to end worldwide slavery and oppression.  Of course, the title definitely caught my attention since lately God has been teaching me that all the knowledge that I do have is useless unless I put it into practice in addition to helping me understand that while I can’t fix the many problems in our world that I observe, I can make a difference.

Secondly, I picked up Lee Strobel’s most recent work of journalism pertaining to Christianity, entitled The Case for the Real Jesus and, as usual with Strobel’s works, I’m just gobbling it up and enjoying it.

I really, really want to get some substantial work done for Kenushi Ryu soon, but I can’t make any guarantees.

Anyhow, that’s how I’m doing.  God bless!

SfC

Free Will

In a recent blog post on one of the blogs that I commonly visit (http://www.challies.com/), the question of Free Will was addressed, and I thought that the question of free will could be brought up here.

The author starts by bringing forth the words of C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity where he says, in reference to free will, “though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”  Lewis goes on to state that, if it were not for Free will, our devotion to God would be limited to a robotic, automated love; there would be no choice involved, and it would thus be diminished.  Everyone knows that someone doesn’t love you when you threaten to harm them if they don’t; love has to be a choice.

I have always accepted this doctrine, mostly because it checks out with what I perceive to be true.  I could deliberately stop typing this post right now and pick it up in a couple of hours (or never again), and it would be completely me under control of my body and mind.  Besides this, there are other implications of free will:  ethically, men who have commited crimes cannot be tried for them if they did not act on their own volition; scientifically, if free will exists, then we must conclude that the human being is more than just a collection of biological machines operating in a way that nature has designated them to operate; there must be something beyond the body (a soul) to make sentience and self-awareness possible.

Now, before I launch into this post, I want to say that I do believe that humans are more than the sum of their parts, and I also believe that humans are punishable for the crimes that we commit.  These ideas are not in dispute here.  However, I think that it is necessary to revise my own understanding of free will in an attempt to be completely consistent with the Bible.  I know that I probably won’t get it all right, but I’m also hoping that this starts a conversation where these thoughts could be further perfected.

You see, over the last semester, I have had some contact with other Christians who hold that there is no free will.  This is based on the scriptures where God speaks of hardening the hearts of men (Exodus 10:1, Isaiah 63:17, and more).  This tells me that God does have some control over the minds and bodies of men.  This is obviously in conflict of the doctrine of free will.  However, by the same token, the Bible also talks often of men hardening their own hearts (Hebrew 3:8, 3:15, and elsewhere.)  This is obviously in support to the doctrine of free will, in addition to the many scriptures where God is calling on His people to turn from their evil, where God is implicitly appealing to the free will of his people.

So, biblically, we are neither entirely free in our desires, nor are we entirely restricted in our desires.  You see, there are some pretty major theologically and spiritual implications that depend on whether you accept or reject free will.

Some of the implications of accepting free will is that God can no longer be relied on to have any power of men.  The example of this is to fail to give God the glory when a new Christian is reborn; our tendency is to look at the preacher’s teaching, or the music that was sung, or the environment that was set in order to draw people to God.  This is not a denial that these things are important, or that God doesn’t use them, but the key element to notice is this:  If God is not moving in a congregation or in a setting, then no one will come to Him.  We might be the visible draw to God, but God also has to be working behind the scenes within a person’s heart and mind to draw them to Him.  By embracing the doctrine of Free Will completely and without reservation, we are placing the responsibility of being saved completely in the hands of the individual, which is not consistent with the Bible where it says, “…and God added to their number daily (Acts 2: 47b).”

However, it is equally problematic to assume that God has complete control over the hearts of man.  If that were the case, the obvious question is, “Why then doesn’t God simply will everyone’s heart into a place of worship to Him?”  As C.S. Lewis said, true love would cease.  However, this is not the only problem: it would also mean that God simply doesn’t wish for some people to enter heaven, which is completely inconsistent with the Bible’s teachings.  This would also invalidate the scriptures where God is addressing people as beings with the ability to choose or reject Him.

So, the proposition I have made is that humans are neither completely free in our will, but we are also not completely lacking in free will.  Essentially, I am placing “Free will” and “Lack of free will” at ends of a line and stating that we find ourselves somewhere in-between these two extremes.

Let me try to elaborate the situation that we find ourselves in by borrowing one of Jesus’ illustrations:  Our mind is like a field of farmland, ready to receive whatever seeds we place within it.  Obviously, as we go about our lives, different thoughts and ideas of different varieties and sizes grow within our mind.  Some of them are good, and some are not.  Keeping in mind that every good and perfect thing is from above (from God; James 1:17), this means that it is God who sows the seeds of good within us.  Our responsibility is to cultivate the good plants and try our best to remove the bad plants (the weeds, the vines, the useless trees, etc.).  Obviously, however, there is only so much that we can do with our minds.  We cannot provide good seed that is independent from God, and there are some weeds and vines that have such control and reign in our minds that we cannot, by our own power, remove them; God has to do it, or to help us to do it.  In this manner, we humans operate as a gardener, trying our best to produce good fruit in what we have been given.  In this manner, we have free will.  However, if we try to plant good seed without God, then we will be disappointed to find that good things must always come from God and no where else.  In this manner, God controls our destiny by controlling how much to give us, and it is our job to take what he has given us and make it more.

Obviously, this illustration isn’t perfect, but I think that it gets the point across:  we humans are not capable of good beyond what God has given us.  I believe that this is the heart of Jesus’ parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  I believe that this is also why Jesus articulated at the end of the parable, Jesus says, “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him (v. 29).”  In other words, don’t simply live your life wishing for a better job, a better mission field, or a better family: invest what you have in them, and more will be given to you.  Invest in your bad job, and it will get better; invest in your mediocre family, and it will become better for it; however, if you fail to invest, then what good you have will be given to those who will be better stewards of it.  You’ll also notice that God isn’t pleased with simply receiving what He has given us; He wants us to make more of it than we originally had.

Those last couple of paragraphs were a bit of a tangent, but the point is this:  I believe that we, as humans, find ourselves with a limited free will.  I cannot articulate very much on this because this is a new concept, and I will need time to process it.  However, I am postulating that the idea of limited free will is consistent with what we know about God through the Bible.

Please post your thoughts!

SfC

Some New Reading Material

This will be a pretty short post.  I went to a Bible study conducted by one of my high school teachers and her husband, and while we were waiting in town, we went by a used book store and I found a few books that caught my interest.  One of them was a book entirely composed of predictions about the 7th Harry Potter book, written in the interim between the release of The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows. Of course, owning both of these and having read them both, I didn’t buy it, but I found skimming through it a very interesting use of time.  The book was entirely a discussion of the many theories about how Rowling would sum up the series, and in retrospect, they were close in several areas that I would never have imagined, and they were dead on in a few areas.  Anyhow, I ended up buying some new reading material, and I thought that would be worth posting, since I keep track of my reading log here:

• The Bible Answer Book by Hank Hanegraaff – I have begun reading some of this at a friend’s house, and I found myself immediately entranced by it.  This is sure to be one that I leave out on my table or counter when I have my own home.
• Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado – To be honest, though I have heard much praise for him and have read some of his works, I haven’t read many of Max Lucado’s writings.  However, I’m looking forward to it with anticipation.
• Under God by Toby Mac & Michael Tait – I have already looked online and found that, historically speaking, this book is not entirely accurate.  Personally, I believe that, including revisions to perfect historical accuracy, the point of the book is not diminished, but I will have to read it to be certain.

That’s all for now!

SfC

Some Thoughts: Why American Seems to Lack Great Thought and Art (Creativity & Consumerism)

These are some thoughts of mine that have been taking shape for several months now.  I have often looked with awe upon the great minds of our past:  Da Vinci, Jefferson, Washington, Luther, Luther King Jr., Leonardo, Aristotle, Socrates, Moses, Jesus, Chaucer, Milton, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Einstein, Curie, and the brotherhood of great minds that they, along with so many others, have formed in the modern conscious, great men who, with their lives, changed the course of humanity in their respective fields,  changing the face of the globe as a result of their thoughts, words, literature, and convictions.  However, when I look at the United States and simply modern times in general, I see something very curious: there seems to be a diminished respect in the modern society for men and women that are striving toward the betterment of mankind, not to mention that there seems to be very few of this breed left.  I have often wondered why this is the case, and I want to explore this topic.

First of all, I believe that our civilization doesn’t really lack great minds.  I believe that, in truth, great minds have always been among us and always will be among us.  The key to recognizing them, however, is to be listening for them and looking for the signs of a Great Mind.  Let me also clarify that, when I’m talking about Great Minds, I’m not just talking about someone with a high Inteligence Quotient.  Sadly, I have found that some of the high-IQ people I have met in my life are also the least motivated and the least determined to do something with their gifts.  When I say a Great Mind, I’m placing a person in the company of the men and women who have changed the course of humanity by their contribution.  High IQ might have something to do with it, but I’m convinced and convicted that having a high IQ isn’t enough to qualify for this elite-of-the-elite group; one must also have a drive to change something wrong with this world (M. Luther King, Jr.) , to take humanity to the next level of exploration (Hubble), or to simply make the world a better place (Jesus).  In achieving this, I believe that IQ is secondary, and our society’s push on IQ tests totally misses the point of what the point of our existence is.  What am I saying?  I’m saying that the point of our existence does not begin and end on a test score, whether that be your IQ, ACT, SAT, or whatever.  If that was the point of our existence, Jesus would have taken an IQ test, scored perfect, and then gone to get baptized, but he didn’t, so it isn’t.

So, if our civilization really does have some great minds, why can’t we recognize them, or why do they seem to be so difficult to locate?  To be honest, I believe that not all of them are so obscure; there are plenty of effective and pioneering writers, mathmaticians, scientists, and historians in today’s world, not to mention artists, musicians, and every other occupation concievable.  The ones that are obscure are more difficult to find because ours is a large society of 300 million people, and sadly, when you have that many people, locating any single person with any outstanding characteristics becomes categorically difficult.  In a society that is so full of so many people producing so many works of art, music, and thought, I believe that the most brilliant works are obscured by the overwhelming flow of passable or even deficient counter-parts.

However, I believe that the central reason for our apparent lack of great minds and artists comes down to the society in which we live, which has become saturated with a new breed of hyper-individualism, hyper-consumerism, and hyper-capitalism.

This is based on this thought:  I believe, as a Christian, that God created the world (I do believe that God did it in a week as well, but that piece of information is hardly useful for this thought).  Thereby, when I look at the cosmos as a created order -when I look at the Earth and the numerous and complex life that exists here, and look up and see the stars without number that have been placed in the sky -I must draw the conclusion that our God is an infinitely creative and imaginative God.  Now, the Bible tells us that humanity was made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), so it logically follows that our creativity and imagination are a gift from God, having been made in his image.

Of course, creativity is not impervious to corruption.  There are plenty of ways in the modern world in which creativity has been used not for the joy that comes with creating something, but it is instead done out of greed, pride, hatred, or malice.  However, it is also a personal conviction of mine that creativity is a gift to our personalities from God’s personality, that we are most like God when we are being creative out of pure reasons.  These reason could be simply for the joy of creating something, or out of service to Him and His Church.

So, this also brings forth a question that I believe can be answered a couple of different ways:  what is the opposite of creativity?  When I have asked some of my friends this question, most of them responded “destruction,” which is correct.  So, I ask, what is the mentality that accompanies consumerism, especially the hyper-consumerism that has prevaded and enslaved our society?  Consumerism is all about consuming, which is another form of destruction.  In essence, I’m saying that our society is so busy consuming things -food, clothes, vehicles, electronics, and media -that we have lost the innate desire to be building something rather than destroying something.

This hyper-consumerism is a double-edged sword against creativity in this society:  on one hand, it distracts people from recgonizing thruly great minds among them.  This has a lot to do with our standard of living, which is defined by the movies and television shows we watch, the commericals we see, and what everyone else in society seems to by consuming.  You see, we don’t want to fall behind in our work, so we work extra hard to get ahead; we don’t want to live below the standard of living, so we try to exceed it; we don’t want to appear deficient, so we all try to appear superior.  It reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ chapter on pride in Mere Christianity.  The end result of all of this is that we have all become brainwashed participants in a rat race to achieve a standard of living that goes beyond what we need to all of our numerous wants.  We are so busy trying to “live the life” that we miss the real point of living.  So, what is the real point of living?  My answer is based on my Christian faith, but I do believe that the answer is as near a universal answer as possible: relationships.  Most of us know that, that regardless of our faith, color, gender, or personal background, we desire relationships more than we desire money, cars, houses, and wealth.  However, we are so caught up in checking the clock, racing to meet our deadlines, and trying to live luxuriously in-between that we miss real life, and reserve it to the “someday” category of our life.  This last paragraph is a bit of a tangent, but my point is, if people aren’t even willing to slow down their busy lives to really live life, then how much more are they not slowing down to pay attention to the great minds among us when they do speak.

One perfect example of this is a story my old youth leader at my high school youth group has told of a very famous musician who performed one day at one of the Monorail terminals in Washington for a newspaper article.  The man was an exceptional musician, performing on a 300-year-old multi-million dollar violin, performing some of the most advanced and difficult music ever written for violin.  This guy was used to living a very upper-class life, and most tickets for a concert performance by him would start in $700-$900 range.  Yet, of the 1,000-some people who walked by this man during his hour-long performance, less than 1% actually stopped to listen to him.  The other >99% walked by, completely oblivious to what was unfolding in their midst.  One man who was later interviewed for the newspaper article was able to remember every single lottery number he played that morning (10 or more, I believe), but when asked, he could not even remember that there was a musician playing a violin at that terminal.  Unless I’m mistaken, only one person who stopped to listen to the musician and was later interviewed by the newspaper recognized what happened:  when asked, the man replied that there was a musician at the terminal whose performance was absolutely stellar, complimenting the musician’s form, style, precision, and the performance as a whole.  Sadly, I believe that the other 1,000 people who walked within feet of the musician and missed it are the chorus of today’s society:  “I don’t want any fancy art, music, or thought-provoking treatises; all I want is a multi-million dollar lifestyle, whereby I can live as I please.”

The other wound that consumerism deals out to creativity in our society is by distracting not only the public at large, but people who have real potential to be among that brotherhood of great minds.  I honestly believe that, with the advent of all of the technology available to us in these days, there is no limit to the societal flaws that could be corrected, the injustices that could be rectified, and the betterment that could occur in our society if people would only use the tools that have been provided to them for the sake of mankind at large.  However, it isn’t that we own our electronics; ours is a materialistic society as well, so our stuff owns us.  We try to live life by waking up early in the morning, rushing to work, rushing around to our various activities, and rushing home to sit in front of a television screen for a couple of hours before going back to sleep and starting the cycle over again.  I don’t think I’m the only person whose saying, “Surely there has to be something more than all of that.”

That is why I have chosen to pursue that brotherhood, to attempt to change the world for the better.  I might achieve something with my life and I might not, but I find more excitement and happiness in the pursuit of changing the world for the better than I can imagine finding in simply existing.

SfC

Ringing in the New Year!

So last night, I went to an amazing concert by an exceptional contemporary Christian band performing in the region for the News Years celebration.  It was very powerful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Afterwards, I spent the rest of the evening with the youth group that I attended during high school and watched them go ice skating (I decided that I would probably not be good for my healing jaw; falling on your face historically isn’t).  We also stayed up to watch a New Years fireworks show, and went out for a late-night snack afterwards.  We got back at 2:00, so I didn’t get up until late this morning.

Now, I find myself thinking about a New Years Resolution.  To be honest, I have never liked New Years Resolutions.  To my mind, they always seemed like some kind of organized effort to will ourselves into a better world with nothing but good intentions, mostly because 90% of people make New Years resolutions that they know are drastically difficult for anyone to achieve and are often unrealistic.  The result of these unrealistic expectations is that people make commitments that they don’t expect to keep or, if they do intend to keep their resolutions, they are quickly disillusioned by realizing that they cannot.  From my perspective, when this happens, I see people becoming calloused to commitments and are establishing a pattern of breaking the commitments that they make.

Do not misconstrue, this, however.  I recognize that no one is perfect and that people should make every effort to improve themselves.  I am no different in this, and thus I find that I, too, desire to make some New Years’ Resolutions:

1. Limit myself to three sodas a week - Of course, everyone knows that soda isn’t good for health, and I know for a fact that I’m not the only person whose commiting myself to less soda.  However, I’m going to try and do this slowly and sort of ease into the changes I want to make.  This isn’t to say that I will always drink three sodas during the week; even now, there are weeks were I don’t drink any soda.  However, I’m hoping to establish a pattern of drinking as little soda as I can.  Three is the maximum, set with the hope that I won’t reach the maximum every week.
2. Walk every day – Some exercise would be good for me.  I’m not saying how much; I might walk a mile, or I might walk to class.  I want to at least say, “I’m going to be physically active, more so than I have been in the past.”
3. Forgive those who wrong me - “Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37).”  In God’s eyes, all have sinned, and I’m no different, so there is no reason for me to be forgiven while I condemn others.  As Lewis B. Smedes said, “Forgiving is to set a prisoner only to discover that the prisoner was you.”
4. Finish Reading the Bible – I set before myself the task of reading the Bible from cover to cover in one year last February.  I’m hoping to meet that goal by this coming February, but more important than the “when” is the simple act of finishing.
5. Memorize the Book of James – We were doing this during the semester for our Bible study groups, and I managed to memorize the first two chapters and get started on the third.  I’ll focus on this more after I’ve read the Bible all the way through.
6. Pray First Thing When I Wake Up and Right Before I Go To Sleep – I like to think of it as bracketing my day in prayer.  By opening my day in prayer, I’m hoping that I will feel more in touch with God throughout the day.
7. Limit Myself to One Hour of Computer Games a Day - Again, there will be plenty of days, especially during the semester, when even one is too much and there are other things to be doing.  The idea is to give myself a ceiling limit that is not exceeded.
8. Read More – It’s vague, but effective.  I want to be reading more, if nothing else so that when my friends are talking about a book, I can contribute to conversation.
9. Be curious – curiosity is the gateway through which learning comes.  If you don’t ask questions fearlessly, then you will stop learning, and even though I don’t believe in Darwin’s theories about the origin of all life, he was right about this: the organism that does not learn dies.
10. Finish a rough script of The League of Kenushi Ryu this year – It’s a very aggressive goal, especially considering what I have yet to do, but I believe that with God’s help, this goal can be achieved.
11. Journal Consistently – I’ve often found that, if there some form of block obstructing my ability to write, it is often some form of unresolved conflict within myself, and writing in a journal seems to help that.
12. Persevere – If and when I fail to hold to these goals I have set before myself to do throughout the year, don’t just give up; just keep trying.  Failure is inevitable, but quitting is optional.

I have made all of the above New Years Resolutions with the full intention of going through with them.  We shall see how well I do!

SfC

Christmas Gifts and Two Kinds of Healing

For the past few days, I have managed to do a couple of the things on my list of things to do during my Christmas Break.  I have plowed through several of the minor prophets in the Old Testament.  For now, I have paused in Micah 3 with the hope of completing the Old Testament and perhaps one or two of the Gospels before returning to college.  In doing this, I will give myself a significant opportunity to complete the goal that I set for myself last February:  to read the Bible through in a year.

Last night was the night that my immediate family got together and opened our Christmas presents as well.  I must admit, there were several presents that I had become aware that  I would receive, but a couple others were a total shock.  Here are the material blessings I received for Christmas:

• The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell – I began reading it in a coffee shop early on in the semester and was quite engrossed in it.  Perhaps one of my favorite parts of it, however, is that at the beginning, McDowell points out that the purpose of the book is to answer questions and not to argue people to Christ.  I think that the lack of this understanding has been the cause for many failed witnessing opportunities, especially in our day.  Of course, I would hope that, in the near-future, I will get the opportunity to read it cover-to-cover, though it is a sizable read.
• Pilgrim’s Progress by Paul Bunyan – I must say that this gift was a bit of a surprise.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about it except that C.S. Lewis wrote another book entitled Pilgrim’s Regress while he was an atheist.  I suppose that I will learn as I read!
• A Christmas Card – from my parents.  From what one of my siblings told me, they spent quite a bit of energy picking out excellent cards for each of us, and I liked it a lot.  It had money in it, but that was little more than icing on the cake.
• A Calligraphy and Sketching Kit – from my siblings.  This was an absolute shock.  The calligraphy kit was hit first; it contains old-fashioned pens with ink cartridges, some paper for my calligraphy practice, and a book on how to get started with calligraphy.  Of course, my siblings were quite aware that I am trying to write a language for Kenushi Ryu and hoped that I would find it fun and useful.  They also said that, at the very least, they would take it if I had no interest in it.  Too bad for them that I have a great deal of interest in it!  The sketching kit appears to be quite similar: some different styles of pencils, a guide on sketching, and some sketch paper.  These will probably hold my interest for some time.
• The Casting Crowns Album “Peace on Earth” – I’m a fan of Contemporary Christian Music, as I have stated in the past, and I was very grateful to receive this for Christmas.  I must admit that, in recent years, I have found that Holiday music completely floods the airwaves from about Thanksgiving through the New Years, and this has steadily made me a bit of a Scrooge toward hearing Christmas music everywhere I go.  However, I think that I was able to maintain a distance from the excessive Christmas music enough that it didn’t quite lose its appeal.  Anyhow, I digress; this is a good album for anyone who likes the classical Christmas anthems in addition to some new ones.
• Finally, I received some miscellaneous gifts from my friends:  one gave me a box of dark chocolate, and another gave me a t-shirt that she had made in her art class.  She made one for everyone else in our circle of friends (we call ourselves the “Rat Pack.”)  Another gave me a bag of Coal Candy because I’m evil (so she says).

These were the Christmas gifts I received from my immediate family.  Apparently, we are expecting to go to our distant relatives’ home for Christmas over the next couple of weeks, so I’m not entirely certain whether I should expect anything from them, but I am very grateful for what I have already received.

In my last post, I also mentioned that I had my wisdom teeth extracted five days ago.  My situation has changed little from my previous post: I’m still taking pain medication, though I’m not taking it every spare minute that I can.  My main problem right now is the swelling in my cheeks and some yellow-colored bruises at the site of the swelling, no doubt from where they held my mouth open to extract the little devils.  Another unanticipated problem has been a recurring stench of my breath that makes me feel that I should be quarantined for something.  Other than that, however, my healing seems to be proceeding on schedule.  I ate a cheeseburger with some fries for lunch without any pain or anything like that, a few of my stitches have detached, and everything seems to be okay.

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There is another matter that I have refrained from posting about for some time.  Someone very close to me recently lost his/her job, and as more information has become available to me, there has been plenty of speculation within my family as to why this has happened.  From my very limited perspective, however, this event has been the convergence of many agendas from several people within the community for some time.  On one hand, this person I am close to was a teacher and gave out some deficiencies part-way through the year.  The result was that some parents began gossiping about this person, tearing this person down.  It also appears that one of the people in charge desired for this person to lose their job in order to bring in another who was “in” with the boss, though this is comparatively less certain.  In the end, this person was essentially fired for insubordination and because his/her department was an embarrassment.

I do have a few comments on the reasoning given for this person losing his/her job.  It appears that this person was in the sights of the boss for some time, so it is quite possible that the boss invented situations where “insubordination” was the only possible result.  If not, this job area is an area where any more-than-cursory examination of a worker can reveal all kinds of “insubordination,” depending on how much you are looking for it and precisely how you define it.  As for being an “embarrassment,” this has set the precedent that a single bad performance of anything in this school warrants the firing of the person or personnel in charge of that department.  I can tell you from experience that the school is constantly an embarrassment as a couple of the contests that they went to, not to mention our sports teams’ occasionally “embarrassing” performance, yet the personnel in charge of these departments have received little if any punishment for such occasions, let alone losing their jobs.

In summary, the whole situation boils my blood in a way that nothing else every has.  Honestly, it makes me ashamed to be associated with this school in any way.  It also shatters the trust that I had for the boss and for the school’s board members.  Sadly, a couple of my closest friends are closely related to one of the board members, and I don’t know what to think about them or their family anymore.  It…it sickens me that this would happen at all, and the pain is amplified by being caused to someone so near to me.

I’ve often wondered how some people go about their lives holding grudges against other people, organizations, people groups, etc.  Now, it is a daily war within my soul to subdue my desire to never speak to these people again, let along forgive them.  One scripture that continuously recurs to my mind is “Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37),” and I have come several times to the point where I forgive those involved in this…conspiracy (for lack of better words).  However, the ongoing suffering of this individual brings the battle to the forefront of my mind again and again.  This is the spiritual battle that I wage right now, and I fear that I am at a lose as to how it can be won, save by attrition.

This is the vulnerability and struggle that is being played out within my faithful mind.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

SfC

P.S.  In an attempt to jump-start my desire and drive to read, I will be creating a new page where I keep track of my reading log, the books that I have read and hope to read in the near-future.

The Final Countdown Continues: 8…7…6…5… (Looking Ahead)

Hello, reader!  As of right now, there are only four things left for me to do between now and next Friday.  The most urgent of these are to write a paper for my history class that I have mentioned several times this semester, where I discuss how, in Paul Fussel’s words, “The real war will never get into the books.”  I am to state whether I agree or disagree and provide evidence for it.  Similarly, once I am done with my paper, I will proceed with studying for the exam that I have tomorrow morning.  Once these two things are done, then I will have two days to practice for my French Horn jury and then another two days to study for my Music Theory final.  I’m expecting the music theory final to present a challenge, but I will study quite a bit over the next several days to be as prepared as I can be for it.  Once the Music Theory final is done, I have some house-keeping things to do with the house that I’m staying at, and then I’m heading home for Christmas Break!

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this.  I am also very happy to state that God has been doing some extraordinary things in my mind and heart, and He has filled me with His peace.

However, my Christmas Break isn’t going to be all fun-and-games.  I’m going to a surgeon the week of Christmas to have my wisdom teeth examined, and then I will return later that week to have them removed.  Needless to say, I might be posting excessively on my blog here over those couple of weeks, seeing as how I anticipate that I won’t be communicating verbally very much for a few days.  That might be for the better; I have heard one story in particular of a girl I know who was using some of their extra-strong painkiller and thought she could fly.  Nothing bad happened to her, but I’m just warning the reader that, if I make a very bizarre, uncharacteristic post anytime after Christmas, then please disregard it until such a time arrives as I have the sanity to delete it.

Other than this, I hope to be reintroducing the reading log that I had started in the summer but have allowed to fall by the wayside since the semester began.  I will, of course, have additional books to add to it, seeing as how every time I return home for a weekend, my bibliophile friends instantly start informing me of the excellent books that they have read recently.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate it; it gives me a great deal of happiness to have so many fellow book-readers.  I just need to get into it a little more myself.  I also anticipate the restarting of my Reading Log with the hope that it will carry through the Spring semester and ever more.  I might have to retry a couple of times, but I am an enormously persistent person.

I also expect that I will keep using a to-do list throughout the Christmas Break; I have surprised myself with the level of productivity that I have been able to accomplish the last semester by simply setting daily goals of what I want to accomplish.  However, instead of most of my to-do list consisting of studying, it will consist more of writing, reading, and the many things that I like to occupy my extra time with.

For several weeks, I have been wanting to start an on-going series of posts that I make in which I discuss some of the thoughts that have been going through my head recently.  I have the ideas written down on paper (somewhere) and have simply been unable to sit down lately and state my thoughts.  I have also recently seen a meme that I have seen go around from time to time consisting of a list of the most banned books in the world and listing which of these banned books you have read.  Posts on the current world economic situation, the Depression of the 1930′s, and current politics are also on my “to-write” list for my blog.

Naturally, I expect that I will be making some good headway in the writing of my novel.  For the last couple of weeks, working on the language for my book has been my highest priority; I’ve reached the point where I’m decided that, if any further work on the novel proper is to be done, it must be done after I have a good idea of what my language is going to be like.

In short, I’m looking forward to the Christmas Break and the many opportunities that it brings with great anticipation.

SfC

Theology in Life: What I Have Learned This Semester

As of Monday, I’m back at college from the break.  I’ll confess that I didn’t do everything I should have done over break, but I did take home several books from my classes because I don’t really consider reading work, so I was able to get far ahead in reading for my History class, and that has given me a great deal of opportunity to catch up and get ahead in the rest of my classes.

Right now, I have only one chapter in one book left to read for my history class, and after our second paper and our final exam, I’m done with that class.  For British literature, we have some reading left to do, a quiz or two left, a paper, and our final exam.  Religious Studies, as usual, is my most relaxed class; I can’t see myself getting anything less than an A in that class.  Music Theory, also as usual, is going to be the class that I cram for in the end; I have at least two assignments left (probably three, to be truthful), a music project (I must compose 16 measures of music using proper partwriting rules, cadences, etc.), and our final exam, which is going to be a rough one, and my last exam wasn’t such a good grade, so my grade (and my decent GPA to keep my scholarships) might hinge on this class.  Other than that, my band sessions are over, and beyond my French Horn jury, I’m really done.

However, prompted by the proximity of the end of the semester, I have begun taking a retrospective look at my first four months of college.  To be quite honest, it has gone by quite quickly, and that frightens me a little when I consider that next semester, I will be taking some pretty advanced classes.  However, I have also learned a great deal, not only about my classes and areas of interest, but also about life in general.  Of course, being a man of faith and trust in God, my spiritual growth has often coincided with some major points of thought that I have had in learning about God and myself.  Here, I will relate some of them and some explanations and how these points have changed my thinking and lifestyle:

1)  God is Order: I am actually quite fascinated to discover and consider that the foundation of modern science is based on the premise that God has created reality with calculable, mathematical constants that we, as humans with minds and souls, have the capacity to discover and understand.  Even today, there is a number of scientists who look at Earth’s position in the galaxy and notice how ours is the perfect position in the universe not only to support and sustain life, but also to explore and understand life, both on this world and beyond.  This isn’t always the case, but many of the scientists who recognize this attribute it to a Creator who had us in mind when He made everything.

The practicality of this discovery was immediate as soon as I came to college: if God is a God of order and He created the universe to have and maintain a sense of order, then it follows that I should endeavor to have a sense of order in my life as well.  This has caused me to change the way I organize my living space — well, I guess I should clarify that statement because I didn’t have a sense of order for my living space to begin with before I came to college.  In addition, I now keep a to-do list of things that I want or need to do in a day and, by doing this, I am able to keep myself on task with my schoolwork and recreation, including the writing of my book.

Since I have mentioned, I will say that I achieved little if any progress on my book during the Break.  However, I will be doing some revisions on the book itself, and I hope to further immerse myself in it in the next couple of weeks, especially after the semester’s end.

2) God is Truth and Love:  John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and I have been doing some thinking about that statement these last few months, and the simple statements like, “God is love” and other cliches have also been on my mind.  That is, if Jesus is Truth itself, then as a Christian, it is my job to introduce people to Truth, not simply talk about them abstractly.  It also means that God does not lie, nor does He ever twist language to say one thing and mean another, because that is also a form of dishonestly that goes against who He is.

The practical implications of this are major.  If Christ is Truth and I am trying to be Christ-like, that means that I have a very high standard of honestly.  I’m not just talking about lying or even the occasional “White lie” (which is still wrong, in my opinion) that I ackoowledge as evil; I’m talking about when someone asks me to do something and I say, “Okay,” or “Whatever” without any actual intention of going through with what I’m agreeing to.  I must also be completely honest with myself, having the strength of character to tell myself when I have a problem, when I’ve overtaxed myself, when I’ve slacked off too much, etc.  By being Truth and Love to other people instead of simply telling them about it, I am opening the door for God to live not only within me but through me.  By being more like God, I make God’s image and his reflection through me clearer and more attractive.  Also, by becoming Truth, I am allowing God to transform my soul from the inside out, and by becoming Love, I am declaring my allegiance to the one whom I believe in.  This also means that it is our privilege to love others, to give to the poor, and to worship God.  That is, God has never demanded me to worship Him or do anything else for Him; for me, I do what I do as a privilege that God has given me by introducing me to Himself and informing me of Himself.

3) God is Community: The doctrine of God being a Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit confirms this idea, not to mention that the reason that God created the universe to begin with was community.  Also, if we humans are made in God’s image, then it is not surprising to me to see why much of Western society today is dysfunctional: we lack real community.  I’m not just talking about co-workers that you whisk by on your way to you cubicle, desk, or work site every morning, and I’m not even talking about the people that you talk with from time to time about last night’s game, the weather, the recent elections, or your schoolwork.  I’m talking about people you confide in, that you trust with your secrets, that you think about during the day and discover that you love that person, not in a sexual way, but in a communal, trusting, supporting relationship.  When the creation made in God’s likeness is not behaving in the way they were created to behave, dysfunction, disorders, and destruction always results.

Perhaps the most powerful example of how this has changed my perspective this semester has been through a simple prayer group that I meet with every Wednesday before our midweek services.  We just go to a sort of living room in one of the halls on campus and hang out for half an hour.  We spend the first of our time writing private prayer requests on note cards and then pass them around and exchange them.  We make sure that its random to make sure that sub-cliques don’t form in the group, and then we relate some public prayer requests.  After that, we split up into groups of 3-5 and just pray together.  It’s enormously simply, but it’s also one of the most powerful ways that I have found to become better acquainted with people I didn’t know three months ago, not to mention the relational satisfaction that it gives me when I can’t go home to visit with my best friends for weeks at a time.

4) God is a God of both Work and Rest: another very powerful and motivating discovery for me to make was that God did create us humans to be productive.  I mean, in the book of Proverbs alone, there is a great deal of condemnation for laziness and a great deal of commendation for hard and reliable work.  Also, the Creation narrative specifies that God created six days of the week for work and the seventh day for rest.  This means that God wants us to be productive and successful members of society insofar as we can be.  Of course, there are some things that we cannot take care of on our own: for many people right now, unemployment is a growing problem around the world because of economic problems across the globe, and many people are legitimately trying to get a job to now avail.  For anyone who might be reading this who fits into that category, I’m praying for you and I hope that God gives you a source of income soon.  On the flip side, however, God did commission us as humans to work, and I believe that doing our work well can be an act of worship to God if we really allow ourselves to do as the Bible says and work as though we are working for God himself.

For me, this means that I should apply myself with all of the attention and focus that I can manage to my classes.  This is also a matter of honoring my parents; as of right now, my parents are putting me through college, and one of my goals in high school was to obtain scholarships to help ease the load from my parents and honor them for what they are doing for me.  Now that I have these scholarships, it is my desire to honor my parents’ sacrifices to me, both now and for raising me, by keeping my scholarships and applying myself in school.  I am also currently considering becoming a French Horn tutor at a local high school next semester; right now, my sister gives lessons at a local high school, and she has been doing this for a diverse number of people since she was in college (several years ago).  I’ve mentioned it to her, and she said that, if that is my choice, she will suggest me to some of her former students and I can tutor them and thereby have a source of income to prepare for my future.

However, God did also provide us with a day of rest, and I have to extrapolate from that that God recognizes that humans are prone to burn-outs and need a break every now and then.  Of course, this isn’t to excuse people who went on Thanksgiving Break last year and still haven’t returned to productivity; this is to prevent what we call workahalism and to prevent people from being so consumed by their jobs that they forget that the most important thing in our lives is relationships, both with God and with other people.

5) My place as a Steward of God’s Gifts: Finally, God has been teaching me of my position as a steward over all that He has given me.  The reason I use the term steward is this, and maybe this context will help clarify what I’m talking about:

There are plenty of people who go about this life and say, “Oh, the good Lord has been good to me.”  They might be speaking about their relationships, their financial situation, their house, their children, etc.  However, when it comes right down to it, I think that for many people, saying that is just another form of bragging and saying, “Wow, look how good I have it,” or even, “Look how good I have it in comparison with yourself.”  I have truly come to believe that, when God gives us something – money, a car, a family, a friend, an acquaintance, a job, even our body – then he is appointing us as a steward over it, with the expectation that God may ask for it back, and it would be a slap in the face to God to accept something from Him and then give it back to him in the same state that we found it, or even in a diminished state.

So, what does this mean practically?  If I am a steward of my body, that means that God has given it to me for the purpose of using it, but He also expects me to take care of it.  Supporting this proposition is the idea of doing with my body what Jesus would, and I’d have to say that I have a hard time picturing Jesus gaining weight or eating fast food all the time simply because he would want to take care of his body.

Also, stewardship with money is a concept that I think would benefit society greatly.  If people looked upon money not as their own but as a gift from God that He gave us for His Earthly purposes instead of something for them to spend on their own worldly pleasure, then I’d be willing to bet that the following things could and would happen:

• Credit card debt would cease to be a problem,
• The national debt would stop growing and would start to be paid off,
• More donations would go to starving men, women and children who can’t expect even one square meal a week,
• More hospitals would be built,
• The housing crisis would dissolve because everyone would suddenly realize that God does not approve of debt (again, in Proverbs),
• Schools wouldn’t have to teach high school students personal finances because the students would already have the one concept that they need for financial management and security,
• World hunger would eventually cease to be a problem,
• Homeless shelters would be built,
• Churches would be sending out missionaries by the tens and hundreds of thousands, and
• People would know that, no matter how much money they have, it is all from God’s hand for God’s purposes, and I’d be willing to bet that Christmas would still be the biggest shopping season of the year because everyone would be so excited to give to those they love…within reason, of course.

Stewardship also applies to how I spend my time.

These are the sorts of things that I have been thinking about and learning about this semester.  I guess it’s all a part of becoming an adult.

God Bless!

SfC

Thoughts For the Weekend

To begin with, I haven’t spent much time in the last few days writing on Kenushi Ryu.  What little spare time I have had this week has involved finishing and perfecting my paper on John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV.  I feel satisfied, however, that the final product I turned in was the best that I could do, given the amount of time I had.  Of course, had I invested more time in it to begin with, it would have been even better, but I won’t beat myself up about that; I did what I could.

Anyway, we have moved on from the Romantic poets to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” for my English class.  I can’t say that I have read too much (it’s on my weekend to-do list), but from my initial impressions, Mr. Bennet is shaping up to be one of my more favorite characters.  He’s witty, but he also doesn’t show it off or flaunt it; he always knows more than he is letting on.  His is a sort of character that I would love to accurately portray in my book (in my own literary style, of course).

On this subject, in one of my history lectures a couple of weeks ago, the professor mentioned a book to the class whose name now eludes me.  It was a story of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency through the eyes of his advisers, secretaries, etc.  When asked why the writer of this book didn’t tell it from Roosevelt’s perspective, he stated that he felt that Roosevelt’s was a mind that he felt was too difficult to penetrate and understand, which is quite something for this particularly accomplished writer to say.  Of course, it is an historical fact that Roosevelt kept most of his thoughts to himself, meaning that he could make sudden decisions without foreshadowing it to anyone, not even Eleanor, his friends, advisers, or anyone else.  Again, this makes me say that such a mind is the sort of character I would love to write into my book properly.  Of course, as the writer that I have already mentioned, if I feel that I can’t do it well, then I feel that I ought not to try, but it would be something fun to attempt.

On the subject of my history class, we are in the finishing chapters of Bradley’s Flags of Our Fathers.  The thing that I found most striking about the novel was the way the Battle of Iwo Jima was described in such powerfully honest details, talking about the wounds that people sustained and the Japanese tortures on a captured American and all of that sort of thing.  Of course, I already made a post back in September (World War II and Counting the Cost) where I discuss the reality of all of this, but reading through the middle part of Bradley’s book definitely reinforced that newly-percieved reality.  Anyway, that’s something else that I have on my to-do list.

I had a concert with the college band that I am in Tuesday night and my mother, father, and sister all came up to watch it, which was a cause for joy.  Thinking about it right now just reminds me that in a week, I will be going home for a whole week for Thanksgiving, and the history instructor informed us today that he is canceling Friday afternoon classes so that we can go home sooner, which also makes me very happy.  Since the last couple of days have been taxing on my time, I also have a great deal of French Horn practicing to do this weekend.

Also, I have a Music Theory exam on Tuesday, which will require preparation, though I do feel more prepared for this one than I do the previous two.  Don’t mistake me, I will still be certain to study and prepare for it.  However, I am much more relaxed about this exam.

Religious Studies continues to be the class that I do the best in.  I just find myself asking how much of the extra time and energy I spent in high school learning about religious issues and theological understanding accounts for the amount of (unusual) proficiency I have found in that class.  Our guest speaker on Wednesday was a Muslim woman talking with us about Isalmic teachings focusing on modesty and our guest speaker on Monday was a Jewish Rabbi who mainly focused (per the regular professor’s request) on discussing why modern Judaism rejects Jesus as their Messiah.  First, though, he explained that Judaism is not a homogenenous religion, that it has many opinions about scripture and God.  Perhaps the most striking thing he stated was that modern Jews do not see their religion as the only way to God, that you don’t have to be Jewish to know Yahweh.  In fact, perhaps the most shocking statement he made (most shocking to me) was blatantly, “Jews are pluralist.”  He then went on to explain the following reasons why Judaism rejects Jesus as their Savior, as I have copied in my notes:

• Jews have a concept of God as being One (in contrast to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity), and Jesus being God violates their understanding of Yahweh.
• Jesus did not fulfill the full qualifications for being the Jewish Messiah as set forth by the Old Testament prophets (he did not become an earthly king, did not usher in Messianic Age, etc.)
• Jesus said that he had not come to “remove one stroke of ink from the law or the prophets,” yet Paul allowed Gentiles to become Christians without requiring circumcision, Sabbath rest, keeping of the Jewish Law, etc.
• Jews also believe that forgiveness is attained not through Jesus Christ, but by a change of behavior through following the law.

Anyhow, I found the lecture quite interesting and informative.  They have definitely given my mind something to munch on.

SfC

John Donne, Holy Sonnet 14: “Batter My Heart, Three Person’d God”

For my Introduction to British Literature class, I have been assigned a paper about one of the authors that we have discussed in class thus far.  Here’s a quick list of the works that we have read and talked about in class:

• Beowulf
• Lanval - Marie de France
• Miller’s Tale - Geoffrey Chaucer
• The Passionate Sheppard - Christopher Marlowe
• The Nymph’s Reply – Sir Walter Raleigh
• Sonnet 18, 29, 130 – William Shakespeare
• Paradise Lost – John Milton (Books III & IV)
• The Sun Rising, A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, and The Flea by John Donne.
• To His Coy Mistress – Andrew Marvell
• Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
• Assorted Poems from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
• Tintern Abbey and Michael by William Wordsworth (Just finished today)

So, for my paper, I have been given three options:  1)  Discuss Unferth’s gift of Hrunting to Beowulf and take a stance on whether this was Unferth betraying Beowulf with a kiss or actually seeking reconciliation and back it up, 2)  Discuss the themes of justice in the medieval social order illustrated in Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale and how these themes relate to one of the three main characters-John, Abasalom, or Allison-and how each character’s transgressions against society are punished in the end, or 3)  To read and analyse John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV, explaining the argument and message.  Obviously, by the title of this post, I chose the third option.

So, as part of simply immersing myself in the text, I thought I would write it down in my blog.  In fact, I was thinking that poetry might compose a second weekly update that I do for my blog, to go along with my Musician Monday’s updates.  However, for now, I’ll just post Holy Sonnet XIV.  So, without further ado, I give you, “Batter My Heart, Three Person’d God:”

Batter my heart, three personed God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labor to admit you, but O, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captivated, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy.
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

So, for the introduction to my paper, I will be looking up some historical background to begin the paper.  This will be my major project for the weekend.  The paper is due on Wednesday, so I’m not in a terrible hurry to finish it this weekend, but I want to so I can read it and reread it and have friends read it, proof it, think about it, and just absolutely do the best I can to make it a great paper.

Anyway, that’s the main thing going on for me right now.  Other than that, this will be a rather relaxed weekend.  I have a large amount of reading to do in Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley for History next week; Religious Studies is fantastic; I’m pretty well caught up in music theory (even a little ahead); and I will need to be practicing my major scales for French Horn practice pretty extensively this weekend.

So anyway, that’s how things are going for schoolwork.  For Kenushi Ryu, I’m continuing to refine the map for Kenusha that I have already posted (if I have a newer version, I’ll just leave a UPDATE note on the post and upload the newer versions).  In addition, I’ve started working on a map for the Plains of Halsom region, as well as doing other various work.  I’ll keep the blog updated as I get more done.

In addition, I have borrowed from a minister The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel finally.  I have read The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith and found them both to be very thought-provoking books, and a very intellectual friend of mine owns The Case for a Creator and really enjoyed it, so that will likely occupy some of my free time for a time as well.

Have a great day and a great weekend!

SfC

A Regional Map for Kenushi Ryu

Over the last two weeks, I’ve managed to catch up on most of my schoolwork and have managed to stay caught up fairly well.  The Lord has given me a great deal of strength to perform the tasks that I need to perform, strength to do what I need to do in spite of my lack of motivation, tied together with what I will label Daylight Savings Fatigue.

As part of what I’ve managed to achieve in the last couple of days, I have created a page where I will try to consistently update with progress on Kenushi Ryu.  Here’s a couple of views of the regional map for Kenusha that I will be adding to the main “Kenushi Ryu” page:

Here’s the geographic map:

Here’s the geographic map overlaid with roads and settlements:

Of course, the settlement indicators are not the only settlements in the region.  To be defined as a settlement (in this map at this time, anyway), a population of 5,000 souls or more is required.  This includes for forts, though at forts, the garrisons of troops is included with the civilian population, mostly because the humans on Kenusha are not at all a militaristic society and their army is made up mainly of citizen soldiers.  Also, I use the term “forts” loosely to mean any settlement that acts as both a population center as well as a settlement with more-than-rudimentary defenses, a sizable garrison, and a local economy that’s partially or mostly devoted to producing war materials, so you’ll find more fletchers, engineers, barracks, and the like in forts.

Also, the large castle labeled “Kenusha” represents the capitol city for the human population.  It’s population is over 100,000, but not much more.  By that reckoning in addition to the other human settlements, there’s at least 195,000 humans in this region of the island.  However, as a rule of thumb, there’s about 5 citizens living in unmarked settlements to every 2 counted living in major settlements, including Kenusha, so by that reckoning, there’s 487,500 humans in this region…and this is, of course, an estimate; some of the marked settlements exceed 5,000 inhabitants substantially, so 500,000 is a more realistic figure.

Also, this doesn’t count the non-human population…but in order to go into that, I’ll need to describe those other races, and they are still a work-in-progress.

Anyhow, any comments of any kind are greatly appreciated.

SfC

UPDATE (11/9/08):  I’ve repplaced the older versions of Kenusha with a newer version; however, the only difference is that the plains of Halsom don’t extend as far south and the Sunken Lowlands don’t extend so far west as well as the addition of a compass star.

(Finally!) Some Progress on my Novel

Okay, so it isn’t precisely a whole lot of progress.   Since college started, I have mangaed to write another couple of pages on my novel.  I’ve stalled out at the end of a chapter, deciding how to bring the battle that is being fought to the proper conclusion.

In addition to just the writing, I have been reworking some of the details of the novel: I completely erased a race that I deemed excessive and have renamed several regions of the island (which is called “Kenushi Ryu”) as well as, using Photoshop, zooming in on and giving detail to the regions.  I hope to have a more detailed map of each region as well as a sort of political map, i.e. the locations of major settlements, roads, ports, fiefs, and any number of other major landmarks in a medieval fantasy world.

Finally, I am enthralled to report that, as of this morning, I believe that I have composed a theme for my book.  It is still quite rudimentary (only 8 measures), but I believe that what I currently have will be the main musical phrase in any sort of musical composition that accompanies my novel.

I’m praying that God will give me the spare time to do more and more work on my novel, but I also recognize that classes and studying is a priority.  With that, I will now go read John Donne’s “the Flea” and Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” before I go eat lunch.  Have a good day!

SfC

P.S. Perhaps later, I will make another post about politics, specifically on something I learned about Barrak Obama.  But that’s for later!

Everything I Want to Be…Mostly

Occupationally speaking, I’ve been thinking a bit lately about exactly what I want to do, so this list is an attempt at compiling everything that I want to do as an adult (who’s out of college, living on my own, etc.)  I’ll list the occupation and then leave a brief description idicating where I was inspired to have that occupation.  Several of them will likely be occupations that I have in the past considered but now no longer expect or desire; in such cases, I will indicate if the occupation is no longer a goal of mine.

*=I no longer expect to pursue this career

^=I’m not entirely certain on these careers; I’m still thinking about them

Railroad Engineer*

This was my first great aspiration, birthed out of of my love for railroads and trains when I was very young.  I would spend hours on end playing with trains and found an especial enjoyment in constructing the most advanced, complex railroad track I could with the materials I was given.  Of course, I was always wanting more railroad pieces which I could use.  This passion illustrated the creative side of my mind, which continues even in small things like building Lego structures and vehicles (and once again, I never have too many pieces!)

Architect*

This was my Junior High hope and expectation.  At the time, I had a very narrow view of what sort of work architecture consisted of; I failed to realize that there were landscape architects (which even now sounds like a very interesting career) or that architects are called in to design a variety of buildings for a variety of purposes.  However, at the time, I also failed to recognize the intense level of mathematics that would be involved in such a profession, not only for designing a building but to ensure its integrity.  When I did realize the level of mathematics that would require such a full-time profession, I elected to seek a career elsewhere…though as I indicated earlier in this paragraph, I might still have a vague interest in such a career.

Writer

This is my current aspiration.  Actually,  I highly doubt that I will make it through life as a full-time writer, unless my series of fantasy novels are tremendously successful.  It might end up being something more of a hobby.  I have also considered some of the many different careers that could fit into the generic heading of writing; Newspaper editing sounds like something I might enjoy, though the current trend in the United States favors other medias of news.  Poetry might fit in with part of a music composition/singing career (mentioned later).  Journalism is also a possibility; the university I am attending has a successful journalism school, so I may take greater advantage of that.  However, for now, I now that I will be a fantasy fiction writer.

Beekeeper^

Another smaller occupation goal out of my younger years.  I’ve always had a fascination for bees, which resulted in a desire to own a bee farm.  This isn’t something that I have thoroughly studied yet; it’s just something for me to consider as I become an adult.

Gardener/Farmer

Again, this isn’t really a full-time occupation so much as it is a hobby.  I want to grow my own vegetables when I am an adult…and perhaps even a few livestock.

English Teacher^

With all of these hobbies that I have mentioned, this is probably the first day-job of the professions I have considered.  If I become a teacher, though, I want to go into it not just because of the pay (highly unlikely) or because of the retirement (probably won’t retire until I’m 90, anyway, if I live that long); I want to do it for the sake of students.

History Teacher^

My attraction to and fascination with history has caused me to examine the possibility of being a history teacher as well.  Of course, I can’t teach history and English at the same time, so if I had to choose between them…well, I would have to think about it for quite a bit of time.

Music Composer/Songwriter

I love listening to music.  I’m finding learning about the syntax and structure of music in one of my college courses quite difficult, but I still actively consider the possibility of a career in music as a composer or possibly a songwriter for the Contemporary Christian Music genre.  There is still much for me to learn, but it is still a possibility that excites me!

Entrepreneur

I know that this goal doesn’t seem to fit too well with the rest of my career goals, which mainly focus on creativity, which entrepreneurship seems to focus on management and other such things.  Even I started a business, I don’t know what it would be.  Even so, I have this strange desire to own a business, perhaps for the sake of providing for others.

Missionary

As a Christian, I recognize the need to fulfill the Great Commission and spread the gospels to the ends of the Earth, and I have considered this possibility quite thoroughly and have, at times, expected that this is what I will end up doing.  Honestly, I do have some reservations, but if I feel God moving me to such a mission, then I will go joyously; it’s something I would enjoy!

Minister/Pastor

This I really do expect to do at some point or another.  I’m really not worried about the position; I just expect to be a Christian teacher and try to help other people learn about God and teach them what I know.

I’m not realistically expecting this, but I have also considered the career of a Singer.  I’m not saying I’m expecting this; I’m just acknowledging it as a possibility.  Let me be clear, though, that I’m no Steven Curtis Chapman.

Of course, this isn’t exactly a comprehensive list.  There are other careers that I have sought and probably others that I have recently actively considered, artistry being the least of them.  However, this is probably good enough a list for the time being.  Thanks for reading!

SfC