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

My Journal Entry: February 18, 2009

For a couple of months now, I have been keeping a journal, where I try to write what thoughts have been going through my head lately.  Here’s what I wrote today:

“February 18, 2009:

Here’s what’s been going on in my heart lately:

In History class today, we talked again about the illegal and hateful removal of Native Americans from the Great Plains by American miners, soldiers, and the government (itself).

…

In Music History class today, we started covering how the Americans began blending European music traditions with African musical traditions.  What sickens me is, it was done to make fun of Blacks.

And, of course, I heard yesterday that over 50 million babies have died of abortions (since 1973).  Fifty million friends, families, loved ones, snuffed out.

And now, everyone is saying that we don’t have enough food to feed the world’s population, that we don’t have enough money (50 million people missing from the workforce) to support the elderly in our country, so influential, atheist ethicists are saying that elderly should voluntarilly euthanize themselves to remove the strain from the world’s economic system.

Isn’t religion accused of supporting and validating corrupt, unequal systems of government (and society) by atheists?  What about atheism?  Doesn’t anyone see what’s happening right now, in our enlightened society in this enlightened age?

Doesn’t America waste more than any other nation on Earth?  Don’t we spend more (money) on trash bags than some nations have to spend on such essentials as food and water?  And now, with this economic crisis, are we asking our grandparents, the old and wise and experienced among us, to sacrifice themselves so we can afford our bucket of chicken from KFC?!

When will this insanity end?  When will man stop hurting man?  When will Sin’s Cycle of Death be broken?  When will death be wrong again, instead of something people accept as something that others must experience so we can live as we please?”

I suppose I should add, it would cost $10 billion dollars to build wells for everyone on Earth to drink clean water.  Compare that with the $450 billion Americans spend on Christmas.

I know I’ll probably make some people mad, maybe even furious with this…but I can’t be sorry for speaking out against perceived wrongdoings, not when so much suffering is allowed to go unnoticed.

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

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.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

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

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

College Activities and Moments of Transition

Oh, what’s this?  Why, it’s a blog!  *sits down to write new post*

Sorry for all of my (2) inconvienced frequent readers; it would appear that, in the last two weeks, I have had little time or energy to divulge the major happenings of my college-age life.  Perhaps it is because my mind was preoccupied by my classwork and generally adjusting to my new habitat; perhaps I had forsaken my blog intentionally for other pursuits; perhaps I could only stand in silence because mundane words could not describe the intense longings and desires of my heart…

Well, for whatever reason, I’m here to give another update as to how my life proceeds (or what passes for my social life).  Since I posted “Life Hits the Fan,” I have added to my incredible stack of books and things to keep up with, though I did also drop an English class that I had signed up for; the material and the expectations were taxing on the Juniors and Seniors…and I was one of the few freshmen!  Therefore, I thought it prudent to not lose all of my scholarships in a personal Charge of the Light Brigade to certain doom in my first semester in higher education.

Overall, I’m finding myself thoroughly enjoying my classes.  In my British Literature class, we just finished reading and interpreting Beowulf and have proceeded on to Lanval by Marie de France.  My American History class is doing an in-depth study of the causes and motions in World War II, which involves reading biographies on Charles Lindbergh (which was, to my delight, a very worthy read) and F.D. Roosevelt (which I haven’t finished yet) as well as reading Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley and about a half-dozen other books.  My music theory class is turning out to be the most taxing of my classes, though it doesn’t help that I enrolled after a week of class and had to wait another two days to buy my textbook (they had to order a reprint), so I started the class up to my chest anyway.  My religious studies class is turning out to be very interesting; the teacher, instead of teaching us about a particular religion or religions is instead trying to help us see religion with fresher and clearer vision than we might otherwise be able to.  His thoughts are very valid and I have thoroughly enjoyed the class thus far.  Aside from these, I also take instrumental practice as a class and am enrolled in one of the college’s performing bands, which is a great deal of fun as well.

Though I am rushed, I also feel the need to say that I have in general had a feeling of a large period of transition.  When I see this, I refer to the thoughts and emotions that you process when you come to a point in your life where you feel that the whole world is new.  They say that children are impressionable, and I believe that that is the feeling that characterises moments of transition; not that the foundation of your past is no longer relevant or has been removed, but that a fresh layer of liquid cement has been added to it…and it is now your job to form from it whatever you desire.  A couple of weeks ago, that feeling hit me especially hard and, though now it only lingers, it is still there.

Anyway, in addition to my studies, I’m also hoping to redevote some time to writing my book.  I will update when there is any worthwhile progress.

SfC

P.S.  Thank you to those of you who have gotten my Blog hits into the quadruple digits.  Here’s to another 100,000…in ideal circumstances, anyway. 

Reawakening to Education & Curiousity; Continued Sythesis of Thought and Faith

Forging on ahead in Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind, I have finally finished his extensive chapter on Relationships.

First, I believe that I have started to grasp the observation on feminism that Bloom has made. Bloom observes that, because sex is easy to obtain, feminism has begun to attain greater lengths of power in the intellectual community. However, Bloom goes on to point out that, though women claim the same rights as men, they are wired differently in that they have the desire to bear children (though I do recognize that not all women have this desire) and have associated struggles that deal with this. Of course, Bloom brings the discussion back to the university by observing that more and more of today’s students suffer under the influence of broken homes from divorce as a result of the desires of women to not have to deal with having children and instead cling to their “rights” to have the same job opportunities as men, which taken from their perspective means that men must drop their responsibilities to the family and try to be mothers while women try to successfully be the men of the house, both in having authority, in supporting the family, and everything else. This causes psychological problems to the families that go through these divorces, and these problems are (Bloom generalizes, but I say that the problems can be) aggravated by the use of psychologists who try to comfort the parents into thinking their children will be alright while both parents pursue their own individualized goals (I insert the term “selfish” where Bloom says “individualized,” though I must also realize in saying this that it can hardly be called selfish when some people are never exposed to the thought that there is fulfillment in serving and seeking Truth rather than the Self)

Bloom does say that he doesn’t say that the old system (the system of the nuclear family) was good or that we should go back to it. I must insert a disagreement here; I do believe that the system as it was was good; that is, it was functional and effective in providing people with a template for a functional system by which to raise their children successfully (then again, I can speak only lightly on this subject; the old system did have its own imperfections and I haven’t seen it implemented on as large a scale as the way it is being decommissioned today and therefore don’t have the personal experience to say for certain if things today are better or worse). Should we go back to the original system? Honestly, I do believe so, though I doubt that such is possible in today’s relativistic circumstances. Then again, if we aren’t going to go back to the old system, then what new system has been proposed or enacted to replace it? None, so far as I know.

Bloom points out that, the way the old system was set up, virtues were acquired by way of appealing to the nature of people. Men, who were (and, to an extent, are) possessive and protective of self, and thus this possessiveness was expanded to encompass his family (and, in my personal experience, I see that this possessiveness was encompassed further to include the best and closest of my friends). Instead, today, the possessiveness is condemned as evil, replaced with a fake nature that men will never truly possess, and then the men are condemned when both the fake nature and the desired virtues are unsuccessful.

From this, I see some wisdom. As a Christian, I see that you do not manufacture feelings of kindness to people that you naturally have a disliking for (though, as far as trying to become like a Son of God, as C.S. Lewis points out, there is a legitimacy in trying to behave as a Son of God with the goal of actually becoming more like a Son of God). Instead, you refrain from expressing your feelings of dislike to people (letting it die) and “fertilize” your natural feelings of kindness that they may grow. Of course, Lewis also points out in this that there are some who are possessed wholly of rottenness and unkindness, which means that the person is blessed with an automatic dependence on God for change in the raw materials of their souls, that they might be better Christians.

Finally, in the last section of Bloom’s chapter on relationships, he discusses how the commonness of sex has disabled it as a path that some people in past cultural circumstances might have sought enlightenment. This I understand personally: having no true romantic experience of mine own, so I find myself drawn into the romantic experiences of others (fiction or nonfiction) that I might better understand my own circumstances (though I am cautious with this, for I also recognize that excessively focusing on this incomplete part of my distracts me from today’s opportunities to serve God and explore the world as well as focuses me on myself, which is a side-track into selfish sins).

This last section of Bloom’s “Relationships” reminds me of curiosity and the need to have it in my search for knowledge and wisdom and it has reawakened my innate curiosity. It is as though some thoughts that I have had in the past have resurfaced: the recognition that the path to wisdom and ignorance must first go through ignorance, child-like ignorance of everything and to never stop asking questions. It was Christ, was it not, who said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of God?” while one of Socrates’ last statements was an acknowledgment that he was the only one who realized his complete ignorance. Didn’t Socrates teach that the truly wise do not desire great power (politically) and avoid it while Christ spent his whole ministry running from the crowds when they tried to crown Him and make Him their ruler?

Bloom also reminds me that, in seeking fulfillment in studying history, I must also visualize the lives of heroes and villains long gone, to be able to walk into a monastery older than all my known relatives and imagine the many days and nights spent by the monks residing there, imagine their prayers, their studies, their hunger for righteousness, to be able to walk the streets of Washington, D.C. and imagine the British invasion in the War of 1812 or the inauguration day of Lincoln or the assassination day of Kennedy…

Finally, I’m reminded that the true goal of education is not to get a job but to know oneself through the lens of the greater thinkers past and present. This is achieved through curiosity, imagination, and (as a Christian) the desire to know God that transcends all self-seeking drives, instead overriding them and making me more aware of how awesome a creation I (as a human being) am and how God is working in my life.

I thought that such reawakening would be worth posting. Take care!

SfC

My Fears in the Coming Election

I know that today’s the 4th of July, the day our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, officially starting a full-scale rebellion against the British Empire that would eventually be won in favor of the United States. So, my first business today will be to wish everyone a happy 4th of July and wish the United States a happy 232nd birthday! However, as usualy, I feel that I must discuss to some limited extent the responses that I have to some of the things I have been hearing recently.

So recently, I have heard a great deal of non-positive talk about Barack Obama. Big surprise; I live in a largely conservative area of the United States, so that doesn’t surprise me. However, what I have been hearing has been going beyond the usual degradation of a liberal political candidate: I have heard several people refer to him as possibly being the Anti-Christ, which is a major albeit common accusation against something the people consider liberal and anti-Christian. However, when I first heard of the question of Barack Obama’s religious background (mostly from people who call him a Muslim), I looked it up and saw that he has declared himself as a member of the United Church of Christ. Okay, I told myself, people are just starting rumors about the candidate that they don’t like. I have since had a conversation with the writer of The Teeming Brain about this and he, too has heard that rumor that Obama was a Muslim, even with some people taking it so far as to say he is an Al-Queda infiltrator. Between the two of us, we decided to put down the heinous untruth whenever we heard it.

However, there are some things that I have read (for myself, trying to be sure not to take all of my information second-hand) that raise my suspicions. For example, I read an article by Daniel Pipes (Was Barak Obama a Muslim?) that spoke about Obama’s religious background. For example, here is a section where it shows Obama’s reply to the question of his possibly-Muslim pasts:

The candidate for president of the United States has delivered two principal statements in reply. His campaign website carries a statement dated Nov. 12 with the headline, “Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim,” followed by: “Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian.” Then, on Dec. 22, in the unlikely setting of the Smoky Row Coffee Shop in Oskaloosa, Iowa, as he munched on pumpkin pie and drank tea with four locals, Obama provided more detail took on this topic than before. When asked to explain his Muslim heritage, he replied:

My father was from Kenya, and a lot of people in his village were Muslim. He didn’t practice Islam. Truth is he wasn’t very religious. He met my mother. My mother was a Christian from Kansas, and they married and then divorced. I was raised by my mother. So, I’ve always been a Christian. The only connection I’ve had to Islam is that my grandfather on my father’s side came from that country. But I’ve never practiced Islam. … For a while, I lived in Indonesia because my mother was teaching there. And that’s a Muslim country. And I went to school. But I didn’t practice. But what I do think it does is it gives me insight into how these folks think, and part of how I think we can create a better relationship with the Middle East and that would help make us safer is if we can understand how they think about issues.

Well, that’s just grand, isn’t it? Never a Muslim…but if you read on in the article, it explains that when Obama was in elementary school in Indonesia, part of his schooling included two hours of Islamic teaching a day as well as regular trips to a mosque for prayer. Now, I know it’s different for a child to do this than a teenager or adult; as a child, you just do what you are told, and it is even noted in the article that Obama and his friends weren’t serious children of prayer; they just mostly imitated the actions of the elder men. However, in my mind, this is still a major breach of trust on Obama’s part; at the very least, Obama was trying to bend the truth to try to reach out to the common American (mostly Christians). However, at the worst, Obama was outright lying for the sake of his campaign. The article also points out that, depending how the Islamic community responds to this, he could be considered a traitor and they would try to execute him.

Of course, there was also the trouble for his campaign several months ago where the Preacher at Obama’s home church lashed out against basically everyone except black men and women, talking about “throwing down the white oppressors” and other such things. What I find hard to believe is that Obama denied being like that, even though that was his home church for 20 years. Though that doesn’t mean he must conform to everything that minister says, you aren’t around something like that willingly for 20 years of your life without believing some of it.

That minister of Obama’s also, from time to time, struck on some Antisemitism, which really just urks me in a very serious way, and Obama doesn’t seem to have noticed the same level of Antisemitism from other angles of his campaign, taking donations and endorsements from people who have historically Antisemitism views. Obama also, from time to time in his campaign speeches, makes it clear that if he is elected President, the United States’ relationship with Israel will be radically different from the past. That alone makes me raise my eyebrows.

However, what worries me the most is his entire campaign is all about change, and everyone in the United States now wants change. Everyone is beginning to feel the pinch of those higher gas prices, higher food prices, a still-deflating house market, and all of the other troubles that have been descending on our country for some time. Obama promises change, and people believe him. Heck, I’ll say that I believe he will bring change. However, Adolf Hitler also promised change to Germany in the 1930′s and he brought it, and the world hasn’t been the same since. My point is this: sometimes, no matter how badly we feel that change is necessary, change sometimes carries too high a price. Obama has a record of garnering support from people who carry a grudge against the Jewish people and of, from time to time, hinting that he agrees with them. He has been untruthful about his religious past in an attempt to reach out the voters, especially evangelical voters.

I forget where I heard this, but I have also heard that Obama is mobilizing his campaign to start to reach out to evangelical Christians in a way that no other modern Democratic campaign has. I have already seen one of the commercials with Obama talking about his upbringing an environment where he learned of duty and faith. My question is where he feels it is his duty to faithfully be as painfully truthful as he needs to be to keep from lying.

Oh, and I have also heard that, in his speech where he announced his campaign for Oval Office, he compared himself to Abraham Lincoln. In my mind, he shot himself in the foot again here because Abraham Lincoln is probably one of my top three or four presidents (next to FDR, Washington, and Jefferson) and lemme tell ya, Obama is no Abe Lincoln. Lincoln spoke of freeing people from their slavery; Obama and his supporters speak hatred against the Jews.

So, what about John McCain? I will admit that I haven’t yet fully investigated him, though I need to. I have, of course, heard that he will just be another term of George Bush. I don’t think that’s true because, no matter how you look at it, McCain is an individual just like all of us, so even if his voting record completely went along with Bush (which it doesn’t), he still has his own goals and his own expectations as to what he wants to accomplish if he does attain the office.

Like I said, I think a good note to end on would be to remind the reader that Adolf Hitler pushed for change in a country that desperately wanted it. Well, that country got the change that Hitler was pushing for, and it led humanity into one of the darkest nights of hatred and evil that we have ever known. Although I have doubts that Obama is that Antichrist, on top of all of these mental objections, my gut just tells me that there’s something about him that frightens me at the prospect of being given such power. He’s charismatic, alright…almost too charismatic. His promise of change sounds too enticing…and, if he’s willing to lie, or at the least “bend the truth” to reach voters, it shows how far he’s willing to go to accomplish his ends.

These are just my thoughts. Whomever you desire to vote for, research thoroughly and make sure that you are voting for the person that best represents your beliefs.

SfC

Progress on my Novel

As I have said, I am a writer and I have been attempting to write a high fantasy novel since the end of my sophomore year. It has been a fascinating experience. For instance, last week, I was trying to create an original 365 1/4 day calendar for the fantasy world I have created. To that end, I searched for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire calendar to see what sort of ideas I might obtain from it. I was (and continue to be) amazed at the creative talent of Tolkien; how he structured the calendar for simplicity, how he named his twelve months of the year, etc. It is also quite a jaw-dropper to know that he was that thorough in every aspect of his creation of the world that we now know as Middle-Earth.

Anyhow, at one point last year, the size of my book exceeded 100,000 words, which was quite a landmark for me. However, when I reread some of the beginning of my book, I found myself saying, “This isn’t interesting. This isn’t even that well-written. It’s vague in a lot of places where it needs detail and its excessively detailed in other places.” So, I scrapped the entire first manuscript and have since been working on a second, improved version of my story. As of right now, my notes include nearly a dozen different races of creatures including humans all situated on a chain of islands, the largest of which being where the story launches from. I have also drawn a rough outline for a continent where half-a-dozen or more human nations exist and compete with each other, which will also be a part of the story later on. I am planning on a seven-day week and am currently trying to write histories for the world, from which I hope to draw the basis for the names of those seven days.

Since I am a Christian, there will be some references an overarching belief in a Theist God, though that belief will also be in competition with other tribal and polytheistic beliefs. I have wondered precisely how much of this sort of thing will be in my book and have eventually decided that I want to clearly indicate the writer’s (my) belief in a loving, just Creator of the universe, but I also want to make the book a) an enjoyable read for many different people, and B) thought-provoking. Simply from my perspective, I see a lot of people around me accept other people’s word and believe everything they are told, whether by the Nightly News or by the History Channel and everything else, and I honestly believe that this world will improve greatly when people start to think for themselves instead of allowing others to think for them.

Anyway, as of right now, my novel is stalled out at Ch. 3; while constructing an effective seven-day week, I’m also laying out the back-story from which I derive much of the unfolding story. I’ll gladly admit that it is a life-long project and I might never be done, but it forces me to grow and explore as an individual, so I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish so far. I’ll keep the blog informed of major progress.

Have a good day!

SfC